Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TEGUCIGALPA2223
2005-10-31 22:49:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Tegucigalpa
Cable title:  

Honduras and Nicaragua Re-Open Borders For Cargo

Tags:  ECIN EINV ECON ETRD HO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002223 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/EPSC, EB/ESC
STATE PASS USTR FOR AMALITO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECIN EINV ECON ETRD HO
SUBJECT: Honduras and Nicaragua Re-Open Borders For Cargo
After Brief Stand-Off


UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002223

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/EPSC, EB/ESC
STATE PASS USTR FOR AMALITO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECIN EINV ECON ETRD HO
SUBJECT: Honduras and Nicaragua Re-Open Borders For Cargo
After Brief Stand-Off



1. Honduran truck drivers opened the Honduran - Nicaraguan
border for cargo transport Friday, October 21, after
blockading several key highways for approximately 48 hours.
The blockage was in response to a similar move by Nicaraguan
truckers a day earlier. Following a formal note of protest
from GOH Foreign Minister Mario Fortin to Nicaragua, the
situation escalated, becoming headline news in Honduras.
The matter was quickly taken up and resolved by Honduran
President Ricardo Maduro and Nicaraguan President Enrique
Bolanos at the Central American Economic Integration (SIECA)
summit in El Salvador on October 20.


2. Nicaraguan truck drivers first blocked cargo shipments on
October 17 in response to a traffic ordinance (CT-140/2005)
that had been interpreted as denying entry into Nicaragua by
any cargo trucks that did not have Nicaraguan license
plates. The traffic ordinance, recently promulgated by the
Nicaraguan customs office, was denounced by the Honduran
Transport Association (HTA) as a "bad interpretation" of a
Nicaraguan Transport Law. "The law was intended to promote
employment opportunities for Nicaraguan workers," said an
Association spokesman, not to halt cross-border trade. In
response, the HTA organized a counter-blockade on the
Honduran side of the border.


3. The dispute highlighted the potential for problems within
the nascent CAFTA-DR free trade zone. Honduran businesses,
which send significantly more cargo to Nicaragua then they
receive, were incensed. "What the transporters are looking
for is a monopoly in their country," said Enrique Mejia
Ucles, a member of the Honduran Counsel of Private
Businesses (COHEP). "It's ridiculous because Honduras and
the other Central American countries would simply do the
same."


4. Presidents Maduro and Bolanos were quick to find a way to
end the crisis from the summit in San Salvador, where U.S.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez was also in attendance
as part of his recent three-country tour to promote CAFTA-
DR. As part of the agreement, a technical advisory team was
sent by SIECA (Secretariat for Central American Economic
Integration) to meet with the Nicaraguan truck drivers and
better understand their concerns.


5. At a luncheon with Secretary Gutierrez on October 19,
President Maduro signaled his deeper concern and his clear
intention to take up the issue the following day at the
presidential level, when he said, "Everyone is talking about
this blockade. The issue is not the blockade; the issue is
democracy." Maduro has repeatedly joined with his regional
counterparts, both individually and in the Organization of
American States (OAS),in condemning what he considers
increasingly anti-democratic developments in Nicaragua.

Williard