Stop CAFTA

It took well over a year and plenty of shady deals and backroom threats, but on July 28 the Bush Administration finally achieved the ratification of the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). The broad, cross-border, grassroots campaign to defeat CAFTA helped make it the closest vote ever for a free trade agreement in the House, a narrow 217-215 margin that was an amazing contrast to the 323-99 House vote in favor of the US-Morocco FTA in July of 2004. The Stop CAFTA Coalition and others issued statements denouncing the vote last week and pledging to fight on. Despite their disappointment, anti-CAFTA activists agreed that the movement to thwart this devastating agreement has much to be proud of, having mobilized the overwhelming majority of Democrats to vote against CAFTA. And a closer look at the vote shows just how desperate Bush and his corporate allies were to pass the deal, and just how many dirty tricks they used to make it happen.

Last Wednesday, as the House geared up to debate CAFTA, it appeared that the votes were still very much against them, with some insiders estimating that 223 Representatives were firm CAFTA “No” votes. But President Bush and Vice-President Cheney made a rare visit to the Capital that morning to personally lobby some Republicans intent on opposing CAFTA. They allegedly pushed hard on the national security issue, playing up the role of Central American troops in Iraq and warning that enemies of the US like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would benefit from CAFTA rejection.

Later, Republicans presented a motion that limited the debate on CAFTA to only 2 hours, despite the fact that Fast-Track allows up to 20 hours of debate and Democrats had previously agreed to 8 hours. The rule on limiting debate passed, and around 8:30 the debate began. Perhaps most striking in the debate was the nature by which Republicans continued to play up the specter, should CAFTA be rejected, of communism, violence, demagoguery, and dictatorship in Central America. The repeated invocations of former Sandinista President Daniel Ortega, Cuban leader Fidel Casto, Chavez, the Salvadoran FMLN, and even Che Guevara would have been comical if it didn’t appear that they had an actual effect on some undecided members. The argument that these “fledgling” democracies would devolve once again into civil war was hammered home by Republicans who said, “We can send free trade to Central America today, or we will be sending troops tomorrow.”

When the debate finally ended and the tally began, it still appeared that CAFTA opponents would have the upper hand; as the 15-minute roll call expired, the Nays were ahead by 5 votes. Nevertheless, the roll call remained open passed midnight as Republican leaders, Bush Administration officials, and US Trade Representative Rob Portman did their rounds and negotiated pork-barrel deals for the hold-outs. With all but a handful of votes having been recorded, 10 Republicans, mostly from textile and sugar producing states who were leaning against CAFTA, remained outstanding. Suddenly North Carolina Representative Robin Hayes – the same Republican that had changed his vote to allow Fast-Track to pass 3 years ago – flipped once again, and in a matter of minutes the gavel went down: CAFTA was approved. The switch of Hayes and a few other sugar and textile state votes proved decisive, and responded to the last second protectionist promises by Portman and Bush.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi denounced the horse-trading and arm-twisting that helped secure the vote, calling it a scene out of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Majority leader Tom Delay implied shortly after that specific promises related to the $286 billion highway spending bill had also been made. Perhaps most disturbingly, 2 certain “No ” votes were not registered, the first, by Rep. Charles Taylor who claimed that he had voted against CAFTA but that a machine malfunction lead to his vote not being registered. Rep. Jo Ann Davis also would have voted against CAFTA, but claimed that a storm prevented her from returning from a cancelled Boy Scout Jamboree. Had these votes been registered, it would have resulted in a 217-217 tie, which would have meant defeat for CAFTA unless addition Republicans had flipped.

Ultimately, 15 Democrats went against their party leadership and the intense pressure of labor and the progressive grassroots movement by supporting CAFTA. Pelosi held a closed door meeting with the entire Democratic caucus the day after the vote to discuss these defections, and to reprimand certain members. Meanwhile, a national campaign is already afoot to “punish the CAFTA 15″, with labor and community leaders pledging to go after the sell-outs in next year’s Democratic primaries (see http://workinglife.typepad.com/daily_blog/2005/07/punish_the_caft.html). AFL-CIO president John Sweeney also denounced the CAFTA 15 and threatened to withhold labor support for all Representatives that voted in favor of the deal.

In the end, the close nature of the CAFTA vote suggests that those fighting for a more just form of global trade are indeed winning the debate, and though Bush and company won the vote on CAFTA, as Pelosi suggested, it may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. This is a small concession for the millions of Central American and Dominican poor who will suffer because of CAFTA implementation, but it does offer hope for the future of the Global Justice movement.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal wrote that “Washington’s reluctant approval of a deal that was widely seen in Latin America as tilted in the U.S.’s favor is likely to aggravate the decline of U.S. influence in the region”, and referred to increased “popular opposition to free-market policies espoused by Washington”. Though proponents have been calling the CAFTA vote a necessary step in reviving the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), there is no sign that the hemispheric proposal will more forward anytime soon, especially given that negotiations for the Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) are faltering. Recent uprisings in Bolivia and Ecuador, along with a general shift to the Left throughout Latin America, have derailed both of those negotiations, especially due to disagreements over agriculture and intellectual property rights. Meanwhile, a push to move forward on the Doha round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) failed over the weekend, and negotiations at the WTO in Geneva remained stalled. As activists gear up for the next WTO ministerial in Hong Kong in December, it is likely that the opposition by developing countries to many of the US’s proposals will continue.

Finally, in El Salvador the FMLN party presented a case before the Salvadoran Supreme Court the day after CAFTA passed challenging the constitutionality of the agreement. Social movements throughout the region have pledged to continue the fight against CAFTA, both by monitoring its implementation and by challenging the its most egregious aspects, such as the opening to privatization of basic services. In the US, the Stop CAFTA Coalition and many other organizations and coalitions who fought tooth and nail to prevent CAFTA passage will continue strategizing and working together to oppose CAFTA’s implementation, while also focusing opposition on other pending trade deals like AFTA and the FTAA. Indeed, the successes and gains made in this extraordinary campaign will continue to bolster our movement in the years to come.