San Jose.- Costa Rican lawmakers Tuesday ended a four-year tussle, clearing the way for the U.S.-Central America trade deal to take effect Jan 1.
Costa Rica signed the pact in 2004 along with its neighbors, the Dominican Republic and the United States. Until today opponents had stalled CAFTA’s implementation, when laws governing intellectual property were approved, the AP reports.
President Oscar Arias said his office will quickly finalize the paperwork, after Costa Rican voters approved the treaty last month.

Took the words right of my mouth!!!!!!!
"Daylight come an' he wanna go home"
...From Wikipedia: With the addition of the Dominican Republic, the trade group's largest economy, the region covered by DR-CAFTA is the second-largest Latin American export market for US producers, behind only Mexico, buying US$15 billion of goods a year. Two-way trade amounts to about US$32 billion annually...
As long as our trade balance with DR-CAFTA members is positive (we export more than we import) all is well with the world. The challenge for us Dominican is to stay competitive...