Tuesday 06 November 2012

Moved by the stressful situations of many families after the September 5th earthquake, several locals have stepped up to offer their time and their resources to help. Here are some of these unsung heroes:

Breakfast Fundraiser in Nosara Buys Food
The Nosara Emergency Committee and the Nosara Development Association were able to distribute 36 grocery bags filled with provisions to families in need, thanks to a breakfast fundraiser held at Lagarta Lodge. The bags contained staples like corn flour, rice and beans, as well as cleaning supplies like soaps and detergents.

Samara Fundraiser Helps Nosara Families Build a New Oven
Emilio Mejias saw a report on the news about the difficulty faced by two families in Nosara who made their living by selling pastries and rosquillas baked in an earthen oven that collapsed during the earthquake. Wanting to help, he collaborated with others at Rancho de la Playa restaurant in Samara to collect food and money with the goal of building them a new brick oven. Mejias was able to collect 50,000 colones to finance the project.

Nicoya Lion’s Club Fronted Rent Money
The Lion’s Club, with 33 members in Nicoya, has been hosting fundraisers and soliciting funds from the Lion’s Club at the national level. They have collected about 4 million colones ($8000) to pay for rent and food, as well as materials to reconstruct houses and clay ovens that were damaged in the earthquake. Jose Luis Leal Briceño, president of the club in Nicoya, said they have paid rent for 15 families in the canton and donated food to 50, and they continue in their mission to help.

Animals of Samara Provided Food
The day after the earthquake, Berit Funke got on the “Animales de Samara” Facebook page to solicit donations for food and medicine for the pets of people being sheltered in the El Torito community hall. With the money raised, she was able to buy 220 kilograms of dog food and 15 kilograms of bird food to distribute in the shelter.

Unsound Heroes of the Earthquake
By Arianna McKinney for The Voice of Nosara

Tuesday 06 November 2012 |QPura Vida

It’s not the end of the world as we know it, at least not this year. Would-be doomsday heralds who stuck to the idea that ancient Maya astronomers had predicted the end of the world were sent back to the drawing board yesterday by an important announcement and finding by a team of archeologists in Guatemala.

The Bribri indigenous people of Costa Rica are believed to be descendents of the Maya, and although they did not build the same magnificent cities as their ancestors further north in Mesoamerica, many of the mathematical and astronomical practices were carried over.

Trudging through thick vegetation in the Xultun jungle of Guatemala, William Saturno of National Geographic -who is the closest you will get to a real-life Indiana Jones- and his team found an amazing room used for calculations of celestial observations made by Maya astronomers. According to a note and video on National Geographic’s website, the astronomy lab found by Saturno’s team of intrepid archeologists contains a calendar and mural filled with calculations indicating the Maya estimated time will continue thousands of years into the future.

What about the people of ancient Costa Rica? Did they, like the doomsday prophets of today, believe that the world would end?

We know that the Aztec calendar was based on several cycles, particularly the annual 365 days we are accustomed to. The Maya calendar is cyclical as well, and they seemed interested in pushing their mathematical calculations well into the future. The new discovery in Xultun even points to Maya inquiry into planetary cycles.

Bribri Mathematics and the End of Time

According to Alejandro Jaen Rojas from the Distance Education University of Costa Rica (UNED in Spanish), evidence of the space/time relation studied by the Bribri in Talamanca and other areas of our Southern Zone is evident in the use of the word Ko, which translates into a term that signifies space and time indistinctly.

A previous article in The Costa Rica Star looked at new research into the mysterious stone spheres in the Osa canton and how their alignment with the Sun may have been used as the basis of an agricultural calendar. Professor Jose Alberto Villalobos Morales suggested that the alignment of the spheres was used to calculate the zenithal projection of the Sun, something that is as intrinsic to both astronomy and agriculture.

Studies by archeologists and mathematicians into the way the ancient Bribri built their homes reveals the influence of celestial observations. It seems that they built and arranged their residential structures according to a Maya belief of thirteen celestial levels. The pyramidal construction found in Southern Mexico and Guatemala points to 182 steps from the ground level to the vertex at the top, split by a hypotenuse (a ventilation shaft) into two right triangles. This means that 182 steps divided by 2 equals 91, the number of days the Maya considered a season. Multiplying that number by four equals 364 days.

According to Oscar Fonseca Zamora, author of a 1996 social sciences study into the Bribri concept of time, the ancient tribes of Talamanca believed in a time continuum with regenerating characteristics based on their observations of the cosmos. The planetary cycles observed by the Bribri were believed to always return. They were concerned with what happened on Earth, which they considered an underworld, but they knew they were just part of the cosmos; regardless of what quotidian life brought, time would go on elsewhere.

In essence, the end of the world was not something of relevance to the ancient Bribri people of Costa Rica.

Source: Costa Rica Star

Saturday 03 November 2012 | QNews/El Financiero

The Consumer Price Index (Inside de Precios al Consumidor – IPC) as of October showed an accumulated inflation so far for the year of 3.42%, a figure lower than the 3.47% for the same period last year.

The Central Bank’s target is that by the end of the year inflation will be in the range of between 4% ad 6%, which if the current trend continues will not be difficult to meet.

In fact, the the change for the CPI for October was 4.68%, the second lowest figure in the past 10 years.

Notwithstading, last month the CPI was higher than that in 2011, which shows an accelaration in price increases driven by higher prices in transport services, followed by rent and utilities.

So far this year, prices that have risen are in alcohol and cigarettes (the anti-smoking law in effect earlier this year places a ¢20 colones tax on each and every cigarette sold), rents and utilities.

For December, prices are expected to grow, because traditionally there is a rise in prices for products and services.

Saturday 03 November 2012 | QNews

Costa Ricans are on alert, which was declared by the National Committee of Emergency due to the seismic activity in the central region. The western province of Guanacaste and the Great Metropolitan Area are the most active regions and authorities are asking residents a continued vigilance.

Although other movements must occur to catalog the situation, it is peculiar the succession of recent tremors in very short periods of time, said seismological network specialist of the University of Costa Rica, Lepold Linkimer.

At this time, experts analyze the phenomenon to determine if is related to Aguas Calientes tectonic fault, which caused one of the country’s most destructive earthquakes in the past century,.

During the last hours, the fault that goes through Escazu municipality has originated seven earthquakes between 2.2 and 3.1 degrees on the Richter scale, said the organization.

Several small tremors with intensity varying from two to three grades in the Richter Scale were felt Thursday night in central Costa Rica according to a release from Costa Rica’s National Observatory for Volcano and Seismic activity (Ovsicori).

Up to now, no victims or damages have been reported.

This region has suffered several earthquakes in the last two months, specially the one that took place on the 5 of September that made heavy damages, and the most recent one on the 23 of October with an intensity of 6.6 on the Richter scale.

Although United Nations High Commission on Refugees representative in Costa Rica, Roberto Mignone recognizes this country as “exceptional” in treatment of refugees from other countries, it turns down half of all such applications.

Those rejected, however, can apply for another immigration status. Of 18,478 seeking refugee status in the past decade, Immigration has rejected 9,066. according to local official Allan Rodriguez

They come from all parts of the world, from Etrea to Nicaragua, all hoping to be protected in this country from deportation to a nation they have fled, usually from a government or guerrilla group that threatens their life or liberty.

“They all receive the same treatment,” says Rodriguez. It is obvious that this country’s sympathy and hospitality makes most cases difficult to turn away. But more come each year because the country has renown for its humane policies.

For example, 7,063 Colombians have been granted asylum from the dangers of a country convulsed by a tug of war between rebels-turned-drug lords of FARC and the government’s army. But another 7,084 did not qualify, although many remain as residents.

For Mignone, Costa Rica serves “as an example and an exceptional case of the opening and reception of refugees.” The country, he adds, “tries to do the right thing.”

The government tries to follow the Geneva Convention, regarding refugees as persons “who, due to well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, adherence to a social or political opinion, find themselves out of their native country and cannot, because of these fears, or do not wish to depend on the protection of their country.”

Right after World War II when the UN was founded in 1945, refugees were of paramount importance as hundreds of thousands of “displaced persons” could not return to their countries. Although one seldom hears much of the High Commission these days, it is still an important part of that organization.

La Nacion used as an example the vivid case of Marta (not her real name) who now works in a local department store. Her family, from the Colombian province of Tolima, owned a farm but the guerrilla forces imposed a “tax” on the family after her father died.

The family fled to this country. “We say thanks to God, we have lived 11 years in this country of opportunities, as I have always called Costa Rica,” she says gratefully.

Source: Fijatevos.com

Saturday 03 November 2012 | QNews Politics

Granted, National Liberation Party doesn’t win all the elections, but its races for presidential nomination are always spirited. The run up to the 2014 elections keeps up the tradition, with San Jose Mayor Johnny Araya taking a commanding lead in the latest poll.

Ex-President Jose Maria Figueres, according to the Unimer poll, is tied for second with Former Minister of the Presidency Rodrigo Arias — but Figueres tossed in a wild card by withdrawing from the race Wednesday.

Figueres issued his statement Wednesday a day before the national newspaper La Nacion published results of the poll. He had repeatedly said he was not a candidate for months — but few believe a politician’s bashful protests.

A July poll had shown three candidates bunched up in a statistical tie with another, Alvaro Alvarez (Desanti) close behind with 13% of the vote. But Alvarez withdrew his name from contention, throwing his support to Araya in exchange for a top spot on the list of lawmakers.

(See previous article.) This meant that Araya, 23%, Arias, 22% and Figueres, 18%, were in a statistical dead heat. Now the figures, gathered Oct. 3-11, show Araya (32%) twice as strong as Arias and Figueres, tied at 16% each.

But the Figueres announcement is sending pundits back to their calculators. In the last poll of this year or the first of next year, will Arias pick up any loose Figueres or Alvarez votes to close the gap? Stay tuned.

Arias showed his displeasure by attacking Araya for remaining in the mayor’s chair in the capital instead of resigning to campaign. “It’s neither ethical or moral,” Arias told Radio ADN 90.7 FM.

But it is not illegal. In fact, it is not illegal for a presidential candidate to be on the list for a Legislative Assembly seat, essentially running for a spot either on the Administrative or Legislative branch.

Araya, consulted by La Nacion about his “dramatic lead” among Liberationists. Arias also confessed to being surprised by the gap.

Meanwhile, things have changed for the Citizen Action Party (PAC) and economist-founder Otton Solis. The July political poll has shown him in a statistical tie with former lawmaker Epsy Campbell of Limon.

The October poll showed he had jumped 13 points to lead Ms. Campell from July to October among PAC adherents. It gave Solis a comfortable 53% while Campbell fell from 41% to 21%.

Solis also, after three tries at the presidency and three defeats, maintains he wants to see someone else be the standard bearer–although, judging by the poll results, his own party does not credit his protests.

Solis, however, has found himself somewhat out of step with his own party hierarchy. He withdrew (but did not resign) from the PAC command committee after a series of disagreements.

Moreover, Solis has angered some of his party’s faithful down through the years for being unbending–or just plain stubborn and set in his ways, depending on who is telling it..

As for Figueres, he definitely rejected running although he said, with the usual shy, retiring way of a politician, “I’d be the best candidate.” In this, he resembled his father, political and historic icon Jose (Don Pepe) Figueres who delighted rattling cages with outrageous statements.

Journalists, even those on the national newspaper La Nacion which was editorially no fan of Don Pepe, loved to interview the colorful president–they never left his office without a headline…

Source: Fijatevos.com

Saturday 03 November 2012 | QNews Costa Rica

Costa Rica is often applauded for its progressive environmental policies and peaceful democracy.  I know it as a Mecca of sustainable tourism and perfect surf breaks.  Yet the brutal, enormously profitable shark fin trade has prospered in Costa Rica’s waters and ports since the late-1990’s, making this tropical Central American country a key outpost in the global shark fin trade.

In the early 2000’s, former Costa Rican president Abel Pacheco attempted to crack down on the highly destructive market, but the lure of profit caused criminal elements to simply ignore the rules. The Taiwanese and Indonesian mafias purchased and operated their own private docks where the illegal cargo could be unloaded away from the prying eyes of government regulators.  Costa Rican fishing boats were spotted illegally killing thousands of sharks in Colombian waters.  Fin traders exploited loopholes in Costa Rican law to move fins into and out of the country.  As many as 400,000 sharks were killed off Costa Rica last year for their fins.

Some of this was documented in Rob Stewart’s 2006 film Sharkwater.  During the filming of this documentary the crew were pursued by gunboats for exposing their connection to the Costa Rican government. Then in late 2010, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and his crew were soaked in gasoline and threatened at gunpoint for attempting to film shark fins drying in the sun.

While INCOPESCA, the Costa Rican body in charge of regulating fishing practices, has long been lax about enforcing bans, with the strong support of citizen groups like Pretoma, the Costa Rican government has begun fighting back against the finning industry.  The practice of finning has been technically illegal for quite some time, but corruption and poverty have undermined the rule of law.

Happily, things seem to be changing.  President Chinchilla recently signed a decree mandating stronger protections for sharks by requiring that all sharks landed on Costa Rica’s shore be inspected to make sure they still have their fins attached.  Violators will be subject to larger penalties.  The law will also furnish the Coast Guard with better radar systems for detecting poachers. Even Sir Richard Branson weighed in to support these important changes.

As I’ve described in past blogs, sharks play an important role in keeping oceans healthy.  With 26-73 million sharks are killed every year for their fins, Costa Rica’s actions can’t come soon enough.

With one-third of shark species threatened with extinction and some shark populations have declined by 99 percent, we hope that the progress in Costa Rica is a sign that the tide is turning in time to save sharks.  In March, the Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), will consider adding ten new species of sharks to lists of animals for which international trade is restricted.  Adding sharks like hammerheads and oceanic white tip to the CITES lists is a vital step, but we also must tackle the demand for fins.  As long as consumers are willing to pay huge sums of money to eat shark fin soup, poachers will find a way to catch them.

Source: Huffington Post

Thursday 01 November 2012 | QNews Central America
Costa Rica’s government today sent a new diplomatic note of protest to Nicaragua, prompted by reports indicating the presence of a fence built supposedly by Nicaraguans on the Calero Island, two years after the conflict was determined disputed island to be bilateral.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Roverssi reported today and told reporters that authorities detected the existence of a fence built on Costa Rican soil apparently by members of the Sandinista youth over a week ago.

That report is documented with photographs submitted to the International Court of Justice, which came to Costa Rica in December 2011 to report on the invasion of Nicaragua in the Caribbean side of the border area.

According to reports of the officers in the is a barbed wire fence three threads per 1, 50 meters high by 90 meters long which is unfinished.

Editor:  Most of the comments regarding this event posted in La Nación were “ Just another attempt to take our minds off the high price of gasoline and high interest rates.” The Ticos are seemingly not impressed.

Thursday 01 November 2012 | QNews

You can’t see ’em, your can’t smell ’em (most of the time) but those tiny particles emitted by burning diesel and fuel oil (bunker) are all around us here in the metropolitan area of the Central Valley.

We’re talking about airborne particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. But at four of five points in the valley monitored during 2011, the air exceeds acceptable international concentration of the little devils.

Those permissible levels are 10 to 15 micrograms per cubic meter of air, according to Jorge Herrera, director of the Environmental Analysis Laboratory of the National University (UNA).

The UNA researchers carried out the study in cooperation with the Environmental Ministry, the Health Ministry, the Public Works Ministry and the San Jose Municipality.

Their findings are scary: two points measured are twice the acceptable level. They are La Asuncion de Belen at 31 micrograms per cubic meter and 30 at downtown Heredia.

Downtown San Jose near the municipal building and La Uruca district weren’t much better. The only acceptable levels were found in Moravia.

Nor is this one of those stories concocted just to keep journalists busy so they won’t be vagrants. High levels of those particles have been linked with heart attacks, lung cancer and chronic bronchitis.

And the bad news doesn’t end there — researchers found high levels of 10 micrometers generated by dust returning to the air, kicked up by traffic. This type of pollution is often found in mines.

To reduce the contamination, Herrera says that more aggressive efforts should be made to reduce traffic congestion of idling vehicles caught in traffic jams and reduce mass transit emissions.

Environmental Minister Rene Castro feels efforts should be made to reduce dependence on bunker fuels for manufacturing. He suggests liquid natural gas.

While Castro would target the amount of sulfur contained in diesel, the Transport Ministry planning director, Ronald Flores has a better idea: railways for mass transit but using electric locomotives and buying hybrid buses from Japan, Korea or China.

Commentary: Electric buses, used by some European cities, might seem a better idea. Railways to replace privately owned bus lines isn’t practical due to the initial investment.

On a personal note, this reporter’s family has been agitating to get him to stop smoking for years. I’ll make ya a deal: I’ll quit smoking when the buses do.

Source: Fijatevos.com

Thursday 01 November 2012 | QNews Costa Rica

Judicial police found in 2010 that an employee at the Alajuela Criminal Court was allegedly informing a “friend” of the status of an investigation for his alleged involvement with a car theft ring known as Los Gallos.

But it has taken two years to reach a point of her dismissal, although she appears to have been transfered to a less sensitive section of the court, according to a report in the national newspaper La Nacion.

Last Oct. 2, a court panel agreed to fire her, but now the Ministry of Labor is reviewing her case before the last connection with her job is severed. In delicate words, the internal court tribunal found she “does not merit the confidence placed in her.”

Judicial police, intercepting the phone of the car theft suspect, named Leiton,” logged 16 daily calls in which the woman, named Leon, kept the suspect up to the minute with reports about the probe into his activities.

The tribunal called her private life “incorrect” in that she “maintained connections with a person of doubtful reputation.” In fact, they say she went so far as to intercede with a prosecutor to try to convince him to return a car the detectives had confiscated from Leiton

Leon had been employed by the court for 16 years, which may account for the reluctance to present charges immediately. Court investigators said Leon provided Leiton “confidential data regarding the investigation.”

This forced investigators into the car theft ring to “implement a series of measures to protect the investigation.” But Leon threw a monkey wrench into the works by appealing to the Labor Ministry.

The Labor Relations Commission recommends that the case be shelved, claiming that she was pregnant and that the labor statutes prohibit her dismissal from work.os Gallos.

But it has taken two years to reach a point of her dismissal, although she appears to have been transfered to a less sensitive section of the court, according to a report in the national newspaper La Nacion.

Last Oct. 2, a court panel agreed to fire her, but now the Ministry of Labor is reviewing her case before the last connection with her job is severed. In delicate words, the internal court tribunal found she “does not merit the confidence placed in her.”

Judicial police, intercepting the phone of the car theft suspect, named Leiton,” logged 16 daily calls in which the woman, named Leon, kept the suspect up to the minute with reports about the probe into his activities.

The tribunal called her private life “incorrect” in that she “maintained connections with a person of doubtful reputation.” In fact, they say she went so far as to intercede with a prosecutor to try to convince him to return a car the detectives had confiscated from Leiton

Leon had been employed by the court for 16 years, which may account for the reluctance to present charges immediately. Court investigators said Leon provided Leiton “confidential data regarding the investigation.”

This forced investigators into the car theft ring to “implement a series of measures to protect the investigation.” But Leon threw a monkey wrench into the works by appealing to the Labor Ministry.

The Labor Relations Commission recommends that the case be shelved, claiming that she was pregnant and that the labor statutes prohibit her dismissal from work.

Source: Fijatevos.com

Thursday 01 November 2012 | QNews Central America

President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, reaffirmed today the conviction that Russian firms will take part actively in the construction of an interoceanic canal linking the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans through his country. “We are certain that firms from Russia will be involved in the great work of the canal through Nicaragua,” he said in a TV broadcast interview released here.

Ortega told Russia Today TV channel that firms from the People’s Republic of China and other nations, grouped in a firm created in Hong Kong that is already operating, are involved in the project.

He said that with the return to power of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, Nicaragua established from 2007 a longstanding relation with the Russian Federation, which has undoubtedly mean a great relief for Nicaragua because this is a cooperation that values the Nicaraguan people in all fields.

Tuesday 30 October 2012 | QNews

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) – The Frenchman who sparked a global health scare by selling substandard breast implants has been released from jail under court supervision pending a trial next year, a judicial source said on Friday.

Jean-Claude Mas, who faces charges of causing involuntary bodily harm and aggravated fraud, spent eight months in prison after he failed to post bail.

Mas has spent considerable time in Costa Rica avoiding Interpol arrest and has had business dealings in this country.
Mas, 73, was released from a penitentiary in southeastern France on condition that he remained within the Var and Bouches-du-Rhone regions and checked in once a week at the police station in his home town.

[quote type=”large” align=”left”]QNOTE: Costa Rica has pushed the PIP implant issue behind a stack of musty old books in order to ignore that locals and medical tourists were knowingly given inferior breast implants. Private physicians declared they would not replace the PIP industrial silicone implants free of charge and the CAJA said they will remove implants but not replace them with acceptable quality ones. That needs to be done by private practitioners. [/quote]

The former head of Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) has admitted using a non-medical form of silicone in implants but rejects allegations that the gel was more dangerous than forms which have passed testing.

In the first part of what is expected to be a multi-stage trial, Mas will appear in Marseille next year on charges of fraud in a special facility that seats between 4,000 and 10,000 people. Some 4,500 complaints of aggravated fraud have been filed against Mas.
Half a dozen senior PIP executives will also stand trial over their responsibility for producing faulty breast implants. If found guilty, they face maximum prison sentences of five years and hefty fines.

The bodily harm charge carries a possible jail sentence of one year plus a fine.

A lawyer for women in France who have filed complaints over PIP implants said he was not surprised at Mas’s release.
“For the victims, we are satisfied that judges in Marseille kept Jean-Claude Mas in custody for as long as the law permitted,” Laurent Gaudet said. “Today, we’re worried that Mr. Mas will not appear for his trial.”

Some 300,000 women around the world carry implants made by PIP, which was founded in 1991 and went into liquidation in 2010.

(Reporting By Jean-Francois Rosnoblet; Writing by Nick Vinocur; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Tuesday 30 October 2012 | QCosta Rica

In mid-November the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) will launch the annual campaign of collecting the Marchamo, the annual vehicular circulation permit.

The INS has yet to announce if there will be an increase this year as it continues waiting the decision of the  Superintendencia General de Seguros (SUGESE) which is still analyzing the request for a rate increase.

The 2013 Marchamo is due payable by December 31 of each year and unlike in the past decade, there is no grace period as come January 1 drivers on the road without the current Marchamo are subject to a fine.

Interesing that some 51.036 vehicle owners have yet to pay the 2012 Marchamo, of which 21.763 are passenger vehicles, 5.860 light commerical (pick up trucks), 1.964 heavy load vehicles, 19.619 motorcycles, 655 buses and 323 taxis.

The number of unpaid includes vehicles that are no longer in circulation, a result of an accident or repairs are too costly as compared to the value of the vehicle, and have never been unregistered with the national registry. These vehicles continue to pile up the cost of the yearly Marchamo, plus costs like fines and interest and will have to be paid if and when the vehicle is ever made road-worthy.

The annual Marchamo can be paid at more than 1.200 points of sale that includes banks, authorized INS insurace agents and the INS directly. The Marchamo can also be paid online.

Tuesday 30 October 2012 | QNews Costa Rica

Hundreds headed for the Northeast coast of the United States have been stranded in Costa Rica since Sunday as all flights to New York and New Jersey have been cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.

American Airlines and United/Continental with direct flights to and from New York (Newark in the case of United) hope to restore service by Wednesday, but that will depend on the weather.

Others airlines, like Delta for instance, with with connections to New York have asked their passengers to stay put in Costa Rica until the weather improves and flight operations in New York resume. Some have opted to wait out the storm in the Miami or Atlanta, for instance, while many others have extended their Costa Rica vacations.

Flights to Costa Rica from the New York area have been affected.

In Costa Rica, the first days of Hurricane Sandy brought heavy rains in the Central Valley and the Pacific coast, a common occurrence when South Atlantic storms cause torrential rains in Costa Rica’s Pacific.

Tuesday 30 October 2012 | QNews Costa Rica

Public employees’ job performance is evaluated each year and the workers treated with a bonus for excellence, but Labor Minister Sandra Piszk doesn’t think the system has ever worked properly.

A rough draft of a reform bill was presented to lawmakers this month and has already resulted in a teachers’ strike last week. Piszk believes it is because employees have come to regard annual bonuses as a right separate from their work performance.

The teachers’ unions consider the bill as a challenge to their power and undoubtedly, other public employees unions will follow with pressures. Piszk herself doesn’t look for passage soon and feels it might take several terms to hammer out.

Recently, Civil Service has put into practice a reform to the evaluations, Piszk told the national newspaper La Nacion, but she doesn’t believe that the changes go far enough.

Piszk made a point to differentiate between being given an annual bonus as an “acquired right” and “earning it.” Thus the bonuses have been a drain on government budgets without producing excellence.

“It’s no kind of an incentive for a good official,” she reasons, “if they know they’re going to get the same pay as everyone else.” They know that they’ll get the same amount as those who aren’t producing, she said.

Even worse than this is the disparity of bonuses. The Central government employees get 1.94% to 2.5% while other agencies get 5% to 5.5% and even up to 7%, she said.

Asked whether now was the best time to present such a change, Piszk snorted that the situation has gone on for decades misfiring.

Commentary: One must compliment Piszk and her Chinchilla Administration colleagues for courage in tackling the subject, even though they are closer to the end of their term of office.

Unions hold grudges a long time and a struggle is pending. Beatriz Ferreto, head of the high school teacher’s union (APSE) has promised “the mother of all strikes” over the bill.

The Administration is talking about efficiency of government workers, but there is no doubt that they are also preoccupied with the budget deficit that has caused the country to borrow heavily.

A huge proportion of government budgets are eaten up in salaries and perks. We have seen through the years government workers letting their duties slide while filing their nails. This rankles private employees who must work for their pay or suffer dire consequences.

But Piszk is bucking the Costa Rican culture. One of the reasons so-so workers get by with so much is that their bosses have a tendency to rubber stamp their evaluations in order to “no se caiga mal con nadie.” (So as not to get on anyone’s bad side.)

Not only are teachers coddled, other agency employees are treated like spoiled pets as well. The Social Security system (Caja) is a prime example of this and it pushed the body that runs public hospitals and clinics to the brink.

Costa Rica can no longer afford bloated payrolls and public workers coasting along at half speed. The current system of bonuses is not even a decent bribe for workers to take pride in work well done.

It is a saddle on the taxpayers’ backs.

Source: Fijateovs.com

Tuesday 30 October 2012 | QNews Costa Rica  | Traffic Law Costa Rica

The introduction of the new traffic law last Friday and the inability of transport officials to be ready for the changes forced the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) to suspend its drivers license service to at least Wednesday.

The BCR service offers drivers the option to make an appointment and process their license renewal at select brances, eliminating the long lines that are normal at the licensing offices.

The bank said it had suspend the service for the break in connection to the Dirección de Educación Vial and Cosevi database.

The Cosevi has been making changes to its infrastructure to comply with the new traffic law.

A BCR official who spoke to QCosta Rica said the service is expected to resume on Wednesday, but it could be several days when the bank will be able to connect to the Cosevi.

Tuesday 30 October 2012 | QNews Costa Rica

Foreign investment in Costa Rica, fell by 5% during the first half of the year compared with the same period of 2011. The drop goes against the trend set in Latin America, a region reported an average increase of 8%, according to figures from Economic Commission for Latin America.

This means that the options for new jobs in the country tend to slow down, especially in the agricultural and agro-industrial sectors, which have the lowest rates of investment. Conversely, where there are more options is in the telecom industry.

During the first half of this year, the companies in this area generated investments of $ 310 million, about the same as the entire previous year. The arrival of companies dedicated to telephony, Internet and networking, is what has kept the industry dynamic. In Costa Rica they have found business opportunities, some services are marketed directly to consumers, while others do so with on a wholesale basis to telecom companies.

“The idea is to extend the offer for SMEs also have access to technology,” said Moises Quintana, product manager for the region of Radvision, a firm dedicated to teleconferencing facilities, during the launch of its operations in the country. The second largest sector in the country is manufacturing, which remains one of the large employers.

Source: La Republica

Saturday 27 October 2012 | QNews Central America

(Prensa Latina) The Nicaraguan Army captured another shipment of drugs, money and fuel in the last hours, in an operation against drug trafficking in territorial waters of Nicaragua in the Caribbean, said the Navy Friday. Even the counting of the confiscated shipment had not been concluded, when Rear Admiral Marvin Elias Corrales Rodriguez said in advance it was an important amount of drug that was intercepted 20 miles southeast from the southern city of Bluefields.

The operation is framed in the national strategy to contain drug trafficking, and in this case, 60 sacks of cocaine, a sack of marijuana, 15 barrels of fuel, an undetermined amount of money and three crew members were occupied, and the crew members arrested.

The arrested men respond to the names of Cesar Marbol Suazo, Raul Adonis Casildo and Jose Balladares.