Cuban newswire Prensa Latina published a story Tuesday claiming that the National Liberation Party (PLN), the foremost proponents in Costa Rica of the controversial Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), had turned against the pact, and that Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias had expressed doubt about whether it could be passed.
However, Arias’ spokesman Pablo Gueren and Liberation press chief Joel Jiménez roundly dismissed the story Wednesday, saying the position of the party has not changed in the least. Gueren said he has no idea where the story came from.
“Where’s the source?” he said. “It’s made up. The government’s position hasn’t changed in the least… It’s not a mistake; it’s a lie.”
The story, which was later picked up by Web site insidecostarica.com, said that Liberation’s legislative leader Mayi Antillón indicated her party, which brought President Oscar Arias to power last year, “would stay firm in rejecting the project” –though the party’s 25 legislators have made the agreement a top legislative priority since May.“
Those statements would never come from the Liberation faction head,” Antillón told The Tico Times. “They’re not true.”
