Obama On NAFTA: Name This “Change We Can Believe In”
The truths and fictions surrounding Obama’s rhetoric on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and why getting back to
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Canada
The Hemisphere’s State of Same-Sex Partnership Recognition: Canada Very Much in the Lead
Gay couples are rejoicing in California, where they have recently obtained the right to marry, but in other parts of the Western Hemisphere, same-sex partnership-recognition is more of a dream than a reality. In Latin America, the historical influence of traditional rigid Catholic values toward gender and sexuality as well as the societal norm of machismo have created a cultural prejudice profoundly adverse to homosexuality. Many Caribbean nations, long known for their homophobia, lie on the opposite end of the spectrum from their North American neighbors such as Canada, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2005 with the Civil Marriage Act. Though there has been pro-gay legislation proposed by governments throughout Latin America, little headway has been made in actually passing laws that would expand marriage rights to homosexuals.
Successful National Legislation
Only two countries in the Western Hemisphere have passed national legislation legalizing gay partnership rights; one allows gay marriages and the other recognizes civil unions. Canada is by far the most progressive country in granting equality to its homosexual population, as evidenced by its nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage in 2005. According to the 2006 Canadian Census—the only time the government has collected data specifically counting same-sex married couples—there were nearly 15,000 married homosexuals in the country. It is not surprising that the most socially liberal nation in North America would be the first to pass such a controversial law.
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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Taylor Holt.
Rebels With a Vanishing Cause: The FARC in Colombia
On Sunday, July 20th, hundreds of thousands of Colombians took to the streets on Sunday, July 20 to protest Colombia’s ongoing forty year civil war. Chants of “Libertad” echoed throughout not only Bogotá but also Paris, the home of recently-released FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt, a figure who could be of extraordinary importance to the nation’s future. Colombian immigrants also staged rallies throughout the U.S. to call for the unconditional release of all hostages by the armed group.
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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associates Suzana Shepard-Durini and Jessica Bryant.
Skilled Labor: Outdated Immigration Policy Threatens U.S. Economic Well-Being
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• U.S. losing the race for talented immigrants
• Washington must update immigration policy to allow more skilled immigrants to work in the U.S.
In 2007, Microsoft opened a software development center in Vancouver, Canada, in part to have access to highly skilled workers who are presently prohibited from residing in the United States. Microsoft’s recent Canadian venture highlights a growing trend of U.S. companies seeking available talented workers in offshore countries and keeping them there. Much of this in-place outsourcing has to do with Washington’s failure to provide sufficient work permits to fill the pressing domestic need for skilled immigrant professionals. Making matters worse, many of the immigrants who are unable to receive U.S. work permits have been educated at American universities. The U.S. pours valuable resources into the education of would-be immigrants, whose knowledge and skills ultimately benefit other countries. The result is that the U.S. is missing out on substantial economic benefits by refusing to grant work permits to skilled laborers, especially to those schooled here.
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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Jamie Heine.
Does the End Justify the Means? The Misuse of the ICRC Emblem by Colombian Intelligence in Its Hostage Rescue Mission
The now famed Colombian rescue mission Operation Jaque, responsible for the rescue of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other important and high visibility hostages from the FARC, is being criticized for using emblems from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as part of its elaborate ruse. Colombia’s president Uribe has acknowledged this deception and has formally apologized to the ICRC. Three photographs provided by an unknown military source, and sold to CNN, show a Colombian soldier wearing an ICRC bib on his arm. Furthermore, in previously unpublished video footage of the rescue mission, an emblem can be seen on the helicopter of the “Mision Internacional Humanitaria,” which is supposedly an NGO based in Spain.
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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Erina Uozumi.
Canadian Prime Minister Apologizes for “Sad Chapter in Canadian History”
On Wednesday, June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in the House of Commons for the harm inflicted by
Read MoreOne of History’s Great Atrocities: The Corporate Theft of the Public’s Natural Right to Water
Alternative Strategies: South Africa’s Water Policy
Andrea Arango’s article, entitled Alternative Strategies: South Africa’s Water Policy, will be issued on Thursday, May 1st. This COHA publication is another in the organization’s contribution to the debate over who will control the world’s water supply.
The Growing Debate on who will Control the World’s Water Supply
The current 1.1 billion people worldwide without access to potable water only opens one of the smaller windows on the injustices and the multiple casualties being wrought by private water-related industries. In fact, many are clueless to the magnitude of the victims— present and projected — of the growing water crisis as well as to the inhumane implications of the role of the private sector in regards to treating water as a commodity that can be owned and sold for profit. As of now, 2.6 billion people are at high risk for not having access to potable and an additional 1.8 million children die each year from water-related diseases.
In the mix of chaos, despair, and confusion, which most affects the poorer elements of society, it is important to note the private corporations’ role, which some critics have identified as being among the major culprits in causing the crisis. Within recent decades, water privatization firms such as Suez, Vivendi, and RWE have bought control of a number of communities’ municipal water services, and then drastically increased the price of water; with some of them failing to effectively purify the water resources they had come to monopolize.
An Innate Right
The heightened trend towards water privatization has gone almost undetected by the general public for well over a decade, despite the huge ramifications it is having on many lives. Public water advocates argue that it is a necessity of life and no individual or corporation has the right to seize ownership and place a value on the resource. Water is for life, not for profit. Author Vadana Shiva resolutely states that “water is a commons because it is the basis of all life. Water rights are natural rights and thus usufructuary rights, meaning that water can be used, but not owned.” Water privatization has caused considerable strife around the world, specifically in less industrialized nations. Major water companies, with the help of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), continue to divest communities of their natural right to water, thus undermining the essence of democracy as well as contributing to an insidious form of global deprivation.
The Secret Aspects of NAFTA
Colombia deserves a cold handshake rather than a warm abrazo from the Bush Administration
President Bush has set the proposed, FTA to Congress for legislative action. He stressed the fact that Colombia is a good friend and that on economic and security grounds it deserves to be rewarded by the Democratic-controlled congress with an affirmative vote.
In order to justify a free trade pact with Bogotá, President Bush repeatedly presents Colombia as a thriving democracy and President Uribe as a committed constitutionalist. In fact, Uribe for years has had a sinister history of sanctioning human rights violations, compromising the work of human rights agencies and jeopardizing their personal security by publicly accusing them as scarcely being distinguishable from leftist guerillas. At the present moment, Colombia’s Attorney General is investigating corruption charges which he had lodged against a large number of legislators coming from Uribe’s own party, that involve claims that these political allies of Uribe were directly linked to the extreme rightwing death squads known as the AUC, of which Uribe was said to be part of this relationship. Uribe also undermined the core of Washington’s anti-drug strategy in Colombia by allowing AUC members to plead guilty and thus obtain immunity against being extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for their drug-trafficking activities. This initiative in effect torpedoes the heart of Washington’s anti-drug strategy in Colombia.
The Bush administration is grateful that Uribe has been a strong backer of a distorted U.S. policy in the region. But what may be good for the White House and the Nariño Palace is not necessarily good for America or Latin America. The fact that Colombia is one of the few friendly faces that Washington can count on in the hemisphere is an indication of how isolated this administration is in the region, and which probably has done irreversible damage to any prospects for a relationship of constructive engagement with the rest of the hemisphere.
Today, Colombia is probably the worse human rights violation in Latin America and is a nation where labor leaders and democratic political activists are murdered with impunity to the indifference of the Colombian authority. Colombia is without any bona fide claims to be granted a free trade relationship with the U.S. and Congress would be wise to reject any further trade concessions to Bogotá at a time that U.S. workers are suffering from Bush’s neglect, if not indifference.
Larry Birns
Director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
NAFTA
This is another in a series of essays on the problems and prospects of NAFTA.
Specifically related to NAFTA and such associated issues as free trade, immigration, drug trafficking and economic security, are the security concerns of the trade pact’s members. Also important to note in an increasingly globalized world, security threats are not just posed by military personnel and weapons, but include economic security issues as well. To uncover the relationship between NAFTA and security, it is important to know how the trade pact was first intended to deal with such matters. NAFTA was heralded by politicians, economists and, to the American public, as a grand equalizer. It was the first area agreement between developed and developing nations designed to provide economic growth opportunities for both.
There have existed many expectations concerning NAFTA’s ability to meet its lofty objectives. It is important to note the economic expectations surrounding NAFTA, and the arguments currently being used to discuss the trade pact, as it centers on its actual performance. First, due to its trade liberalization trend, NAFTA was intended to enhance the export markets of both the United States and Mexico. Prior to its implementation in 1994, centrist economists Hufbauer and Schott, based at the Institute for International Economics, wrote, “over time, the NAFTA should impel industrial reorganization along regional lines, with firms taking best advantage of each country’s ability to produce components and assembled products and thus enhancing competitiveness in the global marketplace” (Hufbauer and Schott 4). Greater market efficiency would occur, allowing for a more prudent allocation of resources.
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