Archive for August, 2009
Friday, August 21st, 2009
A group of representatives from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, based in Costa Rica, visited Honduras this week to investigate allegations of police brutality and a press crackdown as the country’s political crisis nears two months.
The crisis was triggered when soldiers rousted President Manuel Zelaya at dawn June 28 at gunpoint and sent him on a plane to Costa Rica. The Supreme Court had ordered Zelaya’s arrest for defying the court’s orders to stop what the court said was his illegal push for constitutional changes.
Amnesty International released a statement, along with photos, on its Web site Wednesday, alleging Honduran police and soldiers have been roughing up protesters who are demanding Zelaya’s return to power.
“Mass arbitrary arrests and ill treatment of protesters are a serious and growing concern in Honduras today,” said Esther Major, a Central American researcher at Amnesty International. She said that detentions and beatings at the hands of police are being used “as a deterrent for those contemplating taking to the streets to peacefully show their discontent with the political turmoil the country is experiencing.”
The statement said that Amnesty International interviewed 75 protesters who had been detained at a local police station after a peaceful July 30 protest. It said that many of the detainees still showed bruises allegedly caused by police batons.
But not all protests have been peaceful. A demonstration turned violent last week when a group of protesters burned a bus and looted and set fire to a Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits franchise in the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
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Friday, August 21st, 2009
Well it has happened again….I didn’t think it would ever pass but I was wrong. President Arias has signed the bill into law. On Wednesday the 19th of August the bill became a law changing the amount for Pensinado’s required to have in income and several other changes.
The amount that Pensinado’s must now have to file for residency has gone from $600 a month to $1000 a month. This is NOT retro-active so it will not affect those pensinado’s that have been in the country for years. A retro-active clause was deleted.
Rentistas will now have to show a steady monthly income of $2,500 but close family members are included in that requirement.
The law will not take effect until six months after it is signed and published, so expats seeking residency will have options.
Answers to many of the questions expats have on how the law will be applied will be contained in the regulations that have not yet been published.
With a requirement that residents join the Caja and a beefed up police force, the possibility of a crackdown on so-called perpetual tourists is a possibility. Some in government seek to restrict tourists to two 90-day visits a year.
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Friday, August 21st, 2009
Forty days before a new law goes into effect that would require every driver to travel with a first aid kit, the transport ministry is launching an effort to modify the requirement.
Given the difficulty in enforcing the law and the potential for medicine within the kit to go bad, officials are pushing legislators to make changes before the law takes effect on September 23.
“What we want from the new Transit Law is to protect Costa Ricans,” Transport Minister Karla González told the daily La Nación. Fining people who don’t comply “is irrational,” she said, explaining that medicine left for long periods of time in a car could pose a risk for people’s health.
“We would be causing injury to people,” she said.
The Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) leapt into action after a study conducted by the Costa Rican Pharmaceutical School was brought to their attention by the daily newspaper La Nación. The study revealed the type of medicine used in a first aid kit should be kept at temperatures less than 86 degrees Fahrenheit, but internal car temperatures within Costa Rica can reach 122 degrees, causing deterioration of quality and effectiveness.
The law, which was part of a package of transportation reforms, would allow transit police to issue ¢80,000 ($137) tickets if drivers do not have a first aid kit in their possession.
“The intentions of health officials and legislators are good,” said Carlos Rivas, a lawyer with MOPT. “But medications within the kit risk spoiling if they are kept in certain climates or beyond their expiration dates.”
If the law does go into effect and includes the requirement to carry a first aid kit; drivers can purchase kits at the Red Cross, 100 meters west of Casa Presidencial for 9,800 colones ($17). They are also permitted to assemble their own, provided it has basic medical supplies, Rivas said.
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Thursday, August 20th, 2009
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Thursday, August 20th, 2009
The lawyer for former Costa Rican president, Rafael Angel Calderón, in his closing statement in the Fischel-Caja trial said he considers the penalty of 24 years prison asked by the Ministerio Público is excessive. Juan Marcos Rivero made the statement to the judges of the Tribunales de Justicia de Goicoechea in the final phase of the long trial.
Rivero said the court penalty asked for his client is in contrast to only the four years asked for against co-defendant Walter Reiche Fischel, based on the act of being sorry, but without confession to any crime of embezzlement or corruption as he is charged.
Rivero asked the judges to find his client not guilty of all charges, but in the case that they feel just to impose a penalty it should be in the form of a suspended sentence.
Calderón, Reiche and six others are all charged with embezzling the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) in the purchase of medical equipment with a loan from the government of Finland, equipment that for the most part was not either required or adequate for the Caja.
The Caja, the offended party has separately asked the court to for damages of us$43 million dollars.
Calderón is also the presidential candidate for the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana for the 2010 presidential elections.
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Thursday, August 20th, 2009
The Costa Rican government announced on Tuesday that it would disavow Honduran ambassadress Koritza Suazo, as it was requested by ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya.
Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno told the press that his government had decided to call off the diplomatic accreditation to Suazo.
Suazo is a member of the defacto Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti, who is not recognized as Honduran president by the Latin American nations.
Ousted Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas sent a letter to Costa Rican government requesting the disavowing of Suazo as Honduran ambassadress.
“We respect the communications with Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas, so we will do due procedure and report the result to the Honduran authorities, ” said Stagno.
San Jose ratified its support to Zelaya as legitimate president of Honduras.
Costa Rica will “withdraw the accreditations and give new ones,” Stagno added.
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Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Mega Super has been using bold television commercials against rival supermarkets, targeting the Wal-Mart chain of supermarkets in particular, which forced Wal-mart to seek relief of the courts, filing a “recurso de amparo” to protect its Palí discount chain of supermarkets, the target of Mega Super.
This week the Mega Super television commercials have been toned down against Palí, not mentioning the store by name as it had been in the past, as the supermarket chain adheres to a gag order.
A judge decided to issue the order as a preventive measure while an investigation continues.
Wal-mart claims that the Mega Super commercials are deceitful as the two chains locked horns in a publicity campaign to attract market share.
Mega Super uses the slogan “El súper con alma de ama de casa” (the supermarket with the soul of the homemaker) and the Palí slogan “Paga el doble de la diferencia” (pays double the difference).
Wal-mart says that due to the Mega Super commercials it has been forced to out ¢190 million colones over the last two months to clients who took the chain to its word, finding lower prices at other supermarkets.
The success of the Mega Super commercials has been to the presentation of Jaime Gato Castro, a well known theatre actor, who dresses up as a woman (average homemaker) claiming to the the general manager of the supermarket chain, working for the people.
The publicity has been running on national television for two months, some ads mentioning Palí directly, supplanting doubts on the part of the customers that the Palí chain has the lowest prices in the market.
This is the second time that Wal-mart has gone to court charging unfair competition.
Wal-mart in Costa Rica operates, in addition to the Palí, the Mas X Menos and Maxi Bodega supermarkets and the Hypermas mega stores.
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Thursday, August 20th, 2009
Have you thought about taking an exotic vacation with your family but you just don’t know were to go? Maybe, you want to get away with someone special and lose yourselves in the lap of nature. If you want all of this and more then you need to check out a tropical rain-forest vacation in Costa Rica. Costa Rica will offer you a vacation that you will never forget. Costa Rica is a premier family friendly vacation spot. Don’t worry about your budget. Costa Rica has vacation packages that will fit in any budget. If you are looking for a taste of “pura vida” or pure life, Costa Rica is the place for you. Costa Rica has something for everyone, you could indulge in an eco tourism adventure, relax at a beach while taking in the splendor of the ocean, trek through natural territories.
Cost Rica is truly blessed by nature and eco tourism is well developed. There are twenty six national parks and many resorts and luxury hotels. If you are looking for a scenic vacation, come to Costa Rica, spend a relaxing time at Drake Bays beach or the beach at Pavones, visit the Irazu volcano, white water raft in the river on the Rios Pacuare, travel through the Monteverde Cloud Forest. You can also enjoy an exciting night life at the many of the Southern Caribbean Coastal hotspots. (more…)
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Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
It was shortly before 5:30pm when some 200 passengers of the San José – Heredia commuter train got the scare of their lives when one of the train cars left the tracks in Cinco Esquinas de Tibás.
The president of the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer), Miguel Carabaguíaz, explained last night that one of the spikes of the railways ties snapped.
Meanwhile passengers were moved to another train and completed their trip, while the other four train runs were suspended until 9pm when service was restored.
Emergency crews responded to the call and reported that none of the passengers suffered any injures.
This is the second time the San José – Heredia commuter train has suffered an accident since the beginning of service on August 10.
On the third day of service (August 12) a vehicle crossed the path of the train at the Miraflores de Heredia, when one of the train cars was pelted with a rock.
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Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Honduran interim government on Tuesday froze its diplomatic ties with Argentina in a tit-for-tat move, and ordered the Argentine diplomats in Honduras to leave the country within three days.
The move comes just a week after Argentina expelled Honduran ambassador Carmen Eleonora Ortez Williams over her support for the coup which ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Argentina, along with the other members of the Organization of American States (OAS), wants the reinstatement of Zelaya in Honduras and is yet to recognize the interim government.
he expulsions of the diplomats comes in wake of OAS plans to send a high-level delegation consisting of foreign ministers from Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, as well as senior OAS officials including Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, to Honduras for negotiations aimed at resolving the ongoing political crisis.
The delegation was originally scheduled to visit Honduras last week, but was postponed after Honduran interim government rejected it, accusing OAS Secretary-General Insulza of lacking objectivity in the negotiations. (more…)
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Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Costa Rican Red Cross officials are expected today to beef up the number of people searching for a Chicago doctoral student who disappeared in a national park there, U.S. officials said today.
U.S. embassy officials in Costa Rica also defended their actions after incurring criticism by the mother of David Gimelfarb, 28, who vanished Tuesday while hiking in the Rincon de la Vieja, a 35,000-acre national park in a remote part of the country.
Eugene Santoro, acting public affairs officer for the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica, said while they have been monitoring the search efforts, Costa Rican officials are the ones responsible for taking the lead.
“We’ve been in communication with them since this began,” said Santoro, who spoke by telephone from the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica.
He said Costa Rican officials have dispatched an airplane to search the remote area and are planning to increase the number of people searching from the local Red Cross. There were between 40 and 50 people searching this past weekend, but Santoro did not know what the number was being increased to.
He said the boy’s mother, Luda Gimelfarb of Highland Park, had asked for a helicopter with infrared capabilities to aid the search. The missing man’s parents had traveled to Costa Rica after their son was reported missing.
“The U.S. government and the embassy just doesn’t have the resources to provide her what she was asking for,” said Santoro. “We’re doing what we can in the context of operating in Costa Rica.”
He also said the area is densely covered with vegetation and the country is in the middle of its rainy season, with daily heavy rainfall to the area. He said Red Cross officials are experts in conducting search and rescue efforts in the country.
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Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Investors have the chance to take part in a unique opportunity – getting in on the ground floor of a major revolution in Costa Rican real estate. New development in a long forgotten city is breathing new life into Costa Rica real estate and bringing a potential flood of tourist dollars.
A billion-dollar gentrification project is going to transform a forgotten port town in Costa Rica into a major Caribbean hot spot. If you get in on the right side of this massive cash injection, you could make a lot of money.
A billion is a lot to spend on a scheme like this. But Limón needs a lot of work.
For much of the last century, Limón was a company town. The controversial United Fruit Company managed the port, built the railroads and bridges, looked after the colonial buildings, and ran the local businesses.
Back then, bananas were a better business than tourism. When the company pulled out of town in the 1960s, Limón became Costa Rica’s forgotten province.
When the Costa Rica tourism machine began bringing in droves of foreign visitors in the 1980s, it was the northern Pacific coast that most benefited. Those who bought in the north Pacific coast of Costa Rica in the 1980s have done well…very well in fact. Prices have appreciated tenfold in some locations like Tamarindo. Today this area of Costa Rica is known worldwide as a playground for the rich and famous. By contrast, Limón isn’t…but I think this is set to change.
The Costa Rican government has decided to develop Limón in much the same way the Mexican government developed Cancun in the ’70s.
Last month, the Costa Rican President allocated $80 million to kick-start the restoration of cultural buildings in Limón and improve the city infrastructure. The rest of the money–$900 million–will come from private investment. When it becomes easier to get here, the tourist stampede is going to be staggering.
The first major development on this Caribbean coastline has been launched. The $40 million development includes a 500-slip marina, two breakwaters, a shopping center, 800 homes, a yacht repair area, and a luxury hotel.
The marina will change this sleepy Caribbean outpost. How much? Consider Los Suenos on the Pacific side of the country. This was Costa Rica’s only private marina. When it was developed, the area boomed. That will happen on the Caribbean side. Expect to see cafes, restaurants, bars, and boutiques springing up. Expect to see prices rise, reflecting the pricing of the marina residences.
The coastline here is the stuff of Caribbean postcards. The sand is white and the water is turquoise. Back from the coast, you have the Talamanca Mountains. You get magnificent views of the Caribbean and the surrounding mountains and valleys. The breeze is fresh and the wildlife abundant–70% of the coast is protected.
Buy here today and you can still get in at “forgotten” Limón prices. With the gentrification of Limón, and the new marina, this area won’t remain “forgotten” for long.
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Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
With over a little than a month before the new Ley de Tránsito takes effect, Transportation officials are scurrying to make last minute adjustments to the law that has, according to critics and experts, inherent flaws that will be challenged and possibly struck down by the Sala Constitucional.
Costa Rica, on September 23, is getting ready to enter a new age of traffic laws when the full effect of the Ley de Tránsito increases fines up to 20 or more times the current, introduces a point system that can lead to a permanent suspension of a drivers licenes, a entire set of new traffic violations and the addition of 400 new Tránsitos (traffic officials).
However, after years of debate in the legislature and commissions, the law that was passed last fall, transportation officials are trying to patch the potential holes.
One of those items is the emergency first aid kit that “must” be included in every vehicle in circulation.
The new Ley de Tránsito makes carrying a first aid a requirement and defines that items that must be contained in the kit, some which are medications that can, according to the medical association, can become dangerous if used beyond their expiry date and/or kept in high temperatures, like the inside of a vehicle. (more…)
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Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias recovered from the swine flu and will resume public duties tomorrow, spokesman Esteban Arrieta said.
“He’s fine and ready to work,” Arrieta said in a telephone interview today.
Arias, who suspended his government events and travel after being diagnosed with H1N1 flu on Aug. 11, will inaugurate a new biotechnology facility tomorrow and meet with government officials throughout the week, according to an e-mailed statement from the president’s office.
Health officials said that Arias, 68, was given the influenza drug and he was well enough throughout his illness to continue working from home.
Arias won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize and has been mediating talks to end the political stalemate in Honduras after the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya in June.
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Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Denver-based business process outsourcing (BPO) provider StarTek said today that it is expanding its facilities in Latin America, and will open a new contact center in Costa Rica. The firm said the center will be 37,000 square feet, and 400-seats. StarTek provides customer service, sales support, accounts receivable, technical support, and other services from 19 facilities worldwide; the new Costa Rica facility will be the firm’s 20th. The company serves the cable, telephone, and communications industry.
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