Media Release

Protesters urge Congresswoman Susan Davis to reject CAFTA

EHC’s Fair Trade Coalition calls on Davis to reject treaty in upcoming U.S. Congressional vote

2 May 2005 – At a rally today outside the offices of Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-53 rd), San Diego-based Environmental Health Coalition (EHC), its Tijuana affiliate the Colectivo Chilpancingo Pro Justicia Ambiental, members of EHC’s San Diego Fair Trade Coalition (SDFTC) and supporters called on Congresswoman Susan Davis to take a stand opposing the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), a key trade agreement that could go to the House for a vote in mid-May.

“CAFTA is modeled on the failed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which brought more poverty and more pollution to the San Diego-Tijuana border region. CAFTA would expand the NAFTA type of free trading that puts corporate rights and profits above labor rights, health and the environment,” said Amelia Simpson, Director of EHC’s Border Environmental Justice Campaign.

On April 4 th, Congresswoman Davis joined EHC’s SDFTC on a tour of colonia Chilpancingo, a Tijuana community severely impacted by NAFTA. “Congresswoman Davis’ unwillingness to commit to opposing CAFTA, even after seeing firsthand the devastating environmental and social injustice in my community, and after hearing from workers and their families, is incomprehensible,” said Lourdes Luján, a resident of colonia Chilpancingo.

CAFTA is seen as a referendum on the U.S. and corporate trade agenda. In House and Senate hearings on the agreement in April, bipartisan opposition signaled the Bush administration is short of the 215 House votes it needs to ensure passage in the chamber. Securing Congresswoman Davis’ commitment to vote no is a key element in the effort to defeat CAFTA.

Jerry Butkiewicz, representing the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council in the SDFTC, stated, “our experience with NAFTA -job losses in the U.S., corporate challenges to our environmental laws, lower wages and higher poverty in Mexico, and the persistence of abysmal working conditions and living standards in the maquiladora zones along our border-convince us that there must be a better way.”

Jean Costa, of the Sierra Club expressed her concern over CAFTA’s lack of any enforceable environmental protections and of public participation in environmental reviews, undermining environmental standards. “Among other problems, CAFTA’s chapter 10 on investor lawsuits allows foreign companies to sue governments for potential loss of profit because of an environmental regulation. Natural resources are included as protected investments. Therefore, as an example, if a country attempts to manage the logging of its forests, it can be sued under CAFTA.”

On April 17th, the California Democratic Party adopted a resolution opposing CAFTA.

Almost a quarter of a million San Diegans have joined EHC’s Fair Trade Campaign opposing CAFTA. Local health care and research professionals, defenders of women’s rights, the environmental community and the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice urge opposition to CAFTA based on their analysis of the agreement. Leading migrants’ rights organizations also oppose CAFTA.

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The SDFTC was inaugurated after the October 2004 release of EHC’s report, “Globalization at the Crossroads: Ten Years of NAFTA in the San Diego/Tijuana Border Region”(available at www.environmentalhealth.org,) documenting the local impacts of the NAFTA model of trade.

San Diego Fair Trade Coalition members are: Activist San Diego, Affordable Housing Coalition, American Friends Service Committee, Center on Policy Initiatives, Colectiva Feminista Binacional, Democratic Socialists of America, Environmental Health Coalition, Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers DL 725-LL1125, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569, North County Coalition for Peace and Justice, Raza Rights Coalition, San Diego Baykeeper, San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, San Diego Maquiladora Workers Solidarity Network, San Diego Secular Jews for Peace and Justice, Sierra Club, UNITE HERE Local 30, San Diego WTO Alert.