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on changes to Constitution By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Lawmakers and others in the political realm are starting a series of three sessions on possible constitutional reform today. The 10 a.m. session is in the Salón de Expresidentes in the legislative complex. Casa Presidencial promised in a bulletin Tuesday that Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, the president's brother and minister of the Presidencia, would make some concrete suggestions of changes the executive branch would like to see made to the Costa Rican Constitution. Rodrigo Arias, and his brother, Óscar, have been talking about constitutional changes in a general way since December. The president said he was frustrated at barriers that keeping turning up to slow law making. But there have been no specific proposals. The other two sessions are scheduled for March 18 and 25. Speaking today, in addition to Rodrigo Arias, will be Francisco Antonio Pacheco, president of the Asamblea Legislativa; Luis Paulino Mora, the head of the Poder Judicial, and Luis Antonio Sobrado, president of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. The discussions are to mark the 60 years the current Constitution has been in force. Our readers' opinions
Tree-cutting for cattlegets the blame for floods Dear A.M. Costa Rica: We continually hear about the flooding on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We also hear about it in many other regions of this country and other Central American countries too. Unfortunately we are not addressing the core of the problem. What is the core of the problem? Well it isn't too much rain. These types of rains have been going on for millenniums, but it isn't until recently, the past 100 years or so, that more and more of these catastrophes occur. The main culprit for these disasters are the cutting down of rainforests. When there is sufficient rainforest, the absorption of these heavy rains are controlled by the trees and plants of the forest. Without the rainforest the heavy rains just run right off and flood rivers and cause huge landslides and lots of erosion. There is only two ways to eventually control the problem: Stop cutting down the rainforest and start planting trees to help absorb the rains. Why are we cutting down the rainforest? The main reason is to make room to raise cattle or to grow huge mono cultures like bananas and pineapples. As responsible humans, we need to not be part of the problem. The best way to stop this continued practice of destroying the rainforest is to cut back or stop eating the above mentioned foods, especially cow meat (beef). Help do your part to help stop the continued degradation of the Costa Rican rainforests and eat sustainably. We need to think in a worldcentric way instead of our typical egocentric way. The amount of global warming pollution from the entire world beef industry, which includes cutting down rainforest all over the planet to the amount of methane gas produced by cows and much more, is worse than the total emission pollution caused by all of the cars on the planet yearly. Eat to live, don't live to eat. Henry Kantrowitz
nature guide and conservationist Jacó Good news might help fortify readers' spirits Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I am a consistent reader of your publication and part-time resident of Guanacaste. It is encouraging to see you bringing out good news such as the story of the Canadian couples positive visit for dental work in Costa Rica, and the lead story too! Keep it up. Things are difficult enough without the constant reminders by the vast majority of the news being doom and gloom. If more news organization would balance the good with the bad, our current economic turmoil would likely moderate much more quickly. Most people are moved by their perception of reality as distinct from actual reality based commonly on what they see and hear on a casual basis. It would be interesting to see the impact if stories titled OVER 8% UNEMPLOYMENT IN CALIFORNIA were balanced by stories like OVER 92% STILL EMPLOYED IN SPITE OF ECONOMIC STRESS! Alan W. Ziff
Santa Rosa, California and Nosara, Guanacaste
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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Police have tightened
security on Heredia bus routes
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers have been making spot checks of buses and bus stops mainly on routes that involve Heredia. But officials admit that the best ways to provide security for passengers would be to have the operators of the lines put security guards on the vehicles or figure out some way so that money would not be used for fares. The Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública said that police have conducted more than 100 spot checks of buses in the last month and have confiscated two pistols and two toy pistols. They also have trained 50 drivers on how to recognize possible bandits, the ministry said. A bus driver, Sigifredo Maroto Vargas, died Feb. 18 when a bandit shot him during a robbery of an Heredia-San José bus. A waiter died Oct. 24 on an Heredia bus when two men stuck up the passengers. The man, Jorge Muñoz, was a former policeman. One bandit saw Muñoz go for his own pistol and shot him once in the chest. Muñoz still managed to return fire and wounded a bandit. A suspect was detained a short time later at Hospital San Juan de Dios, said police. The bus stickup was the second that night along that stretch of road between Parque la Sabana and Hospital México. An Alajuela-bound bus suffered the same fate earlier. Police said they are patrolling continually the Autopista General Cañas and routes between Belén and the Centro Comercial Real Cariari as well as the stop across the street in front of the Hotel Ramada Herradura. In addition there is a constant motorized patrol between the Centro Comercial Paseo de las Flores and La Valencia as well as the route from the shopping center to Guararí, said the ministry. The season has been an open one for bus robbers. Off-duty policemen do not carry weapons, and robbers can make a good haul by taking fares and shaking down passengers. A bus stopped alongside the highway does not arouse suspicions immediately. There are about 100 |
 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía
Policeman makes his presence known on a bus that travels the
Heredia route.y Seguridad Pública photo reports of bus robberies each year, but many companies do not report all such incidents. Another murder took place on a bus headed from Multiplaza in Escazú to Piedades just before Christmas in 2006. The victim was Evelyn Alfaro Alegría, 22, an employee at the mall, who received the fatal shot whan a passenger wrestled with an armed robber. The main advice from police to passengers is not to resist an armed robbery, the ministry said. |
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Billfish Foundation wins
management go-ahead from all isthmus nations
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
After nearly a year, all seven countries of Central America have approved an agreement with The Billfish Foundation to create a sustainable management plan for billfish and other popular game fish vital to growing sport fishing and tourism in the region. The announcement comes on the heels of similar work this past year by The Billfish Foundation to enhance recreational sport fishing in México, Perú and Costa Rica. The foundation has been working with the governments — some for more than a decade — for the expansion of conservation measures and laws to protect billfish, mainly from overfishing coastal fisheries by commercial interests, while implementing tag and release programs. Russell Nelson and Herbert Nanne of the foundation met in Managua, Nicaragua, in late February to formally adopt a Central American agreement to develop a sustainable management plan for marlins, sailfish, dorado, swordfish and other highly migratory species important to the regions’ sport fishing tourism sectors. |
The agreement between The Billfish
Foundation and the organization of
fisheries and aquaculture for the isthmus of Central America. Nelson
presented the Nicaraguan institute of fisheries and aquaculture with a
computer and programs for use in collecting and analyzing sport
fisheries data. Nanne is the foundation's Central American conservation director, and Nelson is its scientific director. Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama make up the seven countries in the region. The text of the agreement can be found in Spanish and English at www.billfish.org. “Billfish have a very high potential in these waters and high economic and social value if the responsible practice of sport fishing ethics and conservation are fostered,” said Nelson. Established in 1986 by the late Winthrop P. Rockefeller, The Billfish Foundation works to conserve and enhance billfish populations worldwide. Headquarters are in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Members and supporters includes anglers, captains, mates, tournament directors, clubs, sport fishing and tourism businesses. |
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Adam Smith meets the Happy
Hooker in university study of sex workers
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Researchers from the Universidad Estatal a Distancia have been keeping track of 58 female San José prostitutes since 2007 in an effort to apply economic theory to what they do. The university is releasing a report of the work today. The |
study appears to be an exhaustive
analysis of prostitution. The university said that some of the research centered on how prostitutes make their economic decisions and their personal conditions and perceptions. The study also looks at market conditions and the types of services the women offer, the university said. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page |
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Featured artist draws on her
pre-Colombian ancestry
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Museo Nacional Saturday begins an exhibit of paintings by a Guanacaste woman who draws on her Mayan ancestry to honor nature. She is Guadalupe Urbina and the exhibit is in the museum's new temporary gallery where the kitchen and dining areas were when the structure was the Cuartel Bellavista and housed troops. The exhibit will run until March 14. According to her Web site, Ms. Urbina paints with acrylics and oils using paper made from natural tropical fibers, including mango, tobacco, tamarindo and rice. The biggest source of inspiration for her paintings are the creation myths of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. She paints images of beings and things that have deep philosophical meaning within rural native or mestizo peoples, such as quetzals, butterflies, snakes and trees in both distant and present time, the Web site says. The exhibit, “Los colores de Guadalupe Urbina,” includes 25 works. They all promise to be colorful with some inspiration from the pre-Columbian codices. Northwestern Costa Rica was linked closely to Mexican cultures, and some of the colorful pottery attributed to |
 An example of the work that will be
exhibited
these cultures came from there and still does. The museum quoted the artist describing her inspiration thusly: "When I started painting I was moved by an impulse which I did not understand, but recognized as its own. In artistic creation I have always liked to be surprised for the unusual past, so incomprehensible, the occult, which dwells in my genetic code as a primary molecular dance which I do not resist." |
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Construction work will mean
night restrictions on highway in Sabana Sur
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Highway officials are warning motorists to stay away from the old road to Escazú in Sabana Sur for the next 11 days. Workmen will be putting in a pipeline, and travel will be restricted from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. This is the section of road that runs east from the Ministerio de Agricultura y |
Ganadería past the
Contraloría de la República. It is the site of many
traffic jams during the day. The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad suggested that motorists travel along the north side of Parque la Sabana. The highway is formally known as Ruta 167, and the work is being done by Consorcio Santa Fe–Holcim S.A., the consejo said. |
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says crew member raped her Special to A.M. Costa Rica
A Portuguese crew member on a Princess Cruise Lines ship was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting a female passenger in a dining room while the ship was at sea off the coast of Mexico. The ship is the Coral Princess, which makes frequent stops in Costa Rica. The crew member, Jorge Manuel Teixeira, 38, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U. S. District Court in Los Angeles. The complaint charges Teixeira with aggravated sexual abuse, a federal offense that carries a potential life prison sentence, said a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office there. Teixeira was taken into custody Monday by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, the attack occurred late on the evening of March 5 on the Coral Princess. The ship was on a 14-day cruise between Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Los Angeles, California. The victim reported to officials aboard the Coral Princess, and later to the FBI, that she had agreed to meet Teixeira in a dining room where he worked as the head waiter. The victim shared some wine with Teixeira at a table in a corner of the dining room, according to statements that both people made to authorities. Once the wine was finished, Teixeira assaulted the victim, according to the affidavit. Following the incident, the woman filed a written incident report in which she described being assaulted by “George from Portugal.” Security officials collected evidence from the woman and from Teixeira, secured the site where the incident took place, and restricted Teixeira to his room until the ship arrived at the Port of Los Angeles Monday morning. Once the ship docked, special agents with the FBI boarded the vessel, interviewed the victim and Teixeira, and collected evidence. “While this attack took place far from the borders of the United States, federal authorities have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes that take place on the high seas,” said U. S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien. “The attack alleged in this case warrants a thorough and swift prosecution to vindicate the rights of the victim and to inform the world that crimes like this will not be tolerated.” |
| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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| Latin American news digest |
 A.M. Costa Rica file photo
Costa Rican Tejona wind farm near TilaránWind power museum holds hints for modern usage By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services One of the key sources of renewable energy
being developed today is wind power, utilizing giant turbines to
generate electricity. These work best in windy places like the U.S.
Great Plains that stretch from west Texas in the south to the Dakotas
in the north. Wind power is nothing new in this region, where windmills
have long played an important role in pumping water from underground
aquifers and in milling grain.
Windmills were once seen on almost every farm and ranch in the American heartland. The expansion of electrical service and the use of electric pumps brought an end to the windmill era, but visitors can still see dozens of these classic devices at the American Wind Power Center and Museum in Lubbock, Texas. Around 90 windmills of various sizes and types are maintained inside the museum's massive building in Lubbock, on the Texas panhandle. Executive director Coy Harris says machines that harvest wind power make a lot of sense in this part of west Texas. "We see the wind blow a lot around here and it is a shame to just see it blowing dust," he said. "We might as well do something with it." The Wind Power Center
obtains most of its operating power from a wind turbine atop a
50-meter-tall tower in its windmill park. On good, windy days the
turbine often produces more electricity than the center needs, so the
excess is sold to the local power company. On days when the turbine is
not producing enough power, the center draws electricity from the local
grid.
T. Boone Pickens, who made many billions of
dollars in the oil and gas industry, is investing in a large wind farm
to be built in the Texas panhandle. Pickens estimates that more than 20
percent of the electrical power used in the United States in coming
years could be produced by wind power.
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