ISDS Case Map
CAFTA
US - Central America Free Trade Agreement
Guatemala is confident it will defeat a US challenge to its record on labor rights, the country's economy minister said on Wednesday, and he linked the challenge to White House efforts to win domestic support for several free trade deals.
The United Steelworkers union (USW) said it strongly supported the US plan to move forward with arbitration.
The United States said on Tuesday it was requesting a dispute settlement panel to hear its year-old complaint that Guatemala has failed to protect workers' rights as required under CAFTA. Guatemala could potentially face millions of dollars in fines if the panel finds it has violated the agreement.
The United States said on Tuesday it was requesting a dispute settlement panel to hear its year-old complaint that Guatemala has failed to protect workers' rights as required under a free-trade agreement.
Pacific Rim is suing the Salvadoran government in an international investment court, one of scores of cases in recent years in which frustrated oil, gas and mining investors, using provisions of trade agreements, have sought to recoup losses from mostly developing countries.
The Obama administration announced yesterday that because Guatemala has not taken sufficient steps to effectively enforce its labor laws, as required under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), it is requesting a meeting of the Free Trade Commission.
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk asked an international commission to investigate Guatemala’s alleged failure to enforce worker protections, the first labor case brought by the US against a trade-accord partner.
"My brother was murdered, and we're still the victims of threats and harassment, which is why we filed the petition" under the free trade agreement signed with the United States by Central America and the Dominican Republic, (DR-CAFTA), said Guatemalan trade unionist Noé Ramírez.
Thousands of small-scale fishers in Central America are fighting for survival in the face of free trade deals, transnational corporations, mega tourism projects and pollution that is harming marine life.
Local activists protesting Obama's visit to El Salvador called for a renegotiation of CAFTA, an end to the US embargo against Cuba, a withdrawal of the US military from El Salvador, and a cessation of US support for the tainted Porfirio Lobos regime in neighboring Honduras.
