Archive for September 24th, 2009
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
The family of David Gimelfarb who went missing last August 11 in the national park Rincón de la Vieja is offering a us$10.000 reward to anyone who provides information to help find their son.
The search for the 28 year old med student from Chicago was called off several weeks ago when Cruz Rojistas (Red Cross workers), park rangers, police and volunteers failed to locate the missing man.
At the beginning of the month, a photo that appeared to that of a floating body in the lagoon of the Rincón de la Vieja volcano turned out to be debris, crushing the hopes of the family to recover the body.
Last weeks, the family’s hopes were raised again when a local area resident says he spotted, alive, what he believes to be Gimelfarb. The man told authorities that he’s twice seen a dirty, bearded David Gimelfarb.
Costa Rican authorities took the sighting seriously, but have yet to locate the bearded man.
Guillermo Arroyo, head of operations for the Cruz Roja in the area, said there is not much they can do in the face of the expansive area of the park and the weather conditions.
Authorities are asking for help in locating the missing man and all calls can be directed to: 506 8839 8161 and 506 2670 2173 or send an email to gimelfarb@comcast.net.
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Thursday, September 24th, 2009
The payment for the 2010 Marchamo – the annual vehicular circulation permit – is around the corner and this year it will be with a whopping increase, as the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) seeks an increase in the mandatory insurance portion of the marchamo.
The INS has made its request to the Superintendencia de Pensiones (Supen) for the increase, though not number was made public.
Last year the INS attempted to raise the cost of the marchamo by 14%, which was rejected by the Sugen, approving only a 4.2% increase.
The 2010 marchamo goes on sale at the beginning of November and is payable by December 31 by all of the 1.024.000 vehicles in circulation in the country, of which at least 88.000 vehicles have yet to pay the 2009 marchamo.
The payment of the marchamo includes property tax (based on the fiscal value of the vehicle), fees for the Consejo de Seguridad Vial, parking and moving violation fines, a portion for the Aresep and the Consejo de Transporte Público. A portion of the marchamo also goes towards the IFAM, the Fauna Silvestre, and all sorts of “fiscal” fees, among others.
The marchamo is collected nationally by the INS, which in turns hands over the balance after deducting the cost of the obligatory insurance portion of the permit and can be paid at any bank or authorized insurance agent and online by way of the INS website, which accounted for 61% of all payments last year.
For 2010, the INS expects to collect ¢140 billion colones.
To obtain the 2010 marchamo, the vehicle must have the Riteve – the annual vehicular inspection – current.
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Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Peru’s Export and Tourism Promotion Board (PromPeru) and the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Corporation (Procomer) have signed an agreement to exchange trade-related information and market data, said Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur).
“The exchange of information will give provide micro, small and medium enterprises with the needed tools for their development,” said Peru’s trade minister Martin Perez.
The goal is to help Peruvian MSMEs gain easy access to Central American countries and vice versa, he added.
In addition, Minister Perez pointed out that the starting date for free trade negotiations with Central America -which includes Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala- would be announced this weekend.
“We could include Panama in this negotiations process, which would be a multilateral negotiation but with bilateral agreements,” he said.
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Thursday, September 24th, 2009
As deliberations over a possible free-trade agreement (FTA) between Costa Rica and China continue, opposition from some of Costa Rica’s leading business associations is growing stronger.
“The country has not made a case as to why the country needs this free-trade agreement,” Tomás Pozuelo, president of the Food Industry Chamber (CACIA), told The Tico Times on Wednesday.
The CACIA and other groups including Costa Rica’s Chamber of Industries have become more vocal in their protest against the agreement. Fernando Ocampo, the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Ministry’s chief negotiator, who last week wrapped up the fourth round of trade negotiations with his Chinese counterparts, expects the deal will reach a final handshake in February 2010.
That would create enormous challenges for local businesses, say the deal’s detractors.
“China is not a democracy, it works on different rules, it makes the cheapest products in the world. The question is, why are we doing this? What is the benefit to us? This is why we are against the treaty. No one has been able to tell us why we’re creating this agreement,” Pozuelo said.
For the foreign trade authorities, however, the reasons for creating the FTA are obvious, and the benefits it will provide are too juicy to pass up.
“China has a consumption level that is growing every year and provides the opportunity to improve the amount of Costa Rican exports,” said Ocampo. “The agreement will also benefit local markets as the amount of Chinese investment enters the country.”
As the countdown to February continues, business leaders realize their lone opportunity to halt the agreement will come when the FTA is considered for approval in the Legislative Assembly. The industrial chambers said they are seeking to sway lawmakers over to their side of the debate.
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