From CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/...fta/index.html

No doubt the passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement is a victory for G.W. Bush; "[Bush] campaigned aggressively for the accord he said would foster prosperity and democracy in the hemisphere". He also said the deal "is critical to national security". --AP, Arizona Daily Star

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I'm pissed.
Opinions?

I really don't know enough about it.

This says it all doesn't it?

"House leaders held the vote open for an hour -- well past the normal 15-minute voting time -- as they rounded up enough votes to win."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/cafta/ Short description of CAFTA with a conservative bias.

http://www.wola.org/economic/cafta.htm There's a short description with a slightly liberal bias.

http://www.doublestandards.org/solo7.html Goes a into a little more detail as to why CAFTA should be confronted.

I'll read up on those... Thank You

I'll read up on it, but I really appreciate your opinions. What troubles you about it?

The same things that have always troubled me about free trade; worker exploitation (especially of the women workers), environmental exploitation, indigenous exploitation, the desruction of culture, etc. Of course all this leads to other problems, i.e. poverty, immigration, prostitution, stravation, illness, suicide, etc.

What I hate most of all is the lies and deception. CAFTA won't help shit in Central America, just the upper-class and American businessmen.

Yep. The last sentence of the second link says: "Analysts expect that--as occurred in Mexico--CAFTA will attract foreign direct investment and boost Central American exports in certain sectors, but will provide little benefit to the rural and urban poor of the region."

That's hot garbage. But would expect anything else?

Not from a bill that Bush agressively pursued. I also read on that link that the similar NAFTA took seven years to formulate and pass, yet CAFTA was completed in a calender year...seem strange to anyone?