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A.M. Costa Rica third newspage
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, April 13, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 73

Administration seeks more time for preventative detention

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The first vice president disclosed Thursday that the Arias administration would seek to lengthen the term of preventative detention from one to two years and extend the deadline for prosecution of complex cases to 10 years.

The proposals are significant for expats because foreigners nearly always are placed in preventative detention when they are a crime suspect. Garden-variety criminals who are Costa Rican frequently are allowed to sign in with prosecutors every 15 days and otherwise lead a normal life.

The proposals were outlined by Laura Chinchilla during a meeting with court officials. She said that the executive branch would send the appropriate legislation to lawmakers soon.

She was speaking for the so-called Comisión de Alto Nivel de Seguridad that was empaneled after a politician's home was invaded March 21 by gunmen in Rohrmoser. A maid and a neighbor were murdered.

The proposals are new, but the commission also is expected

to support ideas that originally came from Fernando Berrocal, the security minister, that would allow the use of wiretapping in organized crime cases. Vice President Chinchilla said that the commission's proposals were the result of some four months of discussion by police representatives and employees of the Ministerio de Justicia y Gracia. She also serves as minister of Justicia.

One major criticism of Costa Rican justice is the extensive delays. The new proposals would not seem to reduce such delays. a number of expats have spent up to a year in preventative detention only to have their case dropped by an overworked prosecutor at the end of that time. With a suspect in prison and no deadline imposed by the law, a prosecutor does not have a reason to expedite the case.

Vice President Chinchilla was at the unveiling of a consolidated data base for criminal records. This new system unifies records from a number of places, including the traditional mug book with photos of criminals.

Investigators will be able to use the data base to check up on the history of suspects, to obtain their fingerprints and to let victims see their photos.

Law protecting women from men sails through assembly

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A law that is designed to protect women from domestic violence sailed through the Asamblea Legislativa Thursday, 45-3, in the second and final vote.

Minority lawmakers failed in their effort to gather enough signatures to refer the measure to the Sala IV constitutional court again for an opinion.

The law sets a 20- to 30-year prison sentence for anyone t orders. There also is possibility for more preventative detention time for men accused of domestic violence.

who kill a women with whom he has maintained an intimate relationship, registered or not.

The law also provides jail terms of from six months to two years for a man who insults, devalues or ridicules in public or private a woman with whom he has had a relationship.

That is the same penalty that is set for a man who beats up or otherwise injured physically a woman with whom he has had a relationship.The law, which still needs to be signed by President Óscar Arias Sánchez, also penalizes those who violate no-contact orders issued by a judge.

Too much of a good thing is, well, just too much

There comes a time when even advocates of what they consider a good thing have had enough of that good thing (with the exception of some diehard Bush admirers.) I have come to that realization about the CAJA hospitals. And I have a feeling that the feeling is mutual.

Monday afternoon I was downtown on my way to the bank and then to my dentist in Guadalupe. When walking to the bus stop, I had to face the fact that the vertigo and difficulty breathing I was having, was more than I could handle, so I waved a taxi and told him to take me to Hospital Calderon Guardia emergency. As he drove past the patients’ entrance, I was about to live up to my role as No. 1 Backseat Driver and tell him to stop, but decided for once to wait and see. He drove me in the ambulance entrance, bless him, because I immediately, upon explaining my problem was put in a wheelchair, had my membership card taken and found myself already past reception. Sometimes taxistas know better.

After that it was a long wait with some tests in between. The man next to me told me he had been there since 8 o’clock the night before. I had arrived at 2:30 in the afternoon. A little later I took out my new little cell phone to call a friend and ask her to call my dentist. Some time later I tried to call her again to say I would probably be there a long time. I got the message that my phone was out of service. Fortunately, it was a printed, not a voice message.

At 11 p.m. I was handed some prescriptions and told I could leave, after passing the receptionist’s window first. There was a long line waiting for the reception window to open. From time to time (like at the Bogota, Colombia, airport and some bank lines in my first years here) I have speculated about the usefulness of having learned to fall down as if in a faint. Now I was hanging on to the rail along the wall and sinking to my knees as the world darkened, all without acting.

I said to the man in front of me, “Please tell them I need help.” And sank further. Before I hit bottom someone caught me and put me in a wheelchair. My next conscious view was of about five people simultaneously undressing and dressing me. But I was having such nice technicolor dreams that I lost interest. When I did decide to pay attention (after a nice nap), I found myself back in a Calderón Guardia hospital ward, a very small observation one this time.

Living in Costa Rica

. . .Where the living is good

By Jo Stuart
jostuart@amcostarica.com

The next morning I was also cold turkey deprived of my hot morning cappuccino, my TV news that I watch while I drink it, my computer that keeps me in touch with my friends, and the two wonderful views from my apartment. One is of the mountains of Heredia and the other of trees of Sabana Park and the mountains beyond. (This view is going to be partially obliterated by the two high rises that are going to turn my neighborhood into a Central Park look-alike. I hope we get a museum of natural sciences, too.

Three days of mind boggling weak café con leche (this is Costa Rica, after all), overly sweet rice water, and the beeping of the TV monitors, no matter how musical, just don’t cut it.

The bathroom/shower room is coed. Only one of the toilets has a seat. The three seatless oones are, of course, more convenient for the men. I walked in yesterday morning just as a man walked past the free seatless one to the one with the seat. “Of course,” I thought. After he left, I checked the stall. Sure enough, the seat was wet. I didn’t know if he left looking clueless or with a wicked smile of satisfaction.

So, when I was told a bit later that I could leave, my own smile of relief had my neighbors congratulating me. This time I was handed a fistful of medications (some for the low electrolyte state, which seemed to be my problem) and some slips for more doctors’ appointments. I was also told that if I had the same symptoms again to go immediately to an emergency. They will accept me immediately, they said, and they have my records. They certainly do.

At home I notice that I still have my identification bracelet on. Should I really bother to cut it off?

Jo’s book, “Butterfly in the City: A Good Life in Costa Rica,” is available at the 7th Street Book Store, Lehmann’s and Liberia Internacional. Or contact Jostuart@amcostarica.com.

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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, April 13, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 73

Canada joins effort to fight illegal trafficking in wildlife

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

Canada is the newest member of an international cooperative effort to end the illegal capture of and trade in wildlife, U.S and Canadian officials announced Thursday.

Canada is joining the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking, an initiative whose members include the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Australia and 14 conservation and industry organizations. They seeks to focus attention and resources on ending the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products.

Claudia McMurray, U.S. assistant Secretary of State for oceans, environment and science, and John Baird, Canadian minister of the Environment, made the announcement during an event at Washington’s National Zoo.

Ms. McMurray said the United States is looking forward “to this new stage in U.S.-Canadian environmental cooperation. With Canada as a member of the coalition against wildlife trafficking, we will build on the coalition’s work to halt the loss of biodiversity by curbing both the supply and demand for wildlife and wildlife products. Like so many of our other joint efforts, we believe that with the

U.S. and Canada working together we can make a real difference in this battle.”

“Wildlife trafficking is undermining wildlife protection and driving many species on our planet to the brink of extinction,” Baird said. He also underscored the need for international cooperation to address the problem. To be successful, Baird said, “we cannot act alone. We need worldwide cooperation if we are to safeguard certain species from extinction.”

Wildlife trafficking generates an estimated $10 billion in black market revenue each year, according to the State Department, and its profitability is beginning to rival that of drug trafficking and arms dealing. It also is becoming attractive to organized crime. Law enforcement authorities are finding with increasing frequency that criminal elements engaged in the illegal capture of or trade in wildlife also are involved in narcotics and arms trafficking.

In addition, public health is threatened by wildlife trafficking because animals smuggled across national borders can carry with them communicable diseases and the risk of infecting humans or domestic animals in transit or destination countries, said the Sate Department.

No breakthroughs are made at world trade talks in India

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Ministers from six key economies failed to clinch a world trade liberalization deal Thursday, but, after a meeting in New Delhi, have proposed a new deadline to complete the negotiations.

With six trade ministers from major economic powers in one room there was anticipation of a breakthrough for stalled talks on liberalizing global commerce.

When they emerged late Thursday to face reporters in a New Delhi hotel, Brazil's foreign minister Celso Amorim announced no breakthrough, but some progress.

"No breakthrough reached in New Delhi — that's probably the headline tomorrow," he said. "[But] I do believe that we had, well, if not exactly a breakthrough, a big step ahead in terms of process."

The ministers from Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India, Japan and the United States announced that they agreed to try by the end of the year to conclude the so-called Doha round of 150-member World Trade Organization talks.

U.S. trade representative Susan Schwab says top trade officials now have a sense of urgency that hopefully can be translated into action.

"Unfortunately the history of the Doha Round up to this point has been the setting of artificial deadlines and the failure to meet those deadlines," she said.

The United States has resisted making deeper cuts to subsidies for American farmers. That has prompted the Europeans to hold firm on protecting their farmers.

On the other hand, the U.S. and European Union want countries such as Brazil and India to further open their booming domestic markets to manufactured goods and agricultural imports.

Australia's trade minister, Warren Truss, says Washington and Brussels should not be expected to make all the concessions.

"We can't expect the Americans or the Europeans to do it all. India will have to do something. Australia will have to do something," said Truss. "The world will have to develop a spirit of compromise to achieve something that is very important."

In another sign of the distance still to be traveled, India's commerce and industries minister Kamal Nath told reporters his country will not compromise the interests of millions of its subsistence farmers.

U.S. President George Bush has special powers to negotiate a trade deal. But those so-called "fast track" powers expire June 30 unless Congress extends them.

Some negotiators say an international agreement is needed before then in order to encourage U.S. lawmakers to extend the president's authority, which would allow him to present the Congress with a trade pact for a straight up or down vote.

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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, April 13, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 73

Colombia bows out of World Cup race leaving Brazil alone

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Colombia has withdrawn from the race to host football's World Cup in 2014. A Colombian Football Federation spokesman said a letter had been sent to football's world governing body informing it of the decision.

The bid had been controversial within Colombia, with many criticizing the amount of money it would take to stage a World Cup, especially having to build new stadiums.

Colombia's decision to drop out of the running paves the way for Brazil to host football's biggest tournament. But Brazilian Football Confederation President Ricardo Teixeria

says there is still work to be done for the Federation Internationale de Football Association to give Brazil the right to host the 2014 World Cup. The host will be selected in November.

Even though it is South America's turn under the rotation system, Sepp Blatter, Federation Internationale de Football Association president, has already said the tournament could go elsewhere if an unsuitable bid is presented.

Security is a major worry in Brazil, and the nation is also facing an air traffic control crisis that has caused widespread delays over the last few months. The only year Brazil has hosted the World Cup was 1950.

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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, April 13, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 73