President Able Pacheco makes a quick half-day trip to Jamaica today to put his name on a trade treaty with the Caribbean community.

He will be accompanied by a trade delegation seeking to increase business there.

Pacheco will arrive in Kingston about 11 a.m. to meet with Percival Patterson, Jamaica’s prime minister and the president of the Caribbean Community of 14 nations.

The principal beneficiaries of the treaty will be agricultural interests in Costa Rica which will be able to export more plants, fruits and other produces, including boned chicken.

The treaty is an extension of an accord signed with Trinidad and Tobago in 2002 under which 94 percent of Costa Rican products enter that island nation free of duty.  Costa Rican trade officials said Monday that in the last three years the nation has shown an average increase of 24 percent in exportations to the region. Last year Costa Rica sold $70 million to the Caribbean nations, according to statistics from the Ministerio de Comercio Exterior.

In exchange, Costa Rica will import liquid gas, certain minerals and some industrial goods.

Pacheco is supposed to sign the agreement at noon and then jet back to Costa Rica by 3 p.m.

Villalobos creditor
will keep on fighting

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Apparently, you miss the point. We just wanted the story out to as many people as possible. . . and that it is via this TV show . . .  to millions of viewers. 

As far as sounding "whiny," I was one of those interviewed and know better than that. There was a group of us who are victims of a crime stating the facts:  that the Costa Rican government robbed us of pensions and life savings. They lied on that show (Guillermo [Hernández]) saying they (the government) never knew the Brothers had more than a money-changing business. And Nash (who was trying to get his father's money - without the permission of his father) used the show as a way of trying to make Villalobos look unethical - hmmmm, wonder if he had an agenda? Wasn't he written about extensively in the newspapers in Costa Rica ? Ha! 

The Brothers have been in and out of the news for years, the CR government and Sugef, etc. ALL were aware of the program and turned an eye, welcoming the revenue that many investors put back in the local economies. 

If you want to express your views, fine. However, it would be nice if you really took a less than biased view all the time. You tend to treat us (the investors) like a group of malcontents. We are victims of Costa Rican government greed. 

The show was very edited and in reality just left the question "will we ever know" as the final note. Yes, we will. We will fight in an international court. We did nothing wrong but invest in a country that was more than aware, actually that helped, seduce foreign investors WITHOUT protecting them. Even the show stated that all the RCMP asked for was help in getting the men they were pursuing. 

The CR government stole the funds and began using them before the investigation (another ha!) has even concluded. On a final note: rehash??? This is just the same CRIME that occurred to thousands of people, ruining many lives, and you act like we just don't want to let it die. 

Of course not. Then we would be the fools you all love to claim us to be. This investor is going to keep on fighting - in spite of the jealousy and spite and pettiness of many people not even involved - who just like to make judgments. 

A new value added tax working its way through the Costa Rican legislature will be mostly hidden from foreign residents here. For many, the effect will be about the same as the current 13 per cent sales tax.

One exception will be the plan to tax residential rents at 6 percent. Residential rents are not taxed now. The plan calls for taxing rents that are more than about $390 a month.

The value added tax is a concept being pushed at the international level by a number of organizations, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Only the United States of the organization’s 30 first-world members does not have a value added tax.

The rate here on most products will be 13 percent. The highest such tax, based on the most recent available statistics is 25 percent in Sweden, Hungary and Denmark to a low of 5 percent in Japan.

Under the Costa Rican proposal, certain basic foodstuffs, public transportation, private education and events like soccer games will be exempt from taxation. This is an effort to offset one of the disadvantages of the value added tax: that it is regressive and has a greater impact among the less well-off who spend most of their income for goods and services. The rich invest much of their income, and banking services would be exempt under the Costa Rican proposal.

Another disadvantage of value added taxes worldwide is the great temptations that nations have to raise the rate once the tax is on the books.

Said columnist Bruce Bartlett of the conservative National Center for Policy Analysis in the United States in a 2002 report:

"It has proven too easy for governments to piggyback on inflation and raise VAT rates as prices were rising anyway. People did not notice the tax increases because they were hidden in the prices of goods and services. Consequently, the VAT proved to be a massive money machine that fueled a vast increase in taxation in every country that has adopted it."

The exact nature of the value added tax will not be known until and if the Asamblea Nacional passes the measure. Amendments are still possible to the nearly 500-page tax package. However, estimates are that the value added tax will raise an additional $500 million a year.

In general, value added taxes extract money from goods as they move from raw materials to finished product. At every step in the chain a tax is levied on the increase in value. A timber salesman would pay a tax on the value of the wood sold to a 

carpenter. The carpenter would pay a tax based on the difference between what he paid for the wood and the money a distributor pays him for the furniture he makes. The distributor would pay a tax on the difference between what he paid for the furniture and his selling price. The retail purchaser would pay all these taxes in the increased price paid for the furniture.

With all the taxes being levied at every stage of production, another well-documented disadvantage of a value added tax is the amount of paperwork businesses have to keep. The Costa Rican tax authorities are paperwork crazy as it is, but to actually determine the amount of "value added" is a tricky accounting problem.

In addition, the actual tax burden on any product will vary based on how many hands it passes through on the way to market.

There also is a danger that the retail customer will be paying tax on taxes.

The Internet is a challenge to the value added tax. Certain music and software can be downloaded directly by computer regardless of the location of the sending computer. European governments have been trying to figure out a way to charge tax on such transactions that have their origin in the United States. But there is no way for the Europeans to force companies to collect tax when the companies have no physical presence when they are making the sale.

A distinct advantage to a value added tax will be that exports are shipped out tax-free. That is an encouragement for exportation.

Costa Rican lawmakers have a much more pressing reason for passing the value added tax. The current budget is more than 50 percent borrowed money. In order to continue the kind of social welfare state most Costa Ricans accept, the government needs to generate more income.

In addition to a value added tax, the package in the legislature taxes casinos, offshore betting enterprises, luxury vehicles, offshore banks and corporate and individual income.

Ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide insisted Monday he is still the leader of Haiti, and called for peaceful resistance against what he described as occupation of his homeland. 

One week after arriving in Bangui, Central African Republic, Aristide called on Haitians to peacefully resist the foreign occupation of their homeland.

He spoke at a news conference in Bangui at which he repeated statements aired earlier in the day on RTL French radio. He said in both he is still the elected president of Haiti, and called for the restoration of democracy in his country. 

His lawyer, Gilbert Collard, said earlier the exiled Haitian leader was not free to move or speak publicly. He said Aristide has been held as a 

The lawyer also said Aristide continues to insist that he did not step down as president of Haiti. He said that Aristide did not resign, but only gave a note stating that, if his departure would avoid a bloodbath then he was willing to leave, but that he did not intend to hand power to a foreign force.

The lawyer said Aristide intends to return to Haiti and to the presidential palace.  It is unclear whether Aristide will be allowed to remain in the Central African Republic permanently. 

The United States denies that Aristide was removed by force.  U.S. troops invaded Haiti in 1994 to restore Aristide to the presidency after a coup.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The third and final round of negotiations aimed at integrating the Dominican Republic into the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) began here Monday.

The trade talks with the Dominican Republic were launched in that country's capital city of Santo Domingo in January, and a subsequent round of negotiations in San Juan, Puerto Rico, followed in February.

U.S. and Dominican officials hope to conclude negotiations this week to add the Dominican Republic to the free trade accord reached between the United States and the Central American nations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington Monday Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Regina Vargo said that the integration of the Dominican Republic into the trade pact will allow all nations involved to build on already "quite considerable" commercial relationships.

Vargo noted that U.S. trade with the free-trade countries and the Dominican Republic is currently $8.7 billion annually, representing the United States' second-largest market in Latin America after Mexico. The conclusion of the current talks, she said, should expand these trade ties.

Beyond bolstering trade ties, she said, the accord reached between the United States and the Dominican Republic will aim to ease poverty, foster development, and strengthen democracy and the rule of law in the Caribbean nation. To further these ends, Vargo added, the United States seeks a comprehensive accord with the Dominican Republic that includes what she described as "state-of-the-art" rules and "21st-century" disciplines.

As she outlined the course of the current bilateral talks, Vargo said that one recurring theme has been regulatory transparency. She explained that the free trade treaty has "particularly strong" anti-corruption provisions and is the first trade agreement to criminalize the bribery of government officials in matters relating to international trade and investment.

Vargo pointed to textile and apparel issues as among the "handful or less" of issues that U.S. and Dominican trade officials will have to work through this week in Washington. 

Dominican Secretary of Industry and Commerce Sonia Guzman Monday that she is "very pleased" with the dynamic of the talks and "very optimistic" that an agreement will be reached.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced creation of a new office to coordinate efforts to stop the flow of money to terrorists.

The department said Monday that its Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence will lead the efforts to cut the lines of financial support to international terrorists, a critical component of the Bush administration's overall effort to keep the United States safe from terrorist plots.

Treasury said the office will be led by a new under secretary and two assistant secretaries, and will coordinate the activities of the department's Executive Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, the Financial Crimes Enforcement

"The new office will not only focus on the financial war on terror, but also protect the integrity of the financial system, fight financial crime, enforce economic sanctions against rogue nations and assist in the ongoing hunt for Iraqi assets," the department said.

The new posts would require nomination by President Bush and confirmation by the Senate.

In the Western Hemisphere, the Bush administration has designated a handful of rebel groups in Colombia and Perú as terrorist organizations. Therefore, anyone dealing with those groups or accepting money for transfer would be considered involved in terrorism by U.S. officials. 

Spain's telecommunications giant Telefonica has purchased the Latin American assets of U.S.-based BellSouth to become the leading mobile phone company in Latin America. 

The $5.85 billion cash and assumed debt deal will give Telefonica another 10.5 million subscribers in 10 nations. 

The deal still needs government approval and is expected to be completed by the second half of this year.