Your recent editorial would've been extremely brief if it had listed CAFTA's net benefits to the state rather than wasting space bashing Florida sugar farmers.

All five nations included in CAFTA have a combined regional economy smaller than that of New Haven, Conn. With more than 80 percent of their products already entering our markets duty-free, this tiny, incremental trade agreement -- phased in over 20 years -- would hardly spur their economy or bolster democracy.

The United States supplies more than 90 percent of most agricultural imports to Central America. Most of the trade between the United States and the CAFTA-DR countries already enters through Florida ports and air terminals. Any gains would be relatively insignificant.

America's International Trade Commission projects that CAFTA will increase America's overall trade deficit with these Central American countries by more than $100 million.

NAFTA was passed with similar expectations, even if it put "some" Florida tomato growers out of business. In 1994, we had a $2 billion trade surplus with Mexico; today we have a $45 billion trade deficit. Florida lost nearly two-thirds of its tomato industry and small Mexican farmers of many crops were destroyed by large, multinational conglomerates. Did this help consumers through lower prices at the grocery store as promised? Not one bit.

CAFTA is doomed to repeat the same mistakes, and this time sugar farmers, ranchers and other American industries will pay the price for so-called free trade.

Judy Sanchez
Director of Corporate Communications
US Sugar Corp.
Clewiston