United States goes for bilateral pacts given obstacles around the FTAA

WASHINGTON (PL).—The U.S. negotiating strategy is pointing toward sealing bilateral pacts with Latin American countries in reaction to the difficulties facing the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

In that context, the White House announced in Miami – the venue this week of a ministerial conference of the 34 nations involved in the FTAA – the upcoming start of trade negotiations with Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Panama.

The initiative in favor of free continental exchange, which excludes Cuba under pressure from Washington, is confronting numerous obstacles that have already led to the modification of the original objective of 1994, given that now there is even talk of greater flexibility.

Varying speed FTAA or FTAA light are the most frequent definitions in the specialized economic press and in various locations where experts and entrepreneurs are putting the final touches to the statement to be approved by ministers.

According to sources close to the discussions, the draft document contemplates the option of instigating bilateral talks on specific themes, without that implying an extension of the process to other nations included in the FTAA initiative.

The new format, experts note, points toward the basic proposition of achieving the creation of that commercial mechanism by the date anticipated – January 2005 – a difficult one due to the range of aspects pending consensus.

On the other hand, society’s rejection of the above-mentioned scheme is increasingly evident, as organizations with the most varied profile agree that the activation of the FTAA would represent a loss of sovereignty for the Latin America nations.

MIAMI (PL).— In the run up to the meeting, this city was fully equipped to deal with groups opposed to neoliberal globalization. According to representatives of the American Union for Civil Liberties the objective of the massive security operation mounted by the Miami police is to propagate the image that this U.S. city has sufficient capacity to keep demonstrators under control.

More than 5,000 police were ready to repress groups of anti-FTAA protestors gathered here. The measures planned by these forces include the firing of electric darts, wooden bullets and pellet bags.

According to the police authorities, the darts are fired from special equipment, although they remain attached to the weapon by cables, via which electric shocks are transmitted to demonstrators.

While preventing the metal penetrating individuals’ skins, the bags of 25 pellets are enough to cause severe bruising on the bodies of those hit by them.