ISDS Case Map
Honduras
The June coup d'état in Honduras was a body blow to political integration in Central America. The old idea of a protected and privileged trade area does not make any sense now in the light of globalisation, "so the concept of open integration was adopted. But that needed to be translated into concrete terms and this was not done."
Dominican President Leonel Fernandez said on Wednesday that Honduras should be suspended from the U.S.-Central America trade accord until the de facto regime in Tegucigalpa agrees to reinstate ousted President Mel Zelaya.
President Leonel Fernandez requested the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP) to condemn the coup d'état against Manuel Zelaya and support democracy, and rejected the statements from Honduran businessmen who called his proposal as "dirty and opportunistic."
Zelaya joined the Venezuelan proposed ALBA, a fair trade alternative to Washington's now-defunct Free Trade Area of the Americas, but is no Chavez puppet, despite what the all-out PR war from Washington-based business groups claims
The International Transport Workers' Federation called on its 4.5 million members on Friday to boycott ships flying the Honduran flag to protest the military coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
Nation-wide mobilizations and a general strike demanding that Zelaya -- a defender of the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA) and of Honduran workers and peasants, according to Via Campesina -- be returned to power are growing in spite of increased military repression.
The coup throws a curve ball at EU plans to wrap up an Association Agreement with the six-country Central American bloc this year, whose members included Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
The free trade agreement between Panama and Honduras took effect on Jan. 9. The agreement has an impact on 80 percent of the goods traded between the countries.
Honduras has joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), amid criticism from the business community and right-wing political sectors.
Taiwan's free trade agreement (FTA) with Honduras has gone into effect, further expanding trade ties between Taipei and Tegucigalpa, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
