Volume 3 Number 1, Fall 1990
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Hemisphere Volume 3 Article 1 Issue 1 Fall 1990 Volume 3 Number 1, Fall 1990 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/lacc_hemisphere Part of the Latin American Studies Commons Recommended Citation (1990) "Volume 3 Number 1, Fall 1990," Hemisphere: Vol. 3 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/lacc_hemisphere/vol3/iss1/1 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Kimberly Green Latin American and Carribbean Center (LACC) Publications Network at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hemisphere by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Volume 3 Number 1, Fall 1990 This issue is available in Hemisphere: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/lacc_hemisphere/vol3/iss1/1 Hemisphere A MAGAZINE OF LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN AFFAIRS Fall 1990 Volume Three * Number One Seven Dollars EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Anthony P. Maingot COMMENTARY Deputy Editor: Richard Tardanico Trade-offs? The US and the Caribbean by Bob Graham Associate Editors: Eduardo A. Gamarra, Mark B. Rosenberg Bush's Andean Initiative by Eduardo A. Gamarra Assistant Editor: Sofia A. Lopez Book Review Editor: Kathleen Logan Bibliographer: Marian Goslinga EditorialAssistant: Rene Ramos Circulation Manager: Raquel Jurado Copy Editor: Michael B.Joslyn REPORTS ProductionAssistants: Cristina Finlay, Pedro P. Garcia, Teresita Marill, Sontha Strinko Poisoning Ecuador's Oriente by Judith Kimerling and the Natural Resources Defense Council CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Janet M. Chernela Dario Moreno Letter to President Vinicio Cerezo by Philip Benjamin Heymann Rodolfo Cortina Lisandro Perez DennisJ. Gayle Luis P. Salas Bush's Enterprising Initiative by Richard E. Feinberg Jerry Haar Mark D. Szuchman Suzanne Koptur Kevin A. Yelvington Cultivating Exports by Charles Thurston Raul Moncarz EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Francisco Rojas Aravena AnthonyJ. Payne Ettore Botta Guido Pen nano FAXFILE Bernard Diederich Alejandro Portes Wolf Grabendorf Sally Price Harry Hoetink David Ronfeldt Vaughan Lewis Selwyn Ryan Larissa A. Lomnitz Steven E. Sanderson FEATURES Abraham F. Lowenthal Saskia Sassen Frank Manitzas Carol A. Smith Richard Millet Yolande Van Eeuwen Panama: Obstacles to Democracy Andres Oppenheimer Arturo Villar Robert A. Pastor Juan Yai'es Disarming Politics by Luis P Salas Hemisphere (ISSN 08983038) is published three Hope Restored by I. Roberto EisenmannJr times a year (Fall, Winter/Spring, and Summer) by the Latin American and Caribbean Center of So, What Did Happen? by Peter Eisner Florida International University. Copyright © 1990 by the Latin American and Caribbean Center, Caribbean Trade Policy ina Restructuring World Florida International University. All rights reserved. 1992: The EC and the Caribbean by Paul Sutton Hemisphereis dedicated to provoking debate on the problems, initiatives, and achievements of Latin The View from the Caribbean by Anthony P Gonzalez America and the Caribbean. Responsibility for the views expressed lies solely with the authors. A CBI Report Card by Carmen Diana Deere EDITORIAL, CIRCULATION, AND ADVERTIS- ING OFFICES: Latin American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199. Telephone: (305) 348- 2894. FAX: (305) 348-3593. Please address manu- REVIEW FORUM scripts and editorial correspondence to the Deputy Editor Real-World Economics by Lisa R. Peattie SUBSCRIPTIONS: US, USVI, PR, and Canada: $20 Strategic Choices, Making Policy, Revolutionary Mexico a year; $36 for two years. Elsewhere: $27 a year; $50 for two years. Please make check or money order (US currency only) payable to Hemisphere PUBLICATIONS UPDATE This document was produced at a cost of $4,889.50 or $2.45 per copy. Labor Migration Policy by Marian Goslinga M M Trade-offs? The US and the Caribbean by Bob Graham goods from the Caribbean Basin. their long-term collective eco- taken a potentially posi- Such a pact, then, could jeopardize nomic interests. The debate must tive decision to begin economic growth, as well as de- begin in the Basin, which has the negotiations on a free- stabilize fledgling democracies, most at stake. Since 1983, when the trade pact. Nonetheless, throughout the Basin. Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) be- this decision poses chal- came law, the region has taken ad- lenges for a region of great impor- vantage of the program to gain tance to the US: the Caribbean limited duty-free access to US mar- Basin. kets and to attract new foreign in- A US-Mexico trade pact must vestment. In 1990 the US Congress not damage--even inadvertently- passed and President Bush signed US trade ties with the fragile econ- a law strengthening CBI. The 1990 omies of the Caribbean Basin's legislation: emerging democracies. The US * Makes permanent the region's must also be sensitive to the impli- limited duty-free access to the US cations of a US-Mexico agreement market, which was to have ex- for the state of Florida, particularly pired in 1995. for agriculture, its second largest " Expands duty-free treatment to industry. include the assembly or process- It is widely recognized that ing of fabricated components of healthy economies in Latin Amer- 100% US origin. This change ica and the Caribbean translate would affect products ranging into profitable markets for US from electronics to leather goods products. Strong economies also such as shoes and handbags. improve the chances of solving * Separates CBI countries from hemispheric problems such as other world markets for the pur- drug trafficking and immigration. pose of determining injury to US But free trade must be fair trade. industries in unfair trade prac- In the case of agriculture, this tices cases. means negotiating a trade pact that - Extends special treatment for takes into consideration important CBI ethanol products (i.e., fuel) issues such as labor conditions, through 1992. chemical and pesticide regulation, Since 1988 the Caribbean Basin These are modest but useful and food safety. has experienced an unprecedented improvements. CBI supporters The decision by US president election binge. Except for Cuba wanted more but failed in the face George Bush and Mexican presi- and Haiti, democratic rule now pre- of strong resistance from the US dent Carlos Salinas de Gortari to in- vails throughout the region. After a textile, apparel, and shoe indus- itiate trade talks means the US and decade of war and political tur- tries. The Senate even defeated an Mexico will negotiate for a period moil, the US must help its friends effort to reduce-not eliminate- of up to three years to eliminate preserve their hard-won demo- import duties on inexpensive foot- trade barriers. A trade pact be- cratic gains. The best way to do so wear Some US producers will tween the US and Mexico, similar is by fostering economic growth oppose a trade pact with Mexico to the recently ratified US-Canada through trade. as well. Portions of agriculture and agreement, could make Mexican the electronics industry are sure to goods more competitive than Regional Response be among them. US negotiators will have to address these concerns The US and its neighbors in the if they are to forge an agreement Bob Graham is a US senatorfor the Caribbean Basin should respond to with Mexico that has the support of state ofFlorida. this challenge by asking what is in the American people. 2 Hemisphere * Fall 1990 Im Y Yet some US economic sectors A New Era facts. What is happening across the as well as the CBI countries stand Atlantic is, of course, extremely im- to lose as a result of a free-trade The US is entering a new era portant. But so too is what is hap- agreement between Mexico and where its national security will be pening in the Americas. the US. Mexico already has two for- increasingly defined in economic This is not the time to walk midable built-in advantages over rather than military terms. Using away It is time, rather, to help the the Caribbean Basin: a large, this calculus, US economic inter- nascent democracies of the Amer- trained labor force and a devel- ests in Latin America overwhelm its icas to consolidate their new politi- oped cross-border transportation economic interests elsewhere in cal institutions and to strengthen system that provides easy access to the world. Further, as Europe their democratic gains through the US market. Moreover, allowing economic growth. Once and for unrestricted entry of duty-free Mex- all, the US must break its destruc- ican textiles and apparel into the tive habit of crisis-driven involve- US could wipe out CBI gains under ment in Latin America and the the so-called Super 807 program, Caribbean. How the US confronts which permits CBI quota-control- this regional challenge will have a led imports of garments made profound impact on the country's from 100% US cut and formed future. fabric. The US must play a leadership Caribbean Basin governments role. The country's success will rest need to decide whether to move largely on its ability to be a good beyond CBI by seeking a free-trade neighbor-to be attentive to the agreement with the US, either in economic changes sweeping the collaboration with Mexico or sepa- world and sensitive to the ramifica- rately. Only they can make this tions for not only the US but the decision. hemisphere as well. The region's countries are well The completion of a free-trade aware of the dangers posed by a moves toward economic integra- pact between the US and Canada US-Mexico pact. That is why Costa tion in 1992 and as economic coop- in 1989 was occasion for regional Rica, Panama, Jamaica, El Salva- eration grows between the Pacific applause. A similar agreement with dor, and Honduras are currently Rim economic giants, the US must Mexico will be hard-wrought and negotiating with the US the out- recognize that economic integra- perhaps controversial, but it will lines of possible free-trade agree- tion in this hemisphere is in the likely produce another round of ments.