President of Guatemala to Seek Better CAFTA Deal in US
The President of Guatemala, Oscar Berger, began a 6-day visit to the US to lobby Washington in relation to the Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), along with his Central American and Dominican Republic counterparts.

Berger will visit two US cities before meeting with Bush in Washington and the rest of CAFTA-DR countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

This Monday and Tuesday he will meet with businessmen from Florida and Memphis, Tennessee, while on Wednesday he will tour Congress, the Senate and State Department.

Whilst CAFTA is the US priority, Guatemalan analysts Fernando Andrade and Gustavo Porras consider it imperative they discuss other issues of national interest, namely drug trafficking, security, fighting poverty and migration.

Porras stressed that Guatemala has so far got nothing in return for the handsome concessions made to the US, and mentioned as examples the anti-Cuba vote at the UN Commission on Human Rights, and vote for the US candidate as Secretary of the Organization of American States, Mexican Luis Derbez.

Berger"s agenda of Guatemalan priorities includes requesting further assistance to fight drug trafficking, a bilateral proposal to safeguard regional political stability, and lastly the territorial dispute with Belize and the mediation of OAS to promote confidence in the zone.