Archive for July 7th, 2010
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Costa Rica’s police seized 1.09 metric tons of cocaine on the Latin American country’s Pacific coast, the EFE news agency reported Wednesday.
The huge batch of the drug was discovered in a house at Bejuco Beach 300 km (186 miles) west of the country’s capital San Jose.
Twelve people, including seven Costa Ricans and five Colombians, were arrested during the police operation. If found guilty, they face up to 20 years in prison.
Police said the cocaine was delivered to the coast by sea, and later the batch was divided into parts and brought to the house where it was discovered.
Investigators said the drugs were to have been delivered to Guatemala or Mexico by land.
It is not the first time Costa Rican law enforcement seizes a huge batch of cocaine. In February police seized 969 kg of the drug under similar circumstances.
Colombia, Peru and Bolivia are considered the key cocaine producers in Latin America. Costa Rica is a “transit center” on the drug’s way to the north of the continent.
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Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
The new Hospital de Heredia is getting ready to open its doors. Jorge Fonseca, director of the San Vicente de Paúl hospital, said the emergency room will start functioning on July 15 at 7am, while the entire hospital will be fully functional on Monday, July 19.
Some 173 patients will be moved from the old Heredia hospital to the new, starting first with the intensive care patients, then the those infected with the AH1N1.
Some 60 ambulances from the Cruz Roja will be used for the transfer, who will be guided by the Policía de Tránsito to keep the routes open.
Fonseca assures that by the 16th all medical files and records will have been moved to the new medical centre and that all equipment has been testing and working fine.
The new hospital cost us$101 million dollars and created some 560 new job openings.
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Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
In the context of the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean (CALC), held in Caracas, Venezuela, Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno held this Saturday a bilateral meeting with his counterparts from Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and the Deputy Foreign Minister of that country, Francisco Arias Cárdenas.
Yesterday, Minister Moreno was welcomed by Minister Maduro at the Simon Bolivar International Airport, where he came to receive his counterparts from Latin America and the Caribbean participating in CALC.
The bilateral meeting, held at the Tamanaco Hotel, was also attended by the Deputy Director General of Multilateral Affairs of the Chilean Foreign Ministry, Adolfo Carafi, and the Chilean Ambassador to Venezuela, Mauricio Ugalde. On the occasion, Minister Moreno discussed with Venezuela’s Foreign Minister on the bilateral relation and the progress of the Foreign Ministers Meeting of CALC, which was held a few minutes later.
Meanwhile, this morning, Moreno held his first bilateral meeting with Argentina’s new Foreign Minister, Héctor Timerman in the context of the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of CALC, which began today in the Venezuelan capital.
Minister Moreno and his Argentine counterpart held a working breakfast at the Tamanaco Hotel to address numerous issues on the bilateral relation between the two countries.
Subsequently, Minister Moreno met for the first time with his Costa Rican counterpart, René Castro. Minister Moreno and Castro discussed on the various aspects and challenges posed by the bilateral relation between Chile and that Central American country.
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