US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA1180

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