Month: October 2007

Costa RicaPress Releases
COHA

Despite What President Arias Might Want You to Believe: Why Costa Rica Might Not Need CAFTA After All, and Why It May Be a Bad Deal for the Average Costa Rican

"Collective suicide." It was what Costa Rica President Óscar Arias has publicly predicted for his country if its good citizens don't ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which will be put to referendum this Sunday. "Let's not close the door. Let's not cut our wings. Let's not deny our young people this challenge," was the impassioned, almost moralistic appeal that Costa Rican economist Álvaro Cedeño made in the country's national newspaper, La Nación. This hortatory, if not establishmentarian advice on the part of Arias and the Costa Rican academic, is reminiscent of President Clinton's appeal to Democratic legislators in 1994 when he urged them to vote for NAFTA. Just as the pro-free trade bloc bought NAFTA by throwing millions of dollars to promote the enactment of it, a comparable fortune has been spent in Costa Rica to guarantee that no October surprises take place on Sunday.

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Press ReleasesVenezuela
COHA

Entre La Espada y La Pared:
As Venezuela's desire to join MERCOSUR diminishes, Hugo Chávez flirts with a pro-free trade CAN

  • Venezuela's return to The Andean Community of Nations (CAN) appears imminent as its prospects for entering MERCOSUR fades
  • The ability of the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez to live within an EU-CAN Free Trade Agreement is put into question
  • Chávez has befriended Russia and China, but experiences difficulties sustaining alliances with South American powerhouse Brazil and with Peru
  • The Venezuelan leader continues his row with the Brazilian Senate

The possibility of Venezuela to join MERCOSUR diminishes because of the reluctance of the Brazilian Senate to vote in favour of Venezuelan membership. Caracas is now flirting with the prospect of returning to the Andean Community of Nations (CAN). Venezuela withdrew from CAN in April 2006 in favour of trying to join MERCOSUR. Subsequently, a paradoxical situation may ensue because of the possibility of CAN, as a bloc, to sign a free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) – a deal that the Venezuelan President Chávez presently vehemently opposes. Despite its oil wealth, Venezuela may find itself to be virtually the only South American country not to participate in economic arrangements if it does not join either of the two evolving major regional trade pacts. During the next few months Venezuela's future in South America's political-economic line-up will be determined, a period which will test Hugo Chávez' capacity to persuade CAN not only to accept again Venezuela as a member (which CAN most likely will do), but also test Chavez’s abilities to deal with that bloc's prospective plans for a free trade agreement with the EU.

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