|
Unions To Protest TLC In New
Year
Union leaders took out their
calendars yesterday and began to
circle days of protest against
the approval of the Tratado de
Libre Comercio (TLC) - free
trade agreement with the United
States - by a legislative
commission, that now moves the
discussion to the full
Legislative Assembly.
Albino Vargas, secretary general
and head of the powerful
Asociación Nacional de Empleados
Públicos y Privados (ANEP)
union, says the approval is an
assault on the Political
Constitution of the country and
ready to take his fight against
the trade deal to the streets.
"We will have massive protests
due to the fact that our
Political Constitution was
violated; for the procedure that
was followed; the same procedure
that was given the Combo del ICE
and the Plan Fiscal", said
Vargas.
The Combo del ICE was the deal
by the Rodríguez administration
to private the state
institution, the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE), back in 2000 and the Plan
Fiscal - tax reform - by the
Pacheco administration, both
issues not reaching their
intended goals.
Vargas would not provide details
as to when the protests will
occur, only saying that the
people will to the streets and
leaving it up to the imagination
of the news media.
He did say, however, that they
are working on plans, plans that
will focus on the capital (San
José) and the provinces, calling
it "el referendum de la calle"
(street referendum) that will
restore the unconstitutionality
of the actions of the night of
December 12.
The best guess as to when the
protests will take place is in
January and February.
|
|
