Zoellick Says CAFTA Presents Historic Opportunity
The proposed free-trade agreement between the United States, and the nations of Central America “is the opportunity of a generation” to help spur economic growth and strengthen democratic reforms throughout the region, says U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.

In May 16 remarks at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Zoellick described the trade pact known as CAFTA in the United States and the TLC (Tratado Libre de Comercio) in Central America, as a vital tool for regional development - and as a powerful symbol of the United States’ commitment to its CAFTA partners: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic.

Over the years, the price of neglecting the region has been steep, he warned. But CAFTA offers the United States a chance to maintain closer ties with its regional allies while boosting the region’s competitiveness in the global economy and helping to consolidate Central America’s democratic gains of the past two decades, according to Zoellick.

For this reason, the U.S. debate over CAFTA “is about much more than trade,” he said. It is actually a debate “about the nature of our relationship with these small but important neighbors,” Zoellick argued. “At its root, the debate on CAFTA is fundamentally about America’s role in the world and our relations in this hemisphere.”

In a reference to the U.S. sugar industry, which opposes CAFTA even though the pact would have minimal effect on its profits, he said: “We must decide whether we will sacrifice the strategic interests of the United States and the future of Central America - for a spoonful of sugar.”

He noted that other sectors have voiced opposition to CAFTA, supposedly on the grounds that workers’ rights would be sacrificed. “We must decide whether we will leave hundreds of thousands of Central Americans in poverty and hopelessness - because of the short-sighted protectionism of U.S. labor unions,” Zoellick said. “In short, we must decide whether to promote America’s strategic interests, or its special interests.”

The United States cannot afford to turn its back on the region, he added, because Central America’s hard-won political freedoms could be jeopardized unless they are carefully nurtured. He also cautioned against the false promises of many populist political movements, which have often served to destabilize the region and undermine democratic governance. “The world is watching,” he said. “If we retreat to isolationism, Daniel Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and others like them - autocrats of left or right – will push ahead.”

Of course, “from a strategic perspective, the choice should not be hard,” Zoellick reasoned. “As the elected presidents of Central America and the Dominican Republic explained when they visited eleven cities across the United States before coming to Washington last week, CAFTA matters most to them because it will strengthen the foundations of democracy by promoting growth and cutting poverty, creating equality of opportunity, and reducing corruption.”

In sum, approving CAFTA “is the right thing to do because it will strengthen democracy through economic growth and open societies based on the rule of law,” Zoellick said. “But from a strategic perspective, it is also the smart thing to do for the United States, because we do not live in isolation from what happens in Central America.”