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April 13, 2006
Bush Signs NAFTA-Style Deal With Peru
Yesterday President Bush signed a "free trade" agreement with Peru. This agreement is the exact same failed NAFTA and CAFTA model - guaranteed to cost more good paying jobs, making more farmers bankrupt and give more power to corporations to use international trade tribunals to attack environmental laws. The deal has seen widespread opposition in Peru. After the first round of the presidential elections there on Sunday April 9th, the leading two candidates who will likely face each other in a run-off - and whose parties will make up the largest bloc in the new congress - have both campaigned in opposition to the trade agreement. But the Bush administration and the outgoing Peruvian president signed the deal three days after the election, and are attempting to ram it through before the new Peruvian president and congress can take office.
The U.S. Congress can stop this dangerous flaunting of democracy by voting against the deal, so we need to speak up loudly now.
TAKE ACTION: CALL NOW!
1) Call the U.S. Capitol at (202) 224-3121.
2) Ask to be connected to your representative.
3) Tell them you think a NAFTA style U.S.-Peru deal is a bad idea.
4) Ask for their position.
After you've called, please, tell us what they said by clicking this link:
http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2538
This is critical to our ability to hold Congress accountable.
Don't know who your representative is? Click here to find out: http://action.citizen.org/getLocal.jsp
Global Trade Watch hosted a press conference call yesterday to highlight Peruvian opposition to the deal. On the call, Peruvian Catholic Archbishop Pedro Barretto, told reporters, “The impact of the FTA will lead to increased social unrest…furthering the corruption we already have in Peru.”
Read More About the Peru Agreement Signing
Miami Herald:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/14330102.htm
Bloomberg Wire Service:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=azcDidDJCq1M&refer=latin_america
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U.S.-Peru Talking Points
* More NAFTA will be bad for our economy. With the highest trade deficit ever, and ever more outsourcing, we can't afford any more NAFTA-like trade deals. We need to change this broken trade model!
* Why are there no enforceable labor standards? Peru's president suggested including workers' rights in the deal, but the Bush administration rejected that idea.
*The U.S.-Peru deal threatens the upper Amazon basin, the most biodiverse area on earth: AFTA’s investment rules could allow foreign investors to challenge environmental laws, a process which could chill future efforts to protect the environment.
For more info about U.S.-Peru and the Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), click here:
http://www.citizen.org/trade/afta/
(VIA PUBLIC CITIZEN)
Posted by cat at 02:52 PM