Bush Says “Take Your Time” on CAFTA
The main positive that Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco is bringing back from the IV Summit of the Americas is "permission" from US President Bush for Costa Rica to take all the time that is needed for the CAFTA agreeement to come to a vote before the assembly. Currently discussion of the agreement is delayed, because it must be published in La Gaceta (all 3000 pages) before congress can open it to debate.
Bush stated to Pacheco that "You are doing the right thing" in response to Pacheco’s explanation of why Costa Rica is taking so much longer to vote on the treaty than its neighbors. Pacheco and his Minister of International Commerce Manuel González said they were pleased with the meeting and ready to support fully the debate over CAFTA.
Pacheco expressed his disappointment in what he sees as the lack of progress in these summits, of which this will be his last. "Sincerely, I am anguished and worried that even after attending so many summits, we are in the same place as where we started. We are worried about the indigenous peoples, but we said that 3 years ago. We are worried about narcotics trafficking, we said that too. Poverty, not in Costa Rica but in general, is rising. We are worried about that. " In summary, he continued, the summits cost a lot of time and money, but so far produce more good intentions than concrete results.