by Rod Hughes from news reports
The Constitutional Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court approved–in effect–a fast-track vote on the Central American Free Trade Treaty with the United States, but a procedural error by the congressmen who submitted the measure for court consultation will keep it from having immediate effect, reported the country’s leading daily, La Nacion, today..
Four of the panel of seven judges voted to approve the measure, which would limit debate of ratification of the treaty. Strong opposition exists to the pact but President Arias told The Tico Times that he is confident he has the required 38 votes in Costa Rica’s unicameral congress for ratification.
Costa Rica is the lone holdout among Central American and Caribbean countries included in the pact. Today, CAFTA went into effect in the Dominican Republic.
With the high court’s ruling, backers of the measure heaved a sigh of relief that the ratification vote would not be blocked indefinitely by opposition legislative maneuvering. But “fast-track” (our phrase) is only a relative term in the glacial pace of Costa Rican politics and a hard floor fight is expected. Also pending is an entire agenda of bills to allow the pact to be put into practice, including the freeing up of the government monopoly on communications.
La Nacion estimated the number of peaceful demonstrators that took to the streets to protest the possible ratification of the pact Monday at 23,500, consisting mainly of goverment union members and teachers. It was the largest anti-CAFTA demonstration so far. The government had been braced to confront civil disorder but none developed.