Q COSTA RICA – Due to the constant growth in public insecurity, the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica (MSP), Costa Rica’s main police authority, plans to attack crime in 2017 from different fronts.
The plan is to apply the digital platform called Análisis integral de Conciencia y Seguridad Ciudadana (AISEC) – IntegralAanalysis of Citizen Awareness and Security – that has been used in Colombia’s major city for the past two decades.
The AISEC is a strategic tool that allows collecting, prioritizing and targeting information related to social risks, institutional capacities and crimes that occur in the territory. In other words, it provides authorities a glimpse of what is going on in a particular community, in relation to the other communities and work a concrete plan of action to reduce insecrity.
The MSP says, at first, the tool will be applied in 12 cantons of the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) of San Jose: Desamparados, Curridabat, Montes de Oca (San Pedro), Moravia, Santa Ana, Mora, Escazú, Tibás, San José, La Unión, Alajuela and Belén. Communities identified by the MSP as “hot zones”.
To achieve the intended results, the MSP has signed agreements with the each of the municipalities.
María Fullmen, deputy minister of Seguridad, explained that, last year alone, the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) received 1,862 complaints in Desamparados for various crimes, including homicide, robbery and break ins. And those are only the reported cases.
The MSP says it expected to include in the AISEC the remaining 69 cantons, that is to say, apply the tool on a nationwide basis.
According to Fullmen, information gathering and consultations will include local community representatives, small store owners and restaurant operators, and if in tourist areas, hotels and tourism operators, among others.
The deputy minister caveats with, “the prevention issues are not that today they are applied and tomorrow we have results. It’s a slow process, but it’s always going forward.”
Fullmen added that the information will also be shared with other state entities such as the Child Welfare Agency (PANI) and the Women’s Institute (INAMU), for example.
“The ides is to identify the problems, find the responsible (for committing the crime) and look to solutions,” Fullmen added.
Gilbert Jimenez, mayor of Desamparados (the canton and not the city), the most densely populated area in the GAM, said the tool will be very useful.
“It will not only give us an X-ray, but will allow us to establish comprehensive strategic management that will allow us to resolve security issues (…) we cannot allow that our city be taken over by the mafias (organized crime), the unscrupulous and people who do not come here to contribute to social good,” said Jimenez.
Two isolated incidents involving fraud and bitcoin mining have caused problems for the bitcoin community in Venezuela.
TODAY VENEZUELA – Venezuelan authorities detained four men suspected of bitcoin mining, forcing the country’s main exchange platform to temporarily shut down operations and lose its bank account.
On Friday, February 2, authorities confiscated 11,000 computers belonging to bitcoin miners.
Mining is the process of adding transaction record to bitcoin’s purchase history to make it seem like they had really taken place.
Eusebio Gomez, 51, and Andres Alejandro Carrero Martinez, 35, were both arrested for cybercrime, financial terrorism, electricity theft and fraud.
“What caused a reaction was the fact that 11,000 mining computers were consuming the same amount of energy that a whole city uses at a time of scarcity,” Surbitcoin Director Rodrigo Souza said.
Surbitcoin is the country’s main exchange platform for bitcoin.
In an isolated case, Adan Erick Tapia Salas and Edwald Antonio Tapia Salas were detained in Caracas for mining cryptocurrency, according to authorities.
The Tapia Salas brothers were tracked through the online market site Mercado Libre. Their equipment — valued at US$334 million dollars — was also seized.
The discovery of these enormous mining facilities is complicating bitcoin exchange with local currency. After February 2nd, Surbitcoin announced that their bank account was revoked, and advised users to withdraw their money in order to avoid losses.
The company is expecting to renew its operations in Venezuela; however, Surbitcoin said the site LocalBitcoins will be relocating.
“We have not been contacted by the government, but our bank does not want to be involved in this, so it revoked out account. We are reaching out to other banking partners,” Souza said.
Cuban tourism has been booming of late (Enviajes).
TODAY CUBA – María del Carmen Orellana, head of marketing at the Cuban Tourism Ministry (Mintur) announced that the island continues to record growth in the tourism area.
According to official figures, last January there was a 15% increase in tourism, with Canada being the main market contributing 30% of the total number of visitors received by Cuba during the past month.
In the case of the Americans, Orellana explained that despite the US ban on tourism in Cuba, Americans have continued to arrive. Figures show that 284,937 Americans visited the island in 2016, a 74% increase over the previous year.
According to this first report of the year, Mintur estimates that the increase will be greatly aided by the arrival of international airlines and cruise ships, which could represent a 17% growth this coming April, compared to the previous year.
According to Mintur figures, 2016 was a record-breaking year for foreign tourism arrivals.
The island received four million foreign tourists this year, representing an increase of 6% compared to the 3.7 million that were expected in 2016.
2015 also saw a 13% increase in tourism, generated mainly by tourists from North America and Europe.
According to the latest data published by the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), just the first half of 2016 saw tourism income of more than USD $ 1.2 billion.
It is important to emphasize that tourism is the second most important source of income on the island, only surpassed by the remittances sent by Cubans living abroad to their families.
Remittances to Nicaragua up 6% in 2016 over the previous year, the majority of coming from the United States and Costa Rica
TODAY NICARAGUA – Many households Nicaragua depend on remittances, money received from abroad, be it a few dollars or hundreds of dollars.
During the past year, remittances to the country totaled US$1.264 billion dollars, 6% more than were received in 2015.
Figures from the Central Bank of Nicaragua (Banco Central de Nicarargua – BCN) show that in 2016 the country received US$71 million more in remittances than the previous year.
“…Month by month, in 2016, remittances from abroad were growing compared to the same month in 2015. August was the month with the greatest growth, in percentage terms , with a rate of 11.7%.
“… Remittances accounted for 9.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), which is estimated at US $13,193.3 million in 2016. In addition, they represent 56.4% of the value of merchandise exports of the country in 2016, preliminarily estimated at US $2.241 million.”
And where is the money coming from?
In the Estado de la Economía y Perspectivas 2017 (State of the Economy and Prospects 2017) report last December, the BCN noted that the majority of the remittances come from the United States and Costa Rica.
“Revenues from remittances continue to grow at a good pace,” the Central Bank said in that report.
The figures up to November indicated that the United States and Costa Rica accounted for 76.1% of the total remittances received.
The amount of remittances from the United States had grown to US$624.1 million, a 4% increase over the previous period.
Meanwhile, remittances from Costa Rica, between January and November 2016, was US$239.3 million, a growth of 3.3%.
In the report, the Central Bank explained that in the first seven months of 2016, the annual growth rate of remittances from Costa Rica was negative.
In addition, remittances from Spain reached US$81.3 million from January to September 2016, according to the three quarterly remittances reports published by the BCN, an increase of 26% compared to the same period of 2015.
The Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) main building in downtown San Jose
The Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) main building in downtown San Jose
Q COSTA RICA BUSINESS – The Passive Base Rate (Tasa Básica Pasiva in Spanish) rose from 4.55% to 4.60%, while the effective rate in dollars rose from 2.14% to 2.24%.
The Central Bank of Costa Rica (Banco Central or BCCR) last Thursday (February 2) raised for a second straight weet the passive rate.
The Central Bank sets interest rates each Thursday.
The Passive Base Rate is an average of the deposit rates given by financial institutions for maturities of 150-210 days.
The Central Bank also reported that the Effective Rate in U.S. Dollars (Tasa Efectiva en Dólares in Spanish – TED) increased for the fourth consecutive week and for the next seven days will remain at 2.24%. (see chart).
The PPassive Base Rate and TED, as the dollar exchange rate can be found on the Front Page of Q Costa Rica and is updated daily.
If the Ministry of Finance has its way it would mean tourists would have to pay sales tax on recreation items such as hiking, walking tours, canopy, rafting, etc. Photo Diana Méndez, La Nacion
If the Ministry of Finance has its way it would mean tourists would have to pay sales tax on recreation items such as hiking, walking tours, canopy, rafting, etc. Photo Diana Méndez, La Nacion
Q COSTA RICA – The Cámara Nacional de Turismo (Canatur) – National Chamber of Tourism – denounced that Ministerio de Hacienda (Ministry of Finance) intends to collect sales tax on services generated in recreation and similar tourist centers.
The hoteliers and tourist entrepreneurs assert that the intentions of the Directorate General of Taxation (DGT) of the Ministry of Finance are “illegal” and contrary to what was decided by the Administrative Contentious Court in 2015.
According to Canatur, three companies in La Fortuna de San Carlos, in Alajuela, received notifications in which they were asked to pay 13% of the sales tax for the recreational services they perform for local and foreign tourists.
Carlos Vargas, head of the DGT, told Nacion.com that “… the new document dated October 2016, establishes each specific case must be analyzed to determine whether the recreation center has services that are subject to the payment of taxes. Vargas said that the document “is not reviving’ the collection of 13% sales tax on recreation centers as proposed in 2014. On the contrary, it aims to analyze each case to determine if the tax can be applied or not.”
“… The document, held by La Nacion, explains that services that are provided outside of a special limit of the establishment or recreation ground such as zoos, spas, canopy tours, hiking trails, bird watching, bungee jumping, among others; should be subject to the payment of sales tax.”
The resolution signed by Jenny Jiménez Vargas, head of the Dirección de Técnica Tributari, explains that these services must pay the tax as long as they are managed and provided by the recreation center or converge in it.
“For example, the resort or tourist center, which manages, coordinates and charges an activity that can be carried out outside the resort, but ends up converging in the same resort, as users-clients of the resort and staying in the resort.Consequently, each activity has to be analyzed within the concept of a recreation center “, exemplified the DGT document.
What this means is that the DGT says that to evade the payment of sales tax, there have been cases where, for example, a spa charges the entrance to its customers and reports the tax for that item.
However, the same spa offers a number of internal recreational services such as hiking, canopy or hiking, for which it charges and does not pay the sales tax. The DGT considers the tax can be charged for each of the activities that are part of the recreation service.
Canatur legal advisors say the DGT is going back to the same practice annulled by the Administrative Contentious Court in 2014. Pablo Heriberto Abarca, president of Canatur, explained the court’s decision was made because the services that were intended to be taxed in recreation centers were not established.
“We do not understand why Taxation is committed to make interpretations that replace legislative work and obviate the reality and spirit of the law, since those activities if they were subject to tax, would have been explicitly established in the law,” said Abarca.
In summary, what all this means is that if the DGT is successful in applying the tax to all services, the consumer (tourist) will be paying higher prices, 13% more which is the current sales tax.
The only suspect in the murder of 5 in Liberia is being held under maximum security, after being moved from a Liberia jail, to prevent reprisals from other inmates
Q COSTA RICA – “El Psicópata de Liberia” (Liberia Psychopath), what people are calling the the alleged killer of five university students in Liberia last month, will be spending the next year in the maximum security at La Reforma prison, in San Rafael de Alajuela.
Gerardo Alonso Rios Mairena, 33, was arrested Friday morning in his home, by agents of the Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ).
On Saturday, the Juzgado Penal de Liberia (Liberia criminal court) ordered Mairena to one year’s preventive detention and was first sent to the Calle Real jail in Liberia, but was quickly removed from there to avoid possible reprisals from other inmates, given that one of the victims (Ingrid Massiel Mendez) was friends with inmates at the jail, where she worked at times as a psychologist.
Rios Mairena is a relative of the landlord the victims rented from, living literally less than 2 metres from the door to the apartment the students shared. Authorities say may have used a key to let himself in, to fulfill could be a sexual fantasy he had with one or more of the female victims.
During the raid, police found incriminating evidence, including fingerprints and blood tying Rios Mairena to the murders.
A 14 year-old, visiting one of the victims, survived the attack and was able to give police a description. She has since been released from hospital.
Rios Mairena is not new to the penal system, he was on parole at the time of the attack, after serving about half of his eight year sentence for drug trafficking.
According to reports by the Ministry of Security, the alleged killer is under constant monitoring to prevent him from taking his own life. He is described as a quiet, lonely man.
Q COSTA RICA – The 2017 public school year (curso lectivo in Spanish) began today for approximately 948,000 students nationwide.
The academic year in Costa Rica is from the first week in February to the end of November. Some private schools, adopt the same school period as in the United States and Canada.
First day back to school images by Patricia Recio and Jeffrey Zamora for La Nacion.
Early Monday morning traffic captured by the Telenoticias television cameras
Early Monday morning traffic on the autopista General Cañas captured by the Telenoticias television cameras
Q COSTA RICA – Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the traffic congestion of the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM) of San Jose went beyond the nightmare, with an additional 50,000 vehicles circulating, of which 3,000 are school buses, as the 2017 public school year (Curso lectivo in Spanish) begins.
Adding to the congestion is return to work for many as the return to school also means the official end summer vacations, that is the period between the two month break (December and January) in the school year when many in Costa Rica head to the beaches and resorts.
To give you an idea how bad things were this morning, there were reports that the autopista General Cañas, from the airport to San Jose, was already busy around 4:00am. Natalia Suarez, the 6:00am news anchor at Telenoticias, said many of her colleagues who arrive in La Sabana early, told her of their first hand experience.
On the Ruta 27, it was stop-and-go from the Coyol. During my morning walk, around 7:00am, from the Cuidad Colon tolls, I was walking faster than the vehicles headed for San Jose. From that vantage point I could see three rows (on the two lane highway) of congestion past the Santa Ana crossing.
What was upsetting is to see the number of large trucks, including tractor trailers, on the road.
Traffic on the many routes from Heredia to San Jose was no better. At 6:00am the Telenoticias cameras showed long lines of traffic (again including heavy trucks) in the areas of Santo Domingo and La Valencia.
The congestion is expected to continue for the better part of the day, dimishing as the morning hours fade, only for more of the same to start in the early afternoon.
RICO’S JOURNAL – I have been lax in this over the past several months, tomorrow, I promise myself I am back on track. Serious.
The best way to burn fat is by walking.
If you’re looking to burn fat, forget the grueling runs and try something a little simpler: walking.
Nutritionist and celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, whose client list includes Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, and Lady Gaga, says intense cardio isn’t the best way to a svelte figure. In fact, for some people, cardio can be somewhat counterproductive.
According to Pasternak, the more intense the cardio you do, the more calories per minute you’ll burn — however, a higher percentage of those calories will come from non-fat sources than if you were engaging in less-intense cardio like walking.
In other words, yes, you’re burning a lot of calories, but not a lot of fat.
While he doesn’t necessarily advise against running or spin class, Pasternak says the average person who’s looking to trim fat might be somewhat intimidated by the prospect of doing intense cardio every day.
Walking, on the other hand, is often viewed as a more accessible method of exercise by people of all skill levels.
Pasternak, who has studied the eating habits of the healthiest countries in the world, says that while the diets of people in these countries differ greatly, they all do a lot of walking.
“People want to know how do we get the prettiest bodies in the world in shape — this is how I do it, not being sedentary,” he said.
Who says staying fit has to be boring or anti-social?
Can’t get motivated to walking alone? Start a walking group. Look for like-minded women in your community, like friends or coworkers. Two to three people are enough to get started.
In addition to feeling safer walking in a group versus solo, walkers have found it improves their social skills and mental well-being, according to Nutritionist Maribet Rivera-Brut.
TODAY COLOMBIA (Telesur) Saturday (February 4) marks the 16th anniversary of Plan Colombia, a multi-billion dollar U.S. counternarcotics and counterinsurgency military aid package given to Colombia under President Bill Clinton.
It also marks one year since Presidents Barack Obama and Juan Manuel Santos announced Plan Colombia 2.0, rebranded “Paz Colombia” in honor of the historic end of the country’s more than half century-old armed conflict.
Plan Colombia has enjoyed strong support from the majority of U.S. politicians, but there is uncertainty for the future of the plan under President Donald Trump’s watch, particularly from the perspective of Colombians.
While the president has not specifically mentioned Colombia, he has been critical of U.S. alliances where large amounts of money are spent, such as the United Nations and NATO, within his overall plan to put “America First.”
While such an approach remains ambiguous and Trump was seen to be “100 percent in favor of NATO,” when meeting with Theresa May, “America First” hints at an increasingly isolationist policy, with funding being rescinded for programs that are seen to drain resources from the U.S. compared to giving the U.S. an obvious advantage. On the other hand, Plan Colombia has largely been seen as a mechanism to protect U.S. economic interests in the country.
Colombia is currently the biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid in the western hemisphere and many are doubtful that under such an “America First” platform, Trump will not be willing to carry through with giving the US$450 million to Colombia promised by Obama in 2016.
Colombia celebrates peace, Tillerson questions it
Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, while not as tight lipped as Trump on the issue, said at his confirmation hearing that “Plan Colombia has made a dramatic difference and can be considered a foreign policy success for both the United States and for Colombia.”
The former Exxon Mobil Corp head said that he would “review the details of Colombia’s recent peace agreement, and determine the extent to which the United States should continue to support it.”
Given the fact that many analysts have criticized Plan Colombia for prolonging the conflict and fueling human rights abuses, celebration of the military aid package as “a foreign policy success” is troubling. But it’s also not a rogue position in U.S. politics — Hillary Clinton, for example, advocated a “Plan Colombia for Central America” in an interview with the New York Daily news during her presidential campaign.
Casting doubt on the peace deal, on the other hand, marks a significant break with the political consensus in the U.S. and international community, which has largely applauded the historic end of the 52-year civil war with the FARC.
Tillerson also said he believes Colombia is “one of our closest allies in the hemisphere,” adding that he hopes to work closely with Bogota on “holding them to their commitments to rein in drug production and trafficking.”
Indeed, Plan Colombia and its 2.0 version have a heavy focus on drugs, crime and security.
Plan Colombia’s bloody legacy
Plan Colombia has been heavily criticized for militarizing a war on drugs and targeting left-wing insurgents, rather than cutting the trade off at is source of production, leaving a high human cost and perpetuating insecurity.
The Colombian Victims Unit estimated in 2014 that over 7 million people had been killed, forcibly disappeared or displaced since the start in 1956 of Colombia’s bloody period known simply as “La Violencia” — a precursor to the start of the civil war with guerrilla rebels the following decade. It is important to note, though, that the organization recorded the majority of violence after 2000, when Plan Colombia was enacted.
According to human rights groups, at least 1,000 trade unionists were murdered between 2000 and January 2016, while at least 400 human rights defenders were assassinated between 2010 and 2015. According to Frontline Defenders, Colombia was the most deadly country for human rights defenders in 2015 out of the 25 countries where the organization operates.
U.S.-backed war on drugs set to continue
Trump has continually blamed Mexico for — among other things — supplying the plethora of illicit drugs entering the U.S. Yet according to the latest DEA figures, cocaine production in Colombia increased by 67 percent between 2014 and 2015, and over 90 percent of seized shipments in the U.S. originated in Colombia. While the peace process continued in 2016, coca cultivation fueled by increasing prices appears to also be increasing.
Given that the entire west coast has legalized marijuana with other U.S. states are following suit, it not only makes Mexico diminishingly important for the U.S. demand for illegal drugs, but also highlights the importance of continued U.S. support for Colombia to shrink its illegal drug market, the majority of which ends up on U.S. streets.
And in the case of U.S. customers for Colombian and Latin American drugs, wherever there is demand, there will be supply. One of the key sources of income for the FARC was illicit drugs, in particularly cocaine and marijuana. The FARC offer protection to growers of illicit crops in the areas the operate, in exchange for a fee.
As the FARC demobilizes, there is the risk that other armed groups and criminal organizations will continue in the illegal drug trade and fill the void of the FARC’s power. While Colombia moves closer to peace, there have been ongoing killings of human rights defenders, and a demand for protection, particularly in rural areas where the FARC has had the strongest presense.
Adequate support is needed to help reintegrate former FARC members and develop legal economic and agricultural opportunities for many people who have previously relied on illicit industries — drugs and illegal mining, which still offer lucrative profits in a worldwide market that does not appear to be slowing down.
There is also a growing chorus of international voices that are calling for an alternative approach to the “war on drugs,” and indeed Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in acceptance peace speech for his Nobel Peace Prize said that Colombia has been the hardest hit country in the world from the militarized prohibitionist approach. He also called on the world to “rethink” the war on drugs.
For the most part, Trump’s cabinet picks, in particular Attorney General Jeff Sessions, would seem to be in favor of maintaining the status quo for drug policy, domestically and internationally.
While Obama’s promised funding is uncertain under the new administration, another important Obama legacy is now left in the hands of Trump has commonly flown under the radar: the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission Act.
Signed into law in December by Obama, the bipartisan and independent commission is set to review decades of U.S. drug policy and provide recommendations for the president and Congress and has the potential the seriously shift the direction of U.S. drug policy for Colombia in particular.
Plan Colombia is set to come under heavy investigation from the commission as well as the current U.S. “decertification” policy, whereby other states deemed to have “failed demonstrably” in reducing illicit drug production are pressured with aid and trade sanctions.
Given the new president’s affinity for executive orders and maverick approach to other forms of U.S. power outside the White House, Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress may all but disregard proposed changes from the commission.
Washington’s “best friend” in Latin America
Colombian officials also have significant choices to make whether they are willing to fall into line with whatever drug policy is fashioned under Trump’s administration or take a more independent approach, which always has the risk of losing U.S. political and financial support.
It goes without saying that it is an asymmetrical relationship between Colombia and the U.S. in regard to Plan Colombia, and looking across the wider region, Trump and Tillerson’s sights could very well move away from Colombia but towards Venezuela and Cuba — two perennial critics of U.S. foreign policy.
If we again take Colombia as Tillerson’s “best friend in the region,” continued and even increased support for Bogota could also be used as political leverage against Cuba and Venezuela and the remaining “Pink Tide” countries across the continent.
ExxonMobil already has a long history in Venezuela, and Tillerson said that he wants to work with Brazil and Colombia and the Organization of American States, to negotiate a “transition to democratic rule” in the country. Tillerson has also upheld Trump´s rhetoric of reversing the U.S. “deal” to a thawing of relations with Cuba made under the Obama administration.
In addition to a need for political support to implement peace in Colombia, the process also requires large sums of money. The potential severing of Obama’s funding would be a serious blow to Colombia’s move towards peace and could have widespread implications for the country’s security and stability going forward.
Funding will be essential to help reintegrate former guerrillas into society, cutting out illegal markets, developing the economy and helping the government provide infrastructure and order areas that were previously ungovernable.
And while the 2016 peace deal is not without its flaws, as Adam Isacson from the Washington Office of Latin America notes, it “is the best available option for guaranteeing stability, strong democratic governance, and reduced drug production in Colombia. It deserves full U.S. backing.”
Evo Morales leads a press conference in Bolivia. | Photo: Reuters
(Q24N) “Discriminatory policies that condemn and criminalize migration are a shameful retreat to rights conquered by our peoples,” Morales tweeted.
Bolivian President Evo Morales spoke out Thursday against a proposed wall by
Evo Morales leads a press conference in Bolivia. | Photo: Reuters
Argentina’s Mauricio Macri government alongside its shared northern border with Bolivia and Paraguay.
We are countries of the Patria Grande (Latin America) and we cannot follow the North and its policies, building walls to divide us,” Morales tweeted on Thursday.
Earlier this week, right-wing Argentine congressman Alfredo Olmedo proposed legislation promoting the construction of a wall in an effort to curb immigration.
“I agree 100% with Trump,” Olmedo said, according to The Guardian.
“I know that border very well, and a wall is the solution. We have to build a wall.”
Olmedo was born and raised in Argentina’s northern Rosario de la Frontera province, which shares a border with both Bolivia and Paraguay.
Morales also criticized President Macri’s recent executive order on immigration. Last Monday, the right-wing head of state signed a decree amending the country’s immigration laws in order to speed up the deportation of foreigners who have committed crimes. The decree also prohibits the entry of foreign citizens into the South American country if they have prior criminal convictions.
“Discriminatory policies that condemn and criminalize migration are a shameful retreat to rights conquered by our peoples,” Morales tweeted on Friday morning, adding that the Bolivian government is urging the international community to take action.
Macri claims there was an increase in the country’s population of foreigners in prison, topping 21 percent in 2014. Argentina’s Center for Legal and Social Studies, however, reports the figure to be no more than 5 percent.
With Macri’s decree in place, undocumented immigrants will be prohibited from returning to Argentina for at least eight years. Previous immigration laws banned them from returning for up to five years.
While Olmedo is a longtime political ally of Macri, the Argentine president has not yet signaled plans to move forward with the proposed border wall. None of Argentina’s major political parties have endorsed its construction, including Macri’s Cambiemos party.
Olmedo continues to publicly support the immigration policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, who is trying to force the Mexican government into paying for a wall alongside both countries’ shared border.
Palestinian residents in Nicaragua and pro-Palestinian activists protest Israeli occupation. | Photo: Reuters
TODAY NICARAGUA (Telesur) Since taking office in 2007, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has been a staunch defender of Palestine and a critic of Israeli human rights abuses.
As Israel continues to illegally expand its settlements on Palestinian territory, Nicaragua’s Sandinista government is hosting an international conference this weekend that will focus on strengthening ties between Palestinians living in Central America and those still living in Palestine.
The conference, which is themed “Building Bridges with the Palestinian Diaspora in Central America,” is being put together on the occasion of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Attendees will discuss strategies for supporting the Middle Eastern nation’s self-determination and independence, in light of Israel’s recent settlement expansion.
Vera Baboun and Nicola Khamis, mayors of the Palestinian cities of Bethlehem and Beit Jala, are expected to attend, the Costa Rica Star reports. Former Belizean Prime Minister Said Musa, a representative of the Palestinian diaspora in Central America, will also attend.
The United Nations and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People are co-hosting the conference in Managua.
“Following the opening session will be two panel discussions on the critical situation in Palestine as well as practical ways in which the Palestinian diaspora in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize and other countries in Latin America can coordinate initiatives, reconnect with the homeland, advocate for an end to the occupation and support sustainable development in Palestine,” the U.N. wrote in a statement, describing the event.
Central America has a decades-long relationship with Palestinian exiles.
Since the Israeli occupation that began in the 1940s, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing to Central America, making the region home to the second-largest Palestinian exile community in Latin America. Chile currently has the largest, with over 500,000 Palestinians living there, according to international human rights organization Global Exchange.
Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have Palestinian populations of approximately 250,000, 200,000, and 70,000 respectively, the same organization reports.
One of the most notable figures of the Palestinian Diaspora in Central America was Schafik Handal, a Salvadoran-Palestinian communist politician and former guerilla leader. Handal co-founded the country’s ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, FMLN, party. He laid the groundwork for party members Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sanchez to win the Salvadoran presidency in 2009 and 2014 respectively.
Since taking office in 2007, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has been a staunch defender of Palestine and a critic of Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians.
“(Israeli) Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to be possessed by the devil. He needs Pope Francis to exorcise it, to become appeased,” Ortega told Globovision in a 2014 interview.
“Why doesn’t anyone condemn or sanction the state of Israel?” Ortega asked, adding that Netanyahu wants to “annihilate the Palestinian people.”
RICO’S JOURNAL – It has been some time since I took a leisurely stroll through the heart of the capital city. No reason, just tired of the same. But on Thursday (January 26), I decided it was time, it was the new year. And was pleasantly surprised: there were changes afoot. Changes aimed at raising the bar, maybe lifting the city’s image of a tired and run down city core that, like me, many prefer not to waste time visiting.
The first is the gone of the Carrion store, that had fallen into disrepair and really was now an eyesore. The once prominent retailer had faced economic hard times, closing many, if not all, it stores.
Replacing the Carrion is the new Plaza de la Cultura Universal store, an attractive and clean facade with the Universal logo in big. A change for the retailer from the traditional big display windows of the Plaza Avenida store, a few blocks west on the Bulevar.
The Gran Hotel de Costa Rica is undergoing a retrofit. About time. Talking to the workers, the hotel is undergoing a total overhaul of its interior: the rooms and social areas, but will keep the “patrimonio” (heritage) parts of the hotel, whose famous guests include John F. Kennedy in March 1963.
The Gran Hotel is a historic monument, built in 1930, located diagonal the Teatro Nacional (National Theatre). A number of guests I personally took and/or picked up to the hotel (through my VIP transport service) commented that they had made a bad choice, they had chosen the hotel for its downtown location, but the rooms (…).
The hotel should re-open within six to eight months.
In the new Plaza de la Cultura gone is the ugly green steel ‘wall’. The payphones are still there, but the big tree providing shade for users is gone. The payphones are a product of a by-gone era. For anyone who has been or visited San Jose, the payphones bring back memories of a simpler time in the city.
It was said, that if you stood by the payphones every day for month, you would run into everyone you knew in the country. I don’t know if that was true, but I did get to meet a lot of new and interesting people by these payphones.
At the northeast corner of the Plaza de la Cultura, though renovated over the past two years, two buildings bring new esthetic life to the city centre.
A block down is the hotel Presidente and its mural, “Buscando al gato” by artist Sergio Guillén. The 400 square metre surface features a hidden cat, an invitation for passers-by to get out of the rut and play.
The work is an initiative of the San Jose Lab called “Tu ciudad, tu lienzo” (your city, your canvas) which summoned artists to put a new face on the hotel.
Other changes to the Presidente is the relocation of its main entrance, now located on the side street and no longer on the Avenida. For me, the memories of the “News Cafe” (replaced by the Claro store some years ago) spring to mind every time I walk by the hotel. It was a great place to enjoy a great cup of coffee, a meal, meet up with friends or just watch the people walk by.
Also, the city of San Jose has undergone a program of repairs many of the downtown roads. But, before you ger all excited, the work in my opinion is just a facade, the municipality just putting a new layer of asphalt on an old base. In some cases, the road level is higher than the sidewalk.
But, with all the new a tradition that remains is the clock fountain. The clock is an icon that could use a touch up, but glad to see it still there.
The changes to the downtown core left with a sense of renewal, maybe becoming a place to hang out once again.
Otto Guevara conferring with fellow legislator Natalia Diaz. Photo John Duran, La Nacion
Otto Guevara conferring with fellow legislator Natalia Diaz. Photo John Duran, La Nacion
Q COSTA RICA – If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. In the case of the Otto Guevara it is try, try, try, try and try again, as the leader and perennial presidential candidate for the Movimiento Libertario (ML) made it known he will look for his fifth opportunity to become president of Costa Rica.
Guevara, who is currently serving the country as legislator, announced Friday afternoon his slogan for the next election campaign, but first has to defeat fellow ML legislator, Natalia Diaz Quintana.
“Voy a poner orden” (I am going to restore order) are the words that Guevara, sporting a beard, will use for his 2018 presidential campaign slogan.
Otto Guevara through the years from La Nacion (large file, wait for it download)
Asked about Diaz Quintana challenging him, Guevara said “any Libertarian can present their name to the party convention…the fact that I present my name does not close the door to anyone else.”
According to Guevara, all it takes to place one’s name on the party nomination is a subscription fee of ¢4,000 colones (US$7 dollars). The party has yet to announce a convention date.
Guevara has run, unsuccessfully, for the presidential chair in the last four consecutive elections: 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.
The legislator and would be president said he will focus his pre-election campaign on several issues: restoring order to the Caja (social security), education, the judicial system and police to combat organized crime, and the “incompetence” in the public infrastructure.
In an interview with La Nacion, Guevara was asked, “why again?”, to which Gueavara answered, “It is a project I started 22 years ago and will end with the last breast of my life (…)”.
The current Turrialba eruptions are similar to 1864
Q COSTA RICA – The materials being spewed out by the Turrialba volcano are chemically similar to those of the previous eruptive cycle, dating back to 1864.
In 1863, Danish naturalist Anders Sandow Oersted reported cracks where smoke and vapor emanated from the colossus, while traveler Karl Hoffman described a column of smoke rising high and visible from the Irazu volcano.
And Alexander von Frantzius, also a naturalist, said he saw “flames shooting out of the volcano” and his colleague, Henri Pittier, reported that the ash ejected by the Turrialba reached San Jose, Greece and Atenas.
Does it sound familiar?
As the volcano today behaves in a similar way it did a hundred fifty years ago, during the 1864-1866 eruptive period, volcanologists see two possible scenarios: two more years of ash and gas or an eruption that could reach 7,000 metres (4 miles high) high.
Experts at the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori-UNA) say that of the little that they know of the 1864 activity and given that small amounts of magma what is expected is volcanic eruption. “What we have seen so far are small, strombolian eruptions that do not reach 6,000 metres in height,” said volcanic seismologist, Javier Pacheco.
In agreement with Pacheco, is Raúl Mora, a volcanologist working on the Preventc program at the University of Costa Rica (UCR).
“After the eruption, it is likely the Turrialba will return to rest. I hope so,” Mora said.
Both experts say the other possibility is that the volcano keeps doing for the next two or three years what it has been doing, and then become dormant without a major eruption.
“It’s a nuisance for everyone (because of the amount of ash), but it’s not a catastrophe,” said Geoffroy Avard, who is a researcher and analyzes volcanic materials (ash and rocks) at the Ovsicori Petrology Laboratory. “From the information provided by the materials expelled by the volcano, it seems that the Turrialba prefers to remain quiet”.
Avard is working with two hypotheses: it may be the same material that failed to emerge 150 years ago, or new magma is have the same evolution as in 1864-1866.
The ashfall in 1864-1866 affected some 40 cantons of Cartago, San Jose, Heredia, Alajuela, Limon and Puntarenas.
According to the experts, the Turrialba has the capacity to generate sub-Plinian eruptions that could rise as high as 20 kilometres.
“It has been a very active and dangerous volcano, its magma generates a lot of gas and that produces its explosiveness,” said Pacheco.
(Q24N) From the InterNations Happiest countries for expats, Costa Rica is tops of 17 countries where expats live the happiest lives. Being happy is not an exact formula — earning a lot of money does not necessarily equate to a happy life.
A new survey by the world’s largest network for people who live and work abroad, shows that this is the case for expats across the globe.
InterNations asked 14,300 people living overseas, representing 174 nationalities and living in 191 countries, to rate 43 different aspects of life abroad on a scale of 1-7.
One of the sub-indexes looked at personal happiness.
Some of the countries that made the top slots showed that the happiest expats across the globe were not necessarily earning a huge amount of money, nor were they in places that had the best infrastructure, such as the case with Costa Rica. But something about living in these countries satisfied them.
Take a look at each for yourself, starting with number 17:
alxpin / Getty images
17. Portugal —The country ranks in the top 5 “dream destinations” for expats, according to the survey. It is particularly popular for people emigrating with children.
Tourists visit waterfalls at Ayn Athum in Salalah, Dhofar province, Oman.Reuters
16. Oman — Expats going to this country usually move with a job already secured. Once they are there, many say good personal safety (57%), political stability (46%), and peacefulness (62%) all contribute to a happy life.
Photosite/Shutterstock
15. Kenya —The country is becoming increasingly popular with expats, thanks to job growth in various sectors, beautiful surroundings, incredible weather, and a low cost of living.
Fotos593/Shutterstock
14. Peru — The survey says that Peru mainly attracts business owners, so expats who already have an income. Many relocate for the weather and low cost of living.
Dalene And Peter Heck/Hecktic Media
13. Hungary — Hungary is one of countries that climbed the most in the personal finance index, meaning that people are earning more. This has contributed to the the personal happiness of expats as costs have not risen in line with earnings, making it a cheap place to live.
A general view shows Hoima town, Uganda April 27, 2015.Reuters
12. Uganda —The east African nation has transformed itself into a country of relative stability and prosperity and this is attracting expats from across the globe looking for emerging market opportunities.
Anisha Shah
11. Taiwan — The country features near the top of many sub-indexes and expats in Taiwan are “relatively well-off despite low absolute income.” Access to quality healthcare and education also makes expats happy there.
Flickr/Moyan Brenn
10. Spain — Accommodation, food and drink, and transport cost very little in comparison to Western European countries such as Britain. Combined with job prospects, decent pay, and good weather, expats rate this as one of the places they are most happy with.
Panama Canal
9. Panama — The country is a hive for service economy jobs, including finance and infrastructure. Pay goes a long way and the good weather does not hurt.
Alan Strakey/Flickr
8. Vietnam — The popular expat destination for Western Europeans scores highly because you can live pretty decadently on a low wage (by Western standards). There is also incredible scenery, activities and places to explore.
Phurinee Chinakathum
7. Thailand — Another favourite destination for the Western world is Thailand, where low cost of living, easiness of settling in, and activities make expats very happy.
Roys Bay, New Zealand.Flickr / paul bica
6. New Zealand — The country may be out of the way but peacefulness, good healthcare, and good education all contribute to expats saying they are extremely happy there.
Jessie on a Journey
5. Ecuador — The country fell 16 places in the quality of life index, but in terms of personal happiness, expats say it’s one of the best places in the world for a happy life. Cost of living is low and weather and activities are abundant.
Wikimedia Commons
4. Philippines — Those with families rank the country highly thanks to a friendly attitude towards children and low cost of living.
javarman/Shutterestock
3. Mexico — The country ranks number one in the ease of settling in index, as well as highly across the weather and friendliness sub-indexes.
In Green/Shutterstock
2. Malta — The country is a favourite destination for Europeans looking to relocate, thanks to the ease of settling in, low language barrier, low cost of living and enviable weather. Interestingly, the survey shows that personal happiness is one of the best because 70% of expats in Malta surveyed are in a relationship, compared to the global average of 63%.
Armando Maynez / Wikimedia Commons
1. Costa Rica — The country is one of the top 5 “dream destinations” for expats in the survey and makes people happy from all different walks of life — 19% are entrepreneurs or business owners, 20% have a part-time job, while 14% are retirees.
Opposition supporters take part in a rally against President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas, Venezuela, October 26, 2016. Thomson Reuters
TODAY VENEZUELA (Reuters) Peru has created a temporary visa that will allow thousands of Venezuelans to work and study in the country, part of a migratory policy that aims to “build bridges” and “not walls,” the Andean nation’s interior ministry said, according to Reuters.
President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s government issued 20 temporary visas to Venezuelan migrants in Peru this week.
Kuczysnki, a centrist, has expressed concern about shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela, mired in a deep economic crisis.
Some 6,000 Venezuelans are expected to receive the permit, which will allow them to study, work, and receive health services in Peru for a year, the interior ministry said late on Thursday.
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at a news conference at the conclusion of the APEC Summit in Lima. Thomson Reuters
Peru has enjoyed nearly two decades of uninterrupted economic growth and single-digit inflation, a sharp contrast to socialist-led Venezuela, where the ranks of the poor have swollen in recent years.
“We want to offer a different message on migration than what’s offered in other places. We want to build bridges that unite us and not walls to separate us,” Interior Minister Carlos Basombrio said in a statement.
The comment appeared to be a thinly veiled shot at the new US government, which is traditionally an ally of Peru.
US President Donald Trump has imposed a temporary entry ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, and insisted that Mexico will pay for his proposed wall along the US-Mexican border to curb illegal immigration.
Kuczynski, a former Wall Street banker and free-trade advocate who took office last year, has previously compared Trump’s proposed border wall to the Berlin Wall, and said he would oppose it in the United Nations.
Kuczynski and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said last week that they would stand with Mexico and seek to strengthen regional trade, in the wake of rising tensions between Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Trump.
Thousands of Venezuelans have left their country in recent years, as a deepening political crisis and ongoing economic dysfunction have made life there ever harder.
A Venezuelan woman living in Chile, whose mouth is taped, takes part in a protest against the visit of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, in Santiago, March 10, 2014. REUTERS/Cristobal Saavedra
While the first years of this century saw Venezuela elites and educated classes depart the country, chaffing under the presidency of Hugo Chavez, since 2010 younger Venezuelans and members of the middle class have joined the ranks of the exodus.
Many Venezuelans have relocated to Colombia, and a significant number have gone to Chile, making an arduous multiday trek by bus and boat across the Amazon jungle and the mountains and rivers of the Andes.
Over the last five years, Chilean visas issued to Venezuelans have jumped from 758 to 8,381, Univision reported in September 2016.
About 5% of Venezuelan’s roughly 30 million people are thought to have left, and the outflux has undergone a “feminization” of late, seeing 67 men leave for every 100 women departing.
“I think what you see now is that there are fewer and fewer educated professionals, younger people, who are opting to stay, or even considering opting to stay,” Alejandro Velasco, a professor at New York University, told Business Insider late last year.
“The tipping point basically, I think, has been reached where opportunities outside [the country] are far easier to come by and certainly better to imagine that opportunities inside.”
The United States has changed its visa requirements on Wednesday. Here is how this affects Colombians wanting to visit the North American country.
According to the US Embassy in Colombia website, effective immediately, interviews will now be required in all cases, except:
Diplomatic and official visa applicants from foreign governments and international organizations (categories: A-1, A-2, G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, NATO-1 through -6, C-2 and C-3).
Applicants under the age of 14, or over the age of 79.
Applicants who previously held a visa in the same category that expired less than 12 months prior to the new application.
Previously, Colombians who wished to renew their visa in the same category within 48 months could have the interview waived.
“The Department of State is committed to facilitating legitimate travel while ensuring the security of U.S. borders and the American people,” reads the US Embassy update.
The new visa regulations are a consequence of an executive order on immigration signed on January 27 by President Donald Trump.
This controversial executive order bans all travel from a number of Muslim countries, and a revision of all visa procedures for foreigners wanting to travel to the United States for either business or pleasure.
In the executive order “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorists Entry Into The United States,” the hard-right US president announced numerous measures to tighten control on the issuing of visas.
The United States must be vigilant during the visa-issuance process to ensure that those approved for admission do not intend to harm Americans and that they have no ties to terrorism.
US President Donald Trump
Trump’s xenophobic remarks targeting Mexicans during his campaign has made him in Colombia almost as unpopular as Nicolas Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Colombia’s neighbor Venezuela.
According to the US Embassy, last year 500,000 visas for Colombians were approved.
EXTRA – The entire world knows that the Kardashian clan recently spent a few days in Costa Rica, vacationing in the country’s Papagayo Peninsula, in Guanacaste.
We all saw the photos of the Kardashian girls and Kylie Genner in swimsuits. The Kardashians are famous for living in style…and their Costa Rica holiday was no exception, choosing the Villa Manzu, a private villa on an isolated peninsula, some 40 minutes from the Liberia (LIR) airport.
Villa Manzu is a 2780 square metre (30,000 sqaure foot) private estate, which sits on five oceanfront acres on Peninsula Papagayo that is “definitely not your typical Costa Rica experience”.
It includes a personal chef, servers, bartender, butler, driver, manager, security guard, housekeeper and even an adventure specialist to arrange excursions and affords guests have access to the Peninsula Papagayo golf and tennis clubhouse, marina and Prieta Beach Club, as well as the restaurants at the Four Seasons hotel, all about a half-mile away.
The Villa drivers will wisk you around in a Range Rover, Ford Explorer SUV, or Jeep Wrangler.
The luxury villa boasts eight bedroom suites, which are all complete with oversized televisions, walk-in closets, 12 bathrooms (8 marble bathroom ensuites), pool and Costa Rican hardwood flooring.
Guests staying at Villa Manzu also have access to two swimming pools, an in-house spa, gym, a home theatre and a yoga platform.
And here is the best part, you too can rent this ‘private sanctuary’.
The cost? US$16,500 per night, with minimum three nights (US$27,000 per night, minimum 7 nights between December 20, 2017 and January 5, 2018).
For Canadians, the rate in loonies is: CA$23.663 and CA$38,721.
A US$5,000 security deposit is required, and the 13% Costa Rica sales tax is added to the rental rate.
The Villa Manzu is available exclusively; not by the room.
More information is available at Villamanzu.com, and Luxuryretreats.com. No compensation was received for this article, the links are no commission or referral based.
OIJ remove the only suspected in the Liberia massacre after an early morning raid. The man is identied as 33 year old Rios Mairena, a neighbour of the victims. Photo OIJ
OIJ agents with only suspected in the Liberia massacre after an early morning raid. The man is identied as 33 year old Rios Mairena, a neighbour of the victims. Photo OIJ
Q COSTA RICA – An early morning raid in Liberia this Friday morning resulted in the arrest of the only suspect in the massacre of the five university students, and seriously wounding a sixth.
The man, identified as Rios Mairena, 33 years old, who is parole, is described by authorities as a ‘very violent man’ , lived next door to his victims, and is a relative of the landlord renting to young university students.
Photo OIJ
According to the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) profile, Rios Mairena is extremely violent, hostile and a drug addict.
The savage crime occurred on the morning of Thursday, January 19, in a room in a house in the Liberia barrio of La Victoria, where the suspect tied up and gagged each of the victims and then slit their throats with what investigators believe a kitchen knife.
Photo OIJ
All five victims lived in the aparment, a few metres from their alleged attacker. A sixth, a 14 year old girl, was visiting one of the victims at the time, was seriously wounded but lived to give investigators a description.
The deceased were identified as Stephanie Hernandez, Joseph Briones, Dayanna Martinez, Ingrid Méndez and Ariel Vargas. Four of them were students of the University of Costa Rica (UCR).
The 14 year old was discharged from the Enrique Baltodano hospital in Liberia on Thursday.
The motive of the multiple murders is still a mystery. Investigators theorize that the suspect had possibly sexual fantasies with one or more of the victims. Another theory the combination of consuming drugs and his violent nature.
Despite a public manhunt, autorities releasing to the a skecth and almost 100 tips to the police hotline, Rios Mairena never fled, he stayed put in the house he lived with his mother and stepfather, just across the corridor where the massacre occurred.
In fact, a La Nacion correspondent following on the story days after the massacre, on January 23 captured photos of Rios Mairena painting a courtyard wall next to the door where the students had been killed. Next is the door to where lived the couple who had received the text message from one of the victims.
Rios Mairena photographed by a La Nacion correspondent days after the massacre that took place in the apartment behind him. Photo La Nacion
Walter Espinoza, head of the OIJ, explained – in a press conference after the arrest of the suspect – in the search of the house investigators found the knife, shorts and shoes with traces of blood believed to be of the victims.
Photo OIJ
A bloody fingerprint from the crime scene and other evidence led authorities to Rios Mairena.
But how was one person able to tie up, gag and kill five people and almost kill a sixth?
Authorities say the suspect had easy access to the apartment, a key to get in and out at will. In addition, there is evidence that he was friendly with the victims, having shared time with them hours prior.
Photo OIJ
During the conference, Espinoza reiterated that during the investigation they were able to establish clearly that the suspect is narcissistic, of few friends, extremely violent, sadistic, hostile and aggressive.
Rios Mairena, according to Espinoza, is the type of individual who does not empathize with others and to all this there is documented history of drug consumption that could have fed his recurrent compulsive sexual fantasy with one or more of the female victims, that could have motivated him to commit the crime.
Another question being asked today is, why was Rios Mairena free after being convicted to eights years in prison for drug trafficking?
The conviction was in July 2012, a year after his arrest and in preventive detention since July 2011.
The suspect was paroled in 2015. Ddespite the opposition by the Instituto Nacional de Criminología (National Institute of Criminology), a Liberia judge ordered his conditional release.
Cuban doctors apply for parole to the United States while waiting for their visas to be processed. (Tijuana Press)
TODAY CUBA – The executive order signed by US President Donald Trump banning refugees could also affect Cuban doctors who have applied for entry through “parole” into the United States.
Parole is a form of immigration that allows applicants to enter the US even though their visa cases are in process.
Over the past 40 years, more than three million refugees have benefited from this program on the basis of “a well-founded fear of persecution on grounds of religion, race, nationality, political opinion or belonging to a particular social group.”
President Trump has suspended admission of refugees for four months, a deadline during which US officials will review the application process and determine whether further steps are needed to “ensure that accepted refugees are not a threat to the security and welfare of the United States.
There are thousands of Cuban doctors and other health professionals stranded in countries like Colombia, where they abandoned the international missions to which they had been sent by the Cuban regime.
The end of the “Wet feet, dry feet” policy enacted by former President Barack Obama also shut down the Cuban Medical Professional Parole program, which also paused the doctors who had sought refuge under the figure from the United States government.
“The suspension of the refugee program may affect these Cuban doctors,” said Wilfredo Allen, a lawyer specializing in immigration issues.
Q BUSINESS – PriceSmart, the U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean, is growing in Costa Rica, announcing its seventh store will be Santa Ana.
Details at this time are few. According to a report by Marketwatch.com, the company acquired a 22,500 square metre (242,000 square foot) piece of land in Santa Ana, Costa Rica, upon which the retailer plans to build a new warehouse club.
PriceSmart currently operates six warehouse clubs in Costa Rica: Escazu, Heredia, Alajuela, Tibas, Curridabat and Cartago.
PriceSmart, headquartered in San Diego (US), operated 39 warehouse clubs in 12 countries and one U.S. territory: Seven in Colombia; six in Costa Rica; five in Panama; four in Trinidad and Tobago; three each in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Honduras; two each in El Salvador and Nicaragua; and one each in Aruba, Barbados, Jamaica and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The sexual abuse occurred on a San Jose - Purral bus on January 19. Photo for illustrative purposes
The sexual abuse occurred on a San Jose – Purral bus on January 19. Photo for illustrative purposes
Q COSTA RICA – A 62 year-old man will be spending the next three years and eight months in prison for touching the buttocks of a female passenger while riding the bus.
According to a press release by the Ministerio Público (Public Prosecutor’s Office), the man identified by his last name Aguilar Solis, is already behind bars, after pleading guilty and agreeing to an abbreviated trial.
The event occurred on a Purral bus as it passed through El Cruce de Moravia on the morning of January 19.
The woman, who was standing while riding the bus, was approached by Aguilar from behind, purposely touching the her buttock with his intimate parts. The woman called him on it, but minutes later, he repeated the act.
When the woman asked the driver of assistance, the man got off the bus and fled. One of the other passengers, who had witnessed the act, along with the victim gave chase stopping Aguilar near Novacentro and calling 911.
Faced with the conclusive evidence presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Aguilar decided to plead guilty and undergo an abbreviated process resulting in a conviction in only 12 days, the Fiscalía de Flagrancia del II Circuito Judicial de San José, in Goicoechea convicting Auguilar on two counts of sexual assault. On Monday, January 30, Aguilar began serving his sentence.
Given that the Aguilar Solis worked as an informal taxi driver, authorities suspect that there may be other women victims, thus the Ministerio Publico urges potential victims to file a complaint.
Café Tostado y Molido, located in Plaza Petrópolis, en Carretera Sur. Managua. OTO LA PRENSA/Lissa Villagra
TODAY NICARAGUA – More and more coffee shops are cropping up in in Nicaragua, aiming to differentiate themselves through service and the quality of their coffee in a market where the number of cafés in the country has almost doubled in just five years.
Café Tostado y Molido, located in Plaza Petrópolis, en Carretera Sur. Managua. OTO LA PRENSA/Lissa Villagra
Growth in Nicaraguan’s purchasing power and the increasing sophistication of coffee consumption are some of the reasons behind the increase in the number of coffee shops in the country, which are located mainly in and around Managua.
Figures from the Tourism Institute show that the number of registered cafés rose from 247 in 2010 to 461 in 2015.
Leonel Ubeda, manager of the Yunis Coffee shop, which opened two weeks ago, told Laprensa.com.ni that “… ‘Demand for coffee in the city is strong, the country’s supply is increasing but so is the population, it is easier for people to go into a cafe to relax a bit or to do some business’.”
“… The president of the Chamber of Commerce and Services in Nicaragua (CNSC), Rosendo Mayorga, agreed with the owners of these businesses and indicated that these coffee shops are turning into meeting places to do business.
“Nicaragua is a country which is in fashion, a lot of people are coming to see why and how it is growing and as (investors) do not have their own offices they come to see how the country is doing, and the best place to do that is a coffee shop.They take advantage of the opportunity to try a cup of coffee because of the fame we have with our coffee,” adds Mayorga.”
Q ENTERTAINMENT – The life of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias, who died in 2013, still unleashes all sorts of passions, and that is something that can not be denied.
For the Colombian production and management team of the Hugo Chavez series, “El Comandante” (that premiered locally on TNT on Tuesday, January 31, at 9:oopm), is nothing new, since days before the premiere, there were already detractors and defenders of the program.
The television series was created by Sony Pictures Television. A total of 60 episodes have been confirmed so far. It stars Andrés Parra in the title role.
El Comandante is a story inspired by the life of Hugo Chávez, a man of humble origin who, at only 44 years old and against all odds, became the most powerful and controversial Latin American leader of his time. During his rule he controlled at will the largest oil reserves on the planet, challenged the First World and managed to shake the continent as nobody else.
The production narrates the fictional story of a man and a country, inspired by real events, incorporating elements and characters of fiction as his comrades fighting, the spies who wanted to kill him, the women who accompanied him in his career and the members Of the opposition, to offer an account of suspense and action, of politics and romance.
Felipe Cano, one of the directors of the project, said that this is a story that mixes facts from real life with fiction. As he said in an interview with Teleguía, it is not a matter of showing the public what he already knows of the exmandatario, but rather seeks to present his rise to power.
“The intention of the series is to try to be faithful to a truth,” he said.
The series was released on January 30, 2017 in Colombia on RCN Televisión. In Latin American will be transmitted by TNT, in the United States by Telemundo.
However, the series WILL NOT BE SEEN IN VENEZUELA.
According to a report by Today Venezuela, the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) has banned the series in Venezuela. In fact, Conatel decided to start a campaign on Twitter to incite protests over the TV channels that transmit the series and the signal from the Colombian TV channel was blocked just before the series premiere.
“If I had money I would sue Sony, although perhaps, I will do just that nonetheless,” wrote recently, Marisabel Rodríguez, the ex-wife of the deceased Venezuelan president.
Hotels in Venezueal will now be required to open a “special foreign exchange account” registered in Venezuela (Feliz Viaje).
TODAY VENEZUELA – Tourism operators in Venezuela will now be able to accept payments of up to USD $500 daily, or the equivalent in other currencies, for each foreigner.
By means of a memorandum, the Venezuelan Central Bank published the regulations for receiving payments in foreign currency via cash and electronic transactions.
Hotels, bed and breakfasts, and duty free shops are the beneficiaries of this new policy, and will be required to sign operational agreements with banks in order to facilitate foreign currency transactions on behalf of non-resident visitors and international tourists.
Tourism operators that receive payments by foreign wire transfers must designate a “special foreign exchange account” registered in Venezuela.
By means of foreign exchange agreements 34 and 36, the government authorized foreign tourists to pay for goods and services in foreign currency; however, it wasn’t until now that the Venezuelan Central Bank established the financial and regulatory framework for implementing such payments.
It’s about a new exchange agreement under the frame of scarcity of currency that Venezuela is facing and a flexibilization of controls in the country, because until now the use and reception of dollars was in the Government’s hands.
The move signals the Venezuelan government’s concern over foreign currency scarcity and a willingness to liberalize currency controls, as up until now foreign currency transactions had been entirely controlled by the government.
Venezuela is currently facing the world’s highest inflation rate, and extreme shortages of foreign currency, which has greatly contributed to widespread shortages. Entrepreneurs and businesses routinely report that they lack access to foreign currencies to pay for imports.
"You have some very bad men in Mexico with whom you may need help. We are willing to help big time ... " Trump tells Mexico President
“You have some very bad men in Mexico with whom you may need help. We are willing to help big time … ” Trump tells Mexico President
(Q24N) US President Donald Trump offered aid to Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in the fight against drug trafficking, according to the transcript of the call that both leaders held last Friday, which was initially misrepresented as a threat of military invasion.
According to the text obtained by CNN, President Trump‘s words were: “You have some very bad men in Mexico with whom you may need help. We are willing to help big time, but they have to be defeated and you have not done a good job fighting them.”
This transcript diverges significantly from the official internal transcript of the call that described a threat on the part of the American president, who allegedly raised the possibility of sending American troops into Mexican territory, according to a cable disseminated by the news agency Associated Press (AP).
Hours after this information was made public both the Mexican and the American government denied the report. CNN contacted Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary who said, “As I stated, the two presidents had a very productive call and discussed how to expand our relationship. Mexico and the US have jointly offered a summary of the nature of the discussion.”
Mexican government spokesman Eduardo Sánchez Hernández said it was untrue that President Trump threatened Mexico, but had offered his support to the Aztec country in security matters.
Donald Trump has had a prickly relationship with his southern neighbor since the beginning of his campaign. He frequently used Mexico as a punching bag on the campaign trail and warned of the dangers posed by Mexican drug, trade, and immigration policies.
Currently, Trump and Mexican President Nieto are embroiled in tense negotiations regarding Trump’s proposal to withdraw the US from NAFTA and construct a border wall. Trump has promised to obligate Mexico to pay for the wall; a position which has been met with indignation by Mexican leaders.
As far back as I can remember this if the first time I ever got such an enticing invitation. Yes, I have received invitations that from their profiles are single women, but none as direct as this.
Is it part of a the scam I reported on? Maybe.Perhaps.
As with any other request for “friends” on Facebook, I click on the link to learn more about who is asking and their connections to others I am friends with.
If the request is genuine and from someone who can add to my online experience, I click on “confirm”.
However, such as in this case, my response and so should yours be, is: “Delete (friend) request” and “Mark as spam”.
You won’t regret it.
The online world is as safe a place as the real world. At least in my world. Would you immediately strike up a friendship with anyone calling on your door? So, why would you online?
Using common sense is important when surfing the Internet, clicking on links, making connections on the social media.
A few years ago, as a social experiment, I created several fake Facebook profiles. I then clicked on this and that and the other and within days I had several dozen friends. My intent was not to scam or embarrass anyone, rather to prove the point as to how desperate some people are needing to make a connection.
During that time the number of “likes” a website got was all the rage. I recall looking at various website (all gone now) offering thousands of Facebook likes for a fee. Some were cheap, others not so much. I chose not. Facebook caught on. Nothing happened.
What is the point of all this? Just be careful out there. Trust your instincts, don’t be ready to buy into something just because it is offered or requested of you. Learn to choose your “friends” on Facebook, as you do in real life. Don’t believe those offers that you know well they are too good to be true or expire tonight or never to be repeated.
Buses stuck in traffic congestion on the autopista General Cañas. Photo Albert Marín, La nacion
Traffic congestion on the autopista General Cañas. Photo Albert Marín, La Nacion.
Q COSTA RICA – The second fuel price hike of the year is expected to take effect likely by the weekend. And a third is waiting approval.
Last Friday, January 27, the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) – regulator of public prices and services – approved a price hike of ¢27 colones per litre for super, ¢28 for regular and ¢14 for diesel. The price of natural gas or propane will also increase.
The national refinery, the Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo (RECOPE) made the request for a price hike on January 13, based on increases in the international price of oil.
The first hike of the year took effect on January 6, when fuel prices at the pumps increase ¢37 colones per litre of super, ¢30 for regular and ¢48 for diesel.
When second price hike takes effect, probably on Saturday, the prices at the pumps will jump to ¢619 for a litre of super (up from ¢592), ¢590 for regular (up from ¢562) and ¢489 for diesel (up from ¢475).
The increase, for example, adds ¢1,215 colones to fill a 45 litre tank with super gasoline.
But wait, there is another increase – a third for the year – around the corner, this time not due to changes in the international price of oil, but, to increases in RECOPE operating costs, mostly to pay for the obligatory benefits granted through collective agreements of its 1,742 employees.
Worse still, the RECOPE could file another fuel price hike as early as next Friday, February 10, being the second Friday of the month used under the current price adjustment methodology. The RECOPE has proposed a change from monthly to a weekly price adjustment, but that may be difficult to do. Read our report here.
In the meantime, the citizen group “Ya no más RECOPE” (No more RECOPE) has called for a public demonstration, requesting the opening of the market. The group is clear it is not calling for a break up of state company, rather the government allow competition in the distribution of fuels in the country.
The group’s Facebook page says the demonstration is for Saturday, February 18, with a gathering in La Sabana park by 9am, on the west side of San Jose and march through Paseo Colon and Avenida Segunda ending on the east side of downtown San Jose, in the Plaza de la Democracia.
Q COSTA RICA – Perhaps a public outcry, calling for the government to open the fuel market and some even calling for a complete break up of the state refinery, is the reason behind the Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo (RECOPE) proposal for a change in its fuel pricing methodology, from monthly to weekly price adjustments.
Currently, the RECOPE makes a request for a price adjustment to the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) – the regulator of public prices and services – every second Friday of the month, taking into account aspects not controllable by the company, such as the international market price for oil and the dollar exchange rate.
To arrive at the final price (up or down, but seems mostly up) at the pumps, RECOPE bases it figures on international prices up to 15 days before the request. Once the request has been made, it can take up to another 20 days for the Aresep to approve and the change published in the official government newsletter, La Gaceta, before going into effect.
What this means is that there is at least a 35 day difference between a change in international prices and the price that reaches the consumer in Costa Rica. During that time, there may be ups and downs, that are not taken into account until the next request.
Not bad while the consumer is paying lower prices while international prices have increased, but, then there is the shock of an abrupt price hike, as well, any drops in international prices won’t be in effect until a month or more later.
According to Luis Carlos Solera, head of economic and financial studies at RECOPE, “if the frequency of adjustments increases, this would quickly absorb changes in external prices and there would be no longer weeks of accumulating lags, so consumers would feel prices to be more stable, changes would be less abrupt.”
However, it seems that the RECOPE proposal may not advance, above all because the Aresep, by a mandate of the Constitutional Court of August 2007, must hold public hearings wich take 15 days.
Mario Mora, energy manager of Aresep and responsible for authorizing the price changes, explained that they (Aresep) are obligated to hold a public hearing to give consumers the opportunity to oppose fuel price adjustments, even in the face of changes in the external prices of fuels outside the control of Aresep, RECOPE and the consumers themselves.
The kicker here, as Mora explains, since the effect of this rule, no opposition from consumers, of the few that have been received, had in any way modified Aresep’s final decision regarding price changes.
The official said the process implies, once a request (from RECOPE) has been submitted, the Aresep must call for a public hearing, publish the notice in the press, set a deadline for consumers to file their position, then issue a report and final resolution (price change). Only then can the Aresep send the price change to the national printer for publication in La Gaceta (the national printer having up to five working days to publish), and the price change taking effect the day following publication.
The reality, says Mora, is that almost no one is interested in the price adjustments hearings, each hearing costing around ¢6 million colones.
According to the Aresep, between 2014 and 2015, it spent at least ¢5.5 billion colones on 900 public hearings where a small number of consumers took part.
If the Aresep fails to approve the proposal for weekly adjustments, RECOPE has a plan B: the refinery going back a mechanisms used by the regulator itself before October 2015, when the current methodology was adopted.
Green macaws at Costa Rica’s ARA Project, dedicated to the conservation and protection of two native macaw species. Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters
(Q24N) Costa Rica was the most environmentally advanced and happiest place on earth last year, followed by Mexico, Colombia, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
That was the conclusion of the World Economic Forum’s Happy Planet Index, which recently released its 2016 ranking of “where in the world people are using ecological resources most efficiently to live long, happy lives”.
That neither the US nor any European nations make the top ten may be surprising, but Costa Rica’s winning position is not; this small Central American nation also topped the 2009 and 2012 rankings.
The Happy Planet Index measures life expectancy, well-being, environmental footprint and inequality to calculate nations’ success – all areas where Costa Rica’s government has made significant effort and investment.
Green macaws at Costa Rica’s ARA Project, dedicated to the conservation and protection of two native macaw species. Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters
Less war, more health
In 1949, Costa Rica took a big gamble eliminating its army and investing military funds into health and education. The decision has paid off on numerous fronts.
By 2016, education comprised 8% of Costa Rica’s national budget – up from 2.6% in 1994 and 5.9% 2014, according to a 2014 study.
By comparison, nearby El Salvador spends 3.42% of GDP on education, the US spends 5.22% and Colombia allocates 4.67%.
In the environmental realm, Costa Rica has long been a pioneer. In the 1990s, the country passed a series of “green culture” laws including the tax-funded National Forests law that protects forests, waters, biodiversity and natural beauty as both tourist attractions and scientific resources. It also developed a financing system, supported by both the government and by international organisations, such as the World Bank, to pay for environmental protection programmes.
Other green initiatives include the Eco-Marchamo, which is a voluntary complementary tax that allows drivers to offset 100% of the emissions generated by fuel consumption for one year and the Carbon Neutral Framework that incentivises good environmental practice by Costa Rican companies.
Costa Rica offers free arts education to children poor neighbourhoods. Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters
Under President Luis Guillermo Solís, Costa Rica’s national health policy also now includes the explicit goal of achieving “environmentally sustainable socio-economic development”, based on the theory that such growth will better position the small country to face big international challenges, such as health crises, increasing violence and climate change.
In short, Costa Rica has built into its whole governance model the ability to face the major environmental and health challenges facing the world.
This reveals a key issue highlighted by the Happy Place Index: public policies have a great impact on the well-being of a populace.
Drought-impacted Capuchin monkeys with their vet at the Costa Rica Animal Rescue Centre. Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters
Limits to the rankings
But they’re not the only factor and such rankings, while perhaps a point of pride for a tiny Central American nation, have serious limitations.
First, global indexes inevitably include certain indicators and exclude others. This can lead to certain cognitive dissonance. It is notable that among the WEF’s top ten “happiest” places are two highly under-developed nations, Vanuatu and Bangladesh. Both not only have low global competitiveness but also do badly on the UN’s Human Development Index(134th and 142nd, respectively).
How is it possible for a country to be eco-happy but underdeveloped?
Well, the Happy Planet Index does not look at such indicators as education, income, access to water and electricity or poverty rates. Accounting for those facts would create a more complete, and probably very different, perception of happiness.
Vanuatu, which the Happy Planet Index ranks fourth happiest in terms of sustainability, comes in 134th on Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index, which examines how countries protect human health and the ecosystem. Costa Rica, first on the 2016 Happy Planet Index, ranks 42 place on the EPI. Meanwhile, Ecuador, tenth on the Happy Planet Index, is 76th in global competitiveness, according to the CDI’s 2016-2017 rankings, and 103rd on Yale’s EPI.
According to the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development, the world’s least-developed countries are characterised by having deficient per capita income and economic vulnerability. That is, at least 50% of the population lives in extreme poverty. They’re also the countries that are most exposed to climate change and its consequences.
So is a country that’s green necessarily a happy place?
What is happiness?
The Happy Planet Index is useful in reconceptualising happiness in terms of environmental well-being and sustainable practices, but it needs fine-tuning.
In underdeveloped countries, a low carbon footprint clearly has more to do with the lack of industry than with environmental policy. These countries simply didn’t undergo the same economic growth processes that the rich world did, from the Industrial Revolution through to the second world war.
Ecuador is sustainable – and even happy – but still pretty poor. Guillermo Granja/Reuters
And it is confusing to talk about happiness in countries where life conditions are not even minimally acceptable. Even the authors of the report on the Happy Planet Index note when discussing Costa Rica that despite its environmental commitment, Costa Rica’s ecological footprint is not small enough to be totally sustainable, and that its income inequality remains quite high.
The same could be noted of the other top countries in the Happy Planet Index, Mexico and Colombia, whose 2014 GINI ratings of 48.2 and 53.5, respectively, reflect starkly uneven wealth distribution. In fact, Colombia is the second-most unequal country in Latin America, a region characterised by its wealth gap.
Costa Rica has achieved a lot since it turned away from war and toward national well-being a half century ago. But many challenges – from preventing violence to increasing income equality – remain for it to become both green and truly happy.
To create the kind of sustainability that fundamentally links human, environmental and social development, policy, science, education and citizen activism must all work together.
That’s how we’ll redefine the meaning of happiness – in Costa Rica and beyond.
EXTRA – The entire world knows that the Kardashian clan recently spent a few days in Costa Rica, vacationing in the country’s Papagayo Peninsula, in Guanacaste.
