Thread: USA and Peru sign a FTA. What will the American Public do ?

USA and Peru sign a FTA. What will the American Public do ??


U.S., Peru Strike Free-Trade Agreement
Administration Hopes to Include Colombia, Ecuador

By Paul Blustein
Washington Post Staff Writer




Thursday, December 8, 2005; Page D06


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02791.html


Some excerpts :


"The United States and Peru struck a deal yesterday on a free-trade agreement, the latest move in the Bush administration's efforts to build a network of trade accords with friendly countries.

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One possible scenario is that the administration could use Peru's acceptance of the deal as leverage to prod Colombia and Ecuador to sign on to similar terms, as they may become concerned that their neighbor's products will gain preferential access to the U.S. market. Most Andean exports already enjoy duty-free treatment in the United States under a special arrangement aimed at boosting the region's economies, but free-trade agreements are more comprehensive and do not require repeated congressional re-authorization.

"There is no decision yet in terms of moving the legislation," said a senior U.S. trade official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity because the sensitive negotiations had just been completed. "Obviously, we would like to have a broader set of agreements that include the other Andean countries. However, the agreement we reached today is a bilateral free-trade agreement with Peru which can be enacted as such."


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Even if Colombia and Ecuador join in, an Andean free-trade agreement would have only a minor impact on the U.S. economy. Exports by U.S. firms to all the Andean nations totaled $8.3 billion in 2004, about 1 percent of overall shipments of U.S. goods abroad. But the administration contends that bilateral and regional trade help to promote stability and growth abroad."

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end of article

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What will the American Public do ??


You can get a dossier of documented articles on the Andean FTA and links in my Forum Site :

http://envyronment.com

There I have academic and informed articles on BioPiracy, Genetic Theft, Prolonged patents from 20 to 25 years, Traditional Knowledge Patents, Environmental Damage, Agrarian Conflict, Paramilitaries and Ongoing Civil War in Andean Nations.



Vicente Duque

What will the American public do? Nothing. Some will scream, but that's about it. Too many sheeple are still asleep at the wheel. Makes you wonder how we still even have a country. Sometimes I'm really embarrassed to be an American, not because I don't love this country, I do love this country, but I'm embarrassed by what our government is doing to our great country and the lack of action by the American public after the fact. This country has really become a country run by a bunch of pathetic cowardly pantywastes and for that I'm embarrassed.

The Andean Free Trade Agreement :

A Big GeoPolitical, Military and Foreign Policy Mistake for America


dman1200 :

Dear Friend :

Thanks for your post !!





It is in the interest of the Latin American Peoples that the US remains strong in military and economic terms. And that we stay good neighbors without unnecessary conflicts.

We gain nothing in Latin America if the US enters an era of trouble like Iraq, Katrina in Louisiana and possibly an economic slowdown in the future.

The Andean Coountries probably buy only 1% of what the US sells in exports. So we are unimportant in economic terms. But not in geopolitics, because we can cause a lot of trouble.

The Andes won't make the US rich or poor. They will have little or no economic impact on the US Economy. Probably a few jobs lost in the USA in these areas : flowers, fruits, horticulture, sugar cane or beet, palm oil, apparel and textiles, tuna fish, and other sea canned products, candies, fruit jellies, jams and marmalades.

But those products mentioned are too little and you Americans won't starve. Remember that you are Number One in Technology and a nation of Inventors, contrary to the Andeans.

The Andean FTA will make American Corporate Agriculture a little richer ( Subsidized Cereals ) and the Pharmaceuticals and Patent Owners will be extremely pleased with this pact.

But the cost in Long Term Foreign Policy will be immense.

25 billion dollars of US taxpayers money has been spent in the Plan Colombia ( military equipment, helicopters, rifles and so on ). 2,500 hundred Americans labor in Colombia in Intelligence and Training matters.

3 American Defense Contractors have been kidnapped during more than 3 years and nobody cares. By Colombian FARC guerrillas. The Iraq war has hidden many other problems.

These three Americans are Human Beings, with families and kids. It doesn't matter our nationality. Americans, Europeans, Latins, Africans ..... Everybody should ask and demand their release.

The Andean FTA is going to produce more Agrarian Conflict. American Cereals with subsidies of US $100 will cause the ruin of Andean Agriculture.

So we are not enemies or rivals. We are friends and collaborators and we shoud work with strong efforts in order to prevent the US House of Representatives from approving this Big Mistake.

The Andean FTA is a mistake. It is cruel, brutal, inhuman. It is a geopolitical error. An error in military terms.

We can be best friends without FTAs .... Or we can negotiate limited agreements that carry no slave chains of patents, BioPiracy, Genetic Theft, Destruction of the Environment, etc ....

It is a big mistake to sign treaties with nations that have been at Civil War or in Deep Agrarian Conflict for decades.

There are better ways to help that sending military equipment, military advisors, and Big Pharmaceuticals to exploit the poor, the weak and the old with expensive drugs, prolonged patents, and obstacles to generic medications.


The Andes is a Buzzing Beehive of Problems

Better to be friends without too much Military or Trade Commitment



Thanks again

Vicente Duque

Vicente question: "What will the American people do ?"
dman1200 Answer : "Nothing."

I know how you feel dman, but more and more Americans are becoming FED UP. Can't you see it ? I know that you do, but maybe you just can't believe it yet.

The USA.....job opening available.......Commander In Chief

Required Qualifications: Honesty, Dignity, Courage

Previous Experience: Proven loyalty to the American people, their laws, their language and their culture.

Janice Schakowsy, House Representative from Illinois

The Worst Enemy of Bush in Andean Matters

She opposes spending more billions of dollars in military help to Andeans

She opposes the Andean FTA

CBS Chicago

Congresswoman Schakowsy Eyes Larger Political Role




Jan Schakowsy is the leader in the House against the Andean FTA.
She leads the progressive caucus, very liberal.

She doesn't like the 25 billion dollars in US taxpayers money spent in the War inside Colombia. ( Plan Colombia ) with few results and three kidnapped American Defense contractors. ( There may be 2,500 defense contractors there )


'Privatizing' war is not only the logical extension of the Bush Administration's mania for contracting everything out to the private sector; it also shields the White House's activities from the U.S. Congress. 'My complaint about the use of private contractors,' says U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsy (D-Il), 'is their ability to fly under the radar to avoid accountability.'



http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local ... 42858.html




A few excerpts from the CBS Article :

Congresswoman Schakowsy Eyes Larger Political Role



(AP) WASHINGTON Jan Schakowsky can talk with gusto about economic justice and the details of campaign fundraising in the same breath. She will suggest impeachment for President Bush and also discuss the reality that her husband may soon end up in prison. And she instantly turns teary recalling a daughter-in-law's death.

After a life full of battles as a consumer advocate, a state lawmaker and now a four-term Illinois congresswoman, Schakowsky is campaigning to take a critical step up the Democratic leadership ladder in the House.

If she is successful, she will be the No. 4 Democrat in the House -- vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, a position without any clear-cut duties but plenty of clout.

From that pedestal, she can see herself doing more for her district that takes in part of Chicago and its northwest suburbs, raising more money for Democrats everywhere and possibly putting herself in line to become speaker of the House, someday.

Schakowsky said her goal is not to be speaker -- after all, she has close friend Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, ahead of her -- but she wants to be prepared for lightning to strike, as it did for Rep. Dennis Hastert, the Illinois Republican who's now speaker.

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During her relatively short time in Congress -- she's only finishing up her seventh year -- she has become chief deputy whip, helping the Democratic leadership round up votes for crucial roll calls. Her quick rise has been aided by her early support of Pelosi and her status as one of the caucus' most hardworking national fundraisers,

She's also been an active member of the Progressive Caucus and one of the Bush administration's loudest critics on Iraq and health care issues.

Now she wants one of the four elected leadership posts in the House Democratic organization. The election could come in a month or a year, depending on whether a resignation opens up the slot early.

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As to what a Democratic House could do, Schakowsky makes clear that it should investigate the Bush administration and its handling of the Iraq war.

"I think this administration will be looked at as the worst in the history of our country and that lying about an intern pales in comparison to lying about going to war, that it warrants at least consideration of impeachment," she said. "That only happens if we're in the majority."

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Vicente Duque

We fought hard against CAFTA while you cheered for it. I have asked that we stop all Free Trade Agreements, because they are not Free and they are not Fair. You should yell at your leaders like we do ours. However, it seems that we are living in a dictatorship and King George wont listen to his people and calls our Constitution "Just a Damned Piece of Paper."

Dear JP :

I guess one of the objectives of a Forum like this one is to change people minds by reasoned and sound explanations.

This Forum has changed my mind a lot.

And yes, we should continue working very hard to avoid the approval of dangerous bills by congresses or assemblies. In the USA and elsewhere.

By "dangerous bills" I mean those legislative projects that can cause a lot of unemployment, and in certain poor countries these maladies :

Beggary, Violence, Crime, Agrarian Conflict, Kidnappings.

And finally EMIGRATION.

Remember that one class may push another to emigration. Immigrants to Mexico or Central America may push those countries peoples to emigration via USA.

Every IMMIGRANT was first an EMIGRANT.

There are at least two millions Colombians that have gone to the USA in recent years. This is according to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

If you block MR Bush project of the Andean FTA then you stop the destructive forces that ruin Colombia and force people to emigrate ( because of forced poverty and agrarian violence ! )

The same reasoning is valid for Peru and Ecuador.


More Information on the Andean FTA here :

http://envyronment.com

There you find a big dossier on BioPiracy, Genetic Theft, Patents being prolonged from 20 to 25 years by Big Pharma and Andean FTA. Obstacles and hindrances to Generic Drugs. US Patents for Andean Animals and Plants and for Traditional Indian Knowledge, etc ...

Not to mention the deluge of American Cereals with subsidies of US $100 per ton. That will cause the ruin of Andean Agriculture. More beggars, thieves, murderers, violence, criminals.

And more kidnappings of the 2,500 American Civil Consultants that work in intelligence inside Colombia.

There are three of them already kidnapped. During three years and nobody in the world cares for these human beings, they are parents, sons, grandsons and brothers.

The cost of Plan Colombia for US taxpayers :

25 BILLION AMERICAN DOLLARS !!

That is what you have paid to this date.


Thanks again.


Vicente Duque