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Costa Rica’s Admonishing Justice!
FROGS RULE IN SARAPIQUÍ
Neotropical frogs are the rock stars of wildlife in Sarapiquí. They may not be the largest or the fiercest beasts in the jungle, but they are without doubt the most attractive and interesting.
Apart from agriculture, the main industry of Sarapiquí is ecotourism. Hotels and nature guides tell me around 95% of the visitors are European—very few tourists from the U.S.A. or Canada.
Walking around, you will hear more German, French, and Dutch than English. On a recent trip, staying at a decidedly tourist hotel, the maid was afraid to talk to me—she had never before spoken to a U.S. citizen and she didn’t think I would speak Spanish. We later chatted and got along just fine.
There are numerous hotels and nature centers that cater to ecotourists with guided walks through public and private reserves. There is a serpentarium and river tours by boat leave from the main dock in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí. Hotel gardens abound with birds and small creatures of all sorts. In short, it’s a wonderful place to see and photograph wildlife.
Red-eyed Leaf (or Tree) Frog
The Red-eyed Leaf Frog (Rana de hoja de ojos rojos) is an iconic image of Costa Rican tourism. You can find this little guy on hats, T-shirts, books, hotels, publicity of every flavor, etc. They are quite common, but not frequently seen because they are nocturnal.
Poisonous Frogs
These two amphibians have opted out of the food chain—nothing eats them unless suicide is the daily special. The Green and Black Poison Frog (Rana venenosa verdinegra) is quite common—I have frequently seen them in hotel gardens. The Strawberry Poison Frog (Rana venenosa roja) was alleged to have gone extinct, but seems to be alive and well and making a comeback.
There is an active debate as to which of these frogs is the more poisonous. My frog guide assured me the Green and Black is the deadlier of the pair. However, most Costa Ricans I’ve spoken to about this, some of them quite knowledgeable on the subject, assure me the Strawberry Poison Frog is the king of frog venom.
In Sarapiquí, the Strawberry Poison Frog is also known as the Rana blue jeans—the Blue Jeans Frog—for its dark bluish legs. Both species are also known as Poison Dart/Arrow Frogs because their toxins were used by indigenous peoples to poison blowgun darts.
Dark-eyed Leaf Frog
The Dark-eyed Leaf Frog (Rana de hoja de ojos negros) is another very cute critter. It is arboreal—living in trees—and the webbing on its feet allows it to glide through the air from one tree to another.
Three-toed Sloth
The Three-toed Sloth (Perezoso de tres garras) lives quietly high in the trees above the frogs, descending maybe once a week to relieve himself. This young sloth lives on a private nature reserve and the guide told me he was about seven months old. His mother cut him loose when he was three months old—the normal age for sloth emancipation.
If you are interested in seeing Costa Rican wildlife, with or without a camera, Sarapiquí is the place to be.
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¢112.5 million Will Cost Ticos Retirement of Chief Justice
Can you imagine what you could do with ¢112.5 million colones?
Well, that is what it will be the cost all Ticos (Costa Ricans) to pay Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Chinchilla, who on Monday announced his surprise retirement.
Chinchilla, 55, decided to leave the bench following the ‘written reprimand” on Thursday due to questioning against him for dismissing, on February 20, 2017, a criminal case against then legislators Otto Guevara and Víctor Morales Zapata for alleged influence peddling in the Chinese cement scandal, “el cementazo”.
Three other judges were also reprimanded, which on Monday the Full Court decided to convert to a two-month suspension without pay for all four judges, though it will no longer apply to Chinchilla.
Hernán Campos, general secretary of the Union of Workers and Workers of the Judiciary, explained that the amount that Chinchilla will receive for his retirement is high due to his salary of ¢9,000,-000 colones monthly
Doing the math and applying Costa Rica’s labor laws, the now former Chief Justice is to be paid one month’s salary for each year worked, Aguinaldo (Christmas bonus) and any outstanding vacation pay.
Chinchilla worked for the Poder Judicial for the past 12 years. Thus, ¢9.000,000 x 12 – ¢108,000,000.
According to Campos, we must add ¢4,500.000, that corresponds to the year-end bonus when he decided to retire.
Campos added that if he (Chinchilla) has accumulated vacations the amount would increase, however, he acknowledged that this information is unknown.
But it could have been worse, for the public that is.
Campos explained that since employees of the Poder Judicial do not have a collective agreement,
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Ruta 32 Continues Closed
The Ruta 32, between San Jose and Guapiles, continues closed as work crews try to clear the debris on the road from the numerous landslides.
The closure occurred on Friday when hundreds of vehicles and more than 500 people were trapped in between the landslides.
The MOPT was confident to have been able to re-open the road by today, Wednesday. However, continuing rains and more landslides have delayed the cleanup work. For example, the weather conditions in the Braulio Carrillo national park on Tuesday was such that work had to be suspended at 4 pm.
The alternative through Turrialba (from Cartago) is open, with ‘complicated’ passage through some areas. The other alternative via Vara Blanca to Sarapiqui to Guapiles is in a better option.
A new tropical wave coming in today has increased winds and with it more rain is expected, perhaps worse than last Friday.
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Sutel Approves Purchase of Cabletica
At the end of June it was confirmed that the Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel) approved the purchase of Cabletica by Liberty Latin America.
Simultaneously, the regulator gave the green light to Telecable’s purchase of a fiber optic network in Guanacaste from SAL Telecommunications Technicians.
Liberty Latin America, announced the acquisition back in February, in an agreement to acquire 80% of Cabletica.
Cabletica is valued at an enterprise value of around US$250 million dollars. The company owns and operates in Costa Rica, cable television, Internet service, telephony and Teletica, Canal 7, formerly known as Televisora de Costa Rica S.A., the first Costa Rican television company, founded in 1958.
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Problems in Costa Rica’s Natural Gas Market
In Costa Rica, the companies Rhone Investissements and Cervin Investissements are demanding the reinstatement of the administration of Gas National Zeta.
The struggle between Envangelina López and Miguel Zaragoza for control of the company Gas Zeta dates back to 2014, when a process of divorce and distribution of assets between both people began.
After a formal separation in November 2015, the company in dispute was left in the hands of López and until now, the company has been run by the husband of one of her daughters.
The disagreement was back on the table last week, when the Swiss companies Rhone and Cervin requested the immediate return of Gas Zeta. This new struggle has led to fears of a possible shortage in the sector, since there are records of a similar situation in 2015.
Regarding the dispute, Carlos Quesada, spokesperson for Evangelina López, told Nacion.com that ” … the company’s request for a return is ‘inappropriate’ because the Swiss companies have not shown that the share capital of Gas Zeta belongs to them, and neither have they verified who is its true owner.”
The article adds that ” …’Neither Cervin Investissements nor Rhone Investissements have shown before the Costa Rican State, nor before the Judicial Power, nor before any administrative authority in Costa Rica, that the share capital of Gas National Zeta belongs to them,” cites a document containing Quesada’s statements.”
“We seek a commitment from both jurisdictional and administrative authorities to resolve as soon as possible and protect consumers, in order not to interrupt the permanence of public service and prevent what happens between April and May 2015, when hospitals, dining rooms schools, shops and prisons were without this service. For that, the public regulatory system has the power to implement the protocol to ensure that there is no shortage of gas and bring peace of mind to users when the change of administration is made,” Ernesto Villalobos, spokesman for Rhone and Cervin Investissements, told El Financierio.
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Gisele Looks Sensational In Skimpy Bikini In Costa Rica (Photos)
Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady raised temperatures in Costa Rica this week as they packed on the PDA at the beach.
The 37-year-old Brazilian supermodel flaunted her stunning figure as she cuddled up to her 40-year-old husband of nine years at a rocky seashore.
The couple could barely keep their hands off each other as they spent time exploring rock pools with children John, 10, Benjamin, eight and five-year-old daughter Vivian.
Simply stylish: Gisele wore a black string bikini as she explored the beach with husband Tom Brady and their kids.
Gisele, who was born in Brazil, flaunted her lithe figure in a skimpy black string bikini which flattered her physique. She accessorized with some small hoop earrings and swept her golden locks into a bun while shading her eyes with some stylish sunglasses.
The couple stole a kiss as the kids were kept busy exploring the tide pools.
The couple — who celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary this past February returned to Costa Rica with their kids, Vivian, Jack, and Benjamin, and on Saturday, Tom and Gisele were all loved up while enjoying a family beach day.
Giselle and Tom are frequent visitors of Costa Rica, where they own a beach house in the area of Santa Teresa, in the Nicoya Peninsula.
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US Ambassador before the UN: “There have been more innocent people killed by Ortega in Nicaragua than by Maduro in Venezuela”
The United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Nikki Haley, said on Tuesday that in Nicaragua “there have been more innocent people murdered by (Daniel) Ortega than by (Nicolás) Maduro in Venezuela” in relation to the crisis that It crosses the Central American country, which already leaves more than 350 dead according to human rights organizations.
Haley’s statements coincide with the position of the spokesman of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, who on Tuesday denounced the violations of the fundamental rights of Nicaraguans for the repression perpetrated by police and pro-government paramilitary groups.
The diplomat, who is a member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, said that “human rights and democracy” must return in Nicaragua. She also said that the “Western Hemisphere should be free of dictators,” in reference to the countries of Latin America.
Against the civilian population of Nicaragua “a wide range of human rights violations are being committed, including extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary arrests and violations of the right to freedom of expression of persons,” the staff of the Rights Office informed. UN Human Rights in Nicaragua.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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OAS Seeks A Sentence for Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo
A few hours before this Wednesday’s fourth session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), in Washington, which will discuss the bloody sociopolitical crisis in Nicaragua, at least thirteen countries of the hemisphere are promoting a resolution of condemnation against the ruthless repression carried out by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, president and vice-presidents, respectively.
According to the former ambassador of Nicaragua to the OAS, José Luis Velásquez, for this session there are 21 votes ready to a resolution condemning the Ortega-Murillo government, for violation of human rights, for the use of police and paramilitaries against of the citizens who protest peacefully, demanding democracy and the exit of power from the presidential couple.
However, the votes in agreement with the diplomat depend on the quorum in the participation of the member countries, “but the condemnation of human rights violations against Ortega is irreversible.”
According to the former diplomat, of the 34 member countries, 21 would have already confirmed their approval of the resolution against the Ortega-Murillo administration.
On June 24, 1979, the OAS passed a resolution condemning the regime of Anastasio Somoza. The resolution demanded its definitive and immediate replacement, as well as a peace-making plan with a government representative of the opposition.
Somoza, pressured by the international community and popular anger, accepted the resolution and left power.
But then, Nicaragua was in an armed struggle between the Sandinista Front led by Daniel Ortega and the Somoza government.
This time, according to Velásquez, the Ortega regime has put all its security apparatus, using weapons of war and lethal force against an unarmed people that demand his exit by peaceful means.
“Guaranteeing the collective security of the human rights of Nicaraguans will weigh in this session, because there are few Caribbean countries that would not support the condemnation, and the few that will do so depend on Venezuela’s oil, political and commercial partner of Ortega,” Velasquez said.
Ortega’s last-minute maneuver
At the last hour on Tuesday, July 17, Ortega’s ambassador to the OAS, Luis Alvarado, issued a counterproposal of a resolution favorable to Ortega.
The draft resolution is entitled “Restitution of peace in Nicaragua” and was sent to Rita Hernández Bolaños, permanent representative of Costa Rica, to be distributed among the missions present in the organization.
Contrary to the proposed resolution of condemnation of Nicaragua, Ortega’s document calls on member countries to condemn “that the opposition coup groups use the National Dialogue promoted by the Government of Nicaragua, to try to legitimize their criminal actions against the civilian population and police, colluded with international organized crime groups and terrorists, to destabilize the State of Nicaragua. ”
In addition, Ortega calls to “recognize” the initiatives of his government “in calling the National Dialogue” to find a peaceful solution to the acts of violence generated from April 18.
The document also requests the support of the countries to resume the dialogue, thanks to the Government for allowing the entry of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and the OAS Electoral Accompaniment Mission.
Ortega also requests that the OAS to condemn terrorist actions against Nicaragua and to respect “the self-determination of the State of Nicaragua to restore peace and security without interference of any kind.”
According to Velásquez, Daniel Ortega has the battle lost before the bosom of the OAS.
“In that call, Daniel Ortega Saavedra’s resignation can be demanded and multilateral and bilateral sanctions can be decreed, and this can also lead Nicaragua’s problem with the Security Council of the United Nations,” Velásquez said.
The ex-diplomat recalled that in the case of Somoza, in the XVII Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OAS, in 1979, he demanded the resignation of Somoza “for legitimate rebellion of the people of Nicaragua against him.”
Velásquez recalled that at that time the United States requested the sending of a combined military force against Somoza, but it was rejected by the OAS. “But it allowed the sanctions that isolated Somoza as the arrest of the Israeli ship that brought him weapons and ammunition,” said the former Ambassador to the OAS.
The draft resolution that aims to condemn Ortega’s government will be discussed today, Wednesday, July 19, within the OAS and is sponsored by Argentina, Canada, Chile, the United States and Peru.
Defeated in the international arena
For the former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, the OAS processes are slow, but it is clear that Ortega “is defeated in the international arena.”
“We have seen an encouraging turn in the General Secretariat of the OAS from the complicity with Ortega during the (electoral) missions of Penco and a month ago when Almagro said that there were only two dictatorships in Latin America (Venezuela and Cuba) until now, when we noticed a more belligerent position of the General Secretariat and of Almagro, who now condemns the violence in Nicaragua and attributes it mainly to the Government, “affirmed Aguirre Sacasa.
Brazenness of Ortega
“In an example of historical brazenness, the government of Daniel Ortega intends to use the Inter-American Democratic Charter as a shield, claiming that the Nicaraguan people are provoking a rupture in the democratic order. The problem with this tactic is that the whole world knows that it is their government that is brutally suppressing a peacefully raised people to restore democracy and the rule of law dismantled by Daniel since 2007,” said Francisco Aguirre Sacasa.
Source (in Spanish): La Prensa
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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Cleanup Operation in Masaya: 3 Dead As Government Forces Take Control of the City
The Government of Nicaragua on Tuesday took control of the city of Masaya after an operation of more than 7 hours, carried out on the indigenous community of Monimbó, and leaving 3 dead.
“Masaya fell, everything is silent, the kids had to leave the trenches and flee, their weapons were too heavy,” a member of the April 19 Masaya Movement told Acan-Efe.
The Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH) confirmed the death of at least 3 people during the attack: a policeman, a 15-year-old, and a woman who was on the sidewalk of her house.
The ANPDH believes that the number of victims could be greater, but it is still not possible to enter the city because it remains surrounded by the “combined forces” of the Government.
On maximum alert. Residents of Masaya and the Monimbó neighborhood reported early on Tuesday that paramilitaries, armed and wearing blue shirts, were carrying out the so-called cleanup operation, which kept people on high alert.
Mobilizing in pickup trucks, heavily armed and hooded, the paramilitaries entered Masaya at dawn and some inhabitants managed to record the moment, expressing great concern.
The OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, on Tuesday, endorsed the request of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which called for preventing repression in Masaya.
“We adhere to and support the request of the IACHR,” Almagro wrote in his official Twitter account.
Earlier, the IACHR urged “to avoid the repressive offensive in Masaya, we remind the State of Nicaragua that there is already a framework to stop the violence and open channels of dialogue that avoid more loss of life.”
United States Ambassador in Nicaragua, Laura F. Dogu, retweeted a message from Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the US Department of State, asking the Government of Nicaragua today to stop the violence.
We call on #OrtegaMurillo to stop the violence and end the bloodshed in #Nicaragua. The United States is watching and we will continue to hold accountable those responsible for the ongoing campaign of violence and repression. https://t.co/pmbPLcyxgg
— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) July 17, 2018
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Unofficially, it is speculated that there were more than a thousand men heavily armed with machine guns who entered shooting at Masaya, a city with 100,000 people, located 30 kilometers south of Managua.
The riot police and paramilitaries entered on board 37 vans and surrounded Masaya, closing the access to the city, according to images uploaded by residents on social networks.
“They are strafing the houses in an irresponsible manner, the message is that those who poker their heads will be killed, it is a state of terror, what worries me the most are children, pregnant women and the elderly,” said the secretary of the Nicaraguan Association of Human Rights (ANPDH), Álvaro Leiva.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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Costa Rica Joins Other 11 Latin America Countries In Demand For The Immediate End Of Violence In Nicaragua
Costa Rica on Monday joined Honduras, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, all of them belonging to the Lima Group, as well as Uruguay and Ecuador, demanding the “immediate cessation of acts of violence, intimidation and threats” in Nicaragua and the “dismantling of paramilitary groups.”
The joint statement was made during the meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), in Brussels, Belgium.
The 12 also urge the Nicaraguan government to “reactivate the national dialogue” that “involves all parties to generate peaceful and sustainable solutions” and express their support to the bishops in their work “in favor of the search and promotion of solutions to the conflict.”
The government of Daniel Ortega and “other social actors” must demonstrate, in their opinion, their “commitment” with concrete results on the “fundamental challenges of the country,” such as “the holding of free, fair and timely elections” in Nicaragua, according to the declaration.
In Costa Rica on Monday afternoon, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that groups linked to Nicaragua’s government were using “unacceptable” lethal force against citizens, and urged an end to the violence in almost three months of protests.
For Guterres, “the use of lethal force is not only unacceptable, but is itself an obstacle to achieving a political solution to the current crisis. It’s essential to immediately halt the violence and rebuild national political dialogue. Only a political solution is acceptable.”
Guterres is in the country for the 40th Anniversary of the entry into force of the American Convention on Human Rights and the creation of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR).
The IACHR is based in San Jose.
At Casa Presidencial in Zapote, together with Costa Rica president Carlos Alvarado, Guterres reiterated his call for the end of the violence in the neighboring country.
Hoy ante @antonioguterres, Secretario General de @UN, alzamos nuestra voz por Nicaragua. pic.twitter.com/vc5rMT6bpq
— Carlos Alvarado Q. (@CarlosAlvQ) July 16, 2018
The Portuguese diplomat who is serving as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, stressed that “it is an essential responsibility of the State to protect its citizens, and this basic principle cannot be forgotten, especially when unfortunately we have a death toll that is absolutely shocking.”
He said he has been in contact with authorities of the Central American Integration System (SICA), considering that the problems in a country are best resolved when neighboring nations lead the multilateral effort.
In anticipation of Guterres’ arrival in the country, seven former presidents of Costa Rica signed a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General. “We request your valuable intervention so that the United Nations, with the information of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the resolution of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, intervenes to promote a solution that will restore, as soon as possible, peace and democracy in Nicaragua,” the letter indicates.
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International Alarm For Repression And Violence in Nicaragua
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that groups linked to Nicaragua’s government were using “unacceptable” lethal force against citizens, and urged an end to the violence that has claimed over 300 lives in almost three months of protests.
Unofficial sources say the number of deaths since unrest broke out in April has reached 360, in the bloodiest protests in Nicaragua since the country’s civil war ended in 1990.
“The secretary-general deplores and condemns violence against civilians, including against students,” said his spokesman, Farhan Haq, asked about it at a press conference.
According to Haq, Guterres believes that “the use of lethal force is not only unacceptable, but is itself an obstacle to achieving a political solution to the current crisis.”
“It’s essential to immediately halt the violence and rebuild national political dialogue. Only a political solution is acceptable,” Guterres added, speaking at the 40th anniversary of the IACHR.
Twelve countries in Latin America, including neighbors Costa Rica and Honduras, taking part in a meeting of the the foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), demanded Monday in a joint statement the “immediate cessation of acts of violence, intimidation and threats” in Nicaragua and the “dismantling of paramilitary groups.”
The “special declaration on the situation in Nicaragua” is also supported by Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, all of them belonging to the Lima Group, as well as Uruguay and Ecuador.
The 12 also urge the Nicaraguan government to “reactivate the national dialogue” that “involves all parties to generate peaceful and sustainable solutions” and express their support to the bishops in their work “in favor of the search and promotion of solutions to the conflict.”
The government of Daniel Ortega and “other social actors” must demonstrate, in their opinion, their “commitment” with concrete results on the “fundamental challenges of the country,” such as “the holding of free, fair and timely elections” in Nicaragua, according to the declaration.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, said in Brussels that in Nicaragua “the situation is going from bad to worse”, after the violence and fatalities in the country.
The French Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks perpetrated in recent days by police and paramilitary forces against religious leaders and peaceful demonstrators in Nicaragua and called on the country’s authorities to stop the repression and violence and demanded that those in Nicaragua fulfill their commitment in favor of this dialogue between the Government and the opposition Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy.
Seven former presidents of Costa Rica signed a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General, who is in Costa Rica this week to take part in the 40th Anniversary of the entry into force of the American Convention on Human Rights and the creation of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, to intervene in the promotion of a peaceful solution to the sociopolitical crisis that Nicaragua has suffered for almost three years months
“We request your valuable intervention so that the United Nations, with the information of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the resolution of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, intervenes to promote a solution that will restore, as soon as possible, peace and democracy in Nicaragua,” the letter indicates.
The IACHR is based in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The attacks have drawn international condemnation of Ortega, facing his biggest test in office since he returned to power in 2007.
Ortega says he is open to dialogue, and has invited the IACHR to verify his assertion that human rights have been respected in the country.
Violence surged again over the weekend when armed groups and police loyal to Ortega burst into universities occupied by protesters and smashed roadblocks set up in defiance of the government.
In a statement on Monday, July 16, the U.S. State Department called on Ortega’s government to heed Nicaraguans’ call for democratic reforms immediately and hold elections.
The U.S. condemns the ongoing attacks by Daniel Ortega’s para-police against university students, journalists, and clergy across the country. We call on Ortega to cease his repression of the people of #Nicaragua immediately. https://t.co/j4iPAFU4ac pic.twitter.com/v5VoZDJo7s
— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) July 16, 2018
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The United States has imposed visa restrictions on individuals it holds responsible for human rights abuses or undermining democracy in Nicaragua, as well as their family members.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNoD294SkTQ]
Relatives of victims of the violence walked down the main streets of Managua on Monday with their coffins, demanding justice for the dead.
“The population hasn’t given up because it’s still in the streets demanding freedom,” said Carlos Tünnermann, a member of the Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, one of the main civilian groups leading the opposition to Ortega.
The opposition has called on Ortega to step down and hold early elections. Ortega has refused to do so.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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Nicaraguans fear return to civil war past
When still just 16, Alvaro Gomez fought with revolutionary forces against a US-backed dictatorship during the Nicaraguan civil war.
He lost comrades and a leg after he was hit by a grenade fired from a rocket-propelled launcher. But nothing during a decade-long war prepared him for the pain caused by the death of his son in April, three days after protests broke out against the leader of that revolution, President Daniel Ortega.
They started out of anger over planned pension reforms but since then the protests have mushroomed into a broad campaign against Ortega himself, who is accused of acting like a dictator. Some 250 people have been killed in violence that has sparked fears of a return to the dark days of the 1970s and 80s.
Among the victims was Gomez’s 23-year-old son, also named Alvaro.
“I’ve been told that they grabbed him, beat him and shot him in the chest. He was already dead when they arrested him,” Gomez told AFP as his voice cracked.
“It was the police. When I was told, it didn’t affect me because I thought my son was at work. I went to the morgue to see. It was him.”
His son worked in a factory and was studying finance. He died at a barricade near his home in Monimbo, a suburb of the opposition stronghold of Masaya.
Anti-government protesters set up barricades all across the country but armed forces and hooded pro-government paramilitaries, backed by snipers, were sent in to clear the barricades and break-up protests, resulting in a heavy death toll.
Monimbo is one area where the protesters have held firm and the barricades remain, though the local community is practically besieged.
One notice near Gomez’s house, placed by hooded protesters, informs people that “the trenches close at 6pm.”
‘History repeating’
Monimbo was once a hotbed of the Sandinista National Liberation Front resistence movement that ousted the US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, resulting in Ortega assuming power.
Almost 40 years on, revolutionary sentiments remain strong in the area but Ortega — who served from 1979 to 1990, and was re-elected president in 2007 and has been in power ever since — is now public enemy number one.
“There’s a lot of fear that history is repeating itself. It’s demoralizing,” sociologist Adriana Trillos told AFP.
“People are expressing fear related to the existing danger, but also of a return to the situation that caused so much trauma during the war.”
Sitting in his sweaty front room, 48-year-old mathematics teacher Gomez reflects on how the revolutionary fight served not to oust a dictator but, he says, merely replace one with another.
“The Ortega-Murillo family is doing the same as Somoza,” he said, referring to Vice President Rosario Murillo, Ortega’s wife.
The Somoza family created a dynasty that ruled Nicaragua for 43 years.
“I get so angry because we’re fighting for the revolution — while they give the order to kill the children and grandchildren of those who carried Daniel to power in 1979 and fought to keep him there.”
The Nicaraguan revolution didn’t end with the exile of Somoza, who was later assassinated in Paraguay, as Sandinistas spent a decade battling US-backed right-wing counter-revolutionaries known as the Contras.
“I’m crippled from the war and I feel useless,” said Gomez, who described himself as a Sandinista “not a Danielista and even less a Murillista”.
Weapons against stone
“Since my son’s death I’ve felt powerless and courageous in seeing so many deaths and not being able to do anything in such an imbalanced war.
“They (Ortega’s forces) have weapons; the youngsters have stones and cement.”
The feeling of the past coming back to haunt the present is palpable in Monimbo.
Angela Aleman, 69, says her mother was shot and several relatives imprisoned and tortured by Somoza during the war.
“Now I live with fear as my children are in the trenches,” she said.
Trillo says Nicaraguans are suffering from “clear symptoms of post-traumatic stress” such as insomnia, nightmares, hypersensitivity, evasion and fear that weren’t treated after the war and have led to an “exodus” in recent weeks.
There is alarm that the country might descend into a repeat of the “disappearances, arbitrary imprisonment, torture and that children disappear only to reappear dead,” that marked the Somoza dynasty, said the sociologist.
Gomez for one is already tormented by his nightmares.
“I dream about my son: I seem him at work, I see him studying, I want to see him get married, have a family, but this government…” he said, unable to finish his sentence, consumed by pain.
He sees himself ringing his son, talking to him, listening to him, visiting him at his home 200 meters away. He sees them walking together — him with difficulty — through his beloved cobbled streets of Monimbo.
At times he sits silently, tears and sweat trickling down his cheeks, a blackboard visible over his shoulder with square root calculations chalked on it that he teaches to local children he hopes will one day live a future free of fear and suffering.
Read more: Digital Journal
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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Court Gets Tough On Judges Reprimanded in Cementazo Scandal
With 19 of 22 votes, the Full Court decided to suspend for two months without salary the four judges of the Supreme Court reprimanded last Wednesday for their involvement in the Chinese cement scandal case known as “el cementazo”.
“The reason for the review was because it was determined that a final act had not been issued because the minimum vote required was not obtained, either to suspend or reprimand, according to Article 182 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary,” said a statement by the Court issured Monday afternoon.
Those four judges are Doris Arias Madrigal, Jesús Ramírez, María Elena Gómez and the Supreme Court’s president, Carlos Chinchilla, who announced his early retirement Monday morning.
The high court judges are bieng punished for a “serious offense” in which they incurred in February 2017 when they accepted a dismissal in favor of the then legislators Otto Guevara and Víctor Morales Zapata, for the alleged crime of influence peddling in favor of the Chinese cement businessman, Juan Carlos Bolaños.
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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Taxis vs Uber: Drivers On Both Sides Of The Conflict Suffer The Same Hardships
Three years after the arrival of Uber in Costa Rica, the number of drivers dedicated to the transport of passengers has grown by at least 80%. The figure went from 12,500 official (red) taxi drivers and porteadoers (Servicio Especial Estable de Taxi, Seetaxi) to 22,500 by adding 10,000 full-time Uber drivers.
Such an abundance of drivers plunges into desperation families of both groups, formal and non-formal.
High indebtedness, 12 to 16 hour days, deterioration of health, tension and uncertainty, are experienced in different degrees and for different reasons by drivers on both sides of the legal and illegal transport.
Add to that a complicated economic scenario, where people try to cut their expenses.
The production of goods and services is still growing, but less and less with a deceleration in most activities, revealed the Banco Central de Costa Rica (Central Bank) in its June report on the behavior of the economy. In May, the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC) – National Institute of Statistics and Census – announced that the unemployment rate rose to 10.3% in the last year: 1.2% more compared to 9.1% in the same period of 2017.
“There is more competition in the (transport) sector; Too many people involved. I do not recommend it to anybody. Uber is too tiring and hard on health because, because it’s cheap, you have to work more to earn something. See, I know of cases of colleagues who, through fatigue, fell asleep and collided,” says “Manuel”, a made up at the request of the interviewee, for security reasons.
Before Uber, “Manuel” was a private security guard but says he can no longer find work. He is 53 years old and lives in Desamparados with his wife and three children dependent on his income.
According to Andrés Echandi, general manager of Uber for Central America, the company has 22,000 drivers in Costa Rica. Of these, 10,000 (45%) are full-time – Uber being their only source of income.
A similar situation is experienced by the formal or legal (red and orange for the airport) taxi drivers.
Fernando Alfaro Rivera, 35, who says he has 14 years working the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) airport, “the work at the airport is enslaving”.
Rivera tells of how he used to share a taxi with two other drivers, given the concession requires that the car be (in service) at the terminal on a 24-hour basis. “Today that is no longer possible, now the shift is 12 hours. I arrive at home at 2 or 3 in the morning, sleep a little, eat breakfast and am out the door again,” said Rivera.
For Uber drivers, there is the added stress of dealing with the Policia de Transito (Traffic Police) and the bullying of the formal taxis. At the San Jose airport, outside at the end of the Radial, at the intersection with the Bernardo Soto, groups of Uber drivers wait for a customer connecting to the app. “The competition is fierce at the airport,” says Javier (also a fictitious name). “You may sit for hours for a call then there is always the possibility of a transito (traffic official) waiting for you as you pull out of the airport.”
Ernesto, who has worked for Uber for the past 11 months, says the traffic police profile late model small cars with windshield/dash mounted cell phone as a potential Uber.
Days after the taxi drivers protest, Pavas was one of the number of sites targeted by the traffic police clamping down on informal drivers. In Pavas, for example, informal drivers at the Pali store were the focus of the transitos. Through the Uber grapevine, Ernesto says that one of his fellow drivers was corralled by several transitos in front of the U.S. Embassy, though he did not know the exact details of the case.
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President of the Supreme Court Announces Surprise Retirement
Four days after he was reprimanded by decision in relation to Chinese cement scandal, the President of the Supreme Court of Costa Rica, Carlos Chinchilla, in a surprise announcement Monday, tendered his resignation.
Chinchilla, along with three other judges were reprimanded for a serious fault – dismissing a case against to legislators alleged to have collaborated with Juan Carlos Bolaños, the businessman at the center of the Chinese cement scandal.
The four judges, along with former prosecutor, Berenice Smith, were investigated following a report that they exonerated the now former legislators Otto Guevara and Víctor Morales Zapata, for alleged influence peddling charges related to Bolaños.
The decision last week to reprimand the judges did not sit well within the Poder Judicial (Judiciary) and other sectors, considering that Smith was suspended for two months.
This difference in the sanctions motivated a protest, on Friday, of some judicial officials, including that of Court of Appeals judge Rosaura Chinchilla, who called for the resignation of the reprimanded magistrates.
“Magistrates: this country has lost respect for the Judiciary. Costa Rica is ashamed of its magistracy. Please resign! You go home with a pension … we stay collecting the pieces,” she said.
Carlos Chinchilla, 55, who was elected magistrate since 2007 and was re-elected in 2014, occupied the Presidency of the Court since May 2017, replacing Zarela Villanueva.
During the little more than a year that he was in charge of the Court, he had to face a strike by officials not against the high command but in opposition to the pension reform. The most critical aspect of the movement was the suspension of delivery of corpses from the judicial morgue, which caused outrage at the national level.
With his departure, Carmenmaría Escoto will assume the Presidency temporarily.
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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Nicaragua protests claim another 10 lives: rights group
Nicaraguan police and paramilitary groups loyal to President Daniel Ortega killed at least 10 people on Sunday, a human rights association said, as the death toll from violent clashes in the country continues to rise.
The people were killed when government forces attacked the community of Monimbo and nearby city of Masaya, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) southeast of the capital, Managua, said Alvaro Leiva of the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH).
“We are talking about more than 10 deaths at this time,” Leiva told a local television station.
Nearly three months of clashes between pro-Ortega forces and demonstrators calling for his removal have claimed over 300 lives, in the bloodiest protests in Nicaragua since the country’s civil war ended in 1990.
On Saturday, bishops secured the release of dozens of student protesters trapped overnight inside a church under a hail of gunfire from armed pro-government supporters, who killed at least one person inside, a human rights group said.
Student leader Lester Aleman, who is among the protesters spearheading the demand for Ortega and his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, to step down, told reporters that he wanted a “halt to the repression.”
The Civic Alliance and the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua are calling for Ortega, for a way out of the crisis, to hold elections in March 2019 ahead of his 2022 mandate.
A nationwide strike emptied streets on Friday as businesses shut their doors, heeding calls by civil society groups who want Ortega to resign and stage early elections.
(Reuters)
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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More than 1,100 people in shelters due to heavy rains
A total of 1,173 people have been housed in shelters due to the heavy rains that began Friday, July 13. According to explained director of risk management of the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) National Emergencies Commission, Lorena Romero, 20 sites are open across the country, mainly in Sarapiquí, Matina, Talamanca, Turrialba and Limón.
In addition to the shelters, the CNE had its hands full rescuing people trapped in between landslides in the Braulio Carrillo of the Ruta 32. The director of Emergencies of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT), David Meléndez, confirmed that about 450 people were rescued.
The Ruta 32 from Heredia to Guapiles remains closed as work crews clear the debtis. MOPT officials say the closures will continue for “two or three” days more.
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Owners Who Abandoned Vehicles Trapped On The Ruta 32 Get Them Back
The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública y la Policía de Tránsito (Traffic Police), returned to their owners the some 200 vehicles abandoned by their owners trapped in between landslides generated by heavy rains in the Braulio Carrillo, of the Ruta 32.
“People had to bring the documents of ownership, identification and drivers license, for the vehicle they claimed,” said the deputy director of the Fuerza Publica (National Police), Enrique Arguedas.
The owners were encouraged by authorities to leave their vehicles and get to safety.
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Trapped: ‘Spending The Night Sleeping Next To A mountain and With Unstoppable Rain”
Silvia Chaves-Herra, 38 years old and a journalist by profession, is one of dozens who were trapped on Friday between the multiple landslides that occurred on Ruta 32 due to heavy rains that affected much of the country over the weekend. She said: “spending the night sleeping next to a mountain and with an unstoppable rain is a horror movie”.
On Friday, she and a delegation from the Banco Nacional where on their way back to San Jose from Bribri, in Talamanca, where they were working. Although they decided to return early to avoid being affected by the rain, a traffic accident on the way prevented them from arriving in San Jose on time.
“When we entered the mountain (cerro in Spanish), at about 8 pm, it raining heavy and caused the landslide. We tried to communicate with the authorities, but there was no (cellular) signal. We were about a kilometer from the Zurquí, where there are high walls, so we decided to turn around and return to Guápiles, but there was too much rain, rocks and trees were falling. They were rivers with trees and rocks,” Chaves said. That is why they tried to spot themselves in a place that was a bit safer.
Along with the car in which she and her companions were traveling, there were about six vehicles, whose drivers had also tried to turn back, also to no avail. Among these was a car of the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) – National Emergencies Commission – headed for Siquirries with meals, which gave Chaves the trapped a bit of peace, because they had a radio.
“When we were there, the driver of the truck (who died later after a landslide fell on his vehicle) passed. Some people told him not to continue, but he continued and, the next day (Saturday), we realized what had happened,” she said.
In total, there were about 14 people in that group, including two children. Nobody had food or water.
According to Silvia, despite the fear and stress they experienced that night, the group she was with remained calm and, in addition, no one got sick.
To hydrate, what they ate pineapples left in the truck slammed by the landslide.
Hope returned around 10 am sn Saturday, with the arrival of Cruzrojistas (Red Cross officials) arrived with sweets.
“Really, when they arrived, they gave us security, they gave us encouragement, they spoke positive words,” said Chaves, praising the work by the authorities during an emergency, in particular, this emergency.
“In cases of emergency, one does not really think about what the transit police, fire department, police and and Red Cross do. They do an incredible job,” she said.
At 2 pm, the transit police arrived. Silvia and the others, who were two or three landslides from the large one, they left the car and could get out of there on foot, around 4 pm.
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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Deaths And Violence Continues To Grow
Labeled “Operation Clean-up” by the government, Nicaraguan government security forces have launched raids to clear protesters’ barricades in opposition hotspots, concentrating on the city of Masaya, a day after President Daniel Ortega made a personal presence there calling for peace, and the neighborhood of Niquinohomo and Catarina villages and Monimbo.
Álvaro Leiva, the head of Nicaraguan Association For Human Rights (ANPDH), said at least 22 vehicles carrying government security forces had arrived in the area.
The ANPDH says at least 10 people were killed on Sunday – six civilians and four members of the security forces.
Leiva warned people in the city of Masaya to stay indoors, saying “there are snipers stationed at different places around the city”.
One resident in Masaya told the French news agency AFP: “We are being attacked by the national police and paramilitaries armed with AK-47s.”
The latest government action came a day after dozens of students in the capital Managua were besieged by pro-government forces for hours in a parish church next to the National Autonomous University of Managua (UNAN) before finally being allowed to leave after the intervention of Catholic Bishops.
Two students died in the action and many said they felt the security forces had been shooting to kill.
The UNAN was the last bastion of student resistance in the capital after months of nationwide anti-government protests in which over 300 people have been killed.
Bishop’s car attacked. Also on Sunday, there were reports of attacks on members of the National Dialogue conference trying to resolve the differences between the government and the opposition.
Paramilitaries attacked the car of Abelardo Mata, the Roman Catholic bishop of Esteli, having to take refuge in a nearby house, witnesses said.
Mata was intercepted by a group of people who damaged the vehicle, breaking the windshield, windows and damaging the tires, and shouted: “murderer”, “coup” and “criminal”.
The official media justified the aggression in their social networks, arguing that it was a sign of the repudiation “of those accused of promoting the terrorist acts sponsored by the coup leaders throughout Nicaragua.”
Mata is one of the mediators for the Conferencia Episcopal de Nicaragua (CEN) mediating talks between the government and protesters.
In Managua, amid great secrecy and under a wide police deployment in the Central Judicial Complex Managua, a preliminary hearing was held behind closed doors for three youths accused of the arrests in Managua, Nindirí, Ticuantepe and Masaya, and for having burned the facilities of the Radio Ya.
The police deployment generated an atmosphere of confusion, because campesino leader, Medardo Mairena, who was arrested last Friday, and is also a member of the National Dialogue, was supposed to be presented before the judge. Mairena was arrested at the airport and accused of the death of four officers and a civilian in Morrito, last Thursday.
“We learned that they brought Medardo Mairena, but they did not upload him to a hearing room,” said lawyer Yonarquis Martínez, of the Permanent Commission of Human Rights (CPDH).
The maximum time for a detainee to be presented or accused in a court is 48 hours after his arrest. This Sunday, human rights activists and members of a delegation of the High Commissioner of the United Nations Organization for Human Rights were not allowed to enter the judicial complex.
For that reason, the CPDH announced that it will present a personal appeal on Monday in favor of Mairena and Pedro Mena. It is still unknown in what jail they are.
Mairena’s brother, Gabriel Mairena Sequeira, was seriously wounded in the chest on Friday by snipers, as he led a protest to highlight the arrest of his brother, on the road between the junction of San Pedro de Lóvago and Santo Tomás Chontales.
The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), the EU and Peru, Chile, Colombia, Spain and Argentina have all published statements rejecting the actions of the Nicaraguan government over the past few days.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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Cuban reforms stress free market, private property and investment
Cuba is planning a series of potentially far-reaching changes, with a new constitution set to recognize the free market and private property, while dividing political powers between a president and a prime minister.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel is said to be more accessible than the Castro brothers
In a reform of the island nation’s 1976 constitution expected to be quickly approved, the fundamental means of production will remain under central control, but the foreign investment will be recognized as an important spur to development, according to details of the document published Saturday by the official newspaper Granma.
But the Communist Party will remain “the superior leading force of society and of the state.”
Cuba will officially recognize private property for the first time in decades under a new constitution featuring far-reaching changes, state media say.
The proposed changes come as 58-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, a former provincial leader, is in only his third month as Cuban president, succeeding two icons of Cuba’s revolutionary generation, Raul Castro and before him his brother Fidel Castro.
The draft constitution says the Council of Ministers, effectively the island’s government, “will be under the direction of a prime minister,” returning to the pre-1976 system.
The report in Granma says nothing about how the post of prime minister will function, or who would occupy it.
The document has already been approved by the Communist Party and will be submitted for consideration by the National Assembly, with a vote expected next weekend. Final approval will come after the document is submitted to a popular referendum.
New private-sector controls
Diaz-Canel will remain as president once the new constitution is approved. Presidents will continue to serve five-year terms, with a two-term maximum.
Cuba reshaping its economy, government and courts with new constitution
Cuba will resume authorizing people to work in the private sector — such authorizations had been virtually suspended — but they will be under greater controls, mainly affecting restaurants, taxis, the construction sector and room rentals.
The island’s small but vital private sector now employs some 13 percent of the Cuban workforce.
The new controls will require business owners to use a bank account to register all operations, to pay taxes and to prove their supplies are legally obtained.
Business licenses are limited to one per person, to avoid the accumulation of personal wealth — all part of plans to “update” the island’s Soviet-inspired economic model.
Raul Castro opened Cuba up to a small private sector, but he also made it clear in 2016 that “the concentration of property will not be allowed.”
Cuba had hoped that a diplomatic opening to the US, agreed on with President Barack Obama, would stimulate the island’s struggling economy.
But Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, reversed that detente, to the dismay of many Cubans.
AFP
Article originally appeared on Today Cuba and is republished here with permission.
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The Heavy Rains Of Friday Night (Photos)
Images of the Friday, July 13, rains from various internet sources.
See the Q reports:
- Driver Killed When Truck Hit By Landslide On The Ruta 32
- Yellow Alert: Rains Generated By High Pressure System Hit Hard Limón and Turrialba
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Driver Killed When Truck Hit By Landslide On The Ruta 32
The Cruz Roja Terrestrial Search and Rescue Unit (Red Cross Land Search and Rescue) that entered the Zurqui early this Saturday morning, to assist some 200 people trapped between the landslides on the Ruta 32 between Heredia and Guapiles, found the body of a man who died due to one of the landslides.
The Cruz Roja confirmed to this media that it is the driver of a truck carrying pineapple.
“Product of the landslides debris fell on the vehicle”, confirmed the Cruz Roja. The event occurred in the sector known as Ventanas, between kilometers 18 and 20.
The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) reported that along Route 32, which connects San José with Limón, there are at least 51 landslides of different dimensions. Between them (landslides) there are about 200 people trapped, all in good health, who were blocked by the falling of debris.
Down the road, on the Ruta 32, near Siquirres, a tree fell on a truck. Fortunately the driver was unhurt, and no other vehicles were involved.
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Ruta 27 One Way To San Jose on Sunday
As typical of the ‘dry season’, the Ruta 27 between Pozon (Orotina) and Cuidad Colon will be one way to San Jose on Sunday (July 15) afternoon, between 1pm and 7pm.
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Yellow Alert: Rains Generated By High Pressure System Hit Hard Limón and Turrialba
The Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) – National Emergencies Commission – declared a yellow alert in nine cantons of Costa Rica this Saturday morning, due to heavy rainfall generated by a high-pressure system in the Atlantic Ocean.
In Limón, Siquirres, Matina and Talamanca are on alert; in Cartago the declaration was issued for Turrialba, Jiménez and Alvarado; while in Heredia the measure is in force in Sarapiquí and San Isidro.
Authorities reported that the rains have generated flooding and closure of roads due to tree falls and landslides in those communities.
At the moment the Ruta 32, which connects San José with Limón, and Ruta 100, between San José and Turrialba, are closed.
Approximately 200 people are trapped between the landslides that fell on Friday on the 32, reported the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) through social networks.
“There are no wounded or sick,” said the institution. In total there would be about 50 vehicles, that includes trucks, cars and a bus with maximum passenger capacity and a vehicle with officials of the CNE, are among debris clusters that prevent their transit.
This information came from the Cruz Roja Terrestrial Search and Rescue Unit patrol at 7:00 am this Saturday, July 14, that at daylight entered the Zurquí to assist the people who were isolated.
The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) reported that on the Ruta 32, between kilometers 29 and 35, a total of 51 landslides occurred since Friday night, when heavy rains began in different parts of the country.
En este momento todo Turrialba está sin servicio de electricidad debido a fuertes aguaceros. #Lluvias pic.twitter.com/dzrw2jQV5l
— Paulo Rodríguez C (@PauloRodriguezC) July 14, 2018
The Conavi indicated that it is already sending machinery to reopen the roads, but it will be some time before that can happen due to the continued rains.
The MOPT Facebook page notes the following closures:
- Ruta 32, por derrumbe, cerca del Río Sucio.
- Ruta 142 entre la represa y Nuevo Arenal no hay paso por derrumbe
and “paso regulado” (restricted transit):
- Ruta 2 en La Hortensia ya tiene paso regulado.
- Ruta 414 Turrialba-Grano de Oro, a la altura de las Quebradas.
- Ruta 415 Turrialba-La Alegría, en Las Brisas.
- Ruta 10, entre el Catie y el Río Reventazón.
It was recommended not to travel through vulnerable places and, in case of not being able to postpone the trip, to drive with extreme caution.
The rains have affected most of the country, with medium to heavy rains at times during the night.
In the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) of San Jose, this Saturday morning was one of the those rare in the year to wake up to grey skies and rain.
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Latin America’s largest solar park turns Mexican desert green
Driving through the endless dunes and cacti of the Chihuahuan desert in northern Mexico, a shimmering blue field suddenly appears on the horizon — not a mirage, but the largest solar park in Latin America.
This silent stretch of sand in the state of Coahuila is the spot the Italian energy giant Enel picked to build the Villanueva power plant: 2.3 million solar panels that sprawl across a sun-soaked area the size of 2,200 football fields.
When the plant reaches full capacity later this year, it will supply enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes.
It is the biggest solar project in the world outside China and India.
The panels are designed to turn in tandem with the sun, like a field of metallic sunflowers.
They are part of Mexico’s push to generate 35 percent of its electricity from clean sources by 2024.
Mexico won plaudits from environmentalists in 2015 when it became the first emerging country to announce its emissions reduction targets for the United Nations climate accord, ambitiously vowing to halve them by 2050.
A key part of that push is a sweeping energy reform undertaken in 2013.
One of outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto’s signature initiatives, it was initially criticized by president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who will take office on December 1.
But the anti-establishment leftist has warmed to the overhaul, and analysts now say it is likely here to stay.
The reform made global headlines for reopening Mexico’s oil sector to foreign companies after 76 years of state monopoly.
A lesser-known — but perhaps ultimately more important — aspect was to allow private companies to generate and supply electricity.
Under the new law, Mexico is now holding clean-energy auctions in which private companies bid to produce and sell electricity on an open market.
“We’re very happy with the business environment and opportunities that exist in Mexico,” said Enel’s global director for renewable energy, Antonio Cammisecra.
“Since the reform, we see better market conditions and potential for a company like ours.”
– Cutting costs –
Projects like this are also benefitting from a sharp drop in prices for solar technology in recent years.
“Photovoltaic solar energy is the fastest-growing energy in the world. And that is driving technology innovators,” said Arturo Garcia, an energy specialist at the international consulting firm Deloitte.
The energy reform and price plunge are together reshaping the solar market in Mexico.
“Before the reform, it was an environmental issue,” said Victor Ramirez, executive director of the National Solar Energy Association.
“Today, it’s not just about the environment, it’s about economics. If solar sources are cheaper, investment is going to gravitate there.”
When the plant reaches full capacity, it will supply enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes
Alfredo ESTRELLA, AFP/File
The new opportunities are attracting international interest.
Besides the $650-million Villanueva project, Enel has another solar park and is building two wind farms.
Last May it pledged an additional $97 million in investment to expand its projects in Mexico.
Spain’s Iberdrola is building two solar parks, Dutch firm Alten is building another, and British-backed Atlas Renewable Energy recently acquired yet another.
“Mexico has world-class solar resources,” said Camilo Serrano, Atlas’s general manager for Mexico.
“The potential is absolutely proven, and investors’ appetite is obvious in the auctions.”
– Electric interest –
The auctions have so far raised an estimated $8.6 billion in investment.
Mexican Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell recently said they would lead to the construction of 40 solar parks and 25 wind projects.
Mexico, which had nine solar parks in 2015, aims to have 68 by 2021, he added.
Three auctions have been held so far. The production price offered by electricity suppliers has dropped from $50 per megawatt-hour to $20.
Thanks to the program, Mexico is now on the top 10 list of countries with the most clean energy investment, according to the government — which predicts the price plunge will continue at the next auction, slated for November.
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Costa Rican Ambassador in Managua: ‘The Nicaragua I Arrived At No Longer Exists’
The fear of leaving their homes after dark is experienced daily by thousands of Nicaraguans, as well as the Costa Rican diplomatic staff working in Managua.
The Costa Rica Ambassador in Nicaragua, Eduardo Trejos, says that shootings and explosions have happened very close to the offices where he works, but so far none of the (Costa Rican) officials have been injured. Even so, the delegation experiences the anguish of seeing how every week the number of wounded and dead increases during the protest, which have been ongoing for almost three months.
In this period, facing the crisis has become the priority of the Embassy, which is experiencing a substantial increase in visa applications to travel to Costa Rica.
Trejos will be leaving his post in Managua on July 31, returning to Costa Rica, to assume the leadership of the Dirección de Inteligencia y Seguridad (DIS) – Directorate of Intelligence and Security.
Trejos spoke to La Nacion of his personal experience on how it is living in Managua during the conflict, as well as the measures that diplomatic mission has activated to face it.
Trejos: “What I perceive, because these are very personal comments of the experience, two years after arriving, is that the Nicaragua to which I arrived no longer exists. It is another country, with a very different reality, not only for those of us accredited diplomats before the Nicaraguan government, but for the population in general.
“Everything that two and a half months ago was normal, as in any city in the world, and now in Nicaragua, it is not. It is very complicated and more complicated for people who have lost their jobs, for people who have lost their businesses, people who have lost their lives. That is the most painful thing of all, and well, the general affectation in Nicaragua is very big and we have a lot of pain”.
The Costa Rican diplomat said he has had to take measures to protect himself and the embassy staff.
“We do not have an additional security staff, we have the same as always, which is a combination of private and public security contracting. We have varied the hours of attention (to the public) according to the marches or the blockades, because we want the officials to be as early as possible in their homes and not to be caught moving at night, so we have modified the schedules so that the operation allows them to they arrive (home) during the daylight.”
The ambassador explained that both the Embassy and Consulate, which are in separate place, are very close to the road to Masaya, where most of the public gatherings and protests have taken place, they have had to modify working hours. For examples, when there are marches, like last week, they usually start at 3 in the afternoon, “we have to try everything possible so that staff is home or on the way (before that hour)”.
Up to now no Embassy staff has experienced any problems. What is happening is delays, such as processing requests that before would take up to 90 minutes, now take up to a day and a half or more. ”
There is a lot of fear at night, there is a kind of self-imposed state of siege. (…) After six or seven at night, it is very difficult to see movements (of people). Lately it has happened that there where the Embassy is, in the evenings, bullets, bursts of gunfire and some explosions have been reported. That, of course, brings a lot of fear to the population of all of Nicaragua,” said Trejos.
For the people in Costa Rica, it is very difficult to have a sense of the confrontations that take place in Nicaragua, the demonstrations here (in Costa Rica) are very peaceful, the police here practically only observe, almost never intervene.
“In Nicaragua its a totally different thing. There are blockages in many different communities in Managua and in the departments (provinces). That (the blockades) makes the population in one way or another feel more secure,” according to Trejos.
“They use the paving stones of the streets to make the barricades, and people are afraid. Many of them are hooded or wearing helmets. So it is a very high level of violence on one side and on the other. But it is a situation that today, for example, I am informed that there are three dead yesterday, two seriously injured, more than twenty detainees, we have more than 320 deaths. That is, there are very, very strong levels of aggression to the Nicaraguan population because they are all sons and daughters, parents, or brothers of someone and it is a tragedy”.
According to the Ambassador, people fear going out at night, not wanting to get involved. But they are. The most difficult areas right now are Masaya, Diriamba, Jinotepe, and León, a few weeks ago it was also Granada.
Have you had reports of a Costa Rican with problems, in addition to the citizen who was injured in the first weekend of protests, Trejos was asked.
“Affected yes, those with dual citizenship, Costa Rican and Nicaraguan,” said Trejos, adding of one report of a death, but could not provide details given they have yet to receive official documents.
The ambassador reconfirms that the relationship between Costa Rica and Nicaragua has not changed in the past few months. “The relationship with Nicaragua is, was and will be key for our country, it is the highest priority of any government, not only of this one. It is understood the current situation in which the Nicaraguan people are living and the desire of the government is obviously to reach agreements that allow them to return to an institutionality, to solve the problems they want to solve in terms of democracy or institutions or that they decide and that violence ceases,” said Trejos.
Trejos added that the government of Costa Rica does not have a position on the proposals made Daniel Ortega to end the crisis. “The (Costa Rica) government’s position is that they have to make the decisions that help them strengthen the objectives they negotiate. And that is a decision that falls to them, what they decide to do at a negotiating table we will respect.”
The situation in Nicaragua has led many to seek legal travel to Costa Rica. According to Trejos, the consulate is processing 575 visas daily in Managua and 350 in Chinandega.
In Costa Rica, thousands of Nicaraguans in the country illegally make like at the immigration offices in La Uruca seeking asylum. Currently, the immigration processes only 200 refugee claims daily, as the lines run blocks deep.
Many of the claims are from Nicaraguans in Costa Rica well before the start of the conflict.
Nicaraguans crossing the border illegally into Costa Rica have to make their way to San Jose to file a refugee claim, given that the process is not available at the border crossings of Peñas Blancas and Las Tablillas.
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At Least Five Killed – Four police officers, one protester – in latest confrontations in Nicaragua
Four police officers and a protester were killed Thursday in a confrontation in Nicaragua, where violent unrest has left over 300 people dead in three months amid anti-government demonstrations.
“Five people died in a confrontation in Morrito, of whom four were police officers and one a protestor,” Vilma Nunez, president of the Nicaraguan Center of Human Rights (CENIDH).
According to initial information, the confrontation took place where a march passed near a police command in Morrito, in the Rio San Juan department in southeastern Nicaragua, during a day of demonstrations called by Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy, in opposition of President Daniel Ortega.
Movement leader Francisca Ramirez said the protesters — some of whom were armed — were “attacked by police and paramilitaries,” and responded with gunfire.
Morrito, a town of 6,000 people, is home to many farmers who are armed to protect their land from land grabs.
The town is located 90 minutes southwest of the capital Managua, near the proposed interoceanic canal and less than 30 minutes from the Costa Rica border.
Police confirmed the deaths but blamed the violence on “terrorist groups” that pretended to be carrying out a peaceful march and opened fire on a police station.
Protesters also abducted nine police officers and attacked the Morrito town hall, the police said in a statement.
In Managua, thousands of people waving blue and white Nicaraguan flags marched Thursday along downtown avenues in a violence-free procession. Referring to Ortega, many chanted, “He must go!”
Carolina Aguilar, 52, accused the Ortega government of killing protesters with impunity. “We cannot live with a murderer, with a scorpion that kills us day after day. I would give my life for this end,” she told AFP.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxFPzm1Ygw]
Responding to the three-day protest movement, Ortega’s government has announced a counter-measure for Friday: a procession from Managua to Masaya, 30km to the south, in remembrance of the Sandinista revolution.
Ortega’s annual procession to Masaya commemorates the July 19 popular uprising that ended 43 years of the Somoza family dynasty.
Masaya is now, as it was then, a bastion of opposition resistance to an oppressive regime — only Ortega, 72, is no longer a friend but the enemy.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8T_0KWpGnk]
News of Ortega’s procession has struck fear among the indigenous community of Monimbo, a southern suburb of Masaya, where citizens have built barricades of bricks to keep out government forces and last Sunday at least 14 people were killed after police and pro-government paramilitaries moved in to clear barricades.
“No one’s coming in unless they kill every last one of us,” a man, guarding a Monimbo barricade with his face covered by a cap and olive green shirt, told AFP.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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Strong Rebound in Construction Boosts Costa Rica’s economy
A strong recovery in construction modified the growth trend that the Costa Rican economy had been showing, which now reports 10 consecutive months of acceleration.
The monthly index of economic activity (IMAE) began to accelerate as of August last year and reported, as of May, a year-on-year variation of 4.4%, the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) reported Thursday afternoon.
The Bank explained that construction activity had a variation of 13.3% in May, compared to the same month of 2017.
The construction of private projects was the most dynamic with a year-on-year increase of 16%, compared to public that varied 0.1%.
According to the report, commercial and industrial projects were the most dynamic during the last year.
Henry Vargas, director of the Macroeconomic Statistics Department of the BCCR, explained that the most recent survey on private construction by the Bank was the one that showed the significant improvement of this sector.
Another one of the sectors that helped the economic acceleration was in manufacturing, in specific the greater demand for medical devices, that increased their inter-annual production of 28% to last May.
“The growth in medical devices was almost unprecedented, in the special regime (free zone) we are used to seeing variation rates of 15%, but not 28%,” explained Vargas.
The rest of the economic activities maintained a level of increase very similar to that of the last months.
The agricultural sector showed a variation of 4.1% in May; trade 3.3% and services 4.2%, according to the Central Bank.
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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Dota Coffee Breaks Auction Price Record Of High Quality Grain
The lot that this year was best quoted in the international electronic auction reached US$30,009 dollars per hundredweight (quintal in Spanish) – 46 kilos – and the grain comes from Dota, in the Los Santos region of Costa Rica.
The high quality coffee is from the Don Cayito farm, receiving the best quote in the international electronic auction in the Cup of Excellence contest.
This price has not been reached before. The closest price was registered in the contest of 2017, when a Brazilian coffee obtained a price of US$13,020 per hundredweight.
Regarding the buyers of the Costa Rican coffee that was priced highest in the 2018 contest, Nacion.com that explains ” … The joint buyers were the Japanese companies Maruyama Coffee, Sarutahiko Coffee and Yamada Coffee, which are recognized in the international coffee market and are characterized by high specialty grain.”
In relation to the conditions where the winning grain, which is of the Geisha variety, was harvested, the article adds that ” … The farm where the winning coffee was harvested is at 1,950 meters altitude, in a place called La Bandera, about four kilometers from Santa María de Dota. The area is characterized by the excellent conditions for producing coffee of very high quality.”
The joint buyers were the Japanese companies Maruyama Coffee, Sarutahiko Coffee and Yamada Coffee, which are recognized in the international coffee market.
Maruyama Coffee has been a customer of all years in the Cup of Excellence auction, said Noelia Villalobos, executive director of the Fine Coffee Association of Costa Rica (SCACR).
In Costa Rica, the best price previously obtained for a fine coffee in this electronic auction was US$8,060 per quintal. It happened at the auction last year and was harvested at the Don Antonio farm, located in Copey de Dota.
The Cup of Excellence is an annual competition held in several countries to identify the highest quality coffees produced. It is organized by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE).
The competitions began in 1999. By 2013 they were held in Brazil, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Burundi, Rwanda, Colombia and Bolivia. In the course of the competition, each coffee is tested at least five times. Only those coffees that get high scores continuously move forward in the competition. The final winners are awarded the Cup of Excellence and sold via an internet auction to the highest bidder.
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The iPhone X and iPhone SE are set to die this year
All iPhone rumors out there say Apple will release three new iPhones this fall, all featuring the same design as the current iPhone X. The list includes a cheaper 6.1-inch phone with an LCD screen, a handset some call the iPhone 9, as well as two iPhone X successor packing 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED screens.
When these three new phones arrive, Apple is expected to retire the iPhone X and iPhone SE, a new report says. Apparently, Apple is betting big on the 2019 iPhone, which could convince more iPhone users to finally upgrade.
“Despite angst surrounding the 2018 September releases, one common thread we continually uncover is the lack of concern for overall demand for 2018-2019,” analysts John Donovan and Steve Mullane said.
The analysts refer to the three 2018 iPhones as iPhone 9, iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Plus, which are extremely unrealistic names, especially the “11” part.
The iPhone 11 Plus should satisfy those unhappy with the iPhone X due to size concerns, while the iPhone 9 device should satisfy more budget-conscious buyers and the aforementioned extension of the iPhone 8 model builds will round out a fairly extensive line-up. We continue to hear that upgrade activity over the past.
They also think that the upcoming iPhone series will fix Apple’s upgrade problem: 1-2 cycles was below historical patterns for myriad reasons (size, cost, lack of differentiation from previous models) and so expectations are for an extended demand for these new iPhones which reach across multiple platforms.
The two said that Apple is planning to manufacture 91 million new iPhones this fall, and another 92 million in the first two quarters of 2019 — the latter figure would be “far larger than normal cycle.”
The analysts expect Apple to make 28 million iPhone 9 and iPhone 11 units in the third quarter, 64 million in the Christmas quarter, and then 46 million iPhones in each of the following two quarters. The research notes that actual shipments will reach 20 million, 60 million, 45 million, and 40 million, respectively.
The iPhone X would be discontinued in the third quarter of 2018, and the iPhone SE will also go away. We’ve heard before that the iPhone X won’t be kept in stock for one more year, and that makes plenty of sense considering that a replacement is en route. The 2018 iPhone X is already expected to start at $899, so there would be no point also to sell an $899 2017 iPhone X. Apple usually discounts one-year-old phones by $100.
The claim that the iPhone SE is being discontinued is new, and the analysts did not say that a second-generation would replace it.
Apple was rumored to launch an iPhone SE 2 this summer, but the company is yet to unveil such a model.
Source: MSN/BGR
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