Chavez expressing skepticism on FTAA, with 25 other nations

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Article by: AP                                           
Wednesday 12 Dec 2001
                       
Summary:With host President Hugo Chavez expressing the strongest
skepticism, 25 Caribbean basin nations questioned the benefits of the
U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas for their cashed-strapped
economies.

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Article:
The Associated Press, Wed 12 Dec 2001 

PORLAMAR, Venezuela (AP) — With host President Hugo Chavez expressing the
strongest skepticism, 25 Caribbean basin nations questioned the benefits of
the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas for their cashed-strapped
economies. 

At a summit of the Association of Caribbean States on Tuesday, leaders
insisted on a level playing field in a free trade zone where the average
citizen in the poorest country — Haiti — lives on less than $4 a day, while
the average U.S. citizen earns more than $90 a day. 

Predicting the FTAA will further impoverish Caribbean countries, Chavez
proposed that Caribbean nations consider an alternative to the FTAA, which
takes effect in 2005 and will extend from Alaska to Argentina. 

The two-day ACS summit on Venezuela\'s Margarita Island also addressed the
region\'s lifeblood tourism industry, transportation problems among island
states and preparing for natural disasters. 

Many Latin American and Caribbean countries complain that developed
countries maintain trade restrictions to protect their own industries but
want greater access for their own products in poor countries. 

Barbados\'s prime minister, Owen Arthur, urged the three largest members of
the ACS — Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela — to promote preferential
treatment for their more vulnerable associates during FTAA negotiations. 

Colombian Andres Pastrana assured that his country ``is and will be
supportive of small economies during the FTAA negotiations.\'\' 

But disagreements over the FTAA emerged. 

Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez, a free trade enthusiast, said
eliminating trade barriers would let his country export sugar to wealthier
markets. Costa Rica expects a recent free trade treaty with Canada to boost
its sugar quota with Canada to 40,000 tons within seven years. 

Responding to Rodriguez, Cuba\'s Fidel Castro countered that free trade
would only deepen the dependence of poor countries on imports from richer
nations. 

``We march toward a world in which trade barriers are disappearing. I
wonder how long the beans that Mexicans eat will be Mexican?\'\' Castro asked. 

Cuba — as the only communist country in the Western Hemisphere — is barred
from FTAA negotiations. But Castro thanked his fellow Caribbean leaders for
reaching out, an effort he said helped the communist island survive under
four decades of U.S. economic sanctions. 

ACS leaders are expected to condemn the trade embargo in their final
statement, to be signed Wednesday. Caribbean leaders are also expected sign
a pact to protect the environment while promoting tourism. Many criticized
industrialized countries that transport toxic waste through the Caribbean Sea. 

``What would become of us without the crystalline waters and white sands of
the Caribbean Sea?\'\' said Dominican Republic President Hipolito Mejias.
``This association should not sacrifice any efforts to ... regulate and
prevent the traffic of nuclear waste through the Caribbean Sea.\'\'