AUDIO-Demands to Salvadorian government to stop negotiations of FTA with the EU http://www.radiomundoreal.fm/Leaving-on-time?lang=es

The Salvadorian civil society is demanding to end the negotiations of an Association Agreement with the European Union, since it is a unilateral, non-transparent and anti-democratic process, with rules favoring corporations. The demand was made by CESTA- Friends of the Earth El Salvador, on Monday 19 April, when the new negotiations round between Central America and EU delegates began in Brussels.

The negotiations with the Central American countries began in late 2007, except for Panama, which officially joined last month. Although the agreement was expected to be signed in 2009, the negotiations were suspended as a result of the coup d’etat in Honduras, and were resumed in February of 2010.Some of the reasons why the Europeans are negotiating with Central America is to have access to infrastructure (roads, ports, airports), transportation and connections to trade with the north and south of America.

They also seek unlimited access to raw materials of this region, water sources, biodiversity and exclusive intellectual property rights such as “biopiracy”, which is the appropriation of biological resources of the jungle and forests of Central America. Therefore, the negotiations have faced serious difficulties in the handling of labor rights, migration and especially environmental issues, since they threaten the natural richness of the region, for putting the interests of foreign corporations before the peoples’ lives.