By Kayla Pearson
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

For a young Mexican immigrant, a hobby building toy helicopters has grown into a multi-million-dollar business.  The immigrant and his company are flying high with airborne drones.

It began with a remote-controlled helicopter that Jordi Muñoz got as a gift from his mother.  Muñoz, who is now 26, used a game controller and a component he bought online to modify the toy five years ago.

“It did not work, the first version, but that is the beginning of everything," said Muñoz.

As he stabilized and improved the toy aircraft, Muñoz built an online following of hobbyists through a blog.  With money borrowed from a friend, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine Chris Anderson, Muñoz bought the parts to build more drones and advertised online.

“And then I sold them in one day," he said. "So I multiplied the money by a factor of four in 24 hours.”

With his friend Anderson, Muñoz founded the company 3D Robotics.  Anderson left his journalism job to become the company's chief executive.

3D Robotics manufacturers its own computer chips, the brain of the devices, and sells to hobbyists and businesses worldwide.  The drones cost just a fraction of the price of military versions, selling for hundreds - not thousands - of dollars.

The company employs 30 workers in the United States and 25 across the Mexican border in Tijuana, and the Tijuana plant is being expanded. 

As privately-owned drones have become more popular, some are raising concerns about privacy issues.  Yet with demand increasing, Muñoz says he wants to build his business along the U.S.-Mexico border, instead of manufacturing more cheaply in Asia.

“It is better if we keep the money on this side of the continent, rather than sending money to China and manufacture over there," he said.

Muñoz says the drones can be used for security, research and other serious applications, or flown by hobbyists just for fun, and that his company has helped create a market for this new technology.


U.S. High Court hears
Arizona voting rules appeal


The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether the state of Arizona has the right to craft its own voting laws to prevent illegal immigrants from casting ballots, a process critics say opens the door to discrimination against legal voters.

Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico, has some of the strongest anti-immigration laws in the United States and the voting rights case is the latest in its efforts to deal with non-U.S. citizens illegally in the state.

It is asking the Supreme Court to uphold a 2004 state law requiring local voting applicants to provide physical proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, passport, tribal forms or a driver’s license.

Opponents of Arizona’s voter-approved Proposition 200 say it violates the decade-old National Voter Registration Act, a federal law requiring voting applicants to state they are U.S. citizens without providing any proof. People caught lying can face perjury charges.

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne argued the constitutionality of Proposition 200 before the Court Monday, saying an honor system is not strong enough to prevent voter fraud.

Jesus Gonzalez is the lead plaintiff in the case. He tried to register to vote right after becoming a U.S. citizen but was rejected twice by state officials. Gonzalez used both his driver’s license and his naturalization certificate number, but officials said they still could not confirm his citizenship.

Civil rights groups supporting Gonzalez say his story is not uncommon. In a legal brief submitted to the court, the groups say more than 31,000 voting applicants were rejected between January 2005 and September 2007. Of that number, 11,000 eventually succeeded in registering to vote after repeated attempts.

The groups say Proposition 200 violates the U.S. Constitution “because it requires naturalized citizens - predominantly Latinos and Asians - to surmount additional and unique hurdles to exercise their fundamental right to vote.”

“The unique obstacles presented by the law effectively relegated this population to second-class citizenship,” they write in the brief.

The Obama administration is on their side, although it is focusing on another aspect of the case. It has filed court documents supporting the ruling of a federal appeals court, which ruled against Proposition 200 because it said federal law overrides state law.

The outcome of the case could determine how other states approach the issue. If the Supreme Court upholds Arizona’s request to determine its own voting guidelines, other states could follow suit, opening the door for new sets of rules like Florida’s attempt in 2005 to require voter applicants to prove their mental capacity.

Voter rights groups, including the Constitutional Accountability Center, expressed cautious optimism after Monday’s court arguments.

"A majority of the court, including Justice Kennedy, appeared to recognize that the entire point of having a single federal form was to streamline the voter registration process, and that approving Arizona's law would pave the way for a patchwork of 50 state forms," Doug Kendall, the group’s president, said in a statement.

Even after the Supreme Court decides on this case, the battle over immigration is far from over. Arizona is at the center of a national debate on how to secure the country’s borders and treat the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The issue is being tackled by lawmakers in Congress and advocacy groups across America.


Venezuelan president's claims
generate growing concern


Venezuela's acting President Nicolas Maduro has been making unsubstantiated accusations against Washington, also accusing the United States of plotting to kill Venezuela's opposition candidate for president. Maduro's allegations are being interpreted as campaign rhetoric for now. But there is growing concern they could incite political violence and further damage relations with the United States.
 
Maduro contends Washington has been plotting to assassinate opposition leader Henrique Capriles, and has specifically named two former U.S. officials as part of the alleged conspiracy. They worked in the Bush administration, but are not current U.S. government employees. 

“I’m addressing President Obama and Roger Noriega and Otto Reich, Pentagon officials and the CIA. They are behind a plan to kill the presidential candidate of the Venezuelan right wing, to create chaos in Venezuela,” said Maduro.

The U.S. State Department has dismissed the accusation.

"The United States categorically rejects allegations of any U.S. government involvement in any plot to destabilize the Venezuelan government or to harm anyone in Venezuela," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

And so, too, does former assistant secretary of State Roger Noriega, now an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.

“I don’t have any relation with the U.S. government. I was an administration official in the past, and really I have been quite critical of the current administration,” said Noriega.
 
Cynthia Arnson, a Latin American analyst at the Wilson Center in Washington, said that Maduro's accusation is similar to those made by President Hugo Chávez during election cycles. 

“We have seen in the past the use of the international threat from the United States of imperialism to maintain a united Chavista base,” said Ms. Arnson.

Noriega offers his own theory. He said that Maduro, with help from Cuba, may raise the threat of U.S. intervention to sanction political violence against his opponents. 

“My concern is that maybe Maduro, or I should say his Cubans who are manipulating the succession in Venezuela, are signaling the possible use of political violence in Venezuela,” he said.

Arnson said the Obama administration should be cautious.  

“Maintain silence for now. Don’t say too much. Don’t be a factor in the electoral campaign in Venezuela. This is what has been the strategy for a long time, including in 2012, and they should continue like this,” said Ms. Arnson.

And if the situation does not deteriorate, she said that after the election there still might be an opening for the U.S. and Venezuela to repair their relationship.

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Tsunami readiness to be tested


All the countries of Central American with a Caribbean coastline will participate today in a simulated tsunami.
Costa Rica's efforts will be in the province of Limón.

The national emergency omission will be activating its local committees, and communication links will be checked. Also being tested is a link with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Countries as far north at the United States and Canada also will be involved.


Towers can be different color


Those cell telephone towers are red and white because that is a rule to help pilots of aircraft.

But there are 35 cantons in Costa Rica that are not near enough to airports for the rule to be in effect.

That means the local municipalities can choose to paint the towers a different color, said the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones.

The towers have been controversial particularly because the new, private telecom companies had to put up their own.

By the American Heart Association news service