"Ten years ago, the membership of LULAC largely supported the North American Free Trade Agreement," says Lesley Ramsey, director of the Texas Fair Trade Coalition, which represents a number of groups opposing the measure.
"This switch indicates that the members of the oldest Latino American civil rights organization recognize the failure of NAFTA as a model for trade policy," Ramsey adds. "They don't want to see it expanded to additional Latin American countries until the shortcomings of NAFTA have been fixed."
LULAC is the largest and oldest Hispanic organization in the United States with 115,000 members throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.
LULAC is concerned that CAFTA, if adopted, will result in a rise of undocumented immigrants to the United States, which ironically could hurt Hispanic American workers.
"LULAC is firmly committed to addressing the issue of equitable and sustainable economic development for Central America," says Gabriela D. Lemus, LULAC's national director of policy and legislation. "If CAFTA is enacted, we fear that we will be trying to stem a tide of desperate undocumented immigrants. The proof lies in the results stemming from the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has more than doubled undocumented immigration from Mexico since its enactment."