by Rod Hughes

President Oscar Arias, after a long cabinet meeting, has given his support for the first-ever nation-wide referendum, on the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), saying he hopes the the balloting machinery could be in place for a vote in August or, at the latest, September.

The Arias Administration approval of the balloting avoids the use of an alternative for organizing a referendum, the time-consuming collection of 132,000 signatures in a petition. The forum will be under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Elections Tribunal. A spokeman for the tribunal said budgeted funds exist for the balloting.

Arias did specify that if an insufficient number voted in the referendum, he would not withdraw the CAFTA ratification bill from Congress where, at present, it appears to have the bare 38 votes needed for passage.

CAFTA was signed in 2005 by then-President Dr. Abel Pacheco, but needs ratification to become law. Costa Rica is the lone holdout on ratification of the Central American countries and the Domincan Republic.

Arias said that the 13 currently bills in congress designed to bring Costa Rican law into alignment with provisions of CAFTA would not be delayed or withdrawn.

Otton Solis, former presidential candidate for the Citizen Action Party which opposes CAFTA, lauded Arias’s action but all was not roses for the Pesident. Jose Miguel Corrales, a former congressman and a dissident from Arias’s own party, called the President’s action a “fraud” and said an early vote did not allow time for the public to become fully informed.

Costa Rica, one of Latin America’s oldest democracies and the most stable, had legal provisions in its 1949 constitution only for voting in fixed-term elections. The law setting up referendums was quietly drafted during the Pacheco Administration.

The trade pact has been the hottest topic in Costa Rican political discussions and has been the subject of a number to peaceful street demonstrations, pro and con, in the past two years. Generally, the unions–especially those representing government and government-monopoly employees–oppose the pact while business and many professionals support it.