- Title: COSTA RICA: Costa Ricans vote on free trade deal with United States
- Date: 8th October 2007
- Summary: VARIOUS OF PRESIDENT OSCAR ARIAS VOTING GENERAL VIEW OF ARIAS SURROUNDED BY MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT ARIAS SAYING: "Costa Rica would be saying no to a market of 300 million people and that would be a serious mistake. It would be a step in the wrong direction from what would be convenient for the people of Costa Rica because the Free Trade Agreement would gener
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Costa Rica
- Country: Costa Rica
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA9PT42N04R85ZI0B1JOGF8VT24
- Story Text: Costa Ricans vote in a referendum to decide if the Central American nation will join a free-trade deal with the United States, splitting the country for the first time in decades. Opponents say the free trade agreement will weaken welfare while supporters say the agreement will open the economy more.
Costa Ricans voted on a free-trade deal with the United States on Sunday (October 07) in a referendum that has split the Central American nation like no other issue in decades.
Opponents fear the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, will weaken the country's prized welfare system, among the strongest in Latin America.
Supporters, led by Nobel peace laureate President Oscar Arias, say Costa Rica needs to open its economy more since it is a small country with few natural resources.
"Costa Rica would be saying no to a market of 300 million people and that would be a serious mistake," President Oscar Arias. "It would be a step in the wrong direction from what would be convenient for the people of Costa Rica because the Free Trade Agreement would generate more wealth (for the country)."
In the second such warning in recent days, the White House said on Saturday it would not renegotiate the deal if Costa Ricans vote against the current proposal.
A poll last week in La Nacion newspaper showed Costa Ricans rejecting the trade deal by 55 percent to 43 percent. Other recent surveys showed the country -- home to 4 million people and the most prosperous and stable in Central America -- sharply divided.
The agreement would open state-run sectors like telecommunications and insurance to competition from foreign firms. Opponents say that threatens institutions that have contributed to the country's social stability for decades.
Critics also say the deal will mean a flood of cheap U.S. farm imports and limit the country's sovereignty by taking investment disputes to international arbitration.
Costa Rica is the only country not to have ratified CAFTA -- which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic -- and is the only nation to decide the issue by referendum.
Costa Rica, which has no army and boasts of pristine beaches and jungles, has enjoyed almost uninterrupted democratic government for over a century and has better education and health care than its neighbours.
Coffee farming, tourism, call centres and microchip manufacturing support the growing economy, which is more diversified than its neighbours. It attracts migrants from Nicaragua and Panama. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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