Foes in Central America Stall CAFTA
By Evelyn Iritani, Times Staff Writer
Growing anti-trade sentiment in several Central American countries has held up a trade agreement with the United States that had been slated to launch Jan. 1.
Some experts said a delay could pose problems for the Central America deal, given the rising skepticism about free trade across Latin America.
CAFTA has become a hot issue in the campaign for next month's presidential election in Costa Rica, the only country that hasn't ratified the agreement, and anti-trade sentiment is running high in several countries that have yet to complete the legal changes necessary to put the trade pact in place.
Some countries are balking at the requirement that they put more teeth in their intellectual property laws.
Health activists say these changes, pushed by U.S. high-tech and pharmaceutical firms, will make it harder to get low-cost generic medicines needed to treat AIDS.
Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein complained recently that U.S. pharmaceutical firms were holding up his country's CAFTA entry in an effort to force his government to make further changes to its laws.
During an interview last month with Associated Press, he said Washington seemed "only interested in our money and commodities."
He also said his government had decided to strengthen its ties with Mercosur, a regional trading bloc formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
"I think the months ahead will tell the story of what the price was domestically in other countries to get CAFTA passed," said Todd Tucker, research director at Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, an activist group in Washington critical of CAFTA. "So far, it seems pretty high."
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