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Judge denounces doctors who issued a medical report in 7 minutes

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Judge María Victoria Salas

Three forensic doctors were denounced by Judge María Victoria Salas, for a medical report that they made in just 7 minutes and that served as the basis to pension her – unjustly – at age 33.

Judge María Victoria Salas

Salas was diagnosed with Sjogren syndrome, a disorder of the immune system identified by its two most common symptoms — dry eyes and a dry mouth. She cannot work in places with air conditioning. She asked for certain conditions to be able to carry out her work, but she assures that she was pensioned by someone’s “recommendation” and for her, that is corruption.

According to the judge, she was evaluated during a medical appointment and when she left (the appointment), within a few minutes the Medicatura Forense retired her, something that is “impossible”.

“The doctor asked me: ‘What affects you in your position to work?’ I said: I am affected by air conditioning, fans, using the computer without rest and driving long distances (…) He checked my eyes with a light, mouth, ears, he made me walk towards the wall, he pressed a ganglion and told me to get dressed. That was the visit! In the medical opinion, they said a thorough medical exam was done, including a breast examination”, affirmed the judge.

When she realized that she had been retired, she decided to ask for the medical opinions that the doctors had prepared. Salas said that in reviewing the document, the first opinion was recorded at 10:11 am.

“I left the appointment at 10:04 am, and I do not understand how they made an opinion in a matter of 7 minutes. I am retired saying that I have Sjorgen Syndrome and that I said I had a disease called chronic interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (…) One does not come to the Medicatura Forense to say that they have cancer and they retire (you) at once, they review it,” she said.

“As a judge, you know the importance of reviewing all the evidence you have and scrutinizing every last paper,” said Salas, who, therefore, decided to review the opinion issued by the doctors.

The judge found one opinion contradicts the other and that the data that retires here does not correspond to her. “It is a great opinion but it has the identification number of a co-worker. When I start reading it carefully I realize my lungs are clean, without any problems of any kind and on the other side they say I have a disease like my lungs were raisins and I would have to walk with an oxygen tank. I have a CCSS opinion signed by four pulmonologists who say that I have nothing,” she explained.

For her, such contradictions show that the opinion “could never have been made in 7 minutes. There are only two possibilities: either they are (like the) flash, or they already had it prepared. I say it as a judge: not even a resolution of the process is done in 7 minutes. I was in Medicatura, closed the door, started my car and they had already retired me.”

An evaluation determined that Salas could serve in the Constitutional Court and that was where she was given a position.

Judge Salas denounced her boss, a woman named Salas Abarca, as well as three other officials, Rodríguez Calvo, Vargas Solano, and Paguaga López, for the alleged crime of “ideological falsehood”.

Salas is concerned that such injustices are being committed regularly and therefore decided to denounce.

“How is it possible that these three doctors are sitting, retiring people, releasing prisoners, leaving them in jail, incapacitating people when they were able to put in a medical opinion something that obviously made up?” she said.

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Turrialba Volcano Eruption December 12 (Photo and Video)

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The Turrialba volcano experienced an important eruption in the early hours of Wednesday (December 12) morning. Ash blew up to 500 meters above the crater during the event, causing a delay in some flights at the San Jose airport, the first time this year.

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Cow Terrorizes San Ramon Center (Photos and Video)

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Screencapture from Telenoticias television news. See the video here.

A cow, scared and running loose terrorized residents of the center of San Ramon de Alajuela. Apparently, the animal managed to leave the transport vehicle and freely ran around the town, causing panic among some.

In the frenzy, the cow hit four people and caused damage to several vehicles. The Cruz Roja (Red Cross) reports attending one of the people hit, a 35-year-old woman who was taken to hospital.

“Apparently, the cow that had recently given birth was disoriented and aggressive (…) Supposedly, the animal was looking for its calf and could not find it,” said a police source.

Screencapture from Telenoticias television news. See the video here.

The animal was finally captured by its owners, who managed to put her back in the small truck and end the terror in town.

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Vehicular Restrictions of San Jose Suspended For The Holidays

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The Ministry of Transport (MOPT) announced that there will be NO vehicular restrictions of San Jose for the holiday period.

The vehicular restriction of San Jose in effect from 6 am to 7 pm on weekdays, excluding holidays, will be suspended on December 24, 26, 27, 28 and 31 and January 2, 3 and 4. (December 25 and January 1 are holiday days).

The restrictions will be in effect again on Monday, January 7, 2019, with the plates ending in 1 and 2.

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Nightly Closures of Paseo Colon Start This Wednesday Night

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Take note that Paseo Colon, from La Sabana park to the Torre Mercedes, will be closed nightly from 9:00 pm to 5:00 pm to allow organizers to erect platforms and other stuff in preparations for the Festival de la Luz (Light Festival) this coming Saturday, December 15.

Paseo Colon will be closed nightly (9pm to 5am) Wednesday, Thursday and Firday

The Festival de La Luz 2018 opens at 6:00 pm Saturday, starting at the Gimnasio Nacional then moves onto Paseo Colon to the Hospital de los Niños, continuing onto Avenida 2, ending at the Plaza de la Democracia (past the Teatro Nacional).

Paseo Colon and Avenida 2 will be closed entirely from Saturday morning.

Traditionally, hundreds start camping out along the route to get up close to the most attended in person and most viewed on television event of the year.

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Epsy Says Goodbye To The Cancilleria

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After weeks of resistance, Epsy quits the Foreign Ministry

After weeks of resistance Epsy Campbell says goodbye to the Ministry of Foreign Relations, regisning her post as Chancellor due to controversies mainly surrouding appointments. She does stay on as Costa Rica’s first vice president. See Epsy Campbell Is Out. Resigns As Chancellor And Sows Doubts Over Controversial Appointments

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Turrialba Volcano Eruption Delays Flights At San Jose Airport Wednesday Morning

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The presence of ash from the Turrialba volcano in the vicinity of the Juan Santamaría (San Jose) airport affected the departure of at least five flights this Wednesday morning, confirmed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the operations department of Aeris, the airport manager.

View of the Turrialba volcano eruption this Wednesday from Coliblanco de Alvarado at 6:20 am / Image Marco Tulio Zúñiga, La Nacion

The flights that had delays were two from American Airlines, flights 2436 and 1204 to Florida, two from Copa Airlines, flights 193 and 164 to Panama, and one from Avianca to Guatemala, flight 738.

All have already taken off, when the weather conditions improved, according to independent reports from Aeris and Civil Aviation.

In addition, Copa’s the incoming flight 392 from Panama was diverted to Liberia.

Aeris stressed the San Jose airport remains open and operating with absolute normality. Airlines, however, will value weather forecast and decide to ground or delay flight departure and divert incoming to nearby airports.

In the case of Avianca flight 696 to Bogota, passengers were asked to deplane while waiting for takeoff, which occurred about 30 minutes after the 8:15 am scheduled departures. Avianca reported no delays in other flights this morning.

The airlines chose to delay (and divert) flights following an alert from the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) – national weather service – on the forecast of ash dispersal due to the Turrialba volcano’s latest eruption that blew ash between 3,400 and 5,000 meters above seal level (some 500 meters about the crater).

This is the first time this year that the Colossus has affected flights at the Juan Santamaria. In 2016 and 2017, the volcano activity affected airport operations on several occasions each year.

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Epsy Campbell Is Out. Resigns As Chancellor And Sows Doubts Over Controversial Appointments

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Vice President Epsy Campbell resigned on Tuesday as Chancellor, sowing doubts about the controversial appointments that led her to make the decision.

Epsy Campbell, on Tuesday, resigned as Foriegn Minister but will continue as the country’s first vice president

Campbell appeared before the Legislative Assembly, at 3:26 pm on Tuesday, to announce her departure as Foreign Minister and that she will continue as the first vice president in the administration of Carlos Alvarado.

Campbell justified her resignation by saying that whoever wants to do “good for the country” must understand that first there is governability. “We must return to the real issues, to the substantive debates,” she told legislators.

The VP and now former Chancellor defended the controversial appointments saying she did not know the appointees before naming them to key positions within the ministry she oversaw but refused to say who recommended them.

According to her account, the appointments were planned before her taking office, that is before the transfer of powers on May 8.

When asked if the appointees were persons of her trust, she replied: “I met them, they are people who had been working in the context of the party’s foreign policy (PAC), I do not know what else to say about how I met them … I know them from their work in the Foreign Ministry, that’s true, I did not know them before their work in the Foreign Ministry, I know them from that work. They are not people who have worked with me in the past, if that is the question, or whom I had some kind of relationship with.”

The appointees were Adriana Murillo Ruin and Carolina Fernández Álvarez to the positions of director and alternate director of Foreign Policy, despite the fact that they did not fulfill the requirement of having the rank of ambassadors.

Right to the end, Campbell maintains that she always “acted in good faith”. In the last few weeks that position did not calm the spirits of legislators of the opposition, who had demanded her resignation.

Controversy over appointments surrounded Cambpell’s seven months as Chancellor

The Facts

Carolina Fernández was appointed on May 16, 8 days after Campbell was sworn in as Vice President and names Foreign Minister. Fernández, in effect, became the deputy Foreign Minister despite the fact that she had on her record a suspension due to the abandonment of her job in 2010 when she was in charge of business at the Ethiopian Embassy in Brazil.

Fernández resigned her post the day following her appointment.

But, what led to Campbell’s resignation was the appointment, on July 16, of Adriana Murillo as director and Fernandez as alternate director of Foreign Policy. On July 29 President Carlos Alvarado gave Campbell the first vote of confidence and assured that everything was under the law.

Complaints, however, were made to the Attorney General’s Office – the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR).

But it wasn’t just the case of the Murillo and Fernandez appointments. Campbell, before PGR resolution also appointed Adriana Solano as Director of International Cooperation. Similarly, the former foreign minister was criticized after approving a naming of 33 positions in the Foreign Service, which is said to have “hindered” other officials from participating.

Jeanneth Cooper

Campbell was also questioned about her intention to name her close friend, Jeanneth Cooper, to the position as an internal ambassador, despite not meeting the requirements. Cooper would transfer from her job at Presidencia (Government House) to the Foreign Ministry, with an increase in her monthly salary of ¢421,950 colones.

Epsy and hubby Berni Venegas

Other alleged irregularities include Campbell’s intention to appoint presidential adviser, Allan Solís Fonseca, in an ambassador’s post, but without the required public post notification and receipt of applications.

The list of controversies includes the naming of the godmother of her granddaughter to a position within her ministry and hiding information about trips in which her husband, Berni Venegas, accompanied her. Nor was it known what his role was on the 8 of the 11 officials trips. Opposition legislators maintain to this day that Campbell hid the way in which her spouse financed his trips.

 

 

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Gang Prevention in Central America: A Lost Battle Against State Indifference?

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(Insightcrime.orgWith migrants fleeing murder and violence in droves and the evident flop of repressive policies in the Northern Triangle, gang prevention and rehabilitation programs seem evermore appealing. But their impact will continue to be limited unless governments invest time and resources in more effective, and long-term, strategies.

“There was this young kid, ‘Chucky’, they called him. We started pulling him into various programs. But it seemed he was coming along more to see what we were up to, take pictures and record audio and video.”

Juan Alberto Sánchez, the security coordinator for Villa Nueva’s municipal police, recalls the story of the 13-year-old boy and “The Exodus” (El Éxodo) community youth center as we patrol the violent Zone 12 neighborhood on the outskirts of Guatemala City.

“We would just let him do it and we would ask him ‘why are you filming us?’ And at the same time, we’d be roping him in and trying to get him involved in the activities [at the youth center]. He was drawn to the recreational activities … but it was complicated for him to participate directly because he had already started to get involved [with the gang].”

A community police officer, Sánchez is part of a preventive approach to the gang problem launched by local authorities. They try and redirect local kids away from gangs by offering alternatives, like cultural activities.

It wasn’t enough for Chucky. The young man quickly rose in the hierarchy of the Barrio 18 gang, which left little time for anything else.

A graffiti by local kids in the courtyard of The Exodus center in Villa Nueva

“Every time he would go up in the hierarchy, Chucky would become a little bit more aggressive… It was really interesting to see how sometimes he would just disconnect, and all of a sudden — it would hit him, he had a duty, and he would tell us ‘I’ve got to leave.’

“When he was 17, we heard he had been ‘brincado’ (the ceremony to become a full-fledged gang member). He was sent to pick up extortion money from The Exodus… then he was killed by his very own gang.”

The Premise of Prevention

In the sprawling and infamous Rivera Hernández neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, brand-new workout machines meet visitors at the “Centro de Alcance,” an outreach center for local youth. Pastor Arnold, who manages the center, describes the place as an oasis of safety, training, and recreation for kids.

In 2013, Rivera Hernández was the most violent neighborhood in the deadliest city of the world’s most homicidal nation. Violence, coupled with poverty and lack of opportunities, made it a prime recruitment ground for gangs.

“The kids around here don’t have anything to do, they take drugs, steal… we had to find them a place where they could relax and carry out healthy activities,” Arnold explains.

The gym room at Rivera Hernandez’ “Centro de Alcance”

For years, the general consensus has been that such US-funded programs dealing in primary prevention — prevention with at-risk youth that have not yet meddled with gang activities — have had a positive impact. Rivera Hernández was the first Honduran neighborhood to see such a center back in 2009; there are now 65 throughout the country, aimed at providing vulnerable youth with “a second home.”

In Villa Nueva’s Zone 12, police officer Sánchez insists that local prevention work has helped contain some of the gang violence.

Violence prevention strategies have also been successful in other countries. In Colombia, for instance, non-repressive strategies have been praised for their impact on street gangs. In Ecuador, authorities have gone so far as to legalize gangs to reintegrate its members into society.

But these strategies have limits.

The scarcity of scientific data on the impact of prevention programs in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras make any objective evaluation, at best challenging and at worst impossible.

The strong US politicization of the migration issue only promises to cloud the needed scientific debate.

In addition, these types of projects usually lack the resources needed to tackle one of the primary risk factors for gang recruitment: a disrupted household.

“They work up to a point,” Quique Godoy, a former vice mayor of Guatemala City who also worked for USAID on prevention told InSight Crime. “But when you get back home, there’s a single mom, who works between 18 and 20 hours a day to be able to make ends meet … or she has a violent partner … it [pushes] you away from home to look for someone who protects you, and that’s where the gangs are.”

The control that gangs have on their territories make it particularly difficult to reach a large number of vulnerable kids as they cannot cross invisible borders without risking their lives.

A former gang leader interviewed by InSight Crime just a few blocks away from Rivera Hernández’ youth center said the kids from his area couldn’t set foot in the place.

Institutional and Structural Deficiencies

The fact that prevention strategies are not resolving the security crisis in the Northern Triangle does not mean they should be forgotten.

Homicide levels in the three countries remain among the highest in the world; internal displacement and migration continue to be fed by gang violence; there is increasing evidence of human rights abuses by state agents; and a concerning criminal sophistication of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13).

Central governments in the Northern Triangle seem to be completely indifferent to the potential of prevention strategies, including education and rehabilitation. Instead, they focus all energy and resources on repressive strategies.

“The problem [of gang recruitment] arises with the 12 to 14-year-olds,” Guatemala’s former Interior Minister Francisco Rivas told InSight Crime. “There are primary schools everywhere [in the country], but no secondary schools.”

Only two out of every 10 children in Guatemala attend secondary school, the former minister said, providing the gangs with a formidable recruitment pool in areas such as Rivera Hernández or Villa Nueva.

A lack of focus on women, the absence of any rehabilitation programs in jails, the list of additional problems fueling gang violence can seem endless.

But the potential of these prevention strategies does not seem to be interesting those in power. A continued focus on immediate repression instead of long-term multi-faceted strategies is likely to continue, along with the violence.

Article first appeared at Insightcrime.org. Read the original here.

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Christmas Arrives. Hacienda Announces Payment of Aguinaldo On Wednesday

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With ¢100 million colones received from the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) for the ‘absorption” of the now extinct Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago (Bancrédito) and other financial maneuvering, the Ministerio de Hacienda (Ministry of Finance) announced that it will pay on Wednesday, December 12, the Aguinaldo to the 213,126 public sector workers.

Hacienda will direct deposit on Wednesday ¢208 billion colones to pay the annual bonus.

The Aguinaldo, payable by law to every salaried employee, is the equivalent of an average monthly Gross Salary (that includes overtime, commissions, bonuses, without reductions of social charges or income tax) between December 1, 2017, and November 30, 2018.

Want to know how much Aguinaldo you should be receiving? Click here for the Ministry of Labor calcualtor.

Click here for the minimin salaries.

The law sets a limit of December 20, by when every employer must pay the Aguinaldo.

Typically, the central government pays the Aguinaldo in the first week of December. This year, given the state’s problem with cash flow, the payment of the Aguinaldo was delayed. Many, including the deputy minister of Finance, didn’t expect it to be paid before the legal limit of December 20.

There is no withholding applied to the Aguinaldo, with the exception of “pensiones alimentarias” (alimony), which is to be deposited, at the lastest, two days later, that is to say on December 14.

This December retail sales have been lukewarm, retailers cashing in on the Aguinaldo paid by private sector employers.

The big ‘cashing in’ will be this week, with a two-punch: the Aguinaldo and the mid-month paycheck (December 15).

Expect malls, big box stores and small retailers to be busy this coming week. And with that traffic congestion.

Happy holidays.

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But, I’ve Been Good!

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Foreign minister and vice-president of Costa Rica, Epsy Campbell, tell Santa “I did everything in good faith

Foreign minister and vice-president of Costa Rica, Epsy Campbell, is at the center of the controversy involving appointments under her charge. She told the media she did everything in good faith and by the book.

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Pending Doubts in Carla Stefaniak Murder

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Carla Stefaniak was killed while on holiday in Costa Rica. Picture: Facebook

The investigation into the murder of the Venezuelan/American tourist in Costa Rica, Carla Stefaniak, continues between hermeticism and pending questions on what really happened and are there more people involved that the Airbnb security guard who is in police custody.

Carla Stefaniak was killed while on holiday in Costa Rica. Picture: Facebook

On Monday, December 3, the body of the tourist was found in a shallow grave a few hundred meters from the property where she would have spent the night and investigators believe she was killed. The hotel, La Mares, renting out rooms on the Airbnb platform is located in a mountainous area in San Antonio de Escazú.

Carla, an insurance agent based in Miami, Floria, was reported missing by a relative on November 28, the same day she was scheduled to leave Costa Rica. Relatives became concerned when she did arrive after spending a week on a vacation in the country, to celebrate her birthday number 36.

The suspect, 32, was arrested the same day the body was discovered after the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) received a tip and with the aid of cadaver dogs. The man, surnamed Espinoza Martinez, who worked as a security guard and lived at the property raised the suspicion of investigators when his version, that he had seen Carla leave in the morning she was to leave the country, getting into a taxi-like car.

OIJ investigators could not corroborate his version. Following evidence of traces of blood in the villa Carla was staying, a search was made of the villa next to Carla’s, where the suspect lived.

The big question being tackled by investigators and being asked by Carla’s relatives is whether Espinoza acted alone.

According to sources closed to the case, the results of the forensic examinations lead investigators to believe that more people are involved in the murder.

In fact, the doubt extends to that there may be up 3 or 4 possible people involved. Authorities are not revealing much, this conclusion is based on forensic analysis of the body.

Also, investigators are working on a version of a guest who would have heard noises coming from victim’s villa, furniture being moved and cleaning inside the villa. This, allegedly occurring hours after the victim would have been murdered.

When the OIJ entered the villa on December 3, they found it had been cleaned. A lawyer speaking on behalf of the owners of the property said other guests had stayed in the villa after Carla. The reason for the cleaning.

However, using luminol, forensic examiners found traces of blood.

Deathblow

Carla was killed between Tuesday niight, November 27 and Wednesday, November  28. Relatives and friends say the last they heard of Carla was on the night of the 27th. After that her cellular phone and her social media activity went dark.

Investigators say the motive was sexually motivated. Apparently Carla was killed in an attempted sexual assault. As the woman defended herself, she was wounded with a knife, receiving cuts to her upper extremities and beaten.

The death blows came from a metal pipe to head, which caused her to have a stroke.

Everything indicates that Carla repelled the attack. Her arms showed defensive wounds, according to her father Carlos Caicedo during a press conference on December 5.

For his part, Caicedo is not giving up on knowing what exactly happened to his daughter. It is expected that he will returns to Costa Rica in the coming days with the aim of meeting legislators and influential political figures, telling the media that his interest is that the crime does not go unpunished and the government take forceful actions to avoid future similar cases.

Carla’s ashes returned to Florida over the weekend.

 

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Walmart and Gessa ask Coprocom to revoke blockade of purchase

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Walmart and the Grupo Empresarial de Supermercados S. A. (Gessa) filed, separately, an appeal to the Comisión para la Promoción de la Competencia (Coprocom) – anticompetition commission – to allow Walmart’s purchase of Perimercados, Súper Compro and Saretto supermarkets.

The filing was made on Monday in response to Corprcom’s decision to block the sale, saying that it will affect prices and reduce competition.

Walmart and Gessa reached an agreement in July, whereby Walmart would purchase the 52 stores owned and operated by Gessa and would be added to its Másxmenos, Maxi Palí and Palí chain of supermarkets.

During the last 13 years, Walmart has reaped small and big victories in its conquest of the Central American market.

However, denying it the purchase of the Gessa chain may put the brakes to Walmart’s accelerated expansion in Costa Rica, an expansion announced in 2017 to double the number of stores in the country.

Walmart ‘s goal is to have in the country 200 points of sale by 2023.

The Conquest

The first step that Walmart made in Central America dates back to September 2005, when Walmart Stores obtained 33% of the American Retail Holding Company (Carhco) group, which was made up of the Corporación de Supermercados Unidos (CSU) and Guatemala’s Grupo Fragua.

A year later, Walmart Stores increased its stake in Carhco to 51% and formally changed its name to Walmart Central America.

At the end of 2009, Walmart Mexico bought 100% of Walmart Central America’s operations, with 51% belonging to Walmart Stores Inc., and the remaining 49% to the local partners of CSU (Costa Rica) and La Fragua (Guatemala).

During this process, the Hipermás big box store brand, created by CSU, was replaced with the Walmart brand and the strong investment in more stores.

Currently, Walmart operates 7210 stores in Central America – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica – generating close to 35,000 direct jobs.

The brands include Walmart, Despensa Familiar, Pali, Maxi Despenssa, Maxi Pali, Paiz, Paiz, La Despensa de Don Juan, La Unión and Másxmenos.

 

 

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Natalia Carvaval Reveals National Costume, Finally, At Miss Universe 2018

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epa07221930 Miss Costa Rica Natalia Carvajal poses in her national costume during the Miss Universe 2018 national costume contest at Nongnooch International Convention and Exhibition Center in Pattaya, Chonburi province, Thailand, 10 December 2018. Women representing 94 nations participate in the 67th beauty pageant Miss Universe 2018 which will be held in Bangkok on 17 December 2018. EPA-EFE/RUNGROJ YONGRIT EDITORIAL USE ONLY
Much was speculated about the national costume that Natalia Carvajal would wear at the Miss Universe. After a long wait, finally the Miss Costa Rica presented, on Monday December 10, in Thailand her costume inspired by a butterfly Morpho, and that allowed her to show off her shapely figure.
epa07221930 Miss Costa Rica Natalia Carvajal poses in her national costume during the Miss Universe 2018 national costume contest at Nongnooch International Convention and Exhibition Center in Pattaya, Chonburi province, Thailand, 10 December 2018. Women representing 94 nations participate in the 67th beauty pageant Miss Universe 2018 which will be held in Bangkok on 17 December 2018. EPA-EFE/RUNGROJ
The Tica demonstrated an enormous security on the catwalk. Carvajal said in her Instagram account, the wings of the butterfly were made by William Rodriguez, while the corset is a creation of the late designer Daniel Moreira, who died last August. As for their earrings and shoes, they are by Ana Gutiérrez and Daniel del Barco, respectively.
Another Central American that stood out was Marisela de Montecristo, Miss El Salvador, who surprised the audience with an outfit inspired by the Flower Festival of Panchimalco, a town located in the south of her country, and whose festivity takes place in the month of may. As part of her accessories she highlighted the use of a mask and a machete.
View this post on Instagram

Traje Nacional es inspirado en El Festival de Panchimalco. Es una fiesta precolombina con más de 500 años de historia. En este pueblo se encuentra la iglesia de Santa Cruz de Roma. Es uno de los templos coloniales más antiguos de Centro América. El Festival de Panchimalco o Fiesta de las Flores y Palmas se celebra en el mes de mayo. Se decoran las palmas de coco con flores de diferentes colores, texturas, y aromas. También, se usan las vestimentas tradicionales de aquella época. Grupos de bailes de esa región realizan danzas tradicionales. En muchas de estas danzas se utilizan máscaras y machetes. Los nativos de esta ciudad de la cultura Tolteca aún conservan un antiguo dialecto llamado “nahuat”. Miss El Salvador les invita a visitar Panchimalco. Está rodeado de montañas y parques naturales llenos de magia, aromas, coloridos e historia. Miss El Salvador shows us: The Festival of Panchimalco. It is a pre-Columbian festival with more than 500 years of history. In this town one can find the Santa Cruz de Roma Church. It is one of the oldest colonial temples in Central America. The Festival of Panchimalco or (the Flowers and Palms festival) is celebrated in May. Coconut palms are decorated with flowers of different colors, textures and aromas. Also, traditional outfits are worn from that time period. Dance groups from this region perform traditional dances. Masks and machetes are used in many of these dances. The town natives from the Tolteca culture still preserve an ancient dialect called Nahuat. Miss El Salvador invites everyone to visit this town surrounded by mountains and national parks full of magic, scents, colors and history. @missuniverse #nationalcostume

A post shared by Marisela De Montecristo (@mariselademontecristo) on

  More at COSTA RICA CONFIDENTIAL
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Populism is not an ideology, it’s a political technique which thrives on angry people

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In this era, populism seems to partner best with right-wing nationalist ideologies like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Viktor Orban in Hungary and the Brexiteers in England

Five of the world’s largest democracies now have populist governments, claimed The Guardian last week, and proceeded to name four: the United States, India, Brazil and the Philippines. Which is the fifth? At various points it name-checks Turkey, Italy and the United Kingdom, but it never becomes clear which. (And by the way, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi is not a populist. He’s just a nationalist.)

Populism is not an ideology. It’s just a political technique, equally available to right-wingers, left-wingers, and those (like Trump) with no coherent ideology at all.

It’s embarrassing when a respected global newspaper launches a major investigative series and can’t really nail the subject down. Neither can the people it interviews: Hillary Clinton, for example, admits the she was “absolutely dumbfounded” by how Donald Trump ate her lunch every day during the 2016 presidential campaign. She still doesn’t get it.

“We got caught in a kind of transition period so what I had seen work in the past … was no longer as appealing or digestible to the people or the press. I was trying to be in a position where I could answer all the hard questions, but … I never got them. I was waiting for them; I never got them. Yet I was running against a guy who did not even pretend to care about policy.”

Yes, Trump is a classic populist, but why did he beat her two years ago when he wouldn’t even have got the nomination 10 years ago? She doesn’t seem to have a clue about that, and neither do other recent leaders of centre-left parties interviewed by The Guardian like Britain’s Tony Blair and Italy’s Matteo Renzi. So let us try to enlighten them.

Populism is not an ideology. It’s just a political technique, equally available to right-wingers, left-wingers, and those (like Trump) with no coherent ideology at all.

In this era, populism seems to partner best with right-wing nationalist ideologies like those of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Viktor Orban in Hungary and the Brexiteers in England, but even now there are populist left-wing parties like Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain.

How does this tool work? It claims to be on the side of ‘ordinary people’ and against a ‘corrupt elite’ that exploits and despises them. It’s light on policy and heavy on emotion, particularly the emotions of fear and hatred. It usually scapegoats minorities and/or foreigners, and it only works really well when people are angry about something.

In this era, populism seems to partner best with right-wing nationalist ideologies like Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Viktor Orban in Hungary and the Brexiteers in England

The anger is about the fact that the jobs are disappearing, and what’s killing them is automation. The assembly-line jobs went first, because they are so easy to automate. That’s what turned the old industrial heartland of the United States into the ‘Rust Belt.’ What’s going fast now are the retail jobs, killed by Amazon and its rivals: computers again.

The next big chunk to go will probably be the driving jobs, just as soon as self-driving vehicles are approved for public use. And so on, one or two sectors at a time, until by 2033 (according to the famous 2013 prediction by Oxford economist Carl Benedikt Frey) 47% of U.S. jobs will be lost to automation. And of course it won’t stop there.

Why don’t clever politicians like Hillary Clinton get that? Perhaps because they half-believe the fantasy statistics on employment put out by governments, like the official 3.7% unemployment rate in the United States. A more plausible figure is American Enterprise Institute scholar Nicholas Eberstadt’s finding in 2016 that 17.5% of American men of prime working age were not working.

That’s three-quarters of the way to peak U.S. unemployment in the Great Depression of the 1930s, but it goes unnoticed because today’s unemployed are not starving and they are not rioting. You can thank the welfare states that were built in every developed country after the Second World War for that, but they are still very angry people – and they do vote. A lot of them vote for populists.

Populism thrives when a lot of people are angry or desperate or both. Donald Trump and people like him are not the problem. They are symptoms (and beneficiaries) of the problem – yet they dare not name it, because they have no idea what to do about automation.

Article by Gwynner Dyer first appeated at Mercopress.com. Click here for the original.

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A Diva: Carla was a “bombshell.”

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To her best friend and former housemate in Miami Beach and Hallandale Beach, Laura Jaime, Carla was a “bombshell.”


The entrance to the Airbnb Carla Stefaniak spent her last nigth and allegedly killed, her body found half-buried some 300 meters from the property. The munucipality of Escazu finally closed the hotel for operating without licenses. Photo
Alexander Villegas

“Carla was so much of a diva, that her birthday wasn’t just her birth date, it was celebrated the entire month. And trust me, she made sure of that,” Jaime said, flipping through photos of previous parties.

In the article by the Herald Online we learn of how Carla Stefaniak planned here birthday celebration with “much intention and months in advance,” according to her friend Laura.

“She knew where she was staying, and she knew just where she would take a zillion photos, and she knew she would bombard all of our phones with them,” Jaime said.

Carla Stefaniak, was a young woman in love with tourism and social networks

Laura said four days before her disappearance, Carla began to document her adventures through her online travel blog, dubbed “Carla Margarita.”

In one photo, the long-haired blonde woman sits atop a picnic table in an airy pink dress, legs long and crossed. She gazed at the clear skies and mountain terrain behind her.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Future resident of Costa Rica ???????? #Puravida #centroamerica

A post shared by Carla Margarita (@carla_margarita) on

“I can only imagine how many takes it took for Carla to get that shot. That’s who she was. It had to be perfect,” Laura said. “In the process of reaching that perfection, she would steal your phone and make you take photos of her because she had already taken up all of her own phone storage. She was a babe.”

After five days of touring Costa Rica, arriving on Novemeber 22, Carla stayed in an Escazu Airbnb for her last night in paradise. On Tuesday, November 27, after dropping off her travel companion and sister-in-law at the airport, Carla headed up the mountain in the San Jose suburb.

The solitary road up to the top of the Escazu mountain. Photo Alexander Villegas

Despite telling Laura the area was “sketchy, Carla also said it was ‘super cute’ and modern inside,” Laura said, recounting a FaceTime call where her friend displayed her newest find: a pair of green, crocheted earrings.

Carla’s life was cut short at what would be her last stop in Costa Rica.

Carla was found dead, partially buried in a steep and wooded area near the Airbnb, just days after her 36th birthday, on Nov. 28. According to the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), Carla’s brutal killing may have been sexually motivated.

“I wouldn’t doubt it was sexually motivated. Just look at her, she was bombastic,” Laura told the Herald Online.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I’m going to miss the place ???? #ilovecostarica #visitcostarica

A post shared by Carla Margarita (@carla_margarita) on

“She was a free spirit that made other people feel free,” said Mario Caceido, Carla’s brother.

“Carla was the type that would wake up with the phone in her hand,” said Laura. “The moment her eyes would open, the phone screen was the first thing she looked at, especially on her birthday.”

In denial, Laura headed to the airport. “I knew that day. I felt it in my gut”. Laura said she waited at the airport, hoping to see her friend of more than 15 years exit the plane. She approached a Southwest Airlines employee, begging to know if Carla made it on board.

The view from atop San Antonio de Escazu. Photo Alexander Villegas

Seeing her distraught face when told that information could not be disclosed, an airline employee broker the news in a whisper: “Carla Stefaniak wasn’t on the plane.”

Laura said she immediately called the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica, thinking maybe her long-time friend had her passport and phone stolen. Maybe detained at the airport in Costa Rica.

“I was making excuses for my feelings,” Laura said. “But when the embassy told me she wasn’t with them, that’s when it all began.”

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AyA Using New Material And Design To Reduce Theft of Manhole Covers

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Battling a little known, but the very seen and costly theft of manhole covers that cost the AyA some ¢20 million colones a year, the state water and sewer company is now using new materials and designs to prevent theft.

The AyA reports between 15 and 20 manhole covers are stolen a month, who sell them to foundries.

The use of the new material and design is to make the manhole covers less attractive (and not worth as much) to thieves. From Spain, the new covers are made of ductile iron (an alloy of iron and nodular graphite) that is immune to conventional smelting furnaces since the material has more hardness and resistance to heat.

Infograph by La Nacion

The lifespan of the manhole cover is between 35 and 40 years and cost about ¢105,000 colones each, ¢25,000 more than conventional iron.

Some 23,000 manhole covers are being changed out in the Gran Área Metropolitana (GAM) – Greater Metropolitan Area of San Jose – the area of concentration by the AyA, given that the hotspots for theft are Desamparados, Pavas, La Uruca, León XIII and some areas of Tibás.

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Coffee harvest will fall 11% in the 2018-2019 season

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The Costa Rica coffee harvest will fall by 11% in the current collection period (2018-2019) compared to the 2017-2018 period, according to the figures by the Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (Icafé).

For the harvesting seasons that is currently underway and will be end around April next year, a total production of 1,802,304 bushels (fanegas in Spanish) of grain in fruit is foreseen. This figure is the second estimate of the harvest of this period carried out by the Icafé last September.

In the 2017-2018 harvest season a total of 2,017,935 fanegas were picked.

More: 30,000 Families Still Earn Their Livelihood From Picking Coffee In Costa Rica

The executive director of Icafé, Xinia Chaves, explained that traditionally the ups and downs of the Costa Rican coffee crop are explained by the cyclical behavior of the plantations, that is to say, that one year they have a strong production and the following year they decrease in view of the recharge suffered.

Chaves added, that the impact of the aging of the plantations had an effect on the decrease of the current period.

In total, the country has 84,133 hectares sown with coffee, which are in the hands of 41,339 producing families, according to an infographic issued by Icafé.

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Tica In America Illegally, and Employed by Trump

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Sandra Diaz said she was undocumented when she worked at the golf club from 2010 to 2013.CreditChristopher Gregory for The New York Times

Sandra Diaz, 46, worked as a maid at the golf club owned by President Donald Trump, located in Bedminster, New Jersey, while in “an irregular” immigration status, that is, she was in the U.S. without papers.

Sandra Diaz said she was undocumented when she worked at the golf club from 2010 to 2013. Photo credit Christopher Gregory for The New York Times

The Costa Rican woman who is now a legal resident of the United States told the New York Times said she, too, was undocumented when she worked at Bedminster between 2010 and 2013.

The New York Times published the case of Díaz and Victorina Morales in a report published on Thursday. Morales, a Guatemalan, told the newspaper she has worked as a housekeeper for the club for more than five years.

The Tica said that during her working at the golf club, she witnessed the hiring of many people who did not have migratory permits.

The two women said they were part a group of cleaning, maintenance and landscaping employees that included several undocumented workers, though they could not say precisely how many.

The article explains that there is no evidence that Trump or Trump Organization executives knew about their immigration status, but at least two supervisors at the club were aware of it.

Morales says that at some point, Trump helped her clean windows that she could not reach because of her height. He gave her $50. For his part, Diaz received $100 after the magnate checked the dust in a room and expressed his satisfaction for the Tica’s work.

“There are many people without papers,” said Diaz, having witnessed several people being hired whom she knew to be undocumented.

Victorina Morales at her home in Bound Brook, N.J. She left Guatemala in 1999 and illegally entered the United States. She started working at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., in 2013. Photo CreditCreditChristopher Gregory for The New York Times

Morales said she has cleaned the president’s villa while he watched television nearby; standing in the sidelines when potential cabinet members came and the White House chief of staff, John Kelly, arrived.

“I never imagined, as an immigrant from the countryside in Guatemala, that I would see such important people close up,” she said.

The Guatemalan received in July a certificate from the White House Communications Agency inscribed with her name, because of the “outstanding” support she has provided during Trump’s visits.

Trump made the issue of undocumented migrants into the cornerstone of his administration. He also proposed, during the presidential campaign, the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico.

Even during the electoral struggle, the employer had boasted of having used an electronic verification system, E-Verify, to ensure that only people with legal papers were hired to work.

“We didn’t have one illegal immigrant on the job,” Trump was quoted when the Trump International Hotel opened for business in Washington, during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Though Diaz left work at Trump’s golf course in Bedminster in 2013, Morales has been reporting for work at, where she is still on the payroll, where an employee of the golf course drives her and a group of others to work every day, she says, because it is known that they cannot legally obtain a driver’s license.

The number of undocumented persons in the United States is estimated at 11 million. The majority are Mexicans, Central Americans and South Americans who settled for years in the country.

Former President Barack Obama (2009–2017) deported at least 2.5 million migrants during his two administrations.

Last month, Trump announced the deployment of thousands of soldiers in the border area before the advance of caravans of Central American migrants through the Mexican territory that was trying to reach the United States.

‘We are tired of the abuse’

“The two women decided to tell their story by being hurt by the president’s derogatory comments about undocumented immigrants,” journalist Miriam Jordan, author of the article, wrote on Twitter.

“We are tired of the abuse, the insults, the way he talks about us when he knows that we are here helping him make money,” Morales said. “We sweat it out to attend to his every need and have to put up with his humiliation.”

Morales said she has been hurt by Trump’s public comments since he became president, including equating Latin American immigrants with violent criminals.

The Tica and Guatemalateca approached The New York Times through their New Jersey lawyer, Anibal Romero, who is representing them on immigration matters.

The New York Times says that in separate, hourslong interviews in Spanish, Morales and Diaz provided detailed accounts of their work at the club and their interactions with management, including Trump. Both women described the president as demanding but kind.

Morales said that she understood she could be fired or deported as a result of coming forward, though she has applied for protection under the asylum laws. She is also exploring a lawsuit claiming workplace abuse and discrimination.

At Bedminster, Morales earns $13 an hour. The job is one of several she said to have had since arriving in the United States in 1999, crossing undetected into California after a journey of nearly six weeks by bus and on foot.

Starting work at the club in 2010, Diaz said her job was cleaning Trump’s residence.

The newspaper said the White House declined to comment. She said she washed and ironed Trump’s white boxers, golf shirts and khaki trousers, as well as his sheets and towels. Everything belonging to Trump, his wife, Melania, and their son, Barron, was washed with special detergent in a smaller, separate washing machine, she said.

“He is extremely meticulous about everything. If he arrives suddenly, everyone runs around like crazy” because Trump inspects everything closely, Diaz said.

Never forgetting the Trump outburst over some orange stains on the collar of his Melania’s golf shirt, which the Tica described as stubborn remnants of his makeup, which she had difficulty removing.

Diaz was in charge of training Morales when she started working at the golf course in 2013. When Diaz quit in November of that year, Morales and the housekeeping supervisor took on the job of cleaning Trump’s house together.

In closing the article, the New York Times said Morales is certain that her employers — perhaps even Trump — knew of her unlawful status all along.

“I ask myself, is it possible that this señor thinks we have papers? He knows we don’t speak English,” Morales said. “Why wouldn’t he figure it out?”

 

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Teletón raises ¢531 million colones and exceeds goal

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The 28 hour marathon, Teletón 2018, exceeded its goal reaching a total of ¢531.788,035 colones.

The goal was to raise ¢500 million that will be distributed between the Hospital Nacional de Niños (National Children’s Hospital) and the Dr. Raúl Blanco Cervantes geriatric and gerontology hospital.

One of the most anticipated contributions of the night was the donation of the Guides and Scouts of Costa Rica who for this year managed to collect ¢143 million, which they delivered minutes before closing.

 

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US Court Rejects Trump Administration’s Attempt to Reinstate Asylum Ban

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco denied Friday the Donald Trump Administration’s judicial maneuver to delay Judge Jon Tigar’s order blocking enforcement of its asylum policy.

“We agree with the district court that the rule is likely inconsistent with existing United States law. Accordingly, we deny the Government’s motion for a stay,” reads the 9th Circuit ruling, as reported by The Hill.

In early November, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint rule that prohibits migrants, who are caught trying to reach U.S. territory, from seeking asylum.

By issuing this policy, President Trump sought to make it harder to get asylum, since that joint rule only permitted asylum claims made at official ports of entry.

Nevertheless, Judge Jon Tigar, who belongs to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, granted a request for a temporary restraining order against Trump’s policy.

The Trump Administration appealed Judge Tigar’s decision, in late November, arguing that his decision prevented an immediate suspension of the illegal entries, which was considered by the U.S. president as an urgent measure to tackle the border crisis.

A migrant looks to cross to the U.S. from Tijuana, Mexico on Dec. 7, 2018. | Photo: Reuters

The decision of the San Francisco court issued Friday, however, denies the Trump Administration’s appeal.

As a result, the ban on illegal immigrants seeking asylum should remain unapplied nationwide.

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Venezuela Elections Begin, Thousands of Councilors Up for Election

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Municipal elections have begun in Venenzuela at 6:00 a.m. in which about 4,900 councilor’s post are up for election, as well as their deputy posts.

People in line to vote in the city of Maracaibo in the Francisco Eugenio Bustamante neighborhood. | Photo: Liceo Manuel Segundo Sánchez

The National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE) announced the opening of most of the electoral centers authorized for this new electoral process.

At least 20,720,533 Venezuelans are eligible to vote in these elections. Of these, 20,490,543 are Venezuelan citizens and 230,010 voters and electors are foreigners with more than ten years of legal residence in the country.

In this election, the 25th since the start of the Bolivarian Revolution in 1999, a total of 1,073 councilors will be elected by a nominal vote, 685 by a list vote and 69 municipal Indigenous representatives. There have been 14,382 polling stations set up for the national event.

51 political organizations are participating in these regional elections, of which 21 are national political parties, 11 regional, five national Indigenous parties, and 14 regional Indigenous organizations.

The most relevant right-wing opposition parties have decided to abstain once again, citing distrust in the electoral body and absence of equal conditions for political participation. However, individual members of parties like the Democratic Action and First Justice (Primero Justicia) have decided to participate in the elections, challenging the national leadership.

Some governments in Latin America have expressed support to the abstentionist strategy that relies on economic sanctions breaking the government or a possible military intervention against Venezuela. For critics of Venezuela’s right-wing opposition, their decision to reject electoral participation paves the way for more government victories, this time in the local level.

This is the 25th election in the 20 years of the Revolution, and the 5th in 18 months, marking the close of the popular election cycle.

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On Wednesday, the head of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council Sandra Oblitas announced all the electoral material had been delivered ahead of Sunday’s municipal elections. The electoral body has run nine of the 15 audits, including the verification of voters’ registration, voting machines, and software.

Like the May presidential elections, Venezuela expects an international accompaniment delegation and hundreds of national observers. In total, they expect 600 people will participate as observers.

Currently, government-affiliated movements have power over 255 of Venezuela’s 335 city councils while opposition parties hold at least 80 of them.

This is the 25th election in the 20 years of the Revolution, and the 5th in 18 months, marking the close of the popular election cycle.

Telesurtv.net

Article originally appeared on Today Venezuela and is republished here with permission.

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Sanctions law against the government of Nicaragua will soon be in the hands of Trump

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Next week, the United States Congress is expected to approve amendments to the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality (NICA) Act, and then it will pass to President Donald Trump to sign it.

U.S. President Donald Trump will have ten days to sign the law that will approve the congress on sanctions against Nicaragua.

Through her Twitter account, first Latina in Congress Ros-Lehtinen confirmed that “next week the House (of US representatives) will finally pass my Nica Act and send it to the president (Trump) for his signature.”

The Republican congresswoman and Miami’s longest-tenured congresswoman leaves office on January 3, 2019, added that “this way we will put additional sanctions against (Daniel) Ortega and his tíreres (puppets), for more than 10 years of abuse, corruption and dismantling of democratic institutions in Nicaragua.”

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On November 27, the United States Senate unanimously approved the Nicaragua Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018, which seeks to impose additional sanctions on Nicaraguan regime officials and which establishes the amendments to the Nica Act promoted by Ros-Lehtinen and other Democratic and Republican senators.

The NICA Act ensures that the U.S. continues to respond accordingly by cutting off Ortega’s access to money until much needed electoral and human rights reforms are implemented. This bill also includes legislation giving the U.S. administration additional authorities to sanction more regime operatives, as well as Marco Rubio’s amendment that seeks to hold accountable any regime that provides assistance to help Ortega stay in power.

As Ortega expands his cooperation with Venezuela, Cuba, Russia and other regimes, Nicaragua is both a security threat to the U.S. and an enemy to regional stability.

“The House has acted on my legislation twice and I look forward to working with our leadership to ensure swift passage of this legislation once again. We must send this bill to the President’s desk and continue building a multi-layered U.S. approach that helps the Nicaraguan people break free of Ortega’s despotic rule,” wrote Ros-Lehtinen.

Once the law is passed to President Tump, he will have ten days to sign it, and what he will sign will be a merger between the Nica Act and the Human Rights and Anticorruption Law of Nicaragua, which was pushed separately by Democratic Senator Bob Menendez.

It is presumed that President Trump will sign it expeditiously as the president in anticipation of the bill issued an executive decree declaring a national emergency for the United States before the actions taken by the Government of Nicaragua against those protesting during the demonstrations unleashed since last April.

As an immediate reaction to Trump’s executive decree, the Treasury Department of the United States sanctioned Vice President (Ortega’s wife) Rosario Murillo and national security adviser to the Nicaraguan government, Néstor Moncada Lau.

The Nica Act establishes that the US will exert its influence in multilateral financial organizations so that loans for the Government of Nicaragua will be frozen until there are changes aimed at the establishment of democracy and the strengthening of institutions, which includes the independence of the powers of the State, in this case the Legislative, Executive, Judicial and Electoral Power.

Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.

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IACHR: Nicaragua falls into “police state”

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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said on Thursday, during its 170th session, that the repressive escalation of the Government of Nicaragua against opponents and the media “has installed a regime of terror and the suppression of all freedoms”.

The IACHR met on Thursday to discuss the situation in Nicaragua. Government representatives did not attend.

Pablo Abrao, executive secretary of the IACHR, affirmed that the seriousness of the situation in Nicaragua is reflected in the fact that “there is not a day that does not receive a complaint about human rights violations.”

Abrao stressed that Nicaraguans do not live in full freedom, and have found that there is “an environment of restriction of their rights.”

He added that the IACHR, in the last eight months of social crisis, has analyzed “phases of repression”, and that of the last months has been called “Police State”.

The executive secretary of the IACHR explained that the installation of a police state occurs when “all the rules and fundamental human rights are restricted without legal grounds, without judicial basis, by means of decrees of security systems or by means of the National Police, all without there being any type of judicial regulation of these acts of the public administration that restrict essential contents to human rights”.

The IACHR notes that in Nicaragua “the rule of law is deteriorated, because we see that the police are banning demonstrations, private property is restricted, the law of terrorism is used to criminalize; that characterization, for us, is becoming clearer to follow closely the situation of Nicaragua,” said Abrao.

Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.

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Priest attacked in the Managua cathedral with sulfuric acid

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On Wednesday, December 5, in the afternoon, The vicar of Managua, Father Mario Guevara Cerda, 59, suffered a sulfuric acid attack when a 24-year-old woman threw the acid on the priest’s face and body while he was in the cathedral hearing confessions.

Elis Leonidovna Gonn was arrested after attacking the priest. Photo: Oscar Sánchez.

A report of the incident sent said the rector of the cathedral took the priest immediately to hospital for treatment. Despite serious burns the priest’s conditions appears stable.

The woman, identified as Elis Leonidovna Gonn, originally from Russia, was detained by people in the cathedral as she tried to escape, later was arrested by the police.

According to the police report and immigration, Gonn had entered Nicaragua in September from Honduras with an Italian passport.

Born in Russia, but he left her country last year for political reasons and sexual orientation; in Italy she obtained the passport of that country upon receiving refugee status, which, according to several portals of the Italian foreign service, is legally impossible because it takes five years of legal stay in Italy for a refugee to be naturalized.

By Wednesday afternoon, after the attack on the priest, police reported that Gonn has a Russian passport. On Thursday, official information stated that she fled Russia, traveled to Italy with her two-year-old daughter in April 2017.

It is not known why Gonn left Europe, only that she and her daughter left Mexico on August 22 for Guatemala. Two days later they traveled to El Salvador, then to Honduras. On September 7, they entered Nicaragua by land, according to official information.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKeY5UTTXJY]

The statement from the archdiocese asks for prayers for the health and full recovery of Father Mario who suffers from diabetes, and asks the faithful to unite in prayer“ for all our priests during this Novena of the feast of the Immaculate Conception”.

 

Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.

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“I Stayed in Death Apartment”: Airbnb Guest Tells

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Carla Stefaniak

Visiting from Florida to celebrate her 36th birthday, Carla Stefaniak decided to spend her last night in a mountaintop villa, Le Mas de Prevence, in San Antonio de Escazú, she rented through Airbnb.

Carla Stefaniak

It would be her last night alive.

Carla went missing on November 27. In the morning she left her sister-in-law at the airport for her flight home, after spending days in Costa Rica Pacific beach and Arenal. For reasons that may never be known, she decided to stay in Costa Rica, alone, one more day, her departing flight was on November 28. She never made it.

The family says they received a text of where she was staying and concerned about the heavy rain (at the tail end of the rainy season) and that the electrical power was off (normal in some places during heavy rain). That was the last they heard from Carla.

Stefaniak (right) had been on vacation in Costa Rica with her sister-in-law April Burton (left) to celebrate her 36th birthday. They are pictured together last week

She had gone dark, no cellular phone, no social media. Nothing. They got concerned when she didn’t arrive in Florida on Wednesday (Nov. 28). She had disappeared. They feared the worst. Maybe she was kidnapped. They held out hope.

On Monday (Dec. 3), a body of a woman half-buried was found some 200 meters from the property where she was staying. At first, police would not confirm or deny if it was Carla, but by the next they were certain.

Carla’s father had flown in Monday night after learning that the body could be that of his daughter, though he vehemently denied it could be her, he held on to the hope she would be still alive, possibly kidnapped, on local television pleading to her alleged captors to “please return my daughter”.

Carla’s father, Carlos Caicedo, taking to the local press

Carla’s brother, also named Carlos, had arrived in Costa Rica days earlier, to seek for answers to his sister’s mysterious disappearance. Carla had been in Costa Rica with her brother’s wife.

Bismarck Espinosa Martinez

On Monday night Costa Rica’s Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), a pollice agency akin to the FBI in the United States, knew they had their man, the night security guard at the hotel. A lie earlier in the day led investigators to suspect him. He had told earlier in the day that he had seen the victim leave the property early Wednesday morning – the day she is presumed to have been killed – in a taxi-like vehicle. Investigators could not corroborate his verstion.

 

Bismarck Espinosa Martinez, 32, is currently in preventive detention (remand), a San Jose court ordering him held for three months while the OIJ continues investigating the brutal and senseless murder of the tourist.

Carla was Venezuelan born but lived in the United States for many years. Martinez, a Nicaraguan national, had arrived in Costa Rica in June and was in the country illegally, despite his being employed as a security guard.

Bismarck Espinosa Martinez

On the social media networks, we learn that the property, located in the mountains of Escazu, in a remote area, had a sketchy past.

Bismarck Espinosa Martinez in police custody

The hotel operation had changed hands several times. A lawyer had been the only spokesperson for the management.

 

I Stayed in Death Apartment

Eric Horvath and his girlfriend, from Chicago, stayed in the same apartment as Carla in July after booking it through Airbnb.

“When I clicked the link to an article and discovered it was the exact same place I was very freaked out. A million things went through my mind such as ‘that could have been me or my girlfriend’,” Horvarth said.

The apartment being inspected by forensics experts. Photo OIJ

He said he was “extremely surprised” and did not believe Costa Rica was a dangerous country.

“I came back from that trip with rave reviews. Not once did I feel in danger. The host and owner was incredibly hospitable. Bismarck, the suspect who has been charged, was so nice to us, always with a smile on his face,” Horvath said.

Screenprint of Airbnb listing. The property has been since removed from the platform

“I’m going to miss the place (Costa Rica) ,” Carla wrote, along with a selfie in her bikini, on Instagram on November 25.

Traveling alone had its dangers, especially for a woman

“I’d say it’s best to not travel alone regardless of where you are at. I don’t think this should be a banner for ‘do not travel to Costa Rica because you will get killed.’ Bad people live everywhere,” Horvath says.

He said he never felt unsafe in Costa Rica and was never taken advantage of by the locals, despite his inability to speak Spanish.

But Carla, Venezuela born, spoke Spanish fluently.

No permits

On Thursday the Municipality of Escazú confirmed that the hotel Le Mas de Prevence was closed because it did not have the necessary permits to provide service as a hotel.

This fact was confirmed by Carlos Bejarano, a spokesman for the municipality, who indicated that apparently, the hotel had been operating illegally for several years.

“As a result of this unfortunate event (the death Carla) the municipality made a review on the situation of the place and we discovered that in 2013 the permits they had were rescinded and that at the moment they did not have any,” explained Bejarano.

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Walmart Blocked From Purchase Of Competition

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Costa Rica’s competition regulator, the Comisión para Promover la Competencia (Coprocom), disapproved Walmart’s acquisition of the Grupo Empresarial de Supermercados (Gessa) – owner of the Perimercados, Super Compro and Saretto supermarkets.

Walmart said on Thursday the Coprocom notified the company that it opposed its plan to buy 52 local supermarkets, which would grow its number of stores in Costa Rica from its current 252 to more than 300.

“It was voted unanimously to deny the concentration. That is, the request for economic concentration between the two parties was denied: Supermercados Unidos (Walmart stores) and the Grupo Empresarial de Supermercados (Gessa stores)”, explained the president of Coprocom, Rodolfo Chévez.

Chévez added that the commission considered that the purchase would give Walmart, who already has “a lot of market power” in the market, even more by the merger, enough to be able to alter prices, exclude competitors or affect suppliers.

“It wasn’t seen as a benefit to the market,” Chévez said.

Once notified (which occurred this December 5), both parties (Gessa and Walmart) have three days to file a reconsideration appeal, which if one or both parties files, a final decision would be in mid-January.

Walmart said in a statement on Thursday that the acquisition would be positive for competition and for consumers and that it was considering how to respond to the Coprocom.

When announcing the purchase agreement, in July, Walmart said that the transaction did not intend to capture new types of consumers, but rather accelerate its expansion and improve its presence in areas such as the Pacific.

Walmart also operates supermarkets in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico, its largest market by far with 2,400 stores.

Costa Rica was the second-worst performer in the third quarter this year by same-store sales. Its weakest market was Nicaragua, where political turmoil caused sales to drop.

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A Lie Led OIJ To Suspect Guard In Murder of American Tourist

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A lie led authorities to immediately suspect the guard was linked to the disappearance and possible murder of tourist Carla Stefaniak, who was spending her last night in Costa Rica in the hotel where he worked.

The suspect in the muder of Carla Stefaniak is a nicaraguan national in the country since June

The guard, identified as 32-year-old Bismarck Josiel Espinoza Martinez, a Nicaraguan national, in Costa Rica since June, worked as the guard at the San Antonio de Escazu hotel.

Carla, through Airbnb, had chosen to spend her last night in the mountains of Escazu, before leaving for home the next day. Something that clearly never happened.

When Martinez was first approached by authorities he told them that he has seen the tourist leave the hotel early in the morning with her suitcases and all. He told investigators she boarded a ‘taxi-type’ vehicle at 5:00 am that Wednesday.

One version of the story was that he helped get the suitcases in the trunk of the car. Another version, she loaded the bags herself.

However, investigators could not corroborate the claim and began to suspect that Martinez was trying to lead them in a different direction, that somehow he might be involved in the then disappearance and was trying to cover his tracks.

“From that moment, we became suspicious. Precisely, for that circumstance, yesterday (Monday) at the night we raided the room he was (Espinoza) was living in. Which is precisely the same place where Carla Stefaniak stayed ” said Walter Espinoza, director of the JOrganismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ).

Investigators learned that Martinez was staying in apartment 8, while Carl Stefaniak was in the adjacent apartment, number 8.

Investigators do not yet have, or at least not divulging, a clear motive for the murder, suspecting it may have been a sexual attack or robbery.

In the apartment where Carla spent her last night, forensic experts found trace of blood. Carla’s body was found nearby, some 300 meters, in a wooded area, from the apartments.

 

Image from Faecbook

With the help of cadaver dogs, the body was found half-buried in an advanced state of decomposition.

 

The victim had stab wounds to the neck and upper extremities, as well as a blunt blow to the head.

Martinez was arrested Monday night and the criminal court in San Jose ordered him to three months preventive detention (remand) while the investigation into the murder of Carla Stefaniak continues.

In the social media, there are many accounts relating to the case, some are speculation, others wishful thinking that Carla may still be disappeared or victim of a kidnapping.

Father in denial

Carlos Caicedo, Carla’s father, visited the Complejo de Ciencias Forenses del Poder Judicial on 2 occasions on Tuesday. In both, he says he was not able to make the visual recognition of the body of the daughter and vented all his anger and frustrations against Costa Rican authorities.

Caicedo affirmed that he and the family maintain the hope that Carla is alive and will not believe different until there is 100% certainty that the body found in Escazú is his daughter’s.

 

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Hacienda Ruled Out Aguinaldo On Dec. 6 For Civil Servants

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Rocio Aguilar, Minister of Finance

Public sector employees can breathe a little easier now that the Plan Fiscal has passed into law, with the announcement by the Ministry of Finance that it is in a better position to pay the Aguinaldo (the annual bonus).

Rocio Aguilar, Minister of Finance

Although initially this Ministry of Finance had scheduled the payment on December 6, Minister Rocío Aguilar, ruled out that possibility on Tuesday afternoon, because even if they had the money, they do not have time for a system issue.

The government, as private sector employers, have until December 20 to pay the equivalent of a 13th-month salary to all its employees.

The government has been scrambling to find the money to pay the bonus. However, with the passing of the tax reform, Aguilar said with the change in terms of confidence in the markets, it expects to be able to raise the money at following (financial) auctions and it will seek to advance that date as much as possible.

“We will have to see if the latest events improve the possibilities of attracting to meet the obligations before that date (December 20),” she said.

The minister bases her optimism in the “positive reaction” in the markets with the Constitutional Court ruling on November 23 that paved the way to Monday’s approval and quick action by the government to enact the Ley 9635.

The central government, that does not include autonomous agencies such as ICE, Recope, State banks and so on, requires ¢170,000,000,000 colones to pay the 2018 Aguinaldo.

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Can Costa Rica become a gambling monopoly?

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Talking about gambling, it does exist in Costa Rica as a legal entity having its own regulatory body. Even though the history of gambling in Cost Rica is short, very short, but it is overwhelming in a way that Costa Rica has ascended through the gambling market as a jurisdiction.

As a result, many online gambling sites have turned to Costa Rica for a gambling license, however, it is illegal for the country’s resident to indulge in online casinos or sports betting or online gambling of any sort but it’s great for residents from other countries.

Casino scene in Costa Rica is definitely underrated and understated. After its independence from Spain, Costa Rica struggled to move towards future on its own for some years, even when it proclaimed dominion from a collective Central America in 1838. But, despite the instability, Costa Rica has always generated a lot of revenue from gambling.

In 1999, when The United States Senate only introduced, not passed, the Internet Gambling Prohibition act, most of the casino operators and owners decided to move their operation to Costa Rica. They were welcomed with a simple jurisdiction and an ocean of potential customers. Most of it was because Costa Rica lacked any authoritative body regarding gambling. And that is how Costa Rica transformed into a gambling destination.

Casino Scene in Costa Rica

  • The legal age of player should be 18.
  • The country completely lacks an authoritative body regarding gambling.
  • It only takes $5,000 per year to buy data processing licenses for online casinos.
  • The opening of a casino in Costa Rica is fairly easy as long as $5,000 is paid annually and the government will not bother.
  • Casinos and gaming parlors must pay 10-15% of their net profits. But betting call centers have to pay their tax according to the number of employees: ¢20.5 million for 50 or lesser employees, ¢30.6 million for 51 to 99 employees and ¢40.6 million for 100 or more employees.
  • There are over 50 casinos in Costa Rica with the majority of them being in San José.
  • 50% of electronic gambling businesses in the world is between Costa Rica and Aruba, and together it generates $14+ billion annually.
  • Residents of the country are forbidden to participate in any form of online gambling and betting.

Land-based casino scene

Since it is one of the world’s most exotic places, it is only natural to visit the place for its serenity. It has too many unique and exotic locations to offer, from sandy beaches to luscious rainforests and from the local cuisine to bustle of the capital. It is pretty close to being in the wilderness paradise and with lenient gambling laws, for both online and land-based casinos, this country is one of the perfect destinations for gamblers.

This is a great place for munching on tasty Costa Rican bites, sipping cocktails in great locations and winning some cash.

Unlike Macau or Las Vegas, casinos in Costa Rica are small appendages to decently large hotels. While casinos in Vegas feel like hotels in casinos, Casino in Costa Rica are casinos in a hotel in the truest sense. Since the casinos are generally small, you’ll find about six tables and 50 slot machines.

They are generally silent or have a soft music playing in the background where players can focus on their game. Casinos are not jam-packed, one could walk around and explore all the while having a drink in their hands without the fear of bumping into anyone.

Some tables are unmanned and some tables don’t even have players and only 10% of the slot machines are occupied at a given time. This is only a typical scenario, there are of course bigger crowds depending on the place and time of the week. Non-alcoholic drinks are free and prices for alcoholic drinks are on the pricey side.

Online casino and gambling scene

Costa Rica was one of the first countries to make online casino and gambling legal in the 90s but these licenses were only data processing licenses.

Online casino and gambling scene is pretty confusing. For example, players indigenous to Costa Rica cannot play in an online casino that is licensed in Costa Rica but they can play if they are in a foreign country and if they are playing online while in the country, they need to make sure that the online casino is not licensed in Costa Rica.

When online casinos based in Costa Rica started, they started without a proper gambling license. As a result, these platforms, even today, aren’t really supervised to a high level and have many loopholes to exploit.

There was a plan to establish a gaming control board in 2013 which was supposed to be funded by the tax collected by casinos and this would’ve also made the licensing fee around $50,000 per year but the law has not become official yet.

It is pretty easy for an operator to establish itself in Costa Rica:

  • Business owners can buy an already established gaming company.
  • Set up an offshore corporation for offshore banking
  • Open up the offshore bank accounts
  • The operator has to apply for a gambling license through the Costa Rica Gaming Company
  • Find the payment processing companies which can be sourced through various agencies
  • The operator needs to have an office within Costa Rica
  • They also need to procure an online gaming license. However, it is still not strictly required)

It cannot be said that Costa Rica is going to become the next gambling monopoly of the world with the entire South-Asian gambling world still in the picture. But the casino and gambling scenario in Costa Rica is highly underrated and understated. It’s gambling industry still needs to develop a lot before it can take over the gambling world but it still has an influence on the world market and is a major hub for online gambling, poker, and sports betting.

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This Passport Is Now the World’s Most Powerful

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The United Arab Emirates is now home to the world’s most powerful passport, with a power rank of 2, according to the Passport Index.

The Global Passport Power Rank 2018 is a real-time index that ranks the strength of passports from the United Nations’ 193 member countries and six additional territories based their total visa-free score, that is the number of countries a holder can visit either visa-free or by obtaining a visa on arrival.

According to the index, the UAE passport currently grants holders entry into a total of 167 countries, with 113 countries allowing visa-free entry and 54 countries allowing visas upon arrival.

The UAE overtook Singapore and Germany for the position, both of which allow passport holders access to 166 countries without a prior visa. Passports from Singapore allow entry to 127 countries visa-free and entry to 39 countries with a visa upon arrival, while German passports allow entry into 126 countries visa-free and entry into 40 countries with a visa upon arrival.

It’s important to note that these rankings are fluid and change regularly based on diplomatic relations. There are also rival rankings that offer varying results.

How does a Costa Rica passport rank?

The Costa Rican passport has a passport power rank of 26.

According to the Global Passport Power Rank 2018, the Costa Rica passport currently grants holders entry into a total of 134 countries, with 91 countries allowing visa-free entry and 43  allowing visas upon arrival. A total of 64 countries require holders of a Costa Rica passport to obtain a visa prior to travel.

In Central America, Panama has a passport power rank of 30, Honduras and Guatemala 33, El Salvador 39 and Nicaragua 46.

Data from the Passport Index is based on research conducted from publicly available sources and official information from government agencies.

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Mexico’s President Is Selling Presidential Plane and Flying Commercial

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Mexico's presidential airplane a Boeing 787-8 with a cost of 125.4 million dollars- after its last fly at the Benito Juarez International Airport, in Mexico City on December 3, 2018. - Anti-establishment leftist new President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that he will sell the presidential plane to a private company in the United States. (Photo by ALEJANDRO MELENDEZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read ALEJANDRO MELENDEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Mexico’s new president is selling his version of Air Force One and flying commercial instead. It’s only been three days since Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office, but some of his campaign promises are already in motion.

he Boeing 787-8 presidential aircraft was acquired in 2012 for $218.7 million. Now it’s going on sale.

Can you imagine boarding a commercial flight and finding out the person sitting next to you is the President of Mexico? It could actually happen.

During his bid for the presidency, Lopez Obrador vowed to sell the presidential plane — a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner TP-01 — and use the proceeds to help his country’s poorer communities.

“I will not get on the presidential plane. I would be embarrassed. My face would be filled with shame if I board such a luxurious plane in a country with so much poverty,” López Obrador said in a video posted to Twitter in September.

López kept his world. Just one day after taking office López Obrador flew on a commercial airline to the Gulf state of Veracruz. The President was photographed at Mexico City International Airport traveling just like any other passenger, reported CNN affiliate ForoTV.

A video posted to Twitter showed López Obrador in what appeared to be coach class.

The next day, the luxurious presidential plane arrived at the Southern California Logistics Airport where it will be evaluated for sale, Carlos Urzúa, Mexico’s Treasury Secretary, announced in a press release.

Mexico’s presidential airplane a Boeing 787-8 with a cost of US$125.4 million dollars- after its last fly at the Benito Juarez International Airport, in Mexico City on December 3, 2018. New President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that he will sell the presidential plane to a private company in the United States. (Photo credit ALEJANDRO MELENDEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

The airplane, named José María Morelos y Pavón, was acquired in November 2012 by the Mexican government for US$218.7 million. Its price tag caused some controversy and the plane was not put into use until 2016 after former president Enrique Peña Nieto commissioned a study that determined the government would lose a lot of money on a sale of the aircraft.

Although it is not clear how much will the aircraft sell for, Urzúa said that government officials will work to maximize the value of the aircraft.

“From now on, the public will be kept informed about the sale process, as well as the plan for its use, guaranteeing the transparency that this process demands,” he said in press release.

In total Mexican officials plan to sell around 60 airplanes and 70 helicopters belonging to the federal government, Urzúa announced.

López Obrador won a landslide victory in the July 1 presidential election and on December 1 began his six-year term by promising to carry out a strong fight against corruption, Mexico’s worst nightmare according to him.

During his swearing-in, López Obrador also reaffirmed his intentions to not live in the presidential palace and to receive only 40% of his presidential salary.

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27 March 2026 - At The Banks - Source: BCCR