Obama’s final stopover: Ignoring CAFTA protests

[EFerrari]

Council on Hemispheric Affairs | Thursday, 24 March 2011

Obama’s final stopover: Ignoring CAFTA protests

by COHA Research Associate Robert Cavooris

- Obama meets Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes in San Salvador
- Leaders ignore demands for CAFTA renegotiation
- Salvadoran government, worried about environmental impact of gold mining, may have to pay USD 100 million to obdurate transnational investors
- A question of sovereignty, not money



President Obama arrived in El Salvador on March 22 in order to hold up that country as an example of what Latin American states can achieve through cooperation with the United States. Given the Central American country’s acquiescence in the militarization of Washington’s regional War on Drugs, and its enactment of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) after a bruising domestic struggle, Obama observed, “There are few better examples of both the opportunities and challenges facing the Americas today than here in El Salvador.”1 Obama and his counterpart, Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, discussed a number of issues, including the advancement of military and civilian counter-drug initiatives, an additional USD two-hundred million in U.S. funds for Salvadoran legal institutions, and immigration reform affecting the nearly two million Salvadoran citizens in the United States. Discussion of reforming CAFTA however, which is a primary demand of civil society organizations in El Salvador, was conspicuously absent from the agenda. Such a renegotiation could profoundly affect not only El Salvador, but also the other signatories of the agreement: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

Local activist groups and a broader coalition of international civil society organizations used the arrival of the U.S. president to stage a popular protest under the banner of autodeterminación, or self-determination. In addition to calling for a renegotiation of CAFTA, their demands included an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba, a withdrawal of the U.S. military from El Salvador, and a cessation of U.S. support for the tainted Porfirio Lobos regime in neighboring Honduras. CAFTA was a particularly contentious item at the protests because Obama’s trip coincided with an arbitration hearing at the World Bank (originally scheduled for March 23 but presently postponed) that will determine El Salvador’s responsibilities to American investors under the terms of the free trade agreement.

Pacific Rim Mining Corp. v. El Salvador

Under CAFTA, international investors may file suits directly against states when they feel the latter are in violation of relevant clauses of the agreement. The Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining Corporation has brought such a suit against the state of El Salvador before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an organization created in 1965 under the aegis of the World Bank.2 Pacific Rim’s claim is that El Salvador is selectively discriminating against the corporation by refusing to grant mining permits for its El Dorado gold mining site, located 40 miles east of San Salvador in the rural department of Las Cabañas.3 According to the filing, two Pacific Rim owned subsidiaries, Pacific Rim El Salvador and Dorado Exploraciones, invested USD 77 million into the project between 2002 and 2008.4

In March 2008, the Salvadoran government, led by President Elías Antonio Saca González of the right-wing Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), announced that it wanted to carry out further studies of the environmental impact regarding the proposed mines before granting any of the required exploitation permits.5 In doing this, Saca surprisingly aligned himself with the left-leaning opposition Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), as well as community assemblies in Las Cabañas, international environmental advocates, and the Catholic Church, all of whom opposed the development of the El Dorado project.6 The National Reconciliation Party, another right-wing party, was at that time drawing up new mining legislation that would have granted permits to Pacific Rim for its El Dorado project and would also have authorized 23 other mining efforts.7

http://bilaterals.org/spip.php?article19261

[Bacchus39]

1. Funes should have brought that up if that is a concern to his constituents

it wasn't up to Obama.

there must be a good 500 people at that rally.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thanks for the deeper information, EFerrari. Very much better look from better writers.

I was stunned to learn Tony Saca actually took the conscientious view on that mining project. Surely would NEVER have expected to learn this by now. He took the side which opposed rape, theft, exploitation, destruction.

Was horrified, apalled to learn there are actually US forces INSIDE El Salvador now. Don't think ordinary U.S. citizens have been aware of this.

There's so much to clean up, and history has provided the reason for ordinary citizens to shun all thoughts of continuing CAFTA. But, then, the poor people don't own the newspapers, the radio, tv stations, the publishing companies, after all. All they can do is protest and suffer the consequences.

Thank you for this post. Very important information. Recommending.

[EFerrari]

3. I have to try to ask around without raising hackles if possible

what the troop strength is, what the nature of the deployment.

My ARENA relative just turned 80 and I can't give him a heart attack so close to his birthday. lol

[Judi Lynn]

4. No, don't flip out an older ARENA relative. Wouldn't be prudent!

Wondering if they're working from an established base they never left after the 1980's, or if _{Bush II} sent them.

Let us know if you think of it in time to mention it to them. Until now, it's been a well kept secret here, sure! (Of course, remember "Babs" _Bush says her husband wouldn't want her to worry her "beautiful mind" about stuff like this.

On edit:
Invisible rec.