TITLE V—DEBT RESCHEDULING AND REDUCTION FOR HON-
DURAS AND NICARAGUA; FUNDING FOR THE CENTRAL AMER-
ICAN EMERGENCY TRUST FUND OF THE INTERNATIONAL
BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Subtitle A—Debt Rescheduling and Reduction for Honduras and Nicaragua
Sec. 501. Rescheduling of interest payments owed by Honduras and Nicaragua.
Sec. 502. Reduction of debt owed by Honduras.
Subtitle B—Authorization of Funding for the Central American Emergency
Trust Fund of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Sec. 511. Authorization of funding.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In October of 1998, Hurricane Mitch dev-
astated areas of the Caribbean and Central America.
The National Hurricane Center has called this storm
‘‘the most deadly hurricane in the Atlantic in over
200 years’’. Hurricane Mitch killed 9,860 people and
left approximately 3,000,000 people homeless in the
region.
(2) Hurricane Georges hit the Florida Keys, the
islands of the Caribbean, and the Gulf coast of the
United States in September of 1998, causing more
than $1,000,000,000 in damage. The storm killed
250 people.
(3) The total direct economic impact of Hurri-
cane Mitch and Hurricane Georges on Honduras,
Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador
and Guatemala amounts to $4,200,000,000. Hon-
duras’ losses represent more than 50 percent of its
gross domestic product and Nicaragua lost a quarter
of its gross domestic product.
(4) The United States must continue to play a
leading role in responding to the disaster and en-
courage others to contribute to the recovery effort.
For example, Taiwan has contributed $50,800,000
in assistance for the construction of roads and hous-
ing, the rehabilitation of agricultural production,
and the distribution of supplies. Sweden, Spain, and
France have sent engineering teams to the region to
assess damage to roads, and Japan and the Euro-
pean Union have pledged millions of dollars in as-
sistance. The United States praises the efforts of
these and other nations in assisting with the reha-
bilitation of the region.
(5) Approximately 356 bridges were destroyed
in the region, and 57 percent of the region’s roads
were impacted. The United States equivalent of this
would be the destruction of 3,900,000 miles of high-
way. These roads must be reconstructed quickly so
that farmers can transport their goods to market
and much-needed medical supplies can reach rural
areas.
(6) Hurricane Mitch devastated the agricultural
sector in the affected areas of Central America and
the Caribbean, particularly the countries of Hon-
duras and Guatemala. An estimated 70 percent of
Honduras’ crops were destroyed by Hurricane
Mitch, including 90 percent of the country’s banana
and grain crops. In Guatemala, an estimated 95 per-
cent of the nation’s banana crop was damaged, 25-
60 percent of the corn, bean, coffee, and sugar crops
were destroyed, and 30 percent of the cattle was
lost.
(7) Approximately 50 percent of Central Amer-
ica and the Caribbean’s workforce is employed in ag-
riculture. The devastation to the agriculture sector
by Hurricane Mitch has resulted in a widespread
shortage of food which is likely to continue in the
long term unless the region’s agricultural sector is
rehabilitated.
(8) Significant numbers of displaced Central
Americans are moving north to the United States in
the wake of Hurricane Mitch’s devastation. Border
Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas, report that ap-
prehensions of Hondurans alone increased by 61
percent in the last three months of 1998. The mas-
sive influx of immigrants places severe pressures
upon the ability of the Immigration and Naturaliza-
tion Service (INS) to detain and remove non-crimi-
nal illegal immigrants. At current funding levels, the
INS does not have the resources to detain illegal
non-criminal border crossers from Central America.
If this situation continues, the INS is concerned that
many more people will attempt to illegally cross the
border.
(9) Partially in an effort to alleviate these pres-
sures, the Attorney General provided temporary pro-
tected status to aliens from Honduras and Nica-
ragua on December 30, 1998 for a period of 18
months. No such status was provided to immigrants
from El Salvador and Guatemala.
(10) Agricultural assistance and training and
microcredit assistance will provide much needed aid
to the affected areas of Central America and the
Caribbean as the areas rebuild their agriculture sec-
tors. The immediate distribution of food aid is im-
portant in the short term, but it is essential that the
region be able to return to self-sufficiency in food
production so the citizens of Central America and
the Caribbean will be able to feed themselves once
again.
(11) The goal of United States assistance to
the region should focus on, in addition to the short-
term disaster assistance, long-term solutions for a
successful economic recovery of Central America and
the Caribbean. Successful economic recovery lies in
the region’s ability to expand its international trade
with important trading partners such as the United
States.
(12) Since 1983, the Caribbean Basin Eco-
nomic Recovery Act has represented a permanent
and successful commitment by the United States to
encourage the development of strong democratic gov-
ernments and revitalized economies in neighboring
countries in the Caribbean Basin.
(13) Thirty-four democratically elected leaders
agreed at the 1994 Summit of the Americas to con-
clude negotiation of a Free Trade Area of the Amer-
icas (referred to in this Act as ‘‘FTAA’’) by the year
2005.
(14) The economic security of the countries in
the Caribbean Basin will be enhanced by the comple-
tion of the FTAA.
(15) Offering temporary benefits to Caribbean
Basin countries on the 30 percent of imports from
the region that are not currently duty-free under the
Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and other
trade programs, will promote the growth of free en-
terprise and economic opportunity in these neighbor-
ing countries and thereby enhance the national secu-
rity interests of the United States.
(16) Given the greater propensity of countries
located in the Western Hemisphere to use United
States components and to purchase United States
products compared to other countries, increased
trade and economic activity between the United
States and countries in the Western Hemisphere will
create new jobs in the United States as a result of
expanding export opportunities.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the United
States Agency for International Development.
(2) AFFECTED
AREAS
OF
CENTRAL
AMERICA
AND THE CARIBBEAN.—The term ‘‘affected areas of
Central America and the Caribbean’’ means areas in
the Central American countries and the Caribbean
countries that incurred damage from Hurricane
Georges in September of 1998 and Hurricane Mitch
in October of 1998.
(3) CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES.—The term ‘‘Carib-
bean countries’’ means any country listed in section
212(b) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery
Act (19 U.S.C. 2702(b)) (other than Central Amer-
ican countries).
(4) CENTRAL
AMERICAN
COUNTRIES.—The
term ‘‘Central American countries’’ means Belize,
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, and Panama.
(5) OPIC.—The term ‘‘OPIC’’ means the Over-
seas Private Investment Corporation.
TITLE I—UNITED STATES-CARIB-
BEAN TRADE PARTNERSHIP
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Carib-
bean Trade Partnership Act’’.
SEC. 102. POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to offer to the
products of Caribbean Basin partnership countries tariffs
and quota treatment equivalent to that accorded to certain
products of countries that are parties to the NAFTA, and
to seek the accession of these partnership countries to the
NAFTA or a free trade agreement comparable to the
NAFTA at the earliest possible date, with the goal of
achieving full participation in the NAFTA or in a free
trade agreement comparable to the NAFTA by all part-
nership countries by not later than January 1, 2005.
SEC. 103. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this title:
(1) PARTNERSHIP COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘part-
nership country’’ means a beneficiary country as de-
fined in section 212(a)(1)(A) of the Caribbean Basin
Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2702(a)(1)(A)).
(2) NAFTA.—The term ‘‘NAFTA’’ means the
North American Free Trade Agreement entered into
between the United States, Mexico, and Canada on
December 17, 1992.
(3) 
TRADE
REPRESENTATIVE.—The 
term
‘‘Trade Representative’’ means the United States
Trade Representative.
(4) WTO AND
WTO
MEMBER.—The terms
‘‘WTO’’ and ‘‘WTO member’’ have the meanings
given those terms in section 2 of the Uruguay
Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501).
SEC. 104. TEMPORARY PROVISIONS TO PROVIDE NAFTA
PARITY TO PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES.
(a) TEMPORARY PROVISIONS.—Section 213(b) of the
Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C.
2703(b)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(b) IMPORT-SENSITIVE ARTICLES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2)
through (5), the duty-free treatment provided under
this title does not apply to—
‘‘(A) textile and apparel articles which
were not eligible articles for purposes of this
title on January 1, 1994, as this title was in ef-
fect on that date;
‘‘(B) footwear not designated at the time
of the effective date of this title as eligible arti-
cles for the purpose of the generalized system
of preferences under title V of the Trade Act of
1974;
‘‘(C) tuna, prepared or preserved in any
manner, in airtight containers;
‘‘(D) petroleum, or any product derived
from petroleum, provided for in headings 2709
and 2710 of the HTS;
‘‘(E) watches and watch parts (including
cases, bracelets and straps), of whatever type
including, but not limited to, mechanical, quartz
digital, or quartz analog, if such watches or
watch parts contain any material which is the
product of any country with respect to which
HTS column 2 rates of duty apply; or
‘‘(F) articles to which reduced rates of
duty apply under subsection (h).
‘‘(2) TRANSITION PERIOD TREATMENT OF CER-
TAIN TEXTILE AND APPAREL ARTICLES.—
‘‘(A) EQUIVALENT
TARIFF
AND
QUOTA
TREATMENT.—During the transition period—
‘‘(i) the tariff treatment accorded at
any time to any textile or apparel article
that originates in the territory of a part-
nership country shall be identical to the
tariff treatment that is accorded at such
time under section 2 of the Annex to an
article described in the same 8-digit sub-
heading of the HTS that is a good of Mex-
ico and is imported into the United States;
‘‘(ii) duty-free treatment under this
title shall apply to any textile or apparel
article that is imported into the United
States from a partnership country and
that—
‘‘(I) is assembled in a partner-
ship country, from fabrics wholly
formed and cut in the United States
from yarns formed in the United
States, and is entered—
‘‘(aa) 
under 
subheading
9802.00.80 of the HTS; or
‘‘(bb) under chapter 61, 62,
or 63 of the HTS if, after such
assembly, the article would have
qualified for treatment under
subheading 9802.00.80 of the
HTS, but for the fact the article
was subjected to bleaching, gar-
ments dyeing, stone-washing, en-
zyme-washing, 
acid-washing,
perma-pressing, oven-baking, or
embroidery;
‘‘(II) is knit-to-shape in a part-
nership country from yarns wholly
formed in the United States;
‘‘(III) is made in a partnership
country from fabric knit in a partner-
ship 
country 
from 
yarns 
wholly
formed in the United States;
‘‘(IV) is cut and assembled in a
partnership 
country 
from 
fabrics
wholly formed in the United States
from yarns wholly formed in the
United States; or
‘‘(V) is identified under subpara-
graph (C) as a handloomed, hand-
made, or folklore article of a partner-
ship country and is certified as such