by Rod Hughes

Negociations began the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and then the Legislative Assembly talked on and on and finally it went to a referendum and won a majority vote. Now, let the negociations begin…

These talks are between the government and a disgruntled Citizen Action Party (PAC in its Spanish acronym) who opposed the trade pact and whose 17-member congressional delegation have vowed to block the 13 bills that must refom Costa Rican laws to bring them into accord with CAFTA’s provisions.

But at least both sides are agreed about speaking to one another. PAC floor leader Elizabeth Fonseca and party president Otton Solis are agreed with Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, President Oscar Arias’s brother and chief advisor.

But one should not think that Solis has softened. He said he was going along so that he might “present some bills to mitigate the negative effects of CAFTA.” Among his proposals will be subsidies for small and meduim sized companies.

Meanwhile the tedious hand recount of the ballots is beginning in the offices of the Supreme Elections Tribunal. The work is expected to take at least two weeks.