Nicaragua Doubts CAFTA Kindness
The announced benefits that the Free Trade Agreement between Central America and US (CAFTA) have remained in doubt here Tuesday, during the presentation of a study on the impact of the agreement in Nicaragua.

With CAFTA, farmers will have to migrate to the cities for jobs, admitted one of the authors of the investigation sponsored by the United Nations Program for Development (UNPD).

The study by Mario Sanchez and Rob Vos was sponsored by the Ministry to Foster Industry and Trade (MIFIC).

Both authors said rural zones will not be benefited by the commercial agreement, which started in Nicaragua in April 2006.

That conclusion is based on the fact that main investments promoted by CAFTA are in the textile sector and urban assembly plants, where cheap handicraft is hired, with scarce professional training.

Local economist Israel Benavides from the University of Commercial Sciences, however, refused to accept this, and advocated for implementation of a policy oriented to develop the sector.