Remember those 18 wheelers parked side-by-side outside the National Assembly building?

That was when the rice growers were protesting cheaper imports. They wanted to make a point and blocked Avenida Principal, the main route downtown from San Pedro. They did it for five days.

Such actions, which seem to be a trademark of the rice growers, can be punished by imprisonment of from 10 to 30 days under a proposed law that has been passed twice by deputies and now sits on the desk of President Miguel Angel Rodríguez.

But all is not happy among those who use rallies and marches to make a political point. They fear that the law will be used against them. These include La Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos, the public employees union. 

Under the present law such road blockages can be punished by a fine. In addition, the law is not nearly as clear as the one awaiting the president’s signature. A good argument could be mounted that the present law refers to putting items in the road to obstruct passage and not parking vehicles there.

The road provision is contained in Article 256.5 of .proposal 14,158 that came to the assembly March 11.  Public employees will have this measure in mind as they march Wednesday for International Labor Day.

Another change would appear to eliminate a section, Article 379 (2), that levies a fine if someone challenges another to a duel.

For those who get upset when a taxi driver flies by with no passenger but without any desire to stop, there is Article 390. That says the driver of a service vehicle can be fined if he refuses without reason to transport a person or luggage or if he uses gross or bad language.

Article 395 of the existing law prohibits witchcraft and spells. The new penal code proposal replaces that with an unrelated paragraph. So unless another law prohibits these black arts, a resident would be able to cast spells on neighbors without fear of criminal action.

The new law also would overwrite a section, Article 388 (8) which prohibits tourists from engaging in money-making activities.

It may be that other sections of Costa Rican law cover these acts, but penal code changes seem to eliminate some crimes and shift other prohibitions around so comparisons with the existing law are difficult.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Terrorism and political violence are continued afflictions in the Americas, with terrorist groups operating in Colombia, Peru, and the tri-border region of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, said Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs.

Speaking to newspeople in Miami Friday, Reich said the Bush Administration is concerned about international terrorists "abusing the region's financial system to raise funds or launder money." Reich said the administration has encouraged all nations in the Western Hemisphere to ratify the 12 international counter-terrorism treaties in order to "identify and seize the financial assets of terrorism, to punish terrorism in all its forms, and to strengthen border controls."

Reich said the issue of border security is of particular relevance with Canada and Mexico, "where we need to balance our requirement for heightened security with our need to expand the free flow of legitimate travel and commerce."

On Colombia, Reich said the United States has long supported that country's government in its fight against drug traffickers who support left-wing and right-wing terrorist groups in the Andean nation. President Bush, said Reich, agrees with Colombian President Andres Pastrana that establishing security in Colombia is "the first priority." No meaningful progress can be made, Reich said, 

The Bush Administration, at the request of the Colombian government, Reich said, "is discussing with the U.S. Congress how we can make the aid we give to Colombia more effective as that government fights terror."

Reich told the workshop that a free and vibrant press is the best guarantor of public accountability and confidence and that any government that suppresses freedom of the press compromises its own legitimacy.

"Unfortunately," he said, "that is a lesson that not every government in this hemisphere has learned yet." Reich said that in Venezuela, "diatribes" against the press from the highest level of the government have created an "environment of fear." Meanwhile, in Cuba, Reich said that country's government uses an "assortment of repressive techniques in its efforts to silence independent journalists." The Cuban government, he added, is engaged in an effort to "control all information received by the Cuban people."

Reich also said that journalists in Colombia work in a "pervasive atmosphere of fear," some of whom are intimidated by among others, paramilitary groups, drug traffickers, and government officials. He praised those journalists in Colombia "who continue to fulfill their responsibilities to report fairly and accurately."

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The principal U.S. deputy secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere strongly denies that his country had anything to do with the coup attempt that threw Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez Frias out of office for two days.

"The United States is committed to democratic and constitutional government in this hemisphere and around the globe," said the deputy secretary, Lino Gutierrez. 

"We did not participate in, or condone, the unconstitutional actions taken by those who attempted to depose President Chávez. The United States' opposition to coups of any kind to effect regime change has been a consistent U.S. position that has transcended administrations."

The events of April 11-14 underscore the necessity of renewing and reinvigorating frayed U.S.-Venezuela relations, said Gutierrez. He 

Those relations have been strained in recent years because of Chávez's "polarizing, confrontational policies" that provoked the present crisis in Venezuela, Gutierrez said. He rebuked Chávez for attacking freedom of the press, interfering in labor union elections, stacking the Venezuelan judiciary, and trying to intimidate and silence his many opponents.

Despite serious misgivings over Chávez's tactics, at no time did the United States sanction an unconstitutional transfer of power in Venezuela, Gutierrez said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — That high school student who has been identified as an Internet fraud artist is back in trouble with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The youngster, Cole A. Bartiromo of Mission Viejo, Calif., came to local attention in January because he stashed the $1 million he got from investors in a legitimate Costa Rican casino account.

At the time, a Securities and Exchange official, Stephen M. Cutler, director of Enforcement Division, said: "This case . . .  demonstrates that just about
anyone — even a 17-year-old high school student — can mastermind a securities fraud over the Internet."

Monday the commission, which is the U.S. investment police, filed an amended complaint against Bartiromo and two unidentified individuals. The SEC said he also used massive amounts of false Internet messages to boost stock prices of publicly traded companies and profited from the efforts.

He promised to repay investors between 125 percent and 2,500 percent of their principal within specified periods ranging from three days to several weeks. 

The SEC said Monday that from May 14, 2001 to July 5, 2001, the youngster purchased large blocks of stock, sometimes 50 percent of the average number of shares traded each day on legitimate exchanges. Then he would send out false and misleading e-mail messages designed to affect the value of the stock.

Bartiromo posted over 6,000 messages and traded several million shares of 15 companies in this manner, and, as a result, generated a net profit of over $91,000, said the SEC.

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