US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA2291

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 002291 
 
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, PREL, ETRD, KSUM, HO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON MAR DE PLATA, NOVEMBER 07, 2005 
 
 
1. On 11/05 the Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna" 
published an editorial entitled "The Train."  "The long 
awaited Summit of Mar del Plata is taking place, however 
despite attempts to reach an agreement about FTAA, they may 
decide to delay document issuance by 30 or 60 days because 
of the siege of anti-Bush protests, some of which were 
violent, where there were harsh conflicts between police and 
protestors." 
 
"To incite the crowd further during this spectacle, soccer 
player Diego Maradona boarded the so-called `Free Trade 
Train' with 160 political and cultural figures that also 
joined the protests against the President's presence.  Hugo 
Chavez was the only official who assisted those who opposed 
the Summit, including the social and political organizations 
as well as regional unions in opposition to the FTAA." 
 
"President Fox of Mexico was the representative voice of 30 
countries who support FTAA, asserting that the initiative is 
`capable of advancing only the 30 that support it and it 
excludes Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and 
Brazil.'  The chancellor of Brazil responded to the Mexican 
official that `MERCOSUR will maintain united against the 
setting of a date for re-launching the FTAA.'" 
 
"President Bush met with the presidents of Central America 
and the Dominican Republic (with the exception of the 
Honduran president who did not attend because of flooding in 
his country) to congratulate them on the ratification of 
CAFTA.  To date Costa Rica is the only country that has not 
ratified the treaty.  The presidents asked President Bush to 
stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants that have 
been arriving in droves over the last few days." 
 
"The cables say that the presidents of Central America and 
the Dominican Republic left happy following their meeting 
with their counterpart in the United States, which 
compensated a bit for the anger of people who protested in 
the streets." 
 
2. On 11/07 "La Tribuna" ran an editorial entitled 
"Migration."  "The Central American presidents returned to 
the controversial Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata 
where they were able to achieve partial negotiations. Mexico 
achieved an energy agreement in which the construction of a 
refinery, a gas pipeline, and a hydroelectric network was 
contemplated at an investment of 7 thousand million dollars 
in a period of four years." 
 
"During the meetings that the Central Americans had with 
President Bush, agreements were reached concerning donations 
for the victims of the last two hurricanes, although the 
primary theme of immigration received a half-hearted 
response that the U.S. would `take note of requests.' 
Central Americans are worried about the increasing number of 
deportees." 
 
"This growing number of deportations will have to be 
analyzed in the light of which ones are linked to previous 
crimes.  We suppose that a portion of those that are being 
deported to Honduras also have previous criminal records. 
This is of grave concern given that the principal reason for 
the origin and development of gangs has to do with the 
number of returned deportees with previous criminal records 
emulating what they learned in bad neighborhoods back in the 
States." 
 
"During this summit the president of Guatemala went with the 
intention of getting a similar migratory agreement to that 
the other Central American countries already have with the 
United States.  He did not receive an affirmative response, 
instead he received a diplomatic one in which the U.S. said 
they would `consider the subject.'  It is unknown whether 
the North American government offered Central American 
officials a general idea of what it intended to do with TPS: 
if it will be prolonged indefinitely, or if there will be a 
moment when it will no longer exist, or if it will offer 
some sort of amnesty, or another solution of a more 
definitive character." 
 
"La Tribuna also published a cartoon of a scared President 
Bush in a rowboat stranded in the middle of a summit (Mar de 
Plata Summit) with the title "Misty waters." 
 
3. On 11/07 an editorial in Tegucigalpa-based moderate daily 
"El Heraldo," titled "The Summits in Argentina."  "What 
transpired during the Fourth Summit of the Americas and its 
counterpart the `Summit of the People,' is no more than a 
reflection of the discrepancies, of the antagonisms, of the 
confronted leadership, and of the resentment of Latin 
American society with the bitter fruits of the `Washington 
Consensus.'" 
 
"The Summit, where in theory countries were to discuss the 
subject of finding consensual mechanisms to combat poverty 
and strengthen democratic governance, concentrated instead 
on the valiant but failed efforts of the United States to re- 
launch the FTAA, whose course has stagnated since its birth 
in Miami where in 1994 it was announced that it would come 
into affect January 2005.  The `Summit of the People' also 
called, the `Anti-Summit' which included the `anti-Bush 
train' composed of the multitudes in the Mar del Plata 
Stadium, served to exhibit the growing anti-imperialist 
sentiment in Latin America and to strengthen leadership in 
the region for the Venezuelan president." 
 
"The duel unleashed by FTAA, which brought the United States 
with the support of the Mexican president, the Prime 
Minister of Canada, and with the silent acquiescence of a 
majority of the countries in the region, in opposition with 
the members of MercoSur and Venezuela, caused the formal 
portion of the Summit to nearly fail until an equitable 
resolution was reached in which the `Final Declaration' was 
signed, although in it the discrepancies between nations 
were captured.  The Central American countries that sought 
compromise with Washington on the subject of immigrants only 
achieved an energy agreement with Mexico that hopefully is 
not only a form of seizing the flag of Hugo Chavez but also 
transforms itself into a real benefit for these countries. 
The failure of the U.S. in its attempts to re-launch FTAA, 
and the protests against political imperialism and a 
unilateral Bush administration backed by the strengthening 
leadership of Hugo Chavez, should redefine the political 
economy dictated from the power centers of the world." 
 
4. On 11/07 the San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "La 
Prensa" ran an editorial entitled "Energy Agreement."  "The 
final declaration of the fourth Summit of the Americas in 
Mar Del Plata was complicated, laborious, and polemic on the 
subject of re-launching commercial integration in the 
hemisphere, which is opposed by Mercosur countries. 
Therefore it is necessary to acknowledge the impending 
results of the meeting of the World Trade Organization in 
Hong Kong next month in which balances the survival of the 
Doha Round negotiations concerning the agricultural 
subsidies of the industrialized nations." 
 
"Argentina, Mexico, and Central America strengthened their 
bilateral relationship already expressed in the Plan Pueblo 
Panama Project, with the signing of an energy agreement for 
7 billion dollars in investments." 
 
"The project is ambitious and can result in benefits for the 
isthmus, whose energy demands will increase following an 
increase in investments in the region.  The implementation 
of CAFTA this January in concert with the United States will 
bring about favorable conditions for the entry of products 
into the North American market and will bring about 
incentives for investors in the region." 
 
"The agreement reached with Mexico brings about more 
expectations for Central America, although we will have to 
see if Fox's successor continues the politics of growth and 
cooperation with his neighbors to the south." 
 
5. On 11/05 the San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily "Tiempo" 
published a cartoon of the Argentine soccer player Diego 
Maradona yelling at Bush to get out while Bush's bodyguard 
tells a worried Bush not to listen to him until they ask the 
reverend Billy Graham if Maradona is really "the hand of 
God."  And on 11/06 it published a cartoon entitled "Mar de 
Plata" of Bush pulling himself away from a bomb that says 
"Go Home." 
 
Ford