President Pérez Molina has presented his proposal for constitutional reform, which includes allowing the state to hold up to a 40% stake in companies that exploit natural resources.
The project presented aims to reform 51 articles of the Constitution of Guatemala.
Regarding for the exploitation of nonrenewable natural resources, it proposes:
"It is declared of public usefulness and necessity that there be technical and rational exploitation of hydrocarbons, minerals and other non-renewable natural resources.
President Ortega asked businessmen for their support to change the political parties system, turning to a institutional scheme similar to the one used in the 80s.
According to Bayardo Arce, Economic Matters Advisor for the Presidency, President Daniel Ortega told businessmen at a meeting in INCAE that “if the Cosep (Superior Private Company Council) supports him, he is willing to dissolve the Legislative Assembly and organize a legislation with representatives from all the sectors of society, as it was done with the State Council”.
Having ratified constitutional reforms in compliance with ILO conventions, tariff benefits with the EU will remain.
Vilma de Calderón, president of the Corporation of Exporters of El Salvador (COEXPORT), said the export sector, which is negotiating with the European Union, regained its tranquility with the ratification of Articles 47 and 48 of the Constitution.
If the Salvadoran Constitution is not amended so that it is in accord with ILO requirements, the country would lose GSP benefits.
In order for El Salvador to continue enjoying the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) tariff benefits, Articles 47 and 48 of the Salvadoran constitution must be amended so that they will be in agreement with International Labor Organization (ILO) pacts regarding unionization and collective bargaining in the state sector.
The government of President Oscar Arias believes that the Constitution of Costa Rica, which has been in effect since 1949, "urgently" needs to be reformed.
The reforms are necessary in order to end the "legal paralysis" affecting the country, said the minister of the Presidency who is also the president's brother, Rodrigo Arias.
Arias argued that the current Constitution needs to be changed in order to eliminate a series of legal obstacles that prevent the Executive Power from moving ahead with its initiatives.