|
Costa Rican V.P. resigns over trade deal scandal
(EFE News Service Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Costa Rican Vice President Kevin Casas presented his "immediate and irrevocable" resignation from that post as well as from his position as planning and economic policy minister in the wake of a scandal stirred up by his campaign for a free trade agreement with the United States, the Office of the President said in a statement.
The resignation was accepted by President Oscar Arias, who said he felt "hurt" because Casas, "more than my vice president, is a person whom I love and respect a great deal."
Casas' resignation came a few days after a scandal erupted after a memorandum he and governing party lawmaker Fernando Sanchez had sent to the president on July 29 became public.
In that memo, Casas and Sanchez made recommendations for the government's campaign to promote the free trade agreement with Washington ahead of the Oct. 7 referendum.
In the document, the pair confirmed, among other things, that the government should mount a "campaign of fear" about the consequences of not approving the trade accord, and they discussed the need to link Costa Rican political figures who opposed the agreement to the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, that is to say, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega, respectively.
In addition, they proposed pressuring governing party mayors to campaign for reelection in their communities using the threat that those cities and towns would not receive government resources in the future if they did not win the ballotting.
The TSE elections commission ordered an investigation to determine if the "Yes" campaign for the free trade pact had put into effect any of the "recommendations" made by Casas and Sanchez.
Casas said in his resignation letter, dated on Saturday, that "so as not to obstruct the ratification of a trade accord that I believe is of great importance for the country, to prevent personal attacks from prevailing over the discussion of ideas in the debate on the FTA (free trade agreement), and - above all - to save (Arias') government from major political erosion, I prefer to present, via this letter, my irrevocable and immediate resignation of my posts."
The departure of Casas from the government had been clamored for by sectors opposed to the free trade agreement as well as by the parties in favor of the pact, while Arias continued to say that the plans written about in the memo "never" would have been put into practice.
Copyright 2007 EFE News Services (U.S.) Inc., Source: The Financial Times Limited
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
