Florida Adoption Agency Accused of Buying Children
At least three women whose children were found in a house leased by a Coral Springs, Florida,  adoption agency have admitted receiving money in exchange for their children, according to officials here and in Guatemala investigating a baby-trafficking ring.

In one instance a woman received the equivalent of $630 for her 30-month-old son, according to a report from the Attorney General's Office here.

The sum is less than a month's rent on the house, which was leased in August and run by International Adoption Resource Inc. of Coral Springs. The lease agreement, obtained by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, was signed by Rebecca K. Thurmond, IAR's executive director.

Thurmond has declined all interviews. Through an attorney, she vehemently denied the allegations of baby selling.

The attorney, Cheryl R. Eisen of Boca Raton, acknowledged this week that IAR arranged for Guatemalan women who wanted to give up their babies to come to Costa Rica and stay at the house while the adoptions were processed by private attorneys. >complete story
 

CAFTA: Negotiations in Washington
A careful U.S. strategy based on leaving for the last minute the hottest issues of the Free Trade Agreement with Central America (CAFTA) in the most recent negotiations in Washington prevented Costa Rica from accepting the terms that the other Central American nations agreed upon.

Because the U.S. had pointed out that this would be the last round of negotiations before the signing of the CAFTA, the delegates from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala accepted the terms.

They did so even though it was not for the best of their interests and would eventually affect some of their key sectors, according to sources in Washington.

Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Commerce Alberto Trejos and his team of negotiators and their U.S. counterparts agreed that the remaining agenda was too complex as to be speedily addressed and decided to further discuss it next month.

While several sectors in the other Central American countries criticized their negotiators for their acceptance of the terms without further analysis, the Costa Rican team was cheered for their efforts to obtain the best possible terms, in spite of the pressure brought to bear upon them by the U.S. delegates..
 

CAFTA: Deal May Hang on Single Vote in Congress
Regina Vargo, the lead US negotiator for the Central American free trade agreement, was unusually blunt last week.

Talking about the deal's prospects before Congress, she said: "The common wisdom is that Cafta will be determined by one vote, and in this case the common wisdom is probably right."

But the deal concluded on Wednesday with four Central American countries has been crafted by the US in an effort to ensure the vote next year is a yes.

The congressional decision will be a critical one. While Congress last year approved deals with Singapore and Chile, the Cafta is the first agreement conceived and negotiated by the current Republican administration. It will face strong opposition from Democrats who say the US should not be entering trade deals with low-wage countries that have few protections for workers.

But analysts say the smaller bilateral agreements now favoured by Robert Zoellick, US trade representative, can be tailor-made to address US political sensitivities.

"The asymmetry in the power relationship is so profound that these countries basically have to take whatever the US offers," says Jon Huenemann, a former assistant US trade representative.

While the deal would open Central American markets to the US financial services, telecommunications and information technology industries, it maintains US import restrictions where they are needed to avoid alienating US lawmakers from states with import-sensitive industries.

Costa Rica, the largest Central American economy, balked at that compromise, saying it could not meet US demands on telecommunications and insurance. The US chose to proceed with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Democrats and their labour allies are concurring with John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO union federation, who said opponents should do "everything in our power to defeat this deeply flawed agreement".

Gaining the crucial one-vote margin will require the support of southern Republicans with close ties to the sugar and textile industries - which are two of Central America's most important exports but are among the most import-sensitive US products.
 

FTA with Europe
In Italy, Costa Rica took the first steps leading to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union.

Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Tovar and his Central American peers signed an agreement for political dialogue and cooperation with the European Union (E.U.), which the Costa Rican official defined as preparation for more ambitious projects, such as the FTA.

In May 2005, the E.U. will increase from 15 to 25 member nations, thus becoming the leading world industrial and trade power, and therefore Central America would be in a privileged position to negotiate with it, Minister Tovar pointed out.