April 2006
Dear Friends,
It seemed an appropriate place to be meeting, given the topic
of discussion. Last month I traveled to El Salvador to join a
retreat with the four young adult volunteers who now serve in
Guatemala. The retreat was their chance to reflect on how things
are going for them and to dig deeper into the Central America
Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Normally, they meet in Guatemala,
but it was fitting to be in El Salvador because at the time we
were meeting—late March—El Salvador was the only country
to have satisfactorily complied with the United States’
requirements to join in the CAFTA, and therefore the only country
officially part of the trade agreement. However, while we were
meeting, both Honduras and Nicaragua were in the final stages
of passing the laws necessary to qualify and begin implementing
the agreement on April 1.
We prepared for the retreat by reading articles on CAFTA from
a variety of perspectives. While reading, we had reflection questions
on hand to prompt us to think about arguments for and against
the trade agreement. Who stands to benefit from such an agreement?
Who will be harmed by its implementation? How does our faith influence
our understanding of CAFTA?
Most of what I hear about CAFTA has been quite negative, so I
was looking forward to reading other perspectives and tried to
enter this study with an open mind. There were stacks of information
to sift through; fortunately I had a twelve-hour bus ride from
Managua to San Salvador to read it all.
The basics I knew: modeled after NAFTA, CAFTA would remove most
tariffs and other trade barriers between the United States and
Central America. Supporters say it will bring development and
jobs to the region, while those opposed believe it will bring
little to no benefit to the poor, and more likely will devastate
local farmers who will be unable to compete with the subsidized
farmers of the United States.
I learned why there were so many hold-ups in the implementation
of CAFTA. To qualify to join, the countries that had already ratified
the agreement had to then make “far-reaching, retrograde
changes to their domestic laws governing public health, intellectual
property, and other regulations required by the trade and investment
agreement.” As each country’s legislature entered
into debate on these changes, CAFTA was delayed. Costa Rica hasn’t
ratified it yet and so hasn’t reached this phase yet.
The reality is that CAFTA will greatly benefit some, while leaving
the vast majority behind. What made our reflection on CAFTA special
was the context and perspective we brought to it. The young adult
volunteers had come to spend a year of their lives living in solidarity
with that “vast majority,” the poor of Central America.
For example, we talked of our concern that patents on new medicines
that forbid the production of generics would make some drug treatments
inaccessible to the poor.
As I work here in Central America, further developing relationships
with our PC(USA) partners, I realize that if I am true to these
relationships, my perspective will indeed be skewed. Being in
partnership means we not only listen, but we also risk being touched
and transformed by our partners’ perspectives and realities.
We had been living with and listening to our partners, and CAFTA
concerns us greatly.
What are our partners saying? In El Salvador we talked with Bishop
Medardo Gomez of the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod. He called CAFTA
an “imposition of the United States.” and in reference
to how it will impact El Salvador, he said, “things are
just going to get worse.” He sees the trade agreement as
an alliance of the wealthy that imposes on the sovereignty and
will of the people.
One of our readings was from the Council of Latin American Churches
(CLAI), entitled “Seeking Solutions—Moving Forward:
The Protestant Churches Say ‘Enough is Enough’. I
was struck by their definition of globalization: “What we
nowadays call globalization is the present stage in the changes
in what we call capitalism, that is an economic regime based on
domination by certain social groups exercised through political
institutions and cultural instruments which enable them to have
a dominant position in production, in advances in scientific knowledge
and its technological application, and consequently in cultural
relationships.”
At the PC(USA) General Assembly in 2004, an action on CAFTA was
endorsed that “declare[s] opposition to the Central America
Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in its current form, as it fails
to adequately protect worker’s rights, human rights, food
security, and environmental standards, and it limits the ability
of governments and sovereign indigenous peoples to regulate corporations
to protect the common good.”
These thoughts all came together recently when I was reading
a Palm Sunday meditation about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem
and his turning of the tables in the temple (Mark 11:15-17) called
“Living in Lent, Caring for Creation” published by
Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. It says, “Educator
and activist Ched Myers observes that the issue for Jesus wasn’t
the existence of economic activity in the Temple, but ‘the
way in which the political economy of the cult had become oppressive
to the poor.’ […] The moneychangers were very powerful,
since all money had to be converted to pay temple dues and tithes.
Jesus goes to the center of power and through symbolic action
turns systems of domination upside down.” In listening to
our partners and reflecting on Scripture, I see how unjust our
economic structures are in that they take advantage of and impose
on the most vulnerable. The answers aren’t always clear,
but I believe I am called to join in solidarity with the poor,
to speak out, and to seek alternatives.
CLAI’s document ends stating “hope begins when we
acknowledge our vulnerability but it is sustained when we continue
to resist injustice and takes concrete form in our imagination
to build new paths.” My understanding of mission in partnership
pulls me into that hope with them. Will you join us?
Blessings and peace,
Tracey King
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
38 |
