Havana, Apr 9 (Prensa Latina) Despite rhetoric about their alleged benefits, the results of free trade agreements in Latin America are far from expected, experts attending the 7th Hemispheric Meeting of the Struggle against FTAs and for Integration of the Peoples said.
Costa Rican delegate Jorge Coronado said that it has been a year since the free trade agreement was signed in his country and other Central American nations, and targets regarding investment, agriculture, employment and intellectual property have not been met.
Investment from the United States decreased, while Central American trade deficit with the northern power increased.
There has also been a dismantling of agriculture in Costa Rica and other Central American nations in the interest of foreign business, he added.
The winners have been the fruit and flower transnationals and losers have been the poor farmers.
He mentioned other negative consequences, including mass dismissal of local workers who produce generic drugs by virtue of guidelines devised by the letter of the FTA on Intellectual Property.
Delegtes from Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, among others, agreed that another productive model is needed in their countries and in the region, as the current model has brought more poverty and dependence.
Social Movements Crushed ALCA
Havana, Apr 9 (Prensa Latina) The social movements stopped and crushed the Free Trade Area for the Americas (FTAA), said the president of the World Economics Study Center Osvaldo Martinez.
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The also chairman of the National Assembly Economic Commission noted that social movements helped boost that victory but there is still an FTAA remainder to fight: free trade treaties.
Martinez attends the 7th Regional Meeting of Struggle against Free Trade Agreements in Havana"s Conventions Palace that unfolds under the slogan "Another America is Possible" to close April 11 with a final statement and an action program.
He added that the meeting is important because it must confirm the struggle against free trade agreements in general not only those that operate as extension of FTAA through other channels.
Other issues that confirm social injustices and oppression under the current world order that social movements also fight are foreign debt and IMF and WB policies.
There is also biofuel and its impact on food sovereignty, the ecological crisis, and the transnationals increasing pray on Latin American oil, gas, water and biodiversity, among other natural resources.
The meeting will also address militarization in Latin America, expansion of US military bases throughout the region, and "the trend to criminalize social protests." The Cuban specialist called the meeting as the social movements contribution to fight for a better world.
