Archive for June 10th, 2008
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
In the three years that the interurban train has been functioning, the number of passengers using it has tripled, reported the daily La Nacion today. The passenger service revived the moribund Costa Rican railway system and provided reasonably fast, low cost transportation desperately needed by such commuters as University of Costa Rica students.
As the cost of gasoline surges, the number of passengers may skyrocket as residents with business in downtown San Jose leave their cars in their garages. Today, the cost of gasoline shot up another 40 colones (that’s per liter, not the much larger gallon) and RECOPE, the national refinery, filed with regulators for another 60 colones as oil soared to nearly $140 per barrel.
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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
San Jose, Costa Rica, June 9 – Costa Rica estimates it will produce 1.807 million 60-kg bags of coffee in the 2008/09 harvest, down 3.6 percent from the previous cycle due to the biannual nature of the crop, a top official from the national coffee institute ICAFE said on Monday.
Coffee trees usually produce less beans the year following a high-volume harvest.
Executive Director Ronald Peters revised down an earlier estimate for 2007/08 coffee production, saying Costa Rica will produce 1.875 million 60-kg bags this season.
Peters previously said Costa Rica would grow 1.93 million bags of coffee during the 2007/08 year, which begins in October.
The estimate for the upcoming season, based on a count of coffee flowers that will turn into cherries, came early this year because of early flowering, Peters told Reuters.
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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
BOGOTA, Colombia — The bearded Marxist intellectual who has just taken command of Latin America’s last major guerrilla army has been put on the spot by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is calling on him to abandon armed struggle.
Alfonso Cano and his lieutenants, the subjects of an intense manhunt by Colombia’s U.S.-supported military, are believed to be isolated in jungle and mountain hideaways. Their rebels are hunkered down as well, holding scores of hostages as human shields against increasingly successful attacks.
There was no question of their allegiance to the legendary Manuel “Sureshot” Marulanda, a septuagenarian who died of a heart attack in late March. But it is unclear how far other rebel commanders will follow Cano, a bespectacled former anthropology student and Communist Youth activist who took over last month.
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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Costa Rica’s Caribbean-bound Braulio Carrillo Highway reopened yesterday after transit officials had closed it Monday afternoon because of landslides, according to the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT).
Ministry spokesman Omar Segura said workers cleaned up the road and traffic is flowing back to normal, but that drivers should use Braulio Carrillo – also called Ruta 32 – with caution.
“New landslides could occur so motorists should drive carefully, especially at night. It’s recommended to go during the day, if possible, and to avoid heavy rain storms,” Segura said.
Braulio Carrillo runs from San José through mountains to Caribbean flatlands, and is an important route from the capital to the port city of Limón.
Another major road, the Inter-American Highway South, remains closed from Cerro de la Muerte down to the Southern Zone canton Pérez Zeledón after Tropical Storm Alma washed away major chunks of the road.
The MOPT spokesman said that workers managed to carve an emergency lane for vehicles to carry food and supplies to isolated communities particularly in Pérez Zeledón.
Some 35 machines are working on the Inter-American to get a commuter lane up and running by tomorrow or Thursday, said Segura.
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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Gas prices were set to rise last night in Costa Rica. Regular has gone up 40 colones (about 80 U.S. cents) to ¢644 per liter, and super and diesel by 35 colones (now ¢656 and ¢622, respectively).
Although the price of gasoline keeps soaring, Costa Ricans continue to consume gasoline without control. The number of vehicles on Costa Rican roads has tripled in the last decade, from 472.000 units in 1997 to 1 million in 2007. The national refinery, the Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo SA (RECOPE), says that in the first five months of 2008 alone more than 1 million barrels were consumed.
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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Despite being considered the most cosmopolitan city in Central America, Costa Rica’s capital city of San Jose is all but void of skyscrapers and modern building facades. The Banco Nacional building, the tallest in the country, sits unrivaled at an unimpressive 19 stories high. After over a decade of rapid urban growth and an affinity for one and two-story buildings, real estate in San Jose is preciously scarce and planning is all but non-existent as the city limits continue to expand in all directions.
At the close of the 4th National Construction Congress at the Hotel Real Intercontinental last week, Costa Rican Vice President Laura Chinchilla announced her intention to change this situation and do away with urban segregation and the damage it has caused to the environment in the Central Valley.
She called for a development plan for the Grand Metropolitan Area, which would modernize Costa Rica Real Estate and land registries and establish clear restrictions on land usage with the hope of creating more orderly development in the future. One of the key points of this plan would be to promote vertical development, which offers more housing and building space while using up less land, which would cut down on the uncontrolled urban sprawl.
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