Enlaces News (January 2004)

Central American Immigrants Call for Comprehensive Integration Agenda in Houston

On October 19th, 2003, more than 200 Central American Immigrants marched outside of the Galleria Mall in Houston, TX to demand that the governments of Central America call a moratorium on the negotiations for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States, in order to explore a much broader integration agenda for the region. The event, sponsored by CRECEN (Centro de Recursos Para Centroamericanos), the Salvadoran American National Network, the Congreso Guatemalteco and Enlaces América was one of a series of public events that were held in response to the Eighth round of CAFTA Negotiations being held in Houston that week.

Leaders representing more than 25 local and national community groups gathered in Houston for the march and for a series of community events. Other highlights included a Community Educational forum where Central American immigrant leaders invited government officials to meet with members of the local Central American community to discuss concerns about the current negotiations. Although only one member of a governmental delegation accepted the invitation (Costa Rica), the discussion was lively. Most participants expressed concern that a single minded focus on a trade and investment agreement fails to address the most pressing problems affecting the majority of people in Central America. Problems such as unemployment, hunger, low wages, criminal violence, increasing rural poverty and families broken apart by emigration were some of the issues that had community members seriously concerned.

The immigrant groups called for a moratorium on the negotiations in order to allow for meaningful dialogue on the content of the agreement. As one participant in the Educational Forum pointed out, “If the agreement is so good for our countries, why won’t they discuss it openly with us.” This lack of transparency and debate is particularly troubling to immigrant leaders given the unparalleled amount of economic support that immigrant communities in the US provide for the region. Immigrant family remittances to Central America are currently estimated at about $13 million per day. Teodoro Aguiluz from CRECEN in Houston summed up the mood of the crowd, “We immigrants are the biggest source of support for our countries, and we are no longer willing to sit back and support the status quo.” Immigrants are eager and willing to do more than just send money, argued Aguiluz. “We want to help design new policies that can break the cycles of poverty and hopelessness in our countries”.

The United States and the Central American governments continue to promote investor protection and trade liberalization as the answer to the region’s economic woes. However, many Central American immigrant leaders see little evidence that CAFTA will benefit the majority of Central Americans. The economic recipe that underlies CAFTA has largely failed to bring tangible and sustainable benefits to poor people in developing countries. Indeed the experience of Mexico after ten years of the NAFTA agreement provides little encouragement. Since the NAFTA agreement was signed with the United States and Canada in 1994, Mexico has experienced a troubling paradox. Even as GDP has risen (albeit slowly), many Mexicans have suffered from increased poverty and malnutrition rates. Rural areas have been particularly hard hit since small producers cannot compete with highly subsidized agricultural products from the United States.

Unfortunately, and despite the last-minute departure of Costa Rica (the largest economy in the region) from the negotiations, the remaining four governments of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua agreed to sign the CAFTA agreement with the US in early December, without addressing any of these fundamental concerns. But Central American immigrant leaders have not conceded defeat, “We will bring our concerns to the attention of U.S. Congressional leaders, as well as to the legislative branches of government throughout Central America, said Oscar Chacón, President of the Salvadoran American National Network (SANN). Chacón noted that SANN and the national organization of Guatemalans, CONGUATE have already agreed on a set of principles that should underlie any regional integration agreement. These principles include:

1. A new legal regime governing Central America-U.S. migration that recognizes that migration constitutes a critical element of the deepening process of integration between Central America and the US. The legal framework currently regulating Central American migration to the U.S. is outdated and does not reflect the reality of deepening social and economic relationships throughout the region. Any agreement to reformulate the relationship between Central America and the U.S. must include mechanisms to legalize millions of Central Americans currently working in the U.S., resolve the petitions of thousands of Central Americans hoping to bring their family members to the U.S., and provide safe, legal options for those Central Americans who will continue to arrive in the United States in search of work.

2. Policies to support agricultural and rural sectors: Nearly one third of Central America’s population still lives in rural areas and depends on agricultural activity for its livelihood. The U.S. agricultural sector, in addition to being highly mechanized and efficient, is generously subsidized by the government of the United States. Any process of regional integration would need to incorporate careful provisions to support small and medium-sized producers and to broaden the range of economic opportunities for dignified livelihoods in rural sectors in Central America.

3. Investment agreements must guarantee of protections for social well-being : The tendency in the current CAFTA negotiations is to open nearly all services to international market competition. In practice, this would require privatization of such essential services as: health care, water, telecommunications, etc. The decision to privatize or not should be subject to an open and democratic debate in each country, rather than decided in the context of a trade agreement. The well-being of the general population and especially of the most vulnerable sectors must be a central consideration in this debate.

4. Labor rights and environmental protections: Appropriate labor and environmental protections should be at the heart of a durable relationship between the United States and Central America. A comprehensive integration agreement must include specific mechanisms to ensure that increased »trade and investment will indeed translate into sustainable development and dignified job opportunities for Central American workers. In the absence of protections for basic rights, including labor rights and the right to a healthy environment, a trade agreement is most likely to end up increasing the sense of desperation and lack of hope in Central American communities.

In addition to these criteria, the principles of transparency and participation must be at the center of any regional integration agenda. To date, the citizens of the Central American counties have had scant opportunity to examine and critique the terms of the trade agreement being negotiated on their behalf. In order for regional integration to bring benefits, the citizens of the region need to be involved in a serious evaluation of the needs of the region and in the development of long-term solutions. ¦