Former governor of the Central Bank and ambassador to Washington, DC, Bernardo Vega, is urging that Central America and the Caribbean join in the lobbying for an enactment of a European Union-style regional block that he describes as the only success story of integration. Speaking during the luncheon of the Dominican-Canadian Chamber of Commerce at the Barcelo Gran Hotel Lina yesterday, Vega suggested the Americas take a lesson from the Europeans and work towards establishing the Community of Northern Western Hemisphere Countries, to be made up by Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America (including Panama), the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean island countries. Vega said that while the idea is not a new one, including the Caribbean and Central American countries in the block is.
Vega proposed, in addition to the free trade of goods, services and capitals, that there be free labor flows, or at least preferential treatment of laborers from the region to the US and Canada, and he reminded that AFL-CIO no longer opposes migration.
In Vega?s view, the adoption of the dollar as currency would be the ideal, or the creation of a new currency (Amero), such as was introduced in Europe.
Furthermore, the plan calls for Canada and the United States to contribute resources to improve physical infrastructure and education in the rest of the communities, with the funds to be managed by the likes of the Interamerican Development Bank.
He perceived the resistance to the idea found in the US and Canada to be similar to that which existed against a similar proposal when it was first made in Europe. He explained that the main opposition would come from the US Congress.
According to Vega?s rationale, the US and Canada should back the initiative several reasons: geographic proximity, geo-political factors such as strategic location, the pre-existence of US military bases in the region, the large numbers of Caribbean and Central American nationals who live and vote in the US and Canada, the largest volume of trade in the Western Hemisphere and the largest flow of tourists.
Vega proposed not to expand the scope of the community until integration is accomplished, referring again to the EU that began with seven countries before it expanded to include the 12 countries of Eastern Europe.
For the complete proposal in Spanish, see http://dr1.com/news/2004/081304_Vega.html