NOT happy with the way the two traditional parties have governed the country during the past two decades and not impressed by the legislative track record of upstart parties, alternative groups are coming together to establish new political parties.Leaders of at least two new political movements express confidence they can provide voters attractive alternatives during the 2006 elections.One of them, organized by former legislators, union leaders, women’s rights groups and environmentalists (TT, April 30), was officially named the Alternative Leftist Movement last Saturday.Another new party, a still-unnamed movement organized by outspoken former Justice Minister José Miguel Villalobos, is off to a strong start, having already obtained the endorsement of legislative deputy Emilia María Rodríguez, of the Patriotic Parliamentary Bloc.“IT’S unprecedented for a party that has not been officially founded to already have a deputy supporting it,” Villalobos said in an interview with The Tico Times. “It shows there is strong support for our movement’s message.”Villalobos says he aims to establish a party with a campaign platform based on strong positions and concrete proposals on issues. The party’s policies will be based on five elements, he said – decency, intelligence, friendliness, security and efficiency.“We’re a party that is not defined as left or right, we are radical centrists – the place on the spectrum I believe Costa Ricans have always looked for,” Villalobos said. “More than define ourselves as Social Christians, Social Democrats or any other ideology, we plan to define ourselves based on concrete positions on specific issues.”A high-profile lawyer by trade, Villalobos is no stranger to politics, having served as President Abel Pacheco’s Justice Minister briefly in 2002. Pacheco fired him in November of that year for “being too pugnacious” and speaking out against the controversial Pococí Maximum-Security Prison concession (TT, Nov. 1, 8, 2003).He made headlines again in February 2003 when he agreed to represent investors who lost their savings when the high-interest loan business known as “The Brothers,” operated by fugitive Costa Rican businessman Luis Enrique Villalobos (no relation), shut down following government intervention (TT, Feb. 7, 2003).HE describes his party as a nationalist movement. By nationalist, he means a party that defines its positions based on the country’s interests. Since the national interest is complex and constantly changing, Villalobos insists on a pragmatic approach to defining policies.“On each issue, we offer concrete proposals, not trivial and vague ideas,” he said.“We are going to debate positions and issue our own proposals. We want to force each candidate and political party to define specific issues.”This pragmatic approach is best evidenced by Villalobos’ position on the Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States, which Costa Rica finished negotiating in January (TT, Jan. 30).“A free-trade agreement is good; it grants more security to the commercial relationship between two countries,” he explained. “But if, to get that security, we need to open our telecommunications market or force our rice producers to compete against subsidized U.S. exports, we should say no.”He said he is certain the U.S. Congress will vote against CAFTA.VILLALOBOS said he is not opposed to opening the country’s insurance or oil importing monopolies, but is staunchly opposed to opening telecommunications.“We aim to defend public monopolies in areas that, because of their nature, won’t lead to competitive markets,” he said. “With insurance (which the country also agreed to open under CAFTA), there is no problem because it is not prone to monopolies.”“…Telecommunications is different; it’s a monopoly market,” he added. “Offering these services requires a high level of investment that can only be profitable if the rates are high or if there are one or two companies participating. In Latin America, 80% of cell phone service is divided up between two companies. The United States, which has a market of 300 million people, has only six companies competing.”The proposed party is also in favor of making the Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Institute (ICE) more independent, banning all casinos and sportsbooks, incorporating information technology at all government institutions and creating a strict quota system to control the flow of immigrants, Villalobos said.MEANWHILE, deputy Rodríguez has pledged to bring Villalobos’ message and ideas to the Legislative Assembly and hopes other Patriotic Bloc deputies will follow her lead.The Patriotic Bloc is an alliance of six independent deputies formed in February 2003 by legislators who left the upstart Citizen Action Party (PAC), claiming its rigid ethics code made is impossible for them to serve their country (TT, Feb. 28, 2003).“Since we are not a political party and don’t pretend to act like one, each member is free to choose his or her own road,” Rodríguez said.“…José Miguel (Villalobos) and I share the same concepts, ideas and principles in terms of ethics in government and the development model we would like to see for the country,” she explained. “I am friends with him and his wife. It was easy for us to talk. He told me he would be delighted to have my support.”Rodríguez said the decision to join the party would make her a better legislator by giving her a clearer sense of direction. “Our movement has seen and learned from the mistakes of Citizen Action and does not want to repeat them,” she said.THE party, according to Villalobos, will be officially founded during its first National Assembly scheduled for May 29.During that meeting, the party’s name, flag and colors will be decided and a provisional Executive Committee named.Villalobos said he is confident his message will attract voters from all walks of life, including those from rural areas, where upstart parties did poorly during the last elections.“People know me – with me there are no surprises,” he said. “It’s clear where I’m headed.”

ON his way out the door, Dr. Eliseo Vargas, former executive president of Costa Rica’s Social Security System (Caja), announced the possibility of a looming health scare.Amid the controversy that precipitated his resignation last month – the low rent he pays for a luxury home owned by the financial manager of one of the Caja’s main suppliers (TT, April 23) – Vargas brought to light a study on one danger of pet feces.It involves a parasitic worm (Toxocara canis) that infects pets and propagates itself through its larvae in their feces. After a person ingests infected feces, the worm migrates toward the eyes and can provoke swelling and detachment of the retina – a condition doctors say is, in some cases, irreversible.CHILDREN are much more susceptible to the parasite than adults.According to Dr. Joaquín Martínez, director of the study, since 1996 there have been 40 cases of children in Costa Rican who contracted the disease. Of those, 80% have been left with poor vision, and in rare cases blindness, in one eye. It is not clear why the illness affects only one eye.Though perhaps difficult to believe, there are numerous ways for people to unwittingly ingest infected feces.For example, if an infected pet should defecate in a vegetable garden and the larvae mix with the soil, people could ingest them if they do not wash their vegetables well. Another example given by doctors is if dog feces in a park dry up and bits of it are caught in the wind, it could coat playgrounds and benches and areas where childrenmight put their hands.BEFORE resigning, Caja director Vargas made an urgent call for people to rid their pets of parasites by taking them to a veterinarian for shots and de-worming, and for parents and others to encourage children to wash their hands well before eating.Still, the problem may not be as drastic as it may seem. Dr. Martínez said although there are more cases of infection this year than other years in the study, it is not an epidemic and should not scare anyone.Dr. Gerardo Vicente, a veterinarian with the Ministry of Health’s Department of Human Environment Protection, pointed out there is a higher risk of dying after eating bad seafood than there is of contracting this parasite.“THE only way to get this disease is to eat poop,” Vicente said. “I’m not saying there’s no risk, just that there is a very low probability.”He added that dogs, because of their companionship, are much more beneficial than harmful to human beings.“You add the numbers of deaths and infections from any disease over a long time and you will get surprising results,” he said.Like Dr. Martínez, he stressed the disease is not an epidemic and should not scare anybody, since basic sanitation precautions are enough to avoid the problem.

PRESIDENT Abel Pacheco’s annual speech to the Legislative Assembly, a 66- page checklist of his administration’s accomplishments and goals that took two hours to impart on Saturday evening, came under fire this week.Several opposition legislators and analysts accused Pacheco of using too many numbers and failing to give a clear analysis of where the country stands and where it’s going.In his presentation, entitled “The Homeland is a Work in Progress,” Pacheco cited the drop in the country’s poverty rate from 20.6% to 18.5% – its lowest level in 17 years – and the strong improvement of Costa Rica’s economy last year, which grew 5.6% – the second highest growth rate in Latin America – as two of his greatest accomplishments and signs the country is on the right track.ENROLLMENT in elementary and high schools increased, he said, while dropout rates decreased. New schools were built and many received new equipment. Thousands of children benefited from scholarships, education bonds, school lunches and transportation, the President said.Costa Rica’s infant mortality rate dropped to its lowest level in history, and life expectancy is comparable to that of the most developed countries. Health-care coverage has been improved through local health clinics, he said.“Costa Rica is growing, jobs are being generated, investment is being attracted, poverty has been reduced, there have been increases in education and health-care coverage,” he reiterated.PACHECO vowed to continue his quest to rid government of corruption.“Once more I say it: there will be no tolerance toward waste, corruption or inefficiency,”he said.The President listed the approval of the Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States and the Free-Trade Agreement between Costa Rica and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), as well as the fiscal reforms and bills to strengthen the Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Institute (ICE) and the National Insurance Institute (INS), as the “great challenges” that await legislators.“WE are a government that backs the great commercial, institutional, financial and tax reforms. We have placed Costa Rica on the most important paths of the world economy,” he said. “Now, if we wish to consolidate the accomplishments attained and overcome pending challenges, there are tasks we must complete together.“Making the most of the third year that begins today [Saturday] is crucial for Costa Rica’s future. At this moment, our country has only two possible roads: continue working to reach development or stop now, stagnate and, in a short while, be left in the middle of nothing,” he concluded.POLITICAL analyst Rodolfo Cerdas said the speech lacked depth, particularly when it came to explaining crucial policies that will have a major impact on all Costa Ricans, such as CAFTA and the fiscal reform package.“The speech shows the President is not being advised well,” Cerdas said. “Instead of conducting a mature evaluation of the past year of his administration and signaling the goals and objectives he proposes to achieve during the next two years, he limited himself to making a detailed list of activities that are a normal part of governing.“…This reflects and acute short-termism, a lack of medium-term goals and a lack of leadership in the country’s governance,” he said.Opposition deputies also expressed dissatisfaction with the speech.Bernal Jiménez, of National Liberation Party, and Rodrigo Alberto Carazo, of Citizen Action Party, criticized Pacheco for failing to offer a development plan for the country.LIBERTARIAN Movement deputy Federico Malavassi shrugged off the speech as “nonsense.”The General Workers’ Union (CGT) issued a two-page statement denouncing Pacheco’s accomplishments in the fight against poverty, education, housing, health care, tax collection, agriculture, small and medium businesses, infrastructure construction and public security.The union also blasted Pacheco for taking credit for accomplishments that weren’t his.“The accomplishments of ICE don’t belong to your government,” wrote Luis Alberto Salas, Secretary General of CGT.“You should have Presidential ethics and not make people believe that ICE’s accomplishments in electricity and telecommunications belong to your government, which will sign the free-trade agreement with the United States and rip the institution to shreds and privatize it in the worst way possible.”PACHECO took the criticism in stride during Tuesday’s weekly cabinet meeting. “Half the people said it was a catastrophe, the other half said that after Don Quixote and the Divine Comedy comes the speech of President Abel Pacheco,” he said.“We’re performing miracles to help Costa Ricans. How else am I going to explain what the government has done? They say I cited too many figures. If it were up to me I would recite poetry for two hours,” he added.Pacheco said he was considering writing a shorter speech next year.

A law making seatbelt use mandatory for drivers and passengers went into effect this week.Following a 15-day grace period, drivers risk being fined at least ¢5,000 ($12) if they or their passengers are not using seatbelts, according to the law published Wednesday in the government’s official newspaper La Gaceta.Congress passed the law April 13 after the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) reversed a seven-year opinion and said such a law is constitutional (TT, Feb. 20).Lawmakers approved the bill in the hopes of reducing the number of deaths and injuries in traffic accidents.In Costa Rica, an average of one person dies every day in highway accidents, according to Ministry of Transport and Public Works statistics (TT Dec. 24, 2003).

Threats of reneged contracts and multimillion-dollar lawsuits this week intensified a dispute between government officials and Alterra Partners, the consortium that holds a 20-year concession to remodel and operate the Juan Santamaría International Airport outside of San José.The future of the country’s main airport hinges on the ability of both sides to reach an agreement in the next two months that will allow the stalled project to move forward.ALTHOUGH the contract dispute has been going on for more than a year, the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Javier Chaves, this week announced the beginning of a two-month period of last-ditch negotiations between Alterra and the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) and the Technical Commission of the Civil Aviation Authority (CETAC).If no agreement is reached, the matter could be taken before an international arbitration panel or the parties could sue each other for breaching the airport concession contract. Alterra issued a statement earlier this week warning the government of the potential dire consequences if a solution is not found.IF the contract is revoked, according to Alterra Partners, the government would be required to pay the consortium more than $150 million in damages.This, Alterra warned, would make the country’s government lose credibility with investors and international banks interested in financing future development projects in the country.Government and the private sector have viewed the contract to renovate and operate Juan Santamaría as a pioneering model, the start of a broader strategy that will allow private firms to supply the country’s growing infrastructure needs.ON Tuesday, Chaves attempted to downplay fears that Alterra could sue the government or abandon the airport project, which is in the middle of renovations. He said he was confident the government would be able to “sit down [with Alterra] and find another way” and “keep the dialogue open.”He insisted international arbitration and lawsuits were just a few of several possible scenarios.The 14 international banks that until March 2003 had provided financing for the airport have said they will not provide Alterra with more funding unless the government agrees to allow the airport manager to collect $18.6 million from airport user fees for “development and financing expenses.”SO far, Alterra Partners has received $90 million in loans. The company is still awaiting $30 million from the original $120 million loan to complete the airport’s renovation (TT, June 27, 2003).Alterra and the banks, along with MOPT, CETAC and the airport’s inspector general, had reached an agreement in 2001 on the development expenses, placing them at $18.6 million, according to Chaves and Alterra.However, the amount allotted for this expense in the original contract bid could not exceed $3.4 million, according to the Comptroller General’s office. This figure has been in dispute since last year and caused the freeze of funds by the banks.A scathing report by the Comptroller’s Office in March 2003 raised questions about many of the fees Alterra had been charging, particularly those for development and financing expenses (TT, March 28, 2003).CETAC later said the amount of these expenditures that could be recuperated through airport tariffs was $15.2 million. Last month, after Chaves asked the Comptroller to resolve the issue, the Comptroller ruled that the sum must stand at the original $3.4 million (TT, April 23). The minister said the government cannot legally ignore the Comptroller General’s ruling.“We are going to follow the Comptroller’s report,” Chaves said during Tuesday’s weekly cabinet meeting. “We’re starting this negotiating process, and we have two months. We will do everything possible to reach an agreement. After that, the matter could go to arbitration.“… We have the best intention to reach an agreement,” he said. “We care about the project being completed. (…) We’re all looking for a yes, not a no. I’m sure it will be solved.”ALTHOUGH Alterra called the process “normal,” it insists the government must honor the August 2001 agreement. “It is not about a financing problem or that the shareholders don’t want to put in more money, it’s about a principle of legal security for the investors and international banks that have trusted the country,” said a statement from the company.“It is about recovering an investment through means designed by the government (tariffs), not through legal proceedings,” the statement continued.The consortium warned that if the government “insists on not recognizing” the agreements it signed, the contract could be terminated.This would unleash dire consequences for Costa Rica, according to Alterra. In addition to having to pay more than $150 million in damages, the government would have to resume control of an incomplete airport and pay its operation costs. Canceling the contract also would make the country lose credibility among investors and foreign banks, which could raise the country’s risk rating, making it costlier for the country to manage its growing debt, Alterra warned.

JOHN Shimell has spent nearly two and a half years sharing a cell with some 20 other inmates in a Costa Rican prison without once being presented before a judge.According to some authorities involved in his case, that is perfectly acceptable. Shimell, who says he has been physically attacked, robbed at knifepoint and drugged with sleeping pills since being incarcerated, said he certainly doesn’t think so.Accused of – but not yet charged with – fraud in connection with an investment firm he owned in Costa Rica, the British citizen claims he is the victim of a corrupt justice system that has imposed numerous unnecessary delays, continually lengthened his preventive prison order and not giving him a preliminary hearing.DURING the preliminary hearing, both the prosecution and the defense would present the evidence they would use in court, after which a judge would determine whether there is sufficient cause to keep Shimell behind bars and charge him with a crime.He had a hearing scheduled for last November (TT, Nov. 14, 2003), but it was delayed. He was then told he would see a judge on April 23.On April 23, after three hours in a holding cell at a courthouse in San José, he was transferred back to San Sebastián prison and told he would have to wait even longer.“This latest delay, again, is a disgrace,” said Shimell, a 61-year-old financial advisor. His hearing is now scheduled to begin on Monday, and he, his wife, his defense team and the British Embassy are all hoping it finally does.“WHAT we’re interested in is that the preliminary hearing he’s going to have actually happens,” said British Vice-Consul to Costa Rica, Shelia de Pacheco, adding, “it does seem rather a long time Mr. Shimell’s been there without a preliminary hearing.”Pacheco said the British Embassy is neither maintaining Shimell’s innocence nor his guilt, but acting to protect the interests of a British citizen who she firmly believes deserves a hearing, she said.The embassy recently sent a letter to Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Relations, which said, “The British Embassy is very concerned that the human rights of Mr. Shimell could be violated by his case not being attended to during so much time.”Copies of the letter, which expressed the embassy’s “strong interest” in seeing progress in the case, were sent to the Inter- American Court of Human Rights and Costa Rica’s Ombudsman, José Manuel Echandi.SHIMELL’S defense claims the delays have been arbitrary and seem as though they could have easily been prevented. At one point, for example, the prosecution was waiting on information regarding Shimell’s business history in Great Britain from the country’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO).The SFO filed a 585-page report with the Costa Rican Consulate in London on May 7 of last year. The document sat there for three months, according to a copy of an e-mail sent from the consulate to Shimell’s defense team, because the report weighed “various kilos” and the office had not had enough funding to cover its shipment. It cost $113 to send.Carlos Meléndez, the prosecutor handling Shimell’s case, said such delays, in situations like Shimell’s, are perfectly normal.“In this type of complex investigation, given the specific characteristics of this case, this is totally within the norm,” Meléndez said.THE prosecutor said he knew of numerous cases in which preventive prison orders for ongoing investigations have been just as long. He declined, however, to provide specific examples.Meléndez said he is legally forbidden from discussing the specifics of Shimell’s case because those details must remain private information until after his preliminary hearing.The prosecutor said “several judges have been constantly aware of his case,” and have ordered his preventive prison extended until August 23 because they believe he is a flight risk.Shimell said the prosecution is using travel plans he had made to visit his dying father as proof he intended to flee the country. His father died on April 23, 2002 – exactly three months after Shimell’s arrest.ANOTHER woman being investigated in connection with Shimell, however, has been granted conditional freedom, presenting herself before a judge every 15 days rather than waiting in jail, Meléndez said.He said the Costa Rican suspect has family and other interests in the country that reduce the likelihood she’ll flee the country to escape justice. Shimell disagreed. “She’s free, because she’s Costa Rican,” he said.Shimell claims he came back voluntarily several times to visit the prosecutor since his business came under investigation. The last time, after a discussion with Meléndez, he was detained on suspicion of fraud and on allegations that he had a false passport.IN a formal complaint he filed against Meléndez, Shimell claims the prosecutor for months did nothing to investigate the claim that his passport was false, and that he has “perverted the course of justice and defamed (his) character in Europe and has prolonged the investigation of (his) case.”Meléndez said those claims were unfounded and merely reflected Shimell’s personal opinion.Pacheco, in a letter to Shimell on embassy letterhead, certified that United Kingdom authorities had issued a passport to him in 1998 that had the same number as the one he has been using for identification purposes since being jailed.Shimell, nominated for the International Who’s Who of Professionals after his arrest, said he gets through the days by sticking with a friend of his who’s “a big guy,” and takes comfort in knowing he is innocent. “That’s the only thing that keeps me sane in this bloody hellhole,” he said.

OPPONENTS of the Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States joined voices this week.Thousands filled the streets on May 1, shouting the usual “No al TLC!” (No to the free-trade agreement), in the country’s largest anti-CAFTA rally since last November (TT, Nov. 28, 2003).The march – held on International Workers’ Day – was the most visible protest against the trade agreement since Costa Rica concluded negotiations with the United States earlier this year (TT, Jan. 30).ALONG with burning effigies of Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco and street theater of the United States stomping the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), protesters were armed with something new – analysis of the final negotiated document that is CAFTA. In addition to Saturday’s protest, the past week saw the release of several opposition reports and forums on CAFTA’s alleged negative effects, particularly on Costa Rican workers.The National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP) and the National Association of Educators (ANDE) released two separate documents analyzing the trade agreement late last week.Economists from the Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Heredia held a forum yesterday critically analyzing CAFTA’s impact on Costa Rica’s labor, agriculture and investment.Economist Henry Mora said CAFTA would not improve labor standards, would hurt small and medium farmers and gives excessive rights to U.S. companies investing in Costa Rica.HAIKU graffiti or hundreds of pages of percentages and quantities – until now CAFTA opponents have been limited in printed material regarding the treaty. CAFTA supporters, on the other hand, have had pages of texts available – mostly via the Web sites of Costa Rica’s Ministry of Foreign Commerce (COMEX) and the office of U.S. Trade Representative.“These are real conclusions from the text, not just some illusions of what we think could happen,” said Gerardo Cerdas, of the anti-CAFTA group Encuentro Popular, which helped ANDE produce a highly critical booklet explaining the negative effects of CAFTA.Titled, “Cómo Quedó el TLC,” the booklet is meant to explain opponents’ positions in simple terms, backed by real numbers, in a way the public can understand.Some said it is a response to the Foreign Trade Ministry’s, “El ABC del TLC,” widely distributed to the public, including as an insert in daily newspapers, in January.THE 19-page ANDE booklet focuses on the job loss it says could occur because of CAFTA. It says the country could see a dramatic decline of small and medium businesses, which will be unable to compete with larger firms and U.S. imports.The booklet was distributed to 25,000 educators around the country, as well as 15,000 other Costa Ricans.“Educators are the source of information for the children and young people of this country, and of the communities of this country. We did a poll and realized that educators did not know the repercussions of this treaty,” said ANDE president Eduardo Rojas.Many of the booklets were passed out at Saturday’s march, which was matched by other large protests throughout Central America (see separate story).THE public information campaign and protests come at a time when the treaty is gaining approval among the Costa Rican public, according to the latest poll by CIDGallup, whose top executive publicly supports CAFTA.In April, 66% of Costa Ricans said CAFTA will benefit the country, compared with 52% in December 2003, according to the poll, published Monday in La República.In December, 41% of those polled said CAFTA could harm Costa Rica. Last month, according to the new poll, that number dropped to 29%.Opponents say part of the reason for the change in public opinion is the fact that since negotiations ended in January, the government has been running an intensive radio and television campaign touting the benefits of CAFTA.IN “El ABC del TLC,” the Foreign Trade Ministry states that 53% of total Costa Rican exports go to the United States, and estimates 500,000 jobs are tied to this business.It also concludes that by eliminating import taxes, Costa Rica’s export business will be stimulated to grow through new businesses and expansion of current ones.However, the ANDE booklet notes the majority of these jobs will be in large factories. Furthermore, according to the ANEP study, entitled “The Free-Trade Agreement and Jobs in Costa Rica,” the number of jobs affected if CAFTA is not signed will be closer to 90,000, not 500,000.Most export companies export to multiple destinations, not just the United States. Many companies export to the United States through the Caribbean Basin Initiative, which the study argues does not expire, and therefore will not be harmed if CAFTA is not signed.The Caribbean Basin Initiative is a unilateral trade concession that allows Central America and Caribbean nations free trade of certain products with the United States.HOWEVER, there is a risk of serious job loss if CAFTA is signed, concludes the ANEP study, done in collaboration with former presidential candidates Rolando Araya and Ottón Solís, new leftist party founder José Merino (TT, April 30) and former Justice Minister José Miguel Villalobos, who is launching another new political party (see separate article). The study alleges that 80,000 Costa Rican cow, pig, poultry, grain and vegetable farmers will be affected by CAFTA, which would allow competition subsidized by the United States.Industries such as beans, rice, beef and chicken – several of which are already struggling in Costa Rica – will find it hard to compete with U.S. imports, the study says.Small and medium-size businesses will find it particularly hard to compete with U.S. companies (TT, Feb. 13). Although most of the changes in tariffs and quotas are gradual, many products are allowed free access to Costa Rican markets, to some degree, as soon as the treaty goes into effect.These products are subsidized by the United States, some up to more than 100% of their real value, under the 2002 Farm Bill.Although the dairy industry within Costa Rica is more protected, the export of Costa Rican dairy products to other Central American countries will be seriously threatened, according to the ANDE booklet.BIG business will benefit the most from CAFTA, the booklet concludes. Three percent of export businesses are responsible for 75% of all export, according to the booklet. Many of these businesses are international firms, based in the United States, including Intel, Baxter HealthCare, Pfizer Zona Franca, Sara Lee and Dole.“El ABC del TLC” states CAFTA will also help stimulate production within the country by allowing the import of raw materials at a lower cost. Opponents counter that only big businesses will benefit from such imports.The booklet also includes arguments against the opening of telecommunications and insurance to the private market. CAFTA opens up Costa Rica to private cell phone and Internet companies, which takes away the most lucrative aspect of telecommunications from the government- run monopoly Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), the booklet states.LEGAL revision of CAFTA was to be completed this week, according to the Foreign Trade Ministry. Leaders spent last weekend in Washington D.C. reviewing the document and ensuring the English and Spanish versions of the document are identical.Although head Costa Rican negotiator Anabel González said the process was going smoothly, business leaders in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua last week charged that the United States was changing the text and modifying agreements made in the treaty.CAFTA must be approved by the U.S. Congress and at least one other country for it to go into effect. After that, it would go into effect in each participating country where it is approved by lawmakers.

THE accusatory glare of Cuba’s highest officials fell on Costa Rica after it voted in favor of a motion before the United Nations Human Rights Commission condemning Cuba’s record last month.Since then, Cuba has slung barbs at the countries that did not back Cuba’s proposal for a U.N. investigation of the treatment of prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.During a speech on Saturday, Cuban President Fidel Castro leveled insults at the seven Latin American countries that supported the U.N. motion against his regime. He spared specific mention of Costa Rica, lumping it in with those countries that “nobody considers independent states.”CASTRO’S tirade against Mexico and Peru was not so forgiving. Mexico’s prestige and influence in Latin America has “crumbled into ashes,” the Cuban leader said, and “Peru is an example of the degree of abjection and dependence to which imperialism and neo-liberal globalization have driven many of the countries of Latin America.” Both countries responded with the removal of their embassies from the island – a move thatmay have provoked déjà vu among Latin American diplomats.In the past four years, Argentina and Uruguay bristled under Cuban diatribes following U.N. votes censuring the island’s human rights record and also withdrew their embassies. Argentina has since renewed diplomatic relations with Cuba. In early 2001, Cuba opened a consular office in Costa Rica – just in time for that year’s U.N. vote to censure Cuba, which Costa Rica supported.Cuba’s leaders, including the consul, lashed out – inciting the removal of the consul from Costa Rica (TT, April 27, 2001). The current Cuban consul, Jorge Rodríguez, took his seat early last year. HONDURAS submitted this year’s U.N. resolution, which marked the 14th time in 15 years that the record of Fidel Castro’s government was condemned, this time by a vote that squeaked by with 22 in favor, 21 against and 10 abstentions.One of the rights violations for which Cuba came under fire last year was the roundup and severe punishment of 75 dissidents, including journalists.“It seems to us like it’s a ridiculous result,” Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez said. “Cuba considers this a true failure of the government of the United States.”He called it a “Pyrrhic victory,” referring to ancient Greek leader Pyrrhus’ costly victory over the Romans, and said it was an “enormous waste and misuse of resources” by top U.S. officials who, according to Pérez, pressured other countries to vote in favor of the U.N. resolution.WITH no mention of U.S. pressure,Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar explained,“Costa Rica’s vote has to be in favor of(the resolution).”Because the defense of human rights isa state policy, Costa Rica has “no otheralternative” but to support the resolutioncondemning Cuba, he said.While still smarting from the voteagainst it, on April 15 Cuba proposed a resolutionbefore the U.N. Human RightsCommission to investigate allegations ofrights violations in connection with thehundreds of people held by the UnitedStates in Guantanamo Bay.Although Cuba was forced to withdrawthe proposal a week later, it framed theevents of that week as a moral victory for the“Third World.”“THIS has been a historic day,” Pérezsaid. “…Those countries of the ThirdWorld, including Cuba, have waged astrong battle on behalf of… the rights ofthe more than 600 imprisoned humanbeings in the Guantanamo Naval Base.”He added that the proposal turned theeyes of the international press to the subject.“Cuba believes that from this momenton, it will be more difficult to hide theshameful situation there,” he said.A spokesman for the U.S. StateDepartment, Richard Boucher, viewed theCuban proposal as nothing more than apolitical jab. He told the AFP wire servicein Washington, D.C., “Cuba has beenforced to withdraw the resolution becauseof a lack of support.”BOUCHER added that the UnitedStates is “conforming to the demands of theGeneva Convention for prisoners of war.”According to the International RedCross, 660 people of all ages from 40countries have been detained in the basefor more than two years after having beenarrested – the majority in Afghanistan – onsuspicion of terrorist activity.Amnesty International has called thebase a “legal abyss” for the prisoners, whohave not been formally accused of crimesand are being held indefinitely.COSTA Rican political analystsagreed there is a problem in Guantanamo.Part of the problem, analyst EdgarCascante told The Tico Times, is that theUnited States has not allowed the RedCross to inspect the prisoners, therebyflaunting established international protocolfor human-rights protection.The gravity of the issue is overshadowedperhaps only by the sting of CubanMinister Pérez’s verbal darts from thepodium.Pérez heaped scorn on Costa RicanForeign Minister Roberto Tovar, as well ason the representatives of other countriesthat did not pledge support for Cuba’s proposalto investigate U.S. actions inGuantanamo.THE United States had proposed amotion for non-action to waylay the vote,and Costa Rica was expected to supportit.Refuting Tovar’s explanation for sidingwith the United States – that there hadnot been any time to study the subject –Pérez mentioned the numerous reports onGuantanamo, including publications byAmnesty International and the InternationalRed Cross.“That is how the Foreign Minister ofCosta Rica met Costa Rica’s commitmentto the cause of human rights and… to therights of the hundreds of people that are inthe naval base,” Pérez continued.In response, Minister Tovar said CostaRica is committed to human rights and“the Foreign Ministry does not find itappropriate to speak of a subject that was,in the end, not formally discussed” by theU.N. commission.President Abel Pacheco confirmed thisweek that ambassadorial relations betweenthe two countries would not be on theagenda any time soon.Rodríguez, the Cuban consul in CostaRica, declined to comment on the matter.ON April 27, Cuba requested the supportof Honduras for a revised version ofthe same resolution it had withdrawn. Atpress time, Honduras had not replied.Pérez said Cuba’s resolution againstU.S. actions in Guantanamo Bay exposedthe hypocrisy of members of the UnitedNations.Costa Rican political analyst AntonioBarrios agreed the country was in a bindbefore Cuba withdrew its resolution.As a proclaimed human-rights advocate,“it cannot be possible that Costa Ricacondemns Cuba without saying anythingabout Guantanamo, but also it cannot sayanything against the United States,”Barrios said.He pointed out that while Cuba is consistentlycondemned, other Latin countriescommit “atrocities” against people and areleft out of such resolutions.CUBA may have met its goal of makingthe United States appear hypocriticaland foolish, according to Costa Ricanpolitical analyst Luis Guillermo Solís.However, “it remains an issue simplybecause there is a problem that the nationshave not addressed,” he said.“I don’t think it’s fair play to jokearound with human rights issues. Gettinginto a screaming match regarding humanlives that are at stake is not funny. It’s serious,”Solís added.

BIG CORN ISLAND, Nicaragua –Trading in their bandana masks and AK-47s for political party status, Yatama –Nicaragua’s once-armed and oft-misunderstood indigenous movement on the Atlantic coast – is preparing for its first participation in municipal elections next November.The vote is still six months away, but campaigning has already started in the think jungles of Nicaragua’s Miskito Coast, where Yatama hopes to win five or six of the 13 mayoral seats up for grabs in the impoverished, Indian-populated North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS).The regional party is not participating in the municipal elections in Nicaragua’s 15 other departments, where the Indian population is smaller.EVEN with a strong indigenous presence on the east coast, Yatama – the Miskito word for “The Organization of Peoples of Mother Earth” – has its work cut out as it prepares to go up against the well-bankrolled ruling Liberal Constitutional Party and the opposition Sandinista National Liberation Front.The indigenous group admits it has virtually no resources to run a campaign, but leaders believe the party can win the Atlantic vote with its message of land titles and respect for indigenous rights.“WE can motivate the people to vote; voting is a right, and a vote for Yatama is a vote for indigenous interests,” said Brooklyn Rivera, Yatama’s high leader, during a recent interview with The Tico Times.Rivera, a former counter-revolutionary leader known by the nom de guerre “Comandante Aubia” – the Mosquito words for “Spirit of the Mountain” – was the driving force behind the near 90% voter abstention rate on the Atlantic coast in the 2000 elections, when he urged the Miskito, Sumo, Cacara, Brama Key, Creole, Garifuna and Mestizo populations to boycott the elections because of lack of representation.Yatama was not allowed to participate in the 2000 elections because of a controversial pact between Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and Liberal leader Arnoldo Alemán to exclude minority parties from the ballot.After fighting for the right to democratic participation, Yatama this year registered as a political party and helped to break the socalled “Pacto” that prevented minority parties from participating in Nicaragua’s first municipal elections in 2000.RIVERA, who held a rally on Big Corn Island last month to explain his newly founded party’s positions, said Yatama has always been a regional grassroots movement for indigenous rights on the Atlantic coast.Yatama – which Rivera likens to the Zapatista indigenous movement in southern Mexico and the Kurds of northern Iraq – has always been foremost a social movement, he said. But it has gone through several phases of the years: from militant to political.Evolving out of the 1974 “Miskito and Sumo Alliance for Progress,” Yatama was founded as an armed resistance movement to the Sandinista government in 1979, shortly after the revolutionaries rode into Managua after ousting the Somoza dictatorship.THE Yatama contra-revolutionaries later refused to join forces with the U.S.-backed Contra forces operating in southern Honduras, and instead sympathized with the anti-CIA southern front Contras led by Edén “Comandante Cero” Pastora,” who fought out of northern Costa Rica during the mid 1980s.Even though there reportedly are still rearmed bands of fighters (known as “recontras,” “re-compas” and “revueltos”) that operate in the southern Atlantic region near the town of El Rama, Rivera insists that members of Yatama are not involved.The indigenous movement “does not want to return to the violence of the past,” he said, and is now opting for ballots rather than bullets.“WE have always been an ethnic-social movement, but to participate in the elections we had to become a regional political party,” Rivera explained. Asked how many people identify as Yatama, Rivera, a Miskito Indian, answered, “We indigenous don’t manage statistics.”However, he explained, Yatama represents a majority of the population in the RAAN and has enough support in the RAAS to win at least two of the seven mayoral posts up for grabs, including the Corn Islands.Rivera, a good-natured man who often interrupted the interview to chat in his native Miskito tongue with a fellow Yatama supporter, explained that at age 51, he will not run for mayor in his hometown of Puerto Cabezas, the largest port town on the north Atlantic.THE Yatama leader, who already holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Managua’s Central American University (UCA), is busy working on a Master’s degree in economics and doesn’t have time to be mayor, he explained.Despite Rivera’s insistence that Yatama is no longer an armed movement, other members did not rule it out.“All us Miskitos are militants,” said Nathan Joseph, a Corn Island fisherman and Yatama supporter.