Bush tried to bully Costa Ricans into expanding NAFTA...they voted NO

[Oilwellian]

Dear Fair Trade Supporter,

Costa Rica just held the world's first ever popular referendum on a NAFTA expansion. The result: nearly half the country ignored the fear-mongering tactics of Bush and big corporations and voted against CAFTA and for fair trade.

As today's Washington Post reported, the vote "followed a contentious campaign marked by a scandal that toppled one of the country's vice presidents and a last-minute push for votes by the White House."

This "push" included the Bush administration invoking misleading threats just hours before the polls opened that Costa Rica would suffer economic reprisals for voting "no." Tell Congress this kind of irresponsible bullying can't happen again! http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=15509

Despite this last-minute intervention, nearly half of the voters in Latin America's oldest democracy voted down the NAFTA expansion, based on the clear negative impact of this policy on Mexico and other countries. You can read our analysis here at Eyes On Trade.

This outcome should make clear that the process of repairing U.S. relations with Latin America needs to start with staying out of their elections, and not pushing more destructive NAFTA-style trade deals.

Unfortunately, Bush doesn't seem to think so. In the coming weeks, Congress will vote on whether to help Bush expand NAFTA to Peru – despite the opposition of that country's religious, labor, retiree, and indigenous groups and others.

You can help stop Bush's NAFTA expansion to Peru – a deal that has all the same job-offshoring, people-displacing, corporation-enriching provisions that half of Costa Rica braved Bush's threats to oppose. Please tell your members of Congress that you want a new path on trade in America, both North and South.

Thank you for your help in the fight for fair trade!

Global Trade Watch

http://action.citizen.org/content.jsp?content_KEY=3323&t=BlankTemplate.dwt

[RB TexLa]

1. They voted no? It passed

:shrug:

[gateley]

4. It did? I just posted a giddy reply to the OP because I took it to mean it

had been defeated. I'm so sorry to hear that. Maybe the OP was giving credit to 50% of the people standing up for their rights??

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. You mean "nearly half" isn't a majority?

:shrug:

[wuushew]

7. You really need to explain your picture of Perot vs. Gore sometime

Hasn't Perot's case against NAFTA been strengthened in the years since 1992?

I respect Gore, but mainly because of his enlightened environmental and technological viewpoints not his views regarding "free" trade.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Gore has been out of politics for a few years, and people are either forgetting

what he truely stood for or just projecting what they want as a candidate on him. He is actually someone who agrees with Joe Lieberman more than he disagrees with him.

[papau]

9. It's only a majority when it is a big 48% and a small 51% :-)

:-)

[gateley]

2. SELF DELETE

[tritsofme]

3. Except it did pass

This title is very misleading.

[pinto]

6. I'm no big fan of CAFTA, but "nearly half" is not a majority.

I support fair trade policies, especially among our neighbors in Latin America, given the history of manipulation on all sides.

The issue was hotly contested.

Yet, the majority approved participation in CAFTA. The Costa Rican referendum was passed, at least conditionally.

Apparently there will be a recount.

(Just a note for accuracy.)

[Lint Head]

8. Costa Rica has total gun control and they 'cane' people.

:dem: