Two persons were detained suspected of forming a network trafficking women from other countries to work as prostitutes in Costa Rica.
The detention came Thursday with the raid on a Liberia house known as “Casa Rosada” by the La Unidad de Investigación de la Policía de Migración (immigration police).
At least 15 women, the majority from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, were victims of sexual exploitation. The arrested were as a man with the last names Bonilla Alvarado adn a woman with the surname Moya Picado.
Both are suspected as leadering the trafficking of persons network.
Employees of Santa Ana on Thursday lifted the work stoppage, agreeing to return to work following a municipal council meeting Thursday that voted on a special commission to analyze if an annuities increase is viable.
Workers say they will give the municipality one month, with a commitment to be back on the picket line if no action is taken.
The work stoppage began on Tuesday when the municipal council flat out refused to approve an annuities increase to its 211 employees.
Besides picketing outside the municipal offices in downtown Santa Ana, groups of disgruntled employees took to the streets of the small city and even blocking traffick on the Ruta 27, near the Santa Ana exit.
By: Arianna Mckinney, VozdeGuanacaste / A free concert will be presented in the Samara community hall on Saturday, July 13 beginning at 10 a.m.
According to Bonifacio Diaz, Samara syndic, who is coordinating the event, 70 musicians from two symphonic groups, The Cartago Band and The Liberia Regional Band, will play regional music to commemorate the annexation of Guanacaste to Costa Rica. In addition, three couples will perform folkloric dances and a male vocalist will sing.
Diaz explained that the groups were originally planning to perform in Jicaral but do to lack of lodging had to find a new venue. They contacted Diaz and he jumped on the opportunity to host such an event in Samara for the first time.
Environmentalist Jairo Mora Sandoval was the victim of a violent and senseless murder, but his life was not in vain. Case in point: Around 82 leatherback sea turtle hatchlings were released by the volunteers of the Widecast environmental protection non-profit organization this past weekend in Moin, province of Limon. These hatchlings emerged from the eggshells and nests that Jairo Mora loved to protect.
According to Widecast director Didier Chacon, Jairo had protected the leatherback sea turtles as they massively arrived from the ocean to nest on the beach of Moin this past April. It takes a couple of months for baby sea turtles of the Dermochelys coriacea species to hatch.
Widecast incubates the eggs to keep them safe from poachers and returns the hatchlings to their nests since the baby sea turtles must become acquainted with the specific chemical composition of their native beaches in Costa Rica. This allows female leatherbacks to return 20 years later and nest, provided that they survive the difficult life in the ocean.
A Perfect Memorial for Jairo
That the baby sea turtles are now in their natural habitat would have delighted Jairo. Environmental activists in Costa Rica are calling for the Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge to be named after Jairo. Even Paul Watson, the controversial founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and star of Animal Planet’s popular Whale Wars reality TV show, has stated that he plans to name a Sea Shepherd vessel in memory of Jairo.
These initiatives to memorialize Jairo’s life are certainly heart-warming, particularly when we remember that Paul Watson is on the run from Costa Rican authorities. However, the hatching and releasing of the baby sea turtles that Jairo gave his life to protect are the most endearing memorial to remember the selfless work of a Tico whom Paul Watson referred to as “a courageous young man.”
Hope and a Sense of Mission in Moin
Young people from the Moin community accompanied the Widecast volunteers as they released the babies. Widecast director Chacon mentioned that:
“[these young people] released the two nests with a heart full of hope, admiring Nature’s power and convinced that change is within all of us; we have the power to either protect these animals or destroy them by consuming products that cause their deaths.”
For Widecast, Jairo’s work is not over. Mr. Chacon told La Nacion that he expects to release even more baby sea turtles in the coming days.
A sharp increase in real estate acquisition and development by foreign investors in Costa Rica contributed $377 million to the national economy in the first quarter of 2013 (Q1). In real estate offices around the Central Valley, purchasing activity during the first three months of the year climbed by 13 percent when compared to the previous year.
According to a report by Oscar Rodriguez of La Nacion, the Pacific coastal housing market is experiencing healthy demand with regard to residential investment. In the Central Valley and San Jose’s Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM in Spanish), there was a greater focus on commercial real estate.
The Central Bank of Costa Rica reported that the $377 million enjoyed by the real estate sector represents 90 percent of revenue in 2012; in other words, the real property industry seems to be booming once again. Estimates by La Nacion indicate that the quarterly increase has been the highest since the year 2000.
Overall Recovery
Although real estate was the greatest contributor to direct foreign investment in Costa Rica during Q1, it is important to note that other sectors also saw great inflows of cash come in from overseas investors. The total foreign investment for Q1 of $866 million represents an improvement of 41 percent over the previous year.
To estimate direct foreign investment in Costa Rica’s real estate sector, the Central Bank accounts for all acquisitions and development projects valued at $500K or more that appear in the National Registry. Both capital inflows and the parties involved must have a foreign origin when considered by the Central Bank.
La Nacion interviewed Andres Zamora, Vice President of the Costa Rican Chamber of Real Estate Agents, who mentioned that the area surrounding the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia was ripe for business. A Century 21 spokesman explained that the recovery this year has been a long time coming, and that further improvement is expected for Q2.
Proceed With Caution
In late 2011, The Costa Rica Star published a series of articles that highlighted the volatility of real estate in our country. Haciendas of the Rich and Famous, for example, took a look at celebrity real estate. A few months later, there was a report about an uptick in residential acquisitions by foreigners and soaring home values. By the time HSBC was acquired by the Colombian Davivienda Group, middle-class Ticos were applying for mortgages en masse, and Mel Gibson was selling his massive Hacienda Dorada in Nicoya.
It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the real estate market in Costa Rica; after all, who wouldn’t want to own a slice of paradise and make a few dollars in the process? Would-be investors are advised to proceed with caution when it comes to speculating in the volatile and uncertain real estate market in Costa Rica. Keep in mind that just last year San Jose was home to the most expensive homes in Latin America, and that haphazard development is the norm around the country.
Yes, espionage and monitoring take place in Costa Rica, but not to the Orwellian extent carried out by the United States. Unpleasant snooping activities in Costa Rica have been revealed in the past; in fact, there is an ongoing legislative effort to either shut down or minimize the National Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS), an agency tasked with protecting presidential interests as well as spying.
Thanks to the systematic release of secret information by Edward Snowden, the former technical contractor for a couple of U.S. espionage agencies, people in Costa Rica and around the world know about the grievous work of shadowy outfits like the National Security Agency (NSA). We know, for example, that the NSA can collect audio and video communications from VoIP services such as Skype and magicJack through PRISM. We recently learned, via La Nacion and Brazilian news daily O Globo, that the NSA’s Boundless Informant program has been used to monitor private email communications and Facebook, the most popular social network in Costa Rica.
President Laura Chinchilla was not too happy about this latest revelation; to this end, she had this to say:
“As a citizen of an unarmed democracy such as Costa Rica, such things make me uncomfortable: I don’t like them.”
She added that she understands the need of some countries to assume protective measures in light of terrorists threats of high magnitude, but she also mentioned the rights of other nations to guarantee the privacy of communications among citizens.
The revelation of this secret monitoring of Costa Rica by the U.S. arrives a couple of months after President Barack Obama’s visit, and political leaders do not like it at all. Legislators Luis Fishman and Claudio Monge called for the matter to be discussed at the National Assembly, and Jose Maria Villalta from the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) opposition party called on the government to confirm the reports on what he called:
“an intolerable affront to the sovereignty of our country. The government must demand clear answers in an energetic manner, leaving aside subservient attitudes.”
It is interesting to note that legislator Villalta is also behind a proposal to minimize the scope and activities of the DIS (PDF), an agency that was created in 1994. The problem is not so much that the DIS is an eavesdropping agency; after all, intelligence gathering is in the best interest of most nations. The problem is that the DIS operates with impunity and without any checks or balances from the citizenry by virtue of its structure as a presidential security detail.
A History of Espionage
Spying in Costa Rica is an uncomfortable vestige of the Cold War. When former U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited our country in 1963, he lamented the lack of intelligence agencies in Central America that could snoop on the activities of Cuba and the former Soviet Union in the region. Shortly after his visit, the first Costa Rican spy agency was created under the name of the Agencia Nacional de Seguridad, which curiously translates in English to National Security Agency. And where were the headquarters of this spy agency were located? Across from Kennedy Park in San Pedro.
The DIS was created during the administration of former President Jose Maria Figueres Olsen. At the time, many Ticos shook their heads and said: “Like father, like son.” The elder former President Figueres was truly a Cold Warrior; after all, he presided Costa Rica during that era. Subsequently, his son and former President Figueres Olsen had a bit of the Cold Warrior streak in him as well, which worried Ticos who thought: “Doesn’t he know the Soviet Union dissolved a few years ago?”
The old Costa Rica NSA operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Safety (MSP in Spanish), which is supposed to oversee all matters of law enforcement and security. The DIS, however, answers to no one but the President of Costa Rica. This is a grave concern to legislators since the DIS has a history of abuses of authority and sweeping espionage on Ticos. This is what happens when such an agency is allowed to operate without restraint -corruption and obscurity ensue along with severe abuses of power.
Spy Versus Spy
In 2008, the MSP and the Organization of Judicial Investigations (OIJ) decided to spy on the DIS after receiving piles of complaints from Ticos about unethical behavior and general wickedness. What the MSP and OIJ found was a series of constitutional violations and general malfeasance by the DIS. For example, under President Figueres Olsen, multiple illegal telephone wiretaps were found in Costa Rica -this was the result of clumsy ICE technicians retained by the DIS to do the job.
Then there was the issue of the DIS not doing what they were supposed to, such as the apprehension of a Colombian citizen hiding in Costa Rica due to his responsibility for a massacre in South America. The DIS had snooped on the suspect but kept prosecutors in the dark, until the MSP finally intervened with old-fashioned police work and moved to arrest the man.
The most egregious accusation against the DIS, which is an agency that cannot be prosecuted, is that they not only use their spying powers and resources to commit extortion against Ticos, but they have also foregone their allegiance to Costa Rica in favor of yielding to U.S. interests.
WikiLeaks, CINEC, the CIA, Monsanto, ICE, etc.
Even more of the shadowy work of the DIS was brought to light by the WikiLeaks Cablegate affair. In the past, The Costa Rica Star has reported on these topics, some of which were fictionalized by sci-fi author William Gibson in Spook Country -wherein Costa Rica is a haven for retired U.S. intelligence agents. A scary diplomatic cable transmitted during the administration of former President George W. Bush has been labeled as “high-level horse trading and diplomatic bastardy” suggested that the U.S. could exert pressure on European nations that did not do business with agro-industrial giant Monsanto.
The WikiLeaks Cablegate affair also exposed the existence of CINEC, a joint operation between the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the DIS to ostensibly combat drug trafficking in Costa Rica and the region. A former MSP director confirmed that the DIS received training, safe houses and vehicles from the CIA under the CINEC program, authorized by (who else?) former President Figueres Olsen. A cable originated from the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica mentioned that this former MSP director threatened to air dirty laundry on former President Oscar Arias, which suggests that the DIS has been used for political espionage.
The inherent relationship between the DIS and the former telecommunications monopoly ICE, which ultimately answered to the government of Costa Rica, came to light in 2010. At that time, seven ICE security officers became spooks and followed a labor union leader around as he went about his business. The shadowing took place over two weeks as the subject went to the doctor’s office, his favorite restaurants, the bank, and even to church. According to ICE, this act of corporate espionage was conducted to catch the union leader skipping on his work responsibilities, but no one bought that excuse. ICE did not like this particular union leader and resorted to DIS tactics to try to snoop on his work as an advocate for the rank-and-file ICE employees.
For the reasons above, legislators and former prosecutors have been calling for a comprehensive reform to the DIS and its espionage capacity in Costa Rica. Another area of concern is that this snooping outfit is eating up a lot of money: $6 million just in 2008. There is a glimmer of hope, however, in the sense that the agency’s relevance is fading. Under the administration of President Chinchilla, the DIS has been mostly relegated to serving as a presidential security detail (and not even a very good one), and calls to reform the agency are stronger among legislators.
There is no doubt that Costa Rica, a country without an army, should rely on intelligence collection and analysis to defend herself; but, such activities should not be conducted in complete secrecy. At the very least, the National Assembly and the MSP should supervise these operations.
After a shutout victory against Cuba, members of the Costa Rica National Football Team are ready to face their Belizean counterparts, who are in the midst of an investigation by the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) on bribes and nasty allegations of match fixing.
Costa Rican fans will see a radically changed lineup of their beloved Sele as they match up against the Jaguars of the Belize National Team on Saturday, July 13th at the Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to Radio Columbia, coach Jorge Luis Pinto has chosen six different players to start against Belize: Giancarlo González, Carlos Johnson, Kendall Watson, Celso Borges, Mauricio Castillo, and Kenny Cunningham.
On July 11th, the Ticos practiced at the University of Utah. The training session was closed off to the public and the media due to the uncertain backdrop of match rigging and bribes confirmed by CONCACAF investigators who are looking into possible malfeasance in the Gold Cup tournament.
Preliminary details into the investigation, which will also be reviewed by FIFA, indicate that Belize players Ian Gaynair and Woodrow West have come forward and stated that they were approached by unidentified individuals who offered bribes in exchange for their cooperation in throwing matches within their group, which includes the national teams of Costa Rica, Cuba, and the United States.
The United States delivered a 6-1 goal fest against Belize on their first game of the Gold Cup; the game was played in Portland, Oregon, right after Costa Rica imposed a clean-sheet 3-0 score against Cuba a few days ago.
Starting Monday July 15, all vehicle owners will be required to changeover their “old” metal license plates for the new, a changeover that will be ongoing for the next 30 months.
Starting Monday and for the next three months, all the old license plates ending in 1 must be turned in for the new; plates ending in 2 begin the changeover in October; ending with plates ending in 0 in the last quarter of 2015.
The changeover is compulsory.
The cost is ¢15.000 colones for each pair of license plates, ¢8.000 for motorcycles.
The Registro Nacional promises a quick and secure process. For vehicle owners who cannot personally take part in the changeover, can assign a third party, providing the Registro with a notarized authorization.
La Nacion Tuesday revealed that the RECOPE Refinery at Limon paralyzed since August, 2011, but still keeps 350 workers on salary. The obsolete refinery installation has been idle and awaits the construction of a new one with Chinese help. But that may not happen.
When the Comptroller General’s Office annulled the feasibility and profitability studies, its officials made the new refinery doubtful at best. But the government has two good reasons to keep the payroll alive.
The first is that Limon is an area of high unemployment that would be economically and socially devastated by firing its workers. The second is that firing of workers would cause many to drift away, leaving RECOPE with few (or at least fewer) experienced workers.
In all, RECOPE employs 1,600 workers and the 350 only receives already refined fuels at the dock in Moin and stores it, awaiting distribution. The refinery was originally built by Allied Chemical in the late 1960s and nationalized during the administration of Jose (Don Pepe) Figueres.
The old refinery was closed as being costly to run. “The country needs to refine to fulfill the need for storage and for the social security of Limon,” says RECOPE manager Henry arias, a chemical engineer, “Here, (Limon) there are few employment opportunities.”
This payroll of 42 billion colones per year averages out to 24 million per employee. It is the sector of energy in the country that costs the most. But as Xinia Rose, a Limon customs official, told La Nacion, “If you open up a single job here, 60 persons show up to fill it. The problem of Limon is employment.”
The paper asks a question that perhaps only a Solomon could answer: Is it worth the higher price of fuel to keep these workers employed? The Comptroller gave RECOPE six months to come up with an alternative to the Chinese-Costa Rican $1.5 billion construction and investment plan.
The ambitious construction of a new refinery would raise production of fuels from the former 25,000 barrels per day to 65,000 barrels of crude oil refined.
Guillermo Rodriguez of the Limon Development Agency is brutally frank about the present situation. “Today we only import (refined fuels.) RECPOE has a great number of workers that are not doing anything and at a high fixed cost,” he said.
Comment: It is a dilemma that only politicians can answer. The cost of more social turmoil in Limon could cost the government more in the long run that keeping idle workers on salary. Already the city and its environs are a hotbed of crime and drug addiction.
Meanwhile, the cost of fuel here continues to be unnecessarily high. Is building a costly refinery to, perhaps proceed more than the country needs,the way to go? The political answer is that the construction would be a short term boon to the area.
Since last month the “urban lung” has been capturing some of the air pollution in San José in the area of the Antigua Aduana (Old Customs House).
This special filter sees to raise the awareness about vehicle emissons and the damage they cause to health.
Researchers at the Universidad Nacional have been taking regular samples captured by the filter and will be releasing a report next month on their findings.
Air pollution in San José is the main cause of respiratory and reproductive problems and kidney failure, among other conditions.
The reasons behind same-sex couples wanting to “legalize” their relationships are varied. For one couple, Fiorella Bruno(39), and Ana Cristina Binda (34), it is simply to protect their child.
Fiorella and Ana Cristina is one six couples seeking to legalize their union, made possible by a reform in the Ley de Persona Joven, that went into effect this past Monday.
The couple are demanding the same civil rights of heterosexual couples.
Both women fear that, not having their union legally recognized, their child suffers the consequences, for example, not being able to obtain insurance coverage and not having an inheritance.
Fiorella and Ana have been living together as a couple for the past 10 years and the last seven parents to Luca.
They say they are completely honest with their child and that he understands well that his family consists of two moms.
Right there on the very front page of our most important daily Spanish language newspaper, just below sports, La Nación alleges that the United States of America has spied on its good friend Costa Rica. As reported by a Brazilian news outlet.
First hand, we don’t know for sure. It is supposition.
But considering the around-the-world trips of doña Laura, our president, and the plethora of national corruption, the evident distrust of the legislature of the U.S. who made such a pump up your chest big deal because a Coast Guard ship got tired cruising around the waters with a load of Tico cocaine on board and was denied to dock in order to unload the stuff. Costa Rica the apparent drug traffic darling of the north – south cartels, not to mention a “Haven for money laundering,” what the hell can you expect?
Wait there is more. And then there is the biggie: Our new best friend, the Chinese who found Costa Rica like a bride in waiting, the honeymoon was on. The Arias government started it all and ceremoniously dropped Taiwan for a better and bigger money deal whose terms and conditions which were kept a secret for almost a year. (Sounds like a U.S. free agent NBA player.)
Now the Chinese, which are not exactly the best friends of the United States are trying to make a major foot print in Costa Rica with their loans, wish list, their money, their workers, their products imported duty free of course, and their management.
The best part of the Tico government is this all comes as a “loan” and the money needs to be paid back over XYZ years. So we buy from the Chinese, import from China, a quasi Chinese company designs and manages the operation as a partner and Costa Rica is expected to pay all those bills incurred back to that nation of origin: China? (Sounds like a Ponzi scheme with a kick)
“Yes Virginia, we did fall off a pineapple truck.”
Next, Costa Rica is considering making this country the sede (Main Office) of the Chinese government in order to have an even larger foot print into Latin America such as the huge canal project ($40 billion) in Nicaragua which to this moment seems like a fairy tale.
But the main office concept could become a reality and the United States wants to know exactly what and the hell is going on in this nation of so called “Friendlies”.
I would be disappointed if the U.S. Russia, England, China itself did not spy on Costa Rica. There are just too many anomalies here to avoid. As the newsstand tabloids say, “Inquiring Minds Want to Know”.
Costa Rica has never helped itself by pretending to be a country of neutrality. It has, for years and years preached a good sermon but the realities do not bear the nation out.
We go where the money is, almost like an Eva Peron “Rainbow Tour” but then again she came back with buckets of bucks, selling out to the Nazis, ex-Nazis and fascists.
So history says.
So, “Do not cry for me Costa Rica,” you should know that with all of the international activity, spying comes with intellectual paparazzi such as comes with Johnny Depp. We are viewed by the East and West plus perhaps to a lesser extent South America. As caught in the middle .
Wouldn’t we make a great launching pad for terrorism, for cyber-war, while all the time not pressing our very own Oscar Arias’ to answer, “Who me Innocent?”
Yesenia Valero Vargas sits in her lawyer's office while bein interviewed by La Nacion. Photo: EYLEEN VARGAS
Yesenia Valero Vargas sits in her lawyer’s office while bein interviewed by La Nacion. Photo: EYLEEN VARGAS
For many foreigners, North Americans in particular, getting married to a Costa Rican national is the quickest method to obtain residency and naturalization (citizenship). And for the most part, these marriages are nothing more than a paper shuffle, dissolved when the objective is met.
The transaction is simple, either by direct contact or by way of an intermediary (usually a lawyer or notary), the couple accord to enter into an arrangement where typically, the man pays the woman for the use of her name to register the marriage that is then used to file for residency and/or naturalization. Once the legal status is obtained, a divorce is filed. Foreign women do the same, though the numbers are significantly lower as compared to the men.
By and large this arrangement is straight forward. Case of extortion, the national demanding additional compensation in exchange for the divorce is uncommon. Usually the foreigner lives a low key lifestyle, careful not to reveal to his or her spouse the true nature of their wealth and assets held in Costa Rica.
But what happens when the foreigner is super wealthy, as in the case of Arthur Budovsky?
On May 25, Budovsky was arrested in Spain and extradited to the U.S. on money laundering and other charges. U.S. officials allege that the Costa Rica-based Liberty Reserve laundered some US$6 billion over a period of seven years.
Following the arrest, Costa Rican authorities moved quickly to seize Budovky’s assets that includes four Roll Royces, a Mercedes Benz and a motorcycle. Under costa Rica’s laws, the assets must be auctioned off by the Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas (ICD)– an arm of the Presidencia to finance Costa Rica’s fight against drug trafficking.
Learning that her “paper” husband was a mult-millionaire with tons of cash and tons of assets – cars, real estate, etc- in Costa Rica, Yessenia Valerio Vargas, has decided to get her share of the pie.
Yesenia Valerio Vargas (now 39 years old), according to her lawyer, Javier Vargas, will be seeking that the Juzgado de Familia (Family Court) hand over half of the assets seized from her husband, saying, “it is the right thing”.
“I am the wife, it is not right that I face eviction because I don’t even have ¢100.000 colones (US$200) and have no where to grab, having such a rich husband”, Valerio told La Nacion in an interview his week.
“It’s been almost six years, it’s all legal, there are witnesses, lawyers. I accepted (Budvosky’s offer) because I have three children, I had to accept. That was enough to convince me”, said the woman.
“Two weeks later (the lawyer) introduced me to him, I married him (Budvosky) and both went on with our normal lives. I dated him about four times, we went out for coffee, we talked, he never came by car and never saw him wealthy.
“He later told me that he had a business in the United States. He came and went (from Costa Rica). It was nine months ago the last time I had contact with him, he said he was going to the U.S. and then realized it was him who was arrested in Spain”, Valerio, who is currently unemployed, related to La Nacion.
Today, Valerio considers it “unfair” given her circumstance, having such a rich husband and she is just getting by.
However, Valerio feels it worse that the Costa Rican government is trying to get it all. “It’s not fair that he became a naturalized Costa Rican because of me and now the government wants to win (take everything for themselves) and nothing for me. I am his wife, I’m biting my nails because I have no job”, said Valerio.
Valerio’s lawyer said on Tuesday that “there is no reason to annul the marriage”, an action being sought by government as part of the process to revoke Budovsky’s nationalization.
Vargas told La Nacion that his client will be filing a case to seek “one half of everything Budvosky acquired in the country from 2008 to 2011, when the money laundering investigation began”.
As Canadians and Americans, personal security issues tend to be minimal in nature in most areas of Canada and the U.S., with the exception of some inner-city neighbourhoods in some of the larger Canadian and U.S. cities.
Such is not the case in Costa Rica and Latin America in general.
After having lived in Costa Rica for fifteen years and practiced law for ten of those years, I have had the opportunity to identify many personal security issues which arise in Latin America because of more dramatic differences between the rich and the poor classes.
This leads to the adage adopted by the poorer folks of, “what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine if you’re not watching over it”. This adage is particularly applicable when expats are viewed by poorer Ticos.
Having said that, because of the social safety-net (CAJA) adopted by Costa Rica following the last civil insurrection in 1948, Costa Rica is by no means as bad as the majority of other Latin American destinations with respect to this issue.
When purchasing property in Costa Rica, this adage translates to, if you want to be secure, don’t purchase a free-standing property in a Tico neighbourhood if you are an expat.
You will most certainly be a target for the neighbours if you do.
My advice to an expat purchasing property is to look for a housing circumstance in a gated and guarded community, preferably under a Condominium Property Regime, where the Condominium By-laws will be enforceable and provide for an acceptable solution to these personal security issues. That’s not to say that some expats have not found other living arrangements to those suggested that meet these requirements of personal security, but on-balance, the gated and guarded community is the best option.
To contact Attorney Rick Philps about hiring him as your Costa Rican Attorney, please use the following information: Lic. Rick Philps – Attorney at Law, Petersen & Philps, San Jose, Costa Rica Tel: 506-2288-4381, Ext. 102; Email: rphilps@plawcr.com Website: www.plawcr.com
– See more at: https://qcostarica.com/one-misconception-made-by-expat-canadians-and-americans-about-costa-rica/#sthash.kHHTfggP.dpuf
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.) recently unveiled a Sheraton-branded property in San Jose, Costa Rica. Located in Escazú (adjacent to the Intercontinenal Hotel) the upscale property – christened Sheraton San José – aims to ramp up Sheraton’s presence in the fast-growing Latin American market.
The Sheraton San José has an easy access from the Aeropuerto Juan Santamaria airport. The key commercial hub, Escazú, boasts offices of various world-class retail companies such as Guess’ and Tiffany & Co. as well as the first Costa Rican outlet of the leading coffee maker, Starbucks Corporation .
The hotel featues 172-guestrooms and a hard to miss casino, announced with big bright glittering lights.
Starwood has appointed the Colombian company, GHL Hoteles (with hotels Colombia, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina) for managing the property. GHL’s association with Starwood goes back to the days when the former managed the operations of Sheraton Bijao Beach Resort, Panama.
With this opening the company has moved a step ahead towards fulfilling its dream to operate 100 properties in Latin America by the end of this year. With a population of around half a billion, the region’s emergence as a business hub and its fast-growing economy caught the attention of the hotelier.
Starwood which currently operates 76 hotels in Latin America plans to take advantage of the surge in demand in Latin America. In this regard, the hotelier aims to open seven hotels each year on an average for the next five years, thereby increasing its Latin American portfolio by 50%.
This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company sees more opportunities for its largest brand, Sheraton, in Latin America. Starwood plans to add four more hotels to the list of more than 30 Sheraton branded properties operating across Latin America, within 2014. Starwood is continuously trying to boost the Sheraton brand, which is likely to reach the benchmark of 500 hotels worldwide by 2015.
Flanked by ministro de Comunicación Carlos Roverssi (left) ministro de la Presidencia, Carlos Ricardo Benavides, Presidenta Laura Chinchilla lets her view known on alleged spying by the United States on Costa Rica. Photo. José Rivera, La Nacion
Presidenta Laura Chinchilla was fuming Tuesday, saying publicly “no me gusta” (I don’t like it) following reports by the Brazilian newspaper O Globo that Costa Rica is among the countries spied on by the United States.
“I as a Costa Rican of a disarmed democracy, as is Costa Rica, I am disturbed by this, I don’t like it…” was among the comments by Chinchila during a press conference on the subject.
Amid the scandal sparked by allegations of Edward Snowden, the newspaper said that according to documents from the National Security Agency (NSA) spying actions were performed also on Latin American countries.
The newspaper said Costa Rica was under constant surveillance by the Americans.
The news of the US spying activity was taken hard by Costa Rica officials Tuesday morning, learning that the “Switzerland of the Americas” was the target of US electronic surveillance.
According to O Globo, the spying on several Latin American countries has been ongoing since 2008 to present day.
“It undermines the right to privacy”, said Chinchilla.
Erdward Snowden, a former technical contractor for NSA and a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) leaked the information, primarily to Glenn Greenwald of London’s The Guardian, in spring 2013 while employed as an “infrastructure analyst” at NSA contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. The Guardian in turn published a series of exposés in June–July 2013 and revealed programs such as the interception of US and European telephone metadata and the PRISM and Tempora Internet surveillance programs.
Prism supposedly allowed the NSA access to emails, telephone calls, and online conversations via Facebook, Google and Microsoft, among others.
According to O Globo, the NSA targeted most Latin American countries in its spying programs, with Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico ranking among those of highest priority for the U.S. intelligence agency. The newspaper said the NSA programs went beyond military affairs to what it termed “commercial secrets”, that included petroleum in Venezuela and energy in Mexico.
Also swept up in what O Globo termed as U.S. spying were Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
O Globo also reported this week that the CIA and the NSA jointly ran monitoring stations to gather information from foreign satellites in 65 countries, including five in Latin America, citing documents dating from 2002 leaked by Snowden.
The so-called Special Collection Service operated from the capitals of Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and Brazil.
Jorge Chavarria, Fiscal General de la Republica (Chief Prosecutor) said on Tuesday that judicial agents have “identified the suspects” in the murder of environmentalist Jairo Mora, in Limón last month.
The Fiscal would not elaborate on the details of the investigation, just promising to announce results “soon”.
Speaking on live radio Tuesday morning, Chavarria reiterated his promise to environmental groups of action in the case, and responsing to pressure by Europeaon legislators and the International media to quickly resolve the case.
Moira was killed while working in a turtle nesting area and refuge in the country’s Caribbean coast.
Costa Rica wasn’t especially good in their Gold Cup opener, but they didn’t have to be. As sloppy as they were in front of goal and in the midfield, Cuba could never make them pay because as poor as the Ticos were, the Cubans were five times worse.
So in the end, when Costa Rica walked away with a 3-0 win, it wasn’t so much worth celebrating for the Ticos as it was three points earned and a match needing to be forgotten.
The first half was a series of Costa Rica misses, be it on passes or shots, and a energetic, but disorganized Cuba team doing their best to pressure. Unsurprisingly, that combination led to an awful opening 45 minutes and halftime was welcomed by the dozens of fans in attendance and thousands of empty seats waiting to be filled by Americans for the second match of the doubleheader.
Michael Barrantes finally gave the match just after the break when he notched his first goal of the match. It broke Cuba and put them on cruise control to a win, no matter how sloppy it was. Jairo Arrieta doubled their lead in the 71st minute and Barrantes added another in the 77th minute to cap the match.
With the win, Costa Rica jumped to the top of Group C with three points.
The Universidad Hispanoamericana in Llorente de Tibás will be holding a job fair Wednesday (July 10) and Thursday (July 11), looking to fill 1.700 new job positions.
Originally the university had said 1.100 jobs were up for grabs, but a last minute announcement increased the number by 600.
Companies that will be taking part in the job fair are: Pizza hut, ITS, Grupo Belén, Unilever, Banco Lafise, Bank of América, Amazon, Tims, Is corporación, Café Orgánico, HP, Mckency & Co, Deloitte, Strena, Epa, IBM, GAP, Lenguaje and 360 Joven, among others.
The fair opens at 11am and runs until 7pm each day, entrance is free.
For a few thousand this has been an expensive mid-year vacation due to their bad driving habits. The Policía de Tránsito reports that they have issued more than 3.000 (3.284 to be exact) traffic tickets in the first seven days of the two week vacation period that ends on July 14.
German Marín, director of the Policía de Tránsito, said with the increased traffic flow so will there be an increase in the roadside checks and patrols.
Of primary focus by traffic officials is the Ruta 32 (San José – Limón), the Ruta 27 (San José – Caldera), Interamericana Norte (Ruta 1), the Inteamericana Sur (Ruta 2) and the Costanera (the Pacific coast highway).
The majority are for speeding, careless driving, not wearing seat belts and talking on a cellular phone.
Drunk driving is a major concern for traffic officials, especially in the last days of the partying.
Traffic flow back into the Central Valley is expected to be high this weekend. The Ruta 27 will be using reversible lanes into San José Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
For the fourth year in a row, presidenta Laura Chinchilla, froze the salaries of high ranking officials.
The letter, signed on Monday by the presidenta, keeps the salaries at the same level when she took office in 2010.
Casa Presidencial said that the pay freeze applies to the Presidenta, the two vice-presidents, all ministers and vice-ministers and chief executives of the autonomous institutions like the INS, ICE, AyA, etc.
On Monday the amendments to the Ley General de la Persona Joven (Law of the Young Person) became effective upon publication in the official government newsletter, La Gaceta.
One of the amendents is the allowing of same-sex unions.
The Movimiento Diversidad will present on Wednesday six legal actions before the family courts to recognize domestic partnerships.
Of the six couples, four are unions between men and two between women
Article 242 of the Codigo de Familia (Family Code), which was not modified directly, gives legal status to unions between men and women only.
The argument of the detractors of the possible loophole argue that in the absence of a direct modification, civil unions between same-sex couples is a matter of interpretation.
Same-sex couples are ready to go to court, arguing that the new law (Ley General de la Persona Joven), overrides the former. Opponents, on their side, say they will present their case before the Constitutional Court.
Marco Castillo, president of the Movimiento Diversidad, said the couples have the full backing of his organization,
Costa Rican commercial export promotion agency PROCOMER has its sights set on opening up the Chilean market for rambutan shippers,building on success in the South American country with pineapples and passionfruit.
In Costa Rica the rambutan is also known as “mamon”.
PROCOMER Southern Cone director Marcial Cheverri told www.freshfruitportal.com the Chilean market was very “interesting and attractive”, with room for diversification since the first Costa Rican pineapples arrived in September 2012.
“Currently, we have about six or seven Costa Rica companies active in the market, which up until April had achieved around US$1.5 million in pineapple sales,” Cheverri said.
“Markets took a step and now pineapples are delivered peeled and packaged. They can also be used to make jams, utilize the shells, make jelly, and for different processes in the kitched such as marinating – there are many uses for pineapples and we want to support this in the Chilean market.
“We have also started the entry process for fresh rambutans a – project that is pending – and we hope soon to have the first Chilean rambutan exports.”
Cheverri highlights that rambutans are currently in the Chilean market in conserved form.
“The rambutan is a small fruit with a lot of sweetness. Here in Chile I’ve seen it in syrup, of Asian origin. However, being canned and with syrup, the flavor and texture of the fruit vary a lot.
“What we want is to promote the fresh fruit as the rambutan is a very exotic fruit and with it we expect to settle in the Chilean market.”
Emphatic, sure of his words and knowing what he is talking about, former president Oscar Arias Sanchez, strongly criticized the way presidenta Laura Chinchilla is managing the country’s direction.
Chinchilla was Vice-President and minister of Justice during the Arias 2006-2010 administration. Arias, a two time president and Nobel Peace Prize winner considered Chinchilla, for some years, his right hand.
Speaking on Repretel news television, Arias now says that Chinchilla does not know how to govern and said he regrets having supported and “pushing” her to the presidency.
Just a few years back, Aria had nothing but praise for doña Laura.
The former president said he had good advice for her, based on his experience, but she never took him up on it, not even a call from her,
If you live in the city of San José, you may think it unlikely you will need to chicken proof your garden. But, don’t take that to the bank.
If you live areas like Pavas, Sabana or Escazú, for example, chickens to do run loose. In rural areas, you will see chickens by the side of the road. So, whatever the case, if you are into gardening you should chicken proof it.
And why you say?
Aggressive beaks and scratching feet can decimate a garden quickly. If there are chickens running loose in your area, they are going to destroy your garden.
Chicken wire is your friend. A simple collar of chicken wire around a small plant will discourage chickens if they have enough to eat. To give the chicken wire structure, use a tomato cage or a couple of stakes.
Need something more? Check out hardware cloth. Sturdier than chicken wire, this wire mesh can be used to protect newly planted seeds. Cut out a square, and cut in a few inches at each corner. Bend the flaps bent down so it stands up off the ground, and weigh it down with bricks. This piece is protecting a bed of newly planted perennial onions. The chickens are unlikely to eat the onions, but they could hurt the new plantings by scratching in the freshly dug soil.
Get serious with bricks and stones. An aggressive chicken can scratch smaller stones out of the way, but a ring of bricks or larger stones around the base of a plant can discourage scratching. This method is especially important in newly planted containers, because the chickens love nothing better than to kick the loose soil out of a pot.
Get weeds to do the work. Yes, even weeds can help protect your plants. When you pull out weeds, you make patches of bare dirt that draw chickens like a magnet. Once they’ve stripped out worms and bugs, they lie in the dirt and pack it down to make dust baths.
With notes from Modern Farmer
Plants just for the chickens. Bushes and low-growing trees can provide shelter for chickens to escape from predators. On hot days, they spend a lot of time scratching and dozing in the deep shade under the bushes. It helps to plant at least one evergreen so the chickens have cover
Every July devoted Catholic Costa Ricans gather in Puntarenas to take part in the celebretations of the pagan festival, Virgen del Mar (Virgin of the Sea).
This year marked the 100 years since the miracle of the virgin of the sea in Puntarenas was recorded. The centenary was commemorated with a special church mass and the tradicional procession by ferry, along the coast of Puntarenas, the image of the virgin.
Throughout the month there are activities in Puntarenas led by the Catholic church.
This popular celebration, first held in 1913, consists of fishing boats and yachts decorated with lights and flags and sail around the harbour. Thousands of locals flock to celebrate and witness the blessing of commercial fishing boats by the local priest.
