The man found this morning on the side of the road in San Ramon, decapitated and signs of torture was kidnapped last Thursday (April 19) night, in Goicoechea.
The man was identified as Diego Garcia Lemus, 42, a Colombia national, who had been living in Costa Rica since 2008 and authorities saying he had no ties to criminal groups.
The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) confirmed that the man’s family, living in Colombia, had on Saturday paid US$14,000 for his release.
Neighbors had reported to police strange movements on Thursday night. The criminals used the vehicle of the deceased to move the body to San Ramón.
“The relatives were in Colombia. There they called and demanded the ransom. We have to wait for the autopsy, but it seems that they cut off his head with a heavy object,” said Walter Espinoza.
The numbers aren’t looking too good, this first four months of the year are going down in the books as the most violent. And if the trend continues, 2018 could easily top last year’s record 603 murders.
According to statistics published by the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), the number of murders from January to April (without counting the last few hours of today) is 202.
That is 17 more than the same period last year when there were 184 murders.
Monday morning, Walter Espinoza, the head of the OIJ, said the figures indicate the high level of violence that is used to resolve conflicts in the country.
“There is a situation of violence that has been growing for the last 3 years and not only with drug trafficking but with the increase in disputes,” said Espinoza.
According to the OIJ director, action plans are being drawn up to stop criminal groups that operate with violence and to reduce cases in the country in the medium term.
“From now on the History of Nicaragua is decided by the people and nobody else,” was the resounding message of Monsignor Silvio José Báez, launched on Saturday during the gigantic march of repudiation against the massacre of fifty young Nicaraguans, has two direct recipients: President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.
Demonstrators against the government of Daniel Ortega rise to the roof of the metropolitan cathedral of Managua to protest against the repression. Photo JOSE CABEZASREUTERS
“We are outraged by so much pain, by so much death, Nicaragua deserves a better homeland and we will get it,” added the auxiliary Bishop of Managua, whose words recall the religious martyrs who sowed the Central American lands with their blood, from Óscar Romero to the Jesuits of Ignacio Ellacuría.
Báez has become the symbol of anti-government protests, which began when university students took to the streets against the reform of the Social Security Law, which was intended to cover the holes of corruption and patronage at the expense of money from entrepreneurs and workers.
The violent repression of police, riot police, paramilitary shock forces and the Sandinista Youth, in a script traced to the Venezuela of 2017, ended up transforming the student eruption into a general clamor against the Government.
The death toll varies between the 63 that the Permanent Commission on Human Rights has collected throughout the country and the provisional 42 from the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights. There are still at least 15 young men and a few others fighting for their lives in hospitals. Figures that augment the excessive violence of the pro-government forces. In fact, since the government ordered not to act, there has not been one more victim.
“¡Que se vayan, qué se vayan!” (That they go, that they go) shouted those present against the government to interrupt the words of Cardinal and Archbishop of Managua Leopoldo Brenes Solorzano, who officiated the Catholic liturgy with Báez and other prominent members of the religious leadership.
“The people, united, will never be defeated!”, continued the huge crowd turned into one voice while the president of the Episcopal Conference gave details of the national dialogue, in which they will officiate as mediators and witnesses.
Something has changed, and much, in the Nicaragua in less than two weeks. Even in the ranks of Sandinismo an old phrase has been recovered, for which he claims to be a Sandinista, but not a ‘Danielista’.
“It is a feeling that runs through part of the bases of Sandinismo, which keep a distance from such terrible crimes, we are not the Sandinistas, it is the president, who has turned the Sandinista Front into a personal and family party,” denounced to El Mundo the revolutionary commander Hugo Torres, vice president of the Movimiento Renovador Sandinista (MRS).
What is happening today in Nicaragua? The Central American country is no longer the same one that started this year under the iron leadership of Ortega and his wife. For 11 years, supported by the triple revolutionary alliance with Venezuela and Cuba, Ortega redesigned the state to his own way with the intention that no modern version of Violeta Chamorro would defeat him at the polls as in 1990.
For the Sandinistas, Ortega created an alliance with the private sector, with the Catholic Church and with the United States while taking control of all the powers of the State.
As if he were a political sorcerer, Ortega began to mix the new factors in his potion of power, always with the support of Murillo and his children, who have been distributed among the media and many other perks. Until the spark in mid-April. Ortega, 72, reacted by repealing the Social Security reform law, ordering the reopening of censored media and the release of the imprisoned youth. Then he convinced the Catholic Church to lead a National Dialogue Table. The Bishops have accepted, but with conditions, knowing that even the Vatican failed in the negotiations of Venezuela.
Cardinal Brenes assured the demonstrators that he has given Ortega a one-month deadline. The first point of the detractors of Ortega is that there is no impunity for the crimes of these days. The second, an electoral advance to satisfy the thirst for change.
Students, civil organizations, businessmen and opponents have decided to participate in the dialogue, despite their suspicions that Ortega only wants to buy time. But the Auxiliary Bishop of Managua encourages them to participate. Báez has emerged as a key figure in today’s Nicaragua, compared to the collaborationism of previous Catholic leaders, such as the reviled Miguel Obando y Bravo.
Two jobs are being rushed to ready on time for the transfer of powers event on May 8 where Carlos Alvarado will be sworn in as the 48th president of the Republic, and receive the ‘presidential sash’ from Luis Guillermo Solis.
The Jade museum (now that the artisan stands are gone) is now in clear view from the Plaza de la Democracia, the scenario for the transfer of powers on May 8
The first. The event is being held in the Plaza de la Democracia, in the hear of San Jose. The plaza is a public square, accessed by the three roads, the wall of the Museo Nacional the only physical barrier to permit some form of security for participants, that includes a large number of foreign dignitaries – ambassadors, foreign ministers and high officials of governments from around the globe.
The work includes the erection of a stage for a capacity of 300 and covered from elements, mainly the rains. Typically the rainy season in the Central Valley doesn’t kick in until the middle of May, this year, it seems to be already here.
Also part of the work is a complete cleaning of the place so that it looks impeccable.
According to Fabio Solano, member of the Comision de Traspaso (Transfer of powers commission), the assembly of the main platform is ready, this week they will be working on installing the roof.
The work this week will also focus on the installation of the 3 platforms for the public, with a capacity of 2,000 people who obtained the free passes through the official transfer of powers website.
“On May 5 all works will have to be finished because on the 6th (Sunday) there will be safety tests with the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) and the Bomberos (Fire Dept) and on the 7th (Monday) sound tests will be done to have everything ready on by the 8th,” said Solano.
The second. Just as important, mostly for the image of the country, is the rush to get the work outside the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) airport in Alajuela finished.
We can’t have this for the whole world to see, as Ambassadors, Foreign Ministers and High Government officials from around the globe will descend on Costa Rica next week.
As mentioned before, there will be a lot of foreign dignitaries arriving for the event and can we have them met by the construction mess on the intersection east of the airport?
The work was to have been finished more than a week ago. At least enough to “make it look nice”. So, this week, hopefully, the weather will hold out, there is a rush to finish. Or least make it look nice.
Remember this? In the first days of the start of construction, the only way this passenger was going to make her flight on time was to walk it.
Many of the foreign dignitaries will start arriving on 6th, the rest on 7th.
The transfer of powers ceremony will start at 9:00 a.m. on the 8th.
Of the 2,000 plastic posts installed on the Ruta 32 in 2015, only 81 stand today.
Of the 2,000 plastic posts placed on the median of the Ruta 32 (San Jose – Limon) in 2015, only 81 remain standing today, though severely damaged. The useful life of the divider posts doesn’t seem to exceed a year.
Of the 2,000 plastic posts installed on the Ruta 32 in 2015, only 81 stand today.
The sad truth is that the investment by the Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT) – Transport Ministry – has been a failure.
The posts, intended to save lives on a road that is prone to accidents just don’t hold up to the inclement weather conditions, in particular through the Braulio Carillo national park, cars hitting them regularly and vandalism.
The MOPT recognizes that the posts must be replaced often, as it happens with the traffic signs. Alejandra Acosta, head of Regional Traffic Engineering, told Crhoy.com that the posts are not exempt to the road conditions in the country.
“If you review the engineering budgets, every year we buy paint and reflectors (…) we are aware that these posts are not to last 4, 5, 6 years … it is a year-to-year issue. The annual damage has been around 500 posts and that is the budget we have,” she explained.
Although not durable, after several studies, the MOPT determined that it was ideal to use plastic posts that would not represent a danger to drivers. Also, the plastic stands up better taking into account the number of landslides on the road.
The engineer explained that a fixed barrier, such as a concrete or metal, could result in people trapped in the event of a landslide and would reduce lane width on this narrow road. According to the expert, it is not an issue of resistance, given that you cannot place devices on the road that can damage vehicles when hit.
Despite the strong criticism at the beginning, the plastic posts have had the desired effect, the reduction of speed on the road and the incidence of head-on collisions and a reduction in deaths.
The posts were to have withstood being hit up to 200 times by a vehicle, but a study determined that 50 hits was the max.
“We are very happy because people ask us to replace the poles because with them they feel more secure,” said Acosta.
Legal Dispute. Currently, the MOPT in a legal dispute against JL Señalización y Arquitectura S.A., the company contracted to install the posts three years ago. The MOPT says the posts were to have withstood up to 200 blows at 80 km/h (though the speed on the road is 60 km/h), a study by the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica (TEC) determined that the posts installed could withstand only 50, so the MOPT did not pay up that the ¢90 million colones cost.
“Those posts were not paid (for) and we are in a legal dispute because they did not comply with the certification that was requested,” said Acosta, adding that the posts were showing deformation within days of their installation and the reason for the TEC study.
The plastic posts were part of a ¢223 million colones investment in 2015 that included the demarcation, installation of vertical signs, removal of old signs and the plastic posts.
The ruta will be getting a new dividers in the coming months
Last December, the MOPT put out a tender to replace the posts, to which several companies have offered competing bids. Among the requirements, the winning company has to provide a certification of resistance and that the devices be of a material that cannot get embedded in a vehicle.
Currently, the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) is in the process of changing the asphalt layer to accept the new posts and thermoplastic road marking paint, which lasts longer than regular paints used.
Acosta expects the road work on the Ruta 32 to be finished within the next four months.
Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez Sanz (center) on a working visit to Azerbaijan. Gonzalez will be replaced on May 8 by vice-president Epsy Campbell, who will assume the roled Foreign Minister in the new government.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez Sanz, who is on a working visit to Azerbaijan, have met to discuss prospects for development of bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields.
Mammadyarov presented to his counterpart an Honorary Diploma of the Foreign Ministry for his contribution to the development of friendship and cooperation between the two countries
Picture of optical cables pluged in network server
State-owned telecom operator, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), has begun the process of migrating customers in the central Santa Barbara de Heredia district to its Kolbi-branded fibre-optic service. ICE said it will be investing US$530,000 to roll out 50 kilometers of fibre-optic cables to replace the existing copper network and offer download speeds of up to 300Mbps to 4,300 customers as part of triple-play packages.
Last month ICE announced that it would be expanding its fiber-optic network to 66 more localities throughout the country over the next two years. The first phase of the programwill see 28 districts in the Heredia province receive fiber infrastructure in a 1,300km rollout covering nine cantons that’s due for completion by the end of the year.
Criticizing President-elect Carlo Alvarado’s choice for his government positions, in particular the appointment of Patricia Mora as executive president of the INAMU, the social networks lit up against former presidential candidate Fabricio Alvarado, Ticos calling him a ‘sore loser’ and the “Nicole Carboni of politics”.
Fabricio, losing his bid for the presidential chair on April 1, after coming first on February 4, has been critical of his rival on the social networks.
Fabricio’s post:
The reactions:
Obvio que Fabricio Alvarado dice que les va tocar difícil a sus catorce diputados, si algunos no saben ni escribir ????????♂️
The plane has all its papers in order, confirmed Aviacion Civil
A pilot and an aviation student died after the plane they were traveling in collided with a hill and collapsed in Corozalito de Nandayure, Guanacaste, around 11:40 a.m. on Saturday.
The plane with the call letters TI-BIL had all its papers in order, informed Aviacion Civil
Authorities indicated that, for the moment, it is unknown what could have caused the crash, which occurred 500 meters north of the airstrip in the area, very close to where another small plane crashed last December, killing 10 passengers and the two pilots.
The victims in the Saturday crash were identified as Esteban Mora Argüello, 34 and Alberto Arroyo Guillén. Mora, with more than 2,000 flight hours, was the instructor, according to the Dirección General de Aviación Civil.
The Operations Center of the 9-1-1 emergency service, located in San Francisco de Goicoechea, is attended by a team of operators 24 hours a day. From there, the domestic aggression care protocol is activated. Photo: Alejandro Gamboa Madrigal
The Operations Center of the 9-1-1 emergency service, located in San Francisco de Goicoechea, is attended by a team of operators 24 hours a day. Photo: Alejandro Gamboa Madrigal
It’s Friday morning. No futbol (soccer) game, the day is not a holiday or other situation considered by the authorities as “a trigger for domestic violence.” However, 9-1-1 operator Laura Rodríguez logs a call that activates a response protocol that may involve more than 10 institutions: a woman asking for help.
On this call, the ex of one her daughters is inside the apartment destroying things. She is outside the building, has not been assaulted, but is scared and calls the police for help. Last year, the Sistema de Emergencias received 98,000 calls for domestic violence, that is one call every five minutes;on average, 268 calls a day.
(Bloomberg) Whether brandishing a Kalashnikov or a stacked court, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega has proven especially resilient. The onetime guerrilla insurgent turned autocrat has endured turmoil, outsmarted opponents and coopted rivals to lock down four presidential mandates spread out across 38 years, marshal economic growth and outlast authoritarian peers.
If Sandino could see them now. Photographer: AFP Contributor/AFP
So when protests exploded in the streets of Managua and other cities earlier this month, leaving at least 38 dead and provoking calls for Ortega’s ouster, that idyll was shattered. The breadth and speed of unrest are new in Nicaragua and may prove to be an inflection point, if not a terminus, for one of Latin American autocracy’s most successful brands.
The immediate trigger was a ham-fisted social security reform, announced earlier this month by decree, and then revoked just as abruptly on April 22 after a week of riots.
On the surface, the proposal seemed reasonable enough. Like most of its neighbors, Nicaragua spends too much on pensions for a society that is graying fast even as its taxable working age population shrinks. Nicaragua’s fertility rate fell by more than half, from 5 children per woman in 1990 to 2.3 in 2015, while life expectancy rose 13 years to age 75 in the same period, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund.
That’s hardly the hemisphere’s worst case. But what’s worrisome – and galling – for one of Central America’s poorest nations is that the Ortega government has made the vexing demographics more dangerous through doubtful administration and murky deals.
After a partial makeover in 2006, Nicaragua ran a surplus in social security for the next six years. Thrift ended, however, in 2013, when Ortega’s government began investing in questionable real estate deals and subsidized mortgages. Hence the IMF’s warning last year that social security was on track to “run out of liquid reserves by 2019” and that “the authorities should act quickly to avoid a costly bailout of the system.”
After punting reforms for years, Ortega surprised his compatriots with a hasty decree on April 16, ordering an increase in social security taxes and a cut in benefits, and sparked a revolt. “When people found they would be paying more and getting less for it, they were outraged,” Manuel Orozco, an economist at the Inter-American Dialogue told me.
For Nicaraguans, that was just the latest in a string of Ortega’s offenses. Resentment surged last year when the U.S. Treasury charged Nicaraguan supreme electoral council president Roberto Rivas with amassing considerable personal wealth while on the government payroll. Ortega’s riposte? He not only protected Rivas but kept him on the job as the electoral council sponsored a sweeping, executive-friendly reform of electoral laws, over protests by citizen groups and opposition lawmakers.
The mood darkened last month when the government announced it had asked the legislature to “review the use of social networks,” which was widely seen as code for censorship, drawing an immediate retort from Nicaraguan non-government organizations and the Catholic Church.
Then came the botched response to a wildfire – including an official decision to turn away a team of Costa Rican firefighters who’d volunteered to help – which destroyed 7,000 hectares of an important bio-reserve and covered several forest communities in a pall of smoke and ash. Nicaragua belatedly accepted help from a Mexican fire brigade.
“Ortega had always been seen as a kind of master player, but absolute rulers have a blind spot,” said Orozco. “What he didn’t realize is that the anger against his government had been growing.”
Now Nicaraguans may have found opportunity in Ortega’s debacle, including some unlikely apostates. One of the casualties of the public backlash over pensions could be the longtime government pact with the country’s private sector: In return for executives’ support for his policies – and their complicit silence on its authoritarian excesses – Ortega had allowed companies to prosper.
That alliance has worked reasonably well for both sides, not least because of the blessings businesses have reaped on Ortega’s watch, including annual corporate tax breaks worth 6 percent of gross domestic product. Not coincidentally, says the IMF, those perks have added to Nicaragua’s worsening fiscal woes.
Yet Ortega’s fiat has not always been good for business. In a 2015 survey, 47 percent of company executives said they felt their property rights were not guaranteed by law and 50 percent said mechanisms for settling disputes were inefficient.
Finally, the moguls appear to be stirring. The leading business chamber, known by its acronym COSEP, representing companies that kick in around half of Nicaraguan GDP, has pointedly criticized the heavy-handed official response to protests and called for dialogue – not a favorite in the Sandinista playbook.
Talk alone is unlikely to curb the Nicaraguan government’s authoritarian instincts. But clearly the unofficial pact of indulgences as well as the private sector’s complicit silence must end.
Thanks to years of centralizing power, Ortega has all but defenestrated the country’s political opposition. Students and civil society groups have stepped up in the wake of the disastrous pension reform plan. Will the private sector do its part? “The business community is one of the most legitimate social forces in the country,” said Orozco. “That makes them political players, whether they like it or not.”
The precedent exits. Almost 40 year ago, business leaders joined forces with the political opposition and labor unions, funding three political strikes that helped drive then-Nicaraguan dictator Gen. Anastasio Somoza from power. That was the precursor of COSEP’s subsequent complicated alliance with the Sandinistas. Now, surely, it’s time for that tryst to end.
Article by Mac Margolis first appeared on Bloomberg View. Read the original.
Thousands in Nicaraguans marched through the capital Managua on Saturday in a mass demonstration to demand justice following a wave of protests and violence for more than 10 days, that an unofficial toll of more than 62 people dead.
During the rally organized by the Catholic Church of Nicaragua, Managua’s Archbishop, Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano, issued a deadline of one month for the national dialogue aimed at resolving the issues facing the country’s worst unrest in 11 years, to see “if a real commitment exists.”
The peace and justice march is part of the broader anti-government protests across the country that began on Wednesday, April 18, when the population protested against pension reforms.
On Friday, university students, who have been at the forefront of anti-government unrest, issued conditions for talks with the government President Daniel Ortega.
Joining the students were private sector workers and others, among them young people, the elderly and farmers. There was a sea of blue and white flags as the crowds massed outside the city’s cathedral.
“We have come on a pilgrimage as one people, brothers in the faith of the Lord Jesus, brothers in suffering for so many lives lost… desiring justice, peace and reconciliation,” Brenes told the crowds.
Brenes said he would act as a witness and mediator in the dialogue called for by Ortega.
“If we see that they are not taking these steps, we will call a halt and we will tell the people of God that we cannot carry on,” he said to widespread applause and chants of “Make them go!” in reference to Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo.
“We are no longer afraid, we want a free Nicaragua. Nicaragua wants peace so that there is no more bloodshed. There has to be justice for the dead and the disappeared,” was the common thread of many attending the march.
The current #Nicaragua political crisis, decades in the making, calls for a Nicaraguan solution led by the Nicaraguan people, not outside actors such as the @OAS_official or @UN or regional “working groups”. Nicaraguans know best what is in the best interests of their country. pic.twitter.com/yw2rFWhCSS
Although Ortega has agreed to hold talks, the framework has yet to be defined.
The students, on the other hand, have laid down their conditions for the dialogue to take place, among them, demanding the dismissal of police involved in the repression, the establishment of an independent UN-backed body to investigate the violence, that the talks be held in public and that the relatives of those killed be involved.
Tuesday, May 1, is Labor Day (Día Internacional del Trabajor in Spanish) in Costa Rica, a national holiday and the day that the sitting president delivers his formal ‘state of the nation’ report to the Legislative Assembly.
This year, as is every four years, there is a new crop of legislators starting their four year cycle of legislating and whatever else they do. It will certainly be an interesting four years given that the Partido Accion Cuiadana (PAC) hold only 10 of the 57 legislative seats (curuls in Spanish).
While the country’s politicians will be busy on May 1, the general population gets a paid no-work day. For those who have to work, they get double and triple pay.
The May 1 holiday is not a movable holiday, that is, it is taken on the day of the week it falls on. Last year it was on Monday, giving people a long weekend. This year, none of that: it’s work on Monday, off Tuesday, and back to work on Wednesday. But, surely some will have figured out how to make this holiday an extra long weekend – Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. And given that Friday before a long weekend is usually a holiday also, see where I am going here?
These are the paid holidays (feriados de pago obligatorio) in Costa Rica:
January 1 – Circuncisión-Año Nuev (New Year’s Day)
April 11 – Día de Juan Santamaría (celebrating Costa Rica’s Hero)
Good Thursday
Good Friday
May 1 – Día Internacional del Trabajo (Labor Day)
July 25 – Anexión del Partido de Nicoya a Costa Rica (known commonly as Guanacaste Day)
August 15 – Día de la Madre (the Mother of all holidays)
September 15 – Fiesta Nacional Conmemoración de la Independencia de Costa Rica (Independence Day)
December 25 – Natividad de Jesucristo (Christmas Day)
The non-paid holidays (feriados de pago no obligatorio) are:
August 2 – Día de la Virgen de los Ángeles (celebrates Costa Rica’s patron saint)
October 12 – Día de las Culturas (race or culture day), the only that is moved to the following Monday under strict rules set out by the Ministerio de Trabajo.
For simplicity sake, an employee who is required to work on a ‘feriado de pago obligatorio’, depending if the pay is daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, gets the day off. If they are required to work on that day, there is double and triple pay provisions.
The May 1 holiday is observed in all countries of Latin America.
While the new government of Carlos Alvarado won’t be starting their work until May 8, Costa Rica’s new Legislative Assembly will formally begin work on Tuesday, May 1, Labor Day – a national holiday in Costa Rica – with 14 of its 57 new legislators evangelical Christians.
The deputies of the Partido Restauracion Nacional (PRN), led by Fabricio Alvarado, a devout Evangelical Christian, make up one of the main groups in opposition.
For the legislative period of 2018 to 2022, the PRN, with 14 members, are second to the largest bloc of legislators, the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) with 17; followed by the Partido Accion Cuidadana (PAC) with 10; the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) with 9; the Partido Integración Nacional (PIN) with 3; the Partido Republicano Social Cristiano (PRSC) with two each; one for the Frente Amplio (FA); and one Inpedendent.
The evangelicals, half of whom are pastors or preachers, were led by Fabricio Alvarado, a 43-year-old preacher, who surged from obscurity by harshly criticizing moves to recognize gay marriage. Fabricio won the popular vote in the February 4 presidential election, slightly ahead of his rival Carlos, but not the required 40% to lead the country. In the run-off election of April 4, Fabricio came a distant second with 39%. Carlos Alvarado was elected president with 61% of the vote. Despite the two men having same last name, they are not related.
The challenge for the President-elect is the fact that his party, despite a resounding victory, only holds 10 seats, that includes Costa Rica’s first openly-homosexual legislator, journalist Enrique Sanchez.
“There are differences over certain issues linked to the rights of women and human rights. We will stick to our positions and we will strengthen and defend them,” Sanchez told AFP.
The former presidential candidate has taken a belligerent posture towards the president-elect’s new government. Fabricio Alvarado has sharply criticizing his rival even before he takes office on May 8.
“We cannot grant legitimacy to a corrupt, irresponsible government, which tramples on religious freedoms, and promotes a secular state and the death and destruction of the family,” Fabricio Alvarado wrote on Twitter on Thursday, saying his deputies would be vigilant in their “defense of the family.”
Fabricio Alvarado calls the PAC “irresponsible”, “trampler of religious freedom”, “promoter of death” and “destroyer of families.”
wut? ???? pic.twitter.com/TMJGQqq5mA
— Tribuna Magazine ???????????? (@RealTribunaMag) April 27, 2018
Facing the new legislators, on their first day of work on Tuesday, is the urgent task to approve a tax reform, something that the four previous Legislatures have been unable to pass.
On Thursday, the incoming president unveiled his cabinet of 25 ministers (14 women and 11 men), who represent the main parties in the Legislative Assembly.
Costa Rica appears on the United States Trade Representative (USTR) list released on Friday, of countries that violate the intellectual property rights in the United States.
The 2018 Special 301 Report identifies trading partners that do not adequately or effectively protect and enforce intellectual property (IP) rights or otherwise deny market access to U.S. innovators and creators that rely on the protection of their IP rights.
Costa Rica is on the ‘Watch List’, which represents a lower level of infringement in relation to piracy. The other Latin American countries on the Watch List are Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru.
The USTR downgraded Canada, neighbor and partner of the United States in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), from the Watch List to the Priority Watch List that also includes Argentina, Chile, China (for the 14th consecutive year) Colombia and Venezuela, among others.
USTR said Canada was downgraded because of concerns about “poor border enforcement generally” and more specific issues including that Canadian customs officials lack authority to inspect and detain suspected counterfeit or pirated goods shipped through Canada, concerns over pharmaceutical protection, and deficient copyright protection.
The total number of countries on the Watch List and Priority Watch List grew to 36 from 34 a year ago, as USTR added Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to the Watch List.
“Watch List” countries have been identified by the USTR as having “serious intellectual property rights deficiencies” but are not yet placed on the “Priority Watchlist”
“Priority Watchlist countries” are judged by the USTR as having “serious intellectual property rights deficiencies” that require increased USTR attention.
The annual list, which carries no immediate penalties, is supposed draw attention to the need for nations to address everything from copyright infringement to online piracy.
A video camera captured the moment the commuter train hit a pedestrian, around 6 a.m. Firday morning, in Tibas.
The man was walking along the side of the railway, when he was hit sideways by the train. The person, whose identity as not released to the press, was critically injured and was taken to hospital Mexico trauma center.
The Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer) suspended morning train service.
???? Información importante:
Todos los servicios desde Heredia presentan un retraso en su itinerario esta mañana, incidente con peatón genera las demoras.#TrenCR
The Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) raided a tourist center in San Carlos Friday afternoon, where Costa Rican and foreign women prostituted themselves.
Photo by Ministerio Publico
The tourist center La Roca, located in Javillos, is a bar where according to the OIJ, men and women would meet up for paid sexual encounters.
The Judicial police said they have been investigating the tourist center for the crime of trafficking of persons and sexual exploitation. Among the women found working in the bar were Costa Ricans, Nicaraguans and Dominicans.
Similar raids were carried out this week in San Francisco de Dos Rios and Guadalupe.
Natalia Carvajal was crowned this Friday as the new Miss Costa Rica, the event held at Teletica’s Studio Marco Picado in San Jose.
The 27-year-old beauty and television presenter will represent the country in the Miss Universe competition that will take place in China later this year.
La Josefina expressed to Teletica.com her joy and assured that she is “a completely new woman” and that she is ready for the great challenge that is Miss Universe.
“It’s such a beautiful feeling, so wonderful, I’m very grateful to all the people who were part of the process, my colleagues, I think there’s never been a Miss Costa Rica final like this, with the hugs and such emotion, they jumped with me and we lived it, I really was blessed, not only with this crown but with the most wonderful group of companions that I have ever had,” said Natalia.
The event was hosted by Randall Vargas, former Miss Costa Rica, Karina Ramos and Buen Día journalist Jorge Vindas.
The Miss Costa Rica crown was designed by George Bakkar. It is a piece inspired by the floral nature of the country; It was created in silver and made by hand with 50 flowers of five different sizes and with natural pearls, valued at ¢4.7 million colones (US$8.400 dollars).
Here is a comforting word from the new (to-be) Minister of Security, Michael Soto: murders won’t stop overnight.
Michael Soto
The current deputy director of the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), who on May 8, will become the ministro de Seguridad Publica, said he will work with the OIJ and other police agencies to bring back peace and tranquility to the people, but it will take time.
The 26 year veteran of the Poder Judicial said he is committed to fight organized crime. Soto is honest about the security conditions in the country, which are not the best. “There is a lot of work ahead. I had the opportunity to talk several times with the President (elected) and share some ideas of how we can develop and get ahead with the homicide rate, assault index and others,” said Soto.
For the last few years, the number of murders in the country have been close to 600 per year. In 2017, the figure was 603. With that figure, the rate is 12 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies as an epidemic when the rate is higher than 10.
“The security conditions in the country are not the best. There is a lot of work ahead. I had the opportunity to talk several times with the President (elected) and share some ideas of how we can develop and get ahead with the homicide rate, assault index and others,” said Soto.
An early morning spill of a load of stone and gravel on the Autopista General Cañas caused tremendous congestion on the Alajuela to San Jose direction, in the area of the EPA store
The morning television images showed vehicles driving over the large gravel stones strewn across the lanes of the autopista, while Transito officials, aided by officers of the Fuerza Publica, using shovels tried to clear enough of the roadway to allow safe passage.
Vuelco en ruta 1, General Cañas, contiguo a la Ferretería Epa hacia San José. Paso regulado, vía colapsada. pic.twitter.com/cNnI9SaXNI
The spill of the large truck occurred shortly after 6:00 a.m. It wasn’t until after 8 a.m. that the autopista was cleared enough to allow almost normal transit through the area.
A 4.9 magnitude earthquake shook a good part of Costa Rica this morning at 9:33 a.m. The epicenter was located 15 km Northwest of San Isidro de General, in Perez Zeledon, according to the preliminary report by the Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) – National Seismological Network.
For its part, the University of Costa Rica (UCR) Seismic Engineering Laboratory reported the magnitude a 4.4, located near Pérez Zeledón. According to the specialists of the RSN, the tremor was caused by faults in the crust of the Caribbean plate (local or superficial).
On the social networks claimed to have felt quake was reported in places like Tres Ríos, Purral, Heredia, Cartago, Alajuela, Curridabat, Limón, among others.
Conversations on Facebook ethics are part of a bigger conversation about information architecture.
AP Photo/Alastair Grant
Urban spaces are often designed to be subtly hostile to certain uses. Think about, for example, the seat partitions on bus terminal benches that make it harder for the homeless to sleep there or the decorative leaves on railings in front of office buildings and on university campuses that serve to make skateboarding dangerous.
As a scholar of the social and political implications of technology, I would argue the internet is designed to be hostile to the people who use it. I call it a “hostile information architecture.”
Of course, these sites present privacy policies to users to notify them how their information will be used. They ask users to “click here to accept” them. The problem is that these policies are nearly impossible to understand. As a result, no one knows what they have consented to.
Users are also unable to protect themselves, as opting out of sites like Facebook and Google isn’t viable for most. David M G/Shutterstock.com
But that’s not all. The problem runs deeper than that. Legal scholar Katherine Strandburg has pointed out that the entire metaphor of a market where consumers trade privacy for services is deeply flawed. It is advertisers, not users, who are Facebook’s real customers. Users have no idea what they are “paying” and have no possible way of knowing the value of their information. Users are also unable to protect themselves, as opting out of sites like Facebook and Google isn’t viable for most.
As I have argued in an academic journal, the main thing notice and consent does is subtly communicate to users the idea that their privacy is a commodity that they trade for services. It certainly does not protect their privacy. It also hurts innocent people.
It’s not just that most of those whose data made it to Cambridge Analytica did not consent to that transfer, but it’s also the case that Facebook has vast troves of data even on those who refuse to use its services.
Not unrelated, news broke recently that thousands of Google Play apps – probably illegally – track children. We can expect stories like this to surface again and again. The truth is there is too much money in personal information.
Facebook’s hostile information architecture
Facebook’s privacy problem is both a symptom of its hostile information architecture and an excellent example of it.
Several years ago, two of my colleagues, Celine Latulipe and Heather Lipford and I published an article in which we argued that many of Facebook’s privacy issues were problems of design.
Our argument was that these design elements violated ordinary people’s expectations of how information about them would travel. For example, Facebook allowed apps to collect information on users’ friends (this is why the Cambridge Analytica problem impacted so many people). But no one who signed up for, say, tennis lessons would think that the tennis club should have access to personal information about their friends.
The details have changed since then, but they aren’t better. Facebook still makes it very hard for you to control how much data it gets about you. Everything about the Facebook experience is very carefully curated. Users who don’t like it have little choice, as the site has a virtual monopoly on social networking.
The internet’s hostile architecture
Lawrence Lessig, one of the leading legal scholars of the internet, wrote a pioneering book that discussed the similarities between architecture in physical space and things like interfaces online. Both can regulate what you do in a place, as anyone who has tried to access content behind a “paywall” immediately understands.
In the present context, the idea that the internet is at least somewhat of a public space where one can meet friends, listen to music, go shopping, and get news is a complete myth.
Unless you make money by trafficking in user data, internet architecture is hostile from top to bottom. That the business model of companies like Facebook is based on targeted advertising is only part of the story. Here are some other examples of how the internet is designed by and for companies, not the public.
Consider first that the internet in the U.S. isn’t actually, in any legal sense, a public space. The hardware is all owned by telecom companies, and they have successfully lobbied 20 state legislatures to ban efforts by cities to build out public broadband.
The Federal Trade Commission has recently declared its intention to undo Obama-era net neutrality rules. The rollback, which treats the internet as a vehicle for delivering paid content, would allow ISPs like the telecom companies to deliver their own content, or paid content, faster than (or instead of) everyone else’s. So advertising could come faster, and your blog about free speech could take a very long time to load.
Copyright law gives sites like YouTube very strong legal incentives to unilaterally and automatically, without user consent, take down material that someone says is infringing, and very few incentives to restore it, even if it is legitimate. These takedown provisions include content that would be protected free speech in other contexts; both President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain campaigns had material removed from their YouTube channels in the weeks prior to the 2008 elections.
Federal requirements that content-filtering software is installed in public libraries that receive federal funding regulate the only internet the poor can access. These privately produced programs are designed to block access to pornography, but they tend to sweep up other material, particularly if it is about LGBTQ+ issues. Worse, the companies that make these programs are under no obligation to disclose how or what their software blocks.
In short, the internet has enough seat dividers and decorative leaves to be a hostile architecture. This time, though, it’s a hostile information architecture.
A broader conversation
What should be included in today’s conversations about Facebook? AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
So let’s do have a conversation about Facebook. But let’s make that part of a bigger conversation about information architecture, and how much of it should be ceded to corporate interests.
As the celebrated urban theorist and activist Jane Jacobsfamously wrote, the best public spaces involve lots of side streets and unplanned interactions. Our current information architecture, like our heavily surveilled urban architecture, is going in the opposite direction.
Colombia’s senate has approved the use of chemical castration for rapists found guilty of sex crimes against minors, as a new report warns that such violations have soared by 27 percent.
Since January, there have already been 5,870 cases reported, said the Colombian Family Welfare (ICBF).
The option received unanimous approval on Tuesday after a widespread public outcry followed the rape and murder of a minor in 2016.
Convicts interested in the voluntary procedure will be able to undergo treatment as well as psychological and psychiatric sessions, El Colombiano reports.
“Every day, seven children between 0 and four years old are sexually violated; between 10 and 14 one-year-old children, and between 15 and 17-year-olds, 12 children are violated,” said Carlos Valdes, spokesman for Legal Medicine.
Psychiatrist and director of the Association Affect against Child Mistreatment, Isabel Cuadros, said: “There are no protective environments for children.”
Senator Maritza Martinez, of the U Party, authored the bill supporting use of the procedure, which she says impedes the hormones driving such behavior.
“The epidemic of sexual violence that looms over our children and adolescents requires forceful and immediate responses,” Martinez said.
“We appreciate the support of the senators and we hope to find an equal response in the representatives to the Chamber, who have always been ready to welcome our initiatives, as it happened with our proposal so that in the framework of the JEP, sexual crimes did not have alternative sanctions, but maximum prison sentences.”
Since January, 5,870 cases of child sex abuse have been reported, according to Colombian Family Welfare (ICBF). Last year, over 11,000 reports were filed: an increase of more than 1,000 incidents since 2016.
Chemical castration involves the use of ‘anaphrodisiac’ drugs to lower sexual desire and libido, with minimum treatment lasting three to five years.
It has been trialled in Sweden, Denmark and Canada, with evidence from Scandinavia suggesting it can cut re-offending rates from 40 percent to five percent.
The bill will now be passed to the House of Representatives and, pending its approval, could become a staple in penal systems across the country.Author of the bill, Martinez said,
The bill also stipulates a prison sentence of anywhere between six months to three years for sex offenders, as well as the creation of a national criminal registry.
The April 19 University Movement accepted the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua’s invitation for a national peace dialogue with the government.
Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega waves to supporters after voting in the municipal elections at a polling station in Managua, Nicaragua Nov. 5, 2017. | Photo: Reuters
Students from the April 19 University Movement, which remains entrenched in the Technical University of Nicaragua (Upoli), accepted the invitation of the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua (CEN) to take part in a national peace dialogue organized by the government to “avoid more blood spilling,” but also demanded minimum guarantees.
“As young people promoting peace and respect to democracy while avoiding more blood spilling, we accept the invitation extended by the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua to take part in the dialogue table to pay respect to all students and our political constitution,” said the movement’s spokeswoman, Valeska Valle.
But in order to take part in the dialogue, the movement is demanding security for all students, citizens, and a stop to the political prosecution of all protesters. They also declared they will remain entrenched in the university until their demands are met and “the rule of law is reestablished.”
Reading a communique from the Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes announced that the Church will be the guarantor of dialogue “with a sincere spirit of creating a sense of nation” in a press conference.
After backtracking the resolution on social security that sparked the protests, President Daniel Ortega invited the Catholic Church to participate in the dialogue as a guarantor of peace, while reiterating his call for a broad dialogue on the reforms of social security laws, tax reforms, among other issues.
Late Friday, Vice-President Rosario Murillo announced the government will reinstall tables for dialogue with business sectors and social organizations to ensure the sustainability of Nicaragua’s Social Security Institute (INNS) and attributed the violence to people “who celebrate the rupture of peace.”
The government approved on April 16 the reform of the INSS after several negotiation talks during 2017, with the objective of distributing responsibilities between companies and workers, and thus avoiding the privatization of the service.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro announced Thursday that he has spoken with his Panamanian counterpart, Juan Carlos Varela, to establish a commission of foreign ministers to resolve the diplomatic issues between their respective nations.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and his counterpart in Panama would draft a report. | Photo: Twitter @CancilleriaVE
Maduro told a press conference that Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and his counterpart in Panama would together draft a report on the situation to be discussed.
A statement by Venezuela’s foreign ministry said the two nations are agreeing to work to “reestablish the presence of ambassadors” in each country, “reestablish air transport” and “maintain open and respectful diplomatic dialogue.”
In March, Panama accused Maduro and about 50 Venezuelan individuals of corruption and labeled them ‘high risk.’
Venezuela proceeded to cut ties with several Panamanian officials and companies, including major airline Copa, for alleged involvement in money laundering and corruption.
At the time, the Venezuelan government said they represented “an imminent risk to the (Venezuelan) financial system, the stability of commerce in the country, and the sovereignty and economic independence of the Venezuelan people.”
Panama withdrew its ambassador to Venezuela immediately after, effectively ending bilateral ties between the nations.
The brief halt in relations has greatly affected air travel in and out of Venezuela: Panama acts as a major connection point for international flights in the region.
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and three of his health ministers again face charges of forced sterilization. | Photo: Reuters
Peru’s disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori and three of his health ministers will have charges reissued against them for the alleged forced sterilization of women during his term.
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and three of his health ministers again face charges of forced sterilization. | Photo: Reuters
As part of a government program, doctors operated on about 300,000 women, mostly poor and Indigenous. Thousands say they did not consent to the procedure, and were harassed, threatened and blackmailed into complying.
Over 2,000 people have filed lawsuits against the sterilizations, and official data says that 18 women died as a result of the procedure.
The renewed charges center around five women who died after having the surgery.
“I feel very happy because this presents an opportunity to bring justice forward for the damage they caused us,” Nilda Guerrero Carrasco, one of the thousands of women who underwent the procedure, told La Republica.
“They forced me to be sterilized in a hospital in Huancabamba, by law of Fujimori. I didn’t want to have the operation. Now there is hope that the guilty will be imprisoned.”
Peru’s chief prosecutor, Luis Landa, has brought the charges against Fujimori and his former ministers Marino Costa Bauer, Eduardo Yong and Alejandro Aguinaga.
Fujimori, 79, was previously serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses and corruption committed during his term, but was pardoned less than halfway through it by now disgraced former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, in what many saw as a bargain with far-right forces in congress to avoid the latter’s impeachment.
Rico’s TICO BULL – I am an avid reader of Quora, a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers. Quora, for me, is a place I go to gain and sometimes share knowledge.
Costa Rica is a popular topic on Quora. More than not interesting questions on Costa Rica come up. Like this one, What prevents Costa Rica from having better road infrastructure?
Currently, there are four answers to the question.
Fernando Madrigal Hidalgo, who lives in Costa Rica, answered:
“Hi I think it is bit of law mess (to expropriate takes years), also money limitations, Costa Rica is a small country that invest a lot in health and education, this limits government expending range. And the most important cause I guess is .. politicians, loans have to be approved by our “senate”, and this is almost impossible as political parties love to interfere with nation advance (very personal opinion).”
Xavier de Medici, High Profile Interior Designer, answered:
“Actually, I was just there and the roads, especially the highways were in pretty good condition and they are continuing to build more highways, I saw a lot of construction. What it used to take 6 hrs, you can do in 2 ( San Jose+ Manuel Antonio) it’s a developing country, but, you can see the progress they are doing.”
Enrique Segura, who lived in Costa Rica (1993-2015), answered:
“This is a hard question. I am inclined to say it’s a factor of government planning and government transparency. But I haven’t lived there since I was 15. So, I wouldn’t know.”
Natalie Jones‘ answer was short: “Money and weather.”
What’s my answer?
Political will.
The other day, evening actually, I got a different perspective on the roads of the Greater Metropolitan Area or GAM, in particular, the Autopista General Cañas – Cirncunvalacion – Ruta 27 from the Juan Santamaria (airport) to Escazu hotels.
My passenger, who had just arrived with his group on a private plane commented, “Costa Rica has great roads”.
You know what, he was right. I had not seen the changes on this route, in particular, the newly repaved, illuminated (I think) and lines on the Circunvalacion, in that way. It was at night and there was no traffic.
For the most part, I, like many others, are too busy negotiating the congestion during the day we miss appreciating the changes. Again I stress it was at night and even the Juan Pablo II bridge looked great, that is not so much in daylight.
To make my point I look to the “platina” bridge. I took three administrations to get the bridge over the Virilla river on the General Cañas to get it done. The problems began in 2009, it wasn’t in second half of the current government and the outcry of the tens of thousands of drivers to get the Solis Rivera administration moving.
It inconvenienced us for months on months that seemed to have no end. We found alternate routes, we endured congestion in some points (due to lack of infrastructure). We endured. Today the platina is a class act.
However, it doesn’t mean the General Cañas is done, there still are two major bottlenecks that need to be resolved, the Rio Segundo bridge and the Juan Pablo II bridge.
The Cirunvalacion is getting its north end connection, way too late, as the road needs a complete overhaul – like more lanes and no stoplights – even with the elimination of most of the rotondas.
The Ruta 27 was outdated even before it opened 8 years ago.
Again, the current road infrastructure is a mess due the lack of political will of past and current governments to do what needed to be done. Will the incoming government be any better? I would like to think so, but…
What’s your answer?
Use the comments section below or our official Facebook page to post your answers and comments.
Epsy Campbell will be the first black vice-president and Foreign Minister of Costa Rica on May 8
(REUTERS) – Epsy Campbell has ambitious plans to cut the gender pay gap and tackle violence against women in Costa Rica but – as its first black female vice president – she does not expect an easy ride.
Epsy Campbell will be the first black female vice president and Foreign Minister of Costa Rica on May 8
When Campbell takes office on May 8 in the new centre-left government of President Carlos Alvarado, she will become the first woman of African descent to be vice president on the American continent.
As the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, she hopes to inspire future generations of black women in Costa Rica, a Central American nation of five million people popular with tourists.
She says women trailblazers the world over are judged harshly.
“Women who open paths pay a price for being there,” Campbell, 54, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.
“Many times there’s this expectation that women can be totally different from all the bad things that men can be. It’s an excessive expectation. It’s unfair.”
“It’s a little unpleasant that as we are an exception, we are examined like rats in a laboratory.”
RACIST THREATS
Costa Rica has made strides in the political participation of women, electing its first female president Laura Chinchilla in 2010.
The incoming government has pledged to have equal numbers of men and women in its cabinet, and women make up nearly half of the Congress, Campbell said.
Political parties have been required since 2009 to ensure women make up 50 percent of candidates on electoral lists, allowing more women to be voted into power.
Campbell wants to build on those gains by reducing the pay gap between men and women and establishing more child care centers to boost women in the workforce.
Racism may be more of a challenge.
Indigenous women and those of African descent – Afro-Costa Ricans who make up nearly 8 percent of the population – are often marginalised in public life, according to the Organization of American States.
As a congresswoman in 2015, Campbell said she received anonymous threats via email and social media after she tried to get a popular children’s story banned from the school curriculum on the grounds it perpetuated racial stereotypes.
One told her to “Go home to Africa”.
“Attitude is what saves you,” she said. “Understanding that what you are fighting for, and what you are doing, is something you have the right to do.
“It’s what has allowed me to get where I am.”
The election exposed divisions in Costa Rica, where some rural communities remain socially conservative.
Campbell’s Citizens’ Action Party was one of the few to publicly support same-sex marriage, a contentious issue.
She plans to promote indigenous and gay rights, and tackle violence against women. But entrenched ideas about women’s place in society and machismo mean change will take time, she said.
“There are things to be done in terms of state policy to prevent and punish violence (against women),” she said.
“But the social and cultural relationships that exist can’t be resolved in four years.”
Reporting by Enrique Andres-Pretel, Writing by Anastasia Moloney Editing by Claire Cozens and Katy Migiro. The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org.
(RHC) – Havana City historian Eusebio Leal, in Costa Rica on Thursday was presented with that nation’s Juan Mora Fernández Order in its Grand Cross Silver Plate degree.
Dr. Leal’s agenda in Costa Rica included a tour of the San Jose central market and visit to the National Theater, considered the capital’s finest historic building and recently included among Costa Rica’s 14 national symbols. The Havana City historian will delivered a master lecture at the Buenaventura Corrales School auditorium.
The Morista Academy of Costa Rica will also be awarding Eusebio Leal with its Order of Merit, and the San José municipality will be declaring him Distinguished Visitor of the Costa Rican capital.
The old artisan market in San Jose, on Calle 13bis just west of the Plaza de Democracia and the national museum was a familiar feature for visitors and residents. The dark, crowded aisles were a part of the ‘tipico’ (typical) experience not unlike the famous bazaars of third world countries.
Jeffrey and it’s a sloth he’s holding. Photo by Mitzi Stark
However, this piece of land was sought for other uses and the market itself suffered through 25 rainy seasons and overcrowding.
But now, after exploring other options for a site more comfortable and attractive, the market has moved into a new home on Avenida 6 and Calle 5.
Photo by Mitzi Stark
The renovated building is in the heart of San Jose, across the street from the Plaza de las Garantias Sociales and the huge Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) building and diagonal from the historic Colegio de Señoritas. The pedestrian boulevard on Avennia 4 is just a street away. The new market opened on March 19 of this year.
Signs and artwork on the facade make it easy to find and the wide open entrance invites everybody in … whether using wheelchairs, strollers or high heels. The wide aisles mean no bumping into people or stands of merchandise while trying to find just the right gift to take home or the perfect piece for the living room. Because it is enclosed the market is protected against the rainy season and the hot sun of summer. In fact, it’s a great place to weather out the afternoon showers or the heat of March and April.
Photo by Mitzi Stark
The stalls are still crammed with artwork, T-shirts, plushy stuffed monkeys and sloths, handcrafted jewelry and traditionally painted woodenware, little wooden and ceramic animals, key chains, beach towels, skirts, boxes with parrots or butterflies painted in brilliant colors, handbags and hammocks, all offered for tourists and nationals alike. And the creators are there to show and explain, and to sell you a sample of their work.
Photo by Mitzi Stark
“The market is one way of supporting local artists,” said Orliden Garbanzo, market administrator. “Sales are up and ninety percent of our customers are tourists.”
There are 88 stalls and the sellers agree that the new market is more comfortable and sales are better. Although most of the articles in the market are crafted locally, some things are imported, Garbanzo explained.
Bathrooms are another important addition.
Photo by Mitzi Stark
The new market is part of the city of San Jose’s plan to spruce up the city under the slogan “SJO Vive” or San Jose lives.
However, many sellers were reluctant to make the move from the old site. It was close to two major museums and the congressional buildings, plus the Parque Nacional and the old liquor factory, now home to the ministry of culture and the gallery of modern art.
Photo by Mitzi Stark
The old market opened in 1991 as a place where various craft and souvenir sellers could sell their products in one central place. The location, behind the National Museum attracted tourists. But the building was looking a little worn and sales during rainy weather dropped considerably. It was time to find a new home.
The artisan market is open every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. With the great variety of Tico arts and crafts available you are sure to leave with something new.
For the second consecutive year, Costa Rica will receive from the United States a donation of US$30.7 million for the fight against organized crime and the attention of migrant populations in recognition of the work performed during the Solís Rivera Administration.
Photo Presidencia.go.cr
This was consigned to the budget for the 2018 fiscal year, approved by the U.S. Congress recently and signed by President Donald Trump.
The announcement was made by President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera during the delivery of three 110-foot patrol boats, today at the Coast Guard Station of Caldera. The boats allow the country greater autonomy for the protection of citizenship, marine resources, police action against drug trafficking, trafficking in people and the defense of national sovereignty.
During the ceremony Thursday morning, Solis said “In this way everything that we have advanced in joint actions to fight against organized crime and drug trafficking and for security in the communities is consolidated, which happens to a great extent because we have managed to demonstrate with facts that the resources are being used to fulfill the purpose for which they were donated and the impact that this has on the security not only of Costa Rica, but also of the region is quantifiable”.
Photo Presidencia.go.cr
According to Casas Presidencial, the U.S. government donations to Costa Rica between 2017 and 2018 is US$61.4 million.
“This is a recognition of Costa Rica as a strategic partner in the fight against organized crime and on the arrival of migrants from different countries. It also responds to the good results that Costa Rica has shown in terms of drug seizures,” said Costa Rica’s Ambassador to the United States, highlighted in Washington, Román Macaya Hayes.
“In our exclusive economic zone, we have shown a very high effectiveness. Last year, 130 metric tons of cocaine were seized,” added the Ambassador.
The man was identified as Diego Garcia Lemus, 42, a Colombia national, who had been living in Costa Rica since 2008 and authorities saying he had no ties to criminal groups.
As the celebrated urban theorist and activist 
