Former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez opposed the FTAA.
FTAA is an acronym that corresponds to Free Trade Area of the Americas , a project that was born with the purpose of expanding the North American Free Trade Agreement to cover the other American countries, with the exception of Cuba .
The initiative arose in Miami ( United States ) in December 1994 with the intention of implementing a progressive reduction of tariff barriers in all member states . The political transformations in South America , however, forced less ambitious goals to be agreed upon.
Specifically, we can determine that FTAA's main development and work issues are access to markets, the promotion of agriculture, the design of competition policies and the resolution of disputes. All this without forgetting the promotion of investment, the defense of intellectual property rights and anti-dumping measures.
For and against the FTAA
The promoters of the FTAA , with the United States at the helm, affirm that the agreement will promote competitiveness and specialization in the region, will contribute to improving infrastructure, will force the disappearance of monopolies and will improve the standard of living of Americans.
Those who criticize the project, on the other hand, maintain that the FTAA will privatize public goods and services and will end up benefiting the United States . Left-wing parties do not hesitate to affirm that it is a tool of North American imperialism , while more moderate positions demand that, at least, US subsidies to agriculture be eliminated in principle in order to advance integration .
The IV Summit of the Americas
After the IV Summit of the Americas , which took place in the city of Mar del Plata ( Argentina ) in 2005 , the project was put on hold due to the strong criticism received and the massive mobilizations of the civilian population against the bloc.
One of the relevant figures on the international scene who has most vigorously attacked the FTAA was Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez . This political leader did not hesitate to describe this initiative as another tool of imperialism that is wanted to be carried out in the countries of Latin America .
A position that, to a certain extent, was also supported at the time by other Latin American leaders, such as the Argentine Néstor Kirchner and the Brazilian Lula Da Silva . They did not completely reject the proposal put forward by FTAA, but what they made clear is that it had to be truly free and not be subject to various interests.
Beyond the political aspect, economists indicate that, if the FTAA is finalized, a common market would be created with 800 million inhabitants and a combined GDP of 21 billion dollars annually .
The auk is a species of bird.
Alca as a name
Likewise, Alca serves to give its name to a Spanish company that operates in the industrial sector where it has been working for more than seventy years, offering the best services to its clients. Specifically, it is focused on the manufacture of tools and instruments to carry out both control and layout. Thus, it carries out the creation of squares, levels or calibers of various types.
Alca , on the other hand, identifies a species of bird belonging to the family Alcidae . It is possible to distinguish between the razorbill (which lives on the European coasts) and the great auk (now extinct).