http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 550111.htm

CAFTA won't help free trade

In his Aug. 18 Other Views piece, Vital step for free trade, Florida FTAA President Jorge Arrizurieta said that the Central American Free Trade Agreement would positively impact the prospects for the Free Trade Area of the Americas. He wrote that the free-trade movement is ``alive and well.''

Alive and well? The only reason CAFTA passed was because President Bush threatened Republicans opposed to CAFTA. He threatened the loss of highway funding and committee positions, among other things. Even so, CAFTA won by only by a very slim margin -- hardly indicating ``tremendous momentum.''

Arrizurieta continues that, ``The FTAA's collective economic benefit would place the hemisphere in a position to rival any multination economic partnership in the world, including the European Union, and stabilize the region politically and economically.''

This would be true only if the following were added: Stabilize the region politically and economically for the transnational corporations that want to further privatize the natural resources of these countries, override national laws that protect the environment, labor or human rights, or in any way impede the exploitation of natural and human resources.

JEFFREY KEATING, Cooper City