May 22, 2006 Inter Press Service
	Fears and Hopes Raised by Free Trade with US -- With just a few days to go before the removal of trade barriers between Guatemala and the United States, social organisations are afraid that living standards in Guatemala will decline, while the government and the business community predict an influx of investment, economic growth, and the creation of thousands of new jobs.
April 29, 2006 The Boston Globe
	In El Salvador, an invasion of American agriculture -- WHEN THE US-backed government and military of El Salvador brutally repressed their people in the 1980-92 civil war that took 75,000 lives, Gregorio Rosa Chavez was one of those who pleaded to the outside world, ''We don't need bullets; we need beans."
March 01, 2006 TheNation.com
	CAFTA's Corpse Revived -- A year ago the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) was a corpse. The Bush Administration resurrected it with the darkest of political sorcery. And now the lumbering beast is growing ever more monstrous--and arousing new controversy.
February 07, 2006 Los Angeles Times
	Trade Accord With U.S. Splits Voters in Costa Rica -- SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — The top two candidates in Costa Rica's presidential election were deadlocked Monday in a race some say has become a referendum on a controversial free trade pact with the United States.
January 11, 2006 CommonDreams.org
	Bush Administration Using Implementation of CAFTA Agreement to Further Expand Corporate Rights in Central America -- January 1, 2006 marked the date that the Bush Administration set to implement CAFTA. However, progress has been frustrated due to the US’s insistence on significant constitutional reforms in the CAFTA countries. Such steps prove that the implementation process – like the negotiations and the ratification of CAFTA – is undemocratic, lacks transparency, and demonstrates the manner by which CAFTA serves only multinational corporate interests.
January 09, 2006 Los Angeles Times
	Anti-trade feelings delay CAFTA -- Growing anti-trade sentiment in several Central American countries has held up a trade agreement with the United States that was slated to launch Jan. 1.
January 05, 2006 IRC Americas Program Commentary
	Central American Public Opinion Balks on Further U.S. Demands -- A key argument used by U.S. transnationals and the Bush administration to pass the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)—that Central American countries themselves needed and wanted the agreement—has broken down on the eve of implementation of the controversial pact.
September 20, 2005 The Wall Street Journal
	Trade Pact Votes May Haunt Lawmakers -- While Hurricane Katrina, gas prices and the Iraq war dominate today's news, many lawmakers are finding that voters also are concerned about trade -- in particular the Central American Free Trade Agreement that Congress passed over the summer in a cliffhanger vote.
September 19, 2005 Americas Program, International Relations Center (IRC)
	After NAFTA—CAFTA and AFTA -- NAFTA was negotiated over a decade ago. Since then, many countries in Latin America have seen the growth of civil society movements in opposition to the NAFTA trade model. The governments of several nations, notably Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, and Uruguay, have criticized the model and urged modifications while emphasizing alternative forms of regional integration like Mercosur. The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) is at an impasse. In this new context, has the United States changed its negotiating style or stance?
August 23, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle
	Trade tribunals must not trump state, local laws -- Our entire structure of representative government abides by the rules of careful checks and balances. NAFTA's trade tribunals are contrary to that system. With no public forum for oversight or accountability, three individuals decide the fate of a nation.
August 21, 2005 New York Times
	U.S. Trade Pact Divides the Central Americans, With Farmers and Others Fearful -- The accord arouses such passions that the Costa Rican president, Abel Pacheco, dismissed all the negotiators and postponed sending it to the legislature for nearly 18 months. Most political analysts say he plans to let the next president deal with the issue, which is already defining the presidential race this winter. ... Nor have Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic passed the accord yet, for similar reasons.
August 05, 2005 National Journal's CongressDailyPM
	Three Anti-CAFTA Republicans Have Road Projects Slashed -- Three House Republicans who loudly opposed the Central America Free Trade Agreement saw their highway projects cut as much as 70 percent, based on figures in the recently passed surface transportation reauthorization conference report. GOP leaders said they held off a vote on the highway bill to squeeze out support for CAFTA, which passed by two votes last week despite 27 GOP defections.
August 01, 2005 Washington Trade Daily
	Politics and CAFTA -- The White House came perilously close last week to seeing the defeat of its much-touted trade agreement with Central America – with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic – pulling out a one-vote win only after three Republicans opposing the trade pact were convinced at the last moment to vote "yes" (WTD, 7/29/05)
July 29, 2005 Democracy Now!
	CAFTA Voting Irregularities -- And that is why, even though the vote has happened, there's one more action for people of justice in the U.S., and that is to call the members of Congress, because there are a lot of them, despite all this beating, who did the right thing, and thank them and keep them buoyed-up and ready to fight on the next agreements, because there's been incredible momentum, public education, new people brought to the fight for the future of finally boxing and burying this failed model. But for those members of Congress who voted wrong, they need to feel it 24/7. We can't let the calls go away once the vote happens. If they voted wrong, they need to get three times more calls and come election time, the job that needs to be lost is theirs. And there are some people on whom we can do that. That's how we win.
July 28, 2005 Washington Trade Daily
	House Clears CAFTA 217 to 215 -- Just past midnight this morning, the House approved by a single vote – 217 to 215 – implementing legislation (HR 3045) for the controversial US-Central America free trade agreement, hours after the President made a rare trip to the Capitol to personally secure the support of wavering Republicans (WTD, 7/27/05). CAFTA links the United States with the much-smaller economies of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
July 28, 2005 commondreams.org
	Democracy Sold Out – CAFTA Approved by Pork and a Hill of Beans -- Tonight, the House of Representatives approved the Central America-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement, CAFTA. Since CAFTA was so damaging to American workers, it wasn’t able to pass on the merits. CAFTA’s passage was bought by an outrageous amount of pork barrel politics, and fake side deals that don’t amount to a hill of beans.
July 25, 2005 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
	White House Barters for Trade Pact Votes -- An administration team scouring the House for votes has been showing more willingness to entertain lawmakers' requests for special breaks.
July 18, 2005 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
	Cafta Is No Cure-All For Central America -- Central America faces a more daunting challenge than Mexico did a decade ago. The countries are far poorer, less educated and more lacking in infrastructure than Mexico.
July 18, 2005 Los Angeles Times
	State Sees Conflict in Trade Pact -- California has since learned, however, that international trade pacts are posing a new threat to the state's authority to pass public health and environmental regulations — a threat that California lawmakers believe will grow only if Congress approves the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement.
July 06, 2005 Washington Post
	CAFTA Reflects Democrats' Shift From Trade Bills -- But a core group of as many as 50 pro-trade Democrats are voting against CAFTA; those lawmakers say the agreement is a step backward on labor standards after years of steady gains under previous trade accords. They complain that the administration failed to consult them during negotiations, taking their votes for granted. And they say past trade agreements were accompanied by increased support for worker-retraining programs, education efforts and aid to dislocated workers -- support that the president has not provided.
July 01, 2005 Common Dreams
	CAFTA Squeaks by Senate, By Tiniest Margin Ever for Trade Bill in History -- In a long awaited move, the Senate late Thursday night barely approved implementing legislation for the Central America Dominican Republic United States Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). CAFTA's approval was assured in the Senate, so this is no surprise. What is a surprise is that it was approved with the least number of votes for a trade bill in recent history. ... But the most important call of the year for global economic justice will be the call to your Representative in the House, where the real battle for democratic trade policy will be pitched.
June 29, 2005 Associated Press
	Labor Department Blocked Cafta Trade Reports, Internal Documents Show -- The U.S. Labor Department kept secret for more than a year government studies that supported Democratic opponents of a new Central American trade deal devised by President Bush's administration, internal documents show. The secret studies, paid for by the Labor Department, concluded that several countries the administration wants to be granted free-trade status have poor working conditions and fail to protect workers' rights.
June 28, 2005 SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
	U.S. trade rep helps powerful drug industry -- When George W. Bush and the U.S. pharmaceutical industry team up in Washington, you know it's bad news for U.S. consumers. Now they are taking their show on the road -- to Central America. ... More than 150,000 protesters in 45 demonstrations in the six CAFTA countries expressed their opposition to this agreement.
June 24, 2005 Global Exchange
	At Long Last, Bush Sends CAFTA to Congress -- In a long awaited move, the Bush Administration finally sent the Central America – Dominican Republic – United States Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) to Congress for approval. With Fast Track in place, a vote could come as early as next week. In response, Global Exchange, an international human rights organization, called on citizens across the country to make their voices heard with their elected officials in opposition to CAFTA.
June 22, 2005 Washington Post
	For CAFTA, Party Pressure and Pork -- Earlier this month, at a closed-door meeting of Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) was blunt: Any Democrat who votes for the Central American Free Trade Agreement will allow an embattled Republican to squirm off the hook and vote no. A vote for CAFTA, she said, was a vote to keep the GOP in the majority. It was a speech that was tough enough to make the party's free-traders cringe, said Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), but both parties are treating the coming showdown over CAFTA like a political donnybrook. Democratic leaders are leaning hard on members to keep defections to a tiny minority, while the Bush administration considers major concessions on sugar crop subsidies and China trade.
June 21, 2005 U.S. Business and Industry Council
	THOUSANDS OF U.S. BUSINESSES URGE BUSH TO SCRAP CAFTA -- The U.S. Business and Industry Council today released a letter signed by 24 business organizations across the country urging President Bush to scrap the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The business groups, which speak for some 8,500 companies in dozens of industries, also called for a new national trade strategy that encourages production and employment in the United States.
June 16, 2005 Public Citizen
	New Public Citizen Report Documents Systematic Bipartisan Betrayals on “Deals” Made in Exchange for Trade Votes, from Clinton’s NAFTA Deals to Bush Deals -- As the Bush administration steps up efforts to obtain congressional approval for the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) NAFTA expansion, Public Citizen released a new report documenting the fate of promises made to members of Congress since 1992 in exchange for their support of controversial trade agreements. A press conference call included former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Esteban Torres (D-Calif.), who supported NAFTA in exchange for unfulfilled, high-profile promises to establish and adequately fund U.S.-Mexico border environmental and development institutions. The report, “Trade Wars – Revenge of the Myth: Deals for Trade Votes Gone Bad,” reveals that of the more than 90 promises made to win trade votes since NAFTA, just 16 were kept.
June 16, 2005 Washington Trade Daily
	House Ways and Means Approves CAFTA -- The Administration went another step toward implementing a year-old US-Central American Free Trade Agreement yesterday with the House Ways and Means Committee approving by a 25 to 16 vote draft CAFTA legislation (WTD, 6/15/05).
June 14, 2005 Bloomberg
	U.S. Senate Committee Moves Toward Recommending Cafta -- A U.S. Senate panel took a step today toward recommending passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement after the Bush administration offered to negotiate concessions to the sugar industry. The Senate Finance Committee in Washington, in an informal, non-binding poll of its members, voted 11-9 in favor of draft legislation the administration submitted. A final version would still have to be refiled to the committee for a formal vote.
June 08, 2005 commondreams.org
	Bush at OAS: Same Old “Free Trade” Tune -- This weekend, foreign ministers and ambassadors of 34 nations of the western hemisphere met in Ft Lauderdale, Florida at the 35th meeting of the Organization of American States. The meeting occurs during a time of major shifts in the relationship of the US with Latin America, particularly the erosion of US domination in the region due to a growing resentment of US double standards on democracy, and the growing rejection of the “Washington Consensus” economic model of corporate globalization in the region.

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