CAFTA Call-In Day Today
May 10, 2005
This Monday and Tuesday, May 9 and 10, the presidents of the countries party to the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) - Oscar Berger (Guatemala), Abel Pacheco (Costa Rica), Leonel Fernandez (Dominican Republic), Elias Antonio Saca (El Salvador), Ricardo Maduro (Honduras), and Enrique Bolaños (Nicaragua) - will tour the U.S. to promote CAFTA. As part of the transnational business/government pressure to ratify CAFTA in the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will be sending different presidents to the following ten cities:
- Albuquerque, NM
- Birmingham, AL
- Charlotte, NC
- Cincinnati, OH
- Memphis, TN
- New York, NY
- San Diego, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Miami, FL
- Tampa, FL
Efforts to lobby for the ratification of CAFTA in the United States Congress are increasing as a possible vote approaches. We need to let members of Congress know that we do not support CAFTA, and neither should they. Please call your Representatives and Senators on Monday or Tuesday, especially if you are in one of the states where the CAFTA Presidents will be visiting.
ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY TELL CONGRESS TO OPPOSE CAFTA
- Call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and ask to be connected to your Representative (then Senators) - if you cannot recall the name of your Representative, go to www.house.gov and type in your zip code.
- If you are in one of the ten cities on Monday or Tuesday, find out if there are any local demonstrations or other creative events you can go to.
When you call:
- Ask to speak to the trade staffer, chief of staff or legislative director. If none are unavailable, ask for their voice mail, and leave them a message letting them know you oppose CAFTA.
- Tell them you are a constituent and want to know your Rep's position on CAFTA (unless you already know)
- If the Rep is opposed to the agreement and will vote against it, thank him/her. Ask him/her to make that opposition public, and for a letter stating his/her position.
- If the Rep is undecided, say that you oppose CAFTA based on the talking points below (you can offer to email these talking points) and urge them to vote no.
- If the Rep is for CAFTA, urge them to reconsider. Inform the office that you intend to spread the word that the Rep is voting against the public interest.
Some points to make if you speak personally with a staffer:
- If passed CAFTA will threaten the livelihoods of millions of small farmers in Central America and the DR, while increasing domination by agricultural monopolies and hurting U.S. family farmers
- It threatens to prevent access to affordable life saving medicines in a region where half the population live in poverty.
- It will prohibit governments in the region from ensuring that foreign investment serves national development goals, and has a provision like NAFTA's Chapter 11 that would allow foreign corporations to sue governments that pass strong labor, public health or environmental laws.
- It does NOT include adequate enforcement for violations of internationally recognized labor and environmental standards.
- It includes rules that promote privatization and deregulation of services including education, health care, postal service, construction, transportation and water supply. Such policies have proved particularly devastating for families living in poverty.
- CAFTA will pave the way for more trade agreements such as the Andean Free Trade Agreement and the Free Trade Area of the Americas which would extend this flawed model to the whole Western Hemisphere.