Enlaces News #7 (May 2004)

Dear Senator/Congressperson:

The undersigned organizations, representing tens of thousands of Central American immigrants currently living in the United States and contributing to economic growth and well-being both here and in our communities of origin, URGE you to say “NO” to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) presented for Congressional review by President Bush on February 20.

Our opposition to CAFTA is not ideological. As immigrants, we have a deep understanding of the potential benefits of improved transnational cooperation. We would welcome an agreement that would increase economic opportunity, protect our shared environment, guarantee workers’ rights and acknowledge the role of human mobility in deepening the already profound ties between our countries. However, the CAFTA agreement falls far short of that vision.

CAFTA was modeled on the NAFTA agreement and the US agreements with Singapore and Chile. Over the past decade, we have seen the results of the economic formula embedded in those agreements. Our home country economies have taken steps to privatize key social services, eliminate subsidies to small farmers, and establish free trade industrial zones known as “maquilas”.

At the same time, we have seen poverty increase and real job opportunities all but disappear. We have seen workers’ rights eroded and we have seen our natural resources devastated as foreign corporations set up shop without regard to labor and environmental laws. We have seen farmers leave the land in record numbers, unable to compete with subsidized agriculture from developed countries. In recent years, we have watched even the meager employment opportunities from “maquilas” start to dry up, as companies seek ever-more inexpensive and compliant labor sources in Asia.

When driven off the land and closed out of sweatshops, many families have survived by migrating northward. Yet that journey for survival remains a perilous one. Our people contend with militarized borders, as well as with a dysfunctional and outdated U.S. immigration policy. Ironically, they are treated as second class members of our society even as their labor is used to fuel economic growth.

Our organizations are at the front lines of providing services to newcomers from all over Latin America. We are keenly aware that the economies in Central America have become increasingly dependent on money that immigrants send home in the form of remittances. In the case of El Salvador, family remittances topped $2 billion in 2002, constituting the largest share of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In effect, the largest export product from Central America has become people, that is, emigrant labor in United States. Based on our experience, we are convinced that this perverse pattern will not only persist but will worsen with the implementation of CAFTA.

We do not want immigration to be the only option for our people. We dream of a Central America that provides our people dignified opportunities that allow them to stay in their communities. Unfortunately, CAFTA will take us farther from that dream.

WE urge you to say NO to CAFTA and to let the President know this agreement does not offer a viable path toward prosperity in our hemisphere.

Sincerely,

Casa Mary Johana, NY
Centro Presente, MA
CARECEN, LA
CENTRO HISPANO “Cuzcatlan”
Centro Romero, IL
CRECEN, TX
FUNSAFLOR
GUIA, Miami
ONECA
SANN

To sign on, contact Elena Letona, at mletona@cpresente.org