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