Costa Rican Church Against Globalization
Central American ecclesiastics, politicians, and businesspeople participating in a forum convened by the Catholic Church, condemned the effects of globalization and privatization Friday, which they declare foment unemployment and poverty.

Honduran Archbishop Oscar Rodriguez noted such effects increase Latin American exclusion.

Latin America is able to implement development policies, but not design or evaluate them, he stated during his speech at the second Social Week agenda.

The archbishop said the region is the place for investments with secure returns, and we are cheap labor in the huge assembly plant we are becoming.

Lashing out at the almost daily corruption, chiefly by politicians, he was soundly applauded by those present.

Rodriguez expressed concern about deterioration of democracies in the region and citizens disillusionment, and warned of the threat of ungovernability from the top echelons of power.

Tegucigalpa s cardinal also criticized the new trend of economic ideology: love of market and deification of the market; they think all solutions will come from that, he said.

He warned nations moving toward privatization of public properties to learn from the horrors other countries have fallen into, and the huge efforts they have made to recover what they lost.

The Second Social Week of San Jose s Archdiocese, which began on Monday, will be in session until September 1.