10-11-07, 5:00 pm PDT

Managua, Oct 10 (Prensa Latina) – The Continental Social Alliance (ASC) denounced on Wednesday the lack of guarantee and transparency shown by Costa Rican authorities during the referendum on the free trade agreement with the US (CAFTA-DR).

In a communiqué titled 'Referendum in Costa Rica: Chronicle of an Anticipated Fraud,' ASC says the vote last Sunday was carried out in an atmosphere of polarization and fear.

According to ASC, which groups Central American organizations including the Nicaraguan social Another World is Possible movement, the government of President Oscar Arias flagrantly violated the principle of electoral silence in the days prior to the referendum.

The document also denounced US interference by a communiqué signed by US President George W. Bush himself, threatening with expelling San Jose from the Caribbean Basin Initiative if the trade pact were rejected.

As if this were not enough, upon arriving Costa Rica as an observer, Secretary General of the Organization of American States Jose Miguel Insulza publicly declared his sympathy for free trade agreements with the US.

The ASC thinks, though, that despite the defeat of the no votes, the fact that 48.4 percent of the people voted against the FTA is an incentive and a call to all social movements in the continent which continue fighting global neoliberalism.

According to results released by electoral authorities, 51.6 percent of electors voted for the trade agreement with the US.

From Prensa Latina