Cuba Continues to Oppose the FTAA
At the Association of Caribbean States Summit held on Margarita Island, Venezuela last week, Cuban President Fidel Castro once again spoke out against Washington's plans for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). He warned that the recent passing, by a one-vote margin, of fast track trade negotiations powers in the U.S. Congress, which give President Bush unprecedented power to make deals, could be used to destroy the Caribbean region's integration efforts. He reiterated that any free trade agreements must include protection and differential treatment for small economies; otherwise, unbridled free trade would only deepen the dependence of poor countries on imports from richer nations.
The question of how to create a level playing field in a free trade zone in which the average earnings in the richest country are more than 20 times those of the poorest preoccupied the regional leaders at the summit. In addition to the difficult economic prospects facing many Caribbean nations, other countries in Latin America are facing grim times. The Argentinian economy is on the verge of collapse after the latest failure in talks between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF is demanding that the Argentine government cut its spending by a further $4 billion before it will release funds. A further devaluation of the Argentine peso is imminent, which would bankrupt thousands more businesses and households. The government has already introduced drastic measures including converting private pension funds into government bonds in order to make payments on the country's $132 billion foreign debt, implementing controls on bank withdrawals and many other austerity measures. It is reported that consumer spending in Argentina dropped 80 percent last week alone.
In light of this crisis, and the overall high level of poverty and faltering economies across Latin America and the Caribbean, the FTAA poses an extremely serious threat. Prior to the Summit in Venezuela last week, Castro had spoken out against the FTAA at the 10th Sao Paulo Forum in Havana, which brought together more than 500 delegates from 150 left-wing political parties and organizations across Latin America and the Caribbean. In the closing speech to the Forum on December 8th, Castro condemned the FTAA, calling it nothing more than the economic annexation of the region by the U.S. He pointed out that there is no such thing as "free" enterprise or "free" competition and he called on all present to work for unity in opposition to the FTAA.
Two weeks earlier, a Cuban delegation, led by Vice-President Carlos Lage, had participated in the 11th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Governments in Lima, Peru. (Castro did not attend as he was directing recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Michelle). Opposition to the FTAA was one of the concerns addressed at this Summit as well. The efforts of the countries of the region to share common concerns and develop strategies to strengthen their ties is important in light of Washington's efforts to drive a wedge between Cuba and the other countries of the region.