(QCOSTARICA) The Ministry of Health reported Tuesday 52 new patients with COVID-19 were diagnosed in the country between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning; the number of total infections reaching 1,796 people.
According to Dr. Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, 794 people have recovered, the number of hospitalized is now 20 patients, with two of them in intensive care.
The number of deaths has remained firm at twelve (three women and nine men).
Confirmed patients range in age from zero to 89 years; The Ministry of Health distributes them as follows:
(QCOSTARICA) The opening of airports in Costa Rica could contemplate the entry of foreigners from countries without increased transmission of Covid-19.
That is one of the measures considered in the proposed protocol for this opening, in which the Ministry of Transport, Immigration, the Ministry of Health and government bodies others are working.
Health Minister Daniel Salas suggests a “gradual” and “scaled” opening and possible testing period, but would not confirm a date, that the data will guide as to when Costa Rica will welcome international tourists.
What the Minister would confirm is that, when the time comes, it would be under strict controls in a gradual and scaled way, so that in some moment we’d allow tourists coming from countries without mass transmission.
There is still no scheduled date for this opening and it is not yet considered in the schedule reported by the Ministry of Health.
Currently, only Costa Rican nationals and legal residents (who did not leave the country after March 24) are permitted entry.
Tourism is a major economic driver in Costa Rica, representing an estimated 8.2% of the country’s GDP.
The Tourism Board (ICT) is promoting national tourism, though localized outbreaks have led to reapplied measures in areas under “orange alert”.
Some 3.1 million foreign visitors arrive in Costa Rica In 2019, an increase of 4.1% over 2018, spending an average of 12.6 days and US$1,400.
The United States is the main country for visitors to Costa Rica, almost 1.3 million people last year, according to data from the ICT.
Between January and May of this year, some 1,966 drivers received a fine of ¢54,636 for circulating with the expired technical vehicle inspection, or Riteve as it is commonly known.
On average, about 400 drivers were penalized each month, despite the extension so that vehicles can circulate in June with the inspection due in May. The extension, due to the pandemic, allows vehicle owners/drivers to continue driving this month despite their inspection was due last month.
In addition, drivers can go to an inspection appointment even on the day they have a vehicle restriction, but cannot roll if they are late in the inspection, even if they are going to Riteve.
“Vehicles must meet this requirement, but due to the pandemic by Covid-19, the Ministry of Transport has given grace periods so that drivers can drive without being penalized, despite not being current (with the inspection),” said German Marín, director of the Traffic Police.
A misconception is that vehicle owners can only have their vehicle inspected in the month it corresponds them, based on the last digit of the license plate (1 for January, 2 for February, 3 for March, 4 for April, 5 for May, 6 for June, 7 for July, 8 for August, 9 for September and 0 for October.
However, vehicles can be inspected one month prior to their date, for example, July vehicles can be inspected in June.
Another misconception is the 30-day grace period for re-inspection. The Riteve provides vehicle owners up to 30 days to have their vehicle re-inspected for the defects found and at a 50% rate, after that, the vehicle must again be fully re-inspected and at a full rate.
Many a driver will have their vehicle inspected on June 30, for example, fail and be of the belief they now can driver, legally, for the next 30 days. That is not the case. Come July 1, the driver is exposed to a fine for not having the respective vehicle inspection sticker.
An added note, during the national emergency, if a vehicle is stopped for violating the vehicular restrictions (daytime or night time) and it does not have the current Riteve, a ticket is issued for that in addition to the ticket for the violation of the restriction.
Former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla Miranda (2010-2014)
(QCOSTARICA) Out of respect for Costa Rica, former president Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014) asked the country’s media today not to mythologize the figure of Edén Pastora, the Nicaraguan general whose dead was made official on Tuesday.
Former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla Miranda (2010-2014)
On her Facebook, Chinchilla asserted that “Comandante Cero” (Commander Zero), as she was called in life, “was a mercenary who betrayed the coat we gave him.”
For Chinchilla, it is not acceptable that “they dedicate informative articles as they have never done with exemplary compatriots who have left us.”
The ex-guerrilla, who in 2010 became a thorn in the new administration of Chinchilla as the military officer “following orders” in charge of Nicaragua to dredge the San Juan River, which led to the conflict over Isla Calero.
In this undated photo, Edén Pastora (right) leader of the Nicaraguan revolution, with Sandinista President Daniel Ortega. Courtesy.
According to the Daniel Ortega government, Pastora (who held dual nationality, Nicaraguan and Costa Rican) died of heart failure at a military hospital Tuesday morning (June 16), while reports of his death had already made the news headlines in Costa Rica days earlier.
(QCOSTARICA) On Tuesday, President Carlos Alvarado signed into law the usury law that sets a maximum interest rate of 39% loans in colones and 31.5% in dollars for loans of ¢675,000 colones and higher.
For loans of less than ¢675,000, classified as microcredit, the rate limit would be 55% in colones and 45.66% in dollars.
Interests that exceed those limits would be considered usury, that is sanction from six months to two years in prison.
“For many years there has been concern about the high-interest rates that people in Costa Rica pay for their consumption on credit cards and others,” said Alvarado.
“This law manages to put a stop to high-interest rates to alleviate the pocket of Costa Rican households and alleviate the overindebtedness that exists in the country. This was a campaign promise that I am very satisfied to fulfill,” said the president
The new law will take effect starting July 2020, and it is not retroactive, that is, it will only benefit those who acquire their credits after the law comes into force.
For the Minister of the Economy, Victoria Hernández Mora, “this lawn is a valuable opportunity to provide the population and companies with more information when it comes to establishing and evaluating financial products, allowing them fairer and more balanced relationships in their credit operations.”
(QCOSTARICA) The ‘gambetto‘ didn’t pay off. The long list of complaints forced the Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA) – the national water utility – to adjust the May billing, and the reduced bill will start on Monday, June 22.
Users outside the AyA offices in downtown San Jose on Tuesday
The utility, in a statement, announced that the May billing was an accumulated consumption of the last three months (March, April, and May), not taking into account the users had paid the average amount billed in March and April.
The error comes from the fact that meter readers were no working for the month of March and April, in May the data entered into the system reflected the real consumption for the three months, not taking into account the averaged payment made for the first two.
That is, since the last time your water meter was read was in February, in the May reading, the consumption billed was from that reference point.
Angry users lined up starting a 7:00 am this Tuesday to personall complain about the high billing
In a “hypothetical case” the AyA published their explanation on its website:
“In a house, 20 cubic meters (m3) of water was consumed in March and 20 m3 in April by the estimation method. In May, when the actual reading is applied, a consumption of 75 m3 is read on the hydrometer. This amount is a cumulative of what was consumed in 3 months, since the last reading. However, the consumption in May was 35 m3.
“When applying the new apportionment, it is recorded that the family consumed 25 m3 in March, 25 m3 in April and 25 m3 in May. Since only 20 m3 were invoiced in April and 20 m3 in March, an additional item will be applied in July and August to collect the 5 m3 left from each one.
“For its part, the new invoice for May will only be for 25 m3, so it will have to be reduced by the corresponding amounts to 10 m3, since the original invoice in this period was issued for 35 m3.
“In this way, the consumption ranges for March, April and May would remain within the first and second price scale of the tariff and the exemption in the collection of VAT would be maintained.”
According to the above, the May billing will be the average consumption of March, April, and May, which implies a decrease in the amount billed. In those cases where the Value Added Tax (VAT) was billed due to the high consumption reading, that too will be adjusted.
Important that the adjustment will be made automatically, so there is no need for the user to file a complaint or join the hundreds who have lined up outside the AyA offices opened on Monday to deal face-to-face with user complaints.
“Both the adjustment to billing and the VAT will be made automatically, so there is no need for the user to carry out any formalities with the institution or with the Ministry of Finance (for the VAT),” the utility assured.
The adjustments in the amounts will begin to be reflected starting Monday, June 22 for users who source the metropolitan aqueduct (that is the Greater Metropolitan Area), and starting Friday, June 26 for the rest of the country.
Not even the mid-day rain lessened the determination of users in downtown San Jose to complain this Tesday
Do not pay just yet
The advice is not to pay until you see the new amount and that it has dropped to a level based on your consumption history. You can see your new bill here or on your bank’s online bill-paying app.
If the amount has not dropped or still too high, you should then file a complaint either by email at: linea800@aya.go.cr; by phone at 800 REPORTE (800-7376783); or in person. On Monday, June 22, the AyA will open more of its offices to respond to users.
In the last few days, officials of the Public Services Regulatory Authority (Aresep) carried out inspections in San José to examine the issue of complaints and charges against the AyA. Photo: Aresep
What if you already paid the May bill?
Users who paid the May bill, that is the overbilled amount, the AyA will not issue a refund, but rather a credit note for amount over the adjusted amount, that will applied to future billings.
If you paid, you should pay close attention to your July and August billing in particular.
A bunch of Tico Bull
To save face, the AyA blames the overbilling to hand-washing measures due to the COVID-19, children and adolescents at home from school and the staying at home recommendation by the Ministry of Health.
And oh, year, the added water consumption due to the dry season.
“During this calculation period, in most cases, actual consumption was (after reading) higher than estimated. The possible explanation for this result is associated with an increase in consumption as a result of the adoption of hygiene measures by COVID-19 (hand washing), teleworking and the stay of student children and adolescents in their homes (due to the suspension of the classes), to which is added the growth of water consumption during the dry season,” assures AyA.
(QCOSTARICA) José Luis Ramírez Zamora, brother of Luany Valeria Salazar Zamora, on Monday asked for permission to enter a neighbor’s house in Linda Vista de La Unión, Cartago.
Luany Valeria Salazar, 23, was last seen alive by her family on Tuesday, June 9
There, seeing removed earth in the patio of the house, he began to dig, unearthing bag and inside was the body of his sister, Luany Valeria Salazar, 23, who had disappeared last Tuesday, June 9.
“When I got to the patio we got into the ground, I reached in, dug in, and broke the bag,” José Salazar explained during an exclusive interview with Noticias Telediario.
After the find, on Monday night, the young woman’s family launched a series of public complaints against the Organismo de Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), who in their opinion, did not give importance to the case.
Mother and daugther
The family assured that they had provided the OIJ information to the main suspect, the man who lived in the house where the body was found, a man who the family says he looked at “morbidly”.
According to the testimony of Luany’s relatives, the man had left the community a few days ago, just after the disappearance.
“We called the OIJ, we identified him in photos, we asked them to come and look for him at the house, but the police never approached us, no agent interviewed us.
“Today (Monday) we called the OIJ again and they told us that they did not have the case assigned yet and we feel desperate with that answer. How is that possible?” Ramírez told Multimedios.
For the moment, the OIJ has provided little information on the case, only confirming that a body had been found, but stressed that it had not been determined whether it was a man or a woman.
“The body was in a house in the area, in the patio of the house, half-buried, in a plastic bag and it still cannot be fully affirmed that she is the missing girl, but apparently the family says that the clothes on the body are similar to the clothes that this girl was wearing the day she disappeared,” explained the OIJ press chief, Marisel Rodríguez
OIJ missing persons poster
She added that during today, Tuesday, they would be inspecting the scene, with the aim of collecting “all the evidence”, taking into account that the participation of several specialists on the site is necessary.
It was on Friday that the OIJ published a photo with data on the disappearance of Luany, who the family says went missing the night of June 9, after a friend came looking for her.
It would be the last time the family saw Luany alive.
Later, this friend would have told Salazar’s mother that they had gone to a friend’s house who lived nearby, when apparently, a neighborhood boy came there and said to Luany: “Come on, I have a business for you” and took her from of the house.
The boy the family that he left her at the mall to go home, around 3:00 am Wednesday, June 10.
Luany’s mother said she received a text message from her daughter at 6:40 am Wednesday, which she said was on her way home, but it was not so; from that moment the family became desperate because the young woman always informed her family where she was.
Main suspect in the murder and burial of Luany Salazar arrested
Despite the fear by Luany’s family that the man they believe to responsible for the young woman’s death will have disappeared due to the inaction of the judicial police in the case, the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica (MSP) reported the arrested this Tuesday of the main suspect.
Police have in custody the main suspect in the murder of Luany
“Actions by the Fuerza Publica (National Police) determined that the man was staying in a house in San Pablo de Heredia, so the units immediately moved to the scene. The man with the last name Mejía took refuge inside the house and after an exhaustive work of the Police, the man decided to turn himself in,” informed the (MSP).
The man gave himself up to police after a lenghty standoff in a house in Heredia
(TODAY NICARAGUA) There is really no end as to how far the dictator Daniel Ortega will go to deny over and over that Nicaragua does not have a pandemic on its hands, that all is under control, there is no community contagion and that the hundreds who have died of pneumonia everyone knows it was really COVID-19.
“Comandante Cero” Eden Pastora (1936-2020) held both Costa Rica and Nicaragua nationality
One example is the death politician and guerrilla, leader of the Southern Front, the largest militia in southern Nicaragua, the group first to call itself “Sandinistas”, second only to the FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) in the north, the group first to call itself “Sandinistas” nicknamed Comandante Cero (“Commander Zero”), Eden Pastora.
Days ago, rumors circulated in the media of Pastora’s death. However, they were quickly dispelled, with news that Comandante Cero was in “grave condition” in hospital.
Today, June 16, the Nicaraguan government through Moises Absalón Pastora published that Eden Pastora died “of a heart attack”.
“Eden Pastora, Commander, rests in peace.His heart surrendered today at two this morning,” said the commentator on his program on the state television Channel 6.
However, there is no mention that the 83-year-old ex-commander had days of being intubated and the family was notified of his death on Saturday, the same day rumors of his death made headlines outside of Nicaragua.
Se siente feo alegrarse del mal https://t.co/wVMDIWzMVO tener 83 años su muerte era pronta ya con la edad las complicaciones son frecuentes el cuerpo ya sin muchas defensas.Pero no podemos obviar que no es que uno se alegre pero dan ganas de celebrar.Hizo mucho daño.
The “official” report says Pastora died at 1:18 am on June 16 at the Hospital Militar, after suffering for several days a respiratory condition aggravated by the health crisis of COVID-19, which is in Nicaragua is in a phase of local community contagion.
On June 13 (Saturday), the day when rumors of his death circulated, La Prensa reported Pastora was in serious condition at the Military Hospital.
The ex-guerrilla had previously been admitted to the Carlos Roberto Huembes hospital with suspicions of Covid-19, it was known unofficially, however, his wife Yolanda Torres said that the Commander was recovering from bronchopneumonia, but not from Covid-19.
“I can assure you that he’s okay. They sent him to recover at home. He was there three days, but everything is fine,” she told La Prensa by telephone on June 5.
Days later he was admitted again to the Military Hospital in Managua, after suffering a relapse in his health, sources from the Sandinista Front party confided.
La Prensa says it visited the former guerrilla’s house on June 10, but Torres sent word to one of the custodial police officers that “he is not receiving visits” and she did not want to refer to the health of her husband, who at that time would have already been in the hospital for two days.
100% Noticias reports that Pastora spoke by telephone to Nicaragua Investiga on June 5, confirming that “a bronchopneumonia was what I had, a bronchopneumonia that I had had ten years ago and it escaped killing me ten years ago and now it escaped me again, everything has been overcome,” he said.
Managua, Nicaragua. April 28, 2017
Edén Atanacio Pastora Gómez (1936 – 2020)
The guerrilla commander fought against the Somoza dictatorship in the seventies of the last century and staunch enemy of the FSLN in the counter-revolution based in Costa Rica in the eighties. However, Pastora became an unconditional political operator to Daniel Ortega since his return to power in 2007, after failing politically as a presidential candidate.
Pastora was one of the few commanders at the service of the new Ortega dictatorship who had any historical role in the overthrow of Somoza in 1979, first as head of the guerrilla operation that assaulted the Somoza Congress on August 22, 1978, and later as military chief of the Southern Front ‘Benjamín Zeledón’ in 1979.
Eden Pastora supported the April 2018 massacre
During the 2018 civic protest, known as the April Rebellion, which was repressed with police and paramilitary violence by Ortega, causing more than 300 deaths, Pastora openly supported the repression and said, during the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the taking of the Palace Nacional, that they had to wait 55 days for Ortega to give them the “signal” to openly attack the citizens, with weapons of war, when he told them “that (his detractors) were murderers and there began” the deployment of paramilitary gangs in the so-called ‘Operation Cleaning’.
On the morning of that same day, as a defender of the regime’s policies, Pastora had appeared in the magazine En Vivo, by the official Channel 4, to virulently attack the bishops of the Catholic Church.
A diplomatic and environmental disaster
His public office as the delegate for the Ortega presidency for the dredging of the San Juan River was marked by international controversy, when in 2010 Edén Pastora ventured to dredge the Harbor Head area, causing an international demand by the Costa Rica government, that in 2015 the International Court of Justice of The Hague determined that the delta belonged to Costa Rica.
In 2016, the Government of Costa Rica demanded compensation of six million US dollars from Nicaragua for the environmental damage that Pastora would have caused by the dredging and affecting green areas and Costa Rican wetlands.
Almost 21 months later, the Court ordered that Nicaragua should pay US$378,890 to Costa Rica, a cost that added to an estimated one million dollars that the judicial process should have cost.
Pastora defended himself saying “I am a soldier, I followed orders” while assuring that he would continue to dredge the river if Ortega ordered it once more.
In 2017, he was accused of extracting wood from the Indio Maíz Reserve, without having the corresponding permission from the Rama Kriol Territorial Government, although he defended himself arguing that he did have it.
2006 Presidential candidate
In 2006, Commandante ‘Cero’ participated in that election as a candidate for the presidency of the Republic under the ‘Alternativa por el Cambio’ (AC) party, where he got 0.27% of the votes, and zero legislators.
It was not his first foray into an election. Ten years earlier, the Supreme Electoral Council had inhibited him from participating in the 1996 elections, as a presidential candidate for the Movimiento de Acción Democrática (MAD), due to his dual citizenship: Nicaraguan and Costa Rican.
Six years earlier, Edén Pastora had also dabbled in the search for votes, when she supported the Partido Social Cristiano (PSC) in the 1990 electoral campaign, where Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, candidate for the Unión Nacional Opositora (UNO), was elected, as the woman first president of Nicaragua, which marked the return to democracy in the country.
How much did you sell your membership card for?
Pastora had returned to the country in the context of that electoral joust, after having resigned from the Sandinista Front in 1981 and declared a traitor by the vice minister of the Interior in the revolutionary government. A propaganda campaign against him by the now-deceased commander Tomás Borge, who demanded publicly to know for how much he had sold his FSLN membership card.
After traveling to Panama, Pastora moved to Costa Rica, where he founded the counter-revolutionary organization Alianza Revolucionaria Democrática (ARDE) that established itself in part of Costa Rican territory to launch armed operations against the then-so-called Sandinista Popular Army.
On May 30, 1984, while giving a press conference in La Penca, on the banks of the San Juan river, Edén Pastora was wounded when he suffered a bomb attack by the Sandinista government counterintelligence agents, in which seven people died eleven, including several journalists.
Two years later, he announced his decision to abandon the armed struggle against his former Sandinista comrades, after the United States Government denied him economic and military assistance. Several of his commanders decided to continue in the military struggle, supporting the Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense (FDN).
Pastora returned to fishing, which was his old civilian occupation.
Operation Chanchera”: Death to Somocismo
On August 22, 1978, the guerrilla fighter Edén Pastora directed the seizure of the National Palace, in an operation known as ‘Operation Chanchera’. From that moment on, he began to be known by his name in that operation, which was ‘Commander Zero’, while his two lieutenants Hugo Torres and Dora María Téllez were designated as ‘One’ and ‘Two’, respectively.
The ‘Operation Chanchera’ was a political success because the 25-member Sandinista command was able to capture all the legislators who were present at the time in parliament, as well as two relatives of Anastasio Somoza: his cousin Luis Pallais, president of the Legislative Assembly, and his nephew, the legislators José Somoza Abrego.
The dictator Somoza had to free 50 Sandinista prisoners, deliver half a million dollars to the rebels, and publish an extensive manifesto that was printed in the country’s newspapers, including Novedades, owned by the tyrant, in addition to being read on national radio and television;
In 1979, Edén Pastora was the military chief of the “Benjamín Zeledón” South Front, one of the flanks from where the Sandinista National Liberation Front declared war on the Somoza dictatorship.
Pastora was part of the ‘Third Party’ or ‘Insurrectional’ trend, before the three FSLN trends joined.
In his last appearance he pleaded for Ortega’s replacement
In his last public appearance, on November 11, 2019, the day that Daniel Ortega celebrated his 74th birthday, Pastora demanded in an official television program that the Sandinista Front should reactivate the Sandinista Congress, to select the candidate who will relieve Ortega, not to mention the current vice president and wife of Ortega, Rosario Murillo.
“I would recommend,” said Pastora, that this Congress “tell us who the next candidate, our next leader, is going to be, when God sends our commander (Ortega) a fatality, a stroke, a serious illness, an old age within ten or twelve years, a certain death”.
Edén Pastora was born in Ciudad Darío, November 15, 1936, and “officially” died in Managua on June 16, 2020, at the age of 83.
Works such as the underpass in the Social Guarantees exclude pedestrians and cyclists from their design, according to mobility experts. Courtesy MOPT / La República
(QCOSTARICA) The country is experiencing unprecedented road development after years of being stalled, under the tutelage of Minister of Public Works Rodolfo Méndez.
Roadworks such as the recently completed Garantias Sociales underpass on the Circunvalacion exclude pedestrians and cyclists from their design, according to mobility experts.
However, this development vision perpetuates a kind of “autocentrism” (Carrocentrismo in Spanish) in the country, when this is not the most used means of transportation by people, according to mobility experts.
This is caused because the works were conceived years ago, with a different vision of development, which is not the one that current generations envision, according to David Gómez, director of the BiciBus collective.
Gomez points out the exclusion of pedestrians and cyclists from road infrastructures, such as the Guadalupe and Garantia Sociales interchanges of the Circunvalacion; the Ruta 32 (San Jose – Limon) with no bicycle path contemplated, despite the fact that the vast majority of the inhabitants of the nearby communities use the two-wheeler as a means of transportation.
In the expansion of Florencio del Castillo (San Jose – Cartago), the problem is seen in the overpass that is planned to be built at the height of La Galera, in Curridabat, whose design does not include cycling infrastructure, although it should have it by law.
Precisely for this reason, BiciBus, along with other groups, such as Aconvivir, intend to challenge works that do not comply with the Cycling Mobility and Safety Law, which came into force at the beginning of this year.
They also seek that works designed before the law adhere to one of its main premises: contemplate bicycle lanes in the design of road infrastructure.
“It is like a bank designing a building 20 years ago and starting to build it today without complying with the Equal Opportunities Law for People with Disabilities Law (Ley 7600), it would be absurd,” said Ramón Pendones, director of Aconvivir.
Private car users are about 41% of the population, while public transport users 52%, estimated a 2018 report, prepared by the Comptroller General.
Despite this, private cars occupy about 80% of the road infrastructure in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), with an average of 1.3 passengers per vehicle.
“The balance of the future road infrastructure is totally inclined towards cars; it is unconnected with the development model that we want and with the decarbonization goals that the country has,” concluded Gómez.
(RICO’S DIGEST) Most of the world started using the Gregorian calendar back in 1582, that’s the calendar we know today. However, before this people used different calendars to keep a track of dates including the Mayan and Julian calendars.
The Gregorian calendar was introduced to try and better reflect the time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun. Over time these lost days add up and now there’s a conspiracy theory claiming that we should actually be in the year 2012, not 2020.
The reading of the Mayan calendar was wrong, according to a conspiracy theory on Twitter, and while the world didn’t end on Dec. 21, 2012, as originally prophesied by calendar readers, Mayan doomsday is sometime this week.
“Following the Julian Calendar, we are technically in 2012 … The number of days lost in a year due to the shift into Gregorian Calendar is 11 days … For 268 years using the Gregorian Calendar (1752-2020) times 11 days = 2,948 days. 2,948 days / 365 days (per year) = 8 years,” scientist Paolo Tagaloguin tweeted last week, according to the Sun. The series of tweets has since been deleted.
If Tagaloguin is correct, adding up all the missed days, then the Mayan doomsday date is … this week.
In 2012, doomsday theorists were convinced the world was ending on Dec. 21, and hordes of believers flocked to Mayan sites in Mexico and Guatemala — only to be left disappointed and dirty due to the lack of sanitation at ancient Mayan pyramids.
Back in 2012, the date December 21 was proposed by some as the end of the world by conspiracy theorists who were using the Mayan calendar to try and make sense of an ancient prediction.
NASA said: “The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth.
“This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 – hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.”
The space agency previously explained: “For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence?
Conspiracy theorists using the Julian calendar may think the world is actually going to end at the end of this week but without any scientific evidence, Nasa won’t agree.
As with most conspiracy theories, we have to remember that they are just that – a theory without evidence.
(QCOSTARICA) In less than two weeks, Costa Rica’s borders could re-open to the arrival of foreigners. The current border restrictions at all land, sea, and airports, unless extended again, end on June 30.
That would mean the return of the arrival of tourists as early as July 1.
Due to the COVID-19 emergency, the Government of Costa Rica has restricted entry only to Costa Ricans and foreign nationals with a legal residence (who did not leave the country on or after March 24 – or who will leave Costa Rica during the travel restriction – cannot re-enter Costa Rica while the current restriction is in force) .
The restriction is effective from March 18th, at 11:59 pm through June 30th at 11:59 pm, and applies to land, sea, and air arrivals.
Besides Costa Rican nationals and legal residents, the following travelers are exempt from this restriction; therefore, they are permitted to enter Costa Rica:
Aircrews and all personnel related to commerce and goods supply
Diplomatic and consular officers (and their family) of foreign embassies and missions duly accredited in Costa Rica
International crew members related to air, sea and land transportation
Foreigners in transit to other destinations outside Costa Rica. They will be permitted to remain only in their respective boarding lounges
Foreign minors born out of Costa Rican parents who travel with one or both Costa Rican parents, even if they are not registered as Costa Rican nationals or are in the process of such registration. It is mandatory for them to be properly identified with a valid passport and a Birth Certificate.
Foreign nationals married to Costa Rican nationals. They must be accompanied by his/her Costa Rican spouse and are required to show an original Marriage Certificate.
Foreign nationals who are parents of Costa Rican minors (under the age of 18 years old). They must be accompanied by their Costa Rican children and must show an original Birth Certificate.
Mandatory quarantine: As of March 16, anyone arriving in Costa Rica from another country must self-quarantine for 14 days subjected to monitoring by the Immigration Office and the Ministry of Health.
Notwithstanding the June 30 ending of border restrictions, there is one line in the Costa Rica Embassy in Washington DC advisory that contradicts that: No tourist visas will be granted before July 18th, 2020.
What gives?
I suppose we have to wait and see what comes up in the coming days.
The appetite for entertainment is not stopped by a pandemic. With a look back, the experience of watching movies from the seat of your car is back in fashion.
The El Autocine CR project offers this opportunity, as announced at a press conference on Monday, June 15.
This “indoor” drive-in theater, located in the Pedregal Events Center, specifically in the Montezuma room, which has the capacity of 90 vehicles, distanced in accordance with preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19.
In addition, the cars will be staggered to achieve a good view of the 14 meters (45 feet) widescreen, with audio enabled on105.3 FM.
The organization announced that the center will respect all disinfection measures before and after each function. Also, it hired a company to supply alcohol, thermometers, masks, face shields, and gloves to the operators of each function.
“We are very excited and proud to bring the drive-in cinema back to our country. We will follow all the sanitary protocols, so that, in a hygienic and safe way, users can once again experience the emotions of the films outside the home,” said Alejandro León, director of the project.
Keeping with the Health measures to prevent the spread of the virus, tickets for the functions can only be obtained through an online ticket office.The website elautocinecr.com. Tickets have a cost of ¢12,500 per car for afternoon and night functions (average price based on a car with four people at ¢3,125 each).
The popcorn and candy store receives orders via WhatsApp by the number that will be provided to customers at the function, or through its website.
Weekday functions are only at 6:45 pm; On weekends, there are functions a 1 pm and 4 pm.
The first show will be today, Tuesday, June 16, with the comedy “El mejor verano de mi vida” (The best summer of my life).
“It is a family movie. The premiere is planned with this film on the occasion of Father’s Day. The rest of the programming for each week will be announced,” said Natalia Chavarría, press officer.
Users are asked to arrive 30 minutes prior to each function.
The Pedregal Events Center is located in San Antonio de Belén, in Heredia, 800 meters east of the train station.
Organizers say the second stage of El Auto Cine CR will include outdoor venues.
(QCOSTARICA) Some 50,000 applicants for the Bono Proteger (unemployment aid) will have free access to the international virtual education platform Coursera, a paid web service with nearly 5,000 training programs, from Stanford University.
The Minister of Labor, Giannina Dinarte, explained on the Monday the free online education platform available to 50,000 Costa Ricans who have lost their job due to COVID-19, to learn a new language or skills in order to generate greater employability and greater employment opportunities
There, beneficiaries will be able to learn languages, develop job skills, or acquire complementary knowledge such as data analysis and also obtain certifications.
“Citizens will have access to courses from the best universities in the world as well as programs, such as the Google IT Support Professional Certificate, which quickly prepares people without technical knowledge for jobs in information technology,” said Maggioncalda
The announcement was made on Monday afternoon by President Carlos Alvarado, who stated that this is one of the tools to combat the impact of COVID-19 in the country.
“It is one of the strategies we have in order to generate greater employability and greater employment opportunities for those people who became unemployed as a result of the COVID-19,” said the president.
The free access was made possible by an agreement from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS), the Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex) and the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives (Cinde) with Coursera.
The plan will be in charge of the Ministry of Labor, who administers the Protect voucher with the help of the Mixed Institute of Social Aid (IMAS).
As explained by the Minister of Labor, Geannina Dinarte, the selection of people who became unemployed or with suspended contracts and who have completed secondary school will be prioritized.
“We will communicate to the people who are on the platform of the 50,000 spaces available and we call on those affected to take this opportunity that will give them valuable tools for their reintegration into the workplace,” said Dinarte.
The MTSS reports there are some 266,000 people registered for the Bono Proteger, people are unemployed or with suspended contracts. In total, there are 950,000 applications for financial aid.
“They are people who have stopped receiving income and it is essential to put at their disposal alternatives that allow them to have a prompt reintegration.” the Minister pointed out.
(QCOSTARICA) At the beginning of the third week of June, 100 days after the detection of the first case of COVID-19 in the country, the number of infections amounted to 1,744 cases in 76 of the 82 cantons.
Heredia hospital
In the last 24 hours, 29 new cases were reported, a significantly lower number than those registered in the last days during the second pandemic wave, focused on agricultural workers in the northern zone.
According to Dr. Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, most of the new cases reproted Monday are related to three clusters or conglomerates in Heredia.
In that canton, there were five new infections, but between Saturday and Monday the increase has been seven; It is fourth among the areas with the most cases.
In recent days, measures have transpired in the Municipality of Heredia and the Hospital San Vicente de Paúl, where two patients were detected in each institution, which forced the establishment of preventive quarantines for 27 employees.
Another cluster was found in the canton of Escazú, where there were eight new cases, bringing the currently active to 12. Salas assured that this conglomerate is under control and follow-up of contacts.
“All the epidemiological articulation is being used to contain, as in other associated cases. We have expanded close contacts, clinical assessment of people to see if transfer (to hosptial) is required,” he said.
Present at Monday’s presser was also President Carlos Alvarado.
“Today’s report gives us a break in what has been this second wave of pandemic and we hope that we continue in that direction, especially to bring calm to the northern part of the country,” he said.
In the previous five days, there have been records ranging from 50 to 86 cases, mostly related to the situation in the north. in communities now under an “orange alert”, which implies greater restrictions on vehicular traffic and commerce, in addition to operating an intervention plan for companies and a high-level commission working in the area.
The installation of isolation centers is also being established to provide the affected population, in the majority migrant or living in overcrowded conditions, to comply with quarantine.
According to the Health report on Monday, there are now 771 people recovered; 19 hospitalized, four of them in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with ages from 43 to 72 years.
Twelve people have died of causes associated with COVID-19.
Protecting Skills Plan
The presence of President Alvarado Monday was to introduce the Protecting Skills Plan, a new scholarship program for online training promoted by the Government, which will benefit 50,000 Costa Ricans affected by labor due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19.
The program is the product of an alliance between MTSS, COMEX, CINDE, IDB and Coursera, the world’s leading online learning platform.
People who applied for Bono Proteger and have lost their jobs due to the pandemic will benefit. They will be able to access courses and certifications from the best universities in the world for free, to train and improve their job options.
“We are excited to partner with the government to prepare a highly skilled and ready workforce for the jobs of the future,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera. Watch the video below or click here.
The vehicular restrictions are from 7:00pm to 5:00 m on weekends and from 10 pm to 5 am weekdays. Image for illustrative purposes
(QCOSTARICA) Between 5:00 am Sunday and 5:00 am Monday, 246 drivers were sanctioned for disrespecting the sanitary vehicle restrictions.
The Policia the Transito (Traffic Police) report that between 5:00 am and 7:00 pm Sunday, when only even-numbered plates could circulate, 125 drivers were fined for disrespecting the measure and 557 traffic tickets were issued for other reasons, among them, 2 drunk drivers were detected.
From the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica (MSP)
Meanwhile, between 7:00 pm Sunday and 5:00 am Monday, 121 drivers were sanctioned for being on the road, the period when only exempted vehicles are permitted to circulate and 633 tickets were made for other breaches, among them, 13 drunk drivers.
The outages, with data from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), are made at 5:00 a.m. and at 5:00 p.m. for control matters of the Traffic Police.
The daytime and nighttime vehicular restrictions on all the roads in the country have been in place since March 24.
The times have varied, from severe restrictions during Semana Santa to more relaxed restrictions in place today, thousands of drivers (nearly 15,000) have been found circulating, incurring a sanction of ¢110,000 colones, six points on the license (which means driver ed on renewal) and seizure of the license plates and/or vehicle.
For some, the monetary penalty is seen as “part of doing business”, however, it may not be such an easy pass when license renewal time comes along or the long lines at the Cosevi (Costa Rica’s version of the department of motor vehicles) to retrieve license plates or the Ministry of Transport patios to get their car back. Which of course means the current and any outstanding fines must be paid up first.
The seizure of the license plate allows the driver to get the vehicle home, for example, but then will remain parked until the plates are retrieved, a couple of days at least. If the vehicle is towed, the driver will be ‘walking home’.
Not having the vehicle available also means the use of public transport (taxi, bus, Uber, etc) to get around. And besides the cost of these services, there is the exposure to possible contagion.
Just in case you need a reminder, the vehicular restrictions are as follows:
Daytime weekdays (Monday to Friday): 5:00 am to 10:00 pm according to the last digit of the license plate: 1 & 2 Mondays, 3 & 4 Tuesday, 5 & 6 Wednesdays, 7 & 8 Thursdays, and 9 & 0 Fridays.
Nighttime weekdays (Monday to Friday): 10:00 pm to 5:00 am, all vehicles are restriction unless in the exemption fully known by now, ie emergency vehicles, drivers working during the restricted hours (a proper note from an employer required), and say taking someone urgently to a hospital.
Daytime Saturday and Sunday: 5:00 am to 7:00 pm; Saturdays all even plates (0,2,4,6 & 8) are restricted, Sundays all odd plates (1,3,5,7 & 9) are restricted.
Nighttime Saturday and Sunday: 7:00 pm to 5L00 am, all vehicles are restriction unless exempt.
Additional restrictions: cantons and districts under “orange alert” are restricted from 5:00 am to 5:00 pm depending on the last digit of the license plate and ALL vehicles from 5:00 pm to 5:00 am.
The orange zone is dynamic, in that cantons and districts are added or deleted depending on the current contagion level. The Ministry of Health informs the public with a 24-hour notice of a pending restriction, which for now affects areas mainly in the northern zone.
More than 500 demonstrators were killed for protesting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Despite repression by the regime, Sandinista leaders marched in the streets of Miami, United States, allegedly against police abuse and racial profiling.
Sandinistas kill protesters in Nicaragua and claim to support them in the U.S. (Twitter)
They carried the black and red flag of anarcho-communism, the same flag of the communist revolution in Cuba and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the banner of the governing party: FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front).
“It is contradictory to use Nicaraguan symbols of repression in what is largely a peaceful demonstration in the United States over the unjust death of George Floyd,” Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for the Study of a Free and Secure Society and an expert on global security who specializes in asymmetric warfare theory and transnational threats, told the PanAm Post.
Now we have the flag of Nicaragua’s FSLN or Sandinistas showing up in the #GeorgeFloyd protests in Miami.
Ironically, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and wife VP Rosario Murillo are responsible for the illegal killing of hundreds of protestors in Nicaragua since 2018. pic.twitter.com/EkPTGijSqS
Black young people accused of murder to cover up for the regime
Among the contradictions in the discourse of FSLN militants is their alleged fight against racism. The regime they defend has been accused of imprisoning young Black men to cover up the abuses of Sandinism.
Brandon Lovo Taylor (18 years old) and Glen Slate (20 years old), residents of Bluefields -an autonomous town with a very large Black population- claim that the death of journalist Ángel Gahona López was the work of a sniper and accuse the government of murdering him to silence the press, insisting that they are innocent.
Gahona López was shot dead while doing a live report on the protests against the Ortega dictatorship.
Although the authorities accused two young people of Afro-descendant origin of the death and attempted murder of policeman Anselmo Rodriguez, who was injured in the shooting, witnesses and family members claim that the accused are innocent.
The journalist’s death came amid a wave of persecution by the regime against the free press.
As a result of the intimidation they suffered from forces akin to the dictatorship, more than 50 journalists went into exile after exposing the abuses of the former guerrilla who had become president.
The regime kicked its youngest victim to death
The regime has not only persecuted the demonstrators in the streets but also started to arrest anyone with a Nicaraguan flag. That is how the youngest fatality was recorded.
He was kicked to death. With no evidence against him, five young university students were arrested because they had the Nicaraguan flag on their backpacks. The group included a young couple who were expecting a baby who was killed by the paramilitaries before he was born.
“One of the paramilitaries hit me in the stomach when I exclaimed that I was pregnant, the paramilitary answered: now we are going to take it out, and ultimately, you are going to eat it alive.”
The national flag has become a symbol of resistance against the typical black and red of the extreme left used in Nicaragua by the socialist regime.
Claiming to be in the “anti-fascist struggle,” militants on the far left throughout the Western Hemisphere have shown that they are ready to attack anyone in the streets, who is willing to defend both their nation and their business. The internationalism that motivates their armed struggle promotes this.
And Nicaragua has shown what they are like when they come to power. Cities like Chicago have just begun to show it.
Nicaraguan political analyst says U.S. unrest serves to destabilize democracy
The Nicaraguan legal consultant and political analyst, Dr. Oscar Carrión Orozco, told the PanAm Post that the fact that Nicaraguan Sandinistas with black and red FSLN flags are trying to take advantage of George Floyd’s death to commit acts of vandalism is reprehensible.
“While it is true that the manner of Mr. George Floyd’s death is the object of our condemnation and rejection,” he asserts that it is not possible to admit that the interests of the American left, of the United States, of the Democratic Party, along with the perverse interests of Latin America’s narcoterrorist communist socialism, are fueled by this crime.
“Some people who have had direct links with Nicolas Maduro have already been discovered,” he exclaims.
He details that it has become evident that Nicaraguan, Cuban and Venezuelan citizens are among the violent demonstrators who have committed criminal acts beyond mere civic protest, those who have committed acts of vandalism that transcend any reasonable reaction of indignation.
Beyond any civic show of indignation that he as an opponent to his own government shares, he warns that the above mentioned may be trying to align perverse political interests to destabilize the democracy that represents, despite its imperfections, that western democracy that the United States commands in the region.
“So my condemnation is also for those excesses, for those expressions of violence, those expressions of acts of crime, looting and burning of churches, burning of vehicles, burning of buildings, robberies, and other criminal acts under such legitimate grounds as a rational, civic, humane protest over the death of George Floyd.”
This article was originally published in PanamPost (in Spanish).
(QCOSTARICA) Heavy downpours, strong winds, and lightning are expected to start this Monday with the arrival of tropical wave number six.
The passage of the last wave produced havoc in certain sectors of the country, which was barely recovering from the heavy rains and instability brought from the wave before that.
The national weather service, Instituto Metereológico Nacional (IMN), has issued the following forecast for today, June a15:
This Monday the arrival to the national territory of tropical wave 6 is expected in the afternoon period. It is expected that the rain activity will be reinforced in the North Zone, North Pacific and South Pacific, in the latter, especially towards the night period. On the other hand, in the Central Valley, Central Pacific and the mountainous Caribbean there will be rains of variable intensity.
The IMN commends:
Caution in areas vulnerable to flooding due to sewerage saturation.
Take refuge in a safe place in case of hearing a thunderstorm or perceiving strong gusts of wind near storm clouds, as well as caution for possible falling tree branches, power lines, among others.
Attention on the main national highways, such as route 27 and route 32.
Stay informed through the official social networks of the IMN, such as Twitter or Facebook.
(QCOSTARICA) Mario Ruiz, medical manager of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), called this Sunday, June 14, no everyone not to let our guard down before COVID-19 and added that as the restriction measures are relaxed, it is important that we take care of each other.
Mario Ruiz, medical director of the Caja
“If people follow the protection measures, if I take care of myself, if the other person takes care of himself, we all take care of ourselves and the level of transmission is going to be lower,” he commented at the noon presser from Casa Presidencial.
Once again the manager recalled the importance of social distancing and to continue applying the coughing and sneezing protocols and not loosen hygiene measures such as constantly washing hands.
He also called on the population at high risk (seniors, hypertensive people, diabetics with cancer or immune diseases) to take particular care and to go to a medical center if they have cold symptoms.
For Sunday, June 15, a total of 53 new cases of COVID-19 were added, for an accumulated total of 1,715 infected patients, of which 721 have already recovered.
Despite the high number of daily cases the past 10 days, the number of patients in hospital has dropped, the Ministry of Health reported on Sunday 17 patients are hospitalized, 3 of whom are in intensive care.
(QCOSTARICA) With the addition of 53 new with COVID-19, the total infected since March has reached 1,715. This was confirmed by Daniel Salas, Minister of Health, at a press conference on Sunday.
There are now 951 active cases. A total of 752 people have recovered, discharged by Health authorities as being COVID-19 free. Regrettably there are 12 deceased, 9 men and 3 women.
Salas reported that there are active cases in 76 of the 82 cantons of the country. This Sunday Nandayure, Guanacaste and Matina, Limón reported cases.
The age range of people who have been infected ranges from 0 to 92 years.
Currently there are 17 patients in hospital, 3 of whom are in intensive care.
The China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC), working on the expansion of the Ruta 32 (San Jose – Limon) on Saturday removed its heavy machinery and vehicles from the job and without authorization from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT).
The equipment was sent by sea to Jamaica, where the firm has another project in progress, confirmed the MOPT minister, Rodolfo Méndez Mata, who announced that he will seek the imposition of sanctions since he had previously prohibited the transfer.
“They were warned that they would not be able to remove the machinery without prior authorization, but they did later anyway. I personally warned them Wednesday that they couldn’t do it. We will see how we sanction in the most exemplary way possible,” said Méndez.
Among the machinery they took out of the country are bulldozers, concrete mixers, cranes, portable power plants, and tractors.
CHECH’s spokesperson for corporate affairs, Teresa Hu Hong and Huang Yan, logistics director, told the press that they are not authorized to refer on the matter at this time.
Legislator David Gourzong said Saturday afternoon that he did talk with Teresa Hu Hong about the removal of the equipment, she commenting that it was an error.
“According to Doña Teresa, CHEC allegedly made a late request of permission to remove the equipment because they have large operations in Jamaica and part of the equipment in Costa Rica came from there. According to her, now they are returning equipment because there is supposedly sufficient machinery in Costa Rica,” said the legislator.
“It was all a mistake and that they are going to try to fix it,” added the legislator, convinced he was able to reason with the representative and of the error.
Ruta 32 project behind schedule
CHEC was due to deliver the first 20 km of the Ruta 32 project in February this year, but did not comply.
The project received the start flag in November 2017 during the Luis Guillermo Solís administration with a completion date for October 2020.
The firm has asked for an extension that would have seen the completion of the project in March of this year,
However, weeks ago, CHEC announced new delays attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic that allegedly forced it to do without at least 180 workers.
In addition to expanding the road to four lanes, the project includes the construction of 36 new bridges and the reinforcement of existing ones, as well as the construction of 13 overpasses, 24 pedestrian bridges and five intersections at the interchanges at Río Frío, Guápiles, Siquirres, Moín and at the entrance to the new Moín Container Terminal (TCM).
The original investment is US$465 million, which rose to US$565 million due to the need for additional works.
(QCOSTARICA) Although during the first 13 days of June the cases of COVID-19 in the country have skyrocketed, especially due to the detections that have been registered in the Northern Zone, the different Intensive Care Units (ICUs) have not been affected.
In fact, despite the spike in new cases that began more than 10 ago, the number of hospitalized has dropped from 20 to 19 on Saturday, of which only 3 patients are in the ICU.
Health Minister Daniel Salas
Since the pandemic began, authorities have been emphatic that, rather than paying attention to the number of new cases per day, it is necessary to pay attention to the number of people hospitalized and in the ICU, that is, they are sick enough to require hospitalization.
Currently, there are 907 active cases of COVID-19, save for the 19 in hospitals, they are recovering home, from the asymptomatic to those with mild symptoms, under a quarantine order,
If the number of patients requiring intensive care goes up, it could be dangerous, as the health system could collapse and serious patients with COVID-19 could be left without space in hospitals, as has happened in other countries.
Despite the fact that there is still no impact on the specialized units, Salas said that “we have to be cautious with this issue as patients begin to show complications up to 5 days after the onset of symptoms, so as there are more cases, there is the possibility that later there will be more people requiring hospitalization in intensive care.
“We have not had that impact, but it is not ruled out that we could have an impact in the coming days,” Salas said at the press conference this Saturday.
Since the pandemic began, both the Ministry of Health and the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) have explained that the number of beds in the ICU is a changing number, since they also have to deal with other cases such as traffic accidents or people with other diseases in delicate condition.
Authorities in Cape Verde have arrested a businessman, singled out by the Venezuelan opposition as the “figurehead” of President Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Saturday, a move Venezuelan authorities called a violation of international law.
The 48-year-old Alex Saab, a Colombian who also has a Venezuelan passport, and his partner Álvaro Pulido were charged in July 2019 in the United States of laundering money under a bribery scheme, in which they would have transferred US$350 million out of Venezuela to foreign accounts that they owned or controlled.
The U.S. also sanctioned Saab for the food deals, which U.S. officials described as a scam designed to enrich Saab and Maduro.
Department of Justice spokeswoman Nicole Navas Oxman said in a statement that Saab was arrested pursuant to an Interpol red notice issued with respect to his U.S. indictment.
Maria Dominguez, Saab’s U.S.-based attorney, confirmed his arrest in the archipelago nation off the coast of western Africa, but declined to provide further details.
If found guilty, they face up to 20 years in prison. However, the possibility of potential extradition was not immediately apparent, since Cape Verde has no treaty with the United States.
The conspiracy would include Maduro’s 3 stepchildren, as well as 13 companies in various countries and illegal operations in the gold sector in Venezuela.
In a statement, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said Saab had been acting as an “agent” of the state at the time of his detention, on business to obtain food, medicine and other humanitarian goods to help the South American country fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“Venezuela calls on the state of Cabo Verde to set the citizen Alex Saab free,” the ministry said in a statement, calling the arrest an “arbitrary detention” in violation of international law and adding Saab should have had diplomatic immunity.
Nicolas Maduro
The Costa Rica connection
The Spanish newspaper ABC denounced that using Comités Locales de Abastecimiento y Producción (CLAP) as a screen, the Mexican drug cartels sent money in food containers that made a “technical stop” in Limón (Costa Rica), taking advantage of the presence in the country of the Venezuelan company Alunasa and in this way they offloaded money to be laundered in Costa Rica.
However, last September Costa Rica’s President Carlos Alvarado, severely delegitimized and criticized the ABC report that the leaders of the Venezuelan government have received money from the Mexican drug trafficker through Costa Rica.
Alvarado accused the Spanish media of spreading “light” on information and lacking unsupported sources for its journalistic work. In addition, without naming names, he said that there are motivations for “smearing the name of Costa Rica” for promoting a peaceful and demilitarized exit of Venezuela from the Organization of American States (OAS).
“I see there are statements with sources that are not supported and even that say things that are not, such as that the company (Alunasa)… There is an express motivation to stain the good name of Costa Rica, which defends a position of peace because we believe in that (…), “said the president at the time.
“There are no untouchables”
Parliamentary chief Juan Guaidó, recognized as the president in charge of Venezuela by fifty countries, led by the United States, said in a press conference broadcast by Zoom that the measure shows that “there are no untouchables.”
“You must understand at this time that justice comes, but it takes time. Sometimes it hurts to wait, but it comes for all Venezuelans,” said Guadio.
A senior US official, in dialogue with AFP on condition of anonymity, explained that given the shortage of foreign exchange in early 2018, Maduro gave Saab a monopoly on the sale of gold extracted illegally from the jungles of the Orinoco Mining Arch, vast mining areas in southern Venezuela.
The Treasury said that Saab worked with the former Venezuelan vice president and current oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, to set up that structure, which had the support of Bandes and the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV).
“His capture is a hard blow to the structure of the regime, it shows that Venezuelans are not alone and that there is no future with Maduro, not even for those who support him. The actions against the accomplices of the dictatorship will continue, we are determined to achieve the transition,” said Venezuelan opposition deputy Julio Borges, representative for Guaidó’s Foreign Relations.
Since last November, Saab and his Italian wife, Camilla Fabri, have been under investigation in Italy for their alleged participation in a money laundering network of subsidies for Venezuela related to the CLAP program, which has some 16 million beneficiaries, said the Italian press.
Last Tuesday, the Colombian attorney general’s office said it had frozen assets belonging to Saab in the country worth some 35 billion Colombian pesos (US$9.28 million), adding Saab was under investigation in Colombia for crimes including money laundering.
Venezuela calls for Saab’s release
In a statement, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said Saab had been acting as an “agent” of the state at the time of his detention, on business to obtain food, medicine and other humanitarian goods to help the South American country fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“Venezuela calls on the state of Cabo Verde to set the citizen Alex Saab free,” the ministry said in a statement, calling the arrest an “arbitrary detention” in violation of international law and adding Saab should have had diplomatic immunity.
(QCOSTARICA) For this Saturday, Health Minister, Daniel Salas, reported that 50 new cases of COVID-19, for an accumulated total of 1,662 confirmed cases since March 6.
They are 762 women and 900 men, of whom 1,247 are Costa Rican and 415 foreigners. Among the confirmed cases are 90 seniors and 198 minors.
743 people have recovered. A total of 19 patients are in hospital, of which 3 are in intensive care. Regrettably, there have been 12 deaths: 9 men and 3 women.
Carlos Alvarado, President of Costa Rica, personally welcomed the aid plane sent to Costa Rica as part of the United Arab Emirate’s (UAE) efforts to help various countries around the world in containing the spread of COVID-19.
The Etihad Airways flight arrived Friday morning, bringing in supplies donated by the UAE. Photo: Roberto Carlos Sánchez/Casa Presidencial
Accompanying President Alvarado in receiving the Etihad Airways flight was the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Costa Rica, Jumaa Rashed Khamis Ahmed Alremeithi; the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Rodolfo Solano Quirós; the executive president of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), Dr. Román Macaya; and the executive director of the National Emergency Commission (CNE), Yamilette Mata.
Photo: Roberto Carlos Sánchez/Casa Presidencial
Alvarado expressed his deep thanks to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for the support in providing medical supplies to cope with the virus, and expressed his appreciation to the UAE government and people of the UAE for the repatriation of Costa Rican citizens.
The flight, that arrived at the Juan Santamaria International airport (SJO) on, Friday, June 12, carried 9 metric tons of medical supplies and 10,000 testing kits offered to Costa Rica to bolster the country’s efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Unloading the donation of supplies to combat COVID-19 from the United Arab Emirates. Photo: Roberto Carlos Sánchez/Casa Presidencial
The aid will assist approximately 9,000 medical professionals as they work to contain the virus.
Commenting on the aid delivery, the UAE Ambassador stated: “Thanks to the support and guidance of the leadership of our two countries, bilateral relations have witnessed a quantum leap. This contributed to building a strategic partnership and led to enhanced cooperation, trade, and development. In this context, medical assistance has been provided to Costa Rica, confirming the strength and durability of these relations.”
The ambassador added: “The UAE is always keen to stand by brotherly and friendly countries and help medical teams that are among the most vulnerable to the pandemic.”
Costa Rica thanks the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi @MohamedBinZayed for the donation of supplies and medical equipment to strengthen our fight against COVID-19. We will continue to work in cooperation, trade, and investment attraction for our nations welfare 🇦🇪🇨🇷
— Carlos Alvarado Quesada (@CarlosAlvQ) June 12, 2020
For his part, CCSS president thanked the United Arab Emirates government for a generous donation and assured that these inputs will go directly to the protection of health personnel who bravely face the pandemic by COVID-19.
“As an institution, we have made an extraordinary effort to supply our personnel with all the personal protective equipment required, and with this contribution we receive today, that effort is strengthened, for the benefit of workers and the population throughout the country,” said Macaya.
Since the beginning of the emergency, the CCSS has distributed 2.1 million surgical masks, 78 628 gowns, 73 239 N95 respirators, 10 500 caps, 10 951 safety glasses, and 10,500 face shields to its units nationwide.
The Friday morning flight also allowed the return of six Costa Ricans, two of whom are minors, and, as part of the cabin crew, the only two Costa Ricans who worked as flight attendants for Etihad Airways were listed. The aircraft left Costa Rica for its return to Abu Dhabi this Saturday morning, June 13.
President Carlos Alvarado greets the passengers who came on the flight from the United Arab Emirates with the donation of supplies to combat COVID-19 in Costa Rica. Photo: Roberto Carlos Sánchez/Casa Presidencial.
The cooperation of the United Arab Emirates is part of the multiple and vigorous efforts that, as a result of the pandemic by COVID-19, have been undertaken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which up to now total the equivalent of US$7,785,500, both in donations of medical supplies and medical supplies, financial resources, as well as in the exchange of experiences and best practices.
Costa Rica and the United Arab Emirates established diplomatic relations in 2010 and have managed to build a solid strategic relationship of friendship and cooperation.
The UAE aid is unlike the donation by China in April that cost the CCSS US$1.2 million dollars to hire an airplane to haul the supplies to the country.
To date, the UAE has responded to the COVID-19 crisis by providing globally over 904 metric tons of aid, supporting more than 904,000 medical professionals in the process.
At first, Lauren Nichols tried to explain away her symptoms. In early March, the healthy 32-year-old felt an intense burning sensation, like acid reflux, when she breathed. Embarrassed, she didn’t initially seek medical care. When her shortness of breath kept getting worse, her doctor tested her for Covid-19.
Her results came back positive. But for Nichols, that was just the beginning. Over the next eight weeks, she developed wide and varied symptoms, including extreme and chronic fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, tremors, headaches, difficulty concentrating, and short-term memory loss.
“The guidelines that were provided by the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] were not appropriately capturing the symptoms that I was experiencing, which in turn meant that the medical community was unable to ‘validate’ my symptoms,” she says. “This became a vicious cycle of doubt, confusion, and loneliness.”
As estimated 40 to 45 percent of people with Covid-19 may be asymptomatic, and others will have a mild illness with no lasting symptoms. But Nichols is one of many Covid-19 patients who are finding their recovery takes far longer than the two weeks the World Health Organization says people with mild cases can expect. (The WHO says those with severe or critical cases can expect three to six weeks of recovery.)
Because Covid-19 is a new disease, there are no studies about its long-term trajectory for those with more severe symptoms; even the earliest patients to recover in China were only infected a few months ago. But doctors say the novel coronavirus can attach to human cells in many parts of the body and penetrate many major organs, including the heart, kidneys, brain, and even blood vessels.
“The difficulty is sorting out long-term consequences,” says Joseph Brennan, a cardiologist at the Yale School of Medicine. While some patients may fully recover, he and other experts worry others will suffer long-term damage, including lung scarring, heart damage, and neurological and mental health effects.
The UK National Health Service assumes that of Covid-19 patients who have required hospitalization, 45 percent will need ongoing medical care, 4 percent will require inpatient rehabilitation, and 1 percent will permanently require acute care. Other preliminary evidence, as well as historical research on other coronaviruses like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), suggests that for some people, a full recovery might still be years off. For others, there may be no returning to normal.
There’s a lot we still don’t know, but here are a few of the most notable potential long-term impacts that are already showing up in some Covid-19 patients.
Lung scarring
Melanie Montano, 32, who tested positive for Covid-19 in March, says that more than seven weeks after she first got sick, she still experiences symptoms on and off, including burning in her lungs and a dry cough.
Brennan says symptoms like that occur because “this virus creates an incredibly aggressive immune response, so spaces [in the lungs] are filled with debris and pus, making your lungs less pliable.”
On CT scans, while normal lungs appear black, Covid-19 patients’ lungs frequently have lighter gray patches, called “ground-glass opacities” — which may not heal.
One study from China found that this ground-glass appearance showed up in scans of 77 percent of Covid-19 patients. In another study out of China, published in Radiology, 66 of 70 hospitalized patients had some amount of lung damage in CT scans, and more than half had the kind of lesions that are likely to develop into scars. (A third study from China suggests this is not just for critically ill patients; its authors found that of 58 asymptomatic patients, 95 percent also had evidence of these ground-glass opacities in their lungs. More than a quarter of these individuals went on to develop symptoms within a few days.)
“These kinds of tissue changes can cause permanent damage,” says Ali Gholamrezanezhad, a radiologist at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
Although it’s still too early to know if patients with ongoing lung symptoms like Montano will have permanent lung damage, doctors can learn more about what to expect from looking back to people who have recovered from SARS and MERS, other coronaviruses that resulted in similar lung tissue changes.
One small longitudinal study published in Nature followed 71 SARS patients from 2003 until 2018 and found that more than a third had residual scarring, which can mean reduced lung capacity. MERS is a little harder to extrapolate from, since fewer than 2,500 people were infected, and somewhere between 30 and 40 percent died. But one study found that about a third of 36 MERS survivors also had long-term lung damage.
Gholamrezanezhad has recently done a literature review of SARS and MERS and says that for this subset of people, “The pulmonary function never comes back; their ability to do normal activities never goes back to baseline.”
Additionally, Covid-19 scarring rates may end up being higher than SARS and MERS patients because those illnesses often attacked only one lung. But Covid-19 appears to often affect both lungs, which Gholamrezanezhad says escalates the risks of lung scarring.
He has already seen residual scarring in Covid-19 patients and is now designing a study to identify what factors might make some people at higher risk of permanent damage. He suspects having any type of underlying lung disease, like asthma, or other health conditions, like hypertension, might increase the risk of having longer-term lung issues. Additionally, “the older you are, probably the higher your chance of scarring,” he says.
For people with this kind of lung scarring, normal activities may become more challenging. “Routine things, like running up a flight of stairs, would leave these individuals gasping for air,” Brennan says.
Stroke, embolisms, and blood clotting
Many patients hospitalized for Covid-19 are experiencing unexpectedly high rates of blood clots, likely due to inflammatory responses to the infection. These can cause lung blockages, strokes, heart attacks, and other complications with serious, lasting effects.
Blood clots that form in or reach the brain can cause a stroke. Although strokes are more typically seen in older people, strokes are now being reported even in young Covid-19 patients. In Wuhan, China, about 5 percent of hospitalized Covid-19 patients had strokes, and a similar pattern was reported with SARS.
In younger people who have strokes, mortality rates are relatively low compared to those who are older, and many people recover. But studies show only between 42 and 53 percent are able to return to work.
Blood clots can also cut off circulation to part of the lungs, a condition known as a pulmonary embolism, which can be deadly. In France, two studies suggest that between 23 and 30 percent of people with severe Covid-19 are also having pulmonary embolisms.
One analysis found that after a pulmonary embolism, “symptoms and functional limitations are frequently reported by survivors.” These include fatigue, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, marked limitation of physical activity, and inability to do physical activity without discomfort.
Exercising daily and spending more time in nature are two of the habits people say they want to maintain post-lockdown.
(VOX) Cities are reopening. Lockdowns are lifting. And some people are starting to feel they can glimpse a return, however slow and partial, to “normal.”
But the pandemic has changed us. Although being on lockdown has been pretty grueling on balance, the surprise is that many of us have realized there are some things about quarantine life that are worth preserving. We’re questioning the very fundamentals of the “normal” we’d all come to unthinkingly accept — and realizing we don’t want to go back, not to that.
For some, going back isn’t even an option. Those who are grieving the loss of loved ones, for example, have suffered a tragic and irrevocable loss. Millions who’ve lost their jobs don’t have any work to go back to, and many essential workers have been working through the pandemic without much choice. Older and immunocompromised people are still advised to stay home.
At the same time, living in quarantine for months has offered some — mostly the privileged among us — a rare opportunity to reflect on our lives and, potentially, to reset them.
Workers whose jobs defined their lives are now asking what all that productivity was for, and whether we really want to measure our self-worth by the yardstick of hypercompetitive capitalism. Many are finding that the things that made them look “successful” actually also made them feel miserable, or precarious, or physically unwell.
Quarantine has allowed them to experiment with new habits and new lifestyles. And they want to keep some of these things going, even in a post-lockdown world.
I asked Vox readers to tell me which specific changes they want to maintain as they emerge from quarantine and stumble their way to a new normal. More than 100 people responded across the globe, from the United States to the United Arab Emirates and from Portugal to Pakistan. Some broad trends leaped out in the responses. Below are the eight most common.
1) Reducing consumerism
This was by far the most popular response. Many told me they want to spend less money shopping for new material goods like gadgets and clothes. A long period of being shut in and not spending as much has led to the realization that so much of our consumer behavior is about instant gratification, not lasting happiness.
Several people also noted that they plan to eat out less often at restaurants. Eating in during the lockdown has enabled them to save money, and some have discovered a taste for home-cooked meals.
A few said they’ll look to “mend and make do” more often. In situations where that’s not possible and they’ll have to buy something new, respondents told me they want to be more mindful of where they spend their money.
“I think I will be more inclined to direct my consumption toward small local businesses,” said Nora Zeid, a 23-year-old illustrator and designer in the United Arab Emirates. “It breaks my heart how much they have suffered lately and how, unlike big corporations, they are less likely to survive.”
2) Slowing down and putting less pressure on ourselves
Being stuck in our houses has made many of us realize that we’ve spent years rushing through life, pressuring ourselves to get the “right” jobs and attend the “right” events, even if all that status-chasing was making us miserable.
“Quarantine has forced me to slow down in ways I haven’t since I was a kid. From high school and college, through my 20s and a master’s program, I have been on the go constantly for half my life. I always said I was one who liked to be busy, but the last two months of forced slowdown has really called on me to think about what I want my life to look like moving forward,” said one Vox reader in the US who preferred to remain anonymous. “I’m trying to figure out what it would look like to intentionally build in space in my life to breathe, reflect, and focus on the most important aspects of life — the people around you who make it all worth it.”
Some younger respondents told me they want to put less career pressure on themselves because they now realize work is not what matters most in life. A couple of older adults told me they’d been considering retiring before Covid-19 came around; the pandemic pushed them to finally do it. And even for some who were already retired, the slower pace of life created by the lockdown has come as a relief.
Post-pandemic, the goal will be to “not fill every waking moment with a commitment of some kind,” said Patricia Murray, who lives in Savannah, Georgia. “Even retired persons, like myself, need leisure time. I seem to work as much as a volunteer as I did in paid jobs; slowing down is the biggest change I’ve made and it feels good.”
Again, it’s worth noting that the ability to slow down entails a great deal of privilege. Millions who’ve been pushed out of the workforce wish they could be working more, not less. And some older and immunocompromised people have had to go back to work, even if they don’t feel safe doing so yet, because they need the income and the employer-provided health insurance.
3) Prioritizing family and friends
When the chips are down, you see who really shows up for you. Several people told me they’ve come to appreciate the family members and friends who’ve been there for them during this tough time, and that long after the coronavirus dies down, it’s this group that they want to re-up their investment in.
“Quarantine has reinforced the necessity of telling people how you feel about them,” said Andrew Goldberg, a recent graduate from Syracuse University. “With social distancing and stay-at-home orders in place, it is easier than ever to feel isolated from the world. But as the days stretch into weeks, I’ve decided that the only way I’ll be able to keep my spirits up is by making sure the people I care about know exactly how I feel about them.”
Others emphasized that the bizarre, unprecedented nature of this global pandemic has allowed them to reach out to people they haven’t spoken to in ages. Suddenly they’ve found themselves on Zoom with estranged family members or old college roommates halfway around the world.
“I’ve talked with my older nephews more in the last few weeks than I’ve talked with them in years,” said Nancy Skinner Ringier, a retired speech-language pathologist, adding that they now share recipes and jokes.
4) Ethical action and activism in our highly interconnected world
This was perhaps the most encouraging set of responses: People told me that the global health crisis has shown them how interconnected we all are, and that they want to keep doing more for others after the pandemic ends. They’re donating more to charitable causes, trying harder to reduce their carbon footprint, and engaging in more political activism.
“I’d like to keep my home a headquarters for the three different county mutual aid coalitions I’m affiliated with,” said Erin Brown of Tazewell County, Illinois. “I currently have donations stored here that delivery volunteers and folks in need come to collect. My landline, which is part of my internet package, was never used before but is now a mutual aid contact number. I’m in a good location, near all three of those counties, and I suspect mutual aid will be vital for some time to come.”
The protests against police brutality have also galvanized millions to fight for racial justice.
“For the longest time, I did not keep up with current news. It’s not hard to see why — our world is a shitshow, and my mental health is bad enough as is,” said Adrian DeRoy, a 27-year-old reader in the US. “But the black community rising up yet again to face their challenges made me look, and seeing the world slowly but surely start to fall in step with the protests here, the voices crying out as one … it gives me some small semblance of hope. Hope that maybe we will get through all this, and come out better than we were before.”
5) Exercising daily
This was another very common response. Many people who weren’t previously into fitness have been getting into running, yoga, and other activities as a way to cope with lockdown. And they’ve been astounded at how much daily exercise can improve life.
“Desperate for any excuse to leave the house, I’ve finally been able to keep up a daily exercise routine. It’s incredible how much difference even a short jog every morning makes!” Katie Reynolds, a Vox reader in the US, told me. “My sleep is better, my brain feels clearer, my mood is improved, and it feels easier to keep up other good habits. Definitely will be keeping this habit, at least until there’s ice on the ground again.”
6) Baking, vegetarian cooking, and growing herbs
Yes, the sourdough obsession is real. Several people wrote to me in glowing terms about their starters.
“I believe I’ll be keeping my sourdough starter. It’s like another family pet at this point,” said Matthew Schreiber, who lives in New Orleans.
In addition to baking bread, people also mentioned that they plan to keep fermenting things like sauerkraut and generally cooking more of their own meals so they can eat less processed food.
Specifically, people want to cook more vegetarian meals and lean away from meat-eating. The impulse seems to be coming not only from the fact that there are meat shortages in some US grocery stores, but also from the knowledge that a live-animal market in China may have given rise to the coronavirus and that the giant factory farms that supply 99 percent of America’s meat are a pandemic risk, too.
Many also told me they’re enjoying growing herbs like mint and cilantro on their patios, or growing vegetables like celery and scallions in little glasses on their windowsills.
It’s not really surprising that the coronavirus crisis has prompted this reaction. It’s reminiscent of World War I and II, when Americans grew their own fruits and vegetables in “victory gardens.” The back-to-nature impulse offers psychological comfort at a time of great uncertainty, as well as a practical safeguard against supply-chain problems: If the stores run out of food, at least we’ll have our vegetables!
7) Spending more time in nature
Getting outdoors has been, for many of us, a crucial way to maintain our sanity during lockdown. In particular, parents have wanted to give their cooped-up kids a chance to run around and release some energy (which, frankly, is probably as crucial for the parents’ mental health as for the children’s).
“I have developed a morning routine that involves ‘quiet listening’ on the porch with the kids. It’s a great way to start out calm with my wild little ones,” said Sharon Lapin, a painter in Atlanta.
Others are simply enjoying the chance to reconnect to the natural world. Its rhythms and resilience can help to calm our anxious minds.
“I want to stay in this less distracted zone and enjoy the time I have with my husband by taking advantage of the natural world (hiking, kayaking) and taking trips in our camper,” said Camille Costa Nerney of upstate New York.
8) Working from home, if possible
Lockdowns across the globe led to millions of people suddenly working from home — and guess what? It turns out we can do many jobs just as well in the comfort of our own homes (and sweatpants) as in our offices.
Of course, for many people, this is not an option. It’s a privilege to be able to work from home. That said, the myth that remote work isn’t as practical as a 9-to-5 office job has been proven to be just that: a myth. Some are finding that working from home actually offers unique benefits.
“I’m a counseling psychologist, and I have been doing client work remotely. I think I will keep doing it remotely! It’s quite convenient,” said Raphael Doval-Santos. “My practice also gets to be more global, and my new clients are not just within my city anymore.”
Several respondents said they love no longer having to commute to work. It means no pollution, more sleep, and less stress.
“I actually like this now; it’s better this way,” said Hermee Sorneo, a 36-year-old customer service team leader for a data management company in the Philippines. “There’s so much benefit in working from home, and I think the world should do this voluntarily, with or without pandemic, at least once every 10 years for at least three months.”
….
The “with or without pandemic” point brings up a key question. Lots of us say we want to maintain our new habits in a post-pandemic world, but will we, really?
As anyone who’s ever tried a New Year’s resolution knows, maintaining new habits is hard. But psychologists who specialize in behavior change say there are things you can do now to make it more likely that you’ll succeed down the line. For instance, you can prime your environment, whether by setting up an automatically recurring monthly donation or putting running shoes by your bed to nudge you to go for that morning run. It’s also good to reward yourself each time you engage in the target behavior — but make it an intrinsic reward, not an extrinsic one. So instead of reaching for a smoothie after every run, pause to savor the extra energy and strength you feel.
Finally, it’s important to note that if you don’t emerge from this pandemic with any great new habits, that is absolutely all right. Sometimes surviving is an accomplishment in itself.
“With my quarantine, good habits came of it. But I want others to know it’s okay if good, bad, or nothing came out of this quarantine,” said Farishta Saifi, a 23-year-old home health aide. “The world is a scary place right now, and just you living another day is excellent enough.”
UPDATE: June 16. The AyA admitted to an error and will be correcting all May bills. See full story here.
OPINION – A what a total load of TICO BULL. It took the pandemic for the water utility, the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), to find out that the institution had incurred a “very high deviation” between what it has billed Costa Ricans and their actual consumption of drinking water.
That is the BULL coming out of the mouth of AyA president, Yamileth Astorga, to legislators on their question of why the current water billing has gone through the roof.
When asked by the legislator José María Villalta, leader of the Partido Frente Amplio, about user complaints about very high amounts in billing during the pandemic, Astorga replied: “What was the problem? In these pandemic months we had to suspend the reading (of meters) and averages had to be taken (of what was consumed), but in effect, this has generated a very high deviation”.
What does the meaning of “deviation” according to the AyA? The Insitute’s Communication Office had this response:
“The deviation refers to the difference between what was billed in an estimated way (based on a historical average of consumption) and what the users actually consumed.”
Since last week, there’s been an outcry. Every day there are reports of consumers facing bills 5x, 10x and more than their “average” consumption.
I am one of those who has filed a complaint, my May bill is 34,000 colones, my “average” consumption based on the history provided on the AyA website for the past 12 months is about 6,000 monthly.
Because the AyA offices are closed, I had to file my complaint by phone, where I was told the same load of TICO BULL, and to expect an email with a decision. The email never came. I check the billing while preparing this article and there was a change, a drop in the amount due. I know owe 29,046 colones for the month of May.
Another call will be on Monday, I can assure you. Remember, my average has been 6,000, now I am being asked to pay 29,000? No leaks.
The savior?
On Thursday, June 11, the Regulatory Authority for Public Services (Aresep) expressed concern about the significant increase in users who are complaining.
The complaints are not just for the water, but also for electricity.
But I wouldn’t put to much stock in the Aresep will save our pocketbooks from the pilfering AyA.
Roberto Jimenez, the head of the Aresep, told the media the authority will be having ‘face-to-face” meetings (I hope they were a mask) with the utilities.
But, if read the statement by Jimenez correctly, I don’t see them discussing and rolling back the billing, rather their focus is on the concern “that the utilities are not attending to consumer complaints”.
The administration has kept quiet on this, none at any ministerial level, less the president, have addressed the outcry by a citizenry who has been asked to work together to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, that has resulted in jobs lost or reduction in family income for many, others having to rely on the “bono proteger” to make ends meet, but left alone against the big bad wolf (AyA).
Many would be today without water or electricity if it were not for the fact that the public utilities are not cutting service. At least not during the national emergency. What will happen after?
I make a call to President Carlos Alvarado to intervene, forget the useless Aresep, get the bills under control.
It was you, Mr. President, who asked the citizenry who can, to pay their bills in these tough economic times for all. Should it not be you, also, who now should protect the citizenry from such blatant abuse by a public institution and in these times of the coronavirus?
(QCOSTARICA) A father took advantage of the visitation rights to rape his 11-year-old daughter on 11 separate occasions, For this, the man, identified as Jairo Paisano Rugama, was sentenced to 108 years in prison by the Heredia Criminal Court.
However, he will only serve out the maximum 50 years allowed by Costa Rican law.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the sexual attacks occurred between August 18, 2018, and March 2019 at the man’s home, located in Heredia.
At that time, the victim’s parents were separated, so it was the girl and her brothers, who visited their father, and when he took advantage of the fact that the other children were asleep to sexually abuse or rape his daughter.
In September of last year, the young girl told her mom what dad was doing to her when she visited.
The woman immediately went to the Prosecutor’s Office to file the complaint.
The accused will remain in preventive detention while the sentence waits out the appeal period process.
Girl tells grandmother that her stepfather raped her
Another man was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was found guilty of both raping and abusing his eight-year-old stepdaughter.
The sentence was handed down this Thursday by the Grecia Criminal Court, convicting Gilberto Hernández Cerdas, of one count of rape and two counts of sexual abuse.
The attacks occurred between the end of 2018 and the first half of 2019 in the house they shared, in San Antonio de Naranjo, Alajuela, abusing the little girl when she was left alone with him, and as the Prosecutor’s Office found, he also raped her.
After the last sexual assault, the girl told her grandmother what happened, who immediately denounced the subject. Hernández will remain in prison while the sentence is final.
Yet another case
In another case released this week, another man, identified as Juan Carlos Cordero Mora, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for abusing his daughter when she was 8 years old.
The abuse became known when the little girl told the psychologist of an Ebáis (local clinic) about her suffering.
The events occurred between 2012 and 2013 in Valle La Estrella, Limón.
(QCOSTARICA) Though the number of cases keep rising at an alarming rate this week, with 74 new cases confirmed on Friday, for a total of 1,612 since the first case in March, the number of hospitalized and requiring intensive care, remains low.
On Friday, the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, provided the latest epidemiological report at the noon press conference, he reported of the 869 active (infected) patients only 20 are hospitalized, of whom 3 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
That number has remained constant this past week (dropping one on June 9 with the death an ICU patient for 70 days) a week that saw the addition of 384 cases (Friday, June 5 to Friday, June 12).
As I commented on Friday Hospitalized is the concern, it is normal for the number of infected people to grow as sanitary measures are relaxed, as long as almost all patients can recover at home and do not need to be hospitalized.
As explained by Dr. Rodrigo Marin, head of Health Surveillance, in an interview with Channel 6 News, on Thursday, June 11, the majority of the new cases this past week are in the young and they can quickly recover from at home, without hospitalization.
In Friday’s report, of the accumulated cases 1,202 infected are Costa Rican and 410 foreigners; 868 are men and 744 women, ranging in age from 0 to 86 years.
Regrettably, there have been 12 deaths: 9 men and 3 women.
A total of 731 have recovered; the active cases are 869 and as mentioned above, only 20 are in hospital, the rest are recuperating at home and under a quarantine order.
Change in disease surveillance guidelines
The Minister of Health reported that, as has been done consistently since the start of the pandemic, the National Guidelines for Surveillance of the Disease COVID-19 were updated again, on this occasion, based on the Clinical Management Guide of COVID-19 of the World Health Organization (WHO), the tests are suppressed to classify as recovered a case in those of ambulatory management.
The new instruction is:
Asymptomatic patients: empowered to discharge 10 days after having obtained the positive result of the COVID-19 test.
Mild symptomatic patients: empowered to discharge 13 days after having obtained the positive result of the COVID-19 test, where the last three days must be free of all respiratory symptoms and fever.
The decision is based on the WHO analysis indicating 9-day viral clearance for mild patients.
In the case of hospitalized patients, for the moment, testing continues to lead to discharge.
The Minister emphasized the scientific support for the change in the guideline.
He also emphasized the change is not due to lack of testing availability of evidence, not even a matter of discussion, since the CCSS currently has 29,000 tests, in addition to the 9,000 available in INCIENSA.
(HQ) Three babies died from a bacterium Streptococcus agalactiae at Hospital San Juan de Dios in San Jose.
As a result of this, the medical center implemented deep cleaning and disinfection measures on Friday in the Neonatology service in order to control the presence of the bacteria.
“The microorganism can cause blood infections, pneumonia and meningitis and that can be lethal,” said Dr. Ileana Balmaceda Arias, medical director.
“As part of the care, the Neonatology service routinely performs different laboratory tests on all premature babies according to their health condition, which allowed on May 19 to give the alert on the presence of two cases of disease associated with this bacteria ”, expressed the medical center.
According to Dr. Balmaceda, “Epidemiological Surveillance and the Infection Prevention and Control Unit immediately began the investigation and the protocols for infection control were activated.”
According to the data provided by the hospital, all were premature babies with weights between 1,500 and 2,280 grams, with approximately one month of life.
(QCOSTARICA) Starting this Monday, June 15, the Jade Museum (Museo del Jade in downtown San Jose will reopen its doors after being closed for three months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Admission to the museum, which houses a collection of almost 7,000 pieces of jade, ceramic, and stone, will be free up to June 30.
Visits are under strict cleaning measures and abiding by the protocols established by the Ministry of Health.
It will initially open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Reservation is required for admission, you can make it by calling 2521-6610 or sending an email to museodeljade@ins-cr.com.
The entrance will be in groups and a maximum of 20 people per tour starting at 8 am with a preferential entrance for seniors, their companions and people with disabilities.
The entrance is allowed only during the first 15 minutes of the reserved time, after 15 minutes you must wait for the next tour, according to indicated times (subject to availability of space).
(QCOSTARICA) Thursday morning, doctors at the Hosptial Mexico successfully performed a caesarean section, also known as C-section, on a positive woman for Covid-19.
The caesarean delivery went without major setbacks.
“At this time both mother and baby are in joint accommodation in the Covid-19 unit, even the mother is already breastfeeding her son, who had a weight of 3,830 grams at birth and a height of 52 centimeters. The baby remains in an incubator, next to her mother, and with the help of an obstetric nurse, the baby is taken out to breastfeed under strict hygiene and safety measures. Every time the mother takes the child to breastfeed, she puts on face masks and a mask,” said Sandra Vargas, head of the department of Gyneco-Obstetrics and Neonatology.
The mother, a resident of the canton of Nicoya, is practically asymptomatic, so doctors authorized the discharge for her and her baby girl on Friday
On April 25, the Caja announced that the first pregnant woman positive for Covid-19 had given birth in the San Juan de Dios hospital.
m.
since 2018. 
Salas reported that there are active cases in 76 of the 82 cantons of the country. This Sunday Nandayure, Guanacaste and Matina, Limón reported cases.
