FTA :

• AFTA
• CAFTA
• EXCISE TAX
• TARIFF TAX

What Is CAFA ?

      CAFTA, or the Central American Free Trade Agreement, is the third trade agreement in the series of trade agreements in the region of Central America. There are a total of seven participating countries in CAFTA. The member countries are El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, United States of America, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. More..

CAFTA, or the Central American Free Trade Agreement, has run into several problems ever since its inception in 2006. The problems arose due to its negative impact on the lives of the common man in the region.

Central America has faced a lot of tumultuous phases in the past which has severely affected the quality of basic life of its people. Millions of people from countries like Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador have been suffering from poverty and military torture for a long time. The CAFTA was conceived and implemented in order to better the lives of the citizens in these countries, but unfortunately, in reality such a thing did not happen.

This agreement can completely destroy the small and poor farmers groups who have no resources to compete with the big agriculture business giants like the United States. These farmers can eventually lose their source of sustenance, and be forced to give up their profession.

The Central American Countries consists of more rural sectors than urban cities. Nearly one third of the population is involved in farming. There will be a massive negative impact with the CAFTA in effect. The poor farmers will get uprooted from their villages, and they have to move to the cities to work as menial laborers. These reasons are making countries like Costa Rica hesitant in signing this free trade agreement.

Though, CAFTA is an attempt to colonize Central America in order to better the general life of the citizens of the many poor countries in this region, it only succeeds in just aggravating the problems. CAFTA is, in reality, an imitation of the NAFTA pact, and has been scarcely modified to suit the needs of the people in Central America.

More Articles :

• Cafta Timeline Of Events
• Problems With Cafta
• What Is CAFA ?
• When Did Nafta And Cafta Begin ?