Quito – Parliamentarians from some Latin American countries on Wednesday rejected the Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) for the region.
The move came after a two-day debate on the FTAA by the 33
parliamentarians from Mexico, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, El Salvador, Venezuela and Colombia.
In a declaration issued in Quito, the parliamentarians called on the governments in the region to withdraw from the FTAA negotiations. Instead they should strengthen present trade blocs operating in Latin America and the Caribbean, namely the Andean Community (Ancom), the
Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
The parliamentarians pointed out the FTAA formula will favor an indiscriminate free trade policy which they think would reduce the rights of workers, affect consumer protection, increase public indebtedness and endanger conservation of natural heritage.
The parliamentarians also opposed economic globalization, saying it would adversly affect the peoples in the region.
They said this new trade system would maintain Latin American countries in a role of raw-material exporters and “prevent the development of our nations”.
The parliamentarians stressed the need to form a regional bloc to negotiate with economic powers to win better trading conditions for Latin American countries. They also urged the creation of a commission of Latin American and Caribbean parliamentarians to monitor the continent-wide debate on FTAA and ensure that the FTAA negotiations comply with the mandate of the representatives of each country.
FTAA promotes privatization of public sectors such as water, health, social security, education, electricity, oil and communications, thus turning citizens into consumers of goods and services provided by transnational firms.
The parliamentarians warned at the end of the meeting that the initiatives proposed by the United States, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and FTAA seek to keep US hegemony over other American countries.
“The United States wants to win an 800-million-consumer market for its companies and consolidate the regular flow of resources from the continent to its own territory,” they argued.
