COSTA RICA VOTE TOO CLOSE TO CALL
CAFTA IS MAJOR PLAYER
As the days grew fewer before the February 5 balloting date, the polls which had shown Oscar Arias with a comfortable lead began showing a dip in his percentages and a rise in those of third party candidate, Otton Solis. Arias had looked like a shoe-in. He was a popular former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner He is a Centrist and appeared likely to support Costa Rica's accepting the treaty with the United States called in Costa Rica the ?TLC? and in the USA ?CAFTA.? Otton Solis has been calling for major changes in the economy to provide more assistance to the most impoverished, to improve the country's infrastructure, system of medical care, and educational system. He has also called for re-negotiating the TLC to put into place specific guarantees and to remove some of the more unpopular provisions which were seen by most TICOS as attempts to turn Costa Rica into a banana republic for the benefit of the United States. As the weeks went on CAFTA became more and more an issue and public opinion began to swing against it.

At this moment the independent Elections Tribunal is making an exhaustive recount by hand of every ballot cast in every polling place across the country. The difference was so great between the pollsters' predictions and the results as they came in from the outlying areas that everything is now being double-checked to make sure there were absolutely no errors. One man, for instance, had been scratched from the voting rolls because he had been reported deceased. He complained (the reports of his death had been greatly exaggerated?) to the Tribunal and a careful examination of his documents proved him to be alive and well. He was allowed to vote belatedly and his vote will be counted in this new recount. Computers were used to tabulate the votes. This time around they will not be used for fear that they could have been tampered with or human errors or computer glitches could have occurred. Every vote will not only be counted by hand, but the tabulation of the votes will be done by the old fashioned method of addition, checked, and rechecked at every level. We don't expect a result for another week or so. Fortunately, Costa Rica did not chose to use electronic balloting. They didn't even want punch cards which were considered too prone to error. They have a very good paper trail and can make sure a recount is absolutely fair.

Despite all of this work, the Elections Tribunal may still come up with a situation calling for a second round of elections. The difference in the numbers of votes cast for each of the top two candidates was taken up by the candidate for the Libertarian Party. He isn't even close to being in the running, but he managed to siphon off enough votes to make a difference in final outcome between Arias and Solis. Furthermore, the country is becoming more and more polarized by the CAFTA issue and huge public demonstrations are taking place now. The very poor unemployed people think CAFTA will give them more jobs. The rest of the people seem to feel that Costa Rica's future is in high technology and World Class medical facilities and schools and teaching hospitals. CAFTA is seen as a Union busting measure that would take Costa Rica backwards. The trade unions here are very strong. They are called ?sindicatos.? All the workers for government institutions here are unionized. There are also unions for truck drivers, public transportation, and the like. In short, if all the unions call a general strike, the country would shut down. No electrical, water, or telephone service. No nurses, doctors, or support staff at the national hospitals and clinics. No buses or taxis. No police officers. No transportation of goods. No port workers. No airline workers. No teachers. And there is even a students' union. So all the schools and universities would be shut down. This power of the sindicatos acts as a check to executive excesses as it did a few years ago during the current Pacheco administration. First the truckers went on strike because the permit required by all vehicles showing them to be in good working status and meeting pollution guidelines was being run in a questionable manner by the French company contracted to handle the inspections. The truckers blocked the main roads leading into and out of the Capital. Pacheco called out the riot police to force the truckers back to work and to stop their blockade. Unfortunately for Pacheco, the riot police are dressed like Star Wars Darth Vaders and were filmed by television crews breaking truck windows and throwing tear gas grenades into the cabs. When the drivers came out doubled over and gasping for breath, the police were shown clubbing them. All of Costa Rica saw these scenes on television and the next day the major sindicatos joined the work stoppage in protest against such outrageous acts of violence against fellow Ticos. Students and teachers, electricians, and nurses all took to the streets. The taxi drivers and the bus drivers joined the blockade. Pacheco had to back down. The system of automobile inspections was changed and things returned to normal. The majority of Costa Ricans support the sindicatos and CAFTA would force them out of existence. Therein lies most of the difficulty.

Meanwhile, we can only wait to see what will happen next.

The brave little country of Costa Rica is the only hold-out against CAFTA. President Pacheco, after months of waffling, finally sent the treaty to the legislature for approval. But the people of Costa Rica are very much against turning their country into a banana republic for the benefit of greedy corporations in the United States just slavering over the possibilities of stripping Costa Rica's natural beauty and its constitutional protections in order to enrich their own pockets. On November 18, 2005, at least 20,000 people marched in a demonstration against the "TLC" as CAFTA is called in Costa Rica. More demonstrations are in the works. This single issue could decide the next presidential election. The Costa Rican Libertarian Party is, so far, the only political party to come out against the TLC. If popular former president, Oscar Arias, does not see his way clear to declare opposition to the TLC, his chances of re-election will be greatly diminished. If he joins the anti CAFTA forces now, he will become the next president. Now is the time for letters and phone calls to Mr. Arias to let him know how the people stand!

IRC Americas Program | The Price of Going to Market

IRC Americas Program | The Price of Going to Market

¡CREAME, TICOS! El TLC es otra palabra para explotación. ¡OSCAR, mire a esto y click en el acoplamiento para ver la información muy importante para el futuro de Costa Rica!

Americas Program | Commentary | CAFTA: A Treaty Tied by Chains

Americas Program | Commentary | CAFTA: A Treaty Tied by Chains

People of Costa Rica, read what TLC will force on Costa Rica. Click on the link shown above.

La Gente de Costa Rica, lean qué TLC forzará en Costa Rica. Click en el acoplamiento demostrado arriba.

(DV) Engler and Martinez: Oiled Again

(DV) Engler and Martinez: Oiled Again

And if you think you've heard all the terrible problems with the TLC (CAFTA), I'll bet you haven't read about this! Click on the above link to find out how TLC will destroy our tourist industry!

¡Y si Usted piensa ha oído todos los problemas terribles con el TLC (CAFTA), yo apostaré que usted no ha leído sobre esto! ¡Click el acoplamiento antedicho para descubrir cómo el TLC destruirá nuestra industria turística!

CAFTA - COSTA RICA MUST SAY NO!!!

For those of you who have been following the CAFTA/TLC articles on this blog, here is the latest.

My daughter sent me this letter she received from the director of the Texas Fair Trade Coalition:

As you?ve probably heard by now, we lost the CAFTA vote late Wed. night
217-215. Our collective hearts are broken, but we've not lost hope because,
although the fight is over,* the tight vote exemplifies indisputably that THIS
TRADE MODEL IS BROKEN!

The vote did NOT win on its merits--it took one of the ugliest political battles
ever to secure it as well as egregious violations of democratic procedure. Bush
visited the chamber that day (with Cheney) for the first time in TWO YEARS, he
was so afraid of losing this vote as it was conjectured to be the final nail in
his "lame duck" coffin.

Proof in the pudding: "If we had not moved forward on CAFTA, it would have
undermined the U.S. position, which has been to lead the fight for
globalization," -- Calman Cohen, president of the business-backed Emergency
Committee for American Trade.

All in all, CAFTA is a fairly insignificant trade deal in terms of real changes
in trade policy; it will certainly tighten the U.S.'s ability to enforce
intellectual property rights in member countries, especially for pharmaceutical
companies to gain even greater protection against generic, and certainly will
create yet MORE mechanisms to exploit workers and the environment (and open
more doors for such here, while exporting jobs and diminishing democracy), but
it does little to improve our economy in terms of decreasing tariffs (80% of
imports from these countries are already duty-free) and increasing exports to
those countries (which is a tiny fraction of our export economy). It is merely
the leverage by which the corporate globalization model keeps it current course
or not, if the tight margin of victory and the politcal battle that led to it
proves to stop like-deals in their tracks.

Also of note is how much the vote shook up the Democratic Party. Even though the
Democratic Leadership Council supported CAFTA, the party line was that CAFTA's
passage was akin to handing the President a major political (albeit shameful)
victory. Thursday, House Minority Whip leader Nancy Pelosi was so incensed at
the outcome, that she called a special party meeting to put the 15 Democrats
that voted for it on the hot seat. "Committee reassignments" were rumored to
be on the table for these folks. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the Senior Chief
Deputy Minority Whip, admitted "some of my friends cast their votes for special
interests."

27 Republicans voted against it (Ron Paul our only TX rep.)-- MANY more wanted
to, but were pulled away during the disgusting display of breaking arms "into a
thousand pieces" -as was commonly noted. Republicans held the vote open past
the 15 minute deadline, for 47 more minutes, to pull in 8-10 'errant'
Republicans. Pelosi accused House leaders of turning the House floor into an
episode of "Let's Make a Deal," charging that ethics rules were broken. The
Washington Post said, ?The last-minute negotiations for Republican votes
resembled the wheeling and dealing on a car lot.?

Some "nay" votes were even changed to "aye" after the arm-twisting...but if all
votes that were already cast were counted at the 15 minute mark and if at that
time, all uncast votes were cast according to leanings, we would have won
221-214. :(

There were 2 key Republican votes NOT cast--2 that had committed to "nay"s--due
to some suspicious excuses about not making it back to the House in time
because of a storm (over 3 hours earlier) and that a vote cast was not
registered because of a "deactivated voting card" (Jo Ann Davis of VA, and
Charles Taylor of NC respectively); both most likely cases of trying to have it
both ways.

In terms of TFTC, we only lost 2 of our targets: Ortiz and Hinojosa, having
succeeded in winning Gonzalez, Cuellar, Edwards and Jackson-Lee. So along with
Cuellar's "aye" vote, we'll see LOTS of opportunity for organizing in south
Texas around fair trade issues. Although the model is broken, we have our work
cut out for us as we continue fighting AFTA, FTAA and more expansion of the
model through the WTO...although the WTO General Council closed its meeting
this past Friday in Geneva without any real progress so it looks like CAFTA's
passage didn't create any real momentum in this regard.

We should note too--that this vote is not so much about politics as it is about
people; and to the people of Central America and the Dominican Republic, we are pained and saddened at what this loss means for you, and will stand by you as we move forward to build a new, workable, global model that favors people over profit.

We are currently working on after-math strategy. Stay tuned and meanwhile, feel
free to call your Congressperson to THANK them or ask what they got in exchange
for selling their constituents out (and report back to us if you do either!).

Many thanks for your support,
Lesley and the staff and interns at Texas Fair Trade Coalition.

NYTimes article:
http://www.citizenstrade.org/pdf/ nyt_houseapprovesfreetradepact_07282005.pdf

Public Citizen statement: http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2002

*(3 CAFTA countries still need to ratify it: Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Dominican
Republic-there's a small chance for a little more resistance there)

---------------------------------
Please contribute to our efforts by donating online today!

http://www.texasfairtrade.org/staticpages/index.php?page=donations


Lesley Nicole Ramsey
Director, Texas Fair Trade Coalition
1405 Montopolis Drive
Austin, TX 78741
Tel: (512) 472-1915
Fax: (512) 389-2899

The only hope now for COSTA RICA is that it does not become a part of this fiasco. It will do so much harm to our beautiful country while doing nothing advantageous. CAFTA is known as the TLC here. If Costa Rica becomes a signatory to this duplicitous treaty, it will immediately be exploited by gold and petroleum interests in the United States. It's beaches and moutains will be ruined. The health of its citizens dangerously jeapordized, tourism will plummet, and Costa Rica will lose its territorial rights! Click here for the previous post regarding how CAFTA will allow off-shore drilling for oil on our most beautiful beaches and the unchecked mining of gold by foreign interests. For Central America and the Caribbean CAFTA equals EXPLOITATION. There is no other way to express this.

Click here to read this excellent article from the Americas Program for more information.


AND NOW TAKE ACTION! CONTACT DIPUTADOS, NEWS OUTLETS, AND CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE. EXPLAIN TO THEM THE DANGERS THIS TREATY POSES TO COSTA RICA. DO NOT DELAY. DO NOT GIVE UP. OUR FUTURE IS AT STAKE.