Costa Rica says no to US

But the CIA says yes:

Chanting “No to the free trade pact” and “Costa Rica is not for sale,” demonstrators filled one of San Jos�’s main boulevards to show their opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

The Al Jazeera story actually includes a picture from the protest.

100,000 people out of a total population of 4 million - that's 2.5% of the entire population of the country protesting in the streets. Damn.

There's no way that thing passed legally. Must've had the CIA stuffing ballot boxes again.

Polls just a couple of days before the referendum said the anti-Costa Rica vote would go down bigtime. Guess the IHT didn't factor in CIA ballot-box stuffing and snuffing operations. Not to mention the work of USAID and various other anti-democracy organizations like the IRI.

...LA Times has a good pic. And some more info on dirty tricks by the rich:

But that was before a memo written by CAFTA advocates was leaked to the public this month, fueling outrage here. The document, dated July 29 and written by two high-level government officials with close ties to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, outlined a campaign of dirty tricks intended to sway voters.

The authors proposed smearing CAFTA opponents by linking them to leftist firebrands such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro. They called for a public relations campaign to "stimulate fear" among citizens about the alleged dangers of snubbing the deal.

They also advocated punishing local officials -- by withholding funds for public programs in their regions -- if their constituents repudiated CAFTA.

U.S. government issues the standard 'vote for this or starve ultimatum.

The WSJ feels some guilt for what they are about to let happen to the working class people of Costa Rica - so the WSJ prints a reader response to yet another right-wing pro-rich article.

...well, that wasn't just 'some reader' - it was Bernie Sanders, US Senator from Vermont, and avowed Socialist. Full article reproduced here.

...this article says no exit polls allowed - standard operating procedure for votes you expect to steal.