MEDIA REACTION ON FTAA AND ALBA, NOVEMBER 28, 2005

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002400

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 FTAA AND ALBA, NOVEMBER 28, 2005



1. On 11/27 the Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna"
published an op-ed by Rigoberto Gomez Madrid, PhD in social
sciences, entitled "FTAA versus ALBA: An Ideological
Polarization?" "Mr. Eduardo Galeano, who received a PhD
`honoris causa' from the National Pedagogic University,
declared that the young who don't believe in democracy or
are indifferent towards elections are right about the
`circus act' that politicians have put on. He also said that
`the most unforgivable sin is to act against the hope of the
people' to achieve a dignified quality of life."

"One of the initiatives made by the groups in power in the
western hemisphere is the FTAA and Bolivarian Alliance
(ALBA),in which countries seek economic integration under
different economic-political issues than the ones in the
last Summit of the Americas. The Summit ended with different
stands between the Southern Cone that promotes ALBA and the
block of countries led by the U.S. that promotes FTAA. FTAA
is not designed to provide equal economic opportunity for
all participant countries. The Southern Cone is demanding
equal conditions for all the countries."

"In summary, we can say that in Latin America a will for
social change still exists. In Honduras' case, social change
has been an issue since the Callejas administration but the
change is very far from being real, which generates a
noticeable discontent about the current Honduran political
model. Maybe Churchill was right when he said that
`democracy is a bad form of government; unfortunately, the
rest are much worse."

Ford