By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 11 1996 (IPS)

Hisses and Caresses for Businessmen in Uniform.

. Central American armies seeking to shift focus from barracks to boardrooms are getting a mixed reception from potential business partners. Aware of the past involvement of Central American armies in bloody coups, some private sector leaders in the region say striking deals with firms owned by the military will help maintain stability. “We prefer to have them as partners in legal things than involved in corruption or coups like in the past,” says Humberto Pretti, representative of Guatemala’s private sector. He adds that the military poses no real competition for private business. “The military are not a threat in business because they are not as good at these things,” he told IPS, referring to the situation in his own country, Guatemala. “As long as their involvement is transparent there will be no greater problems.” But elsewhere the business community is split on the issue. Some see it as disloyal competition. Fear has been expressed about the danger of crossing business “partners” who are backed by tanks and guns. Others consider that the army is better working with businesses rather than remaining in the barracks organising coups. Even those who support military involvement in the market want to ensure that soldiers do not have special privileges — that their acivities are “honest” and produced without the influence of guns and tanks. A research paper produced by the Costa Rica-based Arias Foundation for Peace, on military participation in business, revealed that the issue has raised a lot of quesations, particularly regarding lack of transparency in financing. The study, made available to IPS, stated that military businesses are conducted through the Military Prevision Insitutes, a retirement pensions mechanism operating with both money from the state and members’ contributions. It is the use of state contributions which create most rancour amongst the business community, who see this as an unfair advantage. Meantime, the military defends its march into the world of trade and finance as part of its new role in the political and social life of the region now that civil wars of the seventies and eighties have have ended. The military presents itself as “efficient”, with know-how in terms of administering resources — something the traditional business sector is not eager to accept. The Arias Foundation document quoted Nicaraguan entrepreneur Gilberto Cuadra Solorzano as saying “the military benefit from privileges in the customs areas and an easy ride through the red tape which works against the principles of free business competition.” Their participation in business also causes fear amongst civilians. “Not anyone will sue a company whose owners are known to be armed,” said Cuadra Solorzano. At the moment, there are dozens of companies managed by the military in Central America: 18 in Honduras, 14 in El Salvador, 22 in Nicaragua and seven in Guatemala. Services offered run the gamut from cemeteries to funeral parlours; hotels; insurance firms; transport; trade; finance; industrial and fishing companies; educational, health and shrimping endeavours; agriculture; radio stations; banks; property, and even publishing houses. In Honduras the army have become so influential they act as consultants for their colleagues in Nicaragua – former enemies when the Sandinistas were in charge in Managua. Jaime Rosenthal, one of the wealthiest men in Honduras, said he neither lends money to, nor carries out business with, the military. “I don’t know how I would get them to pay me afterwards,” he said. Human rights leaders and politicians in Honduras also reported the pressure exercised by the military in order to take over one of the two cemeteries which were privatised in that country. The Foundation report said if the brass hats are to be controlled, the region’s Parliaments must act in according with laws already passed giving civil society the right to monitor business deals carried out by the military, but so far nothing has happened.

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