Linux Journal: Bill 1609 Will Be Good for Peru's Economy: An Open Letter

[ Thanks to Nate Bargmann for this link. ]

"As a US citizen and taxpayer, I am outraged by reports of the behavior and actions of our former ambassador to Peru, John R. Hamilton, in interfering with the passage of Bill 1609 by the Peruvian Legislature.

"While I fully understand that Mr. Hamilton's duties as an ambassador representing our national interests in Peru certainly include economic and commercial interests, the position of our government can never be to represent the sole interests of one commercial entity over those of other US companies, many of whom, as it happens, would find economic benefit in the open market in commercial software that 1609 would create in Peru. Is it the duty of the US government to choose which US companies can and cannot be permitted to compete openly in a given marketplace or to discourage opportunities for politically nonfavored US companies in an arbitrary or potentially corrupt manner? We often hear about such activities occurring in countries that are neither democratic nor have open and free markets, so I find it shameful that an agent of our own national government would misuse his post to lobby personally on behalf of one corporate entity, especially one that has been convicted in our own courts of establishing an illegal monopoly..."

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Related Stories:

• Wired: Microsoft's Big Stick in Peru(Jul 29, 2002)
• Update: elcomercioperu: Congress Authorizes [President] Toledo's Trip to US, Microsoft(Jul 15, 2002)
• Ending Microsoft FUD: An Interview with Peruvian Congressman Villanueva(May 21, 2002)
• GNU.org.pe: Peruvian Congressman's Open Letter to Microsoft(May 07, 2002)