Longtime Honduran businessman Eduardo Facussé supports what he observes is US President Donald Trump’s grand plan to dethrone the Chinese Communist Party. In an exclusive Impunity Observer interview, Facussé—now based in Atlanta, Georgia—addressed challenges facing Honduran development and backed a lucrative trade bloc spanning the Americas and Europe.
Facussé, who previously led the largest state chamber of commerce in Honduras, made clear that he only speaks for himself. His primary business interest is in diversifying his textile business beyond Honduras. That was a key reason behind moving his family stateside.
Cornering the World’s Most Lucrative Market
“What President Trump is trying to do is make sure there is the right alignment between the political interests and the economic interests … He is correct in asking countries to define who their main trading partner is going to be. Because you cannot be playing around with the United States and with China at the same time. Each country will have to decide what it seeks for their own future, and in this respect I think what Trump is looking for is an expanded [regional trade bloc] which is more exclusive of China.”
On the other hand, Facussé is concerned about Chinese firms and officials “coming in and taking over” with “disloyal” practices and competition. In response, Trump is pressuring each nation into siding with the United States, at the expense of China, and enjoying access to similarly aligned markets: “I think this will go down all the way to South America.”
That is after addressing Canada and Mexico and then Central America. “Eventually, he is going to make it over to Europe, or even simultaneously. That is why Greenland is so important, because it is a bridge to Europe. He wants to lock in the Americas and Europe as one single market. This is the most precious market on the planet.”
“I do not see how China will be able to cope with this.… If they do not have a market for their goods, that is the end of China as we know it. And I think that Trump is right in the way he is doing it … based on trade pressure” rather than regime changes. “He is leveraging his biggest strength, and I am glad that he is doing it.”
Facussé believes aligning with the United States is a no-brainer. If countries resist, “I think there is just going to be chaos.” Regarding Honduras, “the whole country [could] really fall into a big economic and social mess if we do not align.”
Trump’s desire for a US-led transatlantic trade bloc appears to also be why the Panama Canal is strategically important. Facussé believes the United States, given her role in building and protecting the canal, has a moral claim to dislodging the Chinese presence and maintaining the trade route for US-aligned nations: “China, go ahead and go to Antarctica to turn around.… The United States should protect its own assets and its own advantages.”
Regarding ideological enemies such as the Chavistas in Venezuela, “in the end, everybody will fall. There may be a rocky road for some countries, but it will be attained—no question. All these countries are just too dependent on the US market to be able to say ‘We’re not going to live in this trade zone.’ … The isolation is just too big, and China is thousands of miles away. So it is just not conceivable in anybody’s mind that these countries would choose [China].” If they were to do so, “the people would revolt against these governments and throw them out.”
What Honduras Needs to Reverse Her Fortunes
Facussé pays close attention to both foreign and domestic investment in Honduras, particularly in agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. Those sectors, he believes, can best absorb a growing workforce and address poverty and inequality. He has seen no new major projects in those three sectors and believes physical capital in Honduras is only being maintained: “The total production of the country is just too low. When you divide US$30 billion between 10 million people, it is $3,000 per capita. Unless we produce more, there is no way to get us out of poverty.”
Facussé does not align with any political party. However, he is concerned the current Libre regime under Xiomara Castro, which does not hide its socialist affinities, has shown hostility towards and decoupled dialogue with business representatives: “I think there has been a slowdown of new businesses developing, and I do believe it is partly because there has not been an effective or an efficient dialogue between the public sector and the private sector.… and whenever you do not have constructive dialogue … investment does not show up, because it does not know where to head or where to place its efforts.”
“That is what is happening in Honduras right now. The government has been on a very aggressive campaign to attack private investment.” This campaign has characterized the private sector as the culprit in Honduras’s misfortunes and “created this freeze in new investment. You can see new investment really dropping. I do not think it is a fluke but rather a trend since this government came in, unfortunately.… because Honduras really needs the investment badly.… It is a very difficult position for Honduras at this time.”
The antidote, according to Facussé, is establishing more certainty and enabling wider use of credit markets for crowdsourced construction and “productive infrastructure investment.” He would also like to see lower energy costs and a crackdown on illegal land invasions.
The former is where hydroelectric projects could play a role. They are “a crossroads of everything that Honduras needs, in terms of energy, because we continue to import most of the energy through the oil we bring in, and we burn it. We have the hydropower sites to be able to develop energy projects to supply our own needs. The government should really be trying to promote hydro, and they are not doing it at all.”
