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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 10, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 92 | |||||||||
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their licenses at bank By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Banco de Costa Rica will be serving up driver's licenses under a plan announced Wednesday by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes. Some 10 bank branches will offer the service starting June 5, said Karla González, the minister. That number will be expanded in four steps to 30 as well as eight offices of the Consejo de Seguridad Vial. The bank will collect a 2 percent service charge from the ministry. Meanwhile, the ministry is building a new license facility in La Uruca. The bank service is by appointment via a Web page, and an announcement said that foreigners may not participate in the service. But it was unclear if that meant foreigners could not obtain their initial Costa Rican driver's license there or also could not renew their existing license. Those with special licenses like truck and taxi drivers also cannot use the bank service. The plan is designed to eliminate corruption and to reduce the long lines at the license bureaus. The bank workers will do everything including collecting license fees and existing fines and taking license photos. For those who have to complete a license procedure, the ministry offices will be open Saturday and May 19 to make up for the office being closed May 17 and 18, ministry officials said. The Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería also said this week that Costa Ricans will be able to renew their passports soon at the same bank. Escazú Jewelry store robbed by pair on a motorcycle By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Bandits stuck up an Escazú jewelry store Wednesday. According to the Fuerza Pública a man and a woman arrived on a motorcycle at the store, Joyeria La Rosa, in Escazú Centro about 11:15 a.m. An employee, Cecilia Arguedas Aguilar, told police about 500,000 colons in jewelry were taken. That's about $970. Meanwhile in San Miguel de Escazú 600 meters south of the Costa Rican Country Club an man identified as Gerardo Mora Mendoza said four men in a car held him up and took 750,000 colons and credit cards. Police reported he struggled with the robbers but was not hurt. Four homes ravaged by early morning blaze By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Flames tore through four small homes in Barrio El Carmen in San Antonio de Escazú about 5 a.m. Wednesday. About 15 persons were affected by the blaze. A child playing with a lighter was blamed for the fire, said the Fuerza Pública. Firemen from Pavas and Barrio México had the blaze under control in about 90 minutes, police said. The homeowners were identified as lizabeth Rodríguez, Maggy Montes, David Montes and Esperanza Matute. Pilots conduct air search for young crocodile victim By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Pilots from the Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea of the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública joined the search for a missing child in Tortuguero Wednesday. They were unsuccessful. The child was attacked and carried off by a crocodile Friday, and searchers have sought his body since. Pilot Javier Moreira and copilot Alex Medal searched over the Barra de Tortuguero, Barra del Colorado and the Caribbean coast. They also traveled inland some 10 miles. Ex-ambassador to U.S. mourned By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto is mourning the death of Cristian Tattenbach Iglesias, who served as ambassador to the United Nations from 1990 to 1994 and also represented the country in Guatemala and Nicaragua. He also was a founder of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana, a leading political party. The ministry said he died of natural causes.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 10, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 92 | |||||||||
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| Hurdles keep appearing for those trying to ratify trade treaty |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
As the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones moves toward a decision on setting a date for a free trade treaty referendum, two more obstacles to the pact are emerging. The Arias administration is confident that the public will turn out and vote for the agreement, but opponents have cited constitutional deficiencies. And complimentary legislation has run into roadblocks in the Asamblea Legislativa. The treaty referendum will be on a Sunday in August or September. Even now the bulky document is in the hands of Sala IV magistrates who have been asked by the Defensoría de los Habitantes to give a pre-election opinion on the pact's constitutionality. Opponents of the agreement from the Universidad de Costa Rica weighed in with their constitutional opinions this week. The group is called the Comisión Especial sobre Roces Constitucionales del TLC, and members are university officials, a retired magistrate and legal experts. The group suggests that the trade treaty will change Costa Rica from a social state of rights to a corporate state. They expressed their unhappiness over an arbitration clause in the treaty as well as intellectual property rights that would keep Costa Rica from using medicines without paying the patent holder. Opponents call these generic medicines, but their really are |
products made outside the traditional commercial structure that recognizes inventors rights. The group says that the constitutional right of health that every citizen has would be jeopardized by causing these medications to rise in price. The Ministerio de Comercio Exterior tried to dismiss these constitutional claims in a press release issued after the university group make its presentation. Arbitration is normal in international agreements, and Costa Rica already has ratified a number of treaties with a similar clause, said the ministry. In addition, according to the ministry, the treaty makes no changes in the ability of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social to import medicines, including generics. At the assembly, the Partido Acción Ciudadana, which opposes the free trade treaty, has staged walkouts and has used stalling tactics. Francisco Antonio Pacheco Fernández, president of the assembly, lashed out at the contrary legislators Wednesday and said they had lost the fear of being ridiculed. In discussion was a rule change that would allow speedy approval of the complimentary agenda, which includes measures such as opening up the national insurance market by breaking the monopoly of the Instituto Nacional de Seguros. Acción Ciudadana lawmakers said they opposed a fast track approach because these important pieces of legislature deserved full discussion. |
| Man gets a 40-year prison term in murder of his girlfriend and her daughter |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A security guard, convicted of killed his girlfriend and her 5-year-old daughter last May 17, got a 40-year prison term Wednesday. The man Douglas García García was on trial in the Tribunal de Juicio de Desamparados. Dead are Yorleny Herrera Amador and her daughter Scarleth. The trial began only Monday. |
Both the woman and girl died in their home in Los Guidos de
Desamparados. A neighbor found them during the daytime, but the deaths
by gunshot took place in the early morning officers said. The case had a high profile in the public eye because the murdered woman had obtained a court order of no contact against the man just a few days before. The deaths were two of a series of domestic violence deaths at the time. |
| Arias gets a personal tour of Las Baulas and a briefing on property situation |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas , a prime leatherback turtle nesting area, got a presidential fact-finding visit Wednesday as officials wrestle with the question of how to get private owners out of the park. The park just north of Playa Grande on the far Pacific coast was created in the 1990s, but the park boundaries were drawn to include private properties. So inside the park today are tourist hotels, luxury houses and property being developed. President Óscar Arias Sánchez met with Jorge Rodríguez, vice minister of Ambiente y Energía, other officials and environmentalists. He said he wanted to consider options to |
consolidate the park and avoid the kind of disorganized development that is there. But Maureen Ballestero a legislative deputy of the Partido Liberación Nacional said that the problem is that the government has no money for expropriation. She said prices would have been a lot less if the lands were purchased when the park was formed. The area along the coast north of Tamarindo has seen skyrocketing prices, and any expropriation would have to be based on market values. In addition to the turtle nesting activities, the park, some 445 hectares (about 1,100 acres) also contains extensive mangrove swamps populated by 174 species of birds. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 10, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 92 | |||||||||
| Pope Benedict in Brazil to air concerns about social issues |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in Brazil for a five-day visit that includes meetings with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and with church leaders from across Latin America. The pope also is expected to use his public appearances to address key social problems facing the region. Pope Benedict's visit to Sao Paulo, opens his five-day trip to Latin America. On his arrival here, he was greeted at the airport by President da Silva and his wife, Brazilian officials, and the Catholic bishops of the country. Da Silva said the Catholic Church has long shared many of the social values that are important to Brazil's population, especially the need for strong families. He said both his government and the church shared a genuine concern to strengthen family life as a key component in community development. Speaking in Portuguese, Pope Benedict thanked the Brazilian leader for the warm welcome. He said the Catholic Church plays a special role in the region, especially in helping to encourage young people to become future leaders. The pope said the majority of Latin America's population is |
Catholic, and, therefore, the region had a responsibility to work to improve solidarity and defend the common good of society. Thousands of youths from across the country and other parts of Latin America traveled to Sao Paulo this week to welcome Pope Benedict and celebrate his message to the region. The pontiff is to address the youth at a stadium in the city today. He is expected to talk to them about crime, violence and economic and social development. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II addressed many of the same topics when he visited Brazil 10 years ago, and some church members say that social conditions have not improved greatly since then. The pontiff is expected to speak on his trip to Latin American bishops, in part to express concern about the rising numbers of conversions to other faiths and religious movements. Catholic church leaders have struggled in recent years to stop the defections, especially within poor communities. Friday, Pope Benedict is to canonize an 18th century Brazilian-born Franciscan monk, known as Frei Galvao. Some observers say the ceremony to name the first Brazilian-born saint may spark new interest in the Roman Catholic Church. |
| Some in Colombia are seeking change to humanitarian emphasis for U.S. aid |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Colombian politicians and human rights activists visiting Washington this week say U.S. aid to their country focuses too much on military and anti-drug assistance and not enough on humanitarian needs. The delegation is drawing attention to Colombia's 3.5 million refugees and internally displaced people, as estimated by the U.N. refugee agency. The U.S. Congress is examining continued funding of Plan Colombia, an initiative that focuses on combating the drug trade, boosting the country's military, and creating favorable economic and social conditions for ending Colombia's decades-old civil war. Colombia is the fourth-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, behind Iraq, Israel, and Egypt. More than $4 billion in assistance flowed to Bogota since 2000. The U.S. aid has not been without positive results, according to Eduardo Zúñiga, governor of Colombia's remote southwestern Nariño department. Zúñiga says overall security has improved somewhat in Nariño since Plan Colombia's inception in the late 1990s. But the governor, who is visiting Washington, says the drug trade continues to flourish, and bloodshed remains all too common, with innocent civilians paying a heavy price. "In the year 2000, there were 1,900 refugees in my department. In 2006, there were 55,000 displaced people, and currently we estimate we are approaching a total of 70,000," he said. Just last month, a battle between leftist rebels and the armed forces caused thousands to flee a rural village in Nariño. Whether the villagers will ever return is an open question. Zúñiga says Plan Colombia is a net positive for his country, but that the program could stand improvement. |
"It is necessary to change the policy," he said. " I think it is
necessary to spend less on the military side, without neglecting it, of
course, but placing the emphasis on the social side." Human rights workers accompanying Zúñiga say more than half of Colombia's internally displaced people are under the age of 20. Most come from the countryside and end up in the slums of major urban areas. Often unable to find work, they live on the margins of society, adding to Colombia's already sizable underclass. The government of President Alvaro Uribe says it is investing nearly $1 billion to promote social development and combat the effects of civil war, including backing organizations that assist internally displaced people. In addition, the government says those touched by violence will be entitled to reparations. But Colombian human rights activist Marco Alberto Romero accuses Uribe of downplaying the magnitude of the crisis of internally displaced people, and says the government has proven itself incapable of delivering on social promises. He says, regardless of how much is spent to eradicate coca leaf crops and to train and equip Colombia's armed forces, little will be accomplished so long as basic humanitarian needs go unmet. Some Democrats in the opposition-controlled U.S. House of Representatives are pushing for an overhaul of U.S. aid to Colombia along the lines suggested by Romero and Governor Zúñiga. Meanwhile, a bilateral free-trade pact negotiated by the Bush and Uribe administrations faces an uncertain future in the U.S. Congress, which must approve the measure for it to go into effect. Analysts say, with Iraq war funding and other matters taking center stage at present, it is unlikely the legislature will vote on the measure in the foreseeable future. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 10, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 92 | ||||||
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