By Darren Weeks

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has done so much toward driving the people of the U.S.A. into absolute bankruptcy, that the globalists want to expand it.

The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is an effort by the globalists to push the U.S.A. further into a third world economy. Wealth would be transferred from our country, along with our jobs, into the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic.

In his press conference of April 28th, 2005, President George W. Bush declared,

"We need to continue to open up markets for U.S. products. As you know, there will be a vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement here, hopefully soon. I'm a strong believer that that's in the interest of American job creators and workers, that we open up those markets."

What markets? And for whom will the jobs be created?

According to the CIA world factbook,

"Guatemala is the largest and most populous of the Central American countries with a GDP per capita roughly one-half that of Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. ... The distribution of income remains highly unequal, with perhaps 75% of the population below the poverty line."

The vast majority of the people in the country of Guatemala are poor. These are the people that are going to be purchasing American products? These are the people that are going to rescue us from the overpowerment of the Asian economic powerhouse? Where is the market that George W. Bush speaks of opening? It certainly isn't in Guatemala!

Honduras is another country that would benefit from partnership with the U.S. under the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Over half of its population lives in poverty as well. Will the people there be able to purchase U.S. made products?

Again quoting from the CIA's own website:

Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere with an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and massive unemployment, is banking on expanded trade under the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and on debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The country has met most of its macroeconomic targets, and began a three-year IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PGRF) program in February 2004. Growth remains dependent on the economy of the US, its largest trading partner, on commodity prices, particularly coffee, and on reduction of the high crime rate.

CAFTA is designed to aid the developing nations by raising them up out of poverty. It is the implementation of Chapter 3 in the United Nations' blueprint for sustainable development, called Agenda 21. Under CAFTA, U.S. workers would suffer further from job losses, and wage reductions. The standard of living in the United States will further be lowered, as U.S. Americans struggle to work enough hours in the day to simply stay afloat. The poor Central American countries will be lifted from poverty somewhat, but at the expense of hard-working middle class Americans.

Quoting, again, from the CIA's website, they say about Nicaragua, another CAFTA would-be trading partner:

Nicaragua, one of the hemisphere's poorest countries, faces low per capita income, massive unemployment, and huge external debt. Distribution of income is one of the most unequal on the globe. While the country has made progress toward macroeconomic stability over the past few years, GDP annual growth has been far too low to meet the country's needs. As a result of successful performance under its International Monetary Fund policy program and other efforts, Nicaragua qualified in early 2004 for some $4 billion in foreign debt reduction under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Even after this reduction, however, the government continues to bear a significant foreign and domestic debt burden. If ratified, the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) will provide an opportunity for Nicaragua to attract investment, create jobs, and deepen economic development.

I ask again, where is the market for U.S. goods of which Mr. Bush speaks, when urging swift ratification of CAFTA as the solution to the created-crisis of the post-WTO, post-NAFTA American economy? Impoverished people are unable to buy goods when they lack the means to purchase.

Like NAFTA, the CAFTA is an unfair agreement, biased in favor of the so-called developing nations. William Norman Grigg writes,

Chief among the objections offered by NASDA and many other CAFTA critics is the fact that the supposed "free trade" agreement would impose what amounts to unilateral trade disarmament on U.S. agricultural producers. The six foreign nations included in the pact would be granted immediate access to U.S. food markets. However, U.S. producers would have to wait for years, or even decades, in order to be granted reciprocal access.

If, as expected, the FTAA follows the CAFTA model by opening U.S. domestic markets first, with access to foreign markets coming only years later, the results for U.S. farmers would be nothing less than devastating. During the prescribed interval, Guebert observes, "nations like Brazil, Russia and India will become food exporting powerhouses to both the U.S. and the world while American farmers become calendar watchers."

If the point of CAFTA is to promote free exchange of goods and services between producers and consumers, why is the pact designed to offer artificial competitive advantages to foreign food producers? Rather than promoting what could honestly be called free trade, CAFTA amounts to a foreign aid program — using nonreciprocal access to U.S. markets as a roundabout subsidy for agricultural programs in foreign nations.

Yet, President Bush continues to support the measure, demonstrating once again, his socialist, globalist agenda.

"I know it's important geopolitically to say to those Central American countries, you've got a friend in America. We said we'd have an agreement with you, and it's important to ratify it. It'll help strengthen the neighborhood."

What neighborhood? The global neighborhood? The way Mr. Bush talks, you'd think he'd been elected president of the American continent. If Congress places his stamp of approval upon CAFTA, he very well might have.

Here's my summary of the CIA's World Factbook statement:
The following CIA World Factbook links reveal the financial situation in the CAFTA trade countries:

• Guatemala — Over 75% of the population lives below the poverty line
  
• Honduras — "one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere"
  
• El Salvador — "GDP per capita is roughly half that of Brazil, Argentina, and Chile... With the adoption of the US dollar as its currency, El Salvador has lost control over monetary policy and must concentrate on maintaining a disciplined fiscal policy."
  
• Nicaragua — "Nicaragua, one of the hemisphere's poorest countries, faces low per capita income, massive unemployment, and huge external debt... Nicaragua qualified in early 2004 for some $4 billion in foreign debt reduction under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative." Half the population lives beneath the poverty line.
  
• Costa Rica — Fairs better than the rest, the wealthiest of these countries. The only Central American country where citizens are not leaving in search of opportunities.
  
• Dominican Republic — 1 out of every 4 live in poverty.

Given the impoverished state of most of these counties, who is the CAFTA designed to help? It sure doesn't look as if it is the U.S.A.