Costa Ricans approve free-trade pact - CAFTA - (but barely)

“The Bush administration and business groups yesterday hailed Costa Rica’s narrow approval of an a free-trade agreement with the United States ”” handing the White House a hard-won victory despite early polls that predicted the measure’s defeat.

With 98 percent of the vote counted in Sunday’s referendum, 51.6 percent of Costa Rican voters backed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and 48.4 percent voted against it, according to the country’s electoral tribunal.”

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