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GUATEMALA'S CONGRESS RATIFIES, AND THE MASSES REJECT, CAFTA.

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In defiance of massive popular opposition, the Guatemalan Congress ratified the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the US, becoming the third country to do so. It was a rush job, with lawmakers resorting to extraordinary means to pass the legislation without following usual legislative procedures. With 126 votes in favor, 12 against, and 20 deputies absent, the unicameral body passed the act as a "national emergency," a maneuver that needed 105 votes to make it legal.

Legislators had tried the emergency gambit the day before, when Mariano Rayo, president of the Comision de Economia y Comercio Exterior, presented the CAFTA legislation, but there were not enough votes to sustain it. The measure got the 105 needed votes only after an abrupt about-face on the part of the Union de la Esperanza (UNE) the next day. Rayo is a UNE member.

UNE is closely tied to the official party, the Gran Alianza Nacional (GANA). The Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG), the party that had been the revolutionary guerrilla force prior to the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996, was nearly alone in voting against the CAFTA petition.

URNG Deputy Victor Sales said the accord "was negotiated...

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