Free Republic

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama's agriculture minister resigned on Tuesday, alleging that a proposed free trade deal with the United States could expose the country to bird flu, foot and mouth disease and mad cow disease. Laurentino Cortizo told President Martin Torrijos he feared Panama could be forced to ignore its own food health standards in a free trade deal with Washington. "It worries me enormously that a relaxing of the sanitary measures could put the health and lives of Panamanians at risk," he said in his resignation letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. "Have you analyzed...

WATSONVILLE — The city's food-processing industry has wilted to a shadow of its former self. Only a trio of independent food-processing and cold-storage businesses remains. Ray Rodriguez, 59, owner of Farmers Processing & Cold Storage, a Castroville native and son of field workers, is one. Del Mar Food Products Corp. and BirdsEye are the others. There was a time when the city was so overrun with the likes of Rodriguez that it was nicknamed the "Frozen Food Capital of the World." That was the 1930s and '40s, well before the North American Free Trade Agreement appeared in the early 1990s,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. President Bush went overseas recently to attend a meeting to promote FTAA, Free Trade Areas of the Americas. FTAA is a trade agreement to strengthen and extend NAFTA and parts of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the entire Western Hemisphere, excepting Cuba. It will hand over control to corporate elites, threaten nations' abilities to govern democratically and the people's control over their own communities and land. It is being negotiated in secret. A massive protest occurred wherever President Bush appeared. Some, no doubt, hate the president and the U.S. in...

In a rare endorsement, the Texas Department of Transportation is joining the North America's Supercorridor Coalition Inc., a nonprofit, international organization based in Dallas. The members of Nasco, founded in 1994, aim to develop the highway infrastructure from Canada through the United States to Mexico, particularly the Trans-Texas Corridor, which would widen and expand Interstate 35 into a mega-trade corridor. A press release Wednesday from Nasco and TxDOT said the two will work together to ensure development of the TTC, championed by Gov. Rick Perry. "The Texas Department of Transportation is formalizing its commitment to work closely with Nasco and...

Just as markets tend to overshoot, so does political analysis, and recent commentary on Latin America is exhibit A. Conventional wisdom is that the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and the recent elections in Bolivia late last year indicate that the United States and Latin America have parted company, definitively reversing the positive trends of the 1990s. Some have even accused Washington of "losing" Latin America, as if the region were ours to lose. Certainly, challenges do exist in the hemisphere, some of great consequence, but before we either overreact or, just as harmful, turn our...

   Enterprise Florida representatives are to leave for South America on Wednesday (1/18) to promote trade in Florida, but more importantly to continue Miami's pursuit of the Free Trade Area of the Americas secretariat.    Spearheaded by Gov. Jeb Bush, the delegation will meet with officials in Quito, Ecuador, and Lima, Peru, through Jan. 20.    ..."This is not just a trade mission," said Manny Mencia, Enterprise Florida's senior vice president of international trade and business development. "It is more goodwill and advocacy subjective to promote Miami as the FTAA headquarters" in a region that comprises 800 million consumers with a potential combined...

When the leaders of Mexico, the United States and Canada announced last March that they had agreed on the terms of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, questions were raised as to what would be the scope of this new accord. Was the partnership different from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which went into effect on Jan. 1, 1994? Would it be a continuation of NAFTA? Or would it nullify NAFTA and replace it with a more up-to-date relationship between the three countries? Some of the language used in the documents outlining the partnership reflect new...

NASCO Maintains an Aggressive Focus on I-35 in 2006Endorses Trans-Texas Corridor ConceptDallas, TX -- Interstate 35 received much attention in 2005 with Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announcing the development of the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). The focus on transportation will increase substantially in 2006, as the ultimate alignment of TTC-35 becomes better defined and TxDOT continues to deliver on its commitment to finish projects planned on I-35. Today, nearly 9.5 million people, or about 45 percent of all Texans, live within 50 miles of I-35. This chronically congested interstate requires immediate and continuous attention. Realizing...

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- Guatemala's government -- annoyed by the delay in CAFTA's implementation and the U.S. House of Representative's approval of a wall to keep out illegal immigrants -- announced Tuesday it would seek to strengthen its relations with the Mercosur trading bloc. "The decision to approach Mercosur has been made," Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, referring to bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Guatemalan officials will seek to establish contacts with Mercosur leaders at the upcoming inauguration of Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales, Stein said. Seeking ties with the South...

The Central American Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic is struggling to get on its feet after six Central American countries, including the Dominican Republic, failed to meet a Jan. 1 preliminary start-up date. All CAFTA countries have ratified the agreement with the exception of Costa Rica, El Salvador being the first in December 2004 and Nicaragua the most recent in September 2005. "All countries recognized the Jan.1 date was an ambitious goal and that they might not have completed their implementation process by that time," said Stephen Norton, spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative office. At issue are the "technical changes"...

Six Latin American governments had hoped to start 2006 with a free trade zone that would open the U.S. market to their fledgling industries. Instead, they bogged down in making legal and regulatory reforms, delaying the trade union that was supposed to take effect Sunday. Proponents of the Central America Free Trade Agreement — CAFTA — fear the delay will mean painful business and trade losses in a region of widespread poverty. Countries that made extra investments in their products say the holdup postpones the long-anticipated payoff of access to U.S. markets for sectors such as the struggling textile and...

Regarding Congressman Jim Kolbe's decision not to run for reelection, in a word, "Hallelujah." When someone retires or passes away, we try to say something nice about that person, we downplay his negatives and point out his positives. I would like to do the same for Congressman Jim Kolbe, but I really don't have the time to do that much research, other then to say, I wholeheartedly approve of his decision to leave Congress. I'm sure Kolbe will be missed by Mexican President Vincente Fox, he is one of the best members of Congress Mexico has ever had in the...

In the aftermath of the 2005 Summit of the Americas, the clash between two giants has reached full swing. Mexico and Venezuela, both within the top five economies in Latin America, are in the midst of an escalating diplomatic conflict in which they have recalled their ambassadors—a rare diplomatic move for Latin-American countries. It’s the resounding clash between two competing visions for Latin America, and this time, it’s not Venezuela vs. the U.S. Rather, it’s Venezuela vs. Mexico—or, more precisely, Chavez against those in Latin America who favor free trade. The dispute climaxed when the Venezuelan president called Mexican president...

[The following is an editorial appearing in the Herald on November 8, 2005, followed by a letter to the editor]OUR OPINION: HOPES FOR IMPROVEMENT IN LATIN AMERICA DEALT A SETBACK To judge from conventional wisdom, President Bush's trip to Latin America was a flop. Mr. Bush failed to gain ground on a free-trade agreement, and he was greeted by riots in Mar del Plata, Argentina, while U.S.-bashing President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela basked in the limelight of popular adulation. In this case, however, conventional wisdom is dead wrong.The trip may not have been a great victory for Mr. Bush and...

‘I-69 is dead’ State, federal officials disagree on status of road By Matt Whittaker The Monitor WESLACO, November 9, 2005 — There are not enough federal dollars for an Interstate highway to the Rio Grande Valley, state officials said Tuesday “I-69 is dead in the state of Texas,” Texas Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton told about 75 area city officials and business leaders at a lunch discussion about transportation issues. “The road fairy has been shot.” But federal lawmakers said the project to create an Interstate linking major commercial centers in Mexico, the United States and Canada is still alive and...

On November 4-5, the fourth Summit of the Americas took place in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The heads of state of the hemisphere’s democratic countries met to discuss economic, political, and social issues – and to lose another opportunity to create a new and healthier relationship between the United States and its Latin American neighbors.Indeed, the Summit amounted to nothing more than an outsized photo opportunity. No important issues were resolved, and no progress was made on the many topics that increasingly divide the countries of Latin America and the US. In particular, no progress was made on the creation...

President Bush delivered a tough speech today aimed at Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, calling on Latin America to chose between two competing futures -- an American-supported "vision of hope" versus another that "seeks to roll back the democratic progress of the past two decades." Such a democratic retrenchment, the president said, would be "playing to fear, pitting neighbor against neighbor, and blaming others for their own failures to provide for their people." Mr. Bush did not mention Mr. Chavez by name. But his barbs at the populist president were clear, and were in effect Mr. Bush's response to the...

BRASILIA (AFP) - US President George W. Bush ramped up his efforts to curb Venezuela and Cuba's clout in Latin America, accusing them of trying to "roll back" fragile democratic and free-market gains in the region. Amid concerns in Washington that poverty may enhance the appeal of anti-US, economically populist messages, Bush said in a speech that "ensuring social justice for the Americas requires choosing between two competing visions." "One offers a vision of hope. It is founded on representative government, integration into the world community, and a faith in the transformative power of freedom," he told student, diplomats and...

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina - President Bush faced harsh criticism from Latin American presidents over a free-trade proposal, but no clear winners and losers emerged. There were no clear winners or losers after the Fourth Summit of the Americas ended here Saturday: President Bush and 33 other leaders of the region wound up the two-day meeting brutally divided over a hemisphere-wide free trade zone first proposed in Miami more than a decade ago. Although the summit was supposed to have focused largely on the issue of job creation, the Free Trade Area of Americas dominated the debate, with Bush pushing...

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina – President Bush pressed his free trade agenda on Friday at the opening session of a hemispheric summit in the face of a challenge by Venezuela's leftist leader Hugo Chavez and street violence by anti-American protesters. The disagreement between Bush and Chavez over trade unfolded against the backdrop of a daylong protest that turned from peaceful to unruly and lawless by evening as about a thousand rock-throwing militants burned an American flag and threw a gasoline bomb that ignited a blaze in a downtown bank at this seaside resort of 600,000. Argentine police responded with tear...