Casas Goes As CAFTA Campaign Continues

By Leland Baxter-Neal

Kevin Casas, one of the up-and-coming stars of President Oscar Arias� administration, last week became a political casualty in the battle over the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

Mr Casas, the Second Vice President of Costa Rica and the Planning Minister, was forced to resign on the weekend in hopes of calming controversy over a now infamous memo he co-authored.

�I consider Kevin one of the best Ministers that I have had,� said President Oscar Arias shortly after Casas announced his resignation September 22. �It pains me a lot that his time has arrived.�

Mr Arias� comments came as he left a pro-CAFTA event in Jacó during a rare visit to the central Pacific. Despite an injured Achilles tendon that has the President on crutches, he has been traveling the country proselytizing in favor of the treaty, which he vehemently supports and which comes to a vote in a binding national referendum October 7.

Allies and foes alike welcomed the resignation of Mr Casas, who in January was named one of the world�s Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum and has spearheaded Costa Rica�s Digital Government project and President Arias� comprehensive National Development Plan.

Leaders of the pro-CAFTA camp have acknowledged that the Casas memo scandal has impacted their campaign, and numbers released this week appeared to be the proof.

In a Unimer poll contracted by the daily La Nación and published Monday, 49.1 per cent of respondents that have decided to vote said they were in favor of CAFTA, while 46.3 per cent said they were against. With the poll�s 3.4 per cent margin of error, the results indicate a virtual tie, and demonstrate a substantial, ten per cent gain for the anti-CAFTA movement over the last month.

In Unimer�s last poll, taken in August, those in favor of CAFTA made up 56 per cent of the survey, and those against only 36 per cent.

In the memo � penned July 29 by Mr Casas and Fernando Sánchez, a legislator for the President�s Partido Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Party, or PLN) and cousin to Mr Arias � the two made a series of suggestions for the pro-CAFTA campaign that have been decried as unethical, if not illegal. The memo was directed to President Oscar Arias and his brother, Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, who have said none of the recommendations were ever put into practice.

Among the suggestions, the authors recommended using fear to influence voters, tying the anti-CAFTA movement to Latin American leftists Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and Daniel Ortega, denying federal funding to municipal governments that don�t get their constituents to vote in favor and hiding pro-CAFTA campaigning by government officials from the election authority, the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE).

In the days following the memo�s publication, Mr Casas � who is now the subject of two separate investigations � apologized profusely for the memo, calling it �regrettable,� separated himself from the pro-CAFTA campaign and took a temporary leave from his position as Planning Minister.
It appears it wasn�t enough.

�It is clear that the explanations and the apologies offered have not been sufficient to allow this unfortunate incident, which I deeply regret, to be left behind,� Mr Casas wrote in his letter of resignation, as reported by the daily La Nación.

© Leland Baxter-Neal

ARIAS ARRIVAL: President Oscar Arias visited the central Pacific town of Jaco this week, arriving in a helicopter in the middle of the town’s soccer field. In his first official visit, he attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for a community Internet center and a freshly paved street, and campaigned in favor of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

Meanwhile, Mr Sánchez has rejected calls for his resignation from his position as legislator, but has stepped down from two legislative commissions where he was president.

As both camps enter the final stretch, campaigns in favor and against CAFTA, which were already characterized by extremes and attacks against the other side, are getting even hotter.

�It is a lie that CAFTA is for the rich. It is a lie that it will favor the United States,� said President Arias to a roomful of Jacó-area residents during his visit to the area.

�The United States, with or without CAFTA, is going to continue to be rich. What this is about is pulling 20 per cent of Costa Ricans out of poverty. Twenty per cent isn�t just any figure. That�s 900,000 Costa Ricans.�

The President arrived in Jacó by helicopter, landing in the town soccer field, and was greeted by a small crowd of local residents and business representatives.

After silently standing by for the ribbon cutting ceremonies for a free community Internet café and a recently paved street, Mr Arias and a handful of administration officials proceeded to give fiery speeches in favor of CAFTA before community member gathered at the Hotel Amapola.

Tourism Minister Carlos Ricardo Benavides, who accompanied the PZresident along with Housing Minister Fernando Zumbado and Science and Technology Minister Eugenia Flores, called leaders of the anti-CAFTA movement �experts in terror,� and accused them of using fear in their campaign.

Mr Benavides, who roared at the audience, at one point focusing on a lone anti-CAFTA representative in the room, said the anti-CAFTA campaign has �said they are going to steal our water, that they are going to traffic organs. They have scared the people.�

Carlos Monge, who handed out anti-CAFTA flyers before the event, said he felt personally attacked by both national and local government officials for being at the event, which was billed as a gathering for the whole community.

�It�s completely one-sided here,� he said.

Mr Monge also accused the administration of using the ribbon-cutting ceremonies as a pretext to campaign in favor of CAFTA.

�They obviously came here to promote the agreement,� he said.