Archive for May 12th, 2009
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
The two brothers had always been close. Darnell and Jermaine Zimmerman went to the same high school outside of Boston, loved the same sports teams, and were on the same flight Saturday for what was supposed to be a fun-filled trip to Costa Rica with their friends.
But on Sunday, both brothers were swept away by the powerful currents in front of their seaside resort on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, authorities said.
Darnell Zimmerman, 25, drowned and his brother Jermaine, 24, was still missing yesterday and presumed dead, said Rafael Angel Araya Cordero, regional director of the police in Guanacaste Province, in western Costa Rica.
Costa Rica’s picturesque beaches attract many tourists each year, but the swift and powerful rip tides and currents, combined with the scarcity of lifeguards and warning signs, make them dangerous for the unwary. The US State Department warns travelers to exercise extreme caution when visiting the country’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts. (more…)
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Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Costa Rican gay rights activists have decried what they call the Roman Catholic church’s return to Inquisition times for mobilizing church members against a bill that would give legal recognition and rights to same-sex unions.
(The church) has gone back to the times of witch hunts and the Holy Inquisition, Abelardo Araya, spokesman of the Diversity Movement, told newswire EFE on Monday. Araya’s remarks came one day after clergymen urged Catholic followers to sign a petition to launch a public referendum in the hopes of blocking the same-sex bill, which is pending debate in the Legislative Assembly.
San José Archbishop Hugo Barrantes said the referendum is a public initiative that seeks to defend life, the principles of the church and matrimony, according to the daily La Prensa Libre.
According to Araya, the church should abstain from government politics, adding that Catholic leaders have manipulated the issue.
In Costa Rica it’s not homosexual marriage that’s being spoken of, but rather the formalization of the union between persons of the same sex, Araya said.
More than 200,000 signatures are needed to put the bill through public referendum, an event that highlighted deep societal divisions when it played out over the issue of free trade with the United States in 2007.
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Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Costa Rica’s real estate market took off over the past decade, but it has come to a halt. Many developments are now being delayed, and buyers appear to be scarce. People in the industry feel that this slowdown is just temporary, though, as people still want to live and travel in the country.
Property prices are falling and real estate developments are being delayed as the market in some parts of Costa Rica are affected by the global downturn.
In Guanacaste province where the real estate market has surged since 2006 the tide has turned. A number of highly publicized residential developments aimed at second-home owners and anchored by brand-name hotels and golf courses have been delayed on Guanacaste’s Gold Coast, a 60-mile stretch on the Pacific Ocean from the Papagayo Peninsula in the north to Tamarindo in the south. (more…)
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