Archive for March 31st, 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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