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| Protests break out
again,
and two are wounded By the A.M. Costa Rica staff At least two persons were shot and more were hurt as violence again erupted in the Leon XIII section of Tibás Thursday night. Meanwhile, pirate taxi drivers blocked a street in a section of Pavas. Gangs of youths in Leon XIII maintained a strained standoff with police most of Thursday, but when night fell rock throwing and worse broke out. Officials seem mystified at the contempt the mid- to older teens show for the police, but others suggest that many are members of gangs that thrive on drug trafficking and other crimes. Leon XIII, north of San José, is a working-class neighborhood. Rogelio Ramos, the mininster of security, has vowed to keep streets open for normal travel. The pirate taxi drivers started the protest about midday Wednesday, and then the youths took over when the taxi drivers left. The pirate or illegal taxi drivers were protesting a government crackdown instigated by complaints and protests from licensed drivers. The pirate taxi drivers took their protest to the western suburb of Pavas Thursday. They blocked a street with burning tires and debris. They were not unruly, and some said they simply were seeking to negotiate with government officials who have promised to impose stiff fines on illegal drivers. Violence in Leon XIII picked up as the sun went down. The young people
again began throwing rocks at riot-clad policemen. One of those shot was
a policeman who took a bullet in the lower leg.
Investigators seek
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Investigators are seeking a Costa Rican truck driver who may have witnessed a serious crime along Avenida Central in eastern San José Feb. 2. The man is believed to be a distributor or a route driver. The man was driving a large truck with some type of canned goods inside, said Judicial Investigating Organization agents. They said those who can help can call 295-3372, 295-3373 or 295-3311. Spilled fluid makes
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff A workman spilled a container of petroleum-based fluid in the basement of the Carrión clothing store in downtown San José around midday Thursday, and firemen had to ventilate the building while emergency workers attended to some 27 employees, mostly women. The noxious fluid permeated the upper floors of the store, and workers suffered headaches, difficulty breathing and burning eyes. A number were examined at nearby hospitals. The store was back in business by early afternoon. President’s brother visits By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, will be in Costa Rica early next week, and he will place a floral tribute at the Monumental Nacional in Parque Nacional Monday morning and then adjourn to Casa Presidencial for a meeting with President Abel Pacheco. Because Bush is the brother of the U.S. president, security is tight. Much of his visit will be for personal reasons, officials said. |
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Those associated with the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo got 40 tickets to the Luciano Pavarotti concert Jan. 31, legislators learned Thursday. The tourism institute spent nearly $70,000 to help sponsor the event, and members of a financial committee of the Asamblea Nacional wanted to know why public money was used on a private event. The main sponsor of the event, Credomatic, the financial services firm, donated 60 tickets, mostly of the $100 variety, to the institute. But only 40 were used, according to testimony by the minister of tourism and members of the institute’s board of directors Thursday. In addition to the legislative committee, the Contraloría General, the financial watchdog, is investigating the deal. Rodrigo Castro Fonseca, the minister, said he justified the investment because the publicity generated for the country was worth $550,000. Luis Gerardo Villanueva, a deputy from the opposition Partido Liberación Nacional, said that he could not pass over the fact that Credomatic had given some $150,000 to the Abel Pacheco presidential campaign. Epsy Campbell of the Partido Acción Ciudadana |
joined the fray after Castro said
that he did not think the concert would have taken place without the tourism
institute’s investment. Both she and Villanueva said they doubted
that the sum of money that the institute paid influenced the development
of events.
Partido Unidad Social Cristiana deputies defended the investment, as did President Pacheco Wednesday. Pacheco said that the publicity purchased by the tourism institute brought 1,000 tourists to the country for the concert and that these tourists spent a lot of money. However, Diario Extra, the Spanish daily that started the flap last week, reported Thursday that there is no evidence that 1,000 tourists did come or that they would not have had the institute not provided the money for publicity. The newspaper said that TACA Airlines would not provide data on tickets it sold relating to the concert. Although Credomatic was a sponsor of the concert, the firm has said the concert was put on by a private firm and that it did not profit from the event although it did provide money. Credomatic sponsors a number of artistic and cultural events throughout the year. The firm also donated to the Liberación presidential campaign. The tourism institute placed a half-page ad Sunday in The New York Times to promote the fact that Pavarotti was here, Pacheco noted at his Tuesday press conference. |
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President Abel Pacheco inaugurated a new United Air Lines Inc. daily route from San José to Washington, D.C., and was happy to note that airline arrivals have increased from 232 per week to 332 during his two years in the nation’s top job. Since May 2002 when the president took office, seven international airlines began operations in the country, he said. They are Condor, Air Canada, U.S. Airways, American West, West Caribbean Airways and Biwi West Indies, according to the Dirección General de Aviación Civil. |
"These are facts, not words," Pacheco
said of the statistics, adding that these developments showed the effort
that his administration was putting into transportation and in offering
Costa Rica as a destination of peace and civility.
The Washington, D.C., route will have 182 seats on each flight, giving a boost to tourism, Pacheco said. The president will be in Limón today for another airport-related event. He will be inaugurating a new asphalt topping on the Limón airport, which the administration hopes will be used for international flights. |
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Sporadic violence continued here Thursday with reports of deaths in towns in the northwestern part of the country as a result of clashes between anti-government armed gangs and police. Nearly 50 people have died over the past week in the worst violence Haiti has seen in years. Pro-government supporters prevented anti-government demonstrators from marching in the capital on Thursday. In a show of force that left anti-government activists intimidated and angry, a large mob of pro-government supporters burned vehicles and used burning tires as roadblocks in front of the Canape Vert square, where anti-government demonstrators had planned to begin their demonstration. Hundreds of mostly young pro-government supporters pelted their opponents with rocks as police looked on and did not interfere. Their tactics worked. Anti-government organizers called off their march but pledged to try again on Sunday. Pro-government supporters like Willy, who declined to give his last name, say they will stand behind President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and against the opposition as long as he wants to stay in power. "They do not have any respect for President Aristide or for the people too, for us. We want to save our power, that is the reason we stand here," he said. The demonstrators, mostly young and mostly poor, have turned out in large numbers in recent weeks in a show of force and intimidation against President Aristide's opponents, a broad coalition of |
business leaders, students, politicians
and leaders of civil society groups. The tensions in the capital have been
minor when compared with violence in towns like Gonaives, St. Marc and
Cap Haitian, where scores have died in clashes between anti-government
activists and police and their government supporters.
Gonaives, Haiti's fourth largest town, remains under the control of anti-government armed gangs who seized it last week. Elsewhere tensions are high but government security forces are said to have the upper hand in nearby St. Marc, and in Haiti's second largest city, Cap Haitian, where press reports say violent intimidation has cowed government opponents. Aristide says the civil opposition based in Port-au-Prince is behind the violence in Gonaives and elsewhere, but opposition leaders like Andre Apaid, who heads a coalition known as Group 184, says the opposition is seeking a peaceful transfer of power to a post-Aristide Government. "The truth of it is that we show every day by exposing our lives peacefully in the streets, using our bare hands to show that we are a non-violent group and not behind something like the violence in Gonaives. People who are behind the violence in Gonaives sit in rooms and wait for their option to succeed," he said. "They do not risk their lives in the streets." Opposition leaders in Port-au-Prince repeated on Thursday that they want to see Aristide step down, saying he is guilty of human rights abuses corruption and mismanagement. Aristide has called the charges ridiculous and says he has no intention of leaving office before his term officially expires in two years. |
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CARACAS, Venezuela — The United States is warning Americans in Venezuela of possible violent protests as election officials there prepare to decide whether to hold a referendum. In a statement, the U.S. State Department says the announcement by election officials Friday may lead to political demonstrations during "this period of uncertainty." The statement urged U.S. citizens to avoid demonstrations and other gatherings. |
Venezuela's Electoral Commission
is due to rule on the validity of more than three million signatures collected
by opposition groups calling for the removal of President Hugo Chavez.
The country's constitution requires 2.4 million signatures to force a vote
on ousting an elected president.
Opposition groups have blamed Chavez for ruining the economy and seeking to model the oil-rich country after Communist-led Cuba. The president insists he is working to improve the lives of Venezuela's impoverished majority. |
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VATICAN CITY — Pope John Paul II has told Colombian President Alvaro Uribe he is praying for social peace and an end to decades of violence in the South American country. The pope met Uribe at the Vatican Thursday, saying it is time to create
the foundations for
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peaceful society in Colombia.
Uribe also asked the pontiff to give a special blessing to Colombia's top official negotiating with rebels, Luis Carlos Restrepo, who accompanied Uribe at the Vatican. Restrepo has been working to end four decades of fighting between Colombian government troops, Marxist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries. |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Monetary Fund says it has approved the disbursement of $66 million for the financially-troubled Dominican Republic. The lender said Wednesday that its decision follows a review of the Caribbean country's financial performance. The monetary fund also said in a statement that the Dominican Republic is still trying to recover from a banking sector crisis last year, which led to |
a currency devaluation, along with
a rapid increase in public debt and inflation. The fund said that while
the Dominican government succeeded in stabilizing the banking system, it
still has to take steps to implement structural reforms.
The country's financial troubles have also led to persistent power outages that sometimes last as long as 20 hours. Last month, at least six people died in street violence during a two-day general strike organized to protest the country's worsening economic crisis. Scores of Dominicans have fled the country, and many have tried to reach the United States by boat. |
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