In Costa Rica, President Oscar Arias is currently deciding the economic fate of the nation. The TLC or Tratado de Libre Comercio or in English what we call The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has been born out of the corpse of its predecessor, NAFTA to play a game of restructuring with the Costa Rican economy. After what this country went through in the eighties with the World Bank and Structural Adjustment, you can see why so many people are so upset about the possibility of having a collapse again. The middle class almost disappered, campesinos got screwed over as prices fell dramatically, and it even changed the cultural sturcuture of families that had traditionally been large, but now were down to 2 to 3 kids each. If the TLC passes, prices for local produce could change dramatically. Several things can happen, all of which will harm some sector of the population. First of all, some prices could go down for produce, because it can be imported cheaper. However, this would hurt Costa Rica in the long run because the local farmers would have to drop their prices to compete or search for external world markets.

On the other hand, businesses would be allowed to enter that can compete for better prices for services, especially for utilities, which is now controlled completely by a public entity, ICE. However, in 2000, Costa Rica had violent (for this country) huelgas y bloqueos contra del Combo de Ice. El Combo de Ice was the government's proposal to privatize the public utilities company ICE. In sondeos publicos, a majority of the public thought the services remained affordable, consumer service was acceptable and they preferred to keep ICE as a public entity. So if the TLC does pass here, ICE remains private, but will more or less be destroyed as cheap foreign competition moves in.

In my Sociology classes at the UCR, the students are impassioned about fighting the TLC. Just look at what NAFTA did to Mexico, they say. They want to fight against the TLC like their parents fought against ALCOA in 1969. Costa Ricans have a history of winning when its the citizens against the government. We'll see how this pans out.

In my experiences in Costa Rica, I have had the chance to sample all sorts of interesting fruits, like grandilla, maracuyá, limón dulce and cas. However if the TLC passes, all of that stuff may find better markets outisde of Costa Rica, and cheaper fruit may be shipped in. The other day, I bought a new and exciting looking fruit like thing.

My friend Josue who is from Costa Rica, told me is was probably cacao, which it turned out to be! Since 70% of cacao is grown 10 degrees from the equator, the TLC will also affect the price of chocolate, not to mention coffee. I did some research on the internet about cacao beans and fruit and cracked mine open to reveal the beans. First you let them ferment in the heat for a few days. After that you spread them out to dry in the sun. So far we at the stage of fermentation. More news to come.