U.S trade representative, Rober Zoellick, stands in the middle with his counterparts from Central America, Regina Vargo,  Alberto Trejos and Anabel González. The Free Trade Agreement is scheduled to signed today in Washington D.C. Today's Stories: • Free Trade Agreement Signing Today • Taiwan's Vice President to Visit Central America • Father Calvo Detained Again • Shannon Martin School Graduates First Class • Satellite Internet Service Launched • Colombian Banana Workers Strike Over Pay • At least 2,000 killed in Haiti, Dominica floods • Chavez condemns US referendum call as "imperialism" Former Justice Minister, Jose Miguel Villalobos, is set to announce his new political party, Alianza Democrática Nacionalista (ADN) in a press conference Saturday. Villalobos was fired by President Pacheco in October 2002 following a disagreement between the two men and is also the lawyer representing a group of "the brothers" investors in their case against the government.

The Dominican Republic is expected to join the accord shortly.

In the United States, the free-trade issue has sparked debate about whether such policies promote economic growth or cost jobs. In developing nations, critics say that removing barriers to U.S. goods, particularly agricultural products, undermines local producers.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has opposed the treaty in its current form. Robert Zoellick, U.S. trade representative told reporters Thursday that the administration plans to delay a ratification vote until after the election.

Already the treaty faces opposition that runs the gamut from American sugar farmers, who object to the entry of product from Central America, to AFL- CIO President John Sweeney, who has called it "yet another job-destroying free trade agreement that will undermine workers' rights here and around the world. ''

In Costa Rica, unions have called for a general strike of all public employees, calling on them to band together for a march through the streets of downtown San José to the Legislative Assembly building, where speeches and demonstrations will take place.

According to the trade representative's office, the United States shipped about $11 billion in goods to the five CAFTA nations in 2003, making it a larger export market than Russia, India and Indonesia combined. About $12 billion in goods flowed the other way.

Mills said CAFTA should benefit U.S. exporters because more than three- quarters of Central American exports covered under the agreement already enter this county duty free and the accord returns that favor to U.S. goods destined for the signatory nations.

U.S. - Central America Free Trade Agreement  (CAFTA)
What it does: The treaty removes tariffs on most goods traded between the United States and five Central American nations, including farm products and textiles.

What countries are involved: Signatories are the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The Dominican Republic is expected to join later.

What happens next: The Senate and House of Representatives must both approve the treaty before it can take effect. The measure won't be considered until after the November elections.

Taiwan's Vice President to Visit Central America
Taiwan's Vice President Annette Lu will start a 14-day diplomatic visit today that will take her to El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, the Presidential Office announced yesterday.

This will be Lu's first overseas trip since she was sworn in for a second four-year term May 20. She will make transit stops in the United States on her way to and back from Central America.

A major mission of Lu's upcoming diplomatic journey is attending the inauguration of Salvadoran President-elect Elias Antonio Saca on behalf of Chen Shui-bian.

While unveiling her itinerary at a news conference, Lu said this will mark the fourth time that she has served as President Chen's special envoy to attend the presidential inauguration of a Republic of china diplomatic ally over the past four years. "I feel honored to take up this assignment," she added.

During her visits to the three Central American countries, Lu said she will address their politicians and social elites, introducing them to Taiwan's experiences in scientific, technological and human rights development as well as its "soft national power."

In addition to attending El Salvador's presidential inauguration on June 1, Lu will deliver a speech on science, technology and life at that country's most prestigious university.

During her visits to Costa Rica and Guatemala, Lu will receive decorations by her counterparts of the two nations and deliver speeches at their top-notch universities. She will also receive an honorary doctoral degree from Guatemala's most famous university.

In yesterday's press conference, Lu shrugged off angry protests by mainland China over her planned transit stops in the United States and thanked Washington for agreeing to the layovers.

Beijing has denounced Lu's plans to stop over in Las Vegas and San Francisco as a move designed to promote Taiwan independence and hurt Beijing-Washington relations.

Lu dismissed Beijing's strong reaction, saying that mainland China always tries to mobilize its resources to block her every overseas trip and to insult her personally.

No comment was made on the recent news of Costa Rica using Tawain's Foreign Affairs Ministry money to pay the salaries of Costa Rican public employees, including President Pacheco's daughter.

Father Calvo Detained Again
Shortly after the lunch hour yesterday, father Minor Calvo Aguilar and his lawyers arrived at the Heredia courthouse to appeal a recent decision by a judge in the Parmenio Medinca murder case.

The appeal was also to ask the Courts to exclude Calvo from the case, as days earlier, a key witness in the murder of the Colombian journalist, changed his story, saying Calvo was not involved.

Wednesday, the same witness, changed his story again, saying that he received threats from Calvo and the reason why authorities arrested Calvo when he presented himself at the courthouse.

Calvo's lawyers, Alvaro Jiménez y Perla Cheves, were also arrested for taking part in the threats against the witness. Calvo was freed  on the condition of presenting himself at the courthouse to sign in every 15 days, while the lawyers were freed without conditions.

The Court has declared the that the case is a complicated one, using the legal term “tramitación compleja”, which will give prosecutors more time to investigate and bring the case to trial.

Shannon Martin School Graduates First Class
The Costa Rican school established in memory of a slain Kansas University student will honor its first graduates on today.

The Shannon Lucile Martin English Center will recognize 48 students who have completed a basic English instruction course.

The center, in Golfito, was established in honor of Martin, a Kansa University biology student who was killed in May 2001 in Costa Rica while completing a research project she had started a year before.

Jeanette Stauffer, Martin's mother, said she planned to attend the ceremony, which will be at the Hotel Sierra in Golfito.

Satellite Internet Service Launched
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) - the state monopoly on energy and telecommunications - has announced it is offer internet service by satellite.

Internet users can now connect to the internet by way of special equipment, to send and receive information by satellite. The service is mainly for those companies located in remote areas.

The cost of the service will be between $700 and $1.400 dollars per month, depending on the connection speed, which is offered at 128/512 Kb and 256/1042 Kb.

The cost of the equipment is et at $6.458 dollars which does not include the cost of $1.000 for the installation.

The service is being offered by the U.S. company Andesat, which is represented in Costa Rica by the Vector Telecom, which signed a deal with ICE to provide satellite internet service in Costa Rica.

Colombian Banana Workers Strike Over Pay
Most banana workers in Colombia, the world's third-largest exporter of the fruit, began an indefinite strike on Thursday after failing to clinch a new wages agreement with companies, their union said.

"We were a long way apart and we couldn't reach an agreement," Oswaldo Cuadrado, president of the banana workers' union, Sintrainagro, told Reuters. Exports will stop immediately, he said.

About 16,000 workers in the northwestern region of Uraba, which produces about 90 percent of Colombia's bananas, were striking, he said.  "The banana workers are at home and there isn't really any work going on in the banana region at this moment," said Roberto Hoyos, president of industry group the Colombian Banana Association, known as Augura, which negotiated on behalf of companies.

The workers, who earn around $200 a month, want a 9-percent wage increase, while management is offering the rate of inflation, which is about 6 percent.

The last banana strike, over a similar dispute, took place two years ago and lasted two days.

Colombia, which follows only Ecuador and Costa Rica as an exporter, shipped 55 million 20-kilo boxes of bananas in 2003, earning about $310 million in export sales, about 2.5 percent of the country's total exports. Between 80 and 90 percent of Colombia's bananas are exported, particularly to the United States and Europe.

One of the largest exporters is U.S.-owned Chiquita Brands International, which earlier in May said it was being investigated by the U.S. government after voluntarily admitting its Colombian subsidiary had paid protection money to illegal armed groups.
 

At least 2,000 killed in Haiti, Dominica floods
The floods caused by rainstorms in the Dominican Republic and Haiti have killed at least 2,000 people, government institutions and humanitarian organizations revealed Thursday.

Last week, a fierce tropical storm lashed the Caribbean island of Hispaniola shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The Soleil river originating from Haiti overflowed after days of heavy rains.

Rescuers have recovered 233 bodies in the town of Jimani, 280 km southeast of the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. In addition, 122 people were taken to hospital, but about 375 people remained missing, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) said.

Dominican President Hipolito Mejia visited the area Thursday and declared it a disaster area and territory of public calamity. He ordered an official mourning day for the victims.

The Catholic Church, Dominican aid institutions and non-governmental organizations began to distribute clothes, food and medicines from the United States, the European Union, Canada and several South American nations.

The rainstorm also caused many deaths and damage in Haiti. Humanitarian and aid groups said it claimed 1,666 lives, and the number of the missing was still unknown.

The interim government and international agencies stepped up efforts to provide aid for several towns hit by floods and large-scale mudslides. International assistance has began to arrive in the country.

Haiti suffered much more serious damage. About 8 million people are in poverty, and only a quarter of them have drinking water.
 

Chavez condemns US referendum call as "imperialism"
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez charged that the United States has imposed "imperialism" on his country ahead of a signature verification process that could oust him, according to comments released by the president's office Thursday.

The comments were a response to a statement by US Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, who said Wednesday that Venezuela could face suspension from the Organization of American States (OAS) if it blocks the August referendum being sought by opponents of Chavez.

The Venezuela president, who has repeatedly accused the United States of meddling in Venezuela's affairs and trying to topple him, condemned as "ridiculous" the US official's calling for the referendum to go ahead.

Chavez now is in Mexico for a summit of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean starting Friday in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. He has said he would complain about US interference in Venezuela to the European Union and Latin American leaders at the summit.

In a three-day verification of signatures starting Friday, Venezuela's opposition will attempt its last chance to complete the 2.4 million pro-referendum signatures required to trigger an Aug. 8 recall referendum.

The opposition submitted 3.4 million signatures to Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) last December following a signature drive. But in early March, the CNE ruled that only 1.8 million of the signatures were valid.