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updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
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ICE Strike: Day 17
• No end in
sight
• CNFL and RACSA workers join action
The ICE
strike action by it's workers has no clear end in
sight and though ICE's management has declared the
strike illegal, it has not moved to enforce that
decision.
The Central Bank will not move on authorizing the
full $100 Million bond issue, and the government is
caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place,
as its two children rebel, as it has been
characterized on several occasion in the local
Spanish press.
Efforts by the Banco Nacional and in co-operation
with the Banco Popular to pick up $60 Million of the
bonds to be issued on the local market have not gone
anywhere.
The only good news in this is the appointment of
Ricardo Toledo to minister of the presidency during
this past week, a move the union leaders see a a
positive step.
To make matters worse, 1,200 of the 1.800 workers of
the CNFL (Compañia Nacional de Fuerza y Luz) and
RACSA, the country's sole internet provider, joined
the to support the workers of ICE in their work
stoppage.
For the time being, CNFL is not completely shut
down, only rotating it's actions. Yesterday, only
the Guadalupe and Escazu offices were closed. At
RACSA, there seems to be no immediate move to shut
down operations.
'Big Day'
Monday tomorrow!
Come tomorrow, Monday, may one of the most difficult
that president Pacheco will face since taking
office. For this reason, he met yesterday with
members of his cabinet, at his home, to discuss some
solutions.
He met with vice-president Lineth Saborio, minister
of the presidency Ricardo Toledo, and minister of
labor Ovidio Pacheco.
In addition to ICE, who will be on their 18th of day
of strike and with no definite end in sight,
teachers will be walking out of their classrooms.
Meanwhile other unions leaders are watching the
events closely with an eye to using the same
strategy to get their points across.
Garbage collectors of the municipality of San Jose,
though not a direct problem for Pacheco, have said
that they will be on strike Monday as well, a
dispute over uniforms. The workers unions says the
municipality had promised garbage collectors
uniforms, but so far has failed to deliver.
According to a union spokesman, the workers are
faced to work without adequate clothing and footwear
which the municipality had promised to provide.
Pacheco and his cabinet members hope that they find
a solution to the continuing problems.
Costa Rica struggles to
protect park
QUEPOS
- It's a stretch of
white beach flanked by oceanside jungle whose
exotic wildlife and breathtaking beauty
attract thousands of intrepid foreign visitors
every year.
And the government wants to make sure it
stays that way.
Costa Rican officials recently announced
they have collected what they believe is
enough money to buy all the land that makes up
Manuel Antonio National Park, blocking the
possibility that the reserve could be
developed or fall into the hands of private
owners who would look to carve it up to make
room for condos.
The park, located 180 kilometres southeast
of San Jose, is Costa Rica's
smallest reserve -- but also its most popular.
Tourists flock to the peaceful spot to watch
dolphins frolic off the coast, monkeys swing
through the jungle canopy and waves crash into
the beaches.
It's so popular, in fact, that government
officials have limited daily crowds to a
maximum of 600 people and closed the park to
visitors on Monday -- giving the local
wildlife and terrain a break from eager
tourists.
Created in 1972, the park is one of many
attractions in a country famous for its
eco-tourism. Costa Rica boasts volcano tours,
rafting, rain forests, secluded beaches,
jungles, waterfalls and bird-watching.
At Manuel Antonio, visitors follow paths
through the jungle, arriving at pristine
tropical beaches, or a bluff overlooking the
Pacific Ocean, nearby islands and -- during
their migration period -- whales playing off
the coast.
Costa Ricans pride themselves on caring for
their environment and sharing that belief with
the world, and the country is famous for
protecting land from development.
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Stitching
Up a Deal
•
More open trade with the United
States is in the offing
Partex
apparel group makes some of the
most popular clothes worn in
America - flashy
athletic wear featuring logos from
the NFL, NBA and other U.S.
professional sports teams. But
getting the bright tank tops and
jerseys from the company’s
factories in El Salvador to
retailers in America can be
difficult.
Partex sells about $20 million of
clothes to the United States
annually—but its export business
is crimped by protectionist U.S.
trade laws that include a 33
percent tariff on garments not
made with U.S. yarn.
To avoid the tariff, Partex
typically buys American yarn, has
it woven into fabric in Florida,
then brings it back to El
Salvador, where it is stitched
into a finished garment and then
gets trucked back to the United
States.
It’s a cumbersome process, to
say the least, but still cheaper
for the company than getting
socked by the trade penalty.
“The U.S. [textile]
rules-of-origin laws will not give
us duty-exempt status if we use
anything but U.S. yarn,”
complains Juan Zighelboim, the CEO
of Partex.
THAT’S THE bad news.
The good news is that Partex and
its kindred producers may soon get
some relief from such onerous
trade restrictions. U.S. and
Central American trade officials
are now trying to hammer out the
Central American Free Trade
Agreement, or CAFTA, which would
reduce or eliminate all tariffs
and other trade barriers between
the United States and five Central
American countries - Guatemala, El
Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa
Rica.
Both sides aim to get the deal
done by the end of this year, and
both sides view CAFTA as a crucial
steppingstone toward passage of
the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA), a tariff-free
zone encompassing the entire
Western Hemisphere except Cuba -
34 countries with a combined gross
domestic product of $13 trillion.
If implemented, FTAA would create
the largest free-trade bloc on the
planet.
Central America is a bigger
trading partner for the United
States than one might think.
“American exports to these
countries [valued at $9 billion]
are larger than our exports to
Russia, Indonesia and India
combined,” says Regina Vargo,
the assistant U.S. trade
representative for the Americas.
U.S. imports from Central America
are even higher, nearly $12
billion. That’s a fraction of
the $135 billion of products that
the United States imports from
Mexico yearly, but Central
American companies have some
competitive advantages (low labor
costs, for one) that should help
boost their exports significantly
if CAFTA is passed. Despite heavy
competition from cheap Chinese
goods, especially textiles,
Central American exports have been
growing by nearly 10 percent
annually since 1995, according to
the Central American Bank for
Economic Integration.
Right now, producers in both the
United States and Central America
are handicapped. U.S. products
sold in Central America, including
machinery, chemicals and farm
products, are heavily taxed. The
Central American duty on U.S.
wheat ranges from 15 percent to 80
percent, depending on the country.
Central American exports are
subject to the same harsh
treatment, and must compete with
subsidized U.S. agricultural
goods. CAFTA would lead to
relatively free market access for
both sides.
Miguel Lacayo, minister of
Economics for El Salvador,
acknowledges that eliminating the
agricultural duties will be
politically difficult, but he’s
optimistic an agreement will be
reached. “We see CAFTA the same
way we see other trade agreements
[we’ve made], such as the
Caribbean Basin Initiative, but on
a much larger scale,” he told
NEWSWEEK. “It’s the most
important economic opportunity
ever for the region.”
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