President will not pull plug
on open pit gold mining


The Laura Chinchilla administration will not block the Las Crucitas open pit mining project.

That was the word Wednesday from Casa Presidencial. The decision is sure to anger some environmentalists and students.

The statement from the Presidencia said that a committee headed by Alfio Piva, second vice president, analyzed a decision by the Sala IV constitutional court. The decision basically found that the developers of the mine, Industrias Infinito S.A., have complied with the law.

In the first hours of her presidency, Ms. Chinchilla expressed displeasure at open pit mines and issued a decree preventing the development of any more in Costa Rica. But Las Crucitas has been well underway for years, despite roadblocks erected by environmentalists.

Piva said over the weekend that to pull the plug on the open pit mine would cost the country about $1.7 billion in reparations. That's more than $400 for every man, woman and child here. Compensation of this level, either by agreement or via an international arbitration hearing, would cripple the country.

Opponents disagree. Specifically they wanted Ms. Chinchilla to cancel a decree by Óscar Arias Sánchez that said the open pit mine was in the interest of the country.

Casa Presidencial said that the Sala IV examined and exhaustively evaluated all the technical studies and the entire judicial process relating to the mining project. And it found in favor of the project.

The company, a subsidiary of a Canadian firm, expects to extract 700,000 ounces of gold over the life of the project.

Casa Presidencial said that the Sala IV also concluded that the risk of polluting the ground water with cyanide was minimal. The chemical is used in leaching the gold from crushed ore.

This is not the last word. The mining firm is in a lower court facing similar allegations of environmental damage. And opponents are likely to respond with even more court appeals. The lower court, the Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo, has frozen the project.

The central government for years has considered the mine as a way to generate employment in northern Costa Rica. The site is in Cutris de San Carlos not far from the Río San Juan.

Among the more disappointed are the handful of mine opponents that spent a week walking from Casa Presidencial to the mine site in a well-covered publicity stunt.


More positive reporting
will let Costa Rica shine

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

We have just returned from a two-month trip to Germany, Spain and Canada and have been following the A.M. Costa Rica Web site while we were away. We are especially disturbed by the series of stories on crime in Costa Rica. We would like to offer another perspective.

First, there are two sides to every story. Unfortunately there is never any mention about why one becomes a victim of crime. Is it carelessness, lack of individual responsibility for their own security, e.g. leaving property unattended and/or unlocked, poor security installations, chatting up strangers in bars or casinos, becoming a visible target by displaying cell phones, ipods, computers, cameras, gold jewelry etc. in public, creating bad relations with Tico neighbors?

Secondly, while we were in Toronto there were daily stabbings, holdups, murders, gun fights reported in newspapers and television to say nothing about all the rampant crime in most U.S. cities. So why the holier than thou attitude that is so prevalent among North Americans who come to Costa Rica thinking nothing bad will ever happen here? Do they really think they have found "paradise"?

Thirdly, as owners of a bed & breakfast for 16 years, we naturally compared tourism here and in the countries we visited. Costa Rica has nothing to be ashamed of. In all aspects, it is far and away ahead. The superior hotel standards, particularly housekeeping, puts other countries to shame. There is little or no service in Europe or North America. In Germany, we stayed in a four-star hotel which had no air conditioning, and we even had to pay for a luggage cart and, of course, no help from anyone. No welcoming smiles.

Driving is a nightmare because of all the road and bridge construction resulting in two-hour traffic jams without moving, you just sit and wait! Frankfurt airport is like the Third World compared to Costa Rica's brand new facility. It is not much better in Canada. Again, little or no service especially in large stores where there is nobody to help customers, and the traffic jams!!! It actually took us almost nine hours to drive from Toronto to Montreal, which normally takes five hours. The reason? At least three or four accidents blocking the highway or road construction.

How about the Costa Ricans themselves? Generally speaking, the people are polite and helpful compared to the rudeness and bad behavior we encountered abroad, especially teenagers and small children who seem to think they are entitled to disturb the peace of other hotel guests.  Wherever we went, when we said we lived in Costa Rica, many said how much they enjoyed their visit here and others have put Costa Rica on their travel list  We heard no negative comments in both Germany and Canada. Recently,we had some Canadian guests who were involved in a car accident and they were overwhelmed by the number of Ticos who wanted to help. Our local hospital  treated them and charged nothing!

We shudder to think what all the negative reporting will do to tourism here which is already suffering from the worldwide economic crisis. In conclusion, neither we nor any of our guests have been victims of crime during the 16 years we have lived here but realize that times have changed and we have to continue to be as vigilant as we have always been without becoming paranoid.

We hope A.M. Costa Rica can do some reporting showing the positive side of living and visiting Costa Rica.



Underlying causes of crime
must be addressed, too

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Although I was glad to read in A.M. Costa Rica that expats are banding together across the country to draw attention to the very real and growing problem of crime and urge the government to take action, I couldn't help but wish they would also join together and raise their voices to urge the government to address some of the underlying causes and driving forces behind Costa Rica's spiraling crime problems — namely increasing poverty, the growing disparities between those with and those without, the abysmally low wages of far too many Costa Rican workers, the reality that to grocery shop in Costa Rica is almost as expensive as in the United States, and, of course, the growing social and economic influence of the drug trades.
 
Demands to toughen laws and build more jails are well and good, but if these other, underlying issues are not also addressed, I can all but guarantee that for every criminal that gets locked up, two more will be waiting in the wings to pick up where the incarcerated chump left off.
 

A.M. Costa Rica file photo

Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes