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AFTA is the acronym for the Andean Free Trade Agreement, the latest "free trade" deal being negotiated that will help corporations make massive profits at the expense of working people.  AFTA will expand the "free trade zone" that has already hurt working families and the environment in the US, Mexico, Canada, and now in Central America, to three South American countries:  Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru (possibly expanding to Bolivia).  But if they don’t change the NAFTA/CAFTA model, the result will bolster the international drug trade and further destabilize the region, threatening our national security.

The Bush administration and Congressional leaders are ignoring pleas from the Andean countries to extend the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), which would allow those countries to protect the local markets for corn, rice, and beans their small farmers depend on. Deprived of other outlets to make a living, many farmers will see no other choice but to grow coca or opium poppies, work for narco-traffickers, or in the case of Colombia, join clashing guerrilla and paramilitary armies.