Archive for September, 2008
Friday, September 19th, 2008
Frugal travelers might be happy to hear that the 3 percent hotel tax in Costa Rica could soon be a thing of the past.
The bad news is that the lost revenue to the government would be made up in the form of a $15 fee on all airfares to Costa Rica, according to a bill recently presented to the floor of the Legislative Assembly.
In a week, spending $15 a night at hostels, budget travelers pay about $3.15 in taxes.
The point of the legislation, says Maureen Ballestero, a legislator from the majority National Liberation Party (PLN) and president of the commission that drafted the bill, is to increase funding to the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT). (more…)
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Thursday, September 18th, 2008
According to a new Costa Rica law you are no longer be able to use a cell phone while driving unless you have a ‘hands free’ adapter. I went to the mall and they wanted $50 for a headset with a microphone for my cell phone. Having a friend in the cell phone business, I talked with him and was able to come up with an alternative.
These kits are compatible with any mobile phone and one size fits all. I paid him $0.08 each because he bought in quantity. Then we tried it with Motorola, Sprint, Verizon and Nokia units and they worked perfectly.
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Thursday, September 18th, 2008
The World Bank on Tuesday pre-approved $65 million in funding for Costa Rica, which the government will be able to access in the event of a natural disaster.
The funding will act as “a source of bridge financing that may be disbursed partially or in full if the country declares a state of emergency as a result of a natural disaster,” the World Bank said in a statement.
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Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
Health authorities found high fecal pollution, due to waste waters from houses, businesses and hotels, in 13 beaches. Six of them are so polluted that they are not suitable for swimming, namely Coco Beach (in the Guanacaste Pacific), Jaco, Quepos, and Tambor (in the Central Pacific), and Cieneguita and Portete (in the Caribbean). Others, where you can still swim are Tamarindo (Guanacaste), Agujas, Hermosa, and Herradura (Puntarenas), Manzanillo and Puerto Viejo (Limon). Several agencies are coordinating efforts to achieve the cleansing. “We are going to develop sanitary raids and to issue sanitary orders, whether to close or to regulate activities which generate pollution,” said Minister of Health Maria Luisa Avila.
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Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
The foreigners who marry Costa Ricans must prove to Immigration authorities that they live together with their spouses, if they are to live legally in Costa Rica. According to the general director of the Immigration Service Mario Zamora, the measure is to be applied in a first instance to 1,200 foreigners who married by proxy to Costa Rican and who applied for residence. The Constitutional Court ruled that marriage to a Costa Rican, by itself, does not automatically grant migratory benefits to aliens. “In order to obtain the permit to join their spouses here, they will have to prove that they know each other and that they live together,” said Zamora. “Many a mobster resorts to a marriage by proxy in order to obtain migratory benefits and live in Costa Rica; now, they won’t be able to do so,” added the Immigration boss. The measure halts what was big business for attorneys who charged up to $10,000 to arrange marriages by proxy with Costa Ricans.
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Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
Businessmen, construction and commerce chambers, and mayors agree that there is a deceleration in the construction sector, mainly in the coastal areas, even though the employment figures do not mirror such trend. They reckon that the arrival of new investment has decreased. There are paralyzed developments and the demand for labor is lower, signs that make evident that the sector is not doing well. According to experts, this is a consequence of the mortgage crisis in the United States, the increased prices of building materials, and lower access to credit, both locally and internationally.
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Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Costa Rica’s Fiscal General, Francisco Dall’Anese, told Caracol Radio that Colombians are displacing the drug cartels of Central America and Costa Rica is the most vulnerable country because there has never been an aggressive delinquency.
“Thus they have a paradise to do their business”, added Costa Rica’s attorney general.
Dall’Anese says that Costa Rica’s tranquil tourist paradise has been invaded by Colombian “narcos” (drug traffickers), motorcycle assassins and guerillas, as crackdowns in the region send organized crime fleeing for more friendly waters.
Dall’Anese said he has formally requested training assistance from his Colombian counterpart, Mario Iguarán, as Costa Rica has no experience in protecting victims, witnesses and dignitaries, and in bringing cases against organized crime.
While the Colombian rebel group FARC has a presence in Costa Rica, it is down compared to to recent years. Drug trafficking activity, however, is on the rise.
Costa Rica seized only three tons of cocaine in 2005 and more than 70 in the last 18 months.
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Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Costa Rican wireless broadband services operator, IDNet says that it has deployed a WiMAX network based on infrastructure kit supplied by Redline Communications. The project represents the first live private WiMAX network operating in the 3.3 GHz licensed spectrum in Costa Rica.
IDNet chose Redline’s RedMAX family of WiMAX products to enhance its current enterprise networks and provide value-added advanced data, internet and application services to existing and new customers located in areas that were previously difficult to service.
RedMAX base stations have been deployed in the urban areas of San José, Heredia, Alajuela, Cartago and the rural areas of Liberia, Santa Cruz, Puntarenas, San Ramon, Ciudad Quesada, Guapiles, Limon and Perez Zeledon.
IDNet continues to roll out its WiMAX network with the goal to provide services nation-wide by the end of 2008.
“I’ve worked with Redline’s broadband wireless products for the past five years for a range of applications. The positive experience and feedback from our customers made it an easy choice to select Redline’s RedMAX products for IDNet’s WiMAX network,” said Juan Carlos Pacheco, CEO of IDNet. “Even under extreme weather conditions and in remote areas of Costa Rica, Redline’s products prove to be reliable and continue to outperform and maintain coverage and high speed connections.”
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Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Now, proof has surfaced of the deal that brought Costa Rica to sever ties with an old ally, Taiwan. So China sells North American’ things they do not need with money they have to borrow then China gifts or loans the cash out to small countries throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. Now why in the world would they do that?
From Reuters news
China is secretly spending $300 million of its currency reserves to buy Costa Rica government bonds to reward the central American country for cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
The FT said it had obtained documents related to the deal after La Nacion, Costa Rica’s largest newspaper, won a court case a week ago Friday and a judge ordered the government to release the information to the public.
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Monday, September 15th, 2008
As a resident of Costa Rica for 10 years, I am often asked the reason why we moved to Costa Rica …. so here’s our Top 10 list for those of you contemplating your own adventure, living, working and or retiring in Costa Rica.
10), Climate, Climate, Climate. You can almost pick your preferred temperature in Costa Rica and we selected 72 degrees year round at our home in the Central Valley Mountains. But what about the Rainy/Green Season? Sure, we have about 2 hours of rain during our “winter” months each day, but most mornings are beautiful and sunny. We also happen to delight in that expected afternoon rain in green season for a few hours. In fact if you haven’t experienced the sound of rain falling on a tin roof, with a good book, frankly, you haven’t lived. (more…)
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Monday, September 15th, 2008
Julio Pedro Rodriguez had fled Miami Florida after authorities focused on his real estate dealings and subsequent mortgages that resulted in a fraud that exceeds an estimated 11.5 million dollars. Cody L. Gear, a law degreed, certified fraud examiner and private investigator, who has offices in Costa Rica and Florida spotted Rodriguez in April 2007 in Pavas, a suburb of San Jose Costa Rica. “At the time, working in concert with the lead investigator, Frank Gramlich, of IDS, I was asked to confirm if Rodriguez was in Costa Rica”, said Gear. Armed with information that Rodriguez was operating an exotic car dealership in Costa Rica Gear began checking the car dealerships in San Jose. (more…)
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Monday, September 15th, 2008
BBC News has been following a team from Manchester University and Chester Zoo as they trek deep into Costa Rica’s rainforest to work on conservation programmes for critically endangered amphibians.
Here the biologists explain why they believe that safeguarding the future of amphibians is key.
Of course, rediscovering the golden toad was always going to be a remote possibility – it has been gone so long
But just to visit the place where they were last seen – the unique elfin forests of Monteverde where they used to appear like ghosts from nowhere at the first sign of rain, reproduce hurriedly in an explosion of colour, and then disappear as quickly as they had arrived – well, it is little short of a religious experience for a frog biologist. (more…)
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Saturday, September 13th, 2008
China is secretly spending $300 million of its currency reserves to buy Costa Rica government bonds to reward the central American country for cutting diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
The FT said it had obtained documents related to the deal after La Nacion, Costa Rica’s largest newspaper, won a court case a week ago Friday and a judge ordered the government to release the information to the public. (more…)
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Friday, September 12th, 2008
The Beginnings of Democracy
Guatemala proclaimed independence from Spain for all of Central America on September 15, 1821. Costa Rica learned the news a month later. The first constitution, the Pacto de Concordia, was soon adopted. This led to the celebration of the first elections in December of 1821.
Few Costa Ricans had actively sought independence and the notification of Guatemala’s proclamation took them by surprise.
The first Chief of State of free Costa Rica, Juan Mora Fernández, was elected by Congress in 1824. He built roads and schools, gave land grants to anyone who would plant coffee, and promoted industry and commerce. (more…)
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Friday, September 12th, 2008
Costa Rica’s highest court on Thursday overturned an intellectual property law demanded by the U.S. prior to the enactment of the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The Constitutional Court ruled that lawmakers improperly passed the bill — which included provisions on biodiversity — without consulting Indian groups.
Costa Rica has until Oct. 1 to implement the CAFTA trade pact, which other Central American countries already have enacted.
The nation has already changed other laws to open its economy to more competition. Thursday’s ruling dealt with the last remaining piece of such legislation.
The ruling was a victory for free-trade opponents who have tried to block the pact’s approval with court appeals.
Legislator Mayi Antillon of the ruling National Liberation party said it would be “practically impossible” for lawmakers to pass a revamped version of the bill in time to meet the deadline.
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