The International Court of Justice at The Hague has notified Costa Rica and Nicaragua that it forbids either country to place people in the disputed border zone. The decision arose in the aftermath of Nicaragua´s brief invasion and occupation of a strip of Calero Island on the south bank of the San Juan River.
The March 8, 2011, International Court decision calmed a tense situation after Costa Rica had filed a complaint and Nicaragua counter charges. Individuals have since filed for the Court to change its decree.
The Court has made no further rulings on the border situation. Both sides have accused the other of environmental damage from Nicaragua’s dredging of the river and Costa Rica during the construction of a hasty 160-kilometer road on the southern bank of the San Juan.
But the Court ruled that relaxing the decree would increase “risk of incidents susceptible to aggravating the present dispute.” Nicaragua had argued that the incursion of armed troops on the river island was in response to narcotics traffic along the border.
In July of 2009, the Court reaffirmed Nicaragua’s sovereignty over the river but also recognized Costa Rica’s rights to navigate the waterway. All this has played out against the desire of the Nicaraguan government to built an ambitious inter-ocean canal using part of the river.
Since the Jerez-Cana Treaty between the countries in the late 19th century, the pact’s odd measure that grants Nicaragua full possession of the San Juan River has caused frequent disagreements between the countries.
The “platina” bridge will cost another ¢4 billion colones, the amount of the latest contract award by the ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) – public road works – this fourth attempt to repair the bridge.
MOPT minister Pedro Castro, announced Monday that the Costa Rican company Codocsa S.A. won the bid at ¢4.391 billion colones, the lowest in the bidding war that included bids from the Constructora Hernán Solís at ¢5.088 billion and Consorcio Meco-Puente Prefa at ¢6.327 billion.
Castro said, barring any appeals, the contract will be signed and work will begin within a month.
The problems of the bridge over the Virilla river on the autopista General Cañas began in 2009 when a 10 centimetre (4 inch) gap was noticed between the concrete spans.
The first repair didn’t take. The second repair didn’t last 24 hours before the concrete patch began to crumble. A third attempt, almost 18 months later was made, interrupting traffic on the country’s busiest road for months. In less than two weeks after “the completion” of the job, concrete between the metal grates began to crumble. One worker was killed by a drunk driver and another injured during that work period.
In the meantime a series of patch jobs have kept the bridge’s concrete slab from further crumbling.
The MOPT minister said that the new contract calls for a 13 month work period, twelve of which will be for worder under the structure and one month on the surface.
Public health officials in Costa Rica are hard at work to control outbreaks of two dangerous infectious diseases: Dengue fever and H1N1. Both diseases are taxing the resources of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Soical or La Caja (Costa Rica’s system of public health care facilities) and the Ministry of Health, although both entities are confident that the country’s mortality rate on those two diseases will remain as the lowest in the Americas.
According to online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, health officials from La Caja estimate that more than US$500 million have been spent on treatment and paid sick leave of patients who fall ill from dengue fever. According to actuaries studying figures from La Caja’s hospital and epidemiological expenditures, the costs in 2013 have not only been higher than in the previous year; they are also higher than similar costs during 2008 and 2009 combined.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal, has already claimed a couple of lives in Costa Rica. The Ministry of Health has been actively involved in controlling the vector population of Aedes aegypti, the carrier mosquito that breeds in stagnant pools of water located in the tropics. Efforts in controlling this potentially deadly insect include habitat destruction and fumigation.
Although the number of dengue fever cases are multiplying in Costa Rica, health authorities have managed to keep mortality down. Such is not the case is in Honduras, where the AFP news agency reports that five people have died from the disease. Nicaragua has lost five people to dengue, and the disease has traveled beyond Central America to the Madeira region of Portugal, Pakistan, Greece, and the Philippines. It is in this last island nation, however, where hopes are high for a dengue vaccine to emerge in the near future.
The Elusive H1N1 Vaccine
There is also concern over the influenza A virus subtype H1N1, which reached pandemic proportions in Costa Rica between 2009 and 2010, when 50 people died from this deadly infectious disease. The Ministry of Health has reported that eight people in Costa Rica have succumbed to this powerful flu strain, for which vaccine availability is scarce these days.
H1N1 vaccine production for the Northern Hemisphere starts in October of each year, which coincides with the mutation of this pesky virus. These vaccines have a shelf life of about seven to eight months, and right now they are desperately needed in Costa Rica, the Caribbean and North America. For this reason, the Ministry of Health in Costa Rica warns against unscrupulous pharmacists and drugstores that may offer H1N1 vaccines that have already expired to unsuspecting patients.
Costa Rica has for some time been the region’s preferred destination for American and Canadians, but that may not be so true anymore, as Panama, Belize and Nicaragua are increasing competition.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, new luxury developments, outfitted with spas, restaurants, marinas and golf courses in neighbouring countries are appealing to affluent North American buyers.
The WSJ report that says Americans who receive Social Security payments in Panama increased 65% to 2.164 between 2006 and 2011. In Nicaragua, the number doubled during the same period, from 595 to 1.322. Belize’s number, too tiny for the Social Security Administration to track in years past, was 560 in 2011.
The WSJ reports that Panama’s explosive growth — gross domestic product increased by an average of 8.5% annually since 2008, according to International Monetary Fund estimates — has drawn American workers and businesses to Panama City over the past decade. Now, local developers are courting another population, focusing on building amenity-rich planned communities outside the city to appeal to North American retirees.
Boquete, a town about 65 kilometres from the Costa Rican border, offers high-end gated communities, an established expat community, cool mountain temperatures and tropical-rainforest landscape, says the WSJ report.
Costa Rica’s neighbouring countries now offer residency packages and tax breaks that imitate the pensionado program, which was introduced in 1971 and helped set the groundwork for a boom in retiree emigration from North America.
Nicaragua added such a law in 2009, offering foreigners with retirement incomes tax breaks on everything from cars to construction materials. Last year, Panama, which has a long-established retiree program, created a path to citizenship for retirement residents and introduced a new residency program for people under retirement age that has lowered requirements for investment in property, business and other ventures.
In an interview with the WSO, “the message of this law is simple,” says Panama City-based attorney Manoj Chatlani of Panama Offshore Legal Services. “It’s ‘Come to Panama.’ ”
Costa Rican tourism officials are aware of the strides that both Nicaragua and Panama have been making in attracting North American retirees, but insist that Costa Rica isn’t losing ground.
The WSJ confirms that, saying that despite the inroads made by Costa Rica’s neighbours, they still don’t attract the same numbers. The WSJ report says that in 2011, more than 5.000 Americans collected Social Security in Costa Rica.
The WSJ report cites crime and security problems are still a major concern for people looking at relocating in Central America.
Working in Costa Rica’s favour, at least for the time being, is the U.S. Department of State labeling the crime rate in Nicaragua “critical” and the murder rate in Belize “extremely high,” though concentrated in Belize City and not in tourist areas. In Costa Rica, petty crime such as theft and “smash and grab” muggings have increased in the past couple of years, along with home invasions.
In Panama, murders and gun violence have decreased in recent years, but reported rape and theft have increased. “Panama remains relatively safe when compared with other Central American countries, yet crime rates are higher than one would encounter in most of the United States,” says the State Department’s 2013 report.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Wikipedia, Live in Costa Rica
Qith possible tough economic times ahead, the Q offers up this economical, relatively safe and practical in-line water heater.
The parts can be purchased separately or in a kit, which includes 100 centimetres of metal wire, a box white candles and a box of matches, with instructions on the possible uses.
The concept is simple and can be macgyvered to any shower or water pipe. A lit candle is placed under a water pipe, the water is heated as it passed over the open flame and you have instant hot water. See diagram.
In Costa Rica the economic heater can save thousands each month on electrical bills and removes the danger of being electrocuted by a Lorenzetti electric shower head.
This past Saturday was the final date of the Rompementes (Brain Buster) Tour, a traveling exhibition conceived by Luis Alfonso Dominguez Carballo, Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Sonora.
This fun and unique exhibit took place in three cities in Costa Rica: Alajuela, Heredia and San José; it previously visited cities in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
The Rompementes tour was billed as a scientific exhibit, but it mostly consisted of amusing brain-teasers with a learning angle, such as impossible holograms, gravity-defying toys, practical physics experiments, math riddles, and other seemingly amazing feats of mental aerobics that have a didactic explanation. People, especially kids, had a lot of fun at Rompementes’ final date in Costa Rica at the Morazan Park, which also featured music by national reggae fusion band Ojo de Buey. This event was also sponsored by Enamorate de tu Ciudad (Fall in Love with Your City), an initiative by the Ministry of Culture and Youth in Costa Rica to showcase family activities in San Jose.
Although children are usually better at solving these delightful puzzles, some of the attendees at Rompementes asked the exhibitor about the benefits of such brain-teasers for patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in Costa Rica. According to the latest statistics published by the World Health Organization, 377 people in Costa Rica died from the degenerative effects caused by Alzheimer’s disease in 2010, which represents 2.3 percents of all deaths that year.
Although Alzheimer’s disease in Costa Rica has not reached epidemic proportions, such as it has in China, reports of this fatal condition are on the rise in our country. There has been a lot of research, as well as speculation, about whether an active mind can effectively prevent the onset -or at least the severity of Alzheimer’s. Researchers in the 21st century have found that mental fitness associated with crossword or Sudoku puzzles can help prevent memory loss, which is one of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. In some cases of dementia and deep memory loss, the brain is aging faster than the body. Brain-teasers help keep the mind young, which is always a good thing.
The good news for expats who choose to enjoy their golden years in Costa Rica is that learning Spanish, or any other language, can help them stave off Alzheimer’s. As far as solving puzzles such as those on the Rompementes tour, well… they may be difficult for patients who suffer from advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. If you have not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, or if you are in the lower stages, specialists recommend that you challenge yourself mentally to the max of your cognitive abilities. But, if you are caring for a loved one with advanced Alzheimer’s, get them to solve simple puzzles from about 10 to 50 pieces, that are also colorful and serene. Super-simple online brain games such as the ones developed by Lumosity can also help in this regar
Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease, but it can be prevented to some extent with the right balance of mental and physical exercise, as well as with a healthy nutrition.
San José, Barrio Chinso, Frente a la Soledad. Foto:Jorge Navarro
A new blog post by Arnoldo Rivera of La Nacion calls attention to something that tourists and Ticos alike often ask about John Lennon’s sculpture in Costa Rica: What happened to his glasses?
San José, Barrio Chinso, Frente a la Soledad. Foto:Jorge Navarro
Mr. Rivera, who is a Beatles scholar, recalls the day when Lennon’s effigy was seated at that park bench along the old Paseo de los Estudiantes (Students’ Boulevard). That was on November 25th, 2011, and the statue received at lot of attention from the press. This was one of Johnny Araya’s pet projects; the former long-time Mayor of San Jose and current candidate to the Presidency of Costa Rica is reportedly a big Beatles fan, plus he mentioned that the statue celebrated the affinity of Lennon’s and our country’s mutual love of peace.
The unveiling of John Lennon’s sculpture, sitting across from the church of La Soledad and near the sculpture of Carlos Gardel, the Argentinian master of tango, was underscored by an event that featured a Tico Beatles cover band and even brass players from the San Jose Symphonic Orchestra. Since then, hundreds -perhaps thousands- of people have had their picture taken next to the iconic rock musician, who was gunned down in New York by a deranged man on December 8th, 1980 -just two months after he turned 40 years old.
Almost two years after the unveiling of Lennon’s statue, Johnny Araya is a shoo-in to succeed President Laura Chinchilla and the old Student’s Boulevard is now San Jose’s new Chinatown. And still John Lennon has no eyeglasses.
Things in Costa Rica either happen too fast or take forever to occur. In the case of Lennon’s missing eyeglasses, it’s a bit of both. If you think that Lennon’s glasses were stolen, congratulations at being an expert player of the “Jumping to Conclusions” game! The Municipality of San Jose has custody of the eyeglasses, which were removed on December 6th, 2011. The problem, as Mr. Rivera explains on his blog in La Nacion, is that the Municipality realized that the eyeglasses were too fragile to withstand the constant pulling and tugging that a sitting statue invites.
Mr. Rivera also points out that daily tabloid newspaper La Teja, owned by Grupo Nacion, printed the jovial headline “John Lennon was left blind!” almost two years ago, and still Lennon has no eyeglasses. Mr. Rivera compares the affair with just how long it took to fix the roadway surface of the bridge over the Virilla River (also known as La Platina). Perhaps when Johnny Araya takes the Presidential Office in Zapote, John Lennon may finally get his long-lost eyeglasses. Until then, we’ll just have to Imagine them.
Although there is no official word from the Catholic Church, Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sunday that Pope Francis will soon visit Costa Rica and the Virgen de los Angeles, to pay homage.
Costa Rica’s Amabassador to Brazil, Víctor Manuel Monge Chacón, said that the Pope made the commitment during the greeting of the ambassadors representative of each continent, at a ceremony that took place at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro.
According to Ambassador Monge, the Pope sent a special blessing for Costa Rica, its young and poor and their families and for Presidenta Laura Chinchilla.
“In an officially greeting I had with His Holiness the Pope Francisco, he expressed his desire to visit Costa Rica in the future, when he has a chance. The invitation to visit the country was made by the President of the Republic during the meeting they held in Rome for the consecration of the Pope,” Monge said.
San José archbishop, monseñor Hugo Barrantes, said he has not received any official word from Rome of a Papal visit.
The announcement of the possibility of Pope Francis visiting Costa Rica comes weeks after the Vatican confirmed the miracle of Floribeth Mora Díaz, a resident of Dulce Nombre de La Unión de Cartago (east of San José), being cured of her brain aneurysm due to the intercession of late Pope John Paul II. This second miracle is the final requirement to allow the canonization of the pontiff, who died on April 2, 2005.
Costa Ricans living abroad and registered to vote will be able to get a jump on the 2014 presidential elections. On Saturday, February 1, the first ballot box will open in Sidney, Australia.
According to the Tribunal Supreme de Elecciones (TSE), a total of 19 people will be able to cast their vote at the Costa Rican Embassy at 6am Sunday in Australia (2pm Saturday in Costa Rica).
Later that day polls will also be open in Tokyo, New Delhi, Tel Aviv, Moscow, Berlin, Rome, London and Madrid, among other cities. Closer to home, Bogota, Brasilia, Buenos Aires and Caracas.
On election day, February 9, Costa Rican voters in Los Angeles wil be able to vote up to even one hour after the polls close in Costa Rica.
This is the first time Costa Ricans living abroad will be able to vote in the national elections in their adopted country, in 53 cities. Foreign voters can only cast their vote for the president.
The TSE says a total of 8.800 Ticos abroad has so far regitered to vote, but the number could be closer to 12.000 when the registration closes on October 2.
Costa Ricans abroad can get information and register at www.tse.go.cr
Records indicate that the majority of the foreign voters live in the United States (71%), primarily in the cities of Los Angeles, Washington and Miami. Following, in majority of number of voters is Canada, Mexico and Spain.
The number of Costa Ricas abroad vary differently, depending on who is counting. Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry reports only 49.000 Costa Ricans living abroad, while immigration records put the number at an estimated 250.000.
The canton in Costa Rica that reports more family members abroad are Santos, Perez Zeledon and Escazú.
By: Arianna Mckinney, VozdeGuanacaste – When Joy Stoviak Flores came to Nicoya in 1963 as part of the very first Peace Corps group to arrive in Costa Rica, she thought she would be here for two years to have an interesting experience.
“You just never know where life will take you,” the elegantly dressed woman remarked, now at age 72, sitting in the impeccably decorated living room of her home in Barrio El Carmen and reflecting on the 50 years she has called Nicoya home.
In January of this year, Joy was invited to a reception in the U.S. Embassy in San Jose to celebrate 50 years of Peace Corps in Costa Rica. Of the 24 volunteers who arrived in Costa Rica on January 23, 1963, seven attended the reception, and only two of them currently live in Costa Rica: Joy in Nicoya and John Helwig in Escazu.
When U.S. President Barack Obama visited Costa Rica in May, Joy was pleased to hear that he announced that he wants another Peace Corps program here similar to the first program in which she participated, which had the mission of teaching English to help students progress.
Ironically, when Joy joined the Peace Corps, she had no training or experience as a teacher, but she received training in teaching methodology from the Peace Corps and ended up making it a lifelong career, teaching at the high school in Nicoya and at the University of Costa Rica in Santa Cruz and Liberia after finishing her time with the Peace Corps.
In 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed the order to create the Peace Corps and volunteer recruitment began on university campuses. Joy grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Colorado College in 1962, where she studied Spanish. A friend of hers helped her get a job in a Peace Corps office and the two began talking about participating in the Costa Rican program. In the end, her friend didn’t come, but Joy did.
After two months of training at the University of Kansas, where the volunteers were given insight into Costa Rica’s history, economy and government, they were sent to Puerto Rico for three weeks of physical training. Joy was exempted from some of the physical tasks since her hands were burned when she was three years old and accidentally fell into the hot embers where a neighbor had been burning brush. Despite this though, she managed to repel from a dam and survive for a few nights in the rainforest with a compass and some food provisions along with a couple of other girls.
When they arrived in San Jose, the volunteers received two weeks of orientation and then were assigned in pairs to various towns. Joy and her partner, Marjorie “Midge” Hersh, were assigned to Nicoya. “If you can’t take it, let me know,” the program director told her, warning her that conditions in Nicoya were rough and she could be reassigned to somewhere easier.
At the time Nicoya was much smaller, there were no paved roads and there was only electricity from 5 to 10 p.m. The lights would blink 10 minutes before 10 to warn people to get home and prepare for darkness. Joy and her partner roomed with a family, and Joy made friends with a girl across the street, the sister of her future husband, Israel Flores Cardenas. “It was not love at first sight,” she related.
During her two years with their Peace Corps in Nicoya, Joy and Midge focused mainly on high school students, helped the Ministry of Education update the English program and gave lessons to teachers on how to teach English. Joy also contributed to community development, for example, accompanying the doctor to explain the cleanliness involved in breastfeeding.
She felt accepted by the students, the teachers and everyone in town, and when her two years came to an end, she went to Washington D.C. to finish out the program but quickly returned to Costa Rica. She married in 1965 and has lived in the same wooden house ever since. Here, she gave birth to two sons and a daughter, and now has four grandchildren. She retired from public schools in 1992 and continued teaching in private universities until 2008.
Now, aside from helping out as a courtroom translator, she spends time with her family and a group of Tica friends her age that get together monthly and celebrate their birthdays. She enjoys reading, cooking and baking, noting that if she won the lottery, she would like to have a big kitchen. She is also making plans to attend a Stoviak family reunion and her 55-year high school reunion in the United States.
She said she has no regrets, knowing that through teaching she touched the lives of so many people, some of whom come up to her and let her know that what they learned from her has helped them in work and in life. “It’s nice to know that something you did was good,” she summed up.
Starting on August 8th, 2013, the most important fashion industry event for Costa Rica will unfold over four days in San Jose. Costa Rica Fashion Week 2013 is more than just models sashaying down a runway; it is an important trade event for a billion dollar fashion industry that is beginning to take flight in our country.
Costa Rica is currently the style hub of Central America, and fashion industry leaders would like to see it stay that way. The Costa Rica Fashion Week event is primarily a meeting event for designers, merchants, schools, and students to learn about new trends and methodologies. Despite the country’s ongoing loss of its once-vibrant textile and clothes manufacturing industry to countries where lower salaries and inadequate working conditions run rampant, the fashion industry leaders in Costa Rica believe that this nation has what it takes to participate in the global fashion stage.
From Thursday, August 8th until Sunday, August 11th, the Antigua Aduana (Old Customs) building in San Jose will host a series of runway shows, style expo, industry workshops, press conferences, and fashion industry discussions. Designers from all over Central America, Mexico, and Colombia will display outfits, jewelry and accessories. Not everything will be Pret a Porter (ready-to-wear), there will also be some haute couture (high fashion) and conceptual designs to admire.
The serious, business-minded content of Costa Rica Fashion Week 2013 will be conducted by the Ministry of Labor, the National Institute of Learning (INA in Spanish), the Textile Chamber of Industry in Costa Rica (CATECO), and others. The ongoing success of Costa Rica Fashion Week has been due to the hard work of Tica supermodel Leonora Jimenez, whose work has been recently profiled by the Costa Rica Star.
Some of the sponsors of this event include Cosmopolitan Latin America, 104.7 HIT FM, and Costa Rica’s Ministry of Culture and Youth Affair. To find out more about the event, follow #CRFW2013 on Twitter.
Thanks to the quick response of lifeguards, the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) and surf instructors in Jaco Beach, ten teenage tourists lived to enjoy another day in Costa Rica. Such was a recent scene witnessed and described by Captain Richard Barone, a nature conservation activist known as Capi from his blog Capi Writes.
According to Capt. Barone, the teenagers were playing in the rough surf conditions of Jaco, a beach that not only attracts surfers from around the world but also expats and many other tourists. Jaco Beach, which is often called “Gringo Beach” by derisive Ticos, is easy to get to from San Jose, which adds to its status as a popular tourist destination, but it is not the most ideal beach for swimming.
To get the full account of the incident, please read Capi’s blog post here. Sadly, this is not something unusual, and it bears paying attention to the following few paragraphs, which have been slightly edited for spelling and grammar:
The most shocking aspect for me to witness was the ungratefulness and ignorance of the tourist group, which had been warned by several other lifeguards on the beach of the serious currents that afternoon.
As is typical of drowning and near drowning events, for many of the teens present it was their first experience in the ocean. Some of the teens were in visible shock after the event as they walked off the beach while others appeared to brush the event off in denial of the near tragedy.
However for the most part the typical tourist group seemed unimpressed as did the few typical gringo bar flies present that shrugged not amused…
Not only did the tourists appear ungrateful but they crassly displayed their lack of social skills leaving the lifeguards, ambulance personnel and surfers without so much as a thank you, let alone an offering of a drink or lunch!
Capi has updated the blog post to indicated that the teenagers did return afterward to thank their saviors, one of them being Tico lifeguard Seco Herrera Samudio, pictured in this article. Capt. Barone has also promised to post a video of the incident at a later time.
Most beaches in Costa Rica do not have lifeguards on duty, and few of them post warning signs with regard to surf conditions. Jaco Beach, however, enjoys protection by brave lifeguards, trained Red Cross workers, and members of the Tourism Police -a special unit of Fuerza Publica. These protectors of life and safety in Jaco Beach are proactive; they are known to warn tourists about rip currents and other dangerous surf conditions that could prove to be too much to handle for the average swimmer. Warning signs are posted in Jaco Beach, but they are often ignored by tourists who have had too many bottles of Imperial at the numerous beach bears.
The situation for lifeguards in Costa Rica will hopefully change in the future as greater awareness of their hard work appears in the media. Last year, for example, Tica model Andreina Samudio, a smoldering beach bombshell who is also an avid surfer, completed lifeguard training in Jaco Beach -which culminates with a four and half kilometer ocean swim across Jaco. Although Andreina will probably earn a lot more with her modeling gigs, her lifeguard certification brings certainly brings attention to this noble profession.
In a previous article, the Costa Rica Star wrote about how a veteran lifeguard came out of retirement in Dominical to perform a heroic rescue. Since then, the National Association of Lifeguards in Costa Rica has continued its efforts to keep professionalism high among these guardians of the beach. Lead by Captain Luis Hidalgo, the Association has trained more than 700 lifeguards in Costa Rica over the last 13 years. Greater awareness and visibility of lifeguards in Costa Rica is a win-win situation.
Public health officials in Costa Rica are hard at work to control outbreaks of two dangerous infections diseases: Dengue fever and H1N1. Both diseases are taxing the resources of La Caja (Costa Rica’s system of public health care facilities) and the Ministry of Health, although both entities are confident that the country’s mortality rate on those two diseases will remain as the lowest in the Americas.
According to online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, health officials from la Caja estimate that more than $500 million have been spent on treatment and paid sick leave of patients who fall ill from dengue fever. According to actuaries studying figures from La Caja’s hospital and epidemiological expenditures, the costs in 2013 have been not only been higher than in the previous year; they are also higher than similar costs during 2008 and 2009 combined.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal, has already claimed a couple of lives in Costa Rica. The Ministry of Health has been actively involved in controlling the vector population of Aedes aegypti, the carrier mosquito that breeds in stagnant pools of water located in the tropics. Efforts in controlling this potentially deadly insect include habitat destruction and fumigation.
Although the number of dengue fever cases are multiplying in Costa Rica, health authorities have managed to keep mortality down. Such is not the case is in Honduras, where the AFP news agency reports that five people have died from the disease. Nicaragua has lost five people to dengue, and the disease has traveled beyond Central America to the Madeira region of Portugal, Pakistan, Greece, and the Philippines. It is in this last island nation, however, where hopes are high for a dengue vaccine to emerge in the near future.
The Elusive H1N1 Vaccine
There is also concern over the influenza A virus subtype H1N1, which reached pandemic proportions in Costa Rica between 2009 and 2010, when 50 people died from this deadly infectious disease. The Ministry of Health has reported that eight people in Costa Rica have succumbed to this powerful flu strain, for which vaccine availability is scarce these days.
H1N1 vaccine production for the Northern Hemisphere starts in October of each year, which coincides with the mutation of this pesky virus. These vaccines have a shelf life of about seven to eight months, and right now they are desperately needed in Costa Rica, the Caribbean and North America. For this reason, the Ministry of Health in Costa Rica warns against unscrupulous pharmacists and drugstores that may offer H1N1 vaccines that have already expired to unsuspecting patients.
Coco Island and her surrounding maritime zones in Costa Rica have been protected by standing legislation over the last few years. This, however, has done little to prevent the incursion of nefarious shark finning crews who thumb their noses at the law and prey upon the selachian species that make the waters of Coco Island their home.
According to online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, illegal fishermen and shark fin poachers continue to operate around Coco Island despite the increased of law enforcement officers in the area. In mid-July, a joint effort from the National Coast Guard Service and National Park Rangers resulted in the confiscation of fishing gear and catch from a fishing vessel that had cast its lines near the island. According to Geiner Golfin, administrator of the Coco Island National Park, authorities did not find detached shark fins aboard the vessel; however, their intelligence on this particular crew led them to confiscate their shark catch and gear.
This is what the Coast Guard and Park Rangers in Costa Rica know about the current situation in Coco Island:
The waters of Coco Island are brimming with marine life, which in turn attracts a rich diversity of shark species, which in turn attract nefarious shark finning crews.
The shark fin poachers are motivated by the lucrative demand for shark fins, which are considered an expensive delicacy in certain Asian cultures -particularly in China and Taiwan. With the economies of China and other Asian nations in full bloom, more people can afford -and want- shark fin soup.
There is enough evidence to belief that shark finning around Coco Island is organized by a commercial fisherman in Puntarenas who owns a tuna fishing fleet. In recent years, however, this fleet has used tuna catch as a cover and have focused on shark finning. They used to hack the fins off sharks while at sea and throw them overboard where they suffer as they bleed and sink to death.
Increased enforcement by the Coast Guard around Coco Island and other areas in Costa Rica has forced this fake tuna fishing fleet to operate a clandestine dock where they hack off fins and dispose of the sharks surreptitiously. Authorities are working to find this dock and shut it down, but another illegal shark finning dock could be set up in just a few days.
Administrator Golfin laments that legislation in Costa Rica does not allow for a full vessel confiscation. Still, the Coast Guard and Park Rangers vow to continue frustrating the efforts of these crews by confiscating their catch and their fishing gear. They can’t get to all of them, but their actions have caused enough consternation to provoke ire among some shark fin poachers who have launched death threats at the Park Rangers.
Brother and sister, Kattia and Mario Fonseca, residents of Los de Santo Domingo, on their way to the Basilica on Saturday. Photo MARCELA BERTOZZI/La Nacion
Despite the rain and cold air, it did not break the will of hundreds of faithful who chose yesterday to advance their “romería” to the Basilica de los Angeles, in Cartago, home of La Negrita.
Brother and sister, Kattia and Mario Fonseca, residents of Los de Santo Domingo, on their way to the Basilica on Saturday. Photo MARCELA BERTOZZI/La Nacion
Romeros could be spotted from early in the morning Saturday.
The traffic police was forced, starting shortly after 8am, to completely close off one lane of the autopista Florencial del Castillo (San José – Cartago highway) to ensure the safety of walkers.
Staring Wednesday, vehicular traffic between Curridabat on the east side of San José, though La Union and Ochomogo and onto the Basilica in Cartago will be “regulado”. A couple of thousand police and Red Cross workers will be on and to provide safety and first aid to the romeros.
Traffic official, Diego Herrera, told the media that the number of romeros coming out early this year exceeded expectations.
The La Nacion reports that about 40 residents from Tilarán, northwest of Arenal, departed early in their six-day and 220 kilometre trek to reach La Virgen. The group is being accompanied by a truck to carry their luggage as well as food, water and medication in case of an emergency.
Remember the La Nacion has an interactive map accessed by your smartphone or tablet. The app tells you the distance you would still have to travel to reach the Basilica. You can find the map and download the app at www.nacion.com/romeria
In Costa Rica only two Hybrid models are available for sale, the Prius and Camry from Toyota.
Costa Rica’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2021 is becoming complicated by the increasing number of motor vehicles transiting her roadways. This would not be a problem if a great number of cars, trucks and motorcycles in Costa Rica were energy-efficient or featured low-emission systems, but the sad truth is that the majority of them aren’t.
In Costa Rica only two Hybrid models are available for sale, the Prius and Camry from Toyota.
According to a recent news report by radio station Monumental, 93.5 FM, the General Customs Service in Costa Rica reports that only 157 hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius and Nissan Leaf, have entered the country in the last five years. This is exacerbated by the fact that more Ticos are interested in acquiring cars thanks to increased marketing by auto dealer and greater availability of credit for auto loans. Costa Rica is clearly turning car-crazy; buyers are shrugging off the exorbitant taxes on motor vehicles and purchasing them at a fast clip, but Tico buyers just aren’t into environmentally-friendly cars that much.
There is a very slight glimmer of hope in that last year was the best on record for orders of hybrid and electric vehicles in Costa Rica; the bad news, however, is that it was a very low number: 55. Compare that to the 7,800 used and 16,000 new cars that entered out country in 2012 -and many of them were gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs).
New Incentives Are Not Enough
The administration of President Laura Chinchilla has tried to implement incentives to increase the number of low-emission, energy-efficient cars in Costa Rica. The latest incentive is a tax break on these vehicles, which could cap them at a 10 percent maximum rate of sales tax. In an interview with Radio Monumental, the director of corporate affairs for Purdy Motor -a major Toyota auto dealer in Costa Rica, explained that this tax reduction follows other government initiatives such as subsidies for bus companies and taxicab fleets to replace their aging fleets with hybrid and electric vehicles, but he also said that the new consumer incentive may not be enough.
Minister of the Environment explained that car buyers in Costa Rica could save on average $1,300 when they purchase a “green car.” This may not be enticing enough for Tico car buyers, who may need extra motivation to get behind the wheel of a hybrid or electric motor vehicle. Incentives at the dealer or financing levels may work out better, but thus far there are no plans to implement them.
Moving from New York City to a small town in the U.S. is quite a culture shock on its own. But Rick Macsherry, 60, and Christina Spilsbury, 58, did one better. In 1989, they moved to a small fishing village on Costa Rica‘s northern Pacific coast.
Back then, Tamarindo was tiny and remote, accessible only by a bumpy dirt road that fronted the beach.
“When we moved here, there were only about 50 people, locals and expats,” recalls Christina.
The only foreign visitors were sport fishermen (Tamarindo remains a fishing destination today), pioneering surfers in search of consistently good waves, and a handful of adventurous tourists who stayed at the few small hotels in town. Ticos, as Costa Ricans call themselves, flooded the area between Christmas and Semana Santa, or Holy Week, as they still do today.
But otherwise, Tamarindo was a very quiet place.
Today, it’s a tourist destination and busy little town full of expats of various nationalities—from Italian to Argentinian to Israeli to Canadian. There are restaurants, from take-away to sit-down gourmet of every cuisine. Grocery stores are packed with imported items like hummus and frozen waffles.
But it still manages to retain a funky, laid-back character. It’s a beach town through and through. Where sunset drinks on the beach are the only unmissable appointment on your calendar. And while there might be plenty of tourists walking the streets and laying out on the beach during high season, the town’s long-term residents remain close-knit.
Christina’s grandmother was from Costa Rica, and she had family in San Jose, the country’s capital. So the couple had visited the country before and traveled around extensively. The funny thing is despite their obvious affinity for the place the couple never intended to move here permanently.
But then Christina, a writer, was offered a grant to work on her next project. Knowing the money would be enough to support themselves for a while in Costa Rica, they headed south. And during that year-long stint in Tamarindo, they fell in love with the place. After a short trip back to New York, they moved back to their new home.
Location was a big factor: “I love the beach,” says Christina.
But so was lifestyle.
“We really thought the thing that’s most valuable in life is time,” explains Christina. “We definitely pace ourselves so we have time to enjoy the place we live. And we have a lot of friends. Here there’s time to make friends…and plenty of public space like the beach to meet people.”
Christina and Rick have seen a lot of changes over the years.
Cost of living in Costa Rica, for one, has increased since the 1980s. But…
“We can still afford to have a gardener and a cleaning woman, something we couldn’t afford in the States,” says Christina.
Plus, health care is cheap. The couple feels blessed not to have had any serious medical issues over the years. But they do report that their local dentist charges a fifth of what it would cost in the U.S. for treatment.
These days Rick and Christina keep busy with their catering business, based in Playa Langosta, just south of Tamarindo. The area has become a destination for weddings and large family reunions over the years, according to Christina, and Sunset Catering serves that need. But they still make time for what’s really important.
“We walk the beach and swim every day,” says Christina. “And at the end of the day we always watch the sunset.”
At the National Assembly in Costa Rica, legislators are waiting to deliberate upon the merits of curious proposal to intercept, collect and store electronic communications in a fashion similar to what the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States already does around the world.
The legislative proposal goes by the lengthy name of Integral Reform to the Law on Registration, Interception, and Review of Private Documents and Electronic Communications.
The Orwellian scope of this law, however, has moved the Active Centre for Human Rights (CADH in Spanish) of Costa Rica to nickname the proposal “Project Snowden” after former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who shocked the world with his leak of information about the shadowy, yet overbearing, world of the NSA.
The legislator behind this proposal is Carlos Gongora, who used to belong to the Libertarian Movement political party but later switched to the more popular Social Christian Union (PUSC in Spanish). The essence of his proposed reform is to force electronic communications providers in Costa Rica to backup all communications made on their networks and store them for two years for the purpose of turning them over to law enforcement elements when they come calling. This means that if you are reading this article on your Kolbi mobile device in Costa Rica, ICE will know about it for the next two years.
Monitoring Sensitive Information According to a news report by University Weekly, published by the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the CADH is very concerned about Project Snowden since it infringes upon Article 24 of our Constitution. CADH spokesperson told University Weekly that:
“What this legislative project aims to accomplish is legitimize and justify the interception and monitoring of communications of anyone in our country”
Mr. Garita is concerned that Project Snowden could be used not just for criminal justice purposes, but also for financial, commercial and political uses. This is not an unfounded fear; the Costa Rica Star has previously written about the National Directory of Intelligence and Security (DIS in Spanish) and how this agency can virtually spy on anyone in Costa Rica with impunity. There is also reason to worry about potential data breaches.
Legislator Gongora, however, thinks that the growth of organized crime in Costa Rica calls for stricter measures such as what he is proposing. There is already a law that authorizes wiretapping and other snooping activities as long as they have appropriate search warrants approved by a court of law. What legislator Gongora wants is to expand such monitoring to unlawful actions besides organized crime.
Such a reform to existing law would require monitoring centers and availability of judges around the clock. Adding to this burden would be the storage of the personal and sensitive information that Project Snowden calls for, which Professor Alfredo Chirino of the UCR School of Law labels as completely unnecessary.
Law enforcement officials responding to reports of noisy neighbors came upon a small marijuana cultivation and distribution operation in a suburb of San Jose.
The incident took place around six in the afternoon. Neighbors living in a multifamily residential complex in Cedros, a small community in the Montes de Oca canton, complained that the noise coming from an apartment was excessive even for the time of day, around 6:00 on a Thursday evening.
Officers from the local Fuerza Publica (the national police force in Costa Rica) detachment responded to the call but the noise had already subsided. The neighborhood has several housing units, which made it difficult to ascertain the precise apartment where the unbearable noise had been coming from.
The Fuerza Publica officers looked around the residences and noticed two tall marijuana plants in balcony, gently swaying in the breeze and in plain view. The plants were about a meter high and nicely potted. After interviewing a few neighbors, the officers determined that this was the apartment where the loud music was coming from earlier. They knocked on the door and obtained permissions to search the premises from the tenant.
In the room with the balcony where the Cannabis sativa plants were located, officers found further evidence of a distribution operation: two packages of compressed marijuana buds, weighing about three kilograms in total, plus a vacuum-sealing machine and several plastic bags. The paraphernalia and the ganja were confiscated by the Fuerza Publica officers.
In a slow and hesitant slurred speech, the tenant who opened the door explained to the officers that he sublets the marijuana room to another individual, and that he had nothing to do with the apparent distribution and growing operation. Still, however, the Fuerza Publica officer took him in custody and delivered him to the local prosecutor’s office.
In the meantime, marijuana advocates in Costa Rica are seeking legalization of this herb. In the past, President Laura Chinchilla has expressed support for legalization of certain drugs as an alternative to the bloody War on Drugs sponsored by the United States. The Drug War, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives in Mexico and the U.S. alone in the last few years, has done little to reduce drug trafficking in Costa Rica. Old-fashioned police work, however, has managed to keep one Mexican drug cartel from spreading in Costa Rica.
There is a war going on in Costa Rica, although the belligerents are not infantry units taking positions across the provinces. Instead, the combatants go by the names of Grupo Gessa, Wal-Mart Stores and others. Their objectives are clear: to get your hard-earned colones -though they will take your dollars as well- and to earn your continued patronage.
Anyone can lose in this war, but in most cases the casualties are pulperias -those small neighborhood convenience stores that are staples of life in Costa Rica.
Major Price Differences In Costa Rica, the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) compares the retail prices of groceries and other supermarket products a couple of times a year.
Newspapers and other media outlets also check and compare supermarket prices as a service to their followers. Up until a few years ago, price differences were negligible; but, a survey by the MEIC in 2011 revealed that the supermarket wars were heating up.
During Semana Santa (the Holy Week of Easter) in 2011, the MEIC surveyed 14 products traditionally consumed in Costa Rica and Latin America during this period of religious observance among the Catholic faithful, which calls for abstinence from liquor, meat, sweets, and other items of indulgence.
This practice of giving up on consuming certain things and fasting during some periods comes from the old Lent tradition of observance and contemplation from the sunrise on Ash Wednesday until sundown on Easter Sunday, but in Costa Rica it has changed throughout the years to only encompass Semana Santa and includes fish, seafood and some sweets.
Among the items surveyed by the MEIC we find:
Canned fruit cocktail
Canned squid
Canned tuna
Heart of palm (palmito)
Shark filet
Tilapia filet
The maximum price found on that MEIC survey was 144 percent, and the supermarkets they visited were:
Auto Mercado
Mas x Menos
Hipermas
Pali
Mega Super
Perimercado
Jumbo
Maxibodega
It is important to note that Maxibodega, Hipermas, Pali, and Mas x Menos are all owned by global retail leviathan Wal-Mart, and that many of those stores have undergone name changes since -they may be known as Maxi-Pali or just Walmart these days.
So, a can of tuna brand Gomes, with or without jalapenos, would have cost you 520 colones at the Walmart in Heredia and Curridabat; the same can would have cost 1,270 colones at the Perimercados in Escazú and Pavas. AutoMercado, a supermarket that caters to expats and the gourmet crowd, offered a can of Sardimar tuna for 995 colones in its Plaza Mayor, Heredia and Tres Rios locations while all Pali supermarkets offered the same can for just 490 colones.
AutoMercado is no stranger to being labeled as one of the most expensive supermarkets in Costa Rica; after all, they specialize in imported and gourmet offerings. But even when it comes to the basic basket of 43 goods considered essential to a balanced nutrition in Costa Rica -including the omnipresent rice and beans, AutoMercado still comes out as being one of the priciest.
Case in point: a 2012 comparative report by Channel 9’s Hoy TV news program, which cited MEIC data confirming that AutoMercado was the most expensive supermarket when it came to this basic basket of goods.
Here’s the breakdown, in colones, from last year’s survey on those 43 products:
AutoMercado Alajuela: 113,776
Perimercado Santa Rosa: 112,201
Supermercado Cristal Curridabat: 108,316
Maxi Pali Paraiso: 94,473
Maxi Pali Higuito: 93,537
Super Rosvil Grecia: 92,733
Even different Walmart supermarkets show price variances in Costa Rica. In 2011, sports daily Al Dia compared prices on 16 basic goods, including black beans, rice, sugar, pasta, corn flour, coffee, sour cream, and personal hygiene items.
Al Dia’s small basket of goods yielded the following results in colones:
Mas x Menos: 14,204
Pali: 13,731
Wal-Mart: 13,533
Jumbo: 13,532
Megasuper: 13,121
Maxibodega: 12,748
As you can see from the list above, Walmart’s pricing across its supermarkets in Costa Rica is not even. It is interesting to note that Pali, which is marketed as a working-class supermarket where many Nicaraguan immigrants do their shopping, is more expensive than Maxibodega – a more upscale Walmart offering. Wal-Mart Stores, however, is not the only culprit of this practice; Grupo Gessa owns both Jumbo and Perimercado supermarkets, where prices often do not match.
According to a Prensa Libre report from 2006, the big supermarket chains were guilty of offering basic goods at their most expensive prices back then, and they were largely unable to attract customers who found better deals at their neighborhood “mini-super” establishment. That has clearly changed in Costa Rica, and the mini-super stores are now languishing next to their predecessor pulperias -both are casualties of the supermarket wars.
The Displacement of Pulperias in Costa Rica
A previous article in The Costa Rica Star examined how North American-style convenience stores such as AM/PM and Fresh Market are effectively taking market share away from pulperias and mini-super stores in Costa Rica. AutoMercado even jumped in the game, opening more than a dozen “Vindi” convenience stores, and there is speculation that Wal-Mart Stores may explore opening one of its smaller Neighborhood Centres in Costa Rica in the future.
Walmart and AutoMercado are hardly alone in this attack of pulperias. According to El Financiero, a company named Flalo S.A. has already opened Deli Mart in Los Yoses, and they plan to open five more in the Central Valley.
Musmanni, a bakery giant in Costa Rica, already has 22 convenience stores and plans more; it is important to note that Musmanni is a Fifco (Florida Ice) brand, owners of the iconic Imperial beer and distributors of the Canadian brand Labatt in the United States. With these giant corporations able to invest millions of dollars to capture the convenience store market in Costa Rica, pulperias don’t stand a chance.
In the end, the supermarket wars in Costa Rica are a matter of business competition, which is good for the consumer but deadly for pulperia owners.
With the objective of “early warnings” detecion of criminal groups entering Costa Rica, the Ministro de Seguridad Publica, Mario Zamora, is proposing installing “Tico eyes” to spy on mafia activities in embassies of Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama.
Mexico embassy in San José, Costa Rica
The plan was presented by Zamora three weeks ago to the Comisión de Seguridad y Narcotráfico del Congreso (Commission on Security and Narcotics), as part of the reform of the Ley Orgánica del Ministerio de Seguridad Pública.
The plan is to keep tabs on Colombian and Mexican cartels that continue to operating in Costa Rica, as well as other criminal organizations in the world with eyes on Costa Rica.
The proposed bill would allow experienced and incorruptible Costa Rican police officials installed in the four embassies in Costa Rica. “Their work will be 100% police intelligence, and are not going to stop anyoone, but will be aware of all the movements and plans of the Mafia”, said Zamora in an interview with La Nacion.
The minister pointed that these officers, in carrying out their missions, could prevent entry into the country by undesirables, especially those related to drug cartels.
The initiative transcends almost two month after the arrest on June 6, in Madrid, Spain, of Arthur Budovsky, the leader of the largest money laundering operation in world history, and operating out of Costa Rica. Budovsky had lived in Costa Rica and became a citizen, since 2006.
At the end of June, the Mexican Judicial Police revealed that the Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar), one of Mexico’s bloodiest criminal groups, is settled in Costa Rica for more than a year and responsible for the murder in Costa Rica of model Pamela Céspedes Segura and former military officials, Sigifredo Fernández Sierra, on November 8, 2012. The murders took place on the San José – Caldera highway.
“The idea is for the police agents work on research and profiling and not on dimplomatic matter. Although they are cops, I don’t see them arresting anyone. They would kind of a sentry”, said Zamora.
Zamora added that idea of having agents within the Nicaragua and Panama embassies is because criminals usually use the neighbouring borders to make their way into Costa Rica.
The minister commented that of the 14.000 Fuerza Publica (police) officials only about 35 could meet the requirements that includes at least 12 years on the force, hold the rank of commander and have an unblemished record.
The initiative has the green light from Francisco Segura, director of the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) – the country’s judicial investigative police.
On board is also Carlos Chinchilla, president of the Sala Tercera (Supreme Court), calling the Zamora initiative as positive.
Support for the initiative comes from Carlos Gongora, president of the legislative committee on drug trafficking and national security. Gongora said, “the idea is very good, as they (police officials) would not be military attaches, as in other countries”.
In a razor-thin preliminary count, political expert Luis Guillermo Solis appears to have defeated lawmaker Juan Carlos Mendoza for the Citizen Action Party (PAC) nomination for presidential candidate from the party. The 23,500 votes were cast Sunday, counted Monday and now the Supreme Elections Tribunal is recounting.
The margin was a hair — 72 votes, that apparently give Solis the win with 35.5% of the vote over Mendoza with 35.2%. Former Limon Deputy Epsy Campbell came in third with a respectable 24.9% while Ronald Solis, also a former lawmaker, racked up 4.2% of the votes.
PAC general secretary Olga Marta Sanchez confirmed Wednesday that a laborious hand recount would begin immediately because of the narrow margin. PAC members were appalled at such a disappointingly low turnout during the primary.
Of the 350,000 ballots printed, 93% were unused. Campbell herself mourned that she was unable to convince more of the few voters who turned out to give her more than the nearly a quarter of the final count. As it was, her forces asked for a copy of the count of the 290 voting tables.
It is unlikely that the results of the recount will be ready before Friday. Next weekend, the party general assembly session will decide if they want to try to forge a coalition with other opposition parties for the election.
Comment: Unless their candidate can generate more enthusiasm than was indicated in the meager primary turnout, it appears that a coalition is the only way they can achieve a respectable showing in the Legislative Assembbly, let alone winning the Casa Presidencial.
Such a coalition, difficult as it may seem, is their only chance to beat National Liberation Party’s mean machine. But they are too liberal to appeal to the Libertarians and even the Social Christians. Moreover, they are rent with internal disputes that have moved PAC founder Otton Solis to become inactive.
The cars on the right are not parked. Photo from Potholes & People www.akingslife.com
Journalist and radio personality Amelia Rueda, in her Friday morning radio program “Nuestra Voz” (Our Voice) she asks, What is wrong with the people who drive? We must reverse this culture “I do what I please” on the roads.
Doña Amelia says drivers in Costa Rica are people who think they can handle their car as if it were a loaded gun. And given that the Government has demonstrated that it cannot control what happens on the roads, she proposes a public initiative to intervene with draft a bill.
Some of the comments by visitors to AmeliaRueda.com:
“It is complicated, are going to penalize with prisons? If the prisons are overcrowded … with higher fines? As if there aren’t enough traffic officials to enforce them. With cameras and then appealed and the Sala IV strikes them down? …until drivers do not understand the harm they do by driving recklessly there is nothing that will make a difference”
“What happens is that drivers do not RESPECT others. Here (in Costa Rica) it is me first, me second, then me…the tougher previous law with higher fines worked until famous the SALA IV butted in, but we also need honest cops…laws serve us nothing if there are no good cops who enforce them”
“In this country, everyone does what he or she wants, it’s time to do something…”
Make your voice heard, voice your opinions in the comments section below or our Facebook page!
The Romeria 2013 is underway. Though the major days for the traditional walk to Cartago is on August 1 and 2, thousands have are taking advantage of the good weather this weekend to make their trek.
A Romería in Spanish or “Romaria” in Portuguese is a religious pilgrimage. The word “Romería”/”Romaria” comes from “romero”/”romeiro”, meaning those travelling towards Rome. It is a Catholic celebration that consists of a trip or peregrination (in cars, floats, on horseback or on foot) that ends at a sanctuary or hermitage. It is not necessarily always a trip, but in some cases a celebration that lasts all day long.
One of the most famous examples of a romería is that of Nuestra Señora del Rocío, in which the faithful move to the Sanctuary of the Virgen del Rocío in the village of the Rocío, in Almonte, Huelva. The Romería of the Virgin of Navahonda, celebrated in spring in the Madrilenian municipality of Robledo de Chavela is representative of this tradition. There are Romerias also in The Canary Islands. An example is La Romeria de Santiago Apostol, en Gáldar.
The New World. Another representative example, in Mexico, is the Romería of the Our Lady of Zapopan, which this considered the third most important peregrination in the country, after the one of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos. The Romería of the Virgin of Zapopan consists of a route 8 km in length, from the metropolitan Guadalajara Cathedral, to the Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan. It is made every 12th of October, and figure of the virgin goes accompanied by more than 3,000,000 people.
In Costa Rica, it is traditional to make a Romería to Cartago on August 2 to make requests and give thanks to the Virgin Mary black statue, affectionally nicknamed La Negrita, located inside the cathedral. People all over the country and even other Central American countries attend to it by foot or horse.
According to the Catholic Church, some 2 million faithful will make the trip to Cartago by next Friday.
If you plan on participating in the Romería this year, La Nacion is offering a special service, http://www.nacion.com/romeria an interactive map accessed from your mobile device (phone or tablet) that tells you the distance you still have to go to the Basilica, and the location of Cruz Roja (Red Cross) stations, police posts and recycling bins.
By Cynthia González, Vozdeguanacaste.com – After a delay of 45 minutes, the President of the Republic, Laura Chinchilla Miranda, arrived at the civic events of the celebration of the 189th anniversary of the Annexation of Nicoya. This was her last appearance in Guanacaste during her period of government, which ends in May next year.
A day before the event, Mayor Marco Jimenez announced the change to the agenda of annexation activities agreed on in the City Council, moving the protocol events to the afternoon to avoid having President Chinchilla be met with a wave of more than 800 demonstrators from various groups, who were present on the morning of July 25, marching through the streets of Nicoya with banners and flags and thronging the colonial square of Recaredo Briceño Park.
After the sudden change of schedule, the cultural events were initiated at 5 p.m. by the Minister of Culture, Manuel Obregon, accompanied by the Orchestra of the National Music School (SINEM) of Nicoya and the Municipal Symphonic Band, playing themes characteristic of Guanacaste folklore and attracting the attention of the public, who drew close to the stage.
Marco Jimenez shared a few words on stage, devoting time to validating the actions of the protesters in the morning on the grounds of being “indisputably valid demands.” Without reverting to giving his full support to their actions, he recalled the promises made by the government in the past to pave the roads leading to the various communities surrounding Nicoya.
For his part, Luis Antonio Aiza, legislator for Guanacaste from the National Liberation Party, was responsible for giving the government accountability report to those present, leaving the space open for Chinchilla to enjoy the celebrations without going into further political details.
The activity presented no setback, and the event ended with a traditional dance improvised by Chinchilla, Aiza and Jimenez, amidst the applause of those present who bid farewell to the president in her last visit to Nicoyan lands.
The United States has donated US$4 million dollars for the improvement of security at the northern border with Nicaragua, that includes the purchase of weapons, technology, hiring more staff and the construction of a new office near the planned highway.
Border security at Peñas Blancas will be improved with the financial aid of the U.S.
The ministro de Seguridad Publica (MSP), Mario Zamora, said the money will be used to create a modern border office at Tablillas de los chles, an small border town on the southeast of Lake Nicaragua. The donated money will also go towards the purchase of eight police dogs, four for drug-sniffing and four for weapons and bomb sniffing.
U.S. Embassy in San José (Costa Rica) spokesperson, Eric Turner, said the funds are part of a continuing financial support to help the country combat drug and weapons smuggling, by better securing its borders.
The Los Chiles border will also be the site of a new highway that will connect the the countries. According to the La Nacion, the road will open in 2015.
Eight out of every 10 trailers operating on Costa Rica’s roads have mechanical problems, the Policia de Tránsito (traffic police) has found.
The statistic was provided by Germán Marín, director of the traffic police force.
Bald tires, missing lights, faulty suspension and faulty brake systems are some of the problems found with 80% of the truck trailers in circulation.
Owners of truck trailers are required to submit the rig to a vehicular inspection on an annual basis. Fernando Mayora, manager of Riteve, says the trailers that are submitted have problems with their brakes, lights and tires. Last year Riteve inspected 4.998 truck trailers, this year so far the number of inspections is at 2.840.
Francisco Quirós, director of the Cámara Nacional de Transportistas de Carga (Canatrac), said the regulations for the inspection of trailers is new and the industry cannot be expected to comply “overnight”.
Quirós told La Nacion that his group has asked the Consejo de Seguridad Vial (Cosevi) for an extension in the time for trailer owners to comply.
“We asked for a rational period of 18 months”, said Quirós, explaining that the regulations have been confising for the past ten years and cannot now immediately demand owners to comply.
Adding to the problem is that the majority of trailers do not have a license plate, preventing Riteve to register them, according to Carlos Rivas, legal counsel to the Cosevi.
Rivas explained that without a license plate the Riteve cannot carry out an inspection, so it is up to the traffic police to force the registration of trailers and that they meet the requirements.
Marín, for his part, explained that traffic controls are constant on the main routes and his traffic officials will pull over trailers without license plates. However, the majority of trailers operate on secondary routes or side roads where there are few controls.
The Constitutional Court ruled in favour of an action against the articles of law in the previous Ley de Transito (October 2008) that set a fine of ¢108.000 colones for not carrying the necessary equipment to change a tire, a set of jumper cables, took kit and first aid kit.
The Court ruled the fine, 30% of a basic monthly salary, disproportional and excessive considering the economic conditions of most the population in Costa Rica. The Court also clarified that requirement to have on hand the equipment as reasonable, but not the fine.
The Court ruling only affects those who appealed their ticket under the previous law.
Carlos Rivas, legal counsel to the Consejo de Seguridad Vial (Cosevi) explained that the current law (in effect on December 2012) does not require the kit and tools and that drivers who lose their appeal will be required to pay only the ¢2.000 colones fine set out in the traffic law prior to 2008.
Rivas also said that for those drivers who paid their fines – the ¢108.000 colones – they will not be getting a refund on any fines already paid.
The current traffic law set out a fine of ¢20.000 colones for a driver in a vehicle that does not have a spare tire and the tools to change it. The tool kit, fire extinguisher, reflective vest and first aid kit is not required.
The March 8, 2011, International Court decision calmed a tense situation after Costa Rica had filed a complaint and Nicaragua counter charges. Individuals have since filed for the Court to change its decree.
