Archive for September 17th, 2009
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Not unexpected, the president of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), Pedro Pablo Quirós, said he opposes the reimbursement of customers for the nine days ICE delayed the effective date of the electrical rate reduction.
Quirós made the statement following the news that the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) is presenting an appeal to the Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo to force ICE to reimburse ¢1.1 billion colones to its customers.
The appeal is being made to the same court that ICE appealed the increase that was to have gone into effect on September 1. The Tribunal ruled last Wedensday against ICE and ordered the 7.2% rate reduction to take effect on September 10.
The Aresep and the Defensoría de los Habitantes (Ombudsman) feels that ICE should not pocket the nine days of higher rates, that clearly belongs to its subscribers.
“If these people (the Aresep) want us to give away electricity, they are wrong”, said Quirós on Tuesday.
The ICE president then alluded to the possibility of suing the Aresep and that there is no subsidy for electrical service in Costa Rica.
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Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Two Costa Rican men will today will begin their trial in the murder of two women and the attempt of a third, after ending their shift as employees of the White House restaurant and casino in Escazú, on October 28, 2008.
The three women were on their way home when they were intercepted by the two men, shooting Angie Peraza Fernández in the head, leaving her dead on the side of the road, while forcing Yerlin Marín Salazar and her sister, Arelis, to their vehicle and at gunpoint taking them to take money out of an automated teller machine in Paseo Colón.
The two men then shot Yerlin Marín and Arelis, dumping Yerlin’s body in the area of Belén de Heredia and the her sister Arelis in Santa Ana.
Only Arelis was able to survive the shooting.
The two men identified by their last names, Mora Cantillano and Mena Jiménez, will be sitting in the defendant’s chair in courtroom 12 of the Tribunales de San José.
A total of nine people are expected to give testimony in the killing and attempted killing.
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Thursday, September 17th, 2009
The price of gasoline goes up tomorrow following the approval by the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) last month. The notice was published today in the official government publication, La Gaceta, and takes effect at 12:01am Thursday.
The price of a litre of super will go up ¢34 colones, regular and diesel ¢33 colones. Av-Gas, jet fuel, kerosene and natural compressed gas also go up.
The price of a litre of super gasoline at the pumps tomorrow will be ¢601, up from today’s ¢567; regular to ¢582 from ¢549; and diesel to ¢506 from ¢472.
The good news is that the increase will be temporary as the Aresep is evaluating a proposal that would reduce gasoline prices by ¢26 colones for a litre of super, ¢24 for regular and ¢22 for diesel. However, the lower prices would not take effect until the middle of October.
In the same notice taxi fares increase today. the Aresep approved taxi fares will increase by ¢25 colones for the first kilometre and ¢30 for each additional kilometre. With the increase the minimum rate is today ¢455 colones.
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Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Honduras’ Presidential candidates returned from Costa Rica this evening approximately at 7:15 pm. Pepe Lobo spoke first with the press, who greeted the candidates as they exited the plane from Costa Rica, then was polite and waited for the remainder of the canndidates who were arriving on another flight. Together, the candidates faced the press and waited for the spokesperson to begin.
The spokesperson said they all spoke with Arias, and all but one candidate, signed a declaration that they are behind the accord providing it does not violate the laws of the Constitution of Honduras. They stated, however, that it is not up to them as candidates, but up to the current government. They back continued dialog with Arias, and feel they have shown willingness to continue to speak with him. They feel they had a productive meeting, and that they appropriately presented their side about the elections being free and independent of the current government.
The front-runners in Honduras’ presidential race backed a negotiated solution to the country’s political crisis on Wednesday, but stopped short of calling for the return of ousted president Manuel Zelaya.
The candidates said they supported the efforts of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to resolve the crisis touched off by the June coup that forced Zelaya into exile.
Arias has proposed that Zelaya return to office to serve out the remainder of his term, while coup participants would be given amnesty, but the de facto government has refused to consider any deal that would allow Zelaya back.
The candidates stressed they were not speaking on behalf of the de facto government.
Zelaya was arrested and flown out of the country by the military on June 28 after he angered the judiciary by seeking constitutional changes that would allow presidents to seek reelection.
The leftist leader, who allied himself with Venezuela’s anti-U.S. President Hugo Chavez, has denied he intended to prolong his stay in power.
Zelaya’s supporters say the de facto government is seeking to hold out until the general elections on November 29 in order to legitimize the coup.
The United States cut more than $30 million in aid to the country earlier this month as it stepped up pressure on the coup leaders. Washington has also warned it could not recognize the elections as legitimate because of Zelaya’s ouster.
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Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Costa Rica requested 1.8 million vaccines against the A/H1N1 flu virus to prevent infections among its people, official sources said on Wednesday.
According to the health authorities, these vaccines will be offered to some most vulnerable group of people, like patients who have risk factors like obesity, diabetes and smokers, as well as the health staff.
Those who have high levels of asthma among children and the people above the age of 60 years will be part of the priority sectors to receive the vaccine.
Costa Rica will buy these vaccines trough the Pan American Health Organization, which facilitate the procedures to get the vaccines for the third world countries.
Currently, Costa Rica has reported a total of 1,246 cases of A/H1N1 flu, including 33 death cases.
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