The government of Carlos Alvarado will be calling this Friday on the sindicatos (unions) to call off the indefinite “paro nacional” (national strike) set to start on Monday, September 10 over the “plan fiscal” (tax reform).
This Friday, September 7, the 10th Annual Festival of whales and dolphins officially begins. Thousands are exepcted to taken in this two-weekend oceanic extravaganza celebrating the arrival of humpback whales, which give birth in Costa Rican waters.
Several of the whale and dolphin watching activities will take place this weekend in the Marino Ballena National Park.
More info at http://www.festivaldeballenasydelfines.com/
Many who are in the area have already been able to enjoy this great natural spectacle.
Visitors take boat tours to view the marine mammals and also hang out at the nearby national marine park, where low tide reveals a sandbar in the shape of a giant whale’s tail.
There are also cultural events, concerts, parades, performances and lectures.
The U.S. dollar exchange continued its upward climb today, the sell posted at ¢590 colones at several banks.
While the state bank, the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) posted ¢590 for the sell, the Banco Nacional (BN) maintained unchanged at ¢588.
The largest of the private banks, Scotiabank posted a sell rate of ¢592; at the Davidienda the rate was ¢591. The BCT and Banco Cathay had the dollar sell at ¢590.
The new president of the Banco Central (Central Bank), Rodrigo Cubero, qualifies this movement as normal and calls for calm, however, points out that we will have to get used to more movement.
Speculation is that the dollar exchange could rise past ¢600 in the coming days.
For those who are going to apply for a loan in the next few days, Cubero recommends that if they do not earn dollars they better take out the loan in colones.
Traffic in Heredia this Wednesday afternoon got more complicated than normal, in particular in the area of San Joaquín de Flores, when an intense downpour caused a tremendous traffic chaos.
The intense rains this afternoon are related to tropical storm number 35 affecting most of the country.
September and October are the months with the most rain of the season.
Draw after draw, week after week, the “acumulado” ball fails to fall. And with each “blank” the jackpot or acumulado in Spanish grows.
This Friday, Sept. 7, the grand prize will be ¢1.2 billion colones. If the acumulado doesn’t fall, it will again grow on Sunday.
To ensure a winner soon, the Junta de Protección Social (JPS) – the lottery – is not replacing the blank balls fallen on each draw. Currently, there are 41 balls in the ‘tombola’ – 40 blanks and the acumulado.
The situation has been an economic boom for the lottery, nearly every one of the three weekly lotteries – Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays – has been sold out. It has also prompted price speculation, some vendors jacking the price on certain numbers.
Both countries have signed an agreement to promote the so-called “Silk Road”, which will support commercial, financial and infrastructure development.
From a statement issued by the Chamber of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica (Crecex):
CRECEX celebrates Cooperation Agreement between Costa Rica and China
Costa Rica is one of the 103 countries and international organizations that have signed cooperation documents with China, in the framework of the “Strip and the Road”
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation, to jointly promote the Economic Belt of the Silk Road and the Initiative of the Maritime Route of the Silk Road of the 21st Century, signed on Monday, September 3 by the Government of Costa Rica and the Republic Popular of China, fills the Costa Rican Chamber of Foreign Trade and Foreign House Representatives (CRECEX) with optimism.
In an attempt to calm taxi drivers, the Government Council reiterated on Tuesday its request to the Uber company to stop its transport operation in Costa Rica, until there is a legal framework to regulate it.
The request also applies to other ride app platforms.
The government message ignited a variety of reactions against it on the social networks where the government’s actions were perceived as contradictory after President Carlos Alvarado himself promised in the electoral campaign that Uber should be regulated.
Specifically, the Governing Council (Cabinet) agreed on Tuesday: “once again urge the Uber company and other companies operating technology platforms to provide public transport service for people, abandon their operation until the revision and/or modernization is defined of the existing legal framework of paid transport of persons”.
The request, for now, satisfied the taxi drivers who had threatened to block roads today. Rubén Vargas, representative of the Union of Costa Rican Taxi Drivers (UTC), confirmed the protests are on hold.
“Tomorrow everything is in order, there will be nothing,” Vargas said Tuesday after a meeting of less than an hour between several taxi leaders and Germán Marín, director of the Traffic Police, and Rodolfo Méndez, Minister of Public Works and Transportation.
“Transportation services in all its forms are a source of employment and mean a socioeconomic solution for thousands of families. Aware of this and of the fact that new technologies pose challenges to governments, we seek an integrated solution that allows us to solve the situation of taxi drivers in an innovative way for the benefit of users,” Méndez Mata said in a statement.
The official pronouncement of this Tuesday had been agreed at the beginning of July, when the taxi drivers protested with roadblocks and ‘tortugiosmo” that culminated with a late night meeting with Minister Méndez and the government committing to make an official decision within 45 days, while continuing talks.
That deadline expired on August 21 without a specific pronouncement. That day Minister Méndez confirmed that he only met for more than three hours with the representatives of the guilds of the taxi drivers with whom it was agreed to extend the discussion on Uber.
Vargas, expressed then that they were satisfied with the meeting but insisted that the Government should pronounce itself.
For its part, Uber reiterates continuity in the country.
Under the slogan “nuestro viaje continúa” (our journey continues), the Uber company confirmed the continuity of its transportation service in the country and asked the Government to participate in the discussion aimed at modernizing the legislation.
The company confirmed in an electronic message to its registered users that it operates normally and even called on them to demonstrate in favor of the company.
“Your voice is very important and you have many ways of supporting free mobility: with your family, your friends, on each trip and on your social networks. We remind you that you can continue moving comfortably and safely through the city,” the company urged in its message to its users.
The company’s position came shortly after the government urged it to withdraw from Costa Rica.
Andrés Echandi, manager of Uber for Central America, insisted on presenting his company as a source of income for the families of his collaborators (drivers) “who have found in Uber an option to face the cost of living”.
“If the Government considers that it is important to promote a balanced regulation on the subject, for it to be discussed with all the actors and then promoted, but definitely in the meantime we can not leave Costa Ricans without an option to generate income” he concluded.
“At Uber we have always opted to invest in the country and provide opportunities for Costa Ricans,” said Echandi.
For Echandi, these people can not stop generating income waiting for a regulation to be issued.
Uber has been operating in Costa Rica for three years. It currently has some 22,000 drivers and 783,000 users. For half of the drivers, Uber is their main source of income.
On Tuesday, Sept. 4, EFE spoke with Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega in Managua, the nation’s capital, about the ongoing turmoil in the country.
Below is the full text from the exclusive interview.
EFE: Who is responsible for what has happened these months in the streets of Nicaragua, with all the dead there?
Ortega: We have a long and well-known history that we always have to take into account: this is a power called the United States of America.
It has been intervening and occupying Nicaragua since the 1850s and there has been Yankee expansionism here. What brought them here? The Gold Rush. Nicaragua was a much more comfortable and a safer route instead of traveling across the North American territory from the east coast to the west coast. Transport companies found in us a more comfortable and safer route. Once opened up, then came American expansionism and a fixation with opening a canal.
EFE: And now you maintain that the United States is behind the incidents?
Ortega: It’s the same old story. We left government after the 1990 elections, we acknowledged the results of those elections and the right-wing there began a policy of seeking to restore all the economic, political and cultural power that the U.S. had previously imposed and which we had already ended when we deposed the Somoza dictatorship. It was during that period that they were able to reimpose their project in Nicaragua.
That was followed by an effort by them to prevent the Front (Sandinista National Liberation Front) from winning elections again. President Bush said that if the Front won, the aggression against Nicaragua would continue. But if UNO won, the U.S. would support that government and, logically, it was not easy for the people to vote freely. Then, whenever there were elections in Nicaragua, there were U.S. envoys appearing publicly with the president of the day to bring the same message. One of the last envoys was General Colin Powell, and the media and EFE were there.
If you are looking for the U.S. ministers and senior officials who came to Nicaragua you can look for them. They did not respect the Nicaraguan people but made a policy of permanent interference to force the people to back the candidate of their choice. Then we saw that they did not stop their interventionist campaign between 1990 and 2007 when we returned to government. However, they had been unable to stop the triumph of the Front. Immediately afterwards they took up a policy of hostility and interference against the Sandinista government.
EFE: Do you have any proof that the United States Government is behind the people who go out to protest against your government?
Ortega: It is very clear, we came back to government and the U.S.’ hostility rekindled. And the first indication of this was how Nicaragua was ejected from the Millennium Challenge account that was part of an agreed project with the previous government to place funds throughout Central America. Nicaragua has been punished because the U.S. does not consider the Sandinista National Liberation Front to be democratic and hence they immediately began to organize armed groups against us.
EFE: Who gives these groups arms?
Ortega: There was an activity that originates from the extreme right in Florida. It has been an umbilical cord that has persisted since the early days of the Contra war. There is a close relationship between Florida’s American politicians and the Contras. This became a friendship. For this iteration of the right, with its considerable political power in Congress, it was very painful for the Front to return to government. They have spearheaded and fueled these armed groups and they began to be linked to narco-activity groups. Activity related to the cultivation of marijuana was found during some actions we have taken against them.
EFE: Are human rights guaranteed in Nicaragua?
Ortega: We have respected them, of course.
EFE: And why do all the international human rights organizations say that you have not?
Ortega: Because here, unfortunately, we are talking about a project that is not to the liking of the U.S. and it continues to have an enormous influence on international organizations, on the human rights commission of the Organization of American States.
EFE: Are there political prisoners in Nicaragua?
Ortega: We do not have political prisoners. Those who are detained are being held for crimes they have committed against the people and are being subjected to the corresponding due processes. No one is arrested because of their ideas or their political activism.
EFE: Is there a free press in Nicaragua?
Ortega: All you need to do is turn on the television and watch the news and read the newspapers. There is so much free press that these days there is even a program where they interview hooded people who form part of armed paramilitaries from the right. They calmly say that “more dead are needed here.” They say so calmly. I do not know what would happen in other countries with an interviewee who calmly says that more deaths are needed, and this at a time when blood is running in this country.
EFE: Have you ever considered bringing forward the elections?
Ortega: No, it does not make sense. It is the most absurd thing that has been proposed. It would set a very negative precedent that would lead to the fact that at any moment a government would have to step down when the opposition did not like its measures. It would be to live the history of Ibero-American countries that did not have stability and that had to be changing governments continuously because people were going to protest on the streets and the army would come and remove the president.
EFE: You have just expelled a mission from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Would you be willing to let some kind of international commission in to monitor whether human rights are being observed in Nicaragua, to ascertain if the accusations against the government of Nicaragua are true?
Ortega: I think the problem is that in our countries, which have been treated like the U.S.’ backyard, we are usually treated as if we were colonies or neo-colonies. I do not see that there has been a need for this type of arrangement when there are major conflicts in Europe. Is there an initiative that insists on sending international observers to see what is going on in Europe, to send them to Catalonia? Because the Catalans have their point of view, I have heard it. There was an election and then they were persecuted, imprisoned. There are still imprisoned Catalans in Madrid and I have not heard about any human rights organization in Europe or the UN concerned about what is happening in Catalonia. They continually want us to be supervised, intervened.
EFE: There have been no deaths in Catalonia.
Ortega: But I say that here, in our countries, if an opposition politician lands in jail, it immediately becomes a case for the Europeans and the U.S. to intervene. There is no need for the tragedy of a death.
EFE: Nicaragua is just above Haiti among the world’s poorest countries. Do you consider it a failure of the government’s economic policy?
Ortega: I think that the economic policy of the government has been progressing very well for 11 years, something acknowledged by the toughest organizations such as the International Monetary Fund. They have recognized the success of the economic policy in Nicaragua. It has been submitted to a test but it has not failed. What they saw here was a coup plot that caused a breakdown in the pace of development and economic growth, and we now have to fight to recover what has been lost.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
The Poás Volcano re-opened its doors to the public again last Friday. In the first three days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – more than 1,500 people visited the colossus, with the illusion of observing the bright colors of the crater, after 16 months of being closed after the eruptive activity of Holy Thursday 2017.
On Friday, 200 people of different nationalities arrived, on Saturday there were 620 and on Sunday the largest number of visitors, 730 tourists, reported the National System of Conservation Areas (Sinac).
Mahyar Shirazinia Riggioni, administrator of the Parque Nacional Volcán Poás – a protected area – described the reopening as successful, due to the increase in visitors every day and the satisfaction with security measures.
Speaking of security for visitors, unlike in the past, visitors now have to purchase entrance to the park through a new online ticket booking system.
Other security measures, unique in the Central American region, includes the use of helmets.
The park also counts with clear evacuation routes, gas sensors, and shelters in case of emergency.
Another measure is the limit to 56 people maximum to the viewpoint and a limit of 20 minutes time for observing the colossus.
For the time being, visitors are restricted only to the viewpoint, because the trails are not opened yet, and only between 7:00 am and 1:20 pm.
The hope is that visitors will soon be able to have a less restricted access, which will lead to a larger number of visitors.
“The comments of the visitors, after the visit of the crater, have been positive,” said the park administrator.
To purchase entrance to the park, click here to register (https://serviciosenlinea.sinac.go.cr/Login/registrarUsuario).
I found this form to be frustrating, especially when setting the password and the birthdate. There is no indication of what is required for the password, it seems at least 8 characters and for the birthdate you have to scroll through their calendar.
I tried to log in, I couldn’t. It won’t accept my password. I clicked on the forgot password and waiting on the new. Got an email telling me of the request, but no password.
Dear: We have processed your requesto (sic) to receive a password to enter The SINAC Reservation and Sale Service Online System:Password:
We reccomend (sic) changing this password immediately once you enter the system for the first time.
Note: Please do not respond to this email as it was generated automatically and can’t accept replies.
SINAC.
Tried a second time, got the same message and the same password: an empty space.
The entire registration system is in Spanish, kind of odd when they, the SINAC, are expecting “people of different nationalities”.
My suggestion, if you really, really want to visit the Poas, talk to your hotel front desk. If you are not staying at a hotel, visit a nearby travel consultant.
PS. I will follow up this article if I ever get access.
The uncertainty generated by the deteriorating fiscal situation and the economic slowdown explain the increase shown by the exchange rate of the US Dollar compared to the Colón, which recorded twelve days of consecutive increases.
According to the Central Bank (Banco Central – BCCR) authorities, the depreciation of the local currency in relation to the US dollar is partially explained by the doubts generated by the deterioration of public finances and the absence, to date, of a legislative agreement to resolve at least a part of the problem, in a context of rising international interest rates.
Rodrigo Cubero, president of BCCR, said at the end of August in his first statements as head of the Central Bank, he would allow a greater fluctuation in the price of the dollar under his management. He also said that he supported the inflation targeting scheme followed so far.
The BCCR admitted that, if necessary, it will continue to participate in the market in order to avoid abrupt movements in the price of the dollar.
In the reference value announced by the Central Bank, the sale price has an increase of ¢12.33 with respect to the previous month.
The sell rate on August 7 was ¢570.78, today, Sept. 4 it was ¢583.1.
At the state and private banks, the sell rate was as high as ¢588.
For tomorrow, (September 5) the sell rate set by the BCCR is ¢585.15.
The national and state banks posted an exchange rate of between ¢580 and ¢585, on the afternoon of August 31, for one US dollar.
Today, Tuesday, September 4, the sell rate at the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) and Banco Nacional (BN) was ¢588 and ¢587, respectively. Private banks posted similar rates.
The exchange rate set by the Banco Central (BCCR) – Central Bank – for Wednesday, Sept. 5 is ¢585.15, up ¢11.99 from the ¢573.16 set last Wednesday (Aug. 29)
These movements are not sudden. Some sessions ago on the Mercado de Monedas Extranjeras (Monex), the currency market began to shake and even required the sale of dollars, for stabilization, by the BCCR.
The Central Bank sold about US$39 million in just two days of the week (August 29 and 31), after a period of six months of relative tranquility.
According to the experts, the behavior of the dollar price is based on several factors.
First, we must bear in mind that August presents a “seasonality” each year. In this month the exchange rate tends to increase, a behavior that also occurs in December. In September, the next month, the exchange rate tends to decrease due to the payment of taxes.
Second, there is the dynamics of the foreign exchange market, fostered by the fiscal deficit. The banks have surplus dollars. In other words, there has not been so much pressure because of the low demand for foreign currency, since they have bought more dollars from the public than they sell.
The third reason goes beyond the supply and demand, it is a regulatory change. Since June, the BCCR incorporated a commission of 0.7% for each transaction. To avoid that cost, recently some financial institutions have begun to buy and sell among themselves, explained Emmanuel Agüero, a specialist in economic analysis of Aldesa.
This has caused the market to be illiquid and some large buyers have had to take the price given to them.
The fourth factor that would be affecting is the message of the Central Bank. The changes could be a reflection of the desire for greater flexibility of the exchange rate, which has manifested Rodrigo Cubero, president of the Central Bank, since he took office on August 1, explained the economist Alberto Franco.
“We are going to have an exchange rate that moves more, that fluctuates more,” said the bank president in a statement.
The market could be testing how much volatility the monetary authority will allow. The president of the BCCR has been clear in saying that he will not allow abrupt movements of the dollar either since he recognizes that this could translate into a risk since it is such a dollarized economy.
The fifth explanation for the recent movement in the price of the dollar is the decrease in the premium for investing in colones.
This has happened mainly in the short term, explained Franco. The level of US interest rates has increased and with that, the attractiveness of investing in national currency has fallen.
Source (in Spanish): El Financiero
Costa Rican telecommunications regulator Sutel has cleared Tigo’s acquisition of local cable communications providers Cable Television Doble R (Cable Max) and Cable Zarcero, reports business daily El Financiero.
The watchdog ruled that the takeover wouldn’t adversely affect customers even though anti-trust regulator Coprocom expressed competition concerns affecting at least one of the country’s cantons, said the report.
The Millicom-owned operator launched its Tigo One TV platform combining linear pay-TV and over-the-top (OTT) services in April, having last year revealed that it was seeking to acquire assets to grow its local footprint and compete with rivals Claro (America Movil) and Cabletica (Liberty Latin America).
I have lived in Central America for almost 40 years and have had ample opportunity to observe expat retirement trends. During that time I have written retirement guides about Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua, all of which have been best-sellers at one time or another.
I have also discussed the advantages of moving to Central America in over a hundred of articles on my blog.
People have said that I am a pioneer in relocating to Central America, and based on my experience I think I can be objective in comparing the most popular destination countries as options for retirement. T
hat comparison requires that I eliminate El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala as possibilities because those Cental American countries have never been considered retirement havens, due to the rampant crime, poverty, and gang violence. And, at the present time, relocation to Nicaragua is out of the question because of the serious political unrest there.
This leaves us with Costa Rica and Panama as the only remaining, logical choices, and I will concentrate on them, here.
Panama, officially called the Republic of Panama, is geographically S-shaped, and runs from east to west. It is 480 miles long and its width ranges from 37 to 110 miles. Panama is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, and the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. It is at the southern end of the Central American isthmus; the narrow piece of land that connects North and South America, forming the land bridge between the two continents.
The capital, and largest city, is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country’s four million people.
Perhaps the most salient feature of the country is its transoceanic canal.
With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal. The canal was completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914, and in 1977 the Torrijos-Carter Treaty led to the transfer of the control of the canal from the United States to Panama on December 31, 1999.
One of the first things expats look at when deciding on a retirement location is the weather. Except for its mountainous areas as the northwest, Panama is mainly a flat, low-lying country with a hot, humid climate. It has a long rainy season (May to January) and short dry season the remaining months. The hot and humid climate can be very oppressive at times, and makes air-conditioning a necessity most of the year round. Owners of homes, condos, or apartments in Panama City can expect to spend at least a couple of hundred dollars on A/C monthly.
There are only two or three places where most expats settle in Panama: Panama City, Coronado (a popular expat beach community), Santa Fe, and the Boquete area. As I just alluded to, Panama City, which is only 622 miles from the equator, is very hot. Coronado is expensive, Sante Fe is off the beaten path, and Boquete is isolated, since it is in the remote northwest corner of the country near the City of David and the border with Costa Rica. The rest of the country is fairly desolate and few retirees choose to live there.
On one of my monthly relocation retirement tours of Costa Rica, I had a conversation with woman who was living in Panama and is a resident of the country.
I asked her, Why are you taking a Costa Rica retirement tour if you live in Panama?“ She replied, “Costa Rica offers many more places for expats to live and I want to check some of them out.”
I couldn’t argue with her because what she said is one-hundred percent correct. Many expats settle in Costa Rica’s Central Valley because of the year-round, spring-like climate. There is a large choice of locations where expats live, and some of the most popular include Atenas (which reportedly has the best climate in the world), Grecia, San Ramón, Heredia, Cariari, Alajuela, Santa Ana, Escazú, and even some areas in and around San José, such as Rohrmoser. San Isidro de General in the southern part of the country is another popular area with expat retirees.
For those who desire beach living, most retires choose the Pacific Coast. This part of Costa Rica is dotted with scores of places to live along the water’s edge; from Guanacaste in the north to Golfito in the south. In the middle is Jacó, a very popular spot for many expats. The natural beauty is unparalleled in places like the Dominical area, which is sometimes called the “Tropical Big Sur” because of the spectacular mountain range which meets the sea there. For more adventurous souls, the Caribbean coast offers seaside gems like Puerto Viejo, Cahuita, and Manzanillo.
Indeed the cost of living in Costa Rica is higher than it is in Panama, but as we say in Spanish, “Lo que algo vale, algo cuesta,” “You really get what you pay for.”
This has been a brief look at some of the factors to consider when evaluating a retirement relocation.
If you detect some bias on my part towards Costa Rica, I apologize. But, with many years of experience with both countries, and when I compare them fairly, it always comes out in favor of Costa Rica.
This week Peruvian journalist Jaime Bayly made a video that went viral on social media, which includes a spectacular editorial, in which he serves up a devastating tragicomic presentation of the dictator (at this point categorizing him as a dictator would be a compliment) Nicolás Maduro.
Faced with such unusual delirium, Bayly has problems of expression. We do not know where to start, or what words to choose to plot the delirious recommendations and suggestions of the disciple of Hugo Chávez.
The same thing that is happening to me now…the difficult task of describing the indescribable.
Just a few days ago, Maduro had already doomed to death the new national currency, from which he had removed five zeros. On that occasion, and as a show of ridiculous power, the impromptu despot said he had “10 times more bills than necessary” to flood the Venezuelan economy, as if this were something moderately virtuous.
But, although it seems impossible, Maduro has outdone even this.
After the Bolivarian “monetary reconversion”, now comes the “magic” Chavista invention: the policy of “zero kills zero” with the fixation of “all prices.”
Before his colleagues and the television cameras, Maduro said that he discovered “a magic formula through study and debate…it’s something we are creating, what we’re doing now in Venezuela, for the first time it’s being done in the economic history of the world. We are writing new history of the economy,” said the president of the Venezuelan tragedy.
Essentially, Maduro thinks that he discovered a new conceptual theoretical framework, that by magic, (as he himself said) is going to solve the hyperinflation, the shortages, and the total economic disaster of the country.
In addition to blaming the private sector for the tragedy that Chavismo holds solely responsible, Maduro has given himself the luxury of advancing some aspects of his master plan, unprecedented in the history of humanity, and his diligent studies in economics:
“Based on international standards and the anchoring of all prices to the petro…I am going to anchor the international prices via the petro, prices, and I have already anchored wages and income.”
Source: Panampost
Article originally appeared on Today Venezuela and is republished here with permission.
Bolivia President Evo Morales said on his Twitter account, that “the U.S. is the real threat to humankind,” responding to Senator Marco Rubio’s talk of using the U.S. Armed Forces against the Venezuelan Government as it “has become a threat for the region and even for the United States.”
Evo Morales said “Senator Marco Rubio, warns of using the Empire’s army against the people of Venezuela because he assumes a “threat” against the security of the U.S.” The Bolivian president remarked that is the U.S. is the real threat to the world’s people, citing “its history of interventionism and military coups d’état in the world.”
The Florida Republican senator made the comments after meeting with national security adviser for the Donald Trump Administration, John Bolton, at the White House last week. He said: “I believe that the United States Armed Forces are only used in case of a threat to national security. I think there is an argument, very strong, that can be used at this moment that Venezuela has become a threat to the region and even to the United States.”
Earlier this year, in February, Rubio made a similar statement, encouraging the Venezuelan Army to overthrow the Nicolas Maduro-led Bolivarian government. “The world would support the Armed Forces in #Venezuela if they decide to protect the people & restore democracy by removing a dictator,” Rubio said, in a tweet, on February 9.
In June, Bolivian President Evo Morales forcefully stated that Latin America “is no longer the United States’ backyard,” while denouncing the United States’ attempt to convince its South American allies to help orchestrate a military intervention or coup in Venezuela.
Source: Radio Havana Cuba
Nicolas Maduro’s government implemented the “Back to the Homeland” plan to help bring Venezuelan migrants back to their home country.
“This is about surviving. We’re not fine here, just surviving, but they make us think we’re better,” says one woman who returned to her native Venezuela from Peru under the Bolivarian government’s ‘Back to the Homeland Plan’ for citizens experiencing xenophobia abroad.
The government of Nicolas Maduro facilitated the return home of some 89 Venezuelan citizens who had migrated to Peru. They arrived Tuesday morning after requesting assistance to return to their home country.
The administration said in a statement that the Venezuelan citizens had contacted the embassy in Peru to request a return to their country, along with government assistance after being subjected to “humiliation, cruel and inhuman treatment, xenophobia and hate crimes.”
“I never found a job. I was a street vendor and I made my life out of that,” one young man who benefited from the program says in a video posted on YouTube. “I was interviewed by the consul… and I was helped.”
Another young man says: “Thinking that everything is perfect as portrayed on social media, everything looking beautiful, people telling you to go and find a place there, but no. I had the doors closed everywhere for being Venezuelan. If they steal, it’s a Venezuelan. Everything bad here is because of a Venezuelan.”
Este fue justo el momento cuando el avión de #Conviasa aterrizó en #Maiquetía proveniente de #Perú con los 89 #venezolanos repatriados. Así vivieron la emoción de llegar a su #patria #Venezuela “Gloria al bravo pueblo que el yugo lanzó” cantaron #VueltaALaPatria pic.twitter.com/pD0mt65dya
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) August 28, 2018
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Venezuelan migrants often experience discrimination abroad. “They were bothered every time they saw us selling, telling us we were taking clients from them and yelling: ‘Those Venetas, look for something else! Don’t you know how to do anything else but coffee, chocolate and cakes?’” says one woman who returned to Venezuela with her husband. “I used to get red out of anger but I wouldn’t discuss it with them because they were in their country.”
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza highlighted how over the years Venezuela has welcomed millions of migrants from all over the region and continent.
Compartimos testimonios de compatriotas que vuelven a la Patria. Sufrieron xenofobia, discriminación y explotación laboral. Víctimas de la campaña regional e internacional que ha promovido la migración inducida para atacar a Venezuela: https://t.co/0Qde0DK72e
— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) September 1, 2018
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“We share testimonies of fellow country people who come back to the homeland. They suffered from xenophobia, discrimination and labor exploitation. Victims of the regional and international campaign that has promoted the induced migration to attack Venezuela.”
“In our country, six million Colombian brothers live together with 600,000 Ecuadorean brothers and more than 500,000 Peruvians, whom we generously welcomed as sisters and brothers of the Great Homeland, offering them medical care, free education and all the benefits that this Bolivarian Revolution provides to all and all equally, who came to this Earth fleeing from war, paramilitarism, poverty and hunger,” Arreaza said.
Several of those who returned said they do not intend to leave the country again and criticized the campaign that is being carried out regarding the migration of their compatriots.
“The Venezuelans won’t be left out just like that, knowing the situation of many people that come without anything,” says one young woman in Peru, carrying her child. “I know the president will be looking after us.”
Article originally appeared on Today Venezuela and is republished here with permission.
The Civic Alliance asked the Nicaraguan Army to support “a peaceful solution to the crisis”, which the country has been going through for more than four months.
“At the beginning of the month of the homeland (September) we call on the Army of Nicaragua to act in strict adherence to the Constitution and the Laws and listen to the clamor of the people, who demand a peaceful solution to the crisis, to channel the country on the path of justice and democracy,” the Alliance said in a statement.
The public letter reminds the members of the Nicaraguan Army that they will not be able to carry out political-partisan activities and that their functions will be governed by strict adherence to the Political Constitution, to which they will respect and obey; in addition, that the patriotic symbols are only the Anthem, the Flag and the national Shield.
The coalition of business, students, peasants and other sectors of civil society focuses on reminding the Army “its nature and its role in the national State, in accordance with the provisions of the Political Constitution of the Republic and other laws.”
The letter states that the Nicaraguan Army is an armed institution for the defense of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, “it is nonpartisan, apolitical, obedient and non-deliberative”.
In the same document the Civic Alliance argues that there can be no more armed bodies in the national territory than those established in the Constitution, because the Army is “constitutionally the only armed military body of the republic.”
The letter states that the armed institution is prohibited from engaging in political espionage activities, and that “any act contrary to the Political Constitution committed by an authority, official or public employee constitutes an abuse of authority or functions.”
The letter was published on Sunday, September 2, the Nicaraguan Army Day, in homage to the National Army of Nicaragua’s National Sovereignty Defender.
So far, the Nicaraguan Army has remained on the sidelines of the crisis and at different times has maintained that it maintains control, both of its personnel and its weapons, and that these have not taken part in acts of violence.
The Alliance, a counterpart of the Government in the national dialogue, which has as mediator the Episcopal Conference, reminded the Nicaraguan armed forces of the mandate of law when an authority “transgresses” the laws of the country.
“The removal of the head of the Nicaraguan Army proceeds when his actions violate the apolitical or non-partisan nature of the Army,” emphasizes the Alliance.
In Nicaragua, the supreme head of the Armed Forces is the Executive, in this case President Daniel Ortega, who has recognized 198 dead due to the crisis, while international and non-governmental organizations number between 322 and 448.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
Manitoba, Canada, Premier Brian Pallister has been penalized for taxes owing on his vacation home in Costa Rica. Pallister said he failed to update the evaluation of his property as required by Costa Rica law, which meant he didn’t pay the tax on luxury homes.
“The valuations were supposed to have been, in hindsight, done every three years and you’re responsible for doing them,” Pallister told The Canadian Press on Friday.
“At the outset, we were never advised that we owed anything on this, and actually were told we were not in this (luxury) category, so we had no reason to believe … that we would owe anything.”
Ignorance is no defence, I should have probably looked into it further (earlier)
Pallister said he has paid what he owed — roughly US$8,000 in back taxes and penalties — after going to Costa Rica last week to clear up the issue that has dogged him for months in the legislature and in the media back home.
Pallister and his wife purchased the property, though a Costa Rica corporation, Finca Deneter Doce S.A., on a hillside in Tamarindo in 2008. The main bungalow measures 3,400 square feet, according to design plans, and has what Pallister calls a “small finished area” in the basement with a piano and TV room.
There is also a pool, a groundskeeper’s quarters and a gym.
The year after Pallister purchased the property, Costa Rica brought in a national tax on homes with a construction value of ¢120 million colones — about US$210,000 dollars.
The ‘luxury’ tax is in addition to local taxes, which Pallister says he has always paid, and its threshold rises each year roughly in line with inflation.
The valuations were supposed to have been, in hindsight, done every three years and you’re responsible for doing them
The luxury tax is complex. It is not based on market value or estimates filed for construction permits, but instead on the type of building material used in each room, the area covered by each material and other factors.
Though it appears Pallister is good in Costa Rica, back home, in Manitoba, the National Post reports the opposition to his government are unlikely to let the matter go. The New Democratic Party (NDP) raised the issue several months ago and demanded to know whether Pallister had avoided the tax by undervaluing his Costa Rica property.
In April, after repeated questions, Pallister promised to look into whether he should have been paying the luxury tax. He said he finally got the answer last week.
“The valuations were supposed to have been, in hindsight, done every three years and you’re responsible for doing them. Ignorance is no defence, I should have probably looked into it further (earlier),” said Pallister.
“It’s a shame the premier only did that after he got caught,” NDP caucus spokesman Andrew Swan said Friday. “It’s a terrible example for the premier of this province to lead.”
Over the years since vacation in Costa Rica, Pallister has also drawn criticism for the amount of time he has spent in Costa Rica and for, on at least one occasion, saying he was not there when he was.
He has also been criticized for hard to reach while at his vacation home. An investigation revealed that staff connected with the premier via his wife’s personal email account and cellphone. Pallister later promised to use his own government communications equipment and to reimburse taxpayers for any long-distance costs.
Farrah Abraham is spending the U.S. Labor Day weekend in Costa Rica with her daughter Sophia, age nine. And on Sunday, she treated her Instagram followers to a video of herself jumping rope against a dramatic scenic backdrop.
The busty reality star, 27, was dressed in a skimpy bra and frayed Daisy Dukes for her fitness session.
The Teen Mom alum left her shoulder-length hair loose as she bounced up and down. Not seen in the clip is her nine-year-old daughter Sophia who is with her on vacation.
‘Good morning, it’s Costa Rica coffee time,’ she said while sipping on a cup of joe and enjoying the view from her rental home in the jungle.
The Teen Mom star finished her morning off with breakfast and a quick workout.
Abraham is gearing up for her celebrity boxing match in Atlantic City on November 10. The Omaha native will face off against Flavor Of Love’s Nicole ‘Hoopz’ Alexander.
In an interview with OK! Magazine, the reality star talked pre-fight preparations.
‘I’ve had to eat more fats and more food,’ she said. ‘I’ve gained 50 percent more muscle.’
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum, serving as Mayor of Tallahassee, Florida since 2014, gave three national television interviews Sunday morning, fielding questions about the status of the FBI corruption probe into his city government.
And on all three programs — CNN’s “State of the Union,” NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” Gillum gave what is becoming a familiar answer to the question: He, as the mayor of Tallahassee, welcomed the investigation, and he’s not its target.
But on Meet the Press, Gillum also offered some new information, saying he planned in coming days to release receipts related to two trips he took in 2016 that have come under scrutiny in the press coverage of the probe.
In May of 2016, Gillum reportedly vacationed with friends and lobbyists Sean Pittman and Adam Corey in Costa Rica. It was on that trip that Corey scheduled a meeting between Gillum and an undercover FBI agent posing as a developer via an online calendar invite, the Tallahassee Democrat has reported.
Although Gillum had long been friends with the lobbyists, the trip raised the eyebrows of some ethics experts. Gillum, his friends and their significant others reportedly split a US$1,400-per-night villa on the trip. Gillum says he paid for his portion of the trip, but he has not publicly released any receipts.
Sunday on NBC, the mayor said he would provide evidence that he paid his way on the New York and Costa Rica trips as soon as a Tallahassee ethics board wrapped up its investigation this week.
“My commitment is to make every receipt available because I’ve got nothing to hide,” Gillum told Todd Sunday morning. “I just wanted to make sure the process worked the way it was intended to.”
In San Jose, Costa Ricaa on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that Spain will not suspend aid to Nicaragua despite the political crisis there and praised Costa Rica for its efforts to help Nicaraguans who are fleeing their country.
Sanchez made the comments during a joint press conference in San Jose with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado.
While some nations have suspended aid to Nicaragua to penalize the government of President Daniel Ortega after the deaths of hundreds of people in protests, the prime minister said that Spain will remain engaged with the Central American nation.
“We won’t withdraw aid from Nicaragua. That would mean forgetting about those who are suffering repression by the regime,” he said.
Regarding the flow of refugees from Nicaragua to neighboring Costa Rica, Sanchez pointed out that San Jose can benefit from Spain’s experience dealing with migration crises in Europe.
He said that facing the challenges posed by mass emigration from Nicaragua and from Venezuela, also plagued by political and economic crisis, will require a regional approach, as no single country can solve the problem on its own.
More: Spain’s Prime Minister Praised Costa Rica’s Handling Of The Gutiérrez Murder
“Spain will always be on the side of the countries that make a great effort to not close their borders, but rather to treat people with respect for human rights, to regularize migration and to accept people who flee from political conflicts, as now in Nicaragua,” Sanchez said.
Acknowledging Spain’s experience with migration, Alvarado said he saw possibilities for cooperation with Madrid on the issue, while pledging that Costa Rica will not waver in its respect for human rights.
Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado, received on Friday Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, at Casa Presidencial as part of his official tour of Latin America, where Costa Rica stands out as the only country in Central America and the Caribbean.
Sánchez arrived in our country on Thursday afternoon. In the evening, delegations of both nations held bilateral meetings, whereby Sánchez highlighted Costa Rica as a strategic partner in the region in democracy and sustainable development.
“It is my wish that your government see in Costa Rica, based on our political and social stability and the credibility that we enjoy in many areas of common interest, a strategic ally of Spain in our region, to work hand in hand on issues as the defense of democracy, the protection of the environment and the effort to achieve sustainable development,” said President Alvarado.
At Casa Presidencial, Sánchez and Alvarado held discussions the on environment, climate change and decarbonization.
In this space, President Alvarado said that Costa Rica has shown to be innovative in promoting policies for the protection of the environment and the thesis that all countries should make important efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The last time a Spanish Prime Minister visited Costa Rica was 2004.
Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, who arrived in Costa Rica on Thursday, in his first official visito to the country, to conclude his tour of four countries in Latin America, said that his country was gratified by Costa Rica’s efforts to ensure that Spanish tourist Arantxa Gutiérrez’s family suffered as little as possible.
Sánchez expressed his government’s appreciation of Costa Rica’s ‘good job’ in the case.
Gutiérrez was sexually abused and murdered on August 4, in Pococí, Limón. The only suspect in the crime is a man named Diaz Hawkings, who was arrested two hours after the discovery of the body. The suspect is not in preventive detention while the authorities prepare for the criminal trial.
“I wanted to thank you, President, for a fact that for us was very tragic, as was the murder of Arantxa Gutiérrez. And the only thing I can say is thanks,” said Sánchez, who praised the Alavardo government for using all its resources to the case and follow up with the victim’s family.
“This, for Spain, the murder moved us, but also we were gratified to see a society like the Costa Rican, and its Government, committed to the family suffering as little as possible and of course the facts were clarified as soon as possible,” the Prime Minister continued.
“I publicly wanted to recognize the good job of the government of Costa Rica,” Sánchez concluded.
The Spanish Prime Minister last week visited Chile, Bolivia, and Colombia before arriving in Costa Rica
Costa Rica reached baby 5 million this Saturday, September 1st, as president by the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC).
Eithan Jesus was one three babies born between 9:20 pm and 9:30 pm in the maternities of the San Carlos hospital, in Alajuela, in the north of the country, San Vicente de Paúl in Heredia and Enrique Baltodano of Liberia, Guanacaste.
This according to the Health Statistics area of the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS) – Costa Rican Social Security Fund – the 26 maternities and the Institutional Nursing Directorate, in order to register births in the time slot determined by the INEC, all under the coordination of the Medical Management of the state health entity of that Central American country.
Eithan Jesús Brenes Alvarado was born at 9:27 pm in Heredia by caesarean section, the son of Madelyne Alvarado Calvo, 27 years of age, a first-time mother and Reinier Brenes Calvo, 31 years of age and weighed 3.7 kilos (8 lbs).
The couple are residents of Varablanca. Madelyne’s due date was August 23. The couple have been married for three years.
Costa Rica president reacted to the birth, post on Twitter: “We received #Baby5M! We welcome you with a lot of love; love for you, for your family and for Costa Rica. You came to a country that is working to be better for all people because #CadaPersonaCuenta ”
¡Recibimos al #Bebé5M! Te damos la bienvenida con mucho amor; amor por vos, por tu familia y por Costa Rica. Llegaste a un país que está trabajando por estar mejor por todas las personas porque #CadaPersonaCuenta https://t.co/VkzaXE7vta
— Carlos Alvarado Q. (@CarlosAlvQ) September 2, 2018
It is worth noting that at present, one of the first actions that takes place as soon as a child is born in Costa Rica is to apply the golden rule, which consists of placing it on the mother’s breast for at least one hour to elevate the attachment and ensure that the process of adapting to the new life is not so traumatic.
Subsequently, the baby is cleaned, his eyes are cleaned, his secretions are removed, his navel is cured, vitamin K is administered, among other actions, which are included in the institutional protocols.
Now waiting on baby 6 Million
According to the estimates of the INEC it is expected that the 6 millionth Costa Rican will be born in 27 years, that is, in 2045.
After three months of relative stability, the exchange rate of the U.S. currency compared to the Colón increased from ₡568 in mid-August to ₡575.67 this morning.
Nacion.com reports that “…Although the variation is small, since it is only 0.64%, it breaks a stable period that was maintained from May 31 to August 14. In that period it remained very close to ¢568.”
The increase was registered in the price of the dollar in the wholesale Monex market, where transactions between financial entities are carried out.
The increase is already reflected in the exchange applied at the banks.
The reference rate by the Central Bank (BCCR) this morning, August 31, was set at ¢569.54 today, for the buy and ¢575.67 for the sell.
The exchange rate could also start to reflect the arrival of the new president, Rodrigo Cubero, to the Central Bank, who assured that during his term of office the price of the currency would have a greater float, both upwards and downwards.
According to the BCCR, the aim of this variability is to continue to advance in the inflation targeting scheme, where all the exchange and monetary policy is subject to reaching an objective for this indicator.
The Government of Costa Rica says it will not give in to any request that puts at risk the lives of people who request refuge in the country.
This is how Lorena Aguilar, Vice Chancellor, responded to the pretensions of the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, to obtain the list of asylum seekers from his country.
On Wednesday, Ortega said he will ask for “a list of people who are seeking asylum” in Costa Rica to point out those who, in their opinion, committed crimes in the context of the protests that affected the country and should be tried in court.
“We are going to tell him very clearly and if they (Costa Ricans) want to have them, there they are,” Ortega said during a party rally in Managua.
Aguilar pointed to domestic and international regulations prevent that information from being disclosed to any country.
According to Aguilar, this is established in Article 8 of the Regulation on Refugees, which refers to the principle of confidentiality.
“Confidentiality is the guiding principle for the registration and handling of the information of the applicants for refugee status and of the declared refugees. It is based on the human right to privacy, recognized in various international instruments signed by Costa Rica, essential to guarantee effective international protection for refugees. ”
“Failure to comply with this principle can have serious repercussions in terms of protection and security for refugees and applicants, their families and people with whom they can be associated, both in Costa Rica and in the country of origin”, says the aforementioned article.
The country has not officially received any official request from Ortega in that regard.
Nor has there been any other communication from the Government of Nicaragua regarding the thousands of Nicaraguans who migrated to Costa Rica in search of refuge due to the political crisis in their country.
Some 23,000 Nicaraguans have so far filed claims, waiting for the immigration service to decide on their status in Costa Rica.
Following the year and four months in a Nicaragua prison, convicted of money laundering and organized crime, Costa Rican model Adriana Corella knew how to reinvent hersel.
See more of Adriana Corella at COSTA RICA CONFIDENTIAL!
On Tuesday night, the Teletica program “Las paredes oyen” (The walls are listening) got hot, the television station flooded with hundres of comments and the same thing with the official social profiles of the program’s host, Edgar Silva.
The reason? Silva had as is guest doña Nubia, a sex worker.
The comments asked the station and the program host why they would have invited such an “unknown face” on the show. On his Instagram account, Silva explained, “”When I decided to do the talk show, the premise was to seek out and help to tell people their life stories, so that others not only find out what they are like, but first of all, so that we UNDERSTAND why they are like that”.
Silva said that the interviews do not seek to convince anyone, but they do have the purpose of giving people the opportunity to explain something that we have said or done and that deserves to be understood by others.
“It is difficult for me to understand the reaction the interview with Dona Nubia has generated. Silva added that people can opine, but with respect, without judgement or critizing.
Doña Nubia aired part of her life as a sex worker on the program. She told how she entered that world, the way she told her family and son. In addition to the guilt she once felt.
Doña Nubia was candid, “yes, one enjoys it. Do we have an orgasm? Yes, we do. But, I can’t say always…sometimes we meet up with clients who make us feel good, treat us well, so, yes we have orgasms, yes we feel pleasure as a sex worker”.
The former sex worker added that it can also be a living hell, not enjoy it (the work), sometimes for years without pleasure.
The interview caused a powder keg of comments on social networks.
Between 100,000 and 200,000 people climb Argentina’s Uritorco hill annually in search of extraterrestrial sightings. Speaking to Sputnik, Colombian Luz Mary López, director of the International Ufology Center in Capilla del Monte, explained that the Uritorco hill had become an emblematic destination for UFO fans.
On January 9, 1986, an event known as “the footprint of a bird” (“la huella de el pajarillo”) occurred in Capilla del Monte (a province of Córdoba). That was the starting point of this great UFO boom.
On that day a flying object with red lights appeared in northeastern Monte. The strange object did not go unnoticed — a 12-year-old boy and two elderly women saw it. The next day their relatives went to that place and found a burned area measuring 120 by 70 square meters. Since then, a lot ofmany Argentinean towns have used this incident to attract tourists.
Is it true that UFOs can be seen here? This is the question that draws people to this location. There are two reasons they come to Capilla del Monte. It’s either because there is international knowledge on the subject, or because they are people who have studied such phenomena and have heard about this place.
“They are looking for anything from UFO signs to flying saucers or extraterrestrial spaceships; and then they say they have seen a light or something extraordinary has happened to them, thus arriving at those results they were looking for,” López explains.
According to the specialist, 90 percent of tourists have their expectations met “because they are ready for it or because of the sighting and the experience of the place surprises them.” There will always be skeptics, but most people leave the place satisfied because “they don’t need to see a UFO to think it is a special place.”
There is an area in the middle of the Uritorco range, which is home to one of the highest mountains in the region. Although the place has a desert environment, its topography and vegetation have particular characteristics and the climate largely differs from those of nearby areas.
“The experience here happens more via sensations, and people feel it in a way which makes them leave with great affectionate for the place,” López says.
United States politicians put under the microscope Mexican businessman Remigio Ángel González, who owns the Albavisión network, of which Repretel Costa Rica is part, for his alleged involvement in corruption and crime in Guatemala.
A group of Republican and Democratic congressmen from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives asked the government of President Donald Trump that the State and Treasury departments evaluate whether Gonzalez and five other people with businesses extended through Central America meet the criteria for accountability under the Magnitsky Act.
This law allows the US government to impose sanctions against citizens around the world who have been accused of alleged human rights abuses or acts of corruption in their own countries of origin.
In Costa Rica, Albavisión operates television channels 2, 4, 6 and 11, as well as eleven radio frequencies, including Monumental and Momentos Reloj.
In Guatemala, González controls four television stations – El Super Canal, Televisiete, Teleonce and Trecevisión, attaining a monopoly of commercial television channels.
In Nicaragua, as of May 2018, all the stations he owns, operates or advises in Nicaragua have sons and daughters of Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega running them. González also owns 5 television stations in his native Mexico.
A 2001 study of González’ media properties in Guatemala and Nicaragua found that they had a tendency to squeeze out voices opposed to the government, and concluded that “Gonzalez’s ownership practices create an atmosphere that undercuts the development of democracy.”
The Mexican born González, who maintains a conservative political stance, but keeps a low profile and cooperate with host country governments, has lived in Miami since 1987.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said on Wednesday, before thousands of Nicaraguans who ratified their support for the Sandinista Government, he would ask Costa Rica to hand over Nicaraguan refugees who committed crimes in the context of a political crisis.
Ortega said he will ask Costa Rica “a list of people who are seeking asylum” to indicate who committed crimes in the context of the protests that affect the country and should be tried by its justice system.
But Costa Rica said the information is confidential, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying “it can not give details about asylum seekers or refugees since it is sensitive information that is governed by the principle of confidentiality.
“We are going to tell them very clearly,” Ortega warned during a party rally made up of pro-government and Sandinista supporters.
Ortega also said that Nicaraguans who “do not have (criminal) cases on them or who have not committed crimes can return and no one is going to touch them, and they can reconnect with their families.”
“Those who feel free of sin, can return, with the assurance that no one is going to detain (arrested) them,” the president promised.
He indicated that between April and June some 26,000 people left for Costa Rica “not because they are criminals,” but because of the political tensions that Nicaragua is experiencing.
According to the United Nations and Costa Rica immigration, the number of Nicaraguans who have taken refuge in Costa Rica because of the political crisis unleashed by the opposition protests that demand the resignation of Ortega, is 23,000.
On Tuesday, Costa Rica’s director of immigration, Raquel Vargas, confirmed a big drop in refugee claims this month, going from 21,000 in June and July to only 5,000 this month.
Since the demonstrations began on April 18, the tally is from 300 to 450 the number of dead, and 2,000 wounded and an unspecified number of detained and missing persons.
With a worrisome and growing figure of road fatalities, the Policia de Transito (Traffic Police) have stepped up their game: more patrols (including night), spotchecks and radar control, like that pictured below on the Cañas – Liberia portion of the Interamericana Norte (Ruta 1).
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