US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA2191

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002191 
 
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, OCTOBER 26, 2005 
 
 
1. On 10/21 the Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna" 
published an editorial entitled "Thunder and lightning." 
"The subjects that will cause disagreements in the Summit of 
Americas, which will take place in the first week of 
November of this year, are the agricultural subsidies and 
the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The nations of 
MERCOSUR demand the end of agricultural subsidies by the 
industrial powers and other developed nations." 
 
"The demand goes fundamentally against the U.S., the 
European Union and Japan which maintain agricultural prices 
through subsidies in which the poorest and less developed 
countries are highly competitive." 
 
"Opposed to the Mar del Plata Summit, the `Summit of the 
People' was created to reunite a hundred social and 
political organizations of Latin America with the purpose of 
presenting an alternative to the FTAA. This meeting is 
offered as a parallel engagement to the Presidential summit 
with the purpose of dividing the attention and coverage that 
the international press will give to the events." 
 
"Venezuela announced that it would try to make "adjustments" 
with Andean countries that sign an FTA with the U.S. The 
greatest promoter of an FTA membership is Colombia, hoping 
that Ecuador and Peru join. The Colombian president, a main 
ally of Washington, says that he will sign a FTA, `thus 
there is thunder and lightning.'" 
 
"Hugo Chvez thinks that the FTA is a `version' of the FTAA, 
suggesting that it would only benefit the great North 
American economy; in contrast he proposes the Bolivarian 
Alternative for Latin America and the Carribbean (ALBA). 
While Chvez is strongly lobbying against the FTAA and is 
counting on the dollars received from petroleum to exercise 
his influence, Uribe has just met with his counterpart in 
Ecuador in order to resolve any differences and to avoid any 
delay of the established calendar." 
 
"President George Bush, who has CAFTA in his pocket, will be 
present in the Summit of the Americas in Argentina. This 
summit is especially important for President Bush since it 
is offered as a forum in which he can bring up issues that 
have been forgotten or delayed in his dealings with the 
Latin American nations. By the nature of the rivalries that 
glimpse the summit, it promises to be interesting and 
controversial." 
 
2. On 10/26 the San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "Tiempo" 
ran an editorial entitled "CAFTA and SMEs."  "In a recent 
seminar on CAFTA and its effects on small and medium 
enterprises (SMEs) that took place in San Pedro Sula, it was 
emphasized that these enterprises should be incorporated 
with no fear to the free trade regime." 
 
"Manuel Rosales, Associate Director of the U.S. Small 
Business Agency, who accompanied the U.S. Secretary of 
Commerce on his tour of Central America, insisted on the 
success of the SME in free trade, with Mexico as a great 
example." 
 
"In Honduras the SMEs' situation has improved, but more 
slowly than the rest of the Central American countries; this 
has to do with the weakness of the government's economic 
policies, or better yet, by the lack of an economic policy." 
 
"The external support isn't enough to boost and improve the 
SME in Honduras. It is necessary and urgent to make reforms 
in the monetary, fiscal, financial and labor systems, not 
only for SME benefits but also for all production and 
Honduran enterprises." 
 
Williard