Por Agencias
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The European Union reached a blockbuster free trade agreement Friday with Brazil, Argentina and the three other South American nations in the Mercosur trade alliance, capping a quarter-century of on-off negotiations even as France vowed to derail the contentious accord.
Provided it is ratified, the accord would create one of the world’s largest free trade zones, covering a market of 780 million people that represents nearly a quarter of global gross domestic product.
The accord’s proponents in Brussels say it would save businesses some $4.26 billion in duties each year, slashing red tape and removing tariffs on products like Italian wine, Argentine steak, Brazilian oranges and German Volkswagens.
Its critics in France, the Netherlands and other countries with big dairy and beef industries say the pact would subject local farmers to unfair competition and cause environmental damage.
From Uruguay, the host of the Mercosur summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the deal as a “truly historic milestone” at a time when global protectionism is on the rise.
“I know that strong winds are blowing in the opposite direction, toward isolation and fragmentation, but this agreement is our clear response,” von der Leyen said, an apparent reference to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s vows to protect American workers and goods.
Under pressure from his country’s powerful and vocal farming lobby, French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday the deal remained “unacceptable” as it stands and stressed that governments have not yet seen “the final outcome” of negotiations.
“The agreement has neither been signed nor ratified. This is not the end of the story,” Macron’s office said, adding that France demands additional safeguards for farmers and commitments to sustainable development and health controls.
For France to block the deal, it would need the support of three or more other EU member states representing at least 35% of the bloc’s population.
The French government, which has been rallying countries to oppose the pact, named Austria, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland as other wary states that share French concerns about the deal.
To take effect, the pact must also be endorsed by the European Parliament.
In remarks aimed at her “fellow Europeans,” and perhaps in particular French skeptics, von der Leyen promised the accord would boost 60,000 businesses through lower tariffs, streamlined customs procedures and preferential access to raw materials otherwise supplied by China.
“This will create huge business opportunities,” von der Leyen said.
She then turned to address European farmers who fear that an influx of cheap food imports will jeopardize their livelihoods. South American countries do not have to adhere to the same standards for animal treatment and pesticide use.
“We have heard you, listened to your concerns, and we are acting on them,” von der Leyen said.
It marks the first major trade agreement for Mercosur, which is comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and, newly, Bolivia.
The bloc had previously only managed to conclude free-trade deals with Egypt, Israel and Singapore.
“An important obstacle to the agreement has been overcome,” said Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, where the nation’s vaunted car industry is poised to profit.
From Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the agreement “an unprecedented economic bridge.”
At the Mercosur summit in Uruguay’s capital of Montevideo, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva praised “a modern and balanced text which recognizes Mercosur’s environmental credentials.”
“We are securing new markets for our exports and strengthening investment flows,” he said.
The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency said it expects the pact to boost the nation’s Europe-bound exports by $7 billion.
The deal is the product of 25 years of painstaking negotiations, dating back to a Mercosur summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1999.
Talks collapsed over differences in economic priorities, regulatory standards and agricultural policies. The rise of protectionist tendencies also repeatedly upended hopes.
COLOMBIA
One of Colombia’s legendary drug lords and a key operator of the Medellin cocaine cartel has been released from a U.S. prison and is expected to be deported back home.
Records from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons show Fabio Ochoa Vásquez was released Tuesday after completing 25 years of a 30-year prison sentence.
Ochoa, 67, and his older brothers amassed a fortune when cocaine started flooding the U.S. in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to U.S. authorities, to the point that in 1987 they were included in the Forbes Magazine’s list of billionaires. Living in Miami, Ochoa ran a distribution center for the cocaine cartel once headed by Pablo Escobar.
Although somewhat faded from memory as the center of the drug trade shifted from Colombia to Mexico, he resurfaced in the hit Netflix series “Narcos” true to form as the youngest son of an elite Medellin family into ranching and horse breeding that cut a sharp contrast with Escobar, who came from more humble roots
Ochoa was first indicted in the U.S. for his alleged role in the 1986 killing of Drug Enforcement Administration informant Barry Seal — whose life was popularized in the 2017 film “American Made” starring Tom Cruise.
He was initially arrested in 1990 in Colombia under a government program promising drug kingpins would not be extradited to the U.S. At the time, he was on the U.S. list of the “Dozen Most Wanted” Colombia drug lords.
Ochoa was arrested again and extradited to the U.S. in 2001 in response to an indictment in Miami naming him and more than 40 people as part of a drug smuggling conspiracy. Of those, Ochoa was the only one who opted to go to trial, resulting in his conviction and the 30-year sentence. The other defendants got much lighter prison terms because most of them cooperated with the government.
“He won’t be retiring a poor man, that’s for sure,” Gregorie told The Associated Press.
