U.S. imported beers cost less that national brands in Costa Rica. Photo Qcostarica
Q COSTA RICA – Beer imports to Costa Rica in the last four years went from us$8.8 million in 2012 to us$14 million in 2016, which is an increase of 67%.
According tothe Promotora de Comercio Exterior (Procomer ) – Foreign Trade Promotion Office – the main import market is the United States with US$7 million dollars recorded in 2016, followed by Mexico, with US$3.4 million dollars.
The following infographic by La Nacion details beer imports by country.
The diversified supply of imported beer has led The desire of Costa Ricans to experience different flavors and aromas of beer
The desire of the Costa Ricans to experience different flavors and aromas of beer has led this growth in imports.
Why is that an imported beer from the U.S. costs less that the homemade beers? See photo above, a can of Old milwaukeeMilwaukee is ¢580, while an Imperial light is ¢720 at the Masxmenos. Photo Qcostarica
Among the companies that import these beverages to the country, are the supermarket chain Auto Mercado, Grupo Pampa and Florida Ice & Farm (Fifco), the owner of the Cerveceria Costa Rica, the country’s major brewery.
Regardless of whether it is local, foreign or artisanal or craft beer has conquered the taste of Ticos, who went from consuming 146.7 million liters in 2010 to 169.2 in 2015, according to data from Euromonitor.
Anabelle Achí, head of imports of Auto Mercado, said “…the new world trends for beers, mainly a boom in artisan beers, has led to greater interest in consumers trying them out”.
The representative of the country’s upper end supermarket chain mentioned that, from 2014 to 2015, there was a 33% increase in the volume of beer brought into the country, this being the most significant increase.
The supermarket chain has a portfolio with around 150 types of beers from countries such as Germany, Argentina, Belgium, Spain, the United States, Guatemala, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and others.
In the case of Grupo Pampa (which imports the beer brands, Tecate, Dos Equis, Sol, it says to have an average growth of 10% in its imports during the last four years.
The commercial director of the firm, Fabian Gamboa, said that the increase in imports is due to the increasing desire of the consumer to try different types and origins of beers which, in turn, is a consequence of the fashion of craft beers.
At Fifco, besides brewing the national brands Imperial, Rock Ice, Pilsen, Bavaria and Heineken (under license) the company imports seven brands: Corona from Mexico; Budweiser, Genesee (starting last month), from the United States; Toña, from Nicaragua; Guinness, from Ireland; Paulaner, from Germany; and Gallo, from Guatemala.
“There is a consumer interested in trying beers from other countries, because each beer has a characteristic of its origin and profiles of different aroma and flavor,” said Fifco Corporate Relations director, Gisela Sánchez.
Sanchez added that the company do not rule out expanding further their portfolio of imported beers. Fifco did not provide information on the increase in imports in recent years.
At the regional level, data from CentralAmericaData’s Business Intelligence Unit indicates that in the first nine months of 2016 the Central American countries as a whole imported US$203 million worth of alcoholic beverages, with the main purchasing country being Panama with US$51 million, followed by Guatemala with US$50 million and Costa Rica with US$47 million.
TODAY VENEZUELA – Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez has criticized as “rude meddling” a joint communique by 11 Latin American countries calling on Venezuela’s government to “guarantee the right to peaceful protest”.
The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay rejected the violence, which led to the deaths of six people during the recent demonstrations. also condemned the death of six people in anti-government marches this month.
They called on President Maduro “to prevent any violence against protesters” and also called on opposition groups “to exercise their right to demonstrate responsibly so that the day remains peaceful with people expressing themselves calmly”.
The Latin American countries also called on the Venezuela government to quickly set dates for elections to be held “to solve the grave crisis which Venezuela is experiencing and which worries the region”.
Venezuela is deeply divided between those who support the government of the socialist President Nicolas Maduro and those who blame him for the country’s economic crisis and want him gone from power.
There has been a series of anti-government protests in the capital, Caracas, and other major cities, as well as marches by government supporters.
Regional elections originally due to be held in December 2016 were postponed by the electoral council to 2017, but a date has not yet been set.
Municipal elections are also due to be held in 2017.
Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez labelled the communique as “rude interference”. She also wrote that “these governments misuse international law to back interventionism in Venezuela to attempt to govern the country from abroad”.
She ended a series of tweets by saying that “there is no imperialist force in this world which can defeat the sovereign people of Venezuela”.
Q EXTRA – Despite their 13 year age difference, Heidi Klum and Vito Schabel have sizzling chemistry. The 43-year-old model could barely keep her hands off her boyfriend, 30, Monday during their romantic Costa Rican getaway.
The couple arrived at the Liberia airport on April 9 and left on the 15th.
Heidi looked amazing, showing off a head-to-toe tan along with washboard flat abs. The lovebirds – who were recently rumoured to have split – looked happily loved up as they smooched on the golden sands in Guanacaste.
While in Costa Rica, Heidi ditched her bikini top during a fishing trip.
“Gone Fishin !!!,” she captioned the Instagram pic below.
The Victoria’s Secret model is among the many celebrities who have chosen the beaches of Guancaste for leisure time, including Gisele Bündchen and the Kardashians.
Last month, Heidi was seen flashing her enviable figure on the beaches of the Maldives.
Photos from the Thesun.co.uk, DailyMail.co.uk and Instagram.
This is an ash particle that was increased 3,600 times by an electron microscope. It can be observed fractures that are the product of the cooling on leaving and comes in contact with the water (Gino González for LN)
An ash particle magnified 3,600 times by an electron microscope reveals fractures that are the product of cooling on as it comes in contact with the water (Photo, Gino González)
Q COSTA RICA – Some of the ash released by the Poas Volcano in the past week included ‘juvenile magma”. This was confirmed by independent volcanologists Gino Gonzalez and Raul Mora, after analyzing samples of the material in the National Nanotechnology Laboratory (Lanotec), of the National High Technology Center (CeNAT).
The analyzed samples correspond to the eruptions that occurred on Wednesday, April 12 and Friday, April 14.
The experts explained that the volcanic eruptions this past week were generated from the interaction of magma and/or lava with the lagoon water in the active crater.
The interaction of water with juvenile magma is referred to as a Phreatomagmatic eruption, whereas phreatic or steam explosions simply involving hot rocks and water, and although magmatic heat is likely the source of the thermal energy in the reaction, the deposits do not contain juvenile magmatic material.
This analysis of the finding ratifies a presumption by specialists, that a pocket containing lava is pressing the hydrothermal system of the Poas volcano that has been rising towards the surface.
This would not be the first time that the Poas expels magma. The volcano spewed magma during the 1953 and 1955 eruptive period.
Experts at the Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) and the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori), say they are still analyzing samples collected on Saturday following eruptions on Friday, when the colossus, at 7:57am, registered a major eruption in the last 64 years.
On Sunday, two eruptions did away with the crater’s ‘domo’ (volcanic dome), possibly causing a widening of the active crater’s lagoon, though experts say they have not been able to confirm such given the bad weather (atop the volcano).
Gino Gonzales of the Volcanes Sin Fronteras (Volcanos Without Borders), said that in the coming weeks we can expect similar eruptions like on Friday, when the plume of gas and has reached more than three kilometers above the crater.
Shanna and Brett Doyle are seen with their sons, Cole, 10, and Simon, 8, in this undated family handout photo. The public outcry over the contentious airline practice of overbooking flights has found a new target in Atlantic Canada, where a 10-year-old P.E.I. boy was bumped from an Air Canada flight that was supposed to take his family to a sunny destination during the March break. The airline apologized to the family Monday after the boy could not be assigned a seat on the flight from Charlottetown to Costa Rica. courtesy Brett Doyle / VIA THE CANADIAN PRESS
Shanna and Brett Doyle are seen with their sons, Cole, 10, and Simon, 8, in this undated family handout photo. The public outcry over the contentious airline practice of overbooking flights has found a new target in Atlantic Canada, where a 10-year-old P.E.I. boy was bumped from an Air Canada flight that was supposed to take his family to a sunny destination during the March break. The airline apologized to the family Monday after the boy could not be assigned a seat on the flight from Charlottetown to Costa Rica. courtesy Brett Doyle / VIA THE CANADIAN PRESS
The contentious practice by airlines of over booking flights has found a new target in Canada. A report in the Montreal Gazette says a 10-year-old Prince Edward Island (Atlantic Canada) boy was bumped from an Air Canada flight that was taking his family to their Costa Rica vacation during March break.
The report says the airline apologized to the family Monday after the boy could not be assigned a seat on the flight from Charlottetown to Costa Rica.
Brett Doyle says he booked his family last August. A day before their vacation was to start, Doyle said, checking-in online, he could not select a seat for his 10-year-old son.
after hours of the phone with Air Canada, Doyle’s wife drove to the airport and was told her son had been bumped due to over booking.
“The agent told us that the plane only had 28 seats, but that 34 tickets had been sold,” Doyle said. “She said it was very unlikely that six people wouldn’t show up for a flight over March break.”
The Doyle’s efforts became even more complicated when their Air Canada flight out of Moncton (New Brunswick) to meet the Costa Rica flight in Montreal, was cancelled and were forced to drive to Halifax and stay overnight in a hotel.
“We are currently following up to understand what went wrong and have apologized to Mr. Doyle and his family as well as offered a very generous compensation to the family for their inconvenience,” Air Canada spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur said in an email Monday.
Despite efforts to reach out to Air Canada, “it wasn’t until the media picked up the story that Air Canada actually contacted us,” said Doyle.
Doyle said he was offered a CA$1,600 voucher, which expires in one year. He negotiated with Air Canada to increase the voucher to CA$2,500 plus expenses, but it still doesn’t cover the cost of tickets for a family of four.
“Without sounding greedy, what I’d really like is to experience the trip we had planned for so many months and this voucher isn’t going to do that,” he said.
Stories of passengers being bumped off flights for overselling seats are not new.
Airline passenger advocate Gabor Lukacs calls overbooking “an egregious and deliberate form of breach of contract.” Lukacs said airlines oversell flights to keep profits high and shareholders happy.
“Airlines sell quite a few non-refundable tickets and yet they overbook,” he said. “Up until now, people were just putting up with it like suckers. But now people are fed up.”
With the ever-increasing price of gasoline and traffic congestion, motorbikes are becoming ever more popular
Q COSTA RICA – On Monday the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope) made the request for an increase of ¢21 colones for a liter of super, ¢23 for regular and ¢6 for diesel.
Typically the requests are made to the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) – regulator of public prices and services – every second Friday of the month. Due to the Semana Santa holiday, the request was possible the next business day.
Currently, gasoline prices at the pumps are ¢600 for a litre of super, ¢571 for regular and ¢475 for diesel.
The Recope says the price hike is due to a rise in the price of oil on international markets, in response to world conflicts such as Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea. The Recope refinery also cited adjustments in the colon-dollar exchange.
If the hike is approved, it would go into effect at the pumps probably the first week in May.
TICO BULL – If one can’t be president directly, legislators in Ticolandia, at least, can aspire to be as close to the presidential chair by running for the president of Legislative Assembly.
Although the election is only for one year, from May 1 of the current year to April 30 the following, the President of the Legislature is line to hold the highest office in the land in the event the President of the Republic (one) and both Vice-Presidents of the Republic (two and three) are deemed not fit to continue in office.
Or, if all three are away from the country at the same time, though this rule was proven moot during the second administration of Oscar Arias (2006 – 2010), where then President Arias assured us that with technology he can still be away and run the country at the same time, doing away with the old way of doing things in Costa Rica.
To the point of all of this.
Legislator and former presidential candidate, Otton Solis.
Otton Solis. Remember him?
For anyone who has lived in Costa Rica for more than a decade or has visited often, will undoubtedly know who Otton Solis is. And that there’s no relation to the current President, Luis Guillermo Solis, though they do share the same political party: Otton is a founding member, Luis Guillermo taking it to the Presidency.
Don Otton, like his fellow legislator, Otto Guevara, is a perennial presidential candidate, showing up every four years to the “prom”, but never chosen (elected) “Prom King”.
Otton has run, and lost, in three consecutive elections: 2002, 2006 and 2010. In the 2014 elections when he was dethroned from the party leadership nomination by Luis Guillermo.
While both Otto and Otton strive for the Presidency – Otto is most likely to be the candidate for the 2018 Presidential elections – Otton stays behind the scene, vying to be the next, to the next, to next, possibly, maybe, being President.
However, the road for Otton’s leadership of the Legislative Assembly is not a clear or easy one.
Like his failed attempt to be elected President of the Republic, Otton has already lost one bid to be President (and thus President to be) of the Legislature.
Q COSTA RICA – While it is unclear the motive behind Steve Stephens‘ cold blooded murder of a 74-year-old man walking the streets of Cleveland, closer to home, in Pococi, there is no question the motive was robbery.
Officials of the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), are investigating the murder of 73-year-old Francisco Madrigal Mendoza, who lived alone in a small house in La Rita de Pococi, in the province of Limon.
The OIJ believe Don Francisco was murdered to steal his pension money.
On Monday, Mendoza’s sister found him with his hands tied and had blows all over the body.
Neighbours who knew Don Francisco say the ‘anciano’ only went out to collect his pension money, and that he had already been robbed before.
Monday afternoon, police detained a 25-year-old man, suspected of committing the cold-blooded murder and who lives near Don Francisco’s house.
Some 180 Cuban doctors, up to now part of their island's medical mission in Venezuela, have deserted that country and are now waiting in Bogota in hopes the United States will provide them with visas.
Some 180 Cuban doctors, up to now part of their island’s medical mission in Venezuela, have deserted that country and are now waiting in Bogota in hopes the United States will provide them with visas.
Q24N – Some 180 Cuban doctors, up to now part of their island’s medical mission in Venezuela, have deserted that country and are now waiting in Bogota in hopes the United States will provide them with visas, their spokesman told EFE.
The doctors’ problems multiplied last Jan. 12 when then-US President Barack Obama suspended the Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP or Parole), a special program providing US visas to Cuban medical personnel who desert their missions abroad.
The Parole program was created in 2006 during the government of George W. Bush to rescue Cuban health professionals who ditched their international missions in third countries by offering them “safe and legal” access to the United States.
“Right now there are around 180 Cuban doctors here (in Bogota)…of whom 85 made their applications for a visa on time, but of those 180 there are 25 who couldn’t apply for a Parole on time,” Oscar Alonso, a doctor acting as spokesman for the Cuban group, told EFE.
The suspension came as a surprise to many of them, who learned of Obama’s decision after they had already escaped their medical mission.
“It’s a terrible situation, because in Cuba we’re persecuted politically because we deserted a Cuban medical mission, which is also a political project,” Alonso said.
To get into Colombia they had to find a “coyote” who would help them cross the border illegally for around $650, a fortune for many of them.
Here they headed straight for the United States Embassy, where they applied for a visa and received a safe-conduct that allows them to to remain temporarily in Colombia, though they may not work.
They say that on their journey they had to bribe military police of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) who asked to see papers they didn’t have, and also Colombian police who stopped them on the way to Bogota.
Here another odyssey begins, since they are allowed neither work nor wages.
According to Cuban pharmacist Maria del Carmen Torres, 44: “In Venezuela they didn’t treat us well. At 6 pm you had to be at home practically under lock and key, so I decided to leave the mission because in Cuba what they pay you is miserable.”
“I wanted to give my two kids ages 19 and 22 a better life,” she told EFE.
All these Cuban medical personnel are waiting for answers and hope that either the United States or Colombia will come to their aid.
As a symbol of “mob justice”, this Easter Sunday Venezuelans burned effergies of Nicolas Maduro in the religious tradition of “burning Judas”. (NotiHoy)
TODAY VENEZUELA – This year, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro was burnt instead of Judas, in the religious Easter tradition of the “quema de Judas” (burning of Judas).
All over Venezuela, rag dolls with the faces of the country’s dictatorship were set ablaze while law enforcement worked to prevent the tradition from taking place.
Each Easter Sunday, Venezuelans participate in the religious tradition, but this year it was an opportunity for the Venezuelan opposition to protest Maduro and his allies.
Venezuelans burnt dolls of Supreme Court judges, Venezuelan politician Tarek William Saab, Director of the CNE Tibisay Lucena and several governors and mayors who sympathize with Chavez’s legacy.
Several political parties opposing Maduro invited people to gather with their effigies so as to hold a joint burning in important areas across various cities.
In the state of Vargas, Governor Jorge García Carneiro, who sympathizes with the Maduro regime, ordered state police to collect all Judas dolls dressed like him and Maduro, as well as to prevent any other traditional burnings. In the state of Miranda, similar events took place, as security personnel was deployed to prevent the tradition from taking place.
The Venezuelan Criminal Forum reported that 105 demonstrators have been arrested this week
TODAY VENEZUELA – The Non-governmental organization (NGO) Foro Penal Venezolano – Venezuelan Criminal Forum – reported that 105 people arrested during the recent anti-government demonstrations throughout Venezuela; 67 of them remain detained indefinetely.
Most demonstrations called by the Venezuelan opposition leaders were held against the magistrates of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) accused of staging a “coup d’état.”
“From April 4-7, there are 105 detainees, all of them during the demonstrations; 67 out of them are still arrested,” the NGO director, Alfredo Romero, said.
Romero added that the NGO is working on the number of political prisoners. “So far, though, we reckon 118,” he said, as quoted by Efe.
Q24N (Bloomberg) Discovery Communications Inc. is licensing its name for a US$1 billion eco-tourism park in Costa Rica as the media company seeks new revenue from fans of its cable networks, which include Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.
Discovery Costa Rica, scheduled to open in late 2020, will be near Liberia, according to a statement from the company. The town is a regional hub in the northwest part of the country that tourists pass through on their way to the country’s Pacific coast beaches.
Animal Planet owner will license name for eco-tourism park. Local developer will cover cost of project set to open in 2020.
Activities will include rock climbing, hiking, scuba diving and other pursuits across four locations at the country’s beaches, parks and volcanoes, with a focus on biodiversity and conservation. Discovery Costa Rica will have a water park, along with Discovery-branded hotels and restaurants, said Richard Wirthlin, chairman of investor relations at Sun Latin America, the developer leading the project.
While media giants like Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal build and run theme parks tied to movies and shows, Discovery is taking a more low-key approach. Sun Latin America is assuming the risks associating with developing and owning the project. The companies declined to disclose the financial terms of their deal.
The media company, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, wants viewers to “live out the lifestyle of Discovery beyond the experience of a TV screen,” said Leigh Anne Brodsky, executive vice president of Discovery Global Enterprises, the company’s licensing unit.
“Millennials are interested in more than lying in a beach chair,” Brodsky said. “They want to have an experience.”
Licensing gives Discovery an opportunity to increase ancillary income at a time when its main revenue sources — TV advertising and cable subscriber fees — aren’t growing as fast as they once were.
The company has also licensed its name to an adventure park in Moganshan, China, that opened last year, and has a partnership with Princess Cruises for snorkeling and other activities tied to TV shows like “Deadliest Catch” and “Shark Week.”
Such arrangements contributed less than 5 percent of Discovery’s 2016 revenue of $6.5 billion, and the company is exploring more licensing deals, a spokeswoman said.
Animal Planet, one of several Discovery cable networks, aired “Wild Costa Rica,” a show celebrating biodiversity, in August.
Laura Chinchilla Miranda is the first woman to be elected president of Costa Rica and only one of three ever to try in the history of the country.
Laura Chinchilla Miranda is the first woman to be elected president of Costa Rica and only one of four women ever to run for the Presidency in the history of the country.
Q COSTA RICA – Costa Rica has had its woman president. Is that enough? It may appear so given that women are moving further away from the fight for the Presidency.
In a report by La Nacion, only one woman is in the race for the Presidential elections on February 4, 2018 President elections, Movimiento Libertario (ML) legislator Natalia Diaz.
Diaz, if she continues with her plans, will be challening ML perennial presidential candidate, Otto Guevara, in the July 16 party election for a candidate in 2018.
Meanwhile, at the other major parties, who have all closed their registration deadline for candidates, the field of candidates is all men.
For example, the Partito Liberacion Nacional (PLN), that has already chosen their man, Antonio Alaverz Desanti won out over Rolando González, Sigifredo Aiza, José María Figueres .
At the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), Rodolfo Piza and Rafael Ortiz are the only two candidates vying for the Presidential nomination.
And the same male only line up is also with the Frente Amplio (FA) and Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC).
The FA candidates are Francisco Camacho and Edgardo Araya. At the PAC, former ministers, Carlos Alvarado and Welmer Ramos want to lead the party into the next election to take over from incumbent Luis Guillermo Solis.
Epsy Campbell was about to confirm her third try for the PAC nomination (she ran for 2010 and 2014), but eventually gave up.
The same is happening at the non-mainstream parties, women just are not interested in running for the Presidency.
The first time a woman wanted to be President was in 1994, when Norma Vargas won the support of the Partido Unión Generaleña.
In 1998, Vargas was again on the ballot, this time Presidential candidate for the Pueblo Unido.
Her attempts opened the door for other women to follow.
In 1998, Marina Volio ran for President for the Rescate Nacional and Yolanda Gutierrez for the Partido Independiente.
But, it would 12 years before a woman would become president.
In 2010, two women disputed the Presidency: Mayra Gonzalez for the Renovación Costarricense and Laura Chinchilla for the PLN.
Chinchilla would become the first woman elected President.
If no woman runs (or nominated by a party) for the 2018 elections, it would mean two consecutive terms without women in the race for the Presidency.
What is the reason for the absence of women in the highest office in the land?
Maureen Clarke, head of the PLN party legislative bloc, said the main reason is that women in Costa Rica have not empowered themselves by their political rights. “It is not a matter of quotas, rather it requires a change in mentality, both of women and men, and we are not there yet,” said the legislator.
Diaz, in her opinion, considers it a question of social and political structures. “Power within the (political) parties are in the control of men (…),” said Diaz, in explaining that the power structure prevents the development of female leadership.
At the PUSC, party president Pedro Muñoz, said that he does not know why in his party there are no women presidential candidates. “Women, in large part, were the ones who sustained the PUSC in its worst moments. At all levels they never left the party,” said Muñoz.
The Poas Volcano crater this morning, the ‘domo’ (volcanic dome) or wall completely destroyed after Sunday’s eruptions
If you, like many, have visited the Poas volcano crater in the last several decades, the image in your brain and constantly seen in photos, is no longer, after two ‘violent’ eruptions Sunday that completely destroyed the ‘volcanic dome‘.
The photo by the RSN shows the change.
The “domo” in Spanish, a wall 30 meters above the level of the Poas’ lagoon, formed in 1953 and could be seen from the lookout point to the volcano’s active crater, disappeared due to the eruptions of the last several days, confirmed the Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) – National Seismological Network – of the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR).
The eruptions that intensified since Wednesday’s eruption, first cracked the huge wall and then launched the rocks up to 2 kilometres away.
That is the explanation of volcanologists Mauricio Mora, of the RSN, and Javier Pacheco, of the Seismological and Volcanological Observatory of Costa Rica (Ovsicori) – Observatorio Sismológico y Vulcanológico de Costa Rica – of the Universidad Nacional (UNA)
According to Mora, that mass of magma formed into rocks from the 1950’s eruptions, was almost completely destroyed. The experts are emphatic that the rocks are old material and not new.
On the morning television news, Mora brought a sample of the rock, a piece broken off the original that was more than 1 meter (3 feet) in diameter.
The early morning newscast featured the well photos of the Poas voclano’s active crater and domo, compared to images Sunday afternoon, that show the domo gone.
Sunday’s Eruptions Destroy Poás Volcano “Domo”
Sunday’s eruptions occurred at 9:46am and 1:50pm.
The first lasted 10 minutes and generated a plume that rose 500 meters above the volcano’s crater; the second lasted a little longer and the plume reached 1,000 meters (one kilometer).
On Friday, the column of gas and ash reached a height of 4,000 meters (4 kilometers or 2.5 miles).
What’s can we expect from the Poas?
That is the question being asked today. But it’s anyone’s guess. What we do know is that in the last two weeks, since April 1, the Poas has produced such intense volcano activity that not even the Turrialba has in the last couple of years.
Q COSTA RICA – Following the video last week of the man being violently dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight so staff could take his seat, an engaged couple were removed from a United Airlines flight to Costa Rica on Saturday.
The Utah couple say they were booted off Saturday from a Houston flight bound for Costa Rica, where they’re getting married, after they changed seats without permission.
Michael Hohl and Amber Maxwell (Photo: Facebook)
Michael Hohl and Amber Maxwell — who had boarded Flight 1737 along with friends for their destination wedding set for this Thursday — found a napping man sprawled across their assigned seats.
They relocated to empty seats three rows up, with Hohl saying they were “simply in an economy row a few rows above our economy seat” on the apparently half-full flight.
Hohl said that after a flight attendant told them to return to their assigned seats, the couple did — only to be told to leave by another official.
“They said that we were being disorderly and a hazard to the rest of the flight, to the safety of the other customers,” Hohl said.
Meanwhile United Airlines offered a different account in a statement according to Houston TV affiliate KHOU.
United Airlines airplane at the gate at the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) airport. United operates several flights daily to Costa Rica’s San Jose and Libeira airports.
“These passengers repeatedly attempted to sit in upgraded seating which they did not purchase and they would not follow crew instructions to return to their assigned seats,” the airline said.
The airline said in a statement to People: “We’re disappointed anytime a customer has an experience that doesn’t measure up to their expectations…We’ve been in touch with them and have rebooked them on flights tomorrow.”
“We thought not a big deal, it’s not like we are trying to jump up into a first-class seat,” Hohl told KHOU. “We were simply in an economy row a few rows above our economy seat.”
Bottom line, if you are travelling to Costa Rica (or anywhere else) on United, behave and obey. Or…
Q COSTA RICA – Volcanologists Javier Pacheco of the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (Ovsicori) and Raúl Mora of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), both monitoring the eruptions of the Poas volcano these days, coincided in comparing the activity with another period in the volcano’s history.
The two experts agree that the magnitude of the eruptions are similar to those occurred in the 1953-1955 period when the Poas expelled magma.
“We seem to be entering an activity similar to that of 1950, probably a magmatic activity,” Pacheco said.
Firday morning the Poas expelled rocks of up to half meter in diameter at a distance of up to 3 kilometers.
Although for now they are phreatic eruptions without magma, the force of the expulsions, the size of the rocks and the height of the ash and gases plume (more than three kilometers), are compared with those of that time.
In that period, the effect of the fall of material occurred mainly in the National Park, as it occurred this Friday morning.
Nevertheless, it is not possible predict if magma will be expelled in the next events.
During the 2006-2014 eruptive period, the eruptions were not as impressive as they now, Mora explained. “It is not normal for rocks to fall on the lookout or on the trails,” he said.
The most important and recent event is this Friday at 7:58am when the volcano hurled rocks of half a meter in diameter at high-speed that hit the veranda railing and the concrete floor of the visitor’s lookout point.
These rocks fell up to three kilometers from the volcano. Luckily no people were hurt and no damage was caused to homes in the area.
The National Park was closed on Thursday and will remain closed until further notice.
The major eruptions of the Poas have been in 1834, 1910 and 1953.
After taking off from the San Jose airport, professional photographer Scott Rovak was able to capture the spectacular eruption of the Poas Volcano this Friday morning.
“As we left San Jose Costa Rica this morning, we had a great view of the La Poas Volcano eruption. We found out that this was the smaller of 2 eruptions as we were taking off,” Rovak said on Instagram and Twitter.
Rovak, has been photographing professionally over 33 years and is St. Louis Blues & St. Louis Cardinals team photographer.
The Poas volcano as seen from the parking lot of the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) airport. Photo Wilberth Hernández
The Poás Volcano made two new eruptions this morning (Friday) at 7:39am and 7:57am, according to the Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) – National Seismological Network.
From Barrio Cuba, in San Jose. Photo Eduardo Vega
The plume of smoke was seen from many places around the Central Valley and even from San Jose, the capital city.
The column of gas and ash exceeded three kilometres in height, according to Javier Pacheco of the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori)- Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica.
Las #ErupciónPoas más importantes han ocurrido a las 6:59, 7:18, 7:39 y 7:57 am. Esta última es la de mayor tamaño en estación RSN en cima. pic.twitter.com/9pWEa4Gu9t
Thursday, April 13, eruption of the Poas Volcano. Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN)
Thursday afternoon the Poás Volcano recorded two new eruptions, described as “very violent” expulsions by Javier Pacheco for the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori) – the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica.
The Ovsicori reported two eruptions starting at 3:46pm, each lasting up to eight minutes.
Video from the Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) – National Seismological Network.
The expulsion released large fragments of rock at high speed, as well as gases and ash. The force of the explosions damaged the surveillance camera, so the height of the eruption is unknown.
At the time of the eruptions there were no people in the are. On Thursday morning, following the eruption of Wednesday night, the National Park where the volcano is located, was closed and a ‘green alert’ is maintained for seven cantones.
Word from the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) – National Emergencies Commision – is that the park will continue closed today, Friday.
However, given the area is an important tourist destination, authorities report the removal of barricades to the roads leading to the national park so as not to scare off tourism.
The Parque nacional Volcán Poas is closed today, Friday. The CNE has issued a ‘green alert’ for seven cantones in the area of the volcano.
On Thursday, the police control post was some 3 kilometres from the park entrance, that affected the tourism and commercial area of Poasito, however, hours later the ban was lifted.
Several shops, including restaurants near the Poas volcano, had to close their doors on Thursday.
Colombians marched in Bogota on April 1 against corruption, the FARC peace process and national politics in general. Fredy Builes/Reuters
TODAY COLOMBIA (The Conversation) Civil unrest seems to be the order of the day – and the coming weeks – in Latin America. The sprawling Odebrecht bribery scandal that started in Brazil is now complicating life in many neighbouring nations.
In Colombia, recent reports reveal that the Brazilian construction company has been bribing the country’s public officials since 2010. With the 2018 presidential campaign heating up, the revelation is spurring dissatisfaction with President Juan Manuel Santos and imperilling the country’s fledgling peace process.
On April 1, up to 16,000 Colombians took to the streets to decry corruption and express ongoing dissatisfaction with the peace accords signed with the FARC guerrillas. It was, in many ways, a march against the Colombian political establishment.
Public debate around the marches was largely redirected by mudslides in the city of Mocoa, the capital of the Putumayo province. They killed more than 300 citizens, including dozens of children, on the night of March 31.
The tragedy gave Santos, who is now entering the last year of his administration, the opportunity to reassert his leadership. And it briefly relieved the pressures that the Odebrecht corruption scandal was exerting on his government.
In many cases, public outcry is linked to the massive number of government officials found to be in the pocket of Odebrecht, whose bribery network reaches from Colombia and Peru to Angola and Mozambique.
But in Colombia, the company is only part of a more complicated story behind recent protests.
Public malfeasance has long been common in the country. The 1994 presidential campaign of Ernesto Samper, for example, was found to have been funded by the Cali Cartel, then one of Colombia’s most powerful trafficking organisations.
Even the main instigators of the April 1 march – former president Alvaro Uribe and former inspector general Alejandro Ordoñez – have themselves been found to be enmeshed in various corruption scandals. But that well-reported fact has not stopped them from actively mobilising public opinion against corruption within the current government.
President Santos faces an unusual and contradictory political reality. Internationally, he is well regarded as a Nobel Peace Prize winner lauded for his efforts to end Colombia’s armed conflict. But, at home, he is highly unpopular, with disapproval ratings of 71%.
This is due to an ironic twist of fate for the president. In signing the November 2016 peace accords with the FARC guerrillas, Santos took the formerly overwhelming question of armed conflict out of the spotlight and allowed corruption to take centre stage in the public mind.
Smear campaigns
Santos is a career politician, who served as minister of defence under his predecessor Alvaro Uribe, and is the grand nephew of a former president.
His detractors – led by Uribe, who is now among his most strident critics – are now using this experience to discredit him, calling him “immoral” and “corrupt”. As evidence for their claims, they cite a formal investigation by Colombia’s attorney general into whether the Odebrecht bribes played a role in Santos’ 2014 presidential campaign.
The anti-Santos right-wing coalition includes the scandal-beset Ordoñez, as well as former minister of defence Marta Lucía Ramírez, and former vice president German Vargas Lleras. All of them fiercely opposed and nearly derailed the FARC accords in 2016. And all intend to run for the presidency in 2018.
This group does not have enough support to wield veto power in Congress. But by uniformly resisting any action undertaken by Santos and using smear campaigns to influence voter opinion, it has been successfully undermining the credibility of the current administration over the past two years.
Among other declared candidates, members of Uribe’s faction will go up against Humberto de la Calle. He is a prominent figure from the Santos camp and was the government’s lead negotiator in the FARC peace process. They will also stand against Bogota’s leftist former mayor, Gustavo Petro, whom Ordoñez removed for administrative malfeasance.
The favourability rating of most of these would-be presidents has been falling recently, showing a general loss of legitimacy for Colombian political parties and their representatives.
Institutions put to the test
In this twisted fashion, Brazil’s Odebrecht corruption scandal, which is clearly no longer just confined to that country, brings to the fore the paradox of Latin America’s burgeoning citizen engagement.
It is vital for democracy that people voice discontent with corruption, and Latin Americans’ increasing intolerance for the bribery, embezzlement and deal-making that has long characterised institutions on the continent is good.
In many countries, the Odebrecht backlash has proven dramatic, increasing ire toward governments already under considerable pressure for unpopular measures, such as Brazil’s budget cuts and Argentina’s teacher strikes.
In Colombia, it is putting institutions to the test and shaping presidential politics. Corruption can no longer be cloaked under the veil of national security interests and blamed on the existence of an armed group like the FARC. The absence of a war rhetoric within Colombia obliges the government to be more accountable to citizens. That too is healthy.
But when popular outrage is manipulated by political operators who seek to advance their interests, democracy suffers. As in Brazil (where the main driver of Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment, Eduardo Cunha, has now been jailed for corruption), politicians in Colombia tainted by other scandals are using Odebrecht as a Trojan horse to position their own political agendas.
It is a risky tactic in a nation that is still relatively fragile. If Colombia’s institutions fail this challenge, the country could face a dramatic political transition, and a nation attempting to end war may find peace again endangered.
TODAY VENEZUELA – Venezuelans plan to protest against President Nicolás Maduro’s regime on a global scale this Saturday, April 15.
NGOs across the world are organizing efforts to demonstrate against Maduro’s oppressive and violent government, which is feeling international pressure to restore constitutional order amid widespread famine and medical shortage.
The NGO “A World Without Gag” called on Venezuelan immigrants to join the protest Saturday, April 15 and demand justice, freedom, peace and safety for all still in the country.
They will ask global authorities to make statements about the rupture of the constitutional thread in Venezuela as well as the demand for elections, according to President of the organization Rodrigo Diamanti.
“We call on Venezuelans around the world to creatively join us once again and raise our voice, now shouting: No more repression! No more dictatorship! No more abuse of power! No more death! No more violence!” Diamanti said.
He also called on expatriates to contact the NGO via email (connections@sinmordaza.org) so everyone can better coordinate.
“There are many ways to help: carrying banners, artists can play musical instruments — because we want to make this a different protest,” Diamanti said. “The idea is for each demonstration to express: No more” .
The initiative has the support of the Venezuelan Penal Forum, Venezuelan Women in Action and other groups.
According to the Panama government, moving Cuban immigrants ensures that they will live under “better conditions.” (Ministerio de Seguridad de Panamá)
According to the Panama government, moving Cuban immigrants ensures that they will live under “better conditions.” (Ministerio de Seguridad de Panamá)
Q24N – After Panama President Juan Carlos Varela threatened to close a shelter assisting Cuban immigrants, his administration announced it will be instead transferring them to a center on the Costa Rican border.
According to the Panamanian Ministry of Security (Minseg), the more than 300 Cubans who are in Pastoral Caritas will be transferred to a shelter in the province of Chiriquí.
On Monday April 10, President Carlos Varela said his administration is looking for “alternatives” for immigrants so they can remain in the country in “decent shelters.”
The decision to move them was made following a meeting between the president and leaders of the Catholic Church.
According to Panama officials, the transfer is intended to give Cubans “better conditions” while resolving their situation.
The Ministry of Public Security said that the measure is “exceptional” and that in the future, immigrants who enter Panama irregularly “will be deported or returned to their country of origin.”
The President gave the charity Caritas Panama a 30-day deadline to assist immigrants in the facilities. The charity organization said its humanitarian principles would not allow them to fail in caring for Cuban citizens.
The explosion reached up to one of the guardrails located in the volcano Póás. (Facebook Ovsicori- UNA)
Police close off the road leading to the Poas National Park and Poas Volcano
Q COSTA RICA – For the last couple of years our attention has been focused on the Turrialba, the volcano that has spread its ash and gases across the Central Valley and even forced the closure of the San Jose international airport on several occasions.
But, today, the focus is on the Poas.
On Wednesday night, the Poas Volcano registered a new phreatic eruption*, causing the Desague river to overflow after a head water flowed from the colossus, confirmed the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori) – the National Volcanological and Seismological Observatory.
The explosion Wednesday night reached up to one of the guardrails located at the outlook point where hundreds of tourists daily take in the breathtaking view of the volcano’s crater. Photo Facebook Ovsicori- UNA.
The eruption occurred between 6:00pm and 7:00pm. Park rangers reported a great amount of ash flowing into the Toro Amarillo river.
Not to be upstaged, the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) – National Emergencies Commission – reported the a presence of high flow of gases and aerosol from the Turrialba.
Back to the Poas.
Following last night’s eruption, the Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación (Sinac) – National System of Conservation Area – activated the emergency protocol, that includes the Poas Volcano National Park not open to tourists for today, Holy Thursday.
The Sinac said the Park will be closed waiting on the scientific-technical reports on what happened.
Walter Fonseca, of the Operations Unit of the CNE, said that the CNE experts continue the monitoring the volcanoes in conjunction with the Ovsicori and the National Seismological Network (RSN) of the University of Costa Rica (UCR).
He added that the Emergency Committees of Poás and Valverde Vega are activated and in constant communication with the CNE.
Also experts of the CNE will visit in the next hours the Toro Amarillo, with the intention of quantifying the possible affectation.
The Poas Volcano
The Poas is an active 2,708-metre (8,885 ft) stratovolcano located northwest of the greater metropolitan area of San Jose (GAM). It has erupted 39 times since 1828 and is one of 9 volcanos currently monitored by the Deep Earth Carbon Degassing Project. The project is collecting data on the carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emission rates from subaerial volcanos.
Crater lakes
There are two crater lakes near the summit. The northern lake is known as the Laguna Caliente (“hot lagoon”) and is located at a height of 2,300 m in a crater approximately 1.7 km wide and 290–300 metres deep. It is one of the world’s most acidic lakes. The acidity varies after rain and changes in volcanic activity, sometimes reaching a pH of almost 0; consequently, it supports little or no aquatic life. The bottom of this lake is covered with a layer of liquid sulfur. Acid gases create acid rain and acid fog, causing damage to surrounding ecosystems and often irritation of eyes and lungs.
Lake Botos, the southern lake, fills an inactive crater, which last erupted in 7500 BC. It is cold and clear, and is surrounded by a cloud forest located within the Poás Volcano National Park.
Eruptive history
Poás was near the epicenter of a 6.1-magnitude earthquake in January 2009 that killed at least forty people and affected Fraijanes, Vara Blanca, Cinchona (the most affected area), San José, and the Central Valley.
There was also eruptive activity in 2009 involving minor phreatic eruptions and landslides within the northern active crater. Poás eruptions often include geyser-like ejections of crater-lake water.
On February 25, 2014, a webcam from the Ovsicori captured the moment a dark cloud exploded about 300 metres in the air from a massive crater of the Poás Volcano.
The other volcanos, in addition to the Poas and Turriala, in Costa Rica are:
Arenal, an active andesitic stratovolcano located in La Fortuna, 90 km northwest of San Jose. The volcano was dormant for hundreds of years. In 1968 it erupted unexpectedly, destroying the small town of Tabacón
Barva (Last eruption was in 6050 BC)
Irazú, an active volcano close to the city of Cartago
Miravalles,is an andesitic stratovolcano, it reaches an elevation of 6,653 feet (2,023 m) and is the highest mountain in the Guanacaste Mountains.
Orosi (Inactive)
Rincon de La Vieja,is an active andesitic complex volcano in north-western Costa Rica, about 25 km from Liberia, in the province of Guanacaste.
Tenorio
*A phreatic eruption is a steam eruption without lava ejection. Phreatic eruptions are a common precursor of volcanic activity. The eruptions are caused by groundwater flashing to steam as it is heated by magma.
The departures level of the Juan Santamaria - San Jose - International airport.
The departures level of the Juan Santamaria – San Jose – International airport.
Q COSTA RICA – The numbers are in, low airfares, the arrival of low-cost airlines and stable dollar exchange rate, has resulted in more Costa Ricans (Ticos) are travelling abroad.
According to the information provided by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) – the Costa Rican Tourism Board, and the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (immigration service), in 2015, some 15% more Ticos travelled abroad over the previous year, for a total of 918,000 departures.
In 2016, the number departures slightly passed the one million mark, representing a 13% increase over 2015.
For its part, the Banco Central (Central Bank) measures the Tico spending abroad for travel at US$534 million in 2015, a growth of 19% over the previous year, and US$618 million in 2016.
One of the motivating factors is the lower cost of airfares, dropping some 12% between June 2015 and December 2016, according to the Consumer Price Index, calculated by the National Institute of Statistics and Census.
The drop is due partly to the arrival of low-cost airlines, such Volaris and Wingo, both regional airlines and US carriers such as JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit.
The other factor is the drop in the price of oil that fell slightly more than half between 2014 (when the price of a barrel was US$100) and 2016, when it fell to US$43. The decrease contributes to lower costs for the airlines, which can offer lower fares.
ICT (Tourism) Minister, Mauricio Ventura, considers that there are also other factors, such as the arrival of new airlines with regular service to the country, especially in Europe, and the tendency of Costa Rica to visit and explore other parts of the world.
Airlines such as Air France, British Airways, Edelweiss and Condor, among others, recently began offering direct flights between San Jose and cities like London, Paris and Frankfurt. The Spanish airline Iberia has daily flights between Madrid and San Jose.
In addition, to the direct flights, regional airlines such as Avianca and Copa, offer world travel through their hubs in El Salvador and Bogota (Avianca) and Panama (Copa). These and the direct flights eliminated of Costa Ricans the transit travel through the United States, where a visa is required.
“Clearly, there is an additional increase in air travel,” said Ventura.
The minister pointed out that, based on some of the surveys they have conducted, the preferred destinations for Costa Ricans include the United States, Mexico and Panama.
The article about homosexuality was removed from the “Castro version” of Wikipedia after multiple complaints considered it an “act of homophobia” (IPS).
TODAY CUBA – After several representatives of the LGBTI community in Cuba complained about an article published in the collaborative encyclopedia EcuRed in which homosexuality was described as a “sexual deviance or perversion,” it was removed from the platform.
In the text of the Cuban version of Wikipedia, we touched on the topic of Sexual Legal Medicine in which Cuba’s health authorities consider homosexuality as a “morbid change in the instinct for the conservation of the species” and also deems homosexuality as one of the most relevant “deviations” and “aberrations”.
The platform managed by the Cuban regime defines itself as a “collaborative encyclopedia that offers internet users an interactive space to publish open content. It aims to accumulate, promote, and develop knowledge from a decolonizing point of view and the aspiration of its policies is to achieve, through collective work, more thoroughness in its content.”
However, with regard to this content, the entry does not conform to what bodies such as the World Health Organization publish, since homosexuality has been considered a topic of sexual orientation and not an issue related to psychology.
Within the policies of EcuRed, it is stated that “articles should be written in an objective way. This encyclopedia is not a forum for discussion, but a virtual space to exchange reliable knowledge on fundamental topics”, however this again does not coincide with the treatment that was given to the subject of homosexuality since, according to independent media on the island, it had “homophobic nuances, when Cuba presumes a constant struggle for respect for diversity and the right to free sexual orientation” concludes a note published in Cubanet.
Longtime dictator Fidel Castro established forced labor camps for homosexuals in Cuba, deeming them enemies of the revolution.
The border fence between the United States and Mexico. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Q24N – A human smuggling ring that helped people from Pakistan and Afghanistan illegally enter the United States by way of Brazil and South and Central America was publicly revealed as the ring’s Brasilia contact pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington on Wednesday.
The border fence between the United States and Mexico. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Sharafat Ali Khan, 32, who U.S. authorities said is a Pakistani national and permanent resident of Brazil, pleaded guilty to serving as a facilitator for dozens of people from Pakistan who contacted him in Brazil, paid US$5,000 to US$12,000 each, then walked through the Colombian jungle or traveled north by bus, foot and plane, according to court filings.
The affidavit said the general route used by the smuggling operation went from Pakistan to Dubai, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.
The trips he arranged were long, arduous and dangerous, court filings assert. “The average traveler took approximately nine months to get from Brazil all the way to the United States. During the voyage from Brazil through South and Central America, aliens were subjected to harsh conditions that caused a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death,” the court records stated.
Many, the filings state, traveled to Turbo, Colombia, and from there into Panama’s eastern border where travelers then had to hike through the Darien Gap which was described as “a dangerous, wild tropical forest area” stretching approximately 100 miles that cannot be traveled by vehicles.
Khan faces a statutory maximum of five years in prison. But in a plea deal, both sides agreed to a sentencing range of 24 to 46 months.
Khan, who also used the pseudonym “Dr. Nakib,” was arrested July 14 in Washington D.C. after being extradited from Qatar, according to court documents.
“Khan is a well-known alien smuggler operating in Brazil,” Special Agent Frank Iervasi of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in an affidavit filed to support Khan’s arrest.
Khan’s indictment cited only six smuggled individuals, but he allegedly was identified by name or photograph by about 81 others who said he was the person who arranged their travel from Brazil between March 2014 through about May 2016.
The six immigrants, identified only by initials in court filings, are now in deportation proceedings in New York and Baltimore.
According to charging documents, several smuggled individuals said they were directed to Khan’s home or his telephone number, and some stayed in a house provided by Khan before further travel. Khan would tell the individuals to erase their phones or communications using his favored WhatsApp Messenger instant messaging application.
Sources say Khan works at an airport in Brazil, had many foreigners show up at his home looking for him, and kept foreign currencies and foreign documents of people from different countries “without any justification” .
COSTA RICA EXTRA – It’s Samana Santa and that means ¡Días santos de película! (Holy Days Of film), when Costa Rica’s national television broadcast include the “not to be missed” movies about Easter.
The Easter movie lineup is a tradition in the country, that includes Ben Hur, The Passion of Christ, Quo Vadis, The Ten Commandments, The Miracle of Marcelino (Marcelino Pan y Vino, original title) and the television miniseries, Jesús de Nazareth.
Pablito Calvo is Marcelino
Directed by Ladislao Vajda and starring Rafael Rivelles, Antonio Vico and Juan Calvo, the 1955 movie, The Miracle of Marcelino is about Marcelino, an orphan who grows up in a monastery. One day when he eats his small meal in a room full of old things he gives a piece of his bread to an old wooden Jesus figure – and indeed it takes the bread and eats it. Getting a wish granted for his donation Marcelino wishes to see his mother…
Charton Heston is Ben Hur
What is Easter without Charlton Heston asBen Hur, the story of Judah Ben-Hur, who lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 1st century. Together with the new governor his old friend Messala arrives as commanding officer of the Roman legions. At first they are happy to meet after a long time but their different politic views separate them. During the welcome parade a roof tile falls down from Judah’s house and injures the governor. Although Messala knows they are not guilty, he sends Judah to the galleys and throws his mother and sister into prison. But Judah swears to come back and take revenge.
Director by Mel Gibson, The Passion of Christ is a depiction of the last twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem. The story opens in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, the controversial Jesus–who has performed ‘miracles’ and has publicly announced that he is ‘the Son of God’–is arrested and taken back within the city walls of Jerusalem.
After you’re done with Ben Hur, impossible to miss The Ten Commandments, the Heston as the Egyptian Prince, Moses, who learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people.
And what’s Easter with some Roman love and war. The 1951 movie Quo Vadis takes on the journey of a fierce Roman commander who becomes infatuated with a beautiful Christian hostage and begins questioning the tyrannical leadership of the despot Emperor Nero.
Returning to Rome after three years in the field, General Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) meets Lygia and falls in love with her, though as a Christian she wants nothing to do with a warrior. Though she grew up Roman, the adopted daughter of a retired general, Lygia is technically a hostage of Rome. Marcus gets Emperor Nero to give her to him for services rendered but finds himself succumbing gradually to her Christian faith.
For illustrative purposes
Jesús de Nazareth (Italian: Gesù di Nazareth) is a 1977 British-Italian television miniseries directed by Franco Zeffirelli and co-written by Zeffirelli, Anthony Burgess, and Suso Cecchi d’Amico which dramatizes the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. It stars Robert Powell as Jesus.
It’s worth taking look at this miniseries as it features an all-star cast of famous American and European actors, including seven Academy Award winners: Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer (subsequent winner), Anthony Quinn, Rod Steiger, and Peter Ustinov.
By the way, all the movies shown on national television are dubbed in Spanish. And no the SAP doesn’t make it better. If you want to see them in their original, search Netflix and US television stations, who may be running the movies this time of year. You can use a VPN or the Chrome browser with a built-in VPN to watch. Sorry, you cannot use a VPN on Netflix in Costa Rica.
Onstitutions, companies and organizations identify risks in their networks and define effective security strategies.
Q TECH – For the first time in Costa Rica and for the second consecutive year in Panama, computer security fans will compete to breach a corporate website in a simulated environment during the Hacking Challenge competition.
The largest cybersecurity competition, that will be held in Costa Rica on Monday, May 15, at the Hotel Real Intercontinental, and in Panama on Wednesday, May 24, at the Megapolis Convention Center,will bring together computer security fans to demonstrate their capabilities as hackers.
Hacking Challenge 2017 is organized by Soluciones Seguras, Tech Day, Radware and Check Point. It will help institutions, companies and organizations identify risks in their networks and define effective security strategies.
Competitors will test their knowledge, speed and accuracy in an environment prepared by Radware and Check Point security platforms.
The registration for competitors and assistants is made online through the following link: www.hackingchallenge.net
Volaris Costa Rica, the ultra-low cost airline, took to the skies today
Q COSTA RICA – Southwest Airlines has lodged an objection against the application by Volaris Costa Rica for a Foreign Air Carrier Permit (FACP) and Exemption Authority from the United States Department of Transportation (DOT).
Volaris welcoming at the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) airport. The ultra low-cost carriers began operations in Costa Rica in December 2015. Photo ICT
The US carrier contends that Volaris Costa Rica is not a Costa Rican company but is wholly owned by a Mexican airline, thus failing the citizenship requirement.
Volaris Costa Rica said it is pursuing its application for a FACP under the terms of the 1997 US-Costa Rica Air Transport Agreement. Its application states that Volaris Costa Rica is wholly owned by Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, a publicly-traded Mexican company, but goes on to say that Volaris Costa Rica itself will be managed and operated by Costa Rican citizens, with the board and senior management to be predominantly Costa Rican. It then respectfully asks that the requirement that substantial ownership of the airline rest in the homeland of the carrier be waived, citing past cases.
Southwest’s objection states that Volaris Costa Rica is a Mexican company which is attempting to use its Costa Rican subsidiary to gain seventh freedom rights between Costa Rica and the United States, undermining the latest US Mexico bilateral air services agreement, and placing US carriers at a disadvantage against their Mexican counterparts.
The primary evidence Southwest calls upon is that Costa Rican citizens have no shareholdings of Volaris Costa Rica, therefore violating the requirement that citizens of Costa Rica have “substantial ownership and effective control” of its airlines seeking to fly to the United States.
The US carrier also criticises Volaris Costa Rica’s claim that it will be controlled by Costa Rican citizens. No President or CEO is named, it says, and the two Costa Rican board members are over the age of 70. The third board member, Mexican Jaime Esteban Pous Fernandez, is also the Chief Legal Officer of Volaris. Southwest states that none of the ‘senior key management officials’ named by Volaris Costa Rica hold any strategic positions such as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or head of aircraft operations contending that this is proof that strategic decisions will be made by Volaris and not Volaris CR.
Southwest also rejects the cases cited by Volaris Costa Rica about having its ownership requirement waived, claiming that those cases are materially different. In twelve of the nineteen cases cited, the airlines involved were 51% or more owned by their homeland, whereas Volaris Costa Rica has no Costa Rican ownership whatsoever.
A unit of its Mexican namesake Volaris, the Costa Rican low-cost carrier began operations in December last year using an A320-200 wet-leased from its parent. It currently offers regular flights from the San Jose airport, the Juan Santamaria (SJO) to Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA), San Salvador, El Salvador (SAL), and Managua, Nicaragua (MGA) that started on April 2.
Q SPORTS – The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), member nations the United States, Canada and Mexico on Monday declared their intention to submit formally a unified bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The historic effort, which would represent the first time that three nations jointly hosted a FIFA competition, was announced by Victor Montagliani, president of both CONCACAF and the Canadian Soccer Association; Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation; and Decio de Maria, president of the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol, at One World Observatory in New York City on the 102nd and top floor of the One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
‘Historic’ World Cup bid to unite North and Central America
According to Associated Press, the intention bid was widely expected before Donald Trump was elected president, but there was concern the plan was unworkable under Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.
But even if he serves a second term Trump would not be president in 2026, the confederation made the final decision to go ahead with the bid at its meeting Saturday in Aruba.
The CONCACAF website quotes Montagliani as saying, “Canada Soccer is honored to partner with fellow CONCACAF member associations USA and Mexico to bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.” He added that “Canada is the only remaining G-8 nation to have not hosted a FIFA World Cup despite our history of success in raising the bar for youth and women’s FIFA tournaments (…).”
“This is a milestone day for U.S. Soccer and for CONCACAF,” Gulati said. The United States hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994, still the most successful in history for overall attendance.
Mexico was the first nation to host the FIFA World Cup for the second time, first holding the event in 1970 and 1986. It became the first host country to win the FIFA Confederations Cup, collecting the title in 1999 by defeating Brazil in the final, 4-3. The Mexicans also hosted and won the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
“For the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol, and the entire Mexican soccer family, it is a source of pride to be candidates, along with the United States and Canada, to host the FIFA World Cup in 2026,” de Maria said.
The CONCACAF has not hosted the World Cup since the tournament was played in the United States and the region appears to be the leading contender for 2026, when soccer’s premier event expands from 32 nations to 48.
In recent years Costa Rica has become a power in the region and in 2014 became the 4th CONCACAF country after the United States, Cuba, and Mexico to make the World Cup quarterfinals.
The CONCACAF, the third-most successful FIFA confederation, was founded on September 18, 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico, with the merger of the NAFC and the CCCF, which made it one of the then five, now six continental confederations affiliated with FIFA.
Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles (Curaçao), Nicaragua, Panama, Suriname and United States were founding members.
