FTAA

Venezuela's stand is explained and supported by Deborah James of Global Exchange* (the group sponsoring the tour to Venezuela that I will be on in April)

Venezuelan Position on the FTAA In 1998, Venezuelans elected the Indian- Black son of schoolteachers, President Hugo Chávez. They then voted to elect a Constituent Assembly to write a new Constitution, which was approved in 1999 by over 71% of the vote. Their negotiating position in the FTAA is based on this Constitution. Venezuela’s FTAA position mirrors several key aspects of the social movements’ critiques; that the negotiating process is undemocratic and untransparent; that the agreement would give rights to corporations at the expense of sovereignty and democracy; and that the privatization of services is a death knell for poor people across the region. The Negotiations Process: Undemocratic, Untransparent Venezuela has charged that the process of negotiations has been undemocratic and lacking in transparency and public participation, and has called for an extension of the January 1, 2005 deadline. “Only if the negotiation process is truly transparent for society as a whole; for business sectors; workers; indigenous, cultural, and environmental groups; political parties; parliament, and the press will we be able to assert that we are moving toward an integration that can be considered to be a democratic process.” (FTAA-Trade Negotiations Committee Memo, Venezuela, 8-11 April 2003.) Popular Vote: the People Decide According to article 73 of the Constitution, the government would have to hold a popular referendum on the FTAA so that citizens could decide to approve or not approve it. This commitment to citizens directly voting on the FTAA is exactly the primary strategy of the social movements in the hemisphere. More Equality between Countries In addition, they have argued that the proposed FTAA cannot truly be a fair agreement until the member countries are more economically equal. They have put forward a detailed proposal for the creation of Funds for Structural Convergence. This fund, which has now gained the support of 24 nations, would involve a massive shifting of wealth from the rich countries to the smaller, more vulnerable nations, to ensure that inequalities among countries are reduced.

The rest of the article includes the following topics:

National Sovereignty: the Right to Develop and to Create Jobs
People’s Right to Education: No to Privatization
People’s Right to Health Care, Not Corporate Patent Rights
Right to Food Security: No to Biopiracy
The Bolivarian Alternative: Building People’s Regionalism

Stopping the FTAA: Defending Democracy in Venezuela If we are to achieve our goal, which we must, of stopping the proposed FTAA, we must strengthen our alliances across the continent. We must work together with social movements to assure that governments are held accountable to the demands of the people. And we must ensure that our own government does not, in our name, help destabilize the most committed ally of the social movements at the negotiating table—Venezuela.

*Global Exchange in Iraq:

Global Exchange is now working to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq while helping the Iraqi people achieve their aspirations of creating a democratic country. We are urging the U.S. to hand over the administration of Iraq. And we have set up an Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad to monitor the behaviors of the U.S. military and U.S. corporations in Iraq.

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