Watson Coleman: “I rise in support of CAFTA. There are a lot of reasons to support this trade agreement. I came to this decision, by the…”

“I rise in support of CAFTA. There are a lot of reasons to support this trade agreement. I came to this decision, by the way, in the last couple of days. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs of the Foreign Relations Committee, I understand how pivotal CAFTA is on U.S. foreign policy goals, not just in Central America but Latin America and the Caribbean. There are folks in Latin America looking at this agreement and what we do with it. I think they are going to judge us as to whether we are committed to strengthening this hemisphere, committed to strengthening the democracies that are now in Central America. There have been decades of civil war. We have democracies flourishing in Central America. Every President in those countries was democratically elected. These leaders have come to us and said: We want to reform, we want to grow our economies and strengthen democracy. CAFTA is important. Democracy in Central America is still fragile. Poverty is endemic. There is weakening enthusiasm for democracy. Pressures are already present in Nicaragua. That is what we have. We have to be realistic about CAFTA. It alone is not going to ensure democracy or prosperity in Central America, but it will put in place building blocks for economic growth in the future.…”