The power couple: President Daniel Ortega (r) and vice president-elect, Rosario Murillo
(Today Nicaragua) The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, won his third consecutive term in the Sunday general elections, with 71.3% of votes, according to the first official count, while opposition leaders ask questions about the alleged ‘massive’ voter abstention.
The preliminary counts of 21.3% of the polling stations give 71.3% of the votes to Ortega and his Sandinista party, while opposition candidate, Maximinio Rodriguez of the Partido Liberal Constitucionalista (PLC) received 16.4%, according to the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE).
CSE President Rodrigo Vargas, last night thanked the “high degree of participation” of the population in the election, which he estimated at 65.3%, in stark contrast to the of abstention 70% estimated by the opposition.
Who is right? The majority of the people who did come and vote could see first hand missing were the customary long lines at the polling stations. It wasn’t the usual mayhem surrounding elections in the country.
Following the preliminary result, hundreds of Ortega and Rosario Murillo, now vice president-elect, celebrated the victory with music and dance in the Plaza de la Victories, on the west side of Managua.
Ortega Supporters celebrating Sunday’s victory
Shortly after casting his vote, at the last minute at a polling station near his residency, Ortega called the electoral process “unprecedented” because of the low level of confrontations that have been part of Nicaragua’s elections.
“We didn’t have messages of hate or beat the drums of war,” said president Ortega.
Daniel Ortega has ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, during the Sandinista Revolution and then since 2007, this being his second consecutive re-election.
The Miami apartment where Morales alleged held his victims
The Miami apartment where Morales alleged held his victims
(Q24N) – Insightcrime.org -The case of a sex trafficking ring that ensnared Cuban women in prostitution in Miami suggests human traffickers are capitalizing on the recent surge of Cubans seeking entry to the United States.
Details have emerged of the sex trafficking case about to be brought against a Cuban US resident, Silvio Clark Morales, who stands accused of smuggling women into the United States then forcing them into sex work, the Miami Herald reported.
Silvio Clark Morales poses with one of the women in a Facebook photo. Courtesy of Univisión 23.
According to court documents from the case, Morales recruited women in Cuba with the promise of passage to the United States. He allegedly offered to transport the women for a $20,000 fee, which they would pay off through jobs he would find them as strippers. However, on their arrival, Morales would up the debt to $55,000 and force them into prostitution to pay it off.
Prosecutors believe Morales’ network stretched through Cuba, Mexico, and Central America, according to the Herald. Many of his alleged victims passed through Mexico on their way to the United States, and a man claiming to be Morales’ associate described to TV channel Univision how they relied on corrupt Mexican officials and lawyers to facilitate this flow.
Migrants, especially women and children, are especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation by criminal networks. FLICKR/Víctor Hugo García Ulloa
The victims alleged that Morales threatened and beat them, while the associate said Morales forced the women to have sex with him, and even threatened their families in Cuba if they challenged him.
Police were alerted to Morales’ operations when two of his accusers escaped from the apartment where they said he was holding them.
The number of Cubans entering the United States spiked dramatically after US President Barack Obama announced measures to thaw diplomatic and commercial relations between the countries in late 2014. Some experts have linked the growth in Cuban migration to fears that improved relations could end the special status currently enjoyed by Cuban migrants, which allows them to enter and stay in the United States without a visa.
According to government data analyzed by the Pew Research Center, 46,635 Cubans entered the United States in the first 10 months of 2016, compared to 24,278 in all of 2014.
Such a surge presents an opportunity for sex traffickers, who can capitalize on the rush to emigrate by offering false promises of work and a new life in the United States in order to entrap women. Nevertheless, the Miami Herald reported that the charges against Morales represent “the first known criminal case involving Cuban women brought to the United States for sexual exploitation.”
The US State Department currently considers Cuba a “Tier 2” country for human trafficking having upped its status from the lowest Tier 3 ranking in 2014 in response to the government’s anti-trafficking measures, many of which focused on sexual exploitation. The State Department’s most recent annual human trafficking report (pdf) notes the sex trafficking of Cubans in the Caribbean and South America, but not the United States.
(QENTERTAINMENT) Costa Rica’s state-owned telecom operator ICE, under its Kolbi brand, has officially launched a new music streaming app dubbed Kolbi Musica in a bid to compete with rival streaming services from Claro and Movistar.
The service currently offers access to 25 million songs for ¢3,200 colones a month; pre-paid customers can spread the cost at ¢800 a week.
To entice customers, Kolbi is offering 30 days free.
Users will also be able to create playlists, watch videos and access news about national and international music event via the app.
In September Kolbi launched a series of new prepay plans complete with extra bundled data for social network use.
(QBLOG) As I mentioned in my previous blog regarding supermarket merchandising practices at major supermarket chains in Costa Rica, so goes the marketing practices of larger department stores.
There is a keen interest by these Costa Rica entities in mimicking the marketing practices of their U.S. and Canadian counterparts, especially when it comes to “riding on the coat-tails” of such successful marketing ventures in the U.S. and Canada, as “Black Friday”, or “Viernes Negro”, as it is called in Costa Rica.
In fact, larger department stores in Costa Rica are so enthusiastic about the “Black Friday” marketing caper, that they have accelerated the initial “Black Friday” offering to the first Friday in November, rather than the last Friday, following U.S. Thanksgiving, which is traditional in those other jurisdictions.
The problems arise with the difference in the marketing practices found in Costa Rica, versus the U.S. and Canada surrounding such “blow-out” marketing events.
Although Consumer Protection Laws exist in Costa Rica, most predominantly with the Law known as, “Ley de Protección al Consumidor”, the real issue is the practical and meaningful application of the sanctions, for violation of its provisions.
A case in point occurred this Friday, “Black Friday” when my wife attended at a large Costa Rica department store, which has multiple outlets in the San Jose area, to specifically purchase a mirror that was published in the particular sore’s advertising for this date as being offered at a 50% discount from the regular price.
My wife was familiar with the particular mirror and price, from previous shopping visits to the store in question and new specifically the item that was offered and that which she wished to purchase. On arrival, she inspected the mirror item being offered and found that a more cheaply Chinese constructed “knock-off” mirror had been substituted for the one illustrated in the advertising.
The mirror being offered in the promotion at the store probably only has a full retail value equal to 50% of the value of the mirror intended to be purchased. When my wife questioned the Manager, she was told that the mirror depicted in the advertising was for illustrative purposes only and wasn’t being offered for sale at a 50% discount.
This practice, clearly contravenes the provisions of the Costa Rica Consumer Protection Law previously cited, Article 17 a) to be precise.
Unlike the U.S., or Canada, to pursue a complaint under this legislation in Costa Rica, with any chance of a practical, or meaningful outcome, is next to impossible. The Administrative Agencies of the Government, and/or the Courts, charged with the administration of such Consumer Protection legislation, do not operate with any degree of effectiveness to in-fact carry-out the mandate for which they were created.
In general, there is a distinct lack of will power to enforce any such legislation in Costa Rica.
This leaves consumers without any degree of viable protection and with retail stores able to carry-out marketing practices subject to sanction with virtual impunity, such as in the circumstance described.
Consumer Protection Laws in Costa Rica have to be taken seriously in the marketing practices by retailers, with the real possibility of their facing the stated sanctions in the Legislation for violations.
Some 3.8 million Nicaraguans were called to vote for Sunday’s election. Opposition estimates up to 80% didn’t vote.
(Today Nicaragua) Despite a ‘massive’ abstention, threats and harassment at election centres, some centres staying open past the 6:00pm closing time, Nicaragua has voted. And though the official results aren’t in at the time of this post, President Daniel Ortega is president-elect and his wife, Rosario Murillo, vice president-elect.
This is the second consecutive reelection for Ortega.
For Murillo, this is the first time she will be holding an elected post, her high-ranking position in the Ortega administrations up to now had been by appointment by her husband.
Violence and disturbances were reported in Nueva Guinea, León, Carazo, Chinandega, Rivas, Boaco, Chinandega and Caribbean North.
The opposition is calling for new and transparent elections due to the low turn out.
“It is evident throughout the country that voter abstention was massive. We have calculated between 70% to 80% based on preliminary results,” Violera Granera, head of the Frente Amplio por la Democracia (FAD) party said during a press conference.
The low voter turn out was most notable in municipalities traditionally held by the Frente Sandinista (FSLN), according to Granera.
Some 3.8 million Nicaraguans were called to vote for Sunday’s election for president, vice president and legislators of the National Assembly.
During the day many Nicaraguans chose to heed the call of the opposition not to vote. One of those was Monseñor (Catholic Church Bishop) Mata, who told La Prensa he would “not endorse an illegal process.”
Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo in San Jose, Costa Rica
In Costa Rica, Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo, the daughter of the power couple, called the election a “farce, mounted by Daniel Ortega to ensure his re-election”.
Joined by fellow Nicaraguans dressed in blue and white and carrying the Nicaraguan flag, they protested in the streets of downtown San Jose (Costa Rica), shouting “free and transparent elections yes, dictatorship no”.
Zoilamérica has been in self-imposed exile in Costa Rica since 2013
Back in Managua, the power couple and the FSLN so sure of their victory began organizing the victory party in the Plaza de las Victorias.
Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo, daughter of Rosario Murillo and step-daughter of Daniel Ortega taking part in a protest in downtown San Jose on Sunday.
(QCOSTARICA) In Costa Rica, on a self-imposed exile since 2013, Zoilamérica Ortega Murillo, the daughter Rosario Murillo and step-daughter of president Daniel Ortega, called the Nicaragua 2016 election a “farce, mounted by Daniel Ortega to ensure his re-election”.
Zoilamerica made her statement to the press in downtown San Jose, joined by fellow Nicaraguans dressed in blue and white and carrying the Nicaraguan flag, shouting “free and transparent elections yes, dictatorship no”.
The group of Nicaraguan expats in Costa Rica, in a protest organized by the Movimiento Cívico Democrático Nicaragüense, gathered in the area of the La Garantias Sociales park (by the Caja), marched to the park La Merced park (also known as Nica park) on the west side of the downtown core.
Zoilamerica called the low voter turn out in Nicaragua a sign of civil disobedience against a “dictatorship” that harms the nation.
Speaking to the international media and followed up on social media posts, Zoilamerica accused her step-father as using the same tactic on the Nicaraguan people in the same way he sexually abused her since 1977, when she was only 10 years old.
“It’s just another chapter of abuse of power,” she said.
“The scene reminds me much of those long nights of fear on hearing the steps of approach of my abuser,” writes Zoilamerica on her Facebook page, “Zoilamerica hoy“.
“I have seen my country move from a history of sexual violence towards another dictatorship,” she said. “Those responsible are the same,” she warned.
Ortega was accused in 1998 of sexual abuse occurring in 1977 and 1978.
TICO BULL by Rico – While global attention is on the elections in the United States, a very important election is going on next door today: Nicaraguans are voting, rather, not voting, for Daniel Ortega.
But the results will be the same as is the past several elections, Daniel Ortega will be re-elected
Rosario Murilo will be elected vice presdient today, legitimizing her power in Nicaragua
president, with one major difference, the real throne of power, his wife and official spokesperson for his government, will now also be elected.
Rosario Murillo is on the ticket as vice president.
Back to my “not voting” comment. Many inside and outside Nicaragua already know who will win this election and already know that, no matter how they vote or don’ vote, Ortega will stay power and Murillo, as already sharing power with Ortega will increase her base to take over from her husband, replacing him before or at the next elections.
For the past decade Murillo has assumed on many occasions the functions of head-of-state. She is the official spokesperson for the government. On Ortega’s recent trips to Costa Rica, Murillo has been by her husband’s side at all times. I vividly recall the images of the day Barack Obama came to town, here is Murillo handing on to her husband’s side as they walk the tarmac to go see the Prez.
Things will definitely continue like that and it’s possible they will even increase after the election.
Despite being a democratic vote, the results, no matter how many or few or all or none vote, the results will be the same.
Here’s my outcome scenarios for today’s vote and the result.
If only two Nicaraguans were to show up to vote, who would win? Ortega.
If no Nicaraguans showed up to vote, who would win? Ortega.
If every Nicaraguan showed up to vote, and they all voted for the opposition, who would win? Ortega.
But, what If only one Nicaraguan showed up to vote, who would win? Rosario.
You see, if the only to Nicaraguan to surely vote would be Ortega, I doubt it very much he would vote for himself.
Although Ortega is the name in Nicaragua, without a question she is the power behind the name. This is a very smart woman, for a smart woman will make her man (and the people) believe he is in charge.
(Today Nicaragua) MANAGUA – Nicaraguans began voting this morning (Sunday) in presidential and legislative elections seen likely to deliver another new term to President Daniel Ortega, this time with his wife, Rosario Murillo, as vice president.
Voters who had been lining up in front of polling stations half an hour before they opened were seen checking their names on electoral rolls, casting their ballots, and having their fingers inked by electoral workers.
Polls are scheduled to close at 6:00pm.
Voter intention surveys credited Ortega with an insurmountable lead over his nearest rivals.
His wife, Rosario Murillo, who has long had a leading role as the public face of his government as minister of the interior and official government spokesperson, will be changing her title to vice-president, though unlikely her role as the face the Ortega administration.
There is no doubt the vote is to confirmed to go their way. Many inside and outside Nicaragua see Murillo as already sharing power with Ortega. Becoming vice president would formalize the arrangement.
“For the past 10 years, Mrs Murillo has assumed on many occasions the functions of head-of-state,” said Veronica Rueda Estrada, a Nicaragua expert and professor at Mexico’s Quintana Roo University.
“Things will definitely continue like that and it’s possible they will even increase, with the variable that after November 6 she will have the legitimacy of being elected,” said Estrada.
Some in the opposition, which has been sidelined and weakened by the Ortega administration have urged voters not to take part in the elections.
Some Nicaraguans said they would not vote, or were uncertain, because they worried Ortega was ushering in a single-party state like Cuba.
Some state workers complained to La Prensa newspaper that they had been threatened with dismissal if they did not vote for Ortega and his party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
President Ortega’s style of rule has become increasingly distant in recent years, with a notable reluctance to appear in government or before the media, leading critics to describe him as autocratic, or wondering if the 70-year-old (he turns 71 on November 11) is suffering health problems. But his leftwing sensibilities, stabilising economic policies and development of social programs have made him widely popular, earning unshakeable loyalty from the many poor.
The elections today will choose the president, vice president, and 90 of the seats in the country’s 92-seat single chamber National Assembly, the other two seats going to the president and runner up.
The Agence Fance Presse (AFP) notes that the global attention on the US elections, taking place just two days after Nicaragua’s, has eased international scrutiny on Ortega’s decisions.
Most notable was his refusal to allow in election monitors, though some officials from the Organization of American States (OAS) are in the country in a lesser role, at his invitation.
There is also his recent acquisition of Russian weapons, including combat tanks.
But once America’s electoral battle was out of the way, “it’s likely media attention will turn its eyes to Nicaragua — and maybe also Venezuela,” Rueda said.
President Daniel Ortega and Nicaragua’s First Lady, Rosario Murillo, head to the polls today, to be elected President and Vice-President.
(Today Nicaragua) MANAGUA: Nicaragua’s first couple, President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo, easily lead the field ahead of elections today, Sunday that look likely to extend their rule over one of the poorest countries in the Americas.
Ortega, a former rebel who first took power after a Marxist revolution in the 1970s and returned as head of state since 2007, is known as “el comandante” (the commander) for his strong-fisted rule that has cleared away any serious rivals.
Murillo, extravagant, with a penchant for poetry and art, is no less redoubtable in her current role as the government’s chief spokeswoman and – many believe – the eminence grise behind her husband.
Known as “Companera Rosario” (Comrade Rosario), she would be elevated to the post of vice president in the probable event of an election victory.
Ortega, who turns 71 on Nov 11, first seized control after his Sandinista guerrillas ousted the Somoza dynasty that had held power over Nicaragua with increasing autocracy from the 1930s to 1979.
Now, his critics accuse him of wanting to again turn Nicaragua politics into a family affair.
After his rebels triumphed in the country’s bloody revolution, Ortega headed up the leftwing Sandinista government with the support of Cuba and the Soviet Union, and was elected president in 1985.
But, with the economy in ruins, Ortega lost re-election in 1990.
With his Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party in opposition, he spent the following 17 years “ruling from below” – fomenting violent protests and negotiating reforms with the government – while losing the next two re-election bids.
In the 2006 elections, he finally managed his comeback, benefiting from the death of a popular rival, former Managua mayor Herty Lewites, just months before the polls.
Back in the presidential palace, Ortega maneuvered to gradually take control over all state bodies, the police and the army and to sideline potential opponents.
Backed by the deep oil funds of Venezuela, under his ideological ally Hugo Chavez, he started social programs for the poor, who now continue to support him unconditionally. But he was also careful to nurture ties with the country’s powerful business families, holding out promises of stability.
A controversial court decision allowed him to stand for re-election in 2011, despite a one-term limit. And three years later his party in congress engineered a constitutional amendment to permit unlimited presidential terms.
Ortega’s shrewd, Machiavellian view of politics, combined with his skill in forging alliances and ruthlessly cornering opponents made him the leader of the FSLN, which he joined in 1963.
Born in the mining village of La Libertad, Ortega had five siblings, just one of whom – Humberto – is still alive.
Ditching his law studies to join the FSLN, he spent seven years behind bars, at times tortured, at the hands of the Somoza regime.
Politically talented, some describe him as pragmatic, cold and untrustworthy, while others see him as empathetic and humble.
Now ruling from a heavily-guarded Managua residence, he lives a semi-reclusive life. He is driven around in a luxury Mercedes-Benz and lives largely separate from ordinary Nicaraguans.
He is reluctant to travel, or to give interviews or media conferences, and considers those who question his orders to be traitors.
Murillo: Nicaragua’s Margaret Thatcher?
While Ortega has cut back on his public appearances in the past couple of years, his “loyal companion” and wife, Rosario Murillo, with whom he has nine children, two of them adopted, has taken the limelight.
“She is a very intelligent, original woman who has a commanding voice” and who has carved out her own space in the political sphere, Eden Pastora, another ex-rebel, told AFP.
He compared Murillo to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who was known as “the Iron Lady”, and Indira Ghandi, an equally willful former prime minister of India.
A ceaseless worker, a poet who speaks fluent English and French, and given to wearing colourful clothes and jewellery reminiscent of the hippie 1960s, Murillo, 65, has long acted well outside the confines of a role as first lady.
She is the government’s communicator-in-chief, crafting its messages to the people and setting the official agenda, and is a ministerial-level government manager, making sure no one says or acts without her permission.
“We live in a time of blessings, prosperity and victories. Daniel salutes you, embraces you,” she constantly says in her daily declarations delivered only to state media.
In her broadcasts, given in a soothing tone, she expounds upon the works of the “good government” and reads poems.
She also prominently coordinates emergency responses during natural disasters, for instance during tremors in her quake-prone country.
And she has imposed her eccentric taste on the capital by ordering the erection of several tall metal “trees” painted different colors and lit up at night.
Gioconda Belli, a writer who was with Murillo when both were in the FSLN’s guerrilla ranks, but who now opposes the government, said Murillo is superstitious and complex.
In 1977, when she was a revolutionary fighting the Somoza dictatorship, Murillo met Ortega and they soon started a relationship. They married officially 11 years ago.
When Murillo’s daughter from a previous marriage, Zoilamerica Narvaez, in 1998 accused Ortega of having sexually abused her since age 11, Murillo sided with her man to deny the allegation. The charges were eventually rejected by a Sandinista judge.
Today, Zoilamerica lives in neighbouring Costa Rica, where she speaks disparagingly of her mother, whom she says chose power over their relationship.
Belli said both Ortega and Murillo are “Machiavellian in the sense that the end justifies the means”.
Even so, the majority of Nicaraguans back the first couple in their bid to bolster their rule, according to surveys. — AFP
From Olivia Ramos, WILPF Costa Rica, submitted my Mary Ann Stark.
The recent nuclear tests by North Korea has raised the fears of a nuclear confrontation. How will world leaders respond to this latest threat? Will we see more proliferation as nations feel the need for a nuclear arsenal as a deterrent? Or will they see the way to reducing and eliminating nuclear weapons?
Women for peace San Jose parade. Archive photo.
Seventy one years have passed since the United States launched the first, and so far, the only nuclear attack leveling the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in minutes. The atomic bombs ended four years of a bloody and cruel war but opened up new horrors. Massive destruction which killed more than 150,000 people in seconds, nuclear contamination, a medical emergency unprecedented, radiation diseases that claimed lives for years after, and severe birth defects. The full effect of those two bombs were not known until years later.
But that did not deter some national leaders from developing more and more powerful nuclear weapons as if in competition for the most deadly stockpiles. Today there are 15,375 nuclear weapons on the earth, divided among the United States, Russia, England, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel, plus now, North Korea. Other nations have the “capability” to make their own.
Even with security measures, we all face the threats of nuclear accidents, a wrong judgment, or a terrorist attempt.
At the same time, beginning in the 1960’s there have been campaigns within the United Nations and among civilian groups to end the threat of nuclear war. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed in 1963 prohibited nuclear tests in space, on the ground and under water. In 1968 the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty was signed by 190 nations. Although this treaty comes under review in the UN every five years, Article VI of the treaty calling for the reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons has never been enforced, and in addition to the original five nuclear nations Israel, India, Pakistan and now North Korea have become nuclear powers.
The movement to eliminate nuclear weapons keeps growing too. In 1969 the first nuclear free zone established by the Treaty of Tlatelolco (Mexico) banned the deployment and use of nuclear weapons throughout the thirty-three countries of Latin America and Caribbean. This came about as a result of the Cuban missile crises of 1962. Today a total of 115 countries are covered by nuclear free zone treaties which include the Treaty of Rarotonga in the South Pacific (1986, 13 countries), The Treaty of Bangkok (1997, ten countries), the Treaty of Mongolia for Central Asia (five countries) and 53 countries in Africa (2009). Treaties also prohibit nuclear weapons in space and in the Antarctic. Professional groups, human rights groups, peace organizations, the International Criminal Court of Justice, the Red Cross and Red Crescent have been active in promoting an end to nuclear war.
Non aligned nations have also been working to have hearings on a prohibition of nuclear weapons, and international humanitarian conferences in Oslo, Cancún and Vienna have brought together national leaders and civilian groups to support a treaty to ban these weapons. This year, Mexico, Ireland, Brazil, Nigeria, Austria and South Africa have proposed a draft for a treaty to be introduced for discussion in the UN General Assembly in 2017 to begin negotiations for a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons.
Last week Resolution L.41 passed by a 69% majority in the United Nations General Assembly. Negotiations for a treaty proposal will begin in June of 2017. It will certainly face resistance from the nuclear armed states but with so much of the world in favor of ending the nuclear arms race, we can hope.
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom is one of hundreds of civilian organizations promoting an end to nuclear arms. Contact us at peacewomen@gmail.com
The opinion here is expressly that of the author and not necessarily that of Qcostarica.com and theqmedia.com
(QBLOG) Who and the hell is this Joe Garcia and what terrible, terrible things has he done?
We receive our cable feed from Miami and recently it has been either the weather or one of the thousands of campaign advertisement demeaning candidates while promoting others who are like ghosts since most expats have no idea who these people might be.
Republican, Democrat…I think we have one thing in common, get this election over with!!!!!
Perverse advertising dominates our CBS and ABC feeds from Florida (no NBC feeds are available in Costa Rica). They are a 24/7 epic event to scare voters and spewing truths, half-truths and out-right lies.
Since I, and most expats are not from Florida it is a question that there must be something else to advertise such as Twinkies and the five hundred automobile agencies, all with the same theme song.
Here in Pura Vida we supposedly have drawn an exception card to this circus. But not so! Emotionally we are involved with “home” and we have voted for our favorite candidate. The question is how we might have voted for congress, senate and the propositions because we live here, not there which translates to limited or no knowledge of the issues. However, party lines are always strong.
I have asked 50 expats, “If Trump should win would you return to the United States or stay in Costa Rica?”
Costa Rica won.
“If Hillary wins would you return to the United States or stay or stay in Costa Rica?”
Costa Rica won again.
The lesson here is that emotionally we still live in the U.S. but in reality, our home is Costa Rica. And, we should worry or participate in our own home-town elections.
(QCOSTARICA) Global Tax News – German’s Finance Ministry on October 24 confirmed that the double tax avoidance treaty between Germany and Costa Rica will apply from January 1, 2017.
The treaty, signed on February 13, 2014, is the first such agreement between Germany and Costa Rica, and contains the OECD standard for exchange of information between the two country’s tax authorities.
Withholding taxes on dividends will generally be capped at 15%. However, a five percent rate will apply if the recipient of the dividend is a company (other than a partnership) that directly owns at least 20% of the paying company’s shares.
Withholding tax on interest payments will generally be limited to five percent. Meanwhile, withholding tax on royalty payments will be limited at 10%.
Costa Rica has traditionally not been a party to any double taxation treaties. It signed a double tax treaty with Spain in 2004 which came into force in 2010. Costa Rica also signed an exchange of information treaty with the United States with a view to promoting the necessary interchange of tax information and to ensure that the correct level of taxation is levied in both countries as well as to eradicate tax evasion.
In April, 2006, as the country mulled a controversial switch from a territorial tax system to one where it would collect tax on worldwide income, it emerged that the authorities had begun negotiations with several countries to avoid the double taxation of income.
By 2009 Double Taxation Agreements had been signed with Germany and Romania, but these are awaiting ratification. Negotiations are continuing with Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Canada.
(QCOSTARICA) This story is one too familiar story of tourists getting ripped off by rental car agencies in Costa Rica, charged for damage that was or wasn’t included in the additional insurance policy or did or didn’t actually happen.
In most of the cases, in a car rental in Costa Rica, the insurance is the same or more than the cost of the rental. A US$49 a day rental can easily convert to US$119 or more a day, depending on the amount (level) of insurance coverage. And full coverage and its heavy premium doesn’t mean it covers everything.
And then there.s the automatic dinging (charge) on your credit card for damage or repairs made after you returned the vehicle, never noted on the return inspection.
Renting a vehicle in Costa Rica is truly buyer beware.
Take a read of the story posted by Christopher Elliott of the Chicago Tribune.
From reader: “I rented a car from Budget in Costa Rica as part of a family vacation this summer. I happily accepted the total-damage waiver and its high price because I didn’t want any surprises or hassles when I returned the car.
I was assured by the agent when I rented the car that my coverage included all potential damages. Shame on me for not reading the fine print, because there is an exclusion for tire damage.
After returning home, I discovered an additional $379 charge on my credit card bill. I sent an email to Budget and was told that the charge was for damage to one of the tires, and that my request for credit was denied.
I appealed. (After all, who checks the treads of the tires when you rent a car?) And besides, the tire was performing normally throughout my weeklong trip. Budget stood by its decision.
I assume this is just another crafty attempt by a rental-car company to boost its profits. No average person would be expected to inspect all the treads of the tires, and replacing the tire certainly did not cost Budget $379. Can you help?
— Thomas Bell, Oviedo, Fla.
A: Budget’s coverage should have included the tires. But even if it didn’t — and you subsequently reviewed the terms of your loss-damage waiver and discovered that it did not — the company didn’t handle this correctly.
Here’s the wrong way: Wait until you’re back in the States, then charge your credit card. If I had a dollar for the number of times I’ve seen that, I could quit this advocacy thing and buy a Caribbean island. Ah, that would be the life.
Here’s the right way: When you return your car, a Budget representative does a walk-around and notes the damage to your tire. You fill out a damage claim, and everyone agrees that you owe money for the damages. Obviously, that didn’t happen.
I’ve talked with car-rental insiders about the damage-claim process, and I understand it’s not always possible to fully inspect every returned vehicle. If that doesn’t happen, the renter should be contacted as soon as possible, and the process shouldn’t include an automatic charge to your credit card.
The correspondence between you and Budget raises some red flags: Budget is charging you $379 for a damaged tire. That must have been some damage! I’m not a car guy, but I recall paying far less for my new tires in the States. I also note the absence of repair records and photos of the damage in your paper trail, which is problematic. You want some evidence of the shredded tire to substantiate the Budget bill.
Don’t get me wrong: If you damaged the tire and you agreed to assume responsibility for it, you should pay. But not like this.
I contacted Budget on your behalf. It noted that you would have been covered if you’d bought what it calls “Windshield Tire Coverage” at the time of your rental. That’s good to know. Budget contacted you and agreed to refund the extra charge in full “as a courtesy.”
Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of “How to Be the World’s Smartest Traveler.”
(QCOSTARICA) The Clinica Biblica, the largest and most complete private hospital of Costa Rica, has begun with its expansion plan with three new hospitals to be built in Santa Ana, Heredia and Curridabat, to strengthen the services offered, mainly in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM).
Clinica Biblica
The development of this expansion project is estimated to be complete in six years, with the first in Santa Ana, a facility of approximately 15,000 square metres (162,000 square feet), to be located in Pozos de Santa Ana (at the Santa Ana intersection on the Ruta 27), on land it purchased in 2013.
The new facility will include emergency services, imaging, laboratory and offices. It will also provide ancillary services to support specific projects in each area, such as aimed at seniors and the elderly, said Jorge Cortes, Medical Director.
The Santa Ana project is estimate at US$19 milion dollars, the other two between US$15 and US$20 million each.
The Santa Ana Clinica Biblica will be the third private hospital spurred urban growth and purchasing power on the west side of the capital city, in addition to the CIMA Hospital, in Escazu since 1994, and Lindora Medical Center, in Santa Ana, since February this year.
Clinica Biblica
The Clinica Biblica was founded in 1929, its mission focused on the comprehensive health of each one of its clients and, since then, has remained constantly growing and improving the quality of its services and infrastructure.
Today, the Clinica Biblica, located in the heart of San Jose (several hundred metres south of the Parque Central) boasts a US$50-million infrastructure (including a new US$35-million hospital building) for 200 physicians who specialize in cardiology, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, ophthalmology, orthopaedic, and preventive medicine.
Many of the physicians at the Clinica Biblica are bilingual and U.S. or European trained. More than 20 percent of Clinica Biblica’s patients are international travelers, who can expect to save as much as 70% on surgical cost compared to prices in the United States or Canada.
Mariela Pacheco, coordinator of Corporate Affairs for Walmart. File photo, La Republica
Mariela Pacheco, coordinator of Corporate Affairs for Walmart. File photo, La Republica
(QCOSTARICA) If you have you been putting off Christmas shopping, today, Friday, November 4, is your day, as Walmart has its “lowest prices of the year day” today, with some 3,500 items with up to 60% off regular prices.
Yes, Virginia, Christmas shopping comes early in Costa Rica and Central America, as the sale applies to all Walmart stores in the region.
“The electronics department will have products with a price up to 50% lower than regular and general merchandise and textiles will have a reduction of 60%,” said Mariela Pacheco, coordinator of Corporate Affairs for Walmart.
TV screens, laptops, household items, audio, appliances, cell phones, cameras, tablets, video games, among others, are part of the products on sale today.
Last year, the retailer said it sold some 300 containers of merchandise throughout Central America, this year expects to sell about 400 containers.
For night owls or those too busy working during the day to earn to buy, Cemaco and Jugeton is the place, since their sale doesn’t start until 9:00pm and goes to midnight.
Dubbed “noche de pijamas” (pyjama night), the Cemaco retail chain offers discounts of up to 70% regular prices; Christmas stuff is discounted only 20%. For customers actually wearing pyjamas they will receive an additional discount of 5%.
At Jugeton (the toy store) “Pantuflinoche” (night in slippers), the store offers discounts up to 80%, open this Friday until midnight.
Street names and address numbers aren’t always present in Costa Rica, so Waze is a godsend for anyone attempting to navigate. (Waze)
(QCOSTARICA) For anyone who has visited Costa Rica will know, the lack of typical addresses can be an experience. For those who live here, although we have for the most part adapted, it still can be daunting. In Costa Rica the address system is based on directions with reference points.
This, the addresses and the growing traffic congestion of the greater metropolitan area are two of the reasons why apps like Waze is so popular.
The article by Matt McFarland on the Washington Post explains it.
“It’s a nightmare.” That’s how Eduardo Carvajal describes the Costa Rican way to give an address.
Street names and address numbers aren’t always present in Costa Rica, so Waze is a godsend for anyone attempting to navigate. (Waze)
“If I want to give the address of my office I say ‘Okay, go to the ice cream cone shop in Curridabat then drive 100 meters south and 50 meters east,” Carvajal said.
He’s part of the team of volunteers who mapped Costa Rica in Waze, a crowdsourced traffic and navigation app. Carvajal, whose day job is running a software company, has made hundreds of thousands of edits to Waze’s map of Costa Rica.
Fellow volunteer Felipe Hidalgo spent 50 hours a week for almost two years helping to map the country. Hidalgo has made 378,000 edits to maps in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Cameroon, St. Helena Island, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. He described the work as addicting. Since the mapping of Costa Rica was completed, he scaled back to 10-15 hours a week.
“I was crazy about it, and my wife was so mad with me, I used to go to the bed and take the computer with me,” Hidalgo recalled.
Carvajal and Hidalgo weren’t paid for the hours they’ve spent annotating and labeling roads and landmarks on satellite images of Costa Rica, or vetting the edits other Waze users have made. But the duo, and other Waze power users who were interviewed for this story, describe it as fun and rewarding work.
“Some people ask ‘Why do you work for free? Why do you spend so many hours a week doing this mapping?’ ” Hidalgo said. “You feel good about knowing that the people who drive around everyday save time because you are investing your time in fixing the roads and doing this mapping.”
“We don’t receive any money, but for us, everybody in Costa Rica using Waze — believe me — for me it’s more important than all the money on the Earth,” Carvajal said.
Costa Rica was mapped in Waze entirely by volunteers. (Waze)
The country was mapped completely by volunteers who wanted to make it easier for their countrymen to get from point A to B. The app is especially popular in the capital, San Jose, boasting 300,000 active users. On one day earlier this month — Oct. 17 — users reported nearly 47,000 incidents, which include things such as a traffic jam, an accident or hazard.
“It’s one of the top five markets in terms of absolute numbers, and that’s even though we have like 4.5 million people,” said Sebastian Urbina, Costa Rica’s vice minister of transportation.
Waze, which began as an Israeli start-up, was purchased by Google last year.
Waze became the dominant mapping system because it’s free to use, and was superior to alternatives, such as Google Maps and GPS, which lacked real-time data and the level of detail that Waze came to have.
The app is especially popular because of the unique challenges of navigating Costa Rica.
“Most of our streets don’t have road names so a lot of the addresses end up being very much next to some kind of landmark associated with it, and that’s how we give directions,” Urbina said. “There’s never been good maps generated to be able to get to where you’re trying to go.”
Waze has become such a part of the culture that businesses will even list their addresses in advertisements as locations that can be searched for on Waze.
A recent newspaper ad in Costa Rica. (Felipe Hidalgo)
If inviting friends over for a party, it’s common to share a Waze hyperlink to one’s address through a WhatsApp group or a Facebook event.
That way a driver doesn’t have to know every landmark in the country, a feat that’s especially challenging for young people and tourists.
Costa Rica’s government recently partnered with Waze as part of its Connected Citizens campaign to share information with Waze on road closures. So if Urbina has to close a highway due to a storm, that information is automatically shared with Waze, and drivers using the app are all instantly aware.
“I’m trying to leapfrog the technological development that a lot of cities go through. More developed cities have invested significant amounts of money in traffic cameras and in road sensors. It’s very expensive and although we have some traffic cameras they’re very, very limited in the city,” Urbina said. “And I don’t have the money to build up as many as I would need to have proper management. So this level of connection, crowdsourcing and community-based collection allows me to leapfrog that whole development stage for the cities to be able to start, and be able to make the same type of decisions that other cities do without actually having to go through that level of investment.”
He also plans to use Waze to identify when the police department should send officers to direct traffic, and to measure how effective each officer is at improving traffic jams.
“We dispatch the police officer and then Waze is going to tell us, ‘Oh now traffic flow is better.’ So we link that improvement to that officer. And then we’re able to generate data associated with not just can we improve it by sending an officer, but how good is that officer at improving. So we rank the officers and decide where we send them,” Urbina said.
As positive an impact as Waze has had, the service has inadvertently empowered some dishonorable behaviors. One Costa Rican Waze user highlighted the usefulness of being able to share where police officers are located.
He explained how a driver who may have had one drink too many could know what streets to avoid. Or a driver who is violating San Jose’s tag days — where certain license plates aren’t allowed on streets on given days — can avoid a ticket by steering clear of certain intersections.
(CONFIDENTIAL) Knowing the insane hype surrounding Justin Bieber, 22, it’s safe to assume his Costa Rica date in April will be beyond sold out.
Justin, starting in February 2017, will travel across South America, giving the Latinas the opportunity to see him live. The Latin America tour will kick off in Guadeloupe, Mexico and end in San Jose, Costa Rica in April.
The Latin America dates of the ‘Purpose World Tour’ includes Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica.
The Costa Rica concert will on April 24, 2017 at the Estadio Nacional (National Stadium) .
Tickets for the Costa Rica event go on sale on November 7, 2016. Canadian producer, Move Concerts, confirmed ticket prices will be from ¢23,000 colones (US$42 dollars)for preferential seating to ¢161,000 colones (US$290 dollars) for Pit J.
Tickets are being sold online at eticket.cr and at authorized points of sale.
Members of the Justin Bieber Fan Club can buy tickets starting at 10:00am (Costa Rica time) on November, 7. Starting at 10:00am on November 8, tickets will be available to all American Express (AMEX) Credomatic cardholders. All others can purchase tickets starting 10:00am November 10.
But, according to Hollywoodlife.com, they are a little surprised Justin has added new dates.
“Judging by the sexy crooner’s poor attitude lately, it seems like he’d rather be doing anything else than performing.
“Justin had two back-to-back incidences on stage where he lashed out at the crowd. Fans literally BOOED the tattooed hunk during his Oct. 20 concert in Manchester after he got pissed off at them for not letting him talk.
“The second showdown happened just three days later when Justin dropped his microphone in the middle of his performance and stormed off stage,” says the publication.
Hollywoodlife.com speculates “something is going on in his personal life that’s making him act out like this…but what could it be? Maybe it’s the fact that ex-girlfriend Sofia Richie ‘doesn’t give a f–k’ about him anymore, according to Paris Hilton. Meanwhile, his other ex Selena Gomez has been battling some health issue due to her ongoing lupus battle. Whatever the reason may be, we hope Justin can lift his spirits and enjoy the rest of his Purpose tour.”
Bruce Levy, 69, formerly of Boca Raton, was extradited from Costa Rica to face federal charges he was growing 984 marijuana plants in a Lake Worth storefront in 2011. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. (Sun Sentinel / Broward Sheriff's Office Handout)
(QCOSTARICA) After living his life in Costa Rica for more than five years, Bruce Ley, 69, is back in Boca Raton, Florida facing five to 40 years in federal prison on charges of manufacturing marijuana and running a grow house, reports the Sun-sentinel.com
Bruce Levy, 69, formerly of Boca Raton, was extradited from Costa Rica to face federal charges he was growing 984 marijuana plants in a Lake Worth, Florida storefront in 2011. Photo: Sun Sentinel / Broward Sheriff’s Office Handout.
According to the report, just three days after investigators found 984 marijuana plants growing in a building in Palm Beach County in 2011, they say their main suspect took off to Costa Rica.
In Costa Rica, Levy called the lead investigator and said he’d like to come home, but only on the guarantee of not being prosecuted. Receiving no such promise, Levy went on with his life in Costa Rica, buying a home and opening a cigar shop in the lobby of a San Jose hotel.
Five years later, in May of this year, Levy was arrested in Costa Rica on an unrelated charge. Levy’s lawyer said his client was found not guilty in that case.
But the arrest alerted U.S. authorities who had obtained an arrest warrant on the pot allegations and sought extradition. Levy was back in South Florida last week.
In Federal Court, Levy’s lawyer Randall Haas tried to persuade a judge to release his client on bond. He argued that Levy had not really been hiding, that his client paid U.S. income taxes and received Social Security benefits while living in Costa Rica.
The prosecutor argued that Levy may not have been hiding but he knew he was wanted in the U.S. and asked the judge to keep Levy jailed while the charges are pending: “Now that we have him here, we’d like to keep him here.”
On the basis of Levy having already proved to be a flight risk, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow ruled that Levy will remain jailed.
The inaugural flight of Air France from Paris took place Wednesday afternoon, flight AF430 touching down at the Juan Santamaria internaitonal airport with 332 passengers on board.
The celebration, organized by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) took place at gate 3.
Air France will be operating two direct fligths weekly between San Jose and Paris
(TICO BULL by Rico) The ministry of Non Transport and Public Works (NO-MOPT) is considering charging a “toll” to enter the vehicle restricted area of San Jose.
The toll to enter the restricted area of San Jose is ¢27,187 colones, but only if you get caught.
The proposal is modeled after the London’s “congestion charge” and included in the online survey the NO-MOPT is conducting since last Monday (October 31).
So far more than 1,500 people have responded to the survey, says the NO-MOPT. And with the same speed and diligence the NO-MOPT applies to its road infrastructure and public works, it could be a few years away before we can see some results (of the survey).
But, before you start ranting, consider this, there is already a “congestion charge” or “toll” to enter the restricted are of San Jose that is in effect from 7:00am to 7:00pm, from Mondays to Fridays.
This toll is not like any other toll in Costa Rica, like the ones on the ruta 27, where you “pay to drive” a substandard road that the NO-MOPT calls a highway, but you and I and everyone who has or will drive it know, it is not even close to being a highway.
And, unlike the other tolls, you don’t have to pay this one up front, unless you are making a donation to not pay the toll, which is toll in itself. Still with me?
This toll comes with a “one day exemption”, on the other days applies if and only a “Transito” (traffic cop) spots you.
If you are in the heart of the city (other than on your exempt day), good chance you will be paying the toll, for there is a traffic cop at every corner of the few blocks that make city centre. Outside the city centre (but still in the restricted area), however, you have a better chance of “pegar” (hitting) the lottery than paying the toll.
This toll can even be appealed, which can delay payment for a year, maybe even more. And if you time it properly, don’t pay it on time, it will be tacked on to the Marchamo, the annual circulation permit, thus effectively delay paying for up to 3 years. Maybe even more.
What am I talking about? Have I really lost it?
Not that much. Not yet anyways.
The current “congestion charge” or “toll” of San Jose I am referring to is the cost of the traffic ticket, which is currently ¢22,187 colones.
This toll, however, you pay only if you get caught.
(QCOSTARICA) You have been warned. Don’t say we didn’t tell you. Be prepared from tremendous congestion tomorrow between the San Jose and the airport.
Photo from the NO-MOPT
The Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MOPT) announced “temporary” closures of the autopista General Cañas, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm, Friday, November 4.
The closure will be between the Conservatorio Castella (from the EPA store for heavy trucks) and the Juan Pablo II bridge (by the Hospital Mexico).
The closure is to allow the transfer of trusses for new lanes of the Virilla bridge.
Come on, couldn’t they do this on the weekend or at night? Why on a Friday, in the middle of the day, on the busiest road in the country?
This is the work of the great minds a the NO-MOPT at work, my friends.
Use the comment section below or post to our official Facebook page to voice your opinion. It won’t get you anywhere, but it just may make your life in Costa Rica a little less stressful.
(QTRAVEL) As incredible as that sounds, it’s true, a round trip airfare between Costa Rica and Europe for under US$500.
There is one catch: a stop in Toronto and Brussels (for my chosen destination of Rome).
Air Canada, Canada’s national airline famously known for its exorbitant airfares, will take you from San Jose to Rome for US$473.57 or $634.75 in loonies (Canadian dollars), for a flight leaving San Jose (SJO) on November 22 to Rome’s Fumicino airport (FCO) and returning November 29, in economy class.
Screenshot of Air Canada reservation for fligth between San Jose and Rome, departing November 22 and returning November 29
Other dates and destinations are available, you have to tweak the dates and routes to your preferred destination. The airline also offers class upgrades, and along with that the famous Air Canada(high) prices.
Many Costa Ricans opt out of this option given they require a visa for Canada. However, that is solved by way of a “transit visa” that can be obtained at the Canada visa application centre (CVAC) in Costa Rica, located in Barrio La California, east of downtown San Jose (on the main road to San Pedro).
The CVAC is not part of the Canada Embassy in San Jose, rather an exclusive service provider for the Government of Canada, authorized to provide administrative support services to visa applicants in Costa Rica. The CVAC is operated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in partnership with VFS Global.
The airline counter at the Juan Santamaria international airport in San Jose. Photo Jorge Arce, La Nacion
The airline counter at the Juan Santamaria international airport in San Jose. Photo Jorge Arce, La Nacion
(QCOSTARICA) In the past few years Costa Rica and Central America has transformed from being a two major airline market, to one with new players, lower prices and greater connectivity.
The arrival of “low-cost” airlines to Costa Rica and the region has resulted in lower airfares in the region and North American and European destinations.
According to the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) – Costa Rica Tourism Board, airline prices started dropping in 2015.
For example, last year (2015) the airfare for a round trip from Costa Rica to Central america was around US$350 and more; to Colombia (South America) $600; an economy flight to Europe at least US$950; and to Canada and the United States around US$500.
In the period between 2011 and 2014 the fares were much higher, sometimes double of 2015: airfare to Nicaragua would set you back US$350, US$450 to Panama, Colombia was around US$900; airfares to Miami would be more US$500.
But that has all changed.
Graphic by La Nacion
Airlines like Copa Airlines (Panamanian) and Avianca (Colombian), two major airlines who had the market pretty well to themselves, have taken notice, dropping their prices on scheduled daily flights.
Copa, for example, went further creating its own low-cost airline, Wingo, to tap into that market.
Today, airfares from San Jose to Colombia can be as low as US$350, less to Miami or New York; a return flight to Toronto is under US$500. For about the same money, Air Canada will take you to Europe, by way of Toronto, from San Jose.
Within the region, startups like Air Costa Rica will now fly you between San Jose and Guatemala from US$200, less than that to Panama on Air Panama or El Salvador with Veca.
In total, regional airlines now offer 197 direct flights, including 63 by Copa to Panama, its hub to other destinations to the rest of the world. Avianca’s hub in the region is El Salvador.
In addition to lower airfares, there are also more direct flights to North America and Europe.
Air Canada and Westjet offer multiple direct flights weekly between San Jose and Toronto. All the major U.S. airlines have daily flights from cities like Miami, New York, Dallas, Houston and Baltimore, among others, to San Jose.
As well a growing number of European cities are now being served with direct daily flights to and from San Jose: Madrid on Iberia; London on British Airways; Frankfurt on Condor; Munich on Thomson Airways; and just started yesterday, Paris on Air France.
(QBLOG) Most Expats from the North agree that closeness and support of Latino family members is indeed admirable. However it is highly exaggerated.
The poor and rural families stick together pretty close, perhaps even middle class. But those who live in the city have caught on to the American way and many could not care less about each other when serious trouble comes.
They might help out in smaller ways but to help support one in need, no way Jose. And, I write only from my own experience and what I have witnessed of three or four other upper and upper middle class “families”.
This is a true experience.
A young man, brother to three sisters of which one is a twin began to feel the effects of crippling arthritis in his thirties. Now, in his sixties he has almost no motor skills in either hand or feet. As an industrial engineer, he has not worked for decades and, converted his home into a hostel to survive. He was most certainly robbed of his well-paying job, his youth and a chance at married life.
Because the arthritis has become so severe he now requires constant care and is limited to such simple tasks like opening a bottle of Pepsi. He needs care, no matter how hard he tries, he needs care. Physically and emotionally.
He has attempted suicide but was discovered by a friend, he spent several months hospitalized and finally loaded up with antidepressants sent home. Bt what home, he was and is unwanted.
The sisters placed him in a home, each paying out $900 per month rather than let him live with them. That quickly became too expensive for one sister who owns commercial property and thinks nothing of purchasing an $800 dress for herself. In short, she has the money but does not want to depart with it. This is the twin sister.
The other has a million dollar home, is a well-known painter, has helped us before but now is playing a game not to support her brother and much prefers he would be put into public housing.
My wife and I made an agreement with the two sisters in September. We would give this man a home, one with respect and friendship. And instead of paying $900 each, the sisters would contribute $300 each per month and we would cover all other expenses such as the rent, utilities, food, transportation, etc.
And here it is the first week in October and the sisters are tap dancing how not to pay their share as agreed. Interestingly, neither the two sisters want their crippled brother to live with them yet both have large homes and plenty of unused bedrooms, not to mention full-time maids.
We might not have their wealth, and they did help us out in smaller ways, but this family is not so uncommon and certainly destroys the Latin family unity myth.
MOPT explores charging a fee to enter the vehicular restricted area of San Jose, either by day or time spent in the area.
(QCOSTARICA) Would you pay to enter San Jose, say a “congestion charge”? Taking a page from London (England), it is one of the proposals the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) is serious to solve the worsening congestion of the capital city.
As in London, drivers would pay a charge for driving within the vehicle restriction of San Jose, that is current in effect daily from Mondays to Fridays.
“What would be the optimal way to regulate the entry of vehicles to San Jose?” is the last question on the survey developed by engineers from the Dirección General de Ingeniería de Tránsito (General Directorate of Traffic Engineering) of the MOPT:
Increase the vehicle restriction zone
Increase the number of days for each license plate
Keep the current vehicle restriction
Charge a fixed fee for entering the restricted zone
Charge a fee based on time of stay in the restricted zone
Junior Araya, direct of Ingeniería de Tránsito (Traffic Engineering), said this is the first step is to know the opinion of the people. According to the official, since Monday (October 31) more than 1,500 people have responded.
Araya said the data from the survey in the first step to address the alternatives, will be studied in depth. “This is the first time we have put the issue (of charging a fee) on the table… it is new to us, we want to know the opinion of citizens before implementing.”
The official clarified that the alternatives are not the only solutions to the road collapse afflicting the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), as these must go hand in hand with improvements in roads infrastructure and public transport.
The vehicular retrictios of San Jose. Red is the restriced area of the capital city.
The vehicular restrictions of San Jose was implemented in 2009 by presidential decree. The restrictions prohibit vehicles from entering the restricted with licenses plates ending in 1 and 2 on Mondays, 3 and 4 on Tuesdays, 5 and 6 on Wednesdays, 7 and 8 on Thursdays and 9 and 0 on Fridays. The fine for violating the restriction is ¢22,187 colones.
Young Venezuelans have no memory of when foreign exchange control did not exist. (Youtube)
(Today Venezuela) Talking to the common people in a revolutionary socialist country is like an experience from science fiction — a journey through time or out of this reality.
After decades of isolation, how they think about the world and the customs of their daily lives range from laughable to tragic. Most basic ideas and news comes to them incomplete and distorted compared to the rest of the world. They mistakenly assume that their everyday lives must be similar to what we would see in places they know little or nothing about.
For example, young Venezuelans assume there must be foreign exchange rationing everywhere, along with the rationing of almost everything else. When informed that this is not the case in the rest of the world — or that in the near-past that it wasn’t like this in Venezuela — they get angry and refuse to believe it, or listen in wonder.
With limited internet access to globalized TV or movies, it’s easy to understand how they could assume this. The few who travel are amazed to see shelves filled with the products they have to wait in long lines for, or never get at all. Venezuelans, like Cubans and North Koreans, live in a strange bubble of propaganda, disinformation and isolation.
In university, I teach kids about the fundamentals of economic theory, but find it hard to get them to imagine a normal economy, a system of free prices, market abundance. They do not believe that prosperity is “given” or that any given product in an economy can prosper independently of institutionalized regulations that make it so. They do not believe that socialism creates wealth, but cannot conceive of anything else because they share the prejudices of almost everyone else that has fallen trap to socialist propaganda.
So when those who have known nothing but socialism go out into the real world, they are shocked by any supermarket they come across. It is in this moment that they start to understand why capitalism works and socialism does not. The hard part is adopting the customs and institutional values of those successful societies back home, where socialism thrives.
Individuals prefer to flee from misery to prosperity whether they do or do not understand what is creating it. It is logical that most young people want to leave Venezuela, both the few who truly believe in socialism as well as those who hate it. The sad truth is that not all of them can.
Attorneys said the recordings were tainted by the improper conduct of informants. (diarioavance)
(Today Venezuela) The first evidence linking Venezuela’s presidential family to the “narcosobrinos” drug-trafficking case in the United States has surfaced.
The transcript of an alleged conversation between a nephew of Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores and a DEA informant was recently made public by El Nuevo Herald.
In the recording, Efraín Campo, 29, not only claimed to be at “war” with the United States, but said he made a “quick cocaine deal” to help finance the Venezuelan First Lady’s political campaign.
Read More: Venezuelan Regime Threatens to Take Over Businesses that Strike
Read more: Venezuela Detains Journalists Trying to Cover Opposition March
At the time of the conversation, Cilia Flores, wife of Nicolás Maduro, was running for a seat in the National Assembly, and needed funds to boost her campaign.
“We need the money,” Campo said in the transcript. “Why? Because Americans are giving us a hard time with money. You understand? … The opposition is getting a lot of money.”
The conversation established for the first time that there is a direct relationship between Efraín Campo, his cousin and co-defendant Francisco Flores, and Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores.
In the recording, Campos also said Maduro’s administration was prepared to do whatever necessary to maintain power, including incarcerating political opponents.
“We will jail them,” he said, “condemn them to 15 years in prison.”
It’s unclear who Campos is referring to from the conversation. However, opposition leader Leopoldo López was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison leading up to the elections.
Defense attorneys for the nephews of Cilia Flores in the United States accused Barack Obama’s administration of destroying important evidence that would absolve both Efraín Antonio Campos Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas from the charges of trafficking drugs to the United States.
In the document, the lawyers claimed that confidential recordings “are hopelessly tainted by the improper conduct of informants.”
“Not only was there was a destruction of evidence,” defense attorney Randall W. Jackson said, “but that the evidence was altered by informants paid by the government operating outside the country and beyond any limitations imposed by training, ethics or accountability by agents the Drug Enforcement Administration.”
(Today Nicaragua) In the first ten months of the year gold exports generated US$293 million in foreign exchange, 12% more than in the same period in 2015.
Figures from the Center for Exports in Nicaragua (CETREX) indicate that the volume of exports also grew in the period in question, going from 6.94 tons sold abroad between January and October 2015 to 7.31 tons in the same period in 2016.
According to Sergio Rios, president of the Mining Chamber of Nicaragua (Caminic), “… the change in international prices has not affected the country. ‘It has remained at about $1,250 (per troy ounce), which is a good price for us. I hope that now that we are getting close to December (the price) will go up a little, but it has remained between 1,250 and 1,300 (dollars),’ said Rivers.”
Laprensa.com.ni reports that “…The president of Caminic said that gold production is almost entirely based on three companies, whose markets are two countries in the north. “This (production) is sent to refineries generally in the United States and Canada because refineries in Europe are very far away.’
(QTRAVEL, from Lonely Planet) Costa Rica’s tourism industry has long been at the forefront of Central America’s travel infrastructure, offering visitors access to everything from rainforest adventures, to sea turtle sightings, to exceptional point breaks.
Few visitors, however, end up learning much about the indigenous culture in Costa Rica, and a group of Bribri tour guides is looking to change that. The idea for the tour agency began as an initiative of the Costa Rica Institute of Technology, designed to diversify income options for local indigenous citizens; 16 Bribri individuals received guide-training at the university’s School of Sustainable Rural Tourism, and obtained accreditation from the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT). Some participants are also taking English lessons, so that they may lead tour groups in multiple languages.
The initiative will be based in Talamanca, and will be the first indigenous tourism organisation in Costa Rica. Guides will specialise in cultural and ecological tourism, and they hope to offer 12 different tours that exhibit the Talamanca region and Bribri traditions and history. The tours will average $40 per person and most are partial-day excursions. The agency has passed an initial inspection required to gain a licensed status, and will undergo one more; it is expected to open in April 2017. Currently, some participants are offering individual trips.
To learn more about the Association of Indigenous Bribri Tour Guides of Talamanca, visit their website.
(QCOSTARICA) Spends more and stays longer is profile of the typical European tourist, as the country sets out to conquer this market.
According to data by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) – Costa Rica Tourism Board, European tourists stay an average of 17 nights, while the overall average is 13 and spends an average of US$1,660 as compared to the overall average of US$1,351.
Increased promotion of the country to European tourists and the increase of direct flights between the Costa Rica and Europe has increased European tourism by 41.7%, according to data comparison between 1010 and 2015.
Costa Rica Travel
Last year, at total of 393,115 European tourists arrived in Costa Rica, representing 14% of the 2.6 million arrivals in 2015. Tourism Minister, Mauricio Ventura, says there is room for much greater potential.
Air France is the latest to join the list of European airlines with direct flights between Costa Rica and the “Old Continent” (Viejo Continente in Spanish) as many in Costa Rica refer to Europe as.
The French carrier, with its maiden flight to Costa Rica touching down at 6:30pm today (Wednesday) brings the count to six European airlines (Air France, British Airways, Iberia, Edelweiss, Thomson and Condor) with direct flights between Costa Rica to six European cities: Frankfurt, Munich, London, Paris, Zurich and Madrid.
Graphic listing the European airlines by their passenger capacity by William Sanchez and Marvin Barquero for La Nacion compiled from data by the Tourism board.
According to the president of Cámara Nacional de Turismo (Canatur) – National Chamber of Tourism, Pablo Abarca, it is important to note that the European tourist has a different “seasonality” than North Americans (the United States and Canada). That means the country will be receiving tourists during other times of the year, not just the big tourist rush of January, February and March.
To meet the growing number of arrivals the Juan Santamaria international airport in San Jose is being expanded, more boarding gates and broader boarding bridges to handle wide-bodied aircraft like Air France’s Boeing 777-300 with a capacity of 396 people (more than 350 passengers), the highest capacity commercial flight to arrive in the country.
The arrival of more European airlines has also brought down the typical cost of flying direct between Costa Rica and Europe, with economy class return flight going for as low as US$800.
(Today Panama) A report entitled “Vehicular Fleet in Panama in 2015”, shows that 70% of vehicles circulating in the country at the end of 2015 were cars, while only 5% were motorcycles.
Data from the report “Vehicular Fleet in Panama 2015” prepared by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData.com, points out that of all the vehicles on the streets of Panama at the end of 2015, 270 thousand units correspond to the years 2000 to 2009, while another 251,000 corresponded to vehicles which are six years old or less.
Of the total number of cars circulating in the country in December 2015, four out of ten were sedans or coupes, while 25% were SUVs.
In regards to vehicles for cargo transport, the figures show that 14% of the vehicle fleet in December 2015 was composed of light-duty vehicles, and 5.5% for heavy vehicles.
A view of Medellin from the Metro Cable. The common argument for more taxes in Colombia is that low-income people will access programs for free housing, health, and education. (Flickr)
(Today Colombia) Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has emphasized ad nauseum that though the tax reform is painful, it is inevitable if social programs benefiting the poorest citizens are to be maintained.
In an interview with the newspaper El Tiempo, Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas said: “If we do nothing, we risk regressing. You have to keep investing in schools, hospitals, infrastructure. I know it’s difficult … But it is absolutely necessary.”
He warned the public that the fundamental objective of the tax reform is to sustain investment and social spending.
Tax reform pending in Congress will supposedly allow low-income Colombians to maintain access to free housing programs, health, education and other state aids. However, it is worth asking whether resources of the reform will have the altruistic aim that government officials skillfully highlighted when talking about the tax hike.
To examine what the fate of this additional money, you have to analyze the distribution of the Colombian state budget: contrary to what officials claim, these resources are not primarily used in subsidies or investment for the poorest, but are rather directed toward financing parts of the national budget, which is, as we shall see, anything but philanthropic.
The Colombian state budget for 2017, recently approved in Congress, reached $224 trillion pesos (US $74 billion). The government expects a significant portion of this to be financed by new resources from the tax reform, especially the three-point increase in VAT and the reduction of the minimum income for a person subject to income taxes.
Of the national budget, 24 percent (or about USD $ 18 billion) are used to service the public debt, while 17 percent (or about USD $12 billion) will cover the sustainability of the pension system. Fifteen percent (or US $11 billion) will cover the payroll of state agencies. So with a barely cursory glance, it’s clear that more than half of the budget has nothing to do with social investment or aid to the poor; on the contrary, it is intended to maintain the privileged bureaucratic caste or pay overspending decided upon in the past.
As for the resources with which the state finances the pension system, one of the most important components of the budget, many may say, is for the poorest income bracket. However, only 0.3 percent of total pension funds are given to the poorest 20 percent of Colombians, while the richest 20 percent receive 63 percent of the subsidies.
But even among the items that the government presents as “social investment,” distribution is not favorable for low-income citizens. Director of the National Planning Department Simon Gaviria said the idea that Colombia prioritizes resources to the poorest people has nothing to do with reality. According to a report, 20 percent of state subsidies end up in the hands of the richest fifth of the population and only 22 percent reaches the lowest income quintile. The bulk of the subsidies goes to the middle class.
Minister Cardenas should explain to Colombians that their taxes and, of course, the increase they will have to pay next year, will prioritize not to help the poorest, but to pay interest on the public debt that politicians have irresponsibly inflated for decades. Too much of this new collection will go to subsidize pensioners, but not those who earn a minimum wage.
No, Mr. Cardenas. No, President Santos: what is gained with the tax reform is not relief for the poorest. Instead the increase will be used to grown an elephantine state growing past infinity.
