That's no problem.
One of the things we've heard in a lot of the testimony from previous groups is the atrocities and the human rights abuses and the abuse of media that has been going on in the past in Honduras.
One of the questions I have for you is that when you look at Colombia and the changes and improvements that are going on there—and of course the trade agreement is a piece in the puzzle in bringing about a better quality of life for the people in Colombia.... I look at that example and I ask why couldn't we use that here in Honduras? I look at the example and ask if we're going to make things better, what is the best way to do that? How do we move forward? Looking at it the way it is right now, obviously it's not working, because we still have atrocities. We have to figure out a way to work with the Hondurans on how to step forward.
I look at trade as one of the tools to do that. Now that doesn't make it the only tool. There should be other things we should be considering while we're doing a trade agreement, looking at other aspects that will help improve the quality of life for Hondurans over the longer period of time. That's the goal, I think, behind this trade deal. The goal of the Hondurans is to get a quality of life that will actually be better than what they're experiencing right now.
I look at this and I see a lot of reasons to criticize it. There's no question about it that you can criticize a lot of things and can always say that they should have done this or that better. But the reality is that you can only do so much at a certain point in time and then you build upon that. You draw a line in the sand and say that for now, at this point in time, this is a good agreement that everybody can actually work with. Then you build upon that more and more as you move forward.
If we didn't do this trade agreement, from talking to groups like Gildan and other companies that we've seen there before, where would their employees end up? If they did not work for Gildan or a mining company, making good wages, with a good quality of life, good working conditions, and good health care, what would they do? What is their other option?
The reality for them would otherwise be narco-trafficking, or nothing, or being employed in very poor economic activities with very poor alternatives, with a very poor outlook for the quality of life, not only for themselves, their families, and their communities, but also for the whole infrastructure surrounding them.
I'm looking at this and seeing this as a way to help them up. Now you're saying that we do nothing. You're saying, don't do a trade deal; don't do anything else. Just leave it be. But the status quo in my opinion is not acceptable.
How would you move forward? If you're saying don't do this, how else would you move forward? Right now what you're proposing is the status quo, and that ain't working. Give me something that works.
