Time to tell Congress:"No More CAFTAs"
Take the Pledge for Trade Justice!
The process of negotiating, ratifying, and implementing so-called "free" trade agreements like the DR-CAFTA is out of control, and the time has come to say "enough is enough!" Congress and all elected officials must demand a new approach and should be required to make their positions on trade clear and unambiguous so that people in the United States will know where they stand. With the Pledge for Trade Justice, we are demanding that our public officials start working toward a more just and equitable system. And there is an alternative. Public officials such as the representatives who have already signed the Pledge are vowing to press this administration and future ones for just agreements that support sustainable development goals and equity for all.
Groups Release Monitoring Report Assessing Impact of CAFTA
Washington DC, September 12, 2006: Members of Congress, solidarity organizations, leaders of the DC-area Salvadoran community, and student and faith-based groups held a press conference to announce the release of a report monitoring the effects of the US-Dominican Republic Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) appeared and made a statement challenging the Bush administration’s current trade policy.
Tell the IMF to drop harmful economic conditions!
Representatives of the Nicaraguan civil society organization
umbrella group Civil Coordinator and Oxfam Spain have announced a six month
campaign against International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions in Nicaragua.
Civil society representatives also travelled to Washington to lobby at the
IMF’s spring meeting. They took with them a letter to the director of
the IMF, Rodrigo de Rato, asking him to make the institution’s policies
in Nicaragua more flexible so that the country has a chance of achieving the
United Nations Millennium Goals of poverty reduction. Adolfo Acedevo, member
of the Civil Coordinator’s economic committee said that the IMF conditions
imposed on the Nicaraguan government have “grave” affects on the
population, 80% of whom live on less than US$2 a day and cannot afford to
pay for their children’s education or proper healthcare for their family.
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Debt in Nicaragua
Nicaragua continues to be one of the poorest countries of the western hemisphere as well as one of the most indebted nations in the world. As of 2001, 45.8% of the population is reported to be living in poverty, affecting mostly rural areas. Within these areas, 25% of the poor are living off of less than a dollar a day. What can be done? [Read More]
HIPC: Not As Good As It Looks!
With what he called, "Nicaragua's best economic news in 25 years," President Enrique Bolaños announced on January 23, 2004, that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank agreed that Nicaragua has taken the steps necessary to reach its completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative. He said that he expected Nicaragua's creditors to cancel 84% of Nicaragua's US$6.5 billion foreign debt. But is HIPC as good as it sounds? [Read More]
Stop the Illegal Water Service Privatization in Nicaragua!
The opening of the bids for the modernization of the management of Nicaragua's water delivery services (ENACAL) was postponed last week, thanks to the active organizing of Nicaraguan organizations such as the National Consumers' Defense Network and the Community Movement along with your sign-on letter (with the names of over 200 organizations from around the world) and your calls and faxes to the Inter-American Development Bank! Nicaraguan activists are now asking for your continued support to turn the postponement into a complete cancellation... [Read More]
DR-CAFTA Approved in US:
How Could It Happen? And What Can We Do Now?
By Kathy Hoyt, National Co-Coordinator, Nicaragua Network
[8/29/05]
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