Proposed law would require
public employees to be good


Officials need to be reminded that their function is to serve the public, rather than lose themselves in their own authority, according to a proposal that a Libertario deputy has introduced.

Carlos Manuel Gutiérrez Gómez of Cartago has proposed a reformation and an addition to current law that was created to simplify the bureaucracy of public administration. 

“The public official should be efficient in the completion of his duties, execute his work with speed, quality and responsibility, on the understanding that his function is to serve the citizen in the work that was entrusted to him,” said Gutiérrez.

The proposal would benefit citizens that need to go through an administrative process by ensuring that the officials concerned would afford them the possible best service.

Any official who shows negligence or is declared responsible for neglecting to follow this part of the law would be subject to a written reprimand, followed by a month-long suspension and finally dismissal.

The existing law is intended to protect citizens from the arbitrary lengthening of administration procedures, but the addition of sanctions intends to lend coercive power to encourage the law to be upheld.

Cruz Roja statistics show
February was violent month


The Cruz Roja is calling February one of the most violent months in the last eight years.

Statistics released by the organization this week said that 100 persons died a violent death last month. Only in March 2007 and October of the same year did deaths reach triple digits. The highest month was October in that year with 119 deaths, according to the Cruz Roja statistics. March 2007 saw 104 deaths.

Nearly half the deaths, 46 persons, were the result of some form of motor vehicle accident. But 25 died from what the rescue agency called aggression with a knife or gun.

Water deaths claimed 16 lives.

The statistics from the Cruz Roja, which operates ambulances, are valid because the agency is called to nearly every scene of violence. Various police agencies handle different kinds of deaths. For example the Policía de Tránsito would file the report on auto accidents. So the Cruz Roja statistics include all types of deaths.


Canadian woman declines
to believe guns are answer

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

In response to P. Meister’s naive and sad letter on the reason all citizens concerned for their own safety should carry a gun, I feel compelled to offer an alternate solution.

To start: referring to the unfortunate experience of a woman in Alaska with a bear. I would hope that anyone out in the wilderness in Canada and the northern U.S. would and should be aware that bears can pose a threat to personal safety. I would not concede the point that the only way to protect yourself while camping is to carry a weapon and shoot any wild animal that threatens you. Educated trekking and perhaps traveling with a guide would be my first response. But, of course this is NOT coming from a card carrying member of the National Rifle Association.

The same applies to the possible personal threats to an individual walking in a bad neighborhood or to a woman walking alone at night in a big city. Use care and think. Guns just beget more violence. And Mr. P. Meister, not to my surprise, forgot to include the very real possibility that a person carrying a gun, might actually feel the need to use it in a situation where they otherwise might have found an alternate course of action.

However, after having used a gun, they quite possibly would have to live the rest of their life with the knowledge that they have killed another human being. Another person just trying to live their life, and going through a rough patch, or maybe — especially here in Costa Rica, just trying to feed their family. I do not think that violent death is the answer to a hunger or poverty problem. 

I am Canadian, and have been taught and brought up believing that guns are unnecessary, except perhaps when one hunts to eat. I have not just been told that guns are bad, but I have instead seen the safe societies that exist due to gun control and the absolute lack of patience of the authorities when prosecuting these violent crimes. Although I doubt P. Meister would believe it, the lack of guns and enforcement of gun control in cities in Canada actually results in less violent crimes than any other cities of their size in the U.S. each year. I could research and quote statistics here, but I think the truth is so blatantly obvious it is not necessary. Michael Moore already proved it.

There are alternate courses of action, always, to using a pistol. The consequences of using one, both mental (living after murdering someone) and physical (if your assailant has a weapon and desires to shoot back) and judicial (jail for life) are equally as life threatening as carrying a gun itself. Please, let us not be so callous with respect to guns, and consider that the answer to violence is not always violence.