Protests

Protests against CAFTA or TLC are going on Monday and Tuesday.  Monday they expected a much larger turnout than actually showed up but still the marchers caused delays in traffic in several locations in Costa Rica.

There are several people opposed to the proposed free trade agreement with the United States and this is the reason for the scheduled protests.  It seems rather idiotic to me since it is clear to anyone half way educated on the CAFTA that this would be a good thing for Costa Rica and open up the country to so many new jobs and opportunities than they have now but apparantly not everyone shares my feelings.

It was said in the paper this morning that 31% of the teachers of Costa Rica marched even though the free trade agreement will in no way affect them.  This left several schools short of teachers and several children to their own devices without proper guidance.  That can in no way be considered a good thing.

The Caja which employs 40,000 would not be affected by the free trade agreement either but supporters of the protest were asking them to all come out in protest of the agreement.

As I understand the CAFTA agreement would help Costa Rica and bring more business opportunites to this country.  I don’t see why all the protests and opposition to something that would help promote the country.

Costa Rica is the last Latin American country to sign the agreement and if they drag their feet much longer, I’m afraid they will be left out and this would be very bad for the country in my opinion.

One would think if the rest of Latin America signed the agreement, Costa Rica would follow suit since they are supposed to be one of the best educated countries in Latin America.

Fortunately our new president Oscar Arias supports CAFTA and says that it will be agreed upon by the end of the year.  He also said all the streets would be repaired by September and that has yet to be done so we will see if this comes to fruition.

Keeping our fingers crossed…