US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA1743

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001743 
 
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, AUGUST 19, 2005 
 
 
1. On 8/19, the Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna" 
published an op-ed by Juan Ramon Martinez entitled "CAFTA 
and Future Vision."  "Since Hurricane Mitch Honduras has 
become more dependent on external countries and doesn't 
trust in its own strengths." 
 
"The recently signed treaty has to be, according to local 
idealists of dependency, happiness for a useless and 
mentally colonized country like ours that doesn't want to 
understand that the country's future is in our hands." 
 
"CAFTA is an opportunity for things to get better here in 
Honduras. But it is only the opportunity in which we have to 
have national courage, use our entrepreneurs' imagination 
and take advantage of our responsible and imaginative 
workforce. CAFTA won't be an opportunity if we still believe 
we are handicapped and still believe that our useless 
government will bring us different results than we have 
experienced so far." 
 
"Finally, we need to create a new internal business 
relationship model. We have to stop fighting each other 
[boss and employee] and stop abusing and exploiting the 
workforce to increase profits. We have to understand that 
increasing workers' shopping capacity will become the source 
of growth for the internal market. This could allow us to 
take advantage of CAFTA-DR's opportunities." 
Williard