Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TEGUCIGALPA2291
2005-11-07 22:49:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Tegucigalpa
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION ON MAR DE PLATA, NOVEMBER 07, 2005

Tags:  OIIP KPAO PREL ETRD KSUM 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 SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 002291 

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 PREL ETRD KSUM HO
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON MAR DE PLATA, NOVEMBER 07, 2005


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 002291

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 PREL ETRD KSUM HO
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON MAR DE PLATA, NOVEMBER 07, 2005



1. On 11/05 the Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna"
published an editorial entitled "The Train." "The long
awaited Summit of Mar del Plata is taking place, however
despite attempts to reach an agreement about FTAA, they may
decide to delay document issuance by 30 or 60 days because
of the siege of anti-Bush protests, some of which were
violent, where there were harsh conflicts between police and
protestors."

"To incite the crowd further during this spectacle, soccer
player Diego Maradona boarded the so-called `Free Trade
Train' with 160 political and cultural figures that also
joined the protests against the President's presence. Hugo
Chavez was the only official who assisted those who opposed
the Summit, including the social and political organizations
as well as regional unions in opposition to the FTAA."

"President Fox of Mexico was the representative voice of 30
countries who support FTAA, asserting that the initiative is
`capable of advancing only the 30 that support it and it
excludes Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and
Brazil.' The chancellor of Brazil responded to the Mexican
official that `MERCOSUR will maintain united against the
setting of a date for re-launching the FTAA.'"

"President Bush met with the presidents of Central America
and the Dominican Republic (with the exception of the
Honduran president who did not attend because of flooding in
his country) to congratulate them on the ratification of
CAFTA. To date Costa Rica is the only country that has not
ratified the treaty. The presidents asked President Bush to
stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants that have
been arriving in droves over the last few days."

"The cables say that the presidents of Central America and
the Dominican Republic left happy following their meeting
with their counterpart in the United States, which
compensated a bit for the anger of people who protested in
the streets."


2. On 11/07 "La Tribuna" ran an editorial entitled
"Migration." "The Central American presidents returned to
the controversial Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata

where they were able to achieve partial negotiations. Mexico
achieved an energy agreement in which the construction of a
refinery, a gas pipeline, and a hydroelectric network was
contemplated at an investment of 7 thousand million dollars
in a period of four years."

"During the meetings that the Central Americans had with
President Bush, agreements were reached concerning donations
for the victims of the last two hurricanes, although the
primary theme of immigration received a half-hearted
response that the U.S. would `take note of requests.'
Central Americans are worried about the increasing number of
deportees."

"This growing number of deportations will have to be
analyzed in the light of which ones are linked to previous
crimes. We suppose that a portion of those that are being
deported to Honduras also have previous criminal records.
This is of grave concern given that the principal reason for
the origin and development of gangs has to do with the
number of returned deportees with previous criminal records
emulating what they learned in bad neighborhoods back in the
States."

"During this summit the president of Guatemala went with the
intention of getting a similar migratory agreement to that
the other Central American countries already have with the
United States. He did not receive an affirmative response,
instead he received a diplomatic one in which the U.S. said
they would `consider the subject.' It is unknown whether
the North American government offered Central American
officials a general idea of what it intended to do with TPS:
if it will be prolonged indefinitely, or if there will be a
moment when it will no longer exist, or if it will offer
some sort of amnesty, or another solution of a more
definitive character."

"La Tribuna also published a cartoon of a scared President
Bush in a rowboat stranded in the middle of a summit (Mar de
Plata Summit) with the title "Misty waters."


3. On 11/07 an editorial in Tegucigalpa-based moderate daily
"El Heraldo," titled "The Summits in Argentina." "What
transpired during the Fourth Summit of the Americas and its
counterpart the `Summit of the People,' is no more than a
reflection of the discrepancies, of the antagonisms, of the
confronted leadership, and of the resentment of Latin
American society with the bitter fruits of the `Washington
Consensus.'"

"The Summit, where in theory countries were to discuss the
subject of finding consensual mechanisms to combat poverty
and strengthen democratic governance, concentrated instead
on the valiant but failed efforts of the United States to re-
launch the FTAA, whose course has stagnated since its birth
in Miami where in 1994 it was announced that it would come
into affect January 2005. The `Summit of the People' also
called, the `Anti-Summit' which included the `anti-Bush
train' composed of the multitudes in the Mar del Plata
Stadium, served to exhibit the growing anti-imperialist
sentiment in Latin America and to strengthen leadership in
the region for the Venezuelan president."

"The duel unleashed by FTAA, which brought the United States
with the support of the Mexican president, the Prime
Minister of Canada, and with the silent acquiescence of a
majority of the countries in the region, in opposition with
the members of MercoSur and Venezuela, caused the formal
portion of the Summit to nearly fail until an equitable
resolution was reached in which the `Final Declaration' was
signed, although in it the discrepancies between nations
were captured. The Central American countries that sought
compromise with Washington on the subject of immigrants only
achieved an energy agreement with Mexico that hopefully is
not only a form of seizing the flag of Hugo Chavez but also
transforms itself into a real benefit for these countries.
The failure of the U.S. in its attempts to re-launch FTAA,
and the protests against political imperialism and a
unilateral Bush administration backed by the strengthening
leadership of Hugo Chavez, should redefine the political
economy dictated from the power centers of the world."


4. On 11/07 the San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "La
Prensa" ran an editorial entitled "Energy Agreement." "The
final declaration of the fourth Summit of the Americas in
Mar Del Plata was complicated, laborious, and polemic on the
subject of re-launching commercial integration in the
hemisphere, which is opposed by Mercosur countries.
Therefore it is necessary to acknowledge the impending
results of the meeting of the World Trade Organization in
Hong Kong next month in which balances the survival of the
Doha Round negotiations concerning the agricultural
subsidies of the industrialized nations."

"Argentina, Mexico, and Central America strengthened their
bilateral relationship already expressed in the Plan Pueblo
Panama Project, with the signing of an energy agreement for
7 billion dollars in investments."

"The project is ambitious and can result in benefits for the
isthmus, whose energy demands will increase following an
increase in investments in the region. The implementation
of CAFTA this January in concert with the United States will
bring about favorable conditions for the entry of products
into the North American market and will bring about
incentives for investors in the region."

"The agreement reached with Mexico brings about more
expectations for Central America, although we will have to
see if Fox's successor continues the politics of growth and
cooperation with his neighbors to the south."


5. On 11/05 the San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "Tiempo"
published a cartoon of the Argentine soccer player Diego
Maradona yelling at Bush to get out while Bush's bodyguard
tells a worried Bush not to listen to him until they ask the
reverend Billy Graham if Maradona is really "the hand of
God." And on 11/06 it published a cartoon entitled "Mar de
Plata" of Bush pulling himself away from a bomb that says
"Go Home."

Ford