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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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Border police blame group
of taxi drivers for illegals By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Immigration officials discovered a group of pirate taxi drivers known as “The Taliban” (“Los Talibanes”), during Semana Santa efforts, said the security ministry Monday. The group is suspected of transporting illegal immigrants into Costa Rica from Nicaragua, according to a security ministry spokesman. The drivers use microbuses and other vehicles, according to Francisco Castaing, head of Policía de Migración. “The vehicles are in a terrible state, endangering the lives of those who think they will have a better future in Costa Rica," Castaing said, according to the security ministry. Many times these undocumented immigrants tell authorities that they are friends of the driver and that they are headed back to their own country. In these types of situations, the court cannot act, said a spokesman from the security ministry. Police found one of the so called “Taliban” drivers in San Carlos in a recent case, they said. The vehicle contained three women, originally reported to be underage, said a security ministry spokesman. The women later said they were friends of the driver and presented false documents, said the spokesman. They were presumably headed to San José where they would possibly be sexually exploited, said the security spokesman. Along with the discovery of the group of taxi drivers, police and border workers rejected thousands of illegal immigrants Holy Week. They refused entry to 3,130 travelers at the Peña Blancas crossing alone, according to the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública. Officials seized 10 false cédulas in Los Chiles, Alajuela, according to the ministry. They rejected 200 undocumented travelers in the same city, said a ministry spokesman. According to Castaing, illegal immigration has gone down, since last year's Semana Santa, according to the security ministry. Last year the Policía de Especial de Migración rejected 3,406 foreigners of various nationalities during Holy Week, said the ministry spokesman. Gunman on motorcycle kills car passenger in Curridabat By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A man riding on a motorcycle shot and killed a car passenger in Curridabat, Friday night, according to the Fuerza Pública. The victim, identified as Jairzinho Alexander Jones Henry, 32, died on the scene, according to the Cruz Roja. The Judicial Investigation Organization, which is now investigating the case, has not yet released the nationality of the victim. But the man is believed to have ties to the United States. Jones was riding in a car with his brother when two men on a motorcycle approached the vehicle and one began to shoot, said Héctor Guerrero Gómez, chief of Fuerza Pública operations in Curridabat. “I don't think they wanted to kill both men, because they had ample opportunity,” said Guerrero. Our reader's opinion
Peaceful protest at embassyrattles a platoon of guards Dear A.M. Costa Rica: To observe the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, for about 90 minutes last Wednesday morning, 19 March, eight of us, all devoted to peace and non-violence, waved signs and handed out flyers in front of the U.S. Embassy in Pavas. Well somehow we must have frightened the embassy authorities because soon after our arrival, in short order there were seven pistol-packing guards, plus a supervisor posted in front of the gates. We had a good laugh over their ludicrous overreaction. At the same time it seemed both sad and ironic that the greatest “superpower” on the face of the earth felt so insecure when up against a bunch of peace lovers. When is the U.S. administration going to wake up, wise up, and start making friends — instead of enemies — with the rest of the world? I realize it might put a few defense contractors out of work, but it would certainly be more in keeping with the Christian principles [Do unto others as … ] which the military so prominently espouses, as well as making it a waaaay lot cheaper for us taxpayers. Bill Read
Centro de Amigos para la Paz / Quaker Friends Peace Center San José
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| Violence
in the mass media seen as a pathway to dictatorship |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A newsman from Paraguay says that excessive reporting of criminal cases in his national media might soften up the population for a dictatorship. His concerns about violence and news reporting are similar to those that have been voiced in Costa Rica. The newsman is Benjamín Fernández Bogado, a radio and newspaper journalist in Paraguay, who is at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a Nieman fellow. He also has a law degree. Paraguay is a special case because the country lived through the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship from 1954 to 1989. "Paraguayan society is captured by fear," said Fernández in an essay. "There is a sense of living in a democracy that is not able to control violence, a fact that makes some citizens yearn for dictators and dictatorships." Echoing sentiments frequently heard in Costa Rica, he said "Paraguayans remember years when they slept with open windows. . . ." |
The country will experience a
general election in April. Fernández said
that "The lack of effective response to actual and perceived crime has
led some voters to consider candidates with demagogue positions . . . ." "The way in which violence is reported is an important element in analyzing social, legal and political conditions in a country," he said. "Paraguay could be a very good country case study in which to evaluate how the media play a very naïve role by stressing nostalgia for an authoritarian government without analyzing how this return might affect the freedom of press and expression. "The media most likely would be the first victim of that kind of government, and yet they lay the groundwork for the authoritarian government by sensationalizing violence." Fernández will be visiting Costa Rica on a lecture tour in June. He also serves as a professor of political and social studies at the National University in Asunción. He is a visiting scholar at Harvard's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies for the spring semester. His essay was published in the center's magazine Revista. |
| No
one wants to be considered a friend of Colombian rebels |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Who are the friends of the Colombian terrorists in Costa Rica? The Partido Acción Ciudadana is making a strong effort to show that its members are not. The political party called on Fernando Berrocal to tell what he knows about friends of the Fuerza Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia here in Costa Rica. He is the minister of Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública. March 15 he hinted that the Colombia terrorists had friends here when he said "what doesn't fit in Costa Rican democracy is an alliance of political sectors with these criminals of FARC and these narcotrafficking criminals." The Fuerzas Armadas has been waging a four-decades-long war against the Colombian central government and raises funds via extensive drug shipments and kidnapping. The United States and other countries have branded the organization as terrorists. Berrocal was speaking a day after police and agents raided a home in Santa Bárbara de Heredia and found about $480,000 in wet and tattered U.S. banknotes in a home safe. Even the two people who own the home have disavowed close contact with the Colombian terrorists, although captured e-mails shed some doubt on their claims. They are a former Universidad Nacional professor, Francisco Gutiérrez Pérez, 79, and his wife, Cruz Prado Rojas, 52. The professor is identified with leftist causes. Berrocal has not responded publicly to the Acción Ciudadana request, although it is assumed that he knows |
more about the situation than has
been reported in newspapers. He has been in direct contact with
Colombian officials. The information about the small safe came from one of three laptop computers confiscated when Colombian soldiers, perhaps with help from elsewhere, raided an encampment across the border in Ecuador and killed more than 20 persons including a top rebel leader, known as Raul Reyes. E-mails within the computers directed police to the Heredia home and the stash of U.S. currency. The Colombian prosecutor, Mario Iguarán, said the money belonged to Rodrigo Granada Escobar, a high official in the rebel organization. More than likely it had been there since Granada was last in Costa Rica in 2000. Acción Ciudadana has been trying to disassociate itself from Berrocal's comments, and the party's second in command in the Asamblea Legislativa, Rafael Elías Madrigal Brenes, said Monday in the organization's public session that he thought Berrocal should be asked to come before lawmakers and explain himself. Some Costa Rican politicians are known to have traveled to South America to meet with individuals allied with Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president. Chávez seems to be forging an alliance with the rebel group. Some Costa Rican political figures fear that Chávez is bankrolling activities here, including efforts against the free trade treaty with the United States. Chávez is trying to establish his own regional trade group. He also has found a friend in Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega. |
| Another
free trade treaty companion measure wins approval from legislators |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica's lawmakers approved for the second time the fifth measure that will implement the free trade treaty with the United States in this country. The measure, ratification of the Treaty of Budapest, won approval 31 to 13 Monday. The treaty commits Costa Rica to recognize for litigation purposes a series of depositories for specimens of microorganisms and seeds around the world. The |
depositories are key elements of
other laws that protect the ownership of patented seeds and organisms. Each measure in the legislature requires two votes on non-consecutive days. In the case of the treaty, it was reviewed by the Sala IV constitutional court between votes. The court found no constitutional flaws. The seven remaining measures of the so-called implementation agenda for the free trade treaty are in various stages of consideration in the Asamblea Legislativa, which may increase its meeting times to study them. |
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| A.M.
Costa Rica advertising is a bargain now with the revaluation of the colon! |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
| A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page |
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Trio of robbers sticks up
restaurant, but one suspect is caught
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
As families enjoyed Easter dinner in a Curridabat restaurant Sunday night, armed men in hoods burst through the front doors and demanded money from frightened customers and the cashier, said a security ministry spokesman Monday. The men got away with 6 million colons ($12,000) in cash, along with customers' cell phones, wallets and jewelry, said a Fuerza Pública spokesman. Police arrived at the restaurant, El Bálcon de Mariscos, as the holdup was taking place, said Héctor Guerrero Gómez, chief of operations in Curridabat. The three robbers arrived in a car but were forced to escape on foot when Fuerza Pública officers arrived, said Guerrero. “Seven officers were chasing the robbers on foot and 10 more arrived during the chase,” said Guerrero. |
The officers cornered one young
suspect in an abandoned lot and
afterwards the boy was identified by victims of the robbery. The
suspect is a 16-year old boy and is being held by authorities. The
minor carried a pistol, a knife, a ski-mask and a sweatshirt at the
time of arrest, said a Fuerza Pública spokesman. During the robbery the men used hooded sweatshirts, and their faces were only partially covered, said Guerrero. The other two robbers are presumed to be adults, according to Guerrero. Police were unable to capture them and no further arrests have been made since the incident. Police officers from San Pedro, Desamparados, Zapote, and Curridabat showed up at the scene, said Guerrero. The case has been sent to the Judicial Investigation Organization for investigation. |
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Nicaragua plans a $120
million Pacific highway from Costa Rica to Honduras
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Nicaragua is getting help from Venezuela to build a Pacific coast highway. The Instituto Nicaragüense de Turismo said the project will be 130 kilometers (about 81 miles) and cost $120 million. The coastal highway will link Costa Rica with Honduras, the tourism institute said. |
Mario Salinas Pasos, president of
the institute, said that the project
was designed by previous governments with unrealistic standards, so it
never was built. So the current government has redesigned the entire
highway, he said. The route will take advantage of existing roadways, he said. The tourism institute is anxious to provide the access to the Pacific coast of the country where some major projects already are being constructed and more are in planning. |
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Mexican party
politics could cause U.S. oil woes By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Results of an internal party election in México have raised fears of more political turmoil with possible implications for the United States as well. At a time when world demand for oil is growing, Mexico's production is falling and efforts by President Felipe Calderón to reverse the trend are likely to face even stiffer opposition as a result of an internal election within the leftist Partido de la Revolución Democrática. Last week, Alejandro Encinas claimed victory in the election for party leader over rival Jesús Ortega. Encinas was backed by radical firebrand Andres Manuel López Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City who narrowly lost the presidential election in 2006 to Calderón and who continues to claim that he was deprived of victory through fraud. Calderón belongs to the Partido Acción Nacional. Ortega, who is regarded as a moderate, might have been more willing to consider reforms proposed by President Calderón. But Professor George Grayson of the College of William and Mary, one of the top México experts in the United States, says López Obrador will fight any energy reform proposal. "López Obrador, who was just about on death's door politically a couple of weeks ago, now has become Mexico's Lazarus. He has risen from the dead and he is going to turn heaven and earth to make sure there is no progressive energy legislation passed," he said. President Calderón says his proposal would only open México to limited public-private partnerships so that outside companies with technological expertise can help the state-owned oil company known as Pemex develop oil deposits that are now out of its reach. Production at Mexico's main field is falling and may run out within 10 years. Grayson said a reform that would save Mexico's energy industry from decline seems unlikely given the radical position of the Partido de la Revolución Democrática, and there are implications for the United States as well since México is the nation's fourth largest source of foreign oil. "This should be a wake up call to the U.S," he said. "We have got to move to alternative energy sources and the fact that we are not going to be able to count on México after about 10 years should give impetus to the next president to completely overhaul America's energy policy." Grayson said the decline in México's petroleum production and looming recession in the United States, which will also affect México, could exacerbate one of the principal areas of friction between the two neighbors — immigration. Supporters of Andres Manuel López Obrador say he will find a way to rebuild the state oil industry without outside help and provide a better future for the poor. |
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