NYC Peoples' Referendum on Free Trade

For Immediate Release 10/8/07 Contact: Martha Hauze (347) 668-4210

News Release/Media Advisory

 

Trade Justice Advocates Decry "Threats, Lies, Bribery, and Manipulation" in Costa Rica Free Trade Referendum by Bush Administration and Dole Corporation

 

Who: NYC People's Referendum on Free Trade, FMLN – NY Chapter, Movement for Peace in Colombia, Polo Democratico Alternativo USA NY/NJ/CT, Wetlands Activism Collective, and Global Justice for Animals.

 

What: Global justice groups will hold a press conference with speakers representing communities in Central American countries and the Dominican Republic resisting the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement as well as activists opposing new bilateral trade agreements currently being pushed by the Bush administration and some Congressional Democrats with Peru, Colombia, South Korea, and Panama. Speakers will include: Bernie McAleer, NY Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador * Adam Weissman, Wetlands Activism Collective Alex Ross, Global Justice for Animals * Martha Hauze, Movement for Peace in Colombia * Carlos Salamanca, Polo Democratico Alternativo USA (NY/NJ/CT Chapter)

 

When: TODAY, Monday, Oct 08, 2007, 1:30 PM

 

Where: Costa Rican Mission to the United Nations, 211 East 43rd St at 3rd Ave

 

Why: According to early vote counts, a public referendum to ratify the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement succeeded yesterday by a slim margin (51.58% for and 48.42% against), despite polls in recent days suggesting the agreement would likely be defeated by a ten point margin. DR-CAFTA foes in Costa Rica are charging election fraud, and DR-CAFTA foes are also critical of the behavior of the Bush administration and corporate interests prior to the vote. According to Wetlands Activism Collective's Adam Weissman, "It's fitting that on the holiday devoted to one of history's most brutal colonizers, we witness the Bush administration treating Costa Rica as a banana republic to be bullied and manipulated for the benefit of corporations. In the final days leading up to the vote US corporations, the Bush administration and its crony, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias used lies, innuendo and intimidation, a campaign of economic terrorism, to pass this agreement". According to Tom Loudon of the Alliance for Responsible Trade, a Costa Rican university newspaper on Friday exposed a meeting Oscar Arias, then a candidate for the Costa Rican presidency, attended in May 2005 in Guatemala. According to Loudon, "The article documents the names and amounts given of prominent financial players in the region, totaling over $180,000 to Arias’ presidential campaign. The apparent purpose of the… meeting was to coordinate a plan to ensure passage and ratification of DR-CAFTA in the region and in the U.S. The article alleges that Arias was designated the head of a committee that was formed by this group, and in that role later attended a large fundraising event in Washington to collect money which would be used to promote ratification of DR-CAFTA.  The players, especially in the Guatemala meeting have business interest in telecommunications and internet services and the passage of DR-CAFTA would require Costa Rica to open their services to ‘competition’."

 

On Saturday, White House press secretary, Dana Perino, said in a statement “The United States has never before confronted the question of extending unilateral trade preferences to a country that has rejected a reciprocal trade agreement,” continuing a campaign of White House threats to pull the Caribbean Basin Initiative trade preferences that Costa Rica enjoys. Periro's statement flew in the face of unequivocal statements by Congressional leadership that they have no intention of pulling CBI preferences from Costa Rica, a decision that would be made by Congress, not the White House. Dole subsidiary Pindeco, which owns the majority of plantations in Costa Rica threatened to pull all jobs from Costa Rica and close its plantations if the referendum passed, a statement characterized by observers from the Alliance for Responsible Trade view as an empty threat designed to intimidate workers into voting for the trade agreement.

 

US Ambassador Mark Langdale has engaged in a campaign of illegal intimidation, visiting textile factories throughout the last month, and telling workers that the textile factories would close if the free trade agreement was not ratified, resulting in the loss of 14,000 jobs, a scare tactic with no basis in fact. Within the last few days, President Bush and United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab have issued statements saying that there will be no chance to renegotiate the agreement if the Costa Rican people do not ratify it through the referendum. According to Reuters, "the "No" camp received a boost last month with a scandal over a government memo leaked to a university newspaper that urged mayors to use dirty tricks to scare voters to support the DR-CAFTA. A top minister resigned." The LA Times suggests the memo's authors "proposed smearing DR-CAFTA opponents by linking them to leftist firebrands such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro. They called for a public relations campaign to "stimulate fear" among citizens about the alleged dangers of snubbing the deal. They also advocated punishing local officials -- by withholding funds."

 

Two members of the NYC People's Referendum on Free Trade are currently in Costa Rica as election observers for the DR-DR-CAFTA Referendum. The group also opposes the passage of free trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Colombia, and South Korea, which they believe will adversely impact workers, the environment, small farmers, public health, animal welfare, and social programs. A vote on the trade agreement with Peru is expected in Congress this month. Founded in 2002, the NYC People's Referendum on Free Trade is a coalition of Latino and Korean community organizations, labor, peace, human rights, environmental, health and AIDS advocacy, and animal rights organizations opposed to NAFTA-style free trade agreements

 

Additional info: http://stopCAFTA.org (English & Spanish) http://notlc.com/ (Spanish) http://www.nocafta.org/ (English)

 

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