[www-features] POSTED (revised): CAFTA Passed in Guatemala Amid Clouds of Tear Gas

[Joshua Breitbart]

posted

At 10:54 PM -0500 3/15/05, Matt Wasserman wrote:
>I've made some changes per the suggestions of John and BHT. Hope this
>works for everyone.
>Image:
>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/rdonlyres/0B43AA5E-DDA9-4B09-B036-F8FEC804CD86/67641/8657A50B02E0491EA0955AB88380B6F5.jpgCENTRAL 
>AMERICA: FREE TRADE/REPRESSION
>
>CAFTA Passed in Guatemala Amid Clouds of Tear Gas
>
><p>The <a href="http://ftaaimc.org/or/topic/cafta/"> Central American Free
>Trade Agreement(CAFTA)</a>, a  precursor to the <a
>href="http://ftaaimc.org/or/">Free Trade Area of the Americas(FTAA)</a>
>and an extension of the existing North American Free Trade Area, was
>passed by the legislature of Guatemala on Thursday, March 10. Massive
>anti-CAFTA <a href="http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/">protests</a>
>in Guatemala City had delayed the vote on the treaty, but CAFTA was
>finally passed with <a
>href="http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=112057">thousands
>of police</a> surrounding the Guatemalan congress and tear gas wafting
>throughout downtown.</p><p>Guatemala joins <a
>href="http://www.stopcafta.org/article.php?list=type&type=9">ElSalvador</a> 
>and Honduras in having approved the treaty, leaving the
>legislatures of the United States and Nicaragua yet to pass it. The
>Dominican Republic has signed but not yet approved an identical treaty,
>while Costa Rica, one of the five "target countries" for CAFTA, <a
>href="http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/Solidarity%2012/caftanegotiations.html">refused</a>
>to sign it in December. A <a
>href="http://ilfb.aghost.net/index.cfm?show=4&id=13824">hearing</a> on
>CAFTA, the first step in congressional approval of the pact, will be held
>in the U.S. Senate on April 6.</p><p> Hugo Chavez, president of 
>Venezuela, has expressed hopes that the FTAA
>is effectively<a
>href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/07/294623.html">dead</a> and has
>proposed a <a
>href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/docs.php?dno=1010">Bolivarian
>Alternative for the Americas</a>.</p><p><a 
>href="http://www.stopcafta.org/">Stop CAFTA</a> | <a
>href="http://ftaaimc.org/or/">FTAA IMC</a> | <a
>href="http://www.citizen.org/trade/index.cfm"> Global Trade 
>Watch</a>                            -Matt
>
>
>
>
>
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