US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA1563

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001563 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR WHA/PD; IIP/G/WHA DIPASQUALE; AND IIP/T/ES 
DEPT. FOR PM AND EB/TRA 
DEPT. FOR WHA/EPSC, WHA/PPC AND WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, KPAO, PGOV, MASS, EAID, HO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON DEBT FORGIVENESS, JULY 25, 2005 
 
 
1. On 07/25 the Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily, "La 
Tribuna," published an op-ed by Oscar Lanza Rosales entitled 
"Debt Relief Needs to Benefit the Poorest of the Poor." 
"The rich countries that make up the G-8 have forgiven the 
debt of Honduras, approximately 60% of the foreign debt, 
equivalent to some 3 billion dollars.  We must take 
advantage of this debt relief during its 15-year period, 
around 4 billion lempiras per year, to reduce the poverty in 
which our country is submerged." 
 
"Today there is still distrust that the debt relief funds 
will not get to the most needy or that they will only get 
crumbs.  Cardinal Rodriguez has expressed this worry and has 
declared that `he who steals from the poor has no 
forgiveness from God.'" 
 
"On what the President has said, we agree that the Fund be 
administered by the Consultative Committee for the Poverty 
Reduction Strategy (CCERP). But where we dissent is in the 
application of projects to a general fund. Because under 
this criterion, we run the risk of the more influential 
social actors taking the bigger pieces of the pie." 
 
"Under the system of a General Fund, we run the risk that 
this money will not reach the poorest of the poor in 
Honduras, as was the intention of the President and the 
international partners that authorized the debt relief." 
 
"Hopefully the CCERP will do its job well and will make 
99.99% of the resources reach the poorest of the poor. 
Hopefully, it will meet the expectations of the Executive 
Secretary of the National Forum for Convergence (FONAC), Don 
 
SIPDIS 
Juan Ferrea, that these new resources reach the rural areas 
where the poorest in Honduras are found, and that these 
funds will generate well being, equality,and justice, which 
have been absent for the longest time." 
 
2. The San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "Tiempo" carried 
an op-ed by Rodolfo Pastor Fasquelle entitled "Debt Relief 
and Those Who Covet It."  "This topic makes me a little 
nervous. I was telling some friends that it reminds me of 
the famous Renaissance painting "The Haywain" by the great 
Bosch, in which man's crazy disputes over gold are 
metaphorically symbolized by hay.  We haven't received 
anything yet. In many European parliaments and cabinets, the 
debt relief is being questioned, and here we are already 
fighting like cats and dogs over who gets the prize.  And 
there is great expectation because this year some 20 million 
dollars are to be spent.  This is enough to win any election 
if it is distributed among the poor, the way my uncle the 
Cardinal suggests. Laws have already been passed to this 
effect." 
 
"Many of my friends (not I) believe in ERP [Poverty 
Reduction Strategy]. (Some even subscribe to the theory that 
governments don't have much to do, other than to strictly 
follow the procedures established by the 2001 `Agreement' 
for the channeling of foreign aid funds through civil 
society organizations dispersed through poor areas.) The 
more moderate understand that this is a valid proposal, but 
that the State has to prioritize the specific issues and 
direct the available funds to where they will have the most 
impact; much like it was done with the Millennium Funds." 
 
"For me, it is clear what the ancients used to say, `you 
can't give a man a fish; you have to teach him how to catch 
a fish.' One helps more by teaching.  But I am convinced 
that even though we need housing and child nutrition 
programs in schools, the most important thing has to be 
giving Hondurans those 11 years of school that is proven 
beyond a shadow of a doubt will help them rise above 
poverty. According to large international studies, without 
those 11 years it is very difficult to get out of poverty 
and stay above the poverty line.  And of course, this is 
possible and the rest is hay and illusion." 
 
Tuebner