Ecuador maintains no to free trade with the US
Periodico26, Cuba
Ecuador Maintains No to Free Trade with the US
10 May 2007
QUITO, May 10.- The visit of US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to Ecuador has reconfirmed the government of Rafael Correa’s rejection of negotiating a free trade agreement with Washington, reported Prensa Latina.
After the meeting held the previous day between Correa and Negroponte, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa spoke in favor of commercial pacts with the United States that are mutually beneficial and transparent.
“Ecuador does not share the same principles contained in the formats and contents of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA),” stressed Espinosa.
Espinosa recalled that President Correa has said Ecuador does not want an FTA with Washington, since “it would be very damaging to farm families.”
In his brief visit to Ecuador, Negroponte received a bitter welcoming from the citizenry with shouts of “assassin.”
The high-ranking Bush administration official was a key player in the dirty war conducted by the Reagan administration in Central America during the 1980s. He was also Washington’s ambassador in Iraq during 2004-2005 and the director of National Intelligence for two years before becoming the deputy secretary of state last February.
