ISDS Case Map
Costa Rica
Costa Ricans narrowly approved -- 52% said yes, 48% said no -- a free trade deal with the United States in a referendum on Sunday that has split the Central American nation like no other issue in decades.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of workers' rights being routinely abused, DR-CAFTA offers no solution.
It is politically inconceivable that the Democratic majority in Congress -- which voted against CAFTA when it was approved here -- would move to punish Costa Rica for its voters having rejected the same agreement.
Nearly 2.7 million people will vote today to decide whether CAFTA is to be ratified or not, an unprecedented happening in the political history of Costa Rica.
Renowned Latin American figures have expressed their solidarity with the Costa Rican people, who are expected to go to the polls Sunday to decide in a referendum whether their country signs a free trade agreement with the US.
Costa Ricans are poised to reject the U.S.-Central American free trade agreement in a referendum Sunday, according to a poll published Thursday.
The remarkable coalition of public employees, farmers, small business owners, intellectuals, and assorted citizens has already changed Costa Rican politics regardless of the outcome of the referendum vote.
Four days before a referendum in Costa Rica on CAFTA, a poll carried out by the company Demoscopia for the newspaper Al Dia shows that 50.8 percent of voters oppose the FTA.
More than 100,000 Costa Ricans -- a huge protest in a country of 4 million -- protested a US trade pact on Sunday they say will flood their country with cheap farm goods and cause job losses.
Representatives of several Costa Rican sectors will take part in a mass demonstration in this capital on Sunday in rejection to the free trade agreement with the US, which will be put to the vote on October 17.
