Costa Rican Economist
Says CAFTA (TLC) Is A
Bad Deal
By Jane Bussey,
MiamiHerald.com
Costa Rican economist
and former presidential
candidate Ottón Solís
spent the spring at the
University of Florida as
the Bacardi Family
Eminent Scholar,
teaching a course on
free-trade agreements in
the Americas at the
university's Center for
Latin American Studies.
His stay was his first
extended living
experience in the United
States, and Solís said
he was impressed with
the level of safety
enjoyed by Americans and
dismayed by the waste in
the consumption of food,
clothing and appliances.
Back in Costa Rica,
Solís said, he is
dedicated to activities
in the left-of-center
Citizen Action Party,
although insiders say
Solís, who lost the 2006
election by less than 1
percent of the vote,
will run again for Costa
Rica's top office.
Solís campaigned against
Costa Rica joining the
Central American Free
Trade Agreement (known
locally as the Tratado
de Libre Comercio
- TLC), which includes
Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and the
Dominican Republic. He
is outspoken about why
he believes the trade
accord with Washington
is a bad deal for Costa
Rica, which is still not
formally a member.
Even without the
preferential trade
agreement, Costa Rica
received more foreign
direct investment than
the rest of Central
America together -- in
part, he said, because
investors are looking
for stability and
better-educated workers,
not just free-trade
rules.
Solís spoke with The
Miami Herald during the
recent Americas
Conference in Coral
Gables.
Q: What is your
thinking about the
current financial crisis
in the United States?
A: The first lesson
to be learned is that
full-fledged trust in
markets as a solution
for everything is over.
The United States must
understand that those of
us who have opposed
free-trade agreements,
[did so] precisely
because we do not think
that free market forces
will lead to maximizing
our welfare.
Q: What should be the
reaction in Latin
America?
A: We need to take
preventive measures. The
U.S. economy is going to
slow down, and that is
our main market. For
many of our countries,
more than 50 percent of
our exports go to the
United States. Many of
our countries get
remittances from workers
in the United States who
might be sacked as a
result of the economic
situation. Foreign
investment from the
United States might also
drop.
We hope that official
lending is available
from international
financial institutions
and also from bilateral
sources to allow
governments to finance.
Q: Your presidential
campaign centered on
opposition to the
free-trade agreement
negotiated with the
United States. How would
you describe your
opposition?
A: There are three
types of Latin
Americans: Those who
fully support free-trade
agreements drafted in
Washington; those who
oppose them fully like
[Venezuelan] President
Hugo Chávez; and those
of us who want
free-trade agreements
with the United States
but who think that the
type of agreements being
promoted so far benefit
mainly multinational
corporations and not the
people of our countries.
Q: What would a
free-trade agreement
look like that would be
good for your countries?
A: An agreement that
would not open our
countries to
agricultural imports as
long as the United
States has farm
subsidies. An agreement
that maintains the rules
of intellectual property
protection of the World
Trade Organization and
no more. An agreement
that would permit
protections for nascent
industries or ones
taking technological
risks. An agreement that
would permit more
rigorous environmental
and labor rules. One
that has symmetry in
government contracts
because only 23 states
in the United States
allow Central American
companies to participate
in their [government]
bidding processes.
Something that we are
worried about in Costa
Rica is that the
free-trade agreement
opens up the production
and commercialization of
weapons.
Q: The United States
has proposed a Pathways
to Prosperity in the
Americas, an effort of
regional cooperation
with the countries --
Canada, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Dominican
Republic, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras,
Mexico, Panama and Peru
-- that have free-trade
agreements with the
United States. What is
its future and what
about the proposed Free
Trade Area of the
Americas?
A: This sounds like
a manifestation of good
intentions. If for
example, the United
States commits to
cooperating with
countries that have
free-trade agreements,
this is little more than
the CAFTA [and the
Dominican Republic]. If
the United States does
things like this, it
throws everyone into the
arms of Chávez, so that
Chávez throws them
money.
CAFTA does not
contemplate a single
cent of cooperation. If
CAFTA is generating
progress, [it] is not
being felt. For this
reason countries are
starting to join
PetroCaribe [an oil
alliance with
Venezuela]. This shows
that promises of
prosperity from the
free-trade agreement are
not true. Why are the
countries of the
[political] left and
right in Central America
all turning to
PetroCaribe?
The [FTAA] is dead.
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