September 2003: World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Cancun, Mexico, collapse

November 2003: Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA) talks fail to begin

December 2003: Mobilization for Global Justice (MGJ) pickets CAFTA talks in DC

March 14th, 2005: US-Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) talks come to DC

This spring, Washington DC will play host to a partial round of negotiations of the US-Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), between the United States, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, with Bolivia observing. The negotiations follow 7 prior rounds of talks and will focus mainly on property rights and investment.

This round of AFTA features bilateral negotiations in which the US will attempt to browbeat the participating nations into accepting their terms - part of the US' attempt to resuscitate the FTAA through regional and bilateral agreements. Bush is using fast track legislation which allows him to bypass Congress and have the AFTA signed by the end of this summer. The process lacks transparency and undermines democratic processes in all the countries involved, including the US.
AFTA is a bad deal for:

* Working people: AFTA contains no enforceable labor protections, and is feared to escalate violence against labor organizers, especially in Columbia, where over 160 labor leaders have been killed since 2003.

* Small farmers: AFTA will lower tariffs on agricultural products, creating markets that are vulnerable to dumping of highly subsidized products by the US. This will force many small farmers into coca production, fuelling the cocaine trade. In addition, AFTA's chapter on intellectual property rights and the patenting of seeds threatens agricultural sovereignty.

* Public health: Through AFTA's intellectual property provisions, the US is pushing to extend the period of patent protection beyond the 20 years established by the WTO, making it impossible for governments to use generic drugs or parallel production to provide access to affordable drugs.
* Women, children, and the poor: AFTA includes provisions promoting the privatization and deregulation of essential services such as water, healthcare and education. As these services become less accessible, the burden falls on women, children, and other vulnerable populations.

* The environment: AFTA provides no enforceable environmental protections, and AFTA countries can expect the same environmental degradation experienced by countries under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

When the representatives of Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador come to town, let them know that that the people of the US say YES to access to essential services, workers' rights, the environment, and economic justice, and NO to AFTA!