REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES DECLASSIFIED Authority State Letter Whe By Me NARA Date 2498. 14 suners cooperatives as well as recional agreements between tiene accordins to Rodrigo Macio the advantages to be expected from such organizations are: the elimination of the middle man, who in Costa Rica is often nothing more than a speculator; greater real wealth for the members; greater possibility of individual savings; the accunulation of commaunity funds to be used for social purposes; and greater educational possibilities. Almost all of the Centro plans for the reform of Costa Rican economy contain some mention of this cooperative moverlent.
The Centro has adopted an attitude which is intensely critical or foreign imperialism; this is not to say that it is accustomed to attack foreign enterprises per se, but neans rather that it is opposed to the easy granting of concessions to foreign capital which in the past has characterized the Governments of the country. Ilor is the scrutiny brought to bear solely on American enterprises, although a large part of its criticism: is naturally levelled in their direction.
For the purpose of better controlling foreiun capitalistic enterprises which operate in the Costa Rican economy, the Centro divides such enterprises into three categories, with a different method of apl oa ch devised for each. First, there are articles which are ci Costa Rican production but are destined for external consumption, such as bulianas. That such an enterprise could be nationalized the Centro holds impractical, for, among otilier reasons, Jarketing acilities and experience are non existent. is a consequence, the best course appears to be the welcoming of foreign capital, but only after the proposed contract has been carefully frared to guarantee that the enterprise shall have stimulating effects on the national economy.
In the seconi category are placed services and goods of foreign production which are consumed in the Costa Rican market, examples being insurance and tasoline. While it would be patently impractical at the present time for Costa Rica present time for Costa Rica to attempt to produce her own gasoline, the Centro feels that at least the distribution within the country could be handled by firms of a national character. It is interesting to note that recent developments have been moving in tile direction advocated by the Centro, for insurance is low a Government monopoly (although re insurance is handled by suerican companies. and the recently passed Labor Code requires thali a certain percentage of the Local employees See his article in Suro, No. 31, January, 1943; this entire edition is dedicated to the cooperative novenient, both in its historical setting and its relation to Costa Rica.
2) Estudio sobre Econorta Costarricense, op. cit. pp. 170 172