Renewing your driver’s license in Costa Rica can be an experience. The long lines and hours of waiting, only to find out you haven’t paid the “entero” or any outstanding traffic fines, which you may or may not remember getting since the last time you renewed.
The driver license renewal office in Liberia, Guanacaste
Renewing your license in San Jose, at the Cosevi La Uruca central offices, means putting aside an entire morning or even entire day. Ouch. A visit to the dentist is less painful.
Let’s start with what you need first before even heading to the Cosevi.
One, a medical exam or ‘dictamen medico’ in Spanish. Two, pay the ¢5,000 colones renewal fee or ‘entero’. Three your old license and documentation. Four, patience. Lots of patience. And then some.
But, here is how I got my license renewal in 60 minutes or so and without having to pay any additional fees at the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR).
I found this out by pure coincidence.
During lunch break
Being in Liberia on Monday, Februay 26 (my license was to expire on March 15), delayed in my return back to ‘Chepe’ (San Jose), getting stuck in traffic for more tha 45 minutes outside the international airport, with passengers getting nervous by the second fearing to miss their flight, all due to a protest by fishermen and learning from the news that the protest was even more active in Caldera, I decided, after finally dropping off passengers (they made their flight on time) to check out the licensing renewal office in Liberia, located half way between the town of Liberia and the airport.
But before I decided to embark on the challenge, I approached the guard at the gate. First I wanted to know if I had any outstanding tickets.
The guard, Luis Diego, took me to the manager’s office, who immediately checked my file and nothing owing. More important I noticed there were only two people in line to renew their license.
Thanks to Luis Diego, I learned that across the street from Cosevi there is a medical office run by Dr. Jenny Lilian, who in less than 10 minutes had me with my medical exam. Passed with flying colours.
No longer is there the need to fill out forms or even give a blood sample. Dr. Jenny explained the scam that the blood testing was and can still be at some ‘doctor offices’. Don’t fall for it.
The dictamen medico is now linked to the Cosevi. No paper certificate, only an email confirmation. But just in case Dr. Jenny was nice enough to give me a handwritten code to bring with me back across the street.
I also learned from Dr. Jenny that around the corner, in the same building, at the Hotel Santa Ana front desk, for a ¢2,000 colones fee, I could get my entero. A better deal than driving to Liberia, and make the line at the BCR branch. The cost thus was ¢7,000 in total.
It turned out, I didn’t need Dr. Jenny’s note or the print out of proof of payment, all was already linked to the Cosevi. Impressive.
I was next in line
All the foregoing took less than 20 minutes.
Back across the street, the two people line had now ground to four. I was fifth. This was now 2:00 pm, the offices close at 3.
The original two had not taken into account the lunch period for the only license renewal official.
Despite a problem with the license printing machine (a stuck card and system reboot), 30 minutes later it was my turn.
Documents in hand, I smiled for the camera, placed my index finger on the scanner and after several attempts at giving a sample of my signature on a digital pad, a few keystrokes by the official, the printer spit out my new license.
I was out of there.
All this was new to me. I learned from some locals that the regional offices is the only way to renew.
I remember six years ago the line in La Uruca. In six years time I plan to have the same license renewal experience.
Love it or leave it, Costa Rica a truly cool place to live in or visit. A small country, Costa Rica has perfect the ‘Pura Vida’ or pure life that is different for everyone.
Following is a list of facts on Costa Rica compiled from a number of sources. By no means is the list complete, or completely accurate, so feel free to add your own fact(s) or post a comment below or on our official Facebook page.
Costa Rica hosts more than 5% of the world’s biodiversity even though its landmass only takes up .03% of the planets surface.
Costa Rica is officially the Republic of Costa Rica (Spanish: República de Costa Rica).
Costa Rica spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%.
Costa Rica was sparsely inhabited by indigenous people before coming under Spanish rule in the 16th century. It remained a peripheral colony of the empire until independence as part of the short-lived First Mexican Empire, formally declaring independence in 1847.
Costa Rica has remained among the most stable, prosperous, and progressive nations in Latin America.
Following the brief Costa Rican Civil War in 1948, it permanently abolished its army becoming one of only a few sovereign nations without a standing army.
Costa Rica also has progressive environmental policies. It is the only country to meet all five UNDP criteria established to measure environmental sustainability.
Costa Rica plans to become a carbon-neutral country by 2021. By 2016, 98.1% of its electricity was generated from green sources particularly hydroelectric, solar, geothermal and biomass.
The name la costa rica, meaning “rich coast” in the Spanish language, was in some accounts first applied by Christopher Columbus, who sailed to the eastern shores of Costa Rica during his final voyage in 1502.
During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, nominally part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
Like the rest of Central America, Costa Rica never fought for independence from Spain.
Coffee was first planted in Costa Rica in 1808. By the 1820s, it surpassed tobacco, sugar, and cacao as a primary export. Coffee production remained Costa Rica’s principal source of wealth well into the 20th century.
Costa Rica is located on the Central American isthmus, lying between latitudes 8° and 12°N, and longitudes 82° and 86°W. It borders the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,290 kilometers (800 mi) of coastline.
Costa Rica also borders Nicaragua to the north (309 km of border) and Panama to the south-southeast (330 km of border).
Costa Rica comprises 51,100 square kilometres (19,700 sq mi) plus 589 square kilometres (227 sq mi) of territorial waters.
Costa Rica’s marine area reaches 580,000 square kilometers, approximately 10 times larger than its land area.
The smoldering Turrialba Volcano. Photo: gailhampshire
The highest point in the country is Cerro Chirripó, at 3,819 meters (12,530 ft); it is the fifth highest peak in Central America.
The highest volcano in the country is the Irazú Volcano (3,431 m or 11,257 ft) and the largest lake is Lake Arenal.
There are 14 known volcanoes in Costa Rica, and six of them have been active in the last 75 years.
The country has also experienced at least ten earthquakes of magnitude 5.7 or higher (3 of magnitude 7.0 or higher) in the last century.
Costa Rica also comprises several islands. The Isla del Coco or Cocos Island (24 square kilometers) stands out because of its distance from the continental landmass, 480 kilometers from Puntarenas, but Isla Calero is the largest island of the country (151.6 square kilometers).
Over 25% of Costa Rica’s national territory is protected by SINAC (the National System of Conservation Areas), which oversees all of the country’s protected areas, the largest percentage of protected areas in the world (developing world average 13%, developed world average 8%).
Costa Rica possesses the greatest density of species in the world.
Costa Rica’s climate is tropical year round. However, the country has many microclimates depending on elevation, rainfall, topography, and by the geography of each particular region.
Costa Rica’s seasons are defined by how much rain falls during a particular period. The year can be split into two periods, the dry season known to the residents as summer (verano), and the rainy season, known locally as winter (invierno).
TheCaribbean slopes of the Cordillera Central mountains, has an annual rainfall of over 5,000 mm (196.9 inches or 16.4 feet)
Costa Rica stands as the most visited nation in the Central American region,[104] with 2.9 million foreign visitors in 2016, up 10% from 2015.
By 2004, tourism was generating more revenue and foreign exchange than bananas and coffee combined.
The 2011 census counted a population of 4.3 million people[122] distributed among the following groups: 83.6% whites or mestizos, 6.7% mulattoes, 2.4% Native American, 1.1% black or Afro-Caribbean; the census showed 1.1% as Other, 2.9% (141,304 people) as None, and 2.2% (107,196 people) as unspecified.[1] By 2016, the UN estimation for the population was around 4.9 million.
In 2011, there were over 104,000 Native American or indigenous inhabitants, representing 2.4% of the population. Most of them live in secluded reservations, distributed among eight ethnic groups: Quitirrisí (in the Central Valley), Matambú or Chorotega (Guanacaste), Maleku (northern Alajuela), Bribri (southern Atlantic), Cabécar (Cordillera de Talamanca), Boruca (southern Costa Rica) and Térraba (southern Costa Rica).
The 2011 census classified 83.6% of the population as white or Mestizo; the latter are persons of combined European and Amerindian descent. The Mulatto segment (mix of white and black) represented 6.7% and indigenous people made up 2.4% of the population.
Costa Rica hosts many refugees, mainly from Colombia and Nicaragua. As a result of that and illegal immigration, an estimated 10–15% (400,000–600,000) of the Costa Rican population is made up of Nicaraguans.
Costa Rica’s largest cities (by population) are: San Jose (333,980), Puerto Limon (55.667), Alajuela (42.889), Heredia (40,840), Tibas (36.627), Desamparados (36,437), Liberia (34.469) and Puntarenas (32,460).
Christianity is Costa Rica’s predominant religion, with Roman Catholicism being the official state religion according to the 1949 Constitution.
Costa Rica’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.
According to the most recent nationwide survey of religion, conducted in 2007 by the University of Costa Rica, 70.5% of Costa Ricans are Roman Catholics (44.9% practicing Catholics), 13.8% are Evangelical Protestants (almost all are practicing), 11.3% report that they do not have a religion, and 4.3% belong to another religion.
The primary language spoken in Costa Rica is Spanish, which features characteristics distinct to the country, a form of Central American Spanish.
Costa Rica is a linguistically diverse country and home to at least five living local indigenous languages spoken by the descendants of pre-Columbian peoples: Maléku, Cabécar, Bribri, Guaymí, and Buglere.
Futbol (soccer) is the most popular sport in Costa Rica. The national team has played in four FIFA World Cup tournaments and reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 2014. The national team has qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
According to the UNDP, in 2010 the life expectancy at birth for Costa Ricans was 79.3 years.
The Nicoya Peninsula is considered one of the Blue Zones in the world, where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years.
Costa Rica has been cited in various journals as Central America’s great health success story. Its healthcare system is ranked higher than that of the United States.
Costa Rica is among the Latin America countries that have become popular destinations for medical tourism.
Since 2012, Costa Rica has some of the most restrictive regulations on smoking in the world.
The staples of the Costa Rican diet are rice and black beans, along with bread, chicken or meat, vegetables, salads, and fruits. Rice and beans mixed together for breakfast is called ‘gallo pinto‘.
The average wage laborer is about $529 a month, the highest in Central America.
Costa Ricans refer to themselves as “Ticos” (males) and “Ticas” (females).
Though Costa Rica has its own currency (the Colon), the US dollar is commonly used in retail stores, rents, and prices of vehicles, for example.
There are about 52 species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica, making Costa Rica a true hummingbird capital.
Monkeys are one of the most common mammals in Costa Rica – next to bats.
Bug-phobics look out! There are about 750,000 species of insects that live in Costa Rica, including about 20,000 different types of spiders! Also, more than 10% of the world’s butterflies live here.
The Costa Rican government is democratic, with presidential elections every 4 years.
The average Costa Rican household size is 3.5 people per household.
Costa Ricans claim that Dr. Clodomiro “Clorito” Picado discovered the properties of penicillin before Dr. Alexander Fleming, based on a paper Dr. Picado had published in 1927.
Costa Rica has a 96% literacy rate.
Costa Rican women do not take their husbands’ last name when they get married. They keep their maiden name for life along with their mother’s maiden name.
Called the grano de oro (grain of gold), coffee was Costa Rica’s foremost export for 150 years until tourism surpassed it in 1991. More than 247,104 acres of coffee is planted in Costa Rica, making it the 13th largest coffee exporter in the world.
In Costa Rica, a soda is a small, informal restaurant that serves chicken, beans, rice, and salad for ¢2,000 to ¢3,000 colones a plate.
Instead of saying “my other half,” Costa Ricans refer to their significant others as their “media naranja,” or “the other half of the orange”.
Costa Rica is the second largest exporter of bananas in the world after Ecuador.
In Costa Rica, a discoteca is a nightclub, and a nightclub is actually a strip club.
In Costa Rica, speed bumps are called topes or muertos (dead persons).
Costa Rica’s Escazú is famous for witchcraft where, historically, people took to mountain caves to secretly practice their religious and magical rituals.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island is thought to be modeled on Costa Rica’s Isla del Coco.
Costa Rica’s Oscar Arias Sanchez, president from 1986–1990 and again from 2006–2010, is a 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work in trying to end the crisis in Central America.
Costa Rica’s largest body of freshwater is the manmade Lake Arenal.
The Arenal volcano
Arenal Volcano is the most active volcano in Costa Rica and one of the most active in the world. In 1968, Arenal erupted and destroyed the town of Tabacón. It last erupted in 2010.
Drake Bay in southern Costa Rica is named for Sir Francis Drake, the first English navigator to sail around the world, who landed there in 1579.
The sun rises and sets in Costa Rica at the same time every day (5 am and 6 pm) all year round, due to its close proximity to the equator.
The single largest factor affecting Costa Rica’s economy is its national debt. In 1981, the country was the first in the world to default on its loans.
Costa Rica’s Diquís Delta stone spheres are one of Central America’s most intriguing archaeological phenomena. Believed to be around 2,000 years old, thousands of stone spheres, from 4 inches (10 cm) to 8 feet (2.5 m) in diameter, were uncovered in the 1940s.
The Costa Rican National Post Office was built in 1914.
Costa Rica’s Teatro Nacional (National Theater) was built in 1897.
Costa Rica’s national musical instrument is the marimba.
Franklin R. Chang-Diaz is Costa Rica’s only astronaut, as well as the first Latin-American to be chosen by NASA and to go into space.
Geovanny Escalante, a Costa Rican saxophonist for the band Marfil, broke Kenny G’s world record for holding a single saxophone note in 1998. He held the note for 90 minutes and 45 seconds, nearly doubling Kenny G’s time.
In 2017, the number of mobile telephone lines per 100 inhabitants was 179, 5% higher than the 170 reported in 2016.
Authorities reported that the historical behavior of the indicator shows that “… from 2006 to 2013, increases in penetration were observed year after year. However, in 2014, and for the first time since 2006, growth stopped, since in 2013 the penetration of mobile telephony per 100 inhabitants was 151 and in 2014 it increased to 149. ”
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (Micit):
Costa Rica has experienced a trend of increasing penetration of mobile telephony in the last 12 years. According to figures from the Vice Ministry of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT), while in 2006 there were 33 mobile telephone lines per 100 inhabitants, in 2017 a total of 179 lines per 100 inhabitants were registered.
In the view of Edwin Estrada, Deputy Minister of Telecommunications, “This data reflects a significant increase in penetration and this means a success in the implementation of public policies and the implementation of the standards, laws and opening model that has moved the market making more and better services available to users. In addition, it continues to demonstrate that the goals of the first public tender that was carried out in 2011, whose main objective was penetration and entry into the market of new operators, have been met.
Last week, at the Moín dock in Limón, two gantry cranes valued at $ 16 million were launched. The event was attended by Ann Mckinley, executive president of Japdeva, and José Aponte, port manager. Photo: Diana Méndez
The Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Económico de la Vertiente Atlántica (Japdeva), operator of the port of Limon in Costa Rica, is seeking to diversify its business focusing on conventional cargo handling, in order to compensate for the losses it will face when the Terminal de Contenedores de Moín (TCM) – APM Terminals container port – comes into operation in February 2019.
Japdeva premiered, two weeks ago, two gantry cranes specialized in container handling. The plan of the institution is for these equipment to be used in the loading and unloading of iron, vehicles, construction materials and others when the new Moin Mega Port of Moín begins operating in February 2019. Photo: Diana Méndez, La Nacion
Japdeva faces an unprecedented challenge.
According to Japdeva, only in the first year of operation, the TCM, concessioned to the Dutch firm APM Terminals, will assume 700,000 of the 1.2 million containers that pass through the ports of Japdeva every year.
As the years progress, the new terminal will increase the number of containers mobilized until it takes on the totality of this type of cargo.
Under this scenario, the Japdeva port will only handle conventional loads, that is, all those goods that do not travel in containers, such as iron, construction materials, gas and vehicles, among others. This type of product represents approximately five million tons per year.
Today, Japdeva mobilizes 12 million tons per year between containers and conventional cargo.
José Aponte, Japdeva port manager, explained to Nacion.com that “… the goal is to specialize in the handling of conventional cargo to finance their operations and thus sustain the largest number of employees possible.”
In the photo Ann Mckinley, executive president of Japdeva, and José Aponte, port manager. Photo: Diana Méndez, La Nacion
Serving as port of departure for more Nicaraguan exporters and transporting more iron and vehicles are two of the objectives that make up the strategy envisioned by Japdeva.
Another possibility that Japdeva is considering is to transform the port terminal located in the center of Limón. “… The idea is to turn it into an exclusive port for cruises and raise the number of tourists arriving in Limón.”
“The intention is to guarantee the permanence of Japdeva as the institution that continues to be the great benefactor of the Costa Rican Caribbean,” said the port manager.
At present, the entity has 1,290 employees. In 2014, the figure was almost 1,500 workers, but to reduce expenses they have eliminated the positions through attrition.
Planet Hollywood has signed an agreement to brand its first all-inclusive resort this fall through a franchise agreement with Sunwing Travel Group.
Planet Hollywood will enter the all-inclusive resort sector (rendering above) by partnering with Sunwing Travel Group on a Costa Rica property in 2018. Image fromTravelweekly.com
The partnership with Sunwing Travel Group will also be the franchisor for the Planet Hollywood Resort Cancun, slated to open in summer 2019.
The two will mark Planet Hollywood’s first foray into the “in-demand, luxury all-inclusive” category.
The resorts will feature entertainment memorabilia with digital narration, live streaming of on-site events and activities, and “Hollywood lighting to make sure everyone looks fabulous,” Sunwing said.
Planet Hollywood is accepting reservations starting October 1, 2018, with an average price per night of US$440 for a Junior Suite, STAR Class™ members can enjoy the full celebrity experience in the Producer’s Suite – the biggest and baddest hotel room available in two, three and four-bedroom arrangements, for an average price per night of US$1,101.
From Planethollywoodhotels.com
Planet Hollywood has two resorts. Its Las Vegas resort opened at the old Aladdin site in 2007 and is owned by Caesars Entertainment, while its resort in Goa, India, opened in 2014.
The brand’s history dates to 1991, when the first Planet Hollywood restaurant opened in 1991 with investments from actors Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. The chain at one time had almost 100 restaurants, though it currently has six.
Toronto-based Sunwing is a travel conglomerate whose companies include tour operators Sunwing Vacations.
People might say that Costa Ricans get it all – the lush jungles, beautiful beaches, modern cities and even some decent gambling facilities. However, considering the modern day tech advancements, should people looking to make the most from their gambling experience in Costa Rica, switch online and play Internet-based casino games instead?
Online Slots Gamers
If for instance you look at the wide range of Canadian online slots that Canadians are offered, and the types that can be accessed from Costa Rica, online slot games are truly emerging as the most popular among off-line and online casino gamers throughout the world. Let’s find out why more and more Costa Rica visitors are opting for online slots over the land-based kinds.
A fairly wide range
Finding the right slot game can be quite a stressful task in a land-based casino. Even if you find one, you may not find it empty to play on, or it may not be the kind that helps you win a good amount of money. But when it comes to online slots, you can select from various categories including soccer, adventure, ninjas, derby, action, models, cowboys, princesses and many more. You’re guaranteed to always find something that would excite you and could potentially win you loads of money.
Amazing perks
When you choose to play in a land-based casino you are normally offered several goodies, for example, room stays, delicious food, complimentary drinks and more. However, none of them would offer you freebies such as free play or matched bonuses. Online casinos on the other hand shower both their old and new customers with many innovative freebies, from time to time, just to keep them playing on their platforms.
Easy payment options
Owing to their mode of operation, online casinos are usually well equipped to offer a comprehensive range of payment options. One doesn’t need to travel to UK or Las Vegas to play his/her favourite slot games. You also don’t require to pay any steep fees to enjoy the casino games. With online slots you can deposit your money in a matter of few minutes and start playing any slot game you like. The payment can be made using various means including credit card, debit card, PayPal, online transfer, e-wallets and even bitcoins.
Easy entry into slot tournaments
When you play online slots you can easily participate in the slot tournaments held at different online casinos, on daily/weekly basis. You might be offered free chips to enter these tournaments as well. What more, some casinos might also offer you special promo codes to take part in high-end tournaments.
Once you participate in these online slot tournaments you’d experience an altogether different level of thrill and excitement! The huge prize money is another major factor that draws a good number of people to such online slot competitions. Hence, online slots aren’t just about a lot of excitement and fun, they can be very lucrative too.
All in all, there is a wide range of surprises and prizes on offer at online casinos that aren’t usually feasible in brick-and-mortar casinos.
Having a fairly tolerant governance style, the government of Costa Rica is pretty cool about the presence of online gambling operators within its boundaries; despite the fact that online gambling is illegal for Costa Rica residents.
The residents are not legally allowed to gamble on any online casino games, including online poker, online roulette and others. In fact, Costa Ricans are prohibited to gamble on anything that has a random outcome. However, they still find ways and means to indulge in their favourite pastime on the Internet!
Ambiguity quite like Canada
Actually, the state of affairs in Costa Rica is quite like Canada, where you can play at various online casino portals, for example the kinds listed at onlinecasinos.ca, despite a lot of ambiguity surrounding the online casino operations. Elaborating a bit more on the online casinos featured in the link above, these gambling portals are shortlisted based on thorough research and after taking into account various important aspects like customer support, bonuses, selection of games, mobile compatibility, payment methods and more.
Furthermore, even though Costa Ricans are banned from online gambling, the physical location of the online casinos’ servers isn’t where the gambling actually takes place, thus allowing operators to offer online casino/gambling services from Costa Rica (as long as Costa Rica residents don’t gamble on these platforms). For instance, Calvin Ayre used to operate Bodog.com out of Costa Rica at one point of time.
How businesses can set up gambling operations in Costa Rica
Such lenience with regard to setting up of online gambling operations from Costa Rica makes it a popular destination for many online casino operators. They can establish their businesses by:
Investing into an already existing Costa Rica-based gaming company
Setting up an offshore corporation for offshore banking purposes
Opening up multiple offshore banking accounts
Applying for an online gambling license through a Costa Rica gaming company
Locating and integrating various payment processing channels, which can be easily sourced through many Costa Rica-based agencies
Ensuring that they have a physical office in Costa Rica
Obtaining an online gaming license (not mandatory)
Are all of them rogue?
Despite the fact that there are many gambling websites operating from Costa Rica, there are no hard and fast regulations with regard to their operations. This implies that online gambling/casino operators are given a plenty of freedom to do whatever they wish to do.
You only need to carry out some simple online search to locate websites that offer easy-to-download and free of cost gaming law guides for Costa Rica. Many of these portals offer specialised services and help businesses set up Costa Rica gambling operations.
Although Costa Ricans gambling industry hasn’t developed to a stage that it can significantly influence the world market, it has nevertheless been a significant hub for online sports betting, online poker and various other forms of online gambling.
All this might seem like pretty heavily skewed in favour of online gambling companies, but not all operators running their online gambling businesses from Costa Rica are rogue. You can find many well-respected Internet gambling companies based in Costa Rica, specifically because of lenient regulations and low tax rates. On a side note, you can learn more about Costa Rica as a country at lonelyplanet.com.
As is applicable to any gambling website, you must thoroughly research the portal that you wish to gamble on. This can be done by reading its reviews on various independent online/off-line forums, and checking with other players already playing on that portal.
A Heredia court sentenced a 48-year-old man to 18 years in prison for raping an 11-year-old girl, his girlfriend’s daughter.
According to the authorities, the events occurred in 2011, the victim was the then-girlfriend of the abuser, identified by his last name Ramirez.
The Prosecutor’s office was able to demonstrate the man’s guilt to the three-judge panel, telling the court the man abuse the minor while the girl’s mother was sleeping or in the shower.
Although the Heredia court sentenced the man to 18 years, comments on the social media say these types of crimes deserve life and in a jail “with walls not painted, if even they should be allowed to live”.
The abuse of minors is taken seriously in Costa Rica. In fact, though geared towards visitors, signs at Costa Rica’s airports of entry and even at some car rental agencies, that sex with minors is a serious crime in the country. like the sign below sponsodered by the http://www.ict.go.cr/en/sustainability/code-of-conduct.htmlICT that reads, “In Costa Rica sex with children under 18 is a serious crime. Should you engage in it, we will be glad to drive you to jail. We mean it.”
Ka’apor forest guardians patrolling the borders of their territory, in Maranhao state, Brazilian Amazon. Photograph: Lunae Parracho for the Guardian
Latin American countries are poised to agree the world’s first legally binding convention to protect environmental defenders at a conference in San Jose, Costa Rica, the Ninth meeting of the negotiating committee – Principle 10.
The eventwill take place from February 28 to March 4 in the Hotel Real Intercontinental and come to a close on Sunday, March 4 with a high-level session in which Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís will participate, along with Alejandro Solano Ortiz, Costa Rican Viceminister of Foreign Relations and Worship and Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary.
Ka’apor forest guardians patrolling the borders of their territory, in Maranhao state, Brazilian Amazon. Photograph: Lunae Parracho for the Guardian
Land activists and indigenous people were killed in record numbers on the continent last year, with more than two nature protectors murdered every week.
Now, after two years of negotiations, UN and diplomatic sources say it is very likely that an environmental democracy treaty offering them legal protection will be agreed at the summit which ends on 4 March.
“A legally binding instrument is the most useful agreement to ensure human rights,” she told the Guardian. “Even though it is not the whole solution, it is an important step for stopping and reducing socioenvironmental conflicts in the region, including the attacks on environmental defenders.”
Several countries are expected to sign the convention, but it will not enter into force until it has been formally ratified by eight of the commission’s member states.
Enforcement will take place at the national level, with a commission review mechanism monitoring states’ progress towards human rights norms.
Carole Excell, a director at the World Resource Institute, said the agreement in Costa Rica would be “a massive step forward”.
“It will start a snowball process and create huge momentum for an issue that countries weren’t even acknowledging as a problem until very recently,” she said.
Around the world, 197 land activists, indigenous people and wildlife rangers were killed in 2017, an estimated 60% of them in South America.
Mining, agricultural concessions and infrastructure projects took a heavy toll on nature protectors with paramilitaries often acting with impunity on behalf of vested interests in remote areas.
Treaty negotiations began in 2016 and were always intended to come up with a legal text of the sort now agreed and backed, UN officials say, by most countries.
“Therefore, it is highly likely that the meeting will finish with the adoption of the first ever legally binding agreement,” one UN source said.
The treaty would oblige signatories to take “adequate and effective measures” to protect and promote the rights of environmental defenders to life, and to free movement, expression, and assembly.
States would also be impelled to take “appropriate, timely and effective” measures to prevent threats or attacks against environmental defenders – and to investigate and punish them after they have occurred.
Some regional actors have been accused of complicity in the murder of environmental activists such as the Goldman award-winning campaigner Berta Cáceres who was killed in 2015.
Even so, diplomats told the Guardian that “at least two countries” were still opposing a legally binding pact. One of them, Mexico, has staked out a position for a weaker declaratory statement on environmental justice that diplomats say would not create “the necessary peer pressure” for strong enforcement.
Colombia and Brazil – the world’s two deadliest countries for environmental protectors – have also kept their final voting cards close to their chests.
In March, the peak dry season in Costa Rica offers travelers bigger surf, better chances to spot wildlife as trees drop their leaves, and sparse rain—particularly in the more arid province of Guanacaste, in the country’s north Pacific.
The large, northwestern area surrounding the city of Liberia is a rapidly developing destination for active, nature-loving travelers who can hike through rainforests, snorkel in calm bays, and soak in thermal springs.
River tubing Rio Negro at Hacienda Guachipelín.
Five-Star Style | A recent US$35 million refurbishment of the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica on Peninsula Papagayo brings contemporary style to the plush enclave, along with fine dining, a stellar wine list, and an enormous breakfast buffet. Screened balconies offer cozy water views (US$1,080 and up). The upgrades continue down the road, where the Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo has opened new nature trails, and more refurbishments are in the works ($440 and up).
Being Underwater | A few feet from their butler-attended beach chairs, Four Seasons hotel guests can use complimentary snorkel gear and dive into a spectacular aquatic wonderland in Culebra Bay. Enormous puffer fish, parrotfish, triggerfish, and varieties of colorful wrasse surround swimmers in swarms. Frequent catamaran tours departing from the hotel beach explore sunset views and deeper snorkeling.
Handy Ranch | Hotel Hacienda Guachipelín, an eco‑tourism resort, is about 15 miles northeast of Liberia, Guanacaste’s central city. The 3,400-acre working ranch offers day tours, river tubing, horseback or mountain bike riding, and hiking through dry tropical forest landscape and waterfalls ($15 and up). The resort’s free buffet breakfast includes fresh fruit and handmade tortillas (rooms $110 and up).
Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park
A Nature Trek | Many hotels and resorts offer tours to the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park ($15), which includes an active volcano and its less-threatening boiling mudpots, steamy fumaroles, and waterfalls in the green season. Though hikes to the volcano’s peak are now off-limits, other well-marked trails loop through diverse terrain that’s home to exotic birds and animals.
Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park
Spring Into Inaction | Soak up nature in the natural hot springs at the lush Tabacón Thermal Resort and Spa ($300 and up). Immerse in shallow, terraced pools of warm volcano-fed springs, surrounded by exotic landscaping (free to hotel guests; visitor day‑passes $77 and up). Meditate under a waterfall or stare at a fin-crested basilisk that walks on water. Have an unforgettable spa massage in Tabacón’s open-air cabanas ($115 and up). Refresh at the resort’s Los Tucanes restaurant with herb-crusted sea bass ($30) and quail’s egg and beef tenderloin salad ($20).
Andaz Costa Rica Resort
Arenal Volcano | Tourists help support high-caliber dining in the town of La Fortuna, known for the nearby Arenal Volcano that has spilled lava since its 1968 eruption. At the casually elegant Don Rufino Restaurante, the wide-ranging menu includes outstanding ceviche ($9); a goat cheese, quinoa, and sweet potato salad ($8); and an upscale take on the classic Costa Rican casado, slang for the typical meal of a married man. Earthenware platters and bowls contain fluffy rice, savory black beans, green salad, sweet plantains, and egg‑topped picadillo vegetable hash with grilled chicken, beef, or fish ($12).
Rainforest Adventure | Take a reservation-only guided rainforest tour at Sensoria, a private reserve with an observation platform above the jungle canopy, sparkling waterfalls, and soothing mineral thermal pools for swimming ($90 to $120). Guides help identify flora and fauna, and lunch is served after the tour.
Travel note
With Easter on April 1, Semana Santa (Holy Week) 2018 in Costa Rica starts on March 25 and ends March 31: expect religious processions and services throughout the country. In the Guanacaste region, Miércoles de Ceniza (Ash Wednesday) means livestock parades and, in Liberia, harm-free bullfights.
Jueves Santo and Viernes Santo (March 22 and 23) are legal holidays in Costa Rica. In recent years municipalities can now decide if they will be ‘dry’ (no liquor, beer and wine sales). For the most part, tourist areas do not adopt the dry law. During the holiday period, public bus transportation is also affected.
All together now! The pair looked like they were getting along swimmingly Monday while spotted vacationing on the beaches of San Jose, Costa Rica with Liev’s sons Sasha and Sam
Liev your worries behind. “Ray Donovan” star Liev Schreiber is vacationing with his sons Sasha, 10, and Kai, 9, as well as his “friend” Taylor Neisen in sunny Costa Rica.
All together now! The pair looked like they were getting along swimmingly Monday while spotted vacationing on the beaches of San Jose, Costa Rica with Liev’s sons Sasha and Sam
We first reported in October that Schreiber, 50, and Neisen, 26, a former Miss South Dakota, were an item. Our sources also told us that Schreiber had been telling his pals that the stunning Neisen was “the nanny.”
Our insiders scoffed at that suggestion, noting that Neisen comes from an extremely wealthy family.
Schreiber’s rep at Slate PR assured us then that the pair “are friends and she sometimes helps out with the kids — they are not dating.”
Stylish: The blonde splashed in the shallows wearing a fashionable Brazilian style suit which left little to the imagination
Asked if the two were still just friends on Tuesday — after TMZ, Extra and JustJared.com identified Neisen as Schreiber’s “girlfriend” upon seeing brand-new photos of them together on a beach — Schreiber’s PR insisted: “They are friends. There is nothing to confirm or deny.”
It’s possible that Neisen’s nanny gig comes with perks. It could also be that going public with the relationship initially presented technical complications for Schreiber.
Couple time: After a bit of fun in the sun, Liev and Taylor were seen getting cozy in the sand
Schreiber and actress Naomi Watts, the mother of his kids, ended their 11-year relationship in September 2016. According to our sources, they struck a deal to keep their private lives out of the press for a year. In recent months, they’ve both been spotted out and about with other people in social situations.
Giving them the run around: Taylor and a friend crouched down with their bottoms up as if they were about to start a sprint
Watts was photographed holding hands with her “Gypsy” co-star Billy Crudup at last week’s BAFTA Awards in London. Schreiber and Neisen have been seen in New York on multiple occasions — sometimes with no kids in sight.
Beautiful views: The grown ups gathered around for a bit of their own fun, taking in the sunset together
Schreiber, who plays a crisis manager in Showtime’s “Ray Donovan,” spent the first five years of the show filming in L.A. The show’s upcoming sixth season will be set in New York.
Close friend, eh? Back in December, a rep for the actor insisted to the New York Daily News that Niesen is not Schreiber’s girlfriend and is simply a friend ‘who helps out with the kids’
Donald Vásquez shows how the land has been degraded in an area of coffee plantations on the slopes of Berlin, one of the towns in the Barranca-Jesús María river basin in western Costa Rica. Farmers in the area, with the support of experts, have built terraces and channels to curb erosion. Credit: Miriett Ábrego / IPS
(IPS) – Donald Vásquez points to the soil on a farm located in one of the most degraded basins on the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica. Below, where he points with his index finger, there is a huge layer of white earth, with dozens of bare coffee plants struggling to produce beans in the next harvest.
Donald Vásquez shows how the land has been degraded in an area of coffee plantations on the slopes of Berlin, one of the towns in the Barranca-Jesús María river basin in western Costa Rica. Farmers in the area, with the support of experts, have built terraces and channels to curb erosion. Credit: Miriett Ábrego / IPS
“This used to be a cloud forest, a rainforest 60 years ago. Now the soil looks like this. From a productive point of view, this has practically died,” Vàsquez, who is taking part in several initiatives aimed at restoring the soil in the Barranca River-Jesús María River basin, where land degradation is already impacting farmers, told IPS.
Vásquez lives in one of the towns in the basin, about 60 km from San José, to the west of the Costa Rican Central Valley, within an area at about 1,500 m above sea level dedicated mainly to coffee growing.
His concern is not about something that is a minor issue in Central America. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) estimated in its Global Land Outlook (GLO) report, published in 2017, that degraded lands account for over a fifth of forest and agricultural lands in Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to the Costa Rican Advisory Commission on Land Degradation (Cadeti), established by the government, and in which Vásquez takes part, degradation is already happening in more than a tenth of the territory of Costa Rica, making it more necessary than ever to meet the goal of achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030.
The concept of LDN is defined as “a state whereby the amount and quality of land resources, necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security, remains stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.”
Costa Rica is one of the countries in the region that devotes the greatest effort to meeting that goal. There is a need for more indicators and budget, but those dedicated to the matter, such as Vásquez, are already working on several initiatives to prevent the loss of more land.
“Here we lament it when a tropical forest is cut down, we know that’ a terrible thing. But a tropical forest can regenerate in 60, 80 years. When you lose the soil, recovering it can sometimes take up to 200 years.” – Óscar Lucke
“Here we lament it when a tropical forest is cut down, we know that’ a terrible thing. But a tropical forest can regenerate in 60, 80 years. When you lose the soil, recovering it can sometimes take up to 200 years,” Óscar Lucke, a consultant on land degradation neutrality and a retired professor who is a representative of civil society in Cadeti, told IPS.
“We are working to protect that wealth of biodiversity and all the services we need that are in the soil,” he explained.
It was not until 2015 that the UNCCD agreed to set national goals to stabilise the planet’s soils. But in Costa Rica Cadeti was already working on the issue since 1998, through coordinated work among different government and academic bodies.
For this reason, this Central American country of 4.9 million people became one of the 10 pilot sites in the world to implement LDN, and the only one in Latin America.
In April 2017, the government reinforced the strategy with a decree that coordinates the different agencies involved in that objective and, in addition, designated Cadeti as the body within the Ministry of Environment and Energy to advise all public institutions in how to move towards that goal.
Assessing the land
Several indicators are used to measure neutrality in land use.
According to the 2017 Scientific Conceptual Framework for LDN, countries must observe the evolution of three key elements: forest cover, productivity and soil organic carbon. So far, Costa Rica only has information on the first indicator, and is working to obtain the others this year, with important progress made so far.
In fact, between 2000 and 2015, Costa Rica went from 47 percent to 54 percent of forest cover, while all other Central American countries have proportionally cut their forest covers, according to a study released in December by the State of the Nation of Costa Rica, an interdisciplinary body of experts.
The first State of the Environment Report, published Feb. 20, prepared by the Costa Rican government, notes that the country increased its forest area by 112,000 hectares between 2010 and 2013 (currently it has more than three million hectares of forest), an increase of almost the same amount as the reduction in crops and pastureland, which amounted to 114,000 hectares.
“That is very positive. In general, the more covered the soil is, the better, but protection guidelines have to be implemented in the areas that clearly cannot be covered with trees, because crops have to be planted to grow food,” said Carlos Henríquez, director of the University of Costa Rica’s Agricultural Research Centre, and an expert in soil fertility.
He told IPS it is necessary to implement protection practices to try to maintain the resource in a sustainable way, because the increase in forest cover does not mean that farmers always use their land well.
For example, the cultivation of pineapple (questioned because of its link with soil erosion and the high use of agrochemicals) has increased fivefold since 2000, according to the annual report of the State of the Nation.
For that reason, the government is working on generating carbon maps and productivity maps to identify the most degraded areas of the country.
According to forest engineer Adriana Aguilar, the national focal point for the UNCCD, and an official in the National System of Conservation Areas, an agreement is also being hammered out between the government and the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GIZ), aimed at identifying key actors and model projects, and capturing resources for them.
“That is a goal for this year, so that from 2019 we can report on that basis. By defining these indicators, applying the panel, finishing our action plan and implementing this decree, we are moving towards achieving that goal,” she told IPS.
There are already several initiatives to work with farmers in the areas that, according to estimates, could have the most degraded soils in the country.
“Degrading the land is very easy. To recover them is the difficult thing. Farmers do not have resources for this and there are crops, such as coffee, that already have very low productivity,” said Renato Jiménez, another member of Cadeti, which for the past six years has carried out more than a hundred projects on farms in the most degraded areas of the country.
For example, in the Barranca-Jesús María river basin, farmers and experts from the government and civil society have created channels and terraces to prevent water from washing away their crops and nutrients, and have extracted healthy bacteria from the forest to use in their plants.
For Vásquez, who operates in the area, that is key because with climate change the rains in Costa Rica seem to be increasing in intensity and decreasing in frequency.
“The idea is for river flows to not build up so much speed or destroy the soil so much. I believe that if people see the positive results, and notice that coffee production is increasing, other neighbours will copy it, because production here has been dropping,” he said.
Marino Ballena National Park is located along the South Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The park was created in 1990 to protect the abundant marine life off of the coast of Costa Ballena.
BAHIA BALLENA, Costa Rica – In good years, more than a hundred thousand tourists flock to this marine park on Costa Rica´s Pacific coast to see humpback whales breaching in the blue waters.
But warming temperatures – driven by climate change and strengthening El Niño events – are beginning to threaten the region´s tourism economy.
“When temperatures rise two or three degrees (Celsius) above the region´s average, we have very few whale sightings compared to normal years,” said whale specialist José David Palacios, who works at the Marino Ballena National Park with the Keto Foundation, a Costa Rican marine conservation organization.
“Typically, there are many sightings a day. When temperatures rise, there are only one or two a week,” he said.
Marino Ballena National Park is located along the South Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The park was created in 1990 to protect the abundant marine life off of the coast of Costa Ballena.
Whales are one of the main tourist draws for Marino Ballena National Park, one of Costa Rica´s most visited natural areas. As climate change hits the country´s parks and biodiversity, it is also threatening local economies highly dependent on tourism, scientists and local people say.
Scientists similarly have noticed a drop in whale sightings in the park, mainly in warmer-than-average years, they said.
Although more study is needed, they believe rising water temperatures may be altering the migration routes of humpback whales moving past Costa Rica from the north.
When the whales descend in search of warmer waters to reproduce, they may now be finding them before reaching the park, scientists believe. The problem is that, as the whales spend time elsewhere, the community of Bahía Ballena could see its income dry up.
A study published in the journal Nature in 2014 estimated that extreme El Niño events, like the recent one in Costa Rica, will become twice as likely due to climate change.
Minor de Jesus Calvo Aguilar, who likes to still be called "Father Minor"
Padre (Father) Minor, as he likes to be called, though he no longer is an ordained priest of the Catholic church, has returned, ever filled with God spreading his message now on Facebook.
Minor de Jesus Calvo Aguilar, who likes to still be called “Father Minor”
In between his serving up meals at his restaurant La Casona de Cartago, in Barrio El Carmen of the ‘Viejo Metropolis’, Minor de Jesus Calvo Aguilar is reviving his “Un Encuentro con Cristo” (An Encounter With Christ) program that aired on channel 7 for more than 20 years.
Calvo, who was a Catholic priest and radio personality born (January 9, 1964) in Costa, says he is a person of faith in God.
“I believe in God, I have not lost my faith. I lived very difficult moments, after my jail period (he left prison on May 19, 2009 after five years behind bars), I honestly experienced a crisis of faith, very difficult.”
“But at some point in my life, some time ago, God touched my heart, filled me with his strength, his faith and his spirit. So now I feel very happy, animated and full of faith towards God. I think of those people who came to the restaurant and told me why I do not give some kind of message like I did before,” said Father Minor.
The former Catholic priest now owns the La Casona de Cartago restaurant in Cartago, a business he started worked at after being released from jail in 2009.
Calvo told La Teja that many come to his restaurant asking that he return again with his program. To his followers, he tells them he no longer has radio or television but had thought about spreading his message on Facebook.
“The only thing I hope is that many people can know a little more about the word of God, that is my interest. I do not look for fame or popularity with this because it does not make sense and it is not a commercial matter either. I do it from the Facebook of La Casona de Cartago because I do not have a personal account, it may come later (the personal account),” assures Aguilar.
As of Sunday, February 25, Father Minor’s Facebook page “Jesus: Ven a mi” had 206,438 views, 5.338 likes, 4,410 commentaries and shared 4.409 times.
The former priest says he is surprised at the numbers given that he has been out of the ‘business’ for a number of years.
Father Minor, who jumped into the public eye as a charismatic leader in the Catholic Church in Costa Rica,founded with the help of many entrepreneurs, but also monetary contributions collected in donation campaigns, through various events, the Radio Maria de Guadalupe radio station.
The Radio Maria de Guadalupe collected approximately ¢1,000,000 (about US$2,500 of that time) daily, which is a record in Costa Rican radio. However, criticism from a satirical radio comedy program, called La Patada conducted by the Colombian, Parmenio Medina (assassinated in 2001), created friction between the two programs, as la patada accused the Radio Maria de Guadalupe of alleged embezzlement. La Patada was characterized by a cutting sarcastic humor, and their jokes used to be topics about corruption, football, politics, and “Radio Maria de Guadalupe”.
Due to the highly controversial situation, Monsignor Román Arrieta Villalobos (who would die two years later), the highest Catholic authority in Costa Rica, decided to terminate the operations of the radio station. Several groups demonstrated against the closure. But the decision taken remained firm.
On July 7, 2001, Parmenio Medina was shot dead at the entrance of his home. This crime was perpetrated by hired killers.
Calvo’s involvement in the crime was suspected and confirmed when he was arrested on charges of masterminding the crime, along with businessman Omar Chávez.
On December 18, 2007, Calvo was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud in relation to the radio station, but was acquitted of involvement in the murder of Parmenio Medina. Moreover, Omar Chavez was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the murder of Medina and 12 years for fraud in relation to the radio station, while another defendant was sentenced to 30 years for the murder. In total, of the 9 accused, 6 were acquitted and 3 convicted, which had generated much controversy in the country.
Indigenous, LGBT, Black and refugee youth are among the groups that are at a greater risk of cyberbullying than others. But youth can also be powerful agents of change. Clarke Sanders/Unsplash
Never in the history of humanity has bullying been so inventive and thus destructive. Cyberbullies exploit this digital age to spread hate. They intentionally and repeatedly use the internet to cause harm, fear or distress to people. Their behaviour includes harassing individuals they consider weak and defenceless, denigrating them and harming their reputation, typical of hate speech spreaders. Although cyberbullying has become destructive and feels unstoppable, there are techniques for dealing with it.
Feeling helpless and alone facing the cyberbullying beasts, Megan Meier, Amanda Todd, Todd Loik and many other youth have taken their own life to flee the inhumane emotional pain they experienced.
They are not alone. Cyberbullying victims are twice more likely to attempt suicide, especially when passive bystanders witness their suffering and do nothing. Some live stream their own suicide in a desperate attempt to get attention.
The majority of bullying — 85 per cent — happens in front of other people and yet, a recent Ipsos survey conducted in August 2017 on behalf of the Canadian Red Cross revealed that only one third of Canadians who witnessed cyberbullying stood up to it.
Not long ago, U.S. President Trump’s cyberbully behaviour gave the green light to his followers to further victimise Muslims and refugees online. This led to a 600 per cent increase on online hate speech in Canada.
Attempts to stop cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is not limited to one context. When it happens, it derails human potential and we all bear the consequences. For this reason, many actively try to find solutions to stop it.
Anti-bullying campaigns such as #SpreadKindness, #ERASEBullying and #enoughisenough promote healthy relationships between youth and encourage victims to speak out and share their success stories of overcoming bullying and cyberbullying.
On Feb. 28, many Canadians will wear a pink T-shirt and share one slogan: “Bullying stops here! Together we can make a difference.” The main goal of the Pink T-Shirt Day Society Anti-Bullying Campaign is to start conversations.
Kestrel McNeil, Demi Lovato and Ed Sheeran are examples of bullying survivors, who lived to tell their story. However, despite our support, very few at-risk individuals can stand up to cyberbullies, let alone tell their stories. They remain one click away from being victimised and cyberbullied.
As bystanders, we have a moral and ethical obligation to protect them from the cyberbullying targeting them.
Get ready to act
Cyberbullies thrive in contexts of real or imagined power imbalance. To end cyberbullying, we need to ensure power balance. This will happen when bystanders are actively involved.
More Canadians must take action when they witness cyberbullying. The results of my recent doctoral research confirm that this is possible.
Passive bystanders can become agents of change, but not in a snap of a finger. They need to examine and address what holds them back and become equipped and empowered to actively counter social media propaganda and cyberbullying.
Get Ready to Act Against Social Media Propaganda Model.
The Get Ready to Act Against Social Media Propaganda model I propose based on the results of my study facilitates this process.
The violence shared on social media disturbed these young adults. Yet, almost all opted to act as passive bystanders because they did not believe their actions could make a difference. Once we started our in-depth discussions, they recognized their inaction was contributing to the triumph of hate speech.
Then, they designed strategies to counterbalance social media propaganda. They addressed factors that influenced their move to action, and they evaluated their readiness to act.
Negative posts shared online were evaluated and discussed. Nadia Naffi
The five-stage model
Here are the five stages of the Get Ready to Act Against Social Media Propaganda model. Each stage builds on the previous:
Stage 1 – Question: What is my position?
In the question stage, we explain our stance on a controversial issue targeted through social media propaganda and cyberbullying. We ask ourselves: What is our position and why? By recognising our beliefs and by trying to understand their origins we set the stage for examining our behaviours.
Stage 2 – Analyze: How do I explain my reactions?
In the analyze stage, we identify the passive bystander behaviours we currently exhibit when we encounter or are targeted by cyberbullying. We discuss how we interpret these behaviours and explain the reasons behind them. We also examine our networks’ behaviours and how we react to them. At this stage we should ask ourselves which online social media posts draw our attention and why. We should examine, question and explain our own reactions and how we interpret those of our social network to cyberbullying behaviour.
Stage 3 – Design: What do I want to do?
Once our stance is identified and our current behaviours examined, we engage in the design stage. In this stage, we create our own online digital counter-propaganda counter-cyberbullying strategies. These strategies are based on our social media skills and the cyberbullying behaviours we recognised in the analysis stage. At this point, we should set our goals for designing an anti-bullying campaign. Who is our audience? What skills do I need to help and what actions can and should I take? Why?
Stage 4 – Prepare: What holds me back from action?
After these strategies are detailed, we consider the catalysts and the inhibitors of our move to action. Designing strategies does not imply their implementation. Thus, in the prepare stage, we recall the factors that motivate us to engage in the counter-cyberbullying actions, and address the factors that could hinder our agency. We must ask ourselves: Do I care enough to act? And we should find out what holds us back from acting and figure out how to eliminate barriers to action.
Stage 5 – Evaluate: Am I ready to act?
The evaluation stage is mandatory before actually moving to action. In this stage, we evaluate our readiness to act. At this point, we have already determined our positioning in regards to the sensitive and controversial issue, we have recognised the reasons why we acted as passive bystanders, we have designed a clear plan for action and we have addressed the factors that could hold us back. Questions that remains are: Are we confident enough to act or is a return to a previous stage needed? How confident am I to actively engage in the anti-bullying counter-propaganda actions I planned?
Agents of change
This model, which I created based on the results of my research, works on the idea that learning about oneself and understanding one’s own behaviours in cyberbullying contexts is key to transform passive bystanders into agents of change. It helps youth delve into the issues and face what holds them back.
The model is a potential solution to disrupt hate discourses and cyberbullying. Its strength lies in its adaptability to contexts where “othering” occurs and is heavily influenced and reinforced by social media.
In these contexts, refugees, indigenous people, LGBTQ+ groups, Blacks and other groups are victimised through social media and many people opt for a passive bystander stance while their agency could make a difference.
On this coming 2018 International Stand Up to Bullying day, I urge civic educators, social workers, curriculum developers, policy makers, parents and all Canadians concerned with the takeover of social media by hate speech proponents and cyberbullies to use the Get Ready to Act Against Social Media Propaganda model to help passive bystander youth become ready to act as agents of change.
QCostarica.com was not involved in the creation of the content. Nadia Naffi, Full-Time Faculty in the Education Department (Educational Technology) & Public Scholar, Concordia University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
The integral daily income is 26,583 bolivars (USD $0.13), which cannot even afford a cup of coffee. (Twitter)
For many Venezuelans, the choice is between going to work in exchange for a few bolivars a day, or looking for less and less products that are sold at controlled prices to be resold on the black market; taking into account that a bus ticket can be worth a full salary.
The integral daily income is 26,583 bolivars (USD $0.13), which cannot even afford a cup of coffee. (Twitter)
In Venezuela, devaluation has made it more expensive to go to work than it is to stay home. Instead of paying for the transportation, clothing, and food they can’t afford, many Venezuelan employees prefer to simply leave their jobs.
The same applies to university students, who see the effort of studying as”uphill” since their income can’t cover the cost of studying.
“Just going outside means a huge expense”
A report by AP shows that many Venezuelans decide to not go to work to in an effort to save money. Quitting, it turns out, allows them to stretch their saving longer towards the end of the month; especially those who earn a minimum wage.
Es tan grave la situación en Venezuela que muchos venezolanos no van a trabajar porque si lo hacen pierden plata. Solamente salir a la calle significa un gasto enorme.
“The situation in Venezuela is so serious that many Venezuelans do not go to work because if they do, they lose money. Just going outside means a huge expense” said Hugo Santaromita, a popular radio host, and political analyst, in a tweet.
Taking into account that a bus ticket can cost up as much as a full month’s salary, for many Venezuelans the choice is between going to work in exchange for a few bolivars a day or looking for products that are sold at state-controlled prices.
For many, abandoning their professions and taking up side jobs is more profitable than making use of university degrees. A significant number of Venezuelans choose not engage in any type of productive activity and subsist at the expense of some type of government grant.
The integral daily income, equivalent to 26,583 bolivars (USD $ 0.13), barely covers the purchase of a cup of coffee. In Venezuela, the minimum wage is 248,510 bolivars (USD $ 1,2) and food vouchers are worth 549,000 bolivars (USD $ 2,7); a total of USD $ 4 monthly income. A basket of basic needs for a family exceeds 25 million bolivares (USD $ 125).
“How can I convince them to continue?”
Unsurprisingly, the situation has also decreased university enrollment.
The young man was wearing the festival bracelet, but, apparently, is not the one used this year. Alfonso Quesada.
A 32-year-old man identified as Wesner Chavarría Camareno, died on Sunday at Playa Uvita, Puntarenas, believed to be participating in the renowned Envision 2018 festival.
The young man was wearing the festival bracelet, but, apparently, is not the one used this year. Alfonso Quesada, La Teja
The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) relying on witness accounts said that after 7 am on Sunday, Chavarria was on the beach. Apparently, by that time the water reached his knees and suddenly vanished. The young man, from Liberia, Guanacaste, was found at dawn on the shore of the beach.
As it is a private event, the event security was in charge of coordinating with the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) for the transfer of Chavarria to local medical center; however, it was reported that upon his arrival at the hospital he was already dead. Investigators are waiting on the results of the autopsy for the official cause of death, to determine if he drowned or overdosed on drugs.
Last Thursday Wesner shared this photo on his Facebook to tell that he was very happy enjoying Playa Uvita. Taken from Facebook
Apparently, it is unclear if Chavarria was a participant of the Envision Festival that began on Thursday in Playa Uvita, because on his left hand he had a bracelet with the name of the activity, however, it is rumored that said bracelet was one used in previous years.
The Envision Festival has been held in Costa Rica for the last eight years, an event that brings together dozens of national and international people who love art, spirituality, yoga, dance and the connection with nature.
Photo by: Eric Allen Photo for Envision Festival
This event does not have the support of many locals in the area because they assure that the attendees just come to consume drugs and alcohol.
The body of a young boy was found in the Saripiqui river Sunday morning
On Sunday (to the afternoon) there were five deaths due to water accidents in Costa Rica’s waters. Among them, three brothers from Las Mesas de Pejibaye of Pérez Zeledón and a boy whose body was found in the Sarapiquí River.
In a world deconstructed by mega data, Colombia, once again, makes a list and one we can all relate to – traffic. The 2017 Inrix Global Traffic Scorecard has calculated urban travel across five continents, and included Bogotá among 100 cities in terms of “traffic health.”
But, the results are hardly encouraging.
The Colombian capital is ranked as the most traffic congested in all of South America and takes fifth spot worldwide.
Los Angeles was ranked by Inrix Inc., a leader in transportation analytics, as the world’s most gridlocked city with drivers spending 102 hours a year stuck in traffic during peak travel times. Moscow took second place with 91 hours followed by New York with 89. In fifth place, and trailing San Francisco by a mere 3-hours, is Bogotá, with commuters spending 80-hours in dreaded trancónes.
According to the Scorecard that compiles data from millions of connected cars to smartphone navigation applications, 10 cities in the United States are ranked among the top 25 cities worldwide with the worst traffic congestion.
Bogotanos lose almost two full working weeks a year trying to get from their homes to the workplace and back again. To put this into perspective, as the state of our “traffic health” generates plenty of stress, with an average of 21 long weekends a year, as well as 80 hours spent behind the wheel, at least one month in a year, is a lost cause. This, not counting the official national and religious holidays.
So, if you feel that you simply don’t have enough time on your hands, take comfort in that Sao Paulo and London are just a few minutes faster every day than Bogotá. And the most free-flowing city in world? New Orleans.
A suspected drug chief known as the “Pablo Escobar of Ecuador” was extradited to the US on Saturday, Colombia’s chief prosecutor’s office has announced.
Police officers escorting a man identified as Washington Edison Prado after his arrest in Colombia in April. Photograph: AP
Washington Edison Prado tried unsuccessfully to prevent extradition by claiming membership of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) a status that would have made him eligible for a type of amnesty under a peace deal.
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Prado was escorted by a detail of 50 commandos and agents of various police agencies as he was turned over to US authorities.
US officials accuse Prado, also known by the alias Gerald, of shipping more than 200 tonnes of cocaine to the US.
Police say he ran the most sophisticated smuggling route on the Pacific coast of South America, and they compared it to Escobar’s Medellín cartel of three decades ago because it sought to dominate the entire cocaine supply chain from production to its distribution in the US.
Police say his group sent as many as 10 go-fast boats a week, each carrying around a tonne of cocaine.
He allegedly began as a boatman running drugs along Ecuador’s coast and rose to become head of a small army of smugglers spread across five countries. Prado was arrested in Colombia in April on an indictment by a Florida federal court.
Catalina Freer said that many of her photos that the agency chose were taken by her boyfriend Lorenzo Botero. Photography: Courtesy Catalina Freer.
Costa Rican model Catalina Freer is preparing to compete in the big leagues of modeling after signing this past week with one of the main agencies in the United States and cities such as Paris (France), Milan (Italy) and London (England).
Catalina Freer said that many of her photos that the agency chose were taken by her boyfriend Lorenzo Botero. Photog courtesy Catalina Freer.
The 26-year-old Tica is now the talent of Next Model Management, a prestigious modeling and talent agency founded in 1989 in New York in 1989 and has promoted the careers such as Abbey Lee, Meghan Collison, Marloes Horst and Zuzanna. Bijoch, and of male superstars like Andrés Velencoso, David Agbodji, Jon Kortajarena, Marlon Teixeira and Larry Scott.
“All this really started a year ago. I started traveling constantly to Miami (Florida) because my boyfriend lives here. I worked with several photographers as an independent model and it was they who recommended me to look for an agency. I contacted onea few weeks ago and yesterday (on Tuesday) I did the casting and they accepted me immediately,” Freer said.
Catalina Freer is 26 years old and started in modeling since she was 15 years old. Photography courtesy Catalina Freer.
La Nacion’s Viva reports the contract with the agency will mean the Tica will be settling in Miami, in the coming months. “I will be moving to Miami in two months and I will start working internationally and traveling to Los Angeles and New York. They told me about some opportunities in Germany and an interest for Sports Illustrated magazine, “said the model from Miami.
The Herediana said that signing with an agency with great experience and international projection will support her career and allow her access to opportunities in the industry that she had was passed up because she had not been with a U.S. modeling agency.
“I’m excited because it’s something I’ve wanted all my life. Next is one of the best agencies in the world and represents the best models, which participate in the most important runways and campaigns in the world, ” she reiterated.
In Costa Rica, Catalina Freer is a renowned model not only for her career on the runway, but also because she is the owner of the High Select Models agency and the HSM Talents academy.
With the aim of increasing trade relations between both countries, Nicaragua and Costa Rica will reactivate the Chamber of Industry and Commerce jointly, in order to expand trade relations between the two countries.
The president of the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Mario Solano Salazar, has convened several companies in Nicaragua that have business relations with Costa Rica, and major companies of Costa Rican capital to the Embassy of Costa Rica in Managua, to reactivate starting on March 6, the Chamber of Industry and Nicaraguan-Costa Rican Trade (CADICONIC).
The objective, explained Salazar, is “to strengthen the expansion of commercial relations between both countries and to facilitate customs and consular and to expedite border procedures.”
CADICONIC acquired its legal status in May 1996. According to estimates of the Central Bank, in 2017 Nicaragua exported products for US$129.3 million dollars to, and imported US$444.2 million dollars from Costa Rica.
Nicaragua sells bovine meat, live cattle, beans, wheat flour, oranges, coffee, unroasted peanuts, rum and shrimp, among other products to Costa Rica.
Meanwhile, Nicaragua buys oil, fuels and lubricants, raw materials and intermediate goods for agricultural and industrial use, palm oil, sauces, medicines, plastic articles and fine bakery products from Costa Rica.
The sector in which there is more Costa Rican capital in Nicaragua is the industrial sector, followed by agriculture and commerce and services, according to Salazar.
“We consider it appropriate to strengthen our commercial policy actions, not only for business and investment promotion, but also to improve the facilities of financing windows for the development of joint projects,” said Salazar.
Standard & Poor’s maintained Costa Rica’s debt rating at BB, but warned that it could lower it this year if the next government (on May 8) does not take measures to resolve the fiscal problem.
In its review of the long-term debt rating and in the short term, the rating agency again pointed out that due to the absence of a fiscal reform, public finances continue to erode, limiting the possibilities of long-term growth and increasing vulnerability to external shocks.
S&P ensures that the probability of a reduction in the debt in the course of this year is 33%, if the new government in May fails to address the problem of public finances.
Persistent and high fiscal deficits could result in lower GDP growth, a higher debt burden and growing external vulnerabilities, leading to a downgrade in the rating.
On the contrary, a prompt approval of a fiscal reform that reduces the deficit and stabilizes in general terms the burden of the government debt, along with a growth in the economy and moderate account deficits could prevent further erosion of the financial profile. This could, the rating agency explains, result in an improvement in the rating outlook, from negative to stable, this year.
Click here for Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings (requires registration)
From a press release by Standard & Poor’s
– Lack of fiscal reform continues to erode Costa Rica’s public finances, constraining its long-term growth prospects and highlighting its vulnerability to external shocks.
– We are affirming our ‘BB-‘ long-term foreign and local currency ratings on Costa Rica.
– The outlook remains negative, reflecting the one-in-three chances that we could lower the ratings on Costa Rica this year if the new administration that takes office later this year fails to address the fiscal situation of the country.
RATING ACTION On Feb. 21, 2018, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its ‘BB-‘ long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Costa Rica. The outlook remains negative. At the same time, we affirmed our ‘B’ short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings and our ‘BB+’ transfer and convertibility assessment.
OUTLOOK The negative outlook reflects the at least one-in-three chance that we could lower the ratings this year if the new administration that takes office later this year fails to promptly address the fiscal situation of the country. Persistently high fiscal deficits could result in lower GDP growth, a higher debt burden, and increased external vulnerabilities that would lead to a downgrade.
Conversely, early approval of a fiscal reform that reduces the fiscal deficit and stabilizes the general government’s debt burden, along with continued economic growth and moderate current account deficits (CADs), could prevent further erosion of the sovereign’s financial profile. This could lead us to revise the outlook to stable this year.
RATIONALE The ratings on Costa Rica reflect its stable political system, ample political checks and balances, and higher social indicators than peers’. It also reflects the weak government effectiveness to approve fiscal reform quickly. Many years of large fiscal deficits have raised the government’s debt burden. That, along with a high level of dollarization in the financial system and overall monetary inflexibility, contributes to its external vulnerability.
Institutional and economic profile: New political landscape might increase the chances of fiscal reform, which could benefit economic growth Costa Rica’s stable political system and higher social indicators compare positively with peers. The inability of the outgoing government of President Luis Guillermo Solis to implement fiscal reform has weakened public finances. National elections this year offer the possibility that the new president and Congress might advance quickly with long-discussed fiscal reform. Timely reform that reduces the fiscal deficit would have a positive impact on investors’ confidence and economic growth over the next few years. Costa Rica continues to compare positively with peers in the region and insimilar rating categories because of its strong democratic history, the stability of its political institutions, and higher social standards. Overall low poverty and crime compare positively among most of its Central American peers. We estimate that its GDP per capita would reach US$11,580 in 2018.
However, our assessment of its institutional effectiveness also reflects the inability of several consecutive governments–including Congress–to take measures on revenue and spending to control a persistently large fiscal deficit. A prolonged stalemate in Congress over policies to boost tax revenues and contain government spending has contributed to currently weak public finances, lower investor confidence, and worse debt management.
The results of national elections on Feb. 4, 2018, indicate that the new Congress will be modestly less fragmented than the last one, which could help advance fiscal reform this year. Also, the recent political debate about fiscal issues during the political campaign, along with support from the private sector and international organizations, could encourage the new administration and Congress to take corrective actions soon.
In the presidential race, Fabricio Alvarado from Partido Restauracion Nacional (PRN) got 24.9% of votes, and Carlos Alvarado from the ruling Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) got 21.6% of votes. They will face a runoff election on April 1, 2018. These results show an overall vote against the country’s two traditional political parties over the last 30 years, Partido Liberacion Nacional (PLN) and Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), neither of which has a candidate in the second round of the presidential elections.
Regardless of the winner, we expect overall continuity in economic policy. Besides the fiscal reform, the new government will also face accelerating public infrastructure investment and improve effectiveness of education spending, among other challenges.
A smooth political transition and early approval of a fiscal reform could help recover economic growth momentum. GDP growth of 3.2% in 2017 was the lowest since 2013. Growth slowed in part because of less dynamic internal demand. Weak demand reflects rising domestic interest rates, a consequence of heavy government borrowing in the country’s limited domestic market.
For 2018 and 2019, we expect broadly similar economic activity in the country, with average real GDP growth of 3.4% and GDP per capita growth of around 2%. Projected higher economic growth in the U.S. should keep the exports increasing, more than likely offsetting higher prices on imports. Nevertheless, current higher local interest rates would continue reflecting slower credit growth and sluggish private consumption and investment.
Over the next few years, fiscal reform would also contribute to easing pressure on the local credit market, which could improve credit conditions for the private sector. Sustainable public finances and a more efficient energy sector while keeping crime rates low should keep Costa Rica’s foreign direct investment (FDI) attractive and could boost economic growth.
Flexibility and performance profile: Fiscal deterioration and external vulnerabilities are likely to persist, while inflation could remain within target over the next two years We expect the general government fiscal deficit and debt levels to remain high, and potentially rise if there is not fiscal reform. The CAD would likely remain moderate over the next few years, mostly financed through FDI.
Inflation will likely remain within the central bank’s target despite expected higher commodity prices. The still-high level of dollarization in the financial system exposes Costa Rica to external shocks. The general government deficit continued to increase and reached 5.7% of GDP in 2017 (our definition of general government includes the central bank, decentralized government agencies, and social security). On the expenditure side, the main drivers were increases in central government capital expenditures and interest payments. On the revenue side, the tax and nontax revenue growth rate decelerated to 4% from 9% the previous year, following decelerating GDP growth.
Our base case assumes a slightly worse fiscal deficit this year (above 6% of GDP) and implementation of fiscal reform that starts to show results in 2019, gradually reducing the general government deficit toward 4.5% in 2020. Such a fiscal trajectory should also help reduce the growing debt trend. In 2017, net general government debt reached 44.7% of GDP, more than double the 21% of 2010. A comprehensive fiscal reform would be necessary to stabilize and eventually start reducing the sovereign debt in the following years.
We forecast that Costa Rica’s debt would continue rising to reach close to 52% of GDP in 2020. We expect a similar trend for interest payments that should nevertheless stay below 13% of general government revenues over the same period. In 2017, interest payments reached the highest level over the last 10 years representing 11% of such revenues.
As of December 2017, 21% of general government debt was denominated in foreign currency. Over the last two years, the country has not been able to issue externally because of a lack of Congressional authorization, which is causing a crowding out effect in the local credit market, with a corresponding rise in interest rates and deceleration of private credit.
Given that the banks’ assets-to-GDP ratio is 77% and that our Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) is at ‘7’, we consider Costa Rica’s contingent liabilities as limited. (BICRAs are grouped on a scale from ‘1’ to ’10’, ranging from what we view as the lowest-risk banking systems [group ‘1’] to the highest-risk [group ’10’].) This is also based on the immaterial size of the non-deposit-taking corporations (3% of GDP) relative to the size of the deposit-taking institutions and that the nonfinancial public enterprises have had historically flat balances.
Costa Rica’s external profile has deteriorated in recent years, given a CAD that has averaged close to 4% over the last five years. In 2017, the CAD reached 3.2% of GDP, covered in full by FDI. The CAD rose from the previous year (2.6% of GDP) mainly because of a higher net income deficit following increased interest and dividend payments. The trade deficit stayed at 9% of GDP, balancing increased exports with higher oil prices that in turn increased the import bill, while the service balance continued to post a surplus of 10.5% of GDP with almost half from the tourism sector.
We expect a gradual increase in Costa Rica’s CAD toward 4% of GDP up to 2020, mostly financed by FDI, containing the sovereign’s external debt burden. This should keep the sovereign’s gross external financing needs around 105% of current account receipts and usable reserves, and its narrow net external debt (gross external debt less official reserves, other liquid external assets held by the public sector, and financial-sector external assets) around 52% of CAR in 2018-2020.
Our projection considers higher expected U.S. growth, the main destination of the country’s exports and source of tourism; moderate currency depreciation; and possibly rising commodity prices and increased imports as economic growth recovers.
FDI continues to perform well despite increasing fiscal pressures and political uncertainty. In 2017, FDI reached 5% of GDP, broadly in line with the average of the previous three years. Steady FDI flows could be explained by the overall good business climate, low crime rates, and stronger human capital than its peers in the region.
A high level of dollarization in the financial system exposes Costa Rica to external shocks and, at the same time, constrains its monetary policy. An unexpectedly sharp change in the exchange rate could create asset quality problems in the financial system. Dollarization also limits the central bank’s ability to act as a lender of last resort. In 2017, dollar-denominated loans represented 39% of total loans to the private sector.
Inflation recovered to 2.6% by year-end 2017 from historical lows around 0% in the previous two years following increasing prices in commodities, particularly hydrocarbons. We expect inflation to remain within the central bank’s target over the next two years (3% plus/minus 1) as we expect that private consumption would stay subdued given higher interest rates compared to previous years, which would compensate for higher commodity prices. Our inflation forecast also considers a similar Colon gradual depreciation as in previous years.
The central bank’s exchange-rate policy is managed-floating. Episodes of exchange-rate volatility in 2017 were because of long-lasting low local interest rates, despite increases in the U.S. interest rate, which contributed to local currency depreciation. The central bank acted rapidly by using its foreign exchange reserves and increasing local interest rates to stabilize the currency in the second half of the year. Recurrent central bank intervention would prevent steep local currency depreciation over the next 12 months. In October 2017, the central bank signed a new loan with Fondo Latinoamericano de Reservas (FLAR) for US$1 billion that will be disbursed this year. The bank estimates that reserves will stay around 13% of GDP, a level we consider adequate.
In 2018, credit growth will likely remain slow. We are expecting lower credit demand under the country’s electoral process, which brings uncertainty, coupled with higher interest rates, which could result in a fall of the consumption confidence levels and in credit appetite. As in 2017, we expect this slowdown to continue during the first months of 2018 and then confidence levels could be restored during the second half of 2018, reaching annual credit growth around 8%, supported mainly by corporate and commercial lending.
People have taken to the streets in protests against corruption in countries from the Dominican Republic to Brazil
It does not seem long ago that analysts were predicting a new chapter in Latin America.
At the start of the 21st Century, the region’s politics were entering a new dawn. For many the change was invigorating: a new socialist era in a region long-known for its gaping inequalities.
Left-wing leaders from Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina were once a force to reckon with
The poster boys of these new politics were Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. And across Latin America, from Bolivia to Ecuador and Argentina, the left won out.
Happily ever after?
Fast-forward nearly two decades and Lula, who once was Brazil’s most popular politician, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for crimes connected to Operation Car Wash, the largest corruption investigation in the country’s history.
Hugo Chávez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro, has run Venezuela into the ground. People are going hungry and more than four in five people in a country with vast oil reserves are living in poverty.
When Mauricio Macri won the presidential election in Argentina in 2015, he ended eight years of Peronist rule under Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Last year, center-right candidate Sebastián Piñera won Chile’s elections.
And in Costa Rica earlier this month, an evangelical preacher won the first round of the presidential election and currently maintains the lead ahead of the second round in April.
Election Marathon
This year, six presidential elections are taking place in the region.
April 1: Costa Rica second round
April 22: Paraguay & Venezuela
May 27: Colombia first round
June 17: Colombia run-off (if required)
July 1: Mexico
October 7: Brazil first round
October 28: Brazil run-off (if required)
Two-thirds of the region’s more than 600 million inhabitants will be voting for a new leader and those elected could profoundly change the way Latin America looks and acts.
So are we seeing a marked swing from the left to the right? It is not that simple.
“I think it is very difficult to identify a clear narrative,” says Oliver Stuenkel, a professor of International Relations at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo.
“Basically the entire political situation in most countries is in flux with the tendency that established parties will not be able to hold onto power and new parties will come in.”
There are however several things that unify the region.
Economy
A decade or so ago, Latin America was riding high on a commodities boom.
Image caption Soybeans are one of Brazil’s top exports
That meant that countries like Venezuela, with its vast oil reserves, and Brazil, with its commodities such as soy, sugar, coffee and orange juice, could afford to support its generous social programmes.
The region grew on average around 6% between 2003 and 2008, helping to lift millions of people out of poverty.
It is a different era now. Economic growth has slowed right down.
“Between 70 and 80 million people moved from poverty to the middle class,” says Daniel Zovatto, the Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
“But it’s a very precarious middle class that risks returning to poverty.”
With dissatisfaction rising, political allegiances are changing.
Corruption
Corruption is the buzzword of Latin American politics.
People have taken to the streets in protests against corruption in countries from the Dominican Republic to Brazil
According to Transparency International, more than half of people in the region feel their government is doing badly at fighting corruption.
More than 90 million people said they paid a bribe in 2015. Corruption is not new, but people’s attitude to it is changing.
Brazil’s Car Wash corruption probe can take some responsibility for that.
It has implicated not just the country’s biggest politicians and business leaders but its tentacles have spread right across the region, from Peru and Panama to Venezuela.
So what is different now? Daniel Zovatto likens it to the recent controversy over sexual violence.
“Sexual harassment isn’t new either, but look at the impact now,” he says. “There’s a change in culture, a change in values,” he says, adding that with the rise in the middle class, it is not as acceptable as it was before.
Social media
The way people consume politics in the region is also changing.
Latin Americans are some of the biggest users of social media. Brazil has the third-largest numbers of Facebook users in the world.
“Social media is making things quite complicated,” says Oliver Stuenkel.
“A lot of people are becoming more isolated from other mainstream debate. You now have less productive dialogue due to extreme polarization, which is quite worrying because it makes more difficult to establish compromises.”
Polarization
That is especially so in places like Brazil where Lula still has millions of followers despite the corruption charges against him.
Lula still commands a loyal following
But on the other side of the political divide, there is a growing anti-Lula movement and increasingly powerful right-wing groups are shouting down the left.
Politics is polarised and that is being echoed across the region.
No more so than in Colombia where President Juan Manuel Santos brokered a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016 after more than 50 years of conflict. The deal divided Colombians.
But beyond the division over the peace process, one thing unites Colombians and that is anger over corruption.
After President Santos had to apologize for illegal funds being funneled into his campaign, people want change and that will be a big focus of the country’s presidential elections in May.
Populism
People want a new kind of leadership.
In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro is second in the polls behind Lula
“There is a crisis of representative democracy across the globe. You have to be much more attentive to the different forms in which reality exists,” says former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
“You can’t put them all together with a simple label. We have to go deeper to understand what’s really going on.”
In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, an extreme right-wing politician, is polling second behind Lula who may not even be able to run because of his criminal record.
A nationalist who supports military intervention in Brazil, Mr Bolsonaro’s populist style has drawn a great deal of support from people who feel the country needs strong leadership.
The region’s second-biggest economy, Mexico, has a populist candidate of its own but Andrés Manuel López Obrador could not be more different.
While Bolsonaro has been nick-named Brazil’s Trump, López Obrador despises the US President and wants to clamp down on crime and corruption.
However, both men clearly show the desire in the region for a new kind of politics and a rejection of the political elite.
Democracy
There is a deep distrust of institutions across the region.
According to polls carried out by Latinobarómetro, just 53% of people in 2017 thought democracy was the best way of governing. That is the fifth consecutive year it has fallen.
Brazilians are the least happy with democracy in the entire region. Just 13% declare themselves satisfied with democracy.
What makes people think these elections will change that? Oliver Stuenkel things the dissatisfaction will give rise to more extreme candidates.
“In many countries you have authoritarian candidates saying that the difficulty of democracy is that it takes a long time to make a decision, that it’s necessary to concentrate power,” he says, giving the examples of Bolivia, Venezuela and parts of Central America.
Mauricio Fronzaglia, professor of political science at Mackenzie University, agrees.
“Democracy does not deliver what democracy once promised,” he says.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso thinks the problem is more nuanced. “We have democracy, we’re following laws, following the constitution. What is lacking is legitimacy.”
And that cannot be solved in an election.
QCostarica.com was not involved in the creation of the content. This article by Katy Watson BBC South America correspondent was originally published on BBC.com. Read the original article.
The America dominated the whole game at pleasure and in the minute of game Cecilio Domínguez was in charge of opening the account for the Mexicans. Photography: Rafael Pacheco
Mexico’s America blew out Costa Rica’s Saprissa 5-1 in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions League.
Mexico’s America dominated the entire game against the Saprissa at home in Costa Rica. Photo: Rafael Pacheco, La Nacion
Paraguayan Cecilio Dominguez and Colombian Mateus Uribe were the stars for America, each scoring two goals in Wednesday night’s match, while Ecuadorian Renato Ibarra added a score for the Mexican club.
America got off to a solid start, playing with intensity and dominating the pitch.
Dominguez put America on the scoreboard in the second minute of the match at a packed Ricardo Saprissa Stadium.
Saprissa was unable to get anything going against America coach Miguel Herrera’s club, which threw its entire arsenal at the Costa Rican team.
Uribe nailed his first goal in the 34th minute and Dominguez added his second goal in the 44th minute for America.
The Mexican team was not done, with Ibarra making it 4-0 on a goal in the 58th minute.
Saprissa’s Ariel Rodriguez finally put the home team on the scoreboard in the 73rd minute, only to have Uribe nail his second goal of the match six minutes later.
The teams will play the second leg of the series on Feb. 28 at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium.
Neither of the two Presidential Candidates, Fabricio Alvarado of the National Restoration Party (PRN), or Carlos Alvarado of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), has the intestinal fortitude to address the economic reform that is required, that being the revision downwards of the extremely high pensions and bonuses paid to employees in the Public Sector.
The loss of the Civil Service employee votes would mean the loss of the Presidency, so neither candidate will speak about it. Wages and benefits paid to employees in the Public Sector in Costa Rica regularly exceed those paid for similar public service positions in such First World countries as the U.S. and Canada.
By saying nothing, the Candidates are basically “buying the votes” of the Civil Service by maintain the status quo; this, in my opinion, is to the detriment of Costa Rica and its citizens as a whole.
I believe that everything I said then, still applies now, to the well-being of the Costa Rica Economy going forward. Needless to say, nothing has been done in the implementation of any of these proposals since the blog was originally published.
Fearing “political suicide”, I doubt that either of the two current Presidential Candidates will address these issues in any meaningful way prior to the Election on April 1, 2018.
Parking in downtown San Jose is a challenge. Right? An app(lication) now makes life easier in the capital city, eliminating the time to looking for a parking space. The epakr CR app allows users to quickly and safely park in downtown San jose.
Users of the app can ‘reserve’ their parking space, without having to drive around the block or more to find an available parking meter.
The app is free to download on smartphones and other mobile devices, both for Android and OS (Apple), and includes spaces on more than 3,000 meters in the four districts of downtown San Jose: Carmen, Merced, Catedral and Hospital.
Easy to use
Register online or download the app and register. You will be asked for your name, email and telephone number. Once registered you can add your license plate number and start using the system, once you’ve added your method of payment that can be with a credit card, debit card, virtual wallet, the Quickpass issued by the Banco Nacional, Compass by the BAC or BN Servicios.
To use, simply choose the meter (from a list) you plan to use, select the vehicle (license plate), the time you plan to use and payment method.
Currently, the cost for an hour is ¢780 colones, and ¢390 for a half hour.
The slips are history. With epark CR you do not need paper slips on the vehicle
A reminder 10 minutes before the time is to expire is sent to the user and allows to extend the time, if necessary. Running over time without extending will result in a fine.
There is no need to purchase – or go looking for a seller – parking meter slips to be placed on the dash. Epark CR does away with the use of parking slips and is monitored by up to 40 municipal parking meter ‘agents’, that have a record of the license plates and outstanding time.
The epark CR is currently being used in conjunction with the parking meter boxes that issue the slips. Eventually, the digital system will replace that system.
The plan is part of San Jose’s ‘smart city’ that includes road planning and making good use of public spaces in a city collapsed by vehicular traffic.
San Jose mayor Johnny Araya said the initiative represents another step in the city’s strategy to turn the capital city into a city that offers connectivity to its visitors.
“Today, there is a global stream of smart cities. San Jose does not want to be left behind, and that is why we have already begun to take the first steps. We have a system of video surveillance cameras that, in my opinion, is the most developed in the country. In addition, there are pilot plans in various parts of the capital to generate free Wi-Fi zones,” said Araya.
According to the mayor, the idea is to continue positioning the capital as a “destination” and not just an “in transit” city.
Though less polluting, the state refinery Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope) admitted that the diesel it distributes since November to gasoline stations across the country can damage the fuel injection pumps of vehicle engines.
Photo Recope.go.cr
A report by La Nacion says that the new diesel fuel composition seems to ‘toast’ seals in the injection pump and cause leaks; but Recope will keep importing the fuel for the benefit of health and the environment.
However, in a statement by Recope on Friday, the state company says its diesel does not damage vehicle engines how wrongly it has been disclosed. “Faults detected only occur in the seals or packaging of some rotary type injection pumps, especially when the packaging is made of a material called nitrile,” says Recope.
The Recope acknowledges the fuel mix has less sulfur andthough they do damage to the engines of some vehicles, the fewer substances known as aromatics decrease health risks andthe impact on the environment.
The state refinery says, “In accordance with the research carried out by a technical team of the Company, the failure in the seals of the pumps, is mainly due to the use and longevity of the same, that when coming into contact with the current diesel, with a low content of aromatics, they do not manage to adjust to the new conditions, since with the passage of time they have lost their elasticity and break up causing the observed leaks.This effect is corrected by replacing the seals”.
In effect putting the blame on owners and vehicle maintenance and passing the buck to the ARESEP, the regulating authority, to investigae and resolve the concerns of users.
Recope says it consulted with other state institutions, including the MINAE (Ministry of the Enviroment), ARESEP, Ministry of Health, ICE, Chambers of Commerce, the office of the Ombudsman, and representatives of vehicle importers, as part of the process of defining the regulations,
Back to the La Nacion article, Naresh Khanna, director of Planning at Recope and coordinator of the group created in January, defended the new fuel composition said, “we did not know this was going to happen, but, after an analysis, we we determined that the impact by the decrease of aromatics is also linked to maintenance issues. We are going to value adjusting the composition of diesel but we will continue to import less polluting hydrocarbons. The country needs it because of the obvious benefits to public health. In addition, we believe that we will no longer have cases other than those we have already received.”
According to Khanna, the Recope has received about 30 complaints and ruled out reimbursing anyone economically.
In Costa Rica, Recope is the exclusive importer and distributor of gasoline and diesel fuel sold by independent retailers (gasoline stations) across the country. The price of fuel is regulated.
US$200 million is the figure by which investment in real estate development is estimated to increase between this year and next in the nicaraguan tourist city.
Crucero (cruise ship) with more than 2,000 tourists docks in San Juan del Sur (El Nuevo Diario, Jan 2018)
Estimates by the municipality of San Juan del Sur are based on the growth that real estate investment has experienced in this area since 2014. According to Deputy Mayor Randall Granja Fajardo, there are several projects underway and another five are awaiting approval.
“…’When these projects that are being executed finish being developed in 2019, they will add up to an investment of over US $200 million and at the same time all of that luxury infrastructure will strengthen San Juan del Sur as a privileged sun and beach destination in Latin America’ assured Granja.”
“… One of those projects is El Cielo, which is 60% complete. Roger Valerio Moncada, general manager of the project, stated that the residential complex consists of the construction of eight houses and two buildings, with eight apartments each. The project will be finalized in eight months and the total investment is US $11 million. It is purely Nicaraguan capital and to date 85% of the housing supply has been sold,’ he stated.”
Following the Brazilian construction company’s abandonment of the road work contract that had been awarded, the government intends to make a claim on the advance payment and performance bails which amounts to US$122 million dollars.
The contract consisting of the extension of 140 kilometers of the CA-2 West highway was awarded to the construction company Odebrecht in 2012, however, the company abandoned the work after performing work on only 43 kilometers.
Since then, the Guatemalan authorities have tried, without success, to liquidate the contract. In respect to this, Prensalibre.com reports that ” …On December 6, 2017 the administrative term that the Project Receiving and Liquidating Commission of the General Directorate of Roads had set for the settlement of the contract expired, however, by means of a “repair of works” act they extended the timeframe until the January 19, and Odebrecht did still did not provide the pending documents. ”
The article adds that ” … the Commission is working on an amendment so that the receipt of the bonds, the only thing that is lacking for the liquidation, is active and without a set deadline.”
David Ronald (left) broke his pelvis, back and arm after falling over three and a half metres in a Costa Rican jungle last week. Now, after two surgeries, he and his wife Kristen just want to come home — but the couple says they can't, because there are no hospital beds available in Ontario for him. (Kristen Ronald)
A Canadian man seriously injured in the Costa Rican jungle just wants to go home. But he can’t, because no hospital in his native Ontario has a bed for him according to the family.
David Ronald (left) broke his pelvis, back and arm after falling over three and a half metres in a Costa Rican jungle last week. Now, after two surgeries, he and his wife Kristen just want to come home — but the couple says they can’t, because there are no hospital beds available in Ontario for him. (Kristen Ronald)
David Ronald’s daughter-in-law Shannon Ronald said “We are at a loss of what to do. How are we unable to get a Hamiltonian in critical condition home? Completely disgusted with the health care system. Please help us get him home.”
Ontario Minister of Health Dr. Eric Hoskins disputed the family’s claim in a statement Wednesday, reported CBC News, saying intensive care unit beds were available in the Hamilton area around the time of the Feb. 15 accident that left Ronald with a broken pelvis, back, and arm.
Sometimes I wonder if he’d even get the level of care he’s gotten here in Ontario. – Kristen Ronald
The Hamilton (Ontario) man suffered a fall in while vacationing in Costa Rica with his wife, Kristen, who told the CBC News she and her husband are shocked at the state of the province’s overcrowded health-care system and just want to go home.
“I just never imagined the one thing that would keep us here is a bed,” she said on the phone from Costa Rica. “It’s so frustrating,” reported Adam Carter, for CBC News.
David and Kirsten were sleeping on a large deck at their friend’s home in Pavones, located in Costa Rican’s southern Pacific. “David woke up at around 2 am, and slipped and fell over three-and-a-half meters off the deck, breaking his pelvis, back, and arm,” said Kristen.
The accident occurred on February 15. Ever since the Ronalds have been trying to get back to Ontario, but they keep hearing from their insurance company that there are no beds available. Until one opens up, they can’t transport him.
While they are lauding the care they’ve received in Costa Rica, they are now desperate to get home, Kristen said. “He’s ready to travel, they have an air ambulance, and they’re ready to bring him home,” she said. “Sometimes I wonder if he’d even get the level of care he’s gotten here in Ontario.”
The Panama-based company, Mimo International Imports and Exports, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to the former president of the Costa Rican Football Federation (Fedefútbol), Eduardo Li, in yet another case in the FIFA corruption mega-scandal.
Eduardi Li, former president of the Fedefutobol
The company entered its plea before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn, to illicitly paying Li US$500,000 (about ¢284 million colones).
Chen ordered the company to pay a fine and restitution totaling US$1.4 million: US$500,000 to Fedefutbol and a US$900,000 fine.
According to a statement by Mimo’s attorney Barry Kingham read in court, the company agreed in 2014 to pay US$500,000 to Eduardo Li, then head of the Costa Rican soccer federation, so that he would sign a deal for a U.S. apparel company to sponsor Costa Rica’s national team.
Mimo was seeking to pull out of a 2012 deal in which it had agreed to manufacture or import apparel from an Italian company that sponsored the team while collecting a multimillion-dollar termination fee, Kingham said. The U.S.company agreed to pay that fee, Kingham said.
Prosecutors said Li received more than US$300,000 of the agreed-upon bribe before he was arrested in May 2015 in Zurich, FIFA headquarters.
Prosecutors did not name the U.S. company, saying Mimo shareholder Moises Zebede did not tell the company about the bride and told Li not to reveal it as well.
The FBI agent who handled the case, Bill Sweeney, said his agency will spare no effort to stop the criminal behavior that taints the sport of soccer.
In Costa Rica, the Fedefutbol has yet to comment on the case, La Nacion reports the current president of Fedefútbol, Rodolfo Villalobos, who at that time was the treasurer of theExecutive Committee chaired by Li, had agreed to an interview, but, later retracted saying it was “a sensitive issue”.
Through an alliance with the US Geological Survey, the government of Costa Rica will be carrying out an assessment of aquifers nationwide.
The aim of the evaluation is to obtain images of the aquifers to obtain information on the characteristics of the surface, infrastructure, rocks and vegetation.
Crhoy.com reports that “… ‘The authorities stated that this new technology will save time and money for the country because it will improve the success rate of drilling instead of continuing based on obsolete data or drilling by trial and error. ‘It is difficult to manage resources, if you do not have knowledge [of them] … We need to know what we have in order to manage it well,” said the Minister of Environment and Energy, Edgar Gutiérrez.”
“… For his part, José Miguel Zeledón, Water Director at the MINAE, said that the project will consist of four stages. In the first, the WATEX tool will be used; in the second, a hydrogeological evaluation will be carried out. The third stage will consist in the optimization of the use of the resource in a sustainable way and finally, in the fourth stage, a transfer of technologies will be done.”
The project will have a total cost of US$1,458,243, that is, ¢839 million colones.
Costa Rica is divided into three major drainage basins encompassing 34 watersheds with numerous rivers and tributaries, one major lake used for hydroelectric generation, and two major aquifers that serve to store 90% of the municipal, industrial, and agricultural water supply needs of Costa Rica.
Agriculture is the largest water user demanding around 53% of total supplies while the sector contributes 6.5% to the Costa Rica GDP. About a fifth of land under cultivation is being irrigated by surface water. Hydroelectric power generation makes up a significant portion of electricity usage in Costa Rica and much of this comes from the Arenal dam.
On this coming 
