10 Reasons to Stop CAFTA

Stop US Domination of Latin America!
SAY NO TO CAFTA!

1. If passed, CAFTA would advance the passing of the FTAA (see definitions on back).

2. There is no guarantee that labor and environ-mentalregulations be respected, despite side agreements.

3. Expanding corporate controlled free trade would make the Global South more dependent
on the Global North and the interests of corporations.

4. CAFTA would diminish the power of Central American countries to regulate their own economies and protect their own citizens.

5. It would force the small developing Central American countries to open their markets to the US. Developing countries like El Salvador and Nicaragua have no chance of competing with the US economy because they are at a disadvantage.

6. CAFTA would lead to further privatization of social services, decreasing public access to basic services and giving corporations more money and control.

7. It would force competition for the lowest wages and lowest production costs, which would drive wages down in the US and keep them down throughout Central America.

8. It would allow corporations to sue governments over any law that would protect national intrest by diminishing private profit, including laws that protect consumers, communities, labor, and the environment, because these would be barriers to economic benefits for Northern countries. This eliminates the democratic rights of people and communities to determine how their government regulates relations with corporations.

9. Concentration of power in the hands of corporations with strong ties to right-wing governments would allow the conservative elite to maintain control over a country’s economy even when leftist alternatives are given governmental power by popular vote.

10. Under the guise of the war on terrorism, free trade agreements attempt to repress opposition by calling anyone who demands their human rights a terrorist for threatening a company’s profit-making ability.