Trade Ministry Rocked
By CAFTA Conflict
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net

On Friday, Trade Ministry official Roberto Echandi added his name to the growing list of ministry leaders to leave their posts because of conflict over President Abel Pacheco's stance toward the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA). Echandi's departure, the third in a week for the ministry, caused concern among business leaders who say Pacheco, by refusing to send CAFTA to the Legislative Assembly until a controversial tax plan is approved, risks putting Costa Rica at a disadvantage.

Irene Arguedas, the ministry's director of commercial negotiations, was dismissed last week, and general trade director Fernando Ocampo announced his resignation Jan. 10. Ministry spokeswoman Ana Jiménez told The Tico Times on Friday that replacements for all three posts will likely be named this week.

Both Ocampo and Echandi said disagreements with Trade Minister Manuel González prompted their resignations. Echandi, who was Special Commerce Ambassador to the United States and served as one of the lead negotiators of the trade agreement, said Gonzalez' compliance with Pacheco's stance on CAFTA has made it impossible for Echandi to do his job.

“This (2005) is a crucial year for promoting and discussing reforms that are crucial for the economic future of the country, but nevertheless, the Executive Branch continues insisting on avoiding that discussion,” Echandi said in a statement.

“It is evident that the Executive Branch does not have any interest in CAFTA being discussed during the present administration (and) that Minister González doesn't pull enough weight to affect that decision,” he added.

González, who has consistently expressed support for Pacheco's controversial stance, reiterated that position in his own Friday statement.

“We understand Roberto's concern about the approval of CAFTA, but the Executive Branch has the power, for the good of the country, to take the actions and the time necessary for analysis...given the magnitude and importance of the agreement,” González said.

He added that Echandi's resignation was “not a surprise,” since his primary duties as a negotiator were “successfully concluded” months before.

CAFTA was signed in May by the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and later re-signed to include the Dominican Republic. The legislatures of the United States and one other country must ratify the agreement for it to take effect.

El Salvador ratified the treaty in December, Nicaragua and Honduras seem poised to follow suit, and the reelection of U.S. President George W. Bush makes the treaty's U.S. ratification seem likely as well, increasing the consternation of CAFTA proponents in Costa Rica over Pacheco's strategy.

“We're very concerned,” Lynda Solar, executive director of the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), told The Tico Times on Friday of the recent resignations. “We have the same concerns as the people who have been resigning. CAFTA has been held hostage by the fiscal reform program.”

She expressed confidence about the agreement's future in U.S. Congress, saying former trade secretary Robert Zoellick, recently named deputy assistant to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, will use his new position to lobby for the agreement he negotiated. “What Zoellick starts, Zoellick finishes,” Solar said.

Solar also said AmCham plans to begin meetings with Costa Rican workers in early February to disseminate information about the benefits of the agreement. Plans for the pro-CAFTA public relations campaign was announced in November (TT, Nov. 12, 2004).

This is the second time in less than five months that the Foreign Trade Ministry has seen significant turnover. In September, González' predecessor, Alberto Trejos, resigned, along with chief CAFTA negotiator Anabel González and vice-minister Gabriela Llobet.

Unlike Echandi and Ocampo, Trejos, one of several ministers to resign in September, did not mention Pacheco's CAFTA stance as a reason for his resignation, saying only that he wanted to give the President a chance to reorganize his cabinet (TT, Sept. 10, 2004).