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COSTA RICANS DEFEND NEUTRAL TRADITION AGAINST PACHECO.

Article Excerpt
Costa Rica's government has begun to show signs that it has over-reached in its eagerness to placate the US. President Abel Pacheco permitted his country's name to be included in Washington's war coalition (see NotiCen, 2003-03- 03) and in so doing set off a firestorm of protest that has grown too large for him to ignore. One newspaper reported that an inside source at the Asamblea Legislativa said the Casa Presidencial has conducted a cost/benefit analysis of the possible consequences of removing Costa Rica from the list of countries that the US calls a coalition.

Pacheco announced a position of oblique support for the war against Iraq on March 20, and since then has drawn fire from practically all quarters for violating Costa Rica's traditional values of peace, dialogue, and international law. Pacheco initially went on the offensive with his decision, framing his stance as moral support against terrorism. He miscalculated.

Ombudsman Jose Manuel Echandi said that Pacheco violated 15 laws and international treaties ratified by Costa Rica, and gave the president a deadline of April 10 to take the country off the list or face a motion of unconstitutionality in the Sala Constitucional of...

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