Costa Rica to begin case
on Río San Juan March 2


Costa Rica will get its day in the World Court in the Hague March 2.  In fact the justices there have blocked out the period to March 12 when they will hear Costa Rica's case against Nicaragua, according to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto.

The dispute involved the right of free passage on the Río San Juan.  Costa Rica filed its first brief Sept. 29, 2005. As the foreign ministry pointed out Thursday, then-president Arnoldo Alemán prohibited passage of armed Costa Rican police officers in 1998. The international boundary is not the center of the river but the south bank, so Nicaragua controls the entire river.

Later Nicaragua began impeding the passage of ordinary Costa Ricans.

Costa Rica maintains its citizens have a legal right to use the river for transportation. Roads are few in the northern part of the country. In addition, Costa Rica said that police officers need their weapons when on duty because of the lawlessness of the area.

There have been several unsuccessful attempts to solve the problem between the two countries. The International Court of Justice will lean heavily on existing treaties.

Identity theft arrests
bring five into custody


Investigators detained four women and a man Thursday and said they made up a band that used stolen documents to get loans and buy electronic items. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that in 15 cases, the amount of the thefts was about 30 million colons, about $54,000.

Thieves would impersonate those who had lost their purses or other personal papers at various appliance stores and even lending agencies, said investigators.

Arrests and raids were made Thursday in several areas of Desamparados, Cartago and San Ramón. Investigators were able to trace the crimes to individuals who had been victims of robberies or thefts in which they lost their personal documents.

Immigration legislation
is going the wrong way

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Criticizing the Costa Rican government is like kicking a blind horse for going in the wrong direction, but this latest lunacy, making it more difficult instead of EASIER for foreigners to come here and retire/invest is just dumber than a bag o' hammers!

Without being able to cite facts/figures directly, I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that foreign residents who come from developed countries and who are of even the most humble means spend at least four to five times as much per annum as the average Tico. We're not the problem! The government should be focusing on ILLEGAL immigrants from Nicaragua and Colombia who come here penniless and take even the most low-paying jobs from Ticos and/or make significant contributions to the rising crime problem.

Have the legislators been living under rocks? There's a global economic crisis afoot, and it's going to get much, much worse before it gets even a little bit better. (Anyone who tells you something else is selling something.) Costa Rica should be looking for ways to enhance our economic future, to compete for new residents. They shouldn't be creating reasons for people to look somewhere else to retire and spend their money, like Panama for instance, which has been writing/modifying laws right and left that favor foreign investors/retirees.

Nor should they be attacking residents who are already here and who have made substantial contributions to the Costa Rican economy, by threatening to raise the income requirements when they renew their residencies.

Does the government plan to expell current residents whose pension payments are less than the new requirements? That would make for some really great press, don't you think? I'm 100 percent certain it would be front page news in every retirement newsletter and magazine, worldwide. CNN would LOVE it!

Since this latest legislation makes no sense whatsoever, economically speaking, I can only assume that it is a dark and hostile manifestation of misguided nationalism and xenophobia combined with the growing influence of the Chavistas and their loud mouthed, Napoleonic bullyboy, Hugo Chávez.

While it's certainly understandable how Ticos might resent the influx of foreigners who are wealthier than they are, I'm also assuming that these same folks have been enjoying the increase in the standard of living over the last 20 years which is due in large part to the increase in foreign tourism, immigration and investment. But if the government sends a message to us that we're not wanted here any longer, it could spell economic disaster for Costa Rica. This is obvious and irrefutable, but it seems that these very nasty potential consequences are being ignored.

I don't read the Spanish language newspapers, so I don't know what the legislators, the president or the people on the street are saying about the new immigration legislation. But if it passes as written, Costa Ricans will live to regret their lack of vision.
   
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mario Zamora Cordero, the immigration director, said in an online chat sponsored by la Náción this week that the immigration law will not be retroactive. That would mean that current residents would not be affected. But he will not be on the job after May 2010, and a clause in the law suggests retroactivity. This section needs to be eliminated.