NICA! My brief, shame-inducing education in CAFTA/globalization

Ah yes, consumer capitalism, I know it well. I suffered no shortage of Cokes and views of Frosted Flakes for breakfast during my stay. I thankmyluckystars didn't see a Wal(&$)(@Mart, but, indeed, I did see a MickeyDees.
The effects of economic globalization abounds around Managua and other cities. Here, in the small town around Estelí was a shelf of wonderfully sun-aged hair coloring featuring the finest in Hollywood. Jessica Alba's color is my favorite...

Free Trade = Free Zones = shops that generate sweat @ the pay rate of 80¢/day.
We were granted a tour of a particular Managua Free Trade Zone compound/area/complex/base/gated community. Inside one factory, we faced a large gate. On the gate, beside the time clock and employee cards various signs detailing "labor standards" and practices from none other than Nautica, Target, North Face, Polo and other behemoth retail companies. Packaged, in front of our eyes, $250 North Face jackets, ready to ship to the U.S. West Coast. A shameful feeling, walking along the lines of workers at various sewing and assembly lines. A guard stood watch at the bathroom entrance. All clothing was exported out of Nicaragua, going straight to destinations in the U.S. According to CAFTA regulations for Free Trade Zones, no manufactured goods can remain for retail in the country of creation. Thus, Nicas continue to not benefit from such zones, unless you count under payed work.
CAFTA makes possible increased foreign investments at the expense of grassroots, domestic organizations and companies. Here, in the rapidly modernizing city and country, money,money,money! is key. CAFTA-related investment "incentives" here include multiple levels of full tax exemption. FTZones are dominated my textile-type manufacturing sectors. All goods are required for immediate exportation once manufactured. Welcome to virtually all retail clothing at the mall, Target, etc. This means, to abolish my own involvement in this global exploitation, I'd be left to wrap myself in tree bark.



Days after visiting the Free Trade Zone, we drove further to the west of Managua, to Cuidad Sandino. This community with many neighborhoods has become one of the poorest communities in the country, as the Nica Earthquake decades ago sent thousands of refugees with limited government assistance, to build shanty town communities. Here, drug use and gangs are prevalent, as community members are driven to violence and addiction due, in my estimation, to poverty and abandonment.
One cooperative organization, working in conjunction with heavy international aid, is a (more equitable) Fair-Free Trade Zone sewing cooperative / textile factory. Entirely worker-owned, the factory here was cleared to be considered a Free Trade Zone, benefiting from the tax incentives that usually blocks Nicans from operating such a business. However, because the management is not outsourced, the workers here benefit (more) fairly from their work.
Down the road in Cuidad Sandino, however, beckons the allure of thousands of additional jobs in a in-construction Free Trade Zone (outsourced management-laden) factory. As we drive, we see the polluted, low-running water source flowing in a ditch through the community. We find out that FTZ factories are happy to send industrial toxins straight into this water source. It's cheaper for them, that's why.