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A.M.
Costa Rica
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Published
Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, in Vol. 17, No. 4
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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Jan.
5, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 4
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Otto
expenses are put at $5.4 million
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The latest report says of 2.9 billion colons or $5.4 million were spent to address the effects of Hurricane Otto. The report originates from the Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias. Out of the total investment, around 1 billion colons were used for first impact attention that the report classified as the cleaning and channeling of rivers, construction of protection works in the river banks, material stacking, road repair, and cleaning of landslides. Some 994 million more were used to fund materials and supplies for emergency care, while 615 million colons were devoted to operating expenses. The last item in the report states that 230 million were used in emergency purchases by mayors in affected areas. Officials also said that the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados made an investment of 104 million colons in restoration of basic sewer and plumbing services to the impacted communities. The health ministry made their investment in 70 million colons, while the child welfare agency devoted 25 million colons to the care of minors. Out of all the affected areas, the canton of Upala in Alajuela was the one that received the most amount of investment at around 292 million colons. Otto swept into northern Costa Rica from Nicaragua Nov. 24.
Turrialba continues to let off
steam and ash
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Turrialba continued its emission of gas, vapor and ash Wednesday from morning to evening when the summit was no longer visible. The wind direction was mainly west southwest, said the Red Sismológica Nacional. Sometimes the direction fluctuated to the northwest, the agency added. The ash emission was enough for major airlines to suspend flights to Juan Santamaría airport in Alajuela. The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico went so far as to suggest appropriate face masks for the public. Some residents north and west of the capital are wearing such masks. That is where the ash has landed the most. The Observatorio said the face masks were recommended by the Instituto Nacional de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional to be 95 percent effective. The emissions are not dramatic and generally are below 1,000 meters with velocities up to 45 kph, said the Observatorio. A computer model projects ash falls in Heredia Centro, Carrizal, Guadalupe, Tibás, Moravia, San José, Alajuela, Coronado, Guadalupe, Pavas, Zapote, Santa Ana, Curridabat, San Pedro, Escazú, Santa Ana and Santo Domingo de Heredia, said the Observatorio. Pro soccer teams in trouble with Caja By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Every business that has employees struggles with making the obligatory monthly social security payments. That also is true with soccer teams that most do not consider to be businesses. But if the team management pays players, the organization also has to remit about 20 percent additional to the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. About 9 percent of the players' salaries go there, too. Sometimes there is not enough money. The Caja said this week that 12 soccer teams, including eight in the first division, were behind in payments. They owe collectively more than $1 million. They will pay because the Caja has been known to shut down stadiums and forbid games until the amount due is paid. The biggest amount, 258.5 million colons, about $470,000, is owed by the Asociación Deportiva Santos, the Caja said. Trump's impact of petroleum weighed By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
Oil industry leaders and analysts are split over their views of what president-elect Donald Trump's policies could mean for the nation's oil sector, which has been battered by falling oil prices the past few years. Recently, oil prices have recovered somewhat. In a Washington speech Wednesday, American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said Trump's pledge to cut regulations and reform taxes could help the energy sector and produce additional jobs. Gerard said the U.S. oil and natural gas industry supports 9.8 million jobs but could employ hundreds of thousands more if smart regulation replaced rules that he called duplicative, contradictory or silly. Industry analyst Diane Munro, however, said Trump's policy proposals are hawkish and a cauldron of contradictions, which raise a perceived risk for international oil markets. Writing for the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, Munro said Trump's vow to upend the Iran nuclear agreement and his suggestions of a Saudi oil ban while campaigning have added to the fraying relationship between Washington and Riyadh, raising the level of uncertainty. Trump has nominated several people with strong oil industry ties to his Cabinet.
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may not be reproduced anywhere without
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Thursday,
Jan. 5, 2017, Vol. 17, No. 4
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| Misplaced focus overlooks some serious social
problems |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The war on sex seems to be faltering along with the drug war. In both cases, the United States and its Costa Rican surrogate are involved in battles punctuated by misinformation and strong ideologies. Everyone is aware of the failings in the drug war. Plenty of cocaine reaches the United States despite brave efforts of U.S. service members on the high seas. The war on sex is a little different. The United States and Costa Rican officials and non-profits have set up straw men for their own benefit. U.S. government workers are trying to police the world. Each year the State Department assigns rankings to foreign countries based on perceptions of human sex and labor trafficking. Costa Rican officials are seeking various benefits, financial and otherwise, from the United States, so they are prepared to go through the motions of waging war against human traffickers. Non-profits apply for and receive six-figure grants to provide training to failed prostitutes in order to ease the guilty conscience of the U.S. government. The story is that innocent Costa Rica children are being victimized by lusty U.S. males who come to Costa Rica as tourists. That is the narrative promoted by the non-profits and U.S. embassy workers who would never dispute the opinions of their Washington bosses. In fact, many embassy workers fear traveling to downtown San José, and the diplomatic mission puts up visitors in hotels far from the capital. There is a pretty good chance that no U.S. citizen at the embassy has acquired any first-hand knowledge of the country's sex business, so their information comes from officials and the non-profits. The Costa Rican narrative in the annual human trafficking report that comes out each June seems to be a copy of the previous year's. The report fails to mention that prostitution is not penalized here, which may be one reason participation by young women may be so attractive. Each year reporters note the omission to embassy staffers without success. Those who write the report have difficulty in supporting their thesis that "Child sex tourism is a serious problem, with child sex tourists arriving mostly from the United States and Europe." They have difficulty finding any cases, noting in the 2016 report: "Despite an identified child sex tourism problem, the government did not prosecute or convict any child sex tourists or other individuals who purchased commercial sex acts from children, although the government did collaborate with international partners to restrict entry to registered sex offenders." The report also notes that "The government conducted 25 targeted raids of sites where sex trafficking was suspected and interviewed 934 potential victims (931 women and 3 men), but did not identify any trafficking victims among them . . . ." The U.S. government attributes failure to find victims to a faulty methodology or implementation of the interviews. Costa Rican investigators failed to find a real sexual predator when they followed around David Strecker for 12 days before arresting him for running an explicit website. Clearly they were expecting the tourist to do something illegal, perhaps getting involved with a teen. Most tourists, however, are very aware of the prohibition of becoming involved with minors. There are big signs all over the airports, compliments of yet another non-profit. The Poder Judicial has confirmed that the Fundación Rahab was the organization that initiated a criminal case against Strecker. He was sentenced to five years for |
 A.M. Costa
Rica archives
Police once raided a downtown brothel and then
made the owner put in access ramps for the disabled.writing about sex tourism in Costa Rica. The foundation has been a recipient of multiple U.S. grants. The U.S. government has a history of making bad choices in foreign relations. And the money spent to ferret out U.S. child molesters in Costa Rica pales when compared to other government programs. But the repetition that the sex perverts are U.S. tourists tends to take the focus off very serious problems in Costa Rica. These problems include periodic rape of domestic help, child molestations within the home, harassment in the workplace and other crimes and misdemeanors that do not include foreigners. The government reports that 2,450 children between 10 and 14 give birth each year. The other aspect of trafficking, forced labor, is something that no one wants to touch because this is so prevalent in Costa Rica where much of the workforce is off the books. U.S. officials and many Americans have difficulty believing that any women would voluntarily adopt the commercial sex lifestyle, full or part-time. They would be surprised to find that there are multiple generators of the same families in this business. Yet there still are situations of forced prostitution, usually involving foreign women lured to Costa Rica with job offers. Periodically judicial agents raid a bar where the management is holding the passports of hostesses who work there. But there is much worse. Out of sight of police agencies and even the nearsighted U.S. diplomats there are criminal gangs that have never been touched by investigations. They are Russians, Colombians and Chinese. This newspaper has reported how women are imported as language students for these prostitute rings. At least one woman became a true victim with a bullet hole in the back of her head in a Jacó ditch. Lesser forms of harsh discipline are frequent. These organizations that deal in many other illegal businesses are complex and outside the scope of typical police activities. The split mindset of Costa Rican law enforcement can be seen in the acceptance of brothels. Once in awhile one is raided for unspecified reasons, but most thrive without interference. The many houses of prostitution here never rate mentioning in the U.S. reports. Pimping in which a manager accepts money on behalf of prostitutes is supposed to be illegal here. But such activity takes place daily. The possibility is that Costa Rica is moving toward a more open society regarding sex. Prostitutes have an organization that is lobbying for health care, retirement and other benefits. Now commercial sex workers have trouble doing daily chores like opening a bank account. Despite that, some have become major downtown property owners. This change in attitude is a situation that Costa Rican lawmakers eventually will confront. They would not even have to hold hearings. They would make inquires at the many brothels that are within a stone's throw of the legislature and the court complex. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this
Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2017 and may not be reproduced
anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa
Rica, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, Vol. 17, No. 4
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| Small amount of zinc each day found to have
massive benefits |
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By the Benioff Children’s
Hospital Oakland
Research Institute news staff A new study by researchers from the Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute shows that a modest 4 milligrams of extra zinc a day in the diet can have a profound, positive impact on cellular health that helps fight infections and diseases. This amount of zinc is equivalent to what biofortified crops like zinc rice and zinc wheat can add to the diet of vulnerable, nutrient deficient populations. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was led by Janet King. She and her team are the first to show that a modest increase in dietary zinc reduces oxidative stress and damage to DNA. “We were pleasantly surprised to see that just a small increase in dietary zinc can have such a significant impact on how metabolism is carried out throughout the body,” says Ms. King. "These results present a new strategy for measuring the impact of zinc on health and reinforce the evidence that food-based interventions can improve micronutrient deficiencies worldwide." Zinc is ubiquitous in the human body and facilitates many functions that are essential for preserving life. It plays a vital role in maintaining optimal childhood growth and in |
ensuring a healthy immune
system. Zinc also helps limit inflammation and oxidative
stress in the body, which are associated with the onset of
chronic cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Around much of the world, many households eat polished white rice or highly refined wheat or maize flours, which provide energy but do not provide enough essential micronutrients such as zinc. Zinc is an essential part of nearly 3,000 different proteins, and it impacts how these proteins regulate every cell in our body. In the absence of sufficient zinc, human ability to repair everyday wear and tear on DNA is compromised. In the randomized, controlled, six-week study the scientists measured the impact of zinc on human metabolism by counting DNA strand breaks. They used the parameter of DNA damage to examine the influence of a moderate amount of zinc on healthy living. This was a novel approach, different from the commonly used method of looking at zinc in the blood or using stunting and morbidity for assessing zinc status. According to Ms. King, these results are relevant to the planning and evaluation of food-based solutions for mitigating the impact of hidden hunger and malnutrition. She said she believes that biofortification can be a sustainable, long-term solution to zinc deficiency. Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland is part of the University of California, San Francisco. |
Here's reasonable
medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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Food |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Jan.
5, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 4
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medical researchers report By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A genetically engineered malaria vaccine has been shown to prevent the disease in mice, researchers say. The findings offer hope of halting the illness in humans, as well as stopping transmission of the mosquito-borne disease. Researchers at the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Washington in Seattle, in conjunction with the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, have developed a vaccine that uses the entire malaria-causing parasite called P. falciparum to stimulate a protective immune response. Researchers weakened the malaria parasite by knocking out |
