[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 102 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H6410-H6411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LACK OF SUPPORT FOR CAFTA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I am on the floor again 
tonight. I have been speaking against CAFTA. I have joined my friends 
on both the Republican side and the Democratic side who feel that CAFTA 
is not good for the American workers and not good for the American 
people and certainly does not help those in Central America.
  And tonight I want to take just a few minutes and insert for the 
Record the entirety of a letter from seven members of the general 
assemblies down in five of the countries that are opposed to CAFTA.
  Mr. Speaker, the gentleman that I met recently is from El Salvador, 
and this was at a conference last week that the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Brown) and I attended, Interfaith Council of Protestants, 
Catholics, and also one rabbi to speak in opposition to CAFTA.
  Let me just give the first introductory statement. It says: ``Dear 
Members of the United States Congress, the CAFTA market has fewer than 
9.2 million people who can buy U.S. goods.''
  Now, this is a long letter. It is signed by seven members of the 
Central American assemblies, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and 
Honduras.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to go to the last paragraph of the letter from 
those members of the elected bodies of those countries. And this is 
what it says in the close of their letter, not mine, but their letter: 
``CAFTA is a bad trade deal because it puts the interests of 
international corporations ahead of the welfare of the working poor and 
the poor in Central America. If CAFTA is approved, the social 
instability that CAFTA supporters like to use as a reason for approving 
the agreement will come not from outside forces, but from the pressures 
created by the millions of displaced workers who will fall further into 
poverty.''
  It is time to say ``no'' to CAFTA and begin negotiating a new trade 
agreement that takes into account the region's need for development and 
real opportunity for its citizens. We respectfully ask you for your 
support of our people and vote ``no'' on CAFTA.
  Mr. Speaker, again this is from seven people from different countries 
who represent their people in Central America who are opposed to this 
agreement.
  Let me now go, in the few minutes I have left, to a joint statement 
concerning the United States Central American Free Trade Agreement by 
the Bishops' Secretariat of Central America and the chairman of the 
Domestic and International Policy Committees of the United States 
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
  And let me just make a few points that they make in their long letter 
of opposition. First it says: ``In light of the values and principles 
that we have outlined as well as the situation of the people, we 
express some of our specific concerns about the potential impact of 
CAFTA on our countries, especially in Central America.''
  I am going to just read a few points: ``There has not been sufficient 
information and debate in our countries about the various aspects of 
CAFTA and its impact on our societies.'' Another point: in the area of 
agriculture, there is insufficient attention given to such sensitive 
issues as the potential impact that U.S. farm supports on Central 
America farm products. It seems like that poor farming communities in 
Central America will suffer greatly when subsidized agricultural 
products from United States expand their reach into these markets.
  Another point made by the bishops: while certain labor and 
environmental provisions are included in the agreement, it is not clear 
that the enforcement mechanisms within CAFTA will lead to stronger 
protections of fundamental worker rights and the environment.
  Then there is one other point that I want to read, Mr. Speaker. This, 
again, was from the Catholic Bishops of Central America and the 
Catholic Bishops of America: the treaty will have effects on 
intellectual property rights. The proposed legal framework could 
jeopardize a right of Central American countries to exercise proper 
stewardship of their natural resources.
  Mr. Speaker, I am here tonight because in my State of North Carolina, 
I was not here when NAFTA passed back in 1992, enacted in 1993, but we 
have lost over 200,000 jobs in North Carolina. In the country of 
America, we have lost better than 2.5 million jobs since NAFTA was 
enacted in 1993.
  I did not vote for Trade Promotion Authority. I did not think 
President

[[Page H6411]]

Bush should have it, nor Clinton. I am not for trying to enable the 
Chinese to have all of the manufacturing, all of the moneys, and to 
build their military like they are doing. That is of great concern to 
many Americans in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, to my left there is an article that was in a paper in 
one of my counties in eastern North Carolina about 4 months ago. And it 
says: VF Jeanswear closes plant. Operations performed in Wilson, North 
Carolina, which included fabric cutting and finishing garments will be 
moved to Central America. Quite frankly, it is going to Honduras.
  Four hundred forty-five American citizens lost their jobs. They are 
going to Central America without even CAFTA. I do not know what it 
takes for this Congress to understand that if this country becomes a 
second-rate manufacturing country, then we can place our orders for 
airplanes and tanks from China.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that I do not live long enough to see that 
happen. But I am afraid it is going to happen. CAFTA is not good for 
the American people. It is not even good for the people in these five 
Central American countries. They need to redraw this amendment. I think 
I can support an amendment if it were fair to America and fair to 
Central America.
  Let us bury CAFTA next week or this week, and God bless America and 
our men and women in uniform.
  The letter previously referred to follows:

                                                    July 19, 2005.
       Dear Members of the United States Congress:

  The CAFTA Market Has Fewer Than 9.2 Million People Who Can Buy U.S. 
                                 Goods

       President Bush claims that the CAFTA countries represent a 
     growing market for U.S. goods. Unfortunately, this claim is 
     far from the truth. A document prepared by CEPAL (the 
     Economic Commission for Latin America-United Nations) 
     entitled, ``Development Objectives of the millennium, A 
     Glance from Latin America and the Caribbean,'' June 10, 2005, 
     reveals that of a population of 46 million people in the five 
     Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, 25.6 
     million are poor. Only 20.4 million people are considered 
     non-poor people. These numbers show that the open market of 
     44 million people that Pres. Bush claims will buy U.S. made 
     goods does not exist. The majority of Central Americans are 
     too poor to be able to afford U.S. made goods.
       Furthermore, the majority of those who are considered non-
     poor (20.4 million people), are not secure market for most of 
     the higher end goods and services that the North American 
     companies want to export. This fact has been established by 
     the same study CEPAL which affirms that 20 percent of those 
     46 million people, control more of 50 percent of the income; 
     this can only mean that only 9.2 million people are the real 
     market for U.S. companies. This is the same market that it is 
     already shared with companies of the region, Europe and Asian 
     countries who export to the region.
       The low competitive advantage that companies of the Central 
     American region have (i.e., low technology, high interest 
     rates on financing, low skilled workforce), compared to the 
     U.S. companies, will mean that the majority of small and 
     large domestic firms will be devastated, subsequently 
     generating more unemployment and less purchasing capacity for 
     the rest of the population.
       As in the case of the agro-business products, the level of 
     asymmetry between the subsidized U.S. agro-products, and the 
     non-subsidized Central American products, the situation of 
     displacement is even worse. On its own account, the U.S. 
     Department of Commerce forecast that the present levels of 
     U.S. production will increase by more than 20 billions 
     dollars in the first nine years of the implementation of 
     CAFTA. More exports of U.S. goods to the region, while it is 
     seen as a benefit for U.S. farmers, only means more 
     displacement of the Central American agricultural production, 
     the destruction of the already vulnerable food industry 
     capacity of the region. This further aggravates the levels of 
     poverty and unemployment of million of central American 
     farmers in the region, who are already facing a very 
     difficult economic and social crisis due to the lack of rural 
     development policies by their own governments.
       Therefore based on these facts, we believe the following: 
     CAFTA will only lead to more social instability in the region 
     as more medium and small farmers will lose their livelihoods 
     and become part of the poor population numbers; CAFTA will 
     bring a weakening of the already vulnerable democratic 
     processes in Central America as more people are excluded from 
     the productive sectors of the economy. More exploitation of 
     workers in the formal sectors of the economy will only lead 
     to further social unrest all through the region; CAFTA will 
     only lead to more migration to the U.S. as more people are 
     unable to make a living working on the rural areas, and the 
     jobs perspectives in the cities do not improve. The 20 
     million who are currently poor, and those that will be 
     further displaced, will turn to immigration to the U.S. as 
     the only solution to their economic problems. Just like the 
     U.S. has seen an increase of immigrants from Mexico after 
     NAFTA, more central American will turn to migration to the 
     U.S.
       As Legislative Representatives of the region, who represent 
     a diverse perspective of political views, we respectfully ask 
     you to vote NO on CAFTA. Some of our countries already 
     approved the agreement (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras), 
     others have not (Costa Rica and Dominican Republic); however, 
     in all of the region, there has been real opposition to the 
     agreement with mass protest from all the sectors. And the 
     opposition keeps growing all through the region because this 
     treaty threatens to weaken the already vulnerable democratic 
     institutions that were created during the long conflicts of 
     the 80s.
       Our countries want trade, but not trade agreements like 
     CAFTA that limit the possibilities for our countries to enact 
     policies that will truly develop our economies and improve 
     the lives of our people.
       CAFTA is a bad trade deal because it puts the interest of 
     international corporations ahead of the welfare of the 
     working poor and the poor in Central America. If CAFTA is 
     approved, the social instability that CAFTA supporters like 
     to use as a reason for approving the agreement, will come not 
     from outside forces, but from the pressures created by the 
     millions of displaced workers who will fall further into 
     poverty. It is time to say NO to CAFTA and begin negotiating 
     a new trade agreement that takes into account the region's 
     needs for development and real opportunity to all its 
     citizens.
       We respectfully ask you for your support of our people and 
     Vote NO on CAFTA!
           Sincerely,
     Rep. Salvador Arias,
       National Legislative Assembly, El Salvador.
     Rep. Hugo Martinez,
       National Legislative Assembly, El Salvador.
     Rep. Fernando Gonzalez,
       National Legislative Assembly, El Salvador.
     Rep. Alba Palacios,
       National Legislative Assembly, Nicaragua.
     Rep. Orlando Tardencilla,
       National Legislative Assembly, Nicaragua.
     Rep. Otoniel Fernandez Gonzalez,
       National Legislative Assembly, Guatemala.
     Rep. Doris Gutierrez,
       National Legislative Assembly, Honduras.

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