<strong>by Rod Hughes</strong>

The telecommunications bill, one of 13 bills aimed at implementing the Central American Free Trade Agreement, has passed its first test by a margin of 30 votes to 16. the bill is aimed at opening up the Internet access to an open market after years of monopoly by the government agency ICE, which also controls telephone service as well as electrical generation. It is one of the most hotly contested of the CAFTA-related legislation.

All the votes against the bill came from the Citizen Action Party (PAC, for its Spanish acronymn), a bitter foe of CAFTA. PAC will send the bill to the already overworked Supreme Court Constitutional Chamber for review of not only the text but the passage procedure. The bill must endure yet another debate and then a second vote, in which it must muster 38 of the 57 legislators to pass. The coalition mustered by pro-CAFTA President Oscar Arias numbers just 38 an a single absence is enough to derail the process.

The bills, some of which have already passed or are ready for their second test, are needed to bring Costa Rican laws into harmony with the trade pact’s provisions. These bills, fought with a sort of scorched earth retreat by PAC a a few other leftist politicians, have occupied the Legislative Assembly for the first two years of the Arias Administration. Some of that legislation is of great importance such as the comprehensive crime bill.