Nobel laureate returning to lead divided Costa Rica

Nobel laureate returning to lead divided Costa Rica
By John McPhaul
9 minutes ago

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Nobel laureate Oscar Arias begins a second stint as president of Costa Rica on Monday, taking power in a nation divided over free trade with the United States and widely seen as rudderless.
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Now he takes the helm as the nation and region focus on economic integration. He pledges to put his country of 4 million people on the road to developed-nation status but lacks a clear mandate after his unexpectedly close election win.

Arias vows to push the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States, or CAFTA, through Congress.
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Arias lacks a legislative majority and must cut deals with other parties to pass the pact. The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether a simple majority or a two-thirds vote is needed to pass it.

Labor groups and popular organizations vow to take to the streets to stop CAFTA, but Arias is resolute about passing it.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060507/ts_nm/costarica_arias_dc;_ylt=A9G_RyOEFV5EfD4A1RBZ.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

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Such backroom negotiations would not be out of character for Arias. Vain and with a dismissive personality often accompanied by an unsettling sense of self importance, Arias in recent months has become best known for wanting to be the Bush administration’s most loyal paladin in Central America, if not the entire hemisphere. The White House is certain to soon enough favor him with a presidential visit, but his near past, as well as more distant background, may suffer from too much scrutiny. There are many Latin Americans who fervently believe that it was Guatemala’s president Vinicio Cerezo, rather than Arias, who better deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for 1987, due to the former’s pioneer work to achieve peace in Central America, including his quarterbacking the break-through Esquipulas Treaty the same year. That accord gave the final impetus to a peace movement that had featured deliberations on the island of Contadora and the eventual achievement of a Central American regional peace accord. Arias had launched a campaign to receive the reward while Cerezo had left the matter to chance.
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http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2006/06.16_Costa_Rica_COHA.html

and South America aren't waiting any longer to be "put on the road to developed-nation status" by the likes of Oscar Arias and George Bush. They have seized the initiative, with effective organization, and long hard work on TRANSPARENT elections, and have become THE force for peaceful, democratic and progressive change throughout the western hemisphere.

You want to know how to take our country back? Look south!

:puke:

The hand recount took nearly a month, and he ended up winnning by just 18 thousand votes, or 1.1%.