The free trade treaty with the United States got the once over Monday as academics from the Universidad Nacional appeared to testify against the pact before a legislative commission.

Universidad Nacional has been a key source of dissent on legislative approval of the treaty. Academics there have studied the document for a year and have a number of reservations, the Comisión Permanente de Relaciones Internacionales y Comercio Exterior was told.

Among other items, Rector Olman Segura told the commission that the treaty will need 38 votes — two thirds — to win approval in the full Asamblea Legislativa. Opponents are counting on the Arias administration not being able to find 38 legislators to vote in favor of the measure.

Segura told the commission that the university is committed to constructing a permanent agenda for the country that guarantees strengthening the social state, the estado de drechos, and the the economic, labor, social, environmental, educational and health guarantees of the population.

The group that accompanied Segura said that they had found reasonable doubts in the treaty text for a number of areas and that each would be a disadvantage for the country.

Universidad Nacional is a state institution, and Segura was concerned that the free trade treaty would result in transforming education into a mere commercial service like finances, transport, insurance and construction.

Those testifying before the committee admitted that the free trade text does not contain a chapter on  social services, but they are mentioned in other areas like in the opening of the monopoly national insurance market to outside competition, the labor market and transborder commerce.

Because Costa Rica has the highest standard of living in Central America, trade treaty opponents fear cuts in social services, salaries and the standard of living when the country is exposed to competition from nations with lesser social standards.

Meanwhile in another trade treaty development, opponents said they would stage an ecological festival Sept. 15, independence day, to oppose the free trade treaty. Opponents, including some on bicycles from the Universidad de Costa Rica in San Pedro plan to go from the university to Parque Central in downtown San José and then rally at the Plaza de la Independencia near the legislative complex.

When the commission finishes hearing testimony on the treaty, members will vote. A favorable vote sends the document to the full legislature where a final vote is expected some time in December.

It is generally assumed that the Arias administration has the votes for approval, even if 38 are needed. Arias says that the agreement is needed to create more jobs in Costa Rica. However, he won the presidency by only a slight margin over a man who opposes the treaty, so the nation is divided.

Support for the treaty depends on how each individual or group expects to benefit or be penalized under the treaty. Rice farmers, for example, oppose the pact because they fear a flood of cheaper U.S. rice. They are living on a government mandated price now and a system that discourages imports. Other types of farmers strongly endorse the document because they feel new markets will open in the United States for their products.