Costa Rica information, activities and news
VICTORY KISS: Costa Rica’s ruling National Liberation Party presidential candidate, Laura Chinchilla, kissed her husband, Jose Maria Rico, after winning the presidency in San Jose Sunday. She thanked supporters for electing her Costa Rica’s first female president.
Laura Chinchilla has been converted in the country’s first female president, obtaining almost 50% of the popular vote in Sunday’s presidential elections. But, who is she?
Following is profile of the president elect.
Chinchilla, born on March 28, 1959 in San José, majored in political science at the University of Costa Rica in 1977. She got a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1986 and returned to Costa Rica in 1989. She later started her professional career as a consultant.
She became vice-ministra de Seguridad Pública in 1994, and the first female minister from 1996 to 1998. Chinchilla was elected member of the Legislative Assembly in 2002 and in 2006 she became vice president for incumbent President Oscar Arias, resigning in 2008 to run for the presidency.
With 43.8 percent of supports from her National Liberation Party, she became a presidential candidate for her party in June 2009, beating out San José mayor, Johnny Araya and former ministro de Seguridad, Fernando Berrocal.
Chinchilla campaigned on a platform promising more jobs, better living standards for children and senior citizens, crackdown on drug trafficking and other crimes.
She was married with José María Rico and have one son together.
COSTA Rica said on Monday it was on the verge of reaching a free trade deal with China as the Central American nation and the fast-growing Asian economy held talks.
‘There’s a great possibility of finishing the negotiations this week, although as with all negotiations, one must wait for the corresponding technical work,’ Minister of Foreign Trade Marco Vinicio Ruiz said.
‘Our priority is to reach a comprehensive agreement that is in line with World Trade Organisation rules and considers our nation’ sensitivities as producers and consumers,’ he said as he opened the talks which run through Wednesday.
Costa Rica’s lead negotiator, Fernando Ocampo, said that much of the text was practically complete thanks to progress achieved during the last talks held in November in China.
Mr Ocampo hoped that the current round could bridge the gap on remaining issues concerning market access for each country and rules on products’ origin. Costa Rica is seeking removal of all Chinese tariffs on agricultural products such as pork, beef, chicken, banana puree and pineapple and orange juice.
China launched free-trade talks with Costa Rica in earnest after it became the first Central American nation to break off relations with Taiwan and recognize Beijing in 2007. China has steadily been coaxing nations to end recognition of Taiwan, where defeated nationalists fled in 1949 after losing the mainland’s civil war.
Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court has stripped the Church of its right to choose which religion teachers it will hire, after reversing a 1972 law stating that the teachers must be approved by the Bishops’ Conference of Costa Rica.
The 4-3 ruling was the result of challenge filed by Randall Trejos Alvarado, who argued that the requirement caused numerous teachers to lose their jobs and constituted intrusion by the bishops into the affairs of public schools.
In Costa Rica, as well as in other countries, the Church has signed agreements with the State allowing the Church to select the candidates who will teach Catholic religion, not only on the basis of intellectual formation, but also on the candidate’s moral life.
The 2010 school year is ready to begin tomorrow, three days late, due to the presidential elections on Sunday.
The halls and classrooms of the country’s schools come back to life tomorrow, as 1.082.352 students head back to classes for the 2010 school year.
This year the summer vacation as extended by two extra days to allow for the schools to be used as voting centres for the presidential elections that took place on Sunday.
The ministro de Educación, Leonardo Garnier, assures that all is ready to receive the students on their first day back to school, save for some minor problems, that are normal according to the minister.
Garnier said “that despite the little problems, the school year will begin without a hitch”.
For the 2010 school year the Ministerio de Educación Pública (MEP) will allocate ¢33 billion colones for grants that will be given to 205.570 students and another ¢36 billion colones for meals at school for 608.000 children and youths.
The official act of opening the 2010 school year will take place at the Fidel Chaves school in La Rivera de Belén., which will be officiated by Costa Rican president, Oscar arias, minister Garnier and the vice-ministras de MEP, Alejandrina Mata and Silvia Víquez, among other education and government officials and ministers.
The 2010 school year begins February 10 and ends on December 17.
Mobile spectrum auction pushed back due to impending change of government in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica has postponed the publication of bidding rules for the forthcoming mobile spectrum auction that should finally bring to an end the monopoly of incumbent telco ICE.
According to Central American English-language newspaper Tico Times, auction rules were due out on Friday, but regulator Sutel has delayed the process indefinitely.
The newspaper noted that the move was a political one: mobile licence winners were due to be officially sanctioned on 5 May, just three days before the end of current president Oscar Arias’ administration.
The paper reports that Citizen Action Party (PAC) presidential hopeful Otton Solis contacted the president to request a delay so that signing the new mobile contracts will take place under the next government. The president agreed.
“The decision to postpone the opening of the market is a political decision… It is a logistical decision,” Tico Times quoted Sutel communications officer Carolina Mora as saying.
The moves leaves greater uncertainty in one of the world’s few remaining unliberalised telecoms markets.
“Currently, we do not know when we will reschedule a date for the opening of the market,” admitted Mora, in the report.
According to BNAmericas, there is 160 MHz of spectrum up for grabs in Costa Rica. 60 MHz of that has already been allocated to incumbent telecoms and power provider Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, known as ICE. Newcomers will vie for the remaining 100 MHz, which is available in the 850-MHz, 1.8-GHz and 2.1-GHz bands.
As it stands, ICE holds a de facto monopoly on the country’s telecoms sector.
Technically that monopoly was broken on 1 January 2009 when Costa Rica joined Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), one of the premises of which is to allow competition in the mobile space. However, there will be no competition until the licensing process takes place.
A number of international telecoms players have expressed interest in entering Costa Rica, including regional powerhouses America Movil and Telefonica. Digicel, Cable & Wireless and Millicom are also said to be in the frame.
