UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 000172

SIPDIS

FOR WHA/PD, WHA/CEN, AND IIP/G/WHA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KPAO KSUM PREL HO
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON THE SPECIAL SUMMIT OF THE
AMERICAS, JANUARY 15, 2004


1. Editorial in Tegucigalpa-based moderate daily "El
Heraldo" on 1/15 entitled "A great deal of rhetoric and few
results". "The Latin American presidents arrived in
Monterrey with few expectations, and they came back with
their hands practically empty. More than ever, this Summit
was characterized by meaningless speeches and vain promises.
It went by without the creation of concrete measures to
concretize the good intentions of the governments to `focus
on the most vulnerable social sectors and increase the
efforts to reduce poverty and social inequality'."

"It also clear that the conflicts between Latin America and
the Northern colossus in several issues, such as the FTAA,
and the relationship of certain nations with the Cuban
government still remain."

"One of the positive developments of this Summit was the
agreement to reduce the costs of sending remittances from
the immigrants to their countries of origin, which benefits
millions of families and the financial systems of these
countries."


2. Editorial in San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "La
Prensa" on 1/15 entitles "Just another declaration". "The
Summit of the Americas ended with yet another declaration of
the good intention of our governments. The conclusions of
the final declaration were mainly focused on political
issues, neglecting once again the severe problem of poverty
and unemployment in the hemisphere. The Declaration of
Nuevo Leon is only one more document that didn't answer the
key question of this region: how can Latin America finally
achieve a stable development?."

"One of the novelties of this Summit, although it's still
just a theoretical proposal, is the commitment of all
governments to reduce in half the costs of sending
remittances. This is a concrete goal. However, there's
still a need to propose effective measures to compete with
the big transnational companies that receive enormous
profits from the remittances sent to Latin America."


3. Editorial in San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "Tiempo"
on 1/15 entitled "Uneventful". "The Summit of the Americas
ended without any particular development, fulfilling one of
the expectations the people of the hemisphere had on this
event."

"The Declaration of Nuevo Leon is full of expressions of
support and willingness to fight against poverty,
corruption, terrorism, narcotrafficking, and the illegal
traffic of arms, but few of them can actually be fulfilled
by the Latin American governments."

Palmer