US Congress members Sanders and Michaud urge CR to say NO and clean up with some myths:

Senator Bernie Sanders and representative Michel Michaud visited CR last week at the invitation of PAC leader Ottón Solís. In a press conference on Thursday they corrected some of the “myths,” in Sander’s words, surrounding the TLC. One such myth, for example is that the US congress will cancel Costa Rica’s Caribbean Base Initiative (ICC) benefits in retaliation for a possible rejection of CAFTA. The ICC allows the Caribbean Base countries to export most goods tariff free to the US markets. “It is false that the Caribbean Basin Initiative - means by which part of the exports of Costa Rica enter USA, without paying taxes is going to end. It does not end.[…] It is dishonest to distort reality about an attitude that the United States could assume if NO wins. The United States is a democratic country that will respect what other country like Costa Rica decide democratically. If the no wins the referendum (in Costa Rica) there will be no punishment."

Sanders and Michaud argued that if Costa Ricans wanted to be poor then they should vote yes on October 7, because “these free trade agreements have benefited only the transnationals and never the citizens.” Sanders and Michaud also urged Costa Ricans to study the example of Mexico under NAFTA because of the similarity of the two agreements, and told of how the NAFTA was supposed to reduce illegal immigration to the US by creating jobs and improving the economy. “That was the promise made to the Mexican people. Is there anybody who believes that this has happened? One of the reasons why illegal immigration to the United States has increased instead is because poverty rose.” (Interview in Semanario Universidad #1731, see link on sidebar). The congressmen further argued that these trade agreements are written under the pressure and influence of large, transnational corporations, and only serve to increase the gap between rich and poor on the international and the domestic level of each of the countries.

They also spoke of a new generation of trade agreements that would respect human-, labor- and environmental rights and left open the possibility of negotiating a better treaty in case Costa Rica rejected the TLC. This is important because one of the strategies of the YES campaign has been to portray the decision as an all-or-nothing, now-or-never kind of deal, saying that a rejection of the CAFTA would amount to complete loss of access to the US market for Costa Rican export goods.

Representative Michaud used some strong words to castigate those who propagate these lies: “As soon as I return, I will inform my colleagues in the Congress about this campaign of falsehoods I have heard about the ICC, and they will be offended. This is a lack of respect towards the United States and those people will lose our respect. […] I am very annoyed with the ambassador [to the US] and the president of this country for saying that there will be reprisals from the US. We will not pull them out of the ICC, and we, the Democrats, control the Congress.”

It was very interesting to see the spin that various media put on this visit. If you read only the La Nación (leading daily) article, you would be left with the impression that Sanders and Michaud are evil people who do not want Costa Rica to get the jobs that would move from the US to this country. Coincidentally, the article sounds almost exactly like the press release of the YES campaign…

La Nacion article:

<www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2007/septiembre/27/pais1255523.html>

Diario Extra article: http://www.diarioextra.com/2007/setiembre/24/nacionales06.php

InformaTica article: http://www.informa-tico.com/php/expat.php?id=24-09-07012665&esPrimerArticulo=1&ed=167&fecha=24-09-07&foro=

Press release of the Movimiento Patriotico No al TLC: www.movimientos.org/noalca/show_text.php3?key=10860

English Version at: www.thewolfwefeed.com/wwf-PressReleaseUSCongressmenSanJose.html

Press release of the Citizen Alliance for the YES:http://www.movimientos.org/noalca/show_text.php3?key=10860