Guatemala Vows to Refuse Washington's Trade Demands
Guatemala's government is refusing American demands for concessions beyond those contained in the Free Trade Agreement already agreed to. According to this article from Guatemala's Prensa Libre, government officials are betting that the Bush Administration will back down, because Guatemala has the largest economy in Central America.
By Luisa F. Rodriguez and Martin Rodriguez P.
Paula van de Werken
January 19, 2006
Original
Article (Spanish) 
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger Standing Firm (above)
Guatemalans Protest Free Trade Agreement With U.S.
In Guatemala City in March, 2005 (below).
Guatemala will not give in to the pressure being put on it by the United States to give more benefits than those negotiated in the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). "We hold fast to our position. What else can we do?" said Vice President Eduardo Stein.
Vice President Stein, Economics Minister Marcio Cuevas and Minister of Agriculture Alvaro Aguilar will travel to Washington next week for a discussion that promises grim faces and little room for maneuver.
The United States is pressuring Guatemala to make changes to the Law for Intellectual Property, which would go further than the agreement made during previous negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement. [The changes demanded] will benefit the multinational pharmaceutical companies, [and are] among even more demands.
"We have already decided on a position. If the United States doesn't back down [on its demands], Guatemala will not enter into the Free Trade Agreement. What else is to be done? But I don't think that the administration of President George Bush will go to such extremes because of one group (Big Pharma). Besides, Guatemala is the biggest economy in Central America and is a country with so many security problems and issues of inequality," Stein asserted.
President Oscar Berger backed their position of not retreating or giving ground to United States pressure. "[The Guatemalan] Congress has no interest in discussing this again, and neither do we in the Government."
Juan Carlos Paiz, of the Union of Exporters of non-Traditional Products (Agexpront), "totally" supports the Government's position.
OTHER PRESSURES
The United States is demanding changes in telecommunications and the rules governing medicinal plants and biotechnology, so that its products won't be examined when entering Guatemala.
The United States demands the same from Panama, which provoked the resignation of Laurentino Cortizo, Minister of Agriculture, who said that this demand will expose Panama to "suffer the consequences of catastrophic plagues of pests in the agriculture and livestock industry."
ECONOMY: THE AGREEMENT ADVANCES
Undocumented Guatemalans Bound for Mexico, on Their Way
Toward the United States Last Tuesday (above and below)
The initiative that will bring into force the law implementing the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and the Dominican Republic passed yesterday after a second reading.
The promise of the various seats was kept: the proposal passed without any setbacks, despite the hope that some changes to the initiative would be proposed.
The deputies also understood from the first debate that the plan includes the approval of the Free Trade Agreement with Taiwan.
EDUCATION; BERGER OFFERS COMPUTERS
President Oscar Berger announced yesterday than the next few months would bring computers to 320 elementary education centers. Maria del Carmen Acena, Minister of Education, announced that the investment is a donation of 48 million Quetzals [$6.2 million] from the Japanese Government.
Berger made the announcement yesterday while dedicating the infrastructure work done in Official School No. 3, in Dolores Bedoya de Molina in zone 1, which worth 320 thousand Quetzals [$41,500].
TRAVEL: FIRST MEETING HONDURAN PRESIDENT-ELECT
At the invitation of his Salvadorian counterpart Antonio Saca, President Oscar Berger will visit El Salvador next Sunday.
Ricardo Maduro, President of Honduras and the country's president-elect, Manuel Zelaya, will also be present at the meeting.
They will tackle such topics as the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, give impetus to the union of the Isthmus [a movement to integrate Central American countries] and focus on projects being pursued to make unification possible.
