More than 2.000 passengers of a cruise liner will be passing on Costa Rica, this due to a work stoppage Monday by dock workers of the Administración Portuaria y Desarrollo Económica de la Vertiente Atlántica (Japdeva).
Princess Cruises announced Sunday morning the cancellation of their port of Limón stop.
The dock workers union is joining an organized protest by several union groups on Monday. Japdeva president, Allan Hidalgo, said they are working on modifying the itineraries of container ships.
The cruise liner generates thousands of dollars of revenue for the local economy, in addition to the US$ 2 per passenger docking fee.
The situation is worrisome for the tourism industry, its effect on tourism in the Caribbean province and the country’s international image.
The residents of Cutris de San Carlos, in the northern zone remain fearful for the presence of a suspicious helicopter and the lack of a permanent police presence.
Almost two weeks ago police discovered in Cutris a helipad, arms and a campsite suspected of being used by drug traffickers operating in the Caribbean and northern zone.
On Saturday, residents once again alerted authorities to a suspicious helicopter flying over their area. One woman managed to photograph the flying bird, as it passed near her home in the morning hours.
Witnesses say the helicopter headed south into Costa Rica from the Nicaragua, crossing the San Juan river and headed for either Limoncito or Patastillo de Cutris.
This was at 8:00am.
At 8:15am, it was again seen flying back through El Carmen and headed toward the Biológica Indio Maíz reserve, on Nicaraguan soil.
Authorities suspected the green coloured chopper is the one using the clandestine helipads discovered in Cutris, Astuiras de Pococi and Guácimo, that were dismantled by in the past ten days. Also found in the camps were firerams, cash and fuel containers.
Costa Rica’s Attorney General (Fiscal General de la República), Jorge Chavarría, said the findings confirm the rise of Mexican drug cartels operating in Costa Rica.
Chavarria added that these organizations are operating with the support of Honduran military or former military personnel, and have a strong local support network.
So far, only two people have been arrested.
Residents fear that the alleged traffickers are back in the area to recover something that is important to them and fear reprisals and lack of police presence in the sparsely populated area.
Carlos Herrera, community leader of the Asociación de Desarrollo de Coopevega, told La Nacion “…we prefer to remain silent for not only fear of reprisals, but the police may abandon us…there should be a permanent police station, and not just patrols of the area, the distances are considerable and the roads in bad condition.”
The Minister of Justice (Ministra de Justicia y Gracia), Ana Lorena Garita, announced on Thursday that 40 of the “early release” prisoners were back behind bars. Minister Garita said it was in order to “review” their status.
However, most will agree or assume that the “recall” had to do with the fact that the many of the released convicts were back to committing crimes. One of those was the murder of a Puntarenas merchant only days after the ordered release on October 28.
Many of the released were serving out sentences for violent crimes. The Justice ministry was forced, by order of Judge Roy Murillo, to release 370 prisoners from the San Sebastian jail due to over population that was as high as 80%. The judge issued the order in September, Justice having 30 days to comply.
The San Sebastian is a holding facility in San José, that is to say, the prisoners are either waiting to be charged, trial and/or sentencing. Ministra Garita, nor anyone in the government, is admitting to any error. Authorities say they followed established protocols in the selection of the prison release.
According to Garita, all the prisoners were recaptured peacefully as they arrived at the half-way houses they were ordered to at least one night.
The Venezuelan Maria Gabriela Isler took the Miss Universe 2013 crown in the 62nd edition of the pageant, that took place in Moscow this year.
Second place went to Spain’s Patricia Rodriguez. Third and fourth place went to Ecuador’s, Constanaza Báez and Phillipines’s, Ariella Arida, respectively.
Despite qualifying for the seminfinals, Costa Rica’s Fabiana Granados, did not make the top finalists, as did Miss Costa Rica 2004, Nancy Soto and in 2011, Johanna Solano.
With a bank loan from the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) the first hydrid public transportation buses will be running in Guanacaste.
Hybrid buses are quieter, cleaner and more fuel-efficient than standard diesel buses and reduce emissions of local pollutants and carbon dioxide by at least 30 per cent compared to conventional diesel buses.
The Guancaste transportation company, Reyna del Campo, said it obtained financing approval for US$400.000 dollars to modernize its fleet with Korean manufacturer, Daewoo, to be used on the Liberia-Puntarenas and Liberia-Cañas routes.
The BCR’s financing is not limited just to Daewoo buses. Taxis and bus firms can choose electric vehicles and biofuels, financed by the bank at favourable terms. A condition of credit is that the operator must have a concession with the Consejo de Transporte Público (CTP).
Kart racing at Formula Kart is all about fun. Located on the east side of San José, 200 metres east of the San José Indoor Club, they are open every day. Check out their Facebook page for more photos and details.
With only six months to the deadline to complete the expansion of the Cañas-Liberia section of the Interamericana Norte (Ruta 1), the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (CONAVI) – the national roads authority – confirms that the work is only 55% complete.
The contract calls for the Empresa FCC to expand the 50 kilometres section of the highway from two lanes to four by May 15, 2014.
In their report, the CONAVI says that by August the work had advanced to a 48% completion. From there on, the progress has only be another 7%.
According to a CONAVI press spokesperson, disbursements to the contractor are made using estimates of work actually performed, in accordance with quality certificates presented, less any deductions provided for in the contract. Non-compliance and not meeting quality parameters are part of the deductions.
The FCC has now to scurry to complete the 45% of the 50.6 kilometres of road work that commenced in May 2012.
During a drive-by last week, we can see than only 20 kilometres of road has its concrete slab and parts of the remaining 30 not even the weeds have been removed, let alone any concrete.
The CONAVI says that the only delays permitted to extend the delivery date are situations beyond the control of the contractor, like rain, for example. To date no extentions have been asked for.
In response to a query by La Nacion, the FCC said through a press agent, that in the first of October it added a second concrete plant and second paving team, which will expedite the process of laying the slab
“The plant is owned by FCC and is already installed in Cañas. It will double concrete production, with a capacity to yield 220 cubic metres per hour, while the first plant in Bagaces only has a 120 cm/h capacity”, said the press agent statement.
Costa Rica’s love affair with fireworks is part of a long tradition. And the use of fireworks increases during the Christmas season. Yet, despite attempts to curb injuries, each year more and more children are victim of accidents involving fireworks.
Importing fireworks without a license is illegal in Costa Rica. Selling of fireworks without a permit is illegal. And the sale of fireworks to minors (under the age of 18) is illegal, however, this goes on in many parts of the country.
Last month, the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica (MSP) – Public Security Ministry – blew up some 771.000 confiscated illegal pyrotechnics, the largest controlled detonation in the past five years, with a street value of more than US$1 million dollars.
Working hard, not to ban or eliminate the sale and use of fireworks, rather to minimize the risk and injuries is the Ministerio de Salud (Ministry of Health), headed by Dr Jaime Rumoroso.
As director of Mecadotecnia, Rumoroso has his own personal tragedy with fireworks, losing his seven year old son 12 years ago.
It was on December 31, 2000, as Rumoroso tells it, when a three year old child died on the way to hospital, his son Esteban and another boy died within 36 hours and a fourth 18 months later from his wounds caused by fireworks.
Rumoroso told CRHoy.com he remembers that regrettable day each year as the holiday season approaches.
Today, the doctor is part of a group that coordinates a program, “Campaña Contra Niños Quemados” to let people know how to prevent accidents or illnesses.
Each year children die or are injured due to neglect that led these children to have access to large amounts of gunpowder (pólvora in Spanish), unaware that minutes it could be their death sentence.
Health officials are clear, keep fireworks away from children, storing them out of reach.
While the Ministry of Security cracks down on fireworks, it sometimes seems a losing battle, battling a deep rooted tradition in Costa Rica and Latin America.
Joining Health officials are Seguridad and the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) in a campaign to achieve “zero burns, zero deaths and zero suffering”.
One of the concerns facing authorities is the increase in smuggling of explosives from neighbouring Nicaragua.
“Many gunpowder factories in Nicaragua have no type of quality control,” explains Security Minister Marío Zamora. “These products often have technical problems and increase the chances for accidents.”
Costa Rica is not known for producing illegal explosives, but is a large importer, said Zamora.
While United States government food regulators struggle to eliminate partially the presence of ‘trans fats” in processed foods, Costa Rica has managed to reduce its consumption without being forced to issue legislation.
This was explained by Rafael Monge, a researcher on the subject, for the Investigación y Enseñanza en Nutrición y Salud (Inciens) – Costa Rican Institute for Research and Education on Nutrition and Health.
According to Monge, back in 1996 developed in the country was a health project that demonstrated the dangers of trans fats in the arteries and heart.
The project revealed that the main source of these fats was soybean oil. Since then, Costa Rica’s Health officials coordinated with the food industry to gradually modify the product.
The researcher pointed out that there is no national data on the consumption of these fats, however, a small scale study was conducted and it showed a reduction.
In the study, Monge say that consumption of trans fats by adolescents in 1996 showed that 60% consumed 4% of energy derived from these fats, when the recommended was less than 1%.
In 2006, the study showed that the consumption by 60% of the group was down to 2% and the 40% to the less than the recommended 1%.
The sample study was of 350 adolescents in both years.
Many of the foods that can contain trans fats are often regarded by as comfort food. Dr. Lisa Martin, a George Washington University cardiologist, says a lot of people eat a fair amount of these foods.
“Cookies, cakes, pies and pastries, a lot of those pre-made foods have the trans fat to increase the shelf life,” said Martin.
The U.S. FDA food safety director Dennis Keefe says studies on the potential benefits show why trans fats should be phased out.
“Information provided by recognized scientific bodies such as the Institute of Medicine which have indicated that and recommended that consumption of trans fats should be reduced to as close to zero as possible,” said Keefe.
Artificial trans fats have been used in restaurants and in processed foods to improve the texture, flavour and shelf life of foods.
(Prensa Latina) The criterion that a national salvation alliance among the opposition sectors in Panama should be created to face the multimillionaire electoral campaign by Ricardo Martinelli in favor of its presidential candidate Jose Domingo Arias, continues gaining strength. The issue was given a fresh impetus in recent hours by candidate and leader of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) Juan Carlos Navarro, who said publicly to be willing to talk about the alliance with his rival of Panameñista Party Juan Carlos Varela.
According to media outlets that have not been refuted by the PRD, the first steps of that crucial meeting were taken during a meeting between Navarro and his working team, where he said to be willing to meet with Varela to begin a national dialogue to face and defeat the Government.
Panameñista Party President Ramon Fonseca Mora talked directly with Navarro and his head of campaign, Avidel Villareal, who asserted that he would pass on the message to Varela and that he would answer to that request soon.
Navarro extended his suggestion to the independent presidential candidates and the Party Broad Front for Democracy, as well as the Church, guilds and the civil society, warning that the Government is the only entity with which he has nothing to talk or negotiate about.
The trigger that sparked off this supposed change of attitude toward a coalition Government of national unity is the conflict started by the Supreme Court of Justice with the Electoral Court, after the former encroached upon the jurisdiction of the latter authority and created a precedent to further actions that could put in danger legal security.
There are many unknown factors about this issue, as who would head the alliance and how a State policy that is accepted by all would be established.
The Attorney General is investigating Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) presidential candidate, Johnny Araya, on allegations of abuse of authority, corruption and illicit enrichment.
The Attorney General (Ministerio Publico in Spanish) confirmed three open cases against Araya.
The allegations are related to Araya’s 22 years at the helm of the Municipalidad de San José.
For his part, Araya said that anyone can be reported to the Ministerio Publico and that is does not mean that a crime was committed.
Araya says, in this case, the allegations are unfounded, and that his life is an open book. The presidential candidate added that the allegations surfaced in 2012 while he was in the race for the party’s presidential nomination.
Some 25 agent of the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) and another 25 of the Special Tactical Response (Servicio Especial de Respuesta Táctica SERT) discovered Friday monring two clandestine helipads in the mountainous region of Guapiles and Germania de Sequirres, Limón.
Nearby the agents located a house that is a supposed cocaine processing laboratory, some 20 kilometres from the helipads, on a sprawling 300 hectare farm in an area known as La Argentina, near Pocora, Limón.
Found on site were containes, empty and full, of fuel for the helicopters and some 20 containers with residue of “acido acetico”(acetic acid), a chemical used in the processing of cocaine, leading investigators to believe the area was used as a illicit drug prouction plant.
The Friday morning find is reminiscent of the find last month in Cutris de San Carlos, in the northern zone of Costa Rica, near the Nicaragua border, where arms, containers of fuel and helipads were also discovered.
Gustavo Mata, deputy director of the OIJ, described to reporters Friday the difficulty in accessing the mountainous area.
Local residents alerted authorities several weeks ago of a low flying helicopter over their area.
Last month police found the first in the series of camps and helipads, very close to the Nicaragua border in Cutris de San Carlos. On November 2, a similar find was made in Las Asturias de Pococí, Limón. In that find, US$500.000 cash, weapons and fuel were also found,
Police so far have arrested only two suspects, allegedly connecte to the illegal weapons in Las Asturias camp, and a judge ordering them to six months preventive detention.
As part of her European Tour that began Sunday, Presidenta Laura Chinchilla visited the Vatican Friday and met with Pope Francisco.
Doña Laura, without her husband, arrived at the ‘Palazzo Apostolico Biblioteca’ (Apostolic Palace Library) with a delegation of 12. The meeting with the Pope lasted 25 minutes.
“You are at home”, the Pope told Doña Laura. “And so I was…”, she writes on her Facebook page.
Presidenta Chinchilla describes Pope Francisco as “having the gift of gab and very simple, the gift of humility and generosity”.
“Impossible not to feel at home”, said the Presidenta.
According to Doña Laura, her conversations with the Pope included their common concern for the exploitation of human beings in the hands of organized crime engaged in human trafficking, the weaking of social support networks, and the serious problem of climate change.
The Presidenta presented the Pope with a stole made by Costa Rican women just for him. “He received it with joy and ended the meeting saying…when I go to Costa Rica I will wear it.”
At the end of the meeting, the Pope gave his blessing for Costa Rica.
Live in Costa Rica – Costa Rica is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Caribbean to the east. So, it comes as little surprise that seafood is plentiful. Fish is very beneficial for memory loss as we get older. It is high in the oil omega 3 which is good for both the brain and heart. It is recommended that you eat fish at least twice a week.
Fruits and vegetables are also important allies for the memory. As I have mentioned in previous articles and blogs, fruits and vegetables are very affordable in Costa Rica. Just go to any weekend fería (farmers market) to stock up.
Natural fruit juice drinks are in vogue and sold widely in Costa Rica. It seems that there is a juice shop on almost every block now. Consuming these beverages can definitely have a positive effect on your health. These nutritious drinks usually contain a mixture of water, milk or yogurt, ice and almost any combination of fruits and/or vegetables.
Saturated fats, products with refined flour, sugars, salt and fast foods should be consumed in moderation. Excessive alcohol consumption should also be avoided. Many retirees who come to Costa Rica find themselves with a lot of spare time on their hands and end up drinking too much alcohol. Don’t fall into this trap. During 33 years that I have lived here I have seen a lot of retirees and others drink themselves to death.
It is also important not to become a sedentary creature which living in Costa Rica. There is just no excuse for it in a country that has so much to offer.
Be sure to drink at least a couple of liters of water a day while living in Costa Rica. It is very easy to become dehydrated in a tropical country. As we get older our bodies sometimes forget to send us a signal that we are thirsty, so it is more important that ever to drink enough water. Remember, “Water is the source of life.”
Another beneficial activity for retirees is meditation. It can help both the mind and body. It has been proven that mediation relieves stress and in some cases can lower blood pressure. Other possible benefits are: better sleep, balanced emotions, improved concentration, better quality of life, reduction of headaches and strengthening one’s immune system. It is easy to learn how to meditate. Just go on line and you should be able to find something on the subject.
Wherever you live the bottom line is that you are responsible for your own health and happiness.
By: Javier F. Chaverri Ross Lawyer NCCC Consultores / Vozdeguanacate.com – The Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ) arrested three lawyers, who are serving preventive prison terms related to property fraud. Many of the properties involved are in the Nosara area.
The investigation gathered force after the December 2012 edition of The Voice reported on 16 cases of fraudulent property registration transfers. By October, the office of NCCC Consultores reported 22 cases, for the most part involving the same people.
The lawyers have the last names of Quesada Ugalde, Herrera Fonseca and Vargas Barrantes and have participated in almost 60% of the reported cases.
Two properties in Nosara have been returned to their owners, while a title insurance company already had to compensate a dispossessed owner.
One person accused of posing as the real owner of the property has been arrested and released due to advanced age and health problems; however, he should be brought to trial soon. Two of the accused fled, but the authorities expect to capture them soon.
An individual of the community of Nosara has been sentenced to three years imprisonment but was released since this is the first time the person was found guilty. However, the individual is a repeat offender in other similar processes and a date has already been set for a hearing.
Finally, the groups of thieves have decreased their intensity and when alerted that there are causes that can lead to serious consequences, they have changed strategies, using young people from poor backgrounds that allow their names to be used in the frauds.
It is possible that the criminals are migrating to other areas since the lawyers that were commonly used are not available because they are in prison, and in addition they know that they are subjects of an open investigation against them.
The legal processes, which last up to 8 years average from the moment the denunciation is filed, make it hard for the victims to realize in the short term that the law does exist to protect them against real estate fraud, and that sooner or later all will be dealt with. Unfortunately, since the wave of real estate frauds is very recent, the action of justice, although underway, has been slow, and the investigation process sometimes lasts longer than expected.
First of all, we must recognize that the judicial system is not infallible, that the resources are limited and that the criminals use the procedural benefits in their favor to extend hearings, hinder access to the evidence, etc. Nonetheless it is relatively quick to immobilize the assets, so that the stolen property is taken off the market and may not be transferred.
Once the property is immobilized, OIJ verifies the evidence submitted to confirm the illegality of the property transfer and who has or have been the direct and indirect author(s) of the criminal offense. Afterwards, the date for a preliminary hearing is scheduled, where it is possible to conciliate, or to go to the final trial, where the penalty imposed can range from six months to twelve years imprisonment.
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A bomb scare forced the evacuation of the Goicoechea criminal courts building in San José.
According to a press statement from the Poder Judicial, a phone call was received warning of a possible explosive device set to go off in the building.
“…it was therefore necessary to active the security measures of the institution and the evacuation of all judicial personnel and users was necessary in order to inspect the buildding. Once the risk was removed all work resumed as normal..”, sai the statement.
For the third consecutive year, motorcyclists will take to the streets to protest the increase in the Marchamo, the annual circulation permit.
The mass protest is scheduled for Monday, with the focus of the protest at 11am in front of the Instituto Nacional de Seguro (INS) central building in downtown San José.
The Comité Cívico de Motociclistas and la Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados will be asking the INS to roll back the cost of the mandatory insurance portion of the Marchamo.
For Rafael Vargas, head of one of Costa Rica’s largest workers unions, the ANEP, there shouldn’t be any increase this year given the INS posted a profit.
Expected to joining the protest are agricultural workers and Cartago taxis, two groups also affected by the higher Marchamo cost.
The INS is the state insurance agency that provides the mandatory insurance coverage and plays the role of collector for the other agencies, such as the Finance ministry in the collection of property taxes, among others.
The changes undertaken by Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz could collapse if they are not institutionalised. Credit: Danilo Valladares/IPS
GUATEMALA CITY (IPS) – Guatemala’s first female attorney general has managed to reduce impunity in a country where over 90 percent of murders go unsolved.
The changes undertaken by Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz could collapse if they are not institutionalised. Credit: Danilo Valladares/IPS
The question is whether the changes will vanish once Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz’s term ends in December 2014.
Never before had a former head of state been tried for genocide in his own country, anywhere in the world. But Paz y Paz managed to bring former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt to trial – above and beyond the fact that the final outcome is hanging by a thread.
Paz y Paz, 46, also carried out a purge in the public prosecutor’s office and achieved unprecedented results in sentences for homicide, rape, extortion and kidnapping.
And she did all this in the only country in the world where the United Nations, in conjunction with the government, set up an International Commission against Impunity (CICIG), in 2007.
The first change introduced by Paz y Paz was the implementation of a performance evaluation system in the public prosecutor’s office.
The prosecutors who resolve the most cases are rewarded with opportunities for promotion, while those who bring in poor results must explain why they have failed to meet their targets and can face disciplinary processes if negligence is found, Paz y Paz told IPS.
Nearly 80 percent of the prosecutors who had spent two decades in the public prosecutor’s office and were between the ages of 65 and 75 decided to retire when the new system was put into effect.
That paved the way for younger prosecutors better qualified to handle forensic evidence to be promoted to section chiefs and district attorneys.
Another stride forward was the priority put on violence against women. Under the administration of Paz y Paz, a special unit that operates around the clock was opened in the public prosecutor’s office, making it possible for a judge to issue restraining orders and other precautionary measures against the aggressors in a timely fashion, without requiring the victim to go from the public prosecutor’s office to the courthouse.
In addition, a specific unit was established to investigate sex crimes, and more resources were assigned to the special prosecutor’s unit for crimes against women.
Furthermore, a new evaluation system uses surveys to ask victims who have filed a complaint how they were treated and whether they suffered discrimination.
The surveys led to the dismissal of a prosecutor in the northern province of San Marcos for sexual harassment of a young woman who had gone to his office to report a rape.
The public prosecutor’s office has also managed to dismantle drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping rackets, thanks to “more proactive investigations, targeting illegal markets or criminal structures,” Paz y Paz said.
In June 2012, a court in Guatemala found 36 members of the Los Zetas – a notoriously violent Mexican drug cartel – guilty of kidnapping, murder and attacks on the security forces. They were sentenced to between two and 158 years in prison.
“The public prosecutor’s office, headed by Claudia Paz y Paz and supported by CICIG, has made important strides,” political scientist Juan Carlos Garzón, a visiting expert from the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told IPS. “A former president has been tried and the clandestine structures have begun to come to light.”
Portillo and Ríos Montt: controversial cases
Another high-profile case was the prosecution of former president Alfonso Portillo, extradited to the United States in May to face charges of conspiracy to launder money during his 2000-2004 term.
The Constitutional Court authorised Portillo’s extradition in 2011, but the fact that he is still facing charges in court in Guatemala has raised questions about whether his extradition was legal.
“Portillo’s extradition was carried out hastily, and was plagued with irregularities,” Lizandro Acuña, a researcher in the area of justice and security in the University of San Carlos Institute on National Problems, told IPS.
Meanwhile, the trial against Ríos Montt continues. The public prosecutor’s office presented evidence and expert and eyewitness testimony to demonstrate that genocide was committed against the Ixil Maya indigenous community during Ríos Montt’s presidency (1982-1983).
The charges include overseeing the armed forces’ murder of at least 1,771 Ixil indigenous people and the rape of 1,485 girls and women during his 17-month rule – the bloodiest period of the 1960-1996 civil war.
In May, Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years in prison. But the Constitutional Court overturned the conviction just 10 days later in response to one of the numerous challenges presented by the defence.
The Constitutional Court ordered a retrial, after ruling that the proceedings should be voided dating back to Apr. 19, when one of the judges suspended the trial over a dispute with another judge about who should hear it.
The trial further polarised public opinion, between those who defend the army’s actions and those who are demanding justice for the victims of the armed conflict, who numbered around 250,000 and were mainly highlands Maya Indians.
Ricardo Méndez Ruiz, president of the right-wing Foundation Against Terrorism, made up of retired members of the military and their family members, accuses Paz y Paz of “unleashing a witch hunt against soldiers.”
In 2011, Méndez Ruiz filed a lawsuit against 26 former members of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), which was active during the civil war – including two of the attorney general’s cousins: Margarita and Laura Hurtado Paz y Paz, who he accused of kidnapping him in 1982.
But Paz y Paz said that clarifying the human rights violations committed during the armed conflict “is not a biased action; it is about being responsible for the duties one assumes as attorney general.”
While the case against Ríos Montt is set to reopen in April 2014, survivors and witnesses who have to testify again report that they have been the targets of intimidation and threats.
The attorney general has not yet announced whether she will seek a new term.
She says she is immersed in the task of institutionalising the changes she has introduced in the public prosecutor’s office, and warns that if her successor is not willing to give continuity to the reforms, the progress made will be reversed.
Garzón said “she has made an enormous effort towards strengthening the institution itself. The question is whether it will be capable of weathering her absence when she’s gone.
“What do the political forces want? To destroy what the public prosecutor’s office has done or to continue along the path that has begun to be followed? It’s a political question, and the outlook is very uncertain,” he said.
(QCOLOMBIA) – The Colombian government and Marxist guerrillas have negotiated a deal on ensuring rebel political participation, a key advance, moving the talks closer to the complex issue of the drug trade.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government reached an agreement on political participation — the second of six items on the agenda at peace talks taking place in Havana, reported El Tiempo.
According to the joint statement released on November 6, the Colombian government and the FARC have reached a consensus on issues such as rights and guarantees for the exercise of political opposition and access to the media, democratic mechanisms of citizen participation, and effective promotion of greater political participation.
Another of the items set to be discussed is the “solution to the problem of illicit drugs,” which is expected to draw a major discussion of alternative policies to combat drug trafficking in the country.
After more than a year of talks between the FARC and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, the reaching of an agreement on political participation is an important step towards a peace deal. Talks on the subject had previously stalled, amid claims the process was falling apart.
The issue of political participation is a sensitive one for the FARC, given precedent of the Patriotic Union (UP) — a political movement established as an electoral vehicle for the FARC and its allies during peace talks in the 1980s. It was subsequently decimated by paramilitary death squads. Up to 3,000 members of the UP were assassinated, driving the guerrillas back to armed struggle.
The issue of drugs promises to be equally problematic. The FARC control anything up to 70 percent of the country’s coca crops, the raw material for cocaine. Many FARC fronts earn millions of dollars from the drug trade, often partnering up with paramilitary successor groups — known as BACRIM (from the Spanish abbreviation for “criminal bands”). Any agreement with the government on this subject could have massive implications for the drug trade in Colombia.
Furthermore, as InSight Crime has previously noted, dissident factions of the FARC may well criminalize and continue their illegal activities without the same ideological justifications, as happened to the AUC paramilitary organization following its official demobilization in 2006, when it gave birth to the BACRIM. It is perhaps inevitable that a new generation of criminal groups, the FARCRIM, may be born should a peace deal be signed.
A study by the University of Costa Rica (UCR) reveals that 9% of Costa Rica women between the ages of 12 and 19, registered in 2011, lived once, in some type of conjugal union.
The UCR report was prepared by the UCR’s Central American Population Centre Centro Centroamericano de Población – CCP), at the request of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
In real numbers, of the 318.920 women in that age range, about 27.485 lived with a man in some sort of relationship.
The most common of these relationships was “common-law”, representing 7%, and to a lesser extent, 1.3% were married. The male in those relationships was between 20 and 24 years of age.
The model and activist Leonora Jimenez is one of the personalities to promote the campaign to prevent teen pregnancy. Foto: FacebookClick on image to download the study.
The study author, Alejandra Gonzaléz, said the analysis took into account data from the 2011 census and marriage and birth records for that year.
According to Gonzaléz, uniting their lives with older men and becoming pregnant, when combined, represents a deterioration in the quality of life for thousands of teenagers in the country.
Gonzaléz explained that the information did not allow to determine whether the ‘unions’ were a result of a pregnancy or if the fact of living with a man increases the chances of pregnancy.
The report indicates that the highest percentage of women, living in some sort of conjugal union, are concentrated in rural areas, have a low level of education, live in overcrowded conditions and have no home ownership.
The figures also show that within this group of teenagers living in some sort of conjugal union, there is a high incidence of pregnancy among indigenous girls (19.2%) versus those who are not of ethnic groups (8.4%), as well as immigrant women (22%) versus Costa Rican (7.6%).
According to the birth records of the Registro Civil, each year, about 18% or 19% of all births in the country are children of adolescent mothers. The vast majority of those births were to women between 18 and 19 years of age, however, there ahve been deliveries at very early ages.
Starting Monday, Costa Rica Health official will begin a vaccination campaign against influenza or flu, targeting thousands in the annual prevention campaign.
The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) says it will commence on Friday the distribution of 450.000 vaccines to the medica centres – hospitals and clinics (known in Costa Rica as Ebais) around the country.
According to the CCSS, the vaccines are undergoing quality testing. Alexandra Chaves, head of the’Programa Ampliado de Inmunizaciones de la CCSS’, said the tests should be completed today.
Under the program the vaccines are available to the high risk population, which includes: children, the elderly, people with extreme obesity and those with cronic illnesses sich as heart and kidney problems, the diabetic and asthmatic.
Chaves explaine that priority will be given to patients with HIV and health care workers.
This year to date, 52 people have died due to respiratory virus, half of which are H1N1.
The last death from H1N1 was reported yesterday. The Ministry of Health says the death was of a 16 year old school boy in Alajuela,
(Mashable) After months of speculation, Facebook last week acknowledged that there was some decrease in the number of “younger teens” using the social network on a daily basis. Now an annual survey of 4,014 young people provides more proof that teens may be looking elsewhere.
The Futures Company, a research consultancy, interviewed teens in July and found that 41.6% of those aged 12 to 15 said Facebook was their favorite website compared to 48% of teens overall. Last year, Facebook was the most popular site among 12- to 15-year-olds.
The most popular site among all teens now is YouTube, according to the report. Fifty percent of teens surveyed cited YouTube as their favorite site versus 45.2% for Facebook. (The company’s report, the 2013 TRU Youth Monitor, has not yet been released, but Mashable got a sneak peek at the data.)
Others on the list include Amazon (27.8%), Google (25%), Twitter (19.5%), Yahoo (12.1%), eBay (10.7%) and Tumblr (12.3%). Note: The survey asked respondents to list their favorite five websites, so the figures don’t add up to 100%.
Facebook is still the most popular website with twentysomethings at 55%, followed by Amazon (37.5%). The report shows modest growth for Twitter among the 12 to 29 group with 16.5% naming it as their favorite website vs. 14.1% last year. Facebook’s overall numbers went from 57.6% to 51.7%.
“Our new findings do suggest some weakness for Facebook, but I need to preface everything we discuss here with the fact that Facebook remains the favorite website overall among our sample of 12- to 29-year-olds,” says Rob Callender, director of youth insights at the Futures Co. “That said, Facebook achieves that distinction thanks to twenty-somethings.”
Digging deeper, just 18.3% of teens aged 12 to 15 agreed with the statement “I’m addicted to Facebook,” versus 30.5% of twentysomethings. “This suggests parental controls aren’t the issue. Rather,” says Callender, “it appears Facebook might not be creating as many new fanatics as it once did.”
One caveat: Asking about “favorite websites” may skew the results in an age when mobile use is becoming the norm. However, Callender says that 4,000 is a more than adequate sample size to determine meaningful results.
If so, the data among 12- to 15-year-olds could be a troubling sign for Facebook. Slackening usage among younger teens isn’t a good trend for the site. The company’s admission of slowed growth in that age set led to a drop in the company’s stock price after an otherwise stellar third quarter. As Callender notes, “This heightens the possibility that we may be looking at a changing of the guard.”
By: Arianna McKinney, Vozdeguanacaste – On October 25, the Public Force of Nicoya carried out a review of private security agencies to make sure their paperwork was complete for any guns that they might be carrying.
Adriana Cordoba, second in command for the Nicoya Public Force, explained that security guards can carry firearms as long as their permits up to date. If they don’t have their permits or the permits are not up to date, the guns are decommissioned.
During this operation, three guns were decommissioned at three different locations in Nicoya. They included a 9mm gun, a 38-caliber revolver and a 12-caliber shotgun.
(QCOLOMBIA) Colombia’s Consul to Canada, Andrés Talero’s new office in the Beltline will provide services to the approximately 8,000 people from Colombia living in the city of Calgary and encourage business between the two countries.
Talero said the decision to open a consulate in Calgary reflects a recognition in Bogota that Canada’s economic centre of gravity has shifted westward.a
“I have found that the Western hospitality motto is amazingly true,” said Talero, whose last posting was to Miami.
Colombian Ambassador to Canada Nicolás Lloreda Ricaurte said trade between Canada and Colombia has grown at a rapid pace since the two countries entered into a free trade agreement in 2011.
“Also Alberta is a very important trading partner and investor in Colombia. There’s a very large number of Alberta companies — oil and gas, services, many different services and manufacturing companies — that have a presence in Alberta.”
The consulate has set up shop in the historic Nellie McClung house at 803 15th Avenue S.W.
McClung, a political activist and author, was one of the so-called Famous Five who succeeding in having women declared ‘persons’ under Canadian law.
Speaking at a party to celebrate the opening of the consulate, Mayor Naheed Nenshi praised the government of Colombia for coming to Calgary, and for choosing the historic building.
“It is a tremendous statement of confidence in the relationship between this region and the great country of Colombia that the government of Colombia has made this effort to open this consulate, and for that we are deeply grateful,” he said.
“The fact that the consulate is in this place means an enormous amount to this community,” Nenshi added.
“Because this building was in an enormous amount of danger. We were very, very, very much at risk of losing this important piece of our heritage, this Nellie McClung House. And saviours come from places sometimes when you least expect them.”
Talero said the consulate will regularly open its doors to school groups so that young Calgarians can learn about McClung’s place in Canadian history.
By Sci-News.com – The braconid family, to which the tribe Heterospilini belongs, is a large and diverse group of parasitoid wasps. There are about 17,000 recognized wasp species and many thousands more undescribed.
Most braconid wasps are internal and external parasitoids on other insects, especially upon the larval stages of beetles, flies and moths.
Parasitoid wasps often present some of the most extraordinary and morbid techniques to ensure larval survival within the host.
Some harbor and introduce into the host specific viruses for compromising host immune defenses.
The DNA of the wasp actually contains portions that are the templates for the components of the viral particles and they are assembled in an organ in the female’s abdomen known as the calyx.
Members of two subfamilies, Mesostoinae and Doryctinae, to which the tribe described belongs, are known to form galls on plants.
This image shows a female of one of the newly described Heterospilus species. Image credit: Alexander Wild.
“We estimate that perhaps another 50-100 species could be added to the total to contribute to the astonishing biodiversity of Costa Rica,” said Dr Paul Marsh, who is a lead author of the paper published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
Daily afternoon drivers headed for Alajuela battle the congestion of the autopista General Cañas. In the mornings, the congestion is in the other direction. Photo taken in front of the Hospital Mexico, as you come off the Juan Pablo II bridge.
Costa Ricans who suffered from intense sticker shock, especially on food items, during the early 2000s got encouraging news from the Central Bank this week: Inflation which had stayed the same the past two years appears ready to end this year at from 4.5% to 5.5%, a modest figure.
The final figure depends on when ICE’s hike in telephone bills previously approved by the regulatory agency SUTEL goes into effect. The Consumer Price Index stabilized during the first 10 months of this year, ending at 2.98%, according to the National Statistics and Census Institute.
Sutel approved a big jump in phone service prices with prices for the long-winded passing from 1,850 colones for 160 minutes to 3,339 colones. Although SUTEL made its ruling in September and the La Gazeta official notification has been made, ICE has announced no hike date yet.
The inflation figures were what the Central Bank had predicted earlier this year. University of Costa Rica economist Max Soto observed that “inflation this year has been dominated by controlled prices. At the beginning of the year there were hikes and now there are reductions.”
Unusual in this country is that the price index puts great weight on the price of the lunch staple, the casado, a standard snack bar lunch including a piece of meat, rice, beans and a couple of vegetables. The price average for this plate dropped during October.
Agricultural goods rose slightly but price of fuel, which is always sensitive to international influences, has stayed stable despite rises and reductions reflecting international market fluctuations. ICE no longer must augment lower production from its dams as normal rainfall returned this year.
A 26 year old man is the first adult in Costa Rica to undergo a lung transplant, following a three year in the state hospital, the Calderón Guardia.
The name of the man was not released to the press, hospital officials would only say that he is from Guapiles and suffere from a degenerative respitory disease.
At team of five surgeons at the Calderón Guardia hospital performed the operation on Monday, which last almost ten hours.
After a three year wait a donor appeared on Sunday at the Hospital Mexíco (also a state hospital). The donor was said to be a woman who was multi-organ donor, after her death.
The head of Cardiac Surgery at the Calderón Guardia explained that this type of procedure had not been performed in the past due to the complexity involved in the recovery process.
José González Chacón, his real name, manages a humorous Facebook page “Humor a lo Tico” (Humour Tico style), a social media page were makes it clear, “I only write what I think, what I want and feel, I am no saint, nor a devil. I am who I am and this is my way“.
JoSe says that in a recent alleged conversation a PLN campaign worker offered him money in exchange for publishing online attacks against rival presidential candidates.
On Monday, JoSe filed a formal complaint at the TSE offices since the elections tribunal would not accept his online complaints.
On the steps of the TSE Monday, JoSe says he has recorded telephone conversations and screenshots of a man he identified only as “Rayner”, who says he is a PLN campaign representative.
In his complaint, JoSe says he was offered ¢100.000 colones (about US$200 dollars) in exchange for his online attacks against PLN rival candidates.
The PLN denies any involvement. Campaign manager, Rolando González, called it a smear campaign against his political group, in an attempt to discredit their candidate, Johnny Araya.
The TSE rules are clear, Artile 279 of the Elections Code prohibits the use of gifts, promises, violence or threats to induce a person to vote in a particular way or refrain from voting.
If found guilty, the offender faces up to 12 months in prison or up to six years in prison if the defendant(s) is a public employee.
The case now goes before the TSE’s Political Party Financing directorate, to determine if there is possible legal responsibility and formal charges to be filed before the criminal courts.
In this CRHoy.com caricature, former San Jose mayor and now presidential candidate Johnny Araya asks rhetorically “It’s been 20 years since looking for a job…how are things now?” – a spoof on the candidate’s campaign slogan, “Hire Me!”.
