Guatemala Forum Decries
FTA with US
GUATEMALA - he free
trade agreement between
Central American and the
US has failed to
accomplish all the
supposed fairness and
pledges advocated by its
promoters, participants
at the Social Forum of
the Americas denounced
in Guatemala.
A study made two years
after the pact entered
into force corroborates
the Central American
nations have not been
benefited, rather
damaged considerably,
they sustained.
"The commercial deficit
of Central American and
the Dominican Republic
with the US has
increased, that is, we
buy more and sell less,"
Jorge Coronado, leader
of the network
monitoring the free
trade agreement, told
Prensa Latina.
Coronado indicated this
negatively affects local
producers, mainly small
and medium farmers and
businesspeople, whose
markets run the risk of
disappearing.
The pledged rise in
foreign investment has
not been not
accomplished either, and
the only positive case
is in El Salvador, where
banks of capital were
acquired by US
corporations, he noted.
In commercial terms,
Central America means
nothing for Europe, as
it barely represents
0.34 percent of its
imports, thus
demonstrating the
clearly geopolitical
goals of the initiative.
"The only thing European
transnationals care
about is to compete in
the Central American
market under equal terms
with their US
counterparts for their
own benefit," the expert
complained. |
