Visit, Call or Write Your Representatives and Senators to say no to CAFTA!

from Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS), April 5, 2004

Note:  Our Reps and Senators are home through 4/16.  Contact Information

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From April 5 to 16 there will be two weeks of nationally coordinated action within the United States to protest the possible congressional ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). This effort is designed to coincide with the Senate and House recesses, which will be held from April 12-16 and April 5-16 respectively. Many of your Senators and Representatives will be in their home states/districts during this time. Take advantage of their proximity to visit and call them to express your concerns about CAFTA.

Central American critics of CAFTA recognize that pressure within the U.S. Congress is crucial to preventing the trade agreement’s implementation. Modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), CAFTA will undoubtedly have a negative impact similar to that of its predecessor.

Despite promises of increased employment, the record on job- creation under NAFTA has been poor. A report by the Economic Policy Institute concluded that by 2000—as a result of NAFTA related incentives to relocate manufacturing—the United States had lost 766,000 jobs and job opportunities.[1] Official World Bank and Mexican government statistics show that there has been little job creation overall in Mexico since the implementation of NAFTA, and—despite initially strong growth—the manufacturing sector has experienced a net loss of jobs.[2]

The agricultural sectors of NAFTA member nations have also suffered. Based on data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the organization Public Citizen estimates that 33,000 small farms in the United States (with under $100,000 in annual sales) disappeared during the first 7 years of NAFTA. This represents a small-farm foreclosure rate 6 times that of the previous five year period.[3] Estimates of the number of Mexican farmers displaced as a result of market liberalization under NAFTA range as high as 15 million.[4]

CAFTA will also establish intellectual property rights similar to those codified in NAFTA’s Chapter Seventeen, and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).[5] Designed to make the patent laws in member nations uniform, these provisions have given corporations the freedom to patent certain plant species and seeds. In the case of agriculture, this has meant that farmers have had to pay annual fees to plant with native seeds that they previously used free of charge.[6]

U.S. Citizens: Visit, call and write your senators and representatives to tell then that you oppose CAFTA because of the threat it represents to living standards in Central America as well as in the United States. Those of you who have just returned from El Salvador, share your impressions of the impact of ‘free trade’ to date. Ask your Senators and Representative to publicly commit to not approving the CAFTA implementing legislation when it comes before the U.S. Congress. You can find contact information for their local (as well as Washington, DC) offices at the following website:

http://www.firstgov.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

See the Stop CAFTA Coalition website for groups and organizations in your area who are also planning actions:
http://www.stopcafta.org/groups.php

We also suggest you use the lobbying kit provided by the Stop CAFTA Coalition for further ideas:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~mtoups/CAFTA_Lobby_Kit.pdf


Other Resources/Information:

An entire draft of the CAFTA text can be downloaded from the following website:
http://www.interaction.org/library/detail.php?id=2605

Individual sections of the text can be accessed at:
http://www.ustr.gov/new/fta/Cafta/text/

Stop CAFTA Coalition Homepage:
http://www.stopcafta.org/

Stop CAFTA Coalition Organizing Guide:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~mtoups/STOP_CAFTA_Guide.pdf

Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) CAFTA briefing:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~mtoups/cafta_briefing_final_dec03.pdf

Information on NAFTA from Public Citizen:
http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/

Information on CAFTA from Public Citizen:
http://www.citizen.org/trade/cafta/

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:
http://www.ceip.org/files/news/CAFTA-resource-page.asp?from=newsnews

United State Trade Representative:
http://www.ustr.gov/new/fta/cafta.htm


A sample email or letter might look like this:

Dear _____________________,

As a constituent, I am contacting you to express my concern about possible ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the implementing legislation of which Congress is supposed to vote on sometime this summer.

Based on a NAFTA style trade model, the possible ratification of CAFTA does not augur well for small farmers and working people in the United States and Central America. While still lauded by some as a triumph, a wide range of data suggests that in the long run NAFTA has lowered the living standards of many on both sides of the border, and further stratified wealth.

Based on data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the organization Public Citizen estimates that 33,000 small farms in the United States (with under $100,000 in annual sales) disappeared during the first 7 years of NAFTA. This represents a small-farm foreclosure rate 6 times that of the previous five-year period. Estimates of the number of Mexican farmers displaced as a result of market liberalization under NAFTA range as high as 15 million.

The Economic Policy Institute concluded that by 2000—as a result of NAFTA related incentives to relocate manufacturing—the United States had lost 766,000 jobs and job opportunities. Official World Bank and Mexican government statistics show that there has been little job creation overall in Mexico since the implementation of NAFTA, and—despite initially strong growth—the manufacturing sector has experienced a net loss of jobs.

Because of the threat it poses to the wellbeing and living standards of U.S. citizens as well as Central Americas, I am voicing my opposition to CAFTA. I ask that you do the same, and request that you vote against implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. 

Sincerely,

Your name
Address


Notes:

[1] Public Citizen. “The Ten Year Track Record of the North American Free Trade Agreement: U.S. Workers’ Jobs, Wages and Economic Security.”  http://www.citizen.org/documents/NAFTA_10_jobs.pdf  (2 April 2004)
[2] Timothy A. Wise and Kevin P. Gallagher. “NAFTA: A Cautionary Tale.” Interhemispheric Resource Center: Americas Program. October 24, 2002. http://www.americaspolicy.org/commentary/2002/0210ftaa_body.html  (2 April 2004)
[3] Patrick Woodall et al. “Down on the Farm: NAFTA’s Seven-Years War on Farmers and Ranchers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.” Washington, DC: Public Citizen, 2001: 3.  http://www.citizen.org/documents/ACFF2.PDF  (2 April 2004)
[4] ibid, iv.
[5] See: United States Trade Representative. “Chapter Fifteen, Intellectual Property Rights.” Central American Free Trade Agreement (Draft Text):  http://www.ustr.gov/new/fta/Cafta/text/15-ipr.pdf 
[6] Public Citizen. “Comments of Public Citizen Inc., On Trade Matters Related to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.” 30 September 2000.  http://www.citizen.org/trade/ftaa/farmers/articles.cfm?ID=1700  (5 April 2004)