Our presence here cannot be taken as participation in a consultation with civil society in the Americas on the topic of agriculture. This is, in the first place, due to the fact that the FTAA negotiation documents have been drafted through a process that lacks the minimum characteristics necessary to validate it as such a consultation. There was no negotiation of the agenda on themes that would make up the chapter on agriculture and others related to it. In addition, there was no transparency and, instead, the process was carried out privately and almost in secret. At the same time, all stakeholders have not participated, and it is public knowledge that the multinational corporations have had extensive influence in drafting the proposals. Furthermore, no serious guideline exists for participation, and now the attempt to remedy the lack of such a directive with this meeting still fails to allow for full discussion that would link all the various interrelated themes. For the above reasons, we believe that this forum is, at most, an exchange of ideas.

In terms of agriculture and related themes, such as investment, the relevant document refers to trade in agricultural products and, therefore, is entirely beneficial to a small number of multinational corporations that now concentrate this trade in their own hands. Thus, the disaster that has occurred in Mexico as a result of NAFTA is to be extended throughout the continent. Although Mexico is the nineth largest economy in the world, it ranks 54 in the Human Development Index. According to the Rural Development Commission of the country´s House of Representatives: “In 2000, food dependency had increased by 77 percent, as 23 million tons of food grain was imported, compared with 13 million tons that entered the country in 1993 (prior to NAFTA)…”. In addition, as occurred in Mexico, governments have only taken into account the interests of certain privileged sectors that represent a minority and only one aspect of agriculture, thus excluding those sectors that represent the majority and who are primarily responsible for the continent´s food security: indigenous peoples, peasants, and small and medium-scale producers.

Furthermore, the proposed agreement will establish unfair competition that benefits the powerful agribusiness sector in the United States, which is supported by tens of billions of dollars every year that funds U.S. agricultural policy, including subsidies to large producers and their export companies. In addition, rules on intellectual property and violation of minimum environmental norms will impose a virtual monopoly of agribusiness, leading the nations of the Americas, almost without exception, to a loss of food sovereignty, that is, to their right to produce the food necessary for their populations. This right will, instead, be subordinated to the interests, profits, indiscriminate investments and ambitions of the multinationals and their allies.

What we have stated above is sufficient to be able to say: “NO TO THE FTAA”. Nevertheless, there are many other reasons based in other parts and themes of the proposed agreement that lead to the conclusion that the FTAA will destroy the national sovereignty of Latin American and Caribbean countries. As a whole, the FTAA evidences a clear colonialist nature and constitutes a reversal for our peoples, without any prospect for their development. In the context of the conditions under which it is being negotiated, including the predominance of the United States, the proposed agreement will promote competition among poor countries to survive under imperial dictates, thereby impeding the necessary integration of the Latin American republics for their collective progress. Thus, unemployment, poverty, deficits, bankruptcies and the ruins that neo-liberalism has sown in the hemisphere over the last decade will worsen even beyond the dramatic deterioration we have seen until now.