Costa Rica CAFTA update ... The Tico Times [View All]

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The Tico Times
Friday, March 2, 2007 - San Jose', Costa Rica

CAFTA Fast-Track Approved
By Katherine Stanley

What began as a good week for opponents of the free-trade pact with the United States ended as a good week for its supporters, as a Supreme Court decision gave boost to a fast track procedure that would allow the Legislative Assembly to speed up its vote on the agreement.

The ruling from the court's Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV) came just days after the largest march ever against the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), which brought tens of thousands of protesters to downtown San Jose' Monday to urge the government to withdraw the agreement from the assembly.

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The Sala IV, which had been evaluating whether it's constitutional for legislators to set a deadline for voting on international trade agreements, ruled Wednesday the procedure can be applied to CAFTA, but must first be returned to commission so dissenting legislators' opinions can be heard.

Pro-CAFTA legislators erred in discarding opponents' appeals in the special commission that approved the fast-track reform, according to the court. Mayi Antillo'n, who heads the leading National Liberation Party (PLN) in assembly, told The Tico Times yesterday this process could take a couple of weeks; discussion of CAFTA would then take anywhere from 3-7 weeks.

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This is from the hard print article and no link can be provided because it is by subscription only on the internet.

Other tid bits from the story are, that although a set back for anti CAFTA activists, the wording of the ruling indicates the judicial opinion that the fast-track reform had procedural defects and bodes well for an appeal against the method the agreement was handled in commission.

The article also disclosed that pro-CAFTA legislators believe that though close, they have the necessary 38 votes for a two-thirds ratification majority. The opposition party, Citizen Action Party (PAC), is hoping with more discussion and citizen demonstration (a planned nation wide one day strike), perhaps a vote or two will wander astray. Time will tell.