2003 FTAA Reality Tour of El Salvador
Executive Summary of the Tour Report- Read the full Report (PDF format, 24 pages, 114 Kb)
Who We Are
On October 22-31, 2003 a delegation of Mainers from Penobscot and Hancock Counties traveled to El Salvador to gather information about the impact of free-trade policies on Maine and Central America. The trip was dubbed the “FTAA Reality Tour.”
The sixteen-member delegation represented a wide spectrum of organizations concerned about Maine jobs, services, and natural resources placed at risk by international trade agreements. More specifically, the represented groups are concerned with healthcare, the workforce, the environment, immigration, poverty, consumer protection, corporate transparency, international trade policy, government sovereignty, and community integrity.
Tour delegates are active in the following organizations: Maine Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods, Union River Watershed Coalition, Maine Global Climate Change, Maine People's Alliance, Food and Medicine, H.O.M.E. Coop, the Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign, Environment Magazine, Maine Fair Trade Coalition, PICA, Teamsters local 340, the Bangor-El Salvador Sister Cities Project, and the office of U.S. Congressman Mike Michaud. The individual delegates were Margaret Baillie, Kathleen Caldwell, Dennis Chinoy, Jimmy Cook, Meredith Defrancesco, KC Edes, Katie Greenman, Katherine Kates, Robert Kates, Lesley Lichko, Alexandra Lounsbery, Celia McLay, Janet Redman, Rachel Sherman, Sara Stalman, and Francine Wickes.
The U.S. – El Salvador Sister Cities Network staff in San Salvador, El Salvador coordinated the delegates' meeting schedule, transportation, housing, translation services and other logistics. Locally, the tour was coordinated by Peace through Interamerican Community Action (PICA), a non-profit Bangor-based group whose current projects include the Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign, the Bangor-El Salvador Sister Cities Project, and participation in the Maine Fair Trade Campaign.
Acknowledgement:
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Reality Tour of El Salvador was funded, in part, by the Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, and Maine Initiatives, A Fund For Change.
