CAFTA: Fighting A Democracy to Spread Democracy?

CBS Marketwatch reports that Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick gave a speech at the fringe-right-wing Heritage Foundation today claiming that Congress will approve the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) because lawmakers "will want to provide a helping hand to the fragile democracies in the region." Zoellick "warned that the former Communist rebels and right-wing dictators of the region would be the biggest winners if CAFTA is defeated."

Apparently, Zoellick believes that the region's oldest and most stable democracy are "communist rebels and right-wing dictators." The fact is, the major opposition to CAFTA is being led by Costa Rica, the oldest democracy in Central America. As the Wall Street Journal recently noted, "The reluctance of Central America's oldest democracy has surprised the White House and undermines one of its chief arguments for the pact: that Cafta represents an urgently sought benefit for the impoverished region." Polls show "Costa Ricans worry that Cafta may lead to the privatization of the country's free universal health-care system. Just "38% of Costa Ricans polled in February who had heard of the deal thought it would benefit the country, compared with 56% in January of last year.

This is yet another example of the Bush administration using "democracy" and "freedom" to justify any and all of its radical policies. And it echoes the Bush administration's claims that if you don't support their radical policies, you support America's enemies.

Whether it is war-for-oil in Iraq justified by "the pursuit of democracy" or this latest example in the CAFTA debate, the Bush administration has lost all credibility in claiming it is for anything other than Corporate America's bottom line.