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.
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.
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.
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.
The majority of workers in industries such as agriculture are in the country unlawfully. American employers say they cannot find Americans willing to do the work.
“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?”
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.
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.
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.
December 9: Municipal Council Elections in Venezuela – Live Rolling Coverage https://t.co/BUtNnJnbs4
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.
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.”
La próxima semana la Cámara finalmente va a pasar mi #NICAAct y enviarla al Presidente p su firma. Así pondremos sanciones adicionales hacia #Ortega y sus títeres por más d 10 años de abuso, corrupción y desmantelamiento de instituciones democráticas en #Nicaragua
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It didn’t take days to publish the Reforma Fiscal (Tax Reform) passed in second and final debate late Monday afternoon and signed by President Carlos Alvarado less than a couple of hours later, in the official government newsletter, La Gaceta.
Typically, it can take up to five business days for publication. But in the case of the Ley de Fortalecimiento de las Finanzas Públicas – the official name of the tax reform – it was published Tuesday morning, December 4, 2018, in circular 202. Click here to view the full document in PDF.
Known as Ley 9365 is now in full force.
However, we may not see the effect of the law right away. While some items are immediate, others will take weeks and months for the government to organize, set out regulations and apply them. Other sections of the Ley 9365 won’t be in effect until June 2019.
To know how the new law affects you, it is recommended to consult a professional accountant and/or tax lawyer.
On the pages of the Q, over the coming months, we will be publishing the articles of the law and their explanation as they go into effect. We will be using the hashtag #TAXREFORM to group all of the articles for easy reference.
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)
On Wednesday, December 5, the Embassy and Consular Section of the United States in San Jose, Costa Rica, will remain closed to join the national day of mourning to honor former President George H.W. Bush.
The flag-draped casket of former President George H.W. Bush lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)
Over 30 days, the United States flag will be at half mast in the White House and all government buildings, including embassies.
All the people who had scheduled their appointments for the visa interview this Wednesday, December 5, will receive a message by email with the new date of scheduling their appointment.
The diplomatic headquarters will re-open public on Thursday, December 6, at the usual hours, from of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The suspect in the muder of Carla Stefaniak is a nicaraguan national in the country since June
A security guard of the hotel Le Mas de Provence, in San Antonio de Escazú, San José, has been arrested as suspect in the murder of Carla Stefaniak, 36, whose body was found in a steep wooded area near the hotel Monday and confirmed Tuesday afternoon by the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ).
The suspect in the muder of Carla Stefaniak is a nicaraguan national in the country since June
The OIJ confirmed today, Tuesday, the man identified by his names Espinoza Martinez, was arrested Monday night at 11:00 pm following a search of his apartment.
Wálter Espinoza, director of the OIJ, explained that the testimony the man offered to investigators did not coincide with the facts observed in several videos that were analyzed, at which time he became a suspect.
The guard had told police that Carla Stefaniak had left the property at 5:00 am Wednesday (Nov. 28) and that he had helped her with the bags.
“We managed to verify that the version that was being provided by one of the security guards of the place where the young woman had stayed was incompatible and incoherent with reality and presented many contradictions.
“Because of that circumstance, we searched his home, which is on the same property where Carla Stefaniak stayed. He lived in apartment number seven and she was in number eight,” said Espinoza.
The OIJ chief explained that the suspect is 32 years old, is Nicaraguan, arriving in Costa Rica in June of this year and was in the country in “irregular migratory status”, that is to say, ‘illegal’.
Suspect ordered to preventive detention (remand)
At 1:00 am Tuesday, the San Jose prosecutor’s office (Fiscalía) confirmed the suspect is being held preventive detention (remand), the court accepting the Fiscalia’s request of three months while the investigation continues.
#FiscalíaCR consigue tres meses de prisión preventiva contra el sospechoso del homicidio de una turista venezolana. Investigación continúa.
The Fiscalía said the suspect took advantage of the access he had to enter the victim’s room.
“It is presumed that, with a sharp weapon and wire, the accused ended the life of the foreigner tourist and then half-buried the body,” said the Ministerio Publico in a press release.
Carla Stefaniak arrived in Costa Rica on November 22 and went missing between November 27 and 28.
Despite a father’s hope that it wouldn’t be his daughter, the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) confirmed this Tuesday afternoon that the body found in Escazu on Monday is, in fact, that of the missing tourist, Carla Stefaniak.
Carlos Caicedo, Carla Stefaniak’s father, told the media before arriving at the judicial morgue he was hopeful the body found on Monday was not his daughter and that she was still alive
According to the OIJ, Stefaniak’s body had stab wounds on her arms, neck and a blow to the head from a blunt instrument.
The body was found Monday in a steep and densely wooded area near the Airbnb Carla had spent the night on Tuesday and according to the hotel security had left the property, alive, around 5 am, the night security guard telling investigators he had helped with Carla’s bags to the car.
Carla’s father, who arrived in Costa Rica Monday night holding on to the hope of seeing his daughter alive, that her disappearance was just that, a disappearance or that she may have been kidnapped, pleading with her alleged captors to return.
Carla Stefaniak arrived in Costa Rica on November 22 and went missing between November 27 and 28.
But that was not to be the case. Carlos Caicedo this afternoon is living one of the worst nightmares a parent can have.
Carla’s brother, also named Carlos, was to have arrived days earlier to get answers to his sister’s disappearance.
Both the senior Carlos and his son were present this Tuesday afternoon at the judicial morgue, located at the Forensic Sciences Complex in San Joaquin de Flores, Heredia, to identify the body.
Carlos Caicedo, the father of missing Carla Stefaniak, arrived in Costa Rica Monday night to verify if the body found on Monday is his daughter.
Carlos Caicedo, the father of the missing tourist Carla Stefaniak, arrived in Costa Rica Monday night, with plans to visit the judicial morgue first thing this Tuesday morning to verify if the body found on Monday afternoon in San Antonio de Escazu is, in fact, his daughter.
Carlos Caicedo, the father of missing Carla Stefaniak, arrived in Costa Rica Monday night to verify if the body found on Monday is his daughter.
Carla, visiting Costa Rica since November 22, disappeared between the evening of November 27 and morning of the 28th.
The last time the family heard from Carla was the night of November 22. Guards at the Airbnb hotel she was staying told judicial investigators they saw her leave in a vehicle at 5:00 am Wednesday morning. However, OIJ investigators have not been able to corroborate it.
Carla was in Costa Rica with her sister-in-law to celebrate her 36th birthday. She dropped off her sister-in-law at the airport the day of the 27th, then headed to her room in Escazu, where she would spend the night before leaving in the morning for the mid-day flight on Wednesday.
Carla Stefaniak went missing on November 28. Authorities have yet to confirm if the body of the femaly found in Escazu is the disappeared tourist.
She contacted her family Tuesday night. The family got concerned when she didn’t arrive in Florida Wednesday afternoon and could not reach her on her cellular phone. Her social media account, with posts of her trips up to Tuesday, had gone silent. No new posts. Nothing.
On Monday, the OIJ, with the aid of cadaver dogs, located the body of a female only 200 meters (yards) from the Escazu hotel. The body was partially buried, an arm sticking out caught the attention of the dogs and police searchers. Decomposition did allow recognition.
A meticulous search of the room she had stayed on her last night Costa Rica revealed traces of blood, despite the room had been cleaned by hotel staff and other guests had used the room since.
Hotel guards told investigators Carla had left early in the morning Wednesday, the night guard having helped her load the bags in the car.
However, the family isn’t buying the story.
For one, the sister-in-law who had traveled with Carla to Costa Rica told the media Carla was not to getting up early in the morning, especially since her flight was not until 1 pm that day.
Investigators are also skeptical given the guard could not say if the vehicle that allegedly picked up Carla was a taxi or private. The Uber driver Carla had requested the evening before did not arrive until 8:30 am.
OIJ investigators were hermetic on Monday and would not confirm (or deny) that the body was that of the missing tourist.
Back to Carlos. On Monday, learning of the find, he told Telemundo 51 he was hopeful to get permission from U.S. immigration to travel to Costa Rica. “I’m going to live a situation that I do not want anyone,” said Carla’s father.
In the video by Telemundo 51 and published on Crhoy.com, Carlos tells the camera, “Carla come back. If immigration gives me permission I’m going to meet you, soon.” The publication did not specify why the Venezuelan, living in the United States, required permission to travel outside the U.S.
Carla’s brother, also names Carlos, is reportedly in Costa Rica looking for answers to his sister’s disappearance.
This story is developing and the Q will bring you the latest information as we learn it.
Can you imagine traveling some 220 kilometers, about the distance between San Jose and Liberia in Guanacaste, for only ¢1,200 colones?
An electrical vehicle getting a rapid charge at an ICE station that is also available free to the public
In a typical gasoline engined vehicle the cost is about ¢15,000 colones; however, in an electric vehicle about US$2 is all it costs for a full battery charge.
With these savings in mind, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) has purchased 100 electric vehicles to replace its existing vehicular fleet.
ICE says it takes about 4 hours to fully charge, for example, the Hyundai Ionic 2019, at home or in about 20 minutes at an ICE rapid charge center.
The ¢1,200 colones is based on a home electrical rate at night. ICE and its subsidiary, the Compañia Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL) – national light and power company – as residential customers have lower rates between 8 pm and 6 am. Charging the car during the day would cost more than three times than at night, about ¢4,000 colones.
The new units were displayed in the parking lot of the DIPOA building in Sabana Norte. With this acquisition, the Institute saves up to 75% by moving from fossil fuels to electricity. The vehicles will give the same performance as conventional, but without producing sonic pollution or gas emissions.
At the same time, ICE announced the installation of 110 semi-rapid chargers, seven of these will be for access to the public, free of charge. They are located in Limón, Guápiles, Quepos, Puntarenas, Pérez Zeledón, Garabito Plant (Montes de Oro) and Liberia (Mall Liberia).
To back up what it promises, following the formal ceremony, five of the electric vehicles left the ICE facilities to different points to demonstrate the autonomy and safety of the fleet. They were directed to Liberia (209 kilometers), Quepos (162 kilometers), Pérez Zeledón (136 kilometers), Puntarenas (95.5 kilometers) and Guapiles (67.5 kilometers).
A sixth vehicle was used to move President Carlos Alvarado and the First Lady, Claudia Dobles, to Casa Presidencial (Government Hosue) in Zapote.
President Carlos Alvarado being driven to Casa Presidencial in one of ICE’s new all-electric vehicles
The First Lady stressed that “we are working hard to promote zero emissions mobility among. That is why from the institutionality we give clear signals that this is the route that Costa Rica has taken. Actions such as the change in the ICE vehicle fleet add significantly to the country’s goals to decarbonize the transport sector.”
Irene Cañas Díaz, president of the Grupo ICE, aid that “this is a first great step forward, by ICE and its companies, towards the decarbonization of transport and the country’s economy. We hope to inspire other institutions and the private sector to fully initiate the transition. We are going to demonstrate that electric transport is the option for our environment to recover from the pollution generated by decades in the streets.”
Cañas explained that “the next step in this route will be the formation of the National Rapid Charge Network (Recarga Rápida) in 2019, which will have more than 30 points strategically distributed in sectors served by ICE and the CNFL. This will allow all electric users, in addition to the ease of charging at home, to travel with total autonomy to any point in Costa Rica.”
Rico’s TICO BULL – Kudos to President Carlos Alvarado. I was one of the many, or few, that never believed he could do what two presidents before him could. Not even Oscar Arias. Get passed in the legislative assembly the tax reform bill.
It was not even hours prior to learning that the bill had been approved in second and final debate that I had stated publicly, no, it won’t get passed by the bunch sitting behind their ‘curuls’ (thrones, my interpretation) in Cuesta de Mora, the name of the barrio where the legislative complex is located.
No. No way. Others have tried. It won’t get past the first debate. It’s not going to happen. All I have said on the subject in the past several months.
Well, I am ready to eat crow. Wait give me a bitter chocolate pie instead.
And before all this, it was around 2 in the afternoon on Monday I happened to be downtown. I was not to be there, my plans for the day didn’t include a trip to San Jose. But here I was, in the area of the Casa Amarilla (Chancellery) when I happened to be right behind La Bestia (The Beast), the police tactical vehicle. After a stop at the Mexican Embassy, my journey out of San Jose continued to the Public Library and beyond and there, parking (to hide) in the back alley of the library, was once again La Bestia.
I thought it odd.
It was shortly after 6 pm when I learned of the news of the passing of the Plan Fiscal. My thoughts immediately went to the event hours earlier, I understood perfectly why The Beast was there.
The Beast in waiting – just in case – outside the Legislative building in downtown San Jose, authorities did not take it lightly, ready for any outbreak of violence
It was later moved right next to the legislative building, backing up the contingency of on foot police officers.
They were prepared.
Fortunately, nothing came of it. The feeling of “this is the Costa Rica I fell in love with over two decades ago”. No riots. No violence. Nothing of the worst that the Ministry of Seguridad Publica (MSP) had planned for.
The first time I ever saw Costa Ricans raise their voice in protest was back in 2000 when the public sector unions rallied the masses against the “ICE Combo”.
In the years following there have been many manifestations, protests, the worst of these have been blocking traffic and political and union leaders making good sound bites. Then it would rain and the protest, manifestation, whatever was going that day, was over.
But, in the last several years, the protests have become violent. Violent for Costa Rica. Nothing compared to the violence in many other countries. But still violent when compared to the past 70 years when Don Pepe or “Papa Figueres” as I like to call him abolished the army.
So what comes next?
The national strike that began on September 10 is over. If you will recall the strike was against the Plan Fiscal. Now that it is passed irrevocably, signed by the president and in effect in the coming days, the strike no longer had any purpose.
But Albino Vargas, the leader of the largest of the public sector unions, the ANEP, assured the “fight” will continue, albeit from a different angle.
The thousands of teachers, the last major holdout of the strikers, will get back to work sometime this week, just in time for the ‘summer’ vacation. All will be forgiven, only a handful of teachers caught taking a vacation out of the country will be sanctioned, the rest, back to school as nothing happened. No matter that their strike was declared illegal, the government has made noise that wages will be docked. Can’t provoke another strike if they try.
For the rest of the people, I dare to say that many if not most, their prime concern these days is the Aguinaldo – the annual bonus- which by law every salaried employee – in the private and public sector – will receive on or before the legal payday of December 20.
For public sector employees, the holiday shopping season was delayed, waiting for word when the government would have the money to pay. With the passing of the Plan Fiscal payment is assured. Well, it was never not going to be, the deputy minister of the Treasury said he would resort to the ‘corner lender’ (loan shark) if had to to make good on what is a right of every salaried person in Costa Rica.
Not too good for the loan sharks that were probably getting ready to take a bite of the government’s ass. Can I say that here? Oh, I just did.
This year was not the traditional pay day of the first week in December. Typically by this time every year back as far as I can remember in Costa Rica, retailers, by this time, were crammed with shoppers with their Aguinaldo in hand.
This year, like at Walmart in Alajuela I happened to be yesterday, the specials were on, but the shoppers had yet to arrive.
Beyond this week and for the next few weeks, the country is in holiday shopping mode. Prices at the gas pumps came down, retailers are doing their best to get their share of the spending. For the average Tico, there is little or no concern for the economy.
Or what is to be in January.
Me, being one who earns in dollars and spends in colones, to better improve my living environment I’ve taken advantage of the dollar exchange, the specials and the prices which I am sure will start increasing come January. Just a few more items as the deals heat up even more.
I’ve even started considering buying a new car. But those pesky car dealers keep quoting me in dollars. It was just a thought, maybe I can get in on the ICE deal with the electric cars. Who do I know at ICE?
Come January I fear an entirely different scenario. Retailers will be adjusting their prices to reflect the new norm in the exchange rate – ¢600 colones for one US dollar. They will need way more colones to replace stock, which in turn will see higher prices.
I’ve seen that already on some items. At Pricesmart, a 40″ JVC flatscreen was ¢149,900 10 days ago, on Sunday the price as ¢164,000. The prices of the other flatscreens in the same line, the big ones, 50 inch and above, remained the same. I can see from the floor stock at the Santa Ana store few were sold, where only a few remained of the smaller sized. A coinincidence? Maybe. But I don’t think so.
Then there is the other reality, the reality for the masses of every January, paying off the December spending.
January in Costa Rica is known as, “la cuesta de Enero” (the January slope).
Apart from all of this, my guess of what will be ahead for us, here in Costa Rica, is just as good as yours.
Legislators on Monday afternoon approved in second and final debate the Plan Fiscal – Ley de Fortalecimiento de las Finanzas Públicas – with the aim of alleviating the country’s fiscal deficit.
The Tax Reform bill was approved with the votes of 34 votes in favor and 17 against.
It was 5:44 pm when the final vote was taken, the government of Carlos Alvarado reaching its goal of getting the controversial tax plan approved with the support of 14 legislators of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN), 10 of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC), 8 of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), 1 from the Partido Integración Nacional (PIN) and the vote of independent Erick Rodríguez.
How they voted
The 17 votes against came from 3 legislators of the Partido Restauración Nacional (PRN), 2 of the PIN, 2 of the PLN, one each of the Partido Republicano Social Cristiano, Frente Amplio and PUSC.
Absent from the vote were three legislators from the PRN, one each of the PLN and Republicano.
The Legislative Assembly is made of 55 legislators.
This approval comes after two failed attempts by two previous governments.
With the tax reform, the Ministerio de Hacienda (Ministry of Finance) expects close to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) in Spanish to alleviate the deficit that currently exceeds 7% of the GDP.
The tax reform also converts the current 13% sales tax on goods to a Value Added Tax (VAT) – Impuesto al Valor Agregado (IVA) in Spanish – with a rate of 13% on goods and services.
Likewise, it introduces several reforms made to income tax, such as the application of a global income, so that the taxpayers must pay taxes on the totality of their income and not separately. This change increases the total income tax paid by those with higher incomes.
In addition, the income tax is graduate to top off at 25% for earners over ¢4.205 million monthly. Earners of below ¢817,000 monthly do not pay income tax, the graduated to the maximum.
Other tax changes include a 15% tax on capital gains on real estate, stock, licenses, etc. The income tax on interest income will go from the current 8% to 15%. The VAT will tax streaming services such as Netflix and Uber, for example.
The VAT will also apply to housing rentals equal to 1.5 base salaries and higher. The current amount is ¢648,000 colones monthly.
The tax reform also introduces a number of amendments to the public sector salaries, containing government spending on bonuses, while limiting severance to a maximum of eight years.
The final chapter of the initiative establishes a series of fiscal responsibility rules for government authorities, in order to set limits to State debt at times of fiscal crisis and, above all, to define the specific responsibilities for mismanagement of public expenditure.
Outside the Legislative building in downtown San Jose, authorities did not take it lightly, ready for any outbreak of violence. In the photo is the police tactical vehicle known as “La Bestia” (The Beast) ready to back up the large number of police officers surrounding the legislative complex.
President signs the approved bill into law
In less than two hours of the Legislative Assembly approving the Tax Reform bill, President Carlos Alvarado communicated he had signed the bill into law.
Shortly after 8 pm, President Alvarado announced that he had signed the document brought to him by deputy minister of the Presidencia at 6:13 pm.
For the Plan Fiscal to be set in stone it now requires its publication (in print and digital form) in the official government newsletter, La Gaceta, which is expected before the end of this week. The publication is merely a formality.
“With the approval of the tax reform, the country has avoided an economic crisis,” said the president, who argued that the country made a “courageous” decision that gives confidence, certainty and stability at home and on the world stage.
Hemos evitado una crisis. Hemos evitado dolor. Aún falta y sólo esto no es suficiente, pero la aprobación del Plan Fiscal nos da oxígeno e impulso. Una nueva oportunidad @MonumentalCR
“The situation of public finances reached a critical point, putting at risk the sustainability of our social State of law,” said Alvarado. “It will take some time to see the results of greater scopew. This is not a minor achievement, it has not been easy”.
The body of a woman who authorities believe could be that of the tourist that went missing last week was found Monday afternoon in San Antonio de Escazú.
The finding was made by trained dogs in search of human remains of the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), about 80 meters from the villa in which the U.S. / Venezuelan tourist, Carla Stefaniak, 36, who has been missing since November 28, was staying.
Wálter Espinoza Espinoza, director of the OIJ, added that in the room occupied by the woman they found traces of blood, but did not give details.
However, Espinoza clarified that, at the moment, it cannot be confirmed that it is Stefaniak, waiting on the autopsy and physical recognition.
“Since November 28, the OIJ has carried out proceedings related to the need to locate Carla Stefaniak, who was reported as missing in our territory by her relatives,” said Espinoza.
“Today (Monday) we were performing several proceedings in the apartment, according to the data we had, that person was last observed. First of all, we reviewed the apartment where she stayed overnight and, after a review, we located biological fluids that are compatible with blood and are going to be subjected to revision and comparison,” he explained.
The director added that a confidential tip led authorities to search the nearby woods and with the help of cadaver dogs.
It wasn’t until 5:00 pm when the body was removed from the scene, according to Espinoza, using special care to preserve any indicative or key clue for the investigation.
Federico Jenkins, the lawyer for the hotel Le Mas de Provence where Carla was staying, said that this situation has them very worried and that, since the disappearance of the tourist was reported, they have collaborated with the OIJ.
According to the information disclosed by the lawyer, the tourist entered the hotel on Tuesday, November 27 and was scheduled to leave the next day. She booked the accommodation through Airbnb.
The lawyer said Carla arrived at 1 pm then left, coming back at 4 pm and did not go back out and that the night guard (from 6pm to 6 am) reported she left 5 am (on Wednesday) in a vehicle that came to pick, that he helped her with the suitcases.
The lawyer continued that, later, at 8:30 am an Uber came to pick up the girl.
The lawyer added that on Wednesday the room occupied by Carla Stefaniak was cleaned and they only found a soft drink and a tube of toothpaste. “That room was (then) occupied by other guests,” he said.
Jenkins added that the guard on duty the morning of the disappearance has about 18 months of working at the hotel and lives on the property. According to Jenkins, the OIJ are interviewing the man and waiting for authority to search his room.
The lawyer added that though the hotel has an outdoor camera, the system is not working.
On Monday the hotel suspended operations, the only guest left and all reservation canceled.
Walter Espinoza, director of the OIJ
Visit to Costa Rica
Carla Stefaniak arrived in Costa Rica on November 22, in the company of her sister-in-law, to celebrate her birthday. Social media indicate she, with his sister-in-law, visited the tourist area of Manuel Antonio, in Quepos, and La Fortuna in San Carlos, Alajuela.
On Tuesday (Nov, 27), after dropping off her sister-in-law, April (Burton) Antonieta, at the San Jose airport, she dropped off her rental car and then traveled to San Antonio de Escazú, where she would spend the night before her flight to Florida the next day.
April said on Facebook that Carla last contacted her around 8:00 pm Tuesday when she told her it was raining heavily and there was a power failure.
Less than a month ago, in the same area, the body of Stephannie Paola Castro Mora, 28 years old, appeared dismembered.
At the moment, there are no suspects for either crime.
Falling asleep, unaware of their surroundings or distracted, tourists traveling on buses that cover tourist routes across the country are targeted by criminal groups whose sole purpose is the theft of suitcases.
OIJ screenshot of thieves working a tourism bus
These criminals do not discriminate. For them, the bags of nationals or foreigners is the same. Their objectives are clear about what they want and how they achieve it.
The routes to/from Puntarenas, Guanacaste, Limón and La Fortuna are prime. The strikes are planned. They select the buses and schedules full of tourists – national or foreign, though the bags of foreigners are favored – and come up with a strategy that includes tracking the bus, pre-select victims at the stations or stops along the way.
The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) is aware of several organized criminal structures, who for the most part take advantage of the carelessness of their victims, leaving unattended bags in the upper compartment of the bus.
They also take advantage at stops, as passengers get off briefly for a snack, while the thieves stay behind.
“The victims become aware of the theft (the entire bag or just the contents) when they arrive at the terminal or destination, many hours later,” says Mario Madriz, a researcher at the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) working in the Puntarenas OIJ offices.
By that time it is too late. The bags and the thieves are long gone.
How do they operate?
While criminal groups general target tourist buses – foreigners and nationals alike – the also operate on urban (city) buses
The researcher expaliined, they (the criminals) scout “sensitive” points, such as terminals and bus stops of routes that mainly carry tourists. The use several vehicles, which then serve to flee with the stolen bags.
Inside the bus – selected from their scouting – 2 or more thieves ride with their potential victims, waiting for the opportune moment to strike, taking advantage of distracted or sleeping travelers.
“Sleeping passengers are targeted. They take the bags in the upper compartment. One of the thieves may sit next to the passenger, distract them with conversation or questions, while the accomplice takes the bag.
“If the victim becomes aware, they try to block their way or pretend it was accidental. After getting off the bus, the thieves get into the waiting car and flee the scene,” said Madriz.
Madriz added that tourists are targeted for their “high-value goods” carried in their luggage: cameras, tablets or computers. “They are the target, however, the local tourist is also a victim,” said the researcher.
“Police resolution of these cases is very low, because people realize hours after the event occurred. Or, buses do not have security cameras installed. In addition, foreigners do not always file a complaint because they will be in the country for a short time,” concluded Madriz.
The OIJ researcher said the criminal groups are highly organized, setting up their own “tour” schedules of buses leaving the Central Valley and travel to places like Puntarenas, Jaco and Quepos, highly traveled tourist destinations and short trips – under two hours – as compared to destinations in Guanacaste, the northern zone or Nicaragua and Panama borders.
How can you protect yourself?
Yerling Gómez, executive director of the Cámara Nacional de Autobuseros (Canabus), recommended that passengers not store high-value goods in suitcases placed in the upper compartment of the bus.
Gómez suggests always have your belongings in a location in sight.
Another safeguard is to carry high-value items in checked bags – on bus carriers that issue a ticket for each bag – carried in the lower and locked compartment of the bus, accessible only by the driver or one of his/her helpers.
Don’t assume because the bag is going in the lower compartment it is safe if there is no control, such as the ticket and that the operator (driver and/or helper) actually check each ticket when handing over the bags.
Thieves not only target electronics, but passports, credit cards and cash. Keep them on your person at all times, and don’t “flash the cash” – keep handy, in your pocket or separate section of your bag – a small amount of cash needed for the bus trip.
You don’t want to be antisocial, but a certain amount of “malicia” (a Spanish term for malice) can come in handy. Don’t be that fast and furious to strike up a conversation, more so don’t get distracted, by that nice stranger who has taken all the interest in the world in you. Listen to your inner voice, act on any doubt.
Thieves also operate on urban routes – city buses!
Use the comment section below or post to our official Facebook page your experience on the bus in Costa Rica.
The relatives of Carla Stefaniak, 36, the tourist who was reported missing last week during her stay in Costa Rica, assured the Miami media they are devastated, worried she may have been kidnapped.
Carla Stefaniak’s family last heard of hear Tuesday (Nov. 22) night. She missed her fligth home on Wednesday
Carla, former longtime resident of Tampa, Florida, was last heard of last Tuesday evening. Her family became worried when she did not arrive in Florida Wednesday afternoon, missing her flight from Costa Rica.
“Really friendly; extroverted; has a ton of friends.” April Burton describes her sister-in-law, to Firstcoastnews.com. Burton flew home on Tuesday, Carla was supposed to return from vacation the next day.
“But she didn’t get on the plane, and all the family has gotten from the Costa Ricans who may have seen her is that Carla just decided to check out of her accommodations at five in the morning”, said Burton.
“Someone’s lying,” Burton said. “Someone’s not telling the truth because that’s not her character.”
“We just want to know where she is. We just want to find out where she was,” Burton told CBSmiami.com. “She was just such a happy go lucky person. I’m just afraid she was just too trusting with someone there”.
Those who know Stefaniak alerted both the U.S. Embassy in San Jose and the FBI, which they say are trying to work with local authorities to find her.
“The U.S. Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no greater responsibility than the protection of U.S. citizens overseas,” a U.S. State Department official told 10News. “When a U.S. citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
Carla’s family is also urging everyone to reach out to their congress members, to beg them to get U.S. authorities more involved in the search.
They have started a GoFundMe account to support relatives, including Carla’s brother who traveled to Costa Rica looking for answers.
If you have any information about her disappearance, Costa Rican investigators urge you to call the OIJ confidential line at: 800-800-0645 or use WhatsApp: 8800-0645.
“They were taking my cousin away,” the teenager complained, and “the police were filming.”
“I was crying, I was angry because they were taking away my cousin. Seeing that a policeman was filming, I got mad and threw the rock at him,” said the fourteen-year-old student from a Managua high school, who on November 22 came out in defense of her classmates.
“They were taking my cousin away,” the teenager complained, and “the police were filming.”
The student threw a stone towards a police patrol vehicle following a fight outside the school. She did so in reaction to the arbitrary detention of her classmates, with the collaboration of the school principal, Jessica Vallejos. The girl was then threatened by a police officer who took out his gun and pointed it at her. This was the version of the neighbors of the school, located between two neighborhoods of District VI in Managua.
Witnesses of the incident that went viral on social media, declared to Confidencial that a police patrol arrived at the school after some neighbors complained of the commotion that a group of students were causing when the afternoon session was dismissed. The agents entered the school with the students they had detained. According to the version of some of the students, the school principal herself suggested taking them out through a gate at the back of the school, “so that no one finds out.”
Upon learning what had happened, other students waited for the police to exit, and began to shout at them. One of the officials began filming the students on his cell phone, while others were getting the detained students into the police vehicle including the cousin of the teen who then threw a rock, which led one of the policemen to take out his weapon and point it at the group.
A team from Confidencial attempted to obtain the school principal’s side of the story, but other personnel stated that she would not grant interviews.
“They gave us the order not admit any journalists; they don’t want to offer interviews here,” affirmed the custodian at the school’s main gate.
Agents rough and aggressive with the students
After she threw a rock, the fourteen-year-old girl was threatened by a gun in the hands of a policeman. Photo: Patricia Martinez
The students who were detained were taken in the police vehicle to Police Station VI where they were freed later that same day.
The fifteen-year-old who was detained confirmed that while in the patrol car the officials treated her roughly: they treated me badly, there was a moment in which the official insulted me and wanted to slap me,” the student recalled.
Friends of the other teen who was detained declared that the officials mistreated him physically and psychologically. “Since he’s a boy, they mistreated him more. The police put a gun to his back,” commented a friend.
The girl student, nonetheless, added that when she reached the Police Station the police chief on duty – who they didn’t identify – was “pleasant” and commented to them that he too “regretted” the events that have occurred in the country since April, when the protests against the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo began.
“The Station Chief was cool with us; he told us not to go around defying them, and that we shouldn’t make problems for ourselves, that some police have wounds in their hearts for all of those who died,” the youth commented.
The Police haven’t issued any statements regarding the event, nor have they identified the officers who intervened at the school and caused the incident.
Student wasn’t expelled, but her parents fear for the future
The mothers of the two girls – the fifteen-year-old who was detained by the police and the fourteen-year-old who threw the rock – both confirmed that neither girl was expelled from the high school, as some of the media had speculated.
The Friday immediately following the incident, the 14-year-old’s mother didn’t send her to school for fear that the Police might return to the center and take her off. On social media, hundreds of Nicaraguans had commented on the video of the teen throwing the rock, comparing her with the national hero Andres Castro, who famously confronted an 1856 attack by throwing rocks at the Filibuster army commandeered by adventurer William Walker from the United States. The comments on social media also criticized the “cowardly attitude” of the policeman who aimed a gun at her.
“After all this, I’m afraid that they’ll grab her and not let her free anymore,” affirmed the young girl’s mother. The incident also coincided with the last days of the school year.
National human rights organizations have calculated that the Ortega regime has jailed 610 Nicaraguans, among them 28 minors; all are considered political prisoners of the repression.
The girl’s mother went to the school on Monday to find out about the teen’s status at that center.
The “Republica de Argentina” School. Photo was taken from the website El 19 Digital
“They told me that I should come and pick up her report card on December 3, and that my daughter can continue attending there. The principal said that none of the kids were expelled,” declared the mother of the girl who had been threatened with the gun.
Both mothers preferred not to give their names, to protect the identity of the minors. They offered no further details, “in order not to make the problem bigger,” arguing that their priority is to continue guaranteeing the education of their daughters.
However, another family member with links to the minors complained that the school administration “shouldn’t have turned the students over to the police.”
According to this family member, what they should have done was to call the children’s parents or guardians and have them decide what to do with their children, as the disciplinary policies of the center specify.
Nicaraguan Federation for Children and Adolescents requests outside intervention
The Nicaraguan Coordination Federation that works with Children and Adolescents (Codeni) issued a statement following the incident at the Republica de Argentina school.
“This case constitutes a flagrant violation of the rights of children and adolescents, and of the principles and fundamentals of the Childhood and Adolescence Code. It should be sanctioned according to the stipulations of the penal code,” the organization pointed out.
In addition, they demanded that the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo and all the State institutions “guarantee protective measures for the children and teens amid the sociopolitical crisis the country is engulfed in, and halt the arbitrary acts committed by the authorities.”
Codeni has documented 29 minors among the 325 dead from the Ortega massacre.
“We urge the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights and the Regional Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to become familiar with the case and to undertake the needed investigations to denounce it at an international level,” the statement recommended.
(OZY) As migrant caravaners tried illegally crossing the U.S.–Mexico border this past week, only to be rebuffed by tear gas fired by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents they assaulted, they chanted: “We are international workers!” They told TV cameras they were looking for work — not fleeing violence or persecution in Central America.
But that’s not how they were described by the U.S. media, on social media or by politicians. This, unfortunately, has become a recurring theme in the new normal of a 24-hour news cycle and of viral online content in which misused terminology can make a big impact on public opinion. Instead of referring to them as international workers, reporters and commentators spoke on the fly and used several other terms to describe this group of people at the southern border:
Asylum seekers
Refugees
Illegal aliens
Illegal immigrants
Undocumented immigrants
Undocumented aliens
Migrants
What I cannot stress enough is that these words and their different meanings matter. They matter not only from a legal perspective but in the way that the American public responds to the dilemma before them. Everyone from President Donald Trump to Sen. Bernie Sanders agrees we need immigration reform, but if we aren’t honest about who is at the border, then how can we expect to achieve a real, lasting solution?
Let’s start by defining the words being most frequently misused, beginning with asylum seekers. According to the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS), asylum is granted to someone who has suffered persecution or fear that they will suffer persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Asylum seekers are already in the U.S. when they file and just have to do so within a year of entering the country.
With any mass of people as large as the caravan, you will inevitably get a mixture of the people described above. Some are truly worthy of asylum in the United States; some are not.
This term is closely related to the term refugee, which has almost an identical definition except for the location in which they are applying for legal status. Refugees file for asylum while still abroad; asylees file inside the country or at a port of entry. The United States makes this distinction based on location, but the rest of the world does not when discussing refugees, which results in some confusion. This is why it’s important to combine asylum and refugee numbers when discussing the U.S. government’s overall humanitarian response.
Next up is illegal alien or illegal immigrants, which leads to a greater debate that also includes undocumented alien or undocumented immigrant. Alien is the legal term to describe anyone who’s not a citizen or national of the United States. Immigrant, as defined by the IRS, is an alien who has been granted the right by USCIS to reside permanently in the United States and to work without restrictions in the United States. They may also be referred to as a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR).
Illegal is the adjective added to describe the individual and is often unnecessary. This is why the Associated Press recently changed its style guide in favor of using illegal as an adverb — to describe actions, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally — and not as an adjective to describe people. Similar treatment is given to undocumented by the AP. No one in the caravan on the Mexican side of the border is “illegal” or “undocumented” at this time, according to U.S. law.
Finally, we have the term migrant, which is the most neutral. The AP also wrote about this in 2015 when Europe was facing a similar movement of individuals from Syria into the European Union. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a migrant is a person “who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions,” and can include all of the terms described above, including international worker.
With any mass of people as large as the caravan, you will inevitably get a mixture of the people described above. Some are truly worthy of asylum in the United States; some are not. That is up to the immigration courts to decide.
So why does this matter? Because words matter, especially in national debates. Words influence how we approach policy solutions, and the complicated nature of this caravan and the diversity of the individuals traveling within it illustrate the complicated policy solutions we will need to solve it.
The media has a responsibility to consider the words they choose to describe these migrants and a greater responsibility to explain and correct the words used by politicians from both sides of the aisle. But we as citizens must also educate ourselves and understand what we are really debating.
Article by Lauren Claffey first appeared at OZY.com. Read the original here.
Lauren Claffey is the founder of Claffey Communications and served in the Department of Homeland Security during the Trump administration.
Two officers of the Fuerza Pública (National Police) were arrested on Thursday (Nov. 29) after following up on a complaint by two Canadian tourists who were charged US$600 dollars to not be detained (arrested) for not carrying their passports.
Photo courtesy OIJ
According to the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) – Judicial Police, akin to Canada’s RCMP (the FBI in the U.S), the detainees are two men aged 31 and 48.
The events occurred on November 14 when the police officials stopped the two Canadian tourists in Santa Ana de Belén, in Carrillo, Guanacaste.
When the officers asked the tourists for their passports, the Canadians indicated that they were not carrying them. The officers told the tourists that in Costa Rica this was a crime and that they had to pay US$600 as a fine to not be arrested.
According to the preliminary investigation, when the tourists did not have the cash on hand, and allegedly the officers escorted the tourists in their “official” vehicle to an ATM in Filadelfia de Carrillo.
The tourists, after commenting to a Costa Rican what they had just experienced, learned that they were, in fact, victims of an extortion. The Costa Rican recommended they to file a complaint with the OIJ, which they did.
Both officials were arrested while on business at the OIJ headquarters in Santa Cruz de Guanacaste.
The Brazilian model, singer and businesswoman, Claudia Alende, is compared to the American actress Megan Fox, because of her physical resemblance. The Megan Fox Brasileña (Brazilian Megan Fox) recently took in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste beaches .
After taking second place in the “Dancing With the Stars (Costa Rica)” competition, Keyla Sánchez took some time off for a vacation and sent her more than 430,000 followers on Instagram crazy with a photo while while enjoying the hotel’s pool, located in San Carlos.
“But she didn’t get on the plane, and all the family has gotten from the Costa Ricans who may have seen her is that Carla just decided to check out of her accommodations at five in the morning”, said Burton.
