Archive for May 22nd, 2008
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Last Saturday Costa Rican’s national newspaper, La Nación, reported that only nine of the 81 subdivisions of the country receive water of optimal quality. Such were the findings of a recent study regarding equal access to potable water and its relation to development and health in Costa Rica. Of the remaining subdivisions, 26 received the second highest rating of medium to high unequal access to water, and a frightening majority of 46 subdivisions received the lowest rating of very high unequal access to water. Therefore, of the approximately 4.1 million people that live in Costa Rica, 1.8 receive water of poor quality.
According the La Nación, The study evaluated five variables: population that receives water in their homes, potability, quality-control programs, treatment and disinfection of liquids, and the number of service operators. The study found, not surprisingly, that the areas with the worst access to potable water are also the poorest areas of the country.
Study abroad is more than just traveling to beaches on the weekend and remembering not to drink the water. In order to make a study abroad experience worthwhile, you have to learn to live in the country. This integration into the country entails a preoccupation of the nation’s issues. For example, I have learned that poverty and inequality are two of the most pressing concerns of Latin America as a whole.
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Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Doctors have ordered Costa Rican President Oscar Arias not to talk for a month due to a cyst on his vocal cords, his office said Wednesday.Arias, a 67-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, had been losing his voice for several weeks and traveled Tuesday to be examined at the Philadelphia Ears, Nose and Throat Associates medical center, his office said in a statement.
The doctors found he had a nonmalignant cyst on his vocal cords and advised him against talking for a month. If he does not improve after that, doctors will evaluate the need for surgery, his office said.
Arias was expected to return to Costa Rica on Saturday.
The president has suffered from several medical problems since taking office in 2006. In April, muscular pain in his lumbar region forced him to cancel several activities. He suffered from tendinitis in August 2007.
Arias won the Nobel Peace Price in 1987 for helping broker an end to Central America’s civil wars.
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Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Under the recently ratified Central America Free Trade Agreement, Costa Rica’s law making body must enact a series of laws to put them in accordance with the other treaty nations. Some of these individual laws will force previously-monopolized sectors (i.e. ICE’s former telecom monopoly) to open up to private national and international companies, causing quite a stir among the employees and advocates of these state-run institutions.
As CAFTA becomes law, the country’s insurance monopoly, the National Insurance Institute (INS), will also be broken. Like the new law to ensure ICE’s continued competitive potential, a similar law has been created to allow the INS to remain flexible and competitive in the new market.
However, the Costa Rican Comptroller said it objects to article 47 of the INS’s new policy, which shortens the amount of time necessary to carry out various company tasks and purchases, a change made to allow INS to be more efficient and remain competitive. According to CGR, while reducing wait times may be more efficient for INS, a huge reworking of government policies would be necessary. In a country infamous for its love of bureaucracy, such a change in public policy would be very expensive and time-consuming, and CGR said it cannot approve it.
In addition, CGR has asked the Sala IV to rule on whether or not INS can sell insurance outside of Costa Rica. Though CAFTA would seemingly allow such a change, Costa Rica’s Constitution must come first, and there is no greater authority on Constitutional law than the Sala Constitucional.
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