ISDS Case Map
CAFTA
US - Central America Free Trade Agreement
While the delay is in part a sign of how complex the negotiations have been, it also reflects the extent of the concerns about the agreement in the tiny economies it will affect.
CAFTA creates a new legal framework for the sale of water and other public services, although it allows countries to "opt-out" of the public services of their choosing. El Salvador's President Tony Saca chose no service exemptions, and thus opened the entire water sector to competition by international corporations.
Thousands of street vendors, university students and labor unionists marched in San Salvador Tuesday against a regional free trade accord with the United States, which they say will hurt small businesses and organized labor.
The leader of Costa Rica's second largest political party has vowed to obstruct efforts to ratify a 2004 free trade agreement between Central America and the US.
A free-trade agreement with El Salvador will take effect on March 1, the Bush administration announced, initially leaving behind five other Latin American nations that are supposed to be part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
Hundreds of union members, farmers, women, indigenous and representatives of other Guatemalan sectors marched in front of the US Embassy Friday chanting "No to the TLC" (Spanish for FTA).
Jacobo Kattan was hoping to build an industrial park and create 8,000 new jobs after the expected implementation of a regional free-trade pact last month. Instead, he's had to fire 2,000 workers and close three companies as the region's clothing industry haemorrhages, putting factories in legal limbo while much of their business leaves for Asia.
Industry and Commerce minister Francisco Javier Garcia blamed the US Trade Office for delays in reviewing documentation pertinent to the country's entrance in the Free Trade Treaty with United States and Central America (DR-CAFTA).
Guatemalan young people announced Thursday their willingness to join the massive February 24 march scheduled against the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US in Guatemala City.
The delay in implementing the Central American Free Trade Agreement has hit the region's clothing industry hard, putting factories in legal limbo while much of their business leaves for Asia.
