There's an interesting post from El Blogador in El Blog Diabloglico on the latest reactions to the introduction of CAFTA in Guatemala with President Oscar Berger accusing the US of dumping chicken on the country's market. Cuba's Press Agency Prensa Latina has the article with the quote from Oscar Berger in English. While the story rumbles on in the Guatemala Press- see for example El Periodico. In an editorial piece, Prensa Libre's message to the Guatemalan government was: get used to the new CAFTA reality- oh and cheap chicken is great for consumers.
"Esto [going to the WTO to take the US to book for dumping] puede ser teóricamente posible, pero tardará un tiempo demasiado largo y las posibilidades de ganar son muy escasas, debido a la evidente diferencia de la capacidad de influencia de los dos países."
It will be interesting to see how Guatemalans in positions of power react to CAFTA who currently believe they can gain from the much lauded opportunities of CAFTA. Prensa Libre's CAFTA special (still pushed from it's home page) is a case in point, and is actually a striking example of the incredibly biased reporting on CAFTA in the Guatemalan press up to now. In a wholely unscientific estimation, I'd guess 98% of the content of the publication is strongly in favour of CAFTA.
El Blogador's article also refers to the long running Pollo Campero* case involving a law suit between cousins and Guatemalan business magnates, Dionisio Gutiérrez Mayorga (who also dabbles in television) and Juan Luis Bosch and their uncle Juan Arturo Gutierrez. The long running case has been largely avoided by the Guatemalan press. A couple of weeks ago a Miami judge threw out the case after more than seven years pending. Juan Arturo Gutierrez's lawyers say they'll take the case to Guatemala.
* The case has nothing to do with Polo Campero though aparently as they got the following apology from the Washington Post recently: "Pollo Campero is not a defendant in the federal litigation, and there was no intent to imply that Bosch and Gutierrez had been charged with any crimes. No criminal proceedings have been filed in the United States against Bosch and Gutierrez."
