CAFTA Opinions across the Board in Nicaragua

With the passage of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) by the US Senate and an upcoming vote in the House of Representatives, lobbying heated up in Nicaragua which also has yet to pass the trade agreement. Organizations representing the wealthiest agriculture and business sectors are pressuring the National Assembly for quick ratification. The Union of Agricultural Producers of Nicaragua (Upanic) announced that it would begin to strongly lobby the Assembly to favor the agreement. The conservative Superior Council for Private Enterprise (COSEP), which represents large business, stated: "The people need to know that DR-CAFTA is a mechanism for helping to solve a large number of problems including development and unemployment in this country."

The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), and progressive civil society groups have expressed opposition to passage of DR-CAFTA based on the inability of Nicaragua's small businesses and farmers to compete with major US producers who are subsidized by the US government. CENIDH is looking at the precedents set in Mexico under NAFTA and questioning how a treaty even more favorable to the US will play out in Nicaragua.

Recent polls show that a plurality of Nicaraguans have been influenced by the unrelenting deluge of propaganda promising that CAFTA will solve all of Nicaragua's problems and usher in a new era of prosperity for all. Of citizens who responded to a recent poll, 48.1% said the National Assembly should pass the treaty, while 34.5% want to see it rejected (and 17.4% declined to answer). The US House of Representatives is expected to vote shortly after the July 4 recess, but as of now, the Bush administration does not have the votes for passage. Now is a critical time to keep the pressure on your Representative. Bush officials are offering public works and other "incentives" to buy the votes of wavering Congress members.