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Court tells regulator
Our reader's opinionto move Limón rate hearing By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Sala IV constitutional court has ordered that the public hearing on possible bus rate increase be held closer to those who might use the service. The decision, released Monday, came in response to a case filed by a man identified by the last names of Correa Garita against the Authoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos. The appeal said that a hearing on a Limón bus route has been scheduled for Guápiles and not Limón. He said that the distance would prevent Puerto Limón citizens from entering testimony. The court ordered that the hearing be rescheduled at a place within the bus route. The decision does not have direct affect on other similar hearings, but the decision suggests that a citizen might receive a favorable vote from the court if the same issue were raised for another hearing. by Grecia B&B operators Dear A.M. Costa Rica: In your article on the supposed two millionth tourist based on the unreliable statistics put out by the tourism Institute, you use the words "visitors," "persons," "arrivals," "tourists" to describe the number of "tourists" visiting Costa Rica. So are the "visitors," "persons" and "arrivals" really "tourists," or are they returning residents and Costa Ricans? Has the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo done a breakdown of where these "tourists" come from? Has anybody asked ICT if their sales tax income has decreased because of fewer tourists? That would be a definite indicator of the number of "tourists" who have visited. You say some hotels are predicting a 20 percent increase in business in 2009. What planet are they living on? What makes them think Costa Rica is immune from a worldwide tourism downturn? Do they know the global economic reality? Do they understand that if people are losing jobs in the U.S.? What makes them think it won't affect Costa Rica? It always amazes us that the Costa Rican powers-that-be like to believe what they want to believe and spout "optimistic" utterings which have nothing to do with reality. We have been running a B&B in the Grecia area for 15 years, and 2008 is the worst year we have experienced and have no reason to think 2009 will be any better. We have talked to other hotels, car rental companies and real estate companies, both in the Central Valley and at beach locations, and everyone says the same: business is drastically down. So who knows how the "survey" mentioned in your article came to the conclusions they did. Billions of dollars have been lost worldwide, stock markets are volatile, people have lost retirement income, so where are the "millions" of tourists going to come from? All the hype surrounding the supposed 2 millionth tourist is just sand in the eyes, and we do not believe it for a second! Tessa and Martin Borner
Grecia, Costa Rica EDITOR'S NOTE: Our reporters have been unsuccessful in obtaining 2008 data that shows the country of origin of those entering Costa Rica. We have not had this trouble in previous years. The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo blames immigration officials. We do know that several hundred thousand of supposed tourists are from nearby Central American countries and are not tourists in the traditional sense. The survey was by the Cámera Nacional de Turismo. Jamaica will make loans to ailing tourism sector By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Jamaica's prime minister has announced a $6.4 million loan for the tourism sector as part of a huge economic stimulus package to stave off some of the side effects of the global financial slowdown. In a televised broadcast Sunday night, the prime minister, Bruce Golding, said the measures would mostly be aimed at small businesses and manufacturing, as well as the ailing tourism industry. The plan includes tax cuts and at least $6.4 million in loans for the tourism sector to help with cash flow, he said. Some $4.5 million more will go toward small businesses. Golding also pledged to help workers who have lost their jobs and borrowers who are having difficulty making their mortgage payments. Golding said the moves would help weather the crisis, but that further re-structuring would be needed to make Jamaica more business and investment friendly.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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Christmas standby, the tamal,
is about 20% more expensive
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
According to the unreconstructed Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every 25th of December. But even the enlightened Scrooge, illuminated at the end of the 1843 Dickens novel, would say "Bah, Humbug" at the price increases the economic ministry found in toys and the traditional Yule dish, the tamal, this year. The ministry, in twin surveys, compared prices. For tamales the ministry surveyors visited 56 commercial outlets and checked the price on 15 products that usually are part of the tamal. They found price differences of 263 percent for similar items and differences of 56 percent in identical items. The biggest difference, 263 percent, was in 100- and 250-meter spools of string used to tie up the uncooked tamal in banana leaves. But even with sweet peppers (170 percent difference) and plain old carrots (150 percent differences) prices varied wildly. Even routine items like potatoes (137 percent) and onions (121 percent) failed to show consistency in price. The Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Comercio conducts surveys all year, but the Christmas results generally are better publicized and considered an decent index of inflation. |
Using
the figures gathered from store visits, the ministry estimated
the cost of making 50 tamales to be 19,946 colons or about
$36.40. That's 32 percent higher than a year ago, the ministry said
with potatoes showing a 194 percent increase for 2008. Coincidentally potatoes are not included in the free trade treaty with the United States. Rice also showed a jump of 62 percent, and chicken breast was up 31 percent. Even counting the devaluation of the colon, which has a 12 percent drop against the dollar for the year, the 32 percent increase equates to a real increase of about 20 percent. The toy survey involved visits to the major outlets. The study found differences between types of board games of 390 percent and 205 percent for similar radio controlled cars. For identical items, the differences were less. Parker Brothers Monopoly sets were found with just a 13.4 percent difference in price, and prices of Lego sets were just 10.7 percent different, the ministry said. However, buyers should shop around if they are buying a Nitro 2424 radio controlled car. The ministry found a 114.9 percent difference or 6,891-colon ($12.58) variation between outlets on the identical product. |
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Sports fishermen hope to
clarify longline rules Wednesday
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Though no final decisions were made at the Costa Rica fisheries institute’s board meeting Friday, The Billfish Foundation reported that it is cautiously optimistic that changes needed for the protection of sailfish and other sport fishing resources will finally be approved this week. The foundation seeks to correct what it characterizes as errors in a Dec. 5 resolution by the Instituto Costarricense de Pesca y Acuicultura. After passing the resolution, the institute announced expansion of conservation measures to protect sailfish from commercial fishing. Upon examination, sport fishing representatives said that the resolution was flawed with inconsistent wording. Herbert Nanne, Central American conservation director for the foundation, is credited with catching the errors. The Billfish Foundation seeks to create a 30-mile zone south of Quepos where longlines cannot be deployed from January through March. It also wants to prohibit the use of live bait on longlines and also prohibit the export of sailfish. The longline and export provisions are aimed at commercial fishermen. The foundation also is backing a new regulation prohibiting removing sailfish from the water to take photographs prior to release. This mainly is directed at sports fishermen. The foundation has said that commercial overfishing of the |
game species was jeopardizing
fishing tourism in Costa Rica. Officials were supposed to make the corrections in the resolution Friday, the foundation said, but new issues arose regarding disposition of the sailfish already caught, processed and stored frozen to be checked by the institute for future exportation. The foundation is working with the institute to develop means to inspect and certify currently frozen inventory and track this product as it leaves the country. After these sailfish are sold no further export will be allowed, it said. The chief of the institute's legal department has recommended meeting with sport fishing representatives Wednesday to again draft the agreement on sailfish conservation measures and to resolve the new issues. Nanne said the foundation is working to get the final document drafted Wednesday for a meeting with the leaders of the sport fishing sector and the president of the institute. Nanne said he hopes the revised resolution can be approved at an institute meeting Thursday. That is the last meeting of the Instituto Costarricense de Pesca y Acuicultura for 2008. Ellen Peel, foundation president, said that the errors in the Dec. 5 resolution would have negated the effect of the live bait ban. Established in 1986, The Billfish Foundation says it is the only non-profit organization dedicated solely to conserving and enhancing billfish populations worldwide. The world headquarters are in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. |
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U.S. asserts legal authority
over Canadian living in Thailand in child sex case
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The U.S. Department of Justice has claimed jurisdiction over foreign nationals who help U.S. citizens engage in child sex tourism. The case involves a Canadian who is charged with helping U.S. citizens engage in illegal activity in Thailand. The man, John Wrenshall, 62, was arrested Monday on charges of conspiring to travel in foreign commerce with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with children; aiding and abetting sex tourism; and conspiracy to produce, production of, and distribution of child pornography, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The case is relevant to individuals in Costa Rica who would profit from child sex tourism involving U.S. citizens. Wrenshall, a Canadian citizen living in Thailand, was arrested at London’s Heathrow International Airport early Monday by London’s Metropolitan Police Service based on a U.S. warrant, the Justice Department said. A grand jury in New Jersey returned an indictment against Wrenshall Aug. 25, 2008. Wrenshall is charged with one |
count of conspiracy to
engage in sex tourism, two counts of aiding and abetting sex tourism,
one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography, seven counts of
production of child pornography, and seven counts of distribution of
child pornography. The charges stem from Wrenshall’s alleged involvement with U.S. citizens who traveled to Thailand to sexually abuse children and produce visual depictions of that abuse, the Justice Department said. According to the indictment and court documents, Wrenshall had frequent access to Thai boys, some as young as 6 years old, at his Thailand home. As charged in the indictment, from at least as early as May 2000, Wrenshall helped arrange trips to his home during which U.S. citizens and others paid Wrenshall money to engage in sexual acts with the boys, sometimes for weeks at a time. Wrenshall’s customers were allowed to videotape their abuse. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison for each count of sex tourism, a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count of child pornography production, and up to 15 years in prison for distribution of child pornography. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 per count. |
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Youth unemployment and
frustration seen increasing crime
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The world financial crisis could increase violent youth behavior in Latin America because unemployment and frustration among the young also will increase, said the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. The assessment was part of a report, "Social Panorama of Latin America 2008," which dedicates a chapter on the issue of youth and family violence in the region, and stresses the importance of maintaining a permanent dialog with youths. Violence has increased in most of the region over recent years, and youths are clearly over-represented in terms of the incidence and gravity of violence, as both victims and perpetrators, the report said. In many countries in the region, young people are committing violent crimes at increasingly early ages and are dying at increasingly early ages as a result of such crimes, the report said, adding that governments should adopt policies to address the causes of this escalating violence. During 2008, the Economic Commission said it conducted a survey among interior ministry officials of Latin American |
governments on their policies and
programs to tackle youth violence. The survey found that the main
problem is organized youth
violence — ordinary offenses, gang activity, street violence, and
possession of weapons — in specific urban areas in a number of
countries in the region. Street gangs (commonly referred to as pandillas, but also maras in Central America and quadrilhas in Brazil), rising crime in the Southern Cone, and violence in the Andean region all reveal a need to determine specific areas of intervention. Of particular concern is the involvement of youth gangs in drug use, drug trafficking and human trafficking, the report said. The authorities also stated that the greatest problem affecting young people of both sexes was poverty, said the commission. Young males saw unemployment as their worst problem, whereas for young women, the most serious problem was domestic violence, the report said. Preventive policies and measures should be combined with punitive ones to sanctioning the effects while addressing the causes, said the commission. Reducing youth violence also requires more educational activities, programs to strengthen first employment and adequate social reinsertion for rehabilitated youths, it said. |
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says his life is threatened Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The U.N. General Assembly president, a Nicaraguan politician, said Monday that very serious threats have appeared on the Internet against his life and the matter is being looked into by the pertinent authorities. He is Miguel D’Escoto, and a statement critical of Israeli diplomats. The nature of the threats was not defined further. D'Escoto said Israel’s detention and denial of entry of the independent U.N. human rights expert for the occupied Palestinian territory “reflects a dangerous decision by individual countries to rebuff U.N. mandates and U.N.-appointed mandate holders.” In a statement issued by his spokesman, he said the action by Israel is “not helpful or conducive for the climate of international harmony that he is trying to promote.” The statement said U.N. Special Rapporteur Richard Falk was denied entry to Israel when he arrived at Tel Aviv airport with staff members from the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on an official visit. Dynamic feed disabled on archived pages.
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