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A.M.
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Published Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in
Vol. 17, No.
67
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, April
4, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 67
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PLN
chooses Desanti for its candidate
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Partido Liberación Nacional picked Antonio Álvarez Desanti as its presidential candidate for the upcoming 2018 elections, one day after the party's primaries went chaotic. Desanti offered his first press conference as elected candidate Monday around 4:50 p.m. at Balcón Verde, the party's headquarters located near Parque La Sabana. In his speech, the candidate called for the unification of all internal political forces inside the party. He assured he will take into consideration the ideas and proposals offered by the other three nominees who sought to win the primaries. “We should all stick to the same principles and ideas that have made this party great. There should be no hard feelings,” Desanti said. These words one day after he implied his party could have committed voter fraud. It was his reaction to the fact that, by 9:00 p.m Sunday, the party's electoral committee had little information about the results and postponed further updates until yesterday at 11:30 a.m. Prior to his speech, his closest opponent Jose María Figueres offered a press briefing yesterday morning where he accepted his defeat and said it is now time for him to move away and let Desanti continue with his political project. During the campaign, Figueres was hounded by opponents for decisions he made as former president of the country, like closing the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles. He was also attacked by his opponents for fleeing the country for 10 years after a scandal involving him and the French telecommunications company Alcatel on alleged bribery. The case was dismissed and he returned to Costa Rica to run for president. The now-candidate of the oldest political party in the country is a 58-year old businessman who has invested in agricultural and tourism deals. He also owns several buildings that are rented by the state. This represents the fourth try for Desanti to obtain the candidacy of the party. In the past elections, he worked as the campaign manager for Johnny Araya, current San José mayor who ran in 2014 before quitting the presidential race. Desanti has also worked in prior governments that were headed by Liberación, particularly in agricultural-related agencies. In the late eighties he opposed an international summit of lesbians that took place in the country. At the time he considered the gathering to be in conflict with Costa Rican values. Monday's speech soon became a platform to voice his agenda. He tried to appeal to younger voters by saying youth should be accompanied with experience. He also said he will fight for decent salaries and women’s rights, but did not provide any specific details on how he was going to do it. With the “hay que gobernar con las ganas y con las canas” expression, that roughly translates to governing with the desires and gray hair, he ended his acceptance speech. Traffic police bracing for Semana Santa By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Expats should expect an increased presence of traffic police out on the streets and roads of Costa Rica in anticipation of the upcoming Semana Santa holidays. The alcohol and speed controls are expected to begin this Saturday where around 750 members of the Policía de Tránsito will be out to regulate traffic flow and enforce things such as the use of seat belts, driving while using a bluetooth device and, of course, to lower the incidences of drunk driving. To achieve these goals, traffic police will be conducting at least 17 random checks at bus terminals to test the sobriety of the drivers. Car lights on, not carrying people in the bed of trucks and motorcyclists wearing helmets and reflective wear are priorities, according to the Ministerio de Obras Públicas. Mario Calderón, the traffic police commissioner, said that officers will increase their patrols between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. until the holiday season ends Sunday, April 16. The public works ministry announced March 25 that drivers will be able to move through the capital without the risk of receiving a traffic restriction fine for Semana Santa. Calderón said that this would be a better strategy to control and improve the flow of vehicles moving in and out of the Central Valley. The restriction by license plate number normally covers all corresponding vehicles from the circling highway to the center of the capital, the public works ministry said. Semana Santa, or Holy Week, brings with it the closing of all public and private schools for that week. It also allows all public employees working for the government to get April 10 and 12 off in addition to the already-existing holidays such as Juan Santamaría Day on April 11, Holy Thursday on April 13 and Good Friday April 14. The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes said that it anticipates traffic in the capital to decrease considerably as many private employees take off work for vacations as well and head for the beaches. The restriction will resume on Monday April 17, officials said. Arrest made for murdered woman By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The Ministerio Público announced the arrest of a suspect wanted for the murder of a woman found dead in a hotel room last Saturday. The crime occurred Saturday around 2:15 in the morning, according to a report from the ministry. The suspect is believed to have arrived with the victim at a hotel located in San José Centro. Around 3:15 that same morning, investigators believe that the suspect left the hotel saying that the victim was bathing and he was going to buy food and return soon. Hotel staff noticed that the man had not returned for an extended period of time and that the key to the room’s bathroom was still open, investigators said. They entered and found the 26-year old victim dead. The suspect was arrested Sunday afternoon at his home in Alajuelita. A unit attached to Ministerio Público arrived at the home around 11 a.m. Monday and reported that they had found a cell phone believed to have belonged to the victim. The man is being held by the prosecutor’s office, which is requesting six months of preventive detention in the upcoming criminal court hearing, the Ministerio Público said.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, April
4, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 67
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| Costa
Rica and Russia to share cultural exchange over
soccer match |
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By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
People there call this county Коста-Рика, and plenty of Ticos will enjoy Russian hospitality after the national team qualifies and goes to the World Cup next year. Russians in many ways are just like Ticos, so there will not be a lot of culture clash. Both cultures venerate children. Groups of young university students frequently are very protective and solicitous of Russian tots running ahead of their parents on city streets. The Russians also cherish members of their extended family, and since the fall of the Soviet Union, there is a strong emphasis on religion. Although Russians are Orthodox Christians, Costa Ricans will easily find a church of their choice while in the country. Then there is the alcohol. Ticos drink guaro, the product of fermented sugar cane juice. Russians are famous as vodka drinkers, a fermented grain product. When well-chilled, the drinks are about the same. And neither Russians nor Ticos sip the drink. They gulp. Ticos may not find gallo pinto on the breakfast table in Russia, but the menu will not disappoint them. Russians are big on basic foods and even have an empanada-like treat often sold on the streets. They also are big on sour cream as Ticos are. Fans in both countries also are rabid about soccer whether the team is the Sele or Spartak, Dynamo or the национа́льная сбо́рная Росси́и по футбо́лу, the Russian national team nicknamed the Золотые Oрлы, the Golden Eagles, or Медведи, the bears. The Costa Rican team was more successful in the 2014 World Cup matches than the Russian team that was eliminated in the first round. Russia, as the host of the games next year, automatically qualifies as a competitor. Games will be played in Moscow, the capital, Sochi on the Black sea and Ekaterinburg, the country's fourth largest city. Russians and Costa Ricans also seem to agree on politics, at least as far as many citizens in both countries are unhappy with the leadership. |
 Fédération
Internationale de Football Association
graphic
This is
Zabivaka, the 2018 World Cup mascot. The
Russian word means the one who scores.
The repressive
Vladimir Putin administration has been
condemned by much of the world due to the
invasion of the Crimea in the Ukraine. A
flareup there could cause the World Cup to be
canceled or reduced in attendance.
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter announced a boycott of the Soviet Union and the 1980 Olympic Games because of the Communist invasion of Afghanistan. Something like that could happen again. Tour organizers and Russian hospitality operators are hoping nothing happens to dampen the enthusiasm for the World Cup. Russia usually is very picky with visas, but the procedure to enter the country is expected to be relaxed dramatically just before the World Cup. There is one other similarity. Costa Ricans call the game fútbol, and the Russians use almost the same word, футболь although it looks strange in Russian letters. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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Río Colorado S.A. 2017 and may not be reproduced
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, April
4, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 67
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| Research points to electric simulation to
move paralyzed body parts |
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By the Mayo
Clinic press staff
Mayo Clinic researchers used electrical stimulation on the spinal cord and intense physical therapy to help a man intentionally move his paralyzed legs, stand and make step-like motions for the first time in three years. The case, the result of collaboration with University of California Los Angeles researchers, appeared Monday in “Mayo Clinic Proceedings.” Researchers say these results offer further evidence that a combination of this technology and rehabilitation may help patients with spinal cord injuries regain control over previously paralyzed movements, such as steplike actions, balance control and standing. “We’re really excited, because our results went beyond our expectations,” says neurosurgeon Kendall Lee, principal investigator and director of Mayo Clinic’s Neural Engineering Laboratory. “These are initial findings, but the patient is continuing to make progress.” The 26-year-old patient injured his spinal cord at the sixth thoracic vertebrae in the middle of his back three years earlier. He was diagnosed with a motor complete spinal cord injury, meaning he could not move or feel anything below the middle of his torso. The study started with the patient going through 22 weeks of physical therapy. He had three training sessions a week to prepare his muscles for attempting tasks during spinal cord stimulation. He was tested for changes regularly. Some results led researchers to characterize his injury further as dis-complete, suggesting dormant connections across his injury may remain. Following physical therapy, he underwent surgery to implant an electrode in the epidural space near the spinal cord below the injured area. The electrode is connected to a computer-controlled device under the skin in the patient’s abdomen. This device, for which Mayo Clinic received permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for off-label use, sends electrical current to the spinal cord, enabling the patient to create movement. After a three-week recovery period from surgery, the patient resumed physical therapy with stimulation settings adjusted to enable movements. In the first two weeks, he intentionally was able to: control his |
 Mayo Clinic
graphic
Electrode
device showed improvements to paralysis.
muscles while lying on his side, resulting in leg movements; make steplike motions while lying on his side and standing with partial support; stand independently using his arms on support bars for balance; and intentional, or volitional, movement means the patient’s brain is sending a signal to motor neurons in his spinal cord to move his legs purposefully. “This has really set the tone for our post-surgical rehabilitation trying to use that function the patient recovered to drive even more return of abilities,” says Kristin Zhao, co-principal investigator and director of Mayo Clinic’s Assistive and Restorative Technology Laboratory. The Mayo researchers worked closely with the team of Reggie Edgerton, at the university on this study, which replicates earlier research done at the University of Louisville. The Mayo study marks the first time a patient intentionally controlled previously paralyzed functions within the first two weeks of stimulation. The data suggest that people with dis-complete spinal cord injuries may be candidates for epidural stimulation therapy. However, more research is needed into how a dis-complete injury contributes to recovering function. Teams from Mayo Clinic’s departments of Neurosurgery and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and the Division of Engineering collaborated on this project. |
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medical care
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, April
4, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 67
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Senate
panel approves
Supreme Court nominee By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
A Senate panel approved Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch Monday, sending President Trump’s pick to the full Senate where a ferocious battle looms that could forever alter how the chamber fulfills its constitutionally-mandated role of advice and consent. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11 to nine, with all Republicans backing Gorsuch and all Democrats opposing the conservative federal appellate judge. Democrats said Gorsuch’s testimony at last month’s confirmation hearing only deepened their questions and concerns about his judicial philosophy. That point was echoed by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who noted that Gorsuch was reluctant to share his views on some of America’s most-celebrated legal decisions, like the 1954 Supreme Court decision ending racial segregation in American schools. Republicans came to Gorsuch’s defense. “I will vote for him with a very clear conscience,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham. “To say that this man somehow wishes Brown v. Board of Education wasn’t decided … is a bit of a stretch.” “Seeking assurances from the nominee on how he’ll vote on particular legal questions undermines the very independence that we demand of the Supreme Court,” Grassley said. Again and again, Republicans hailed Gorsuch’s legal credentials and judicial temperament. “There’s no question he’s well-educated and well-credentialed,” Feinstein conceded. “But we’re not just evaluating a resume. If we were, every Supreme Court nominee would pass unanimously, 100 to zero.” Democrats continued to vent over last year’s refusal by the Senate’s Republican majority to consider former president Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland. “Senate Republicans held a Supreme Court vacancy and an eminently qualified nominee hostage with the sole and express intent to deny President Obama an appointment to the Supreme Court, an appointment that he had every right, by precedent, by law to make,” Leahy said. Graham shot back that Democrats would have done the same to block a Republican high court nominee if the situation were reversed, and that Democrats themselves changed Senate rules when they controlled the chamber to make it easier to confirm all of Obama’s nominees other than Supreme Court picks. Another rules change could occur if Democrats attempt to block Gorsuch in the full Senate through a filibuster, which necessitates a three-fifths majority to get to a final vote. At least 41 Democrats are on record opposing Gorsuch, the number needed for a filibuster to succeed in the 100-member chamber. Republicans say they will defeat a filibuster by any means necessary, including changing the rules governing the Senate. A rules change has been called the nuclear option, as it would alter the very nature of the Senate, a body that historically has afforded the minority party the ability to thwart or delay the will of the majority. If confirmed, Gorsuch would take the Supreme Court seat once held by Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative nominated by former president Ronald Reagan in 1986. Scalia died in February of last year. New method could turn seawater to drinking water By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
A new method could turn seawater into drinking water for millions around the world without access to clean water. Researchers at the University of Manchester in England say they’ve successfully used graphene-oxide membranes to filter common salts from seawater, turning it into drinking water more affordably than current desalination techniques. Graphene-oxide membranes have already been shown to be effective at filtering small nanoparticles, organic molecules and large salts, but they had not yet been effective in filtering out common salts. "This is the first clear-cut experiment in this regime,” said professor Rahul Nair, at the University of Manchester. “We also demonstrate that there are realistic possibilities to scale up the described approach and mass produce graphene-based membranes with required sieve sizes. “Realization of scalable membranes with uniform pore size down to atomic scale is a significant step forward and will open new possibilities for improving the efficiency of desalination technology,” he said. The United Nations says that by 2025, 14 percent of the world’s population will suffer water scarcity. Previous attempts to use the membranes saw smaller salts passing through, researchers said, but the Manchester group discovered that the size of the pores on the membrane could be precisely controlled allowing it to block smaller salts. Specifically, the researchers said the graphene-oxide membranes have tiny capillaries that stop the flow of salts, while allowing fresh water to pass through. "The developed membranes are not only useful for desalination, but the atomic scale tunability of the pore size also opens new opportunity to fabricate membranes with on-demand filtration capable of filtering out ions according to their sizes," said co-lead author Jijo Abraham. The study was published Monday in the journal “Nature Nanotechnology.” Endangered language gains interest from Plains tribes By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
In early September 1930, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana hosted a historic Indian Sign Language Grand Council, gathering leaders of a dozen North American Nations and language groups. The three-day council held was organized by Hugh L. Scott, a 77 year-old U.S. Army general who had spent a good portion of his career in the American West, where he observed and learned what users called Hand Talk, and what is today more broadly known as Plains Indian Sign Language. With $5,000 in federal funding, Scott filmed the proceedings and hoped to produce a film dictionary of more than 1,300 signs. He died before he could finish the project. Scott’s films disappeared into the National Archives. Recently rediscovered, they are an important resource for those looking to revitalize Plains Indians Sign Language. Among them is Ron Garritson, who identifies himself as being of Choctaw and European heritage. He was raised in Billings, Montana, near the Crow Nation. Garritson studied Scott’s films, along with works by other ethnographers and now has a vocabulary of about 1,700 signs. He conducts workshops and classes across Montana, in an effort to preserve and spread sign language and native history. Prior to contact with Europeans, North American native peoples were not a unified culture, but hundreds of different cultures and tribes, each with its own political organization, belief system and language. When speakers of one language met those of another, whether in trade, councils or conflict, they communicated in the lingua franca of Hand Talk. Scholars dispute exactly when, in their 30,000-year history in North America, tribes developed sign language. It was observed among Florida tribes by 16th century Spanish colonizers. “Coronado, as he documented in his journals in 1540, was in Texas and met the Comanche,” said Garritson. “He documented that the Comanches made themselves so well-understood with the use of sign talk that there was almost no need for an interpreter. It was that easy to use and easy to understand.” While each tribe had its own dialect, tribes were able to communicate easily. Though universal in North America, Hand Talk was more prominent among the nomadic Plains Nations. “There were fewer linguistic groups east of the Mississippi River,” said Garritson. “They were mostly woodland tribes, living in permanent villages and were familiar with each other’s languages. They still used sign language to an extent, but not like it was used out here.” Hand Talk was also the first language of deaf Natives. By the late 1800s, tens of thousands of Native Americans still used Hand Talk. That changed when the federal government instituted a policy designed to civilize tribal people. Children were removed from their families and sent to government-run boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their own languages or practice their own spiritual beliefs. Native Deaf children were sent to deaf residential schools, where they were taught to use American Sign Language. Research has shown that Hand Talk is still being used by a small number of deaf and hearing descendants of the Plains Indian cultures. Melanie McKay-Cody is the first deaf researcher to specialize in North American Hand Talk and today works with tribes to help them preserve their signed languages. She is pushing for the language to be incorporated into mainstream education of the deaf. Lanny Real Bird, who is Crow, Arikara and Hidatsa, grew up in a household where Hand Talk was used. Real Bird, a former instructor at Montana's Little Big Horn College, has worked for 20 years helping tribes preserve their languages, both spoken and signed, and has developed a 400 to 600-sign Hand Talk course, which he teaches at community schools and workshops across the Plains states. Real Bird said it took nearly a decade to convince school systems to incorporate it into general language instruction. Russian government seeks ban of Jehovah’s Witnesses By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
Several U.S. legislators have criticized the Russian government for plans to effectively ban the Jehovah's Witnesses, a nontraditional Christian movement, as an extremist organization. On March 15, Russia's Justice Ministry filed a claim with the country's Supreme Court, calling on it to designate the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia an extremist organization and liquidate the group's national headquarters and 395 local chapters in Russia. Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian Christian group founded in the United States in the 1870s. It is known, among other things, for door-to-door preaching and refusing to perform military service, salute national flags or accept blood transfusions. Its adherents have frequently been persecuted by authoritarian governments, including that of the former Soviet Union. Russia's Justice Ministry reported on its website last week that since 2009, it has identified 95 materials of an extremist nature that were brought into Russia and circulated in the country, according to the Tass news agency. Tass quoted the website saying, "As many as eight local cells of the organization were recognized to be extremist ones, banned and disbanded since 2009." However, Anatoly Pchelintsev, chief editor of the magazine Religion and Law, said the accusations are incompatible with the principle of freedom of religion. "Formally, the semblance of legitimacy is observed," he said. "However, there is actually no extremist activity and, in fact, it is baseless and bogus. There are multiple videotapes showing how banned literature is planted." If the supreme court rules against Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, its 175,000 followers face the threat of criminal prosecution. That, according to Pchelintsev, would be total madness. Pchelintsev recalled that the Jehovah's Witnesses were recognized in the early 1990s as having been victims of political repression during the Soviet period, and received official documents to that effect. Valery Borshchev, a veteran human rights activist and member of the Russian branch of the International Association of Religious Freedom, agrees that harassment of the Jehovah's Witnesses violates the principles of religious freedom. In any case, said Borshchev, this has nothing to do with extremist activity. According to Borshchev, those calling for the Jehovah's Witnesses to be banned do not understand the nature of religious organizations. According to the Helsinki Final Act, which was signed by the 57 participating countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation Europe, including Russia, "the participating States will recognize and respect the freedom of the individual to profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience." Brexit forcing conflict on the issue of Gibraltar By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
Britain's exit process from the European Union only formally began last week, but already London is engaged in a heated dispute with Brussels and Spain over the future sovereignty of its overseas territory of Gibraltar. The mountainous outcrop on the southern tip of Spain known as "The Rock" was ceded to Britain by Madrid 300 years ago and has been an occasional source of tension ever since. In its negotiating guidelines published last week, the European Union said any deal struck between the bloc and Britain won't apply to Gibraltar, unless Spain agrees to it. The inclusion of Gibraltar angered many British lawmakers, but there's little they can do, says Professor Andrew Canessa, a Gibraltar expert at the University of Essex. Events were held during the weekend to mark the 35th anniversary of the Falklands War, when Britain under then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher fought off an Argentine invasion of the disputed archipelago in the South Atlantic. Invoking that war, former leader of the ruling Conservative party Michael Howard said the current Prime Minister Theresa May is prepared for a fight. But speaking Monday, May played down those comments but added the British policy on Gibraltar would not change. Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis expressed surprise at the tone of comments from Britain, saying Monday that bringing into the debate events from the past like the Falklands Islands is completely out of context. Someone in the United Kingdom is losing their calm, and there is no reason for doing that. Gibraltar's residents face an uncertain future. Ninety-six percent voted to remain in the European Union in last June's Brexit referendum; the economy, primarily financial services and gambling, is reliant on membership in the Single Market. Spain dealt Britain another setback Monday by suggesting it would not veto any effort by an independent Scotland to join the European Union, raising the possibility Britain could split after Brexit. Previously Madrid had been opposed to Scottish EU membership, as it feared emboldening Catalonian separatists in the north of Spain who want to hold an independence referendum by October.
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, April
4, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 67
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Tech
schools are way to go these days By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Going to college might not be as worthwhile as many people think. Instead, getting a technical education could better secure employment and a decent income nowadays. That's the main conclusion of Educación Para Universitara: Source of Work Opportunities. The work opportunities initiative was a seminar that took place at the chambers of the legislative assembly last Thursday. During the gathering, Mario Morales, dean of Colegio Universitario de Cartago, showed the findings of a research conducted in regards to the technical education model and its success. According to Morales, at a national level, 63 percent of students who graduated from technical schools are already employed. The top areas where specialists are sought are in electronics and information technologies. “Out of all our graduates in those areas, 96 percent found a job right after school as software developers, while the 86 percent of those who chose electronics were also hired as soon as they finished their education,” he said. Historically, Costa Ricans have longed for full university careers, seeking their master's and doctorates. However, many of them face the harsh reality of unemployment, according to Emilia Molina, congress woman for Partido Acción Ciudadana. “Technical education has not been socially legitimated as much as the university degree. In Costa Rica this is due to a lack of regulations in the field. For instance, people with primary education and a diploma in electricity used to be paid the same as someone with high school education and the degree in the same field. That's just unfair.” Molina said. The legislator also explained that it was not until last year that congress approved the Marco Nacional de Cualificaciones, a law that reorganized the system in which of all degrees are valued in the technical education field. According to the dean of the Colegio Universitario de Cartago, one great advantage of technical schools is the entrepreneurial spirit that's ingrained on the students during training. The latest study about job insertion for college graduates, carried out in 2015 by the Observatorio Nacional de Profesiones shows that 62 percent of college graduates between 2008 and 2010 got a job when they finished their education, while 38 percent faced unemployment or ended up doing jobs unrelated to their field of expertise. From the second group, 10 percent did not look for a job in their field, while 28 percent did. From those who did, only 20 percent got hired. Brawl near basilica leads to 7 arrests By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
A brawl in the bar led to a shooting close to the south side of the popular tourist destination of Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles in Cartago Centro. Police said that a car believed to be the one involved in the shooting attempted to escape from authorities. Eventually, six men and one woman were captured by Cartago’s Fuerza Pública. In addition to the suspects, a pistol was found inside the car and confiscated. The group of suspects were place into custody and taken to the closest Tribunal de Flagrancia for further investigation. |
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| From Page 7: Small businesses receive most state contracts By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The latest report on the state of small businesses in Costa Rica indicates an almost 12 percent increase in the number of such companies conducting business with government entities. These latest findings are being touted as a triumph on the part of the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Comercio that released the statement Monday. The data was compiled by the Sistema de Información Empresarial Costarricense that noted that the total amount of government procurement for 2016 was 55 percent for small business and 45 percent for large corporations. The amount of money awarded in contracts and deals to small businesses also increased about 13.6 percent, according to officials. Of that total investment and participation, the service sector sold the most to the state with 54 percent of the total costs towards public administration, the report said. Within the service sector, the majority were defined as in the transport and professional categories. The study indicated that around 93 percent of the country’s total companies were small and medium-sized businesses. This number does not represent the number of persons employed with those companies, but rather the ones registered in Costa Rica. Most of the business activity in this report appeared in the municipalities of San José, Montes de Oca and Tibás as well as the other cantons in the greater metropolitan area. This makes sense as the majority of the population lives within the Central Valley, which includes the greater San José area. |
