by Rod Hughes

The nationwide referendum on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has been approved for sometime in September but the exact date is not yet set. The announcement was made yesterday by the Supreme Election Tribunal, the independent legal body that constitutionally conducts all balloting.
President Oscar Arias, who is in favor of the trade treaty, sent the request for the binding referendum to the Legislative Assembly where it was overwhelmingly approved, but a dissident member of the President’s own National Liberation Party, ex-congressman Jose Miguel Corrales, filed an appeal. The appeal was rejected by the court, paving the way for a vote within 90 days of its congressional approval.
The referendum, the first in Costa Rica’s history, will be binding in approving or rejecting the trade pact.
But even the Citizen Action Party, the largest opposition faction in the legislative body, largely voted for the referendum and most political observers were unsurprised that Corrales’ attempt to block the balloting failed.
Traditionally, the National Liberation Party has been regarded as tending to be socialist, slightly left of center, and Corrales is a traditionalist, close to the Old Guard aparat of the party. But Arias turned the party, mainly on the issue of free trade, before the last elections and most of the diehard traditionalists bailed out, including such figures as former president Luis Alberto Monge who voluntarily sidelined himself during the last campaign.
The Citizen Action Party also filed an appeal, not to block the balloting but to stall 13 bills in congress that would pave the way for full implementation of the treaty, stopping debate to see of the treaty is ratified or will be rejected. This appeal was also rejected.
Arias claims that the 13 reform measures are needed, whether Csota Rica is included in CAFTA or not.