Mrs. Clinton will attend
minister's meeting here


Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend the sessions of New Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas next Wednesday and Thursday here as part of a Latin America trip.

The Costa Rican Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto announced Wednesday that she had accepted the invitation. At the same time, Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Public Affairs, outlined the proposed trip in Washington:

In Uruguay, Secretary Clinton will be attending the inauguration President José Alberto Mujica Cordano Monday. She will travel to Santiago where she will meet with President Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria and president-elect Sebastián Piñera. Wednesday Secretary Clinton will be meeting with President Luiz Inacio da Silva in Brasilia.

Mrs. Clinton will be a keynote speaker at the Pathways ministerial meeting and will meet separately with President Oscar Arias and President-elect Laura Chinchilla, said Crowley.

"In Guatemala, we are working to schedule a meeting with leaders of Central American countries and the Dominican Republic to discuss issues of mutual interest," he added. The secretary will also meet with President Álvaro Colom during her visit to Guatemala.

Mrs. Clinton is on record saying that Pathways to Prosperity can and will help spread the benefits of economic engagement and trade to women, rural farmers and small businesses, Afro-descendents, indigenous communities, and others too often left on the sidelines of progress.

Launched in late 2008, Pathways is designed to help countries learn from one another’s experience through the exchange of best practices for spreading the benefits of economic growth broadly to all of our citizens, said the State Department. The program dovetails with the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Treaty, and Mrs. Clinton is likely to be met by anti-treaty protesters during her visit here.

In addition to the United States and Costa Rica, Pathways countries include Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, El Salvador and Uruguay. Three countries, Belize, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago will attend as observers, according to the foreign ministry.

This is the third ministerial meeting of the Pathways countries, and typically the foreign minister and commerce minister of each country will attend. Mrs. Clinton is the U.S. equivalent of a foreign minister.

The goals of Pathways are to expand access to markets and financial services for small business people and farmers, to promote trade and regional integration, to promote competitiveness, to insure enforcement of labor laws and environmental laws, to promote private-public partnerships and to expand educational opportunities, according to the State Department.

Pathways had set up a conference for women business operators last October to learn about leadership and trade. The initiative also launched a regional mentoring network of women-owned businesses, said the State Department. There also was a workshop in Costa Rica in January on public participation in environmental decision making.

Tibás is told to repair
inadequate town hall


Not only does the Tibás municipal building have structural problems, but there also are barriers for the disabled. That is why the Sala IV constitutional court ordered the municipality to fix the problems.

The court, acting on an appeal from a resident, said that the municipal government must comply with a sanitary order issued in September and also must take steps to accommodate the disabled.

The sanitary order said that the municipal offices were inadequate and uninhabitable and ordered the relocation of workers within a month.

The Sala IV also ordered the Contraloría de la República not to approve the next municipal budget unless the financial document contains estimates to fix the structural problems.


Gynecologist convicted
of rape involving patient


A San José gynecologist got a 13-year prison sentence for what amounts to a rape charge lodged by a patient.

The trial court ordered the man's immediate detention. He was identified as Teodoro Mangel León, who had a practice in the center of San José in Feb. 28, 2003 when the crime took place.

The court said that the physician took advantage of the woman during a consultation.


Cold front is on the way
for baked Costa Ricans


Say goodbye to the hot weather. The weather experts say that a cold front is on the way and should make itself known in Costa Rica today.

Temperatures along the coast have been in the 30s or around 90 F. Although readings were less in the Central Valley, there was the humidity.

But with the arrival of the cold front, residents can expect a return to strong winds and rain in the northern zone and along the Caribbean coast. These conditions are expected to last at least through Friday.

The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional issues a small plane warning, particularly in the mountains, due to the expected winds.

Jailer finds himself facing jail


A man in charge of jail cells at the judicial building in  Goicoechea faces an allegation that he took money from the families of inmates with the claim that he could arrange their release.

The man was identified by the last name of Quirós by the Poder Judicial.