Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September 20, 2005
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New Poll Shows Mixed
Support for CAFTA
While nearly half (47%) of Costa Ricans polled in a recent University of Costa Rica (UCR) survey said that Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) would be good for the country, 43% said it should be renegotiated and 70% said its future should be decided by a referendum.
(Click for more)
Environmentalists Demand
Information on Transgenic Crops
The Costa Rican Network of Biodiversity Coordination yesterday denounced the denial of access to information on a company's request to introduce two varieties of transgenic cotton.
(Click for more)
Pacheco Signs Free-Trade
Agreement
with Caribbean
Community
In a move that could broaden trade between Costa Rica and the 12 nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), President Abel Pacheco yesterday signed a free-trade agreement with those countries.
(Click for more)
September 20
Presentation of the Book “ La Vía Costarricense ”
By Armando Vargas, tonight at 7 p.m., at the Mexico Institute, 283-2333.
Writers' Support Group Luncheon Meeting
Today at noon at the Café de los Artistas, San Rafael, Escazú. Info: 228-9974, walden@racsa.co.cr.
Opening of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Directed by Luis Carlos Vásquez and performed by the National Theater Company. The play will run until Oct. 16. All shows are at 8 p.m. at the Melico Salazar Theater. Info: 257-6005.
Edited By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
New Poll Shows Mixed
Support for CAFTA
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
While nearly half (47%) of Costa Ricans polled in a recent University of Costa Rica (UCR) survey said that Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) would be good for the country, 43% said it should be renegotiated and 70% said its future should be decided by a referendum.
These results, announced yesterday, come from a telephone survey conducted by UCR's Social Studies Sept. 8-10. The survey included a wide variety of specific question on what information people have about CAFTA, when and how they think it should be decided, and who wins or loses with the treaty, among other topics.
The release of the survey data came the day before President Abel Pacheco is scheduled to speak with the media about the conclusions reached by the Council of Notables, a group of five men chosen by Pacheco to study the text of the document and make recommendations. Pacheco recently said that once he had the Council's report in hand, he would consider sending the treaty to the Legislative Assembly for ratification (TT, Sept. 16).
The council presented their final report to Pacheco Friday (TT Daily Page, Sept. 19).
It's not yet clear whether Pacheco will submit CAFTA to the assembly before his term comes to an end next May, but 61% of respondents said the decision should be made during Pacheco's term. Regarding how the decision should take place, 70% said it should be decided by referendum, only 20% of all respondents said the Legislative Assembly should decide CAFTA's fate in Costa Rica.
“This is a response that has been reiterated over recent years,” researcher Ciska Raventós said at a press conference yesterday, referring to the support for a referendum. “This shows that people are inclined towards a form of direct democracy for defining certain important topics in this country.”
Given the options of approving, renegotiating or rejecting the trade agreement – which was signed in 2004 and has been ratified by all signatory countries except Costa Rica and Nicaragua – 43% of respondents said it should be renegotiated, while just over a quarter (27%) said it should be approved the way it is, and 15% said it should be rejected.
Raventós explained the tendency towards renegotiation by citing the following finding: 86% of respondents said that they felt that there would be winners and losers if CAFTA were passed as is, while 10% said everybody wins, and 2% said everybody loses.
Mot people said winners would be the upper class and people with power, followed by businesses and exporters. The losers were most commonly said to be the lower class, poor people and farmers.
Nearly all respondents (94%) said they had received little or no information on CAFTA from the government, while most (69%) of those who said they had told researchers that the information was of little or no use. The media fared only slightly better, with 37% of respondents saying that the information they received was useful or very useful, and 63% saying it was of little use or no use.
Another UCR poll in July showed split opinions on CAFTA; then, 47% of respondents said the pact would bring benefits to Costa Rica, while 45% said it would bring poverty (TT, July 29).
Environmentalists Demand
Information on Transgenic Crops
The Costa Rican Network of Biodiversity Coordination yesterday denounced the denial of access to information on a company's request to introduce two varieties of transgenic cotton.
The network, which brings together various environmental organizations, denounced the company Delta and Pine for presenting an appeal in August to keep environmentalists from obtaining information about the introduction of the genetically modified plants into the country.
Transgenic or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a variety of plants that have been manipulated in laboratories to make them resistant to disease or give them traits that differ from their natural genetic structure.
Delta and Pine presented the appeal to the National Technical Biosecurity Commission (CTNB), which includes two environmentalist representatives who have not been allowed to gain access to the information.
“The fact that pressure from a company affects the decisions of public officials in the country, especially when it superimposes private benefits over the public well-being, is outrageous,” said Fabián Pacheco, one of the network's representatives before the commission.
In Costa Rica, environmentalist groups have declared a moratorium on GMOs because their negative impact on health and the environment have not been determined.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there are 1,441 hectares of transgenic crops planted in Costa Rica and managed by the transnational companies Delta an Pine, Semillas del Trópico and Olson Seeds.
-ACAN-EFE
Pacheco Signs Free-Trade Agreement
with Caribbean Community
In a move that could broaden trade between Costa Rica and the 12 nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), President Abel Pacheco yesterday signed a free-trade agreement with those countries.
“We are opening a market with more that 15 million potential consumers of Costa Rican products. The Caribbean has become a new land of opportunities,” Pacheco said at the signing ceremony.
The agreement will take effect between Costa Rica and the Caribbean nations that have ratified it – so far, only Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago – when it is published in the official government daily, La Gaceta.
Pacheco framed the agreement as advantageous for Costa Rican farmers, saying the agricultural sector of the Caribbean nations is “undeveloped” and they depend heavily on imports to sustain their tourism-driven economies.
-ACAN -EFE
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