Public Policy Profile:  Central American Free Trade Area (CAFTA) Treaty - August 2004

Central American Free Trade Area Treaty

Opposed by the Region's Religious Leaders

The US Government currently is negotiating with Central American countries to enter into a Central American Free Trade Area (CAFTA) treaty patterned after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that has drawn criticism regarding the protection of workers’ rights and the environment from the signatory nations of Mexico, Canada, and the US. In July, the Latin American Council of Churches convened 35 religious leaders from Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua to study and evaluate the CAFTA treaty. In response, they wrote a pastoral letter addressed to the Churches of North America as they appeal for Christians to voice opposition to its enactment by the US Congress because of its severe impact on the local economy and the people. The ICC believes that when our brothers and sisters in Christ from other countries raise concerns about economic injustice in a global economy, it is important that we share their witness as members of one Body of Christ. What follows is an unedited selection of the moral appeal portion of their pastoral letter to the churches as it pertains to their concerns about the CAFTA treaty.

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Pastoral Letter from the Regional Group of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI)

We, representatives of the churches of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, as part of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), meeting at the Latin American Biblical University in Cedros of Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica, from July 6 to the 8^th of 2004, to understand the objectives and aims of the Free Trade Treaties of Central America and Their Implications for the Churches and the Countries of the Region of Mesoamerica, have reflected on the social, economic, political, ecological and cultural crises in which our people are living.

The experience with Free Trade treaties in Latin America and the Caribbean has been incompatible with the development of human life.  This is the case of Mexico, which, ten years after having signed NAFTA has experienced disastrous results:  unequal competition, reduction of subsidies for production, the collapse of food production independence, heavy decreases in the minimum salary, loss of cattle production, among others.

In the light of the Gospel, and of our pastoral experience, which has allowed us to accompany our peoples, we affirm:

1.      That every human institution, even those attributed to God, are and should be for the development of life, and not the opposite, because anything that does not contribute to human development is not Christian nor desirable.

2.      That the exclusion of persons is alien to the spirit of the Gospel.  In the vision of the Reign of God power is for service, especially of those most needy, and it is not just to be accumulated.  Therefore, an economic system that is not able to feed all those who are under its care and which does not have mechanisms of self-correction, cannot be legitimated, as it is going against the justice of the Reign of God.

3.      Considering these theological fundamentals, we reject the Free Trade Treaty between Central America and the United States (CAFTA) because:

o       Of the lack of transparency and the lack of participation by the social sectors (workers, women, indigenous peoples, people of color, among others) neither of the peoples of Central America nor of the United States.

o       CAFTA will only accelerate the process of impoverishment of the peoples.

o       It will marginalize great segments of society.

o       It seeks to increase the profits of the multinational corporations.

o       CAFTA is a mechanism of the transnational corporations to seek political, economic and environmental domination over the countries.

o       It does not promote equal or fair trade.

o       It will gradually eliminate access to generic medicines for the institutions of social security.

o       It undermines national judicial sovereignty as it is a Treaty that is supra constitutional.

o       CAFTA aggravates the competition between workers of the signing countries.

o       It is not clear that CAFTA is the best way to create jobs through foreign enterprises, because the social cost is greater than the jobs created.

o       CAFTA does not eliminate the system of subsidies for the agro-businesses in the US and does not provide any mechanisms to guarantee the survival of our peasants.

o       CAFTA promotes irrational exploitation of natural resources, which place at risk the environment.  There is an absence of effective mechanisms to control pollution.