Criticism
The Plan Puebla Panamá has drawn criticism for its adherence to a neoliberal model of development, which critics say favors the interests of multinational corporations over those of local communities and the environment. According to critics, the true goals of the PPP include the privatization of land (including farmland), water and public services, and the control of the region by foreign interests. In addition, they argue that Plan Puebla Panamá is destroying fragile rain forests and displacing indigenous peoples who have little voice in the development effort.
Much criticism of Plan Puebla Panamá is related to criticism of free trade agreements (FTAs), including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Critics argue that the PPP and related projects serve to lay the physical infrastructure that allows FTAs to operate:
"On the one hand, FTAs rewrite the region’s laws and policies for the benefit of transnational corporations and the region’s elites, while on the other, the PPP provides a network of physical infrastructure, easy access to natural resources and a new army of cheap labor for 'development' of the Isthmus of the Americas."
According to the US-based group Root Force, the PPP and related infrastructure projects are essential for supplying the First World with access to cheap resources, thus maintaining a "colonialist" global economy.
Read more about this topic: Puebla-Panama Plan
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