TRADE-CENTRAL AMERICA: Critics Want Transparency in Talks with US

Néfer Muñoz

SAN JOSE, Jan 10 (IPS) - Farmers, indigenous people, environmentalists and trade unionists in Central America are asking their governments to ensure transparency and defend the region's economic and social interests in free trade talks with the United States.

The first round of talks on the creation of a free trade area between the United States and the so-called G-5 nations -- Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua -- will open on Jan 27 in San Jose, the Costa Rican capital, in the midst of strong opposition from social groups.

''We are asking them to eliminate the secrecy that has surrounded the negotiations up to now,'' former Costa Rican president Rodrigo Carazo (1978-1982), one of the spokespersons for the civil society groups that are critical of the free trade initiative, told IPS.

Carazo said civil society in Central America has not been granted access to any draft of the free trade agreement that the governments will start negotiating, despite insistent requests from activists.

''We are worried because we do not know about the commitments that have been assumed, or the scope of the agreement, and we have not been informed about the policy that is being followed by the governments of Central America in the negotiations,'' said the former president, who now dedicates his time to the production of dairy products.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and the G-5 trade ministers announced on Jan 8 in Washington that the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, should be ready by December.

Proponents of the future free trade deal that will eliminate tariffs and other barriers to trade in goods and services and to investment between the United States and Central America say it will open up important opportunities for growth and development in this region, whose economies have reported slow Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth over the past five years.

Costa Rican Trade Minister Alberto Trejos said the expansion and liberalisation of trade is indispensable for promoting the generation of jobs and bolstering economic activity.

''This is particularly important in the case of the countries of Central America, whose future as small developing economies is directly linked to our capacity to integrate ourselves and participate fully in the international market,'' he said.

Negotiating groups will discuss market access, investment and services, government procurement and intellectual property, labour and environment, aid and cooperation, and dispute settlement mechanisms.

But farmers' associations, environmentalists and labour activists complain that the initial contacts were held behind closed doors. They also take issue with some of the trade negotiators put in charge of the talks.

''Among the heads of the Central American negotiating team is Costa Rican-American economist Anabel González, whose dual nationality will be a negative factor for the region,'' said activist José Merino.

G-5 exports to the United States total 8.75 billion dollars a year, while imports from that country by the five nations amount to 11.6 billion dollars, according to the Costa Rican Trade Ministry.

Critics of the free trade talks point out that the United States is a strong economy of 281 million, which will have no trouble imposing its will on five impoverished Central American nations with a combined population of just 30 million.

Analysts say Washington's push for a free trade deal with Central America is part of its strategy to pave the way for the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which will link 34 countries -- all of the nations of the Americas except Cuba.

''The U.S. position on the question of the environment is disturbing,'' activist Isaac Rojas said in an interview with IPS, pointing out that Washington ''has not supported the major international treaties on the environment.''

Rojas said there are strong fears that after the agreement is signed, production of genetically modified crops will be promoted in Central America, the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples will be violated, and the region's rich biodiversity will deteriorate.

Environmentalists and associations of peasant farmers say the main beneficiaries of the free trade deal will be large U.S. corporations, not the millions of Central Americans living in poverty.

Observers predict street protests on Jan 27, when the working- level negotiations begin in San Jose.

However, organisations of small farmers, environmentalists, indigenous people and members of cooperatives say they have no activities planned yet, because they are waiting for a response from the G-5 governments on whether or not a door will be opened to participation by civil society.

''We are in a process of analysis and debate. The problem is that we have not been shown any draft of the future trade agreement, and we do not have any details,'' Donald Rojas, a member of the Central American Indigenous Council, told IPS. (END/2003)