Washington, D.C. April 11, 2005 - More than a hundred and twenty organizations in the United States urged Congress to reject the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) in a letter delivered today. The letter cited the potentially disastrous impacts for rural populations in the U.S., Central America, and the Dominican Republic from the agreement.

"A vote for CAFTA in Congress defies logic and shows a complete misunderstanding of the disastrous impacts from the North America Free Trade Agreement in the last eleven years. Before anyone votes for CAFTA, they should review the impacts on rural America, including lowered farm income, displacement of farmers from the land, and the destruction of rural communities. These are only a few of the serious impacts of voting for an agreement that was not studied or understood," said Dena Hoff, chair of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) and National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) Executive Committee member, two of the organizations that circulated the letter.

"CAFTA would be another severe blow to family farmers, farmworkers, and food consumers in all the CAFTA countries," said Carlos Marentes, Executive Committee member of the Rural Coalition, the other organization that coordinated the letter. "Further extending this failed NAFTA model is not acceptable. CAFTA must be defeated."

The organizations' objections to CAFTA include:

- CAFTA would limit the right of all participating countries to implement measures to ensure that food traveling across borders is safe and meets domestic food safety standards.

- CAFTA would give foreign corporations the ability to challenge local, state, and national laws.

- Producers in the US, Mexico and Canada have suffered significantly due to decreased prices for livestock, wheat, corn, and other commodities. According to Mexican campesino organizations, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) forces 600 poverty-stricken peasants to abandon their lands and communities every day. In the United States, USDA data indicates that the average price of 2003 U.S. wheat exports was 28% below the cost of production.

- CAFTA would exacerbate the difficulties of minority farmers and farmworkers in the U.S.

- Central American countries and the Dominican Republic would be required to reduce tariffs, subsidies and other supports that protect their vulnerable agricultural sectors, causing further disruption and migration to cities and across borders.

The organizations urged Congress to support a trade system that strengthens democracy and public health, environment, food sovereignty, working conditions and labor rights for all, and says CAFTA does none of the above.