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Article Excerpt
Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias has passed the 100-day mark in his second go-round in office, leaving an impression of a plodding presidency aimed mainly at achieving neoliberal goals. These aims have energized an already formidable opposition internally, while Arias appears to have designed his government in such a way that he will be the external, or international, president and his brother Rodrigo, whom he appointed minister of the presidency, will be the internal president. During his first term (1986-1990) 20 years ago, Arias shone on the international stage, involving himself in finding solutions to a Central America exploding in warfare and winning a Nobel Peace Prize for the effort. But the world has changed; international pretensions have national consequences and vice versa.
Ratification of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) ranks highest on Arias' to-do list, and he has accomplished nothing visible toward obtaining it. Closely related to ratification is fiscal reform, and Arias cannot get CAFTA if he does not get the taxes that would allow him to comply with the conditions of the trade deal.
Supporters of one are not necessarily supporters of the other, explained Luis Solis of the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO). "There's strong resistance on both themes from sectors that support him, but with antagonistic positions in both cases," he said. "Those who support him for taxes don't support him for CAFTA, and vice versa. This affects the slowness with which the government is moving."
Worse, this is the situation just within Arias' Partido Liberacion Nacional (PLN), a party that has been out of power for eight years, during which time much has changed within the party and...
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