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REGION: W.T.O. FAILS; CENTRAL AMERICA WILL FEEL REPERCUSSIONS.

Article Excerpt
World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations collapsed in Cancun on Sept. 14, just as Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) negotiations got underway in Managua. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), campesino groups, students, and other activists saw the failure in Cancun as a victory for developing nations in their ongoing and historically fruitless efforts to focus the rich countries' attention on the negative effects of trade liberalization. From the opening moments of the meeting, it was inescapable that the need to address inequalities perpetuated by the present system would dominate the proceedings, both inside and outside.

Outside, the beachfront meeting venue was guarded on land by hoards of police and at sea by Mexican warships. The warships faced no opposition, but police were hard pressed to keep protestors from overrunning barricades. Nor were the police able to prevent the suicide of a South Korean protester, Lee Kyung-hae, who ended his life as a gesture against economic oppression.

Inside the meetings, a coalition of nations led by Brazil, India, and China worked successfully to make clear that if the economically dominant nations tried to bulldoze their agenda, there would be no agenda. The breakdown cast doubt on the probability that the WTO would meet its January 2005 target date for phasing out the developed-countries' agricultural subsidies. It also appears that it will...

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