This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAN JOSE 002181 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
WHA/CEN 
EB FOR WCRAFT, BMANOGUE 
E FOR DEDWARDS 
WHA FOR WMIELE 
WHA/EPSC FOR KURS, LGUMBINER 
H FOR JHAGAN 
STATE PASS TO USTR FOR RVARGO, NMOORJANI, AMALITO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD ECPS ECON PREL PGOV SOCI CS
SUBJECT: COMMISSION OF EMINENT PERSONS DELIVERS REPORT ON 
CAFTA-DR; CONTENTS NOT YET REVEALED 
 
REF:  (A) SAN JOSE 02090 
 
      (B) SAN JOSE 02047 
      (C) SAN JOSE 02037 
      (D) SAN JOSE 02051 
      (E) SAN JOSE 02105 
 
¶1.  (U) On September 16, 2005, the five-member Commission 
of Eminent Persons delivered its final report on the United 
States-Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade 
Agreement (CAFTA-DR) to President Pacheco.  According to a 
Presidential press release of the same day, the only copy 
of the 66-page report was delivered to President Pacheco so 
that he could study it in preparation for a meeting with 
his cabinet on September 20, 2005, after which the 
Commission members and the President will hold a press 
conference on the report.  None of the five eminent persons 
nor President Pacheco have made any substantive public 
comments about the contents of the report.  The delivery of 
the Commission's report culminates 60 days of investigation 
and interviews related to the text of CAFTA-DR.  Via a 
Presidential press release dated September 9, 2005, 
President Pacheco expressed his desire to delink fiscal 
reform from CAFTA-DR (Ref A), thus leaving the Eminent 
Persons report as the last known remaining obstacle to 
deciding whether to send the agreement to the Legislative 
Assembly. 
 
¶2.  (U) The five members of the Commission of Eminent 
Persons made it very clear that the report makes no 
recommendations to President Pacheco on whether or not to 
send CAFTA-DR to the Assembly (Ref B).  "We cannot tell the 
decision-makers what to do.  Our job was not to define the 
future of [CAFTA-DR].  What we did was analyze the text of 
the document in an attempt to clear up any misconceptions 
or distortions," said Gabriel Macaya, one of the members of 
the Commission and ex-Rector of the University of Costa 
Rica.  Another member of the Commission, Rodrigo Gamez, 
director of the Costa Rican Institute of Biodiversity 
(INBio) said that the Commission did find some "issues" 
with the text but would not elaborate more than saying they 
involved the areas of agriculture, environment, and the 
issue of Coco Island. 
 
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OPPONENTS AND SUPPORTERS VOICE THEIR OPINIONS 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U)  In advance of the report's completion and after 
its delivery to President Pacheco, several organizations 
again voiced their opposition to CAFTA-DR and called for 
protests.  Albino Vargas, President of the approximately 
15,000-member National Association of Private and Public 
Employees (ANEP) continues to threaten protests the moment 
President Pacheco sends CAFTA-DR to the Assembly. 
Reportedly, there are groups of public employees, such as 
the workers of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity 
(ICE), the National Water and Sewer Company (AyA), 
teachers, and university students who are opposed to CAFTA- 
DR and may take part in protests.  However, recent polls 
reveal that a majority of Costa Ricans are in favor of 
CAFTA-DR and want President Pacheco to send it to the 
Assembly to start the relatively long ratification process 
(Ref C).  Supporters of CAFTA-DR have also stated that they 
would organize demonstrations to urge the President to move 
forward on CAFTA-DR. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶4.  (SBU)  The decision of whether or not to send CAFTA-DR 
to the Assembly is now clearly in the hands of President 
Pacheco, especially since he has removed his self-imposed 
requirement that the fiscal reform bill be approved prior 
to sending the agreement to the Assembly.  On Tuesday, 
September 20, 2005, President Pacheco will discuss the 
Commission of Eminent Persons report and his intentions 
with his cabinet and may announce when he plans to deliver 
the legislation to the Assembly.  While we have heard that 
this could be as early as the end of September 2005 from a 
number of sources (Ref E), we have also been told that the 
President may host several public meetings to allow 
opposition and supporters of CAFTA-DR to air their 
concerns, which could further delay sending the agreement 
to the Assembly.  Costa Rican security officials' views on 
the handling of possible protests were discussed in Ref D. 
FRISBIE