Alliance for Responsible Trade

On Wednesday April 12, President Bush and Alejandro Toledo, the outgoing President of signed a regional “free trade” pact that has been fiercely fought by broad sections of Peruvian society. This seems particularly egregious given the overwhelming support the Peruvian people demonstrated Sunday for the candidates who are opposing the agreement. The final results of this election have not yet been determined, although it is certain that there will be a runoff. From the results to date, what is clear is that the most vocal opponent of this agreement with the US, Ollanta Humala, is clearly candidate with the most votes. The most vocal opponent of the FTA is clearly the candidate with the most votes. What has not yet been decided is who Ollanta will be facing in the second round of elections, which will be held in June. At this point, it appears that the likely opponent will be ex-president Alan Garcia, who has also expressed opposition to the agreement.

In spite of the fact that President Toledo’s ratings are even lower than Bush’s - the candidate from his party in Peru received less than 5% of the votes in the election - President Toledo is determined to ram this agreement through the parliament in Peru before he leaves office. Humala assured the people of Peru that if Toledo succeeded in ramming this through, he will “exhaust all constitutional processes to assure that the treaty revised.

There were protest of farmers in rural areas, and promises of massive protests in demonstrations in Lima. The organization ‘FTA Not like this one’ who this past week submitted petitions with almost 60,000 signatures demanding a referendum on the FTA said in a statement: “This signing is clearly against the will of the people and against democratic expression. The signing happens when the electoral results demonstrate that perhaps the maximum number of people who support an FTA is at most 25%. The candidate who was in favor of the FTA will not participate in the second round of elections."

This FTA follows the logic of NAFTA and is very similar in content to CAFTA. Tell your Senator to stop promoting this failed model of trade, which will only promote increased poverty and more migration from the region. Like its predecessors, if allowed to be implemented it will quickly destroy the agriculture sector, thus the indigenous culture in Peru. We must do our part here in the US to assure that this agreement is not ratified in Congress. Please visit or call your Senator and representative while they are in your district on recess. Tell them to stop promoting this failed model of trade, which will only promote increased poverty and more migration from the region. If we can demonstrate serious resistance to this agreement, the administration will avoid bringing it to a vote. Please do your part to defeat this anti-democratic Treaty.