Yesterday (October 7th) marks the date that Ticos voted in a national referendum on whether or not to approve the U.S. –Central American, Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) Free-Trade Agreement. CAFTA-DR is part of a larger U.S. effort to conclude FTAs with individual countries and on a regional basis. It would increase U.S. access to regional markets, reduce or eliminate tariffs on many goods and finished products entering the countries, enhance intellectual property protection, liberalize the service sectors and certain sectors where the governments have had a traditional monopoly (such as telecommunications in Costa Rica), and increase legal protection for U.S. investors in the region. From the Central American perspective, it would promote foreign direct investment, lead to job growth, and lead to sustained economic growth. Or it would significantly compromise much of Costa Rica’s sovereignty, promote environmental degradation, lead to the selling off of the country’s natural resources and businesses, and lead to further economic inequality (and also to increased organ traffic, don’t know how this rumor got started). It all depends on your point of view. It’s similar to the national debate that occurred in the States during the NAFTA debate (remember Ross Perot debating Al Gore on Larry King? “The giant sucking sound of jobs heading south to Mexico”). The legislatures of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic have all already ratified the FTA and the only country left to decide is Costa Rica.
In the latest polls, public opinion has been evenly divided. The proponents of the FTA are led by President Oscar Arias. Arias was president from 1986 to 1990 and gained international fame for his role in helping broker peace in Cold-War Central America during the war-ravaged Reagan years (incidentally, who would’ve predicted that Alan Garcia, Daniel Ortega, and Oscar Arias would be the presidents of Peru, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, respectively in 2006!? Deja-vu anyone?). His efforts won him the Nobel Peace Prize. During his second presidency, beginning in May of 2006, he has been considered pro-business and accused by some of sacrificing his party’s social democratic ideals to advance neo-liberal economic model.
Recently, there was a scandal involving the ruling National Liberation Party. A memo written by a PLN legislator and one of the vice-president (Costa Rica has two VPs, how scary is the thought of two Cheneys?!) was leaked to the press. The memo outlined some dubious and questionable tactics to sway public opinion towards approval of CAFTA-DR. Both of them resigned to minimize the political fallout but by most accounts it had a negative effect on the “Si” campaign.
As interesting as the substance of the debate has been the contrasting styles of the campaign is even more interesting. The “No” campaign held an enormous rally downtown last week which was attended by roughly 100,000 people according to one estimate. It featured social activists, politicians, and other national leaders giving impassioned speeches warning about the consequences of approving the TLC. The “No” campaign seemed liked more of a grassroots effort whereas the “Si” campaign had a higher level of sophistication and organization. The private sector was heavily involved in the “Si” campaign. Last week when Rich and I went to the stadium to watch El Super Clasico between Saprissa and La Liga, there was a heavy “Si” contigent. It included a tropical band wearing “Si” t-shirts and performing outside the stadium, people giving away t-shirts, bumper stickers, and balloons and a group scantily-clad samba dancers. They also unfurled a huge jersey with a “Si” on it at the beginning of the game in one section of the stadium. In other words, the “Si” campaign resembled a Duff Beer campaign from The Simpsons.
Explanatory paragraph: watching the game live was quite an experience and merits its own blog entry, but I’m feeling lazy so this two paragraph summary will have to do. El Clasico or Super Clasico in any futbol loving country, is usually the game played between the country’s two biggest clubs (Boca Juniors and River Plate in Argentina, Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain, Chivas and America in Mexico, Peñarol and Nacional in Uruguay, etc…) whereas a Derby is played between the two biggest clubs from the same city (Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in Spain, Inter Milan and AC Milan in Italy). With that out of the way, the atmosphere at El Superclasico was amazing. I’ve never seen that much toilet paper in my life. It was enough for the population of a small island nation in the South Pacific to wipe its butt for a year. Regrettably, the poor quality of the game was equivalent to watching third division Scottish fútbol and no goals were scored. The game was played at Saprissa stadium and their fans were the most energetic and passionate I’ve ever seen.
Their nickname is the Purple Monster. At half-time, what I presume was their mascot walked around the field. Their mascot is an exact replica of the alien from the Predator movies. Creepy. At half-time, some kids’ dance troupe in costumes performed a piece about the eternal struggle between good and evil (I’m quoting the announcer). Yes, they danced to Reggaeton at some point. Yes, it was creepy and borderline inappropriate.
Back to the TLC, one of the most interesting aspects of it has been the referendum process. The only comparable process in the States is a local or state ballot initiative. In Europe many countries’ citizens decided whether or not to approve the EU constitution but imagine getting a chance to directly vote on NAFTA. This form of direct participatory democracy speaks highly to the democratic nature of Costa Rica. By the time I finished writing this, the “Si” vote had narrowly (51-48%) won, but the coming weeks will be interesting because a series of implementation laws still have to be passed for the TLC to be ratified. Given how polarizing the issue has been and how close the vote was I’m curious to see how the final steps will play out and how much resistance the opposition will put up. I’ll try to balance this nerdy blog entry with something a bit funnier next time.
Pura Vida!
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