In a statement released by a group of Latin American Catholic Bishops representing the countries that make up the Mercosur trading bloc, the largest trading bloc in South America, the bishops denounced the creation of the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA), saying it would make the poor even poorer and will not respect national sovereignty.
“What we condemn is that the only aim of the project is to increase trade flows, regardless of whether or not it devastates everything and everyone in its path,” said Bishop Pablo Galimberti, the secretary-general of the bishops’ conference of Uruguay.
The FTAA initiative, largely driven by the United States, will create a free trade zone made up of 34 countries – all of the nations in the Americas with the exception of Cuba – with a total population of 800 million people and a combined Gross National Product (GNP) of more than 11 billion dollars by 2005.
In the statement, the bishops said the FTAA would “foment the concentration of economic power in a few hands,” and favor the formation of corporate monopolies.
“Rather than integration, this could involve neo-colonialism, with a negative impact on local communities...The chief aim of an initiative like the FTAA should be to promote the common good and solidarity between nations, and not merely to search for the greatest advantage for just a few,'' the bishops said.
From November 17-21, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) ministerial meeting will be held in Miami. Education and action meetings are being planned for these meetings. Pax Christi Miami is actively involved in raising the voices of the poor in Latin America during the conference to challenge this latest manifestation of the globalization of poverty and the marginalization of poor communities.
The statement signed by the bishops of the Mercosur nations and their associates Bolivia and Chile concurs with the pastoral letter Ecclesia in America that Pope John Paul II made public in Mexico in 1999.
''At times this system has become the ideological justification for certain attitudes and behavior in the social and political spheres leading to the neglect of the weaker members of society,” the statement said. “Indeed, the poor are becoming ever more numerous, victims of specific policies and structures which are often unjust.''
For more information on the demonstrations at the FTAA Ministerial meetings in November, please contact Anthony Vinciguerra at paxchristimiami@yahoo.com.
For more information on what other organizations are doing to educate about the FTAA, please check out:
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