US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA2400

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002400 
 
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 FTAA AND ALBA, NOVEMBER 28, 2005 
 
 
1. On 11/27 the Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna" 
published an op-ed by Rigoberto Gomez Madrid, PhD in social 
sciences, entitled "FTAA versus ALBA: An Ideological 
Polarization?"  "Mr. Eduardo Galeano, who received a PhD 
`honoris causa' from the National Pedagogic University, 
declared that the young who don't believe in democracy or 
are indifferent towards elections are right about the 
`circus act' that politicians have put on. He also said that 
`the most unforgivable sin is to act against the hope of the 
people' to achieve a dignified quality of life." 
 
"One of the initiatives made by the groups in power in the 
western hemisphere is the FTAA and Bolivarian Alliance 
(ALBA), in which countries seek economic integration under 
different economic-political issues than the ones in the 
last Summit of the Americas. The Summit ended with different 
stands between the Southern Cone that promotes ALBA and the 
block of countries led by the U.S. that promotes FTAA. FTAA 
is not designed to provide equal economic opportunity for 
all participant countries. The Southern Cone is demanding 
equal conditions for all the countries." 
 
"In summary, we can say that in Latin America a will for 
social change still exists. In Honduras' case, social change 
has been an issue since the Callejas administration but the 
change is very far from being real, which generates a 
noticeable discontent about the current Honduran political 
model. Maybe Churchill was right when he said that 
`democracy is a bad form of government; unfortunately, the 
rest are much worse." 
 
Ford