[NYTr] Group Says Costa Rica CAFTA Vote Was Rigged
 
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:26:35 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Group Says Costa Rica Vote Rigged

Managua, Oct 10 (Prensa Latina) The Continental Social Alliance (ASC)
denounced on Wednesday the lack of guarantee and clearness shown by
Costa Rican authorities during the referendum on the free trade
agreement with the US (CAFTA-DR).

In a communique titled "Referendum in Costa Rica: Chronicle of an
Anticipated Fraud," ASC says the vote last Sunday was carried out in an
atmosphere of polarization and fear.

According to ASC, which groups Central American organizations including
the Nicaraguan social Another World is Possible movement, the
government of President Oscar Arias flagrantly violated the principle
of electoral silence in the days prior to the referendum.

The document also denounced US interference by a communique signed by
US President George W. Bush himself, threatening with expelling San
Jose from the Caribbean Basin Initiative if the trade pact were
rejected.

As if this were not enough, upon arriving Costa Rica as an observer,
Secretary General of the Organization of American States Jose Miguel
Insulza publicly declared his sympathy for free trade agreements with
the US.

The ASC thinks, though, that despite the defeat of the no votes, the
fact that 48.4 percent of the people voted against the FTA is an
incentive and a call to all social movements in the continent which
continue fighting global neoliberalism.

According to results released by electoral authorities, 51.6 percent of
electors voted for the trade agreement with the US.

ef rma nm mf PL-10
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