ISDS Case Map
El Salvador
As President Bush touted the benefits of free trade in his State of the Union address, protests filled the streets of San Salvador on Jan. 31 in the latest of a string of events demonstrating the continued failure of the US-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).
Sitting in a dark room beneath photographs of union leaders slain in the 1980s, workers at a Guatemalan factory say they have been punched, threatened and followed by cars with darkened windows since forming a union in 2003.
The FMLN rejects the mercantilist logic of the “free trade” agreements. A critical analysis of the CAFTA texts reveals the many negative impacts of the agreement, which would have on the daily life of the people and ecosystems of our countries--especially on women and impoverished families--as national sovereignty is eroded, legal frameworks are corrupted, and the neo-liberal nature of public policy is reinforced.
The Legislative Assembly on Dec. 18 ratified the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), signed in May by Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua with the United States. El Salvador was the first country to ratify the accord.
The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) and social organizations of El Salvador urged the Congress to reject the ratification of the free trade agreement (FTA) inked with the United States.
