Costa Rican vote is good news to U.S.
The Bush administration welcomed Costa Rica’s narrow approval of a free-trade agreement with the U.S. after a national debate that split the tiny Central American democracy.
Costa Rican voters backed the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, by the slim ratio of 51.58% in favor to 48.42% against -- in an echo of the bitter debate in the U.S. Congress over CAFTA two years ago.
Costa Rica was the only country to hold a referendum on the pact, which also includes El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
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