Archive for March, 2009
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
The economic slump and soaring unemployment in the United States mean this is not a good time to push immigration reform, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told Central American leaders on Monday.
“It’s difficult to tell a constituency while unemployment is rising, they’re losing their jobs and their homes, that what we should do is in fact legalize (illegal immigrants) and stop all deportation,” Biden told a news conference in the Costa Rican capital.
President Barack Obama said during his election campaign that he supported comprehensive immigration reform, as countries like Mexico have been urging for years.
Some 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, many from Mexico and Central America. The economic crisis has made many U.S. workers more hostile to legalizing those without papers.
“We believe, the president and I, that this problem can only be solved in the context of an overall immigration reform,” Biden said, asked about the chances of extending temporary migrant protection programs.
“We need some forbearance as we try to put together a comprehensive approach to deal with this.”
Biden was in Costa Rica to meet Central American leaders at an informal regional summit.
A comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws — including plans for a guest worker program — was killed off by Republicans in the U.S. Senate in 2007, although many Central Americans have been able to stay in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, system.
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Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
In a second effort in as many weeks to further open the country to tourism, the government of President Daniel Ortega recently announced that Nicaragua will no longer charge Costa Rican tourists a $25 tourism visa to enter the country.
Ortega announced the measure during a speech last weekend in which he and his wife, Rosario Murillo, called for responsible and dignified tourism to combat poverty in Nicaragua.
Where tourism advances, poverty recedes, said Murillo, quoting the World Tourism Organization. (more…)
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Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
The national Comptroller’s Office said that an agreement between China and Costa Rica to jointly build an oil refinery is not valid, local news reported Saturday.
The agreement, signed in October 2008, was for the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE) to form a joint venture with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to build a refinery.
The one billion-plus dollar refinery was to be built in the town of Moin, on the Caribbean coast, and is designed to refine some 12,000 barrels of oil a day. (more…)
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Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
JetBlue, the American budget airline, made its first non-stop San Jose - Orlando, Florida, flight on Thursday, amid much fanfare. The airline has begun regular service at a time when tourism to Costa Rica is down.
Tourism officials say that arrivals at both the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) and the Daniel Oduber (Liberia) airports is down 11% over the same period last year.
Tourism officials say the drop is a reflection of the world economic crisis and the effect on Costa Rica’s primary tourism market, the United States.
Tourism officials have been working at attracting tourists from Europe and Latin America. However, the lack of direct flights to and San Jose impedes attracting some visitors.
Tourism minister, Ricardo Benavides, says that you can get to and from San Jose to anywhere indirectly. However, this adds more time to the trip and a direct flight is more preferred by visitors.
To that end, Benavides said he his working to attract more airlines with direct flights to the country. Currently, Iberia provides direct flights between Madrid and San Jose. From Latin America, Taca offers direct flights to Bogota.
To spur travel on its route, JetBlue is offering, until April 8th, flights at us$73 dollars, one way. for travel between April 14 and 17. The regular one way price is us$79.
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Monday, March 30th, 2009
A UN expert on Friday urged the Costa Rica government to take measures to improve water safety, saying the country is facing a great risk by the current management of waste water.
About 96.5 percent of waste water discharged into rivers and sea without any treatment, UN independent advisor and expert on water and human rights Catarina De Alburquerque said.
The expert, who just ended a visit to the country last week, said there are great differences between areas of the country.
For example, in the urban areas about 90 percent of citizens have access to drinking water, while in rural areas far from the capital the rate is only 60 percent.
These inequalities affect in particular indigenous peoples, Afro-Costa Rican, migrants and poor people, De Alburquerque said, noting it is urgent for the government to review and adjust the country’s Law of Water.
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Friday, March 27th, 2009
Lovers of antique cars will be showing their pampered autos this weekend at Multiplaza in Escazú, but there also will be events at the Autódromo La Guácima where, among other attractions, there will be races between some of the vehicles. Also planned are races for muscle cars, exotic cars and VWs and Porches.
Among those attending will be Barry Meguiars, the world renowned expert in classic cars. He will be recording segments for the U.S. television show “Speed.”
The event is the 8th Convención Centroamericana de Autos Clásicos, which will open tonight at the Hotel Real Intercontinental. The vehicles are being displayed on the third floor of Multiplaza’s new parking structure.
Involved are the Club de Autos Antiguos de Costa Rica and the Autoclub Fenix de Heredia.
Saturday at the speedway there will be at least four heats involving the various car categories. Organizers expect about 70 vehicles there. The whole show will have about 140 classic cars, organizers said.
The show runs through Sunday. Organizers said that some of the vehicles on exhibit have been transported into the country via container because they are too valuable to drive on the roads.
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Friday, March 27th, 2009
It was a the first time in the history of Costa Rica that in a commando style attack, a heavily armed and organized group, overtook two officers of the Fuerza Pública and took the 320 kilos of cocaine stored in the offices of the Fiscalía de Golfito in the Ministerio Public building of the area.
The group, using a tactic to distract the local police officials with a fake domestic violence call, the group took off with the cocaine that was earlier in the week confiscated from an Ecuadorian boat intercepted by authorities.
In the attack, not a single shot was fired and no one was injured.
Poder Judicial officials in San Jose where questioning why the confiscated drugs were not in a vault in San Jose. Normally confiscated drugs and valuables are immediately sent to San Jose for safekeeping.
An intensive police operation in the area began shortly after the attack, checking all vehicles in numerous spot checks and tightening border controls. Authorities are also keeping an eye on marine activity.
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Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Some public transport buses are menace on the roads and there is nothing the Policía de Tránsito can do to curb the situation, according to the director of the police unit, Germán Marín.
It is not uncommon to see buses without rails, broken seats and serious mechanical problems, like faulty brakes. However, the current Ley de Tránsito (traffic laws) do not allow for sanctions and the Tránsito police do not have the portable equipment and mechanical knowledge to detect faulty brakes, for instance.
Thus, Tránsito officials are limited to issuing fines for only things such as broken head or tail lights, a missing bumper, faulty windshield wipers or the lack of a fire extinguisher.
Director Marín added that serious mechanical problems are only detected during the semi-annual vehicular inspection by Riteve and that once the buses are on the streets, the controls for serious mechanical problems are minimal to none.
The situation, according to Transport officials, is the reason for many old buses, buses that have lacked maintenance and repairs, to circulate the streets and highways.
Some of these faulty units have been the cause of a number of accidents, some fatal.
It is not difficult to spot these buses.
According to Riteve, fo the 11.000 buses it inspects annually, 19% have not passed the inspection for having faulty brakes, 14% for problems with axles and suspension, 10% with steering problems and 10% for failing gas emissions.
All these are “invisible” problems, but place passenger safety at risk.
According to the Defensoría de Los Habitantes (Ombudsman) only 63 files have been opened against bus operators, resulting from complaints from the public.
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Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Officials from the northwestern Costa Rican Santa Cruz Municipality have been meeting with leaders here to find a permanent home for the police following years of uncertainty.
The Santa Cruz Municipality, which controls local tax money spent here, has refused to finance this town’s police station, leaving it to local residents and businesses to provide the funds necessary to keep the cops in town.
Developers and residents here are hoping to build a new station near Pasa Tiempo hotel, on the future Los Jobos road.
On Saturday, municipality officials discussed the possibility with locals but haven’t announced whether they will help fund the new station. Community leaders here are optimistic. (more…)
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias expressed his objection to the exploitation of oil in his country, and stressed Costa Rica was making great efforts to develop renewable energy, the local press said on Tuesday.
In an address to the congress on Monday, Arias said he was determined to fulfill a pledge not to allow oil exploitation in Costa Rica.
According to the website Nacion.com/el pais, Arias said his government was making efforts to develop solar and wind power, and geothermal energy.
“No oil exploitation is a decision I made long ago,” Arias said. “If I had been asked the same question three years ago, I would have given the same answer.”
Costa Rica is a net importer of oil.
In January, Roberto Dobles, the former Minister of Environment and Energy, said the country needed to exploit oil.
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
The Costa Rican government has suspended the implementation of new regulations to limit casino opening hours to just 12 hours per day pending a full review of the policy’s wider economic implications currently being undertaken by Costa Rica’s ministry of work.
Confirmation that the Costa Rican government will allow casinos to remain open on a 24-hour basis until at least May 1 represents a victory for the lobbying efforts of Costa Rica’s casino operators since a decree issued in June of last year signaled the government’s intention to dramatically curb casino opening hours in the Central American country.
That June decree was to formally limit casino opening hours to between 6pm at night and 6am as of December 2008, but was predictably met with stiff resistance from local casino operators. (more…)
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
In four days, for sixty minutes, some 2.400 cities, towns and municipalities in 83 countries will turn off their lights as part of the historic event, in what is being called the world’s first global election, between the Earth and global warming. Costa Ricans will be joining the event come 6:30pm local time.
VOTE EARTH is urging everyone on the planet to turn off their lights for one hour between 8:30pm and 9:30pm on Saturday, March 28. (more…)
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Over a month after quietly marrying in Santa Monica, Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen are planning a rerun wedding ceremony and reception in Costa Rica!According to People magazine, the NFL star and his supermodel wife invited their friends and family to Costa Rica for a dinner on Friday, April 3, and to another wedding and reception on Saturday. “It’s going to be an intimate affair,” a source revealed to the magazine, “Mostly family and a few friends of both.”
Tom, 31, and Gisele, 28, have been planning their tropical ceremony for months. The formerly hush-hush celebration was first reported by RadarOnline.com.
Only a handful of guests, including Brady’s son John, attended the couple’s nuptials at St. Monica Catholic Church on February 26.
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Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Costa Rica registered a trade deficit of $363 million in the first two months of 2009, down 62 percent from the same period last year, the Central Bank (BCCR) announced Saturday.
The drop was primarily due to a fall in imports, due to the global economic crisis, said the bank.
The country imported $1.7 billion worth of goods in January and February, down from $2.5 billion in those same months in 2008.
Exports were down only 16 percent, from $1.6 billion in 2008 to $1.3 billion this year.
The country closed 2008 with a $5.8 billion trade deficit, a 60 percent increase over the $3.6 billion deficit registered in 2007.
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Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Matthew Francis Nolan has been arrested in connection with a 2005 murder
The brother of “Dark Knight ” director Christopher Nolan, Matthew Francis Nolan, has been arrested in connection with an alleged 2005 murder in Central America, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Nolan, 40, had been under investigation by Chicago Police in an alleged $700,000 bank-fraud scheme, when FBI agents arrested him last month in connection with the alleged 2005 killing of Florida businessman Robert C. Cohen in Costa Rica.
According to the report, Nolan pretended to be a fellow businessman while in Costa Rica, where he met Cohen, but was actually there to allegedly get back $7 million from Cohen, which was owed to another Florida man, authorities claimed.
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