United States Threatens Costa Rica Over Trade Vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will not renegotiate a free trade agreement with Costa Rica if voters in that country turn down the pact in a referendum on Sunday, the White House said.

"If the free trade agreement is rejected, the United States will not renegotiate the agreement," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement on Saturday that was the latest in a series of conflicting messages from Washington ahead of Costa Rica's vote.

We have now reached a level of low that I never thought it was possible for the United States to reach even under the Bush regime.

Now we are huffing and puffing and threatening tiny (the size of West Virginia) Costa Rica, the most peace loving nation in the Western Hemisphere if their citizens exercise democracy and vote the way they want to vote on a trade agreement.

Costa Rica, in 1948, abolished their military. They now spend 70 percent of their national budget on health and education. Costa Rica has a higher literacy rate (97 percent) than does the United States. Costa Rica has a health care system on par with the United States. Costa Rica set aside 24 percent of its land area as national parks and now ecotourism is its number one industry.

And the United States threatens them.

I hope Costa Rica sends a hearty fuck you to the Chimp and votes exactly the way it wants to. If they don't maybe the Chimp will invade the country. Perhaps that will be our first military victory under the Chimp Administration. What an honor. We beat up a country with no military force to defend it. Sounds like something the Chimp would endorse.

Con mucho gusto, Costa Rica.