Rosario Murillo and Daniel Ortega. The Apostolic Network of Nicaragua calls for the power couple to respect the will of the majority of the people and leave Nicaragua peacefully, because “the people of Nicaragua are no longer accepting their systems and policies.”
The Ministerio Red Apostólica de Nicaragua (Apostolic Network of Nicaragua), which brings together some 1,500 evangelical churches across the country, called for the resignation of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, and join the clamor of the majority of the Nicaraguan people.
“Taking into account the social discontent that exists in relation to President Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, we believe it is urgent that both of them respect the will of the majority of Nicaraguans, since it has been demonstrated in public demonstrations that the request does not come from a minority, therefore we join ourselves and we ask Mr. Daniel Ortega and Mrs. Rosario Murillo to think well about what they are doing, that it would be best to resign their office,” said Reverend Ruddy Palacios.
Palacios asks that the presidential couple leave peacefully, because “the people of Nicaragua are no longer accepting their systems and policies.”
The Apostolic Network “is very concerned about what is happening … For God, a life is so important and here blood has been spilled and we do not want that anymore. We want peace, but there can be no peace without justice,” said Reverend Roger Leyton.
The Twitter account of the Senate of Bolivia was hacked on Tuesday, May 8, for a brief period of time, minutes in which a statement was published that lamented the death of President Evo Morales.
The news, of course, was false, fake news.
Morales was alive and well on Tuesday, in Costa Rica attending the inauguration of Carlos Alvarado as president.
The hack was reported at 2:28 p.m. Bolivia is two hours ahead of Costa Rica. Morales’ sudden departure from the Teatro Nacional was at about that time.
“We regret the death of our President Evo Morales, our condolences to his family and those closest to him,” said the message published on the Senate’s profile shortly before 4:00 p.m. and which quickly went viral in the social network.
The spokespersons of the Bolivian upper house immediately denied the report and assured that the hack was only for ‘five minutes’.
“We informed the general public and the media that the official Twitter account of the Senate of the Plurinational State of Bolivia @SenadoBolivia was hacked for a period of 5 minutes,” Bolivian authorities said in a statement.
“According to internal reports and follow-up work that was done, they tried to enter the page from 3:39 p.m. today (…) In that period of time, they managed to make two publications, they are false and do not correspond to the institution. We appreciate your understanding in time to inform you that the full administration of the account has been recovered,” the statement said.
South Korean lawmakers Cho Jung-sik (L) and Kim Sung-soo (R) pose for a photo with Costa Rica's new President Carlos Alvarado during a meeting in San Jose on May 7. Photo courtesy of the foreign ministry. (Yonhap)
A group of South Korean lawmakers has paid a visit to Costa Rica’s new President Carlos Alvarado in their capacity as special envoys of President Moon Jae-in, Costa Rica’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.
South Korean lawmakers Cho Jung-sik (L) and Kim Sung-soo (R) pose for a photo with Costa Rica’s new President Carlos Alvarado during a meeting in San Jose.
Reps. Cho Jung-sik and Kim Sung-soo of the ruling Democratic Party traveled to the Central American nation as South Korea’s congratulatory delegation to Alvarado’s inauguration ceremony, which was held Tuesday. They also visited the new president and delivered a letter from Moon, the ministry said.
The South Korean lawmakers briefed Alvarado on the results of the recent inter-Korean summit between President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and asked for Costa Rica’s interest and support for Seoul’s efforts toward peace.
According to the ministry, Cho expressed hope that the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries and that South Korea looks forward to greater cooperation with Costa Rica in infrastructure projects, such as airport construction, electronic government and environment.
Nicaraguan lawmakers on Sunday established a truth commission to investigate the deaths of at least 45 people who were killed during anti-government protests last month.
The commission has three to months to investigate not only the deaths, but also those who were disappeared and tortured during mass protests against pension reforms.
“You are authorized to investigate with complete freedom,” parliamentary speaker Gustavo Porras told the commission.
Porras added that after the investigation, the commission must present its findings and conclusions to parliament. Pro-government lawmakers comprised most of those who voted for the commission.
“The Commission for Truth, Justice and Peace is in your hands, and we want to tell you that you’re completely free to do the corresponding investigations,” said Gustavo Porras, president of the parliament, to Franciscan Priest Uriel Molina, Indigenous and human rights activist Dr. Mirna Cunningham, the Vice President of the National Council of Universities Jaime Lopez Lowery, human rights prosecutor Adolfo Jose Jarquin, and economist Cairo Amador, that integrate the commission.
Tuesday morning, May 8, President Luis Guillermo Solis’s term came to an end. In his final words the day before, the first PAC president said, “to those who regretted voting for me…I am sorry”.
In a recorded interview played on local television Teletica Tuesday morning, the Prez described his last four years going from “Profi” (professor) to “Presi” (president) and now back to “Profi”.
UPDATED: May 9. It appears the quick exit by Evo Morales from Costa Rica on Tuesday was not related to the crowds mobbing is vehicle in front of the Teatro Nacional, rather, at the same time the Bolivian Senate confirming a hack of its Twitter account, for minutes the buzz was the fake news of the death of Evo Morales. See story here.
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Though the Bolivian Chancellor, Fernando Huanacuni, denied that the premature departure of Bolivia’s President Evo Morales was due to security failures, the official argued that the president’s idea was to attend the main ceremony of the transfer of powers and that, although he wanted to stay, he had to leave to attend to “emerging issues” in his country.
Bolivia’s president Evo Morales unexpectedly decided to head to the San Jose airport, for an early return to his country when his vehicle was mobbed in front of the Teatro Nacional.
The vehicle carrying the Bolivian president unexpectedly, at 12:34 p.m, left for an unknown destination after being mobbed for some 15 minutes in front of the Teatro Nacional.
The vehicle has arrived at 12:15 p.m. at the Teatro for a lunch and a scheduled 15-minute bilateral meeting with President Carlos Alvarado. However, Morales could not get out of-of his vehicle because of the multitude of onlookers that took advantage of the lack security.
While the Bolivian president’s car was stopped, some people, spontaneously, approached the car and began to yell at him to get out.
“Do not be afraid, you’re not in Venezuela,” some shouted. Others, waiving the Nicaraguan flag shouted: “Evo, Bolivia wants you out, dictator.”
Morales did not get out of the vehicle.
Minutes after leaving the scene, the Press Office of the Foreign Ministry confirmed that the dignitary had decided to go to the Juan Santamaría International (San Jose) airport for an early the return to his country.
The new Minister of Security, Micheal Soto, rejected any incident of threat against Bolivia’s president.
Nicaragua president, Daniel Ortega, in the middle of the worst citizen uprising that has shaken his government of the last 11 years, that has seen university students and citizens clash with police and supporters, leaving more than 45 dead and hundreds injured, meant staying put, sending an envoy to represent him in the inauguration of Costa Rica’s new president on May 8.
Nicaragua’s power couple did not travel to Costa Rica to attend the inauguration of the new president, as they did in the two previous inaugurations and the visit of Barack Obama in 2013.
The situation at home also grounded vice-president Rosario Murillo, Ortega’s wife, also the subject protests by Nicaraguans that began on April 18, in a civic revolt of increases in pension rates and decrease in benefits.
Although the government has since rolled back the changes and has agreed to dialogue, under the mediation of the Catholic Church, with the protesters and business sector, new explosions of violence occurred in Masaya, Catarina and Niquinohomo.
For the inauguration of Costa Rica’s new president, Carlos Alvarado, the power couple sent retired General and former chief of the Nicaraguan Army, Moisés Omar Hallesleven Acevedo, in his capacity as an advisory minister and one of the key players in Ortega’s circle of power.
Ortega did attend, albeit fleetingly, the two previous inaugurations of both Laura Chinchilla in 2010 and Luis Guillermo Solís in 2014, despite that bilateral relations between the two countries have faced a tense period in the last eight years. Ortega and Murillo also visited Costa Rica for the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama in May 2013.
Carlos Alvarado, Costa Rica’s new president, in his first presidential speech following the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday morning, vowed to turn Costa Rica into a global example of how to abolish fossil fuels.
“We have before us the titanic and beautiful task of abolishing the use of fossil fuels in our economy, to open the way for the use of clean and renewable energy,” said Alvarado, at 38, the youngest President of the Second Republic and the youngest in Latin America.
To make his point, Alvarado and members of his cabinet arrived at the ceremony aboard the hydrogen-fueled bus, name N’YU’TI, developed by Costa Rica’s Ad Astra Rocket Company led by former Costa Rican astronaut Franklin Chang.
The bus left the Sabana park, making its way along Paseo Colon and Avenida Segunda escorted by tens of cyclists in support of Costa Rica’s president of the Legislative Assembly, Carolina Hidalgo, who rode her bicycle from her home in Heredia to join the bus ride.
“Costa Rica must be among the first countries in the world, if not the first, to fully end the use of fossil fuels,” Alvarado said.
The event was attended by 2,000 citizens, filling the Plaza de la Democracia, under the hot morning sun, and 109 international delegations, seven of them at the level of presidents: Panama (Juan Carlos Varela), Guatemala (Jimmy Morales), El Salvador (Salvador Sánchez Cerén), Ecuador (Lenín Moreno), Bolivia (Evo Morales), the Dominican Republic (Danilo Medina) and the Prime Minister of Aruba (Evelyn Wever-Croes).
The US delegation was led by Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta; Colombia was represented by Vice-president, Oscar Adolfo Naranjo Trujillo; representing Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega and Vice-president Rosario Murillo, was special nominee, retired general and former head of the Nicaragua military, Moisés Omar Hallesleven Acevedo.
The Alvarado cabinet is composed of 14 women and 11 men from several parties, including the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), the Partido Liberacion Nacional (PLN) and his own party, the Partido Accion Cuidadana (PAC).
The new president is calling his government a “national unity government” aimed at obtaining the support of the 57 member Legislative Assembly, of which the PAC is the third largest grouping with 10 members, behind the Partido Restuaracion Nacional (PRN) with and the PLN, with the singled largest group, 17 members.
President Carlos Alvarado with his vice-presidents, Epsy Campbell and Marvin Rodríguez
Among the promises made by President Carlos Alvarado is to tackle the fiscal deficit through the passage of the tax reform package proposed by the previous government, with the aim at reducing the deficit that has grown to 6.2% of the gross domestic product.
The president also promised to reduce poverty, boost employment and improve the country’s infrastructure.
Another priority of the Alvarado administration is to reduce crime. Costa Rica recorded 603 murders in 2017, the highest rate in the country’s history.
President Carlos Alvarado also used social media to broadcast part of the morning’s events, such as the bus ride to downtown and the swearing in of his cabinet on Facebook Live.
Near the Plaza de la Democracia several groups protested.
File Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations
File Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Coast Guard announced a massive cocaine seizure following weeks of surveillance in international waters off the coast of Costa Rica during the month of April.
Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection – Air and Marine Operations
According to an announcement posted on the CBP website, following the detection of a suspicious 28-foot panga last month, the aircraft crew maintained surveillance and coordinated with Joint Interagency Task Force South to intercept the vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard arrested three individuals and seized 46 bales of contraband totaling 1,000 kg of cocaine.
AMO operates maritime patrol aircraft from Jacksonville, Florida, and Corpus Christi, Texas, to conduct long-range aerial patrols and surveillance missions along the U.S. borders and in drug transit zones in Central and South America.
The stage is set. Since the early hour, people have started arriving, picking a spot, to be witness to the inauguration of the new president. The local television stations camped out the residence in Santa Ana, waiting for the president-elect to come out, headed for La Sabana where he and his appointed cabinet will take the hydrogen-powered bus to the Plaza de la Democracia.
The sun has been shining, a light wind keeping things cool. For now. International dignitaries, including Presidents and Foreign Minister from more than 80 countries are the world will soon be taking the place, waiting on Carlos Alvarado to arrive.
By 10:00 a.m, outgoing president Luis Guillermo Solis will have handed over the presidential sash to the newly sworn-in President Carlos Alvarado and the beginning of the four years of the Alvarado administration (2018-2022).
“We have formed a government of national unity with the aim of giving greater governance to the country and to have greater cooperation (from Congress) to move the country forward, and work on what unites us,” said the president-elect, who beat in the ballot to the evangelical preacher and journalist Fabricio Alvarado (no relation) on April 1.
At 38, Carlos Alvarado will be the youngest president in the continent.
Nicaragua received US$353 million of remittances in the first quarter of 2018, according to the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN), a 9.3% increase over the first quarter of 2017, when they totaled US$323.3 million.
In January of this year, family remittances generated US$112.9 million (10.58% more than in the same month of 2017); in February, US$116.9 million (8.64% more) and in March, US$123.6 million (8.8% more).
Of the total amount received in the first quarter, 55% came from the United States; 20.9%, from Costa Rica; and 11.1% from Spain.
Erika Moreno is to one of the 62,000 households that receive remittances in the country. A little before noon on April 19, the second day of protests over social security reforms in Nicaragua, Moreno was one of the people who rushed to an agency specialized in remittances, located in the Israel Lewites market, for fear of possible conflicts that would impede operations and transportation.
Moreno was the next to last in a long line of people waiting, but due to the violent clashes that occurred in Managua, they suspended attention at that agency at noon.
“They closed like between 11:30 and 11:40. The person in charge of the place told us that they were going to close because ‘from above they gave the order to close all the branches because the clashes that there was in the sector of the UNI was getting complicated and was progressing for this area’. If I had arrived later, I would not have been able to withdraw my money,” said Moreno.
After that day, the young woman, who receives remittances from Spain, has not had any problems when making the transaction. But her relatives in Spain chose to send her a little more money than usual so she can store food for any emergency.
“My relative who is in Spain explained to me that there is no problem with the sending from there. The problem could arise here, with the withdrawal in case the branches of the agencies close,” he said.
The independent economist Luis Murillo discards that the country’s political situation may have a no significant impact on the current level of remittances but emigration is likely to surge, a mitigating factor against the bleak context faced by other sectors such as tourism.
“Remittances will not be impacted much, I am more worried about the internal situation. I’m worried about the growth rate that I think there will be a slowdown and hopefully not a recession, inflationary pressure and then more informality,” he says.
Murillo insisted that the income from remittances could help cushion the blow that some sectors are having, such as exporters, agriculture, and tourism; and warned that the crisis could also encourage the population to migrate.
The economist and academic coordinator of Universidad Americana (UAM) Óscar Neira agrees with Murillo that the situation facing the country could lead to greater migration.
Neira, however, warned that Nicaraguans abroad will also resent US anti-immigration policies.
“It’s double edge. On the one hand there is (Donald) Trump and the anti-immigrant policy, which tends to reduce remittances and on the other hand, there is the situation in the country that tends to increase exodus and migration risking the lives of migrants. ,” he said.
A modern urban train in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) would be an important step to improve the quality of life, as well as productivity, of thousands of workers who lose several hours a day to move from one place to another.
The country is urged on efficient public transport, to improve the quality of life and productivity, said Elias Soley, president of AmCham. Esteban Monge/La República
This is the consensus of the leaders of several business chambers, consulted by La Republica on the subject.
The problem is compounded in the case parents, losing time to be with their children, and often have to pay someone to take care of them while they return home.
The economic loss is high in the labor-intensive sectors, such as call centers; It is about millions of hours wasted per year in traffic at the GAM, according to an analysis of the newspaper.
“Having an urban train would improve people’s productivity and quality of life,” said Yolanda Fernandez, president of the Chamber of Commerce.
The coordination of the train with an efficient bus system would be vital for urban transport to function at its maximum level, is another consideration of the business sector.
In Costa Rica unlike in North America, managers of North American companies operating in the country have found, people don’t move to be close to their jobs. That is, preferring to remain in place, close to family and friends, traveling distances to and from work each day.
The current urban train, that runs on limited hours during weekday mornings and afternoons, is mixed bag of old locomotives and cars and used equipment retired in other countries, on an old rail system that counts with little to no safety systems at intersections with vehicles. Accidents between vehicles and the urban train are constant, that results in delays in the already limited and overburdened service.
MOSCOW – Known as Russia’s “Window on Europe,” St. Petersburg is a city like no other. Imperial palaces line its network of canals, its stadium looks like a spaceship and some days the sun never sets.
St. Petersburg is so far north that the last three weeks of June are “White Nights,” with the sky remaining light 24 hours a day.
In this photo taken on Thursday, May 3, 2018, a general view of the soccer stadium Saint Petersburg, in St.Petersburg, Russia. Dmitri Lovetsky AP Photo
Here’s what you need to know about one of the 11 host cities in Russia:
THE STADIUM
The vast St. Petersburg Stadium was a headache for the Russian government, taking a decade to build as costs soared to 43 billion rubles (US$670 million). Worker deaths and corruption scandals marred the project.
The result is Zenit St. Petersburg’s new 67,000-seat home, which resembles a spaceship parked on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Fans should leave plenty of time to get there, since it’s a 25-minute walk from the nearest subway station.
WHAT TO KNOW
St. Petersburg’s grandeur is all down to the vision of one man.
In this photo taken on Thursday, May 3, 2018, street actors dressed in 18th century costumes dance at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St.Petersburg, Russia. Dmitri Lovetsky AP Photo
Obsessed with trying to modernize his country, the 18th-century Czar Peter the Great decreed a new capital would be built from scratch in a swamp by the Baltic Sea. The idea was to create a metropolis as a center for European technology and ideas to enter Russia, to force the Russian nobility to adopt European traditions, and to display the glory of Peter’s empire.
Soviet revolutionaries later moved the capital back to Moscow, but locals still see St. Petersburg as Russia’s cultural capital.
WHAT TO DO
The grand avenue of Nevsky Prospekt is St. Petersburg’s heart, running past parks, theaters and shops to the opulent Palace Square. That’s where Bolshevik revolutionaries took power in 1917 by seizing the Winter Palace.
Visitors can drink in the city’s beauty with a boat trip through the canals, or see some of the world’s most celebrated art in the famous Hermitage Museum.
St. Petersburg is a city of restaurants and bars, offering everything from fine dining to some of Russia’s best craft beer. At night, the bridges between the city’s islands lift to allow ships to pass — something to bear in mind to avoid being stranded on a night out.
In this photo taken on Thursday, May 3, 2018, people walk at the Neva River embankment in St. Petersburg, Russia, with the city landmarks, Zimny (Winter) palace, Admiralty building and St. Isaac’s Cathedral in the background. Dmitri Lovetsky AP Photo
WHAT TO WATCH
St. Petersburg will host seven World Cup games, starting with the Group B game between Morocco and Iran on June 15.
Russia’s World Cup hopes could be dashed by Mohamed Salah and Egypt in the Group A game on June 19.
Brazil plays Costa Rica in Group E on June 22, followed by Argentina taking on Nigeria in Group D on June 26.
In the knockout stages, St. Petersburg hosts one game in the round of 16, as well as a semifinal and the third-place playoff.
Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/sports/article210610574.html#storylink=cpy
Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Organization of American States, Monday, May 7, 2018, in Washington, where he asked the countries of the Western Hemisphere to suspend Venezuela from the 35-nation Organization of American States. Pence also urged member states to cut off Venezuelan leaders from their financial systems and to enact visa restrictions. Jacquelyn Martin AP Photo
Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/news/nation-world/world/article210621734.html#storylink=cpy
Washington – The Trump administration called on Latin American and Caribbean nations Monday to take bold moves against Venezuela that will make allies squirm, including kicking the crisis-ridden country out of the region’s main diplomatic body and launching money-laundering probes of Venezuelan officials in their countries.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivered the challenge during a speech to ambassadors of more than 30 nations at a special meeting of the Organization of American States, the United Nations-like organization for the Western Hemisphere.
Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Organization of American States, Monday, May 7, 2018, in Washington, where he asked the countries of the Western Hemisphere to suspend Venezuela from the 35-nation Organization of American States. Pence also urged member states to cut off Venezuelan leaders from their financial systems and to enact visa restrictions. Jacquelyn Martin AP Photo
The message marks a turning point for the Trump administration, which has been careful not to dictate actions against the government of President Nicolás Maduro and instead encourage them to do what they can. But on Monday, Pence ratcheted up the language, making specific requests and charging that it was time to do more to help the Venezuelan people.
He called on “freedom-loving” neighbors to investigate Venezuelan leaders for money laundering and block leaders from traveling to their nations. Pence also called on Venezuela to suspend its presidential elections on May 20, as McClatchy reported early Monday, and announced new U.S. sanctions against three Venezuelans and 20 companies for narcotics trafficking.
“The truth is the Venezuelan people would choose a better path if they could, but under Nicolás Maduro they will never have that chance,” Pence said. “The so-called elections in Venezuela scheduled for May 20 are nothing more than a fraud and a sham.”
Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s deputy minister of foreign affairs for North America, responded harshly.
He called Trump and Pence racists and hypocrites and encouraged reporters to recall Trump’s reading during the campaign of an anti-immigrant poem called the “Snake,” about a reptile who bites a woman after she takes it in to care for it.
Moncada also charged that the U.S. had committed “international crimes” and blasted Pence for he said was using using “God’s name” in a speech to justify trying to overthrow a sovereign government. Latin American leaders are particularly sensitive to U.S.-backed regime change in the region.
Venezuela’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for North America Samuel Moncada responds after Vice President Mike Pence asked the countries of the Western Hemisphere to suspend Venezuela from the 35-nation Organization of American States, at the OAS in Washington, Monday, May 7, 2018. Jacquelyn Martin AP Photo
He criticized Pence and Trump for acting like humanitarians while announcing the end of several programs that could lead to the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans, including the end of DACA and Temporary Protective Status.
“It’s a racist insult to millions of people,” Moncada told reporters after Pence spoke. “Do you not see that you have a racist president? The emperor is naked. The president is racist. He’s insulting the whole world.”
Moncada said the worst was hearing other Latin American leaders applaud as Pence spoke.
The White House this week plans to turn up the pressure on Latin American and Caribbean allies to take stronger action against Venezuela, whose economic and humanitarian crisis has become a focus of the region.
Colombia and some Caribbean nations face destabilizing conditions as they’ve been forced to absorb hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans fleeing their own country in search of food and work as runaway inflation and food shortages have collapsed the once-thriving nation’s economy.
The international community has been generally supportive of Washington’s efforts, but most Latin American leaders have been reluctant to take strong actions on their own.
Foreign leaders have told U.S. officials they don’t have the same legal frameworks to follow suit with their own sanctions. The United States is now calling for more.
Panama has warned its banks from doing business with the Maduro regime and Costa Rica has already blocked travel of the Venezuelan minister of defense.
Trump’s aides have drawn up outlines of available economic and individual sanctions meant to strangle Venezuela’s economy and force a change. But the administration, so far, has stopped short of applying sanctions on Venezuela’s precious oil, which could starve the oil-dependent Caracas government of desperately needed cash.
U.S. Ambassador Michael Kozak, of the State Department’s bureau of democracy, human rights and labor told McClatchy that the administration’s goal is to punish the wrongdoers in the regime, not the Venezuelan people.
“The effort is to try to put the pressure on the people who a r e responsible for the disaster that they have made in Venezuela, not to exacerbate the disaster for the innocent people in the country,” Kozak said.
Last month, Pence issued a similar challenge during the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru.
He emphasized Monday that a secure hemisphere is important for everyone in the region. Those who supported freedom, he said, need to take bolder action.
“We must do this because it’s right,” Pence said. “The people of Venezuela deserve democracy.”
When one thinks of minefields, the first thing that comes to mind are the world’s worn-torn zones where armed conflicts take place. Nobody would ever picture peaceful Costa Rica as having minefields since the country has not been at war since the late 1940s. In fact, on December 1, 1948, President José Figures Ferrer abolished the military after victory in the civil war that same year, thus ensuring peace for future generations.
In this case let me redefine the term minefields.
Costa Rica does not actually have minefields. However, I have used said term figuratively in order to define a real danger for pedestrians of all ages — the country’s unsafe sidewalks.
A few weeks ago a friend was strolling down one of San José’s sidewalks, about a block from the city’s Central Park. All of sudden he stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk, fell into the street and struck his head. A couple of bystanders raced to his aid when they saw what had occurred. They helped my friend to his feet since he had a gash oozing blood above his eyebrow, was dizzy and slightly disoriented. Fortunately, this untimely accident occurred only a few blocks form the Hospital Clínica Bíblica.
My friend made his way to the hospital’s ER room and the staff quickly admitted and stabilized him. They treated his scrapes and stitched the cut over his eye. He was lucky to have not suffered a more serious injury like a broken bone, concussion or even death. In some cases head injuries can be fatal.
Costa Rica is a beautiful country with a stellar reputation that attracts thousands tourists and expat retirees every year. But the country’s sidewalks pose a real hazard because of their deplorable condition. They are uneven, cracked and in most cases in a state of disrepair. To make matters worse during the country’s rainy season they are extremely slippery.
After hearing about my friend’s mishap I made it a point to really check out the sidewalks that I use every day. Unbelievably, I discovered every block has four or five places where a person can trip and fall. That is precisely why I compare the country’s sidewalks to minefields because of the imminent danger lurking with every step a person takes.
I have been in the relocation business for over 30 years and the majority of my clients are over fifty years old. Anyone knows that falling at any age can cause a series injury. Costa Rica is a wonderful country with an almost flawless international image. But tourists should be aware of the many hidden dangers like ocean riptides, dangerous driving conditions and even the country’s seemingly harmless sidewalks and streets.
Take into account the road closures in the heart of San Jose for today (Monday) and tomorrow (Tuesday) due to the ‘transfer of powers’ event.
The closure of about 4 square blocks, that includes the Avenida 2 and Avenida Central (Bulevar or Boulevard) is total to vehicular traffic and pedestrians until Tuesday night.
Other closure to be aware of is the area around “Casa Amarilla” or the Chancellery (the yellow building next to the INS) from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, Carlo Alvarado will be sworn is as the 48th president of Costa Rica, in a ceremony that includes more than 80 international delegations.
In order to make judicial processes more agile and optimize the use of human resources and existing facilities, the Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia) is preparing a bill that allows a single judge trials that currently require the presence of three.
The proposal is to eliminate the three-judge and substitute panel for one-judge trials except for ‘complex’ trials such drug trafficking, violence against women and child pornography, for example.
In reality, four judges are assigned to a trial – three primary and a substitute.
Trials for the more crimes, for example, organized crime, drug trafficking, violence against women and pornography against minors would be excepted, that is to continue to require the three-judge panel.
Recently, the Court applied administrative measures to encourage one-judge trials, but can only do so when the offense is punishable by a penalty of less than five years in prison.
In order to expand the powers required, the Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial, must be reformed, hence the proposal being worked on by the president of the Court, Carlos Chinchilla.
Chinchilla estimates that if the proposed change is approved by the Legislative Assembly, criminal matters can be resolved within 12 to 18 months and the Court will not many judges available. The magistrate assured that all the guarantees and rights of the parties involved in the process will be maintained.
Two reports from the Programa Estado de la Nación (State of the Nation Program) in 2014 and 2017 show the dissatisfaction of the slowness of the judicial processes in the country.
The three judge requirements also saw a dramatic increase in human resource, the Judicial Branch going from 3,621 officials in 1990 to 11,892 in 2015 when 20% of the staff are judges.
The “intermediate phase” of trials adds 2 to 3 years to the trial process, argue those internal and external to the process.
Eliminating the intermediate stage of criminal proceedings is another of the approaches that would be included in the draft law under development, as it is considered to be one of the major causes of slowdowns in the judicial process.
For many, the preliminary hearing is the major cause of the delays in trials. “I would say that the intermediate stage has to be eliminated. Nothing happens (…),” said Chinchilla, adding that the intermediate phase adds up to three years in the process.
The magistrate points to the case of the “trocha fronteriza” (border trial) – a case now six years in the judicial process – that is far from reaching a trial, since it has not even gone through the preliminary hearing (intermediate phase), and which appears it will not happen this year due to the difficulty to get the 52 people involved in the case (between accused, defenders, prosecutors, and judges).
The elimination of the intermediate phase seems to have support outside the Judicial Branch as well.
Prominent criminal lawyer Rafael Gairaud told La Nacion that effectively eliminating the intermediate phase, would mean many more judges could be devoted to the trial and it would also free prosecutors.
Supporting the proposed change is also the president of the Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados), Juan Luis León, who estimates eliminating the intermediate phase would reduce the process by two years.
Ronald Segura, president of the Prosecutors Association (Asociación Costarricense de Fiscales) is clear that the intermediate phase must be eliminated, an idea that has been bouncing around for the last 13 years.
According to Segura, preliminary hearings should be considered only in complex cases, and for the rest it is a “bottleneck” that prevents more expeditious trials.
Officials are worried about the number of fake marriages between Costa Ricans and Chinese
“Who wants to earn some money?” It was just a simple question, but it was enough to convince María (not her real name) to enter into what seemed like a simple deal.
Costa Rican officials are worried about the number of fake marriages between Costa Ricans and Chinese
A young woman offered the 46-year-old Costa Rican woman ¢100,000 colones (US$175) to get married to a Chinese man so that he could get residency in the Central American country.
At the time, María lived in one of the poorest areas of the Costa Rican capital, San José, and was desperate for help to feed her family.
“We did not have anything to eat,” María says of her decision to say yes.
‘They look for prey’
María’s neighbourhood is not known for its safety. “Around here, the less you know, the longer you live,” a resident warns.
María is one of the Costa Ricans who took money to marry a Chinese migrant
What happened to María is not uncommon here. A lawyer or middleman arrives looking for the most desperate and convinces them to marry a foreigner they have not even met.
“They look for prey… People here are in dire need. However little they offer, people accept without giving it a second thought,” another resident explains.
María got married without even leaving her neighbourhood. She just got into a car, where she signed a marriage certificate and received her 100,000 colones in exchange on the understanding that she would get divorced as soon as possible.
She says that was all the explanation she was given. “They just showed me a photo of the Chinese guy and told me: ‘Miss María, you are getting married to this Chinese man’,” she explains.
In María’s case, the middleman kept up his side of the bargain and came back with the divorce papers some time later.
A few years later, she married another Chinese citizen for money, as did some of her daughters, and her partner, too.
Black market
The government says María’s case is part of a serious problem, the extent of which is hard to measure.
San José has its own Chinatown
Deputy state prosecutor Guillermo Fernández says his office is currently investigating more than 1,000 cases of suspected sham marriages.
Mr Fernández says he fears that this number is “just the tip of the iceberg”.
The director of Costa Rica’s office for migration, Gisela Yockchen, speaks of a “black market” for sham marriages run by Costa Rican criminal networks.
She says that these “mafias” operate in different ways, with some going as far as stealing people’s identities to marry them off to foreigners looking for legal residency or even nationality through marriage.
The first the victims of this particular scam know about it is when they find out to their shock that their civil status has changed from “single” to “married” without their knowledge or consent.
In other cases, those who entered knowingly into a sham marriage in exchange for money find that the divorce promised to them never comes through, leaving them married to a partner they have never met and do not even know how to track down.
Ms Yockchen says that the foreigners are often also unwitting victims.
An official document seen by the BBC suggests that a Chinese national – who did not speak any Spanish – signed a document that he thought was an application for residency when it was in fact a marriage certificate.
Stricter rules
Ms Yockchen says that a stricter immigration law introduced in 2010 has gone some way towards tackling the problem. Under that law, notaries and others involved in arranging fake marriages can be sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Since then, permanent residency has no longer automatically been granted to foreigners just for being married to a Costa Rican citizen.
Foreign citizens can still apply for residency permits after marrying a Costa Rican partner and having had their marriage certificate registered at the Civil Registry, but the permit they are given is restricted to a year.
It can be renewed annually if the couple provides evidence that they are cohabiting as husband and wife. After three years, the foreign partner can apply for permanent residency.
‘Gateway to the US’
Most of the Chinese who have migrated to Costa Rica come from the southern province of Guangdong, Uned researcher Alonso Rodríguez says.
Many choose Costa Rica because of its immigration-friendly policies and its reputation for being a relatively safe country.
There is also a long history of immigration to Costa Rica, with the first Chinese arriving in 1855 to work as field hands.
But the final destination of today’s Chinese migrants is not necessarily Costa Rica. “For many, it is a gateway to the US,” Mr Rodríguez explains.
If they stay in Costa Rica, they often open and run small businesses. “They adapt very well to the way of life here,” he says.
Li Zhong left China looking for a better life
Li Zhong is one of those who has settled in Costa Rica. She runs a convenience store in San José.
Asked about how she came to Costa Rica she says that she “bought her way into Panama”.
After having “problems” with the authorities in Panama, she moved to Costa Rica. Her son has since joined her and has opened his own store.
When the subject of sham marriages comes up, Li is evasive but confirms that she knows of many Chinese-Costa Ricans couples.
She jokes that marriages between Chinese men and Costa Rican women have proven easier than marriages between Costa Rica men and Chinese women.
“Ticos mean trouble, with ticas it’s better,” she says referring to the colloquial term used for Costa Ricans.
Like many Chinese, Li already has a Costa Rican in her family. Just that in her case, it is not a husband she married to be able to get residency but her grandson, who was born in the Central American country.
Watching him run around the shop, Li says proudly: “He is a tico!”
QCostarica.com was not involved in the creation of the content.This article was originally published on BBC.com. Read the original article.
This Wednesday, May 2, 2018 photo, shows a poster with an image depicting President Daniel Ortega and a message that reads in Spanish: "Killer Wanted" displayed on an utility pole, in Managua, Nicaragua. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
Sunday night’s attack on protesters in Catarina and Niquinohomo, after a day sit-in in Monimbó, Masaya, left several wounded.
In Facebook Live broadcasts by several different witnesses to the events, protesters denounced the Sandinistas for allegedly attacking them with homemade mortars.
The confrontation occurred at the Catarina roundabout and several of the streets of Masaya. Then the conflict passed to Niquinohomo, a neighboring municipality.
Videos show people running from police in riot gear.
In this April 24, 2018 photo, demonstrators protest in honor of those who have died during anti-government protests in Managua, Nicaragua. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File)
The protesters said that the Sandinistas attacked them. Afterwards, demonstrators moved from Monimbo to Catarina, to confront the Sandinistas.
At the moment there are no official reports of injuries in this clash.
But unofficially it is known that several people were injured.
In addition, riot police throw tear gas, forcing the evacuation of residents, with their children, of the areas surrounding where the confrontation occurred
This Wednesday, May 2, 2018 photo, shows a poster with an image depicting President Daniel Ortega and a message that reads in Spanish: “Killer Wanted” displayed on an utility pole, in Managua, Nicaragua. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
The situation occurred after a rally in Monimbó, organized by the April 19 Movement, in which they demanded a free demonstration.
For his part, in his Twitter account, Monsignor Silvio Báez, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Managua, asked the government and the National Police to “save the possibility of dialogue” by suspending the attack in Catarina.
However, University students condition dialogue. “They have confirmed to me from reliable sources since Niquinohomo that there is riot gunfire, that they have taken the Catarina roundabout and the entrance to Niquinohomo, they can not walk in the town, they suspect that there are wounded, that the government demurs that they want dialogue! \” said Báez.
In Monimbó the population remains on alert and they maintain their barricades.
This Monday, April 30, 2018 photo shows a flag emblazoned with an image of Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega during a government event at Las Victorias Square in Managua, Nicaragua. The April 2018 protests in which dozens of people were killed amid a harsh crackdown by police and government-allied civilians have weakened Ortega. Many Nicaraguans, including onetime allies, are comparing Ortega to the dictatorial Somoza dynasty he helped overthrow in 1979. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga)
Nicaragua is under protests in the streets since last April 18. The situation has left at least 45, unofficially up to 63, people dead.
In social networks, a video was also broadcast in which residents in Catarina are seen burning the FSLN campaign house, in protest against the attack they suffered tonight. In Diriomo, the Sandinistas have mobilized to the FSLN campaign house, to avoid being burned, as happened in Catarina.
Businessmen criticize. On Twitter, AmCham called for an “immediate cessation of violence and repression in Niquinohomo and Catarina, we all want a just country.”
For his part, the president of Cosep, José Adán Aguerri, published: “The government and the police should immediately stop the repression, it is enough to continue to shed the blood of brothers.”
NIQUINOHOMO, Nicaragua – The hometown of the national hero of Nicaragua Augusto C. Sandino, after whom the Sandinista movement was named, witnessed on Saturday hundreds of people who took to streets in resumed violence, to seek justice for the dozens of people who died in clashes in the country since April 18.
“We are present today in Niquinohomo to demand freedom, justice, and democracy,” said an anti-government activist.
The protesters also called for the resignation of the President, Daniel Ortega, his wife and vice-President Rosario Murillo.
Niquinohomo, located 43 kilometers (26.7 miles) south of Managua, was painted with the blue and white colors of the Nicaraguan flag on Saturday and witnessed huge crowds of people who joined the protests.
Men, women and children in shouted: “Justice ,” “They were students not criminals,” while passersby raised their fists in support.
Residents from at least three neighborhoods joined the protest that ended in Niquinohomo’s central park.
Following the death of at least 45 people in anti-government protests, scores of Nicaraguans have separated the “Sandinismo” from the figure of Ortega, who is now compared with the dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, overthrown in 1979 by the Sandinista movement.
After the crisis began, Niquinohomo’s population has started claiming to be Sandinistas and not pro-Ortega.
The Nicaragua crisis Saturday entered its 18th day as huge marches backing and against President Ortega, initiated by demands for social security reform, continue despite the fact that the president revoked his decision due to scores of deaths from repression.
The violent clashes in Nicaragua have left at least 45 dead, the majority between April 18-22, according to the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, while other humanitarian organizations raised the number of deceased to 63.
Nicaragua is awaiting a dialogue between the government and the private sector, with the Episcopal Conference as a mediator, although no date has yet been fixed.
Financial experts discussed remarks by Argentine Ambassador to China Diego Ramiro Guelar, who said recently that talks about a possible free-trade deal between China and South America’s major economies could start as early as next year.
Following the Summit of the Americas held in Lima, Peru, earlier in April, the ambassador said that China’s investments were essential for Argentina, which is struggling to reform its isolated economy and regain access to the international capital market.
“China is as important as the US and sometimes it is more important than the US,” Guelar told the South China Morning Post, adding that “the Americans might be worried because they used to think that they would be hegemonic in the region.”
Financial experts said that while the Latin American Market apparently seeks to strengthen economic ties with China and it is very likely that the free-trade deal will be reached, the US will certainly hinder the negotiations, pile political pressure on certain countries and try to unravel regional organizations.
Bian Yongzu, a researcher with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at the People’s University of China, said that the beginning of free trade zone negotiations between China, Argentina and other South American states has been greatly anticipated.
“In recent years, trade and economic cooperation between [these parties] has been tightening. The project is predetermined by the structure and interrelatedness of the region’s economic paradigms,” the expert said.
He explained that China, for instance, has invested in the extraction of mineral resources, infrastructure and agriculture of South America. In its turn, South America exports minerals and agricultural products to China; and the volume of trade between the regions has been consistently growing.
“On the other hand, South America has traditionally been the United States’ backyard. [The US] interferes in South America’s politics and economy, sanctioning some of the region’s states at every given opportunity,” Bian said. “Meanwhile, China’s economic clout in the world has been growing, which allows South American nations to consider other ways of cooperation on development.”
“All indications are that China’s development provides South America with a chance to solidify its positions in dialogue with the US. It is safe to say that negotiations between China and South America on a free-trade zone are exigencies of modern times,” the expert said.
Bian cautioned that the US may still try to slow the process down with a demonstration of power, but in the end it cannot do anything to stop the growing trend away from American dominance of the region, given the numerous and growing alternatives.
Alexander Kharlamenko, an expert from Russia’s Institute of Latin America, said that China has long and successfully been developing relations with Cuba, Venezuela and some of the other countries in the region, and these countries will have to deal with political blows aimed at disrupting the unity of Latin America.
The expert suggested that the US will likely continue to pressure some of the region’s right-wing governments, seeking to undermine the system of regional organizations, including MERCOSUR [Southern Common Market].
“China will counter with its economic power,” the expert said. “It obviously seeks to avoid an open politicization of relations with countries in this region, securing normal relations and economic cooperation even amid regime changes.”
“China will rely upon its traditional flexibility, the policy of non-interference in internal affairs, supporting the independence of states in the region. That is a traditional Chinese policy to counter hegemonism,” Kharlamenko concluded.
Venezuelan authorities arrested 11 high-ranking bankers from the country’s biggest private financial institution, Banesco, and would “intervene in the institution”for 90 days in an effort to stamp out illegal banking practices.
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab made the announcement in a TV broadcast Thursday, saying that a “surgical” investigation revealed irregularities that had devalued the country’s currency.
The takeover of Banesco will see a deputy finance minister placed at the helm of the bank after the bank’s executive president, Oscar Doval Garcia, and 10 others were arrested.
Venezuelan investigators said that a large number of suspicious Banesco accounts were linked to addresses in Panama, a country made notorious for being a good place to hide dark money with the release of the Panama Papers in 2016, and Colombia.
Banesco International’s president, Juan Carlos Escotet, a Venezuelan citizen who was in Portugal when the arrest happened, said he was planning to return to Venezuela immediately. “I will go to Venezuela with peace of mind to support my colleagues,” he tweeted Thursday.
Voy a Venezuela con tranquilidad de espíritu para apoyar a mis compañeros y me pongo a la orden del gobierno con la confianza de que todo se aclare. pic.twitter.com/N8R8xFS6iG
“To the clients of BANESCO, I suggest you continue with BANESCO since under my ownership or not, it will always be the best guarantor of customer deposits,” Escotet said in another tweet. And in another, he cautioned “The administrative intervention of Banesco will have a duration of 90 days. It is not a process of nationalization, therefore, the shareholders of Banesco maintain the property of the bank.”
Critics of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his populist social democratic policies claim that government corruption and mismanagement are at the heart of the country’s economic crisis. The government maintains that the country’s wealthy class is sabotaging their socialist policies through economic warfare and by refusing to manufacture certain essential goods in an effort to stoke internal resentment against them, as well as hoarding wealth elsewhere.
The country’s financial abuse crackdown came in response to accusations that an international network of financers was manipulating the black market exchange rate to the extent that it values the US dollar at a rate 10 times higher than the country’s official exchange rate. So far, 134 arrests have been made and 1,380 bank accounts, mostly with Banesco, have been frozen.
The arrest of the bankers comes amid an anti-corruption purge in the country and follows the arrest of two Chevron employees in late April. “The decisions of the prosecutor’s office are based on serious investigations to fight corruption… These two people involved have the right to defense and due process,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in a April 25 televised address.
Prior to the Chevron arrests, which the company responded to by evacuating its executives from the country, the attorney general had 80 executives and business partners of PDVSA, the country’s state-owned oil company, arrested for graft. “Criminal [PDVSA] administrators colluded with criminal businesspeople to embezzle from the nation,” Saab said during a March 20 press conference.
President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela on Saturday launched the consultations on changes to the country’s constitution.
The presidential administration on Monday will begin meeting with political parties about the possibility to convene the special panel, which would be authorized to introduce amendments to the constitution.
Varela had promised to change the constitution during his election campaign in 2014.
Earlier on Saturday, the country’s election tribunal said that the next general election would be held in May 2019. The voters will be able to choose the president and lawmakers, as well as members of the constitutional assembly.
The unemployed population with respect to the labor force increased 1.2%, going from 9.1% in the first quarter of 2017, to 10.3% in the first quarter of 2018.
The employment rate was 51.8%, while in the same period last year it was 54%.
The unemployment rate increased with respect to the same period last year, in this quarter it was 10.3%, the previous year it was 9.1%.
Informal employment decreased by 1.9 percentage points, it was 41.4%, compared to 43.2% last year.
From the quarterly report by the National Institute of Statistics and Census:
May 3, 2018.The unemployed population with respect to the labor force increased 1.2 pp, going from 9.1% in the first quarter of 2017 to 10.3% in the first quarter of 2018.
This increase in the national unemployment rate is mainly due to the 1.8 pp increase in the female unemployment rate, which reached 13.1%, while the male population remained without any statistically significant variation, being 8.6%
Enrique Sánchez on his first day as a member of the Costa Rica National Assembly on May 1, 2018. (Photo courtesy of the Costa Rica National Assembly)
Enrique Sánchez — a journalist who is a member of the Partido Accion Cuidadana (PAC), the first openly gay man elected to Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly was sworn in on Tuesday, May 1.
Enrique Sánchez on his first day as a member of the Costa Rica National Assembly on May 1, 2018. (Photo courtesy of the Asemblea Legislative)
Sánchez told the Washington Blade on Thursday during a WhatsApp interview from the Costa Rican capital of San José that he never hid his sexual orientation during his campaign. Sánchez added the reaction he received from voters was “positive.”
“My campaign sought to promote visibility for the LGBT community,” he told the Blade. “My sexual orientation wasn’t something I hid.”
In January, days before the February 4 national elections, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (based in San Jose) issued a landmark ruling that recognized same-sex marriage and transgender rights. “(The ruling) is binding and it must be implemented,” Sánchez told the Blade.
He also told the Blade he hopes U.S. institutions can “stop” the Trump administration’s efforts to curtail the rights of LGBT people, women, migrants, people of color and other marginalized groups.
More than 20,000 have registered for the “ecolones“ program that pays you in exchange for separating waste and recycling it. The service launched on April 17 and its founders say the numbers in just two weeks is “really positive”.
What is econlones? In short, a program that sees the user separate and clean recyclable materials such as plastic, glass, tetra pak, aluminum and tin. and taken to one of the 37 collection centers (centros de acopio in Spanish) so far. There, the material is counted and converted into the virtual currency that can be accumulated (to the previously opened free account) and then can be spent on participating items at participating retailers.
Karla Chaves, director of Próxima Comunicación, the leading company of the program, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, explains consumers participating in the program no longer will have to pay full value for a product when using their ecolones.
The changes to the intersection east of the San Jose international airport were completed on Friday, reducing congestion in the area and travel times up to 30 minutes, according to the outgoing Minister of Transport, German Valverde.
The completion of the work that began in February was inaugurated Saturday morning in an official act.
Despite the “completion”, work in the intersection is expected to continue, resuming after May 9, the departure of the international delegations currently making their arrivals in Costa Rica for the swearing-in ceremony of Carlos Alvarado on Tuesday.
The changes are of main benefit to eastbound (San Jose) traffic from Alajuela, with the elimination the traffic light, which was the major cause of congestion.
Before the changes, eastbound traffic was clogges with two lanes of vehicles – one of them of the through traffic – stopped at the left turn traffic light.
Now, eastbound traffic will continue without interruption while traffic turning off onto the Rio Segundo road will move to two left lanes to the traffic light; the through traffic lanes are not affected by left turning vehicles.
The other change is to westbound (to Alajuela) traffic that now has an exit to Rio Segundo ome 100 meters before the traffic lights. Right turns can still be made at the lights.
Traffic on Rio Segundo to the airport and Alajuela will have a new ramp.
The major change is for traffic on the Rio Segundo headed for eastbound (San Jose). There is no longer a left turn from Rio Segundo (in front of the Holiday Inn / Fiesta Casino). Traffic will have to diver to Alajuela or Heredia.
To let drivers know of the changes, the MOPT will be handing out some 4,000 flyers at the toll booths. Expected are traffic officials (Transitos) to continue to monitor and guide drivers through the changes.
An Overpass
Roberto Thompson, the former mayor of Alajuela, took the opportunity to remind MOPT authorities not lose sight of the fact that the airport crossing requires an overpass to resolve, once and for all, traffic congestion.
“This intervention must be complemented with additional works still pending that we hope will be materialized in the coming days, such as the accesses and exits of the city (Alajuela) (…) This road exchange urgently requires a comprehensive intervention with a first world overpass that we hope will be realized in the very short term,” asserted Thompson.
75-year-old Gerlinde Hahne arrived in Costa Rica on April 30 from Munich, Germany, to attend her son’s wedding in Montezuma on Saturday.
Last Thursday, around 2:00 p.m, Gerlinde left to walk on the family property, located in the community of Las Delicias, between Montezuma and Cobano. That was the last time she was seen.
Gerlinde wore light-colored trousers, a printed blouse, and black sandals. She is of white complexion, short and extremely thin: she weighs about 40 kilos (88 lbs).
Yesterday we looked for her all day and today we will start early. I think that up to 100 people walked through the mountains and beaches trying to find her, we think he became disoriented and since it is the first time she is in the area, she walked in the opposite direction to the house … We are very worried, she does not suffer from any disease, but she does tend to forget things,” said Adrianne Boss dos Santos, the bride to be.
Tobes Hahne had not seen his mother for a year. He resides in New York. A few months ago she fell in love with Costa Rica and bought a property in Montezuma, where the wedding would take place this Saturday.
If you have information about Gerlinde Hahne you can call the family telephones that are 8588-0427, 8309-4342 or the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) 2642-0480 and 2642-0460.
The victim José Alonso Romero, 39, died after being shot in the head. The incident occurred in Calle Blancos, in Goicoechea.
José Francisco González Salas, 69, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for killing Jose Alonso Romero Picado, 39, at the time driver for the Ministro de la Presidencia, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, in a road rage dispute, back in September 2013.
Paramedics work on José Alonso Romero, 39, mortal victim of a gunshot in a road rage incident back in September 2013, in Calle Blancos, in Goicoechea.
The sentence was handed down on April 13 by the Tribunal de Juicio de Goicoechea (Goicoechea Trial Court), and confirmed on Friday by the Press Office of the Poder Judicial.
The three-judge trial court also imposed precautionary measures on Gonzalez for a period of six months – to sign every 15 days in a judicial office and cannot leave the country – during the appeal period that expires on October 13, 2018. Gonzalez is also to the victim’s family ¢25 million colones (US$45,000) for moral damages.
What happened?
In the afternoon September 19, 2013, in Calles Blancos de Goicoechea, in front of the former Bayer plant, now occupied by the Servicio Nacional de Aguas Subterráneas, Riego y Advenamiento (Senara), in traffic, Gonzalez slams in to the rear of the car driven by Romero, a Honda 4×4 registered to the Ministerio de la Presidencia (a government car).
According to witnesses, after Gonzalez slams his Hyundai Tucson into the Honda, Romero got out of his car in a rage, threatening Gonzalez who pulled out a gun and shot Romero.
Romero died at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics.
The closure of the Circunvalacion in the area of Hatillo 8, due to a sinkhole in the road, became a nightmare for drivers, who frequently got into disputes.
The situation got so bad, to the point the government was forced to decree a change in the work schedule of public sector employees to alleviate the congestion.
Seldom does Melissa Mora answer her fans, however, this week her patience was tested with a user who questioned her aesthetic surgeries in a hot bikini photo, which she shared on her social networks after a show.
The user, identified as unbekantersoldat commented: “In my opinion she looked much better with the natural butt … those cheeks look so strange … don’t they bother you when you sit?”.
A photo I took recently on the San Jose to Santa Ana bus. The vendor got off at Multiplaza, I suppose back to San Jose, and then back, etc.
Rico’s TICO BULL – Here’s an idea, have ‘transit officers’ patrol the buses and trains in the San Jose area to rid the pesty vendors who, almost always open their sales pitch with, ‘perdon por la molestia…” (sorry for the interruption). Many will follow up that they are not drug users or criminals (…).
A photo I took recently on the San Jose to Santa Ana bus. The vendor got off at Multiplaza, I suppose back to San Jose, and then back, etc. Very friendly, but still an unwanted intrusion.
We are a captive audience as if the sorry makes it all ok. Worse, these vendors work along with drivers who let them on the bus for some compensation I assume. On a few occasions, I have seen the vendors pay the fare.
I got to thinking on this after reading the story in the Toronto Star, were TTC (that is the Toronto Transit Commission) officials broke up an accordion playing ring of two men, thought to be brothers, who over the past month have entertained and enraged commuters by playing the hit song “Despacito”.
TTC spokesperson said several transit officers were on patrol just before noon Monday on a train when they heard the distinctive song coming from further down the train. When they walked toward the music, they found the man in black, accordion in hand.
The man was escorted off the train.
Foto: social media
The accordion musicians had been warned twice before, Green said, and this was “the third strike.”
The accordion player could have faced a CA$235 fine, but transit officers instead issued a summons, where a justice of the peace will decide if he should be fined if found guilty. Or he could be let off with a warning.
Foto: Twitter @nationalpost
Here is my plan. The Consejo de Transportes Publico (CTP) could deploy a number of transit police officers, both working under the same Ministry of Transport, to patrol the buses, that operated under a CTP concession and restore peace and tranquility to the thousands of users.
I mean, come on, how many toothbrushes can I buy? Which I suppose are working in tandem with the vendors selling cookies or gum or candy or some fried food, for a donation.
I would prefer an accordion player instead. And playing the catchy piece.
Just in case you hadn’t heard Despacito, here is the link to a YouTube mix that has more than 3.9M (as in million) views in September 2017. Or you can watch it below. But be warned, it’s addictive. You will soon be searching the other renditions of the song across the YouTube channels.
Friday morning gasoline prices went up, ¢19 colones for a liter of regular and ¢20 for super. Diesel fuel went up ¢9 colones a liter.
The price of gasoline at the pumps as of Friday morning is ¢662 for a liter of super, ¢633 for regular and ¢540 for diesel.
The Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos (Aresep), in granting the price hike, justified it by blaming it on the variation in the dollar exchange rate (uh? the rate has stood pretty much the same for months) and international conflicts.
Gasoline prices in Costa Rica are regulated, set by the Aresep and applied to all gasoline stations across the country.
