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Support for state banks
gets first approval By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Asamblea Legislativa approved on first reading Wednesday a $117.5 million infusion of capital to three state banks. The money is designed to free up credit for smaller companies. The lawmakers approved the bill unanimously, although two expressed concern that the measure does not state exactly how the funds will be distributed. Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Nacional de Costa Rica will each get $50 million. Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago will get $17.5, according to Casa Presidencial, which praised the legislative action. Also praising the vote was the Unión Costarricense de Cámaras y Asociaciones del Sector Empresarial Privado, which has as members many firms that rely on credit for daily operations. The chamber association also said that the Banco Central should reactivate its line of credit in foreign currencies to help exporting companies. In the legislature, Leda Zamora of the Partido Acción Ciudadana expressed a concern that the bill could not be passed a second time and published in the La Gaceta official newspaper so that the funds are available before Jan. 1. Bank teller held in thefts from customers' accounts By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Judicial agents detained a 32-year-old bank teller in Siquirres for investigation in the theft of some 23 million colons (about $42,000) and $9,000 from customer accounts. Investigators said they expected more complaints over and above the seven they already have. Agents said the person who took the money targeted accounts that had little movement. Many of the victims were retired individuals receiving a pension. Daily vehicle restrictions lifted for holiday period By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Drivers of vehicles regardless of final license plate number can travel through the restricted area of the San José starting Monday and until Jan. 5. The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes has suspended the restrictions that were designed to decrease congestion and save fuel. The restriction that kept 20 percent of the vehicles out of the area at peak hours has been in force since June. The ministry said, however, that restrictions on heavy trucks and the hours they may travel into the city will continue. New Jersey family of 7 picked as 2 millionth tourist By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Seven members of a New Jersey family were designated the country's 2 millionth arriving tourist in a ceremony at Juan Santamaría airport Wednesday. The family name is Biedron. The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo said it validated its selection with the Escuela de Estadísticas of the Universidad de Costa Rica. The parents Mark and Gretchen Biedron operate the environmentally sound Willow School in Gladstone, New Jersey. They have been written up in newspapers and magazines there for the way the school was constructed. Carlos Ricardo Benavides, tourism minister, said the family represented the type of tourist the country was looking for, a person interested in the environment and seeking an authentic experience in Costa Rica. That was a way of rejecting the booming sex tourism business without really mentioning it. The institute said that 29 percent of the tourists come to Costa Rica with their families. Because the institute does not have access to recent arrival data, hosting 2 million tourists this year is not a sure thing. The number was extrapolated from the first 10 months of the year and did not take into account the impact of the financial crisis in the United States. Man going dancing murdered By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A 33-year-old La Uruca resident going to a dance ran into two juvenile robbers late Tuesday near his home. The pair stabbed him fatally in the leg. He died a short time later at Hospital México, according to the Judicial Investigating Organization. He was identified by the last name of Rodríguez. Agents said they had identified the two juveniles involved.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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New traffic fines approved
but put on ice until mid-January
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Those caught driving drunk New Year's morning will not face the stiffer penalties of the new traffic law. The law was signed by President Óscar Arias Sánchez Wednesday, but it will not take effect until 10 working days after it is published in the La Gaceta official newspaper. The current fine for drunk driving is 20,000 colons or about $36.50. The fine under the new law is 11 times as much, and there are provisions for jailing drivers who injure others. The government is providing funds for 400 new Tránsito officers to enforce the law. There was no explanation from Casa Presidencial on why Arias stalled on signing the measure. Officials unveiled the proposal Oct. 31, 2006, at Casa Presidencial. Officials then said they hoped to get the measure to the Asamblea Legislativa in a week. Arias said then that the goal was to reduce the rate of traffic deaths from 14 to 11 per each 100,000 inhabitants by 2010. |
The cost of caring for those
injured in motor vehicle mishaps in 2005
alone was 3.4 billion colons or about $7 million, said Karla
González,
the transport minister, at the presentation. Wednesday she explained that the La Gaceta would not be publishing over the Christmas holidays and that the law itself says it does not go into effect until 10 days after it is published. Those days are based on a five-day work week. The bill won first approval from the Asamblea Legislativa Nov. 24, but Arias was on a round-the-world trip. When signing the measure Arias said that the law was severe and necessary to end the war that is seen daily on the highways. He added that the law is not directed at responsible drivers. Because of the high fines and other penalties, some have seen the new law as a license for Tránsito officers to seek bribes, but the law also creates an anti-bribery squad to investigate such matters. The law probably will go into effect sometime in mid-January. |
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New information minister to
do double duty to hold seat
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Arias administration does not want to turn over a legislative seat to a disgraced former consul in Nicaragua. So Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, the minister of the Presidencia, said Wednesday that his brother, the president, would name Mayi Antillón as his minister of Información at the beginning of January but she would keep her legislative position, too. Ms. Antillón was elected on the Partido Liberación Nacional slate from the Provincia de San José. If she quits, the next person on the election ticket gets the Asamblea Legislativa seat. That person happens to be Victor Láscarez, the former consul. Láscarez had to leave his consular post when he was discovered assisting two Middle Eastern men to enter the county on diplomatic passports, in a situation that was highly irregular. Óscar Arias is creating the post of information minister so his office can better handle his public image. A former |
television anchorwoman was in the
job but she did not have ministerial rank. Arias pointed out that the Costa Rican Constitution prohibits a legislator from holding any position in the executive branch except that of government minister. Other lawmakers have accepted ministerial posts but they surrendered their legislative seat, at least temporarily. When Ricardo Toledo resigned as minister of the Presidencia for Abel Pacheco, he returned to the legislature and resumed his duties as a deputy. The Láscarez case was presented to the governmental Comisión de Ética, which found that he had jeopardized the national security. The constitution clause cited by Rodrigo Arias also seems to say that the legislator has to vacate the seat temporarily while serving in the executive branch, but the Arias administration appears to want Ms. Antillón to serve in both positions simultaneously to block the former consul. Arias has taken a hit in public opinion polls, and though he cannot be reelected, he keeps track of his approval rating. |
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Rejected telecom candidate
finds rejection at the constitutional court, too
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Sala IV constitutional court has rejected without detailed comment an appeal by Vanessa de Paul Castro Mora, who was rejected Friday as a member of the board of directors of the new Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones. She appealed the rejection on grounds that were not immediately available. But the manner in which the |
legislature met in special session
was an issue because there had been no formal vote to do so. Ms. Castro is a former legislator. She was one of two nominations rejected. Two persons were named and the legislature now is studying two more nominations provided by the Authoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos The Poder Judicial released a brief summary of the decision Wednesday afternoon. The vote was reported unanimous. |
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Comprehensive study supports
rain forests over palm oil fuel
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Keeping tropical rain forests intact is a better way to combat climate change than replacing them with biofuel plantations, a study in the journal Conservation Biology finds. The study reveals that it would take at least 75 years for the carbon emissions saved through the use of biofuels to compensate for the carbon lost through forest conversion. And if the original habitat was carbon-rich peatland, the carbon balance would take more than 600 years. On the other hand, planting biofuels on degraded grasslands instead of tropical rain forests would lead to a net removal of carbon in 10 years, the authors found. “Biofuels are a bad deal for forests, wildlife and the climate if they replace tropical rain forests,” said co-author Neil Burgess of World Wildlife Fund. “In fact, they hasten climate change by removing one of the world’s most efficient carbon storage tools — intact tropical rain forests.” The study is the most comprehensive analysis of the impact of oil palm plantations in tropical forests on climate and biodiversity. It was undertaken by an international research team of botanists, ecologists and engineers from seven countries. “Our analysis found that it would take 75 to 93 years to see any benefits to the climate from biofuel plantations on converted tropical forestlands,” said lead author Finn Danielsen of Denmark’s Nordic Agency for Development and Ecology. “Until then, we will be releasing carbon into the atmosphere by cutting tropical rain forests, in addition to losing valuable plant and animal species," he said. "It’s even worse on peatlands, which contain so much carbon that it would be 600 years before we see any benefits whatsoever.” Biofuels have been touted as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels, one of the major contributors to global warming. One such biofuel, palm oil, covers millions of acres in Southeast Asia, where it has directly or indirectly replaced tropical rain forests, resulting in loss of habitats for species such as rhinos and orangutans and the loss of carbon stored in trees and peatlands. There are extensive palm oil plantations on both Costa Rican coasts. The authors call for the development of common global standards for sustainable production of biofuels. |
“Subsidies to purchase tropical
biofuels are given by countries in
Europe and North America supposedly to reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions from transport” said Danielsen. “While these countries
strive to meet their obligations under one international agreement, the
Kyoto Protocol, they encourage others to increase their emissions as
well as breach their obligations under another agreement, the
Convention on Biological Diversity.” "Comparing the flora of the rain forest with that of oil palm plantations shows the devastating effect of forest conversion on biodiversity. Major plant groups that thrive in natural rain forest, such as trees, lianas, orchids and native palms, are completely absent. The plants that do grow abundantly in plantations are mostly common fern species that like sunshine. Forest plants need shady and undisturbed habitat to survive" said botanist Hendrien Beukema of University of Groningen in The Netherlands. For fauna, only one in six forest species can survive in plantations, the study finds. Most are common species. “Conserving the existing forests is not only good for the climate as the emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced but also generates additional benefits, such as biodiversity protection” said Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso of the Indonesia-based Centre for International Forestry. Tropical forests contain more than half of the Earth’s terrestrial species and Southeast Asia’s forests are among the richest in species. They also store around 46 percent of the world’s living terrestrial carbon and 25 percent of total net global carbon emissions may stem from deforestation. “It’s a huge contradiction to clear tropical rain forests to grow crops for so-called ‘environmentally friendly’ fuels,” said co-author Faizal Parish of the Global Environment Center, Malaysia. “This is not only an issue in South East Asia. In Latin America forests are being cleared for soy production which is even less efficient at biofuel production compared to oil palm. Reducing deforestation is a much more effective way for countries to reduce climate change while also meeting their obligations to protect biodiversity.” “Any biofuel plantations in tropical forest regions should be considered only in former forest land which has already been severely degraded to support only grassy vegetation,” Parish added. “Care is further needed to prevent such plantations from stimulating further forest degradation in adjacent areas.” |
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New bird flu outbreaks are
reported in Cambodia and in an Indian state
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Authorities in several Asian countries are working to contain new outbreaks of bird flu. Cambodia has begun slaughtering poultry in a district south of the capital, Phnom Penh, where a 19-year-old man last week tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus. The agriculture ministry also ordered a 30-day ban on selling or transporting poultry in Kandal province. The man is the eighth confirmed human case of bird flu in Cambodia, and the first person diagnosed with the disease there this year. In India, authorities in the eastern state of West Bengal are |
meeting
resistance from villagers in their efforts to cull poultry after a new
outbreak of bird flu was confirmed there earlier this week. Local
officials and residents say many villagers do not want to hand over
their birds without immediate compensation. Some say they have never been paid for birds they lost during two other rounds of bird-culling at the beginning of this year. The government says it has increased the amount of compensation paid to bird-owners this time around. Hundreds of thousands of poultry are already being culled in the northeastern state of Assam, where bird flu was detected late last month. Health workers in Assam are monitoring at least a hundred people who have shown signs of the virus, but officials have not confirmed a human case. |
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ousted as Cuba protest By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Bolivian President Evo Morales says Latin American nations should expel their U.S. ambassadors until the United States lifts its long-standing embargo against Cuba. Morales made the comment Wednesday in Brazil on the final day of a summit of 33 Latin American and Caribbean leaders, who included Cuban President Raúl Castro. Morales ordered the U.S. ambassador out of Bolivia in September, accusing him of fomenting unrest. The U.S. denied the accusation and expelled Bolivia's envoy. Morales and his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, have expressed hope that U.S. president-elect Barack Obama might end the embargo. And, Raúl Castro has discussed his willingness to hold talks with Obama over the issue. Obama has said he would be willing to speak with Cuba's leaders but that he would maintain the nearly 50-year-old embargo as leverage to push for democratic change on the Communist-led island. Several nations in the Western Hemisphere have called for the U.S. to lift its embargo against Cuba. The U.S. and Canada were excluded from this week's summit in Brazil, which was aimed at deepening economic and political ties in the region. Dynamic graphic deleted on archived pages.
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