LOREN COLBURN, Fort Lauderdale
Bob Graham and Mack McLarty wisely look beyond the free-trade political demagoguery of the moment to the long-term security of the Western Hemisphere (CAFTA bolsters security, economy, June 30 Other Views).
Nowhere are the promises and risks of free trade more apparent than in my nation, Costa Rica. For half a century, we have produced the largest and most reliable economic environment in Central America.
The prospect of a regional free-trade agreement presents challenges for us all. But passage of CAFTA is a necessary step in our region's evolution.
CAFTA nations do not seek an unfair trade advantage. We already are excellent U.S. trading partners, constituting a $12 billion annual export market for U.S. goods and services that is larger than those of India, Indonesia and Russia combined, and comparable to that of France.
The agreement fosters economic and democratic reforms, government transparency and labor and environmental protections vital to the long-term security of the hemisphere.
CAFTA also can address labor uncertainties, tariffs and duties, quotas and the protection of intellectual property against piracy and counterfeiting, which already exist as largely unaddressed threats to job markets in our countries and the United States.
To turn away from free trade now would reverse five decades of economic, social and political progress in my nation. It would send a terrible message to our politically and economically developing neighbors.
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