SHARE's Programs

My name is Bishop Thomas Gumbleton. I am a Catholic Bishop from Detroit, Michigan and a long time supporter of the SHARE Foundation. I have long appreciated the SHARE Foundation's willingness to confront harsh realities in El Salvador, while struggling for a more hopeful, prophetic future.

In the spirit of this righteous struggle, I am eager to invite you to support SHARE in mobilizing with our Salvadoran and Central American sisters and brothers against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The United States Congress is entering the final stages of voting on CAFTA, and we have received an urgent call from the people of Central America to do our very best to stop it.

Two years ago, SHARE asked me to accompany them in what they promised was an uphill battle. In order to advance economic justice in El Salvador, SHARE explained that we first had to defeat CAFTA. Two years later, I, like the rest of solidarity movement, am surprised and heartened at where we today find ourselves on the verge of defeating CAFTA.

On April 13th, 2005 my colleague, Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini, the Catholic Bishop of San Marcos, Guatemala, testified before Congress addressing the growing concerns of many churches, farmers, development experts, and concerned citizens in both North and Central America on the impact of international trade on the poor of Central America. I would like to share with you a passage from Bishop Ramazzini's testimony:

"Mr. Chairman, we need a real partnership between our countries. I am not saying NO to more open trade. I am not saying NEVER to a free trade agreement. I am saying that most people are absent from this discussion and their absence creates a fatal flaw. The poor were not consulted during negotiations. In fact, they have been shut out. Instead, they should be the protagonists in this process, if we are going to be serious about democratic stability and a secure hemisphere. What we see is public unrest met with violent police action. Therefore, my request to you, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, is to instruct your trade representative to TRY AGAIN."

My commitment to oppose CAFTA, like many of you, comes from learning about the deteriorating conditions of communities in rural El Salvador. For example, the communities in SHARE's new target area in Chalchuapa, Santa Ana are suffering from extreme levels of poverty which have been exacerbated by steps taken by the Salvadoran government to prepare for CAFTA. In this case it means the elimination of safeguards for local farmers and the privatization of basic services. Right now, children are dying from hunger and disease. Individuals are forced to leave their families to seek work in the city, only to be exploited in a maquila or they risk their lives to cross the border to the U.S. These are hard-working people with fertile lands who just want to be able to put food on the table and provide a hopeful future for their children. But their fates are being decided in the world market.

CAFTA will intensify poverty. It will displace local production of crops such as beans and corn with imported products. CAFTA will make the existing unacceptable labor conditions in El Salvador even worse. Thousands of U.S. workers will also find their jobs out-sourced to other countries; multinational corporations will get stronger and displace medium to small businesses. The environment will deteriorate, including the elimination of water sources. The degradation of the environment and labor conditions will decrease the standard of living for the poor and middle class.

However, the international community has been mobilizing to resist CAFTA and that opposition is making a difference. SHARE is supporting Central American-wide efforts to denounce CAFTA. In the U.S., SHARE's grassroots base is energetically organizing to stop the passage of CAFTA.

With your support SHARE has been educating people across the country and in Washington DC:

SHARE is educating a grassroots network of sister parishes, local committees and individuals.

SHARE organized a delegation of over 150 people to El Salvador for the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in March 2005. Delegates visited communities in the countryside to experience the deteriorating economic conditions and committed to return to the U.S. to mobilize against CAFTA.

SHARE organized a delegation of Catholic Bishops from Central America to visit Washington D.C. They called for a transparent process of consultation before deciding on CAFTA and warned about the negative impact of the current agreement on the poor of the region. SHARE also sponsored the visit of Lutheran Bishop Medardo Gomez to Washington D.C.

SHARE, together with CARECEN-DC and La Clinica del Pueblo, sponsored the visit of Dr. Beatrice de Carrillo, the Human Rights Ombudswoman of El Salvador, to Washington D.C. to educate the U.S. Congress and public about the impact of the agreement on labor and human rights.

This May, SHARE sponsored the visit of two grassroots leaders from El Salvador, Miguel Alemán Velásquez and Dr. Raúl Moreno, in an effort to ensure that the poor of Central America have a voice in the final round of the debate on CAFTA.

As you may know, this year we are commemorating the 25th anniversary of the assassinations of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the 4 U.S. churchwomen and the 70,000 Salvadoran civilians who lost their lives during the twelve year civil war. We say presente to Romero and all the martyrs by continuing their struggle for peace with justice. We say presente by mobilizing to stop CAFTA.

SHARE is accompanying the efforts of our partners to stop this agreement, and I want to invite you to make a donation and say YES to a sustainable alternative that will provide for the poor to feed their families, ensure human rights, protect the environment and give hope and vision for a global community built on principles of social justice. Please make your donation today.

Thank you for your support and for keeping the memory of the martyrs in this struggle. Another world is possible!

Peace,

Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton

Archdiocese of Detroit