Archive for April, 2009
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
While President Oscar Arias has launched an international campaign to curtail the sale of firearms, he’s also waging the battle against firearms on the home front.
Two days after returning from the Summit of the Americas during which he used his floor time to speak against gun trafficking his administration announced the progress of a bill that would amend the current Arms and Explosives Law.
The bill, which is currently before legislators, would prohibit the manufacture of weapons within Costa Rica, establish a limit on the number of firearms someone can have and adopt measures to avoid the possession of weapons by minors.
But the draft law goes further than that. (more…)
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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Singapore and Costa Rica held the first round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) from April 20 to 22, 2009 in Singapore. This was launched earlier on the sidelines of the official visit to Singapore by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez from 1 to 4 December 2008.
One of the things discussed during the negotiations was the setting up of a general framework to look at measures that will liberalise trade in goods and services as well as the investment regime.
Both are also looking into simplifying customs procedures. The negotiations also touched on cooperation in the protection of sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade, along with other general provisions.
The two countries both believe that the FTA will lay a strong foundation for future cooperation in other areas of mutual interest.
The FTA, when concluded, will strengthen the trade and investment relations between the two countries.
Negotiators from both sides expect to meet in the third quarter of this year for the next round of negotiations in Costa Rica.
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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will have to take a pass on reality TV.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel on Tuesday refused to modify Blagojevich’s bond, so the Democrat won’t be able to travel to Costa Rica to appear on the show.
Zagel says Blagojevich needs to remain in the United States to help his attorneys formulate a strategy for his defense.
Blagojevich appeared in Zagel’s court today. He arrived at the downtown Chicago courthouse just minutes before his hearing and was swamped by media, just like a week ago when he pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges.
Blagojevich is charged with scheming to sell or trade President Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat and plotting to use the governor’s office to pressure companies for campaign contributions.
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Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
A Latvian citizen was arrested on Saturday at Newark Liberty International Airport for attempting to smuggle cocaine from Costa Rica, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Valdis Pudnieks was arrested by CBP officers for attempting to smuggle more than four pounds of cocaine from Costa Rica, said John F. Saleh, a spokesman for CBP. Pudnieks’ was the fourth arrest of a European passport holder attempting to smuggle cocaine from Costa Rica this month, Saleh said.
During a routine inspection of Pudnieks’ baggage, CBP officers found cocaine in a hidden compartment at the bottom of his luggage.
The cocaine, estimated to have a street value of more than $130,000, was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for further investigation.
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Monday, April 20th, 2009
Mel Gibson has fled to his adopted Costa Rica with a mystery blonde to avoid the fuss caused by news of his divorce. The actor’s wife of 28 years, Robyn, filed for divorce on Monday (13Apr09), ending a secret three-year separation – and Gibson isn’t hanging around Hollywood.
He attended an Easter Sunday (12Apr09) service at his family chapel in California and now he has been spotted on the beach in Costa Rica, where he set up a production company in 2007.
U.S. news show Extra reports a mystery blonde arrived at his $26 million (£17.3 million) Costa Rican Ranch by helicopter on Monday. An onlooker tells the news show Gibson walked barefoot on the beach with his female friend, looking tanned and relaxed. He was still wearing what appeared to be his wedding band. It’s no big surprise that Gibson has jetted off to his second home in the aftermath of the divorce news – in a 2007 interview, he said, “I love it here, it’s a beautiful country, very stable. I like its people a lot and they have very good coffee.”
The identity of the actor/director’s female companion is not known, but Russian pop star Oksana Pochepa, 24, recently claimed she was the mystery bikini babe in candid beach shots taken in Costa Rica last month (Mar09). The singer has announced she is in love with Gibson after allegedly conducting an affair with the actor that ended his marriage. Pochepa says, “This is serious and I hope that our union will be real and strong and long-lasting.”
Another Russian, classical pianist Oksana Kolesnikova, has denied reports she’s the new woman in the Mad Max star’s life.
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Monday, April 20th, 2009
Five men armed with 9mm pistols and machine guns ripped open a government storage unit in Golfito on the southern Pacific coast in the early hours of a Thursday morning in March and took off with 320 kilograms of cocaine.
Tying the hands and feet of two government security guards, they stole cocaine worth an estimated $9.7 million on the U.S. market that security forces had confiscated four days earlier.
Two weeks later, police apprehended 13 drug traffickers after a two-year investigation, involving more than 100 officers. The traffickers were involved in the transport of at least six kilos of cocaine, according to newspaper reports. (more…)
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Friday, April 17th, 2009
Monster truck show, April 17, 7:30 p.m.; April 18, 9 a.m., 2 and 7:30 p.m.; April 19, 10 a.m., 3 p.m., Ricardo Saprissa Stadium, Tibás, 2211-2000, tickets at banco nacional branches
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Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Costa Rican Exterior Commerce Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz denied on Wednesday that his country blocked the negotiations for the Association Agreement with the European Union (EU).
Ruiz said that Costa Rica has most interest in the agreement “because we have 70 percent of the region’s trade with Europe and 70 percent of the European investment in Central America.”
Ruiz also urged Nicaragua to change its stance on its proposal of a fund worth 60 billion euros (around 79 billion U.S. dollars) and to return to the negotiating table with the EU. (more…)
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Thursday, April 16th, 2009
A total of 82 people have been charged by the Ministerio de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones (Minaet) – environment ministry – during Semana Santa for removing plants and animals from Costa Rica’s protected areas. The charged will be facing criminal charges.
According to Carlos Varela, coordinator of the Programa de Control y Conservación del Minaet, taken from conservation areas were 11 mammals, 7 reptiles, 28 birds, 261 fish, 12 shrimp, 50 orchideas, 150 palmitos and 30.000 palm leaves. Varela added that Minaet officials also confiscated some 2.092 pieces of wood.
The sanctions faced by the individuals range from a ¢10.000 colones (+/- us$20) fine to ¢60.000 and a possible jail time of three to six months and repairing the damage.
Varela said that there is no benefit to removing the plants and animals. Plants removed from their natural habitat are mostly taken to San Jose, where the climatic conditions are diverse, where the plants and animals are stressed, and die due to malnutrition, capture and become a real problem.
The Minaet had 444 officials and 226 volunteers working over the Semana Santa in a number of spot checks, that included 83 road blocks, where they stopped a total of 12.297 vehciles.
Varela explained that some of those caught voluntarily handed over their find. In total, 2 mammals, 640 birds, 159 palmitos and 20 fish were returned.
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Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Costa Ricans are buying and burning considerably less fuel than last year, according to the nation’s oil authority, which registered a 23 percent drop in demand last month from March 2008.
The fall in demand has been gaining speed throughout the first three months of the year, the National Oil Refinery (RECOPE) said in a press release Wednesday. January saw a 6.28 percent decrease in fuel consumption from the same month in 2008, and February dropped 14 percent. All told, in the first quarter of 2009 oil demand was 15.13 percent below that of first quarter 2008 down to just under 4.2 million barrels from 4.9 million.
Fueling the fall most was consumption of diesel fuel for the generation of electricity, which plummeted 99.64 percent in March compared with the same month last year. Fuels for ships (IFO) and planes (JET A-1) have also been on the decrease, down 67.58 percent and 31.74 percent in March respectively.
Bucking the trend, however, demand for super gasoline rose 5.86 percent last month from the prior March.
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Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
The Spanish chain Barcelo Hotels & Resorts said Tuesday that it has signed contracts to operate two five-star hotels on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, which will require an investment of 301.5 million euros (some $400.9 million).
The first establishment, the Barcelo Jaco Beach, is scheduled to open in 2010 after a remodeling costing an estimated 49 million euros ($65 million).
The hotel will have 150 rooms.
The second establishment, the Barcelo Playa Azul, will be opened in 2011.
The investment in that 248-room hotel is estimated at 178 million euros ($236 million).
With these new establishments, Barcelo Hotels & Resorts will have a total of six hotels in Costa Rica: Barcelo San Jose Palacio, Barcelo Palma Real, Barcelo Tambor Beach, Barcelo Langosta, Barcelo Jaco Beach and Barcelo Playa Azul, with a total of 1,319 rooms.
Barcelo currently has 187 hotels in 16 countries.
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Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
The International Monetary Fund said Monday it approved a $735 million stand-by loan arrangement for Costa Rica, which the authorities plan to treat as precautionary and draw on only if needed.
The IMF said Costa Rica’s economic fundamentals are “solid” but the global financial and economic turmoil has increased risks for the economy in 2009 and 2010.
Access to IMF financing will boost Costa Rica’s foreign currency buffers and protect the economy from possibly larger-than-expected balance of payments shocks. (more…)
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Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
Costa Rica could have a second Nobel Peace Prize winner, this time it could be by former legislator for the Partido Integración Nacional (PIN), Dr. Walter Muñoz, being recognized by the Nobel Foundation for his work to better health for disadvantaged groups.
Each year the respective Nobel Committees send individual invitations to thousands of members of academies, university professors, scientists from numerous countries, previous Nobel Laureates, members of parliamentary assemblies and others, asking them to submit candidates for the Nobel Prizes for the coming year. These nominators are chosen in such a way that as many countries and universities as possible are represented over time.
205 names were submitted for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, 33 of which are organizations.
This is not the first time that Muñoz is connected to the Nobel Peace Prize, being a member of the board of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War that was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1985.
In 1987, Oscar Arias Sánchez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his Central American peace plan, efforts which led to the accord signed in Guatemala.
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Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
The Costa Rican government plans on collecting taxes from 388 businesses that pollute rivers with sewage water this year and will use the money to improve water treatment systems throughout the country.
The tax will vary depending on the level of pollution and is different for businesses and homes, according to the daily La Nación newspaper.
The Costa Rican government hopes to collect roughly $8 million at the end of this year with the tax, much of which will be used to construct sewage and waste water treatment systems.
Close to 60 percent of the money made will go to improving waste water systems, roughly 20 percent will go toward monitoring existing points of pollution, around 15 percent will go the promotion of environmentally-friendly systems and 5 percent will go to environmental education.
According to José Miguel Zeledón, the director of the water department of the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry, this plan will benefit towns that don’t have a suitable system for their liquid waste.
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Monday, April 13th, 2009
President Oscar Arias has been advised not to push forth with plans to reconstruct an oil refinery on the country’s Caribbean coast, despite numbers that suggest the project would greatly benefit Costa Rica.
The multi-million dollar renovation and expansion, expected to generate between 1,000 and 1,500 jobs and save the country between $200 and $300 million in oil costs each year, is proposed as a joint partnership between the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE) and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
But the government’s own fiscal watchdog, the Comptroller General’s Office, said the agreement is not viable because it challenges RECOPE’s legal monopoly in oil refining and distribution, which can only be altered by a change in legislation. (more…)
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