Costa Rica to hold referendum on U.S. trade pact [CAFTA]

Source: Reuters

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Costa Rica will hold a referendum on whether to enter a regional free trade pact with the United States, President Oscar Arias said on Friday, in a blow to Washington's trade agenda in the region.

The trade deal known as CAFTA is in force in much of Central America but has faced stiff resistance from opposition lawmakers in Costa Rica. Arias did not say when the referendum would be held.

<snip>

Arias' comments came after Costa Rica's top election court ruled on Thursday it might authorize a referendum if citizens collect signatures in favor totaling 5 percent of the country's electoral roll over a nine-month period.

Opponents of the pact would have easily collected the roughly 130,000 signatures needed.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1321907520070413

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This is a historic opportunity to defeat CAFTA. The government was really opposed to the referendum, but had to agree to it in order to meet CAFTA deadlines. If they allow the opposition to gather signatures for 9 months and the approval is suspended, they won't have enough time to approve everything if people vote yes.

into it, just like they have so many others.

Right now support is at 35%, opposition at 26% while 39% are undecided. The good thing, is that just 6 months ago support was at 51%, it is dropping quickly.

It passed the house by ONE vote.

It hasn't been ratified by all member countries, and most of those who have ratified it have done so with great opposition.

For godsakes, END IT at the SOURCE!

Especially because it's been up and running for a year in most countries.

The American ruling class is not about to let the people of Latin America have a say on their resources, which is why they are upset that Bush has so weakened the military with his Iraq adventure, that there are not enought troops to go down to Latin America to dictate terms.

you posted of a demonstration there, I'm reminded there was a very strong but completely peaceful turnout by people opposed to the damned thing.

Sure would be wonderful to see this burden lifted from Costa Rica's future.

Good luck, best wishes, will be hoping for the best.

Right now the referendum seems to be inevitable... both the government and unions were strongly opposed to the referendum taking place because it would take power away from them and into the hands of people, and most opposition parties were not thrilled with the idea at first either. But when the Court's decision was announced Thursday everyone kind of agreed it was the better way out, and thus the government decided to call for the referendum by itself. Still a lot of details are up in the air, but I believe everyone will be happy once everything is settled.

The vote will be very tight because CAFTA has enjoyed, until recently, a positive opinion among the population. But as people get to know the agreement they are also starting to realize they'be been fooled by all the propaganda regarding the benefits, and support has plummeted by 15% in the last 6 months.

It will be a very hard effort to convince people to vote no, but I think it can be done in the 4 months that we have. We are actively receiving all your good wishes and vibes, I will keep everyone updated. :hi:

Eleven of my family are coming in June to tour your beautiful country. I hope the Tico folks vote Cafta down.

:pals:

there will be a referendum. Also today in one of the local papers was another story confirming Arias statement of a referendum. In both it seemed as though the signatures were either being treated as a foregone conclusion or President Arias was conceding the need of signatures and calling for referendum.

In yesterdays Tico Times article the signatures were treated as nothing more than a formality.

Green Light for Binding Referendum on CAFTA
By Times Staff reporters, Amanda Roberson, Blake Schmidt and Katherine Stanley

snip

The Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) released a ruling yesterday afternoon that allows a group of citizens to collect signatures to send the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) to a binding referendum.

The decision sparked mixed responses and apparently left others , such as pro-CAFTA President Oscar Aries, speechless. Casa Presidencial released a statement late yesterday indicating that Arias was still studying the TSE decision and will comment today.

snip

Though the TSE ruling gives referendum proponents up to nine months to collect signatures, Corrales said it would take only three months. He said that during his campaign for a referendum, he has acquired a network that includes the nation's labor unions and the opposition Citizen Action Party (PAC) which will help collect signatures.

snip

For the referendum results to be binding, at least 30% of the voting population, or 781,000 people, must come out to vote. If it is determined that CAFTA requires 38 legislator votes instead of 29 to be approved, then 40%, according to an online report from the daily La Nacio'n.

end of excerpts -- a link cannot be provided as this article is from the hard print, and the Tico Times is available online to subscription customers only.

The biggest challenge will be in educating the people of the issues presented by CAFTA and the potential impacts vs rewards. Many people are unclear of many of the provisions in CAFTA, and several Ticos I have talked with indicate coverage in the papers is overwhelmingly pro-CAFTA. Though, I have seen and heard both pro and contra advertising on the television and radios, the CAFTA proponents appear better funded and with a higher saturation of adds.

But, the word of mouth transmission of opinion and/or gossip, should not be underestimated. It does seem to be a past time here, and can travel at near the speed of light. Time will tell.

The opposition would have gather the signatures easily so Arias decided to call for it in order to accelerate the process.

And yes, there's lots of ads in support of CAFTA and the campaign has been going on for over 2 years now. Some of them are paid by private companies, and others by the government, which has to stop any and all pro-CAFTA ads as soon as the referendum is officially scheduled.

that the US has.

CAFTA will be soundly defeated by the people.

After all, the really poor people on the coastal provinces were the ones who elected Arias... if the three coastal provinces wouldn't have counted, the center-left party would have won easily, but the coastal provinces went overwhelmingly for Arias and his agenda. The question is, will he able to mobilize them to vote for something else? If he's not able to manipulate all this people like he did a year ago, CAFTA is basically toast.

if I have read you correctly, in your remarks on Costa Rica and the agreement!

Weekend Edition
April 14 / 15, 2007

New Principles for a Responsible Trade Policy
A Moratorium on Free Trade Agreements
By LAURA CARLSEN

At literally minutes to midnight on April 1, the United States signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korean negotiators and rushed it to Congress. Congress now has 90 days to review the Korea, Peru, Colombia, and Panama agreements, before fast track authority expires on June 30.

Any way you look at it, the clock is running out on free trade agreements.

The four agreements go to a new Congress controlled by the Democrats, many of whom ran on anti-free trade platforms. The Democrats have called for new standards on labor and environment, and increased job retraining programs for U.S. workers. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) of the Ways and Means Committee heralded the proposal, stating "we are on the brink of restoring bipartisanship to American trade policy." The administration hopes to build bipartisan support for its own aggressive trade agenda but is offering few real concessions so far. Considerable distance exists between the two proposals.

The last major deal, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, squeaked through by only two votes in July 2005. In recent years, the on-the-ground costs of free trade have been increasingly evident to workers in both the United States and in FTA countries abroad. Practical experience with plant closures, eroding wages and benefits, anti-union practices, and unemployment have led to a strong rejection of free trade agreements among the U.S. public
(snip)

CAFTA is already widening fissures in Central American societies. In El Salvador, the Supreme Court has accepted a challenge to the free trade agreement, based on unfair competition and violation of the constitutional right of the legislature to determine tariffs. Costa Rica still has not ratified. There, massive public opposition centers on protecting the structure of government services and regulation that gave that country a giant leg-up over its Central American neighbors and led to a more uniformly high standard of living.
(snip/...)

http://www.counterpunch.org/carlsen04142007.html

Especially when it talks about the false dichotomy free trade vs. no trade. A lot of people think that those of us who oppose CAFTA are anti-trade in general, but that's absolutely false... that's one of the things we have to make clear in the short campaign that will start in a couple of weeks. We are not anti-trade, we are anti-"free" trade that will only benefit corporations, and instead, we like and want a strong government that can help increase our standard of living.

CAFTA in Trouble in Costa Rica
Saturday, April 14, 2007
By Marla Dickerson
Los Angeles Times

MEXICO CITY -- A free-trade pact once thought to be a slam-dunk is now up for grabs in Costa Rica, where President Oscar Arias on Friday announced that his government will hold a national referendum on the controversial measure.

Arias, a supporter of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as DR-CAFTA, called the pending vote “a triumph” for democratic procedure that would let Costa Ricans determine whether to participate in a pact that has divided the public and generated massive street protests over the past year.

“We’re going to decide the destiny of (DR-CAFTA) ... voting in peace and in tranquillity, not in the streets,” Arias said. He did not set a date for the vote.

Public opinion surveys show Costa Rica is deeply divided. A recent poll by the national daily La Nacion said that 35 percent of those surveyed supported DR-CAFTA, 26 percent opposed it and 40 percent were undecided.

More:
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=348258&Category=5&subCategoryID=

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Original L.A. Times article:

Regional trade pact going up for a vote
The move by Costa Rica suggests that support is slipping for the accord to which U.S. is a party.
By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer
April 14, 2007


MEXICO CITY — A free-trade pact once thought to be slam-dunk is now up for grabs in Costa Rica, where President Oscar Arias on Friday announced that his government would hold a national referendum on the controversial measure.

Arias, a supporter of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as DR-CAFTA, called the pending vote "a triumph" for democratic procedure that would let Costa Ricans determine whether to participate in the pact, to which the U.S. is a party. The agreement has divided the public and generated massive street protests over the last year.

"We're going to decide the destiny of … voting in peace and in tranquillity, not in the streets," Arias said. He did not set a date for the vote.

Arias would appear to be making a virtue out of necessity. His announcement came a day after a surprise ruling by an election tribunal that would have let a citizens group opposed to the pact move forward with an effort to put the deal to a binding referendum. Previously, Arias had expressed little interest in such a public vote and appeared to have the support needed in Congress to approve the pact.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cafta14apr14,1,6178684.story

Starting from Arias, and all the way down to most opposition parties, including the center-left PAC (the one I support). Arias, PAC's leader Ottón Solís, Libertarian leader Otto Guevara, and most Deputies are all saying how happy they are and that it is the best solution, while they didn't do a thing to push this forward.

I'm very happy that they all favor the referendum now, as Arias said everything will be decided peacefully. But damn, none of them did anything at all to push this forward!

Anyone who claims to support both at the same time are either lying or grossly misinformed about the realities of these "free" trade agreements.