AELLA Series presents:
Central America in Perspective Colloquium

“Costa Rican Democracy, Oppositional Movements,

and the Central American Free Trade Agreement”
with: Jeremy Rayner and Andres Leon

Tuesday, February 28th, 7.00pm
Room 5414

CUNY Graduate Center

365 Fifth Avenue, NY NY 10016

This event is free and open to the public (need to show ID to enter building).

In October of 2007, mounting contention over the Central American Free Trade Agreement in Costa Rica culminated in a historic referendum, pitting the decentralized, grassroots movement of the “No” against a “SÍ” campaign supported by big businesses together with the Costa Rican and US governments.   This panel will discuss the significance of CAFTA for Central America as well as the contention over the treaty’s ratification in Costa Rica.  We will explore how this conflict over “free trade” contributed to the creation of new political subjectivities and forms of political participation, while raising fundamental questions about the meaning of democracy and popular sovereignty in the context of neoliberal globalization.

This event is endorsed by:
Occupy Wall Street Latin American
Committee for Globalization and Social Change

AELLA is the Association of Latino and Latin American students of the Graduate Center.  The AELLA  yearlong program of student-led conferences, screenings, workshops, and study groups dedicated to discussing the most pressing political issues confronting Latin America and the Caribbean. For more information contact us at: aella.gradcenter@gmail.com or visit our blog at:http://opencuny.org/aellagc/