Archive for April 28th, 2008
Monday, April 28th, 2008
The consumption of coffee is increasing in China, particularly by young people and the 40 million of tourists who visit that nation every year. Costa Rican growers are taking steps to take advantage of that fact, said Rodrigo Vargas, of Doka Estate plantation in Alajuela. He added that they are planning to take advantage of Chinese tourism also, particularly with tours to show them all of the steps of the production of coffee. This surfaced in a visit by Chinese diplomats to the plantation, which will be followed by that of high authorities from Beijing.
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Monday, April 28th, 2008
This year’s first quarter, the number of tourists increased by 92,000 –or 17 percent—as compared to the first three months in 2007. The overall number of visitors corresponds to those flying into Juan Santamaria and Daniel Oduber international airports. According to Minister of Tourism Carlos Benavides, a majority of the visitors come from the United States, in spite of fears that recession in that nation would result in a decrease in the number of leisure travelers.
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Monday, April 28th, 2008
The new national stadium that is set to be built to replace the current stadium as a gift from the Chinese government has already undergone inspection by Chinese designers and they have announced that the original plans will be altered.
The plans were originally sketched out to make the stadium hold 45,000 people however the capacity has now been down graded to 35,000. Despite the 10,000 drop in capacity, this is still 20,000 more people than what the stadium can currently hold at the moment.
This isn’t the only plan to change either as China plan to bring over their own workers to mainly build the stadium rather than use contract work here in Costa Rica. The Chinese construction workers will set up a camp near the stadium and will work on the stadium over 24 hours a day.
Even the finish date of the project has been put back to end in May 2010 rather than the original plans to finish 6 months earlier in November 2009.
As the Chinese are yet to start the project and it is their money that is being used to pay for the stadium, it appears that the Costa Rican government is going to have little say in the plans to build the stadium.
The new national stadium is already experiencing some major changes in its plans and with the Costa Rican government having little influence in the plans, it is possible that the Chinese may still change the plans even more, whether its going to be better or worse for the stadium.
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Monday, April 28th, 2008
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rica has suspended legal cooperation with the United States and filed a diplomatic protest over what it called the “disrespectful” treatment of its attorney general at the Miami International Airport.
In a letter describing the incident, Attorney General Francisco Dall’Anese said a security officer at the airport allowed him into the United States on April 23, but accompanied him to an airline counter to make sure he arranged a return flight for the next day.
The official was traveling to meet his U.S. counterpart, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and to attend a court hearing involving a man implicated in a corruption scandal in Costa Rica.
He said that after the check, a U.S. agent accompanied him to airline offices “to make sure of our departure.”
Dall’Anese said Friday he was suspending all cooperation with U.S. prosecutors on judicial cases, including extraditions, until those responsible are punished and his government is reimbursed for the cost of the trip.
Costa Rica’s Foreign Relations Department said it filed an “energetic” diplomatic note and called the security stop “an offense against our attorney general, an offense to all Costa Ricans.”
The U.S. government said Dall’Anese had been subjected to a “routine security check” that is common when a passenger’s name matches or is similar to a person of interest. But officials apologized nonetheless.
“We are investigating the circumstances and we have expressed our apologies to the Costa Rican government,” the U.S. Embassy in San Jose said in a statement. “We never intended any disrespect for Dall’Anese, the government of Costa Rica or its citizens. We value the close relationship we have and we will do everything in our power to make sure it continues.”
The Embassy said if it had known of the trip, it would have ensured that “all entrance courtesies would have been extended to Mr. Dall’Anese.”
But Dall’Anese responded that “the apology of the U.S. Embassy is not sufficient.”
In November, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa complained that he did not receive special diplomatic treatment at a Miami airport security checkpoint and said he would avoid traveling through the U.S.
By MARIANELA JIMENEZ
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