WASHINGTON, D.C. — As usual, Costa Rica got a thumbs up from the United States in an annual report on human rights. However the report, released here Monday, did cite some problems

There were some instances of physical abuse by police and prison guards, the document said, but reports of police abuse of authority or misconduct decreased during the year. 

The judicial system processes some criminal cases very slowly, resulting in lengthy pretrial detention for some persons charged with crimes, the report also noted. 

Domestic violence was termed a serious problem, and traditional patterns of unequal opportunity for women remain, despite continuing government and media efforts to advocate change, the document said.

Abuse of children also remains a problem, and child prostitution is a serious problem, said the document, that also noted that child labor persists.

To back up its claim of police misconduct, the report said that the Ombudsman's office received 21 reports of police abuse of authority or misconduct during the year, compared with 52 in 2000, and 14 in 1999. The decline in reports was attributed to the inflated figures in 2000 because of the March 2000 general strike in the downtown as citizens protested plans to privatize the electric company.

Penitentiary overcrowding remains a problem, said the report, citing Ministry of Justice reports of a total prison population of 11,858 in November, with an overpopulation of 839 prisoners.

The unsolved murder on July 7 of popular radio host Parmenio Medina led to considerable public debate on press freedoms and renewed attention to legislative proposals aimed at easing media restrictions, said the document.

The law in Costa Rica prohibits trafficking in 

Isolated cases of trafficking have involved persons from Africa, Asia, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the Middle East, said the report, adding that there also have been reports of girls from the Philippines being trafficked to the country for the purpose of sexual exploitation. 

Elsewhere, the State Department said human rights abuses in Latin America are declining as democracy strengthens in the region, but that Colombia and Cuba remain two areas of concern. 

The State Department credits the Peruvian government for taking significant steps to investigate past abuses and corruption under former President Alberto Fujimori. The report also notes that current President Alejandro Toledo assumed power in 2001 following elections that observers considered to be generally free and fair. 

The State Department report says in Mexico, security forces have been accused of torturing detainees. It does, however, credit President Vicente Fox with naming a special prosecutor to investigate the unexplained disappearance of some 275 people dating back to the 1970s. 

The report also says the human rights situation remains poor in Colombia, where leftist rebel groups are at war against the government of President Andres Pastrana and a right-wing paramilitary force. The report notes the conflict, which began in 1964, kills as many as 3,500 people each year. In addition, it blames the outlawed groups for targeting civilians for kidnappings and massacres. 

In the Caribbean, the report describes Cuba as a totalitarian state where President Fidel Castro controls all aspects of life. Like Colombia, the report says Cuba's human rights situation is poor and that the government systematically violates people's civil and political rights.

The notorious Viper Lady scored another Gringo target Thursday when she lured a North American to a dark bar then spiked his drink.

While in a drug-induced stupor, the man paid $500 for a pack of cigarettes, lost a bag with $100 and perhaps became the victim of credit-card fraud, according to a friend.

The friend, a resident here, said that the man might report his case to authorities but there was no guarantee. 

"I realize he, like many others, is embarrassed about what happened and is reluctant to come forward. In the end he has been turned off to Costa Rica and will probably not settle here," said the friend.

Both men did not want their names used.

The Viper Lady, perhaps a Venezuelan and perhaps not even a woman, has made news before. She or they (because there may be a gang rather than a lone operator) picks up male tourists and either spikes their drink or otherwise administers a drug.

The friend said that the con lady picked up the man on the pedestrian mall between calles 7 and 9. She asked questioned first in Spanish and then in 

The woman said that she was from Venezuela and in the real estate business. She began to stir the man’s drink with her finger.

"Minutes later he is incapacitated and is talked into going to a store and paying for cigarettes with a credit card," said the friend. An accomplice in the  store seems to have charged $500 and probably split the proceeds with the con lady. The woman then put the man in a taxi to his hotel.

The viper lady was described as an attractive woman dressed in a business suit with scarf at the neck and neat long hair put up. 

The Viper Lady scores a string of such thefts and then seems to leave town for long periods. Police have been unable to make a firm arrest, in part, because most tourists do not file complaints.

The 40ish Viper Lady’s technique is such that men who would be highly suspicious if they were approached by a younger, more attractive woman go willingly with her.

The woman or her group may be responsible for more than 100 such assaults in San José and points nearby during the last several years.

A.M. Costa Rica continued to grow in February. The newspaper’s web pages received 149,360 hits even though the month was a short one with just 28 days.

The figure represents a 17.1 percent increase over January when the pages received 127,513 hits. The figures are maintained by an independent statistical program operated by the U.S. company that hosts the amcostarica.com Web domain.

The Internet newspaper was six months old on Feb. 15. During the first half month of operation in August, the web pages received 14,127 hits, just 9 percent of February's activity.

In February, all statistics showed increases. Total page views were 41,823, up 11.5 percent over January. Total sessions were 14,709, up 7.7 percent over January.

According to the online documentation provided by HTTP-ANALYZE 2.01, the statistical program for tracking Web use, the following definitions are current in the Internet world for tracking Web site visits:

"Total Hits" is the total number of files that are requested from the server. "Page Views," or "Page Impressions" is the number of pages viewed. "User Sessions" is the number of unique users who visited a web site during a certain time period.

The Web site averages about 5,500 hits per day and had a high of 8,985 on a single day in February. Because A.M. Costa Rica is not published on Saturday or Sunday, Web use is lower those day, although there still is significant activity as readers catch up on what they missed during the week.

Readers who sent e-mails to the newspaper said they liked the way in which they could find out news of Costa Rica instantly without waiting for delivery people or mailmen.  Daily publication provides articles of immediate interest. Several cited the local coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States when the Web page was updated every few hours with stories of direct interest to people in Costa Rica.

Others also cited news stories about a passenger plane crash in Quepos that provided hourly information about the disaster and the subsequent successful search for survivors.

Some readers also praised the Friday columns by Jo Stuart. A number also praised the continual tourism coverage by Patricia Martin. A handful said they were enchanted by newspaper coverage of the weekend Tico Train, a tourist passenger service to the Pacific coast.

Advertisers praised the way they could change their announcements on a daily basis to reflect changing market conditions or possible sales.

OAS will send team
to help calm Haiti

WASHINGTON — The Organization of American States will send a special mission to Haiti designed to settle that Caribbean country's long-running political crisis.

The OAS said Friday's statement that it had signed an agreement with Haiti's minister of foreign affairs, setting out the terms and conditions for the mission that will support Haiti in strengthening the country's democratic institutions, specifically in the areas of security, justice, human rights, democratic development, governance and institutional development.

The mission will also conduct an independent investigation into the December 2001 attack on the presidential palace in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

The latest offering from Costa Rica's oldest English-speaking community theatre, The Little Theatre Group, is well into it's run, and this writer urges those who have not yet seen "The Vagina Monologues" to book their seats NOW! 

There is only one more weekend and bookings are very heavy as people return for a second look at what has proved to be a very amusing,   entertaining, thought-provoking show. 

It has played to sell-out houses almost every night   and recieved standing ovations for the first time in the history of the group. 

Many men have been heard to comment that they cried, either with laughter or sadness, and that they learned a lot from the performances of the 11 beautiful women who comprise the cast of this surprising show.  Call  289-3910 for bookings. 

Remaining show dates and times are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., all in the group’s theater in Bello Horizonte.

International Monetary Fund officials are expected in Argentina today for talks on a new loan package for the financially-troubled country. 

Argentina is reportedly seeking as much as $20 billion in IMF money to bring the country back from the brink of economic collapse. The nation has been in recession nearly four years and defaulted on $141 billion in public debt. 

The IMF, however, has said Argentina must develop a plan for sustainable economic development in order to qualify for new financial aid. In December, the lending agency withheld more than $1 billion in loans for Argentina, saying the government failed to control spending. 

In a bid to spark economic recovery, President Eduardo Duhalde devalued the peso several weeks ago, ending its decade-old parity with the U.S. dollar. Some economists, however, fear the move could trigger inflation. 

Market analysts also say the peso's value could plummet if the IMF does not signal its backing for a new loan. 

The peso has dropped sharply in value since it began floating freely on the open market.
 

Man found in hotel
left suicide note

A man who was found dead Thursday in a room in a west San José hotel took his own life, said a spokesman for the Judicial Investigating Organization Monday.

He was Eugene Aundercod, 55, they said. He was found by a housekeeper about 4 p.m. Thursday in Room 619 in bed with a plastic garbage bad wrapped around his head, according to investigators.

Although a medical examiner’s report still is awaited, investigators said that bottles of medication were found on the bedside table as well as two notes and that there was no sign of violence. They were unable to give more information about the man.

The hotel was Quality Hotel Centro Colon that makes up the rear portion of Centro Colon and faces Avenida 3 between calles 38 and 40.