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San José, Costa
Rica, Thursday, April 6, 2017, Vol. 17, No. 69
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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, April
6, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 69
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Swede keeps police
busy in Nandayure
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Police and coast guards in Guanacaste briefly detained a 25-year old Swedish man Tuesday for allegedly threatening several people with a machete among other charges. The incident occurred in Puerto Coyote in Nandayure where, according to a report, the man began shouting at people that he saw pigs and had to kill them. Authorities presume that the Swede was on drugs at the time this happened. An alert was called out and responded to by coast guard officers from Puerto Coyote who detained the foreigner, according to the report. The Guardacostas sent him to judicial authorities for arrest, however there was no formal complaint filed against him, and he was later released without charge. The report from the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública then allege that, in less than five hours, the 25 year old entered a mall in Nicoya where he verbally assaulted some of the shopkeepers and stole several items. The Fuerza Pública apparently caught the Swede and sent him to the prosecutor’s office to determine the charges against him. Police said that the man has been detained prior on several instances of drug consumption, property crimes and fights among other things. Illegal gold mining worse than thought By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The judiciary revealed Wednesday that the problem of illegal gold miners in Crucitas is much worse than initially reported. The Poder Judicial said that 14 more persons are facing court procedures after having been captured in the area earlier. The 14 were surprised on a water course March 20. These individuals also are accused of using mercury, which has caused subsequent contamination. Mercury is the hallmark of the amateur gold panner or placer machine operator. The liquid binds to gold and forms an alloy. So, by adding mercury to gold-rich sand, the two metals will bond and become a thick liquid. The mercury picks up gold specks that might be invisible to the eye. Later, the liquid is boiled to drive off the mercury. The gold remains. This is an ancient and hazardous way of recovering gold. Mercury vapor is toxic. The Crucitas zone in Cutris de San Carlos contains more than a million ounces of gold. That is why the area is attractive to alluvial gold prospectors. The central government and the courts have decided to ignore the gold because mining would damage the environment. The district is in north Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border. The gold panners and placer operators must have been on the job in a remote mountain region for a long time. The Poder Judicial said that there was a lot of litter in the area, including cans, plastics and other trash. Saturday the Fuerza Pública captured four more placer miners. That brought the total arrests to 18. Blood drive going on through weekend By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The national blood bank is hosting a blood drive today through the weekend at various sites. Costa Rican citizens and foreign permanent residents are invited to participate provided they present their identification of permanent residence or citizenship. The Banco Nacional de Sangre will be setting up stations to take blood at their site in Zapote on the southern side of the Catholic church today from 7 in the morning to 3:20 p.m. This will continue into Friday and Saturday, organizers said. On Holy Thursday, Hospital Calderón will open its doors, together with the blood bank, to receive a maximum of 60 donors from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aside from proof of legal residency or citizenship, a donor must also be between the ages of 18 and 60, weigh more than 110 pounds, and not be sick. The blood bank also said that potential donors should plan on having a light breakfast without many fatty or dairy products and to drink plenty of fluids prior. Machismo learned early on by some boys By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Learning to make unwelcome advances to women on the street does not come with adulthood. Young Costa Rican males are well on the way to become would-be mashers by the fifth grade. The uncivilized way some men badger women on the street has become a topic of legislation. A proposed law, No. 20.283, would penalize what are known as piropos or endearing sayings, crude comments, catcalls and most definitely any unwelcome touching. Overlooked in the debates and even the laws has been the origin of this sense of superiority that even makes adolescent boys think they are lady killers. A reporter saw the behavior of a group of male youngsters dressed in school uniforms when they walked by a blonde Midwestern U.S. high schooler in downtown San José. They directed a litany of unwelcome comments to the teen tourist. The experience suggests that legislation is not going to solve the problems women face on the street or on buses. Somewhere in the early years, male children learn that this type of behavior is allowed and perhaps obligatory to show their incipient manhood. Machismo, the exaggerated pride in being male, runs deep in Latin America. Adding to the mix are those women who welcome such advances. As one expat put it: “Being a young man in Costa Rica is like being a king.” Several organizations exist to fight what they consider street harassment, but they seem to focus on adult males. A number of social problems grow from this sense of superiority, including underage pregnancies. Lawmakers have tried to address the problem. Last October, the legislature passed a bill that raises the legal age to contract marriage to 18. Previously, Costa Rica permitted marriage of youngsters 15 and older and allowed consensual sexual relationships at 13. The street harassment bill seems to be stalled in the legislature. The measure actually was proposed by high schoolers, three students at the Colegio Superior de Señoritas in downtown San José, according to the bill summary. Our
reader's opinion
Fund effort at
plastic waste to diesel fuel
Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I loved your article about the effort to create a low cost method for turning plastic waste into diesel fuel. Interested readers should know that they can help Clean Oceans International / EcoFuel Technologies in this important effort by donating to the project’s Go Fund Me page. Every little bit helps! Heidi Allen
Coto Brus / Florida
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, April
6, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 69
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| Canine investigators provide added help to
their human counterparts |
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By Rommel
Téllez
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Aquiles, or Achilles in English, is an experienced detective with over eight years working for the Judicial Investigating Organization. Like his namesake, he is tough and barks rather than speaks. His findings, however, have been key for crime solving. His expertise is in smelling blood traces and spotting human remains. Rayo, his four-legged colleague, has other abilities instead. He is able to detect the fragrance of cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, and marijuana not only on solid surfaces, but also in air. Fergus is also an expert in finding drugs. For him, working with police is not a job but a game. Food, medical care and the chance of playing with a worn out green baseball is what he takes for a paycheck. These are only three out of the 16 dogs that make up part of the Unidad Canina. A unit that bonds them and their human masters in a way that goes way beyond a work or friendship relationship. “It's just chemistry.” said Alejandro Castillo, director of the unit. “Sometimes one feels like having an extra sensorial communication with them. This bond is so strong that our instructors are aware that their emotions will affect the performance of the dogs. If they come to work mad or sad, the dog will absorb that energy.” The unit had its origins back in 1994, when a group of judicial investigators started training dogs on their own for attacking and self defense. The idea was so successful that in 1996, the United States government donated the first dog for drug tracking. This first canine was a labrador retriever named Michiwas White Dance. Costa Rican officers found that name hard to pronounce and just called him Rock, and he was able to find trace of fuel and other accelerants used in cases of arson. Rock arrived to the country in the company of Paul Gallagher, a U.S. Marine from the state of Maine who delivered a one-week training techniques workshop to the first four employees of the department. Not long after, local investigators decided to make Rock a patriarch and got six puppies from him using artificial insemination. Out of the six descendants, only four were able to join the unit. Ever since then the unit hasn't stopped growing, and most of the dogs come from donations by municipalities, other police officers and the United States. Today, nine of them are trained to search for drugs, three are specialized in finding flammable materials, two in human remains. The other two are about 9 months old and are just getting the starter training, said Murillo. To choose the name of the future collaborators, trainers and guides make a gathering, propose the name on a piece of paper, then put it in the bag, shake it and pick out the winning suggestion. The new canine members will be baptized accordingly. The new canine recruits do not become official police officers, but are considered property of the state. If someone hurts one of the dogs, this person will be prosecuted for damaging state property. |
 A.M. Costa Rica
photo/Rommel Téllez
Fergus
catching a scent in the air
during training exercise.
On the other
hand, the property status of the dogs allows
them to smell suspicious substances from afar,
go to a property and sit down where the smell
come from. If they did that under a police
officer status, that could be considered
trespassing and hence, limit the investigative
capabilities of the unit.
“In the history of our department, we have removed 10 dogs off their duties. Sometimes because they are old and some other times because they change their behavior. When they retire we place them for adoption among the employees of Poder Judicial only,” said Murillo. If no trainer has the possibility to shelter the veteran, then the unit publishes an ad in the Poder Judicial intranet system and receives the requests. Each is studied carefully since there are two main requirements: the dog will not spend most of his time alone and it will have enough space to stretch. On average, each time a dog goes into retirement, there is a list of up to 45 people wishing to adopt him or her, according to Murillo. “As any police force we have challenges. In an ideal scenario I should have at least 14 more dogs and trainers, but the government has frozen all permanent new hires. At least we do have full support from Poder Judicial when it comes to budgeting,” Murillo said. About 80 percent of the departments budget is invested in food, veterinarian care and medicine, according to the director, who also emphasizes that it is a perfect investment for the service they provide to not only the police and community, but the well being of the staff. |
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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, Thursday, April
6, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 69
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Our reader's
opinion
The U.S. Embassy
staffers do not directly investigate sex
trafficking
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| Dear
A.M. Costa Rica: This letter is in response to your news analysis published 29 March 2017, “Embassy must prepare a daunting report.” First, please let me thank you for addressing this important issue. It’s great to see more media covering human trafficking issues, and I hope it helps build much-needed awareness around this complex theme. There were several errors in your article, however. There is widespread misunderstanding about the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Person’s report. I’d love the opportunity to explain a few things. The embassy does not actually have investigators. The report is rating whether or not the Costa Rican government is doing more - or less - to combat trafficking in persons compared to the year prior. It is not rating whether the level of trafficking in persons in Costa Rica has worsened or improved. Their intention is to spur the government to do more. So, for instance when you say “agents of the embassy have failed to find one (prostitute) that has been trafficked,” it’s important to note there are no agents reporting anything. Again, they are just collecting information and statistics from the Costa Rican government. I’d also like to point out that those who, as you say, “benefit from the U.S. government’s grants,” aren’t the ones providing these statistics. They are invited to provide anecdotal stories and information. However, it is the metrics of how many victims the government of Costa Rica identifies and provides services for, and the number of arrests and prosecutions – and the prevention programs/public awareness campaigns, etc – that feed the report. The report is public and limited by Congressional writ in what it can say and how it can say it. There is a lot of “reporting” that is done that goes into great detail, including addressing TIP-related offenses (exploitation of minors, pimping, domestic abuse, etc.) This stays in Department channels and is not expounded upon in the generalities of the public (very brief) report. There is also a section on labor, including domestic servants. It’s just not discussed in detail in the public report. Your article mentions you believe the TIP report should acknowledge prostitution is legal in Costa Rica. However that is not a TIP issue. Of course having legal prostitution complicates identifying TIP victims. But when focusing on TIP, the issue is not prostitution itself (legal or illegal), it is whether or not the person engaged in prostitution is doing so of their own free will, or is being forced/coerced to work in the sex trade. I’d like to also point out that there is a sharp distinction drawn between smuggling (illegally moving people across borders for a fee) and trafficking in persons (forcing someone into work, sex work, etc. under duress or through coercion). Trafficking (i.e. smuggling) is not Trafficking in Persons (i.e. modern slavery). The Haitians and Cubans were for the most part something altogether different. That’s migration (with a bit of smuggling) mostly accomplished via issuance by Costa Rica of 25-day transit passes. The government provided shelter, medical services, etc., with the help of international agencies (including the U.S. Embassy who gave them many of the materials to set up the main camp in El Cruce, working with the Red Cross). |
Things are
indeed complicated. For one, Costa Rica does not
accept the complete international definition of
human trafficking. As you can imagine, this is a
huge problem when it comes to reporting. We’re not
comparing apples to apples. I recognize it’s difficult and a bit complicated for Embassy staffers to do a lot of first-person research in downtown San Jose. To begin with, that’s not their job. However they are very much concerned, and they have sent employees out to assist our organization in assessing the situation on the streets. They - like all of us - would like nothing more than to see these problems resolved. I myself am the former Technical Director of Costa Rica’s first safe house for child victims of commercial sexual exploitation (a form of human trafficking), Salvando Corazones. I’m also the Founder and Executive Director of the Asociación Costarricense de Milagros in Costa Rica, and the Casa Milagro Foundation as we are recognized in the United States. We don’t (yet) receive any government funding, nor has anyone asked for our input or statistics. But we can for sure give you a bit of feedback from our own first-person research. For starters, in just the short 18 months that the original safe house operated, we cared for a total of 30 female minors. Of those young girls, 29 of them had been forced into prostitution by their own families. Just one of them was a victim of sex tourism. When I mentioned this to the State Department in a meeting I had with them in Washington, DC last year, they were shocked. For one, they wanted to know why the number of prosecutions were so low (nearly non-existent), if there were so many victims. This, of course, points to other problems in our system. Since 2015, Casa Milagro has been providing basic services to several hundreds of homeless children and adolescents in the streets of San Jose. The number of these youth who have been, or are still, being sex trafficked is astonishing. I can’t really speak with first-hand knowledge of the trafficking of adults, but my understanding from those “in the know” is that this is also a huge problem. It’s also known that we have a terrible situation nationwide with the forced labor of children and adults. What many people are not aware of is that Costa Rica is a big hub for organ trafficking. Some suspect it’s the largest hug internationally. See as an example. Your analysis noted that problems are more severe in other Central American countries. I would agree with that. I feel the biggest difference is that most people are aware the problems are worse elsewhere. Nobody wants to believe these types of problems exist in the land of Pura Vida and “The (former) Happiest Country on Earth.” Therefore, we don’t have the type of international (or national) help that our people need and deserve. Whereas I’d love to see fair, honest and accurate reporting on the part of the Costa Rican government, my biggest desire is that the government would do more to help those at risk, the victims and our survivors. Quite honestly, they leave much of the dirty work to the few of us non-governmental organizations who are trying to help. And even at that, they make things quite difficult to accomplish, by providing year's worth of red tape and bureaucracy. Scott
Pralinsky
Founder & executive director at Casa Milagro |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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Web
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Colorado S.A. 2016 and may not be reproduced
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, April
6, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 69
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Trump
expresses outrage
over Syria chemical attack By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
U.S. officials from President Donald Trump on down have expressed outrage at the apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria, and have suggested that retaliatory action is being considered against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, either by a multinational response or alone. At a joint news conference alongside visiting Jordanian King Abdullah II, Trump on Wednesday said the attack cannot be tolerated. He did not rule out the use of retaliatory force, warning that the use of chemical weapons against civilians had crossed many, many lines beyond a red line for him. While acknowledging that he is in charge in Washington now, Trump laid some of the blame for the chaos in Syria at the feet of his predecessor, Barack Obama, who famously threatened military action in response to a 2013 chemical attack in Syria, but did not follow through. In 2013, however, Trump issued a series of tweets in which he urged then-President Obama not to attack Syria. But when asked Wednesday at a photo opportunity if he had any policy to deal with this new attack, Trump was circumspect. The Jordanian monarch also condemned the attack, calling it another testament to the failure of the international diplomacy to find solutions to this crisis. At the United Nations earlier in the day, U.S. envoy Nikki Haley castigated the international community for its inaction in the face of past atrocities, and seemed to suggest that the United States would act, with or without a multinational response. “When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action,” Ms. Haley warned. “For the sake of the victims, I hope the rest of the council is willing to do the same.” Ms. Haley explicitly criticized Syria’s chief ally, Russia, which has used its veto power on the Security Council to prevent passage of resolutions condemning Syria’s use of chemical weapons. The comments come just days after Ms. Haley said the U.S. is not focused on removing Assad from power. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also spoke to Russia's support of Assad. "There's no doubt in our mind that the Syrian regime under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad is responsible for this horrific attack," Tillerson said. "And we think it's time that the Russians really need to think carefully about their continued support for the Assad regime." Trump removes Bannon from Security Council role By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon has been removed from his role on the National Security Council, in a shakeup that restores the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff as regular attendees to the council’s Principals Committee. The changes were revealed in a national security presidential memorandum published Wednesday in the Federal Register, the daily journal of the U.S. government. The New York Times late Wednesday reported that Bannon resisted the move, even threatening at one point to quit if it went forward, according to a White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. President Donald Trump, in January, issued an executive order giving Bannon, a former executive of a right-wing online opinion and news site, the authority to participate in the committee. There were concerns that Bannon, who led Trump’s election campaign in its final months, would inject domestic policy considerations into national security discussions. He has been a polarizing figure in and out of the West Wing of the White House, calling for the deconstruction of the administrative state and advocating economic nationalism. But many supporters of the president have cheered Trump’s embrace of non-traditional figures in his inner circle as part of his campaign pledge to drain the swamp and structure a radically different administration in the White House. Media reports previously portrayed Bannon as clashing with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who is a former head of the Republican Party’s national committee. News stories on Wednesday attributed Bannon getting his wings clipped due to increased scrutiny of White House senior staff by the president’s son-in-law and former Democrat, Jared Kushner, who has been given a large portfolio ranging from the Middle East peace process to reorganizing the federal government. The Republican chairman of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, John McCain, characterizes Bannon’s ouster as a good move. The senator also is welcoming the president’s decision to restore the director of national intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to the committee. Daniel Coats, a former Republican senator, is the director of national intelligence and Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford chairs the Joint Chiefs of Staff, making him the country’s highest ranking military officer. A Republican congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, calls Bannon’s removal welcome news. It is unclear whether Bannon actually has attended any of the committee’s meetings. President Trump, at the end of his joint news conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah, did not reply to questions shouted about Bannon. Also added to the committee on Wednesday are the Central Intelligence Agency director, the ambassador to the United Nations and the secretary of the Energy Department, which has responsibility for the design, testing and production of all U.S. nuclear weapons. The presidential memo on the NSC also downgrades the role of Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, who had been given authority to convene or chair the Principals Committee. Bossert is now subordinate to the president’s new national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who replaced Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general.  Voice of America photo
Some of 240
Haitians taking shelter in caves.
Scores
of Haitians huddle
in caves long after storms By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
When rain clouds darken the skies over Jeremie, the government seat in Haiti's southwestern peninsula, Roland Despeines retreats to a mountain cave. There, he and scores of other Haitians have taken shelter from storms ever since Oct. 4, when deadly Hurricane Matthew tore up their homes and upended their lives. Despeines is among 240 people whom the Florida-based Food for the Poor discovered huddled in two caves about seven kilometers from the capital last month. The aid group was searching for land to plant food crops, it said in a statement on what it called a humanitarian crisis. It said the cave dwellers included 84 women and 62 children. "Whenever the rain is about to fall, all of us come to stay here," Despeines said. He spotted kerosene lamps and sheets woven from palm fronds. Haiti's new president, Jovenel Moise, and its prime minister, Jack Guy Lafontant, along with local officials, also visited Friday. They promised to deliver food and shelter. The United Nations has reported that at least 70 percent of crops were destroyed in Grand'Anse, the jurisdiction in which Jeremie lies. "The children are crying all the time because they are hungry," Despeines said. “When a vehicle comes to the area, the people run after it," hoping for food, he added. "If a car brings a bag of rice, we cook it right away, and it isn't enough to feed all of us." The Miami Herald recently reported food was so scarce on the peninsula that some Haitians, desperate to ease hunger pangs, were eating poisonous plants. Government workers and aid groups periodically distribute food such as rice and beans. A low-priced government-run restaurant is planned for Fond Rouge D'Ayere, a community near Jeremie, and Moise has ordered plans for new homes. The U.S. Agency for International Development provided emergency supplies such as plastic sheeting after the hurricane, and it partnered with a local organization to hire carpenters for home repairs. A U.N. Development Program flash appeal for $138 million in post-hurricane aid to Haiti indicates it remains short of its goal by at least one-third. Britain seeks new trade deals with empire's former colonies By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
As Britain begins the process of leaving the European Union, it is trying to rekindle old trade links with Commonwealth countries. However, the push for new commerce has sparked a debate on the historical legacy of the British Empire, with accusations that ministers are trying to whitewash atrocities committed during colonial times. British Chancellor Philip Hammond arrived in India for a three-day trip to, in his government's words, "Bang the drum for British business." The quest for new Commonwealth trade links has been dubbed "Empire 2.0." International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, on a trade mission in the Philippines, wrote on Twitter recently that Britain "Is one of the few European countries that does not need to bury its 20th-century past." Indian lawmaker and former U.N. Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor, author of the book Inglorious Empire, has a different assessment of Britain's colonial conduct: "Of which the highlights, but only the highlights, include the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in India which killed defenseless, unarmed women, children and men, the use of chemical weapons in Mesopotamia." Despite that history, Tharoor says India is listening carefully to what Britain has to offer. "The idea that Commonwealth countries represent a possible alternative area for preferential free trade agreements is welcome, provided of course, as in every negotiation, that there is give and take," he said. But Britain must give more if it wants to benefit, Tharoor added. India is critical of tightening visa restrictions on its citizens wanting to work in Britain. Many people working in the $5.6 billion restaurant industry backed Brexit, hoping it would open the door to more migration from Commonwealth countries. Cutting migration was a central pledge of Britain's campaign to leave the European Union, but countries like India want visa restrictions relaxed as part of any trade deal. Indian lawmakers say they are open to rekindling old trade links, but in the 21st century, Britain will no longer dictate terms. Germany threatens media with large hate crime fines By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
Germany has threatened to slap social media companies with huge fines if they do not act quickly enough to remove hate speech from their websites. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday approved a measure that would fine websites like Facebook and Twitter up to $55 million if they do not do enough to censor comments that violate German speech law. Germany outright bans any speech that overtly promotes racism or insults a certain segment of the population. It also, due to its Nazi past, bans public Holocaust denial. The draft legislation would require social media companies to remove any illegal speech within 24 hours of it being flagged by users. Other offensive content would need to be removed within seven days of being reported and reviewed. The German Federation of Journalists blasted the move and said the legislation would make it difficult to reconcile freedom of the press and opinion. German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said the companies are responsible for policing and removing hateful content from their sites and that there is no room for criminal incitement on social media. The massive flow of refugees into Germany over the past two years has fueled a rise in negative online comments, alarming German authorities. In 2015, the social media companies agreed to step up policing of online hate speech, though Maas said they have not done enough. Mass cited research that claims Twitter removes just one percent of the illegal content flagged by users within 24 hours, while Facebook removes 39 percent. Facebook rejected Mass’s data, citing its own data that shows it removes about 65 percent of illegal content within a day. German lawmaker Renate Kuenast called the fines an invitation to not just erase real insults, but to wipe out almost everything for the sake of playing it safe. The bill still needs to be approved by parliament. Ebay founder pledges $100 million to journalism By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar's philanthropy promised $100 million over the next five years to support journalism and fight fake news, the foundation announced Wednesday. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is the first organization to receive funds from the Omidyar Network. This constitutes a three-year grant of up to $4.5 million to expand its investigative reporting. "A lack of government responsiveness and a growing distrust in institutions, especially the media, are eroding trust. Increasingly, facts are being devalued, misinformation spread, accountability ignored, and channels that give citizens a voice withdrawn," Matt Bannick, Omidyar Network Managing Partner, said. Formally announcing the commitment at the Skoll World Forum on social entrepreneurship in Oxford, England, the Omidyar Network has also promised support to the Anti-Defamation League, devoted to fighting anti-Semitism, and the Latin American Alliance for Civic Technology. Established in 2004 by Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, the Omidyar Network supports organizations to foster economic and social change.
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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. 2017 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 |
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San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, April
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Bill seeks overhaul in public works By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
A proposal to fully reform the Costa Rican public works ministry was sent to congress Wednesday by the Frente Amplio lawmaker and presidential candidate Frank Camacho. The bill 20.330 seeks to eliminate all the internal councils that were once created to decentralize the operations of the ministry. If approved, congress would dispose of the: Consejo Técnico de Aviación Civil, Consejo de Seguridad Vial, Consejo Nacional de Vialidad, Consejo Nacional de Concesiones and the Consejo de Transporte Público. The measure, according to Camacho, would help the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes become more efficient. “From its very foundations, these councils became political tools rather than technical departments. They have been taken by powerful groups who try to put their people at the top and seek to outsource all infrastructure projects, weakening our concept of social state and helping some people attain great fortunes,” he said. The congressman also considers that this bill will empower the state's capacity to execute public works instead of using money for very expensive consultants and audits. To achieve this goal, Camacho proposes the creation of a transition committee at the ministry, which will overlook a total reorganization of workers and their duties. All the concessions granted so far will still be legal until their time is up. New concessions will require new processes, the bill says. To support his bill, Camacho mentioned some of the woes the councils have had in the past. For example, he cited the high cost of the San José-Caldera highway, under the surveillance of Consejo Nacional de Concesiones and the inability of Consejo Nacional de Vialidad to provide a long-term solution in the road of the bridge over the Río Virilla, collquially known as the platina. Police arrest seven in Puntarenas theft By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Officers of the Fuerza Pública arrested seven people Tuesday night suspected of robbing a house in the central canton of Puntarenas. The robbery happened in San Rafael de Puntarenas. According to reports from the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, the seven suspects are alleged to have attempted an escape in a getaway car. Police discovered a safe, two firearms, cell phones, jewelry, tools and clothes, officials said. A report states that officers pursued the vehicle after it fled the alleged crime. After a several minute chase, the seven were captured. Police seize 410 kilograms of cocaine By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Police authorities arrested four Costa Rican nationals Wednesday off the coast near Mata Palo for violating drug trafficking laws. The individuals were caught attempting to smuggle 410 kilograms, or 904 pounds, of cocaine, the security ministry said. The four people were traveling in a fishing boat where the cocaine was stashed in a double liner, according to a report. They were around 110 nautical miles off of Mata Palo in Puntarenas province, police said. Three of the captured had no prior criminal record. |
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| From Page 7: Biodigestors means
agriculture sustainability
By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Water consumption and agricultural production are the ongoing themes for the Inter-American Institute’s Cooperación de la Agricultura's series of forums lasting through December. The initiative is sponsored by the institute in conjunction with the Red de Biodigestores para Latino América y el Caribe specifically focused on sustainable management within the agricultural sector using what is called a biodigestor. In its simplest form, this container is used to deposit organic matter with a specific kind of dilutive liquid and water. With that combination, the mixture then ferments and produces methane gas, also called biogas, as well as a liquid residue used as a nitrogen-rich fertilizer. According to estimates from the Centro Internacional de Energías Renovables, energy consumption will increase by nearly 35 percent. That then increases water consumption by 85 percent, said Rafael González, the director of technological development at the center. González was the opening speaker for the first round of these forums on March 22. The forums highlighted the technological innovation of a biodigestor being used as both a fuel and an environmentally sustainable way to aid the agricultural sector in Latin America. With Costa Rica, it could lead to further sustainability in its economy as agricultural products constitute a substantial amount of its global trade exports. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, a website run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Costa Rica’s export value of foodstuffs as well as fruits and vegetables in 2015 was estimated at $4.6 billion. That accounts for almost 38 percent of the total export value in 2015 for the country. The U.S. imports of Costa Rican agricultural products totaled $1.5 billion of that amount, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. In return, the U.S. exported $669 million of agricultural goods to Costa Rica of a total $6.1 billion in 2015, according to that organization. |
