Guatemala City, Guatemala – College students, unionists, shopkeepers and street vendors demonstrated peacefully here Friday to demand that Guatemala not implement the CAFTA free-trade accord linking Central America and the Dominican Republic with the United States.
“We denounce the free-trade treaty for the harm it will inflict upon the great majority of Guatemalans, while only benefiting the government and a few business owners,” said Luis Lara, leader of the National Fighting Front which organized the march.
The demonstrators, who numbered roughly 3,000 according to Lara, marched down a major thoroughfare on the capital’s south side, stopped in front of the U.S. Embassy to burn an American flag and fast-food containers from U.S.-based chains, then continued on to the historic center of Guatemala City.
The police, who had mounted a special security operation, would not speculate on how many protesters took part in the march.
Before arriving at the National Palace of Culture where the protest ended, leaders of the National Front stopped off at the Constitutional Court with a request that the tribunal rule that CAFTA violates the Guatemalan charter.
The trade agreement was ratified last year by the Guatemalan Congress, but has not yet been put into force because this Central American nation still has not complied with all of Washington’s demands.
Lara said that grassroots organizaciones will not allow CAFTA to take effect “because for Guatemalans it means more hunger, more unemployment and more poverty.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative recommended Friday in Washington that CAFTA take effect with El Salvador on March 1, since that country has complied with all the conditions laid down by the pact.
Trade Representative Rob Portman said that the United States will continue working with the other signatory nations so that the agreement can go into effect in a “complete and opportune” way.
CAFTA was signed in 2004 by the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.
All the respective legislatures except that of Costa Rica have ratified the agreement.
Deputy Economy Minister Enrique Lacs said on Thursday that in Guatemala, CAFTA could go into effect as of June 1.
U.S. trade officials are asking the Guatemalan government to carry out legal reforms to open the way for implementation of the CAFTA pact.
Lacs said earlier this year that the United States has asked for progress to be made in modifying the Intellectual Property Law and the Telecommunications Law.
The United States wants protections for pharmaceutical patents and music and film rights, and it is seeking a crackdown on piracy in the Central American nation, Lacs said.
Washington has also asked Guatemalan telecom companies to open their networks to U.S. firms and for rates on international calls to be regulated, Lacs said.
