by Rod Hughes

Just before Christmas, we reported that the president of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), Otton Solis, was quoted by a reporter from the newspaper Al Dia as saying that his party’s congressional delegation would discontinue their blockage of 11 bills needed to implement the CAFTA free trade pact with the United States.

Perhaps we misread the news story. Or, maybe, the reporter misunderstood Solis. Or perhaps Solis meant that the party would not absent themselves from floor sessions so that legislators cannot attain a quorum. Or, perhaps…

Oh, my! We nearly suggested an unthinkable alternative. But we all know that politicians don’t lie, don’t we?

PAC opposed CAFTA bitterly, aligning themselves with government monopoly labor unions, but the October referendum ratified CAFTA, although not by an overwhelming margin. The opposition party then began to boycott congressional sessions so that 13 bills necessary to bring Costa Rican law into harmony with the pact would be blocked.

Two bills were passed and now 11 remain. And PAC has another tactic: The party has presented about 5,000 amendments to certain parts of three of those bills. The most changes, nearly 2,000, have been levied against the bill that would open the telecommunications market, currently the monopoly of the government company, ICE, the most controversial result of the trade treaty. Each must be read and voted on.

You read that right: five thousand. The opposition have been busy little beavers. The leadership of President Oscar Arias’s party in congress underscored this freezing of the legislative process Wednesday by calling a news conference where they showed stacks of documents on which the opposition amendments were printed, including a bright blue wheelbarrow piled with them. It was an impressive display.

Now, we might assume that some of these amendments are sincere attempts to mend flaws in these bill, to fill loopholes and to generally clean up legislation that can cause untold headaches if it passes. But the sheer volume of changes brings doubt to the reasonable mind. And note that a Feb. 29 deadline looms for these bills and that behind the logjam are important bills that cannot be discussed, including a vital immigration reform and a traffic law.

On Oct. 7 the people spoke. Is PAC telling them to shut up?

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