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COSTA RICA |
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Chinchilla Promises Hard Line On Drug
Trafficking
The frontrunner in Costa Rica's 2010
presidential elections, Laura Chinchilla,
promises to combat drug trafficking and
reduce violence and crime, if she is elected
to replace Oscar Arias.
Rising crime is a top concern for voters and
the focus of the leading political parties
looking for votes for the February 7
election.
Doña Laura says that "most of the
violence affecting Costa Rica is related to
drug trafficking gangs hitting all of Latin
America. We need to have better coordination
among judges and prosecutors to reduce
impunity."
Chinchilla of the Partido Liberación
Nacional (PLN) is aiming to leverage her
experience as former ministra de Justicia
(Justice minister) and former vice-president
(Costa Rica's vice-president in the current
administraion)to gain voter support for her
candidacy.
Chinchilla has said she wants to close the
free trade deals with China, the European
Union and Singapore, from talks started
during the current administration.
Costa Rica is expected to conclude a sixth
and final round of free trade negotiations
with China just after the February 7th
election. Two years ago, the country ended
60-year diplomatic ties with Taiwan, in
order to curry favor with the Mainland’s
communist regime.
Otton Solis from the Citizens Action Party
trails Chinchilla by 18 percent. He was a
three-time presidential candidate who Arias
defeated in a contested runoff vote in 2006.
[Ottón Solís of the Partido Acción Cuidadana
(PAC) says he believes the focus of the next
government should focus on education to form
a productive work force, invest in science
and technology and that the free trade
agreements will take their natural course.
Solís came within close to a 1.000 votes of
winning the 2006 presidential elections
after Arias, like Chinchilla, had a
commanding lead early in the election and
considered a shoe-in.
Two years ago, Costa Ricans narrowly
approved the Central American Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA) - Tratado Libre de
Comercio (TLC), known locally - with the
U.S. in a bitterly fought referendum.
Costa Rica was the last signatory to ratify
the accord. Some sectors worry about a flood
of cheap manufacture products into the the
Central American nation's tiny economy.
Chinchilla needs at least 40 percent of the
vote to avoid a second-round runoff, which
would be held in early April.
Consecutive term limits bar Arias, who won
the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize, from running in
this election. |
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