 |
 |
Your daily |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
 |
| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
 |
||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About us |
|
|
|
|||||||||
 |
| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
 |
Click HERE for
great
hotel discounts
|
|
part of employers' response By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The chamber representing the business community, as expected, brought a revision of the Código de Trabajo or work code to the legislature Thursday. The measure, called a temporary method to preserve jobs, would go into effect if the monthly index of economic activity dipped for three months in a row. The proposal would require a decree from the country's president and would be supervised by the Ministerio de Trabajo. A key measure is that employers would be able to cut work hours by a third and make shift changes for their employees. Employers also would be able to send their workers on vacations. The Unión de Costarricense de Cámaras y Asociaciones del Sector Empresarial Privado said Wednesday that it was going to present this proposal. The goal is to preserve jobs instead of firing workers during hard economic times. In addition, the employers would be able to cut the salaries of anyone who earned more than twice the amount that requires the worker to file an income tax return. That amount now is a bit less than $2,100 a month At the same time the business representatives were at the legislature, teachers were marching downtown for higher salaries. Ransom of documents leads to extortion probe By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Investigators conducted two raids in Atenas Thursday and arrested two persons to face allegations of extortion. The raids were at a hamburger restaurant in a public building there and at the home of one of the suspects. Involved are two foreigners, a 20-year-old U.S. woman and a 29-year-old Dominican man, said agents. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that victims were a North American couple. The organization said that the victims lost a bag that contains personal documents. They were offered the possibility of buying back the bag for 30,000 colons, some $54. But after they paid the money, the persons keeping their documents raised the price to $600. That is when they contacted investigators, said the agency. Agents reported that they recovered the documents in the raid, which took place after the larger sum of money changed hands. Water company workers facing fraud allegations By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Investigators executed a search warrant Thursday at the main offices of the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados where they detained two men, 45 and 30. The men, employees in the communications and public relations department of the agency face allegations of fraud, conspiracy and falsification of documents. Agents said they were investigating a string of crimes that might go back six years. They alleged that the case involved fictitious purchases and payments. Investigators said they did not know how much money was involved. The water company headquarters is on the Pavas Boulevard. Colombian war victims need more U.N. aide says Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Although progress has been made in addressing the humanitarian suffering in Colombia, particularly high levels of displacement due to conflict and natural disasters, the top United Nations relief official said that more needs to be done. “I had an honest and constructive dialogue with the government on the humanitarian situation in Colombia,” said John Holmes, undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs. He spoke at the end of this three-day visit to the South American nation. “There has been good progress on laws about internally displaced persons, and resources are being made available to address their needs,” Holmes noted on his return to Bogotá after visiting members of native and Afro-Colombian communities impacted by floods, displacement and violence in the northwest Chocó region of the country. He stressed that “more is still needed,” adding that he hoped that the budget of La Agencia Presidencial para la Acción Social y la Cooperación Internacional would be maintained, if not increased, despite the current financial crisis, according to a press release issued by the United Nations. Speaking about the Afro-Colombian and native peoples caught up in the conflict in their territories, Holmes said, “These communities face many risks, including forced recruitment, particularly of children, and many of them are being displaced or confined to their villages. “We also need to work together more not only on responding to but also preventing displacement,” added Holmes. The difficulties of native communities were illustrated by the recent massacre of members of the Awá community, in which at least 17 people were killed. Holmes condemned the massacre and appealed for the return of the bodies of those killed to the communities. Colombia has recently experienced its harshest, most destructive rainy season on record, affecting one million people and destroying 44,000 hectares (about 120,000 acres) of crops.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
 |
||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About us |
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
Presidencia goes to court to
stop hearing on slush fund
|
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, perhaps the second most powerful man in the country, has appealed to the Sala IV constitutional court to stop an administrative hearing by the Contraloría de la República. Arias is the brother to the president and minister to the Presidencia, which is equivalent to being chief of the president's staff. The hearing revolves around the money that the Arias brothers got from the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica. The money, more than $2 million, was spread around in various small contracts to 82 friends and political foes. The Contraloría is supposed to oversee government spending, but the money distributed by the Arias administration was outside any budget. In fact the Arias administration claims the funds were not government funds at all. When it was notified that the Contraloría wanted to open an administrative hearing on the slush fund, Casa Presidencial |
moved
quickly. The lengthy appeal to the Sala IV claims that the decision to
hold a hearing lacked due process. The hearing is scheduled for March 10, said Casa Presidencial. Rodrigo Arias held a hurry-up 6 p.m. press conference Thursday to present the version of the executive branch. He noted that there have been several investigations by the Contraloría into the matter. In fact, Rocío Aguilar, the contralora general de la República, and one of her department chiefs, Wálter Ramírez, met with Arias in July on the subject. Casa Presidencial spent about $342,000 of the funds. In addition to paying people who had technical expertise, some contracts went to vehicle drivers and similar. Epsy Campbell, president of the opposition Partido Acción Ciudadana and now a presidential candidate, got a contract said to have been based on her legislative skills. She ended up canceling the arrangement when it was made public by La Nación, the Spanish-language newspaper. The Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica gets its money as grants from the Central American nations and First World countries. |
|
Contract math error cost
nation millions, Contraloría says
|
|
|
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The administrator of the nation's roads paid an amount six times more than it should have for private contractors to clean highway gutters, said the Contraloría de la República Thursday. The error is being called a mathematical one, but math also was faulty when the agency, the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad, tried to determine the area of the gutters to be cleaned. The conversion from square meters to lineal measurement also was faulty and costly, the Contraloría said. The higher incorrect costs involved 22 projects, the Contraloría said. |
The Consejo used a complex formula
to determine the cost per linear
meter for cleaning the gutters. Some of these in rural areas are
covered with mud slides and packed with debris. So some of the cost
involves machinery. The Consejo estimated that the value of the work was 418.55 colons per linear meter. That's about 75 U.S. cents. Instead, contractors were paid 2,790.34 colons or about $4.98 per meter, according to the Contraloría report. The total value of all the contracts was about $10 million. Officials said that there was not a good chance of having any of the money refunded. |
|
Costa Rica makes a great
place to start an interesting trip
|
|||
| My
social life has been somewhat on hold this month, but things are
changing. My friend Fitz made a visit from Washington and invited
me for brunch at the Marriott Hotel in San Antonio de
Belén. I’m going to make brunch there an every-six-months’
pleasure. (It’s quite pricey, I think about $38.00. But it is a great
gustatory experience.) The variety and choice of dishes is more than
any one person can possibly sample, although I tried. Heaven knows, I tried. Among the things I enjoyed were eggs benedict, two ceviches, sushi and roast pork. Fitz was his usual entertaining self and brought me some great gifts from an inaugural party he attended. He said that interest in buying real estate has picked up in Washington, at least. My friend Jorge is recovering from a serious cold probably contracted on the plane from Japan. So many people I know get sick after a plane trip, it looks like the only way to fly is with a surgical mask. But Jorge will be well enough for "Madam Butterfly" next Saturday (not me, the opera). We can now enjoy the Metropolitan Opera locally at the Centro Cultural while it is being performed in New York City. Sandy is returning from eight days in the States nursing her daughter through an operation. On a happier note, James and Alexis are returning from a cruise vacation out of Panamá, looking tanned and rested. Costa Rica is certainly a jumping off place to visit the rest of the world — at least for others. The only trip that was inadvertent and not pleasurable was the one my friend Doug took when his heel caught on a raised piece of sidewalk (not an unusual condition here), and he went flying, landing face first. He ended up with a huge lump on his forehead, two black eyes, and a number of bleeding wounds. I learned that as a nurse I am a major liability. Perhaps now is a good time for me to take a trip. It looks as if the building of the stadium in the Sabana Park will soon be under way. Huge platform trucks have been |
unloading tons of wire and metal and other building
materials. Even though the building site is about six blocks from my
apartment, I
am sure I will experience the side effects of the construction. I
wonder about the wisdom of building a sports stadium in these financial
times, but I suppose one person’s pork is another person’s culture.
Art, sports, music and dance are important to the growth and psyche of
a nation. |
||
 |
 |
| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
| A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page |
 |
||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About us |
|
| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Feb. 27, 2009, Vol. 9, No. 41 | |||||||||
|
Crime-ravaged
México considers reinstating death penalty
|
|
|
By the A.M. Costas Rica wire services
Violent murders linked to organized crime are soaring in México with nearly 6,000 people killed last year, double the number for 2007. As a result, Mexico's tiny Green Party has decided to campaign for the reintroduction of the death penalty. The Green Party is pressing for the death penalty for kidnappers who torture, mutilate or murder their victims. If this measure is adopted by the country's legislators, it would reverse a 2005 decision to formally scrap capital punishment. It has been almost 50 years since anyone was executed in México. More than 5,600 people were killed by drug traffickers in México last year and analysts say Mexico is now the most dangerous country in the world for kidnapping. But 97 percent of the country's kidnapping cases go unsolved by police, one of the reasons many critics of the death penalty question its effectiveness in deterring crime. But public anger is fueling the debate. A poll conducted last year found that more than 70 percent of those asked supported the death penalty. The Green Party has launched a hot line to inform the public on the issue. It has received thousands of calls supporting the death penalty for kidnappers who brutalize their victims. Green Party leader Jorge Emilio Gonzalez says voters are demanding a fitting deterrent to counteract these vicious crimes. "It is not the answer," said Jorge Emilio González. "But it is part of the answer. It is a message that we are going strong. They are going to think twice. They know that if they get caught — in six, eight months — one year, they are going to get the death penalty." Diego Cobo, Green Party vice coordinator, explained the legislative proposal is specifically designed to protect the kidnapping victims. "The purpose of our proposal is not to kill criminals," said |
Cobo. "The
first purpose of our proposal is to protect the victim, to tell the
criminal that if he kills his victim, he is going to be killed also. So
the first effect of our proposal is the protection of the victim. The
life of the victim." Lorenzo Meyer, a College of Mexico International Studies Department professor, is a specialist in the history of Mexico's political development. He said Mexico's police forces are too corrupt, and its legal system way too fragile, to consider using the death penalty. "In Mexico, the only people that are in jail . . . well not only, but basically 95 percent, are poor," said Meyer. "And nobody, really nobody trusts the judicial system. So introduce the death penalty here, and you would have a lot of executions that are unfair. In the case of México, it could be really criminal to introduce the death penalty with this sort of judicial system." Lawyer Alonso Aguilar Zinser agrees with Meyer. He said the death penalty is not the way for Mexico's legal system to progress. "Criminals are a product of the society," said Aguilar Zinser. "And something is failing in society if you have criminals. You do not have the right to have a revenge, if you have problems in society. You have to resolve the problems. Not revenge, because an eye for an eye is not the position of a modern state." Outrage over kidnapping in México surged last year after the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Fernando Martí. After his wealthy family paid a substantial ransom, the boy was murdered. Those subsequently arrested included the commander of a police detective unit based at Mexico's international airport. In the aftermath of the crime, the murdered boy's father demanded politicians do more to curb kidnapping or quit their well-paid jobs. Thousands of people dressed in white marched through Mexico City last year as they had during the previous administration of President Vicente Fox, but the rampant level of kidnappings has not decreased. The death penalty issue is due to be debated in Mexico's congress. |
| News from
the BBC up to the minute |
BBC sports news up to the minute |
| BBC news and sports feeds are disabled on archived pages. |
|
| A.M. Costa Rica fifth news page |
|
||||||||
| Home |
Tourism |
Calendar |
Classifieds |
Entertainment |
Real
estate |
Rentals |
Sports |
About us |
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
to the Caribbean coast By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The transport ministry will be conducting inspections and issuing or renewing seaworthiness certificates in the Provincia de Limón starting March 3. The inspections will be conducted at the same time in Manzanillo and in Barra del Colorado. The inspections will conclude March 12 in Barra de Tortuguero, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Cahuita and Barra de Parismina. Inspectors will be checking paperwork and also safety equipment. The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes said that the boats need to be painted and bear the name on both sides of the vessel. Donating body to science is topic for Legion Post 10 By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
America Legion Post 10 in Escazú is inviting all U.S. military veterans to a meeting Wednesday where a physician and a lawyer will talk about the donation of a body to medical science. The presenters are José Resenterra Cecilliano, director of the anatomy department at UCIMED in Sabana Oeste, and Ana I. Borbon Muñoz of the medical school's legal department. The meeting is at noon at the Bello Horizonte Country Club. Post officers said that lunch will be available after the meeting. More information is available at 2228-6014, 2288-0454, 2232-7876 and 2231-6105 Two teens held in cases of extreme violence By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Agents detained two teens, 16 and 17, Thursday and said they were part of a criminal gang who used extreme violence against its victims. The pair were arrested in the La Capri section of Desamparados. They join in prison two other person, both adults, who are accused of being members of the same band.The armed gang stuck up passer-by, delivery truck drivers and businesses in their home community. The investigation has been going on since janaury, and so far agents said they have four complaints. They expect more. Palmares gets new ICE agency
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is opening a new agency in Palmares today next to the Banco Popular, the telcom agency said. Electrical and telephone transactions can be made there. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
|
|
