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Second news page |
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Our readers' opinions
Rumsfeld should lookat his own administration Dear A.M. Costa Rica: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is a piece of work. He is “worried” about Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales. Maybe he just forgot to mention Michele Bachelet, the new socialist president of Chile. I'm sure he worried about her too. All three of these presidents were democratically elected, but that doesn’t count. Rummy distinguishes between being merely democratically elected and then “consolidating power,” just like Hitler. Of course, the Bush administration is rapidly consolidating presidential power in undemocratic, anti-Constitutional ways. Bush and his fellow ideologues believe in the “unitary powers” of the president and that the president can break the laws of the United States at will. So when Rumsfeld spoke of democratically elected presidents usurping power, I thought he might be referring to the regime he is a part of as well. But that’s impossible, because Bush was not democratically elected. He was appointed by his friends on the Supreme Court for his first term. His second term was likely the result of vote fraud using hacked voting machines. But even if it wasn’t, he has consolidated power by having a weak and compliant Republican-controlled Congress, and, of course, a conservative Supreme Court that appointed him in the first place. So maybe Rumsfeld is a bit dense on historical irony. But what should be worrisome to Latin Americans is the belligerent tone of the Bush administration. Does anyone doubt that there are plans on someone’s desk in the Pentagon for a pre-emptive strike on the populist leaders in Chile, Venezuela, and Bolivia. Let’s throw in Nicaragua too, if the Sandinistas ever win. It has happened repeatedly in Latin America and could happen in the next three years, unless of course, a democratically elected president takes office in the U.S. and adheres to the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the land. Stephen Duplantier
He disputes conceptSan Juan, Alajuela of consumption by rich Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Walter Fila’s proposal to prohibit remittances (presumably to Mexico but possibly also to other Central American countries which are sources of illegal immigrants) would certainly discourage a great part of immigration both legal and not, but the rest of his essay is utter nonsense. Transfers of wealth from the poor to the richer do not create wealth, and they do not increase consumption. Indeed since the “propensity to consume” (the fraction of the next dollar of one’s income one is likely to spend on consumer goods rather than on savings or investment) tends to fall as one’s income increases, such transfers, on balance, depress consumption. On the other hand, downward transfers increase the demand for consumer goods at the expense of money available for investment in the means of production of those goods. And it is investment, not consumption, which makes for economic growth, i.e. The increase of the wealth of an economic system. The U.S. has no present shortage of demand for consumer goods. Indeed the latest analyses show that the U.S. population are spending on consumption beyond their incomes by borrowing against their homes in what has been called the “housing bubble” and spending the borrowed money on consumption. The people are, in effect, “consuming their homes.” The amount of money in circulation is determined by the Federal Reserve Board (”FED”) through its fixing of the discount rate and its open-market operations, both of which affect the price of the government bonds which are used by commercial banks to satisfy their reserve requirements. (Money is created when the banks buy government bonds or borrow from the FED to add to their reserves, and destroyed when the loans are repaid or when the FED buys back bonds from banks.) Any effect remittances might otherwise have on the amount of money in circulation is undone by the FED’s execution of its monetary policy. Bryant Smith Playa Palo Seco Roads in south subject of new road contracts By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Now that an extensive drainage system is complete, contractors for the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes will begin the rehabilitation of the roads in the southern part of the country near Pérez Zeledón. The work is part of a three-year program to improve the quality of life, the possibility of community development in the rural southern part of the country. Workers will fix some 1,400 kilometers of roads in 21 cantons with low levels of development, said the public works ministry. The ministry will offer contracts to the road Tuesday and hope that work will begin sometime in May, it said. The ministry is dedicating nearly $4 million to the job that will benefit Abangares, Buenos Aires, Coto Brus, Los Chiles, Nicoya, Pérez Zéledon, Pococí, San Carlos, Santa Cruz, Siquirres and Turrialba as the first part of the program. In Pérez Zeledón, the program calls for the repaving of six roads: San Gabriel – Santa Lucía, San Gabriel – Santa Cecilia, Aguila Abajo – Delicias, Afombra – Caña Blanca – San Pedro – Cruce and Veracruz – Santa Fé. The roads have drainage systems in place and now are awaiting the contracts that will allow companies to begin work, the ministry said. The drainage systems cost nearly $142,000, the ministry said. |
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on our real estate page HERE! |
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Third news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 29 | ||||||
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| Russians, Costa Ricans discuss human rights and a common
position |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Delegates from Russia met with several Costa Rican diplomats Wednesday to exchange viewpoints about human rights and to discuss the possibility of establishing a common position on the subject. Costa Rica's delegation was made up of officials from the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto. The two sides hashed over the results passed at the last meeting of the Human Rights committee and the General Assembly of the United Nations. |
Specifically, the
delegates were concerned with how human rights should
be handled against terrorists. They also discussed the work of
the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
experience of Costa Rica in the Inter-American Human Rights System
among other themes. The delegation from Russia included Vladimir A. Párshikov and G.E. Lukyántsev, both from the Department of the Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights as well as the Russian ambassador to Costa Rica, Valery Nikoláyenko, and an adviser. |
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on our real estate page HERE! |
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Fourth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 29 | ||||||
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| Battered New Orleans to host Latin investment forum |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The city of New Orleans, showing that it is working hard to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in August, will host a March 28 and 29 forum designed to increase investment and development in Latin America. Several U.S. officials are scheduled to speak at the forum, which will cover such topics as disaster relief, electricity, oil and gas projects, ports and logistics, tourism, urban mass transit and treating wastewater. Sponsors for the fourth annual "Latin American Leadership Forum" say the event focuses on developing the region's infrastructure, specifically the 50 "best" projects in Latin America. The spotlight will be on specific business opportunities and the decision-makers who will make presentations at the forum about those opportunities. Sponsors of the forum include the World Bank, the Port of South Louisiana, the Bank of Brazil and the World Trade Center of New Orleans. At the last such leadership forum in March 2005 in |
Washington, speakers reported on a natural gas project in Manzanillo, Mexico; a wastewater facility project in Panama
City, Panama; expansion projects for ports in Manta, Ecuador, and in
Itaqui, Brazil; and a trans-Andean rail project in Chile. U.S. speakers at the New Orleans event will include John Maisto, the United States' ambassador to the Organization of American States; Robert Mosbacher Jr., chief executive officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corp.; and Linda Conlin, a member of the board of directors for the Export-Import Bank. Another scheduled speaker is Michael Olivier, Louisiana's secretary of economic development. He will report on his state's recovery efforts from Katrina and the business and trade opportunities that Louisiana offers for Latin America. Participants in New Orleans from Latin America will represent the worlds of finance, investment, export promotion and business strategy. Sponsors also have scheduled a luncheon to discuss recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina by New Orleans and the Gulf region of the United States. |
| U.S. citizen wearing a chain and crucifixes becomes a target of robbers |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Three men stuck up a U.S. citizen Wednesday and shot him in the foot before making off with a necklace worth $1,000, said agents with the Judicial Investigating Organization. The three men confronted Josef Dilello at |
approximately 1 p.m. in Barrio Vasconia, agents said. One of the three men shot the 38-year-old Dilello in the ankle and
stole a chain and two crucifixes he was wearing, agents said. Dilello was admitted to Clinica Carlos Duran but was transferred to Hospital Calderón Guardia soon after, said a worker at the clinic. |
| Exhibitions, video clips and a movie are planned for Saturday downtown |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Several well-known spots around the San José center will hold exhibitions of various art works Saturday. The set of exhibitions, “En la Calle,” will showcase several pieces of art at the Banco Central, the boulevard in San José and Parque Central Saturday. The program, which is scheduled to run from 9:30 |
a.m. to 3:30 p.m., was organized by the Municipalidad de San José, the
French Embassy and the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo. Afterwards, at 4 p.m., organizers are planning to show several video clips by such well-known directors as Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham in the café at the museum. At 6 p.m., organizers will show the movie “El festín de Babette” at the Centro Nacional de la Cultura north of the center. |
| Car owner guns down man he thought was stealing from the vehicle |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An attempted car theft in Naranjo in the early hours of Wednesday morning resulted in the death of the suspect when the owner of the car stumbled upon the scene, agents said. Agents said that 36-year-old Marcos Solano Araya was |
acting
in a suspicious manner near a vehicle when the owner of the car, a
lawyer, shot him with a 22-caliber pistol. Agents
found the key to a Nissan Almera, a car radio, a jacket and other
articles scattered around the scene, they said. Inside the car,
the
agents found infant clothing, a DVD player and various computer
equipment that had been reported stolen in Palmares, agents said.
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