Archive for November, 2009
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Finding a place to stay on your vacation can seem like a chore with all of the options that are available to you. When looking at San Jose Costa Rica Hotels you have options of beach hotels, city hotels and of course airport hotels.
For a great beach hotel, the Jaco Beach Resort will offer you a great view of the ocean while providing the perfect place to escape on your vacation.
If you are looking to stay in the heart of it all, two great city hotels are the Irazu Hotel & Casino and the San Jose Downtown.
The Irazu will offer you the great relaxing day with a Jacuzzi, pool and of course the spa. You will also get all of the night life with a jumping bar and the casino.
If you choose the San Jose Downtown, they are close to museums, the park and of course the bank. Here you will also find a pool that you can take a cooling swim in after a day on the go.
For those that prefer to stay near the airport, you will find several great airport hotels including the Holiday Inn Express and the Hampton Inn & Suites.
The express offers you breakfast that is complimentary as well as free wireless internet. The Hampton is close to all of the attractions for you to see as well as a swimming pool and studio rooms are available if needed.
You can see that you have many different options for your stay in San Jose Costa Rica Hotels. It all depends if you want to be close the beach, the action or close to the airport to avoid travel back when it is time to leave.
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Monday, November 23rd, 2009
December will be a month of increases in the gasoline, taxi and buses. According to Carolina Mora of the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) the increases will be significant.
The Aresep has approved the last increase in gasoline prices that will see a liter of super gasoline jump ¢24 colones, regular or plus ¢26 and diesel ¢23. The increase will see gasoline prices go from the current ¢564 to ¢588 for super, from ¢547 to ¢573 for regular and from ¢488 to ¢511 for diesel.
Taxi fares could go up 35% following an application by the Federación Nacional de Cooperativas de Taxi (Fenacotaxi) to offset increases in operating costs.
If approved the cost of the first kilometre would increase by as much as ¢160 colones and ¢15 for each additional kilometre. With that increase the first kilometer would go from the current ¢455 to ¢615 and additional kilometers from ¢415 to ¢430.
The Aresep is also studying a request by bus operators for an increase of 3.5%.
Now, if that is bad enough, more increases are on their way after Christmas, when electricity will be more expensive as the Instituto Costarricense de Electrididad (ICE) applies the approved rate increase on January 1, 2010.
That increase will see the cost of electrical service jump from ¢17.150 monthly for the consumption of 250 KWh for ICE direct customers. Customers of the CNFL (an ICE agency) will pay ¢15.200, JASEC customers ¢13.650 and customers of ESPH ¢12.750, Coopeguanacaste ¢15.400, Coopelesca ¢12.70, Coopesanto ¢17.350 and Coopealfaro ¢16.900.
In January water will be more expensive as well when rates jump 23.8%.
The rate has been approved by the Aresep. However, an appeal to the Sala Cuarta by residents of Turrujal de Acosta, saying that they could not attend the public hearings held by the water utility due to their distance from the location of the public hearings site. The court ordered the AyA to hold a public hearing in Turrujal de Acosta, which will take place between December 15 and 17.
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Saturday, November 21st, 2009
An earthquake of 5.2 degrees on Richter scale shook Costa Rica on Friday, without immediate report of material damages and casualties, local authorities said.
The Vulcanology and Seismology Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) said the earthquake occurred at 11:22 a.m. local time (1722 GMT), 110 km east of San Jose with a depth of 25 km.
According to the OVISCORI, the earthquake is not related to the one that occurred on Thursday at 4:02 p.m. local time (2202 GMT), which was of 4.8 degrees on Richter scale, located 9 km southeast of El Tejar del Guaraco in Cartago, center of the country.
According to the OVISCORI, the earthquake on Friday was due to a local failure in the Caribbean tectonic plate.
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
The Ticos coach has explained why his players only just missed out on a ticket for the 2010 World Cup…
Costa Rica were edged out of the World Cup by Uruguay in a two-legged play-off, much to the disappointment of head coach Rene Simoes, who has explained that his side lacked the killer instinct that their opponents boasted.
“We were really lacking that nastiness, the kind that South American players have. And I can say that, because I’m Brazilian,” Simoes told local reporters.
“The problem was the first leg, we gave Uruguay far too much respect. They [the media] said we had no chance over here but we showed that we did, though it was too late.”
The Ticos will miss out on World Cup participation for the first time since 1998. They were eliminated in the first round in both 2006 and 2002.
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
Honduras’ interim president said Thursday he may step down temporarily to allow voters to concentrate on the upcoming presidential elections.
Roberto Micheletti said he will consult his advisers and those who have supported his government on whether he should step aside ahead of the Nov. 29 election and until at least Dec. 2, when Congress is scheduled to vote on whether to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
Micheletti did not say who would be in charge of the government if he takes the weeklong leave of absence.
“My purpose with this measure is for the attention of all Hondurans to concentrate on the electoral process and not on the political crisis,” Micheletti said in a message broadcast on national television.
He said he would immediately return to the presidency should threats to “order and security arise.”
Micheletti was named president by Congress after Zelaya was rousted from his bed by soldiers and flown to Costa Rica on June 28.
Zelaya, who has been holed up at the Brazilian Embassy since slipping back into the country on Sept. 21, called Micheletti’s announcement “an easy maneuver … to deceive fools.”
Zelaya again warned that he would not return to the presidency if Congress votes to restore him after the elections, saying doing so would legitimize the coup.
“It’s illegal and violates the rights of the voters because it tries to hide a coup d’etat,” Zelaya said.
Both Zelaya and Micheletti signed an agreement brokered by U.S. diplomats last month. However, the two sides are now at odds over whether the pact is being fulfilled.
The accord calls for formation of a national unity government, but does not require Zelaya’s restoration to office, leaving that decision up to Congress.
Zelaya declared the pact a failure two weeks ago when Micheletti announced the formation of a unity government before any vote by Congress.
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
February 15, 2010, is the date set for the start of former president Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002) trial in the ICE-Alcatel case. The date was confirmed by the trial judges, Rosaura García Aguilar, Ileana Méndez Sandí and Jorge Camacho Morales assigned to the case.
The trial will be held at the Tribunales de Goicoechea, in San José, the same courthouse that spent the better part of the past year hearing testimony and evidence in the CCSS-Fischel case that resulted in a guilty verdict of former president Rafael Angel Calderón (1990-1994) and seven others.
The ICE-Alcatel case had been scheduled for trial on November 11, 2008. However due to conflcting agendas of the judges it was postponed. García confirmed date and that she will be chairing the hearing.
The case concerns the alleged payment by the French telecommunications firm Alcatel to public officials as part of the process of obtaining the cellular network contract with the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE).
Rodríguez is alleged to have received payment from Alcatel in the sum of us$589.563 dollars, of which us$231.000 dollars was in cash and the balance in various financial instruments.
Alcatel was awarded the contract to install 400.000 GSM cellular lines, the first of the two GSM networks installed in the Costa Rica, which was totally eliminated earlier this year as ICE decided to completely break relations with Alcatel and fused the Alcatel lines to the Ericsson network.
Rodriguez has denied any wrong doing and claims that his rights have been trampled upon. Rodríguez explains his ordeal in the book “Di la Cara: Una Batalla Por El Estado Del Derecho” (I gave face: A Battle For The State Of Law).
Rodríguez ran three times for president: in 1990 he lost his party’s nomination to Rafael Ángel Calderón. In 1994 he won his party’s nomination but lost the election to José María Figueres. He finally secured the presidency in 1998.
On 7 June 2004 he was unanimously elected to replace César Gaviria as secretary general of the OAS. He began his term on 15 September 2004 but served only 1 month before stepping down choosing to return to Costa Rica to face the allegations, when he was placed first under house arrest and two weeks later in jail, pending further investigation.
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
In the coming weeks the Aguinaldo – year end bonus – is set to hit the streets. And while most are planning how to spend their Aguinaldo, another group are working out their scams.
Janina del Vecchio, the ministra de Seguridad Pública, in a press conference said that the Fuerza Pública patrols will be beefed up for the season, with some 11.500 officers assigned to detail.
The ministra said the police operation is divided in three groups: Operación Aguinaldo, Bus Seguro y Candado (operation Aguinaldo, safe bus and lock).
The director of the Fuerza Pública, Erick Lacayo, said the operation, which has already commenced, will continue until January 9, 2010. The director said the police presence will be all over the country, with particular attention to the capital of each province.
“This is a time for family”, said Del Vecchio.
The ministra said she want to let Costa Ricans know that they can enjoy the holiday in peace, with police in small towns, villages and communities all over the country, citing the excellent results of the program in the downtown San José districts of Catedral, Merced, Carmen and Hospital.
The Bus Seguro operation will see, according to the ministra, uniformed police officials on buses, while the Candado program is directed at control of private vehicle inspections.
Authorities are asking the public co-operation during the season to be on the lookout for scams and becoming victims of an assault by not carrying large amounts of cash, using plastic instead.
Keep on eye on credit and debit cards at all times when making purchases and to report any suspicious activity to the 911 service.
Both Del Vecchio and Lacayo said that any citizen has the right to detain a suspicious person while waiting for police to arrive on the scene.
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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Seven Nicaraguans serving time in prison in Costa Rica were sent home to their native land yesterday, to serve out their prison term in Nicaragua.
The prisoners benefited from an agreement wich Costa Rica has with a number of countries to repatriate prisoners.
The seven, that included those involved in the 1994 kidnapping of executives of Cabo Marxo in Pital de San Carlos, were handed over by Costa Rica correctional officials to their Nicaraguan counterparts at the Peñas Blancas border crossing.
In addition to the kidnapping, the prisoners were sentenced for murder, extortion, rape and drug trafficking.
A total of 23 Nicaraguans have been repatriated this year.
According to correctional official records, a total of 9.300 people are behind bars in Costa Rica, of which 1.200 are foreigners, of which the majority of the foreigners are Nicaraguan nationals.
Among the other foreigners, they include 87 Colombians, 19 Panamanians, 9 Salvadorans, 9 Guatemalans, 9 Mexicans and 8 Americans.
This year alone a total of 305 Nicaraguans (276 men and 29 women) were sentenced in Costa Rica for crimes ranging from murder to drug trafficking, the majority of the sentences handed down by the courts.
In the past nationals from England like Robert Dodd and John Anthony Springer, both sentenced on drug trafficking charges, have gone home to serve out their sentences. Claudio Robernas Barrantes and María Aniceta Nevado, from Spain have gone home.
Canadian Stanley Epinal, Holland’s John Ricardo Desanders, Italian Nidia Ben Allige and American Carl Kenev have all been repatriated after being sentenced in Costa Rica.
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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
China may spend $700 million to help fund expansion of Costa Rica’s Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo SA oil refinery as it boosts energy ties in the region.
China National Petroleum Corp. may tap a China state-run bank for financing to triple capacity at the plant to 60,000 barrels a day, Jose Leon Desanti, head of the Costa Rican refining company, known as Recope, said in an interview. The Chinese company, known as CNPC, is a partner in the expansion.
“CNPC is doing some work to identify the possible bank or banks in China,” Desanti said from San Jose, the Costa Rican capital, on Nov. 13.
China and Costa Rica may also hold talks within three years for the development of a separate refinery with capacity of 300,000 barrels a day to handle crude from Latin American producers for export, according to Desanti. The Asian nation is strengthening ties with commodities producers from Africa to Latin America to ensure supplies of energy and metals, said Pedro Tuesta, senior Latin American economist at 4Cast Inc. (more…)
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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
A break in the Arcos underwater cable left most of Costa Rica without an internet connection for almost two hours.
The cable connects the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) network to the world by internet to Miami. The break occurred at 10:20am by a ship in the Caribbean about 2.5 kilometres from the building that houses the Miami connection.
When such an accident occurrs, the system is to automatically switch over to another connection. But that didn’t occur yesterday.
ICE officials say that service was restored by noon when service was channeled manually by way of Panama and Cartagena and then back to Miami and that 60% of users in Costa Rica were without service during the time.
Elberth Durán, spokesperson for ICE, said that the cut in services in the afternoon were not related to the Arcos break.
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
We have a real race for first place in the Monohull division between two French boats, Safran, with Marc Guillemot and Charles Caudrelier Benac, and Groupe Bel, with Kito De Pavant and François Gabart. Currently only 24.3 NM separate the two front boats, with the second place boat currently having an average speed of 16.4 knots to the first place boat’s 13.8 knots. However, this is only the half way point. Mike Golding Yacht Racing, with Mike Golding and Javier Sanso, is in third and Foncia, with Michel Desjoyeau and Jérémie Beyou, has passed Veolia Environnement, with Roland Joudain and Jean Luc Nelias, to take fourth. None of these competitors should not be counted out of this race. Four of the original 14 Monohulls have retired including: Brit Air, BT, DCNS and Hugo Boss. Hugo Boss collided with something in the ocean and started taking on water, on Monday, when they were approximately 400 miles south of the Azores.
Conditions still are not perfect. The winds are unstable, between 12 to 20 knots and it keeps changing and coming from all directions. Michel Desjoyeau shared that Jérémie Beyou was worn out after three solid hours of spinnaker trimming.
Crepes Whaou! with Franck Yves Escoffier and Erwan Leroux, continues to hold an impressive lead in the Multihull division, currently maintaining speeds of 19.4 knots. They can take a conservative approach now that they are 831.4 NM ahead of the second place boat, Guyader Pour Urgence Climatique, with Victorien Erussard and Loic Fecquet. The race in the Multihull division is now for second place. Guyader has overtaken Regiou Aquitaine-Port Medoc, with sailors Lalou Roucayrol and Amaiur Alfaro. The distance between them is 50 NM. The last active boat in the Multihull division, Price de Bretagne, with Hervé Cleris and Christophe Dietsch, currently is 1,842.2 NM out of first place.
The Transat Jaque Vabre race is approximately at the half way point. These are all amazing sailors, but anything can happen. Already six of the original 20 boats are out of the race including one time leader BT. It will be fascinating to watch them battle the second half of the race.
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica have the lowest perceived levels of corruption in Latinamerica, a benchmark and inspiration for the Americas according to the latest report from Transparency International. Argentina and Venezuela are among the low performers in a region where there are serious indications of “rampant corruption”.
Among the 31 countries from the Americas included in Transparency International’s (TI) 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), 10 scored above 5 (out of 10) while 21 scored less than 5 indicating a serious corruption problem. Overall, nine countries failed to exceed a score of 3, indicating rampant corruption.
However in the overall ranking of 180 countries, headed by New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore, Uruguay and Chile figure in position 25 (next to France); Argentina ranks 106; Paraguay, 154; Brazil, 75 close to China, 79; Mexico, 89; Venezuela 162, worse than Russia, 146.
Canada and the US are the best performers in the Americas, ranking 8 and 18, which compares with the UK standing of position 17.
In Latinamerica with the exception of Guatemala, no country in the region showed a significant increase in its CPI score.
In the group of countries which score above 5, Canada remains at the top of the list. It continues to be among the ten countries with the lowest perceived levels of corruption worldwide, serving as a benchmark and inspiration for the Americas. Chile, Uruguay and Costa Rica are the only Latin American countries included in this group, although with lower scores than their Caribbean neighbours in Barbados and Saint Lucia. (more…)
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Costa Rica and Spain have signed two cooperation agreements to promote the development of their fishing and aquiculture sectors, a senior Costa Rican government official said on Tuesday.
Costa Rican Agriculture and Livestock Minister Javier Flores said the pacts were aimed at enhancing food security, fighting poverty, and promoting technology exchanges.
Flores also said both countries were interested in cooperation on research, promotion of production, the sustainable management of the environment and fishing.
According to the agreements, Spain will provide technical and legal assistance to establish a Network of Marine Reserves along the Costa Rican coasts.
“We have worked a lot with Spain and we are sure that our commercial ties will be boosted,” Flores added.
The agreement was signed on Monday by Costa Rican Fishing Vice Minister Roman Solera and Spain’s Environment, Agriculture and Marine Minister Elena Espinosa, Flores said.
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Amway Global, a multilevel marketing and direct sales company, announced plans to transfer 93 positions from its corporate office in Ada, Michigan to Costa Rica within the next 12 to 15 months. The majority of the positions will be in the finance division of the company, which is undergoing a restructuring process that aims to increase its presence in Latin America.
“Costa Rica is a primary hub for servicing the Latin American region,” said Stephen Duthie, a spokesman at Amway Corporations. “We are looking at growing in the Latin America market and Costa Rica is a good location with proximity to our manufacturing facilities in the U.S.”
Amway sells a multitude of products, including vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements, skin care and cosmetics, XS brand energy drinks and L.O.C. cleansing products. Customers buy Amway products from such sites as Shop.com and Barnes & Noble.com, as well as in stores such as Office Depot, Bass Pro Shops and Dick’s Sporting Goods. According to Duthie, Amway had over $8.2 billion in sales last year, which was a 15 percent leap from the previous year.
“The move to Costa Rica is a long-term decision,” Duthie said. “It is not a decision made in duress.”
The company has not yet chosen a specific location for its Costa Rica branch.
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