UNASUR EMERGENCY MEETING

In response to the crisis in Bolivia, an emergency meeting of nine Union of Nations of South America (UNASUR) Presidents was convened on Monday September 15^th in Santiago, Chile.  The meeting was a success for Bolivia and for UNASUR itself, reflecting a changing balance of power in the hemisphere.  The call for a UNASUR, rather than an OAS meeting, effectively excluded the United States from participating.

            As we head out to observe the voting on the CAFTA referendum, it seems appropriate to compare the state of democracy in the U.S. with that of Costa Rica.  We have only been here a short time, but we've received an intensive course in Costa Rican history and politics.  It has become obvious from this instruction that we in the U.S. have much to learn, if we are to prevent the complete dissolution of the few semblances of democracy which remain in our country.

            We quickly learned that the referendum campaign has included a permanent and massive campaign of fear mongering from the Costa Rican and U.S. governments and a large segment of the corporate sector here.  There are many examples of this operation. 

            We headed out of the office at 7am, destination San Carlos, a city about 120 kilometers from San Jose. In addition to giving the delegation a splendid tour, the purpose was to take the latest flyers and stickers to offices there and around the province of Alejuela.  By the end of the day we would feel, up close, the energy of popular participation in this David and Goliath struggle. 

    Costa Rica is buzzing with ‘referendum fever.’  It is lit up almost as if there were a presidential election.  Because Costa Rica has relatively strong institutions, one of which is the Electoral Tribunal, it is possible to have some idea of which side of this life or death debate has had the most funding.  Of the $58,000,000. which has been spent on the campaign only about $4,000,000. has been spent by the people who oppose the referendum.  It is known that the U/S/ Embassy has poured generous quantities of money into the campaign for passing of the referendum.  (This is increasingly their notion of ‘foreign aid’)

On Tuesday, July 31 your ad, signed by hundreds of Americans and dozens of organizations, was published in "The Hill" congressional newspaper. Your voices and contributions sent a wake up call to Congress before they left for the August recess. Just as our pressure helped scuttle Fast Track in June, your voices helped head off passage of these broken agreements in the frantic last week before the August break!

The pending trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Colombia and Korea are just four more NAFTA-style, corporate pacts that will do nothing for American workers or our neighbors in these countries. Last November, U.S voters joined people from around the world in calling for a trade model based on economic justice rather than corporate greed. Last week, Congress heard from you again in the newspaper. Now we hope you will contact them as they return to their districts for the August recess.