More than 50 years ago Costa Ricans fought to make a democratic and a free country. People of the entire nation, including women, fought for the Costa Rica of which we all are proud today.

After this civil war, the leaders wrote in a piece of paper something that we call today The National Constitution or Magna Carta, where all the social guaranties, obligations and rights were set down to make sure that nobody through the years forgets these accords. Among these were equality of women. But sometimes it looks as if the Constitution is just a piece of paper.

According to a petition by the teacher, Ms. González is violating her baby’s rights just because she decided to bring the baby each day to the ministry office.

I  remember in school that my teacher explained why this battle and the Constitution was important to me as a woman, why it was important for my grandmother, for my mother and even more important for my daughter.

I’m a single mother, and I identify with Karla González because I know how difficult it is to be separated from my baby in order to go to work.  I know how difficult it is to find someone to take good care of my baby without putting her at risk.

But my case is different because where I work, my coworkers respect me and my baby. They have no problem with me bringing my daughter because they also are parents.

Nevertheless in my work being a mother still is difficult because day by day I get to work under the pressure of a society that judges what it sees but not what is.

There are those in society who think they know better how to take care of my baby than I do. 

They judge based on what they see outside, and they never stop to ask or see what really is happening.

Thankfully, we are not living in Afghanistan or other countries where women have few rights. And we are right to expect justice when the amazing double labor of women is recognized and respected.

Who will pay women for their domestic labor at home? The government? The government can’t even pay to eliminate the real  social problems. So it is silly to expect a mother to survive without working. Women long ago and repeatedly have proved that they are strong.

Many woman are alone taking care of their children as single mothers, working at home and then working outside the home at the same time. How many women have sacrificed to educate others in their family, frequently without the help of a husband or a man. 

Can a society return to the time of women’s repression, a time of women’s discrimination, punishing those women who want to be somebody, forbidding them to grow professionally?

Yes, as a mother I feel for Karla González because thanks to a frivolous constitutional court case, this woman is unable to offer her family the economic and personal satisfaction that comes with work.

Some 28 soccer fans who stole from a liquor store in Liberia have been able to duck charges.

The fans were part of a larger group of Deportivo de Saprissa backers who became unsettled after their team tied with the Liberia soccer team Sunday. 

As the fans boarded their buses for the trip back to the San José area, some entered a liquor store, threatened clerks and took bottles, said officials Sunday.

Fuerza Pública officers managed to catch up with the buses about five miles south of Liberia on the Interamerican Highway. They detained 16 juveniles and 12 adults. All spent the night in jail in Liberia.

A spokesperson for the Poder Judicial reported Monday that the individuals were let go. The amount of goods taken did not amount to more than 30,000 colons, the spokesperson said. That’s about $70, a sum that does not constitute a serious crime in Costa Rica, the judicial spokesperson said.

A father of one of the detained youngsters paid the full amount to the liquor store operator who said that he did not wish to press the matter further, the spokesperson said.

Last week a similar group of Saprissa fans battled police after a game in the Estadio Nacional in Parque la Sabana, and several policemen suffered injuries, including a mounted officer who was hit in the mouth with a rock.

Alajuela will get
camera surveillance

Some 10 surveillance cameras will be set up by the Fuerza Pública at various points in the Province of Alajuela, officials said Monday. The plan is modeled after the one in effect in the downtown area of San José where cameras high on buildings monitor day-to-day activity.

Officials did not say where the cameras would be located, but they did say that Radiográfica Costarricense S.A., the Internet provider, would arrange for the connections.

The announcement came as officials were inaugurating a new police hut in Parque Central in Alajuela. Officials said the presence of police will give citizens a greater sense of security.

Fabio Molina, mayor of Alajuela, said the investment for the hut was 1.5 million colons, or about $3,500.

Rogelio Ramos, minister of Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública, said that the Canton of Alajuela would get about 24 more police officers by the end of the month.

Taxis fares increase
when rates published

Taxi riders will be paying a little bit more after a new rate structure is published in the official Gaceta.

The Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos has approved the increase. The cost of the initial kilometer in a taxi will go from 240 colons to 265. Additional kilometers will be charged at 150 colons, an increase of 15 colons.

Taxi rates are adjusted periodically to offset the increasing costs of fuel and other vehicle-related expenses that usually are denominated in dollars. The colon declines daily at an established rate.

The price of 265 colons is about 62 U.S. cents. The additional charge of 150 colons a kilometer is about 35 cents.

Rates are slightly higher outside the San José metropolitan area. Licensed taxi drivers use a meter that records the charge in 5 colon increments.

Visit to adult home
includes Earth tour

Visitors to the Tom and Norman Home for Unwanted Adults will have an additional side trip Saturday to Earth University.

The annual excursion to Guápiles is conducted by the Angle of Love foundation that supports the home. The bus leaves Santa Ana at 8:30 a.m., Escazú at 8:45 a.m. and 9 a.m. at the Gran Hotel Costa Rica, said Donlon Havener, who is accepting reservations at 282-7794.

The trip, including lunch at the university is 10,000, he said. Earth University is a United Nations project that has students from all over the world studying tropical humid regions. A tour is scheduled.
 

A  5-year-old died in a house fire in Salitral de Aserrí, officials said Monday. The 7 a.m. blaze took the life of Antony Bejarano Castro, according to the Judicial Investigating Organization.

The small home caught fire when most of the family were either at work or school. The structure was destroyed.
 

Professional Directory A.M. Costa Rica's professional directory is where business people who wish to reach the English-speaking community may invite responses. If you are interested in being represented here, please contact the editor. Web Design Personalized Web Design •Hosting •Promotion •Logo Design Prices so reasonable they will astound you Call for a quote:  220-4602 www.alegria-webdesign.com We have over 12 years international experience 616-7/15/04 Real estate agents and services First Costa Rican Title & Trust Protecting your interests since 1994   Purchase contracts   Escrow services   Title Transfers   Title Guarantees   Trust Services   Investment and        Mortgage Services Call us for your real property legal and investment needs at 225-0501 or send us an e-mail at service1@firstcr.com Title Guarantees issued by First American Title Insurance Co., one of the oldest and largest title companies in the world. The First American difference in protection is that the policies cover unrecorded matters and unknown risks. www.firstcr.com 645-8/18/04 MARGARET SOHN formerly with  Carico and now with Great Estates 15 years Costa Rican  real estate experience Member of the Costa Rican Real Estate Association, Lic. #1000  Member of Costa Rican-American  Chamber of Commerce samargo@racsa.co.cr www.realtorcostarica.com (506) 291-2825 & (506) 291-2826  fax (506) 296-6304   (506) 382-7399 cell  229-8/9/03 Financial Consultants & Brokers Edward Bridges, CPA Offshore Financial Consultant Certified Public Accountant Over 25 Years of Experience in Offshore Financial Planning, Estate Planning, Investment Strategies Professional Due Diligence Research  On Costa Rican Investments, Individuals & Companies Full Service Panama Brokerage Services Bearer Share Panama Corporations For a FREE Offshore Info Package, E-mail:  cr5063512156@hotmail.com In Costa Rica Call: (506) 391-1617 499-3/23/03 Lawyers KEARNEY-LAWSON & Asoc.       Lic. Gregory Kearney Lawson,  Costa Rica/U.S.A. Attorneys at Law Villalobos and Savings Unlimited Collections *Investments  *Corporations  *Real Estate Sales in Costa Rica *Tax Shelters  *Immigration *Intellectual Property     *Business procedures *Family and Labor Law     *Locate People *Private Investigations        Ph/Fax: 221-9462, 356-2449 gkearney_lawson@hotmail.com attorneykearney@yahoo.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The top U.S. Customs official Monday unveiled new high-tech equipment that will be used at U.S. seaports.

Highly sophisticated radiation monitors will be installed at every seaport in the United States. The sensitive detection equipment is designed to prevent terrorists from smuggling radioactive material, in the form of dirty bombs or nuclear weapons, into the country. 

The Port of New York and New Jersey, one of the nation's busiest seaports, will be equipped with the monitors by the end of August, making it one of the first to have them. 

U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner said it will cost $1 million to install and operate each monitor. He said it's a major step in securing America. "There's no more important task for the Department of Homeland Security and of Customs and Border Protection than keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of our country. And there is no more important weapons that we want to keep out of our country than nuclear and radiological weapons," he said. 

The new monitors screen every container that arrives by ship for radiation emissions. Customs inspectors also utilize large-scale x-ray type machines that are able to scan an entire sea container in two-to-three minutes. Special radiation identifiers can pinpoint the source and 
nature of radiation, and are accurate enough to detect radioactive material masked in heavy lead. 

There are already more than 300 hand-held radiation monitors being used at U.S. seaports and land border crossings. In February, New York's Kennedy airport began using a radiation scanner for incoming cargo. 

Customs Inspector Michael Hegler said the most worrisome radioactive materials are plutonium and uranium 235, used for making of nuclear weapons. "Most radiation is naturally occurring. Bananas have radiation, ceramic tiles, toilet bowls, porcelain-ware. All have natural radiation. We are looking for uranium 235 or plutonium, which we feel can make a dirty bomb and would be a component of that bomb that is being brought into the country," he said. 

Inspector Hegler said customs officials have a tremendous amount of sophisticated technology at their disposal. "The old fashioned days of us going out to containers and opening doors and just looking are not done any more," he said. 

Officials say 1.2 million containers enter the United States every year through the Port of New York and New Jersey. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.N. Environment Program announced Monday a collaborative agreement to establish an office within the administration to support healthy, well-managed coastal ecosystems in the wider Caribbean region. 

The office will help provide effective follow-up to support White Water to Blue Water-related activities in the Caribbean, including the development of projects to develop, conserve and manage watersheds and coastland marine ecosystems, according to a press release.

"Our vision is healthy, well-managed and productive marine and coastal ecosystems that support secure economies and livelihoods in coastal countries," said administration 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the new office also will facilitate cooperation between other U.S. agencies and the United Nation's Global Program of Action, disseminate information concerning integrated watershed and ecosystem management, and "provide technical support to design, develop, and implement national programs of action in the wider Caribbean region at large." 

The term white water to blue water means concern for the aquatic environment from mountain streams to the ocean. The pact with the U.N. will last through the year 2007, the release said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report by the Organization of American States  has expressed concern about a number of "worrisome signs" regarding the human rights situation in Venezuela.

The report says the situation in Venezuela demonstrates a "clear weakness in the fundamental pillars that must support the rule of law in a democratic system."

The report, issued by the organization’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, says Venezuela's "institutional weaknesses" include the failure to give "full application" to the nation's new constitution, the perception that the branches of government lack independence, and the "growing concentration of power" in the country's executive branch.

The report also expresses concern about the impunity with which certain armed civilian groups and "para-police" operate, the constant attacks on journalists and the media, and the tendency to "militarize" the public administration through the "increasingly prominent role of the armed forces."

The commission said that most of the human rights violations in Venezuela are related to noncompliance with the "Venezuelan State's duty to prevent and investigate crimes and punish those responsible, which results in their impunity."

The commission said 90 percent of the investigations of human rights violations in Venezuela never go beyond the preliminary stage. The high incidence of impunity in a high number of cases of human rights violations "causes Venezuelan society to lose trust in the legal system and triggers violence, fueling a vicious cycle of impunity and violence," said the commission.

At the same time, a group of six nations working together with the Organization of American States 

Reiterating the views set forth by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the "Group of Friends of the Facilitation Process in Venezuela," as it is formally known, says the end to the crisis in Venezuela must be found within the framework of the Venezuelan constitution. The Friends Group, created in January 2003, is composed of the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain.

The State Department's Peter DeShazo has called charges by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that the United States was trying to topple his government "ludicrous, baseless, and irresponsible."

DeShazo, deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said last week that Chavez apparently is making those charges to divert public attention in Venezuela from a referendum that seeks to recall the Venezuelan leader from office. Venezuela is a constitutional democracy, DeShazo said, and as a result, the United States supports the Organization of American States Resolution 833, which calls for a "peaceful, democratic, constitutional, and electoral solution" to the political impasse in Venezuela.

DeShazo added that the United States "strongly supports" the work of the organization and the Carter Center in verifying the recall process that is taking place in Venezuela. The Atlanta-based Carter Center, run by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, has led peacekeeping efforts in Venezuela since a 2002 coup briefly ousted Chavez.

The new report is part of its five-chapter document on the human rights situation in the Americas. The document, entitled "Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 2003," also discusses human rights in Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, and Haiti. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. government's annual estimates of coca cultivation in Colombia indicate the Andean nation experienced a "dramatic drop of 21 percent in coca cultivation" during 2003, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The report comes a day before Colombian president Alvaro Uribe is scheduled to meet with U.S. President George Bush.

In a press release Monday, the drug office said "net coca cultivation dropped from 144,450 hectares in 2002 to 113,850 hectares in 2003. This compares to 169,800 hectares cultivated during the peak growing year of 2001. A hectare is 2.47 acres.

"Taken together with previously released estimates for Peru and Bolivia, this represents a total production for the region of 655 metric tons — the lowest level since estimates began in 1986."

The press release said the accelerating trend of declining coca cultivation "demonstrates once again the effectiveness of the State Department-supported Colombian National Police aerial eradication program."

The release credited Uribe's leadership for much of this success. Citing Uribe's "unwavering support" for "an aggressive aerial spray program" that 

"President Uribe's steadfast efforts against the drug trade are chipping away at the largest single funding source for regional narco-terrorists and disrupting the international market for cocaine," said drug office Director John Walters. "This is good news for both the citizens of Colombia and the United States. We look forward to continuing to work with the government of Colombia in a common effort aimed at disrupting the drug market and eliminating the threat of narco-terrorists."

Uribe is expected to ask for more funding to continue Plan Colombia, a joint effort with the United States to cut down on drug production there.

Since 2000, the United States has provided more than $2 billion in mostly military aid under Plan Colombia. The aid package expires next year. 

Colombia is mired in a long-running civil war that pits two leftist rebel groups against rightist paramilitaries and government forces. Both the guerrillas and the paramilitaries finance their illegal operations by drug trafficking with the country's powerful cocaine cartels.