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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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back from heavy rains By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Central Pacific residents and some on the Nicoya Peninsula are drying out today after another dose of heavy rain Saturday. The national emergency commission said that communities in the south and central Pacific as well as on the peninsula suffered flooding and damage. A bridge over the Río Torito collapsed cutting motor traffic between Sámara and Puerto Carrillo on the Pacific coast of the peninsula. Heavy rain also was reported in Nosara up the coast. Hardest hit in the central Pacific was Parrita when the Río Parrita burst out of its banks and also flooded portions of Sitradique, La Palma and Pueblo Nuevo. Slides blocked the roads in Ujarrás and Bioley de Buenos Aires de Puntarenas and did slides in nearby El Páramo and El Brujo de Pérez Zeledón. Some 75 persons were isolated in El Páramo. The Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias issued alerts Saturday when the rain started. Officials plan to evaluate the damages today. Machinery was at work Sunday clearing slides and providing temporary solutions to bigger problems. Rains are predicted again for this afternoon and evening. Proposed park neighbors reported to be unhappy By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Residents in the vicinity of a proposed park in San Ramón seem to oppose the idea because they do not have correct information, according to a lawmaker who led a fact-finding trip there. The Parque Nacional Cerros del Azahar is the object of a legislative bill that is being considered by the Comisión Permanente Especial del Ambiente. Sadie Bravo Pérez, the deputy, organized the trip to the area. She said that she met with neighbors who thought their own lands would be taken if the park were created. This was not the case, she said. The neighbors also thought that a foreigner who holds land would benefit from the creation of the park. However, when the deputy checked she found that the man had turned his land over to the Asociación Ramonense de Conservación Ambiental. She also said that there is a perception that the resources of the area belong to the neighbors and not to the public in general. Religious tax breaks sought for all faiths By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A lawmaker wants to make sure that all religions get the same tax advantages given to the Roman Catholic Church. The lawmakers, Carlos Gutiérrez of Movimiento Libertario, has proposed tax exonerations for all religions that are listed with the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto. He said that despite constitutional rules of equality among religions, the Catholic Church is the only one getting the tax breaks, even on property that does not figure directly in religious efforts. He said that a 2006 directory of religions shows four independent Catholic churches not associated with the Vatican, three Eastern Orthodox churches, 2,780 Christian congregations of all types, 14 groups characterized as marginally Christian and 13 non-Christian groups. He proposed a change that would rectify the situation. Shootout at Pavas home leaves officer, suspect hurt By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Police and house burglars shot it out in Pavas, and a policeman and a suspect suffered bullet wounds. The shootout took place some 50 meters west of the end of the Rohrmoser boulevard about 7 p.m. Friday. A patrol car approached a house where burglars were removing items. The three burglars fired on officers, and one officer, identified as Freddy Madrigal, was wounded. Police returned fire and a suspect identified with the last names of Álvarez Solano suffered 10 bullet wounds. Police said he was carrying a 9 mm. weapon. Other individuals fled on foot. Police confiscated a vehicle nearby that contained a flat-screen television and other objects of value. Man died in shooting By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A Colombian man died in a planned execution Saturday evening in La Florida de Tibás. The man, identified as Humberto Alegria Sánchez, was walking with some friends when two cars pulled up and occupants started shooting at him. Fuerza Pública officers said they found at least 14 shell casings at the scene. The victim was hit at least four times. Woman drowns in San Isidro By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A woman identified as Anat Lederman, 43, was swept away by the Río San Isidro Sunday and rescue workers and firemen found her body some 500 meters downstream. She was reported to be an Israeli citizen andperhaps a tourist. She was in the river with her daughter, 12, who survived. |
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Costa Rica Third news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Oct. 23, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 210 | ||||||
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| The poor old dog beset with fleas is still a good target |
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| A todo perro flaco
se le pegan las pulgas. “Fleas always stick to a scraggy dog.” This dicho has to do with misfortune. The meaning essentially is that bad luck attracts more bad luck. Or, to employ an apparent paradigm, often when a person is poor his impecunious circumstance just seems to continue attracting one fiasco after another. This expression can also provide a means for defending oneself from unjust suspicion. For example, when something has gone missing and you are asked repeatedly, either by the object’s owner or the police, if you have seen it, or if you know what happened to the thing, you may finally respond that you have already been asked these questions many times and this is completely unfair. A todo perro flaco se le pegan las pulgas in this particular case would signify “Hey, I’m the poor innocent one here, but clearly you’re trying to attach some sort of malfeasance to me.” People often say of their neighborhood that it just seems to attract calamity and decline como un pero flaco se le pegan las pulgas. On this topic some will remark, “Oh, of course, but it’s because there are so many immigrants living around here.” In Costa Rica this usually means “so many Nicas,” while in the United States it might mean “so many Mexicans.” But isn’t this often just an attempt to cover up the fact that we don’t really want to take on issues like substandard housing, urban blight and the economic exploitation of our immigrant population? Blaming the problem on the victims themselves – the peros flacos – provides us with an easy way out of our civic and social responsibilities. To some Ticos, Nicaraguans are the reason for all of Costa Rica’s problems. This, of course, furnishes our government with a most convenient, if unacknowledged, way of letting itself off the hook for its neglect and inaction. My goodness, it almost makes one think that if the Nicas weren’t around to be our peros flacos we would have to invent them! |
I just came back from a working visit to Nicaragua. The other
day I got
into a discussion with an acquaintance that loves to come up with novel
excuses for the many shortcomings of our government here in Costa Rica.
I said to him I’d observed the streets in Managua are in much better
shape than those of San José. |
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Banco
de Costa Rica hooks up with MoneyGram to send and receive cash
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By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The Banco de Costa Rica said it has entered into an agreement with MoneyGram International, Inc., the financial services company. Bank customers will be able to send or receive money at any of the 800 teller windows in Costa Rica. |
The agreement allows money to be sent to any
country that maintains commercial relations with the United States, the
bank said. MoneyGram is a competitor of Western Union. The Banco de Costa Rica did not specify the rates but said they were competitive. |
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Fourth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Oct. 23, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 210 | ||||||
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Panama's voters OK canal
expansion, but turnout called low
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Preliminary referendum results in Panamá say voters have overwhelmingly approved a plan to expand the Panamá Canal. With nearly half the ballots counted, election officials reported about 80 percent of the votes were in favor of the $5.2-billion plan. Voter turnout was estimated at about 40 percent. The results were never in doubt. Eduardo Valdés Escoffery, the president of the election tribunal, called President Martín Torrijos at 6:30 p.m. to report that the yes votes had carried the day, according to the La Prensa newspaper. Torrijos supports the expansion plan and spoke to the nation Sunday night citing the approval. The Organization of American States had observers at the polls and reported nothing out of the ordinary. |
If approved, the $5.25
billion plan would create a new shipping lane
using new locks and a wider, deeper channel to allow the world's
largest ships to access the canal system. Supporters of the expansion say it is essential for Panamá to stay competitive in global shipping, would provide thousands of jobs and would boost the country's economy. Opponents have questioned the need for the project and say it will benefit the canal's customers more than Panama's citizens. Plus they question the envirnomental effects and say that important archaeological sites will be destroyed. Construction would begin in 2007 and be completed by 2014. The United States built the canal almost a century ago. It reverted to Panamanian control under treaties signed in 1977 by then-president Jimmy Carter and Panama's military leader General Omar Torrijos, the late father of the current Panamanian president. |
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New and traditional
techniques keep drug police busy
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Anti-drug police confronted some creative smuggling at the end of the week. In Paso Canoas officers encountered what they terms black heroin when they conducted a search of a bus passenger. The substance was hidden in an air purifier the man was transporting, they said. The suspect was identified as Turcio Martínez, 36, a Guatemalan en route through the country. Officers said the air device weighted 25 kilos (55 pounds) and contained five kilos (11 kilos) of the black substance. The substance did not seem to be the black tar heroin that is typical of Mexican production. This was a formerly white heroin that had been mixed with another substance, officers said. They said this was done to throw off sniffing dogs, to confuse officers and to confuse any field tests for drugs. The Policía de Control de Drogas said this was the first time they had seen this type of technique. Meanwhile, at Juan Santa María airport in Alajuela, agents said they discovered a Spanish man using a more traditional method. He had packets of a substance attached to his buttocks. He was identified by the last names of Unica Garrido. Officials said he was 30. They said they |
 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Púbica photo
A girdle of sorts was used to hold packages of a substance to
the body of this Spanish air traveler.confiscated three kilos and 276 grams of suspected cocaine, about 7.2 pounds. At the same airport officials said they also found more than a kilo of cocaine hidden in an air courier shipment of coffee bags going to the United States. |
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Uribe pulls plug on possible
prisoner exchange with leftist rebels in Colombia
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has withdrawn his offer to negotiate a prisoner exchange with leftist rebels after blaming them for a car bombing in Bogota. Uribe addressed the nation Friday, a day after a bomb at a military university in the Colombian capital wounded 23 people. He said the only remaining option is a military rescue of some 60 prisoners held by the rebels of the Fuerza Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. The Colombia president had earlier indicated he might be willing to swap those prisoners, who include former presidential candidate and French national Ingrid |
Betancourt as
well as three U.S. citizens, for
rebels held in government prisons. Betancourt's mother, Alvaro Levya, said the president's speech today amounts to a death sentence for her daughter. The explosion of a sport utility vehicle took place in a parking lot Thursday morning. The commander of the army, Gen. Mario Montoya, was attending an event at the university at the time of the blast, but he was unharmed. Colombia has been fighting a leftist insurgency for 40 years. |
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U.S.
Commerce secretary gives warning on Nicaraguan vote
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Special to
A.M. Costa Rica
The United States and Nicaragua have an important economic relationship that is entering a new stage now that the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement has entered into force, and the upcoming presidential elections present Nicaragua with an opportunity to enhance their economic ties or put them at risk, according to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez. In a video conference Thursday with Nicaraguan journalists, Gutierrez outlined the importance of the U.S.-Nicaraguan economic relationship as well as how the relationship may be affected by Nicaragua’s Nov. 5 presidential elections. Gutierrez pointed out that in 2005, before the passage of the free trade pact, the United States purchased 30 percent of Nicaragua’s exports and speculated that this market share will continue to expand as a result of the treaty known as CAFTA. “Before CAFTA we had a very important relationship and purchased an important amount of Nicaragua’s exports,” he said. “One can imagine what this can be with the development of CAFTA and with more trade and economic activity between both countries.” As an example of this increased economic activity Gutierrez pointed out that 13 major U.S. companies have plans to invest approximately $240 million in Nicaragua, investment that will create about 13,000 jobs. However, the secretary cautioned, these and other investments could be contingent on the outcome of Nicaragua’s presidential balloting. Polls show Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader, might be the winner. The U.S. had been working against Ortega in a way that has generated controversy even in the United States. “We are beginning to see this economic activity but there are companies that are waiting to see the results of Nicaragua’s upcoming presidential elections,” he explained. Gutierrez indicated that the United States and U.S. business community are preoccupied with the prospect of an electoral victory by the Sandinista party that governed Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990. “It is not a secret that when this party was in power many |
years ago, the relationship with the
United States suffered a great deal, and trade between both countries
dropped significantly,” Gutierrez said. “It is a historical fact
that relations with our country have been limited and damaged
when the
Sandinistas have been in power and this is our preoccupation.” Gutierrez said that the United States has not done calculations on the potential economic impact of a Sandinista victory, but given Nicaragua’s exports to the U.S. as well as the importance of U.S. investment in Nicaragua, he cautioned it could be significant. “One can imagine if investment did not grow or if it was cut, or if [exports] were cut in half,” he said. “It is a bit difficult to quantify the impact, but whatever impact would be important for the economy.” Rather than dwell on the potential fallout of a Sandinista victory, Gutierrez encouraged Nicaraguans to consider the benefits of continued economic cooperation with the United States. “One has to consider not just the negative but also the positive, what we can do together through the development of CAFTA,” he said. “If we continue opening our market, if we continue creating jobs, and if we continue promoting investment in Nicaragua, all of this will benefit the country and the prosperity of the country.” Gutierrez said it is important that Nicaraguans understand and weigh the risks and rewards as they head to the polls next month. “These elections are very important and we want the Nicaraguan people to remember the important economic relationship between both countries and that this is not a moment to put this at risk.” The secretary added that while the United States hopes to conclude free trade accords with Colombia, Peru and Panama in the near future, Nicaragua is among the relatively few nations currently with a free trade accord with the United States. He said that Nicaragua and the United States should look to build on the free trade agreement, not revise or cancel the accord, as some Sandinistas have advocated. “It would be a shame because we feel it is a great opportunity for both countries,” he said. |
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Survey
shows sharp increase in U.S. money being sent home
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By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
For decades, many immigrants to the United States, both legal and illegal, have sent money to relatives in their countries of birth. A recent study shows remittances from Latin American immigrants up 50 percent over the last two years. For many countries in Latin America, remittances constitute an economic lifeline that experts believe could promote greater development in the region. For every immigrant, the decision to send money to needy relatives in their native lands is a personal one. But the collective impact of remittances to Latin America is growing ever-larger, according to Luis Moreno, head of the Inter-American Development Bank. "This year Latin America will receive around $60 billion from its ex-patriates around the world," said Moreno. "About $45 billion of that total will come from the United States, up from $30 billion in 2004." A study commissioned by the bank estimates more than $13 billion will have been sent this year from California, more than $5 billion from Texas, and more than $3 billion each from New York and Florida. The study also shows significant growth in remittances from U.S. states that historically have not had large Hispanic populations, revealing the emerging demographic diversity of the Latin American immigrant community in the United States. According to the study, 73 percent of Hispanic immigrants send remittances, on average once a month. The average amount is $300. The top recipients are Mexico, at more than $20 billion, followed by Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Peru. Remittances to Cuba were not included in the study. |
For some countries, money received from
the United States and elsewhere constitutes their single largest source
of income, eclipsing World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans
as well as foreign assistance. But is this good news? Luis Moreno says remittances are a mixed blessing. "We are not celebrating the fact that remittances from Latin America continue to increase," he said. "These flows show that our region is still far from generating enough good jobs and opportunities for all its young people to prosper at home." Data for the study was compiled through surveys of Hispanic immigrant communities across the United States. Lead researcher Sergio Bendixen says most respondents said they were unemployed before coming to the United States, and that those who had work in their home countries were struggling to survive. "The were making $100, $150, $200 a month," said Bendixen. "All of a sudden they come to the United States. They get a job within two weeks, a month. And they are making five times, six times, ten times the amount of money. Very easy to understand what the magnet is." And the trend is likely to continue, according to the development bank's manager for multilateral investments, Donald Terry, who noted the United States recently observed the passing of the 300 million mark in population. "The United States government projects that, of the next 100 million people to live and work in the United States, 40 million will come from outside of the United States," said Donald Terry. "They will be immigrants." |
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| A.M. Costa Rica Sports news local and from the wires |
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| San José, Costa Rica,
Monday, Oct. 23, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 210 |
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| Costa
Rica's surf team ends up in seventh place out of 33 |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Gilbert Brown of Puerto Viejo — the last Costa Rica Surf Team member in the International Surfing Association World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach, California, started paddled out confidently Saturday morning in 4- to 5-foot waves, and made quick snaps and rode down the line to defend the colors of Costa Rica. This was the Repercharge Heat 7. The level of surfing was high, and he stayed alive for the first 10 minutes. However, the heat was a fight to the death between Brown and the Hawaiian Sebastián Zietz, one that came to a head with a double interference on one particular wave that ended the hopes of the Tico. Brown placed fourth. Australia’s Julian Wilson won first place, Zietz took second place even with the interference and Mexico’s Diego Cadena was 3rd. Despite Brown’s elimination, the seven-day stand of the Costa Rican surf delegation has made history both in the global surfing community, and in the Latin world. With the exception of Brazil, this Tico team of Brown; Nino Myrie of Puerto Viejo; Luis Vindas, Diejo Naranjo and Lisbeth Vindas, all Jacó; Nataly Bernold of Tamarindo, Iván Castillo of Quepos, and Walter Gatgens of Quepos — has gone further in the surf games than anyone expected. The International Surfing Association Web page of the ISA, shows provisionally that Costa Rica has earned 11,720 points for its surf work this past week. The team |
 Photo by Shifi Surf Shots
The Tico World Surfing Games teamoccupies seventh place among 33 countries, and except for Brazil, is the best Latin American surf team. In a surprising addition to a spectacular week for the Costa Rican group, the surfers were invited back Saturday afternoon to the beach once again to represent their country in a surf contest among the best-of-the best in the tag team semifinals. The Ticos got the nod when Spain decided not to participate. With strong efforts both Saturday afternoon and Sunday, the Costa Rican team ended up in fourth place in the tag team finals after Australia, Brazil and South Africa. |
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