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CRACKS BEGINNING TO SHOW IN CAFTA.

Article Excerpt
The Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) preparatory talks (see NotiCen, 2002-11-14) opened in Washington on Jan. 8 with a good deal of heady expectation on the part of negotiators, and enthusiasm on the part of private sector participants who see themselves as beneficiaries of the initiative. But by Jan. 20, doubts had begun to emerge.

With the actual negotiations set to begin in San Jose, Costa Rica, on Jan. 27, Enrique Mejia Ucles, principal negotiator for the Consejo Hondurena de la Empresa Privada (Cohep), approaches the talks with some sense of betrayal. The problem in his view is that only the government is negotiating; the private sector is left out of part of the process. Although the framework for negotiations allows the private sector to participate directly, in these proceedings the private sector will function only as advisors to the Secretaria de Industria y Comercio, which will do the official deal-making.

Mejia said that nongovernmental voices had been sidetracked to a lesser role by Costa Rican politics "...since in that country there has been a marked division between the government and private enterprise. But foreign, rather than national, interests influence that decision....

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