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May 8 To Be A Holiday For The Public Sector
The government decreed May 8 a day off for all public sector employees, with the exception of essential services, such as hospitals, police, and firefighters.
The day off was requested by the “comision de traspaso” – the committee organizing the swearing-in ceremony of Carlos Alvarado Quesada, as the 48th president of Costa Rica. The event will take place in the Parque de la Democracia, right in the center of San Jose.
The measure was published Thursday in the official government newsletter, La Gaceta and signed by President Luis Guillermo Solis and Security Minister, Gustavo Mata.
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3D Printed Robo-toads Being Used To Study Sex Lives of Amphibians in Costa Rica
A research project at the University of Windsor (Canada) is using 3D printed lookalikes to discover why a species of toad in Costa Rica turns bright yellow for a single day during its mating season.
The project started a decade ago when Dan Mennill and Stephanie Doucet witnessed a remarkable transformation while studying birds in Costa Rica.
During the first heavy rainfall following a long period of dry weather, they say many new animals emerge, including toads the pair said were the colour of a bright lemon.
“We watched them. It was amazing. Then we went and did our bird research and came back later in the day and they were all brown,” said Mennill.
The quick change came as a surprise to the biologists and captured their interest. When they went back the next year, Doucet discovered the male toads change colour one day a year.
That’s when their research erally began. They wanted to know if the toads turn colour to impress the females or if it’s to communicate what sex they are.
At first, they moulded Plasticine toads, but those models lacked realism. Then they tried molding clay, but that wasn’t quite right either — enter Lincoln Savi, a University of Windsor Masters of Science student.
“In Costa Rica I got inspired,” he explained. “They’re like so cool, the yellow toads, that I kind of wanted to have one, but can’t. So I made my own and once I had a super realistic model it was like, ‘Hey we could actually do science with that.'”
3D robo-toads
It was a long process to get to the 3D printed model the biologists use today. Savi started by using photogrammetry, a technique that takes multiple photos of an object and through software creates a 3D model.
But that’s hard to do with a live model, especially one that keeps hopping around.
“I only got 11 photos before he moved. I couldn’t get any photos of his underside and he was in some leaves, so there was some geometry hidden by leaves,” said Savi.
He had to sculpt the remainder, which he said was probably harder than doing it from scratch.
Printing one toad takes eight hours. Sculpting it, another eight. Then at least five hours to paint. Finally, he adds the mechanics.
“The robo part was actually pretty easy,” said Savi. “I used some programmable microprocessors and some servos and just made a simple program that chooses a random angle and makes the toad move there.”
He added all of this work is to create colour and movement to stimulate real toads.
Waiting for the rain
PhD student Katrina Switzer is also part of the team and is in Costa Rica now, waiting for the heavy rainfall to start.
The toads are found only in the dry forests of Central America, where all the trees drop their leaves for six months of the year when there is no rain.
They burrow in the mud and re-emerge when the rain starts to fall over a six-month period.
Yellow toads only mate the night of the first big rain after the dry season, according to Mennill. That day varies between mid-April to early July.
“Then they emerge to mate and go about their business for the rainy part of the year,” he added.
These 3D printed toads are almost indistinguishable from the real thing and could take Swizter’s PhD work to the next level. She plans to expose the bright yellow and brown toads to see how female toads react to them.
Mennill said the team’s work is just one way 3D technology is bringing new opportunities to the study of wild animals.
“It is a new era for this kind of research.”
Article by Stacey Janzer was originally published on Cbc.ca. Read the original.
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Millicom launches Tigo One OTT service in Costa Rica
Tigo Costa Rica (Millicom) has announced the launch of its Tigo One TV platform combining linear pay-TV and over-the-top (OTT) services. The new offering will be available for the operator’s convergent subscribers with HD packages and 100Mbps fixed broadband and will include content from 15 different providers such as YouTube, HBO, Crackle and Fox, as well as smart digital video recording and more than 2,000 VoD titles.
The launch follows the pan-regional agreement reached last year with entertainment technology firm TiVo that has already seen the release of Tigo One TV in Colombia. The platform will now be rolled to other Latin American countries including Paraguay, Bolivia and many Central American markets.
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Social Security Protest March Leads To Clashes In Nicaragua (Photos)
A protest over social security changes in Nicaragua has led to clashes between opponents of the measure and government backers.
Proc/JFIF/EFE-Calidad:Excelente
Proc/JFIF/EFE-Calidad:Excelente
Hundreds of activists, elderly people and others were demonstrating Wednesday in the capital of Managua when they were set upon by members of a pro-government youth group and public workers.
At least five people were injured in the melee, including a freelance news photographer. Photographer Alfredo Zuniga was struck in the head and cut by an unknown object but was not seriously hurt.
The government’s overhaul increases income and payroll taxes and makes changes to pensions to try to shore up Nicaragua’s troubled social security system.
There were similar clashes in Leon, west of Managua.
Photos ElNuevodiario.com.ni
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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The “Rocas de Carretera”!
Rico’s TICO BULL – A Transito or Trafico (what a traffic police official is called in Costa Rica) sees an old car driving on the left lane of the Ruta 27. He’s doing 40 kp/h in a 80 kp/h zone. The car is a relic, bungee cords and duct tape keeping it together, despite having the Riteve up to date.
The Transito pulls the driver over. When asked why they are driving so slow in the fast lane, the driver says “well, that’s as fast as my car can go!”
Ok, first off it is far-fetched that a Transito would pull over a vehicle for driving slow in the left or fast lane in Cosa Rica. And second, on the Ruta 27 (I used it purposely for the made up story that is true), the “minimum” speed limit on that road – I refuse to call it a highway – is 40 km/h. There are signs posted to that effect. As to the being current with Riteve, not so far fetched. We’ve all seen clunkers on the roads with a current sticker.
But that is not my point here, it has to do with the total lack of self-awareness and lack of respect by drivers on our roads, be it on the Ruta or an Autopista.
There are just too many drivers who stay in the left lane no matter of what the minimum or maximum speed is. They simply refuse to move to the right. This can be on the Ruta 27, on the Autopista General Cañas, or on the 50 kilometers of new road between Cañas and Liberia and everywhere else across the country’s road network.
But why?
Do those drivers feel they are going the speed limit or driving what THEY think is appropriate or comfortable for THEM. They can just relax in the left lane, it doesn’t matter that they are causing traffic to back up, hey YOU can always go around them.
These are selfish, ignorant drivers.
If they weren’t selfish or ignorant, like if they were experiencing an issue with their vehicle, for example, they would let the other drivers know, like using the emergency flashers or the more common, the wave through.
I call them “rocas de carretera”. They are doing what they want to do, with no thought or care for anyone else on the road. These are drivers that I suspect don’t use their mirrors. Because they don’t care what is behind them. It could be a line of cars. It could be an ambulance with lights and siren. They just don’t care.
Worse are the ‘rocas’ in the night, those selfish, ignorant drivers that in addition to driving slow in the left lane, also refuse to turn on their lights so as not ro wear down the battery. This is real. A real lightbulb of knowledge I learned about drivers in Costa Rica when I first arrived in the country many, many moons ago.
These rocas usually have clean driving records. Few if any have ever been in a collission. But I am sure they have been the cause of more than one. Some with deadly consequences.
Driving Costa Rica is challenging, here are a few tips:
- Don’t expect signs to be posted or easy to see
- Always look around you
- Expect the unexpected
- Don’t assume the logical
- Watch out for the ‘rocas’
Feel free to use the comments section below or post to our official Facebook page about your experience with the ‘rocas’.
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Where Is The Border Between North and South America?
The Panamanian border with Colombia is the demarcation between North and South America. The boundaries between the continents of Earth are generally a matter of geographical convention. Several slightly different conventions are in use.
The number of continents is most commonly considered seven but may range as low as four when the Americas and Afro-Eurasia are each considered a single continent. According to the definition of a continent in the strict sense, an island cannot be part of any continent, but by convention and in practice most major islands are associated with a continent.
The Panama-Colombia border
The border between North America and South America is at some point on the Isthmus of Panama. The most common demarcation in atlases and other sources follows the Darién Mountains watershed divide along the Colombia-Panama border where the isthmus meets the South American continent.
Virtually all atlases list Panama as a state falling entirely within North America and/or Central America.
The North and South America used to be the Costa Rican border back when Panama was a province of Colombia, but when Panama got its independence from Colombia in 1903, the border was changed.
Panama is widely regarded as the only country to have changed continents.
The Islands
Often most of the Caribbean islands are considered part of North America, but Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago lie on the continental shelf of South America. On the other hand, the Venezuelan Isla Aves and the Colombian San Andrés and Providencia lie on the North American shelf.
What part is considered Latin America?
Latin America, a cultural region of the western hemisphere made up Central America and South America, where most people speak Spanish or Portuguese. The Caribbean may or may not be considered to be part of Latin America. It is considered a cultural region and not a physical region because not all of the islands or land areas in this region have residents that speak Spanish or Portuguese or have a Spanish or Portuguese cultural heritage (Belize, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbadoes, etc…)
Although French (Haiti, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, etc) is a Latin language, these areas are not usually considered part of Latin America for some reason.
Thus, Latin America is all countries other than the United States and Canada, and places near them that don’t speak Spanish or Portuguese.
What is considered Central America?
“Central America” may mean different things to various people. There is no continent called Central America. Central America is a subregion of North America occupying the isthmus of land that connects North America and South America.
Central America is bordered by Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Central America consists of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.
So, Costa Rica is officially North American.
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Two Injured In Mora As The Wooden Bridge Collapsed Under Loaded Dump Truck
The driver of a dump truck and his passenger were injured Wednesday afternoon, after a wooden bridge they were traveling on gave way under the weight of a load of sand and collapsed. The emergency occurred around 3:45 p.m. on structure over the Picagres river, in Mora, between Cuidad Colon and Puriscal.
By the time the fully loaded truck reached the center of the structure, made of planks, one of the rails gave way, the truck falling three meters (10 feet). Both the driver and passenger, residents of Carrillos de Poas, were taken to hospital in stable condition.
Residents say the bridge does not have any type of signaling that warns the maximum load allowed, although they claim that the structure was already badly damaged.
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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OECD: Lack Of Competition Is Why Costa Rica Is So Expensive!
Costa Rica stands out as a country where a good portion of its markets have little competition, which affects the poorest, says OECD Economic Survey of Costa Rica published presented Tuesday in San José by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Alexander Mora.
The report points out that in Costa Rica, product market regulations are more restrictive than in any OECD country except Turkey, and also compare unfavorably with other countries in Latin America, including Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.
Market regulations are the impediments for more participants to offer their products.
Alvaro Pereira, the chief economist of the OECD, said Costa Rica stands out as a country where a good portion of its markets has little competition, which affects the poorest.
Pereira argued that in Costa Rica a third of the sectors are not in competition. Examples cited: electricity, distribution of gasoline, distillation of alcohol, sugar, rice, and shipping.
“This is because where there is no competition, prices are higher and it is the poor who have to devote a greater part of their income to paying them,” Pereira explained.
“Regulations that restrict competition can hinder improvements in terms of efficiency, innovation and resource allocation to increase productivity, and contribute to increasing inequality by raising consumer prices and making wage distribution more extensive”, notes the report. Precisely, the report reiterates, as it did in 2016, that while in Latin America inequality decreases, in Costa Rica it rises.
For the head of the OECD, the answer to why many in Costa Rica ask themselves why the country so expensive, the answer is lack of competition. “Competition is, in the end, to benefit the consumer,” said Gurría.
He added that the country also requires strengthening the Commission to Promote Competition and make it an autonomous entity, outside the Government.
Consulted on these OECD recommendations, the economic coordinator of the next Government, Edna Camacho, who participated in the presentation of the report, commented that they agree to strengthen the Commission to Promote Competition.
“The Commission can do many things by administrative means but it has few resources, and it has not always had the same level of independence, that entity must be strengthened, it is one of the main recommendations that the report is making in relation to the competition,” said Camacho.
In the presentation of the report, both Gurría and Pereira were emphatic in the need to take measures to reduce the government deficit in at least an amount equivalent to 3% of production.
Main recommendations
The recommendations made in the report highlight the need to implement a comprehensive fiscal package, with measures to curb expenditures and raise revenues. The report also recommends measures to combat the high proportion of workers in informal jobs, which is a source of inequality and a drag on productivity. A comprehensive strategy is needed to ensure compliance with labor regulations as well as continued efforts to simplify the complex structure of the minimum wage.
In addition, boosting the productivity of the labor market productivity requires encouraging the entry of competitors. In this respect, barriers to entrepreneurship, antitrust exemptions and state control are an obstacle in many sectors. The report recommends improving the governance of state enterprises in accordance with OECD standards, establishing one-stop shops for registering and issuing business licenses, speeding up insolvency proceedings, eliminating antitrust exemptions and improving trade facilitation.
Restore fiscal sustainability and make growth more inclusive
“Costa Rica is a development success story, demonstrating how countries can achieve high levels of well-being and robust growth that benefit citizens while protecting the environment,” Gurría said. “Since the OECD accession process kick-started in 2015, Costa Rica has accelerated efforts to enact policy reforms that will help it converge toward OECD best practices, and this process will continue. The momentum needs to be sustained and bold actions taken in order to continue to pave the way to a better and brighter future.”
The report says that sustained economic progress will hinge on restoring the sustainability of public finances, which remain a major threat to economic stability, growth and living standards. With deficits rising, debt payments soaring and the ratio of public debt to GDP doubling over the past nine years, the Survey recommends that Costa Rica implement a comprehensive fiscal package, with measures to curb expenditures and raise tax revenues.
Poverty, income inequality and gender gaps in Costa Rica are low by Latin American standards, but high when compared to OECD levels, driven by stubbornly high informality, low labor participation rates and high unemployment, particularly among women and youth.
Reforms to reduce labor market informality, encourage women’s labor market participation, improve educational outcomes, strengthen competition, lower regulatory burdens and boost infrastructure are priority areas to stimulate productivity and make growth more inclusive, the Survey said.
The OECD
The OECD’s 35 members are: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Three countries – Colombia, Costa Rica and Lithuania – have been formally invited to become members of the Organisation, and are currently in the process of accession.
Additional reading:
- At a glance indicators, Executive Summary with Assessment & Recommendations, Overview of the Economic Survey
- Productivity in Costa Rica, Research Findings
- Sharing the benefits of growth more widely, Blog post
- Remarks by Angel Gurría, Secretary-General, OECD
See also:
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Millennial Expats in Costa Rica
I grew up in Canada and never thought for a second that I would leave to live somewhere else. My parents expatriated to Costa Rica more than 10 years ago; the second time in their lives that they expatriated (the first being from Poland). They asked me many times if I’d like to join them here and my answer was always a resounding “no.”
I was worried about what my life might look like in Costa Rica, or rather my lack of a life. I saw their home in Ojochal as a great vacation destination, but hardly a place to make a life for anyone but a retiree.
As with most Millennials, it turns out that I am able to change my mind easily.
A common character trait of Millennials is self-expression. I’m not for selfies on Instagram, but if I were, Costa Rica would be a dream place to flaunt my ego. But I believe that Millennials are not necessarily a generation of narcissists, and 63% of us feel that it is our responsibility to care for an elderly parent (vs. 55% of Boomers).
Although I would never dare to consider my mother elderly, she is the reason why I chose to finally come here, after the passing of my father two years ago.
While here, I found my ideal outlets for self-expression in the jungles of this luscious land. I have reared new hobbies and cultivated old ones, including surfing (to replace skiing), gardening, nature hikes, exploration, cooking, writing (blogs and books) and reading.
For me, Costa Rica turned out to be an unexpected adventure in life, love and career. I relish every opportunity that this bountiful land offers and I am so grateful to have found myself in a true community.
Working in Costa Rica
According to Forbes Magazine, by 2025, Millennials will make up the majority of the workforce. We are the largest generation alive right now. What this means is that pursuing our dream career comes with much competition.
For anyone who is tech savvy or entrepreneurial, Costa Rica is a welcoming base to live and work in a different way, without the pressures of the traditional western 9-5 lifestyle. Younger travelers who come to this country on holiday often find themselves feeling at home and at peace. I have met many Millennials in our Southern Zone region who have started their own successful businesses operating BnBs, bar/restaurants, yoga retreats, permaculture farms, writing blogs, starting magazines, and handcrafting items from the plentiful natural resources.
It is a simple process to open a business in Costa Rica, and anyone is eligible regardless of nationality. The only requirement is to sign your corporation with a Costa Rican lawyer, whose address will become the legal address for your business.
There are also those who have been able to transport their livelihoods, working in areas like web development, accounting, project management, or investing in the stock market.
Bringing diversity to our lives
Millennial growth in America has largely been a result of immigration. We Millennials are statistically more receptive to other cultures because we are the most racially and ethnically diverse generation ever.
Perhaps it is for this reason that I find myself settling into life in a foreign culture with such ease. It helps that there is a blossoming expat community in Ojochal (and many more like it in the Southern Zone), but there is no denying that I am in a place other than my home and native land.
71% of millennials appreciate the influences of other cultures on the American way of life, and I appreciate the influence that Costa Rican culture has had on my life. Slowing down, taking the time to get to know my neighbors and my community, and serving it in a variety of volunteer roles have become my new norm. In Costa Rica, I have grown to understand that it is my civic duty to be involved.
We are a strong community in the Costa Ballena (our tri-town region in the Southern Zone), and we use social media and messaging apps to host groups for a variety of aspects of our society, including security, events, business news, items for sale, asking advice, weekly/monthly social groups, and volunteer roles that need to be filled.
Becoming involved in community is easy in Costa Rica. And as a Millennial, it is important to me to work hard now for the sake of our future.
Considering the climate
The world has seen the results of significant climate change and environmental degradation in the last 30 years – roughly the median age of Millennials. The Costa Rican government is working hard to shift towards low-carbon products, limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
The Costa Rican government is pushing to become the first carbon-neutral nation. The plan is to serve as an example to the rest of the world for how to tackle climate change.
Pascal Girot, senior advisor to Costa Rica’s Minister of Environment and Energy says “the idea of being climate-friendly, climate neutral, low emissions coffee, low emissions meat, we’re seeing this as a niche product.”
Costa Rica’s policies reflect that this nation would rather tackle niche markets, such as in the example of growing organic coffee. Rather than trying to compete with larger exporters, Costa Rica’s coffee growers are counting on conscious consumers who will appreciate the quality of the exported product, restricted by smaller yields of this tiny nation of 4 million people.
Costa Rica produces about 1% of the world’s coffee supply, yet it wants to be the leading nation for producing climate-friendly coffee, thus differentiating it from its larger competitors like Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.
Costa Rica is banking on Millennials, who are the most likely market for high-quality, environmentally friendly, low-carbon coffee. Quality is highly regulated in Costa Rica, and producers are guaranteed a significant cut of the profits. It is a fair trade system, if not always labeled “free trade.”
Millennials care less about titles and brands and more about the inherent quality of the product. We prefer to know where our products come from and what it took to get them to us. We care more about the social and environmental impacts of what we consume than generations past.
Getting creative
Much like many of my fellow Millennials, I prefer to make things for myself when I can. Kombucha, ginger beer, hot sauce, chutney, salsa, chocolate, vinegar, liqueur, cheese, assorted pickled things, etc. are always cooking, stewing, brewing or bubbling away in my kitchen. Costa Rica provides endless inspiration and incredible ingredients with which to enjoy nature.
Millennials are willing to find creative solutions to fight the problems that have been left for us to tackle by generations past. We strive to turn waste into fuel and reuse whatever we can in the process. We would rather invest in the future by making better choices today than overly concerning ourselves with the higher prices involved in doing so.
Compared to “back home”
In the US, the level of Millennial optimism is lower than their counterparts in developing countries. 36% of Millennials in maturing markets believe that they will be better off than their parents, compared to 70% in developing markets. This is because we have been sold lies about the “American Dream” and how achievable it is.
Those of us who have found ourselves in developing nations can see how easy it is to live a dream life by more simple means. In Costa Rica, this means fresh water, fresh air, friendly people, universal eligibility for health insurance, and the ability for nearly anyone to own or invest in a business or real estate.
We are all trying to find ourselves, and Millennials just happen to be more outspoken about this goal. We are not an immature bunch with a superiority complex like some choose to believe. We are loyal to what we like and we will invest our money in a better future, rather than a more profitable today.
We are more likely to be overworked and underpaid than our older colleagues, even though we are the most educated and tech-savvy group to have ever entered the work force. And thanks to the financial crises around the world, common prejudice, and huge student debts, our economic outlook is worse than it would have been for previous generations.
Despite this bleak outlook, we Millennials are reaching the collective age where it’s of no use to speak to us about authority. We are coming into roles of authority ourselves. World leaders now come in 30-year old varieties, for the reason that we are the visionaries who want to see a brighter tomorrow.
For those visionaries who are ready to see a brighter today, you need look no further than this tiny strip of land between the American continents. Like many Millennials, Costa Rica wants to lead the world in making better choices, not worrying about being the underdogs. We know that we are about to inherit this earth and we are ready to take ownership of this challenge today.
And so, I, and others like me who have found themselves living in Costa Rica, may not be earning what we would be in a more developed country. But we are living our dream life, regardless of past expectations.
Article by Alex Swift was originally published on Stunning Costa Rica. Read the original article.
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Philip Morris International Will Stop Producing Cigarettes in Costa Rica
The Mendiola & Compañía, a subsidiary and 100% owned by Philip Morris International (PMI), absorbed the Tabacalera Costarricense S.A. and in addition, it will stop producing cigarettes in the country.
As a result of the merger, the company will lay off 45 employees, reducing its operation in Costa Rica to 200 workers, confirmed Susana Salas, corporate affairs manager at Mendiola & Compañía.
“As part of the consolidation of production, our products will be manufactured in our global plants, thus optimizing processes and reallocating resources to ensure an optimal long-term operation,” Salas explained.
The executive did not detail PMI’s investment in becoming the sole shareholder of Mendiola & Compañía. “Before, the two companies, both Tabacalera and Mendiola, were affiliated with Philip Morris International, and now the one that prevails is Mendiola & Compañía,” explained Salas.
Tabacalera Costarricense, Mendiola & Compañía was formed in 1960 to be in charge of distributing cigarettes in the country. In 1975, PMI acquired Tabacalera shares, as detailed on the company’s website.
The company’s main brands in Costa Rica are Derby, Marlboro, and L&M.
Salas said the increase in the tax burden on cigarettes packs of 20 that went into effect in 2012, and the increase in illegal cigarette smuggling led to the closure of production in the country.” The studies carried out by the consultant MSIntelligence in Costa Rica in 2009 showed an incidence of smuggled cigarettes of only 0.2%, while the same study carried out in 2017 showed an incidence of 30.1%,” stressed the executive.
In Costa Rica, contraband cigarettes result in a US$26 million loss per year, according to data from the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham), released in 2016.
Support for former employees
Salas explained that the dismissed employees will be offered severance packages exceeding those established by law. In addition, they will be provided with a psychological, financial and legal counseling service.
“The program of support after the separation of the employee, so that the person can reincorporate quickly to their working life, includes from consultancy to initiate a process of interviews in different companies, development of documents like curriculum to advising to start a business of his own”, explained the executive.
The support will be for a period of 12 months.
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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Fiscalia Raids Home Of Former Supreme Court Magistrate Celso Gamboa
This Wednesday at 6 in the morning, the Fiscalia (Prosecutor’s Office) raided the home former Supreme Court magistrate Celso Gamboa, in search of evidence of alleged influence peddling linked to the Chinese cement scandal and Costa Rican businessman Juan Carlos Bolaños.
Gamboa is being investigated for the crimes of breach of duty, malfeasance, lack of duty of probity, influence peddling, abuse of authority, bribery and concealment of evidence.
Last April 10, Gamboa was removed from the bench by a majority vote of the Legislative Assembly. Of the 41 of the 57 legislators on hand for the vote, 39 voted to dismiss Gamboa, two abstained from voting.
According to a statement by the Ministerio Publico, the Wednesday morning raid was prompted by actions of legislators of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC), Marco Vinicio Redondo and Marcela Guerrero, who denounced on the legislative floor Gamboa calling them (on April 9) to ask them to “not show up” (to vote) or “get sick”.
“The search and seizure diligence is in process and the only thing I can inform you is that it is being carried within the scope of an investigation that was opened due to an alleged attempt to influence on the part of Mr. Celso Gamboa Sánchez,” explained the Fiscal General (Attorney General) Emilia Navas Aparicio during the early morning hours.
The search of the residence the Omega neighborhood, in San Diego de La Union, Cartago, began at 6 a. m. and concluded at 10:45 a. m.
Before noon, Gamboa left his home and reaffirmed that the purpose of the search was to gather evidence that the Prosecutor’s Office considered necessary. He reiterated, on two occasions, that he has always been in full cooperation with authorities and that he has nothing to hide or there is anything hidden.
“The crimes for which I am being investigated do not have custodial sentences,” said the former magistrate, before leaving his home with his lawyer and sister Natalia Gamboa Sánchez.
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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Costa Rican Ex-President Leads OAS Election Observers in Paraguay
ASUNCION – Former Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla began on Tuesday her activities as head of the Organization of American States (OAS) mission that will observe Paraguay’s April 22 elections.
During an event at Paraguay’s TSJE electoral court, Chinchilla and the president of the TSJE, Jaime Bestard, signed an agreement establishing the terms of the mission, which will include 39 observers from 14 countries.
“This agreement establishes the framework that we will use to launch our mission. It specifies the immunities and privileges granted to the observers, as well as the mission’s reach and mode of operation,” Chinchilla said during a press conference.
She explained that, throughout the week and up to the day of the election, the mission will observe “women’s political participation, campaign financing, electoral organization, the use of voting technologies, as well as issues concerning electoral justice.”
Chinchilla also said that, on election day, “observers will be deployed throughout the country and throughout the day to different polling stations.”
According to the former Costa Rican president, once the election is over, the OAS team will prepare a preliminary report as well as a final, more detailed, report in which they will present their findings and recommendations.
“This mission’s objective is to continue to contribute to the strengthening of Paraguay’s institutions and elections,” she said.
Chinchilla added that she is planning to meet several key actors involved in the election, in which Paraguayans will choose a president, vice president, members of Congress and provincial governors.
This is the 14th OAS electoral observation mission to visit Paraguay.
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Cuba’s new president: What to expect of Miguel Díaz-Canel
Cuba has a new president – and for the first time in six decades, his last name is not Castro.
Cuba’s National Assembly has elected Cuba’s First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel to replace 87-year-old Raúl Castro, who took over as Cuba’s leader in 2006 after his brother Fidel Castro fell ill.
Raúl Castro stepped down in observance of the two-term limit for senior government and party officials that he himself mandated in 2011. In so doing, he opened the door not just for a new president but for a generational transition in Cuba.
This is one of the most important moments I’ve seen in 40 years of studying and writing on Cuba.
Díaz-Canel faces real challenges. Cuba’s economy is weak, relations with Washington are deteriorating and internet expansion on the Communist island has produced a growing chorus of domestic critics.
Who can fill Castro’s shoes?
The political rise of 57-year-old Díaz-Canel represents the final stage of a transfer of power away from the “historic generation” that waged Cuba’s 1959 revolution. The charisma of Fidel Castro, who died in 2016, was for decades a pillar of Cuba’s regime.
Díaz-Canel – a trained engineer who worked his way up from local party leader to first vice president – will have to earn his authority through performance.
Those who have followed his career say Díaz-Canel is a seasoned, pragmatic politician. As a Communist official in his home province of Villa Clara in the 1990s, when Cuba suffered a prolonged economic depression, he rode his bicycle to work rather than take a car and driver.
He appears ill at ease with large audiences but relaxed and congenial in small groups – much like his mentor, Raúl Castro.
As president, Díaz-Canel will still benefit from Raúl Castro’s experience and authority. Castro remains first secretary of the Communist Party – Cuba’s only party – until 2021.
This is arguably a post more powerful than the presidency. The party leadership makes all major economic, social and foreign relations policies, which the president is obliged to carry out.
So I don’t expect any drastic changes in direction from Díaz-Canel – at least, not right away.
“You can look at the Raúl Castro and Diaz-Canel as mentor and disciple,” said Carlos Alzugaray, a former Cuban diplomat.
What’s in store for Cuba
This political transition is still significant, though. For the first time, the leader of the Communist Party and the leader of the government are different people. Both Fidel and Raúl Castro held both positions simultaneously.
Cuba must now sort out the lines of authority between party and state. As Díaz-Canel staffs government ministries with his own team, he will gain ever more control over how policy is interpreted and implemented.
He will immediately face some tough issues. Cuba’s economy is struggling, dragged down by the dual-currency system Fidel Castro adopted in 1994 to attract cash remittances from Cuban expats.
Raúl Castro has declared that currency reunification “cannot be delayed any longer.” But turning two currencies into one is a tricky business with unpredictable economic consequences.
Díaz-Canel will also face pressure to reinvigorate the Cuban economy by pushing ahead with the controversial economic reform program launched by Raúl Castro early in his tenure, which loosened restrictions on private enterprise and enabled foreign investment in Cuba.
The pace of change has since slowed, frustrating Cubans. If Díaz-Canel opens up Cuba’s economy too quickly, he’ll alienate Communist Party conservatives. Going too slowly will anger reformers.
Another contentious issue is freedom of expression. Public criticism of the Cuban regime has grown as more citizens connect to the internet. Last year, hard-liners launched a campaign vilifying critical bloggers, which – to many onlookers’ surprise – Díaz-Canal supported.
Other prominent Cubans pushed back, though, and the campaign ended without any of the targeted web sites being closed down.
Raúl Castro has balanced conflicting factions with a delicate strategy he described as reform “without haste, but without pause.” Díaz-Canel must now demonstrate he, too, can manage these conflicts.
US-Cuba relations in flux
Finally, the new president has to deal with the mercurial U.S. administration. President Donald Trump has largely outsourced Cuba policy to conservative Cuban-Americans in Congress, led by Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida.
In June 2017, Trump declared he was “cancelling” some Obama-era Cuba political reforms and re-tightening parts of the economic embargo.
In October, Trump further battered bilateral ties by downsizing the American Embassy in Cuba after U.S. government personnel suffered unexplained health problems there. He also expelled 17 Cuban diplomats from Washington.
Recent Trump appointments do not bode well for the future of U.S.-Cuban relations. The incoming secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, was a vocal opponent of Obama’s rapprochement with Havana. National security adviser John Bolton once deemed Cuba part of an “axis of evil,” falsely accusing it of developing biological weapons.
Anticipation and trepidation
In December, I was in Havana, a city where the benefits of Raúl Castro’s economic reforms are most tangible. Cubans I spoke with there seemed ready for younger leadership and excited about the impending power transition.
But 80 percent of Cubans have always had a Castro as their president. So the anticipatory mood is leavened by trepidation: People fear that instability may accompany this major political change.
If Díaz-Canel can deliver on the economy – the top priority for most Cubans – he’ll be judged a success. If not, he will face a rising tide of discontent from a population impatient for change.
William M. LeoGrande, Professor of Government, American University School of Public Affairs
This article was originally published on The Conversation and is republished here with permission. Read the original article.
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Carlos Alvarado Officially Elected President, TSE
This morning, the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) – Elections Tribunal – officially declared Carlos Andrés Alvarado Quessa elected president, for the constitutional period (of 4 years) that begins on May 8, 2018. Epsy Alejandra Campbell Barr was officially elected as First Vice President and Marvin Rodríguez Cordero as second Vice President.
Carlos Alavarado
Epsy Campbell
Next week, the TSE will present the credentials in an official ceremony what will take place at the Fransico Saénz Meza auditorium.
Alvarado was elected president in the second round voting on April 1, 2018, with 61% of valid votes. In the February 4 first round election, Carlos came in second with 22%, behind evangelical candidate Fabricio Alvarado – no relation – with 25% of the votes, neither obtaining the required 40%, spurring the run-off election.
The information was published in La Gaceta, the official government newspaper.
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Costa Rica: OECD Endorses Chemical Policy
The Committee of Chemists has endorsed the policies of management of industrial chemical products, care and prevention of chemical accidents, and registration of transfers and polluting emissions.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Trade:
The Committee of Chemists that evaluates policies related to the management of industrial chemical products in the process of our country’s adhesion to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has issued a formal opinion in favor of the entry of Costa Rica to this Organization.
This positive decision was obtained after a thorough analysis by OECD experts and member countries, in relation to the will and the capacity of the country to apply the legal instruments of the Organization in terms of integrated management of industrial chemicals, attention and prevention of chemical accidents, and registration of transfers and polluting emissions, among other things.
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‘Listeria Costaricensis’ Is The New Bacteria Found In An Alajuela Drain
Listeria costaricensis is the official name given to the new bacterial species described by investigators from the Costa Rican Institute of Technology (TEC) in Cartago and the WHO-collaborating center on Listeria at Institut Pasteur, in France.
Listeria is a bacterial genus comprising 18 species. Two of them are pathogenic to humans and animals upon consumption of contaminated food. Listeria monocytogenes, the best characterized pathogenic species, can cause gastroenteritis, septicemia and central nervous system infection, mostly in immunocompromised individuals, as well as fetal and neonatal infection.
While the new species Listeria costaricensis is non-pathogenic, its characterization will nonetheless increase the understanding of the pathogenic potential of Listeria. “The discovery of Listeria costaricensis will allow comparisons with pathogenic Listeria species, in order to better understand the behavior and adaptations of these bacterial pathogens,” explained TEC biotechnologist Kattia Núñez.
Listeria costaricensis was isolated from water collected at an industrial drainage area in the Costa Rican province of Alajuela after three years of sample collection and research.
“In Costa Rica, there have been few studies on microbiological diversity. Our recent finding reflects the biodiversity of Costa Rican soils and suggests that this Central American country is a fertile environment for this type of research,” said Javier Pizarro, research director at the Institut Pasteur, who participated in the study and now heads the Yersinia Research Unit.
For Marc Lecuit, head of the Biology of Infection Unit at Institut Pasteur and the French National Reference Center for Listeria, this collaboration illustrates the public health and scientific dimensions of the activities of the WHO-collaborating center on Listeria, which assists colleagues from around the world on the characterization of Listeria isolates.
Listeria costaricensis has been registered in the microorganism collections of the Institut Pasteur in Paris and in the DSMZ, in Germany; its description was published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (30.01.2018, Vol. 68: 844-850).
Following this discovery, the Institut Pasteur and TEC, which have engaged in informal collaborations since 2013, signed a cooperation agreement to facilitate the continuation of collaborative work between the two institutions.
Source: Medicalexpress.com
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The Panama Canal’s Forgotten Casualties
It was the greatest infrastructure project the world had ever seen. When the 77 kilometre-long Panama Canal officially opened in 1914, after 10 years of construction, it fulfilled a vision that had tempted people for centuries, but had long seemed impossible.
“Never before has man dreamed of taking such liberties with nature,” wrote journalist Arthur Bullard in awe.
But the project, which employed more than 40,000 labourers, also took immense liberties with human life. Thousands of workers were killed. The official number is 5,609, but many historians think the real toll was several times higher. Hundreds, if not thousands, more were permanently injured.
How did the United States government, which was responsible for the project, reconcile this tremendous achievement with the staggering cost to human lives and livelihoods?
They handled it the same way governments still do today: They doled out a combination of triumphant rhetoric and just enough philanthropy to keep critics at bay.
U.S. engineering might
From the outset, the Canal project was supposed to cash in on the exceptionalism of American power and ability.
(Everett Historical/Shutterstock)
The French had tried — and failed — to build a canal in the 1880s, finally giving in after years of fighting a recalcitrant landscape, ferocious disease, the deaths of some 20,000 workers and spiralling costs. But the U.S., which purchased the French company’s equipment, promised they would do it differently.
First, the U.S. government tried to broker a deal with Colombia, which controlled the land they needed for construction. When that didn’t work, the U.S. backed Panama’s separatist rebellion and quickly signed an agreement with the new country, allowing the Americans to take full control of a 16 kilometre-wide Canal Zone.
The Isthmian Canal Commission, which managed the project, started by working aggressively to discipline the landscape and its inhabitants. They drained swamps, killed mosquitoes and initiated a whole-scale sanitation project. A new police force, schools and hospitals would also bring the region to what English geographer Vaughan Cornish celebrated as “marvellous respectability.”
A path of destruction
But this was just the beginning. The world’s largest dam had to be built to control the temperamental Chagres river and furnish power for the Canal’s lock system. It would also create massive Gatún Lake, which would provide transit for more a third of the distance between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The destruction was devastating. Whole villages and forests were flooded, and a railway constructed in the 1850s had to be relocated.
The greatest challenge of all was the Culebra Cut, now known as the Gaillard Cut, an artificial valley excavated through some 13 kilometres of mountainous terrain.
More than 100 million cubic metres of dirt had to be moved; the work consumed more than eight million kilograms of dynamite in three years alone.
Imagine digging a trench more than 90 metres wide, and 10 storeys deep, over the length of something like 130 football fields. In temperatures that were often well over 30 degrees Celsius, with sometimes torrential rains. And with equipment from 1910: Dynamite, picks and coal-fired steam shovels.
(National Archives at St. Louis/local Identifier 185-G-154)
Expendable labour
The celebratory rhetoric masked horrifying conditions.
The Panama Canal was built by thousands of contract workers, mostly from the Caribbean. To them, the Culebra Cut was “Hell’s Gorge.”
They lived like second-class citizens, subject to a Jim Crow-like regime, with bad food, long hours and low pay. And constant danger.
In the 1980s, filmmaker Roman Foster went looking for these workers; most of the survivors were in their 90s.
Only a few copies of Fosters’s film Diggers (1984) can be found in libraries around the world today. But it contains some of the only first-hand testimony of what it was like to dig through the spiny backbone of Panama in the name of the U.S. empire.
Constantine Parkinson was one of the workers who told his story to Foster, his voice firm but his face barely able to look at the camera.
He started work on the canal at 15 years old; like many, he may have lied about his age. He was soon a brakeman, probably on a train carrying rocks to a breakwater. On July 16, 1913, a day he would never forget, he lost his right leg, and his left heel was crushed.
Parkinson explains that his grandmother went to the Canal’s chief engineer, George Goethals, to ask for some sort of assistance. As Parkinson tells it, Goethals’s response was simple: “My dear lady, Congress did not pass any law … to get compensation when [the workers] [lose limbs]. However, not to fret. Your grandson will be taken care of as soon as he [is able to work], even in a wheelchair.”
Goethals was only partly right.
At the outset, the U.S. government had essentially no legislation in place to protect the tens of thousands of foreign workers from Barbados, Jamaica, Spain and elsewhere. Administrators like Goethals were confident that the labourers’ economic desperation would prevent excessive agitation.
For the most part, their gamble worked. Though there were scandals over living conditions, injuries seem to have been accepted as a matter of course, and the administration’s charity expanded only slowly, providing the minimum necessary to get men back to work.
(National Archives at St. Louis/local Identifier 185-HR-4-26J164)
Cold comfort
In 1908, after several years of construction, the Isthmian Canal Commission finally began to apply more specific compensation policies. They also contracted New York manufacturer A.A. Marks to supply artificial limbs to men injured while on duty, supposedly “irrespective of colour, nationality, or character of work engaged in.”
U.S. National Library of Medicine/courtesy Warshaw Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
There were, however, caveats to this administrative largesse: the labourer could not be to blame for his injury, and the interpretation of “in the performance of … duty” was usually strict, excluding the many injuries incurred on the labour trains that were essential to moving employees to and from their work sites.
Despite all of these restrictions, by 1912, A.A. Marks had supplied more than 200 artificial limbs. The company had aggressively courted the Canal Commission’s business, and they were delighted with the payoff.
A.A. Marks even took out a full-page ad for their products in The New York Sun, celebrating, in strangely cheerful tones, how their limbs helped the many men who met with “accidents, premature blasts, railroad cars.” They also placed similar advertisements in medical journals.
But this compensation was still woefully inadequate, and many men fell through its deliberately wide cracks. Their stories are hard to find, but the National Archives in College Park, Md., hold a handful.
Wilfred McDonald, who was probably from Jamaica or Barbados, told his story in a letter to the Canal administrators on May 25, 1913:
I have ben Serveing the ICC [Isthmian Canal Commission] and the PRR [Panama Railroad] in the caypasoity as Train man From the yea 1906 until my misfawchin wich is 1912. Sir without eny Fear i am Speaking Nothing But the Truth to you, I have no claim comeing to me. But for mercy Sake I am Beging you To have mercy on me By Granting me a Pair of legs for I have lost both of my Natrals. I has a Mother wich is a Whido, and too motherless childrens which During The Time when i was working I was the only help to the familys.
You can still hear McDonald’s voice through his writing. He signed his letter “Truley Sobadenated Clyante,” testifying all too accurately to his position in the face of the Canal Zone’s imposing bureaucracy and unforgiving policies.
With a drop in sugar prices, much of the Caribbean was in the middle of a deep economic depression in the early 1900s, with many workers struggling even to reach subsistence; families like McDonald’s relied on remittances. But his most profound “misfortune” may have been that his injury was deemed to be his own fault.
Legally, McDonald was entitled to nothing. The Canal Commission eventually decided that he was likely to become a public charge without some sort of help, so they provided him with the limbs he requested, but they were also clear that his case was not to set a precedent.
Other men were not so lucky. Many were deported, and some ended up working on a charity farm attached to the insane asylum. A few of the old men in Foster’s film wipe away tears, almost unable to believe that they survived at all.
This article was originally published on The Conversation and is republished here with permission. Read the original article.
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Amazon Now Allows Purchases Delivered Directly in Costa Rica
Amazon today (April 17) announced the launch of the international shopping platform within the Amazon Shopping application, which will make it possible for its customers in Costa Rica to receive their packages directly from the United States.
This experience is available in browsers and mobile applications within the Amazon Shopping application for both iOS and Android mobile devices, in it you can buy more than 45 million items in 25 currencies, including the Colon.
“We are always innovating on behalf of our customers and with today’s launch we are making the shopping experience on mobile devices even better and more convenient for our customers who live outside the United States,” said Samir Kumar, vice president of Export and Expansion of Amazon, in a statement.
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Impunity Harbors Case of Millionaire Scam From 16 Years Ago
A French investor based in Costa Rica handed over, in 2001, one million dollars (US$1,048,000) to the high interest paying investment firm Savings Unlimited. However, the company closed in 2002. Sixteen years later and after many legal struggles, this woman managed to recover a total of US$6,337 dollars of her initial investment.
The woman was one of the hundreds who entrusted their investments to Luis Angel Milanes Tamayo, known as “The Cuban”.
It is estimated nearly 500 people, mostly foreigners, invested and lost more than US$200 million dollars with The Cuban
Milanes, a very good businessman of Cuban origin, arrived in Costa Rica in 1998. And with same cunning he was able to get investors to fork over millions, estimated at US$200 million in 2002, he moved to evade justice in the country.
In 2002, for reasons only known to him, Milanes abruptly closed Savings Unlimited and fled the country, a few months after aonther high-interest paying scheme closed its doors, with a reported portfolio of close to a billion dollars, known as “The Brothers”, run by Enrique Villalobos.
In June 2008, Milanes was arrested in El Salvador. Under strict police custody, he was returned to Costa Rica on June 19 and two days later was released on bail, posting assets – the remaining assets from the investments – of US$12 million dollars.
Following a long period of negotiations, Milanes came to an agreement with a group of about 150 investors. This was in April 2012.
Milanes, who elected for an abbreviated process, was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison, but without going to jail, the prison time was converted to five years probation. In addition, Milanes agreed to pay a penalty of US$2.5 million dollars for his crimes.
That arrangement was not endorsed by a group of 350 investors, who, through their lawyer working with the Ministerio Publico (Prosecutor’s Office) managed to get Milanes to face a second trial, which ended in December 2015, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
José Pablo Badilla, Milanes’ defense attorney, appealed the sentence and, in June 2016, the Court of Appeals annulled the conviction.
Milanes was immediately ordered released from prison, when judges Mario Alberto Porras, Patricia Vargas and Ronald Salazar ruled that Milanes had been already tried in 2013 and could not be subjected to another trial for the same crimes in 2015.
However, Ewald Acuña, the legal representative of the group of 300 investors challenged the acquittal before the Sala Tercera (Third Chamber of the Supreme Court), which on April 2017 determined that both trials should be taken as independent since the first involved a group of victims and the second a different group.
Then Sala Tercera magistrate Celso Gamboa said, “When the facts constituting a continuing offense are judged and then another set of facts that belong to it are known in court, what is appropriate is to also pronounce judgment on the seconds; (…) each fact is independent in time and must be determined the authorship of the accused in them.”
Based on that, the Sala Tercera annulled the acquittal and sent the case back to the Court of Appeals.
On February 8, 2016, the appeals court ratified the 15-year prison sentence against Luis Milanes.
However, this ruling will be challenged again before the Sala Tercera, announced last Thursday Jose Pablo Badilla.
For his part, Ewald Acuña said he is confident that the conviction will be final. “This case is 16 years old and keeps on going, the offenders recovered very little of their investments (…), there is a huge sense of frustration because the condemned person is not yet serving the sentence and, on the other hand, the financial recovery it has been scarce.”
In Acuña’s opinion, it will take between 18 and 24 months for a court to issue an arrest warrant against Milanes.
Missing
Even if the Ministerio Publico and Acuña, on behalf of the investors, get a favorable decision by the Sala Tercera, there is one big problem: the whereabouts of Luis Angel Milanes is a mystery.
Nobody knows where he is and, according to the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería – immigration service – the now 68-year-old man has in the past used three passports, none of which registers a recent exit through an authorized border post. The last official departure was on February 22, 2002.
Even his lawyer, José Pablo Badilla, alleges that his whereabouts are unclear.
In an interview with La Nacion, Badilla said he doesn’t know where is client is, “I always communicate with him by email. I have the slight idea that he is out of the country. I imagine he was terrified when he saw his legal situation. I think he has left the country.”
Asked if he has any indication of his client’s whereabouts, the lawyer said, “We, criminal lawyers, when we work with this, we do it under an ethical framework and under professional secrecy (…).”
No Assets
According to Badilla, the only assets Luis Milanes has in Costa Rica, if he is in Costa Rica, are the clothes on his back. “Don Luis is an absolutely dispossessed man,” said the lawyer.
Asked about the assets, Badilla said all the assets have been distributed to the offended (investors) in a trust.
The lawyer confirmed that assets such as the Hotel Europa was sold with the agreement of Milanes. So was the house in Escazu that was part of the conciliation with the group of 150 investors. The title to the lots in Santa Ana and other properties are part of a contentious process.
The last time Milanes was seen in court, at trial he used an oxygen mask. Asked about his client’s health, the lawyer said,
Don Luis has been ill for a long time. He has a heart problem and is diabetic. He is still young, but very sick.”
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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Inmates Use Animals To Smuggle Contraband Into Prisons
A cell phone, a battery, a charger, and headphones. That was the cargo carried by a cat in a bag tied to its back intercepted by the Penitentiary Police at the La Reforma prison in Alajuela, said the Ministry of Justice this Tuesday morning.
The cat was intercepted on April 16. The case is not the first. Iin fact, the second in less than a month. On March 22 another feline was intercepted with two cellular phones and two batteries.
In August 2015 a pigeon, dubbed “narco paloma” was found arriving at the prison with a shipment of cocaine and marijuana.
According to authorities at Justice, inmates smuggle cell phones to commit crimes from within the prison, typically phone scams, extortion and even ordering hits all from behind bars.
Justice says in 2017, officials confiscated 3,159 cellulars phones from jails and prisons across the country.
Meanwhile, a bill to block cellular signals within prisons is stuck in constitutional arguments and legislative process. The bill was introduced in April 2016.
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“Never Again…Never Again” Said Elena Umaña After Being Arrested For Leaving Her 2-year-old In The Car Alone
UPDATE: 1:32 p.m. The child welfare service, the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI), confirmed that at 10:31 this morning, tElena Umaña had not shown up to pick up her son. Fanny Cordero, spokesperson for the PANI said they were waiting for the mother to come forward and give explanations that would allow them to determine the course of the case.
The arrest of national singer Elena Umaña made the headlines Monday night, for alleged negligence of leaving her youngest son, Nathan, two years of age, in the vehicle while she attended to a judicial proceeding in the Heredia courthouse.
This is what happened according to the Ministerio Seguridad Publico. At 5:15 p.m. in downtown Heredia, a crying child is discovered inside a vehicle in a parking lot. When police arrived a woman had taken the child out of the car because it was crying. The child is transferred to the Heredia police command and the vehicle is investigated, found to belong to Mrs. Elena Umaña Rodríguez.
The MPS added that in coordination with a lawyer who told police that Mrs. Umaña was inside the country filing a complaint for non-compliance of measures, the duty prosecutor immediately ordered the woman’s detention.
The PANI – the child welfare agency – was called in.
The 43-year-old singer was released around 11 p.m.
Talking to La Nacion, Umaña said she expected to be in the courthouse not more than 15 minutes, but got tied up in the paperwork. She didn’t want to get into the nature of the filing with the press, only to say it was ‘necessary’ to be done before the courthouse closed at 4:30 p.m.
The singer said she had taken her son out of the car, and while walking to the courthouse, he fell asleep in the stroller and decided to take him back to the car. “It is an error I will never recover from, I estimate to be less than 15 minutes,” said Umaña.
“I cracked open the window to allow air to get in, I felt bad waking him up…I made the worst decision, I recognize it, I accept it and will never forgive myself,” she said.
“I ask for understanding from my fans who love me and who follow me and give me their support, I know it is a very difficult situation to understand, thank God I am already at home and tomorrow, of course, I will be there at the first hour to bring my son home, I will exhaust the legal instances for that to happen, I have no fear because there is no better judge than oneself … my children are everything to me, both Natash, in her wonderful adolescence and Nathan, in his tender years … Nathan is the engine of our little family. Yes, I made a terrible mistake. No there is no justification … I learned my lesson and I hope that other parents learn from my mistake,” said Umaña.
The social media tore Umaña apart, among the comments posted:
- “There are no excuses, total negligence”
- “A child can not be left alone for a second, especially in a car and in a parking lot. Truly, in this world there are brainless”
- “The bloodsucker seeing how she can take her ex for more money, old idiot, you should never leave a child alone, especially a two-year-old only has ‘jupa’ (head) to think about the $$ and the rest to see what happens”
- “Of the some 1,206 words she used in her statement … 98% is so that people have pity (…)”
Source (in Spanish): La Nacion
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It’s Official, Costa Rica Has The Worst Roads In America!
Costa Rica has third worst roads in the entire American continent, not just Latin America, but from Alaska to Chile. Worse than Costa Rica is Paraguay, a country full of mountains and Haiti, a country affected by one of the worst earthquakes in the continent in the last decade.
This is the result of the latest report by the World Economic Forum on the quality (extensiveness and condition) of road infrastructure.
On the list of 137 countries, Costa Rica is number 123, with a score of 2.6 in a scoring that ranges from 1 = extremely poor —among the worst in the world to 7 = extremely good — among the best in the world.
This means that our country is affected very negatively and directly in development, affecting the transport of goods and trade and the economy in general.
In the same report, Costa Rica’s neighbor, Nicaragua is the fifth country with the best roads in Latin America and Central America and the seventh in all of America and 54 overall in the world.
El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, with their extreme political and social problems, have better roads than Costa Rica.
According to official data from the Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT) – Costa Rica’s transportation and public works ministry – the country’s road network is 5,053 kilometers of asphalt or concrete, of which in 2017 only 2,456 kilometers were in good condition.
The ranking by the World Economic Forum – from best to worst in the Americas (world ranking):
- United States 5.7 (10)
- Canada 5.4 (22)
- Chile 5.2 (24)
- Ecuador 5.1 (29)
- Panama 4.4 (49)
- Mexico 4.4 (52)
- Nicaragua 4.3 (54)
- Dominican Republic 4.3 (56)
- Trinidad & Tobago 4.1 (66)
- El Salvador 4.0 (72)
- Jamaica 3.9 (80)
- Honduras 3.8 (81)
- Uruguay 3.3 (95)
- Argentina 3.3 (96)
- Brazil 3.1 (103)
- Guatemala 3.1 (106)
- Peru 3.0 (109)
- Colombia 3.0 (110)
- Venezuela 2.8 (119)
- Costa Rica 2.6 (123)
- Paraguay 2.4 (131)
- Haiti 2.1 (135)
The country with the best ranking in the world is the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a score of 6.4 and the worst, Mauritania with a 2.0.
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Court Order Prohibits Vehicles On Playa Conchal, Guanacaste
The Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (Sinac) – National System of Conservation Areas – is in agreement to prohibit all types of vehicles on Playa Conchal, in Guanacaste, following a Court order against the municipality to close off all vehicular access from the town of Brasilito to the beach.
The order came from the Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo against the Municipality of Santa Cruz, to close the 500 meter road to Playa Conchal. Official reports say the Court consulted with the Sinac before the ruling. Cars will now have to be parked away from the beach.
The owners of the Reserva Conchal hotel made the Court filing in 2017, demanding the prohibition of cars, the hotel saying “the measure aims to conserve the environment of the affected area (…) as well as guarantee the safety of visitors/tourists.”
Source (in Spanish): Crhoy.cpm
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Argentine Bishop’s New Law Orders Priests: ‘Hands Off Children’
Priests in Argentina are now banned from touching children under new guidelines intended to help curb pedophilia in the Catholic church, but relatives of survivors say the move doesn’t go far enough.
New ecclesiastical legislation from Archbishop of Parana Juan Alberto Puiggari, in the province of Entre Rios, rules that priests must refrain from all physical contact; must leave the sacristy door open while hearing confessions; must be accompanied by another adult during road trips with minors, and are prohibited from sharing a hotel room with children.
Additionally, priests will have to relinquish all pornographic material, cease displaying any such materia; and abandon any topics bordering on inappropriate gifts, “sexual advances, comments, or jokes.”
Physical or humiliating punishments are also prohibited, while hugs must be brief and in public. Any secret or overtly sexual conduct with minors is also prohibited. These rules are extended to all members of the clergy, Catholics and lay adults occupying space on archdiocese property.
The Argentine Episcopal Conference announced the decision after a wave of testimonies implicated over 60 Argentine priests in sexual abuse claims involving underaged children since 2002.
Critics and lawyers have voiced concern over the church’s position. Carlos Lombardi, from the Network Survivors of Sexual Abuse of the Church, said: “The church considers abuses more as a moral fault than a crime, and that moral fault is a consequence of the weakness of the priests, who become victims who cannot contain themselves in the face of temptation. The crudeness of the protocol reflects this position.”
The main objective of the new legislation is to “take care of the children and not fall back into the ways of the past.”
According to Maria Ines Franck, a member of the Archdiocesan Commission for the Protection of Minors in Parana, the main objective of the legislation is to “take care of the children and not fall back into the ways of the past.”
However, Silvia Muñoz, the mother of one of four altar servers sexually abused by Colombian priest Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria, says she doubts the rules will be effective.
“The problem is the cover-up,” Muñoz said. “No matter how often they tell them to avoid contact, at some point they’ll have it. They look for a way to approach the boys and then do it.
“The boys are afraid of them; it is what has been instilled in them and the priests will continue to abuse, regardless of a protocol.”
The Catholic church has sustained harsh criticism as allegations of sexual abuse continue to engulf clergy across South America, specifically Chile and Argentina.
The pope was forced to apologize after defending one accused priest before a delegation of victims, saying their testimonies were “offensive and hurtful.”
According to U.S.-based NGO Bishop Accountability, almost 80 clergymen in Chile have sexually abused children since 2000. The highest-profile case being investigated accuses Chilean Archbishop Juan Barros of aiding his mentor, Father Fernando Karadima, in sexually abusing minors.
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What Are The Best Airport Tips?
Here are some tips that will be useful to all travelers, economy and business. Some are more for economy, some others more business or ‘clase ejecutiva’ in Spanish. Since I have been on both sides (free upgrades) I thought I’d share them with you.
- For international travel always take adapters for the power outlets.
- Have ebooks/books/offline stuff to read/do. Bring more for unexpected delays.
Be hydrated. - Bring luggage tags.
- If you leave your car at the airport, take a picture of where you parked and email it to yourself with the airport name in your email. You may forget 2 weeks later.
- If you’re traveling on an unpopular flight, select your seat as late as possible. This way you can choose a seat where the remaining row is free.
- If you have an aisle seat and no carry-on, be the last person that boards. I’ve never understood why so many people rush to line up.
- When the plane lands there is no point of standing up right away. It takes at least 10min until people start exiting so you can just stay seated.
- Many airports have wait areas where you can charge your phone. Charge your $10 online battery and then charge your phone on the plane.
- Put something on your baggage that’s easy to identify.
- Prepare your laptop and electronic devices. Have your laptop, phones, iPad, etc handy and ready to get them out of your bag at security check points. Don’t waste your time looking for your stuff.
- Check for free Wi-Fi. Most airports have free connections, some you have to give your email. If you don’t want to be bombarded with ads, set up a free GMail account just for that.
- Download offline maps before leaving.
- Watch your flight departure gate often on the TV screens. In larger airports, the gate can change.
- Bring water onto the plane. You need more while flying and unless you ask for a million cups.
- Compression socks are great for flights over 5 hours, it helps with jet lag.
- If you don’t want to get into conversations on the plane, bring headphones.
- Never, ever take the first row of a 2-row exit seat configuration. That seat doesn’t recline. The second row does.
- Avoid picking a seat next to the galley or the bathroom. Self-explanatory.
- If you are flying with a companion on the same reservation, on a three-seat row, pick the window and aisle seats, leave the middle empty. Good chance no one will pick that seat. And if they do, you can always switch after boarding.
Bring a jacket. For security, all your thing can into the jacket pocket. I use a photo vest (see photo). Best to keep everything safe and in one place. Easy through security.- Use shoes without laces. Not just for security.
- Keep your laptop and electronic devices on standby or sleep mode. You may be asked by security to turn them on, the time your laptop or smartphone to cycle to on can feel like an eternity.
- Carry small bills, US$20 for example, in your pocket/wallet, the big bills in safe, out-of-reach place.
- Plan on having your luggage lost, stolen or damaged. Never pack anything irreplaceable for that reason.
- Always travel with earplugs. Carry spares.
- Try to only pack carry-on.
- Always ask for upgrades while checking in.
- If you go over your weight limit, wear your extra clothing.
- The front of the airplane does not shake as much and is quieter.
- Carry a tiny bottle of antibacterial gel.
- Never joke with security. They have no sense of humor.
- Accumulate air miles
- Always use the web-check in.
- Experience window shopping in the duty free shops. It doesn’t mean you have to make a purchase.
- Bring a USB cable. Most new airliners have USB ports for e-readers, charging phones, etc.
- Always have a picture/screenshot of your boarding pass or save to your smartphone wallet. This includes any reservations for forward flights for immigration, if required.
- Always buy your ticket from the airline website. Problems, you can complain to the airline directly that sold you your ticket.
- Be nice, be respectful. Don’t be rude, just be calm. Always.
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Taiwan warships drop anchor in Nicaragua amid sinking ties with China
TAIPEI (Reuters) – A Taiwanese naval “Friendship Flotilla” of warships dropped anchor in Nicaragua on Monday just weeks after China urged Taiwan’s dwindling diplomatic allies to ditch the self-ruled island in favour of Beijing.
Three ships, carrying around 800 crew, arrived in El Salvador on Friday and will visit other allies in Central America, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said.
China claims Taiwan as its sacred territory, part of “one China”, and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring what it considers to be a wayward province under Chinese control.
Taiwan now has formal relations with only 20 countries, many of them poor nations in Central America and the Pacific. Panama cut its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favour of Beijing in June last year.
“Visiting our diplomatic allies is something the Friendship Flotilla has been doing for years. It helps to continuously strengthen the relationship with our allies,” Taiwan Defence Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi said on Tuesday.
This was the sixth time Taiwan’s navy had visited Nicaragua. The whole trip will take two to three months, Chen said.
China and Taiwan have tried to poach each other’s allies over the years, often dangling generous aid packages in front of developing nations, although Taipei struggles to compete with an increasingly powerful China.
In response to a question about the visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that there was widespread consensus globally that there is only one China.
“We have faith that all nations in the world will come to accept this consensus and embrace the current trend,” he told reporters at a regular briefing in Beijing.
China’s hostility towards Taiwan has risen since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party in 2016.
It suspects Tsai wants to push for formal independence, a red line for Communist Party leaders in Beijing, although Tsai has said she wants to maintain the status quo and is committed to ensuring peace.
Article originally appeared on Today Nicaragua and is republished here with permission.
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Costa Rica Economic Activity Up 3%
The manufacturing industry and education services were the sectors that explained most of the positive variation registered in the second month of 2018.
From a report by the Central Bank of Costa Rica:
– The country’s production of goods and services, measured by the cycle trend series of the Monthly Economic Activity Index (IMAE), registered an interannual variation of 3.0% in February 2018, presenting a deceleration of the interannual rate of 0.1 point percentage (pp) with respect to what was observed in the previous month. On the other hand, the average rate for the first two months was 3.1%.
– In February 2018, nine of the fifteen groups of activities that make up the indicator showed a slowdown in the inter-annual growth rate of the cycle trend series.
– Manufacturing (despite the observed slowdown) and education and health services explained to a greater extent the growth observed in February 2018.
See full report (in Spanish).
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Rainy Season In The Central Valley To Begin May 11 – 15
Time to prepare for the oncoming rainy season, a season that according to the experts at the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) – national weather service – is expected to commence in the Central Valley between May 11 and 15.
Daniel Poleo, an IMN meteorologist, explained that the models indicate that the rainy season will begin in the North Pacific (Guanacaste) on the same dates.
In the case of the Central Pacific (Puntarenas, Jaco, Quepos/Manuel Antonio), the rains are expected to begin between April 26 and 30, while in the South Pacific the season is on.
Poleo indicated that the start of the season will have normal conditions, that is, usually warm mornings and rainy afternoons. Typically the hotter the morning, the more intense the afternoon rains.
Between July and September, a slight decrease in the distribution of rainfall in the Pacific and Central Valley is expected, with the typical break for a couple of weeks during July, coinciding with the mid-year school break.
Costa Rica has two distinct seasons: dry and wet. The dry season, considered summer by Costa Ricans, is from mid-November to April, the other months wet or rainy season, called winter by. The Tourism Board prefers to call the rainy months the “green” season.
Even in the rainy season, days often start sunny, with rain falling in the afternoon and evening. September and October are the heaviest rain period, with a large percentage of the season’s rainfall occurring in those two months alone.
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Early Sunday Morning Crash On The General Cañas Leaves One Dead, Another Seriously Injured
For the second time in a month (to the day), at around the same hour, mostly likely for the same reason, with the same results, and at the same spot, the Autopista General Cañas becomes the scene of a fatal traffic accident.
It was shortly after 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning when the driver of a vehicle loses control and crashes against the guardrail and takes out the bus stops, immediately past the Orlich bridge in front of Plaza Real Cariari, Alajuela bound.
On March 15, a driver lost control and hit the median. At the same spot, across from Sunday morning’s crash.
In both cases the vehicle flipped, the drivers strewn onto the road, suffering “injuries incompatible with life”, while the passenger remained trapped in the vehicle.
In both cases, transit authorities suspect excess speeding and road conditions, the cool morning air making the road slick, the driver unable to either negotiate the turn or avoid a slow vehicle ahead blinded by the bridge.
At this point in the Autopista is four lanes, the posted speed is 90 km/h for the left lane, slower for the right lane. But, in the wee hours of the morning, with little vehicular traffic, the General Cañas becomes a speedway for some.
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[PHOTOS] Spectacular Rollover Sunday Morning Resulted Only In Injuries
For reasons unknown, a vehicle overturned on Sunday morning on the Ruta 27 in the area of Multiplaza Escazu, leaving two people seriously injured.
From the photos, it could have been much worse.
According to the Red Cross, the accident occurred minutes before 6:00 a.m. and the patients were taken to the San Juan de Dios Hospital.
Source: Crhoy.com
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