Costa Rican officials have launched a public relations campaign to gain public support for the proposed free-trade treaty with the United States.

President Abel Pacheco is at the forefront. He declared Tuesday that the treaty would not deliver the nation’s telecommunications and insurance monopolies into the hands of foreigners. Instead, pending legislation will strengthen these institutions, he said.

Pacheco was speaking at his weekly press conference. He was joined by Alberto Trejos, minister of Comercio Exterior who led the Costa Rican negotiating team, and Germán Serrano Pinto, head of the Instituto Nacional de Seguros, the insurance monopoly.

The proposed free trade treaty would allow private access to insurance sales and open up cellular and some internet services now under the control of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad.

Trejos and Anabel Gonzalez, the chief Costa Rican negotiator, appeared on Channel 7 Teletica later Tuesday to praise the treaty as a boon for Costa Rica. Other public meetings are planned.

Pacheco has said that a text of the treaty would be available soon. Only summaries are available now. Officials said that a formal signing of the pact would take place sometime in April, probably in Washington. After the agreement is signed, both the United States and Costa Rica have to submit the pact to their legislative bodies.

Rice growers joined the chorus of opposition Tuesday. The free-trade treaty protected the Costa Rican onion and potato producers but would allow increasing shipments of foreign rice into Costa Rica. A spokesman for the Cámara de Arroceros, said the treaty would wipe out rice growers.

Unions, too, are unhappy and are assembling their forces for street demonstrations and also for lobbying efforts in the Asamblea Nacional. Pacheco warned them not to march when they should be working.

Rice growers last year blocked Avenida Principal in front of the legislative building for days with big trucks and tractors to pressure national deputies.

A U.S. citizen described as a tourist staying in Heredia vanished Dec. 23, and investigators have 

received an official missing persons report. The man is Barestan L. Monegain, 54, who had his passport issued in Illinois. Officials said little else about the case except to say that information would be accepted at 277-0342 and 277-0345, the Judicial Investigating Organization offices in Heredia.

Barestan Monegain

8-year term sought
by Harris accuser

Guatemalan notary Susana Luarca Saracho de Umaña asked a criminal court there Tuesday for an eight-year jail term for Bruce Harris plus $125,000 in damages and his deportation from Guatemala upon completion of the sentence, according to Casa Alianza.

Harris’ defense lawyer, Victor Hugo Navarro, argued that the accuser has not presented sufficient proof for the three-judge tribunal to warrant a conviction, the child advocacy agency said.

Harris is the San José-based Latin American director for Casa Alianza. He is on trial for alleged defamation uttered at a 1997 press conference.

According to a report by Casa Alianza, Navarro argued that Ms. Luarca’s lawyer failed to show that Harris damaged the accuser’s professional honor. 

Harris was involved in an official investigation into irregular international adoptions of Guatemalan babies. Ms. Luarca handles adoptions.

In Guatemala the law allows for a daily fine to be paid in lieu of a prison sentence of less than five years. By asking for the maximum term, Ms. Luarca wants to make sure Harris goes to prison, said Casa Alianza.

Evidence presented Tuesday, including two video tapes showed that Ms. Luarca was mentioned along with 18 other persons when Harris discussed irregularities in international adoptions, said Casa Alianza.

Words attributed to Arias
draw request for probe

Some 23 national legislators want the president of the Corte Suprema de Justicia to investigate allegations the present minister of Cultura made in his new book.

The minister, Guido Sáenz, wrote a series of recollections titled "Piedra Azul: Atisbos en mi Vida."  The title translates to "Blue Stone: A glimpse into my life."

Sáenz said in his book that former president Oscar Arias was miffed when the supreme court rejected his bid to let him run again for president. This happened in 2002. Subsequently, the court reversed itself, and former presidents can now run again after a waiting period.

Sáenz described Arias as upset because he said he had been assured by a supreme court magistrate that he would vote to allow Arias to run and did not. The book suggests that Arias, who may be a presidential candidate in 2006, had inappropriate contact with a magistrate who was involved in a case.

The legislators sent a letter asking the court to conduct an investigation.

More protests hit
capital of Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian protesters again took to the streets of this capital Tuesday to call for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's resignation.

Media reports from Haiti say the protests were peaceful. The demonstrations have become an almost daily occurrence as an opposition-led show of defiance against the Haitian leader. 

Monday, Aristide said he has accepted proposals offered by the 15 nation Caribbean Community to resolve his country's prolonged political crisis.

The plan calls for the establishment of a consensus government, the scheduling of legislative elections and efforts to disarm armed gangs that have attacked Aristide's opponents.

Gang members stage
running gun battle

Members of a Pavas gang threatened a mechanic in Escazú Tuesday night and then engaged police in a running gun battle back to their hangout, police said.

The mechanic, identified as Marvin Porras, told police that gang members wanted to take away a piece of equipment without paying for its repair. One person was injured in the initial exchange with police.

In Pavas, police roped off a van that had bullet holes in its side. They set up outside a house believed occupied by gang members and were still on the scene at midnight.

The police tactical squad was called in perhaps an indication that the house would be stormed.

ICE floats bonds

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad said Tuesday that its agents had placed some $60 million in 10-year bonds at a favorable 6.45 percent rate.

The instituto, known as ICE, said that the government had to pay 6.548 to float $250 million in bonds recently.

The firm that did the bond work was Credit Suisse First Boston. The money will be used for reconstruction and improvements in the electrical system, the company said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Agency for International Development says it will expand on a partnership with the VISA credit card company and the Foundation for International Community for a program to improve electronic micro-finance services for disadvantaged people in Central America.

In a press release, the agency said the program will use "world-class payment technologies in order to increase the efficiency of microfinance" in Central America and "provide cutting-edge customer focused products."

The agency said the program will take place over five phases, beginning in Central America, resulting in a business model that VISA and the agency will "customize" for other nations.

The agency announced a $600,000 grant to expand the alliance with VISA and the foundation.

"Partnerships such as the one created between VISA and USAID create a win-win situation for clients, banks and microfinance institutions."

VISA will provide product platforms, transaction processing capabilities and technological expertise. VISA will also train the foundation’s credit officers to use these new methods of technology. 

VISA will also teach credit officers how to educate their village banking clients in the management and use of the technology. The foundation will provide access to clients through its network of village banks and train its clients on the use of electronic payment solutions, and share its expert knowledge.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. government took further steps this week to protect the public from bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease.

U.S. Secretary of Health Tommy G. Thompson said the new measures will "make strong public health protections against BSE even stronger." U.S. practices and policies in the beef industry have been under greater scrutiny since December when the first case of the disease occurred in a U.S. animal.

The appearance of the disease in other countries' herds has caused serious concern and the wholesale slaughter of animals in recent years. The illness is believed to be causally related to an always-fatal human degenerative brain disorder called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Just over 150 human cases of that disease had been reported worldwide as of Dec. 1, 2003. Almost all of the victims were exposed to mad cow disease in the United Kingdom during the 1980-96 time 

According to a Department of Health and Human Services press release, Thompson said, "The science and our own experience and knowledge in this area are constantly evolving. Small as the risk may already be, this is the time to make sure the public is protected to the greatest extent possible."

One new safeguard will ban bovine-derived material from a broader spectrum of food products, dietary supplements and cosmetic products. A second new requirement will further restrict what may be fed to animals, specifically banning blood and blood products as a food source. These new standards will supplement previously announced regulatory practices that guard against BSE through import controls, cattle surveillance and an animal feed ban.

The press release also says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will be increasing its inspections of food production facilities this year to better insure that new standards are being followed.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. government will co-sponsor in February and March two separate conferences on health-related issues affecting both the Americas and the world at large, one devoted to infectious diseases and their effect on women, and the other to foot-and-mouth disease.

Scheduled speakers at the Feb. 27 to 28 conference in Atlanta, Ga., on infectious diseases include Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the sponsors of the event; Carol Bellamy, executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund; and Mirta Roses Periago, director general of the Pan American Health Organization.

The goal of the conference is to strengthen prevention and control of infectious diseases among women worldwide. Gerberding will provide an overview of the effect of infectious diseases on women, Bellamy will speak on globalization and how it affects infectious diseases among women, while Roses will discuss the next steps for preventing infectious diseases among women.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is one of the co-sponsors for the second event, called "Hemispheric Conference on the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease," being held March 3 to 4 in Houston, Texas.

The Centers for Disease Control defines foot-and-mouth disease as a severe, highly contagious viral disease of wild and domestic animals that primarily affects cattle and pigs, but infections can also occur in sheep, deer, and other animals with cleft hooves. Infections in humans are extremely rare.

In July 2003, agriculture ministers from seven South American countries, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, declared a regional alert for the disease and set in motion a plan for its eradication, including a mass vaccination campaign.

Conference organizers say the Houston event will allow those in the livestock and agricultural production chain, and the public and private sectors, to express their commitment to completing the final stages of eliminating foot-and-mouth disease from the hemisphere.