It’s easy to understand why Boliviar Elizondo opposes the passage of CAFTA. Frozen in time, Elizondo struggles by hand to eke out a living in the mountains of Costa Rica:
A man who must do everything using hand tools such as a machete or knife, Elizondo depends on selling about 50 pigs a year to finance the rest of his tiny operation. He says he can never compete with the large mechanized meat producers from the United States that are expected to invade the market over the next 20 years if Costa Rica’s legislature approves the accord.
"Without selling the pigs, I don’t know how to survive," he said. "I can’t support myself. I will have to sell this. Who is going to buy it? Not another Costa Rican. It will be a multinational corporation."
The removal of trade barriers and restrictions will almost certainly spell Elizondo’s doom. Or, less dramatically, it will mean the end of the way he currently earns his living. Elizondo will likely have to take up another occupation and sell his farm. That’s too bad, but that’s not a principled reason to oppose CAFTA. There is no right, after all, to be protected and insulated from those who simply compete better - that have the benefit of technology, better prices, a more comprehensive and strategic business model, deeper resources, etc…And Elizondo’s inability to compete is no more noteworthy than any of the thousands of businesses that fail every year in the harsh terrain of the marketplace.
Anecdotal tales, like Elizondos, are popular during times of transition. They are meant to lament the passing of a romanticized ‘way of life’. At the macro level, however, such open trade agreements almost always have a positive impact on economies and over time greatly improve the opportunities and living conditions of the citizens they affect. The collateral damage felt by the displaced is particular and anecdotal - and rarely long term. And, in most cases - despite the melancholic nostalgia of those on the outside - the meager, subsistence ‘way of life’ is rarely one worth preserving.
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