Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) = a death sentence for indigenous people

[el_gato]

Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) is a mega project which seeks to open up the southern half of Mexico and Central America to private foreign investment and establishing the foundation for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The plan depends upon multi-lateral development bank support and private investment to create infrastructure that will attract industry and expand natural resource extraction. With the Inter-American Development Bank as the head of the PPP's financial structure and major credit and technical assistance coming from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, among others, controversial projects have already begun.

This is the first step in the latest push to globalize the Americas with the end goal of incorporating all of the Western Hemisphere (except Cuba) under the FTAA. Essentially the PPP will create development corridors from the 9 southern Mexican states of Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo, through the most southern Central American country of Panama. The PPP will create an elaborate infrastructure of ports, highways, airports, and railways aimed to connect the development of the petroleum, energy, maquiladora, and agricultural industries. While the PPP's proponents assert that its main objective is to improve the quality of life for area inhabitants, critics of the Plan see it as an attempt to exploit the abundant, cheap labor force and precious natural resources in order to attract foreign investment eager to reap the benefits of an area stricken with poverty and rich in biodiversity.
http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/mexico/ppp/ppp.html
http://store.gxonlinestore.org/pueblapanama.html
http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/mexico/biopiracy.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. *urg!*

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Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I wonder if the next Commandante Marcos is

cleaning his or her rifle as we speak


That first revolt caught people by surprise, the second one... oh my, the Maya wars of the 19th century come to mind

[ConservativeDemocrat]

3. So giving people jobs is bad?

Let's say this PPP doesn't go through. How do the currently impoverished people support themselves right now?

Further, as has been made abundantly clear in Brazil, subsistence farming is often extremely damaging to the environment. I'd rather some biologist come in and find some new medicine in the trees, than have them all chopped down for more poorly tilled Maize fields.

Sure, keep an eye on this. You want to make sure that this plan is done right. But don't go attacking infrastructure projects that can dramatically improve people's lives.

- C.D.