Election tribunal sends
media cases to prosecutor


The Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones has referred three electronic outlets to the Ministerio Público for possible criminal action because they would not turn over records of advertising about the free trade treaty.

The outlets are Sinart, Canal 13, which happens to be a government channel, Cable Plus and the Radio Rica station.

Each entity was a case before the tribunal, which considered the actions prior to the Oct. 1, 2007, referendum on the free trade.

According to tribunal rules, the outlets should have provided records of who placed advertising and who paid for it.

The law closely controls advertising before elections. Opponents of the free trade treaty tried to extend this prohibition to news coverage when U.S. officials said that Costa Rica might experience negative consequences if voters defeated the treaty.  That took place within the three-day quiet period.

In the three current cases the Ministerio Público will consider the evidence and perhaps file a criminal action. Similar laws in the United States require candidates or persons placing an ad for a candidate to be identified either on the printed ad on within the space of the electronic ad.


Gunman take pedestrians
to Acosta for execution


Gunmen kidnapped two young men in Desamparados and took them to Acosta where they executed one of the victims. The second person escaped by throwing himself down a hill, officials said.

The dead man was identified as Vladimir Villalobos Castro, 16. He suffered a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Judicial Investigating Organization.

Villalobos and a 20-year-old companion were confronted by four men in a vehicle as they walked in San Rafael Abajo de Desamparados early Tuesday, the companion told investigators.

They were taken to San Ignacio de Acosta where the shooting took place. Investigators found a pistol near the site where the youth's body was located.


Facelift for Limón moves
forward in legislature


Lawmakers on a legislative committee approved and sent to the full Asamblea Legislativa Tuesday a proposal to borrow $72.5 million to give Limón Centro a facelifting.

The money would come from the Banco Internacional de Reconstrucción y Fomento. Costa Rica has to add $7 million.

The project is called Limón Cuidad Puerto by members of the administration.

There was no opposition in the Comisión Permanente de Asuntos Hacendarios over sending the measure forward. Most lawmakers agree that Limón needs a facelift.

The problem is in the central government's plan to award a concession to a private contractor to run and improve the docks there. The docks at Limón and Moín are key to the country's exports, but they are well behind the times. Instead of containers of bananas, workers load boxes.

However, most of the money for the loan will not involve work on the docks. A sewage system makeover is a priority.

Opposition to the dock concession is expected to be carried out by the laborers union there.


Arias again urges firms
to cut hours not workers


President Óscar Arias Sánchez once again Tuesday called on companies to cut the salaries of their executives and shorten the work day of employees before firing anyone.

He made the comments in Barreal de Heredia where he helped inaugurate a new plant for the Oregon firm Precision Wire Components.

The firm, which employees 20 persons, makes fine wire devices for medical use, such as treatment of aneurysms or blood clots.

The firm invested nearly $1 million in the new plant, and Arias praised the company's courage during difficult economic times.

Haiti will not accept
its citizens from States


Haiti is blocking the deportation of Haitians from the United States.

U.S. immigration authorities have ordered 30,000 Haitians to leave the country, but Haitian officials are refusing to issue the travel documents needed for the deportations.

They say the Caribbean nation needs time to recover from last year's devastating hurricanes and cannot handle the return of its citizens. 

The action has been clogging U.S. immigration detention centers. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency says about 600 Haitian deportees are in detention centers and another 240 are under house arrest.

The U.S. government halted deportations to Haiti for three months last year, starting in September, after back-to-back storms killed nearly 500 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Soon after resuming flights in December, the administration of then president George W. Bush denied Haiti's request for temporary protected status.

The designation would have allowed Haitians living in the United States illegally to stay and work temporarily.