TLC Is Signed Into Law
Costa Rican president,
Oscar Arias Sanchez, on
Wednesday signed into
law the Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC) -
free trade agreement
with its Central
American neighbors, the
United States and the
Dominican Republic.
The signing of the law
occurred at Casa
Presidencial and
confirms the decision of
the public vote -
referendum - held on
October 7th.
At the signing ceremony,
President Oscar Arias
called on lawmakers to
pass a package of 13
"parallel laws" that
need to be approved
before March 2008 for
the trade agreement to
go into effect.
Since a thin majority of
Costa Ricans- 50.000 -
backed the TLC
referendum, "the country
is asking the
Legislature to respect
its choice made at the
polling booths," Arias
said.
Protests against the
signing of the trade
deal had been expected.
A police barricade was
set up some 100 metres
from Casa Presidencial
in Zapote, where a small
group of people gathered
holding anti TLC signs.
Costa Rica was the only
signatory country that
had not ratified the
trade deal between the
United States,
Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and El
Salvador and the
Dominican Republic. All
the other countries
ratified and put in
place their respected
deals last year.
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