Archive for October 15th, 2009
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
The Gran Area Metropolitana (GAM) – greater San José area – needs the electric train, said president oscar Arias, but who has reservations of handing over such an important project to the hands of the private sector.
The comments by president Arias follows the initiative by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) to bring train service to San José to reduce traffic congestion and contamination.
The cost of the project is estimated at us$440 million dollars, of which the government would fund us$100 million dollars and the rest by way of a 35 year concession to a private operator.
The TREM (tren eléctrico metropolitano) woudl connect Heredia, San José and Montes de Oca (San Pedro).
Arias is on the side of cuation especially on the face of the lack of sufficient railway consultants in the country. Arias said he spoke to one of the engineers, a Brazilian, involved in the feasibility study for the project and asked how many engineers were involved. The answer was something like 500, however, in Costa Rica there are only four or five, the president commented. (more…)
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Dr. Orlando Morales is something of a celebrity at Costa Rica’s University of Medical Science, sauntering through the halls in his white lab coat. On a recent walk, students and faculty greeted him with “Feliz cumpleanos, doctor.” He just turned 68.
With the excitement of a young doctor fresh out of medical school, Morales’ eyes light up when he observes the petri dishes that harvest “celulas madre,” or stem cells, from mice.
“It’s practically science fiction,” Morales said of what he considers the medicine’s new miracle worker. Morales is one of the firmest believers around in the power of stem cell treatments.
“After a heart attack, they can begin to make new tissue. In a gland, which for example has to make insulin, the cells begin to create insulin. Nervous tissue, they regenerate it … It’s a panacea,” he said.
An increasing number of foreigners are undergoing stem cell treatment in Costa Rica for ailments from bone fractures to multiple sclerosis. Costa Rican doctors say they are providing these medical tourists with groundbreaking treatments. But stem cell scientists in the U.S. accuse Costa Rica of offering false hope by pushing techniques that have not been scientifically proven. (more…)
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Mauren Ballestero, legislator and vice-president of the Asamblea Legislativa (Legislative Assembly), could lose her legislative seat and face sanctions for her private use of a Fuerza Pública airplane last Sunday.
The legislator, from Mexico, explained that she needed to travel to Guanacaste on Sunday to pick her passport that she had left behind and decided to take time out to visit the local Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) centre.
The action has also triggered an investigation by the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) and strong criticism by Costa Rica’s president, Oscar Arias.
Ballestero has apologized for indiscretion and has asked the Contraloría General de la Republica (Comptroller’s office) to give her an accounting of the costs involved so that she can personally reimburse the government.
However, that is not enough. TSE president Luis Antonio Sobrado did not discard sanctions against the legislator, and the Fiscalía General de la República is investigating for “peculado” graft and possible legal sanctions.
Ballesterio explained that Saturday night, the day before her flight to the US at 11am Sunday, she realized that she had left her passport behind in Guanacaste, calling on Older Madrigal, viceministro de Seguridad Pública, asking for the use of a private plane.
The legislator said that, once in Guanacaste, took advantage of to visit the Asamblea Cantonal de Liberación Nacional en Liberia – the local political party office – who was meeting to elect municipal candidates for the February 2010 elections.
According to the Seguridad Pública the trip cost the government ¢152.000 colones or us$260 dollars. However, the Escuela Costarricense de Aviación puts the cost at double that, at us$550 dollars.
Ballesterio has said she will co-operate fully with all the investigations.
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
The U.S.’s final World Cup qualifying match came down to the bitter end. But that end was sweet for the Americans — who used Jonathan Bornstein’s headed goal in the last minute of stoppage time to pull out a 2-2 draw with Costa Rica at RFK Stadium Wednesday night.Costa Rica, who fell out of the automatic qualification zone with the draw, took the upper hand in the first half — with forward Bryan Ruiz scoring two goals in a four minute span to give the Ticos a sizable lead.
The U.S. fought back valiantly though and they came close to scoring numerous times before finally breaking through in the 71st minute through Michael Bradley. Bornstein sealed the draw in the 95th minute — and broke Costa Rican hearts in the process.
Costa Rica, who spent much of qualifying campaign atop of the 6-team CONCACAF group, fell from third place to fourth with the draw. They will take on Uruguay in a two-game, home-and-home playoff to decide who goes to the World Cup.
The U.S., who was playing without striker Charlie Davies after he suffered severe injuries in a horrific car crash early Tuesday morning, finished in first place in the group for the second straight qualification cycle. Mexico and Honduras round out the teams who will represent CONCACAF in South Africa next year.
Not forgotten in the midst of the wild end to the game is the fact that Oguchi Onyewu went down with what looked to be a pretty severe injury. The AC Milan center back has been a key player for the Americans for years and should his absence be significant it will no doubt hurt the Nats as they prepare for next summer’s World Cup.
After the game, the American team celebrated on the field — paying tribute to their injured teammate Davies by holding up a large sign with his number ’9′ written on it.
Finally, congrats to JayMiggy for his win in the inaugural Fire Confidential/SoccerPro.com giveaway contest. Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest and hopefully I’ll be able to set up a few more giveaways in the future.
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
The slumping global economy is having a stimulus effect on Costa Rica’s famous sex-tourism industry, as a growing number of unemployed women — from Colombia to the Dominican Republic – flock to San José to seek a living in the world’s oldest profession.
In popular prostitution hot spots such as the Hotel & Casino Del Rey and Key Largo, local prostitutes compete with an influx of foreign women from Nicaragua, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and even Russia. The increase in numbers and variety of working women here has reaffirmed Costa Rica’s position as an international hub for prostitution, which is legal and regulated by the government since 1894.
But not everyone is happy about the increased competition, which, along with a contracting economy, has required some prostitutes to lower their prices by as much as 40 to 50 percent.
“Business is bad. The problem is competition. Sometimes I don’t even make enough to take a taxi home after work,” said Costa Rican prostitute Mayela, as she lingers by the bar at Key Largo in search of a client.
Like many prostitutes, Mayela, a 36-year-old single mother with an unfinished education, first started selling her body for sex in her early 30s to support her children. After several years of prostitution, she made enough money to buy a small house and get her three daughters into decent schools. She eventually found an unskilled assembly line job at a factory, which paid less than prostitution but got her out of the skin trade, which she despises. (more…)
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Thursday, October 15th, 2009
You know you have done something bad when the courtroom erupts in applause after judges sentence you to nearly 200 years in prison.
That’s what happened in the Tribunal de Juicio de Pavas when a three-judge panel sentenced Carlos Mena Jiménez to 193 years and Christian Mora Cantillano to 179 years. They were convicted of the horrific robbery, abduction, murder and rapes of three employees of the Jazz Casino in the White House Hotel in San Antonio de Escazú.
Under Costa Rican law the men can only serve 50 years, but each will be in their mid-70s when they are released if they survive prison.
As a judge read the sentence, spectators burst into applause. They included two women who survived the night of horror and the family of the woman who did not. She was Yerlín Marín Salazar, then-24, a mother of a 6-year-old child.
Her father, Carlos, engaged in a shouting match across the courtroom with Mena. Both traded insults. A court security guard tried to silence the father, and six guards ushered Mena away.
The lanky Mora appeared dejected and took no part in the shouting match.
Both men were said to be high on drugs and under the influence of alcohol when they intercepted a car containing the three women, who left work about 1:30 a.m. Investigators characterized the crime as a crime by common criminals who killed for pleasure whenever someone resisted a robbery. The site was about a mile from their workplace.
Mena was on bond awaiting court action on another robbery allegation.
The three women were abducted, and then Ms. Marín was forced to kneel in a roadside ditch where she was shot in the head. That took place near San Antonio de Belén. The two other women, the victim’s older sister, Arelis, then 28, and
work companion Angie Peraza Fernández, then-25, were taken to automatic tellers and then to a motel where they were assaulted and then individually ordered out of a car for execution.
The sister had suffered a bullet wound in the neck at a site near the Autopista Próspero Fernández. Ms. Peraza lost an eye from a bullet wound to her head.
However, both survived and were telling their story even as rescue workers took them for medical treatment.
Just three days later agents captured the suspects. In doing so they staged raids at several homes in the Pavas area. In one place they found the cell phone of a robbery victim who had been gunned down in another crime. They also found a 9-mm. pistol.
Prosecutors sought longer sentences of 230 and 236 years for the men on the variety of charges for which they were accused. The three judges were women.
Story by By A.M. Costa Rica
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