by Rod Hughes

Vice President Kevin Casas found himself in the midst of a political firestorm this week over a confidential memo leaked to the press. In his message to President Oscar Arias, Casas recommended that government funds be withheld from municipal governments whose mayors did not deliver a majority “yes” votes in the upcoming referendum on the Central Amerrican Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

The vice president also serves as minister of planning but stepped down from that post while an investigation goes on into the memo, and how it was leaked to the University of Costa Rica weekly newspaper, Semanario Universidad.
His July 29 memo also contained a suggestion of how government funds could be used to further the yes vote and kept secret from the elections watchdog agency, the Supreme Elections Tribunal. It furthermore suggested that the administration “stimulate fear” among voters of the consequences of not approving CAFTA.

Minister of the Presidency Rodrigo Arias told the press that the president read the memo but did not implement any of its advice.

The Arias Administration is a firm proponent of the controversial free trade pact. How this memo might effect voting in the Oct. 7 referendum is a matter for conjecture but for certain it will be cited by the vocal opposition to CAFTA as a sign that the Arias Administration is growing desperate about the outcome of the voting. And the`naked political arm-twisting implied by the memo will not set well with this country’s fiercely independent electorate. But a poll by the firm Demoscopia reported in the daily paper Al Dia Friday indicates that only 3.6% of those who favored CAFTA may switch their vote because of the scandal. Some 91% will still vote for the pact.

Initial reaction of voters on both sides of the CAFTA issue was disbelief that any Costa Rican elected official would make such a proposal. Some express incredulity at a politician putting such an inflammatory indiscretion in written form. Just how a mayor was expected to deliver the votes of his constituents was not explained in the message.

Chief magistrate of the elections tribunal Luis Antonio Sobrado called for a an internal audit of the ministry to see if government funds are being channeled into the campaign for the yes vote. Government officials are allowed by the tribunal to express their views, pro or con, but no taxpayers’ money may be spent to this end.

Yesterday, La Nación reported that the Citizen Action Party (PAC), chief among the opposition to CAFTA’s passage, accused National Liberation Party congressmen of absenting themselves from the Legislative Assemby’s Wednesday session to avoid answering questions about the issue. Of the 23 absentees, 14 were from the president’s party, making it impossible to form a quorum. PAC has demanded the outright resignations of Casas and of National Liberation congressman Fernándo Sánchez, whose name also appears on the memorandum.

But National Liberation’s deputy floor leader, Gilberto Jerez, denied any fear of debate. Instead, he said, his party’s deputies were all ill or otherwise engaged.

Both Casas and Sanchez offered their “sincerest apologies to anyone who felt offended” by the memo but it appears unlikely that the offended will be content.

The irony in all these inflammatory suggestions is that they were probably unnecessary: an August poll gave pro-CAFTA voting a 20-point lead.