Costa Ricans protest arrival of US fleet: Open letter from Claudia Calvo

Hi, Jane.

We have a dangerous situation right now in Costa Rica: our brand-new government just gave permission for an entire fleet (46 warships) of the US to operate in our waters, air and soil -“to fight drugs”. As you know, my country has had no army for 60 years, and we are a neutral nation –except a previous President saw fit to announce “Costa Rica supports the war on Iraq” –which NO citizen was consulted about, trust me: we don’t believe in war. This is particularly worrisome, because no one would even have known about it, weren’t it for the whistleblowing of 3 minority parties; the Parliament was given 2 days to vote on the issue… since the first ship was due on the second day! Of course narcotics are a problem worldwide, but we don’t see how an army can combat this (look at Colombia).  And of course, mainstream media portray it as a Very Good Thing –when they do give one or two lines to the issue.  Only Nuestro País digital has had the guts to expose it entirely.

Any trafficking –of drugs or others- is only combated by intelligence (the real kind) and most especially… by political decision NOT to support them… which might well be the reason why this is a global problem; I think you can see my point.

Anyway, let’s not forget our tiny country is quite strategically located: we are wedged right between the Panama Canal and Nicaragua (allied with Venezuela and with good relations with Iran); we are less than 500 km away from Venezuela and Colombia. Considering what is going on in the world, I suspect –and am not the only one- that this entire operation has more to do with the US “Plan Colombia” against Hugo Chavez, than with any kind of drug-stopping…  Not to mention (with the very dire finances the US has right now), I really don’t see where they would fish the funds… if it really were for an innocent drug operation on this massive scale –we’re talking at least 46 warships, including aircraft carriers, 2 hospital ships (?),  200 armored helicopters and 10 military planes….

Anyway, I just wanted you to know, my friend.  I’m sending you the translation of the latest article about it.

Claudia Calvo.

Massive entry of US military to Costa Rica heightens political opposition http://elpais.cr/articulos.php?id=28132

Critics accuse Laura Chinchilla’s government of violating our Constitution

San José (elpais.cr) – While President Laura Chinchilla assured on Tuesday that the entry of more than 13.000 American “marines” is a normal action, which was registered last decade, opposing deputies maintain that the Law regulating the agreement of drug trafficking fight -expired this past September.  
 
Chinchilla indicated on Tuesday that the joint patrol agreement with the US Coast Guard will serve the alleged combat against narcotic traffic and denies the Treaty represents any threat to the country’s sovereignty:  
“I guarantee these treaties are the same (that were signed in the last 10 years) and I will never expose the country to a constitutional breach, and much less t o a militarization of the drug-trafficking fight”, declared Chinchilla on a radio show. 
 
The Parliament agreed past Wednesday and Thursday to allow entrance to national waters and territory for the “visit” of more than 13 thousand US military in 46 warships, between July 1 and December 31 of 2010. 
 
Legislators of Parties Unidad Social Cristiana and Frente Amplio, Luís Fishman and José María Villalta, respectively, denounced this Tuesday that the Patrol Treaty, sanctioned by the Law 7929, expired on September 28 of past year, and hasn’t been modified.  
 
Fishman, ex Minister of Public Security and ex presidential candidate for his party, reminded he himself had signed the original Treaty, which clearly established that the joint combat against drug traffic did NOT involve any kind of military force.  
 
Tuesday, the Socialchristian legislator reiterated the Treaty is no longer valid, even though an officialist deputy, Francisco Chacón, says this was modified on September 16 1999, but Fishman clarified that the Law came after, on September 28 of that same year, “and is what counts”. 
 
He said the Treaty might have been varied by the Foreign Minister, “but there is no extra- parliamentary mechanism that can modify a Law”.  “This is a legal matter. Things have to be done the right way.  The Assembly must give priority to examine and reexamine this agreement, and the reform Chacón mentions is not integrated within the Law”, he insisted.  
 
Fishman also warned that, to legalize the entry of such an amount of warships and troops, the Asamblea Legislativa must vote the permissions of each warship one by one for entry, and not in the way it was done last week. 
 
The Congress’ decision “goes further” than the joint patrol Treaty, and the presence of military ships, planes and helicopters from the United States “will transform Costa Rica into the largest naval base of the USA in this part of the world”, he indicated. 
 
On the other hand, the President of Congress, the officialist  José Luís Villanueva, said the legislative directory will study Fishman’s and Villalta’s considerations, as well as Chacón’s, and will give its opinion “first thing” this Wednesday.  
 
In case the legislators of the parties Liberación Nacional, Movimiento Libertario and Renovación Costarricense do not rectify, the case will be taken to the Constitutional Court, to validate other previous votes -and annul the permission to the massive entry of US military to Costa Rica. 
 
Meanwhile, lawyers have reminded that Resolution 07181-99, of the Constitutional Court in September 16 1999 - about the perceptive Consultation of constitutionality formulated by the Directory of Asamblea Legislativa- determined “It is clear that the present Treaty is strictly restricted to police activities, and exclusively dedicated to combat the illicit traffic of narcotics.  To this end, the participation of aircraft from the government of the US only concerns those activities proper of the Coast Guard Service of the said nation, dependent by definition on the Secretary of Transport of the USA, and not the Secretary of Defense, or any other”.  
 
“This also implies that, in the case of an armed conflict in which the USA sees itself involved, their aircraft and ships of its Coast Guard, along with its effectives who might be in Costarican territory, territorial waters or airspace in the fulfillment of the Treaty – will only be allowed to act in the work relevant to the meaning of the joint agreement-; and that the approval of this Treaty does not imply, under any circumstance, the acceptance of use of the Costarican territory, her territorial waters and her airspace, to any war effort whatsoever, or operations of any nature other than the object of the present agreement”. 
 
In the same vote, the magistrate Rodolfo Piza Escalante (Q.d.D.g), expressed “I don’t accept either the text of the protocol itself, that amends the Treaty; because the only constitutionally valid “entry and stay of foreign military ships or aircrafts in national territory” – is on the strict condition that the Asamblea Legislativa gives the corresponding permission on a case to case basis; (this, not necessarily because a military activity will take place, but because by International Law, the armed forces of another country exclude the application of National Laws); never an authorization of entry formulated as a blank check, and worse still, permission to carry on operations inside the country -an unacceptable concept, since it goes far beyond the competence the Constitution grants, even if it is to do a specific activity, like the prosecution of illegal drug trafficking”. 
 
In the sentencing, the Magistrate Carlos Manuel Arguedas had reasoned “Given the intention of the Treaty and the location of the bilateral cooperation in the strict field of what is relative to police force, the reference to what is established by incise 5) of Constitutional Article 121 –confirmed in the protocol- is out of place, or implies the possibility that foreign warships, in this case from the US (this, if not troops of that country), be used in the area of the Treaty.  This is, I repeat, contrary to what is established especially on the Article 12 of our Constitution, as I manifested in the separate note on the cited Resolution No. 04156-99. The equivocality, then, has not been cleared after this Resolution; instead it has confirmed, in my judgment, the possibility that the military apparatus of the USA could be used to take part in operations of illicit drug traffic suppression – or operations in support of those”.