Humala criticizes Peru's Free-Trade pact with USA, questions Garcia's strategy

(LIP-wb) -- While campaigning for the upcoming regional and municipal elections in one of Lima' poorer suburbs, Villa el Salvador, the leader of Peru's Nationalistic Party, Ollanta Humala told reporters that he questions President Alan Garcia's strategy of pressing United States legislators in order to obtain the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by U.S. Congress.

Garcia met with President George W. Bush at the White House today to speed up the treaty's approval.

Humala maintained it will be very difficult for Garcia to change the agenda of U.S. Congress.
He requested that the government should have instead put its focus on asking for an extension of the current ATPDEA agreement, which is set to expire by year's end, in order to promote a greater commercial integration of the Community of Andean Nations (CAN), a proposal his party made weeks ago.

Humala said he would maintain his position n this subject because the free-trade pact (FTA) “was approved by Peru's Congress sometime "between midnight and the rooster's wake-up call" and because the treaty is harmful to the national interest, mainly to agriculturists”.

Humala also answered questions related to the recent criticism expressed by his wife Nadine Heredia towards the program "Sembrando" and the non-government organization "Trabajo y Familia" (Work and Family), lead by First Lady Pilar Nores.
He affirmed that he supports his wife's comments because the “office of the First Lady" has been replaced with the "NGO of the First Lady”, and this "fact" reduces these initiatives transparency and promotes political clientelism.

He also criticized the excessive advertising costs of these social programs which could be instead used to buy more machinery for agriculturists. “Social policies must start with the State and we cannot leave this task in the hands of a NGO”, he asserted.


tags : Peru politics economy world USA Free-Trade FTA Garcia PilarNores opposition nationalism