AMCostaRica quote taken from ID's post on Saturday:
Quote:
... Although Chinchilla is the pick of president Arias, he has to be quiet on the subject after he was reprimanded by the Elections tribunal last year. Araya and Arias have had their run ins in the past, the the making peace in 2006 when Arias was elected. ...
And quote taken from AMCostaRica article cited today by Vegas Bob:
Quote:
... Araya has complained that Ms. Chinchilla had the secret support of President Óscar Arias Sánchez. He has said that having a woman president would be good for the country. In Costa Rica, there are rules about who can offer support, and the president is not one of them. But it is certain that Ms. Chinchilla had strong support from the Arias wing of the political party. ...
Chinchilla was Arias's annointed successor and key party supporters clearly wanted her and funded a massive advertising campaign that brought the poorly educated sheeple in line. It doesn't work so differently in the US, just much more so in a country like CR. Now they're stuck with who they voted for and deserve whatever they will get.
As for reaction Pidd got from that local business manager, I'm sure he is much more "plugged into" the local scene than I am. However, I don't believe the recent "troubles" encountered by the sex industry were really at the behest of Mr Araya even though they were at the municipal level that he headed. OR, at least if they were, I believe they were only done in attempt to respond politically to the groundswell of anti-P4P sentiment stirred up by Chinchilla. Araya couldn't afford to appear soft on P4P or unwilling to do anything about it without risking ceeding a huge block of voters over to Chinchilla. I mean, how can Pidd's friend believe that what Chinchilla has been threatening is "just political" while thinking that the recent token action taken by the municipality against the sex industry weren't also just political posturing related to the upcoming 2010 election? As TW pointed out, he seems more like a "player" than a type who would really be so against the P4P business. Who really seems more likely to try to take serious action against prostitution, a latin male or a feminist latina?
TW's prediction about Johnny becoming prez won't come to pass, at least not this time around. Let's hope he is at least right that a "country with such machismo won't elect a woman after all is said and done" or, at least, won't pass some of the things this woman would like to see happen even if she does get elected (as seems likely right now). Ticas represent a disproportionate part of the electorate WHO ACTUALLY VOTE, and even many young ticas in the P4P business are so enamored with the idea of a woman becoming prez that they don't seem to care (or believe) what her election might mean for their livelihood.
Our one best hope is that laws are not passed by votes in general elections but by votes in the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Assembly in CR is still heavily male. OTOH, many of those assemblymen are quaking in fear at the groundswell of female voters (and, as BB57 pointed out, the political will of the ruling elite who are more considered with their country's image than putting poor chicas out of work). A lot of overly extreme reactions to some legitimate concerns have already passed the Legislative Assembly (e.g. paternity laws that assume the accused male is guilty until proven innocent), so I wouldn't want to cast any bets what sorts of new laws might make it through. And as has also been pointed out there is plenty that a female head of state can do by abusively enforcing existing laws, without having to pass anything new.
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