By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
http://www.ticotimes.net/newsbriefs.htmThe day after thousands of protestors voiced their opposition to the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) on the streets of San José, President Abel Pacheco announced he will visit Washington, D.C., next week to discuss the pact with U.S. President George W. Bush and the presidents of the other signatory countries.
The meeting, which U.S. sources say marks the beginning of increased pro-CAFTA lobbying on the part of the Bush administration, comes at a time when Pacheco appears more doubtful than ever about the pact. His ambivalence and the increasingly bitter conflict it has prompted have garnered international attention for the CAFTA debate here.
Pacheco has said he will present to President Bush the same position that has infuriated Costa Rican business leaders who favor CAFTA: he will not send the agreement to the Legislative Assembly until he is convinced it will benefit all Costa Ricans. This certainty can come only with the passage of controversial tax reforms, he says, if at all.
ACCORDING to those who marched down Ave. 2 in San José May 1, denouncing CAFTA and celebrating International Workers' Day, the free-trade agreement would be disastrous for the working class – primarily because it requires that state-run monopolies on electricity, telecommunications and insurance be gradually phased out to allow for private competition.
School teacher Ricardo Ramírez, one of the many educators' union members present at the march, said he fears such privatization might extend to public education, damaging one of the institutions Costa Rica prizes most highly. A crowd of approximately 4,000 protestors, undaunted by the scorching heat, waved banners and placards to the rhythm of familiar chants, protest songs and a marching band or two. “Our country's not for sale,” some shouted; “What would our grandmothers say?” read a banner from a women's league; students burned a U.S. flag.