CAFTA RATIFIED BY CONGRESS, 126 VOTES TO 12

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000675

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD PGOV PREL GT
SUBJECT: CAFTA RATIFIED BY CONGRESS, 126 VOTES TO 12

REF: GUATEMALA 659

Summary
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1. Guatemala's Congress ratified the CAFTA text by a 10.5 to
1 margin on March 10 as some 800 unruly demonstrators sought
to impede access. UNE and Integracionista party members
returned to the Congress after absenting themselves the day
before, allowing the 2/3 majority vote to pass the bill on a
single reading. End Summary.

Overwhelming Vote in Favor...
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2. Guatemala's Congress ratified the CAFTA text by a 126-12
vote on March 10. The vote followed immediately a 122-12
vote to declare the issue a matter of "national urgency,"
allowing the CAFTA ratification bill to be approved after a
single reading of the text. The short legislative decree
that grants the Congress's ratification, decree 31-2005, was
passed to the Presidency on March 11, where it needs to be
signed and then published in the official gazette ("Diario de
Centroamerica"). The bill will be published March 16,
according to the Secretary General of the Presidency.

...Belies "Undemocratic" Claims of Small Demonstration
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3. The overwhelming (10.5 to 1) margin of victory in
Congress belied the efforts of CAFTA opponents to portray
CAFTA as disadvantageous for Guatemala and the ratification
process as undemocratic. A small group of armed, unruly
demonstrators -- never more than 800 -- deployed near the
Congress, attempting to impede congressional deputies from
getting to the Congress. The demonstrators, many of them
brandishing inch-thick dowels, threw rocks, bottles,
excrement and debris at deputies and others entering or
exiting the Congress. Although local media reports showed
the police controlling the situation with admirable
restraint, the ex-guerrilla URNG and other CAFTA opponents
quickly alleged to their anti-globalization contacts in the
U.S. and elsewhere that the police were using excessive force
to squelch the "peaceful" protests.

Missing Parties Reappear to Declare National Urgency
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4. The congressional dynamics of ratification paralleled
closely those described in reftel, except that a 2/3 majority
vote granting the bill "national urgency" was not possible on
March 3, when anti-IPR firebrand Pablo Duarte of the
Unionista party forced a suspension of proceedings following
the vote to grant data protection national urgency. National
urgency permits passage of a law by a single reading and
vote. When the Congress convened on March 9 without UNE and
Integracionista deputies present, as noted in reftel, it was
able to pass the data protection with a simple majority
because it could do so under the national urgency rules
approved March 3. There were not enough pro-CAFTA members,
however, to muster the 105 votes needed to grant national
urgency to CAFTA. Members therefore proceeded with the first
of three readings of the bill required to pass the
legislation under normal rules. This they managed to do.


5. The missing UNE and Integracionistas were back in the
Congress on March 10 and ready to vote for CAFTA. The
congressional leadership abandoned their work under normal
rules and opted to start over under national urgency rules.
Apart from being quicker, this avoided the need to meet again
the next day, a Friday when deputies from outlying districts
are often traveling, or wait until the following week and
risk debating CAFTA during a nationwide strike that has been
called by a coalition of anti-CAFTA NGOs.

"Compensatory" Legislation Announced
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6. In an attempt to appease CAFTA opponents and demonstrate
concern for the social impact of CAFTA, congressional leaders
announced March 9 after meeting with President Berger that
they had reached agreement on a package of legislation
"complementary" to CAFTA, which they would seek to pass
immediately after CAFTA. The "package" turned out to be the
"repackaging" of a dozen bills that were already in the works
rather than legislation specifically targeting workers who
might be displaced or otherwise affected by CAFTA. The
package includes everything from a Framework for the Peace
Accords, a Land Title Registry Bill, a Rural Development
Bill, Labor Code reforms, and a bill to institutionalize the
Fiscal Pact. First up, according to Congress President
Mendez-Herbruger, will be food assistance legislation.
HAMILTON