Today, the country is full of shame, for the negligence and incompetence of the Federación Costarricense de Futbol (Fedefutbol) Costa Rica lost the possibility of organizing its first World Cup.
Fedefutbol president, Eduardo Li, confirmed Thursday receiving notice from the international soccer federation, FIFA ,that the U-17 Women’s World Cup 2014 will be relocated.
The FIFA said, “due to a number of unforeseen circumstances leading to heavy stadium construction delays, FIFA, in agreement with the Costa Rica Football Federation, has had no other option than to relocate the hosting of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup next year. FIFA would like to express its thanks to the Costa Rica Football Association for its efforts and commitment.”
FIFA is now looking at various options to evaluate potential hosts for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2014 as soon as possible.
The recommendations will be presented to the FIFA Executive Committee, which will decide on the new host of the competition during its next meeting on 20-21 March 2013 in Zurich.
The situation leaves Costa Rica will lots of egg on its face internationally, while at home the fingerpointing began.
Li was quoted in one the Spanish daily, “and for this I should resign?”
Li and the Fedefutbol are laying the blame on the central government for not fulfilling its US$3 million dollars pledge to build eight natural tennis courts in Jacó and Liberia and the renovation of the Edgardo Baltodano stadium.
The government, however, says the money was always on the tabe, only that the Fedefutbol never delivered on all the required documentation to satisfy the Contraloría General de la República (Comptroller’s office) to authorize the transfer.
The ministro de Deportes (Sports Minister), William Corrales and the ministro de la Presidencia (Presidency), Ricardo Benavides, say that in addition the Fedefutbol was behind in its payments to the Caja (Social Security) and the FODESAF fund.
La Nacion, the leading Spanish language newspaper, says it has copies of the Fedefutbol delinquency dating back to October 2012.
Pregnant women or women with children under 24 months and people with serious diseases could receive the benefit of wearing an ankle bracelet and serve their sentence out of prison if legislators approve the bill to allow the use of electronic devices to monitor offenders.
Legislator Elibeth Venegas confirmed that the bill is moving fast through the legislative process, receiving approval on Wednesday by the Comisión Plena Tercera, with the power to pass laws without going to the full Assembly.
The law would also permit the use of ankle bracelets in cases of probation or conditional release, the power being with a judge to order the use of the electronic device.
Venegas said the law would even give the benefit to those with offences for rape and murder, though stressing she is not in agreement with.
The use of an electronic device seeks to reduce prison overcrowding. By way of a monitoring centre operated by the Dirección General de Adaptación Social del Ministerio de Justicia, that will be responsible to report any breach.
The Ministro de Justicia, Fernando Ferraro, said in January that the project would be finaned in part by a US$132 million dollar loan for prisons by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Dr. Rodolfo Hernández has been a familiar face for years, always smiling for the television cameras unless he had to give bad news as director of the Hospital Nacional de Niños (Children’s hospital) in San José.
Hernández now wants to be president and has thrown in the town to be the face of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC). To do so he needed the approval of the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS), which he received this weeks.
Ileana Balmaceda Arias, president of the CCSS, confirmed that the doctor will have his leave starting March 11, 2012, when he will be able to dedicate his full time to the getting the PUSC nomination and if successful, will be running for president in the 2014 elections.
Arias was emphatic that Hernández will not be receiving a salary while on leave.
Supporting the Hernández leadership bid is former president Rafael Ángel Calderón.
The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) – Judicial Police – says that homicides and assaults fell in Costa Rica last year.
According to OIJ director, Francisco Segura, in 2012 there were 79 less violent deaths than in 2011. A decline was also recorded for assaults on indiviuals (13% less), vehicle thefts (15% less), though there was an increase in general thefts, in particular thefts of cellular phones and home robberies.
The cities with the highest incidents are: San José, Alajuela, Heredia, and Desamparados and Limón.
Director Segura noted that actions taken by the current administration are responsible for the reductions but there still is a need for improvement.
The Banco Nacional (BN) bank manager who admitted to stealing ¢378 million colones (US$756.000) has lost his appeal to receive his salary while in prison awaiting trial.
Juan Carlos Quesada, manager of the Playa Carmen (Cobano) branch of the Banco Nacional who made off with bags of money from the vault after closing, filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court to receive his pay.
The Court said the matter is a labour dispute.
Quesada surrendered to police on January 24, days after making off with the bank’s money, claiming he took the money because he had received threats. The Juzgado Penal de Hacienda imposed a three month preventive detention.
Banco Nacional spokesperson, Carlos Echeverría, said the Código de Trabajo (Labour Code) gives the bank the right not to pay the employee his salary while he is in jail.
The stolen money has yet to be found. Investigators have not been able to trace it, and Quesada is not telling them where it is and/or who he gave it to and/or who has it.
Latin men fear that the woman leaving the home to work will meet another man, says study.
Sexual harassment and machismo (sexism) continues in all the Central American countries and the Caribbean, according to a studby the Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT), the Latin American and Caribbean division of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.
The report “Acoso sexual en el trabajo y masculinidad en Centroamérica y República Dominicana” (Sexual harassment at work and masculinity in Central America and the Dominican Republic) says that men in Latin America are allowing their wives to work only for the financial need, but with this “sacrifice” they expose their fear that another man will “steal” their women.
The report was elaborated by the OIT office in San José.
ILO researcher, José Manuel Salas, said that the study took in responses from 428 men of the “general” population, with heterogeneous sociodemographic characteristics (including age, origin, education level, occupation, sexual orientation, marital status) to determine the elements of masculinity that may contribute to sexual harassment at work.
Salas explained that the study tried to analyze how men think, their dominant ideas and their thoughts on sexual harassment in the workplace and though results varied, the study found that men’s masculinity is questioned.
The study reveals that although the men do not agree with what is going on (the harassment) in the workplace, machismo has not dropped, that it is strong and dominant.
Salas indicates that men do not like the integration of women into the workplace and though accept that it is a right and there is a financial need as one salary is not enough, their acceptance is not full, because there is the fear that the woman leaving the home to work will meet another man.
Meanwhile, the researched stressed that men are also sexually harassed at work, but do not report it.
“For a man being harassed by a woman it is a like a compliment, he considers himself handsome and that raises his ego, but if harassed by another man, his homophobic fear kicks in”, explains Salas.
In Costa Rica, the vice-ministro de Trabajo, Eugenio Solano, confirmed that last year there were 16 cases of sexual harassment in the workplace, mainly in the commercial and services sectors.
“The actual number of cases is not large, however, has been increasing as the harassed worker dares to file charges, especially in the public sector where there is job security, unlike in the private sector, where most cases of harassment occur at the management level and as the harassed worker filing a complaint faces dismissal by her harasser manager”, explained Solano.
“Most victims of sexual harassment in the private sector have no choice but to endure it”, added the vice-ministro.
Victims of sexual harassment by their boss become bullied into quitting, for the boss who sought and was denied a sexual relationship, may make the life of the employee impossible which sooner or later ends in the employee quitting her job. And there are false accusations, a person denied a promotion or raise, for example, or the affair ended badly, a person will file sexual harassment charges for spite.
Source: Organización Internacional del Trabajo, Ministeio de Trabajo
The director of the Policia de Tránsito (traffic police), Germán Marín, admits to operating under staffed and with not sufficient resources to adequately provide patrols and coverage on the country’s roads.
The director says that the staffing problems does not permit the type of controls the public expects and demands.
“There is a group that in charge of the issue, but to be sincere, a lack of personnel limits us very much”, said Marín.
The director pointed out the problem faced this past Monday, when there were 53 traffic accidents during peak hours. This means traffic officials are attending to accidents and cannot be out on patrol.
The lack of traffic officials – currently there some 1.100 countrywide – means that drivers do not have to concern themselves too much with respecting the rules of the road.
Most know that, especially during peak (rush) hours, there aren’t enough traffic cops to control the use of seat belts, talking on the phone while driving, etc…including the traffic restrictions of San José, which more and more drivers are “taking their chances” that they will not be stopped.
On Tuesday and Wednesday this weekend, on the Circunvalacion eastbound before the Autopista bridge, a place where traffic cops are usually stationed mornings and afternoons, there weren’t any to be seen.
A quick count of vehicles, between 5:45pm and 6:15pm each day, revealed that 1 in 4 vehicles were with restricted plates: 3 and 4 on Tuesday and 5 and 6 on Wednesday.
Autopistas del Sol, the concessionaire of the Ruta 27 or commonly known as the San José – Caldera, is now under control of one owner.
Auotipstas made the announcement that minority shareholder, Sacyr sold its interest (35%) to majority shareholder, Global Via Infraestructuras, S.A, who know owns 100% of the shares of Autopistas. Bot Sacyr and Global Via are Spanish companies.
The sale is reported at 103.3 milion Euros (US$136.2 million dollars).
Reports that the Global Via has purchased Autopistas del Sol or the highway, a public road in Costa Rica, are confusing.
Globalvia, is a unit of Spanish builder FCC and nationalized lender Bankia , a Spanish banking conglomerate that was formed in December 2010, consolidating the operations of seven regional savings banks. As of 2012, Bankia is the fourth largest bank of Spain with 12 million customers.
Global Via engages in developing and operating infrastructures in Spain, the European Union, North America, and Latin America. Its infrastructure portfolio includes motorways, metropolitan railways and tramways, commercial ports, airports, hospitals, public buildings, leisure ports, tolled highways and tunnels, non users-tolled highways, marinas, and seaports. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Madrid, Spain with additional offices in New York, New York; Dublin, Ireland; Mexico; and Santiago de Chile, Chile.
The Ruta 27 is a 76.8 kilometre road from La Sabana (San José) to Caldera (Puntarenas).
Chinchilla (left) and Ortega (Right) during better times!
Costa Rica’s presidenta, Laura Chinchilla, said no to a proposal from her Nicaraguan counterpart, Daniel Ortega, to meet at the border, to be together at the border for the judgement of the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
Ortega said that, more that just meeting, it important that Nicaragua undertakes to comply with the decisions of the world court.
The move appears to be an attempt by the Sandinista leader to reconcile differences with Costa Rica.
For now presidenta Chinchilla is not reaching for the olive branch.
Costa Rica and Nicaragua are locked into a legal battle over the ownership of the piece of swamp land known as Isla Calero in Costa Rica and Harbour Head in Nicaragua.
Costa Rica claims its neighbour invaded soverign territory in October 2010, while Nicaragua claims the lands are part of its territory, still within the flow of the San Juan river.
The dispute stems from more than a century old agreement gives Nicaragua full ownership of the San Juan river – anything north of Costa Rica’s river bank – while Costa Rica has navigational rights. Over time the course of the river has changed. And it is that change that has generated the dispute, with the Nicaraguans claiming tha the “original” course of the river is the demarcation of the border between the two countries.
Rolling back in time a bit, Daniel Ortega faced a tough re-election and it is said he used the border dispute to bolster his standings with his people, reclaiming territory the Ticos allegedly stole, in the same the Nicaraguans accuse Costa Rica of stealing Guanacaste from them.
Moving forward, Ortega won his re-election and has further solidified his power base. And with the international court ruling coming due soon and with Chinchilla leaving office in a year, it may be a perfect time to settle the dispute.
Important to note that the two countries have been locked in some kind or another border dispute over the decades, always patching up things to again quarrel, to patch, to quarrel….to patch, to quarrel, and so on…
According to the Dirección de Protección y Seguridad Interna del ICE – the internal security at the state power and telecom utility – four employees were under fire suspected of embezzlement.
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad officials said the employees would change amounts on invoices to collect the differnce after payment.
Although none of the employees have yet to be arrested, the case file was handed over to the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) – Costa Rica’s judicial police – to investigate and if enough evidence found, to charge the employees.
Based on information confiscated by ICE’s internal investigators on raids on the ICE buildings in La Sabana and plants in Pavas, they found scanners and invoices used to defraud the state entity.
ICE officials did not say its customers were defrauded or not.
The electronic parking meters that are expected to bring order to San José’s street parking chaos are expected to be operational after Easter, according to the director de Seguridad Ciudadana de la Municipalidad de San José (MSJ), Marcelo Solano.
Solano confirmed that they have begun the installation of the 67 machines. To feed the meter (pay for the parking space) users will have three payment options: by text message, online payment or a prepaid card.
The cost to park at the new meter will be ¢255 colones per half hour (¢510 for the full hour, less than ¢700 or more at parking lots), but may change in the coming months, according to Solano.
The meters will allow municipal inspectors to use an electronic device – a handheld unit similar to that used by the Policía de Tránsito (traffic police) to fine vehicles.
The cost of the projest is around US$1 million dollars (US$14.900 per meter) in a contract awarded to the Spanish company Setex, that in addition to installing and maintaining the meters, will also promote their use.
Currently, the city of San José has 1.450 parking (legal) spaces. To park in any one of the spaces, the user has to obtain a “ticket” from a local vendor and place it on the windshield. A municipal traffic inspector (meter maid) monitor the spaces and issued parking fines to vehicles without or an expired ticket.
One of the major problems with this system is finding where the tickets are sold. In some areas, an attendant is nearby, keeping an eye on “his or her” spaces and ready to sell you a ticket and maintain it current if you overstay.
In many areas, however, tickets are sold by local businesses or even from private homes and many do not have a sign indicating the sale, thus leaving a driver to ask around as to where to buy the ticket.
The Iberoamerican branch of hacktivist group Anonymous warned in a statement on its website that Costa Rican websites will be targeted as a consequence of a computer and information crimes law that went into effect last November. The group claims the law “threatens citizens’ rights, press freedom, international agreements and the Costa Rican Constitution.”
Anonymous said their actions against Tico websites were to begin last Monday and would continue until late March. Local media on Tuesday reported cyber attacks against some official websites such as the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) and the Ministry Education Ministry (MEP).
Alexánder Vargas, MEP’s IT manager, said the ministry website had experienced some problems due to an unusual amount of user access attempts that swamped the server and kept the website down for two hours. “This could be attributed to a hacker attack, but no information was affected and the website did not suffer any damage,” he added. He also said that MEP’s IT staff had taken steps to prevent further problems.
ARESEP spokeswoman María Angélica Carvajal ruled out a hacker-related attack at that agency, saying the website’s minor problems on Monday were related to internal migration of data to a new host.
The “Computer Crimes Law,” known in Costa Rica as the “Ley Mordaza,” or gag law, was approved on July 9 last year when President Laura Chinchilla signed a reform establishing prison terms of four to eight years for those who “seek or obtain secret political information by unlawful means.”
Members of the press called the rule a gag law and demanded its repeal on the grounds that it constitutes a direct threat to freedom of access to information. According to the Costa Rican Journalists Association, “international jurisprudence is against jail terms for those who obtain correspondence by irregular means in matters of proven public interest, which would affect journalistic investigations.”
Last November, groups opposing the law held several protests in downtown San José.
“Atrasar” means “To be late or behind” and can easily be found in perhaps 89% of the daily Tico (Costa Rican) Spanish language news publications as well as news channels. Being “behind” or “late” is just a way of life in Costa Rica.
It is oh so simple to call “atraso” laid back, “chilled out” until the bridge collapses killing five while once again we strive to become a member of the developed country club.
On one hand, mostly to the “right”, the quest is to be “on time” is included into the club of developed countries. On the other hand, Costa Rica cruise ships, a lot like recent Carnival ships, tend to venture into unchartered waters and the most exciting news item of the day is the opening of another fast food franchise.
As a country, we have as yet to accept (a) finding the key to becoming a developed country and (b) it is costly to play that game.
It seems to me that every day that I read the main stream Spanish language news, I also read the word “atraso”. Inherent with atraso is the mix of neo-liberlaism and liberalism. That a community of workers and society who refuse to relinquish the paternal values of our government to the profit motive.
The experiment in Costa Rica, be it planned or morphed, is how to mix the “right” with the “left” and still grow economically grow as well as socially in a very short period of time.
Perhaps not so much an experiment which indicates “thought” but rather how do we get, by design or chance, from a purely free enterprise (profit) society to one that is more “social” and still survive the deafening waves of the developed world?
While global politics makes little sense in definition of terms, I am an expat who dearly hopes Costs Rica can and will become what it once was with a tinge of outrageous capitalism. (Not just capitalisms but “outrageous” capatilaism) with the alma (Spirit) of socialism. We were created, since 1948 as a “social democracy”, and as old as that theory might be, perhaps it is the best during these times of global violence. Perhaps we need more Quakers to settle in Monteverde, Costa Rica to show us the way to peace and compromise? (But then again, they would only have 90 day visas).
Everything we do and have planned is atrasar = late.
Is there so little national pride, so little sense of honesty, so little transparency that discovering people, firms cheating tax payers by the media have become the new national sport replacing futbol (soccer)?
The road to Liberia = Atrasar: Private electricity = Atrasar: The collection of seguro social premiums = Atrasar: La Patina bridge repair = Atrasar, Resolving the pubic healthcare system = Atrasar: A fiscal plan = Atrasar, Private energy providers = Atrasar, Sexual education = Atrasar……
The list is endless of good intentions and a serious failure of implementation from crime to healthcare.
Always there is some sort of excuse and one that cannot easily be refuted. Mostly on roads and infrastructure such as water, electricity and now Internet.
In fact, the only projects to be given the “on time” award were the Trocha which is has been the subject and investigation of massive fraud, incompetency and corruption for better than a year now. And, the last fix of the infamous Platina bridge repair was indeed on time. However it lasted only ten days and not the 20 years as purported.
And, “Yes”, the road to Caldera was opened ahead of schedule. Again, people died in transit only because it was poorly put together but “on time” for a timely inauguration by our then president.
“Ah, and yes,” the Crucitas mine project was opened and operational on time only to be shut down by the Supreme Court (Sala IV).
So, albeit difficult, the idea is to complete a legal, social project that is on time, within budget and safe.
The Subway chain of restaurants in Costa Rica is targeting at least eight more locations this year, with an investment of about US$1.6 million dollars.
The franchisee has already opened two new locations this year, opening last month in Plaza Roble in Escazú and the Centro Comercial Plaza Santo Domingo, in Heredia.
In March Subway is set to open in San Francisco de Dos Rios, and in June in downtown San José, adjacent to the Teatro Nacional.
The franchisee is keeping quiet, for now, on the location of the other restaurants.
Subway currently operates 54 restaurants in Costa Rica.
There is a joke in Costa Rica that says, if something doesn’t sell, raise the price! Well, this supermarket did just that. Notice that the “mejor precio” (best price) is higher that the “antes” (before) for a kilo of zanahoria (carrot in Spanish).
Construction has started on a $96 million oil terminal in Moin, a port on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, the government said.
The new oil dock will be able to handle tankers in the 40,000 ton to 80,000 ton class. Presidenta Laura Chinchilla laid the cornerstone for the terminal during a ceremony on Monday in Moin, Limón.
The oil dock is expected to begin operating by the end of 2014, officials said.
The oil terminal’s expansion is being funded by state-owned Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo (Recope), and the dock is being constructed by Mexican-Costa Rican consortium MECO, which won the bidding for the project.
Tankers arriving at the new terminal will be able to unload their oil 24 hours a day.
Costa Rica’s oil tab totaled $2.175 billion in 2012 and $2.172 billion 2011, Recope said.
Top donors are from Nicaragua, Colombia and the United States
According to the Migración y Extranjería (immigration service) some 77.000 foreigners, in processing their residency application or renewal, registered as potential organ donors.
The organ donation is a special program by the immigration service since 2006.
Freddy Montero Mora, interim director of immigration, said “we have joined forces with the ministry of Health, the Social Security Fund, College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New Life Foundation, to work on the dissemination and awareness of organ donation and transplants”.
According to information provided by the immigration service, topping the list of organ donors are; Nicaraugans, Colombians and Americans. Also donations are being offered by nationals of Spain, Britian, Belgium, Japan, Cuba and El Salvador.
The process to become an organ donor is simple. The applicant for residency or renewal of residency is asked if they want to be an organ donor.
Immigration authorities say it helps with the “integration of migrants to the development of the country”.
Get ready for higher gasoline prices in the coming days. That is the word by the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) – regulator of public prices and services.
The Aresep approved on Monday a hike of ¢17 colones for a litre of super and ¢15 for regular and diesel fuel.
According to Aresep spokesperson, Carolina Mora, the increasse is to geopolitical processes that affect international prices.
The notice of the increase is expected to be at the national printer by today, which will then be required to publish within 3 to 5 days and prices taking effect the day following publication.
Thus, the increase could be as early as Saturday.
The hike also affects compressed natural gas, kerosene and aviation fuels.
Following are tables, the first for gasoline prices and the second for natural gas.
Costa Rica’s Legislature on Tuesday approved in second and final debate an overhaul to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Mexico aimed at spurring trade between the Costa Rica and its neighbours.
Under the terms of the new agreement, Mexico and Costa Rica’s existing 1995 treaty will be merged with Mexico’s covenants with Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, to stimulate regional trade.
“The approval of this agreement is an important step in the consolidation and expansion of trade and investment flows between Costa Rica and Mexico. This FTA is the result of a convergence process which improved customs procedures that favour the accumulation of origin and trade facilitation, were modernized provisions on investment, services, government procurement and intellectual property”, said the Costa Rican Trade Ministe, Anabel Gonzalez, who highlighted the work of the legislatos.
Gonzalez is competing to be the next director general of the World Trade Organization.
Trade between Costa Rica and Mexico grew 10% a year between 2000-2011, generating US$1.4 billion, according to Costa Rica’s foreign trade ministry.
The update to the treaty comes a week after new Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto visited Costa Rica, taking part in the Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA) meetings held in San José – where he met with his counterpart Laura Chinchilla and urged the Costa Rica’s legislators to approve the revised treaty, originally signed in 2011.
During his visit, Peña also met with heads of state from Panama, Honduras and Guatemala, and told reporters that he had discussed the possibility of including Panama, the region’s booming economy, within the terms of the treaty.
Central America is the fourth Mexican investment destination in Latin America.
By its geographical proximity, particularly for the South-East of Mexico, Central America represents, as a region, an important markets.
Costa Rica’s Psychologists Association has issued a bold statement today condemning attempts to “cure” homosexuality through ex-gay therapy.
The harmful treatment has been on the rise in Latin America, but according to Psychologists Association spokesperson Marisol Fournier, there is no scientific basis for ex-gay therapy:
FOURNIER: Since it is not a disease, it cannot be cured. We do not focus on whether (gays) are born (gay) or (become gay), [but instead focus on who they are]. As psychologists, we must ensure conditions for these people to live a life with emotional integrity, and this means recognizing them as individuals with their own sexual orientation and fully unmark this idea of homosexuality as a disease.
The statement reflects similar guidance issued by the Pan American Health Organization (a subset of the World Health Organization) last May, pointing out that the stigma promoted by ex-gay therapy is the only reason gay people should be tempted by the “unjustifiable practices” in the first place.
Travel & Leisure magazine has included Bahía Ballena in its list of 15 “Hottest Travel Destinations of 2013”, with destinations from a still-undiscovered corner of Italy to an unexpected foodie mecca in the American heartland.
T+L says Costa Rica’s Bahía Ballena is a pristine bay that has been a secret favorite of backpackers and migrating whales. But it couldn’t stay under that shroud of cloud forest forever.
“Surrounded by mountains and jungle-fringed beaches on the Pacific, this pristine bay bordering a national marine park was long the secret of surfers and backpackers—and migrating whales. Now there’s Kura Design Villas ($$$$), an upscale eco-resort whose six minimalist villas are open to the tropical air.”
Located in the South Pacific, the Bahía Ballena is one of the favorites for the dolphins and humpback whales, which are in the warm waters of the best places to breed.
Bahía Ballena is home to biodiversity, which protects the Marino Ballena National Park, an attractive destination for responsible travelers, nature lovers and sustainable tourism.
This area is visited by large numbers of tourists, attracted by the beauty of the South Pacific and the variety of the activities of adventure tourism.
The deputy ministe of Security, Celso Gamboa, said that Costa Rica is the country with the most marijuana eradication per square kilometre in the world.
Gamboa made the statements on the morning radio show, Nuestra voz.
The deputy minister also said that in terms of confiscating cash, this past year authorities have seized some US$3 million dollars at Peñas Blancas border crossing alone.
According to Gamboa, the Policía de Control de Drogas (Drug Enforcement Police) confiscated at the Nicaragua border, close to one million just in the first two months of this year.
The statements by the security minister following the detaining of a Costa Rican boat by a joint patrols of the United States and Costa Rica Coast Guard service.
The Comisionado Antidrogas (antidrug czar), Mauricio Boraschi, confirmed that 500 kgs of cocaine was confiscated off a boat on the high seas of the Pacific and the dentention of three men, Costa Rican and Colombian nationals.
By Kevin Casas-Zamora*, From American Quarterly issue:Trafficking and Transnational Crime (Spring 2010)
Politics has long been a magnet for drug money in Latin America. In the 1970s, Costa Rican politicians were accused of accepting contributions from the late Robert Vesco, a U.S. financier who settled in Costa Rica after fleeing prosecution at home. Vesco, some of whose money purportedly came from heroin smuggling, was a major backer of the winning party’s 1974 election campaign, according to former Costa Rican President José Figueres.
At the time, campaign finance activities were not regulated by Costa Rican law. Even in Vesco’s wake, they would remain unregulated for a long time—which, unsurprisingly, led to a new scandal a decade later, when the main parties in Costa Rica were found to have accepted contributions from a number of donors linked to the drug trade. One important donor was General Manuel A. Noriega, then neighboring Panama’s leader, whose involvement in drug trafficking would lead to his ouster from power by a U.S. military intervention in 1989.
By then the Costa Rican experience was hardly exceptional. The campaigns of Bolivian President Jaime Paz Zamora in the 1980s were tainted by accusations of links to drug traffickers, as was the 1994 campaign of Panama’s President Ernesto Pérez Balladares.
There were also the more serious cases of Colombia and Mexico, where the role of drug barons in underwriting campaigns had been an open secret since the 1970s. In Colombia, in particular, the election of drug lord Pablo Escobar to congress in 1982 was a sobering as well as farcical moment. The day of reckoning, however, came with the emergence of tapes showing that the campaign of President Ernesto Samper had sought and received several million dollars from the drug cartels in the runup to the 1994 election. This revelation, the mother of all drug trafficking-cum-campaign finance scandals in Latin America, not only doomed Samper’s administration but rattled Colombia’s otherwise solid democracy.
Since then, there are reasons to think that the drug-politics link has grown deeper in the region. Just last year, in the run-up to the mid-term congressional elections in Mexico, two legislative candidates (one in the State of Chihuahua, another in the State of Mexico) were accused in press reports of having links with organized crime.7 More strikingly, in early February of this year, the ruling Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN) decided to suspend all open primaries in the border state of Tamaulipas due to the risk of infiltration by narcotics cartels.
“In the case of Tamaulipas, everybody knows the possible influence of crime in candidate selection,” explained PAN’s national chairman, César Nava, “We won’t leave any room for that to happen.”
The case of Tamaulipas illustrates the very real dilemmas that beset democratic systems in Latin America in trying to coexist with a huge illicit industry that requires political protection as humans require oxygen. While not unique to Latin America, these challenges manifest themselves in the region with uncommon intensity.
Notwithstanding vast efforts to eradicate illicit crops and interdict drugs, Latin America continues to be the world’s largest cocaine producer and plays a growing role in the production of synthetic drugs and opiates. Whether as producers of illicit crops, as transshipment countries, as entry points to key markets, as money laundering locales, or as large consumption markets, practically all countries in the region take part in a drug trade that mobilizes tens of billions of dollars every year. This money flow and the sophistication of the criminal networks that sustain it feed many other illicit activities and have transformed the region’s political and security landscapes.
The funding of parties and candidates is just one of the fronts where the battle between organized crime and democratic institutions is played out. But it is an important one.
Investing in politics is a natural step for an industry that requires weak law enforcement and a measure of control over crucial public institutions, like customs, to thrive. Helping to elect friends who can open doors and peddle influence throughout the state apparatus is often more efficient than other methods, such as bribing, blackmail or threatening violence.
While buying political protection is the name of the game for drug traffickers, their decision to contribute to parties and candidates may also have other rationales. As the cases of Vesco and, more clearly, Escobar show well, it may also be an attempt to penetrate political circles to gain social respectability.
This points to one of the most interesting, if unsung, political struggles underway in Latin America today: the battle in which traditional economic elites reject the arrival of that ragged newcomer, the drug trafficker, to the dispute for political power. In countries as diverse as Mexico, Honduras and Colombia, political finance is one of the ways in which a new kind of barbarian is crashing through the gates of country clubs and presidential palaces, to the horror of the well-bred few.
While drugs and politics have a long history in the region, several new political factors have made Latin American politics more vulnerable to organized crime. Here are four key ones:
Competitive Democracies
In most Latin American countries, elections are more competitive. In 43 presidential elections held in 18 Latin American countries between 2000 and 2010, opposition candidates prevailed 53 percent of the time. While competitive elections and viable opposition parties probably help to improve the levels of political transparency, they also tend to raise the cost of politics. Although reliable evidence on the cost of campaigns in the region is notoriously difficult to come by, the available data yield some worrying findings.
In the case of Mexico, estimates of paid political advertising on television by the three main presidential candidates ranged from $70 million in 2000 to well above $100 million in 2006.10 And much more is spent on other campaigns at both the federal and subnational level. In Brazil, a rough estimate of the cost of the 2006 general election was $2.5 billion, according to Brazilian expert Bruno Speck. Sums spent in small countries are often higher, proportionally speaking. The current president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, a wealthy businessman, spent $19 million in his campaign, a remarkable figure in a country with barely 2 million registered voters. Competitive elections, in other words, offer terrific opportunities for crime syndicates hoping to make political investments.
Lax Enforcement While Latin American countries have made significant strides toward regulating campaign finance, the enforcement of these rules continues to be extremely weak. With the exception of El Salvador, for instance, every country has either banned certain kinds of political funding or introduced contribution limits. Likewise, in nearly every Latin American country (El Salvador is the exception again) parties must submit regular financial reports to the electoral authorities, an obligation that also covers candidates in several countries including Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Moreover, fines (in all countries, except El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic) and penal sanctions (in 7 out of 18 countries) have been introduced to back up existing political finance controls. Yet, more often than not, these regulations are honored in the breach. The comprehensive controls introduced in Argentina in 2002, for instance, lost all credibility when 10 days before the 2003 presidential election the leading candidate and eventual winner reported, without any adverse consequence, that his campaign expenses amounted to one peso. In Central American countries, despite numerous blatant violations of political finance laws, not a single criminal or electoral sanction has ever been meted out to anyone. Mexico stands out as the only regional example in which a powerful electoral authority has made a genuine effort to enforce campaign finance laws, in some cases with extraordinary severity.
Indeed, in the wake of Mexico’s 2000 election, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) was fined $100 million by the electoral authority for having received electoral funds from a state-run company, which were not reported to authorities. This is, by a huge margin, a world record.
Decentralization
The region-wide trend toward political decentralization is facilitating the penetration of organized crime. On the one hand, decentralization processes open up new arenas of electoral competition that add to the cost of politics. Very often, these new layers of competition are outside the scope of the already lax campaign finance controls that operate at the national level. On the other hand, the devolution of significant powers, even police powers, to local authorities creates an obvious incentive for the intervention of organized crime.
Even in small countries, co-opting national institutions—through campaign contributions, bribes or the threat of violence—is a much more difficult, expensive and conspicuous option for drug traffickers than securing the co-operation of local authorities. Besides, the latter are often the ones endowed with the power to disturb or shield criminal activities in a particular locale. The experience of Colombia, where a vigorous decentralization process has taken place since the 1980s, is particularly relevant. In that case, since 2006, over 80 national congresspeople have been investigated for ties to paramilitary groups. Penetration of violent criminal gangs is even more pervasive at the local level.
Weak System Parties
The weakness of parties and party systems throughout the region also has troubling financial implications. The dearth of fee-paying party members and the modest amounts available to candidates from most systems of public election funding in Latin America leave parties and their candidates heavily dependent on their ability to attract private contributors.
The weak party systems in many Latin American countries also make them particularly prone to the emergence of political outsiders who are supported by little more than a well-funded electoral machine. Panama’s Martinelli is merely the most recent addition to a list that includes Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, among many others. This points to a glaring risk: in many Latin American countries criminals don’t need to buy off a national party structure in order to have a fighting chance at electoral success: all they need is to bankroll an electoral machine, often surprisingly flimsy.
The capture of parties and elected officials by moneyed interests is bad news for democracy. At a minimum, it compromises the premise of political equality that supports the whole edifice of democracy, reflected in the principle of “one person, one vote,” and stunts the ability of parties and leaders to channel broader social demands. Such a loss of political autonomy is serious if it occurs vis-à-vis legitimate interests, business or otherwise. It is, however, devastating when it involves organized crime.
The encroachment on the autonomy of elected leaders as a result of the financial participation of organized crime in their campaigns has peculiar traits. Insofar as the funds come from a donor with an uncommon ability to exert coercion, the campaign contributions from organized crime are far more than a mere attempt to buy influence with policymakers. Unlike interactions between private donors and politicians, where quid-pro-quos are seldom articulated explicitly and elected politicians always retain the possibility of not fulfilling the donor’s expectations, the normal codes of etiquette and uncertainty in the case of drug traffickers do not apply.
In the classic formulation that became Pablo Escobar’s trademark, “plata o plomo” (buck or bullet) are often the only choices public officials face. Given these options, once he or she is “bought,” it is exceptionally difficult for any politician to escape from this dynamic.
Indeed, drug-related contributions received, even unknowingly, by a politician may be used to blackmail him once elected. This is no Hollywood script. It is exactly what José Castrillón Henao, a Cali cartel associate who contributed generously to the campaign of President Pérez Balladares in Panama, attempted to do when arrested on drug trafficking charges by the Panamanian authorities in 1996. Although he failed to secure impunity for himself by going public with his contribution checks, he managed to embarrass the president well beyond Panama.
There are more fundamental issues at stake than the loss of the autonomy of elected officials. The capture of parties, leaders and institutions by perpetrators of illicit activities is done with the goal of achieving impunity from any of their crimes and thus undercuts the rule of law. This is a crucial difference between organized crime and any other interest group. Legitimate interests that contribute to campaigns seek to shape the law in their favor. Organized crime seeks to prevent the law from being enforced altogether—and this strikes at the heart of the viability of the state.
Campaign contributions from organized crime enhance the power and influence of actors who, in many cases, actively dispute the state’s sovereign control over a territory, as Colombians and Mexicans know well. They nurture a power that exists not through the law, but outside it. In the worst cases of political penetration by organized crime, the distinction between institutions and crime—between inside and outside the law-—dissolves as the state and its authorities become effective abettors of criminal activities, and may even depend on such activities to function.
*Kevin Casas-Zamora is a former vice president of Costa Rica.
In yet another case where the courts in Costa Rica send the message that, “yes, do what you want and don’t worry“, the drunk driver responsible for the weekend accident that sent a little girl to the intensive care unit, was set free.
The 4 year old girl, who sitting on the front seat on the lap of her mother, was pinned between the door of the small van and the light post in the vehicle driver by her mother’s drunken boyfriend.
She is in hospital fighting to stay alive. Dr. Rodolfo Hernández, director of the Hospital Nacional de Niños (Children’s Hospital), describes her condition as “very critical”.
Yet, the man responsible for the accident was walking free on Monday, a testament that the country’s judges have no clue of the reality of the situation.
I ask, why would a mother carry her small child on her lap in the front seat? Why would she get into her boyfriend’s vehicle who was visibly drunk?
The only answers I can come up with is the Costa Rica society that has developed over the last several years, one where there is total lack of respect for everything and the inability to take responsibility. “Yo no fuí!” (It was not me).
In this case, it was disturbing to read the decision of the court to let the man go free, especially and equally disturbing when reading that the police had to confront an angry group in arresting the man at the scene of the accident.
The Fiscalía de Hatillo (prosecutor’s office in Hatillo) says it is preparing to formally charge him. But, like in many cases before and surely to more to come, this man will probably disappear, protected by those who already showed by their actions in defending him against arrest, condone this type of behaviour.
The mother, so far has kept quiet on the issue. She was one of ten passengers in a small vehicle that had capacity for 5.
Worse is that this is not an isolated case.
The Hospital Nacional de Niños confirm that so far this year they have had to treat 35 minors involved in traffic accidents. That is almost 1 per day.
Costa Rica, it is time to respect the traffic laws and own up to responsible behaviour, not only behind the wheel but in everything.
It starts at the top with the leaders of “paradise” setting the example.
Enrico Cacciatore Editor & Publisher of the Q Media.
A supply of bottled water is one solution to the water rationing that will see taps dry from 6 up to 12 hours or more daily in many areas
Water supply will be cut from 6 to 12 hours daily affecting more than 200,000 homes in the San José area
A supply of bottled water is one solution to the water rationing that will see taps dry from 6 up to 12 hours or more daily in many areas of San José!
It’s summer in Costa Rica. And that also means water rationing. Yes, WATER RATIONING!
The Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA) – national water and sewer utility – announced the rationing on Monday that will affect tens of thousands of homes in the Gran Area Metropolitana (GAM) – Greater Metropolitan Area of San José and as far as Atenas and Puntarenas, with limited to full water cuts daily.
The areas most affected – some 20,000 homes – with 12 hours or more of daily water cuts are: Alajuelita, Escazú, Santa Ana. In adtion athe areas of , Alto López and Río Grande in Atenas and Santa Teresa in Cóbano, will see their water taps dry for more than 12 hours daily.
Another 160,000 living in Moravia, Desamparados and Goicoechea will be without water for 6 to 12 hours daily.
In addition, 175,000 homes in other areas of San José will see water shortages of up to 6 hours at a time.
The AyA says it will monitor the situation and will provide water tanker trucks to areas most affected, not only in San José and the Central Valley, but to any area in the country where water shortages affect living conditions.
The lack of rain for more than two months has reduced water levels in the storage tanks and the rationing is to eliminate a complete lack of supply water.
The rationing program is expected to continue until the rainy season kicks in May.
Cameras are already working but information on speeding drivers is not being sent to the Policia de Tránsito
It is expected that the traffic cameras will back working on the main highways around San José as early as in a week or more, this given that staff of the Radiográfica Costarricense (Racsa) have been fining tuning the camera equipment and operating system.
In fact, Racsa spokesperson, Mario Zaragoza, confirmed that the cameras are operational but that the information on speeding drivers is not yet being passed on to the Policia de Tránsito.
The nod for the cameras to begin fining speeders is awaiting the decision by the Consejo de Seguridad Vial (Cosevi) board of directors. That decision could come in a couple of days.
The decision to use Racsa is a logical one, according to the Ministro de Transportes (MOPT), Pedro Castro. Racsa being a state agency eliminates the process of bidding that would be required if the contract were to go to a private company, explained Castro.
Zaragoza confirmed that Racsa technicians have been busy tuning the equipment and that the cameras are working.
If you will recall the cameras were installed at five different locations across the greater metropolitan area of San José, mainly on the “autopistas” (highways), to catch drivers who go over the posted speed limit.
More than 20.000 drivers were picked off by the cameras in the little over a month of operation back in 2011, when due to legal problems the operation had to be scrapped.
The main problem was the notification of offending drivers. The publication of license plates of vehicles picked off by the cameras became controversial.
This time around, with the new traffic law that went into force on October 2012, all vehicle owners are required to provide the Cosevi with contact information*, information that is then used to “legally” notify the owner of the vehicle.
The 2012 law also allows that the owner of a vehicle who was not driving his or her vehicle at the time of the infraction to point the responsibility to the person actually driving the vehicle at the time, ie if the car was lent to a friend, an employee or in the case of car rental agencies, the renter.
Once the cameras start rolling (pun intended) the owner of the offending vehicle will be notified by email. The owner of the vehicle will then have to pay up or appeal the ticket. Failing the amount of the fine, plus costs, will be added to the annual circulation permit or Marchamo as it is known in Costa Rica.
*The October 2012 traffic law requires every driver to register their contact (notification) information. Failure to do so does not negate the responsibility to pay the fine.
It’s official, the Cirque de Soleil (Circus of the Sun in English; Circo del Sol in Spanish) will be in Costa Rica for two weeks, from May 31 to June 15.
The San José appearance, though the ticket sales are not yet showing on the Soleil website, was confirmed manager Robert Mackenzie at a press conference Monday.
“15 million have seen the show and want to add Cotsa Rica to the list”, said Mackenzie.
The cost of admission is not cheap. Tickets are expected to go on sale in a couple of weeks and will start at ¢28.000 (US$56) and up to ¢134.000 (US$268). Holders of Credomatic’s American Express cards can make their purchases between March 6 and 10, sale to the general public will start on March 11.
The show will take place under the Gran Chapiteau (big top) at Hacienda Espinal located in San Rafael de Alajuela.
The Gran Chapiteau is easily recognizable by their blue and yellow coloring. The infrastructure that tours with each show could easily be called a mobile village; it includes the Grand Chapiteau, a large entrance tent, artistic tent, kitchen, school, and other items necessary to support the cast and crew.
Get out the umbrella and galoshes for it will be a wet week says the national weather service, the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN).
Monday afternoon was typical of what can be expected for the rest of the week. According to meteorologist Rebeca Mora, a decreae in the winds and increased humidity is behind the afternoon rains that come down on the Central Valley on Monday and expected to continue for the days ahead.
Monday afternoon’s showers – as compared to the typical rain of the rainy season – was a surprise to most and the source of increased traffic congestion.
The skies over the Central Valley went dark in the early afternoon hours, a little drizzle could be felt at times, typical of what one could expect during the months of May to November.
But, hey we are still in February and “it’s not going to rain”. That thinking caught many wet.
Although the rains were light, it was enough to raise the grime from the road surfaces making them slick. It was also enough to water the grass and plants that have been in dire need for water.
A satellite image of Monday afternoon skies by the IMN:
The president of Costa Rica’s commission on human rights, Justo Orozco, wants a Spanish doctor to present his idea of ‘curing’ gays to the country’s congress.
Orozco stated last Wednesday (20 February): ‘I would love the doctor to come to the Legislature. His views are very compatible with what we believe’.
‘Homosexual relations carry bad consequences.
‘Actually, the membranes of the anus are not prepared to put anything into them, and when penetrated, fecal incontinence occurs, that is what I read in encyclopedias and magazines, though I have not [experienced it]’.
Orozco’s invitation of Dr. Jokin de Irala was condemned by Carmen Munoz of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), who asked that the Spanish doctor be prevented entry to the legislature.
Munoz stated that Irala should be banned from presenting his ideas to the legislature as he described homosexuality as a ‘disorder of human development’ which can be cured with ‘specialized therapy’.
The lawmaker asked the president of congress, Victor Emilio Granados to disallow his entry as to not promote any discrimination.
Orozco is an outspoken opponent of LGBT rights and is well known across Latin-America for his anti-gay views.
Last year Brazilian human rights advocates boycotted a human rights summit in Brazil because of Orozco participation as the representative of Costa Rica.
Earlier this month Costa Rica voted against the introduction of gay civil unions.
Phablet (/ˈfæblɪt/, a portmanteau of the words phone and tablet) refers to a class of smartphones with screen sizes ranging between 5 and 7 inches and designed to combine or straddle the functionalities of a smartphone and tablet.
2013 is shaping up to be the year of the “phablet” with virtually ever major handset maker preparing to challenge Samsung’s (005930) impressive Galaxy Note lineup.
While there’s no clear definition on how large a phablet is, most tend to have screens that hover in the 5-inch range, though Huawei’s upcoming 6.1-inch smartphone will only push that boundary.
ZTE’s newly announced Nubia Z5 packs a 5-inch display with full-HD 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, an aluminum case, a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear, a 2-megapixel front camera, Dolby sound and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
It even edges out HTC’s (2498) slim DROID DNA in terms of size with slightly thinner dimensions and a larger battery: 2,300 mAh versus the DNA’s 2,020 mAh.
The only deal-breaker is the Nubia Z5 likely won’t be available in the U.S., but importers drooling over its specs can pick one up in China for about $554
With increasing frequency Costa Rica is being used as movie set for foreign filmmakers. Like in “After Earth”, the epic science fiction movie, where Will Smith and his son Jaden play two galactic travelers stranded on a hostile planet of the future.
“After Earth” opening on June 9 was shot in Costa Rica, starring Will Smith and his son Jaden. Notice the Arenal volcano in the backdrop of the promo for the film? (Move trailer below.).
The curious thing about this film, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, is that much of the exteriors were filmed in Costa Rica, especially in the area of La Fortuna de San Carlos.
This is not the first time and probably not the last-that Costa Rica is used as a movie set by a foreign production. With the warmth of its people, its natural wonders and its extraordinary variety of flora and fauna, Costa Rica is a coveted tourist destination, promoted abroad as an earthly paradise.
Many times, a film has been responsible for an increase of the reputation the country that spreads throughout the world.
However, not all the films shot in Costa Rica have offered an honest portrayal of Costa Rica and its people.
For starters, there are a number of films, mostly American made, which mention Costa Rica. Almost all these films follow the same pattern: identifying the country as a wonderful place, but also as a place to hide out.
Numerous films suggest, directly or indirectly, that Costa Rica provides shelter for criminals. This apparently is where gangster, drug dealers and criminals in general, may start a new life and comfortably enjoy the fruits of their crimes. “Nico”, starring Steven Seagal, was the first such films.
Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” and the excellent gangster drama “Casino” by Martin Scorsese also mention Costa Rica as a hideout for persons and money.
Other mentions hardly encouraging are found in titles like “The Sweetest Thing”. This clumsy and vulgar comedy, starring Cameron Diaz, caused outrage in the country, when it was exhibited in 2004, due to a nasty phrase that disrespects Rican women.
Without exception, many times in movies the unfortunate trend is to depict Costa Rica as a target for sexual tourism.
Then there is “Surf School“, a film written and directed by Joel Silverman filmed in Manuel Antonion, home to an imaginary “international surfing tournament college”. The film promotes the stereotype that of Costa Rica as a place all kind of adult fun is easy and cheap.
But, not al foreign films made in Costa Rica have been negative on the country.
One is the 1947 musical “Carnival in Costa Rica”. This film is not easily obtained today, but it some scenes can be seen on YouTube. The film directed by Gregory Ratoff and written by Samuel Hoffenstein, John Larkin, and Elizabeth Reinhard, stars Cesar Romero and Celeste Holm as two pairs of lovers who try to thwart an arranged marriage at Carnival time in Costa Rica.
And then there is “Jurassic Park” by Stephen Spielberg. The film centers on the fictional Isla Nublar near Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast, where a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists have created an amusement park of cloned dinosaurs.
For those who live and anyone who has visited Costa Rica, they can easily see, not like depicted in the move, San José, the country’s capital city is not on the beach.
In 1977, the Gene Hackman thriller “The Domino Principle” leads viewers, in one scene, to believe that the Hackman character landed at the international airport in Puntarenas. However, all to do about Costa Rica was actually filmed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
In other cases, there are films made in Costa Rica but made to look like somwhere else. The trend began in 1988, when Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, used the canals of Totuguero, though the plot describes the expidition of conquistaros taking place in the heart of the Amazon jungle, in his film “El Dorado“. (Not to be confused with the John Wayne movie of the same name.)
In 1992, Gerard Depardieu played the visionary explorer Christopher Columbus in the film, “1492: Conquest of Paradise” by Ridley Scott. From the artistic point of view, is the best movie filmed here so far.
In it, you can appreciate the stunning beauty of the country, the beaches, rivers and forests. It was with this movie that Hollywood, for the first time, began to mention the name of Costa Rica as a new location and many producers took notice.
The number of motions pictures, series, shorts and television productions in Costa Rica are numerous. The Amazing Race did an episode in Costa Rica, and the British production by ITV and shown on NBC in the US, “I’m a celebrity get me out here“, a reality television game show series in which 8 to 12 celebrities live together in a jungle environment for a few weeks. The Costa Rica segment had actors like Lou Diamond Phillips who lasted the full 24 days and Daniel Baldwin who came in on day 3 and exited on day 11, while his brother Stephen lasted 18 days in the jungles of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí.
A number of productions, however, never made it to the big or little screen, not even on video. Another that I was personally involved with was shot in the “jungles” of Alajuela. The working title at the time was “The Tribe”, but a web search of the title, the director and leading actors, results in nothing.
For now, hopefully “After Earth” whose world premiere is schedule on June 9 of this year, Costa Rica can once again show the world the wide variety of its natural beauty.
After Earth storyline: One thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind’s new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai. When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai’s craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance.
Editor’s note: Through my years in Costa Rica was fortunate to hook with several interesting and talent people providing support to the American and International film industry. My role in some the films shot in Costa Rica was keeping the production crew and stars in communication with cellular phones and in some cases providing transportation (limo) services.
Fedefutbol president, Eduardo Li, confirmed Thursday receiving notice from the international soccer federation, FIFA ,that the U-17 Women’s World Cup 2014 will be relocated.
