Willspy Investigative & Security Services was touted as the oldest fulltime American owned private investigation agency in Costa Rica by its owner U.S. expat Doug Smith on his website (currently taken own) and Facebook page.
Smith is waiting to be deported, after being arrested last Friday for overstaying his visitor visa in Costa Rica.
According to immigration officials, Smith was nabbed at Plaza Herradura, a few minutes from Playa Jacó, on the Central Pacific coast. He is being held in San José’s immigration centre in the Hatillos while his deportation paperwork is processed. Delaying the deportation is the lack of money by authorities to buy Smith a plane ticket back to the U.S. For this immigration authorities are waiting on Smith to put up the cash.
According to a report by the DiarioExtra Costa Rica’s immigration police wanted Smith after a former client file a legal complaint alleging the PI has taken money without solving the case. According to the report, the client says in the complaint that Smith was paid up to US$400 per day while dragging out the case and never completing the work he was hired for.
Over the years Smith made claims of being a former FBI agent and having Navy SEAL training, neither could be confirmed. He also claims to being married to married to a Costa Rican and having a family in the country, which if so, would mean he cannot be deported. According to immigration officials Smith has no family in Costa Rica.
Workers of 34 of the 45 Equipos Básicos de Atención Integral en Salud (Ebais) – Basic Equipment Comprehensive Health Care operated by the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) continue their strike and the panorama is not encouraging. The 220 workers of the Ebais went on strike last Monday, November 11. The vice-president of the social action of the UCR, Roberto Salom, said there are no new developments since the strike began and the university is looking to solve the conflict and for the strike to be lifted. He added that there is a great responsibility to the communities waiting for service. The Ebais are clinics set up by the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS or Caja) – Social Security – and contracted out to private operators. The Ebais provide medical services not requiring hospital services and are move convenient, given their location in communities close to poorer patients. The workers are protesting a plan to place the clinics in the hands of a private university management, the Universidad de Iberoamérica (Unibe), rather than maintained under the present administration by the public university. In addition, up to nine Ebais clinics would be closed. The CCSS has enabled a guide for patients where they can phone 2539 0327 and email consfarm@ccss.sa.cr to get information on how and where to get their medication. According to the latest report by the CCSS, 11 of the 45 Ebais were operating normally. CCSS medical director, Maria Eugenia Villalta, called on chronic patients not to stay home and visit the Ebais open to get their prescriptions. Villalta stressed that the CCSS is not privatizing the Ebais’ and that the process of awarding the administration contract to the Universidad de Iberoamérica (Unibe) to run the 39 Ebais across the country, was made through a public tender.
Chileans will have to wait one month to know the name of their new president of the republic, although all the estimates indicate the winner will be Michelle Bachelet, the candidate who had more votes in the elections that took place yesterday. Despite having more votes in the first round of the presidential elections, the former head of state (2006-2010) did not get more than 50 percent of the ballots, needed to be declared as winner.
Bachelet, from the Nueva Mayoría (New Majority) Pact got 46, 74 percent, while her closest rival, Evelyn Matthei, from the Right Alliance had 25, 02 percent.
The former president considered Chileans voted in support of the projects her party wants to implement.
¿And we will have a decisive victory on December, a victory that will support the needed program of changes that we have built with the people in these months.
As results of the elections the Progressive Party emerged as the third political force with 10, 93 percent of the votes for its candidate Marco Enriquez-Ominami, while the independent Franco Prisi got 10, 13 percent.
Although none of these candidates compromised their votes with Bachelet, they agreed that she will win in the second round.
On December 15 voters will have to choose between two alternatives: a twist towards center-left with Bachelet, to change the policies of President Sebastian Piñera or the continuity of the postulates of the current government with Matthei.
Bachelet is the daughter of General Alberto Bachelet, who died of a stroke six months after the coup of September 11, 1973, suffering from tortures he received for opposing the coup against the government of Popular Unity.
Matthei is the daughter of General Fernando Matthei, head of the Chilean Air Force and one of the closest collaborators of Augusto Pinochet.
Located in Moravia de Cutris, in Pocosol de San Carlos, the La Dorada San Luis farm offered up some of the best cocoa from Costa Rica at the 15th annual International Cocoa Awards in Paris.
The sample ranked among the 50 best in the world at the International Cocoa Award (ICA) at the recent Salon du Chocolat.
The 42 hectare farm in Alajuela produces some 500 metric tons annually.
Participation in the competition is based on cocoa rather than processed chocolate, the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) can standardize the chocolate making process and judging can focus on the quality of the cocoa.
For the International Cocoa Awards, cocoa producing countries are invited to submit well-prepared fermented and dried bean samples, which reflect genetic and geographic origins of their regions.
These are processed into liquor for evaluation by six sensory analysis experts, who select the 50 best samples, which are then processed into chocolates. These samples are evaluated by 33 expert jury members, including professional chocolatiers and sensory evaluation experts.
For the 2013 International Cocoa Awards, 15 chocolates were selected and celebrated at the Salon du Chocolat, including associations in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Madagascar, Togo, Malaysia, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Bolivia and Venezuela.
Costa Rica's Constitutional Court says banks are a necessity and not an option.
Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court says banks are a necessity and not an option.
Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court (Sala Constitucional or Sala IV) has ruled that the closing of a bank account or cancelling of credit cards by a financial institution, unless there is illegal activity involved, goes against fundamental rights.
The Court decision follows a filing of a appeal (Recurso Amparo) last October by a woman after the Banco de San José closed her accounts and cancelled her credit cards without explanations.
The woman felt the decision of the bank was “in detriment of her fundamental rights”.
The Court, in its ruling said: “being a commercial service of general interest, with great impact on the economic life of the country and relevance to its users, the service can only be denied if a person does not meet the obligations of the contract, ie misuse of the account or failing to maintain a certain volume of operations or the account is being used to perform or assist in an illegal activity“.
According to the Court, in the woman’s case, there was no documentation evidencing any illegal activities and the decision of the bank to close the account was for the customer’s failure to provide essential information to comply with Ley 8204 of the banking laws and the provisions of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (Sugef).
The Ley 8204 establishes minimum requirements to prevent “concealment operations and capital mobilization” and “other dubious transactions” used to launder money and finance terrorist activities or organizations.
The Court ruled noted in its ruling that “the closure notices did not comply with the duty of substantiation required…being injurious to the interests of the depositors…“. The Court ruled in favour of the appellant.
Banks accounts are a necessity
The Court said that “bank accounts are must. Contemporary life has transformed the use of a bank account as a financial option to a real need by individuals and companies, to deposit their income into accounts to in turn used to cover costs both safely and reliably.”
In Costa Rica, today, most private businesses and all government agencies – pay their employees by direct deposit – also known as direct credit – where the money is transferred directly to the recipient bank through a payment system.
With direct deposit salaries are automatically deposited into the employee’s bank account, and immediately accessible, is never lost, stolen or damaged as compared to payments by cheque or cash.
Employees can then make withdrawls from the bank or use a debit card at ATM’s (thus the long lines at ATM’s come pay day), retailers (we’ve all seen someone making a purchase for only a few hundred colones with their debit card) or online (which is the way of things today).
Presidential candidate Johnny Araya and the advertising agency Tribu had an embarrassing moment in a YouTube three minute ad when the images shown contained astronaut-physicist Franklin Chang and former Archbishop Hugo Barrantes with the candidate.
Neither public figure had given permission for Araya to use his face for campaign promotion. Barrantes, as a well known figure in the Catholic hierarchy must be apolitical and Chang, who heads the Costa Rican branch of the Ad Astra space company said he has yet to figure out who would get his vote.
The video today.
Metropolitan Curia spokesperson Alejandra Barrantes said, “Monseñor was blessing some projects and was doing so in his capacity as archbishop. This image is using him in a bad moment.” The scene is of Araya inaugurating a completed project with Barrantes in the scene.
Araya campaign chief Antonio Alvarez (Desanti) agreed that these two scene must go for a short video showing highlights of Araya’s career as San Jose mayor. “If they’re there (in the scene) then it’s an error and we must withdraw their participation.”
Alvarez also admitted that they must withdraw the image of sculptor Jorge Jimenez and evaluate use of several sports figures as well. The image of Chang is shown in a chummy moment when Araya draped his arm around Chang’s shoulder. Chang said Friday that he is a member of no political party.
Evidently, use of the video was restricted even for news coverage. In its on line edition, La Nacion reproduced the video with its news story. But Friday evening, when one clicked on it, it showed only a large black square and the warning in white letters that “This video is private.”
Costa Rica’s Administrative Court (Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo) has accepted the injunction request by the company IBW, which operates under the Japi brand, to suspend a decision from communications regulator Sutel requiring the operator to stop providing internet service and pay a fine of ¢19 million colones (US$32.000).
According to El Financiero, in August Sutel fined IBW Comunicaciones as its spectrum license does not authorize it to provide wireless internet.
The case had been under investigation for more than two year.”We are delighted with the news, we won, our clients have women, and we will continue to operate in a responsible manner…”, said James Traces, IBW representative.Some 10.000 connected to the Japi network with coverage in the San José greater metropolitan area (GAM in Spanish), Guapiles (Limón), Liberia (Guanacaste) and Puntarenas city (Puntarenas).
It appears that not even a well marked police vehicle is out of reach of the criminals in Costa Rica.
]As the story goes, it was Saturday afternoon that a group of police officers of the Fuerza Pública travelled to Puntarenas to take part in the “Carrera del Médico”, organized by the College of Physicians.
The group of officials were travelling in a Fuerza Pública minibus, parking it on the Paseo de los Turistas, the main tourist drag by the ocean in Pearl of the Pacific (Puntarenas).
When the officers returned to their vehicle, they noticed it had been broken into (tachado in Spanish). Gone were their valuables that included cellular phones and wallets.
Because the event was not a police operation, the officers did not carry their weapons, badges and uniforms, according to an official press release by the Ministerio de Segurida Pública (MSP).
The MSP press release said that An intense police operation was undertaken in the area to find the person or persons responsible. But they came up empty handed.
(QCOLOMBIA) president, Juan Manuel Santos, asked this week all Colombians to join the efforts of the national government for a peace agreement.
“What I ask is that you support me in the peace process. The peace is not mine, it is a peace of my government, is a peace of you, all Colombians, so we need everyones’s support”, said Santos in Santa Marta on Monday.
“I will ask: do you want peace? Listen the enemies of peace: the people want peace”, reiterated Santos after receiving support on the issue from the Samarias mothers belonging to the ‘More Families in Action’ (‘Más Familias en Acción)”, added Santos.
“We have had 50 years of war between sons of the same nation. Fifty years of war has bled us, created wounds we are tying to heal…”, continued President Santos.
By: Cesar Blanco Fajardo/Vozdeguanacaste – Although the response was very cold when they started organizing the Guanacaste Art Festival in July, things have heated up, and now it promises to be quite a lavish display of talent from November 21 to 24 in the city of Tilaran.
The regional promoter of culture for the province, Vera Vargas, indicated to The Voice that they finally received more inscriptions than they anticipated in the beginning. “It will be a great fiesta,” she promised, with more than 40 national groups from all over the country.
“This festival is a way to contribute to advancing the careers of local artists,” explained Vargas, and she added that”it serves as a pretext to reactivate the cultural movement of these communitites that don’t develop much of this type of activities.”
Guanacaste Art 2013 will take place from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the ATRA (fairground) facilities, and the public will be able to enjoy music, theater, visual arts, contemporary dance, poetry, crafts, tango, flamenco, folkloric dances and other expressions of Costa Rican and international art. Receiving three invited countries, artists from Spain, Honduras and the Peruvian singer Omar Camino will take the stage.
The organizer said that local artists will include the famous group Editus, the Nicoyan singer and song writer Max Goldenbert, Carol Cabalceta, Cristian Porras, Luis Obando, Ana Maria Alvarez and Nathalia Esquivel, as well as storytellers Luis Barrantes, Marielos Jimenez and Lucrecia Sancho.
“There will be band concerts. The Sinem orquestra from Liberia has confirmed, along with other garage bands from Santa Cruz, Liberia and Cañas that play rock, punk and reggae. We’ll also see musical and dance groups from the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the National University (UNA) and the state distance university (UNED). The group Flor de Caña and Tierra Sardinaleña will be present,” added Vargas.
This will be the sixth festival held since it got started in 2008 in Liberia, later being held in Hojancha, Abangares, La Cruz, Bagaces and now Tilaran. In 2014, it will be Nandayure’s turn.
File photos; Walmart store in San Sebastian (San José)
At the Walmart store in San Sebastian (San José) an armed security guard escorts a customer. | Photo: La Nacion, FABIÁN HERNÁNDEZ.
Private armed guards and metal barriers at entrances greeted customers!
Not wanting to repeat the “brou·ha·ha” and near stampede of last year, Walmart decided to use armed security to prevent abuses during its midnight event on Friday.
Entering a Walmart store in Costa Rica felt like an immigration control centre. There were security guards everywhere, metal detector wands scanning customers entering, video surveillance cameras and shelves at the entrances positioned as barriers.
This was most notable at the Walmart in San Sebastian, in San José, where a riot almost broke out last year, when angered customers demanded the store honour the ticketed price on a television set, during it’s “lowest price of the year’ promotion.
This year the event was coordinated and the store hired private security for a “safe and comfortable customer experience”, according to Lupita Mora, spokesperson for Walmart’s corporate affairs.
Another change this year was, in addition to the eight Walmart stores, the inclusion of 26 MaxiPalí stores, operated by Walmart.
The move diluted the flow of customers at Walmart stores, as they sought the low prices at more outlets.
Also, this year, the chain did not keep its stores open around the clock for the promotion weekend.
And with still two weeks before the “aguinaldo” hits consumer pockets, the “El Día Más Barato Del Año” (lowest priced day of the year) promotion this year is lukewarm as compared to last year, when it held its promotion on December 1 rather than the middle of November.
Compact enough to be transported in a car, then wheeled into operating positio, the “Drugloo” is the automatic sanitizing system treats incoming water to provide maximum protection to operative whilst sterilizing recovered packages, by cleaning, disinfecting and bagging the evidence.
The Drugloo, unveiled in Costa Rica at the Summit of the American Police (Ameripol) conference in Escazú, may soon be coming to an airport near you.
Drugloos are already in use across airports and other transportation hubs in Great Britain, Europe, the Middle East, Canada and the United States
“When people come through customs or they’re trying to smuggle things across borders or into prisons and they swallow them or hide them in, um, other places,” explained John Baker, managing director of Drugloo, “most border agencies tend to use a bucket and a pair of gloves. So we invented [these] chemical toilets.”
After the contraband enters the toilet, Baker said it gets flushed into an agitator, where it’s cleaned, disinfected, and bagged as evidence.
The portable toilet is just one of the security-related products exhibited by nine British companies.
The conference, held between November 11-13, 2013, focused on finding mechanisms for greater coordination and cooperation in the fight against organized crime.
During the conference a number of agreements were reached, including the strengthening of the Red Interamericana de Desarrollo y Profesionalización Policial, led by the Departamento de Seguridad Pública de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA).
In addition, the AMERIPOL board of directors selected Costa Rica’s own, Juan José Andrade, as president for 2014-2015.
Andrade is currently the director of the Fuerza Pública – head of Costa Rica’s police force.
Salvadoran photographer Yuri Cortez stands by the shot out window of his SUV.
Two former bodyguards of Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen and her US football star husband Tom Brady have been jailed for five years for shooting at photographers in Costa Rica.
The shooting took place in April 2009 as the celebrity couple celebrated their wedding at a seaside home in Santa Teresa de Cobano, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.
A Puntarenas court found Costa Rican Miguel Solís and Colombian Alexánder Rivas guilty of attempted murder.
A third man – Manuel Valverde – was acquitted.
Gisele and Tom in Costa Rica.
The court also ordered the defendants to pay five million colones (US$10,000) in damages in each of the two photographers. Neither defendant testified during the proceedings.
The photographers were confronted by the bodyguards, who demanded they hand over their camera memory cards.
As the photographers drove away, at least one of the bodyguards opened fire, according to the complaint. Neither photographer was hurt.
The Salvadoran photographer, Yuri Cortez, now asks American star Brady to comment on the case. “Justice has been served”, says Cortez. The photographer addedd that during the four years since the shooting, representatives of the bodyguards have been labelling him a “paparazzi”.
However, Cortez has for the last 22 years worked as a photographer for the Agence Presse France (AFP). At the time he was chief photographer for AFP Centrl America.
(INFOSURHOY) A drastic increase in ecstasy seizures in Costa Rica has caught the attention of authorities. Between January and October 2013, a total of 11,300 doses of ecstasy, including one shipment of 11,109 pills, were seized nationwide, up from the 293 seized during all of 2012, according to the Costa Rican Institute on Drugs (ICD).
On Aug. 28, the Drug Control Police (PCD) dismantled a gang that had been sending cocaine to Europe and was receiving ecstasy by mail.
“The Post Office of Costa Rica allowed us to conduct an investigation, which allowed us to track a scheme being run by a Lithuanian and two Romanians who recruited [postal] employees to help them circumvent the controls that were in place,” Costa Rica Security Minister Mario Zamora said.
A total of 11,109 ecstasy pills from the Netherlands and Germany were seized, as well as 1,571 grams of cocaine that the group was planning to send to the Netherlands. The suspects are being held pending trial, according to Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security.
“The problem in our region is that drug traffickers do not pay their employees with money – they use drugs instead,” ICD Director Carlos Alvarado said. “Therefore, all of these drugs need to be sold internally.”
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report 2013 identified a global reduction in ecstasy use, coupled with an increase in seizures, which reached 123 tons in 2011, double the amount seized in 2005.
“The drug trade is driven by the laws of supply and demand,” Costa Rican drug czar Celso Gamboa said. “If there are buyers, then there is a potential market for the drugs.”
Authorities are concerned that during the past decade, the onset age for ecstasy use dropped from 15 to 12 for boys and 14 to 13 for girls, according to the country’s Drug Observatory.
Ecstasy use can cause health problems, such as severe depression, anxiety and sleep disorders. There’s also an increased risk of heart, liver and kidney failure, according to Zaida Zúñiga, a clinical psychologist who specializes in treatment.
“These kids are relatively well-off because the drug isn’t cheap,” she said. “In addition, the stimulatory effect of ecstasy causes them to lose sleep and increases thirst.”
In Costa Rica, an ecstasy pill can cost between $6,000 and $10,000 colones (US$11.89 – US$19.82) and a gram is sold for about $45,000 colones (US$90). Meanwhile, a dose of crack sells for $500 colones (US$1), according to the ICD.
A 2009 survey of 5,000 students showed that only 2.13% of respondents had taken ecstasy at least once in their lives.
Parties held to celebrate the end of the school year and gatherings featuring electronic music are venues where ecstasy is most commonly consumed, and the ICD has had trouble controlling the trafficking and consumption of the drug.
“It’s very hard to detect because these pills are easy to hide and aren’t moved around in large quantities,” said Randall Cruz, a Public Force official. “Sometimes, when we do an inspection near parties, we find one or two pills, but that doesn’t happen often.”
Out of Costa Rica’s population of 4.8 million, it’s estimated that about 300,000 people between the ages of 13 and 35 consume synthetic drugs such as ecstasy, according to the ICD.
“We know that this drug is being sold at open bars and private parties, but it’s very hard to control what happens on private property,” Alvarado said. “Without a warrant, we can’t enter the property because these are estates that people are renting for these parties, not commercial establishments.”
Zúñiga said that during the past three years, she has treated five patients with problems related to ecstasy consumption. She treats about 100 patients annually.
“The most recent cases I had, both in 2012, were seniors from private high schools in San José,” she said. “The first contact they had with the drug took place at parties organized by older friends.”
There is a direct correlation between illicit drug use and students’ spending money, according to the IAFA survey.
Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security reported it does not have specific plans to control ecstasy consumption. But by the end of the year, it will implement a campaign with the Ministry of Education to raise awareness among the country’s youth.
Everyone’s curious what Ecstasy look like. Images from Ecstasy addiction in Florida website.
(LA NACION) In 2012, each Costa Rican used up 11% more than the country is biologically capable of providing. Every country has a limited number of natural resources (water, soil and forests) able to produce and regenerate, year after year, to meet the demands of its people.
Since 1991, Costa Rica annually consumes more than the environment has budgeted for its inhabitants.
The worst is that the people of today are exhausting the resources of the Costa Ricans yet to be born.
The warning comes from the Nineteenth State of the Nation Report (Decimonoveno Informe Estado de la Nación) released this week. According to the report, in just ten years our ecological debt went from 3% in 2002 to 11% in 2012.
In other words, Ticos have already exceeded the biocapacity of the country, defined as the potential of the territory to ensure a regular supply of resources and absorb waste from consumption.
In 2012, the international organization Global Footprint Network had done an exercise of the specific ecological footprint – the metric that allows us to calculate human pressure on the planet – calculation for Costa Rica.
The ecological footprint is a resource accounting tool that helps countries understand their ecological balance sheet and gives them the data necessary to manage their resources and secure their future.
According to their data, each Tico consumes 2.5 global hectares while the country’s bio-capacity is only 1.6 hectares. This means that each Costa Rican needs 0.9 hectares of additional resources to meet their demands.
Another way of putting it is that if the rest of the world has our pace of consumption humankind would required 1.4 Earths to sustain this lifestyle. Worse than Costa Rica, according to Global Footprint Network, is if everyone lived the lifestyle of the average American we would need 5 planets.
The Reasons: The ecological debt increase is due to the reduction in biocapacity by population grown, that is the same resources now has to be divided among more people.
The other reason highlighted in the report is the increase in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the combustion of hydrocarbons in the transport and energy sectors.
Over 70% of the oil consumed in Costa Rica is by the transportation sector. PHOTO CREDIT: JORGE CASTILLO, CARLOS GONZALEZ, PABLO Montiel, RAFAEL MURILLO AND JORGE NAVARRO.
In fact, the report indicates that 70% of the oil consumed is by the transportation sector.
To this add the growth in living standards, consumption and waste.
The red flag can be raised because Costa Rica is copying the standards of living of the United States. Today, in Costa Rica we already have one vehicle for every three inhabitant, when not too long ago it was 1 in 20.
“the solution is not only in more public transportation, in America although they have subways and electric buses, they still use individual vehicles.
“We need a change in culture to move differently, without going to the extremes of walking and bicycling, it involves repopulating the cities for people to walk more”, said Environment Minister, René Castro.
When it comes to responsibility, we all play a part. Public policies aimed at sustainability, must be accompanied by promotion in public awareness and citizen action.
EcoEco Alternatives Conference
The Second International Conference of the Mesoamerican Society for Ecological Economics will take place at the Rodrigro Facio campus of the University of Costa Rica from March 4 to the 8th, 2014, with the support of the School of Biology and the Fundacion Neotropica. Its purpose is to further the debate on Ecological economics and to sensitize more people about the importance of the ecological crisis and the solutions proposed by this school of thought.
The Conference’s thematic will be “Advancing Towards Alternatives for People and Ecosystems in Latin America”. It will include multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary debates about the resolution of social-environmental conflicts, the alternatives within the ecological economics model for handling production and services, and the social conflicts related to the distribution of wealth and gender.
A Sarapiquí (Heredia) court sentenced a 33 year old woman to 27 years in jail in a case of human trafficking and prostitution of a minor. The woman, identified by her last name, Castro, was arrested last March 15 in the bar Alisán, in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí.
Castro was found guilty of sexually exploiting a 15 year old Nicaragua girl, bringing her to Costa Rica and then putting her to work as a prostitute in the bar, for only ¢10.000 colones (US$20 dollars). The woman was also convicted of human trafficking or “white slavery”.
Arrested along Castro was another woman, 30 years old, who is alleged to be an accomplice and still awaiting trial.
Taking part in the investigation were the Sección de Delitos Contra la Integridad Física y Tráfico de Personas del Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), Fiscalía de Delitos Sexuales and the Departamento de Atención Integral (DAI) del Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI),
The case is a reality of the cruelty of the business that occurs in various areas of the country and the deception used to lure young girls from poor countries like Nicaragua, with the promise of decent work, such as a babysitter, only to be put to work as prostitutes.
Trial records show that the young girl was forced to satisfy the sexual desires of the bar customers, and also to consume drugs. Confiscated during the arrest were quantities of marijuana and cocaine.
In addition to the 15 year old Nicaraguan girls, investigators rescued six other minors, of which one working illegally as a waitress and another found in one of the rooms in the bar with a male customer.
Rescued also by OIJ detectives was a 28 year old Nicaraguan woman who had had her documents taken from her and forced to work illegally.
Prosecutors have asked the judges of the criminal court (Sala III) to dismiss a complaint brought by opposition lawmaker Patricia Perez against Presidenta Laura Chinchilla for corruption connected with a private jet lent her last May 11 for a jaunt to Peru. (See: Tribunal Absolves Presienta On Private Jet Trip To Peru.)
The request by the prosecutors says that, after combing the corruption statutes, they could find none that fit the situation — not illegal enrichment nor any other. The corporate jet was owned by THX oil company whose representative in this country had been linked journalistically (but not by prosecutors) with narcotic traffic.
At the time, Chinchilla, incensed by the scandal, wondered publicly if she would have to schedule her own flights if her staff could not protect her from accepting a ride from a persons under suspicion. Communications Minister Francisco Chacon and Presidential Aide Irene Pacheco both were fired as well as the vice minister of Security.
Both Chacon and Pacheco were along on the trip as well as Foreign Trade Minister Anabel Gonzalez and her husband and Chinchilla’s own husband. The ensuing scandal created a media circus, although most knowing journalists were certain that the charge against Chinchilla would go nowhere.
Most discomfited by the incident was director of the agency for police security and intelligence Mauricio Boraschi, whose position charged him with knowing the precedence of the President’s associates or who was giving the Chief Executive favors. He was forced to resign by the furious President for not knowing of the cloud surrounding THX representative Gabriel Morales.
The scandal deprived Chinchilla of her inner circle of longtime political associates.
(AFTERBIZLIFE) Great sex outside of a relationship is attainable, but can you have an amazing relationship without sex? What a pickle! You think you’re officially off the meat hanger but hang on, what’s that? A sexless relationship? For real?
A “sexless” relationship is one where sex happens fewer than 10 times a year. Some studies estimate that the average person has sex 103 times per year – that’s 8 times a month, an achievable target for some, impossible for others.
Let life not be measured by the number of breaths you take but the number of experiences that take your breath away!
Interestingly, sex-avoidant or sexless couples are on the rise. Here’s the grim reality. A Newsweek poll said 15% to 20% of couples are denting the bed less than when they first hit it off. In the book “Why Women Have Sex,” some 32% percent of 1,748 women aged 18-24 (single and married) said sex wasn’t a priority in the past year. A North American survey of 3,000 folks say that 4.8 per cent of men and 10.8 per cent of women admit to low sex drive, whilst another poll found 30 per cent of males in their 40s and 34 per cent in their 50s to be sexually inactive in the past 12 months. Some 21% of women in 40s to 50s found themselves in similar situations.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way – sex binds emotionally, mentally and physically. If it’s mind blowing, something chemical happens that makes us stick. But low and no-sex couples aren’t needles in a haystack. Ditto for downward spiralling sex appetites. It isn’t common (especially when you’re younger) and it also doesn’t “just happen.” The lust hormone resides in us all. How we use it to addict us to sex and pleasure is up to each one of us.
Those looking from the outside in may think rightly that bed-sex prowess and satisfaction is a matter of process, not luck. It is, mostly. But achieving regular sex (with zilch toe curling) in a stable relationship is harder than you think. If sex is unquestioningly addictive, why are sexless unions becoming commonplace? It’s hard enough to find love and keep love, here’s why some folks vacate the love shack.
1. Life gets in the way
Sexual attraction is what ‘gets things going.’ Couples hook up then choose to stay together. But life can get in the way. Bills, work, relationship on routine, babies, more bills, weight gain, changes in appearance, deteriorating levels of ‘hotness,’ a soft ‘schlong,’ other stressors. Don’t let everyday life get the upper hand in your relationship. It will win.
2. Mismatched sexual needs
You like it rough, he doesn’t. When people say ‘sex ain’t happening,’ it usually boils down to mismatched sexual needs and expectations. Crudely put, your shagging magic number and bedroom voyeurism style doesn’t match his. Having no middle ground puts you in earthquake zone.
3. “Not in the mood”
‘Not in the mood’ happens when you’re too caught up with life. Your relationship and sex life is re-prioritized to back seat status. Mind over matter. Physical and mental exhaustion aren’t anything to laugh about but rescuing a sexless relationship from the brink of death is worse. Pick the lesser evil.
4. Sex is boring and routine
It happens. Sexual intimacy and fulfilment is an expected part of modern relationships. But ‘lots of sex’ in the beginning often slides and slows to a grind, an obligation even. Not the death of the union but it can put a real stinker into your sexual and emotional relationship as it hovers from 1x a week to 1x in three months, fading into something on a to-do-but-never-happens list.
5. You’ve fallen out of love with your partner
Don’t feel quite so lovey-dovey anymore? Without physical intimacy (for lust and emotional connection) a lack of sex fast tracks the arrival of love affairs. Love needs keeping alive. It’s not a perpetual self burning flame.
6. Anger, resentment, depression and sex skeletons
Fights should really be just about fighting and forgetting. But emotions aren’t always predictable and responses are even less so. Anger and resentment are relationship killers. Not just for sex but everything a relationship stands for. Non-sex problems often impact on the quality and frequency of sex. Say hello to unending bouts of silence and no sex as punishment. Unaddressed, this can escalate into a nasty sex impassé, resulting in loneliness and frustration. Not pleasant at all.
Emotional scars (abuse, rape) or medical conditions (vaginismus) makes sex aversion a reality for some people. Same goes for anxiety and depression because taking anti-depressants often trades desire in. It’s an after effect of the medication, unfortunate collateral damage. Unresolved marital spates result in ‘sex akan datang’ until further notice.
7. Parenthood
Baby changes people’s roles and priorities, putting your libido on ice. Families are usually about the kids – walks, parks, enrichment classes, the foods they can and cannot eat, playing chauffeur. Kids ‘manja’ nonstop, making gaze-in-your-eyes, let’s-get-frisky moments hard to come by. Quickies result, behind locked doors. Though better than no activity, they don’t always satisfy the woman in the long run. Not a permanent option. Sorry, boys! Take inspiration from the Obamas, do ‘date night.’ Parenthood TV series lead Adam Braverman schedules ‘Funky Town’ and syncs phone calendars with his wife. Why not you? It’s not the ultimate romancing tactic but given baby and your daily grind, forget sex on tap, try keeping sex on the calendar instead.
8. Porn addiction
Love of porn makes interest in one person hard to maintain. If you love unbridled sex with one person, porn can keep your sex life in the safe house. But if porn de-sensitizes you into fantasizing about different persons, you’ll become besotted with the mental image of enacted lust and passion. Sometimes the addiction takes a life of its own – opting to be polyamorous or make unwarranted ‘curvature,’ ‘size’ and ‘color’ comparisons that chip away at your partner’s ego.
9. Low libido
Aging takes a hit on otherwise healthy libidos and it’s no cause for a celebration. If you both have naturally low sex drives, having less sex won’t frustrate the both of you. But if you want it 5 times a week and he doesn’t, whoops, a storm’s brewing. Over time, one party could opt out of the union because they feel ‘unloved,’ and that’s how one night stands and affairs become part of the equation. Sexual dissatisfaction is a forecaster of infidelity, an increase in porn downloads and the tacit introduction of prostitutes or sex buddies. Ouch. If you don’t want to lose the plot, don’t let a low libido hurt your relationship. Test those mythical aphrodisiacs. If they disappoint, hedge your bets on that little blue pill and KY Jelly.
10. Insecurity about your appearance
Stretch marks, surgical scars, the dreaded orange-peel butt, dimpled thighs, unwelcome weight gain (and other insecurities) can mark an end to sex as we knew it. As you age and your body changes, the person looking back at the mirror isn’t the person you still are (inside). Your fears become your reality, making sexy and spontaneous sex harder to achieve.
Young populations enthusiastically embracing mobile technology are giving Latin America the potential to become a digital El Dorado as online retailing begins to take off. Recent figures suggest that online retail sales growth is outstripping more developed regions as a majority of Latin Americans have become web-enabled.
The region illustrates how demographics, growing mobile use and rising standards of living are now helping emerging economies catch up with more mature online markets.
Internet retailing is becoming a highly competitive arena which, according to Euromonitor, accounted for global sales worth $580 billion in 2012. But online spend varies greatly between regions due to varying levels of internet and mobile phone penetration, cyber security, and broadband and mobile infrastructure.
An analysis of online retailing in more than 100 countries (PDF) by the commercial property services groups Cushman & Wakefield suggests that although developed regions have hitherto enjoyed an advantage, rapid advances are allowing emerging markets to soar ahead.
The report confirms that Latin America trailed North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific in terms of internet retail sales in 2012, and that Brazil was the only Latin American country within the world’s top 20 markets. However, as a region, Latin America ranks second in terms of annual online retail sales growth, averaging 20% in the five year period 2007 to 2012 – more than double that of North America and behind only Asia Pacific (25%).
And two Latin American countries are near the top of Cushman & Wakefield’s list of the fastest-growing markets for online retail sales: Mexico (4th) and Colombia (5th), increasing annual internet sales by 43.2% and 41.9% respectively.
Cushman & Wakefield’s São Paulo-based analyst Laure Maumus says that, “Latin America is catching up with more mature markets, but the actual numbers could be even stronger if the infrastructure allowed it. It has been growing its online retailing consistently, albeit not as fast as some of the Asian countries.
“Online retailing in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Colombia is growing extremely fast and it is only really Brazil that is slightly disappointing: although the growth in online retailing sales in Brazil over five years has been 14% – in itself a significant number – there’s still resistance among Brazilians based on an appetite for malls and personal service.”
Osbaldo Franco of market research company eMarketer adds: “Rising business to consumer (B2C) commerce is making Latin America one of the fastest growing regions online in the world. Naturally, that has a lot to do with the fact that it is coming from a very low base.
“B2C commerce as a whole is usually triggered by sales of intangible goods like plane tickets, all sorts of services, which is what happened initially in Latin America – but we are now seeing the retail industry jumping in.”
Latin America has traditionally trailed mature e-tailing markets because of low of internet penetration, and this continues to suppress what advertisers spend on digital. But the region passed a significant milestone this year when eMarketer reported that for the first time a majority of its citizens were likely to use the web at least monthly.
The market research company suggests that by the end of 2013, Latin America will have 299.5 million internet users, which – in an overall population of 598 million – suggests penetration is now over 50%. By 2017 there will be 394 million internet users, two-thirds of the population.
A key factor in this growth is the take up of mobile, and all the main Latin American markets except Mexico now enjoy 100% mobile penetration, says Franco. The youthful demographic of Latin America, where UN data suggests the median age is likely to be just 28 in 2015, is also propelling mobile growth. In Mexico, for example, the statistical agency INEGI has estimated that 76% of internet users are under 35 (PDF).
Such figures suggest that Latin America could be sitting on an e-tailing time bomb and even in countries like Brazil – where according to Maumus an attachment to malls has suppressed the growth of e-tailing – a younger population is set to drive online markets. “The good news is that the largest portion of these online sales are coming from the age group under 30,” she says. “And 60% of Brazil is below 30 years of age so there is clearly enormous potential here.
“The catch up is going to be quite fast and there is recognition of this in the strategy of some retailers known for their vanguardist entry strategies, which are positioning themselves to take advantage of what they see as highly favourable demographics.”
In 2010, for example, luxury products giant LVMH blazed a trail by buying a controlling stake in Sack’s, a Brazilian online retailer of fragrances, cosmetics and toiletries.
Another factor driving mobile has been Latin America’s insatiable appetite for social media. eMarketer expects the audience for social networks to reach 324.4m by 2017.
Recent entries into the Latin American market include VK, a Russian social networking site; its Spanish peers Tuenti and Geonick; and eToro, a Cyprus-based social trading network.
Nonetheless, key factors still hold Latin American e-tailing back, not least wide variation in levels of credit card usage. Maumus also points to obstacles posed by shipping costs, customs duties and poor infrastructure: most Brazilians, for example, still use slow DSL connections.
And as the US continues to dominate the internet retailing sector in the Americas, it is likely that its big brands could enjoy a natural advantage in Latin America. Ronnie Davis, Cushman & Wakefield managing director for Americas retail research, says US retailers are mastering the delicate balance between online and offline offerings.
He says: “A lot of the work that we’ve been doing is with US-based retailers really looking at those emerging markets in Latin America, and it’s becoming very apparent that the successful retailers are those that can offer that online product in a complementary way to their bricks-and-mortar offering.”
This might suggest limited potential for European chains, but Maumus says smaller retailers are entering through franchise partners. And Franco insists that distance should not be an obstacle: “In the overall picture I think there are real opportunities even if you don’t have an office or a distribution centre in Latin America. If you are a service provider, it’s a good idea to start considering mobile as an option.”
In this CRHoy.com caricature we see Doña Laura jumping up and down on the recently installed Bailey bridges – four of them – to end the two months of chaos of the Circunvalación.
The permanent six lane bridge is expected to be ready in May, in time for the presidenta to put her name on the plaque, just before she leaves office.
Unless…she does an “Arias” move, inaugurating a project before its completion to get the credit, ie the Ruta 27 (San José – Caldera) and the National Stadium, two projects inaugurated months before their completion and use by the public.
Movember is the month formerly known as November, where men and women across the globe join together to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues – specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.
Last year, Movember had its most successful year to date, with over 850,000 Mo Bros and Mo Sistas across the globe raising a phenomenal US$126.3 million to change the face of men’s health. The hairy movement continues to grow, with official campaigns in many countries.
In Costa Rica, at 6:30pm Friday (Movember 15) Chepecletas has organized the “ChepeCleteada en calzoncillos” (bike tour in boxers) for downtown San José.
Similar to their event last month against breast cancer, everyone is invited to participate.
The men are asked to wear a thong, boxer or briefs.
Regardless of gender or age, put on your boxers and pedal around San José.
To participate, in addition to the boxers, riders will have to have their bicycle (cleta, slang in Costa Rica) in good condition, a helmet, reflective vest and ligths.
The tour starts in Parque España (the part in front of the INS building). The route will take you to: theParque Francia, Escuela Buenaventura C., Av. 1era, Steinvorth, Colegio Señoritas, Boulevar Paseo de los Estudiantes, Av. 2da, Museo Nacional/Plaza Democracia, Parque Nacional and back to the Parque España.
For more information on activities in Costa Rica to fight prostate cancer go to the Movember Costa Rica Facebook page.
Legislators making up the Legislative Committee on International Relations and Foreign Trade (Comisión de Relaciones Internacionales y Comercio Exterior de la Asamblea Legislativa) gave the approval to the Free Trade Agreement between Central America and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA ).
The EFTA is comprised of Liechtenstein , Iceland , Norway and Switzerland. These nations are not part of the European Union (EU), a region that Costa Rica already has a signed trade agreement.
Data from the Ministry of Foreign Trade – Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (Comex) – indicates that in the past decade Costa Rica exports to the EFTA has seen an annual growth of 7.1%, while imports grew 9.9%.
The chairman of the committee, PLN legislator Oscar Alfaro, said the new treaty is another step in the consolidation process of the country’s trading platform.
Of the four countries in the trade block, Switzerland has in the last 10 years been Costa Rica’s main trade partner, in 2012 accounting for 85% of all trade with the group.
Partido Acción Ciudadana (PA) legisaltor, Jeannette Ruiz, said the new treaty will consolidate preferential access for Costa Rica products in Europe.
Costa Rica exports to the EFTA block, bananas, coffee, palm oil and medical and surgical instruments, while it imports drugs and fertilizers, among other products..
The treaty was signed on Jun 24, 2103, in Trondheim, Norway and now goes before the full Legislative Assembly for a final vote.
(AFP) – Fugitive eco-activist Paul Watson said Wednesday that green warriors were being classed as “terrorists” and accused Japan of coercing other countries into making demands for his arrest.
The Canadian-born founder of Sea Shepherd, a marine conservation organization, arrived in California on October 28, more than a year after fleeing arrest in Germany.
Watson, 62, who holds twin US and Canadian nationality, said he is in talks to be able to stay in France as he can expect a fair trial in the country.
Japanese authorities are seeking his extradition and describe methods used by Watson’s Sea Shepherd society against whaling ships — for example blocking the boats’ propellers — as “terrorist”.
“I figure on Interpol’s Red List initially at the demand of Japan, Germany and Costa Rica,” he told France’s Le Monde daily, adding that the last two nations had since dropped the request.
“I don’t understand why I find myself listed alongside assassins and terrorists just because I want to save some whales,” the former Greenpeace activist said.
“Environmental activists are the new enemies. In Canada, they are viewed as potential terrorists. In the United States, the FBI has placed them along with Al-Qaeda and animal-rights activists as the biggest domestic terrorist threats.”
Sea Shepherd, founded in 1977, has chased the Japanese fleet hunting whales off Antarctica for several years in a bid to stop the animals being slaughtered.
Japan says it conducts vital scientific research using a loophole in an international ban on whaling, but makes no secret of the fact that the mammals ultimately end up as food.
Watson was arrested in May last year in Frankfurt on a warrant from Costa Rica, where he is wanted on charges stemming from a high-seas confrontation over shark finning in 2002.
“I know that Costa Rica demanded my arrest just 10 days after its president met the Japanese prime minister,” he told the newspaper, adding that they had revived a case that went back a decade.
Watson’s boat had rammed into a Costa Rican fishing boat that Sea Shepherd says was illegally cutting shark fins. Charges of attempted murder and destruction of property were later dismissed but Costa Rica reissued its arrest warrant.
Watson said he was in talks to seek refuge in France, the only country apart from the United States where he said he expects a fair trial.
“I am not saying ‘Don’t extradite me to Japan’. I just want to have the right to explain my stand. My lawyer… is very hopeful that France will agree to let me in.
“We have had a lot of support and more than 100,000 people have signed a petition so that I can come,” he said.
The Australian arm of Sea Shepherd is ready to set sail again on December 1 to disrupt the Japanese whalers.
“If we don’t save the seas, we will not be able to save ourselves,” he said. “If the ocean dies, we will die. That is my sole message.”
Divers pound on the water to scare the dolphins to a section of the net that is being dragged down to release them. The net was already more than 50% pulled in. It was only after spotting Goodman filming in the water that divers jumped in to release the dolphins. Several had already died.
(Digital Journal) The Osa Peninsula, on the South Pacific side of Costa Rica is one of the most biologically intense places on Earth. But overfishing is depleting its resources, says Sierra Goodman, an advocate pushing to turn Osa into a Marine Protected Area (MPA).
With its reputation for being one the greenest countries in the world, Costa Rica is way ahead of other nations. Ecotourism and environmental protection drives both public and business policy and the country is “a leader in the field of ecotourism,” boasts Lapa Rios.com, one of Costa Rica’s top eco-resorts.
However, Sierra Goodman, a resident who lives in Drake Bay, says that the country is failing to protect one of its greatest assets, the ocean. In particular she says, the Osa Peninsula, where overfishing, illegal fishing and the methods used to fish for shrimp and tuna, are destroying a habitat rich and diverse in wildlife.
“From the changes I have seen in my 16 years here, the turtles and dolphins won’t survive another 16 years,” Goodman told Digital Journal, “probably not even ten.”
Situated off the coast of Costa Rica in the South Pacific, the Costa Rican Thermal Convection Dome is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. As the only constant dome on earth, its shallow warm water that lays atop of low-oxygen cold water create the perfect ecosystem for marine life. It attracts them in abundance. Whales, dolphins, tuna, turtles and countless other species visit the area year round to breed and feed, and they are being killed en masse.
Retirees on a tight budget can save money by having their old shoes repaired rather than buying new ones. Costa Rica’s wet climate and abrasive sidewalks and streets can take a toll on one’s shoes. Eventually you will be faced with buying a new pair of shoes or having your old one’s repaired. Fortunately, reparadoras (shoe repair shops and not to be confused with shoe stores zapaterías) can be found all over Costa Rica. In many of these shops you can also have a handbag, suitcase or backpack repaired as well as have leather goods “made to order.” Other services include putting taps and heels on shoes, and mending holes. Some brands of athletic shoes can also “get a new lease on life.”
In Costa Rica a new pair of shoes can be very expensive especially of they are imported. Brand name tennis shoes cost about 40 percent more than they do than in the States. Women’s dress a shoes and boots are also costly. Even Payless Shoes are more expensive here.
If you are really just scraping by to make ends meet, there are people selling used shoes on the sidewalk across from the Borbón Market produce market in San José. Your sure to find a pair of used shoes for a couple of dollars.
I’d like to share a couple of my experiences with local shoemakers. About four years ago I bought a pair of low-cut waterproof boots at the New Balance store in Multiplaza. Recently, I noticed that the soles were separating from the rest of the boot. Since the tops of the shoes were in perfect shape and the boots were broken in and fit perfectly, I decided to take them to my local shoemaker to see if he could fix the soles. He said that he could sew on the soles and told me to come back in a week. However, first I had to give him a despot of 2000 colones ($4). It is not unusual for repair shops ask for an advance in Costa Rica. I returned in a week and of course my boots were not ready. Welcome to Costa Rica! I came back the next day and much to my surprise the were repaired and looking as good as new.
On another occasion I had a special wallet made with a loop that fits on my belt, so that it could be concealed inside the waist of my pants. To this day my custom-made wallet has worked like a charm, is virtually undetectable and perfect for hiding my cash and credit cards.
I’d like to pay homage to Costa Rica’s hard-working shoe repairmen. There is a saying in Spanish, “Los lunes ni los zapateros quieren trabajar.” Roughly translated it means, “On Monday it is difficult to get back to work after resting on the weekend.” Really nothing could be further from the truth. The county’s shoe makes a hard workers. Their machinery is very costly and is mostly imported from Europe. Shoemakers have to use a lot of tricks of the trade (gajes del oficio in Spanish) that only come with experience. It is not the same thing to make a new shoe as to repair an old shoe. The latter have to be taken apart, fixed and put back together. As the saying goes, “No hay como el zapato viejo.” “There is no shoes like an old shoe that has been broken in, comfortable and that has a sentimental value.” Thanks to the country’s skilled shoe repairmen you can give your old shoes a second.
When living in a country you want to go native and do as the locals do to live affordably. Getting your old shoes refurbished is one way retirees can do this.
(PANAMPOST) Hunger levels are low in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the Global Hunger Index 2013 (GHI). However, not all countries in the region receive a good score: Guatemala, Bolivia, and Paraguay have “serious hunger problems,” while the population in Haiti have an “alarming” level of hunger. (See the report below.)
The research from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), together with Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe (based in Germany) NGOs, analyzes hunger in 120 countries. The authors do not to include “industrialized” countries. Of those measured, though, the index classifies them into the following categories: extremely alarming, alarming, serious, moderate, and low.
While the underlying data may suffer from doubts about accuracy, the GHI combines three reported national indicators to score each country: the proportion of undernourished people as a percentage of the population, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the under-five mortality rate.
In the world, three countries have an extremely alarming score: Burundi, Comoros, and Eritrea. Sixteen countries are alarming; 37 are serious; 22 are moderate; and 42 are low.
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, México, Uruguay, and Venezuela are the Latin American countries with best performance in the index; all have an under-five score or “low” prevalence. (See the key in the diagram.) That compares to Burundi’s significantly lower score — the East African country has the worst rating overall — at 38.8.
Nicaragua — alongside Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Colombia — is in the “moderate” group. However, its rate of malnourishment is still high compared with the rest of the region. That is 20.1 percent, followed in the moderate group by Ecuador, 18.3 percent; the Domican Republic, 15.4 percent, Colombia, 12.6 percent; and El Salvador, 12.3 percent.
The report also indicates which countries were more effective at lowering hunger between 1990 and 2013, and which countries worsened. Nicaragua, Perú, Venezuela, México, and Cuba are the Latin American countries that improved the most according to the index. Paraguay and Guatemala, on the other hand, worsened. Paraguay’s rate of hunger, in particular, has risen in a stark manner since in 2005, when it ranked as moderate.
Bärbel Dickamnn, president of Welthungerhilfe, stated that the main causes for global food challenges were armed conflict, natural disasters, and high food prices.
“2.6 billion people have to live on less than two dollars a day. For them a sick family member, a single drought or the job loss of someone working abroad is a major crisis. As a consequence a child can no longer afford to go to school, the family diet is reduced to often one meal a day or livestock needs to be sold. These people have simply no coping mechanisms left to react to a crisis.”
Although the level of undernourished population has decreased since 1990, there is still work to do before achieving the long-term goal of zero hunger, she added.
Nowadays, around 870 million individuals (1 out of 8 in the world) suffer hunger — and almost one third of food is discarded. The Global Hunger Index recommends charitable, organizational work with affected communities to strengthen their abilities to resist natural events and fight against hunger.
The report also recommends that political leaders in each country develop a national strategy with the aim of guaranteeing food and nutrition security, particularly during a crisis. Meanwhile, they also suggest that humanitarian workers focus on maternal and child nutrition along developing regions, and that interventions address both the immediate and underlying causes of malnutrition.
The national weather service, the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN), reports that from one this afternoon and so far (4:45pm) some 70 ligthning bolts fell on San José.
IMN’s Juan Diego Naranjo said the afternoon storm is within the “normal” rainy season downpours during the transition period to the dry season.
One of the characteristics of this today’s lightning is that even though almost no rain fell in the downtown area of San José, there was a lightning bolt every five minutes, less at times.
In September this year, more than 350 lightning bolts fell on Heredia during an afternoon storm.
Naranjo said that the rainy season is moving and be gone by early December at the latest.
Gustavo Mata, deputy director of the OIJ, in a press conference Thursday afternoon.
In total the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) arrested six today linked to the helipads and trafficking of drugs from Costa Rica to Nicaragua, Mexico and the United States.
Gustavo Mata, deputy director of the OIJ, in a press conference Thursday afternoon.i
Four of the detained have the same last name, Diaz; one was identified by his last name Rojas; and a police official identified by his last name, Noguera.
Two of the men were arrested in a farm located in Catalina de Siguirres, where authorities found two more helipads. The other arrested were made in Parismina, Siquirres and Limón centre.
In the early hours of Thursday some 240 officials of the OIJ, in vehicles, two helicopters and eight speed boats made their way to remote areas in the Carribbean coast.
Gustavo Mata, deputy director of the OIJ, said this aftternoon that the “operation” is not yet over and did not rule more arrests.
An American man accused of running a sex slave operation in Costa Rica is still on the lam while his associates – a Colombian, a Costa Rican and an Egyptian man – are still behind bars following a series of raids in May last year.
Police in San José had been investigating the operation since 2008. The case “was later put on hold because the victims were able to leave the country, but it was relaunched in 2010,” Jorge Rojas, then head of the country’s national detective agency at the time, told La Nación.
Rojas said the prostitutes, who hailed from Colombia, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Russia, came to Costa Rica on the assumption they would work as dancers in a San Jose night club. Upon arriving, though, the club operators took away their passports and forced them into prostitution.
Police believe the owner of the club, an American man identified as “Scott,” was also the ringleader of the operation. They suspect he may be still be hiding out somewhere in the United States.
So, 18 months later where are we in this case? Essentially, “Scott” have escaped the wrath of the Costa Rican government.
For now, fleeing the country they are living free.
Smith is waiting to be deported, after being arrested last Friday for overstaying his visitor visa in Costa Rica.
