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CAFTA-REACT Jul-29-2005 (690 words) xxxn
Church groups that opposed CAFTA decry its passage by House
By Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Two national Catholic groups that had worked to defeat the Central American Free Trade Agreement decried its July 28 passage in the House.
Network, a social justice lobbying organization, cited media reporting that described the late-night negotiations to flip opposition votes as "resembling the wheeling and dealing on a car lot."
"How apt," said the Network statement, released shortly after the early-morning vote. "This vote was not about people; it was about big business."
Network noted that when the standard 15-minute voting period on the bill had passed around 11 p.m. July 27, the vote stood at 180 against to 175 in favor. The House Republican leadership extended the time limit and supporters of the bill worked to call in members who had missed the vote and to persuade others to change their votes.
When the vote stood at 217 in favor to 215 against shortly after midnight, the vote was closed.
The Senate had passed the agreement by a vote of 54-45 June 30. President George W. Bush has pushed hard for CAFTA to pass, bringing a series of Central American leaders to Washington to lobby on its behalf and visiting the Capitol himself to try to win more votes.
Speaking on the floor before the vote, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., quoted Pope John Paul II in arguing that, "if globalization is ruled merely by the laws of the market applied to suit the powerful, the consequences cannot but be negative."
Stupak said that when CAFTA is viewed through the moral framework suggested by the late pope, "it is clear the agreement does not pass muster." He listed 34 organizations including Pax Christi USA and numerous religious orders that opposed the trade agreement on the grounds that "the poor will get poorer and the rich will get richer."
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops neither supported nor opposed CAFTA, and instead emphasized a series of principles guided by church teaching that the bishops said should guide any trade agreement.
The bishops' concerns echoed the goals Network said its members would continue to seek. They include global agreements that promote five principles of fair trade and investment: respect for the dignity of individuals, care for vulnerable people, transparent negotiations, respect for governments to set their own policies and safeguarding the environment.
Some individual U.S. and Central American bishops lobbied against the authorizing legislation, however.
Bishop Arthur N. Tafoya of Pueblo, Colo., issued a statement July 14 saying that the effects of the governing principles of the free trade regime in Latin America "have not been very favorable (to) poor people and poor nations."
"CAFTA is inconsistent with the principles of our faith and our efforts to build a culture of life," he said. Congress should instead make changes to free trade practice to ensure that it is just and moral, he added.
The group Catholics for Faithful Citizenship said in a July 28 press release that the votes of 56 Catholic members of Congress to support CAFTA "show that they do not understand basic Catholic teaching on this critical issue."
"By passing CAFTA these Catholic members of Congress have put at risk the lives of thousands of Central Americans," said the group's statement. "They have also put at risk the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of Americans."
Network's press release quoted Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini Imeri of San Marcos, Guatemala, who testified in Congress in opposition to CAFTA.
"Currently trade discussions begin by asking how policies will be good for business and economic growth," he said. "We need to ask how trade policies will be good for those who live in situations of poverty."
CAFTA would eliminate trade restrictions among the United States, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Trade representatives from the seven countries signed the agreement in May 2004, but the national legislatures of the countries also have to approve it before it can take effect.
With the U.S. approval, that leaves Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica yet to ratify it. Opposition parties in El Salvador have challenged the legality of that country's ratification in court.
END
Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
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