US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA1309

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001309 
 
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, JUNE 17, 2005 
 
 
1. Op-ed by Melvin Martinez in San Pedro Sula-based liberal 
daily "Tiempo" on 6/17, titled "The Necessary Latin 
Americanism."  "The greatest Latin American thinkers and 
statesmen clearly understood that the integration of the 
Latin American countries was a fundamental precondition for 
the development of our countries and the improvement of the 
quality of life for the people who inhabit this region of 
the world. These countries had previously been subjected to 
a cruel domination under the European powers and currently 
under the United States Empire." 
 
".Most integrationist projects today in the so called Free 
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and CAFTA are clearly 
geared towards the big interest groups of the U.S. and the 
political economy of that government. However, in reading 
the documents related to the `Bolivarian Alternative for the 
Americas' (ALBA, Spanish acronym) we can see that the 
solidarity envisioned by the Latin American forefathers is 
becoming the basic principle that should guide our countries 
to an integration that is real and sincere and leads to the 
collective creation of liberty, justice, and development." 
 
"But to understand the approach taken by the ALBA, it is 
necessary to let go of the egoism, the desire for riches, 
and the unhealthy concept of competition and winning as the 
essence of the economic system, which has been ingrained by 
capitalist theory." 
 
 
"The ALBA can be the light that guides the struggle for a 
new independence and true integration of the Latin American 
and Caribbean people, retaking the ideas of our forefathers 
in the search for that Motherland for which Morazan, Bolivar 
and Marti fought and gave their lives." 
 
Pierce