MEDIA REACTION ON CAFTA, MAY 31, 2005

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001180 SIPDIS DEPT. FOR WHA/PD; IIP/G/WHA DIPASQUALE; AND IIP/T/ES DEPT. FOR EB/TPP DCLUNE, WHA/EPSC AND WHA/CEN DEPT. PASS USTR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KPAO ETRD HO USTR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON CAFTA, MAY 31, 2005 ¶1. On 05/31 the Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna" published an op-ed by Juan Carlos Aguiluz Umana entitled "Doubts about CAFTA." "Economic globalization is an irreversible fact, but it will bring consequences to the national economy, some negative and others positive, with the hope that the positive will outweigh the negative. CAFTA has been discussed a lot, and a lot of people have already drawn some conclusions. It is not true that with globalization the less efficient businesses will necessarily disappear. I think that by forming an alliance of mixed capitalism, they can be strengthened. What we in our country have to respect is the need to establish a Labor Code with required minimum wages." "COHEP says that our business can compete, but I think that the majority of our businesses are not up-to-date. Just as our national bank has been falling slowly into foreign hands, there are few banks in which a citizen can open a savings account. Some banks are defending Honduras. Banco Atlantida has formed an alliance with other banks in the region. Banco FICOHSA has recently opened branches in the U.S. One point favorable to the interests of people is that they will be able to purchase food products for a lower price because competition in the free market will make prices go down. Still, all these arguments are hypotheses that have not yet been put into practice. And there is something that concerns me more, that corruption is something that we can not tolerate in our country, and there is evidence that organized crime mafias are formed alliances in order to globalize corruption." Palmer