Un alto precio del dólar y un ambiente generalizado de desconfianza en la economía podrían desincentivar las compras en línea en el día más importante para el comercio electrónico: Viernes Negro.
Aunque las ofertas y los precios de algunos productos se mantienen respecto al año anterior, los costarricenses tendrán que desembolsar más colones por sus productos comprados en el exterior, debido al alto tipo de cambio.
Cuba is watching closely the development of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which the EU is crafting to circumvent US sanctions on Iran, senior Cuban foreign ministry official Rodolfo Reyes said in an interview with AFP.
According to Reyes, Cuba thinks a similar mechanism might be created in the future for Havana to avoid the US embargo on the island.
“There was a mention of this instrument, and we of course also raised the interest that we would have in any solution of this kind that would allow European companies to become increasingly involved in foreign investment and bilateral trade with Cuba,” Reyes told AFP.
The SPV is intended as a countermeasure to US-imposed sanctions on Iran, allowing the EU and other countries to match Iranian oil exports to goods Tehran imports, effectively creating an international barter exchange system by utilizing virtual “credits” instead of US dollars.
Cuba is in a very similar position, still suffering from the comprehensive trade embargo imposed on it by the US back in 1960s. The embargo remains in place, despite the fact that relations between Havana and Washington are much warmer now than during the Cold War period.
The first wave of US sanctions on Iran were enacted in August of this year, but the SPV’s creation remains bogged down with technicalities. Some experts have expressed their scepticism over the effectiveness of such an institution.
Many major international companies have announced they are pulling out of Iran, and on November 5 the US introduced a fresh set of sanctions aimed at isolating Iran’s banks from international finance and slashing its oil exports, AFP reports.
Article originally appeared on Today Cuba and is republished here with permission.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that he was not a ‘dictator,’ but a ‘modest man’.
“I don’t care that people call me a dictator. Those who say I’m a dictator can go to hell. I know who I am — a modest man, brought up on the basis of trade unionism and the values of Simon Bolivar. I could have never been a dictator,” Maduro said, as quoted by the daily Excelsior.
Representatives from the US authorities, as well as Colombian president and the head of the Organisation of American States, have called Maduro a ‘dictator,’ as the majority of North and South American countries have not recognized the results of the presidential election held in Venezuela in May.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump was expected to add Venezuela to the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.
On 1 November Trump informed US lawmakers that he had signed an executive order to impose sweeping new sanctions on Venezuela’s gold exports.
Trump said that the measure came in response to the efforts of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s government to plunder his country’s wealth for their own ‘corrupt purposes’.
For years, Venezuela has been living in a state of a political and economic crisis that was worsened by a decline in oil prices and sanctions introduced by the United States.
Article originally appeared on Today Venezuela and is republished here with permission.
Two women were detained, suspected of participating and consenting to the abuse, rape and the production of child porn to the detriment of their own daughters.
The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) confirmed the arrest this Tuesday morning after the arrest of the women and man, who had in his possession electronic devices with various photos and videos of the minors.
Erick Lewis, head of the Computer Crimes Section of the OIJ, explained that in 2016 judicial agents confiscated computer equipment from the male suspect, that was analyzed by forensic specialists that allowed to them to identify, in October 2017, the victims and the offenders.
“After the forensic analysis of the equipment confiscated from the main suspect (named Bustos) it is determined that he and two women had sexual relations with minors. With additional work, the identity of the two women was determined. In addition, during the investigation it was determined that the minors are their own daughters,” explained Lewis.
Lewis clarified that the women, named Vega (39) and Salazar (45), did not know each other, but that both were linked to Bustos (45), who in the confiscated material appears to have sexual relations with one of the suspects and with a minor, individually.
On Tuesday, two houses in Heredia were raided, one in Barreal de Heredia, where Vega was arrested, and another in La Aurora, where Bustos lived, who was arrested at his place of work in Pavas, San José.
Salazar, on the other hand, was apprehended in Tambor de Alajuela, when she was on a public road.
During the proceedings, the judicial agents confiscated cell phones, a camera, and other electronic devices.
The three persons will be passed to the Public Ministry with the corresponding report so that their legal status can be determined.
Authorities did not disclose the age of the minors or if there are others involved.
The lack of regulation for passenger transport services – such as Uber – is a topic that not only disturbers the rideshare app company partners (drivers) and official taxi drivers, but users as well who demand an ‘opening’ or ‘legalization’.
Last week, in a letter sent by the Unión de Taxistas Costarricenses (UTC) -union of Costa Rican taxi drivers to the regulating body, the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP), they assured that if the regulator does not take action to shut down the ‘illegal’ operation, they – the taxi drivers representatives – will not guarantee that there will be no violent acts on the streets.
“Without encouragement or boasting, or threat, or offense, or incitement to de facto actions or violence, we will move away from the position of mediators and conciliators and counterweight,” said Ruben Vargas, Secretary General UTC.
The letter leaves open the possibility that emotions may lead to violence.
Costa Ricans have risen their voice to reject the warnings and what they consider threats. In addition, they criticize the inaction by the authorities, leading to protests, roadblocks, and greater congestion.
The taxi drivers have announced that Monday, November 26, starting at 7:00 am in the area of Gimnasio Nacional (National Gym) in La Sabana, they will gather to move en masse to the offices of the Aresep in Guachipelin, and plan to camp out until they obtain a response to their demands.
Uber has been operating in Costa Rica for more than three years, in which time the company has grown to include more than 22,000 drivers and over 750,000 users,
Costa Rica President Carlos Alavarado did not respond to the attacks and insults by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega made last week.
The government of Daniel Ortega issued a statement last Friday where it calls Alvarado, among others things, “ill-educated, meddlesome, contemptuous and snoopy” for his criticism of the internal situation in Nicaragua during the XXVI Summit of Heads of State and Government of Latin America, in Guatemala.
Costa Rica’s immigration police (Policía Profesional de Migración) denied entry to ten foriegners, among them citizens from the United States, Venezuela, Singapor, Cuba, Colombia, Argentina and Panama.
Immigration director Raquel Vargas said that the foreigners did not meet with all the requirements to enter Costa Rica, thus the Paso Canoas border officials denied their entry and escorted them to the Panama side of the border, handing them over to Panamian officials.
In addition, Vargas explained that a Panamanian national, identified by his last name Vegara Núñez, was arrested while trying to leave Costa Rica with a false exit stamp in his passport.
The director said a cross-check in their system allowed officials to detect the falseness of the stamp.
Unlike in years past, where the land border control posts computers were were not connected (if even installed) to the central database in San Jose, allowing for poor to no immigration controls in many cases.
Additional reading: “Special Operations” By Immigration Monitoring Travelers Leaving or Entering Costa Rica
Entry requirements to Costa Rica:
US, Canadian and European nationals do not require an entry visa to Costa Rica. However, they must have a current valid passport and a return ticket to exit Costa Rica within 90 days. (Either to return to your country or to go to another country).
Tourist visas will depend on the nationality, purpose of visit, country of residence and duration of stay. However, the visa does not guarantee entry to Costa Rica, this depends on the immigration officer upon arrival at land, maritime and airport border controls.
If traveling to Costa Rica from the South American countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana and Venezuela, you will need the YELLOW FEVER VACCINE.
More information on Visa, Residences, Permits visit the Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington DC website.
Follow this link to the Costa Rica immigration service (Dirección de Migración y Extranjería de Costa Rica) website.
Ferry service to Paquera – on the Nicoya Peninsula – will be suspended for 10 days starting Friday (November 23), for maintenance work to replace the ramp at the Paquera dock.
The ferry service will resume on Monday, December 3.
For those needing to get to destinations such as Tambor, Cobano, Montezuma and Playa Teresa, in the Nicoya Peninsula, they have two alternatives:
The Coonatramar company that operates the Playa Naranjo ferries, the San Lucas I and San Lucas II, has posted hours of operation for the period of November 23 to December 2.
The replacement of the Paquera ramp will cost ¢400 million colones, damaged on August 15, 2017, in an incident in which the ferry crashed into the access ramp.
During this time the incident generated friction between the Maritime Division of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) and Naviera-Tambor, the company operating the Puntarenas – Paquera ferry concession.
The company assures that they had properly warned authorities for the needed changes to the access ramp, while the MOPT began the process of investigation.
Since the “incident” the Paquera ferry dock, the major access between Puntarenas and the Nicoya Peninsula, continued to operate, damaged and all, with only emergency repairs.
Another important note is that the ferry service on December 3 will resume with only one ferry, the Tambor 2, while the Tambor 3 is in Cartagena, Colombia for maintenance, expected to return to Costa Rica by Decembe 15.
It is still unclear what really happened when two Costa Rican immigration police officers were detained on Monday by the Nicaraguan Army in the border area of Mexico de Upala, in Alajuela.
According to the information confirmed by Micheal Soto, the Ministro de Seguridad Pública (Minister of Public Security), the officers surnamed Rivas and Morales were carrying out a ‘rejection’ of a Nicaraguan national when there were intercepted by the Nicaraguan Army of and taken to an army post.
“After a very positive coordination with members of this institution, they were returned to our territory, both with the patrol unit and their weapons,” Soto said.
The Minister confirmed that both officers were unharmed, returned in perfect health and without any delays.
Soto added that the immigration officials acting well within their official functions, in the exercise of a task they usually perform, however, in appearance, that we have to investigate clearly, were within the Nicaraguan territory.
“It could have been some confusion, or not. We have to clarify these circumstances,” he said.
The Government of Costa Rica confirmed that the officials were released at 8 pm.
The minister stressed that after making contact with the Nicaraguan authorities, “the incident did not go any further”..
The Partido Republicano Social Cristiano (PRSC) – Republican Social Christian Party – used photoshopped images to charge the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) – elections tribunal – with at least two false billboards that were never placed during the last presidential election campaign.
The images of then-presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernández were placed digitally on two real “publitapias” billboards which in reality were empty.
“Yes we can fight corruption and fight against poverty,” reads the alleged billboards, where Hernandez appears with the thumb of his right hand raised in approval.
An investigative team from La Nacion was able to verify, through interviews with residents and one of the owners of the land where the billboard stands, that such publicity was never seen.
The witnesses told the investigative reports that in fact on the billboard they have never any type of advertising ever.
The altered photos are part of the settlement of expenses that the political party gave to the TSE with the objective that the money paid, ¢9 million colones, for the advertising be reimbursed with public funds.
The detailed cost submission to the TSE says the ads were for a period of 4 months, from October 2017 to January 2018.
However, the owner of “publitapias”, Wilberth Fuentes Núñez, confirmed, swearing on his dead mother, that the billboards were in fact rented to an American for three and a half years and during all that time there has been no type of ad.
Read the original report (in Spanish) from La Nacion.
U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, returning from a trip to Colombia, said over the weekend that the Trump administration is making a push to strengthen alliances across Latin America as part of an effort to counter rising Chinese and Russian influence in the United States’ backyard.
In an interview with Foreign Policy, Goldfein said Colombia and other Latin American countries risked being locked out of U.S. and allied operations if they stopped buying military hardware from the United States and turned to other markets instead.
“While there may be other cheap hardware out there that might be available on the market, at some point it becomes really hard to make it connect and share within the system,” Goldfein said by phone Saturday while flying home from Colombia.
His trip was part of a broader administration effort to reinforce alliances across Latin America as the region grapples with a range of security threats, from narcotrafficking and terrorism to Venezuela’s economic collapse and ensuing refugee crisis. During the two-day visit, which followed U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis’s own South America tour in August, Goldfein met with Colombia’s minister of defense, commander general, and air force chief, and he spoke with students at the Colombian war college.
“When it comes to China and Russia, we are looking at cooperation where we can and pushing back aggressively where we must,” Goldfein said. “We keep a close eye on their activities globally, but certainly we keep an eye on their activities [in Latin America].”
Underlying the outreach effort, experts say, is U.S. recognition that China and Russia are quietly exerting economic and military influence in Latin America. China is a master at leveraging trade and direct economic investment for geopolitical gains, they say. Driven by a desire to tap into Latin America’s vast oil reserves, as well as to bolster anti-American sentiment, China has invested large sums of money in the region. It has surpassed the United States as the main destination for exports in seven countries in the region. In five of those countries—Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Peru, and Uruguay—China is now the largest export market. It has also been working with Argentina on a space station in Patagonia.
“The Colombians are concerned that the U.S. has been leaving the region behind, and it has created a void, this vacuum to fill,” said Moises Rendon, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He noted Colombia’s dilemma: It “can’t say no to China, because they are providing opportunities and investment, [while] the U.S. is not providing the same types of opportunities.”
Russia, meanwhile, is seen as less of a power player in the region but has sold billions of dollars of weapons to countries across Latin America. Unlike China, which wants to use Latin America’s natural resources for its own economic growth, Russia’s interest in the region is primarily strategic, Rendon said.
Both nations are using these commercial ties to support Latin American regimes that violate human rights and are antagonistic to the United States, particularly Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, with the end goal of undermining America’s influence in the region, analysts said.
“One very important concern for the U.S. government is that the Chinese are propping up [Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s] regime and other nondemocratic leaders like Nicaragua [and] Bolivia,” Rendon said.
The escalation of Chinese influence in Latin America is reflected in the number of nations in the region that now recognize Taiwan as part of China, according to Ana Quintana, an analyst with the Heritage Foundation. This group now includes El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.
The goal is not just “sticking it to the Americans,” but also “amplifying their power,” Quintana said, noting the region’s wealth of oil reserves. Both China and Russia “want to be in a position to be a power broker in Latin America.”
The U.S. administration’s approach to countering Chinese and Russian influence in Latin America is rooted in building new alliances and strengthening the ones that already exist. Maintaining strong military-to-military ties is key, Goldfein said.
“There are times when our diplomatic relationships may change based on the political environment, but we are able to maintain a military-to-military relationship and dialogue,” Goldfein said. He stressed his close friendship with Colombia’s Air Force chief, Gen. Carlos Eduardo Bueno, and lauded the country for leading the region in promoting democracy.
“Colombia is really the gold standard for how you take the resources of the country and, through strong leadership and perseverance, you turn a country around and get it on a path toward democracy,” Goldfein said.
Ensuring U.S. and Colombian forces can operate seamlessly together involves not just frequent joint exercises, he said, but also using interoperable equipment. For example, the Colombian Air Force is a world leader in employing light attack aircraft to fight drug traffickers, a practice the U.S. Air Force is hoping to emulate against insurgents in the Middle East. The United States has in recent years provided A-29 Super Tucanos, the same aircraft the Colombian Air Force operates, to the fledgling Afghan Air Force, and it is now looking to buy that platform for its own pilots.
During the visit, Goldfein said, he and Colombian leaders discussed partnership opportunities “to protect the sovereignty of their airspace,” including potentially selling Colombia U.S. military aircraft such as F-16 fighter jets.
Reinforcing U.S. alliances in Latin America is also part of a “layered defense approach” to protecting America’s borders, Goldfein said. One current concern is the crisis of Venezuelan migrants, who are pouring into Colombia at rates of more than 4,000 a day. At the request of the Colombian government, Mattis this fall sent the U.S. Navy’s hospital ship USNS Comfort to Colombia to provide medical care for the migrants.
Another challenge the two air chiefs discussed is a recent spike in cocaine production across Colombia. Goldfein said the United States is exploring how it can help the Colombian government eradicate the coca fields.
“We need to be there for our Latin American counterparts for the good and the bad,” Quintana said. “This is a very critical time, because there is a lot of positives happening in the region.”
Article by Lara Seligman, FP’s Pentagon correspondent first appeared at Foreignpolicy.com.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Luis Beltran, whose brother and three friends died rafting on his Costa Rica bachelor party trip last month has spoken out about their deaths for the first time.
Ernesto Sierra, Jorge Caso, Sergio Lorenzo and Andres Denis, all died after their raft flipped over on the Naranjo river shortly after 3 pm on October 20. They were all aged between 25 and 35 and were in Costa Rica celebrating Lorenzo’s brother Beltran’s bachelor party with 10 other men.
If you cannot see the video above, click here for access to GMA.
‘It was supposed to be just an amazing time and within five minutes – it was literally two or three days of nothing but great memories and within five minutes, literally everything just turned upside down,’ Luis Beltran, who lives in Miami, told GMA.
If you cannot see the video above, click here for access to GMA.
‘These weren’t random people or friend of a friend, these people were specifically chosen because they all played a part in my life. I’ve lost a brother but, I’ve said it to these guys. I’ve lost four brothers, all these guys,’ he said, his voice trailing off.
Local tour guide Kevin Thompson Reid also died on that day.
Beltran urged anyone who was considering a similar trip to research it beforehand, saying: ‘When you go on vacation, subconsciously you put your guard down because you want to have a good time.
‘You don’t think anything bad is going to happen.
(TelesurTv) Authorities in Guatemala declared a red alert and evacuated around 4,000 people early Monday after the country’s fiery Fuego volcano erupted for the fifth time this year, sending bursts of ash and lava down the mountain.
The volcano last erupted in early November without causing damage but experts have become increasingly concerned about renewed activity inside the volcano since Sunday.
A spokesman for Guatemala’s disaster management agency CONRED said it decided to evacuate the municipality of Escuintla and two other districts. Some 4,000 people were taken to temporary shelters as a precaution.
Dozens of residents are being sheltered in tents at a sports stadium in Escuintla.
The spokesman, David de Leon, said the eruption became increasingly violent after it began Sunday morning, leading to fears for the safety of the thousands of people who live on the slopes of the 3,763 meters high mountain.
A column of ash rose about 1,000 meters above the crater and areas west of the volcano — 35 kilometers from Guatemala City — were under a barrage of gas-ash and fiery rocks, the CONRED said.
The state’s Institute of Volcanology said it was concerned the ash particles from the volcano could reach the colonial tourist city of Antigua Guatemala.
The institute’s director Pablo Oliva said the volcano was expected to remain “at a high to very high level” of activity but was unable to say when it would subside.
A previous eruption on October 12-13 was characterized by increasingly loud booms and lava flow. On that occasion, 62 people were evacuated from their homes as a precaution and a highway around the mountain was closed.
Many of those evacuated on Monday said they had feared a repeat of the deadly June eruption.
“We were scared and that’s why we evacuated,” said Miriam Garcia, from the village of El Rodeo which was largely spared the deadly eruption. “You have to get out as soon as possible because when that (volcanic material) comes close, you no longer have time to leave, even if you run, because it comes very fast,” said Oscar Juarez from El Rodeo.
Activity inside Guatemala’s two other volcanoes, Pacaya and Santiaguito, has increased in recent months but they have not entered the eruptive phase.
Hundreds of residents of Tijuana gathered on Sunday to demonstrate against the migrant caravan, shouting “no to invasion” and “Mexico for Mexicans”, while others condemned the protest, calling it racist and xenophobic.
At least 3,000 migrants are in Tijuana, a Mexican city close to the border with California, to seek asylum in the United States, or even in Canada.
They are part of a larger caravan of migrants who left Central America a month ago, fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The so-called “Citizen Movement against the chaos of the migrant caravan” in Tijuana has accused the migrants of causing insecurity in the city and in Mexico.
“Mexico has always been a nation that has opened its doors to all those in need, but there are ways in which I can come to your house requesting support and asking for help,” said one resident.
A few yards away from the protesters, some Tijuana residents, including LGBT groups, stood in support of the migrants defending them against what they consider an expression of racism and xenophobia.
“They are some, they are not all (the migrants that cause problems). We can not label everyone, because that’s where very good people come from. There are women, children,” says Yolanda Rocha, founder of the Mariposas, an LGBT shelter.
During a talk at a hostel in the centre of the city, the archbishop of Canada, Leonardo Marin Saavedra, raised the possibility of the migrants being accepted in Canada if the conditions demanded by the Canadian government are met.
The Catholic priest proposed a Mexico to Canada airlift, a boat transfer to Vancouver or permission from US authorities for the migrants to travel by land in buses.
“The American dream is that, a dream, and you can have a territory of peace in Canada,” he said.
He told the migrants “do not get discouraged”, “be respectful” in Mexico, “ignore expressions of discrimination” and modify “negative behaviours and expressions”.
He said different organisations will be responsible for sending a project proposal to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to see if it is possible for Canada to accept some of the caravan migrants.
He asked migrants “not to have any illusions but to have faith”.
The archbishop will hold a press conference on Monday in Tijuana to discuss the proposals he raised to a group of the nearly 3,000 migrants who occupy a shelter in the northern area of Tijuana.
The feet of Estilita López, 78 years old, are bloodied and bruised from the arduous journey from Yaracuy, in northern Venezuela, to Bogotá, the Colombian capital. Together with 460 fellow compatriots, she now lives in a new, city-funded migrant camp that has just sprung up on a football pitch near the airport.
“I had to leave Venezuela, but this is all there is for us here,” says López, taking shelter from the beating sun in the yellow tent she shares with her daughter and grandchildren as clothes soaked by an earlier downpour dry out on the grass nearby. “We’re waiting to eat something, and I need to see a doctor about my feet.”
Oil-rich Venezuela is mired in economic and political turmoil, with rampant shortages in staple foods and basic medicines. Hyperinflation has rendered the currency practically worthless, and crime is widespread. The dire situation has triggered an exodus of Venezuelans, arguably the largest mass migration in Latin America’s history.
Three million have now fled Venezuela, with more than a million in neighboring Colombia, where opportunities are scarce according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. City officials estimate that more than 250,000 Venezuelans are living in Bogotá.
Just a few blocks from the bus terminal, where many people arrive with only what they can carry, roughly 300 refugees and migrants had established a shantytown overlooking a sewage-strewn canal.
Concerned by reports of crime and disease outbreaks, the authorities shut down that camp and opened the new one, where López now sleeps, on Tuesday. “I lived in the old camp for two weeks,” she says. “I was getting more sick every day there, it was disgusting.”
Despite better conditions in the new camp, which has showers, portable toilets, and visiting doctors, the field floods during downpours. With the rainy season approaching, some worry about about the health of the refugees.
“It’ll turn into a quagmire when the rains come,” says Ricardo Moscoso, who lives in an upmarket apartment building overlooking the camp. “There’s no heating and no real sanitation there … there are cages that are more dignified than this.”
María Gabriela Ruiz, 22, fled Venezuela last year with her boyfriend and had been living in an apartment while working odd jobs across the city. Now, seven months pregnant and unable to find work, she lives in the camp.
“I don’t feel like a refugee, I feel more like a prisoner,” she says as a group of boisterous teenagers play tag around her. “We have to wait to be given food, and sometimes it doesn’t even arrive … last night, I went to bed hungry.”
The camp is not accepting new arrivals, leading many homeless Venezuelans to beg officials at the gate to bring them some food.
Despite the hardship, camp residents say it is still better than what they left behind in Venezuela.
“There’s no food on the shelves back home, at least here we have food and water,” says Jesus Rafael Brazón, 45, who fled Monagas, in eastern Venezuela, three months ago with 14 members of his family. He too made much of the journey on foot. “In Venezuela I started working as a taxi driver, but now there aren’t even the parts available for repairs.”
Brazon, though grateful for the reception he has received in the camp, says he is desperately seeking the right to work. “It’s the only thing that will really help us,” he says. “We need to be able to work, to support ourselves.”
Enrique Peñalosa, Bogotá’s mayor, has called on the government to nationalise Venezuelans.
“It would be a huge help, not just from a humanitarian point of view but also an economic one,” says Cristina Vélez Valencia, Bogotá’s secretary for social integration. “Many of the people arriving are young people, so it would be a huge demographic boost to have them in the workforce.”
Vélez added that the plan is to shut the camp down in January, though what happens after that remains uncertain. “We’re looking at other options,” she says, adding that more permanent refuges for short-term residents are being set up in buildings across the city. “What we don’t want is to keep opening more and more camps.”
Source: The Guardian
Article originally appeared on Today Colombia and is republished here with permission.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has dismissed as “unscientific fiction” media reports about Russian military bases allegedly returning to Cuba, Alexander Schetinin, the head of the ministry’s Latin American desk, told Russia’s news portal, Sputniknews.com
“We are not commenting on unscientific fiction,” Schetinin said.
Earlier, the British tabloid Daily Star reported, citing the Jamestown Foundation – a Washington DC-based institute for research and analysis, that the West was worried by the possibility of Russia reinstating its military facilities on the Caribbean island in retaliation for the US decision to pull out of the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
The newspaper said it looked like a throwback to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Daily Star added that Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Kanel’s official visit to Moscow and his meetings with President Vladimir Putin to discuss military cooperation between the two countries had led researchers to believe that Moscow could reactivate the Soviet-era signals intelligence base at Lourdes, which was shuttered 16 years ago, and build additional bases on the island to monitor US activities in the Caribbean.
(Panam Post) Many analysts are shocked at the collapse of Venezuela, a nation that was once showcased as the cradle of modernity in Latin America. This surprise of course springs from the fact that most observers failed to realize that the ascent of the so-called Bolivarian movement to power was part of a complex network of intertwined interests between the Cuban regime and organized crime. Failure to identify the nature of the country’s dilemma, has led to the exhaustion of the most vibrant and heroic civic movement ever to act in Latin America.
Fighting the Venezuelan disease demands a deep understanding of the relationship between economic and technological development and institutional prowess. To be sure, every geographical or technological shift in the world economy and its production methods generates strong economic change that surpasses the capacities of political institutions to channel this change.
Pockets of unregulated territories begin to mushroom, and these serve as theater to illicit activities. Those perpetrating illicit activities and enriching themselves from those activities take hold of the uncontrolled territories.
In ancient times, the Silk Road took hold to unite production and consumption between Asia and Europe. The voyage from Quanzhou to Xi’an was full of perils arising from bandits that would raid caravans to seize their riches. The outlaws would then hide in remote villages protected by a feudal lord that did not particularly like the rulers of Quanzhou or Xi’an. The goods were then sold at some city further east along the Silk Road.
Bandits also conducted espionage activities that produced hefty income flows as most medieval lords were at odds with one another. They also engaged in paid assassinations and in the trade of deadly potions. Those bandits were eventually vanquished or subject to control as the Mongolian empire consolidated itself, Persia became a regional power, Venice ruled the Mediterranean Sea and Constantinople/Istanbul succeeded Rome as organizing node for the existing world trade.
Yet it took at least three decades to annihilate criminal organizations that had mushroomed along the Silk Road. The Silk Road was closed by the Ottoman empire in 1453. This gave way to the Age of Discovery, when the world experienced yet another major economic shift.
Organized crime had another glorious epoch when America was discovered by the Europeans as a result of the Ottoman blockade. The event changed the world economic axis both geographically as well as technologically, given that Prince Henry of Portugal convinced his father to invest in innovative ships thereby triggering competition among European powers to develop faster, larger and more resilient vessels. Pope Alexander VII gave the newfound territory to Spain and Portugal.
This invited trouble. It wreaked havoc on the world balance of power and left economic powers like France, England and Holland out in the cold. So, those countries left out organized to participate in what was deemed to be the most significant wealth creation exercise of the 16th century: knowing that neither Spain nor Portugal would be able to exercise territorial control over the Americas, England, France and Holland turned to adventurous characters that lived in the legal shadows to spoil the Spanish-Portuguese American Hackathon.
Pirates, privateers, and buccaneers were the labels placed on these adventurers who chose to create their own city in Kingston Bay. The city was world famed for its bars, brothels, and gambling parlors. It was described as the wickedest city in the world. In the 17th century, Port Royal competed with Boston as trading post between the Americas and Europe. But it all ended in June 1692 when an earthquake and a Tsunami sank the city to the bottom of Kingston Bay, killing about 2,000 people. Mother Nature took care of organized crime.
Sicily provides us with a petri dish to study the relationships between economic change and the emergence and consolidation of organized crime. The island’s natural resource endowment made it a repository for the Middle East and Europe. Accordingly, all European and Asian powers lusted for Sicily and occupation began in the ancient days. The locals decided to get organized to protect themselves from ravage, seizure of lands, and traffic of people as slaves. Their organization evolved into what we know today as the Mafia. It internationalized at the turn of the 19th century when waves of Italian migration arrived to the United States where the organization prospered in a way not dreamed of by its peasant founders back in Sicily.
Again, the world economy had moved from agriculture to manufacturing, reducing the economic significance of Sicily whose inhabitants migrated to more prosperous lands. Eventually the Italian government acted to crush the Mafia but by that time (1970s) it had already become international. The U.S. moved to address the scourge by creating the RICO legislation, which effectively fought organized crime for decades.
The debt crisis and the end of the post-World War II economic impetus in Latin America jump started another fundamental change in economic growth. Macroeconomic balances took over, and while they increased foreign direct investment flows, social safety nets were streamlined. Agriculture was hard hit. Rural populations began to seek placement of alternative crops that would allow them to overcome subsistence. A great opportunity opened for organized crime. Elites throughout the world, in particular those dealing in entertainment and finance, began to demand an invigorating substance. Cocaine turned into a precious commodity and organized crime became an economic power.
In a continent where elites shrewdly evade taxation and economic inequality rules supreme–thanks to the preservation of the medieval institutional framework created by Phillip II of Spain–the table was served for organized crime. Add to the mix secular corruption, and it is easy to see why the Lords of Samarkand could vanquish organized crime from the Silk Route, while Latin American nations seem to quietly coexist with organized crime. And while the US and other leading nations of the world have created legislation to fight drug trafficking, the trade seems to both effectively merge with other illicit activities while penetrating their lower bureaucratic levels to continue to flow.
Meanwhile in Latin America organized crime has taken over entire regions to secure safe haven not only for drug trade but also to ancillary criminal activities such as human trafficking; money laundering; corruption and financing terrorism. Slowly but surely the Latin American territory is showing ever growing pockets of territorial control by organized crime. Mexico’s oceanic routes are controlled by drug cartels that have recently initiated a vertical integration move to produce cocaine in Colombian territory. Venezuela is divided into three regions that are run by different mafias that include Russian, Chinese, Syrian, Colombian, Mexican and Bulgarian elements. Ciudad del Este is a no man’s land where none of the governments with jurisdiction over the territory (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay) can act against all kinds of contraband and forgeries. El Salvador is practically ruled by street gangs from the United States known as MS-13. Honduras is yet another replica of Ciudad del Este in the heart of Central America.
All these criminal organizations thrive in Latin America because the region was built with an institutional framework designed to support corporatist networks, and because the international institutional framework enshrines sovereignty. Corporativism allows organized crime to penetrate elites. Sovereignty, to hinder international action.
What comes next is truly frightening. Technology increasingly enables organized crime to exert and defend territorial control over Latin American territory. This has been amply demonstrated in Venezuela, where all efforts from civil society against a regime penetrated by criminal organizations have ended in hundreds dead and thousands wounded. This threat easily upends the capacities of these nations to react and defend themselves. Indeed, they lack resources to effectively dispense public services such as health care, education, and safety. The response thus needs to be international.
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is contemplating action. But triggering UNCTOC would lambast corporativist institutions in Latin America. Therefore, deployment of this international treaty will be resisted in every country. Action must thus come from abroad as was the case when the U.S. triggered UNCTOC to fight money laundering and terrorist financing within FIFA, the world soccer association. Triggering UNCTOC perhaps is the most pressing decision to be taken by developed nations who have enshrined the RICO Laws principles in their legislation. Now they need to give life to those laws internationally. The more it takes to face the hydra head-on, the faster consolidation will be of a Mafia State in the region. And this seems to be the course of events in Venezuela.
Article by Beatrice E. Rangel, a public servant in Venezuela for over 20 years, where she was appointed Chief of Staff to President Carlos Andres Perez. She currently leads a consultancy firm in Miami and is a board member at the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.
As if coping with constant food and medicine shortages were not enough for crisis-weary Venezuelans, many live in constant fear in a country where three people die violently every hour.
The South American nation registered 26,000 homicides last year, 89 per 100,000 inhabitants and a figure 15 times the global average, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a non-governmental group.
How do ordinary Venezuelans try to survive in one of the world’s most dangerous countries?
‘Venezuelans take precautions every day to try to protect themselves. But adapting to insecurity means they are losing their freedom,’ the group’s director Roberto Briceno told AFP.
Teacher Yamileth Marcano’s younger brother Willis was stabbed to death for his smartphone as he left work.
‘Was that what his life was worth, a mobile phone? Every time I hear of another home in mourning, the bad memories come back,’ she told AFP.
Marcano, 46, lives in a house with barred windows and doors in eastern Caracas. Her son emigrated to Italy. The tipping point came when two youths on a motorbike put a gun to his head and told him to hand over his cellphone as he drove through Caracas.
‘I was screaming like crazy: ‘give it to him!” Marcano, who was in the car, said. ‘I was thinking of my brother.’
‘Young and old are being killed. Everyone’s exposed to it. They rob you in the street, on the beach, in the market, at the hospital… it’s terrible to live like this.’
Like her, almost everyone in Venezuela uses an older cellphone in public, keeping their smartphone out of sight.
The murder of former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her husband – shot dead by two youths in a roadside robbery in 2014 after their car broke down – is etched in the nation’s collective memory.
Since then, an application called ‘Pana’ – a slang word for friend – was created to help ensure people could feel more secure on the road.
Recently, bikers with high-visibility vests, dark glasses and radios sped to the rescue of a young medical student in distress on the highway.
It took eight minutes for the rescue squad to reach Carmen Garcia after she had activated the ‘Pana’ panic button on her mobile phone after her car broke down.
‘We provide a service that’s fast, reliable and simple – not everyone can have security escorts or bullet-proof their car,’ said Pana’s chief, Domingo Coronil.
In a Caracas shopping center, Blindacars Express manager Julio Cesar Perez delivers two black vans with newly reinforced laminated glass for a client.
‘Delinquents don’t discriminate between social class. We have low, medium and high-end vehicles coming in to us’ for security upgrades, said Perez.
The owner of the vehicles said he uses one for his wife and children, and the other for his business trips outside Caracas. Thugs often target vehicles with stones, sticks or bottles to force drivers to stop, intent on robbery or even kidnap.
‘Horrible things happen. Insecurity is much worse than it used to be,’ said the businessman, who did not want to be identified for security reasons.
‘It used to be that only diplomats would bulletproof their cars, but in Venezuela, ordinary citizens suffer the same problems now.’
In the streets of Venezuela, it’s rare to see a car without tinted, reinforced glass.
Sundown brings challenges for the citizens of Caracas. Once filled with light and bustle, economic crisis and accompanying crime means the capital now switches off at night.
‘As soon as I leave my house I feel in danger,’ said Adrialis Barrios, 23, who works in communications.
‘If I go out at all, to the discotheque for example, I pay for someone I know to take me. I don’t trust taxis.’
Most people now gather in private homes, being safer and cheaper, and prefer to wait until the light of dawn before they venture home.
Eglis Torres, a 60-year old builder, recently spent the night on a bench at Caracas airport, when he was heading to work in Costa Rica.
He arrived at the airport at 5:00 pm for a flight departing 7:00 am the next morning. His wife waited with him until his plane took off before heading back home, by bus.
‘My car is old and it would be taking a risk to break down on such a dangerous road. The best thing to do is to wait at the airport and be with someone because they steal your suitcases,’ Torres told AFP.
‘It’s a night without sleep but you don’t miss the plane and you don’t lose your life.’
Most foreign airlines prohibit their crews from staying overnight in Venezuela.
Article originally appeared on Today Venezuela and is republished here with permission.
For the most part, people get extremely concerned when they hear the words recession, inflation or devaluation. Do not panic, all of these are natural stages of the economic cycle that every country has to go through over time.
While it is important to have some knowledge in macroeconomics to understand what is currently going on in Costa Rica, I will make my best effort elaborate an analysis of the current situation without getting too academic.
The Price of the Colon
Paired to the US Dollar, the Colon has been losing value. The currency has devalued 11.98% over the past two years (between January 1st, 2016 and November 16th, 2018). This year, the currency opened on January first at ¢569, and as the close on Friday it was ¢613 which represents 7.73% change. Nevertheless, these fluctuations are not unusual for the local currency. Take a look at the chart below and you can see that on September 14th, 2009 it reached a value of 589.70 and on December 9th, 2013 the value as ¢491.60.
How Are Exchange Rates Determined?
Floating rates are determined by the market forces of supply and demand. How much demand there is in relation to supply of a currency will determine that currency’s value in relation to another currency. In the case of the colon, the Costa Rican Central Bank (BCCR) has influenced the supply and demand by either selling or buying currency in the local market. While the value of the currency should be affected by economic factors, the Costa Rican government has intervened in order to give it a stable price and avoid devaluation. I disagree with this practice, as it creates a bubble due to the fictional price.
You can see that over the past 10 years the Colon has remained within the range of 490 and 588. As noted, this is due to the intervention of the BCCR, and thus the price of the colon is the result of manipulation and not the result of natural economic forces. To learn more about the factors that affect exchange rates click here.
The Real Value of the Colon
Since the colon has been manipulated by the BCCR, it is difficult to ascertain what the real value should be other than to stop any interventions from the BCCR and allow the currency price to be determined by the market conditions. There is a correlation between the devaluation of the currency and inflation, and since the currency has not devalued much over the past decade, we can use inflation as a reference and therefore with a value of ¢511 colones per US dollar in 2008 the value should have been ¢814 colones per USD by January 2018.
Having the colon at around ¢500 is not a reflection of the reality. In the past months, the BCCR has allowed the currency to fluctuate more freely resulting in an increase in prices. Over the past days, the BCCR has intervened to stabilize the currency price as the public is getting concerned of the possibility of exacerbated devaluation.
China has been manipulating its currency to keep their products at a competitive price in the world market. Costa Rica has manipulated the currency (in my opinion) to give a false sense of stability to the Ticos. The average Tico believes that a currency that does not devalue is a sign of a strong economy. The Ticos are as adverse to the devaluation as Americans are to a rescission, while both phenomena are intrinsic to the economic cycles.
Benefits of Devaluation and Inflation
Allowing the currency to devalue has its advantages. If the Costa Rican Currency devalues, the costs of products and services in Costa Rica will cost less in the global market and thus creates an incentive to acquire products and services produced in Costa Rica due to their relatively low value as a result of the devaluation of the currency. Conversely, having a currency highly priced makes Costa Rican unattractive.
Let’s take tourists as an example. If renting a hotel room cost ¢50,000 colones in January 2018 at an exchange rate of ¢570 colones per USD, the cost for a tourist will be $87.71.
If the actual exchange would be ¢814 colones per USD (as calculated above) then the cost for a tourist will be $61.48 USD.
When you apply this to the cost of production in Costa Rica, then it will become more attractive for foreign companies to invest in Costa Rica and for local companies, it will allow them to have more competitive prices which will boost production.
Adverse Effects of the Devaluation and Responsible Fiscal Policy
The main issue with the devaluation of the colon is the increased cost for Costa Ricans to acquire products and services from abroad. Costa Rica imports a lot of goods and services. As many of you know, we need to import items such as clothing, electronic devices, food, healthcare equipment, fuel, vehicles.
The devaluation of the currency will naturally result in inflation and thus it will cost more money for Costa Ricans to acquire these products. In addition, roughly 40% of the local bank loans (for mortgages, auto loans, etc) are in USD Dollars. Of all of the loans in USD dollars, 68% of the people make a salary in Colones, and thus, the cost for their loans increased.
So, if a person has a mortgage on USD Dollars but receives a salary in colones, the natural result of a devalued currency is that their mortgage payments will go up.
At a macro level, the main issue is with the debt service. Most of Costa Rican debt is foreign currency (US Dollars). Currently, the balance of the Costa Rican foreign debt is $28 Billion USD. The government receives income in colones from the taxes that it collects locally, and therefore, the cost of the debt is going to increase as a result of the devaluation of the currency.
Appropriate Course of Action
As the government has wrongfully taken steps to manipulate the currency, it has also taken other actions adverse to the economy, one of them is the taxation. The Costa Rican tax policy exacerbates the problems. Currently, the amount of taxes and the number of tax impositions in Costa Rica creates an imbalance preventing economic growth. In my opinion, one of the most damaging taxes is on the importation of goods. As noted, Costa Rica depends on a lot of imports not only for industry but for day to day needs of the local population. Heavy duties on imports result in the higher costs of living and less competitiveness.
If the government is going to allow the currency to roam free and therefore resulting in a decreased value, which results in the higher costs for foreign goods and services, the reduction on importation tax will offset the increased value of goods caused by the devaluation.
But, if Costa Rica does not have the capacity to cover a pothole on the street, how is it going to have the intellectual capacity to develop a responsible economic policy?
Fiscal Crisis and the Worst Scenario
Is Costa Rica going to turn in to an Argentina or Venezuela? It is certainly possible, but how likely will it be?
If the Costa Rican government fails to keep the budget deficit under control, it can result in default and then we can have an Argentina. Failing to pay the debt will affect the creditworthiness of Costa Rica and therefore the interest rates for the debt will increase and the currency will be worth less and will spike inflation. In situations like this, the government and the population will panic. Bank accounts get frozen to prevent people from withdrawing their money for fears of losing their life savings due to the devaluation. It is havoc.
While it will turn the country into a crisis, it will not be the end of the world. In the case of Argentina, they had a crisis between 1998 and 2002. One of the causes of the crisis was the controlled fixed exchange rate. Once it was liberated the Argentinean peso lost a low of value (the dollar increased four times to the peso) resulting in inflation of 80% (considered low under the circumstances).
They were able to recover, just to later fall back into trouble as result of irresponsible practices by the Government of Cristina Kirchner. The governments of the Kirchners were populist and tried to obtain support from the Argentinians by lowering the unemployment rate by increasing government jobs which have become unsustainable for the Government budget. In addition, they nationalized some of the local industries keeping much needed foreign investors away.
Can Costa Rica go in the same direction? Absolutely, but it will depend on the policies adopted by the government, which I am not very hopeful for. I think it will take a lot for Costa Rica to become a Venezuela where the government simply decided to print more money (idiots!). But it can certainly get into a similar crisis such as the one in Argentina.
In my opinion, if Costa Rica gets into such a debacle, the least of my concerns will be a loss of value of the currency itself but the policies implemented by the government to stabilize the economy as it can result in higher unemployment rates which will result in a spike in crime.
Dual System
Costa Rica has some dualities, one of them being the currency. Countries like Panama and El Salvador have decided to use the US Dollar as their local currency, but Costa Rica on the other hand has haphazardly introduced the US Dollar into the local economy. While the official currency is the Colon, it is possible to obtain loans in Dollars, some people make salaries in Dollars, some prices for services and goods are set in US Dollars (for instance, the fees in our firm are in Dollars).
As the saying goes, you cannot ride two horses with one ass, and thus Costa Rica needs to decide if they want to dollarize the currency or just to keep it in colones. For people like me, among so many other businesses in Costa Rica, the devaluation of the currency does not affect me, instead, it is advantageous as we make money in US Dollars, however, that is not the case for most Costa Ricans.
While it is a benefit for me personally, it is not good for the overall economy. In my opinion, the government should implement a one currency only system in order to level the playing field for the local economy.
What Does This Mean For Expats?
Expats depending on foreign income should not be concerned by the devaluation of the Colon, as their foreign dollars will go farther in the local Costa Rican economy. However, expats depending on the local economy such as people with a local job, or with a local business such as restaurant or hotel can be affected by the devaluation, particularly if they have expenses in US Dollars such as loans. A suggestion for local expats is to try to stay away from any debts in US Dollars, especially if they earn income in colones.
The devaluation of the currency will make it more attractive for foreigners to either invest in Costa Rica or to relocate to Costa Rica.
When it comes to Real Estate, people who are looking to purchase real estate should look to properties priced in colones and not in Dollars. Most real estate agents in Costa Rica price their properties in Dollars, and therefore the price of the property does not change. However, if you look for properties priced in colones, you will be able to get more bang for your buck.
If you are selling real estate, then it becomes difficult to ascertain what to do. Naturally, you would like to keep your prices in dollars in order to avoid losing equity, but the problem is that your prices will be too high compared to the properties sold in colones. Thus, you should either hold your property until the market corrects itself and prices are more stable, or you may need to sell at a loss depending on your urgency to sell and the time when you acquired.
Try To Keep Your Money Abroad
Expats with foreign income and accounts should keep most of their assets abroad. The situation is delicate, but not critical. We need to wait and see if the fiscal plan passes in Congress, and if so, it will allow some more room for breathing and maintain the status quo, but if Congress does not pass the bill, the situation can get worse.
Failing to pass the bill in Congress is a cue to reduce your risk in Costa Rica by keeping most of your assets abroad, particularly cash. Not passing the fiscal plan puts the country at risk of defaulting and banks may freeze accounts for a period of time.
Often, I hear clients and expats in general expressing an interest to invest in local Certificates of Deposit as the interest rates in colones are very attractive, ranging from 8% to 12%. However, they overlook the devaluation rate which will offset any gains obtained by the local interest rates. My advice is to stay away from investing in cColones. If you are a seasoned Forex trader, then knock your socks off as you will be able to make some money with the fluctuation, otherwise stick to what you know and keep your money in USD.
The Fiscal Plan
I do not support the current fiscal plan in Congress as it attempts to increase taxes. The issue in Costa Rica is not little taxes, rather it is compliance. The government should invest more resources in collecting taxes instead of creating new taxes. Quite the opposite, I advise to reduce the tax burden, particularly on imports, and enhance the tax collection capabilities on individuals.
Unfortunately, if Costa Ricans do not have the culture to drive safely on the roads and the capacity to enforce transit laws, I doubt it that they will have the culture to pay taxes and absolutely do not have the capability to enforce tax laws. The Costa Rican government likes to charge easy taxes such as the one on imports, fuel, and corporations but does not make the slightest attempt to muscle the collection system for income taxes.
The Last Word
If you are an expat, you are ok. There is no reason to panic. Devaluation of the currency is normal.
Article originally appeared at Outlierlegal.com. Read the original here.
The Canadian of Lebanese origin, Ziad Akl, may be spending the next 35 years in a Costa Rican prison if found guilty for perpetrating a series of extortions between 2016 and 2017.
That is the request made by the Ministerio Público (Public Prosecutor’s office) during the trial that began on October 29, in the Tribunales de Pavas (Pavas Criminal Court).
Prosecutor Henry Meza also requested 21 years in prison for Kelvin Augustus Pinnoch Campbell and 11 years for Jean Carlo Fernández Jiménez, members of the Akl crew.
The prosecutor told the court how the foreigner and the other two men were part of an alleged organization dedicated to the loan of money, mainly to informal taxi drivers, in Guachipelín de Escazú and when the taxi drivers could not repay, above all because of the high interest, they were threatened, deprived of their freedom and beaten.
Dinia Padilla Mora, the lawyer of the Office of the Civil Defense of the Victim, demanded the payment of ¢25 million colones from the three accused, for material and moral damages suffered by four of the victims, notwithstanding that none of the suspects has declared assets in their name. The only money they have is the seizure of US$9,000 (¢5.4 million) at the time of the arrests.
The trial will continue on Wednesday with the closing arguments of defense lawyers.
Ziad Akl was arrested in May 2017, at the Juan Santamaria airport (San Jose airport) in Alajuela, trying to leave the country, hours after his brother, Elias Akl, was gunned down in an early morning ambush in Escazu. He was taking his little girl to school when gunmen opened fire at his vehicle as it entered the school. The little girl survived the attack without injury.
Earlier this year, in June, the Ministerio Public accepted a plea deal of 23 years and 4 months in prison for Akl. However, the Pavas court rejected the deal and ordered the foreigner to trial.
“They were part of an organization committing crimes such as extortion and had a plan of action in which each member had established functions,” said Meza in his closing argument.
For her part, Dinia Padilla argued “that the three took advantage of the vulnerability of the victims who were, above all, simple people”.
During the trial, 14 witnesses gave testimony to the three-judge panel made up of Álvaro Abarca Picado, Mauricio Jiménez Vargas and José Pablo Alvarado Cascante.
A 5-degree earthquake shook several cantons of Costa Rica this Saturday morning, at 8:12 am, with its epicenter located 14.6 kilometers southwest of Guápiles, in Pococí de Limón, reported the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori) – Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica.
That Ovsicori detailed that the earthquake had a depth of 10 kilometers and was felt in various communities, such as: Pococí, San Isidro and Santo Domingo de Heredia, Coronado, Moravia, Tibás, Alajuelita, Goicoechea, San José, Santa Ana and other areas of the Central Valley.
On the other hand, the Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) – National Seismological Network, registered the tremor with a magnitude of 5.1 degrees and the epicenter located it 12 kilometers west of Guápiles.
Mag: 5.0, 15.0 km Suroeste de Guápiles, Pococí, Limón, Costa Rica, 2018-11-17 08:12 https://t.co/6agpEIszcW #ovsicori
— OVSICORI-UNA (@OVSICORI_UNA) November 17, 2018
“The origin of the earthquake was due to faulting in the crust of the Caribbean plate,” explained the RSN.
Minutes after the quake, the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) – National Emergency Commission, said that there were no reports of damage or injuries.
“The earthquake was felt very strong not only in the North Caribbean, but also in the Central Valley. In the areas close to the epicenter no damage is reported, despite the fact that it felt strong,” said Sigifredo Pérez, Chief of Operations of the CNE.
The Cruz Roja (Red Cross) said that they did not receive any calls of anyone affected by the earthquake.
Are We Being Played? The average price of the dollar in the wholesale market dropped ¢19.5 colones this week, while the Central Bank (Banco Central) reserves also continued to fall.
The drop in the price of the dollar was influenced by a greater supply of the foreign currency in the transactions from Monday to Wednesday at the commercial banks.
In those three days the intermediaries bought US$230 million dollars from the public while they sold US$184.4 million; that is, there was a greater offer from the public, than demand.
There was one day in particular, on Wednesday, November 14, in which the purchases of intermediaries from the public reached US$108 million, and sales US$63.7 million.
The buy/sell reference rate posted by the Central Bank for today is ¢597.26 and ¢604.76.
Last Saturday, the buy/sell reference rate was ¢616.96 and ¢623.71. A few days (Nov. 7) earlier it reached the peak of ¢622.99 and ¢631.30.
On October 18, the reference rate for the buy was ¢590.33 and ¢595.81 for the sell. See the reference rate for the last 30 days here.
This morning, November 18, the ranges at the banks is ¢593 to ¢595 for the buy and ¢607 to ¢610 for the sell. See the latest exchange rates at banks here.
Eduardo Prado, manager of the Central Bank, explained that in our exchange market there are many factors that affect the purchase and sale of foreign currency, and it is not possible to identify all those that contribute to the results observed on a given day.
However, he added, there are, among these factors, certain seasonal patterns or behaviors that manifest themselves with some regularity, for example, a greater influx of dollars is usually observed at the exchange intermediaries at close to the end of the first quincena (15th) of each month, related to companies that change dollars to colones for the payment of salaries and social security contributions.
When the financial intermediaries have a surplus of currencies they are generally going to sell them at the Monex (wholesale money market) and thus there was a greater supply that contributed to the reduction of the price of the currency, without the need for strong direct intervention by the Central Bank.
Directly to stabilize the market, the Central Bank sold US$400,000 this week, well below the US$86 million it sold last week.
ANTIGUA, Guatemala (AP) Leaders at a summit of Ibero-American nations called Friday for development and assistance for the poor to alleviate waves of migrants fleeing poverty, violence, political instability and persecution in the Americas.
More than a dozen presidents and King Felipe VI of Spain met in the colonial Guatemalan city of Antigua as large numbers of people have been migrating from places such as Venezuela and parts of Central America. Thousands of mostly Hondurans traveling in a caravan have been arriving in recent days at the Mexican city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto called on leaders to sign a global pact on migration in Morocco next month.
“It is true that the best way to avoid having people migrate involuntarily is by promoting, among other things, internal development in our nations,” Pena Nieto said.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez blamed emigration from his country on a coffee crisis and climate change, which he says has caused droughts.
Migrants in the caravan have said repeatedly that they left due to poverty, violence and insecurity in Honduras.
Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado called for dialogue to resolve festering political crises in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Host President Jimmy Morales of Guatemala said the summit aimed to “renew the region’s commitment to sustainable development.”
As thousands of migrants in a caravan of Central American asylum-seekers converge on the doorstep of the United States, what they won’t find are armed American soldiers standing guard.
Instead, they will see cranes installing towering panels of metal bars and troops wrapping concertina wire around barriers while military helicopters fly overhead, carrying border patrol agents to and from locations along the US-Mexico border.
That’s because US military troops are prohibited from carrying out law-enforcement duties.
What’s more, the bulk of the troops are in Texas — hundreds of miles away from the caravan that started arriving this week in Tijuana on Mexico’s border with California after walking and hitching rides for the past month.
Still, for many migrants, the barriers and barbed wire were an imposing show of force.
Tijuana’s beach where a wall of metal bars more than 20 feet high cut across the sand and plunged into the Pacific witnessed crews on the US side placed coils of barbed wire on top.
“It’s too much security to confront humble people who just want to work,” said Ulloa, a 23-year-old electrician from Choloma, Honduras, who joined the caravan to try to make his first trip to the US.
Now, he and his two friends were rethinking their plans. They tried to apply for a job at a Wal-Mart in Tijuana but were told they need a Mexican work permit. So they were considering seeking asylum in Mexico but were unsure of giving up their dream of earning dollars.
On Friday, people walking through one of the world’s busiest border crossings into Mexico passed by a pair of Marines on a 20-foot lift installing razor wire above a turnstile.
Nearby Army Sergeant Eric Ziegler stood guard with another soldier. Both were military police officers assigned to protecting the Marines as they work.
The 24-year-old soldier from Pittsburgh spent nine months in Afghanistan. “It’s very different over there, obviously. It’s a lot more dangerous,” Ziegler said.
He said he was surprised when got his deployment orders sending him to the US-Mexico border.
“But I’m happy to go where I’m needed” he added as a man walked by carrying shopping bags headed to Tijuana.
With reports from Trtworld.com
The government of Daniel Ortega did not hold anything back to offend President Carlos Alvarado for his criticism of the internal situation in Nicaragua.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua issued a statement Friday where it calls Alvarado, among others things, “ill-educated, meddlesome, contemptuous and snoopy” for what he said at the XXVI Summit of Heads of State and Government of Latin America, in Guatemala.
Nicaragua president Daniel Ortega canceled his participation in the summit, without a specific reason.
There, Alvarado said that “we are extremely worried and hurt by what is happening in the sister Republic of Nicaragua,” while urging for a “peaceful” exit to the crisis in Venezuela.
Fourteen governors and four vice presidents participated in the conclave, including those of Bolivia, Brazil and Mexico. Also participating was the King of Spain, Felipe VI, and the heads of government of that country and Andorra.
“The President of Costa Rica, who proclaims respect for the sovereignty of States and non-interference in internal affairs, acting as a tool for the interventionist policy of the United States, came to the table of this event with daring dissonance, ridiculous airs of grandeur and a voice of pro-imperialist superiority, incompatible with respect for the rights of others, which is peace,” said the statement from the Nicaragua Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The president of Costa Rica cries out demands for Nicaragua, for Venezuela, as a street lamp, who does not see or want to see the disorder, the darkness, in his own house, where since his arrival in Government, there has been a proliferation of social, economic and institutional conflicts, allegations of abuse and corruption, repression, injuries and murders,” adds the diplomatic note.
“Costa Rica has more than 10 weeks of a strike that has affected its economy and has represented brutality, abuse of authority, deaths and overbearing behavior in the social relationship with the citizen forces that demand changes,” the statement added.
“We emphatically reject the arrogant attitude and lack of intelligence or diplomatic sensitivity, that has exhibited this afternoon, in Antigua, Guatemala, Mr. Alvarado, showing a character of ill-educated, intrusive, contemptuous, and snoop that has characterized his speeches and his performance, in relation to a brotherly neighbor country, which has never harmed him,” said the document.
The statement closes indicating that “the smallness is delirious, attend your situation, Mr. President, that you do have it on fire!”.
“Solicitamos hoy a la comunidad internacional hacer uso de la diplomacia, el multilateralismo y la mediación”, dijo el líder costarricense, frente a las violaciones de derechos humanos que ocurre en #Nicaraguahttps://t.co/ic6H1bezFF
— 100%NOTICIAS (@100noticiasni) November 16, 2018
Alvarado asks for diplomacy to pressure Ortega
What provoked the strong reaction of Nicaragua was Alvarado’s speech, where he stated that “dialogue (in that country) has remained as an echo that resounds only in the hearts of those who today cry with pain for a just and equal society, to achieve a democracy”.
Alavardo asked the international community to “make use of diplomacy, multilateralism and mediation as valid tools in the face of the serious events that are known” in Nicaragua, the AFP news agency reported.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is accused of harshly repressing his critics since April and charging against mobilizations, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
The Costa Rican president also expressed concern about the situation in Venezuela, for the “disrespect for the rule of law and the institutions themselves, as well as the repeated violations of human rights.”
“We reaffirm our commitment to contribute to overcoming the serious political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis that Venezuela is going through. The solution is a peaceful and negotiated solution, within the framework of international law,” he said.
President Alvarado’s speech (in Spanish)
Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister, Denis Moncada, was critical of Alvarado, saying he “has disrespected the sovereignty, independence and self-determination of the Nicaraguan people. He disrespects the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states by transgressing the UN Charter.”
Moncada said he considers Alvarado acting “as a puppet of the United States against the Nicaraguan government and its people.”
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, also responded to Alvarado’s words, lashing at the Costa Rican president, describing his speech as “dissonant” and a “smokescreen to try to hide internal problems,” the AFP news agency added.
“Our worker president, who was a trade unionist, and very well known, is at the order of Costa Rica to achieve a social dialogue, respectful, with the workers of Costa Rica who have more than 68 days on a strike against tax reforms,” he added.
Meanwhile, Cuba’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, expressed his full support for Nicaragua and Venezuela, after stating that they are victims of foreign aggression.
“We reiterate our solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Nicaragua in the face of unilateral coercive measures, communication manipulation, threats and external interference,” Rodríguez said during his speech.
Despite the absence of Ortega at the summit, there were small pockets of protest. A group of Nicaraguans living in Guatemala indicated that Ortega’s presence is rejected. He is accused of stubbornly suppressing his critics and charged with mobilizations with hundreds of deaths.
With most of them with their faces covered, demanded that the Ibero-American governments condemn the repression in Nicaragua.
About 15,000 Nicaraguans live in Guatemala.
(Rico’s TICO BULL) Buying online – internet purchases – may be cheaper as retailers do not always offer the same deals in brick-and-mortar stores or as in the case of Costa Rica, the product or a similar is not available at all in retail stores.
Buying online can also be a quick and easy way to shop. No waiting for stores to open, fight the traffic and have to deal with rude sales staff.
Although I prefer to shop in-store personally, especially when it comes to groceries, there are times when there is no other option but to go online and press that ‘buy now’ button.
But, buying online is not for the inexperienced. Especially buying online from Costa Rica for products from China, the US or Canada. There are pitfalls that could negate any advantage unless there is no other option.
Before setting out in my online buying adventure I make absolutely sure that I cannot get the item here in Pura Vida. And if perchance, the item is available, I do a comparison cost that includes government regulations on the import, taxes, shipping and other costs and time. Yes, time.
I will give you a personal example. A new keyboard for my laptop.
This is my second experience in replacing my keyboard. Two years ago was the last, the original keyboard went after less than 12 months in use. First, one key began to stick. Then another and so on.
So, with that experience I knew exactly where to buy and the costs. But wait, my keyboard went on the fritz just about the time I was planning a visit to Toronto (Canada). Amazon here I come.
The experience is quite different north of the much-touted wall by the U.S. president. Before leaving Costa Rica, I made my purchase. Amazon Prime free trial is great. My new keyboard arrived the day after my arrival, as planned.
I had purchased the item with “shipped from Canada”. The US ship would take much longer, even with Prime. It didn’t have the backlit feature, didn’t know I would miss it that much and was a regular and not a ‘chiclet‘ keyboard. When you spend as much time online as I do, these little things, I learned, really matter.
Back to my old faithful, eBay.
The vendor of 2 years ago was no longer. eBay was nice enough to recommend others. I scoured the various offers, settled on one from China, though all were from China.
Since I now had a working keyboard I could wait the time, the estimated between Nov. 14 and Dec. 5 to my Florida forwarding address and then 7 to 10 days to arrive in Costa Rica.
Interesting, Aeropost (formerly Aerocasillas) advised me the package was already in Miami way before the Nov. 14 date. In fact, I had the item in my hands on Saturday, Nov. 10. It has arrived in Costa Rica a couple of days earlier.
Which brings this to the point of the article, the fees and process.
The eBay purchase was for US$13.99 with Free shipping my Miami. One in Miami, Aeropost required an invoice from me before they could ship to Costa Rica. A screenshot of the eBay purchase was good enough.
In Costa Rica, costs were added.
In this case,US$6.60 for ‘freight’, US$1.25 for ‘fuel’, US$1.50 for ‘warranty/returns programs’ (never asked for it) and US$2.83 for ‘customs service’. An amount of US$2.10 was added for ‘impt sales tax’ and US$2.10 for ‘government fees’, for a total of US$14.28.
My total cost was US$28.27 (US$13.99 US$14.28).
Actually cheaper to the CA$39.95 I paid for the Amazon bought keyboad when taking into account the exchange rate. (The current rate is CS$1.31 Canadian to one US dollar).
The moral here is that there pitfalls for online purchases in Costa Rica for shipments from abroad. Knowing the pitfalls is the key.
My tips (based on my experiences) for online shopping in Costa Rica (for items coming from abroad):
Happy and safe shopping!
Edit: I have been an Aeropost customer for like forever, like when they were the only game in town. There are other services now but they have treated me well over the years, earned my loyalty.
The Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce of Costa Rica (MEIC), the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), among others, are calling on citizens to be very well informed before making online purchases for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and end-of-year gifts.
In December especially, many have more money due to the ‘Aguinaldo’ – the year-end bonus equal to the average of one month’s salary paid to all public and private sector salaried employees – and with facility now can purchase online items like beauty products, technology, and even medicines.
Authorities in Costa Rica ask the population to be extremely careful before hitting the ‘buy now’ button, knowing well the rules and regulations of import and tax obligations.
Among other concerns is the quality of the product, return policy and costs if the item is not to your liking, defective or damage.
Is it really a deal really deal if the product is not what you expected or never gets to your hands?
For example, there are the requirements of law that could mean your purchase is seized by the customs authorities or there is an onorous import tax.
For example, in general, beauty products may require a health certificate. Then there is the freight to get the product to Costa Rica. Amazon, for example, may offer free shipping on your purchase in the US and Canada, but to get it to Costa Rica your local provider like Aeropost or Jetbox will add I went to my freight, fuel and warranty charges.
Then there is the import (customs) tax and 13% sales tax applicable to many purchases.
In the end, the deal may not end up being a deal after all.
Costa Rican customs procedures are complex and bureaucratic. Recent improvements, such as electronic “one-stop” import and export windows known as “Ventanilla Única de Comercio Exterior (VUCE)” – Foreign Trade Single Window – have significantly reduced the time required for customs processing.
In September, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO, served one year behind the company’s steering wheel. Since then, he has tried to raise the image of a company involved in a variety of controversies.
The turn remains far from complete.
The list of scandals when he arrived at Uber included accusations of sexual discrimination by employees, complaints of drivers for falling profits and even a controversial software that sought to avoid regulatory authorities.
Costa Rica is not the exception in the controversy.
Many cities now understand that Uber is a force for good; a social force in terms of making the movement of people available and also an economic force
In our country, there are angry (official) taxi drivers who accuse Uber of unfair competition for not paying the same economic charges (taxes, and licensing fees as an example); Uber drivers with exhausting shifts of up to 16 hours to earn an acceptable income, and a government pressured to regulate the service due to user demand.
In the first interview with a Latin American media outlet, Khosrowshahi spoke to La Nacion on Wednesday, during a meeting at the Uber headquarters in San Francisco, California.
Asked how he sees the future of transportation, say in 20 years, Khosrowshahi, an Iranian-American businessman and former CEO of Expedia Group, said, “One of our missions is to replace the possession of cars using vehicular mobility as a service. There are more than a trillion cars in the world and 95% of the time they remain unused. We believe that cars are a huge waste of resources.
Costa Rica is not an idea for us, it’s a place where we already have 22,000 members (drivers) who make a living on our platform and 700 employees
“Often parked cars consume 20% to 25% of the space in the cities, that space could be used to build places to live or parks. For us, sharing a car for transportation and having several people in the same vehicle makes the most sense. In terms of efficiency and benefits for society, the city and people, we believe that it is a better way to use space and assets.
“We visualize a world where mobility will be available as a service for each person in a city, whether they live in the center or the periphery of it, and whether that person has the resources to own a car or not. a better world and there we go.”
LN: Are self drive vehicles a stage in that roadmap or is it the future of transportation?
Khosrowshahi, also a member of the board of directors of BET.com, Hotels.com, and The New York Times Company, believes autonomous vehicles, fundamentally will be the cheapest and best way to move people.
“Every year there are around one million deaths in the world due to vehicular accidents. In 94% of cases, it was due to some type of driver error. The most wonderful thing about autonomous transport is that, once past the hard work of training our robot drivers, they will be better, better and better. I speak of a driver who will always improve every day. The key to these vehicles is safety but, in addition, they are economically accessible so that mobility is also available to anyone regardless of where they live.”
LN: So, how far would you say this (autonomous) process will go … airplanes, trains, ships? What can be the risks and advantages in your opinion?
DK: We believe that the challenge for autonomous transport is easier for trains and planes, and even buses with fixed routes, with respect to passenger vehicles. As always there will be regulatory issues and traditional resistance. We are in the car business and we invest aggressively in our core, but these are technologies that can be extended to other parts of society.
LN: One of the main criticisms against Uber comes from taxi drivers for whom they say the company is unfair competition because it does not have the same economic burdens as them. Taxes, for example. What would be “doing the right thing” from Uber’s point of view before the claim?
DK: We think that competition improves the market, it improves us as a company and, in the end, it forces the taxis to be better too. We believe in a level playing field for all players.
In the long run, we want to extend our platform to make our demand available not only for us but also for taxis and other modes of transport, and we welcome a fair regulation that we believe should also be a modern regulation that extends mobility to a larger segment of the population instead of limiting it.
Today we are an established legal organization in Costa Rica. We are a great employer there and we also welcome dialogue with regulators, especially now that a new leader has settled in Costa Rica.”
I think that what is different about Uber is that we are not just a digital service such as Google or Facebook. We fundamentally touch the way people live physically in each of the cities where we operate.
LN: Why is Costa Rica useful for Uber? It is true that in Latin America we have one of the highest Uber user rates but it is a small market full of angry regulators and taxi drivers?
DK: I think that what is different about Uber, such as business and service, is that we are not just a digital service such as Google or Facebook. We fundamentally touch the way people live physically in each of the cities where we operate.
So, Costa Rica is not an idea for us, it’s a place where we already have 22,000 members (drivers) who make a living on our platform and 700 employees at our center of excellence in the country, a nation where we have a substantial investment. The company has a saying and a norm that also says: ‘we build globally but we live locally’.
What is different is that if a local business in Costa Rica advertises itself on Google, and someone clicks on that ad, that money for advertising leaves Costa Rica. With us, the vast majority of the money goes directly to the driver and stays in the country. We are a local business. We do not think of Costa Rica as an idea because our people are in the field. It is a prosperous culture and we are very hopeful of the country’s development in Latin America and we want to be a part of that.
LN: How much have you invested in Costa Rica?
DK: At least US$30 million dollars in the last three years. We consider ourselves a local player in the country and we want to continue to be a positive economic force.”
LN: In Costa Rica, we have individuals who own several vehicles and rent them out to people with no work for a fee of about $200 per week. This means work shifts from 14 to 16 hours a day to achieve the weekly quota and earn some profit. That is a form of exploitation. We want to know your opinion on this since Uber establishes prices, charges directly to customers, can disconnect drivers from its platform and also defines how the service is provided?
DK: We are not a direct employer. Any managing partner can enter or leave the platform at any time they wish. The design of the platform is one in which we base this open ecosystem and when you have an open ecosystem, one area where we take things very seriously is safety, with which we want to ensure that our drivers are up to date with their licenses, background and other controls are reviewed.
So, if we have active drivers working 14 to 16 hours, it is not only a potential form of exploitation but also potentially unsafe. We have recently introduced a series of security factors in the application to make sure that you cannot drive too many hours in a row, that background checks are made, that the identity is established and so on, but if this type of exploitation is taking place, it is something which we want to know and if we can do something to improve things on the platform, we will assume it.
Shifting the interview to Uber’s problems around the world, on the problems Uber has dozens of countries, where neither governments nor taxi drivers plan to surrender, Khosrowshahi said he believes the solution is in dialogue.
“I think many cities now understand that Uber is a force for good; a social force in terms of making the movement of people available and also an economic force by providing a life for many driving partners and, as I mentioned, in Costa Rica we are a great employer,” said Khosrowshahi.
Asked about Greyball, the software tool used by Uber to identify and deny service to certain riders, including riders whom Uber suspects of violating its terms of service, to evade local government authorities such as in the United States, Australia, South Korea, and China, Khosrowshahi said the company must take responsibility for the mistakes of the past and now would never undertake a similar initiative.
“Today we have an important value that is doing the right thing, period. It seems to me that when something happens in the past of a company, it must be honest about it and face the consequences,” said Khosrowshahi.
In the days following the publication of the New York Times story in March 2017, Uber admitted that it had used Greyball to thwart government regulators, and it promised to stop using the tool for that purpose.
“The consequences are the following: now I am the executive director, we have a new legal director, Tony West, who comes from the (U.S.) Department of Justice and we also have another director of finance. I believe that the company has felt the consequences and has turned towards another type of leadership today determined to take the company in a new direction. This means not growing at any cost but growing with dialogue and benefits for the cities and countries where we operate,” Khosrowshahi said.
LN: How flexible do you think labor standards should be in countries where Uber is with respect to labor rights?
DK: Well, it seems to us that our basic concept is that we will be an open and available platform for those who like to join it, as long as they are safe collaborators, have an appropriate background, know how to drive and their record is safe driving. Within this framework of an open platform, we welcome dialogue with local regulators about the nature of work.
LN: A criticism of Uber is that it establishes itself in the countries and, when faced with regulation or protest from the taxi drivers, tries to win the favor of the users and use that support to pressure the authorities. In just four years, today Latin America is Uber’s most profitable market. Did this happen due to the lack of preparation of the authorities or updated transport legislation?
DK: We consider that public transport has not been as developed in some of the Latin American markets. We believe that people need to move and we provide a wonderful and easy service for users and we also provide a source of income and work for hundreds of thousands of drivers in Latin America.
LN: And now Uber is extending to other forms of mobility that open the door to new regulatory challenges and more technological complexity. Is sharing the data generated by Uber the way to get to the heart of the authorities and keep moving forward?
DK: Sharing Uber’s data is a reflection of our openness and our desire to partner with cities to create a more effective and better transportation network. In the end, where we want to go is to be a company of shared trips to one of mobility services; to be a strong employer and a partner for cities solving their transportation challenges in the future.
Read the entire interview (in Spanish) in La Nacion.
Do you feel stressed right now? You’ll be pleased to know it’s perfectly natural. In the modern world, stress is brought on by several different factors, and it can be a negative force that can lead to headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, and muscle tension.
Before stress starts impacting on your life, there are some things you can do to de-stress. Being able to relax and unwind at the end of the day will also help you to sleep better.
Handling your stress effectively will help you become more productive, which will see you perform better at work, and enjoy time with friends and loved ones with fewer worries.
Take a Walk
It doesn’t have to be an epic hike across town. A 10-minute walk will help to clear your head and boost endorphins. You might not realize it, but such an activity can put your body into a state of meditation.
In medical circles, it’s called involuntary attention and refers to the act of doing something that holds your attention, but still allows for reflection. While taking a walk, you can also try out another relaxation technique. Deep breathing exercises help to reduce tension and relieve stress.
Play a Few Slots Online
Playing games at online casinos has become a very popular way for people to spend their free time. Many people do it because they want to win some money, however, just as many do it to relax. There are many online casinos, such as those available on Unibet, that have a wide range of games you can play for free. Any winnings you make can be used to keep playing. Remember to play this sensibly and in moderation, as it can be a fun way to challenge yourself.
Get Up Earlier
Rising early is not a handy tip for everyone, as some people are just not early morning people. However, if you are, get up even earlier than normal, and you’ll be amazed how much you get done. While everyone else is enjoying their last hour of sleep, sit and enjoy a book, get in a workout, read your emails, or get down to work. If you cross some tasks off your daily to-do list, you’ll have more free time and be able to do something you enjoy.
Enjoy a Healthy Diet
Did you realize that your mood is directly affected by what you eat? If you eat healthily, you will improve your energy levels, be more productive, and your physical and mental health will benefit. If you’re feeling down in the dumps, the temptation is to reach for the comfort food. It might make you feel a little better in the short term, but over time it’s not going to make you feel better. Try to avoid junk food and eat more fruit, vegetables, and food rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
This is just a small selection of the ways you can de-stress. The important thing is to try to do something about your stress levels as often as possible. Not only will it benefit your health, but it can also help you sleep better at night.
The national insurer (INS) caved in, withdrew its lawsuit against the insurance superintendent, the Superintendencia General de Seguros (Sugese), for the mandatory insurance (SOSA) rate for vehicles, and decided to request an increase.
The Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) had made the business decision to keep the 2018 rates for the 2019 Marchamo – annual circulation permit – that is traditionally due starting on November 1.
However, the Sugese did not agree with the decision of the State insurance company, forcing the INS to take the matter to court and thus delay the start of the Marchamo collection which was to have started on November 1.
The INS, on October 30, announced the rate for the SOA would be the same as 2018: for private vehicles ¢21,380, motorcycles ¢70,415 and taxis ¢61,900.
However, the Sugese did not agree with the decision of the INS to not modify the insurance rate because it affirmed that the state insurer could not technically justify the financial sustainability of the policy, with this decision.
Villegas defended the decision of the INS to not raise rates and to take the matter to court, because “it was for the benefit of the people.”
The INS has the obligation, given their years of experience and once being the only provider of vehicle insurance in the country, to collect the Marchamo that, in addition to the SOA, (representing 20% of the cost) includes the vehicle ownership tax (70% of the total cost), and the remaining 10% distributed among other state institutions. Any outstanding traffic fines are also collected in the Marchamo.
Now with more than 15 days delay, the executive president of the INS, Elian Villegas, confirmed the decision to stop the court action and increase the SOA.
“It is necessary to go out to collect the Marchamo (…) it is impossible for us to delay the issue further and that is why we decided to request a new rate from the Sugese,” explained Villegas.
The INS chief did not want to detail how much the adjusted adjustment of the SOA requested for the more than 1.5 million vehicles that must pay the Marchamo.
“On the adjustment or the new rate, we will not make a reference until Sugese finally approves it,” Villegas stressed.
The Sugese confirmed the receipt of the new rate request by the INS; but also did not detail the requested adjustment.
Tomás Soley, head of the Sugese, indicated that it has 15 working days for a formal review and 30 working days for the background review.
“For the welfare of the country, the greatest possible internal effort will be made to reduce these deadlines, given that the normative date for the commencement of the commercialization of the SOA was November 1,” said the official.
Villegas stressed that the INS is prepared to start collecting the Marchamo 24 hours after the new rate has been authorized by the Sugese.
The SOA is a policy that covers third parties in case of traffic accidents. It does not require a plea of guilty from the parties so that the injured party can obtain coverage, or failing that, so that the next of kin of the death victims can receive the corresponding compensation.
Besides all the bs, the question by many is when will the Marchamo collection start?
The Marchamo is due for payment by December 31 each year, after which drivers behind the vehicles without the current Marchamo are subjected to a traffic fine.
In the past, given that the INS operated the only points of sale for the Marchamo and the long lines, especially the last week in December, the Policia de Transito (Traffic Pollice) usually gave a grace period of up to 15 days. Given that the Marchamo can be paid, in addition to the INS, at any bank, there is no grace period.
Also, starting on January 1, in accordance with the law, irrespective of what the INS and Sugese do or not do, the unpaid Marchamo incurs late fees and interest.
The ultra-low-cost airline Volaris informed that it will convert Costa Rica into its Central American hub and that from here it will open direct flights to South America, starting in 2019.
The announcement was made by the new business manager of the airline for Central America, Manuel Jaquez, who has extensive experience in this type of airline, who also set as one of the objectives to return to Costa Ricans an airline with local identity.
Jaquez announced that by 2019 the company will add two or three additional aircraft based in Costa Rica. The airline already has four in the country. The central idea, he said, is for direct flights to South America from the Juan Santamaría International, the San Jose (SJO) airport.
Currently, Volaris offers flights from Costa Rica to Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as to Cancun and Mexico City. It also transports passengers from Costa Rica to Los Angeles, New York, and Washington.
“One of the objectives is to fill a space that, I believe, what Costa Rican miss is to have a flag carrier,” said the new executive of Volaris Costa Rica. He recalled that the emptiness has been felt since the disappearance of Líneas Aéreas Costarricenses S. A. (LACSA)*.
Jaquez announced that by 2019 Volaris Costa Rica will launch an “aggressive campaign” to invite Costa Ricans to travel at low or “accessible prices”.
“Volaris will always be the lowest cost, but special campaigns will be launched with more promotions appropriate to the local market, such as ‘Baratico’ or the special rate ‘Prontica’, with even better prices,” he said.
Although focused on the company’s interest in allowing Costa Ricans to travel at lower cost and to other destinations, Jaquez argued that air travel is two-way, when questioned about the size of the market.
In that sense, he assured that they also have as one of the strong points, bringing of tourists to Costa Rica from new origins. For this reason, he explained, everything related to the new routes is being coordinated with the Minister of Tourism, María Amalia Revelo.
Apart from the two or three aircraft that will enter the Volaris Costa Rica fleet, the airline plans to develop a program to allow the exchange of aircraft with the parent company in Mexico, which has more than 70 aircraft.
Volaris Costa Rica will employ Costa Ricans for the flights originated here, as well for operations at the Juan Santamaría airport.
In addition, Jaquez emphasized that Volaris does not intend to compete with “traditional airlines” offering food and other onboard services.
*The Costa Rican airline (Lacsa) previously used the TACA/LACSA moniker when it was a subsidiary of Grupo TACA. Since May 2013, following Avianca’s purchase of Grupo TACA, Avianca Costa Rica became one of seven nationally branded airlines (Avianca Ecuador, Avianca Honduras, etc.) operated by Avianca Holdings group of Latin American airlines.
BUENOS AIRES—In the first quarter of 2018, the value of exports from Latin America and the Caribbean grew at a year-on-year rate of 9.7 percent in comparison with the same period in 2017, according to a new report from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
However, this growth has come amid signs that the region is becoming less competitive amid rising economic risks and global trade tensions.
The growth in exports was driven by increases in the prices of commodities such as oil and copper. In contrast, the volume of exports slowed to 3.1 percent during the same period, which speaks to the region’s loss of market share due to declining competitiveness and the lack of high-quality exports from many countries in the region.
The Quality Leap: Export Sophistication As a Driver for Growth , a new report in the IDB’s Trade and Integration Monitor series, maps the sophistication of the region’s export supply and the main challenges it faces in securing a firmer position in the more profitable sectors of global trade.
Independently of factors such as the economic difficulties experienced by several countries and dampened external demand, the competitive lag determined by low productivity and high trade costs affected the export performance of the region.
To estimate the loss of competitiveness, the study measures the variation in market share between 2011 and 2016, with an emphasis on intraregional exports. The region’s competitiveness dropped by 7.4 percentage points during the period, which accounts for 22 percent of the decrease in exports. The analysis does not seek to present an exhaustive discussion of the determinants of productivity and competitiveness, which lie in a set of phenomena not exclusively related to the ability to compete in world markets.
“In a global context of growing uncertainty and low regional competitiveness, Latin America and the Caribbean urgently need to prioritize a policy agenda that will enable a leap in the quality of their exports,” said Paolo Giordano, principal economist at the IDB’s Integration and Trade Sector, who coordinated the report. “More sophisticated exports will help support the current trade recovery and lay the foundations for greater growth in the future.”
The gap between Latin America and the Caribbean and its global competitors is wide and has gone unchanged for decades. Although there have been success stories and clear opportunities for improvements to quality, a sizeable share of the region’s exports are of no more than medium quality.
The report identifies the product lines where there is most room for quality increases, such as food (coffee, cocoa, sugar, cereals, or fish) and raw materials (wood, hides, or skins), among others. For example, countries can export higher-quality coffee or cocoa beans, or more processed leathers.
An analysis of the differences between intraregional and extraregional trade reveals that the intraregional export basket is of a higher quality than the extraregional basket. It is also more diversified, contains a larger share of manufactured products, and has higher technology content. However, since the financial crisis the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have lost some of their regional market share due to a decline in competitiveness. They have also been unable to leverage the potential for regional integration to develop complex value chains based on trade in intermediate products and production inputs.
The report calls for an ambitious multisectoral policy agenda. At the national level, it recommends the construction of comprehensive, efficient, high-quality infrastructure systems that are clearly oriented toward internationalization. At the regional level, it argues in favor of initiatives that aim to complete and rationalize the architecture of trade, along with investments in infrastructure that facilitate greater productive integration.
Strengthening higher-quality trade flows and regional value chains would not only benefit the export diversification and sophistication of exports, it would also help improve the competitiveness of the region’s economies in the global market.
The Trade and Integration Monitor 2018 was launched at an event in Buenos Aires organized by the IDB’s Integration and Trade Sector and the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL).
About the IDB
The IDB’s mission is to improve lives. Founded in 1959, the IDB is one of the leading sources of financing for economic, social, and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also undertakes cutting-edge research projects and provides consultancy services on policies, technical assistance, and training to public and private clients throughout the region.
The report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) describes the historical evolution of migration to Costa Rica, focusing mainly on the Nicaragua-Costa Rica flow that represents the majority of the migratory flow to the region.
The main results obtained are:
i) complementarity in the labor market of Nicaraguan migrants for a certain level of education, while for others there is a certain degree of substitution (construction),
ii) differences in fertility rates can have an impact on the long term,
iii) public policies have been oriented towards the inclusion of migrants but certain access and protection challenges still exist.
This report is based on quantitative analysis as well as the realization of focus groups with relevant actors in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Click here to view the report (in PDF format). Available in Spanish only.
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