Anti-FTAA Conference in Cuba

As Australia was in the process of negotiating a Free Trade 
Agreement with the USA, more than 1500 people from the Americas 
gathered in Havana to voice their opposition to a Free Trade 
Agreement of the Americas.

The conference, held at the end of January, looked at the current 
progress on the FTAA and discussed in detail the likely 
ramifications.

The FTAA would mean a further loss of sovereignty and a reduction 
in the already very low living standards of millions of Latin 
Americans.

Conference delegates adopted a plan of action to continue the 
struggle when they returned to their respective countries.

The struggle in the Americas, including in Canada and the USA 
itself, is so strong that there is talk of another type of FTAA. 
The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the 
transnational corporations are seeking an agreement which would 
involve bilateral agreements with one or another nation.

With the USA and its corporations dictating the agenda, this 
would see individual nations having to deal with the US on a one-
to-one basis.

The poorer and the smaller the nation the weaker its position is 
to stand up to US pressure.

The negotiation of bilateral agreements is being used, as are 
regional agreements to push ahead with the WTO and IMF agenda on 
as many fronts as possible, especially since the serious defeats 
suffered by the US and its partners at Seattle and more recently, 
Canzn.