Omar
persuasively made the case that while there is more funding for CAFTA-related
trade each year, the same labor violations continue to occur. Judges’
education on labor laws or labor union access to lawmakers has not changed.
Omar’s talk convinced me that entrepreneurs and private organizations in these
countries are rich and dangerous, which is compounded by the U.S. government
wanting to strengthen labor laws that are not even currently recognized.
During the question-and-answer, he pointed out that attacks on trade unions are
just as bad as those in Colombia, with seven labor leaders dead and six
accused criminally throughout Central America. The union movement is, however,
not as strong as it is in South America.
When
asked, Omar gave three reasons for why the CAFTA referendum still passed in
Costa Rica:
- People
didn’t understand the extent of the economic impact it would have and weren’t
informed of it. - Even
with organizations against CAFTA, the referendum was put up so quickly that
opposition parties and organizations did not have enough time to organize
against it. - Fear of the U.S. government– the
White House released a statement
the day before the elections threatening to never negotiate again with Costa
Ricans if the referendum did not pass; the Commerce Dept. also said it would
only do business through CAFTA. However, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid later said
that Congress would have to withdraw the agreement for there to be any validity
in either statement.
Plus, opposition only lost the referendum by 3.8 percent of the electorate
– not at all a large number, or one that could not have been persuaded
otherwise had it not been fast-tracked through the electoral system. Omar pointed out that 30,000+ people have lost their jobs since the inception of
CAFTA. We need to take a closer look at how the $30 million going towards Central America from the U.S. is spent.