FRFI 176 December 2003 / January 2004
On 16 November the trade representatives of every country of the Americas, with the exception of Cuba, met in Miami to finalise the treaty of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The aim of the FTAA is to allow virtually unrestricted access by multinationals into Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Opposing this, thousands of demonstrators converged in the city and were met with brutal repression as the US government had provided $8.5 million for a massive paramilitary attack.
Protestors were attacked by police wielding batons and fired on with rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray. More than 250 were arrested, over 100 treated for injuries and 12 hospitalised including one man in an intensive care unit for head injuries. Small groups leaving the protests were harassed, arrested and beaten and the centre of Miami was closed and effectively militarised.
Later 62 people holding a peaceful vigil outside Miami-Dade County Jail in support of those detained inside were arrested. While in gaol protestors were sprayed with pepper spray and freezing water and beaten.
The lengths that the US government is prepared to go to in order to force through the FTAA is because of its vital importance to US imperialism in enabling it to further absorb the national economies of the Americas and continue draining profits from them. The brutal treatment of the protestors in Miami was a taste of the ‘freedom and democracy’ that President Bush is aiming to spread around the world.
For more information and the demands of the anti-FTAA protestors for justice see: www.unitedforpeace.org and www.ftaaimc.org
