International Trade committee  Who is the question addressed to?

International Trade committee  I can answer the question. I think you're misrepresenting my words and certainly the other witness's words. Neither of us is saying to do nothing; we're saying that the current free trade agreement does not include the kinds of guarantees that would produce the kind of developmen

International Trade committee  In addition, I have to contest some of what you're saying about the only alternative being employment in narco-trafficking. There are other alternative forms of employment in Honduras, but Canada could also encourage its companies to create those opportunities.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Yes. This is why I cited the fact that trade was important in the post-constitutional era in beginning to create the conditions for development. That was derailed in 2009 and Honduras is not back on the rails to sharing those benefits with its population in general. The concent

International Trade committee  I think my colleague would like to make a point.

International Trade committee  The aspect of the drug cartels that I chose to emphasize is the Honduran government's use of them as an excuse for inaction of various kinds and for oppression of its people.

International Trade committee  I have the same opinion about the U.S. free trade agreement with Honduras, for the same reasons your other witness has eloquently and with great authority exposed. Honduras at this point in its political history does not have in place the structures that would allow a free trade

International Trade committee  I'm not certain if you're familiar with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which is a U.S. government initiative. Honduras was a participant in it up through part of the Porfirio Lobo Sosa administration. The Millennium Challenge Corporation produced a number of reports. If yo

International Trade committee  I'm not certain what professional biography you found, but I'm an anthropologist. I study the long-term history of Honduras through the practice of archeology, but I'm also a recognized expert in the modern politics of Honduras, particularly with respect to participation in cultu

International Trade committee  Every trade agreement that Honduras negotiates with international parties under current conditions tends to make it seem as if those current conditions are acceptable. I wanted to correct one thing that you said. I didn't say that trade became less important; I said that the pr

International Trade committee  I'm actually quite well aware that Canada has a very strong international aid profile in Honduras. Canada has been very visible in Honduras, including in the 1970s and 1980s when I first began working in the country. But providing international aid, as both my own country and Can

International Trade committee  I think that's a false choice, and I'm not going to be forced into answering a false choice. There are two things to say. One is that jobs that Honduras has put in place that do not pay the minimum wage, which Honduras itself has estimated barely covers people's basic need for

International Trade committee  There are two kinds of interests that are benefiting from the displacement of common workers in Honduras. One of these is large landowners who are developing industries, particularly around African palm oil and minerals. In the Lenca traditional indigenous territory of Honduras

International Trade committee  Thank you. To begin with, I would reiterate that under the government of Porfirio Lobo Sosa, in 2011 there was a ministerial level office established for human rights and Ana Pineda was appointed to that office. That ministerial level cabinet position is no longer a cabinet leve