By Blake Schmidt, Tico Times Staff

Updated at 7:15 p.m. Dec. 12 — As night fell upon downtown San José, a crowd of protesters gathered outside the Legislative Assembly where legislators debated the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

International Affairs Commission legislators planned to discuss the trade pact until midnight, when they were expected to vote on whether to send it to the assembly’s floor. Protesters planned to stake out until then, too.

In October, the assembly set the Dec. 12 deadline for the commission to vote on sending CAFTA to the assembly’s floor. The controversial move prompted minority party leaders to blow the whistle and promise to appeal the move before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV).

This week is crucial for the trade pact in Costa Rica, the only country that has not ratified it.

Tonight’s deadline remained firm despite the fact that hundreds of motions - most presented by minority parties - have been presented before the International Affairs Commission.

“We shouldn’t vote on it until the whole legislative process has taken place, once each party has had time to have its word,” Citizen Action Party (PAC) president Elizabeth Fonseca told The Tico Times.

“None of that has happened,” she said.

While legislators discussed CAFTA tonight, beefed up security forces outside the assembly guarded its entrance from a growing crowd of protesters.