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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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Public schools beginning
the 2009 educational year By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Today's the day mothers have been awaiting since Christmas. Nearly 1 million primary and secondary students are off to public school today. As is traditional, the president and the education minister will symbolically open the school year at a selected location. This year President Óscar Arias Sánchez and Leonardo Garnier, minister of Educación Pública, will be at the Liceo Experimental Bilingüe de Río de Jiménez in Guácimo for a 9 a.m. ceremony. The start of school will be accompanied by the usual bureaucratic problems that crop up every year: unassigned teachers, insufficient desks and problems with the physical plants. The biggest construction problems are in the areas flooded earlier this month and in the Jan. 8 earthquake zone. A handful of schools in the earthquake zone will not start class until March because of repairs needed to the facilities. Children in the flood zone, mainly Matina and Sixaola are being scheduled on a school-by-school basis. Costa Rica plans to close U.S. consulates to save cash By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica will close consulates in Chicago, Illinois, and in Puerto Rica, to save money, the foreign ministry said Friday. Also being closed are embassies in Bolivia, the Czech Republic and Paraguay. The work of the Chicago consulate will be moved to New York, and the work of the Puerto Rican consulate will be handled in San José, said the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto. The actions are part of the central government's retrenchment to avoid economic problems. For would-be expat residents from the Midwest, the move is important because consular officials validate the paperwork needed to apply for residency here. In addition, Puerto Rico has a steady tourism flow to Costa Rica. Costa Rica maintains embassies in 35 countries and 10 consulates. There also are five offices representing the country at international organizations, the ministry said. Gasoline increasing again, but diesel take a small drop By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Gasoline took a jump when the price setting agency announced the results of its monthly computations, but diesel decreased. The price of a liter of super gasoline will go up 54 colons (about 9.7 U.S. cents) to 486 colons (87.1 cents). Plus gasoline (91 octane) will go up 48 colons (8.6 cents) to 474 colons (84.9 cents). But the Authoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos said that diesel would drop 18 colons (about 3.2 cents) a liter to 412 colons (7.4 cents). The authority sets fuel prices once a month and uses the world price of petroleum and the colon-dollar exchange rate as major factors. As usual the prices become effected when published in the La Gaceta official newspaper.  File photo of stolen bell
Thieves steal history bell
that is 200 years old By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Thieves have taken a 200-year-old bell from the Catholic church located in Térraba de Buenos Arias in southern Costa Rica, an area populated mostly by native Costa Ricans. There have been considerable thefts in Costa Rica and elsewhere of scrap metal, and the thieves probably planned to sell the bell for its metal. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that there was some gold in an inscription on the bell that said "Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe." The bell is believed to weigh at least 400 pounds, described by police as four quintales, an antique measurement of weight. Police make inspection sweep of guards carrying guns By the A,M Costa Rica staff
Judicial police inspected some 90 locations where private guards were working last week and found a number of violations. They confiscated 35 handguns and three shotguns. Inspections were made in Pavas, Sabana, La Uruca, San José, Guadalupe, San Pedro de Montes de Oca and Desamparados, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. The bulk of the violations were that those carrying a weapon did not have current permits or only had a copy when they should have an original. Our reader's opinion
Another letter in supportof herbal or natural medicine Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Alfred Stites is “right on” with his defense of herbal medicine. His only error is how long herbal medicine has been around; which happens to be at least a million years or more…long before we started swinging in the trees. We were chewing on that willow bark for those headaches, and never once got a hospital staph infection from it!!! Type this address in your internet browser and see where “Study shows hospital staph infections cause 12,000 deaths, cost $9.5 billion.” Dick Burgoon
Alajuela, Costa Rica
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| Rail
cars for use on the Heredia line are all painted up and waiting in
Spain for Costa Rica to make a deal on payment. The cars already bear
the initials of the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarrilles. The rail
cars |
still are the property of their Spanish -owned Ferrocarriles Españoles de Vía Estrecha, which provided this photo. The current rail cars on the valley line are a bit shabby. |
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Fitch continues
investment-grade ratings for Costa Rica
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Fitch Rating organization has affirmed Costa Rica's credit worthiness and has continued ratings on all of the country's liabilities, both long and short-term, as investment grade, ranging from BB+ to B. The company said that the country's outlook is stable. However, the New York-based rating agency did say that Costa Rica's monetary and exchange rate policy framework represents a key credit weakness, particularly in light of comparatively high levels of inflation and financial dollarization, a relatively large current account deficit, financial sector weaknesses and fragile although improved international liquidity. "Fitch believes that Costa Rica's improved public finances, net external creditor position and broad-based multilateral support could help to mitigate the impact of the U.S. recession and tighter global liquidity on sovereign creditworthiness," said Casey Reckman, associate director in Fitch's Sovereign Group. "Costa Rica's large current account deficit and fragile liquidity position leave the country vulnerable to shocks, particularly in the absence of a stronger monetary and exchange rate policy framework," the company said. Lenders use the Fitch ratings to assess their likelihood of being repaid and adjust interest rates accordingly. In spite of improved regulation and reduced offshore activities, Costa Rica's financial system remains |
comparatively weak due to high and
increasing financial dollarization and lower capital adequacy, said the company. In this context, economic slowdown and continued currency pressure could weaken the financial system, potentially leading to contingent liabilities in light of considerable state participation in the banking system, it added. Strengthening of the monetary and exchange rate policy framework could benefit Costa Rica's ability to cope with external shocks and, in turn, its creditworthiness, Fitch said. Passage of revenue-enhancing legislation along with continued fiscal discipline is also critical to supporting Costa Rica's ratings as economic growth decelerates, the company said. Several new tax proposals are in the Asamblea Legislativa. The company also said that if Costa Rica's international reserves weaken, this could affect its ratings. The firm also warned against "an inappropriate policy response to the ongoing economic slowdown." The Óscar Arias administration is borrowing extensively to develop infrastructure and to repair bridges and roads damaged by flooding and the Jan. 8 earthquake. In addition, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad will be the beneficiary of a $500 million loan. Some $117.5 million is headed to the state banks to increase liquidity. The World Bank also said that Costa Rica could have a $500 million credit line. Like the world bank, most of the country's credit comes from international development banks. |
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PriceSmart will stop using
plastic bags for shoppers' purchases March 2
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
PriceSmart in Costa Rica will stop putting shoppers' purchases in plastic bags March 2, the company said. José Luis Laparte, the company president, said that the 25 PriceSmart stores distribute 90 million plastic bags each year and this translated to 750 tons of plastic. He said that the petroleum content of the plastic is not good for the environment and that thousands of marine animals die each year because of plastic bags. He also noted that |
such plastic takes hundreds of
years to degrade in landfills. Laparte promoted the use of the blue cloth bags on sale at the stores and promised whatever savings the company gets by not using plastic bags will be passed on to the customers. Four of the 25 PriceSmart stores are in Costa Rica: in Zapote, Escazú, Heredia and Llorente de Tibás. A fifth is under construction in Alajuela. The firm has headquarters in San Diego, California. The stores here are favored by expats because they carry many items imported from the United States. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page |
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New luxury hotel, The Beacon,
opens in Escazú
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A new hotel has opened in Escazú. It is The Beacon Escazú some 300 meters west of the Municipalidad and the Parque Central in Escazú. The local manager is Autumn Maher, and the hotel is part of the K Hotels organization based in Los Angeles. In a press release K Hotels said the hotel features architecture with an exotic, vibrant Spanish aesthetic that is flawlessly merged with old Colonial and modern design. The hotel was characterized as a five-star boutique property. There are 27 guest rooms and an outside pool. Also featured are The Muse Restaurant with international cuisine prepared by chef Jean Pierre Peiny, business and fitness centers, spa facilities, bar, wine cellar, cigar room and lounge area. The hotel also has a 900-square foot |
 The new Beacon Escazú
master suite and a smaller junior suite. The hotel also boasts that it has 300 thread-count Italian sheets. It's Web site is www.mybeaconescazu.com. |
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Chávez appears to have
won passage of end to term limits
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Venezuelan electoral officials say President Hugo Chávez has won a referendum on lifting term limits which would allow him to stay in power as long as he keeps winning elections. Officials say that with most of the ballots counted, 54 percent of Venezuelans backed the president's proposal. Election officials have begun tallying the results from electronic voting machines used in Sunday's vote. Chávez called for the vote, saying he needed more time in office to complete work on his socialist-inspired revolution. Before the polls closed, trucks carrying loudspeakers circulated in some Caracas neighborhoods, calling on people to vote in favor of the measure. Opposition leaders condemned the acts, saying government supporters were violating a ban on political campaigning on election day. In the Buena Vista neighborhood of Caracas, Jacquelin Del |
Hoyo says she
voted against the measure. She says she supported Hugo Chávez
when he
was first elected president in 1998, but that she has been disappointed
since then. Ms. Del Hoyo points out that the people already rejected this measure once, and say that now Chávez is asking voters to change their minds. "No means no," she said. In December 2007, voters rejected a broad package of reforms, which included a similar proposal to end term limits. Analysts say one reason for the defeat was low voter turnout among traditional government supporters. Earlier Sunday, retiree Eduardo Trujillo said he backed the measure, but that he was unsure whether he would cast a ballot because he is upset with the tone of politics in Venezuela. He said he supports Chávez because of his social welfare programs. Trujillo said that in the past 10 years, the government has increased pension payments and expanded the program to include all retirees. |
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residents of Ostional refuge By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Sala IV constitutional court has ordered the eviction within six months of any occupant living illegally in the Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Ostional. The order does not apply to anyone who has been living there since before 1983 when the refuge was created. The order also does not apply to those involved in research, protection of the local turtle nests, training or ecotourism, said the Poder Judicial. The case was brought to the court by a resident of Nicoya who objected to the fact that an overall plan had not been drafted for the management of the area. The court ordered that such a plan be created by the Area de Conservación Tempisque U.S. tourist dies in fall By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A U.S. tourist died early Friday when he fell from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room. He was identified by friends as Jeremy Beckman. The hotel is located in San Miguel on the far Pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula. The case is being handled as an accident. Rights groups urge end to speech ban on religions Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The basic human right to freedom of expression is increasingly under threat as countries introduce and enforce laws that have been wrongfully legitimized by numerous United Nations resolutions on "defamation of religions," Freedom House said in a statement sent to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Freedom House and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty strongly urged members of the council to reject any further resolutions when they meet in Geneva for the upcoming 10th Session March 2-27, and to further reject any attempts to create international instruments or mechanisms that would prohibit “defamation of religions.” |
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