A new pay-TV channel dedicated exclusively to Costa Rican futbol (soccer) will launch on February 29 Canal FUTV signaling the end of top-tier matches on free-to-air TV, reports La Republica.
The channel will air games featuring Saprissa, Alajuelense, Herediano, Cartagines, Municipal Grecia, Perez Zeledon and Limon on an exclusive basis and will initially be available on the cable TV platforms of Cabletica, Telecable, and Kolbi platforms, with Tigo (Millicom) also expressing an interest but yet to add it to its offer, said the report.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported a powerful, 7.7-magnitude earthquake in the strait between Jamaica and Cuba on Tuesday afternoon.
A tsunami warning was issued for Jamaica, Cuba, Belize, Honduras and the Cayman Islands, but that threat has now passed.
The earthquake was reported at a depth of 10 kilometers, 117 kilometers northwest of Lucea, Jamaica. It was initially reported as a 7.3-magnitude but was quickly upgraded to a 7.7-magnitude.
Residents of Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, on the far side of the island reported on the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) website they felt a strong quake that lasted between 30 and 40 seconds.
A M7.7 has been reported northwest of Jamaica. It appears to be the transform fault boundary between the North American and Caribbean plates. pic.twitter.com/jpVq5fmtJg
The quake was reportedly felt as far away as the Mexican coastline. One person who said they were from Othon Blanco in Quintana Roo state wrote: “As I was laying on my bed I started to see how all the plants started to move and the bed moved it just felt really strange because the whole hotel was moving just a little bit and I could see the water in the glass moving. But normally this is not something that happens here.”
There was just a 7.3 magnitude earth quake in Jamaica.
A magnitude-6.1 aftershock was reported by the USGS close to the Cayman Islands a little more than two hours after the initial quake.
The earthquake is one of the strongest to have ever hit Jamaica, possibly the strongest ever. Past destructive quakes have included the deadly 1907 quake that hit Kingston, estimated at magnitude 6.5, and the catastrophic 1692 quake that submerged the old city of Kingston, which is judged to have been roughly a 7.5-magnitude quake.
A flight carrying around 200 Japanese nationals arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Wednesday
Japan and the US were the first to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan on Wednesday as the death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in China rose to 132.
Japanese authorities delivered masks and other medical supplies to Wuhan on their evacuation flight
With the number of confirmed cases now at nearly 6,000, the scale of the crisis has now exceeded the number of infected during the 2002-03 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak that killed roughly 800 people.
A Japanese plane with roughly 200 people on board arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Wednesday morning. Authorities said four of the passengers were taken to hospital with fevers.
A US charter flight carrying 201 American evacuees from Wuhan is continuing its way to southern California after everyone on board passed two health screening tests in the Alaskan city of Anchorage, where the plane also stopped to refuel.
The plane carried staffers from the local US consulate, as well as other US citizens. The screenings were carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The whole plane erupted in cheers when the crew said, `Welcome home to the United States,’ ” said Alaska’s Chief Medical Officer Anne Zink.
A flight carrying around 200 Japanese nationals arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Wednesday
Quarantine on asylum-seeker island
The governments of Australia and New Zealand said they would work together to evacuate citizens from the province of Hubei, where Wuhan is situated. Evacuees are set to be quarantined on Christmas Island for up to 14 days. The remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean is best known for being used to hold asylum-seekers who had attempted to reach Australia by boat, as well as foreigners convicted of crimes in Australia awaiting deportation.
The European Union will fly citizens home aboard two French planes later this week. South Korea and Mongolia have planned similar evacuations.
Canada and the Philippines are among the other countries monitoring the situation and weighing options to get their citizens home.
Many countries have urged their citizens to “reconsider” all trips planned to China. UK airline British Airways on Wednesday suspended all flights to and from the country.
More than 25 million seek employment in Latin America and the Caribbean and do not find work in a region that faces growing demands for greater opportunities and equality
ILO News – The labor markets of Latin America and the Caribbean are going through a moment of uncertainty, which can be seen in a slight rise in the regional unemployment rate and these signs of instability could get worse in 2020. These key findings were presented today during the launch of the 2019 Labour Overview of Latin America and the Caribbean.
More than 25 million seek employment in Latin America and the Caribbean and do not find work in a region that faces growing demands for greater opportunities and equality
“The labor market situation is complex,” said Juan Hunt, Regional Director a.i. of the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, while speaking during the report launch event in the Peruvian capital.
The estimated average regional unemployment rate for the end of 2019 is 8.1%, compared to the 8.0% rate for 2018. While the increase is small, it still means that more than 25 million people are actively looking for employment and they are not finding work.
This upward trend in unemployment could increase and reach 8.4% in 2020 if the region continues to experience moderate economic growth. The latest Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimates place the average growth of 2019 at 0.1% and forecast a low level for 2020 of 1.3%.
The report emphasizes that there is an upward trend behind the regional average unemployment rate. The rise in unemployment was predominant in nine of 14 Latin American countries. In the English-speaking Caribbean, on the other hand, there was a decrease in unemployment by 0.7 percentage points.
The Labour Overview also highlights the relevance of Brazil and Mexico in the regional average. It notes that without including these two countries, the average unemployment rate would register a more pronounced increase of 0.5%, according to the data as of the third quarter of 2019.
The report adds that despite the continuous increase in women’s labor participation, which reached 50.9% in the third quarter of 2019, it is still more than 20 percentage points below that of men, which is 74.3%.
In 2019, female unemployment rose 0.2 percentage points in the regional average, to 10.2%, while that of men remained unchanged at 7.3%. This indicates that the increase in regional unemployment disproportionately affected women.
The situation of youth in the region is alarming. In the third quarter of 2019, the regional unemployment rate was 19.8%, which implies that one in five young people in the labor force cannot find employment. This is the highest level recorded of that rate in the last decade.
“The lack of decent work opportunities for young people causes great concern because it is a source of discouragement and frustration. This has been reflected in the front line of recent protests in the region, calling for changes to aim for a better future,” said Hunt.
Social demands and instability
The ILO Regional Director also emphasized that recent demonstrations in the region by citizens calling for better opportunities and greater equality are evidence of the persistence of decent work deficits.
“Opportunities to access decent and productive employment, with fair wages, social inclusion, social protection and labor rights, are key to responding to social demands. They also ensure that the benefits of growth reach everyone and guarantee good governance,” said Mr Hunt.
Speaking on the employment quality findings included in the report, Hugo Ñopo, the ILO Regional Economist who coordinated the Labour Overview, explained that, “the dynamics of economic slowdown since mid-2018 have had an impact on the structure and quality of jobs.”
Ñopo stressed that since 2018 there is a lower growth in salaried employment compared to self-employment, especially non-professional employment. He also emphasized that these are signs of “a relative instability of the jobs that are being created in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The report also states that there is a tendency to increase in the indicators of under-occupation due to insufficient working time. The percentage of employed people who work less than 35 hours and want to work more increased in 10 of the 11 countries with available data.
Referring to the economic slowdown experienced by the region in the last year, Ñopo warned that “the impacts on the labor market are not yet fully reflected”, due to the lag in the demand for employment.
The ILO specialist stated that the challenge for the countries of the region is clear: “integrate the more than 25 million unemployed and give decent employment to an even greater and diverse number of people who are hoping to benefit economically.”
The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) – Costa Rican Social Security – said Monday afternoon that six engineers who were in a training course in China and returned to the country with respiratory symptoms were not carrying the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV.
“This weekend we were alerted through 911, they were tested and found that they did not have that virus,” said Xiomara Badilla, head of Epidemiology at CCSS.
Although Costa Rica does not have the diagnostic capacity for the timely test to detect the new virus and must be sent outside the country, there are diagnostic tests for other respiratory viruses and these are also performed in cases of respiratory infections.
The six did test positive cases in these other tests.
In this way, the 2019-nCoV was completely ruled out and it was determined that the cause of their respiratory disease was different.
“We have no suspicious cases,” said Mario Ruiz Cubillo, medical manager of the CCSS.
????Importante
A este momento NO tenemos ningún caso sospechoso de coronavirus 2019-nCoV en el país.
Seguimos con la vigilancia y las acciones preventivas.
The six are receiving medical attention based on their symptoms and health status. Not everyone had symptoms and none were in Wuhan, China (where the virus emerged), so they didn’t even qualify as strictly suspicious cases.
For a person to be determined as a suspicious case, they must meet several requirements.
According to the National Guidelines for Surveillance of Infection with Coronavirus 2019-nCoV, the first requirement is to have a severe acute respiratory infection (ARI). This is characterized by a fever greater than or equal to 38 ° C (100 F), sore throat or cough, dyspnea (respiratory distress), which has appeared in the last ten days and is in need of hospitalization.
That said, not all ARIs raise suspicion of 2019-nCoV. For this, the person had to have a history of travel or residence in Wuhan and have been there at least 14 days or less before the symptoms began.
There are other people who could also qualify as suspects, those who have fever, cough and respiratory distress, even if it is not serious, but who have been in close physical contact with a person with 2019-nCoV, or who would have been in a center of health in a country where cases have been reported.
“Each patient is treated individually. Each person will develop their own symptoms and, based on how it develops, attention will be given,” said Marco Boza, an Intensive Care specialist at Hospital Calderón Guardia and who is part of the committee that works on care protocols.
Eight CCSS professionals in Epidemiology, Emergencies, Intensive Care, Logistics, Finance and Communication work daily in the protocols of attention to possible people suspected of carrying the virus.
The CCSS Operations Coordination Center (CCO) has already been activated.
“Being active does not mean that we are in an emergency, what it means is that we are pending information from other countries and we monitor the situation to act in a timely manner if cases occur,” said Daniel Quesada, director of the Center of CCSS Emergency and Disaster Care.
“We are ready to work.Already our three levels of care, from the Ebáis to the most specialized hospitals have previous experiences of how to coordinate in this type of cases, ”said the medical dire.
For Boza, the CCSS is prepared to face an eventual or eventual cases of 2019-nCoV.
Although several people have consulted for suspected coronavirus, the Ministerio de Salud (Ministry of Health) has ruled out all cases.
The most recent were six engineers who traveled to China and when they returned to Costa Rica, they had respiratory symptoms.
Facing a possible arrival of the virus in Costa Rica, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) – Costa Rican Social Security Fund is readying with the purchase of masks and gloves to deal with the possibility.
Officials say the plan is not very different from the one used in 2009 when the AH1N1 flu arrived in the country.
In 2014 the CCSS bought suits and other personal protective equipment to treat patients with Ebola, a virus that never made it to Costa Rica. The same forecasts are being taken with the Wuhan coronavirus.
The institution reviews its inventories in a preventive way and it is not the first time that it is prepared before an international alert.
María Belisa Torres Pérez is a native of Liberia, but for four years she lives in China, where she is studying Economy
The city is empty. The recommendation, with a tone of order, is that people do not leave except what is strictly necessary.
The Tica (Costa Rican) María Belisa Torres Pérez at the Great Wall of China
The subway is paralyzed, buses do not operate and taxis remain parked.
That is the panorama in Wuhan, the Chinese city quarantined by the coronavirus.
Three Ticas (Costa Ricans) are there, in the city where airports and train stations are closed, where few enter (anyway, who wants to go to the cradle of this evil that can cause death) and less leave.
One of them is the 31-year-old Nicoyane María Belisa Torres Pérez, who spends hours in her apartment.
She is pursuing a Master’s degree in Economics with an emphasis in International Trade at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), a career that ends in July 2021.
María Belisa Torres Pérez is a native of Liberia, but for four years she lives in China, where she is studying Economics
She has lived in Wuhan for three years, although she arrived in China four years ago.
On Thursday and Friday of last week, and Monday of this week, she had to leave the security of her stay for a while. There was no other option.
On a bicycle, along with some friends, María Belisa undertook the task of looking for food, water and, above all, masks.
She had to pedal for half an hour. Although many supermarket shelves are empty, she was able to get some products and has provisions for about 15 days. The problem is the masks, because the recommended ones are sold out and some pharmacies are still closed.
She says that people were frightened to learn that Wuhan entered quarantine for an indefinite period, so she went out trying to fill the pantry.
María Belisa Torres says she found the supermarket shelves empty. Photo María Belisa Torres
Sometimes she is lucky, manages to buy some products, but sometimes not.
“I try to keep calm, which is the most prudent, I follow the instructions given in the university, the government and the authorities of the province. I try to stock up on food and water because it can get a little complicated to have access to some things in the next few days; some are in short supply, and there are people who, seeing that they closed the city, began hoarding,” said María Belisa.
This Costa Rican tries to leave the apartments she moved to a month ago as little as possible, to avoid getting the coronavirus.
She affirms that the Costa Rican Embassy in China has been in contact with the Costa Ricans there, to know how they are and what they need, although entering or leaving Wuhan has become impossible.
“I talk with my family every day; they are calm because the contact has not been lost ”.
María Belisa has not had much luck to get the recommended masks, because there aren’t any. At the end of last week, she visited several pharmacies on her bicycle, but he did not succeed. This Monday she tried again, but they were closed.
The supermarket shelves in Wuhan empty out very quickly. Photo: María Belisa Torres
“There are the surgical masks that doctors wear, but the ones they recommend are of another type and they are out. We have been to pharmacies, but we did not find any. I use some recommended by a friend, but you have to change filters and it has been complicated,” she said.
She says that to enter any place they take your temperature and it is required to wear a mask.
Since she doesn’t have many, she goes out as little as possible.
“There are almost no people in the streets. As there is no public transport, people have no way to get around, except if it is in their own car. This Monday I went to buy things at a supermarket, we shopped around three supermarkets because in the first one the vegetables ran out; people go very early and buy large quantities,” she said.
Paola has had more difficulty finding supplies because the supermarkets near her home are empty.
For now, she manages to render the food as much as possible.
Translated from the La Nacion article “Tica en China sale en bicicleta a buscar agua, comida y mascarillas en ciudad en cuarentena”. Read the original (in Spanish) here.
In a puzzling and even mysterious way, the government avoided confirming or denying the news of the possible resignation of Foreign Minister Manuel Ventura.
Manuel Ventura (far right) at the time of being named Chancellor by President Carlos Alvarado, on January 8, 2019. The image shows the former Minister of the Presidency, Rodolfo Piza; and the first lady, Claudia Doubles. Photo archive/La Nacion
“What we have to say officially is that there is no announcement and that the Casa Presidencial (Government House) does not confirm the information. When we have an announcement to make, we will let you know,” Communication Minister Nancy Marín told the press.
Monday morning, Noticias Monumental published that Ventura will resign on Friday for health reasons, that the post has worn him out.
Neither the Ministry of Communication nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the publication.
Casa Amarilla (the Foreign Ministry in San Jose) said that the ministry “will not comment on the unofficial information.”
Monumental cites “two sources”, one from the Casa Presidencial and another from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which affirm, “under the condition of anonymity”, which Ventura leaves office on January 31 “for reasons of health and internal wear ” of the ministry.
The news of Ventura’s (alleged) departure comes six days after the legislative committee on international affairs agreed to call Ventura to answer questions to the report on the organizational climate of the Costa Rican embassy in Geneva, Switzerland, which was under the direction of ambassador Elayne White.
The minister “deplored and expressed concern” that this document “has been leaked and disseminated,” according to a note posted on the official profile of that ministry on Facebook
The news is also on the heels of last week’s visit of Ventura’s counterpart, U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to Costa Rica and that on Friday, January 24, the Costa Rica Ambassador to Washington was told it would be very difficult to return Costa Rica’s security risk to level 1, after being downgraded to level 2 earlier this month.
Ventura, if he will resign, would be the second chancellor to leave the post. During the first year of the Alvarado Quesada administration, Vice President Epsy Campbell held that position but resigned after a number of controversies.
In the photo, the American diplomat with Foreign Minister Manuel Ventura. Photo: Jorge Castillo.
The Office of Consular Affairs of the U.S. State Department reaffirmed to Costa Rica’s Ambassador Fernando Llorca, in Washington D.C., on Friday, January 24, that the reasons for raising the alert level for people traveling to Costa Rica is due to a change in the criteria with which all nations are evaluated.
In the photo, Foreign Minister Manuel Ventura (standing) with his counterpart, U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, during his visit to Costa Rica last week
In a press release, the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry said that the Ambassador was shown that the level previously occupied by Costa Rica, to which the country wishes to return, “is now very difficult to achieve”.
It added that the adjustment in the methodology will imply that the level of warning will be reallocated on most countries.
“They also stressed that they do not expect that there will be an impact on the tourist attraction of the country for the US market and that these warnings are not ‘categories or notes’ for a given country, but simply, a recommendation given to travelers seeking prevention and that they are attentive to their surroundings during their stay abroad,” says the statement from Casa Amarilla (Ministry of Foreign Affairs in San Jose).
On January 6, the U.S. government informed the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) – Tourism Board, that it increased the security alert to travel to Costa Rica from level 1, in which tourists are urged to take normal precautions, to level 2, in which urges travelers to increase care.
Last week, during his visit to Costa Rica, the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, promised to check if the country’s reclassification was correct. The meeting between Llorca and the officers of the Office of Consular Affairs was held in response to the agreement between Pompeo and Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado.
During the meeting with Carl C. Risch, Undersecretary of Consular Affairs and Karin M. King, Deputy Undersecretary of Citizen Services Abroad, told Llorca of the difficulty of getting Costa Rica back to the previous risk level.
The Costa Rican ambassador presented the recent achievements in public security, that Costa Rica had in 2019 a decrease in the murder rate and in the number of tourist robberies.
“It was also noted that Costa Rica is the most successful country in the region for the joint confiscation of drugs, having reached more than 81 metric tons of cocaine and marijuana in the present administration,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Costa Rican Tania Cordero returned to the country a month ago, after being in London as a nanny.
Tania Cordero is 25, from Cartago and a month ago she returned from London, England, where she stayed for a year, two periods of six months each.
Costa Rican Tania Cordero returned to the country a month ago, after being in London as a nanny.
She is passionate about the possibility of living outside Costa Rica, although she loves the country where she and her family were born.
It is not difficult for Tania to explain the reasons that feed that desire, especially now that she had the experience of being somewhere else.
“It is a lifestyle. I love Costa Rica, it’s beautiful, I boasted of my country every day in England, but one of the things I miss is public transport, here I have to spend an hour and a half and there, to travel that same distance, it was 30 minutes.
Tania Cordero tiene entre sus planes volverse a ir de Costa Rica, principalmente a Londres.
“I feel that there you have to work a lot, but you get a lot, the quality of life, because although there are so many taxes, they are reflected in quality of life. That makes me want to return,” Tania told Jairo Villegas of La Nacion.
In order to live outside for a time, Tania enrolled in a babysitter program. She went to live with a London family and took care of three children, aged 3, 10 and 11, although not full time. Her job was to be like an older sister.
“We had breakfast together, I helped them get ready for school and sometimes I took them. The baby sometimes went to daycare. In the evening we all had dinner and went out to a park. The families do it because the nannies are very expensive, instead, they give us an allowance to go out on the weekend. For me it was good because I could learn English,” she described.
Tania confesses that before going abroad, she felt stagnant in Costa Rica, to the point of ending the two university careers she was enrolled in Philosophy and Statistics, at the University of Costa Rica (UCR).
Tania’s longing is to go back, not as a babysitter, but to live abroad.
“If you don’t experience it, you don’t know the good experience it is; Open your mind, the people you meet, people from all over the world. It was my first time in Europe,” she says.
Estefanía Valverde is also 25 and lives in Moravia. She and Tania don’t know each other, but they have something in common; This young woman who studies Psychology at the National University and Social Work at the UCR also has among her plans to leave Costa Rica, to study or work abroad.
Estefanía Valverde on a trip she made to Chicago. She hopes to get a scholarship to go to another country after finishing her university degree in Costa Rica.
“I am very interested in having the experience of living in another country and knowing other cultures. I’m waiting to finish my studies to start finding out about scholarships and other options,” says Estefanía, who considers that the experience of traveling helps in the growth of each person. Among her preferred countries to live abroad are Mexico, Chile, and Colombia.
“Conversing with other millennials for this report, I can summarize that several want to leave because they want to get to know other countries and mix with their cultures, in Costa Rica they feel insecure, especially during the nights, the Tico public transport system overwhelms them, because of the long hours for any small tour … anyway, they long for that freedom to leave without worrying about an assault, learn from others and share with people of other nationalities. At all times they express their love for our country,” writes Villegas.
Estefanía Valverde in Tepoztlán, Mexico. That is one of the countries that would like to go to live, as well as Chile and Colombia.
Cristina Cubero, Director of Consulting at Deloitte and a specialist on the subject, leading studies by her firm told Villegas in an interview, “Millennials do not leave a country, they travel, seeking to broaden their vision of reality and with it maximize the sense of diversity.”
What are millennials? How old are they now?
Millennials, also known as Generation Y (or simply Gen Y), are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years, with 1981 to 1996 a widely accepted definition.
Therefore, the millennial generation is in 2020, between 26 and 37 years of age.
They are identified under a series of common features in their profiles, beliefs, and values, a product of the socio-economic and political context in which they are born and have socialized.
Cristina Cubero is the director of Consulting at Deloitte, a specialist in the millennial issue.
Why among their aspirations is going to another country?
Fully digitally interconnected, but also reaching physical mobility, for millenials the world becomes its city and limited to a country is not viable, it is reductionist.
Traveling is also a maximum expression of cultural openness and diversity. Living or knowing only one country seems to them to be a limited, reduced vision of reality and creates a disadvantage for them.
Many Generation X have a hard time tearing down those geographical walls that impact from relationships to business dynamics. The thought of the new generations, on the other hand, functions as a network, open and connected, “in line” with the entire world.
The Internet has also made it easier for millennials to make plans to travel. New apps and websites are frequently being released to make planning trips large and small, easier every day. Millennials can compare pricing of lodging online, set an alert to find the best flights, and then quickly and easily make the decision to purchase.
For millennials, leaving everything behind and going off to live abroad has a certain allure to it. Besides all the obvious reasons like a better job market, quality of life, and for some, better politics, moving abroad can be an incredibly exciting experience for those who decide to take the plunge.
Deloitte’s specific study of millennials for 2019 found that it is an “interrupted” generation, but in relation to the traditional goals of studying, getting married, having a home and children, because those are not their priorities. Those pillars under which a “life” is built have been torn down and it is not the current logic.
63% of young people in Latin America placed “traveling and knowing the world” as their first priority. Having a child, for example, does not reach the list of the five priorities.
The young people of Latin America value more than anything in life going out, knowing and connecting with their world … and showing others that world, on Instagram.
It is important that “traveling” for a millennial has its own meaning. For them, the concept goes far beyond “vacationing” or “being able to leave the country”, it is a way of learning and growing.
Travel “experiences” have a higher value than the purchase of “goods”, so it is much more important to travel than buying a house. The trip generates learning for them, the house could represent, according to their perceptions, “high long-term debt and a barrier to mobility”.
Therefore, young people, for the most part, work to travel and get to know the world. Many of them condition to start or continue a job in response to the flexibility that they are given to achieve it.
Money is effectively an obstacle that in many cases they try to solve with economic travel options, alternatives offered by digital platforms and, in general, they are redesigning the way to buy and live a trip.
If for the X generation it meant vacationing under certain comforts, for the Y it means connecting with the native way of life, seeing the real dynamics of each country their customs, and not the facade built for the tourist.
If you can select between two routes, one for the tourist and one for the local, the millennial will select the local route. They really want to know the culture, what they eat, what they work on, how they live …
Karla Estafaniak. Photo from the Facebook page Finding Carla
At 8 am this morning, Monday, January 27, will begin the trial for the murder of the Venezuelan-American tourist in Costa Rica, Carla Estefaniak.
The trial will be in the Criminal Court of Pavas. Up to 15 people are expected to give testimony in the murder of the 36-year-old tourist found dead on December 3, 2018, near the hotel where she was staying in San Antonio de Escazú.
Days before she had been reported missing.
The only person accused of this crime is a Nicaraguan surname Espinoza Martínez, a security guard of the hotel, who was arrested following the discovery of the body a short distance from the hotel.
Carlos Caicedo, the victim’s father, is expected to be in the courtroom, telling the local television media that he still firmly believes Espinoza could not the only person involved in the murder of his daughter.
He says he trusts in the justice of our country.
Stefaniak resided in Hallandale, a suburb near Miami, where he worked as an insurance agent and real estate broker.
Carla visiting the ‘crocodile bridge’ in Costa Rica. Photo from social networks
She came to Costa Rica on November 22, 2018, and planned to return to the U.S. on Wednesday 28 of that same month.
During her stay in the country, prior to the murder, she was in Manuel Antonio (Quepos), La Fortuna de San Carlos, among other places.
Apparently, she was the victim of an attempted sexual assault that became a real bloodbath.
The case against Espinoza
Espinoza Martinez is accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of simple homicide. He was one of the security officers of the hotel located in San Antonio de Escazú, where the body of the tourist was buried.
Espinoza was investigated by authorities, as he told authorities that the tourist had left the hotel in a taxi at 5 am, but it was all a lie. Days later, she was found lifeless, near the hotel property.
According to the prosecution, a witness claims to have heard a phone call, where the suspect’s wife allegedly told her mother-in-law that her son had committed the murder.
The Prosecutor’s Office notes 5 key points in the case:
Without specifying the exact time, but between 7:55 pm on November 27, 2018, and 6 am on November 28, the victim stayed at the hotel located in San Antonio de Escazú, in villa number 8.
The defendant lived and worked in the hotel, dedicated to the cleaning and surveillance of the villas. He also controlled the entry and exit of guests, watched over the place, was responsible for the reception and delivery of the rooms.
It is believed that the accused took advantage of his position to attack the victim.
Without being able to determine how, because there were no signs of forcing on the doors and window in the villa occupied by the victim, the accused entered and attacked her with a bladed weapon, causing 7 sharp wounds on the body, neck, and face.
After the murder, the suspect would move the body 100 meters from the villa to hide it, wrapped in black rubber.
Doubts persist
The question persists: Were there more participants in Carla Stefaniak’s brutal murder? That is the question that many ask themselves. Undoubtedly, due to the conditions in which the murder would have occurred and the way in which it was discovered, it is valid to raise the question of whether 2 or more people participated in the atrocious murder.
The legal representation of the Stefaniak family, led by lawyer David Hernández along with Joseph Rivera, assures that there is sufficient evidence to link the Espinoza with the murder. But, maintains that there were gaps during the investigation process that prevented strengthening the other great hypothesis: that Espinoza did not act alone.
“In this case, the complaint that was made to see the Ministerio Público and the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) is that the case began with a very tenuous, very accommodating investigation when more rigorousness was needed. The investigation must have been aggressive. Not having given so much time. They lasted for more than a week talking with the owners of the hotel, with the people, the officers coming and going (…) That time spent in this case was essential. That is the complaint,” said Hernández in a statement.
“The evidence leads to Espinoza. But, there are several elements that can make us intuit or think that at some point here other people may have participated with him. Either to move the body or to clean the room (…) that is, other people. We are not saying that the proof does not bind Espinoza, of course, it does. But, we think there was another participation, ”said the lawyer, who questioned that this line of investigation was not properly addressed,” added the lawyer.
Since it went public last May, much of the investor debate surrounding Uber has understandably revolved around how quickly the company can pare its still-massive losses.
Less attention has been given, however, to Uber’s ride-hailing share losses in the U.S. and Latin America, where Lyft (LYFT) and Chinese ride-hailing leader DiDi have, respectively, been gaining ground.
According to Second Measure, a research firm that relies on anonymized credit card data, Uber had 69.7% of the U.S. ride-hailing market in November 2019, and Lyft claimed 29.2%. For comparison, Uber’s market share was pegged at 83% back in September 2016, before a spate of bad publicity began eating into its share in 2017.
In Latin America, Didi has made strong inroads in the region’s two most populous countries — Brazil and Mexico — with the help of an aggressive playbook that has much in common with the one that it used to drive Uber to sell its Chinese ride-sharing business to the company. And more recently, DiDi has expanded into countries such as Colombia, Chile, and Costa Rica.
In Brazil, DiDi has invested heavily since buying local ride-hailing firm 99 in 2018. And in Mexico, where DiDi has built its ride-sharing operations from scratch, the company was reported in November to have about a 30% share (on average) in cities where it has operated since entering Mexico in 2018.
DiDi’s share gains and aggressive pricing were big reasons why Uber’s Latin American revenue rose just 2% annually in Q3 to $527 million. Admittedly, though, this was better than the double-digit revenue declines recorded for Q1 and Q2.
In North America, Uber’s revenue rose 39% annually in Q3 to US$2.41 billion. However, much of this growth was produced by the Uber Eats restaurant-delivery business, which is estimated by Second Measure to have claimed 19% of the U.S. restaurant-delivery market in 2019.
Uber Eats, which (like some of its peers) has been seeing major losses amid a very tough pricing and promotional environment, grew its revenue 109% in Q3 to US$392 million. While some of this growth came from foreign markets such as India, where Uber just agreed to sell its food-delivery business to local rival Zomato, the lion’s share is believed to have come from the U.S..
Meanwhile, Lyft, which operates only in the U.S. and Canada, reported its revenue rose 63% annually in Q3 to US$955.6 million. A 28% increase in active riders helped, as did a 27% increase in revenue per active rider, the result of both growth in activity per rider and a more favorable pricing environment.
Aside from impacting Uber’s revenue and bookings growth, DiDi’s and Lyft’s share gains serve to put them on better long-term competitive footing, by improving their network effects in the metro areas that they operate in. A larger market share gives drivers a greater incentive to work for a particular ride-sharing service. And more drivers, in turn, improves a service’s coverage within a metro area, which gives riders a greater incentive to use it.
Ride-hailing penetration rates in the U.S. and (especially) Latin America are still low enough for Uber to see decent ride-hailing growth in these markets even with moderate share losses. And in the case of the U.S., the fact that the ride-hailing market has been seeing improved pricing lately — and likely has some untapped pricing power — works in Uber’s favor as well.
And though Uber does face some tough European and Asian rivals as well (for example, Ola in India and DiDi in Japan), the company is still seeing strong ride-hailing growth in those regions. Uber’s EMEA and Asia-Pac adjusted net revenue rose 24% and 31%, respectively, in Q3.
Nonetheless, at a time when so much attention is focused on Uber’s losses and cash burn, investors shouldn’t lose sight of how U.S. and Latin American share losses have been impacting top-line growth for a ride-hailing business whose margin profile remains much better than that of Uber’s food-delivery business.
Article originally appeared at TheStreet.com. Read the original here.
After seven years of construction, six addenda and a delay of four years, the 116, 000 thousand square meters new passenger terminal at Tocumen International Airport (PTY) is 99% complete.
During a tour of the project on Wednesday, January 22, Enrique Villegas, vice president of projects at Tocumen SA, commented that Odebrecht has completed 47% of the pending work, reports Newsroom Panama.
After February 29, Tocumen begins a verification period of all systems, finishes and other operational areas of the new terminal. “ If we are not satisfied, then the airport can ask the contractor to fix it, Villegas said.
The economic costs of crime in the Central American Northern Triangle of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are the highest in the world, according to a study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The report entitled Crime and Output: Theory and application to the Nothern Triangle of Central America (Crime and product: theory and application in the Northern Triangle of Central America) indicates that criminal activity is costing Honduras and El Salvado up to 16% of its gross domestic product (GDP) and in Guatemala 7%.
The IMF notes that crime has direct and indirect costs; Direct products include the product (goods) and resources (time and wages of the victims) lost due to criminal activity and resources spent on security. Indirect costs include reducing opportunities, increasing emigration, erosion of institutions and corruption.
In Honduras, it is observed that indirect costs amount to 3% of GDP and direct costs to about 13.3%.
The Latinobarometer survey published by La Prensa in Honduras shows that crime and corruption outweigh employment and other economic challenges such as the most pressing in the Northern Triangle.
In the case of Honduras, the concern about crime and unemployment is similar in the population.
The IMF points out that in order to systematically reduce crime over time, it requires a combination of stable and inclusive growth, greater profitability of legal activities, as well as the reduction of barriers to market entry and business regulations. favorable to growth to generate employment opportunities.
In 2019, exports of goods are estimated to total nearly US$11.5 billion, barely 2% higher than reported in the previous year, and far from the 6% increase recorded in 2018, according to estimates by the Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (Comex) – Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Sales of services were more dynamic and rose 5%, according to an estimate by the Comex, and already represent almost half (45%) of the total amount that the country exports abroad, which reached US$21 billion last year.
These results are part of the 2019 export report, presented this January 22 by Comex and the Promotora del Comercio Exterior (Procomer) – Foreign Trade Promoter.
By sector, the results contrast, as the sale of precision and medical equipment increased 12%, according to the boom in recent years and that of fishing, although smaller, rose 13%.
However, agricultural sales, food, electrical or electronic implements, metalworking, and rubber fell.
The sale of medical devices represented 31% of the total, followed by banana with 9% and pineapple with 8%.
Dyalá Jiménez, Minister of Foreign Trade, told Nacion.com that “… by 2020 there are national and international challenges. In the international framework there is a challenge that we are going to understand very well because we are preparing a lot, it is the Brexito, the departure of the United Kingdom from Europe, and another challenge is the global economic slowdown.”
Jiménez added that “… internally, there are the usual structural challenges, the costs in Costa Rica, such as the issue of employer’s quotas, which is being addressed, and the paperwork, where the one-stop-shop of the Foreign Trade Promotion Agency (Procomer) is working.”
A recent civil engineering graduate and member of the University of Alberta Pandas soccer program has been paralyzed from the waist down following a cycling accident in Costa Rica.
Friends say Nicole Palladino, 24, was riding a bicycle on Jan. 14, lost control and fell off a cliff.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) today published a Report on the “Situation of Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees in Costa Rica,” which addresses the situation in which some 40,000 Venezuelans who have emigrated or fled to Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is in an exceptional situation in the region, being a nation that receives displaced people from Nicaragua and Venezuela daily. To date, there are 500,000 Nicaraguan migrants and refugees and 40,000 Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Costa Rica.
The report prepared by the Office of the OAS General Secretariat to address the crisis of Venezuelan migrants and refugees recognizes the effort of the Costa Rican authorities to maintain a policy of open borders and non-refoulement with Venezuelan migrants and refugees.
“The efforts made by the Costa Rican authorities to accept the expired Venezuelan passport and be one of the few Central American countries not to place immigration restrictions, such as visa applications, for displaced Venezuelans,” the report said.
The document indicates that the Venezuelans who emigrated between 2015 and 2020 to Costa Rica are in a much more vulnerable condition than those who arrived between 2010 and 2014, due to the deepening crisis in Venezuela. The profile of the Venezuelan migrant in Costa Rica has changed and, increasingly, those who arrive require humanitarian assistance and greater support for their integration into labor markets.
“Those who arrived ten years ago, did so with economic means that allowed them to establish themselves and integrate into the labor markets easier. This first wave of migration has served as support for the displaced Venezuelans who have arrived since 2014, ”says the report. However, in recent years Venezuelans “arrive in more vulnerable conditions, with lack of food, health, employment and shelter. Many of them only have the financial means to buy the plane ticket and arrive in Costa Rica requesting that they be granted refugee status, ”he adds.
For the preparation of this report, the Office of the OAS General Secretariat to address the crisis of Venezuelan migrants and refugees visited Costa Rica. There meetings were held with the Venezuelan migrant and refugee community, Costa Rican authorities and civil society organizations. In these meetings, the OAS promoted the adoption of care policies that facilitate the integration of Venezuelans in Costa Rica. Additionally, testimonials were collected at the working groups with Venezuelan migrants and refugees.
The testimonies compiled at the working groups reaffirm that “Venezuelans flee from generalized violence, alteration of public order, violation of human rights and foreign occupation”. In this regard, the report claims that it is essential to create the basis of a regional consensus that grants refugee status to the Venezuelan according to the Cartagena Declaration, as expressed by the OAS Working Group to address the crisis of migrants and Venezuelan refugees in the region in its regional report of June 2019.
In its conclusions, the report published recommends streamlining the proposal of the Costa Rican government to generate the Supplementary Protection instrument, “which would regularize many Venezuelans and facilitate their integration into Costa Rican society and labor markets.” In addition, the document urges the international donor community to support the implementation of this proposal, both technically and financially.
The Office of the OAS General Secretariat to address the Venezuelan migrant and refugee crisis, coordinated by David Smolansky, has the mission of working with OAS member countries to address the situation of more than 5 million Venezuelans who have fled to other countries, and they represent more than 14% of the population of Venezuela.
Globally, only Syria surpasses Venezuela in the flow of emigrants and refugees.
This is the second report that the OAS publishes on the situation of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in the countries of destination. In December 2019, the OAS published the report “Situation of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Brazil” and will soon publish another report on their situation in Colombia.
For the preparation of these reports, the Office visited all three countries. Likewise, 8 work tables were held in 7 cities between November and December 2019, including in Sao Paulo and Boa Vista (Brazil), San José (Costa Rica), and Barranquilla, Cúcuta, Bogotá and Medellín (Colombia), in the which received more than 300 testimonies from people who have fled Venezuela to these countries.
most of the telephone scams are still carried out from prisons, where inmates contact people by phone using an application that allows them to simulate telephone numbers assigned to the Treasury.
A new scam has been uncovered, targeting the public into divulging personal information to scammers – estafadores in Spanish – making random calls informing whoever answers the phone they have a tax refund coming.
Most of the telephone scams are still carried out from prisons, where inmates contact people by phone using an application that allows them to hide their true number and simulate for that of an official institution, such as a bank or the Treasury
La Nacion, in its report, an extract of a conversation recorded by a potential victim lasting a total of two minutes and 22 seconds before the scammer moved on.
Scammer (S): – Do you have a computer or some type of device that has Internet to send you a notification and that you can view it?
Intended Victim (V): – Yes sir (…) But what would it be for? What is the procedure that you have to notify me?
S: – It is a tax exemption that is being generated to your person; It is a benefit that the Ministry of Finance is providing. As I was saying, you get a tax break on your salary with respect to income tax.
V: – Aha, but why would they modify it if it is by law?
S: – Yes, but in this case what the Ministry of Finance and the Legislative Assembly, made an appeal which was supported. So, the beneficiaries are salaried people. This is due to what is the new tax plan that comes into force with many taxes (…). Do you already know what the income tax is or what is the value added tax, what would the VAT?
V: –But VAT and income tax are very different things (…)
S: –As you have been contributing to the Ministry of Finance (tax department), this benefit is provided to you (…), it is our responsibility to provide a support and exonerate you to the taxes imposed.
V: Yes, but I do not pay income tax because my salary does not exceed the limit.
S: – No, you only pay it in what is the basic (food) basket. Miss, in what is the salary, what is being rebated is the income tax, not the value added tax.
V: – But no, it seems very strange to me.
As we can clearly see, the intent of the unknown caller was to obtain personal information, in this case, starting with an email to send “a notification”.
Since the intended victim didn’t bite, the scammer cut the call and presumably moved on to the next potential victim.
“This is clearly a new way to scam people of their hard-earned money, using the pretext of a refund or reduction in income tax, to defraud taxpayers, through remote access to computers or mobile phones,” said the Treasury.
TheOrganismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) reiterated that most of the telephone scams are still carried out from prisons, where inmates contact people by phone using an application that allows them to simulate telephone numbers assigned to the Treasury.
Then, they ask the victim to install software on their personal computer or cellular phone with which they manage to remotely access the device.
In addition, victims are to fill out forms to allow scammers to continue stealing sensitive financial information.
Authorities say that conversations can be lengthy, even hours, as scammers continue to prod until they obtain account numbers, ‘claves dinamicas’ or tokens used by some financial institutions as a security measure to access bank accounts and transfer money unbeknownst to the victim.
The scammer’s advantage is the trust and ignorance of their victims.
Due to the increase in telephone scams during 2019, telephone companies began disabling the telephone lines used from penal centers, resulting in a reduction of the number of complaints that have been received. For example, according to the OIJ, in May 2019 they received 228 complaints for telephone scams; in June, 183; in July, 234; and, in August, 186.
But, scammers find ways of getting around it.
So as not to fall victim to this type of fraud, be aware of the following:
No institution – bank or tax department, for example – will call you to request personal data, or sensitive data.
In case you are called and have doubt, cut the call. Immediately contact your bank.
If you are asked to download a program on your computer or app on your cell phone, do not do so. Better yet, turn off your computer or cell phone immediately and run a virus scan.
If you are a victim of fraud, file the respective complaint with the OIJ.
The information that traffic officers transfer to the courts can be essential to establish responsibilities in case of crashes. Photo: LUIS NAVARRO
You get into a mishap while driving. It happens to even the best of drivers. It’s not your fault, it was the other driver. You have an open and shut case. Ah. but you are in Costa Rica.
The report by the traffic official (Transito) to the traffic courts can be essential to establish responsibilities in case of crashes. Naivety can result in being found responsible for the crash or no one at fault.
“I have the case won.” That is the attitude with which many drivers on the legal proceedings for road crashes.
However, this excess of confidence, ignorance of the traffic matter or even naivety of the drivers, can be very disadvantageous in court and expensive.
In Costa Rica, drivers must present evidence before Traffic Courts to prove the other driver’s guilt; Traffic officer sketches (a croquis in Spanish), photos and witnesses are essential even in cases that seem simple.
If the guilt cannot be proven, through the presentation of evidence or witnesses confirming their testimony and demonstrating the responsibility of the other driver, vehicle owners are exposed to running out of the possibility of collecting damages from the person responsible for the crash
Such an omission can cause innocent drivers to bear the total costs of repairing their vehicle. In the case of having an insurance policy, they will have to pay the deductible and risk an increase in their premiums.
For this reason, in traffic court processes, all involved must be considered guilty, and therefore present evidence of their innocence and the responsibility of the other.
This is the recommendation of Cristian Sánchez, coordinating judge of the San José Transit Court.
Sánchez told La Nacion, “Offering evidence is extremely important in this area. Install a camera, which are now more (economically) accessible. Write down the name and number of witnesses, if any. That will ultimately give us a very important probative support because if we start from the fact that we all have adequate morals, people would be responsible, but that does not happen regularly”.
A very clear case that could take a bad turn (no pun intended) in the courts for lack of proof, is that of a driver who disrespects a red light and collides the car that had the right of way. At first, the latter could be confident that the process will be resolved in his or her favor.
“That person can say ‘diay no, I was not to blame, therefore they must condemn the other.’ But it turns out that the other driver is more prepared (espabilado in Spanish), in the negative sense, then offers proof or false testimony. That may entangle the matter, the person who was not initially at fault, runs into the surprise that both parties are acquitted due to doubt,” explained Sanchez.
In such cases, the judges must refer to the traffic ticket issued and the sketch of the official, witnesses, if any.
However, if the doubt persists, the judges will end up absolving the parties or blaming both. If so, each party will end up assuming the repair costs of their vehicles.
“They come here (to court) and say ‘no, it’s that I was stopped behind the vehicle when it backed up ’, or that ‘the vehicles were on the slope and the front car came back and collided mine’, so it’s only the versions of the parties,” said Sánchez.
In the end, if the driver in the right is not prepared, it can become a case of “he said, she said” with the judge having to conclude that either version is possible.
Another misconception of many drivers is that a traffic sentence condemning the other party to pay damages does not automatically trigger the collection from the responsible party.
When the sentence is final, those involved may agree to an out-of-court settlement, otherwise, the affected party will have to go to civil courts to settle the dispute. And if the payment still does not prosper, many cases end up in the collection courts.
In the event that both vehicles involved have insurance (other than the Marchamo), the insurers settle their affairs, including getting the deductible paid and the responsible driver(s) sees their premiums go up.
However, the process becomes much more complex when the driver responsible has no insurance.
Opinion – Was it a rush to have a suspect in custody? Or the failure of the criminal court judge and the prosecutor to hold on to their only suspect in the murder of French tourist Christophe Jean Lietaert?
Unfortunately, this is more common than not, the police, who we trust to do their job, get their man (or woman), but only to see the courts let them go. Then they disappear.
In the case of Lietaert, 48, he got into an argument with a couple of guys in the beach hotel (unnamed) in Playas del Coco. The argument, OIJ investigators say was over a cellular phone.
The French tourist winds up dead, stabbed several times, the suspects fled. Police catch up with one, arrest him and get him before a judge, who turns his loose while the prosecutor looks on and with no objection.
The arrested man, identified by his last name Vasquez Caravaca, is today free, though the Fiscalia (prosecutor’s office) says it is still investigating the case. Good luck trying to find him again if and when they do get more evidence.
Unfortunately, that is the reality in Costa Rica.
Flor Víquez Alvarado, president of the Association of Integral Development of Playas del Coco (Adicoco), expressed her concern about the Lietaert homicide because she said it will bring economic consequences for the community.
No kidding.
“We need the police to help us. We have promoted drug prevention programs, but a few weeks come and then they (the police) leave. When Alejo (Leiva Aguilar) was killed, there was a lot of police, but then they left. Now we are asking the authorities of the Ministry of Public Security to meet again to discuss the security situation and the problem of drug use and sale,” added Alvarado.
Alejo Leiva’s was killed, in Playas del Coco, on March 26, 2016, when the young mand and several friends were vacationing in Guanacaste.
WASHINGTON (JUSTICE.GOV) – Three individuals were sentenced to prison for their roles in a US$11 million telemarketing scheme that defrauded primarily elderly victims in the United States from call centers in Costa Rica.
Donald Dodt. From Linkdin Costa Rica
Donald Dodt, 76, originally of Cleveland, Ohio, Thomas Sniffen, 58, originally of Peekskill, New York, and Michael Saxon, 50, originally of Ontario, Canada, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. of the Western District of North Carolina to 90 months, 114 months and 75 months in prison, respectively.
Judge Cogburn also ordered restitution in the amount of US$7 million for Dodt, US$11,236,857.65 for Sniffen and US$2,593,574.02 for Saxon to be paid jointly and severally with their co-conspirators.
Following a five-day trial in May 2019, Dodt was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, two counts of mail fraud, eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit international money laundering and 10 counts of international money laundering.
In April 2019, Sniffen pleaded guilty to all charges in the 31-count indictment charging conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, substantive counts of mail fraud and wire fraud, international money laundering and conspiracy to commit international money laundering. In May 2019, Saxon pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit international money laundering.
According to the evidence presented at both Dodt’s trial and the sentencing hearings, and the factual bases in support of Sniffen’s and Saxon’s guilty pleas, Dodt, Sniffen and Saxon conspired together to commit the fraud and worked in a call center in Costa Rica.
While falsely posing as federal judges, representatives of the District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and other federal agencies, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, they contacted victims in the United States — primarily senior citizens — to tell them that that they had supposedly won a substantial “sweepstakes” prize.
After convincing victims that they stood to receive a significant financial reward, the members of the conspiracy told victims that they needed to make a series of up-front cash payments before collecting, purportedly for items like insurance fees, taxes and import fees.
The co-conspirators used a variety of means to conceal their identities, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services provided by Dodt that made it appear as if they were calling from Washington, D.C., and other places in the United States.
At sentencing, it was determined that Dodt, Sniffen, Saxon, and their co-conspirators collectively stole more than US$11 million in total from victims.
Paola Reyes Pérez, 34, who is pursuing a master's degree in Urban Planning at Wuhan University
Authorities in China have imposed indefinite travel restrictions on tens of millions of people across 11 cities in an unprecedented effort to contain the spread of a deadly new coronavirus, as hospitals at the epicenter of the outbreak struggle to handle a surge in new patients.
Chinese city goes into lockdown as coronavirus death toll doubles
Wuhan, the sprawling capital of Central China’s Hubei province, is a quarantined city. It is also the city where four Costa Ricans live; However, only three are currently there, confirmed Miguel Díaz, director of institutional communication at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The confirmation of the four Ticos in Wuhan was provided by the Consul General of Costa Rica in Shanghai, China, Danilo González, who said, “Of these four Costa Ricans, three are women and one is a man. One Costa Rican is not currently in the city of Wuhan, while the three Costa Ricans are residing in that city.”
Wuhan under quarantine as coronavirus outbreak worsens
According to the Consul’s report, “the Ticas are in good health and have not presented any symptoms that make us presume that they could be infected. The Consulate remains in constant communication with them and for the moment there are problems”.
Díaz said that the Chinese government has not officially informed the consulate about how long Wuhan will be in quarantine.
“The consulate of Costa Rica in Shanghai issued a statement with recommendations for Costa Ricans in its jurisdiction and enabled an email and emergency telephone number for people who require it to communicate.”
La Nacion reports that one of the women is Paola Reyes Pérez, 34, who is pursuing a master’s degree in Urban Planning at Wuhan University. She plans to return to Costa Rica on February 1, although for now, she does not know if she can leave, due to restrictions in Wuhan.
Paola Reyes Pérez is studying at Wuhan University
For her part, Paola had told La Nación that she learned about the virus in November. “I am asthmatic and knowing the problem, I stayed locked in my room,” said Paola, who lives in the university residences. “I go out very little, I buy my food in safe places, like supermarkets with high standards; meats and vegetables, to avoid contagion,” she explained.
“My family is very worried because they are afraid of not letting me out (when there is a flight to our country), but the safety and health measures are quite high,” she said.
Travel restrictions affect some 30 million people in 11 cities The virus, which was first discovered in the city of Wuhan in December, has spread to every province in China, except the remote autonomous regions of Qinghai and Tibet, with the number of infections rising to more than 900 worldwide.
According to a report by CNN, as today, Friday, January 24, 2020, the virus had claimed the lives of at least 26 people in mainland China, including a 36-year-old man not listed as having any pre-existing conditions. Posts on social media show an atmosphere of fear and anxiety among those inside Wuhan, amid rising uncertainty over the ability of authorities to handle the potential epidemic.
Hubei, the province at the center of the virus outbreak, declared a Level 1 response earlier Friday
An Avianca flight that took off from Costa Rica and headed for Bogotá, Colombia, had to land emergency at the Tocumen airport, Panama, Thursday morning.
Avianca Airbus A-319
According to the airline, the captain of the aircraft identified an alert in one of the systems and decided to deviate.
From Flightaware
The flight crew and the 108 passengers traveling on the plane followed the established protocols, the aircraft landing in Panama intact, however, three flight crew and one passenger required being transferred to the hospital for a detailed medical evaluation.
Así quedo el avión de Avianca luego de vivir una emergencia en el vuelo AV693 San José – Bogotá. Cayó en picada por unos segundos. pic.twitter.com/aPgiGVjd2S
“The cabin crew, following established protocols, provided primary care and as soon as the aircraft landed, passengers were treated by the airport’s emergency medical team,” Avianca said in a press release.
The airline also reported that passengers on flight AV693 boarded another plane on Thursday morning for Bogota.
Ronald Hanna, a passenger of Colombian nationality, told the media that at some point he felt “a kind of turbulence” and shortly after the plane “plummeted for two or three seconds.”
“There were people, who had no belt, flew into the air and crashed into the ceiling. The food carts also hit the ceiling,” said the man, who was in the Tocumen air terminal when he spoke by telephone with journalists at Telediario.
Passengers wear protective masks to protect against the spread of the Coronavirus as they arrive at the Los Angeles International Airport, California, on January 22, 2020. - A new virus that has killed nine people, infected hundreds and has already reached the US could mutate and spread, China warned on January 22, as authorities urged people to steer clear of Wuhan, the city at the heart of the outbreak. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP) (Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)
The Ministerio de Salud (Ministry of Health) announced earlier this week that it activated the prevention protocols against the new coronavirus that emerged in China and is already present in various countries.
Passengers wear protective masks to protect against the spread of the Coronavirus as they arrive at the Los Angeles International Airport, California, on January 22, 2020. A new virus that has killed nine people, infected hundreds and has already reached the US could mutate and spread, China warned on January 22, as authorities urged people to steer clear of Wuhan, the city at the heart of the outbreak. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)
“Activation” is implementing measures, mainly information, for health professionals, and the Ministry following up on international cases and investigations that come up on the subject. However, people who have symptoms of respiratory distress and who were in recent days in China, Japan, Thailand or South Korea are also asked to seek medical attention and report the case to local health authorities.
Important to note that despite several reports from not so reliable media sources (we won’t mention them here), there are no suspected cases of coronavirus in Costa Rica.
Salud confirms, through its social networks, “at this time we do NOT have any suspected cases of coronavirus 2019-nCov in our country.”
The clarification came after rumors that affirm the existence of an alleged case in an older adult who would be in isolation. Salud reiterates that this is false. Nor is it true that there are three “isolated” patients at the San Rafel Hospital in Alajuela.
Once again, the authorities insist that the cold flu is not synonymous with the coronavirus.
Costa Rica has no direct flights from China or any Asian country. The majority of arrivals to Costa Rica are from the United States, where passengers arriving from China are being screened.
Daniel Salas, the Minister of Health, said, “The Ministerio de Salud remains attentive to the advances in the investigation of the disease to guide decision-making in order to protect the public health of the country.”
“The health system in Costa Rica has protocols and procedures that allow facing these epidemiological alerts. In the same way that the influenza virus AH1N1 and SARS-CoV was processed, what is appropriate is the disclosure of the protocol of action for health care centers,” added Salas
Coronaviruses
The World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to declare the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak as a global health emergency after a Wednesday meeting, despite the entire city of Wuhan going under quarantine to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
“There is no evidence of human to human transmission outside China, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference. “WHO is following this outbreak every minute of every day.”
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds that include diarrhea in cows and pigs, and upper respiratory disease in chickens. In humans, the virus causes respiratory infections, which are often mild, but in rare cases are potentially lethal. There are no vaccines or antiviral drugs that are approved for prevention or treatment.
According to the general recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), symptoms of the coronavirus strain include cough, shortness of breath and fever. In more serious cases, it can cause pneumonia, acute respiratory syndrome and kidney failure.
The WHO recommends taking the following measures to prevent respiratory illnesses from spreading:
Frequent hand washing.
Cook food properly.
Avoid close contact with people with symptoms of respiratory diseases.
Practice proper cough and sneeze protocol.
In case of symptoms of respiratory disease during or after a trip to China, seek medical attention and share your travel history with the health provider.
For those who will soon travel to China and especially Hubei province, avoid approaching people with respiratory symptoms, crowded spaces and farm animals. Additionally, while the coronavirus is being investigated, it is recommended to consume only well-cooked food.
Costa Rica will not escape the effects of climate change and, if the trend continues, by 2080 many parts of the Ticolandia will look dramatically different: in some cases, flooded by rising sea level and in others, almost desert-like due to high temperatures.
According to Kifah Sasa, UNDP Sustainable Development and Resilience Officer, to develop the arts, 2080 was taken as the basis, due to the not encouraging projections of the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) – Costa Rica’s national weather service.
What can be done to reverse the situation? “This is a weather emergency. Either we change in the next decade or we will perish,” Sasa emphasized.
Limon now and then
Sasa said that the situation is drastic and that is why Costa Ricans must have more climate ambition.
“There are those who think that because it is a small country, or because it only contributes a very small part of the total emissions of the planet, our contribution is tiny. On the contrary, countries like Costa Rica, with renewable energy matrices, have less complex challenges than the others. If we are not able to change our consumption of fossil fuels in the transport sector, or to reduce agricultural emissions by using less agrochemicals and avoiding deforestation, it is difficult to think that others will.”
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The end of November is likely to be a good time to buy dollars, specifically if you take into account the value of the currency last October.
If you have a dollar loan or at any time tried to obtain one, your lender bank may have mentioned in the bank by the Libor (London InterBank Offered Rate), an interest-rate average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London.
Costa Rican banks and financial institutions use the Libor and Prime rates as a reference for dollar loans.
This index, which is used as a reference for dollar credits in the national financial system – although it is not the only one – will disappear at the end of 2021 after a series of controversies and questions that aroused distrust around its calculation.
In July 2017, the financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), announced the end of the rate, an indicator that for decades served to generate reliable information that helped set the price of a wide variety of products ranging from loans to mortgages and other more complex derivatives.
Libor, which is actually a set of indexes, is calculated based on a daily survey in which about 20 banks estimate how much it would cost them to borrow unsecured money among themselves. As the tendency for entities to finance each other without any guarantee was reversed, the index became a more theoretical and less real reference.
Brexit had weight in the decision to end Libor, but the fact that sentenced its future was the discovery made by the United States and United Kingdom authorities, in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, about manipulations of the indicator by the banks to benefit.
Given this scenario, regulators around the world began to look for options to replace the Libor rate and Costa Rica is no exception.
The Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero (Conassif) – National Council of Supervision of the Financial System and the Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras (Sugef) – General Superintendence of Financial Institutions – started a work commission that analyzes the issue.
“This group is also led by the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) – Central Bank. It has the participation of lawyers and technical experts who will prepare a proposal to address the issue and provide recommendations. At the moment they are in meetings and their work is expected to end in April,” explained Bernardo Alfaro, head of the Sugef.
Costa Rican financial institutions also use the Prime Rate, which is an indicator of the minimum interest rate that US banks charge their most important commercial clients.
In 2019, only 3.35% of total credit operations in foreign currency were referenced to Libor, while 3.50% was indexed to the Prime Rate.
However, the loans that are linked to Libor represent 58.29% of the total balance of foreign currency credits of the national financial system, according to data by the Sugef.
Another international index that could take the place of Libor is the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SoFR) created by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), a group of private-market participants convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the New York Fed to help ensure a successful transition from U.S. dollar (USD) LIBOR to a more robust reference rate.
Alberto Dent, president of Conassif, confirmed that these two options will be analyzed by the commission that will seek a replacement for Libor.
Although 87,442 dollar loans were indexed to Libor, at the end of 2019, the banks believe that the change will not generate more impact for the almost 66,500 debtors responsible for these loans, according to Gustavo Vargas, president of the Chamber of Banks and general manager of the Banco Nacional (BNCR).
“For months, the country’s banking and financial institutions have been working on the issue to promote their clients that have loans with Libor an orderly process of change at a new rate,” said Vargas, who added that “The banks will offer their clients the gradual and informed substitution of the rate linked to their credits”.
Amedeo Gaggion, director of Treasury at Scotiabank, the largest of the private banks in Costa Rica said that his bank uses only the Prime Rate as a reference for its longer-term operations, so the change will not generate effects on its customers.
The expansion of the Ruta 27 has been in the slow lane in the last 10 years
Almost 10 years after the opening of Ruta 27, the highway that links San José with the Caldera port, the Government took this week the first step towards its expansion.
On Wednesday morning, at Casa Presidencial (Presidential House), the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) formalized a letter of understanding with Globalvia, the highway concessionaire, to carry out the expansion project.
MOPT minister, Rodolfo Méndez Mata, and the Deputy General Director of Globalvia, Carlos González Álvarez, signed a letter of understanding for the process of negotiating the studies that will allow the extension of the highway from La Sabana to Caldera.
President Carlos Alvarado holds the letter of understanding signed on Wednesday at Casa Presidencial with Ruta 27 concessionaire Globalvia. Photo Casa Presidencial
The agreement extends the current concession contract that expires in 2033 for another 15 years; that would mean Globalvia would operate the national highway to 2048.
The letter of understanding signed on Wednesday sets the terms and conditions for the expansion, establishing the terms and conditions that allow the parties to agree and sign the agreements necessary for the expansion and construction of various additional works on the road.
President Carlos Alvarado said that “we continue to build trust through agreements that allow for concrete works that are essential for the development of Costa Rica.” He added that “we believe in the model of the concession and therefore we have strengthened this process that
it will allow us to provide a solution to the collapse (congestion) of Ruta 27”.
“We considered and proposed to the concessionaire that we had to make some changes, if there is something that motivates a concession is that the amount of the rate that you get to pay, correlates it with the congestion problem has been solved,” said the secretary Consejo Nacional de Concesiones (CNC) – National of Concessions, José Manuel Sáenz.
Proposed changes to the La Sabana, km 0.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Coordination with the Private Sector, Andre Garnier, stressed that after an exhaustive analysis, it was concluded that the solution to extend Ruta 27 is through an addendum to the concession contract with Globalvia.
The main works to be developed, if justified by the study of traffic and engineering, that is expected by the end of February of this year are:
Construction of an overpass at kilometer zero to unload traffic from the route
27, directly on Avenida 10 in San José.
Extension between interchange of 39 and the Escazú toll plaza, including the Tiribí river bridge.
Construction of new exchange in Santa Ana with Route 147.
Functional improvements in the Guachipelín and Ciudad Colón exchanges, as well as the expansion of lanes between the exit to Ciudad Colón to the Gúacima exchange, among others.
More lanes between Atenas and Orotina and Caldera, with physical separation (concrete barriers).
New bridges for the Rio Grande, Jesus Maria, Concepcion, and Salitral. These two-lane bridges were built prior to the highway concession.
Minister Garnier added that “What is clear is that definitely the process will lead to a review of the current tolls”.
Proposed changes to the Guachipelin exchange
For now, there is no indication of the estimate of what the increases would be or how much the Government would contribute to the project to not greatly impact the tolls.
Both Garnier and Sáenz guaranteed that the tolls that are going to be proposed (once all the costs are in) will be brought to the public’s attention for input, and before the extension contract or addendum is sent to the Comptroller’s office for approval, which is expected by June of this year.
Initially, the Government estimated that the expansion project would cost US$600 million dollars, however, it could be less.
History of the Ruta al Pacifico
The Ruta 27, whose official name is Carretera Nacional José María Castro Madriz, was inaugurated by then-President Oscar Arias on January 27, 2010.
The road, also known as Autopista San José-Caldera, that connects the Greater Metropolitan Area to Caldera Port and the Pacific coast of the country, officially opened to the public until June of that year.
The idea of a road to the Pacific began in the mid-1970s, when the José Figueres Ferrer administration decided to relocate the main Pacific port from Puntarenas to Caldera, making it evident that with a new highway connecting Ciudad Colón with Orotina, the new port would be only 80 km from San José, just an hour away.
A preliminary design was drafted along the left (south) margin of the Virilla River (crossing towns such as El Rodeo, Piedras Negras, and San Pablo de Turrubares) that seemed the most economical, passing through low-cost uncultivated lands. But over time the elected design was along the right (north) margin of the river (La Guácima, Turrúcares, Concepción), which had more expensive lands for expropriation.
The financial crisis in the early 1980s prevented further progress. However, in 1986, the first government of Óscar Arias (1986-1990) obtained a US$40 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to build the new road, although that administration finished without the loan being used.
The same happened during the administration of Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (1990-1994). The IDB withdrew the loan. The country uselessly paid US$3 million in interest.
At the end of the 1990s, without available financing, a private concession was considered, but it was necessary for the government to acquire more than half of the required lands, an opportunity that the landowners took in their advantage to inflate the prices.
In total, it took about twenty years to acquire the land for this work of public interest. Several major bridges were constructed in 1997 with US$25 million borrowed from Venezuela. They were completed and inaugurated in the administration of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002), and the road, which did not yet exist, was also inaugurated and named.
The project was tendered for a concession by the administration of Abel Pacheco (2002-2006) in 2004, and only one bid was received, from the Argentine company José Cartellone, which soon went bankrupt. Cartellone tried to give the contract to Lavalin of Canada, but a year later withdrew claiming that the right of way was not yet available.
The second administration of Óscar Arias (2006-2010) directly negotiated a concession with the Spanish company Autopistas del Valle, a winner of the San José-San Ramón highway since 2005, but it did not obtain immediate financing.
Oscar Arias (pink shirt) officially opening the Ruta 27 on January 27, 2010. Photo Enrico Cacciatore / QCostarica
Finally, a sister consortium of Autopistas del Valle, called Autopistas del Sol, was hired to build Ciudad Colón-Orotina and also improve La Sabana-Ciudad Colón and Orotina-Caldera, which was already built, and raised the cost to US$120 million.
Autopistas del Sol claimed that the road would cost 3 times more (US$370 million) than budgeted. The road infrastructure was mostly completed until almost five years after initial works, without penalizing the delay.
The same road designs of 30 years before, already obsolete by then, were used because changing them involved a larger budget in works and expropriations.
In 2020, the highway was finally delivered and managed by Autopistas del Sol with a public works concession contract (Law 7762 of Costa Rica) for its maintenance, for a period of 25 years.
In March 2014 Autopistas del Sol sold most of its shares to the Spanish company Globalvía Infraestructuras S.A., assuming control of the concession.
As the 1970s design proved to be obsolete from opening day, there have been plans to widen the road.
Though President Carlos Alvarado publicly announced cuts in electricity rates, we will see increases this year, hitting the pocketbooks of typical Costa Rican families.
A French tourist in Playas del Coco, Guanacaste, on Wednesday, was the victim of a brutal stabbing, the local Red Cross confirmed.
The foreigner, identified as Christophe Jean Lietaert, 48, was stabbed in the neck, arm, man and chin. The homicide occurred around 4:00 pm, some 150 meters from the police delegation of the coastal community, on Calle Cangreja. It did not transcend the now deceased was a tourist or resident of the area.
The victim, who apparently was an instructor chef at the Instituto Culinario de México (ICUM).
By 9:00 pm police had a suspect in custody.
According to Jaime Sibaja, spokesperson for the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica (MSP), the arrest was made “thanks to the quick action of the officers” but did not provide more details in the case.
In Costa Rica, sugar producers are asking the government to raise tariffs or entry taxes on imports, and importers are opposing, as this would raise the final price to the consumer.
In July 2019, the iga Agrícola Industrial de la Caña de Azúcar (LAICA) – Sugar Cane Industrial Agricultural League – asked the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) – Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Comercio – to launch an investigation with the aim of imposing additional tariffs on imported sugar, arguing that purchases from abroad would damage local production.
The importers are against it, since according to them there is no threat because they estimate that the sugar bought abroad represents less than 10% of local consumption.
As part of the investigation process, the public hearing between interested parties was held on January 20.
At the hearing, Lucrecia Brenes, legal advisor to the importers said “… What we have had is a presentation on whether it is convenient to apply a new tax to the import of sugar, hence it is important to remember that imports already maintain a high tax burden, since a 45% tariff is paid, plus a 1% tax and, additionally, an antidumping measure of 3.67% was set. We are the second country to have the highest taxes on sugar imports and today the sugar sector claims that there is damage with a few imports that do not exceed 10 thousand tons and they want a new tax.”
Brenes added that “… One of the arguments of the sugar industry is that when the sugar is not sold in the local market, it has to be sold abroad and they have given us a sales price that is 45% lower abroad than the price that the sugar producers give to the Costa Rican consumer, this means that we Costa Ricans are the ones who are subsidizing the sugar that is sold in the international market, that is to say, that from our pockets we have to pay so that the foreigners have a cheaper sugar than what we receive in the country.”
Regarding the accusation that consumption is falling because of imports, Brenes explained that “… Sugar consumption in the country is falling for other reasons because consumers no longer consume so much sugar, and LAICA argues that per capita sugar consumption has fallen by almost 6 kilos in the last two years.”
Joe Biden’s family’s domestic and international and business dealings are linked to the former vice president’s political influence, explained Peter Schweizer, author of Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite, president of the Government Accountability Institute, and senior contributor at Breitbart News.
“Everything we do can be replicated,” said Schweizer of the research and findings in his book. “We follow the money. We follow the paper trail. So there’s no anonymous sources, and what we simply show you is who’s getting money, when, how, and in what context are they getting that money,” reports Breitbart News.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks on during a joint news conference with Costa Rica's President Carlos Alvarado (not pictured) at the Presidential house in San Jose, Costa Rica January 21, 2020. REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate
China said on Tuesday that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke “irresponsibly” in remarks he made criticizing Chinese economic cooperation during a visit to Costa Rica.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks on during a joint news conference with Costa Rica’s President Carlos Alvarado (not pictured) at Casa Presidencial in San Jose, Costa Rica January 21, 2020. Photo Juan Carlos Ulate
The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica said Pompeo’s comments that Chinese cooperation produces debt dependency and erosion of sovereignty were “arbitrary and without grounds.”
In Costa Rica, Pompeo said that the aid given by China erodes the sovereignty of countries.
In a statement, the Chinese Embassy says that the Pompeo comment is wrong, unfounded, unpopular and it generates discontent.
The Chinese advise Pompeo to concentrate on his own affairs and stop spreading false rumors about China.
According to a report by CNN, as today, Friday, January 24, 2020, the virus had claimed the lives of at least 26 people in mainland China, including a 36-year-old man not listed as having any pre-existing conditions. Posts on social media show an atmosphere of fear and anxiety among those inside Wuhan, amid rising uncertainty over the ability of authorities to handle the potential epidemic.
On Wednesday morning, at Casa Presidencial (Presidential House), the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) formalized a letter of understanding with Globalvia, the highway concessionaire, to carry out the expansion project.
The Ruta 27, whose official name is Carretera Nacional José María Castro Madriz, was inaugurated by then-President Oscar Arias on January 27, 2010.
