Posted on 10/09/2007 5:05:47 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Ricans prepared on Monday to join a controversial free trade agreement with Central American neighbors, the Dominican Republic and the U.S. after a thin majority apparently backed the pact in a national referendum.
But even Sunday's vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement did not end a yearlong battle over the agreement.
Opponents said they will wait for a mandatory recount, set to begin Tuesday, before recognizing the referendum's results. The ballot-by-ballot recount is required by Costa Rican law, and can last no longer than two weeks.
With 97 percent of precincts reporting Monday, 51.5 percent of Costa Ricans voted in favor of the trade deal, which is known as CAFTA.
Costa Rica was the lone holdout among the six Latin American nations that now constitute the trade bloc. The pact has already taken effect in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
The White House kept a close eye on Sunday's election results, having fought a bruising political battle to get the deal ratified by the U.S. Congress in 2005, when it passed the House of Representatives by just two votes.
Washington last week urged Costa Ricans to recognize the treaty's benefits and vowed not to renegotiate the terms of the deal if voters rejected it. U.S. officials also suggested they might not renew other trade preferences now afforded Costa Rican products, set to expire next September, if the pact is not approved.
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias called the trade deal crucial to industry in the Central American nation of 4.5 million people.
Opposition legislators on Monday vowed to use a pending vote on a package of laws required by CAFTA as leverage to win increases in education outlays and farm subsidies.
Bills that would open state telecommunications and insurance monopolies to competition are among the most controversial of the package of 13 laws.
Critics also object to requirements that Costa Rica open its agricultural and service sectors to competitors, fearing a flood of cheap U.S. farm imports.
Don’t forget it cements our access to some of the best coffee in the world (my opinion), and decent, cheap cigars.
China, Iran and their proectionist fellow travelers will be crestfallen.
Agree 100%.
Does this mean they will get a military now?
Precisely because Costa Rica is well-educated and has a large American community (many of whom benefit from negotiating around trade restrictions) there was a huge push by the media, the academy and anti-trade US politicians to derail this vote.
Bernie Sanders went down to visit on the eve of the vote to urge a rejection of CAFTA.
A ton of anti-trade money and anti-trade rhetoric was unloaded on CR in the runup to this vote.
Luckily, the citizens of CR were thinking long-term.
"That nearly half the public in Latin America's richest free-market democracy opposed CAFTA despite the intensive campaign in favor of it should end the repeated claims that pushing more NAFTA-style free trade deals is critical to U.S. foreign policy interests in the region or helps the U.S. image," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch division and a longtime foe of the Bush administration's trade policies.That's good news, Lori, because it means 90% of the U.S. public rejected your pal, Ralph Nader.
How about It ain’t over till the lawyers say it is”?
I don’t know where did you get your information from, but no money ever got to us the costaricans who opposed CAFTA.
Actually to pay for a couple TV spaces we donated money and all records on donations were made public whereas for the pro-CAFTA people, money was just unloaded without any barriers at all and they kept the sources of their money hidden.
We are not communists nor anything alike. We do not like Fidel Castro, nor people like Venezuela’s president, but we grew up thinking of our own people well-being and that’s the way we rise our own children.
We just opposed an economic model where people is left behind for a few to get too much. Even in my case where I know it will be good for me and for my company it is just unacceptable.
For at least 2 months we had our country stuffed with pro-cafta publicity of any possible type. And the last 2 days before the referendum when it was forbidden to make any publicity, all local media was stuffed with “news” about what a huge mistake would be not to ratify CAFTA even from CNN news in spanish, and that along with a sustained pro-cafta fear campaign convinced a few for a positive vote.
That my friend, is the real reason for the narrow(3%) difference in votes.
bump
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