Costa Rica information, activities and news
The annual Puntarenas Festival kicked off yesterday when the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública (MSP) and the Ministerio de Salud (MSP) approved the permits at the last minute. Miguel Rena, the president of hte organizing committee of the Carnavales de Puntarenas said that despite the last dealys, the permits for the 2010 festival were given at the last minute.
Traffic congestion on the new San José – Caldera highway is expected to be heavy this weekend and next, heavier perhaps than the first weekend two weeks ago, when the new road opened to the public, as tens of thousands will head to the port town of Puntarenas for the annual festival.
But alas, Autopistas del Sol, the manager of the new road, has a plan to avoid the massive congestion at the toll stations and at various points along the route, as occurred last month.
The concessionaire said it will have a hot-line available for drivers to report accidents and roadblocks, as well as learn of any problems ahead by calling 2588 4040.
Autopistas del Sol also says it will be updating reports on IQ Radio (93.9).
“We hope that with the measures if there is a problem on the route the congestion will not be as great like that of the first weekend”, said Cristian Sandoval, general manager of Autopistas.
In addition, Autopistas and the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) officials will be working together to control any situation that may come up between today (Friday) and Sunday.
Sandoval added that Tránsitos (traffic officials) will be on hand at strategic locations to move traffic along and to warn motorists and the control center of any problems or bottlenecks.
The new road was built with a traffic capacity of some 10.000 vehicles daily. However, during the first weekend of operation, traffic volume was more than double that, causing massive traffic congestion along the route and especially at the Guacima and Atenas toll centres.
Traffic to and from Puntarenas starting today is expected to increase with congestion to in the morning and from in evenings.
Since there are no pit stops (gasoline, stores or public bathrooms) along the 50 kilometre stretch between Piedades and Orotina, it recommended to have a full tank of gas and empty your bladder before setting off on your trip.
Jose Joaquin Trejos, who as Costa Rica’s president pushed through reforms that prohibited presidential re-election, has died. He was 93.
Trejos, who governed from 1966 to 1970, had no political experience before coming to power, but voters responded to his “clean hands” campaign promising to end corruption.
One of his biggest legacies was the ban on re-electing a president, a step many Latin American countries have taken to prevent strongman rule.
Costa Rica still bans a president from seeking immediate re-election. But a court ruling in 2003 allowed former presidents to run again after sitting out at least one 4-year term.
The Trejos administration also put asphalt on the Interamericana highway from Cartago to the Panamá border and completed a road from San José to Limón. He also was a founder of Banco Popular.
In private life Trejos was a university economics professor and administrator.
Family members said that Trejos died of natural causes Wednesday night.
There is little doubt that the fate of online poker in the USA is on the line, but the poker sites are fighting back.
One of these sites is DoylesRoom, the site founded by Doyle Brunson, two times winner of the WSOP Main Event and holder of 10 other WSOP bracelets. Now 76, along with a group of investors, he founded DoylesRoom in 2004 in Costa Rica. DoylesRoom is one of the sites that welcome players from the USA.
Despite US legislation designed to stop Americans from playing, 2,500,000 of them regularly do and $30 billion per annum are bet on the game. A new lay, passed several years ago, will become operative in a few months time. This will allow the US Agencies to prosecute firms that process financial poker transactions. This will give them far more power than the old antigambling laws; poker rooms such as DoylesRoom will be completely illegal.
DoylesRoom along with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker account for 70% of American online poker and generate over $1 billion tax revenue. These poker rooms are sitting tight and daring the US government to do what it will. Doyle Brunson has stated that he believes that online poker in the US is legal.
PokerStars which is situated on the Isle of Man shares this opinion which is backed up by several US law firms. Full Tilt appears to be holding tight also. PokerStars and Full Tilt have annual revenue of $1.4 billion and $0.5 billion respectively. Globally online poker generates $4.8 billion in revenues.
All forms of internet gambling are illegal in the USA. After 2006 credit card companies and banks were no longer allowed to process online gambling fund transfers, but the law was quite loose. It was argued that poker is a game of skill rather than pure gambling.
In 2005 PartyGaming, a public company based in Gibraltar, was the largest online gambling organisation and its revenue was just short of $1 billion; most of it from US poker. Following the US legislation it pulled out of servicing US poker players and the company soon lost 85% of its value. It has now made a non-prosecution agreement with the USA agencies and handed over $105 million admitting it had broken the law.
Unlike PartyGaming the poker firms who are standing up to the US Government are at least partly run by poker players who are used to taking risks. Doyle Brunson said that they were ready to stand up and fight.
Firms from Brazil, Colombia, France and the US are currently studying the bidding rules for an US$812mn port concession in Costa Rica’s Limón province, port authority Japdeva spokesperson Israel Oconitrillo said.
“More than 42 companies have purchased the bidding rules and have shown interest in this initiative,” Oconitrillo said, adding that companies interested in participating in the tender have to present their offers within the next 2 months.
“The tender was launched in April 2009. Corrections to the original bidding rules have been made since then, following recommendations from technical authorities,” Oconitrillo said. “Since the last time the bidding rules were published, no additional modifications have been made.”
The terminal will be developed 10km away from the existing Moín and Limón port terminals and involves a construction area of 1,500m2. The new port will have the capacity to handle Panamax vessels which carry up to 65,000t of cargo.
Construction will be carried out in two stages. The first phase involves the construction of sea defenses, the first 900m of the dock and three docking positions. In a second phase, the concessionaire will add 600m to the pier and build two more docking positions. Both phases should be operating by 2016.
Companies participating in the tender must include their financing plans in their economic offers, Oconitrillo said.
After bids are opened, the national concessions board CNC has 60 days to award the tender.
The new terminal is part of the government’s port master plan to be developed over the next 35 years and is the first step in the process to concession the Limón-Moín port complex.
The recently elected board of directors at Japdeva’s labor union Sintrajap is optimistic about reaching an agreement on the Limón-Moín ports concession with the future president, Sintrajap’s executive secretary Douglas Brenes told BNamericas in a recent interview.
“We know that with globalization many changes have occurred and Costa Rica has been left behind in infrastructure. However, we have a privileged geographic location and we want people investing in the country,” Brenes said.
Meanwhile, president-elect Laura Chinchilla supports the proposal to concession the terminals and has said she is open to talking with Japdeva workers and reaching an agreement on how the ports should be managed and operated.
For decades Costa Rica has been an oasis of stability in the troubled Central American isthmus. It is the only Latin American country to figure on a list of the world’s 22 “older democracies” compiled by Robert Dahl, an eminent political scientist. It rides high in regional rankings for health care, education, public safety and equality. For all that, its traditional social democracy has recently come under strain. The main job for Laura Chinchilla, who won a presidential election on February 7th with 47% of the vote, will be to retain her country’s unique strengths while trying to adapt it to a globalized world.
Ms Chinchilla will become Latin America’s fifth elected woman president, but she and Chile’s Michelle Bachelet are the only ones not to owe their victory to marriage to a politically prominent husband. Rather, she is a protégée of Óscar Arias, the outgoing president whom she served as vice-president and justice minister.
Mr Arias, who cannot run again until 2018, won a Nobel peace prize for his efforts to end Central America’s civil wars during his first term from 1986 to 1990. This time he focused on economic policy, with a mix of investor-friendly policies and social-welfare measures. His main accomplishment was to win a referendum in 2007 on a free-trade deal with the United States and the rest of Central America. This will require Costa Rica to dismantle several state monopolies. However, he also bumped up spending on schools, pensions, and health care.
Ms Chinchilla benefited from Mr Arias’s popularity, and a divided opposition. To her left Ottón Solís campaigned against the free-trade deal. Her other main rival was Otto Guevara, a right-wing libertarian. Though Ms Chinchilla’s party was originally social-democratic, under Mr Arias it has moved to the center. She has promised to continue his economic policies and his wooing of foreign investment in industries such as semiconductors and medical equipment. Those policies have helped make Costa Rica’s economy the second most dynamic in Central America, behind that of Panama. But they have also made it one of the few countries in Latin America where income inequality has recently risen.
Some believe there is a link between this and a recent rise in violent crime that saw the murder rate nearly double between 2004 and 2008. But the spread of drug-trafficking gangs in Central America is a more likely cause. Ms Chinchilla proposes to hire more police and expand special courts that dispense swift sentences to offenders who are caught red-handed.
But money may be tight. Mr Arias borrowed heavily to shield Costa Ricans from the world recession. Public debt stands at 46% of GDP, and is forecast by the Economist Intelligence Unit, our sister company, to rise to 52% by 2011. That is a heavy burden for a country where tax revenues amount to just 15% of GDP. The budget will be further strained by the loss of revenue from import tariffs as the free-trade deal comes into effect.
Ms Chinchilla’s powers will be limited too. Her party was expected to win only 23 of the 57 seats in the parliament. Under Costa Rica’s constitution, small groups of legislators, as well as individual citizens, can ask the courts to review bills, causing endless delays. The need to secure near-unanimity for changes has stymied many reform efforts. But these are problems that other Central American countries, variously battling organized crime, poverty and instability, would love to have.
Are you planning to go on a vacation, but not really sure about which destination you should choose? Well, if you are fascinate with travelling to different places that are still virgin than you should definitely visit Republic of Costa Rica. The place is one awesome destination that has more varieties than you might imagine. Though, Costa Rica is famous for its sandy beaches and blue seascape, you will still find many adventurers and photographers moving in the country to capture some of the magnificent pictures and to climb some of the adventurous rock mountains that are a part of Costa Rica.
The climate of Costa Rica is always pleasant therefore you do not have to worry about your vacation plans. Though it rains in Costa Rica from the month of May to November, you can be sure that it will not affect your vacation plans because rainfall normally happens only for few hours in the afternoon time and mornings and evenings are again sunny which you can enjoy as per your convenience. With tourism being one of the most important factor for earning revenues, Costa Rican government have made more facilities available to the local public through which they can help the international tourists and you will find many small and big hotels and resorts available here in every part of the country, so you never need to worry about the occupancy of resorts and hotels.
Apart from the climate and the resorts available in Costa Rica, you should also visit Costa Rica because though it is a small country it provides all kinds of adventures that you might not find in any other place. If you are a beach lover you can visit the sandy beaches which are all over the Costa Rica. If you love mountain climbing and trekking than there are tropical rain forests which can take you closer to Mother Nature and you will be able to see some of the best bird’s species and animals around you. If you like a city type environment than there are hotels and pubs which allows you to have a nice time and you can dance and groove your body to the latest music which is being played in the clubs out there. If you like to get into the details of the nature around you than there are plenty of volcanoes, parks and forest reserves available in Costa Rica which can give you some of the most beautiful experiences of being so close to the nature.
People who always like to carry their cameras with them will find that they just can’t stop from clicking pictures because the environment is really clean and that reflects clearly in every part of Costa Rica. Photographers can click pictures of the volcanoes, beaches, rain forests and the architecture that is all around the Costa Rica. While you are moving from one place to another in Costa Rica you can also visit some of the natural wonders and the most popular Central Valley which has also attracted the Hollywood filmmakers.
In a news piece on the new elected president for the country of Cost Rica, Laura Chinchilla, it says that she plans “to put geothermal and solar energy on the agenda for the country’s ambitious goal to reach a zero carbon impact country by 2021.”
“Our country can produce all its energy from renewable sources within four years and be totally self-sufficient,” says the new president. She wants the resources of the country to be exploited and to do this, she intends to promote the utilization of geothermal potential of the many volcanoes in the country.
But the task will not be easy, as reported by the Swiss daily Le Temps. The mostly tourist areas are part of a system of national parks, that are represent a 10th of the territory of the country and the exploitation of the subsurface is prohibited.
The president intends to skip the environmental standards, she deems counter-productive.”
China and Costa Rica announced Wednesday that they have agreed on a framework for a free trade agreement, AFP reported. Talks on an agreement began in earnest in 2007 after Costa Rica became the first nation in Central America to end longstanding diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Marco Vinicio Ruiz, Costa Rican minister of foreign trade, described the agreement “a milestone in Costa Rica’s trade policy,” noting that it would create enormous opportunities for investment from China as well as Costa Rican exports to China. The deal gives priority to Costa Rican exports to China, with 99.6% of goods qualifying for immediate, duty-free access to the Chinese market. In return, tariffs will be removed on 58% of Chinese goods entering Costa Rica. The Central American nation’s agricultural exporters are likely to be the primary beneficiaries, although Chinese negotiators would not allow sugar to be added to the list of tariff-free products. Cost Rica also recently concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement with Singapore.
