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A.M. Costa Rica
Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |||||||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 227 | |||||||||
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There are a lot of gray areas
in rules governing aguinaldos By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The time for paying the 2012 aguinaldo or Christmas bonus is approaching fast, and expats can find detailed discussions of the mandatory payment on the Web site of the Ministerio de Trabajo in Spanish and on the sites of a number of local lawyers. The payment is due to employees by Dec. 20, based on earnings from Dec. 1, 2011, to Nov. 30, 2012. The payment is supposed to be an additional twelfth of what the employee earned. Those employers who do not pay can end up in labor court. Still expats have a lot of questions, such as how the aguinaldo is calculated for someone who has been ill or incapacitated for a period during the year. Or do they have to compensate the live-in maid for her housing and her food as well as her salary? The ministry is quick to point out that plenty of gray areas exist in the law. Pretty well established is that expats do not have to pay aguinaldos to their plumbers or their lawyers. These are people who provide professional services. But how about the gardener or the guy who comes around each week to wash the car? Thankfully, legislation does not require the payment of social charges on the aguinaldo. There is no Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social involved nor does the amount show up in the riesgo de trabajo workmen's compensation premium. For the live-in maid, the ministry advises figuring that the food and housing represents about 50 percent of the salary, so the aguinaldo payment would be 150 percent of a twelfth of the salary. Generally employers do not have to pay for the period that an employee has been on sick leave or otherwise not at work even if they received a full or partial payment during that time, according to the ministry. Workers who pay their own Caja charges, such as a professional gardener, generally are not entitled to aguinaldo, although a wise expat might be inclined to pay the money to avoid future conflicts. And this is a good time for expats to review their employment relationships to make sure there are valid contracts that defined the job. At the same time, expats should check that all who come on a property to do work are covered by the Caja, either by the expats him or herself or with an independent worker policy. Some presumed independent workers have been known to bring labor court actions against an employer claiming they really were employees and are entitled to years of back vacation pay and aguinaldos. Gathering Thursday marks night of Nazi violence By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
German Nazis tore through the streets attacking Jews Nov. 9, 1938. Many Jews were killed, and others were arrested and taken to concentration camps. The streets were left littered with broken glass from windows of Jewish stores and synagogues, resulting in a sweep being called Kristallnacht “Crystal Night.” Bnai Brith Costa Rica has organized an event in commemoration of the event Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Centro Israelita Sionista de Costa Rica in Pavas. “The greatest tragedy of the Jewish people and humanity began during the sad celebrated night of the broken glass,” said a release. “The day marked the end of the period of segregation and the beginning of physical violence, deportations and murders, as the prologue to World War II.” The central theme of the commemoration will be children during the Holocaust. It is accompanied by a quote from Irena Sendler, a Polish woman who saved 2,500 children from death in a Warsaw Ghetto: “The reason why I rescued children from the ghetto dates back to my family home and childhood,” the quote said. “I was brought up to react that a person must be rescued when drowning, regardless of religion and nationality. A requirement dictated by the heart.” Special guest speakers for the night will be Elizabeth Odio, former vice president of Costa Rica and former judge of the international criminal court, and Alejandro Toledo, former president of the Republic of Peru. The facility of the event is located adjacent to the Instituto Nacional de Acueductos y Alcantarillados building. Home invaders even beat an 80-year-old woman By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Six armed individuals stormed and sacked a home occupied by at least seven persons in Hatillo 4 Monday night, according to a judicial bulletin. The attackers beat all of the persons in the home during the robbery, officials said. The more serious injuries were inflicted on a 44-year-old man who was shot in the head and an 80-year-old woman who was pistol-whipped in the face, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. The report said that the injured were taken to Hospital San Juan de Dios. Investigators have not yet determined how much money was stolen from the home.
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page | |
| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 227 |
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'This is like a light or a window to the infinite for me,' said Alexandra Falla of her painting. |
 A.M. Costa
Rica/Aaron Knapp
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| They achieve success, thanks to a program
of small loans |
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By
Aaron Knapp
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Eight years ago Karla Solano was barely making ends meet as she cleaned and worked in the homes of other people. She envisioned a way that she could pull herself out of this situation through her fondness for knitting. About seven years ago, she saw her chance. Ms. Solano learned that a government organization was giving out loans to impoverished persons with good ideas and an entrepreneurial drive. Ms. Solano used that loan to buy materials to make scarves, hats, shirts and other clothing articles and accessories. Her business, Cambiáre, took off from there. “I'm not poor anymore,” she said. Ms. Solano, 40, still makes and sells her products at a workshop she has set up in her home in Concepción de Tres Ríos. However, she also sells her products online at www.madecostarica.com and makes a comfortable living. She told her story in front of a cubicle containing dozens of her products at the Antigua Aduana in eastern San José Tuesday. She had one of the 150 small businesses selling products during the first annual Feria Nacional Empresarial. The two-day fair began Tuesday and will continue all day today. Small business owners, primarily families, are selling products as common as coffee, strawberries and blouses but also products as uncommon as bean bag chairs, bonsai trees and wood-carved models of cars. Christmas music, vendors selling hand-made Christmas ornaments as well as tamales set a holiday mood for the event. The fair was organized by the Instituto Mixto de Ayuda Social, the government organization that gave Ms. Solano the loan to start her business. The institute's goal is to implement policies and initiatives that will end poverty in Costa Rica. One of the institute's initiatives is apoyo para la microempresa, which gives financial and technical assistance to persons who want to start a small business. The initiative is particularly designed to assist very poor women and families who have ideas with potential but lack the money to start up. The businesses featured at this fair are the greatest success stories of people who have turned their lives around using this initiative, said Mayra Diaz, general manager of the agency. “We have these businesses here today so that they can present their products, so that they can have business between each other and so that the country can get to know them and buy their products,” said Ms. Diaz. The institute operates 10 regional offices throughout the country. Each office selected 15 successful businesses to have booths at the fair. Ivannia Blanca, vice-mayor of Moravia, and Lorena Solís stopped at Ms. Solano's booth to look at some of her clothing products. Ms. Blanca said that she was there to get to know these women, especially from her canton, and to reward them for their efforts with her business. “The local government wants to empower women of the canton through the initiatives that IMAS offers,” said Ms. Blanca. “What I'm doing is learning about women selling their own products.” For two shoppers, Yalile and her mother Jazmín, this fair is unique because the products and the people who sell them are much more genuine. “This is different from other fairs because each person has a different product,” said the daughter. “The people from these towns are more friendly,” added the mother. One booth they stopped at was that of Montesland, a quail farm in Atenas. Eduardo Hidalgo, his wife, Jenny Gatgens, and their children all do their share to make the 5-year-old business successful. “It's a family business,” said Ms. Gatgens. “We have four children, and everybody works. Their table featured hard-boiled quail eggs to sample, but the |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Aaron Knapp
Karla Solano shows Ivianna
Blanco a scarf. A.M. Costa Rica/Aaron Knapp
Jenny Gatgens and Eduardo
Hidalgo show products fromtheir family farm. family also sells eggs in different forms as well as quail meat. Hidalgo worked at a similar farm in Colombia and decided to start his own business in Costa Rica. They originally got funds from a bank, but along the way, the couple also received funds from the institute. Passionate about green sustainable farming, Hidalgo said that he hopes that he can start selling the products abroad to customers who share these values. “In this moment we have the product permissions, and we just need contacts to export our products,” he said. Across the hall, Alexandra Fallas, 39, sat at a booth that she had filled with landscapes she had painted of scenery near her home in San Clemente, Limón. Her paintings feature majestic scenes of waterfalls, beaches, and forests, as well as more mundane but equally stimulating images of homes and railroad tracks in the area. “I like to capture that which is typical in Limón,” said Ms. Fallas. She added she has been painting her surroundings since she was very young. She explained the mental process she goes through when painting an image with exuberant rapidity. She said that she starts with a vague image and colors in her mind, and then goes blank while she paints until the piece is completed. She started her business, Artesana y Pintura Alexandra, three years ago when she received a loan from the institute. She designed clothes and painted images before that, but she said the loan allowed her to start using high quality materials for her business. She said that the fair is very important for her because it allows her to make contacts with people who want to commission pieces from her. “It's important because it lets me meet people,” said Ms. Fallas. “I can get opinions from other people to better my work.” The fair will continue today from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. The Antigua Aduana is on Calle 23 in San José and admission is free. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 227 | |||||
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| Alert
issued for high seas along the Pacific coast By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica's emergency commission issued an alert Tuesday that residents on the Pacific Coast should expect to experience high seas for the next three days. Commission data indicates that waves could reach 3.2 meters or nearly 10 feet in height at times from crest to trough. People living in communities on that coast that are susceptible to tidal flooding and erosion should take extra precautions, said a press release from the commission. The announcement came from the Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias, a government body responsible for planning and managing responses to natural disasters. The alert was issued Tuesday based on data collected from the Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología of the Universidad de Costa Rica. The press release said that the rough seas on the Pacific Coast are a combination of high swells approaching from the south and strong winds off of the northern Pacific. The press release highlights Estero de Puntarenas, Barrio El Carmen and Cocal in Puntarenas, Boca Vieja, Isla Damas, Playa Palo Seco and Cocal in Quepos, and Playa Azul and Corralillo in Tarcoles as communities that should take extra precautions. Work to begin in Flamingo for new coast guard station By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A cornerstone for a new station for the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas is being placed today in Flamingo with a ceremony that includes representatives of the U.S. Embassy. The coast guard is an agency under the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública, and Mario Zamora, the minister, is scheduled to attend. Also expected to attend are Anne S. Andrew, the U.S. ambassador, and Rear Admiral Charles D. Michel, director. Joint Interagency Task Force South. The U.S. Coast Guard officer also is a lawyer. Guanacaste Veterans group is seeking new members By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Guanacaste Veteran’s Association plans a meeting Saturday at noon at Coconutz in Playa del Coco. The association is looking for members who have served in the military or support the military and want to be part of the membership, it said. "Join us for camaraderie, fellowship, and a chance to offer services to our adopted country of Costa Rica," the organization said in a release. Those interested should RSVP, for planning purposes as soon as possible, said the organization. More information is available from Karen and Quinn Slack at 8938-3251, 8708-1325 and slack.karen@yahoo.com, or from Dave Reynolds at lodgepole46@yahoo.com. Marchers will tour country opposing modified corn By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Opponents of genetically modified corn plan to march around the country from Nov. 25 until Dec. 2 when they will end up in a vigil at the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería in La Sabana. The object of the protest is corn produced by Monsanto that resists weed killers. That means a farmer can spray a product like Roundup on a field without killing the corn. The local subsidiary of Monsanto is seeking permission to use the seeds of this variety in Costa Rica. The appeal is to the Comisión Técnica Nacional en Bioseguridad. Opponents argue that the pollen from the Monsanto corn will invade the genetic structure of local corn and that the corn is a health risk. The opponents cite a September study by a French research team that has been generally dismissed as flawed. The march is being organized by the Red por una América Latina Libre de Transgénicos. Also involved is the organizations Amigos de la Tierra and the Bloque Verde. Amigos de la Tierra also is promoting on its Web site a march against what they say is police repression. The march is Thursday and stemmed from the confrontation between police and a group of protesters that included lawmakers and rowdy students last Thursday. Amigos de la Tierra organization also opposes free trade and foreign investment. Contralora general cites criminality in new highway By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The contralora general de la República told lawmakers Tuesday that her study of the new highway along the Río San Juan disclosed information that she thought warranted a criminal investigation. The contralora general, Marta Acosta Zúñiga, said she reported this information to the prosecutors in the Ministerio Público. She was speaking before the Comisión Permanente Especial de Control de Ingreso y Gasto Público. There already are investigations under way involving the new Ruta 1856. It was badly built with shoddy materials and parts are already collapsing. The road was designed to open up the area along the river to vehicle traffic because Nicaragua owns the river. Construction began after Nicaraguan soldiers invaded part of Costa Rica. Ms. Acosta declined to give detailed information citing laws that prohibit disclosure of criminal investigations. However, it is well known that many employees and former employees of the Ministerio de Obras Pública y Transportes are under investigation. Ms. Acosta's study covered more complex areas than construction and included a look into the financing and handling of money. Quake estimated at 4.0+ took place in San Ramón By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The Laboratorio de Ingenieria Sismica reported that a 4.0-magnitude earthquake took place Tuesday about 10.3 kilometers (about 6 miles) south southwest of San Isidro de Penas Blancas, San Ramón, Alajuela. The quake was felt in Ciudad Quesada and Palmares, the Laboratorio said. The Red Sismológica Nacional estimated the magnitude at 4.2 and said the epicenter was 4.6 kilometers south of La Tigra, San Carlos, and that it was felt in La Tigra and Zarcero. The Red said the cause was a local fault. The various earthquake monitoring agencies frequently disagree on magnitude because they use different technologies. Both agreed Tuesday on the time: 11:15 a.m. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa
Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 227 | |||||||||
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| U.N.
once again condemns U.S. blockade of Cuba Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
For the 21st consecutive year at the United Nations, the General Assembly Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba. By a vote of 188 in favor to three against with two abstentions, the Assembly reiterated its call to all states to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures not conforming with their obligations to reaffirm freedom of trade and navigation. Voting against were Israel, Palau and the United States. The abstentions were the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia The 193-member Assembly “once again urges states that have and continue to apply such laws and measures to take the necessary steps to repeal or invalidate them as soon as possible,” the text added. The minister of foreign affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, told the assembly during the debate that preceded the vote that the last four years of U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has witnessed a persistent tightening of the blockade, which has been in place for over half a century. “There is no legitimate or moral reason to maintain this blockade,” he stated, adding that the use of “less strident and threatening rhetoric” and certain partial measures to relax the travel restrictions on residents of Cuban origin and others for academic, scientific or cultural purposes have failed to conceal the tightening of the blockade over the last four years. “The blockade is one of the main causes of the economic problems of our country and the major obstacle to its economic and social development,” he added. The U.S. delegate, Ronald Godard, said that his country, like others, determined the conduct of its economic relationships with other States based on its best interest. With regards to Cuba, the priority of President Obama’s administration was to empower Cubans to determine their own future. Graphic tobacco images are effective, study said By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The more graphic the better is the conclusion of a new study of warnings on cigarette packages. A team at the University of South Carolina in the United States analyzed what kind of warning labels deter adults from smoking. “Smokers rated warning labels with pictures and text to be stronger in terms of their believability, their relevance to smokers themselves and in terms of their effectiveness than the warnings that only contain text,” said the lead investigator, James Thrasher of the Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior at the university's Arnold School of Public Health. The team's findings will appear in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. More than 40 countries have implemented health warning labels with pictures. “The warnings that were more graphic, that show physical damage of smoking on the body were more effective than other kinds of imagery, such as showing human beings suffering the impacts of smoking or more symbolic or abstract imagery like, for example, showing tombstones to represent death that could be caused by smoking,” Thrasher said. Smokers with low literacy rated pictorial labels as more credible than text-only warnings — a major finding for developing countries with high illiteracy and smoking rates. But researchers also found that smokers eventually become desensitized to even the most graphic imagery on packages, such as photographs of diseased organs. “These warnings wear out over time, no matter what kind of content you have on them — whether they're text only or whether they include these more graphic images or more symbolic, abstract images,” explained Thrasher. The World Health Organization recommends that the warnings are refreshed on a regular basis, about every two years or so, he noted. Australia has taken matters a step farther. It recently became the first country to mandate plain packaging. That move is being hailed by Margaret Chan, World Health director general. Speaking at a six-day global tobacco control conference in Seoul, Ms. Chan urged other countries to get their governments to require packaging without brand logos. “It peels off the glamour of a package full of harm and replaces it with the truth. It will have vast benefits for health,” she said Monday at the opening of the organization's Convention on Tobacco Control. |
Your place to stay here As high season approaches, we like to feature our advertisers who offer long- and short-term rentals for expats and tourists.
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M. Costa
Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 227 | |||||||||
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Latin America news |
Our readers' opinions
More belt tightening soughtto keep power bills lower Dear A.M. Costa Rica: In response to your story that ICE will be raising electrical power rates, I have the following comments. ICE personnel in Nuevo Arenal are pleasant and helpful and respond in a timely manner when asked to investigate an electrical problem. However, it is my opinion that ICE would not need to raise electrical power rates if they reduced their spending in the following areas: a.) Reduce or end support of professional athletic teams. b.) Sell some of their vast property holdings. c.) Reduce the number of ICE employers. Have you noticed ICE employers painting “ICE” on each concrete fence post on their property? d.) Purchase less expensive vehicles. Mercedes Benz and Volvo trucks are quite expensive. Repair parts for these vehicles are very expensive. e.) Repair their vehicles when they need repair and not let them sit until they can’t be repaired and have to be replaced. f.) Do not permit their drivers to speed while driving their vehicles. Gas is expensive. I am sure that I have left out other areas that ICE can reduce spending, such as executive salaries and pensions. Al
Almeida
Nuevo Aenal It's a wonderful country but changes are needed Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Re: Article Tuesday: "The big question among hospitality operators for the last three years has been: Where are all the tourists?" Maybe they are starting to learn the truth about Costa Rica. Maybe if Costa Rica would spend the 30+ million on roads, crime and traffic control instead of advertising how wonderful Costa Rica is they might get more tourist. Another thing that would help would be some turnouts on the roads so the country can be seen. A big start would be take all the speed bumps and put them in the holes. Take the 8 to high as 16 police at a time checking on up-to-date stickers and have them give out tickets for speeding, improper lane usage, running stop signs and lights — and the list goes on and on. When I first moved here my wife (Tica) and I were inviting everyone we knew to come visit Costa Rica. About 2008 is when she said don't invite anyone to come here any more. Bob
Woodrow
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