(QCOSTARICA) A raid of an antiques shop in downtown San Jose led to the seizure of some 18 traffic signs and 19 license plates, selling for around ¢65,000 colones or for rent for parties at ¢19,500 each.
According to the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) one of the license plates belonged to a vehicle reported stolen in 2013.
The OIJ raid, in a joint operation with the San Jose Municipal police, was on a shop located on Avenida 16 and Calle 7.
Marcelo Solano, chief of the San Jose Municipal Police, said found on the premises were also rank police uniforms, complete with the respective insignia.
Photo from Policía Municipal de San José
The merchandise was confiscated and the premises ordered closed, while investigators determine the origin of the material.
The shop manager was not charged, pending the completion of the investigation. His identity was not released to the press.
(Today Nicaragua) The Mántica Group says plans to invest US$25 million in the construction of a shopping centre on the road to Masaya and US$21 million in an office building and commercial premises in the area of Villa Fontana, Managua.
The first project is scheduled to start in March 2017 and consists of a two-story shopping center, in which the company announced it will be investing US$25 million. It will be completed in December of the same year.
Executives at Mántica Group explained to Laprensa.com.ni that “… the third project, consisting of two types of works is Plaza Fontana which includes a shopping plaza … measuring 6,500 square meters and later the construction of two towers each with six floors for offices in the area of Villa Fontana in Managua. ”
Lytton Cano, strategic marketing manager, added that it is expected that US$21 million will be invested in this development.”
Cano explained that Paseo Masaya, with an investment of US$12 million dollars will have a floor space of 8,500 square meters.
(QCOSTARICA) Delinquency is a big problem for the state telecom, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), racking up some ¢18 billion colones in “uncollectable” debt from some 220,000 unpaid accounts in mobile telephone, internet and other telecommunications services.
The information was released by the ICE Board of Directors in the circular 0012-353-2016 dated November 8.
The text of the message stays that, despite measures taken, it was not possible to mitigate the delinquency that has continued to increase “administrative costs”. The message says the amount is equivalent to the yearly salary of some 450 employees.
Since the opening of the telecom market in Costa Rica several years back, 2016 is the first year that ICe has not recorded losses in its telecommunications business. The ICE monopoly as the single provided of cellular service in the country ended on November 5, 2011.
To address this management problem, ICE contracted KPMG to perform an external audit recommending on May 30 to outsource collections. The recommendation was to hire a third-party collection company.
However, on October 31, the ICE Board opted, instead of outsourcing to a third party, to create an internal company to deal with judicial and administrative collection for the entire corporation, that includes ICE, Cablevision, Radiográfica Costarricense (Racsa) and the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL).
The collections company will be called ICE Proveeduría Digital S.A. and the 11 employees who now work in ICE’s judicial collection department will be terminated and hired by the new company.
The change means the employees will not longer subject to the ICE employee regulations with respect to salaries, benefits, etc, a move that has been rejected by the ICE trade union, Asociación de Abogados y Profesionales del Grupo ICE (Abogaproice).
The ICE Board letter did not explain who the new company will (basically with the same employees) will be any more effective in collecting delinquent debt.
axation uses 'big data' to search for and ask accounts to evaders
Hacienda (Ministry of Finance) to use ‘big data’ to search for and ask an accounting from tax evaders. Photo La Nacion
(QCOTARICA) The Directorate General of Taxation (Dirección General de Tributación) has hired an external service that cross matches taxpayer data in public databases to identify suspicious patterns that might suggest misconduct.
The project called “Modelo Predictivo” (Predictive Model) started to be implemented by the Ministry of Finance (Ministerio de Hacienda) this year, and aims to analyze the behavior of firms and individuals in order to identify suspicious or unusual patterns in the process of declaration of income and tax payments.
La Nacion reports that “…This is done by cross matching the information contained in their tax and informative declarations with data from public sites, for example, the Civil Registry, the National Registry of Property and listings of employers and insured persons in the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), among other things.”
If anomalies are identified, the Hacienda,will carry out the appropriate investigation and, “…as a result, individuals and companies may be called on to rectify or correct their tax returns and, therefore, pay penalties that may be equivalent to 100% or 150% of the amount that was not paid.”
Fernando Rodríguez, Deputy Minister of Revenue, explained that this project focuses in three areas.
First is the identification of false suppliers (ie people or companies that were consigned as sellers of products or services that did not exist or were not dedicated to those tasks).
The second is the identification of people with unusual operations. This investigation consists in detecting allegedly anomalous behavior of registered professionals, that includes the concealment of money inflows, the report of higher expenditures than income, the purchase of movable and immovable property and people who assume that they are exempt when in fact they have to tax.
The third group to be analyzed will be importers.
But, Hacienda has a tough task ahead.
José María Oreamuno, a tax lawyer, explained that Hacienda has the power to request information related taxes, whether from the taxpayer or other related parties. However, this power is not unlimited, and conflicts can arise with constitutional principles of protection of the privacy of individuals and Hacienda’s request information.
On the other hand, Ricardo Vargas and Luis Carlos Mondragón, of the firm Oller Abogados, agreed that Hacienda can request any information considered transcendent, as long as it has a justification.
The Costa Rica (Tricolor) lineup tonight against the United States.
The game starts ay 8:00pm local time and be seen locally on channels 6 & 7, with coverage starting aty 6:00pm
(QSPORTS) The United States faces Costa Rica in a crucial World Cup qualifier match tonight, Tuesday, November 15, 2016.
This is a big game for the United States in qualifying after a 2-1 loss to Mexico.
The game is being played at the National Stadium in La Sabana, starting at 8:00pm local time.
The Costa Rica (Tricolor) lineup tonight against the United States.
United States, who have lost their last eight matches against Costa Rica, face powerhouses such as Keylor Navas, Celso Borges, Bryan Ruiz and Christian Bolaños.
La Nacion headlines, “Costa Rica goes for its favourite victim with two changes in the lineup”.
However, the Americans are convinced they will end their hoodoo on tonight. ‘History is just that, it’s history,’ captain Michael Bradley said. ‘There’s nothing anybody can do to change that, and quite honestly, we don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about it.’
Pablo Agüero, oficial de tránsito en San José, utiliza una cámara de video en su casco desde hace dos años porque su papá se la regaló. El hombre asegura que el aparato es clave para su labor. | ALEJANDRO GAMBOA
In the photo, Pablo Aguero, one of the 15 Transitos (traffic officials) using a camera, bought with his own money, to do his job. Photo Alejandro Gamboa / La Nacion
(QCOSTARICA) Being a Transito (traffic cop) in Costa Rica is tough job. Daily they face aggression by drivers, some acting violently, while others opening their wallets to avoid a traffic ticket, then turning around to accuse the Transito of being corrupt.
The lack of manpower is another problem, with only 762 active Transitos having to patrol the entire country, around the clock.
This has led a number of Transito to install video cameras, at their own expense, on the dash of the patrol vehicles or helmets.
A report by La Nacion says that 15 Transitos have each spent between US$300 and US$550 of their own money to buy mobile cameras, used as the main weapon to be used on appeals, to uncover attempts of bribery and to feel more secure in doing their jobs.
Some of the incidents captured on camera are a man taking his child to school on a motorcycle without a helmet; a mother offering money to let off her unlicensed son caught behind the wheel of a truck; or the man handing over ¢5,000 colones instead of his drivers licence after being stopped for a driving offence.
The cameras also demonstrate the violence of some taxi drivers towards the Transito officials.
“The most important thing is security because if someone thinks about attacking a Transito, they would have to take the camera to erase the record (…). Everyone (all the Transito) would like to have a camera, but not everyone can buy one,” said Pablo Agüero, one of the Transito using a camera while on the job.
For example, Aguero tells the story of last March when a minor sped off at speeds of more than 100 km/h on the Ruta 27 to avoided being stopped for noting wearing a helmet, reflective vest or having mirrors. After being stopped, the minor admitted not having a license and that the bike was borrowed.
Aguero added that when drivers (being pulled over) see the camera they tone down their aggression and insults. “…They calm down, think more of what they are going to do because they know it is all being recorded,” said Aguero.
Marvin Ovares, with 22 years on the job, was the first to install a camera.
“It cost me a ‘quincena’ (two-week salary), but I made the investment. It was a simple camera, not like the one I have now with better resolution and internet. It cost me ¢250,000 colones and I paid it with my credit card,” said the Transito.
Ovares explains that his investment has been useful in contentious hearings as drivers and witnesses narrate facts, completely taken apart by the video.
The decision by the group of Transitos has caught the attention of the superiors. Mario Calderon, chief of the Policia de Transito, says that in the coming months the police body will be receiving 30 cameras to be used in a pilot program.
According to the police chief, the cameras will be able to record the work of Transitos during an entire shift. The captured video will be stores on the police department’s servers.
Calderon says the plan is to have at least 100 cameras in the coming four years.
On the lack of manpower, Calderon, who has lobbied for additional officials during his two-year term, is the need for an additional 403 officials, bringing the traffic police force to an effective number of 1,165. A number that many feel is still too low.
The current 762 officials work in shifts around the clock throughout the country. The majority of the traffic police force is focused in the Central Valley, in particular the greater metropolitan area of San Jose.
The lack of manpower has in many cases only one Transito on duty during at night in many different traffic police stations across the country, whose duty is basically to respond to emergencies. Forget night patrols.
(QCOSTARICA) In the third quarter the national net labour participation rate fell by 3% compared to the same period in 2015.
From a statement issued by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) of the results of Continuous Employment Survey III quarter 2016:
Informal employment fell by 3.0 percentage points
Level III quarter 2016 unemployment was 9.7%, no significant variation seen compared to the same period last year when it was 9.2%.
Employed population nationwide was approximately ninety-one thousand (91,000) fewer people compared to the same period.
Labour force participation fell by 3.3 percentage points.
In the third quarter of 2016 (July to September), the net national labour participation rate fell by three percentage points (pp) compared with the same period last year, reaching 57.7%, representing in absolute terms a decrease of 89 thousand people.
(QCOSTARICA) On February 14, 2017 a pilot project will start that will connect six previously selected major companies to a digital billing system that will be operated by the Treasury.
Publication of the resolution in the official newspaper, La Gaceta, establishes the method for starting implementation of an electronic invoicing system, from February 2017, two years after the original planned start date. See resolution DGT-R-48. Authorization for the use of electronic invoicing and associated electronic documents.
“…These documents define the characteristics of the document, the form of delivery, validity, mandatory use and the criteria used by the Treasury to select blocks of taxpayers who will be required to issue electronic documents.”
La Nacion reports that “…According to Karla Salas, director of Tax Intelligence, from December 15 notification will be given to taxpayers selected based on those criteria, but anyone obliged to pay tax who is ready can apply to be part of the pilot scheme by emailing fe@hacienda.go.cr.”
(QBLOGS) Like or not, it is going to take a long, long time to analyze why Donald Trump is the President-elect of the United States of America. Certainly it is a lesson to be learned and we know little as of now. After the initial shock and the protestors go back to business, homes and schools, we might better understand.
The effect on Costa Rica….the same. Wait and see but be prepared for a good and bad scenario.
Unfortunately, being prepared for most anything is not our strong point.
A lot of research and almost every important project reported by the Spanish language newspaper La Nación is written in “future” tense.”
As to the new U.S. president, we just have to wait.
“No”, he is not the president we expected based on the oh so accurate polls. But Trump won and nobody is absolutely sure how while the academics and CNN make this a full-time job.
Actually CNN, like most every important story, has already made the Trump victory a “cottage industry” which will be broadcast, rebroadcast forever and a day until it burns out.
So far, about the only thing that I can ascertain is that the Dems (Democrats) were so positive on a win, according to the polls, not enough of them came out to vote. This includes white, females and minorities.
This is where Obama shined and Hillary did not.
Trump is focused, so he says, on bringing back foreign manufacturing of American companies overseas. I don’t see how? Like it or not, unlike 30 years ago we are in a global economy which would be extremely difficult to reverse outside of war.
Let’s relax a little and let the cards to be played hit the table before getting angry.
Rioting is premature and violence in unacceptable. We, in Costa Rica, voted for the model of “change”, Solís, and not much has changed except he (the President) evidently likes to travel a lot and I, personally, feel safer when the guy is out of the country.
My advice? Sit back and enjoy Pura Vida, this is your nation and the biggest complaint last week is that somehow the courts are involved in regulating gas prices. Important but not devastating!
(TICO BULL by Rico) Just when I thought I had seen it all, here’s a new one: we continue to pay high gasoline prices because, according to the government regulator we must while the Constitutional Court considers a claim of unconstitutionality of the method used to calculate gasoline price adjustments.
Still with me?
The Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope) – the state refinery that does not refine anything, rather imports the finished product to distribute to the consumer – in the past month has submitted to the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos (Aresep) – government regulator – two price drops that when combined would see gasoline prices ¢24 colones of a litre of diesel (from ¢467 to ¢443), ¢19 for regular (from ¢579 to ¢560) and ¢20 for super (from ¢554 to ¢534).
But, the Aresep refrains from approving the price drop, saying it is prevented by the Constitutional Court.
So, the Aresep keeps frozen the two price drops (and the upward adjustment of ¢2 per litre tax included above) blaming on the Court imposing any (price) changes while it processes the case.
According to the Aresep’s interpretation, any price adjustments it would approve could be affected following the Court decision.
The kicker is that the Aresep’s legal department says the Court has no definite deadline for resolving the action (file 16-011878-0007-CO of September 16, 2016).
On average, that Court can take up to two years to process such cases.
Where it gets strange is that Recope itself believes the price drop should be approved and that the Court case does not prevent the regulator from doing so. The refinery has even urged the magistrates of the Constitutional Court to “urgently” resolve the case, not that it means anything.
For its part, the Aresep, through its spokesperson Carolina Mora, says its decision is, wait for it, to protect us by preventing “strong tariff differences” and “distortions” in Recope’s disbursements when buying imported oil products.
How that does affect you and I, the consumer? We keep paying the higher prices.
25/02/2016. Hora: 10:15 a.m. El presidente Luis Guillermo Solís (izquierda) y el ministro de Transportes, Carlos Villalta, visitaron este jueves el puente sobre el río Virilla en la autopista General Cañas, conocido como la platina, para observar el reinicio de los trabajos de reforzamiento y ampliación a seis carriles de esa estructura.
Fotos: Mayela López
President Luis Guillermo Solís (left) and the Minister of Transport and Public Works Carlos Villalta, during visit of the Platina bridge lat Februray. Foto Mayela López/La Nacion
(QCOSTARICA) The current minister of Transport and Public Works (Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes – MOPT), Carlos Villalta, is so confident that the work on the expansion of the Virilla bridge (commonly referred to as the ‘Platin’) that he is putting his job and his political career on the line.
In an interview with La Nacion Friday, Villalta said that if the work is not complete by February 28, 2017, he will resign.
The minister’s assertion comes two days after the Comptroller’s office (Contraloría General de la República) tabled a report that there is no guarantee that the work will be done on time.
According to Villalta, there is pressure to finish the work on time and the directive by President Luis Guillermo Solis would force him to hand in his resignation.
The Comptroller’s report said the construction work schedule is “outdated” and without adequate control. The work is being carried out by the Codocsa construction company.
The story of the Virilla bridge began in 2009, when a 10cm (4 inch) gap between one of the spans was detected. Several efforts to repair the structure built in the 1960s, with a design to handle only a fraction of the vehicular volume today, has cost the taxpayer almost ¢10 billion colones. This amount included the ¢7.4 billion for the current work to expand the structure from four to six lanes.
Villalta acknowledges the project has problems related to work schedule and monitoring, as indicated in the Comptroller’s report. But despite that and the high expectations from the start, he is confident the project will be delivered within the stipulated deadline.
“There are things you cannot control, there’s a big list of people who also has responsibility,” said the MOPT head. Villalta is the latest in a long list of MOPT ministers who have had a hand in the long running project.
What the finished bridge is expected to look like. From La Nacion
The minister’s statement are contradicted by German Valverde, executive director of the National Highway Council (CONAVI), who said on Wednesday that the work is being monitored.
For his part, Olman Vargas, executive director the College of Engineers and Architects (CFIA), was surprised by the minister’s announcement. The executive agrees that the minister has moved the project forward, but doubts it will be done on time.
Departure gate at the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) airport.
(QCOSTARICA) Here it the scenario: you’ve made it through the line at the airline counter (unless you are flying first class), even made it through the longer line through the security check point, sat around waiting for boarding, get comfortable in your airplane seat and the news comes, you cannot leave. Say what? Yes, you have an “impedimento de salida” against you, a ban against your leaving Costa Rica.
The impedimento de salida also applies at all land and sea immigration posts.
Unless you are facing criminal charges (or criminal investigation) in Costa Rica, about the only other reason you would be barred from leaving the country is for child support and/or alimony.
Or a mistake. A simple mistake of entering the wrong information in the Judiciary (Poder Judicial) database. A mistake that could apply equally to a tourist visiting the country.
At the airports, prior to any flight taking off, behind the scenes, in an office away from the airlines counter, the immigration service is checking the names on the passenger list. A flag on your name means you will not be travelling today.
At the land crossing, the ban occurs face-to-face with an immigration official as he/she checks the database.
To prevent inconveniencies at the time of departure, the Judiciary has set up a system where a check can be made by telephone, online and even an ‘app’.
The responsibility is yours and yours alone to ensure there are no mistakes in the system, according to the Judiciary.
The telephone number to consult impedimentos is 2295 3648 or 2295 3649, with phones answered between 7:30am and 4:30pm, Mondays to Fridays (holidays expected).
You can also download the Poder Judicial mobile app at the Android or Apple store.
If there is a ban on your leaving the country, important to note that, even though a simple phone call may clear up the problem, it may not be as simple as that. One, the Judiciary does not work weekends and holidays. Also, unless there is a clear mistake of identity, that is to say, it is clear a clerical error occurred, the correction may be complicated.
The online consult will indicate if there is an impedimento, but will not provide details.
Roger Retana, head of the Office of the Presidency recommends a check the system at least three days prior to leaving the country and that in most cases a simple telephone call can resolve the problem, and no need to visit the court or office where the mistake was made.
Retana explains that while mistakes do occur, no system is 100%, and that there are steps being taken to prevent errors and disciplinary actions are being taken against the officials responsible, but did not give specifics.
(Today Nicaragua) The eventual increase from US$20,000 to US$23,000 as the ceiling price for affordable housing is seen with good eyes by the construction sector in Nicaragua, which expects an increase in demand.
A spokesperson for the union of builders and developers in the country explained that if the increase is formalized more families will have access to financing at preferential interest rates, enabling them to buy a home through the Social Fund (FOSOVI).
“… Once the new ceiling is formalized, homes that cost US$23,000 will be included in the award of US$2,000 provided by the Nicaraguan Institute for Urban and Rural Housing (Invur), through FOSOVI to adjust to the payment for a deposit on a house.”
The increase in the ceiling price for social housing is good news for builders and property developers, who have sometimes expressed difficulties in selling this type of housing solution because a lot of families do not have access to financing. See: “Building Social Housing is Unprofitable”
Businessman Alberto Atha said that “… one of the purposes of increasing the ceiling price of houses of popular character is to motivate investors to continue to make social interest housing projects.”
Changing economic and criminal dynamics in the country had led to internal drug market growth in Colombia
(Today Colombia) – Insightcrime.org -Colombia’s internal drug market has grown over the past few decades and is now worth an estimated US$2 billion dollars, a trend driven by changing economic and criminal dynamics in the country.
A new report by Colombia’s Planning Department reveals that drug use within the country has grown as a result of historic shifts in local organized crime. (Download the full presentation in Spanish here – pdf)
In 2015, the sale of drugs in Colombia’s internal market was worth a potential US$2 billion (6,011 billion Colombian pesos), equivalent to 0.75 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to official figures. Marijuana represented 73 percent of the total value, while cocaine represented 24 percent and crack cocaine, 3 percent.
In comparison, transnational drug trafficking was worth a potential $6.8 billion (20,500 billion pesos), or 3.8 percent of GDP.
The prevalence of cocaine use has remained the same over the past seven years at 0.7 percent of the population, the report shows. However, between 2008 and 2014, the country went from being the sixth largest to the fourth largest consumer of the drug in South America.
Marijuana users made up 3.3 percent of the population in 2015, up from 2.3 percent in 2008. Colombia also rose to become the fourth largest consumer of the drug in 2014, after being seventh on the list in 2008.
There are a number of factors that are driving up the value of the internal drug market in Colombia, a country that’s more known for its role in the global cocaine trade.
One reason is that the profitability of international drug trafficking has plumetted since the 1980s and 1990s. During that period, the Medellín and Cali Cartels had a monopoly over all rungs of Colombia’s drug trade, and the return on trafficking drugs was as high as 2,790 percent, the report states.
This decreased to 810 percent at the turn of the century following the decimation of the cartels, and then to 260 percent between 2009 and 2015. In contrast, the return on investment for distributing drugs in Colombia at a retail level is significantly higher, at 346 percent. This number surges to 1,407 percent for cocaine.
Another underworld shake-up that impacted the local drug market was the dismantling of the paramiltiary umbrella group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC) and the rise of criminal successor groups in the mid- to late-2000s. The paramilitaries controlled crucial drug export structures that were lost when its leaders were extradited to the United States in 2008, resulting in local markets being flooded with illegal drugs. And unlike their paramilitary predecessors, these groups have no ideological resistance to trafficking drugs within Colombia’s borders.
Drug seizure. Phot by Ministerio de Seguridad Pública
Authorities seized more than three tons of drugs over the course of the two-year investigation, that culminated this week with the arrest of 14 across the country, including the alleged leader of the group
(QCOSTARICA) A drug trafficking network linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel has been dismantled in Costa Rica, a sign that the country’s criminal structures are becoming increasingly involved in transnational drug trafficking.
A two-year investigation culminated in the arrest of 14 individuals across the country on Wednesday (November 9), including the alleged leader of the trafficking ring, García Carillo, alias “Negro,” reported La Nación.
Carillo was detained in the area of the Juan Pablo II bridge, in La Uruca. The minister of Security, Gustavo Mata, said the man tried to bribe officials taking part in the raid, offering to them US$1 million dollars to let him escape.
Carillo has a history of vehicle theft, running scams, gun possession, illicit association, receipt and use of false document. According to the authorities, seized were weapons, US$16,680 dollars in cash and Nicaraguan ID with his photograph but the name of another person.
At the press conference: President Luis Guillermo Solis (left), the Deputy Prosecutor against Organized Crime, Francisco Fonseca (middle) and the Minister of Security, Gustavo Mata (right). Photo Ministerio de Seguridad Publica
Following the discovery of 374 kilos of cocaine in 2014, authorities have targeted the structure and have succeeded in apprehending an additional 10 individuals, reported La Prensa Libre. Police seized a total of 3 tons of drugs and $1.7 million over the course of the investigation.
The group reportedly operated by importing drugs from Ecuador and Colombia, which it received on both the Pacific and the Caribbean coasts, before shipping the product north to Mexico by land, air or sea. The organization was reportedly associated with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Authorities said the group’s operations were facilitated by a number of different assets, including properties across the country as well boats and clandestine air strips.
Following the seizures, a spokesperson for the Public Security Ministry said that this was the first dismantling of “a criminal structure which managed all aspects of drug trafficking from Costa Rica,” according to El Nacional.
While Costa Rica has long been a transshipment point for cocaine being moved north to the United States, the recently dismantled structure could signal that some local groups are becoming important actors in the transnational drug trade. Previous drug busts have revealed that independent operators in Costa Rica are now less dependent on foreign cartels, and have also coordinated shipments to the more lucrative European drug markets.
Behind this shift is the fragmentation of the traditional transnational trafficking groups operating in Latin America. Colombian cartels were once the main foreign influence in Costa Rica’s underworld, but they have long since been broken up. Mexican groups have since filled that void by expanding their presence in the Central American nation. In recent years, however, Mexican cartels have experienced a splintering similar to that of their Colombian predecessors, which appears to be providing the space for local groups to take on a bigger role in Costa Rica’s illicit drug trade.
As a result, whether or not Costa Rica’s drug trafficking organizations continue to evolve may have as much to do with the criminal dynamics in Mexico as with efforts by Costa Rican authorities to dismantle these homegrown structures.
(Q24N) Insightcrime.org- In the wake of Donald Trump’s surprising victory in the US presidential election, InSight Crime considers the impact his administration could have on security and organized crime in Latin America.
Trump will hold the top office alongside a Republican-dominated Congress, as the party maintained a majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives.
Aside from his common refrain of building a wall along the US-Mexico border, Trump rarely touched on topics concerning Latin America during his campaign. This has created a great deal of uncertainty about his position on a host of issues related to the region, and his foreign policy more generally.
Nonetheless, he has indicated an interest in pulling back from US engagements around the world. According to James Bosworth, a partner at Southern Pulse, this bodes well not only for Latin American organized crime, but also corrupt officials who could face less international pressure to create more transparent institutions.
“The Trump admin is likely to pay less attention & dedicate fewer resources to LatAm,” Bosworth told InSight Crime via Twitter. “Corruption & criminal groups will benefit.”
Below, InSight Crime breaks down what a Trump presidency could mean for security-related issues in the region.
Mexico and Central America
A pillar of Trump’s immigration rhetoric has been his promise to build a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico. While the building of a wall would pose extreme logistical challenges, this kind of discourse suggests that Trump will bolster security measures at the border in an attempt to make the passage of illegal migrants, drugs and other contraband more difficult. Trump has claimed — falsely — that “drugs pour through our southern border at a record clip.”
One foreseeable outcome of this would be more criminal violence in northern Mexico. The reduced number of crossing points that remain available to criminal groups would become much more profitable, and therefore more dangerous, security analyst Alejandro Hope told InSight Crime.
“The conflict for taking control of [criminal turf], these routes, could get worse,” Hope explained. This could worsen the security situation in Mexican border cities such as Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana, which are already experiencing a rise in drug-related violence.
It’s also possible that Trump’s inflammatory remarks about Mexicans could damage security cooperation between the two nations. Hope said he believes the president-elect could get rid of the Merida Initiative, a US assistance package aimed at helping its southern neighbor combat organized crime and corruption. This would not represent a significant loss in terms of resources, Hope said, but could complicate extradition agreements and recent advances in joint counter-narcotics and migrant control strategies.
Another factor that could have an impact on violence levels in Mexico is Trump’s pledge to deport “criminal illegal immigrants.”
“These international gangs of thugs and drug cartels will be — I promise you, from the first day in office…we’re going to get rid of these people, day one,” Trump said last August.
Current President Barack Obama has deported a record number of undocumented migrants, but Trump may choose to enact legal tools to expedite the process, which would be easier to do with a Republican-dominated congress, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Hope suggested that Trump could bypass current deportation norms by having a large number of Mexican migrants with criminal records dumped on the other side of the border, rather than returned to their place of origin. This risks creating a large pool of jobless deportees for criminal groups to recruit from, Hope added.
As for Central America, a great number of immigrants living under precarious legal conditions in the United States face the risk of being deported. Analysts fear that a flood of migrants returning to the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador) could exacerbate the ongoing security crisis in the region. Many of the migrants came to the US fleeing rampant gang violence, and their safety would be in jeopardy if they were forced to return home.
Meanwhile, Central American migrants heading north will likely be even more reliant on human smugglers, or “coyotes,” to help them navigate the treacherous journey. The International Crisis Group has already documented how a crackdown on migrants at the US border and in Mexico has inadvertently strengthened these smuggling networks.
South America
Colombia and the United States have enjoyed a close diplomatic relationship for years, and the South American nation is by far the largest recipient of US foreign aid in the hemisphere. The Obama administration has been supportive of Colombia‘s efforts to reach a peace agreement with rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC), and he recently requested that congress earmark $450 million for Colombia’s post-conflict development plans.
President Juan Manuel Santos appeared to remind Trump of that special relationship in a congratulatory tweet.
“We celebrate the democratic spirit of the US on #ElectionNight,” Santos tweeted. “With Donald Trump we will continue to deepen our bilateral relations.”
But Trump may not be as enthusiastic as previous US presidents to provide Colombia with material and/or diplomatic aid.
“For Colombia, an ‘America First’ approach would mean less assistance — probably including less military assistance –and far less diplomatic support, if any, to the Juan Manuel Santos government’s efforts to secure peace with guerrillas,” wrote Adam Isacson, a senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
This could have major implications on the future of organized crime in Colombia. The United States has poured in billions of dollars over the last 15 years helping Colombia combat the transnational drug trade, as well as the FARC, which control up to 70 percent of all the country’s coca crops. A significant decrease in US aid would hurt the government’s chances of preventing a recycling of violence and criminal economies in a post-conflict phase.
The Venezuelan political and economic crisis is one that the Obama administration has approached with relative tact. The US government has indeed been tough on occasion, sanctioning and indicting high-ranking government officials. But it has refrained from more strong-armed tactics — such as tougher economic sanctions and a ban on certain bilateral trade — that would have risked politically antagonizing Venezuela to an even greater extent.
With Trump in office this softer stance may crumble. The president-elect has describedVenezuela as a country “run into the ground by socialists,” stating that he would “stand with the oppressed people of Venezuela yearning to be free.”
The US government is currently investigating several senior Venezuelan officials for their potential links to drug trafficking. It’s unclear whether a potential shift in the US stance towards Venezuela would change how those investigations are handled.
The groups with the greatest contribution to the CPI in October 2016 and were rental and housing services, Food and non-alcoholic beverages.
In October 2016, the 315 goods and services included in the consumer price basket fell by 38%, 49% increased in price and 13% had no change.
When analyzing the percentage changes in the prices of the twelve groups that comprise the index, it shows that the group Rental and Housing Services is having a major effect on the variation of the general index.
In the last five years (2012 to 2016) the only negative cumulative percentage change from January to October was in 2015 with -0.98%.
The end of November is likely to be a good time to buy dollars, specifically if you take into account the value of the currency last October.
(QCOSTARICA) The price of the US dollar against the Costa Rica Colon reached its highest value in the last two years, following an upward trend which has been noted since March this year.
On November 7 the dollar exchange rate on the wholesale Monex market quoted one US dollar at ¢557.22 colones, falling slightly to ¢557.01 a day later. The upward trend has been maintained without significant changes since the end of March, mainly due to a lower supply of dollars in the market.
The Nacion.com reports that “…Since October 3 and up until today, the value of the US currency has increased by 0.4%, representing an increase of ¢2.28. Existing references prices have replicated this behavior. The exchange rate for sale (price at which the public can buy) is also on the rise. From October to date it recorded an increase of ¢2.41.”
“… In the commentary on the economic situation from October 26 by the BCCR, the company notes that in the past month there was still a deficit balance in dollars. The Central Bank explained that in the first week of October there was a higher surplus seen in the volume of dollars and this is consistent with historical patterns in the exchange market, which have tended to show a greater abundance of foreign currency in the last quarter of the year. However, in the last five months the counter market has been in deficit as the figures show. ”
The Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) – Central Bank, has also been active in the market in recent weeks. In the early days of October sold dollars to avoid market increases.
More recently it has been responsible for selling the dollars to non-bank public sector directly, as it rqequires.In November alone, Central Bank sold US$42.6 million.
The dollar exchange at the BCCR Friday (November 11, 2016) morning is ¢549.34 for the buy and ¢561.98 for the sell.
The ash cloud as seen from Palmares, northeast of the Central Valley, at twilight Thursday. Photo Edith Tropper, La Ncion
(QCOSTARICA) Although airport operations have not been suspended, up to 30 flights into and out of the Juan Santamaria (San Jose) international airport have been affected during the last 48 hours due to the sustained activity of the Turrialba volcano.
The ash cloud as seen from Palmares, northwest of the Central Valley, at twilight Thursday. Photo Edith Tropper, La Ncion
San Jose airport (SJO) operator, Aeris Holdings, said reports of ash in the area of the airport led some airlines to suspend flights.
According to Silvia Chaves, Aeris spokesperson, 18 flights were affected on Wednesday and 11 by Thursday evening.
The majority of the affected flights are from North America.
Chaves said the decision by airlines to cancel flights is based their internal protocols. Among the airlines cancelling flights are American Airlines (from Miami), and Southwest Airlines (from Houston, Texas).
Cubana Airlines cancelled flight 216 from Havana; Jetblue reported delays on in its flights from Orlando; Aeromexico coming from Mexico; British Airways cancelled flight 2237 from London; and Iberia to Madrid.
The effect of the early morning (5:30am) sun Thursday morning turned the ash cloud reddish. Photo (Elieth Romero), La Nacion
By midmorning Thursday, the plume of gas and ash reached heights of more than 1,000 metres (1 kilometre) over the crater of the Turrialba volcano, affecting many areas of the Central Valley, such as La Union, Tres Rios, Coronado, Curridabat nd reaching areas like Cuidad Colon, Santa Ana and Alajuela, where the airport is located.
According to the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori) – Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica, the Turrialba volcano activity has been stable.
Experts say the lack of heavy precipitation during the last couple of days, this due transition from the rainy to the dry season in the Central Valley, and wind bursts of up to 40 km/h in the area of the volcano is responsible for the ash reaching the Central Valley.
If you are travelling to Costa Rica in the coming days, best is to check with your airline with the status of your flight.
(Today Nicararua) Somewhere at a palatial banquet table in a gaudy seaside mansion guarded by an excessive police detail, Sandinista officials are determining the final vote count in next Sunday’s presidential election. It’s a delicate task. Daniel Ortega’s landslide win needs to look authoritative, but without appearing absurd.
A 75% margin of victory would project the type of strength and admiration that’s befitting of El Comandante. But 85% might seem like a bit of an overreach, turning Ortega’s fourth term into a laughingstock and making Nicaragua look like a tinpot republic.
The range of respectability is somewhere between 70% and 80%. And it’s up to Nicaragua’s electoral authorities to divine that magic number sometime this weekend, with the help of math, speculation, and whisky.
The final vote tally in Nicaragua’s election might not really be determined that way, but after more than a decade of covering politics in that country, that’s my best guess.
If U.S. voters think this year’s election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump has been a dumpster fire, Nicaragua is what happens after the dumpster fire burns out. While the U.S. election has been contentious, divisive, expensive, noisy, awful, and seemingly interminable, Nicaragua’s has been completely non-existent.
Nicaragua doesn’t even pretend to go through the motions anymore. There was no campaign. No ads. No debates. No promises. No real opposition candidates. Just a balding and reclusive president and his clap-happy ubiquitous wife, who also happens to be his running mate. (And you thought your marriage was complicated.)
First Lady Rosario Murillo wants to be president more than anything, but she’ll have to settle for VP for now. RosAFP/Getty Images
Nicaragua isn’t really having an election on Sunday. It’s more like an automatic subscription renewal on some forgotten account that you didn’t realize you were committing to for life when you signed up for the trial period.
The country’s last real election was in 2006, when Ortega was voted back into power with a narrow but legitimate 38% victory over a divided and moronic opposition. It was a homecoming of sorts. Ortega was president of Nicaragua during the revolutionary days in the 1980s, so he settled right back into office. At the time, Nicaraguan writer and former Sandinista vice president Sergio Ramirez told me that anyone who thought Ortega was going to relinquish power after his five-year legal term limit ended was being naive.
He was right. Since Ortega returned to the presidency, he has spent the past decade methodically dismantling the country’s constitutional democracy, eliminating checks and balances, rigging elections, and rewriting the constitution so that he can now die in office without ever having to find an honest job.
Daniel Ortega is running for reelection against these dudes, three of whom I’ve never heard of.
The Sandinista government’s first power grab came in 2008, when they rigged the municipal elections and stole more than 40 mayoral seats, according to election observers. It sparked days of street fighting in Managua and caused the U.S. to cancel tens of millions of dollars in aid projects. Nicaragua’s ruling party has since fiddled with every subsequent election on an as-needed basis, culminating with Ortega’s illegal reelection in 2011, which was a brazen violation of the constitution. (Nicaragua’s constitution at the time prohibited sitting presidents from seeking reelection, so Ortega sidestepped the law with the help of Sandinista judges and then rewrote the constitution once he was reelected.)
But this year’s “election” might be one tinker too many. Through a series of pre-electoral shenanigans by the Sandinista-controlled electoral authority, the genuine opposition was banned from running for president. Now Nicaragua can’t even pretend to have a legitimate election on Sunday.
It’s just old Danny and his wife running together against five unlikely straw men, some of whom are so unknown that their own neighbors probably don’t recognize them. Ortega is currently polling 60 points ahead of his nearest challenger, who is so irrelevant I won’t even mention him by name.
So now, the Sandinistas’ only challenge on Election Day is to get their own supporters to turn out to the polls and cast their ballots. The real opposition—those who have been banned from participating in Nicaragua’s democracy— are calling on people to boycott the electoral farce. But chances are, the Sandinistas will be able to make a show of it. Ortega still enjoys a high popularity rating in a country where the opposition has been marginalized and discredited for their fecklessness.
Plus, the ruling party can always motivate and coerce enough tired souls to turn out the vote. Abstentionism isn’t an option for weary-cattle state employees. And members of the Sandinista Youth will keep the party going by spreading their government-manufactured élan.
At this point, nothing really matters. Ortega will win the election handily and remain in office until his next five-year automatic renewal comes up, unless he dies before then and his wife inherits the family subscription.
I guess the point of all this, my dear gringo friends, is to remind you that you should be thankful and mindful that your vote still matters. Democracy in the U.S. is noisy and imperfect, but your ballot still counts towards deciding the next president. And if Trump wins, I’ll meet you in Nicaragua. Because even Ortega is better than that guy.
Original article by Tim Rogers appeared at Fusion.net
(TICO BULL by Rico) I wanted to share this great article by Tim Rogers, former editor of The Nicaragua Dispatch, The Nica Times and others and currently Fusion’s senior editor for Latin America. Tim was born a gringo to well-meaning parents, but would rather have been Nicaraguan.
Donald Trump might not be considered a viable U.S. presidential candidate in traditional terms, but he has shown some promise as a self-styled “third-world” presidential candidate. You know, the kind who view an imperfect democracy as the easiest path to dictatorship.
Trump’s M.O. is pretty standard stuff for any tropical strongman regime: Scapegoating immigrants, threatening to jail your opponent, promising to bomb your enemies, putting your name on everything you build, not paying taxes, parking your money in Florida real estate, second-guessing the generals, throwing journalists out of press conferences, and using your position of power to boast of sexually assaulting women.
Trump has great instincts, but he needs coaching. You can’t just sniffle and bully your way into a tin-pot thugocracy. Being a dictator is hard work. You need a plan, and you need to execute it methodically.
As someone who spent many years living in a real Central American authoritarian kleptocracy, I’ve studied some of greatest masters of the trade. And together with Randall Wood, author of The Dictator’s Handbook, we’ve come up with a list of practical tips that Trump might use to do it differently next time.
1. Form your own party and give them uniforms
Donald, your first mistake was running for president on the party of Lincoln, Reagan, and Mitch McConnell. Any third-world dictator worth his salt knows you have to: A) form your own party using some combination of Your Name + the words Democratic, National, Liberation, or Freedom (or all the the above); B) surround yourself with sycophants; C) build your cult of personality. Your campaign is failing because you tried to do steps B and C without A. You can’t take shortcuts.
2. Threats must be implied, never spoken in public
You made a rookie mistake by threatening Hillary Clinton with jail during last night’s debate. Real dictators would never say that publicly, it’s just understood. You could have gotten that same threat across with a narrow-eyed glance, or an ice-cold stare into the cameras. Speaking directly to your opponent is a sign of weakness.
3. Don’t do debates
Debates allow your enemies to question you directly and make you look bad. You don’t need to explain yourself to anyone. Debates are bad. Don’t do them.
4. Don’t complain about third-world airports
Third-world dictators never use the term “third-world” to describe anything about their country. Your instincts are right to blame faulty infrastructure on your enemies but never call it “third-world.”
5. Gold = Strength
People respect gold statues more than anything. The Trump name should always be written in gold, and your large skulking figure needs to be cast into giant golden statues. Put one in D.C. and one in Manhattan. The D.C. statue should sit atop your personal Presidential Palace at the Trump Hotel, and it should look down on the White House. The Manhattan statue should dominate the New York skyline and face east so that your golden hair is the first thing the sun kisses each morning.
6. Don’t tweet solo
You’ve already mastered the art of late-night Twitter. But you can’t do it alone. There are way too many former beauty queens and other enemies who need to be tweeted into submission. Enlist help from the Trump Youth Brigade (see #7).
7. Form Trump Youth Brigade. Put Ivanka in charge.
The youth are the future of your movement. And the future starts now. Channel youth enthusiasm for your campaign into an official Trump Youth Brigade. Ivanka will help with recruitment. In addition to—as you once agreed—her being a “piece of ass,”she’s also smart and a good organizer. And most importantly, she’s a blood relative so loyalty is guaranteed. Donald Trump Jr. should be groomed for future leadership. Eric can be thrown into a volcano.
8. Remember, you’re on a mission from God
You need to make sure voters understand that your campaign is part of God’s plan as foretold in some obscure Biblical passage—maybe from the Book of Kings. Find that passage and print it on the back of all Trump Youth Brigade t-shirts. End every press conference by reciting that passage and evoking God’s name.
9. The Electoral College has got to go
You’ve done a good job creating doubts about the electoral system, which we all know is rigged against the will of the people. But you have to go further to push the whole electoral system into complete chaos. The Electoral College system must be replaced with a popular vote that can only be counted on Trump-certified voting machines. Assure high youth voter turnout by giving away free iPhones at select polling stations. Give Galaxy Note 7s to suspected Democrats.
10. Insist on Russian election observers
I’m not saying Russia is the greatest democracy in the world, but the Russians are experts in conducting great elections. You could use their help in defending the vote. America has never had a greater friend than Russia, and what are friends for if not to help strengthen each other’s democracies?
(QCOSTARICA) Oscar Arias Sanchez had this to say about the Donald Trump win of the presidency of the United States: “One of the characteristics of our time is that populism is not typical of a country, a region or a continent, nor an ideology, as it occurs in political parties both left and right. Populism has become a universal phenomenon: it exists in Europe, in Asia, in Latin America and, as of yesterday, also in the United States.”
Them’s the words of the two-time president of Costa Rica and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner on his Facebook page.
For Arias, Trump represents “the denial of the serious and responsible politician”, calling him impulsive, temperamental, racist, xenophobic, misogynist and the ability to use political power to do harm.
For him, the United States chose the “most ignorant, uneducated and lying of the presidential candidates in modern times” and that Trump’s victory is based on machismo and racism.
Pienso que el electorado norteamericano eligió ayer al más ignorante, inculto y mentiroso de los candidatos presidenciales de los últimos tiempos.
Oscar Arias
“Donald Trump is an arrogant man who based his campaign on the fear and anger of his people. Fortunately for humanity, many of Donald Trump’s proposals cannot be realized,” said the 76-year-old Costa Rican.
“In January he will assume the reins of the Executive Power, a majority in the Congress and his party will soon have control of the Supreme Court. This scenario is not very different that the power of Vladimir Putin, Nicolas Maduro and Daniel Ortega. We can only hope that the institutionalism of the United States, built over the last 240 years, will be stronger and will prevail over any attempt of abuse of power,” concluded Arias.
The former president of Costa Rica believes that despite his campaign promises, President Trump will not be able to deliver on stopping globalization through the building of walls, nor can unilaterally ignore international commitments, such as the role of the U.S. in NATO today.
Arias ends his post with the following:
“I think that if Donald Trump had been a candidate for the presidency in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden or Costa Rica, he would have luckily obtained 10% of the votes.
“The men and women of Lincoln’s homeland deserve something much better.”
The rendering shows a hinge on the back of the device, which gives the phone an axis to fold on. Samsung
The rendering shows a hinge on the back of the device, which gives the phone an axis to fold on. Samsung
(QTECH) The next-generation flip phone could be foldable. Samsung recently published a patent (original, in Korean) that shows renderings of a phone that folds in half down its middle.
The company is expected to release a bendable smartphone next year, according to reports. We don’t know for certain whether this patent would tie in to those alleged devices — or ever be used at all — but it looks plausible at least.
When folded, the phone resembles a Microsoft Surface Book. Note the small gap. Samsung
This type of design could lead to a smartphone with many interesting features. Bending a phone in half makes it easier to carry around, and the phone’s inwardly curved design could comfortably hug your cheek.
Samsung has experimented with flexible screens for a long time. While the Galaxy Edge line technically incorporates a flexible screen beneath a rigid body (you can’t bend it yourself), Samsung also wants to produce a phone that you can repeatedly bend or even fold.
This isn’t the first patent we’ve seen with foldable screens, either. A Samsung patent from last year showed design concepts for not only foldable smartphones, but also ones that can be rolled up like a scroll.
Bendable, foldable and rollable phones present technical hurdles. Not only does the screen itself have to move without breaking or wearing, but the stuff inside has to as well, or at least be placed in an area where it won’t get harmed. When’s the last time you saw a bendable battery?
So the question isn’t whether Samsung is working on foldable phones, but how long we have to wait until they’re ready for show-and-tell.
Samsung said it would not comment on rumors or speculation.
Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning UK monarch
LONDON (The Torres Report) In an unexpected televised address on Tuesday, the Queen of England announced to restoration of British rule over the United States of America.
Addressing the American people from her office in Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II said that she was making the offer “in recognition of the desperate situation you now find yourselves in.”
“This two-hundred-and-forty-year experiment in self-rule began with the best of intentions, but I think we can all agree that it didn’t end well,” she said.
The Queen said the transition to British rule would begin “with a minimum of bother.”
Elizabeth acknowledged that, in the wake of Brexit, Americans might justifiably be alarmed about being governed by the British parliamentary system, but she reassured them, “Parliament would play no role in this deal. This would be an old-school monarchy. Just me, and then, assuming you’d rather not have Charles, we could go straight to William and those children of his who have mesmerized you so.”
Using the closing moments of her speech to tout her credentials, the Queen made it clear that she has never used e-mail and has only had sex with one person “very occasionally.”
Adapted from the original article by Andy Borowitz is a New York Times.
US$200 million dollar lost treasure found on Cocos Island, located off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
(VATICAN ENQUIRER) San José | A group of Costa Rican park rangers patrolling in the Isla del Coco national park after a recent storm, have discovered one of the most amazing treasure hoards in modern history.
The treasure consists of gold and silver coins and ingots, jewellery, candlesticks and religious items, and is estimated to be worth almost US$200 million dollars. Archaeologists and historians believe that the discovery is actually linked to the best known of the treasure legends tied to the island: that of The Treasure of Lima.
“We were walking on the beach, and we saw something protruding from the sand” says park ranger Ignacio Ramirez. “We dug it out and found a bunch of old wooden chests. They were all filled with gold and silver! Then we dug out two incredible golden statues of the Virgin Mary, and other religious symbols. We called our bosses and said ‘we just found a treasure!’. They thought we were kidding, but we explained what we had found and they decided a team of experts.”
Cocos Island is a small island located in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 550 km (342 mi) from the shore of Costa Rica. It was well-known for possibly holding various legendary treasures, but its “protected area” status had forbidden treasure hunting on it since 1978.
This amazing statue of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, weights an incredible 84.7 kgs of solid gold, meaning it’s shear metal value is more than US$1,45 million
A group of six park rangers who were walking around the island to evaluate the damage done by a storm on the nesting colonies of turtles, when they noticed that the tide had unearthed what looked like an old wooden box or chest.
They began unearthing it, only to discover that there were actually five different chests and other items, that they had been buried there for a very long time.
All in all, the treasure contains an astronomical 89,000 coins, ingots and artefacts of gold and silver.
Many religious items made of gold or silver and adorned with precious stones were among the findings, including 36 crosses, 3 chalices and two life-size solid gold statues of Mary holding the baby Jesus.
Many treasure legends have been associated with Cocos Island for centuries.
The first claim is associated with the pirate captain Bennett Graham who allegedly buried 350 tons of gold raided from Spanish galleons on the island in the 18th century. Another pirate captain, the Portugese Benito Bonito, is also supposed to have buried treasure on the island, this time in the 19th century.
A total of 80,000 silver pieces of 2, 4 or 8 reales and 2,800 gold pieces of 2 and 8 escudos were found by the park rangers.
According to the legend, with the army of José de San Martín approaching Lima in 1820, Viceroy José de la Serna is supposed to have entrusted the treasure of the city to the British trader, Captain William Thompson, for safekeeping until the Spaniards could secure the country.
Instead of waiting in the harbor as they were instructed,Thompson and his crew killed the Viceroy’s men and sailed to Cocos Island, where they buried the treasure.
Hundreds of attempts to find treasure on the island have failed.
Prussian adventurer August Gissler lived on the island for most of the period from 1889 until 1908, hunting the treasures with the small success of finding six gold coins.
Since it was discovered in a national park, the totality of the treasure is now the property of the Costa Rican government, and it should be exposed at the National Museum (Museo Nacional de Costa Rica), in San José.
The rangers who discovered the treasure have been promised a reward for their role in the finding, but the amount of the reward remains undisclosed.
If you find the story entertaining let us know. We will make up any story to make you laugh. If you have an idea for a story, send us an email or use the comments section below or post to our official Facebook page.
(The Torres Report) Word from Washington is that president-elect Donald J. Trump will not be moving into the While House, rather, plans to move the highest office in the land to the opulent new Trump luxury Washington DC hotelwith high ceilings and marble bathrooms, less than a mile from the White House.
A confidential source close to the Torres Report – we will call him Kenneth – said there are two reason for what will be an unprecedented move: one, Milania will have nothing of it, she abosuletely will not move into public housing; and second, it’s all about business.
Inside the possible future offices of the U.S. government
“It’s good business. Trump has been planning this (the White House move) and the move of most of the branches of government to Trump owned and managed facilities around the world. Why do you think Trump wanted to be president so badly,” Kenneth said.
Many have speculated why the billionaire would want to trade in his multi million dollar income for the measily salary of the President of the United States.
Trump broke ground on the renovation before he entered the presidential race.
(The Torres Report) As of November 9th, 2016 Donald Trump has officially been elected the 45th President of the United States of America.
For some this is considered a great triumph, and for others, a great disappointment.
Ever since the live streaming of the polls, millions of tweets and Facebook posts have been flooding the internet regarding the election; some of which have to do with the crashing of the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration website.
Prime Minister ustin Trudeau made a shocking announcement this morning saying that the Canadian government so far has received about 11.5 million immigration applications from American residents wishing to move into the cold north (we’re sure you can guess why).
He then proceeded to say that ‘although Canada as a nation sadly will not be able to accept all applications, we will most likely ease our immigration rules to assist our fellow Americans’.
Trudeau then follows by outlining Canada’s strongest morals, reflecting on the diversity and acceptance for all people, no matter their background.
What do you think about this? Should the Canadian government ease up on the immigration rules for their fellow Americans?
(QCOSTARICA) To the surprise of many Donald Trump won “bigly” the presidency of the United States. In Costa Rica, the big question is how will a Trump presidency affect Costa Rica and the rest of Latin America, especially when it comes to trade, jobs, foreign policy and immigration.
An article by ElFinancierocr.com explains the possible “direct” effects of a Trump presidency on Costa Rica, as American politics transitions to unfamiliar terrain and history.
President-elect Donald Trump
Here is the outline of some of the key effects of Trump’s choice of president for Costa Rica by ElFinancierocr.com:
Trade
Trump emphasizes protectionist and restrictive trade polices on goods coming from abroad. The position of the president-elect will focus on restricting products from countries such as China and Mexico, affecting other nations in the regions that could extend to Costa Rica, which depends on the United States as its main trading partner.
For examples, explains the Elfinanciercr.com, Trump has talked about a 35% tariff on goods coming from Mexico, which would encourage the purchase of U.S. made products.
The president-elect also opposes outsourcing and proposes to repatriate companies that would in tax-free areas outside of the United States, by reducing corporate taxes from 35% to 15%, intended to motivate local investment.
By the third quarter of 2016, North American businesses accounted for 44% of Costa Rica exports. Medical devices and bananas the main goods exported to the United States.
In addition, the president-elect has continuously emphasized that he would renegotiate the NAFTA treaty (free trade agreement) with Mexico and Canada, a phenomenon that could also be replicated in other Latin American countries. According to a report by Moody’s, Costa Rica and Mexico may be the two economies most exposed to a reduction in trade ties, due to the type of related exports.
Migration
In his election campaign, Donald Trump promised to build a wall between the United States and Mexico to prevent the entry of illegal Latin Americans. He also promised that Mexico would pay for that construction, which would add 5,000 border agents and expand the number of Border Patrol stations.
In the election campaign speeches,Trump linked illegal Latinos with violent crimes and promoted nationalistic rhetoric, that will lead to the application of deportation measures for unauthorized immigrants. The rhetoric including a Trump presidency abolishing US citizenship obtained by Latinos at birth in the United States.
Although he initially promised to forcibly deport all the immigrants living in the country (11 million people), he later changed it to indicate that he would only apply the measure to those who proved to be an immediate threat to the Americans. He also promised that he would ban unauthorized immigrants from accessing public benefits – including those related to health insurance.
According to the most recent report of the State of the Region (Estado de la Región) for 2015, 116,627 Costa Ricans left the country not to return.
In line with the Central American trend, Costa Ricans chose the United States as their new home (about 74% of the total).
President-elect Donald Trump onelection night
Employment
Trump has called for the U.S. federal minimum wage to be raised to ten dollars an hour, although it intends that minimum wage increases be made at the discretion of each state. The upside effect could directly affect Costa Rican remittances,averaging $511 per month, from the United States.
According to data from the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR), it is estimated that 187,689 Costa Ricans live and work in the United States, of which 49% send cash remittances for an approximate amount of US$32 million dollars.
Foreign policy
The axis of Trump’s speeches on foreign policy has been focused on transactionality. For Trump, the United States must abandon any collaboration with other countries, if it does not generate direct revenues.
“We are spending a fortune defending other countries,” Trump said in the latest presidential debate
Such positions could reduce US cooperation to certain nations. However, it should be noted that there have been no direct references to cooperation in Central America. The United States recently provided Costa Rica with the largest support in 30 years, including more than 2,000 scholarships, donations to security (the police), among others.
Following the election results, Trump said he would seek to prioritize the interests of the United States, “without falling into hostility. We are going to get along with all the nations that are willing to get along with us,” he added.
“While we are going to put the interests of our country first, we will seek common ground,” he promised.
Original article in Spanish can be found at ElFinancierocr.com
(QLIFE) “Wherever you can find a bottle of Salsa Lizano, you can also find a Tico.” — Costa Rican saying. It’s tart, it’s smoky and it’s slightly sweet. And — just ask any Costa Rican — it’s good on pretty much everything. I’m talking of course about Salsa Lizano, perhaps Costa Rica’s greatest culinary sensation.
Put it this way: the clay-colored thrush is the country’s national bird and the Guanacaste its national tree. If Costa Rica had a national condiment, it would most certainly be Salsa Lizano.
In Costa Rica, an astounding sense of national pride is associated with this flavor. It can be found on any table in any restaurant in the entire country, because Ticos like to add it to countless types of food: like gallo pinto, scrambled eggs, steak, cheeseburgers, chicken, rice and sometimes even beer (think Micheladas).
With the influx of foreigners coming to visit Costa Rica each year, it’s not just the locals that are addicted. If I had a nickel for every tourist that came to visit and got completely hooked, I could buy — well, probably quite a few mega-sized jugs of Lizano sauce.
Salza Lizano is a must
Inspiration for the irresistible taste of Salsa Lizano can actually be traced all the way back to England and India. Legend has it that in the early 1800s, a rich, well-traveled English family had a hankering for Indian curry. They recruited two chemists from Worcester, England to concoct a substance close enough to satisfy their curry craving.
The chemists’ names were John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, and they first bottled and sold their fermented mixture under the name Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce in 1837. Lea and Perrins’ sauce made its way into Costa Rican consciousness in the early 1900s. Known in Spanish as salsa inglesa, it was an immediate hit.
What’s a meal without Salsa Lizano
Meanwhile in a little tavern in Alajuela, a bar-owner named Prospero Jimenez was experimenting with the pickling process. When Worcestershire sauce became the talk of the town, it inspired Jimenez to use his pickling knowledge to come up with something even better: Salsa Lizano.
But how did this iconic sauce get its name? Well, Jimenez passed his secret recipe on to a man nicknamed “Cuyo” (a loyal employee that worked for the company for 40+ years!). Cuyo took the recipe to another man named Prospero — Prospero Lizano — who owned a factory that could mass-produce it. They named the sauce after the factory owner that would produce it, and that’s how a legend was born.
Fun fact: Salza Lizano doesn’t contain any meat products, so it’s safe for vegetarians. The ingredients are: water, sugar, iodized salt, vegetable concentrate, molasses, spices (contains mustard and celery), modified corn starch (thickener), acid acetate, hot pepper, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, sodium benzoate as a preservative.
(QCOSTARICA) Shopping online is a practical way of getting the things you want, things that can’t be found or are just too expensive in Costa Rica. Though online shopping is an everyday thing now, the volume of purchases increased during year-end.
It is important to keep in mind that simply choosing the item and checking out is only the beginning of the process of getting your purchase in your hands in Costa Rica. A process that can become a nightmare (calvario in Spanish) without the regard for the import rules and process of your online purchase.
The Ministerio de Hacienda (Ministry of Finance) warns buyers of using companies that provide package import services, but without their authorization, which could result in delayes and even seizure.
This year alone Hacienda reports the seizure of some 27 tons of products entering the country with “some irregularity”. These packages now sit in a tax warehouse, pending formalization by the delivery companies that brought them in.
Among the irregularities are the non-payment of taxes and not having health permits. All online purchases are subject to sales and unless exempt, to customs duties.
To avoid problems, Hacienda has provided a list of 46 companies “authorized” by them (as of November 3, 2016).
The authorized companies are (in no particular order):
CompañíaPanameña de Aviación (Copa Airlines)
Taca International Airlines S. A. (Avianca Airlines)
Cuenca (Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca) is a city in southern Ecuador’s Andes mountains. It's known for its Tomebamba River waterfront and handicrafts including Panama hats.
(QTRAVEL) Amy Schumer said she’d move to Spain. Bryan Cranston said he’d move to Canada. Jon Stewart said he’ll move to another planet. At last count, 23 celebrities have claimed they’ll leave the country if their preferred candidate doesn’t win the presidential election….
Celebrities—and anybody else who’s found themselves saying, “I’m outta here”—take note: Many excellent-value, warm-weather, close-to-home options exist an easy hop from the States. These are places where you can spend less while you live better. (And it’s a lot easier to tune out the political noise when you’re in another country.)
Here are International Living’s editors’ picks for the top five places to escape to if politics has got you down…
Costa Rica
Manuel Antonio National Park, on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast, encompasses rugged rainforest, white-sand beaches and coral reefs.
Costa Rica…the name alone conjures up visions of lush tropical rain forests and crashing surf on long stretches of white-sand beaches.
Costa Rica inspires these visions for two reasons. Number one, they’re true. Costa Rica is one of the most biologically diverse and beautiful spots on earth, with Pacific and Atlantic coastlines that are the stuff of legend.
The second reason that the idea of Costa Rica can instantly create pictures of tropical splendor is that it has been one of the most popular destinations for expats and second-home owners for decades. Costa Rica as a tropical haven is firmly established in the expat literature.
But the rain forest and beautiful beaches are just part of the story of this Central American country.
Costa Rica is very diverse as far landscapes and climates go, so expats have a choice of environments when thinking about life in this beautiful country.
One place that has been very popular over the years is Costa Rica’s Central Valley…a spot that cradles the country’s thriving capital of San José yet also offers rustic and rural pleasure in abundance, as well as a mild, spring-like climate year-round. The Arenal region, with its centrepiece 33-square-mile lake, is also increasingly popular. It is three hours northwest of San José…a region of farmland, pasture, virgin forest, and unspoiled lake views.
“Part of the reason my wife and I chose to begin our Costa Rican adventure in the Central Valley town of Grecia was its proximity to San José and the airport, as well as the beautiful scenery and temperate climate,” says International Living correspondent Greg Seymour. “That was over three years ago, and we still haven’t left, and not just because of the reasons above. We stayed because of the great community, the low cost of living, and the excellent healthcare available directly in town.”
If you prefer the beach, Costa Rica offers 800 miles of Caribbean and Pacific coastline. Lying on the country’s north Pacific coast, Tamarindo is a popular expat town.
Expat Graham Cooper ventured to Costa Rica on his own and says there are plenty of ways to live on a budget here. He says the biggest draw to Tamarindo for him, though, was the beautiful beaches in the area and the abundant wildlife.
But there was something else that truly sealed the deal. “I’ve traveled a great deal, and I’ve never felt welcomed anywhere the way I feel in Tamarindo,” he says. “The locals were immediately friendly and helpful and the sense of community here makes it very easy to meet people and build a network.”
Flight time from Atlanta to San José is four hours. From Los Angeles it’s five hours and 40 minutes.
Mexico
Cozumel, a mostly undeveloped Mexican island in the Caribbean Sea
There is only one place in the world where you can enjoy an affordable overseas retirement, live right on the beach at affordable prices, yet remain within minutes of the U.S. by car…
Plus, right now with the current exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the deflated peso, Mexico is a huge bargain.
With its moon-lit fiestas, languid white-sand beaches, ancient colonial towns set in the rugged Sierras, and Mayan pyramids rising from the misty Yucatan jungle, it’s no wonder so many people are starting new lives in Mexico.
With rapidly rising fuel, healthcare, food, and travel costs back home, it’s nice to know that there are still places where you can live well without burning through your retirement nest-egg. Mexico is one such place.
A move to Mexico means you can still enjoy the amenities you were accustomed to north of the border, including cable TV, high-speed Internet, and modern home appliances. And if you prefer, you can even bring all of your favorite things with you without paying import taxes.
“I absolutely love my new life here in Puerto Vallarta,” says expat Jack Bramy who moved to the popular beach town last year. “In fact, I think it’s perfect.”
Jack lives in a nice two-bedroom apartment with a large balcony overlooking the pool. He’s half a block from the beach and only pays $575 a month, including cable and internet.
“A place like mine back in San Francisco would run about $3,000 a month or more,” says Jack. “My only utility bill is electricity, and it’s about $30 monthly without using the air conditioning.”
This eclectic coastal city has been popular with international travelers for years. Hollywood first discovered Puerto Vallarta in 1964, when Night of the Iguana, starring Richard Burton and Ava Gardner, was filmed here. Tourists and expats have been flocking to the beaches, narrow cobblestone streets, and towering hills overlooking Banderas Bay ever since.
Puerto Vallarta is just one of the many expat havens on offer in Mexico. In towns and cities all over the country, you’ll enjoy easy living, glorious landscapes, extraordinary value on real estate, and an affordable cost of living… These are just some of the reasons why droves of Americans are moving south of the border.
Flight time from Atlanta to Cancún is two-and-a-half hours; from Los Angeles it’s four-and-a-half.
Panama
Panama City, the capital of Panama, is a modern city framed by the Pacific Ocean and man-made Panama Canal.
Tropical beaches, First-World infrastructure, high-quality healthcare, welcoming people…there are many things to love about Panama.
Retirees are drawn here by the Pensionado program, one of the best retiree benefits programs in the world. Younger adults…some with children in tow…are moving here in increasing numbers to take advantage of the ease of doing business and the hip, international vibe.
For many, the low cost of living is a major factor in choosing Panama, as is the fact that Panama uses the U.S. dollar. Expats living here have seen their costs drop substantially. At markets in Panama you can get a banana for 10 cents or bulging bags of fresh produce—enough for a couple weeks’ worth of meals—for under $12. Getting out there and having fun is ultra-affordable, with movie tickets at around $6 ($3 for retiree residents). Take a taxi or Uber in the metropolitan area for $3 to $4. Catch an air-conditioned bus to verdant weekend destinations like El Valle for as little as $4. With such quick and easy transportation, you can avoid the fuss and expense of having a car.
No matter what lifestyle you plan to pursue in Panama, rest assured you can have it…most likely for less than it would cost back home.
Panama City is the most popular expat destination, but this country is so much more than just the city. The highland towns offer spring-like weather, nature trails, waterfalls, cloud forests and more. Take your pick of locations on the water…from the white sands of the Caribbean islands to the deep blues of the Pacific.
And if you’re more drawn to country living, there are rural locations where you can stretch your dollars further than you could have imagined.
Retirees Bill and Mitzi Martain have created their ideal life just south of the highland town of Santa Fe. They bought 10 acres alongside the Santa Maria River in 2006. Since then they’ve built a new home, planted fruit trees and vegetable gardens and started raising a herd of sheep. “We just fell in love with Santa Fe when we came here,” Mitzi says, “and we knew right away it’s the right place for us. Our Social Security income covers all our monthly expenses, and we live the lifestyle we want with an excellent quality of life.”
Flight time from Atlanta to Panama City is four hours. From Los Angeles it’s six-and-a-half hours.
Ecuador
Cuenca (Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca) is a city in southern Ecuador’s Andes mountains. It’s known for its Tomebamba River waterfront and handicrafts including Panama hats.
Unless you’ve traveled to Ecuador, you may not understand how very diverse this country is. It really does have everything…from the Galapagos Islands to the Amazon basin and the Andes Mountains, from big, modern cities to small, quaint villages. And up until now, one particular area of Ecuador has been overlooked—and that’s its 937 miles of Pacific coastline and its beautiful mainland beaches.
Ecuador draws a wide range of foreigners: entrepreneurs, travelers, humanitarian workers, foreign officials, diplomats, businesspeople of all stripes, and retirees looking to stretch their budget and experience a different way of life. Many expats are attracted by the country’s less-intrusive government and the tranquility of being removed from the terrorist and antiterrorist campaigns that make headlines in other parts of the world.
Generally speaking, the expats who have settled in Ecuador are those who tend to blend into society rather than live together in expat-oriented communities. Nonetheless, a bit of time in any town of significant size in Ecuador is all it takes to find the gringo haunts and watering holes.
In Quito and Cuenca, you will find online English-language newspapers and email services that keep expats up-to-date on community events and national news.
The expat community is mainly made up of a mix of retirees and those involved in some sort of business. However, more young families are increasingly making Ecuador their home.
International Living Ecuador Highlands correspondent, Wendy DeChambeau, moved to the small town of Cotacachi with her family in 2011. She says: “My husband and I own a spacious three-bedroom home just outside of a pretty mountain town. We also have a 75-acre farm with a small house and five horses. We don’t owe anyone a penny and I support all of our family’s needs by working just part-time. I never shovel snow, never turn on an air conditioner, and never ever worry about tornadoes, hurricanes, or blizzards.”
Flight time from Atlanta to Quito is five hours and 20 minutes. From Los Angeles it’s 10 hours.
Colombia
Bogotá is Colombia’s sprawling, high-altitude capital. La Candelaria, its cobblestoned center, features colonial-era landmarks like the neoclassical performance hall Teatro Colón and the 17th-century Iglesia de San Francisco.
Colombia is no longer just a place for adventurers, speculators and risk-takers. It’s a country that’s hitting its full stride as an expat destination this year as the numbers of expat couples, younger people with portable careers, and single men and women who’ve found the ideal place to live or retire increase.
Mention that you’re going to Colombia, and people think you’re crazy. But they haven’t been there, and chances are their impression of Colombia is at least a decade out of date.
Located at the northern tip of South America, Colombia is where the Pacific and the Caribbean collide with the Andes and the Amazon. It’s a country that is more beautiful, dramatic, and diverse than nearly any other. It offers sparkling colonial cities and world-famous resorts along the Caribbean.
Just three hours from Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Colombia welcomes nonstop flights into Bogotá, Medellín, Armenia, Barranquilla, and Cali.
It’s easy to make your way here these days. The property-purchase process is fairly simple, the rules for bringing money into the country have been streamlined, and it’s not hard to obtain a visa and set up residence. Colombia is ripe for investing. The tarnished image of Colombia’s past has kept prices down, so ground floor opportunities abound. This is the perfect time to invest in a great lifestyle that’s sure to climb in value when the mainstream arrives.
Colombia offers something that will appeal to just about everyone. And you’ll find that Colombia is a more-developed country than most in Latin America, with the infrastructure, modern products, and services you’d expect in a country on the move.
The country’s second largest city, Medellín, is blessed with perfect year-round spring-like weather and First World infrastructure and is attracting more and more expats who want to have a great quality of life.
In 2015, after years of working in a stressful job back in the States, Eric Myers finally decided to call Medellín home. “I fell in love with the city,” he says. “After living in the Florida heat all of my life, I really welcomed the perfect spring-like climate and the mountains in Medellín.”
Even though Eric was ready to slow down, he knew he still wanted to continue practicing law. “After researching the Florida rules, I found out I could do almost everything from a distance over the internet,” he says. So he opened a law practice.
“My cost of living in Medellín is less than half of what it was in Florida,” says Eric. “Which allows me to work a much less stressful schedule. I usually spend the morning doing work. Then I walk to meet friends for lunch. My afternoons are free to run errands.”
In cities and towns in Colombia, you’ll enjoy a perfect climate that’s neither too hot nor too cool (60 F to 80 F all year); amazing natural surroundings; plenty of cultural events; history-filled cities; superb healthcare; friendly people; and a welcoming country…all with a fantastically low cost of living—figure $1,500 a month for a couple, all in.
Flight time from Atlanta to Medellín is seven hours. From Los Angeles it’s eight hours and 20 minutes.
(Today Venezuela) As a child, political cartoonist Rayma Suprani used to draw all over the walls of her home in Caracas. “I think that was the way I was expressing myself. I was a shy girl and I didn’t talk much so I would just observe and draw and paint the walls.”
Eventually her mother cut a deal with her: pick one wall and you can draw on that, but only one.
Suprani kept drawing and in her teens, she had a teacher who taught her how to draw human figures. In college she studied journalism, but she also kept on drawing. After an internship at a newspaper she realized she could combine the two. “I think what really drew me to being a cartoonist is that, it’s like a game. You have to find what’s hidden and be able to reveal it and show it to the world in a cartoon. It’s fascinating.”
Suprani found work right out of college and in short order became the staff cartoonist at El Universal, a Venezuelan newspaper in Caracas. She stayed there for nearly 20 years.
Suprani became known as a tough but original and nuanced cartoonist. Her work became the topic of conversations and a must-see each week. Venezuelan human rights lawyer Alfredo Romero says Suprani is more than a cartoonist. “She’s someone who can interpret the moment. It’s something incredible. Whatever she says in her cartoons is very effective. I mean she represents the right moment, the right time and the right message. She’s the best cartoonist in Venezuela or at least the most famous, for sure.”
Except Rayna Suprani is no longer in Venezuela. She cartoons from exile, in Miami. She was fired from El Universal in 2014 shortly after Suprani published this cartoon:
The message is that the flat-lining of Venezuela’s economy can be blamed in part on the policies of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the father of the left-wing populist movement known as Chavismo. When Chavez was in power, Suprani routinely skewered him in her cartoons. But by 2014, his Chavista successor, President Nicolas Maduro, had elevated the former leader to saint status. And around the same time, Suprani’s newspaper, El Universal, changed hands. The new (and still unidentified) owners supported Maduro. And Suprani was let go.
Venezuelan journalist Cesar Miguel Rondon says the Maduro government acted like thugs. “They behaved like punks on a street corner. You don’t have the rule of law here. Every single day it’s more openly the exercise of a dictatorship instead of a democracy. So, ‘we don’t like Rayma. Rayma, you should go.’ It’s as simple as that.”
But Suprani’s troubles didn’t end with her firing. She started getting death threats and crank calls. The attacks went after her integrity as a woman. “They’d say, ‘Instead of doing what you’re doing, why don’t you go find a man, a husband?’ Or, ‘You’re just a lesbian.’ ‘You’re a prostitute.’”
Then Suprani’s picture started appearing on state-run TV. President Maduro himself denounced Rayma Suprani on his weekly program. So did his deputy, Diosdado Cabello, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly. Cabello is the designated attack dog for the Maduro government. His weekly program is “Con el Mazo Dando,” which roughly translates to, “Keep Hammering Away.”
Cabello uses the program to cheerlead for Chavismo and denounce the political opposition. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has called Cabello’s show a form of intimidation. And Amnesty International has denounced how Cabello regularly reveals details on the travel arrangements of Venezuelan human rights lawyers, including Alfredo Romero. “If I travel out of the country on a plane, [Cabello] mentions what time, where I go. And when I come back he says what time I’m getting back to airport, and when I’m through customs.”
Romero says his name has been mentioned by Cabello and Maduro on state TV more than 80 times over the past two years.
But for Suprani, the pressure became too much. She couldn’t find a job and finally, in December 2015, she left. “Emotionally speaking, I never wanted to leave Venezuela but it became such a risk that I couldn’t live with it. It sort of paralyzed me and now I feel like I’m in a place where I can look at everything from a distance and I can be more useful because my creativity can flow without worrying.”
Rondon, the Venezuelan journalist, says what’s really depressing is the government’s suppression of Suprani worked. “Her cartoons used to be a must-see event in Venezuela. She had the attention of the whole country. Now she’s limited to social media.”
Rondon has been able to operate more freely than Suprani. He’s a journalistic institution in Venezuela. His radio show has been on the air for 27 years and counting, but he has had his run-ins with the Chavistas. Rondon had a popular public affairs show on TV that ran for five years until it was axed in 2005 after the Chavez government pressured the channel’s owners.
Rondon has a new TV show but it can only be shown outside Venezuela. “Maduro and his government, every single day, behave like a dictatorship. I mean we still have a president who was elected. But he doesn’t behave like a democrat. He behaves like a dictator.”
Which presents a conundrum. How do you get rid of a dictator using democratic means? Suprani’s answer is to use her exile to literally draw the attention of the rest of the world to the repressive political system in Venezuela under Maduro. One of her current projects is illustrating a book about political prisoners being held in Venezuelan prisons.
