Archive for September, 2009
Friday, September 25th, 2009
Six more people have been sentenced for their roles in a Costa Rica-based telemarketing scheme.
The Department of Justice said four owners of the Costa Rican call centers, an employee and a Texas-based list broker were sentenced Tuesday. Their sentences ranged from 41 months to 50 years in prison.
Prosecutors say the scheme deceived U.S. residents, many over the age of 55, by leading victims to believe they had won a large prize in a “sweepstakes contest.” Victims were told to wire thousands of dollars to Costa Rica as a refundable insurance fee.
Federal officials have said that dozens were indicted in North Carolina for their roles in the scheme and many of those have been sentenced.
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Friday, September 25th, 2009
Are pharmacies in Costa Rica ripping off their customers? A recent study by the Ministerio de Economía (MEIC) shows a difference of 472% in price comparisons of the same product in 72 pharmacies in the country.
At the centre of the controversy is one pharmacy, La Bomba, located in downtown San José, that has been denounced as selling its products too low.
Eduardo Sibaja, MEIC minister, said there would be no follow up on the charges by the Asociación de Servicios Médicos Costarricenses (Asemeco) as the La Bomba is not using anticompetitive practices, but rather is passing on its wholesale and volume purchase discounts to its customers.
The minister added that other pharmacies could sell their products much lower, reducing their prices as well and earning lower profits.
The owners of the La Bomba pharmacy said that their profit margin is very low, preferring to pass on the savings to their customers.
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Friday, September 25th, 2009
Molson Coors Brewing Co. officially inaugurated sales of Coors Light throughout Costa Rica today, Sept. 24, after launching a historical partnership with Agencias Feduro, a local importer. Starting today, Coors Light should be available at almost most bars, grocery stores, gas stations, liquor stores and sketchy street vendors where alcohol is regularly sold.
Considering I’ve seen the Coors Light bottles at AutoMercado for at least six months, I will reserve my enthusiasm until I see if this new partnership means a decrease in price, which previously ran around $1.75 per bottle of beer at the grocery store. My delicate U.S. sensibilities just won’t let me pay two times the regular price for a standard low-cal beer, even if they did have to pay to ship it all the way to my local corner bar in Costa Rica.
The extra freight cost is a concern for the brewery as well, and they have already discussed brewing the refreshing substance in Latin America, where the volume of beer sales was higher than that of North America in 2007. The region’s interest in light beer has been on the increase recently, in part due to middle and upper class travelers who have had the luxury of sampling the figure friendly intoxicant while traveling abroad.
In Costa Rica, it is estimated that 30% of the beer drinking population prefers a light beer. Until today, the only standard options have been Barvaria Light and Imperial Light. The latter was recently fined after the government’s consumer watchdog found that it didn’t even meet the criteria of having 25% less calories than the regular version, the requirement to use the term “Light” in marketing. In resourceful patch-it-up fashion, this was corrected by placing edited Nutritional Fact stickers on the sides of the cans. (more…)
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Friday, September 25th, 2009
Costa Rica on Thursday called on the UN Security Council to “make good on the promise” for peace, saying that the 15-nation body “fails in its historic mission every day that it turns a blind eye to the rampant arms race.”
Addressing the UN Security Council Summit on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament, which opened here on Thursday morning, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said: “The world spends 3.5 billion dollars every day on weapons and soldiers. Each year, more than 42 billion dollars of conventional arms are sold to developing nations, where weak or nonexistent democracies are incapable of satisfying the most basic needs of their peoples.”
“Even in Latin America, which has never been more peaceful or more democratic, this year nearly 60 billion dollars will be assigned to military spending — this in a region with an average of seven years of schooling for its populations, and poverty that affects more than 200 million inhabitants,” he said.
Stating that the United Nations Charter was “founded on the promise that we would be able to sleep peacefully during the most abominable wars,” Arias stressed Article 26 of the UN Charter to “maintain international peace and security.”
The Thursday Council session was chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama, the first U.S. president to lead a Council meeting, where members unanimously passed a resolution, to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons for a safer world in compliance with the goals of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
“It doesn’t seem plausible to speak of a safer world, as long as the proliferation of another kind of weapons stays in its perennial position, second place on our international agenda,” said the president, also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. “This Council fails in its historic mission every day that it turns a blind eye to the rampant arms race.”
Thanking Obama for the opportunity to discuss the issue, Arias stressed that “nevertheless, it does not seem plausible to discuss disarmament as long as existing agreements are not even being honored.”
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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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Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
Costa Rican president and mediator to the Honduras crisis, Oscar Arias, noted the need to prevent the fight between Manuel Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti to trigger an international political conflict.
“It (the conflict) has to be kept within the borders of Honduras and that means back to dialogue within the San José accord. If not, what is left? Nothing”, said Arias who fears that since there is no plan B, the situation will escalate to more violence and bloodshed, that will certainly be harder to extinguish.
Arias on Monday saw the return of Zelaya to Tegucigalpa together with United States Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, while visiting Washington.
Zelaya is in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, while the government of Roberto Micheletti is asking the government of Brazil to hand him over to face criminal charges.
A curfew was established until 6pm today and a 3 kilometre wide security ring has been placed around the embassy as police and military clashed with Zelaya supporters.
Reports indicate a number of police officers were injured during the confrontation and hundreds of Honduras detained for being disorderly. There is a strong possibility that the Honduras military may storm the embassy since Zelaya has not asked for or granted asylum.
A report from an Associated Press reported inside the Brazilian embassy says that water, electrical and telephone services have been cut to the embassy and that it is now running on power by a diesel generator.
Arias has not, nor will he give up on the possibility of the parties returning to dialogue, speaking this morning with Carlos Lopéz, the Micheletti appointed chancellor of the need to return to the table and the need to compromise. (more…)
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Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
According to a report by Reuters, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his wife, model Gisele Bundchen, were sued by two photographers and a news agency over an allegation that a bodyguard fired gunshots at the photographers’ vehicle at a party two months after the couple’s wedding.
The lawsuit, filed in New York, accuses Brady and Bundchen of carelessness and negligence and seeks at least $1 million in damages, according to Reuters.
The incident allegedly occurred at Bundchen’s holiday home in Costa Rica.
The Associated Press, which also reported that the lawsuit had been filed, reported that the incident is alleged to have happened in April.
According to Reuters, the lawsuit by Agence France Presse and the two photographers, identified by Reuters as Costa Rican citizens Yuri Cortez and Rolando Aviles, says that bodyguards demanded the photographers’ cameras and memory cards after the photographers took pictures of the event.
When the photographers refused, the lawsuit alleges, the incident became more heated and one of the bodyguards fired a pistol at the photographers’ vehicle, with one shot shattering the rear windshield, then hitting the front windshield and narrowly missing the heads of the photographers on the ricochet, according to Reuters.
Representatives for Brady and Bundchen declined to comment.
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Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
The Caja-Fischel trial is finally over. Yesterday, former Costa Rican president, Rafael Ángel Calderón (1990-1994), addressed the Tribunal for the first time, before the three judges closed the hearing phase of the trial, saying a verdict will be handed down on Monday, October 5, at 2:30pm.
The trial has been on going for more than 10 months, as Calderón and seven others face charges of emebezzlement and fraud, among others, in the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) or Caja purchase of medical equipment brokered by the Corporación Fischel, the largest pharmacy chain in Costa Rica.
The charged include Walter Reiche, former president of the Fischel and Eliseo vargas, former president of the CCSS.
The ministerio Público accuses the eight for misappropriation of funds from a us$39 million dollar loan from the government of Finland for the CCSS purchase, medical equipment that for the most part has never worked and not necessary.
Calderón is accused of have received payment for his services in a plan that was hatched by Vargas while he was a legislator and then put into action years later when he was appointed president of the CCSS.
The evidence and testimony presented during the trial is the movement of funds by Calderón through a Panamanian corporation and others, through the former president and the others accused. (more…)
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
The family and friends of a Chicago man missing in Costa Rica since August 11 are pinning their hopes on the story of a man who says he’s seen him.
It’s understandable, says David Gimelfarb’s friend Christine Shaw. Understandable how people might think a Costa Rican farmer who says he’s seen David twice might be mistaken – or making the story up.
After all, Shaw says, David Gimelfarb has been missing for 40 days now.
“But you just can’t give up hope. This is the first kind of real sighting of David or any kind of information that we’ve gotten.”
Shaw says the Costa Rican farmer identified Gimelfarb as short.
“He was right on about that. And also he said David wasn’t wearing his glasses, which, for many people that know David, he doesn’t wear his glasses very often. So it was pretty convincing.”
Shaw says the farmer says Gimelfarb ran away from him.
“The logical explanation for this, which is physiologically possible, is that he has had some sort of head trauma or his body chemistry is not operating properly due to lack of nutrition or he has gotten some kind of infection.”
Shaw says she and Gimelfarb’s parents are hoping someone will help supply a dog team that can follow the trail.
Shaw says she has hope. And she says she knows many people will believe it’s false hope.
But, she says, she just can’t give up.
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
The Caja-Fischel trial may come to a close today, Monday, as defence lawyers will end their summations and give the last word to the Ficales (prosecutors).
The rules of the court could also allow Walter Reiche and Randall Vargas, two of the eight accused and the only to give testimony in the trial, to address the three judges before they retire to consider the case and hand down a decision.
The Caja-Fischel case also involves Costa Rica’s former president, Rafael Angel Calderón, who is also the current presidential candidate for the PUSC party in the 2010 elections, accused of embezzlement and fruad.
The trial has been running since last year and had expected to have ended by now.
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Ten Costa Rican police officers have been arrested for aiding Colombian drug traffickers, authorities said.
Costa Rica’s Drug Control Police (PCD) have also arrested three Colombian nationals who were allegedly involved in the crime along the Pacific coast.
Former head of anti-drug programme in central Pacific region is among the detainees.
The officials ensured that the drugs reach a warehouse in Central Valley, warned traffickers of anti-drug operations and tipped them off about the areas under surveillance, the PCD said.
Police have made three seizures, totalling more than 2.5 tonnes of cocaine, since July, officials said, adding that these drugs were linked to the suspects in this case.
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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Thousands of residents of San José may have to start rationing water come 2015 according to a report by the Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA) which since 2008 has been been attempting to contract an expert to determine locations where to collect water.
The Spanish daily, La Nación, reports that the greater metropolitan area will be hardest affected by a water shortage that is mainly due to numerous appeals that have delayed necessary projects to guarantee the supply of drinking water.
The delays in awarding the contract for the study, which is required before any construction of infrastructure can begin, is jeopardizing the AyA’s ability to deliver fresh water.
Ricardo Sancho, president of the AyA, is hopeful that the utility can award the study contract in the coming weeks.
However, the clock is running out. The study is expected to take about 20 months to complet, and only then a master plan for the supply and distribution of water in San José can then be put into place.
According to Sancho, is the contract is awarded next month (October), the earliest the report could be available would be in June 2011, then time is required to build the aqueducts. Sancho said that if there are no more appeals, crossing his fingers, fresh water for San José will continue to flow.
The AyA chief explained that the Orosi aqueduct that is currently supplying much of the water to San José will not be able to keep pace with the demand that is expected by 2015.
Orosi went online some 22 years ago and currently provides 2.000 litres of fresh water per second, depending on the season, of which some 1.800 litres per second make it to San José, the rest used up by the residents of Cartago.
The current aqueduct that feeds the metropolitan area has a capacity of 1.1 million residents. The AyA projects the growth to be by 400.000 by 2015.
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