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A.M.
Costa Rica
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, March 22, 2016, Vol.
17, No. 57
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By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The health ministry came out with its usual vacation warning Monday that exposure to the sun causes skin damage, premature aging and possible skin cancer. On the same day researchers in Sweden announced a paradox that women who sunbathe are likely to live longer than those who avoid the sun, even though sunbathers are at an increased risk of developing skin cancer. An analysis of information on 29,518 Swedish women who were followed for 20 years revealed that longer life expectancy among women with active sun exposure habits was related to a decrease in heart disease and noncancer/non–heart disease deaths, causing the relative contribution of death due to cancer to increase, according to a report by the academic publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Scientists have no idea why this is so. Whether the positive effect of sun exposure demonstrated in this observational study is mediated by vitamin D, another mechanism related to UV radiation, or by unmeasured bias cannot be determined, they said. “We found smokers in the highest sun exposure group were at a similar risk as non-smokers avoiding sun exposure, indicating avoidance of sun exposure to be a risk factor of the same magnitude as smoking,” said Pelle Lindqvist, lead author of the Journal of Internal Medicine study, “Guidelines being too restrictive regarding sun exposure may do more harm than good for health.” Researchers were from Karolinska University Hospital, Lund University in Sweden. Meanwhile, the Ministerio de Salud warns against exposure to the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and the use of protective clothing. The ministry encouraged the use of sunblock. Dead man was Escazú real estate broker By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Judicial investigators have confirmed the death of Bruce C. Wood, 61, a real estate broker based in Escazú. Wood was found in his Escazú condo last week, but a cause of death has not been determined, said the Judicial Investigating Organization Monday. Wood operated Costa Rica Realty One for years. Wood’s death was believed to be natural, although autopsy results are awaited. Judicial investigators said that there were no elements found that would suggest a violent crime. Wood had slowed down his real estate activities in recent months. Illegal Cubans being detained now By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública reported Monday that Cuban migrants continue to filter into the country. Police officers have detained 49 Cubans as well as nine persons from Ghana in the last week, said the ministry. Law enforcement stepped up controls since March 17. A number of Cubans are stalled at the country’s southern border. They want to follow in the path of some 8,000 Cubans who managed to receive temporary immigration permission and then left the country for El Salvador, Honduras and México. They are seeking to enter the United States under a special program for Cuban migrants. The central government is now turning away Cubans. Police have set up checkpoints at Puerto Cortez, Chacarita, Pavones and Barú. The Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas and the Servicio de Vigilancia Área are patrolling the Gulfo Dulce and territorial waters. A.M. Costa Rica offices closed Thursday and Friday By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The downtown office of A.M. Costa Rica will be closed to the public Thursday and Friday. The newspaper will not be published Friday, but the Thursday newspaper will be posted as usual. Staffers will monitor the news and update the newspapers if there is a major development. The editor@amcostarica.com email address also will be monitored. Good Friday is one of the few weekdays in the year that the newspaper is not published.
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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Colorado S.A 2065 and may not be reproduced anywhere
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| A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, March 22, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 57 | ||
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| Police
again expect low-keyed burnings of Judas this weekend |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers are again getting ready for the annual quemas de Judas that results in fires and road blockades mainly in the Central Valley. Judas Iscariot is the apostle who fingered Jesus Christ to the authorities, so he has had a bad reputation since the origins of Christianity. He has been reviled and now sometimes comes in the garb of the Devil in various burning ceremonies all over Latin America. The Costa Rica observance is basically just rowdy young men who burn trash. Some do take the time to do what is done in other countries, which is to create a figure of Judas to be burned. In some other countries this is a tourism attraction with various elaborate effigies hung and then burned. Here the practice is more of an annoyance for the local police and sometimes motorists. The evening burnings can get out of hand. Police try to confiscate the Judas dummy before they are ignited. Last year they grabbed more than 40 such dummies in Alajuela and Heredia. During the last few years, police have been successful in keeping the activities suppressed. Just five persons were detained last year, and two of those were held for robbery in la Sabana. In the recent past there have been upwards of 50 arrests. Judas was described by Dante as the three traitorous figures being chewed upon by the Devil in the final circle of Hell. The other two were Brutus and Cassius of Roman infamy. The Bible tells the tale of Judas who betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver and then killed himself. But a religious |
 Museo de
Arte Popular photo
A Mexican museum worker creates an elaborate Judas
in the image of the Devil. The tradition is treated
more as a festival there.document called the “Gospel of Judas” surfaced in the 1970s, and in it Judas is portrayed as the secret confederate of Jesus who did his master’s bidding by leading his captors to him. Scientists are pretty sure that this document dates to about 260 A.D. and probably is based on an older text. Writing religious documents in the name of apostles and other church figures was a frequent activity in early Christianity. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this
Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced
anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | ||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, March 22, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 57 | ||
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| Religiosity is reported to be on wane among U.S. young people | |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
American students begin their day with a patriotic pledge vowing allegiance to one nation, under God, while U.S. presidents and politicians regularly end speeches with the words, “May God bless America.” Indeed, since the nation’s founding by pilgrims escaping religious persecution, and seeking the freedom to freely practice their religion, faith has played an integral role in American culture. But this devotion could be waning, suggests new research from Duke University and University College London. The study, published in the American Journal of Sociology, finds there’s an ongoing decline in the number of Americans who claim religious affiliations, attend church on a regular basis, and believe in a higher being. “We haven’t noticed it until recently, I think, because it’s been so slow,” said Mark Chaves of Duke University. “We just didn’t have enough data over a long enough period of time to be able to conclude that it was declining, but it’s now pretty clear that it is.” What Chaves and co-author David Voas found is that each succeeding U.S. generation is less religious than the previous one. Consequently, 94 percent of Americans born before 1935 claim a religious affiliation. However, just 71 percent of the generation born after 1975 claims the same. Older Americans, people 65 and older, are also more likely to have no doubt God exists while 45 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 30 hold the same belief. When it comes to attending religious services, 41 percent of the over-70 crowd go to church at least once a month, compared to just 18 percent of people 60 and younger. The researchers used data from the 2014 General Social Survey, conducted by the University of Chicago, to reach their conclusions. The survey began collecting data in 1972, and includes Americans born as early as 1915, essentially providing a century’s worth of information about Americans and U.S. society. |
The
researchers looked solely at native-born Americans. They
found the patterns were the same for blacks as for whites,
and for males and females. However, they didn’t look at
different religious groups. The primary demographic basis for mainstream religion in the United States is traditional families. The decline of the traditional American family is helping drive this lessening involvement in organized religion, according to Chaves. “Fewer people are married than before, people are getting married later than before, having fewer kids, having kids later in life or not having kids at all,” he said. “All that over the long-term is related to this.” Intermarriage is also fueling this diminishing devotion. In 2010, about 15 percent of all marriages in the United States were between spouses with a different race or ethnicity from each other, according to the Pew Research Center. The rates were even higher among Hispanics and Asians. Twenty-six percent of Hispanics and 28 percent of Asians married out. “When a couple is of different religious backgrounds, that makes it less likely that their kids will be religiously active in either of the parents’ religions,” Chaves said. More religious intermarriage means parents are less likely to transmit that religiosity of any sort onto the next generation, he added. This new research also negates the theory that Americans are the exception when it comes to the decline of modern religion. Across the board, people in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have become less religious over time. “It starts to look like we might be on the same trajectory, just having started later and possibly moving more slowly,” Chaves said. This doesn’t mean religion is dying out in America. Chaves believes the decline will even out over time. One contributing factor to this is that religious families tend to have more children than less religious families. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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A.M. Costa Rica's
Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, March 22, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 57 | |||||||
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to Internet with Google help By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Cuba’s notoriously restrictive Internet climate may be warming to more access, based on comments made by U.S. President Barack Obama and a Google scientist in recent days. Currently, as few as 5 percent of Cubans have access, according to an international watchdog group. More Cuba news HERE!
"One of the things that we’ll be announcing here is that Google has a deal to start setting up more Wi-Fi access and broadband access on the island," Obama, who’s in the midst of a historic three-day trip to the island nation, said in an interview with ABC News. A Google vice president addressed Cuban communications officials and recent computer science graduates at a science and technology symposium. In his talk, the vice president, Vint Cerf, focused on the history of the Internet, which he's credited with helping develop, the Associated Press reported. He did not directly address a Google agreement with Cuba. Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, first led a small team of company officials to Cuba in June 2014 to promote open Internet access. That same year, the company got a foothold in the country’s marketplace, launching Google’s Chrome browser and analytics programs. Monday, Google announced in a blog post that it is partnering with Havana’s Museo Orgánico Romerillo in featuring the work of Cuban artist Kcho. The installation will include Google products Cardboard and Chromebooks, as well as virtual-reality goggles. “We hope this installation will enable people for whom Internet access is scarce to browse the Web and find information,” the Google post said. “… New technologies and improved Internet access can help people in their daily lives, provide new information and experiences, and help harness a country’s creativity and ingenuity. We hope to have the chance to offer more services to the Cuban people in the future.” Obama, in a televised news conference Monday afternoon with Cuban President Fidel Castro, said success would be elusive for Cubans unless they have access to the Internet. Washington-based watchdog Freedom House reported that only 5 to 30 percent of the country’s residents currently have online access, which is heavily censored. In its most recent annual report on Internet freedom, Freedom House rated Cuba as not free. It found last year that, despite notable advances in access, Cuba’s draconian restrictions on online communications are the worst in the Americas. "Cuba has taken some tentative steps" to improve online communications, according to Freedom House's "Freedom on the Net 2015" report, which added: From June 2014 through May 2015, "the government opened a number of new Internet access points, which boast somewhat faster speeds and lower prices. After an initial experiment with the first free public Wi-Fi zone, the government opened 35 paid public Wi-Fi hotspots in June and July 2015." "For Cuba, this progress in increasing access is historic, but it is still just a drop in the bucket when it comes to alleviating the most draconian restrictions on Internet freedom in the hemisphere," the report said. "Home Internet connections are still forbidden, and even with reduced prices, public Internet access points still cost $2 per hour to use, which is equal to one-tenth of the average monthly wages." Although smartphones have proliferated in Cuba, they typically can be used only for placing and receiving phone calls, not going online. But Cuba’s government is expanding telecommunications options. On March 14, an international unit of Verizon Communications announced a deal with Etecsa, Cuba’s state-run telecommunications monopoly, to further develop telephone roaming services. FBI may crack iPhone without Apple assistance By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The U.S. government says it may have found a way to unlock the iPhone of one of the assailants in December's terror attack in San Bernardino, California, without the help of Apple. The Justice Department said an outside party' came forward over the weekend and showed the FBI a possible method for unlocking the phone. Lawyers for the Justice Department late Monday requested that Tuesday's hearing before a federal judge in California be canceled in order to allow time for testing the new method. For more than a month, the government and Apple have waged a very public debate over how far technology companies must go in aiding criminal investigations. Prosecutors have argued that the iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook probably contains evidence of the attack in which he and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, slaughtered 14 at a holiday luncheon. The two were killed in a police shootout hours later. The move appears to vindicate Apple's argument that the U.S. government has not exhausted all available means to recover information from the phone. Apple also argued that the government's demands violated the company's constitutional rights, harmed the Apple brand and threatened the trust of its customers to protect their privacy. U.S. Supreme Court to hear plea to cut Samsung’s payoff By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The U.S. Supreme Court has stepped into a highly charged legal battle between the smartphone giants Apple and Samsung. The top court on Monday agreed to consider Samsung's appeal that it shouldn’t be forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to Apple for alleged patent infringement. Samsung last year agreed in federal court in California to pay Apple $548 million in the years-long patent battle, pending the outcome of its appeal. But Samsung argued that $399 million of the penalty was excessive because it was based on the premise that Apple was entitled to those entire profits no matter how little the patented design features contributed to the value of Samsung's phones, according to the appeal brief. The court will not reconsider Samsung's guilt, but will look at whether the penalty was excessive for copyright infringement of certain electronic components. Apple had urged the high court not to take the case, saying Samsung's illegal conduct was clear. Samsung consciously decided to copy the iPhone after its debut in 2007, Apple said, and soon after, its mobile devices became iPhone clones. Foreigners weigh in on race for the U.S. presidency By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
America's choice for president will affect nations across the globe. Reporters reached out to people in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and found that they have strong opinions about the campaign and each party’s leading candidates, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. Simon Khaya-Moyo, a spokesman for Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF party in Harare, spoke harshly about recent violence between Trump supporters and opponents. "They claim to be the best in the world in terms of democracy," he said. "If what happened in Chicago is the best, then God forbid. They should stop pretending to be the champions of democracy, but of violence." In African cities, particularly Nairobi, reporters found strong support for Democratic candidates. Kenyans are mindful of derogatory statements attributed to Trump. "He calls us stupid, and I don't like it," said Faith Kenyana, a student at the University of Kenya. "It's like he hates Africans." Russians, on the other hand, appear to favor Trump. They perceive him as being more of a friend to Putin than is Mrs. Clinton, and their comments reflect growing anxiety over Moscow's chilled relations with Washington. "It's my wish that the new president of America will be more loyal to Russia, so that there's no cold war," said Elena Saltykovskaya, a business manager. China's media reports that citizen interest in the U.S. vote has been growing. But in the streets of Beijing, many confessed they haven't been following the campaign to garner support for the nomination. "I just know a little about Hillary and Trump," said Chen, who works in the finance industry. "Personally, I've heard before that Hillary is sort of anti-China, and Trump is sort of anti-China. So, I don't really like either of them." But a man who identified himself as Zhang called the elections great and said every country could learn from them. "I am more familiar with the former secretary of State,” he said. “At least she has that experience. She's tough and not necessarily that friendly to China . . . ." People in the streets of Seoul, South Korea, were reluctant to speak out, but a few said they were worried about Trump's charge that South Korea is not paying its fair share toward maintaining U.S. troops stationed there and in Japan. "As Trump is conservative, I think there may be some disadvantages for South Korea in many ways if he becomes a president. So I pay more attention to Hillary," said Kim Sang-young, an IT specialist. Indians are paying close attention to the race and tend to favor Democrats. "It's not just an American election, it's a global election," said Abhimanyu Nohwar, a New Delhi product designer. "And in some ways, everyone is connected to this global vote." He said he supports Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Democratic candidate. "There are too many, from my perspective, there are too many business interests, too many commercial interests that are driving politics these days and not enough human interest is driving politics," he said. "At the end of the day, you have to live on a planet together, and that should come first. So I think any candidate that is prioritizing humanity over business interests, would definitely get my vote." In neighboring Pakistan, reporters found strong opposition to Trump. "We are definitely against Trump, honestly, because he has a really negative opinion of Muslims, and particularly Pakistanis," said physician Naeem Aslam. Trump's remarks about Muslims have resonated deeply across the Middle East, and not surprisingly. Some in Cairo expressed outrage. "In the case of this candidate who appears to be winning, what we can say is that he is a racist and he makes statements that reflect Nazi ideas," said Khalifa Gaballah, Arab affairs editor at Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. "He wants to ban Muslims from America. He refuses to accept Syrian refugees. We don't even think he believes what he says." But Egyptian soldier Mostafa Mohammad summed up the feeling of many in the region as it relates to political unrest and the rise of extremist movements: "We are concerned with our own government and economics and we don't care about the president of America or any other country," he said. Samples of wild relatives sought for food gene bank By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Many wild relatives of important food crops, which could be used to help those crops adapt and thrive in a changing environment, are missing from the world's gene banks. Researchers with the Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change project mapped more than 1,000 crop wild relatives of rice, potato, maize, wheat and 77 other important crops, and found significant gaps in the species that have been collected, and the geographic regions represented in gene banks. Plant breeders tap the genetic diversity of wild relatives to develop crops that can handle higher temperatures, increased soil salinity and more severe disease outbreaks. For example, genes from a wild rice species were used to make domestic rice varieties resistant to a virus that cost Asian farmers hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses in the 1970s. A wild tomato species provided genes that boosted the global tomato industry by $250 million per year. Missing from collections are wild relatives of banana, cassava, sweet potato, pineapple, spinach and more. The research, published in the journal Nature Plants, shows that more than 70 percent of essential wild species are in urgent need to collection and conservation. Some species identified as high priorities are in war-torn regions, or areas threatened by deforestation. According to report co-author Colin Khoury, a scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, "The world's food supply is in a precarious position of depending on too few crop plant species." The project's findings, he added, give scientists the first comprehensive global overview of which plants are missing and where collectors need to search for them. Small town in Sweden fears additional migrant assaults By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Many refugees and other migrants used to love this small city because, as they walked down the streets, people would look them in the eye and smile. That was before the sexual assaults. In the past month, 15 women and girls have been sexually assaulted on the streets, including an attempted assault on a 15-year-old Saturday night. Local eyes are more often cast down nowadays, and smiles have faded. "Recently, we were going to the supermarket," said Marwan, a pizza chef from Syria in a camp in the nearby forest. "A young Swedish girl saw us 100 meters away, and she changed her direction." Regional Police Chief Stephen Jerand says there is one man in custody and that at least three more identified as responsible for some recent assaults in Ostersund. The man is believed to be an asylum-seeker, and some victims have described the other attackers as having foreign appearances and accents, according to Jerand. The attacks have ranged from grabbing and threats to attempted rape. Aggravating the uptick in crime for regional police was a population swell, as refugees poured into Sweden last year. Nationwide, there were about 100,000 newcomers in the last four months of 2015 alone. The police force in this central province, Jämtland, has not grown with the population. "We have no more resources to solve the problem," Jerand explained. "It has accelerated since last year." As snow falls heavily on a nearby camp, young men from Syria, Iraq and Iran insist it is not logical for a refugee, a person who risked everything for a new life, to risk it all again to commit crimes in his chosen new country. "Refugees came here to make a new life," said Mahdi, an economics graduate from Kurdish Iran, not to fight or to harass women. With less than 50,000 people, locals in the city of Ostersund, Sweden, say that before the attacks, they considered it safe for women and girls to walk outside alone at night. Danger on the streets, adds Ghaith, a Syrian dentist, is why most refugees fled their homes in the first place. "I'm not a bad guy," he said. "If I was a bad guy, I would stay in Syria and fight." Despite the newfound mistrust in the city, there is no shortage of volunteers or Swedish people who want to join refugees for events like football matches, running groups, skiing or singing. In response to the attacks, the organization has joined civilian security patrols at night to help prevent sexual assault. Refugees said they hope that by helping to protect the community, they will build trust until the assailants are caught. In Germany, hundreds of women reported being assaulted during New Year’s celebration, and Chancellor Angela Merkel has seen a sharp decline in her popularity and support because of the incidents blamed on refugees. Unequal pay for play bid causes a ruckus in pro tennis By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
The world’s top-ranked male tennis player has stirred controversy with remarks that male players should earn more money than female players. Shortly after winning the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, Serbia's Novak Djokovic said men should fight for more, adding that prize money should be fairly distributed and based on who attracts more attention, spectators and who sells more tickets. The comments come in the wake of another controversial statement made earlier at the open when tournament CEO Raymond Moore said the women’s tour rides on the coattails of the men. Moore added that "If I was a lady player, I would go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have." He later apologized, calling the comments erroneous. The world's top female player, Serena Williams called Moore’s comments offensive. "There's only one way to interpret that. Get on your knees, which is offensive enough, and thank a man," said Ms. Williams. "We shouldn't have to drop to our knees at any point." For the four major tournaments, the Australian Open, U.S. Open, French Open and Wimbledon, there has been equal prize money for men and women since 2007. The same is true of combined Masters tournaments like the Paribas Open." However, in women-only events, women make less than their male counterparts at all-male events. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The
contents
of
this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río
Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced anywhere
without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, March 22, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 57 | |||||||||
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A little water can irrigate the soul There is something about running water that is tranquil, calming, soothing. Even the barest trickle over rocks and you can find your mind relaxing, drifting off somewhere to quiet scenes and comforting thoughts. Combine
Of course, you may not have naturally running water on your property but that can be remedied in any number of ways. It all depends on the size of your property and how far the sound has to travel to soothe your labors. If you have a small yard or just a balcony with potted plants, the solution is easy – you need a fountain. These are usually pre-made, easy to find, easy to set up, and not very costly. They provide the delightful sound of running water for a small area. But what if you have a larger property? A number of people I know have built small ponds with fountains or waterfalls on their property. They surround the pond with plantings and finish off with things like water lilies, water hyacinth or perhaps some bog plants at the edges of the pond. Then come the fish. Fish? Well, naturally you want some fish in there. What could be more tranquil, more relaxing after a hard day of gardening than to sit by the edge of your pond, listen to the sound of the water over stones, a margarita in one hand and a fistful of koi food in the other. The koi know. They have been waiting for you. During the day, they have been nipping around the pond munching on mosquito larvae (another reason for fish) waiting for you to come with food. You feed them lazily, not too much at a time, enjoying the sound of them breaking the surface. A sip of margarita, a toss of food. Your spouse is by your side, glass in hand, enjoying the sound and the sunset. This is the life.
Plant for the Week
My gardener recently found a phenomenon on the property, one of the trees described as cauliflory, a botanical term for trees that flower and fruit from the trunk. They are all in the Theobroma genus and include cacao, jackfruit, and papaya. Our tree seems to be Theobroma simiarum, and we have not been able to find much information on it (if you have some, let me know). The trunk is growing in the shade and is about 40 centimeters in diameter and is perhaps 10 meters tall. The fruit is indistinctly 5 lobed with seeds arranged in fives and covered in a white pulp. Is it edible? I wish I knew, but here are the flowers. If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Arenal-Gardeners/413220712106845. |
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| From Page 7: Bank sets aside $9 million for eco vehicles By the A.M. Costa Rica
staff
The central government said Monday that Banco de Costa Rica has earmarked $9 million in credit for environmentally friendly vehicles. The bank is expected to finance 386 vehicles. The cars are considered environmentally friendly because they emit 180 grams or less of carbon dioxide per kilometer, weigh 1,800 kilos or less and get at least 15 kilometers per liter of fuel. Casa Presidencial said that Banco de Costa Rica will finance 80 percent of the purchase price for designated models. There also is a program whereby owners can surrender their older car, get a $1,250 credit that can be applied to the down payment. The program has the support of the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía, the Registro Nacional, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros and the Asociación de Importadores de Vehículos y Maquinaria. |
