|
|
|
|
|
President Abel Pacheco said he will set up a new umbrella agency Wednesday to oversee his effort to reduce poverty in Costa Rica by 4 percent. Reducing poverty is one of his main priorities as president, and he joined the fight on poverty with his campaign against corruption. He said "corruption is the mother of all the poverty." The president released the specifics of his anti-poverty plan that will be directed by a new "Social Authority" that will have legal status. The 17-member Social Council drew up details of the anti-poverty plan. The council includes ministers and heads of independent agencies. They drew up a complex, seven-point plan touching on nearly every aspect of Costa Rican social life, from poverty standards like housing and good water to culture, training and scholarships. The plan has six main areas: • education and personal development; • youth, children and adolescence; • economic growth and the quality of life; • culture and development; • healthy life; and • work and employment. Pacheco said he rejected the idea that Instituto Mixto de Ayuda Social is the only agency that can fight poverty. He said other ministries and independent agencies have their role, too. In addition to linking his anti-corruption goals to the poverty fight, Pacheco also said that the proposed fiscal plan now being considered in the Assemblea Nacional is a key element. The |
fiscal plan would generate a lot
more money for the financially strapped government.
The president’s third general strategy against poverty is to bring the issue into the spotlight, he said. "We know that the money that we have won’t reach, but with the efficient use that we give these resources, we are going to amplify the coverage and the impact of the plan," said the president. Pacheco promised to depoliticize the allocations of housing bonds, an issue that has been in the news lately. He also said heads of households would be trained and incentives would be created for small- and medium-size enterprises. The plan sets short-term, medium-term and long-term goals for each of the social institutions and ministries involved in the poverty fight. Pacheco said that the Social Authority would guarantee that all of the agencies involved in the campaign comply with the objectives of the plan. "With the Social Authority there will be an entity that fixes priorities and determines which is the best route to reach the objectives. . . ," said Pacheco. The makeup of this new agency was not made clear but action by the Asemblea Nacional would be required. Among other elements of the plan Pacheco said that two centers would be created, one to help street children and the other to help sexually exploited children. The plan also seeks to provide better living conditions for families now in makeshift temporary houses, particularly those who have been involved in invading land that is not their own. Adequate water also is part of the plan’s promise. The plan is detailed, and a simple outline took up nearly seven pages with single-spaced typing. |
|
|
||
|
editor of A.M. Costa Rica We were thrilled by the response from readers all over the world after we asked for birthday greetings. Don’t forget to check out our birthday wishes. The newspaper’s first birthday is a happy time for us. But it also is a time to consider where we have been and where we are going. We started the newspaper only a few weeks before terrorists attacked New York City and Washington. We believe those attacks quickly showed we were correct when we said that Costa Rica needs an English-language daily newspaper to help foster a sense of community among the foreign residents here. Since then we have imperfectly filled our mandate by providing professionally reported news of interest to our readers. We also discovered that we were correct when we said that a great deal of important news was not being provided. So did our meteoric growth in readership. Where would you have heard of Roger Crouse, the Canadian from Playas del Coco in jail for a year for basically exercising his right to self defense? Where would you read of the continuing threats to tourists as they walk through downtown San José. Where would you read Jo Stuart each week as she finds hidden relationships between seemingly unrelated situations? Where would you find our unique daily report of Latin American news.
|
As Costa Rica continues to experience difficult
As it turns out, we work shoulder-to-shoulder each day with the Spanish-language reporters, and we consider them our competition. There is no reason that English speakers here should not have a news outlet as accurate and as up-to-date as La Nación or Teletica. A.M. Costa Rica also is a training ground for English-speaking university graduates who wish to learn Latin culture and international journalism. In 10 years we hope international reporting from Latin America will have a large contingent of our alumni. In addition to me, the owners of A.M. Costa Rica are Sharon Brodell, my wife, and Saray Ramírez Vindas, our Costa Rican associate and friend. We appreciate your support over the last year. We promise to do better. And we are always open to your suggestions. |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
How to live, invest or find romance in Costa Rica 
|
