Is Latin America Resisting Free Trade Agreements with the US?
June 5, 2006; “Peru markets rally on Garcia win, but Wall St wary” by Walker Simon

Following ex-president Alan Garcia’s win over Ollanta Humala, widely viewed as the nationalist candidate in the race for Peru’s Presidency, hopes are high for the implementation of the Peru-US Free Trade Agreement. Humala opposed the Peru-US free trade pact, advocating instead greater state control of the economy, much as neighbors Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia have recently done.

Peruvian farm, union, and student organizations had opposed the Free Trade Agreement with the US for fear it would damage their agricultural sector. Peruvian protestors believe  the US agricultural sector will have a competitive advantage in Peru and in the region overall. In general, Latin American worker unions believe US free trade agreements will cause less worker rights and protections.

Following Costa Rica’s recent presidential elections, Garcia’s victory is seen as a major victory for supporters of the regional free trade network. Six of the seven CAFTA member states have already approved the trade agreement, however, Costa Rica’s legislature has yet to ratify the agreement. President Bush signed the bill into US law in August 2005 and the US is eager to fully implement and extend the pact to the region. According to Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, “…regional leaders must implement economic policies that foster social development, opportunity, and hope for their citizens” in order to strengthen their democratic institutions and become part of US trade agreements.

November 2005 through the end of 2006 is widely viewed as a critical period for Latin American democracy and development. Twelve of the region's 20 countries are set to hold presidential elections. Recent presidential elections have frequently resulted in left-wing governments such as in Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. The political left in Latin America, however, is divided into two parts. One side wants to keep their current socialist economic structure as demonstrated by Chile’s government, while the other intervenes and even blocks new economic changes as carried out by President Chavez in Venezuela. Consequently, this presents the US with good and bad news as it hopes to extend the Free Trade Agreement to all of Latin America and the Caribbean.