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A.M.
Costa Rica
Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
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Published Monday, April 17, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 75
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, April
17, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 75
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Dear A.M. Costa Rica readers: Today I assume the position of editor emeritus. That basically means I can drop by the A.M. Costa Rica offices occasionally and get a free cup of coffee. And I can bore the hard working folks there with tales of journalistic triumphs past. This is not exactly retirement, because I want to keep an eye on my family’s investment. But I am happy to report that the day-to-day oversight of the A.M. Costa Rica and its associated newspaper titles will be done by Gabriela Vega Barrantes, the general manager. Ms. Vega joined the company as an advertising
The impact of the news and advertising directed to the expat market has unified to some extent the foreigners here. Some have made vast sums of money based on A.M. Costa Rica advertising. Others have managed to avoid those many pitfalls that living here creates. Through the years, staffers have tried to prevent scammers from using the newspaper as an advertising vehicle. Throughout these nearly 16 years editors and reporters have tried to fight for equal treatment for expats and help those who are victims of the pitfalls. Many of the latter efforts never see publication. Through aggressive reporting A.M. Costa Rica takes credit for saving an innocent Canadian man, Roger Crouse, in Playas del Coco from over-eager prosecutors who sought to convict him of murder. That was in 2002, and there have been hundreds of large and small cases of assistance since. Most recently, staffers were able to track down the missing Costa Rican father of a U.S. woman. The man returned to Costa Rica and died several years ago without the U.S. family receiving any notification. Perhaps the longest-running news story was that of Luis Enrique Villalobos, the operator of a high-interest money scheme based at Mall San Pedro. This newspaper estimated that Villalobos had nearly $1 billion of creditor money on his books when he shut down his operation in late 2002 and vanished. He still is missing, although his brother, Oswaldo, did some time. The curious thing is that some victims still expect him to return and pay them off. A.M. Costa Rica reporters and editors got death threats and plenty of nasty letters because they did not glorify Villalobos as an honest businessman victimized by a greedy government. The newspaper still gets emails asking about Villalobos. His betrayal heavily damaged the expat community. Life seems to repeat itself because there appears to be financial operations in the market now that are offering unusually high interest rates just the way Villalobos did. Would-be borrowers are urged to confirm that those to whom they loan money are registered with the Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras or similar government regulators. The newspaper and its staffers only faced one criminal court action for slander. A businessman sought by investigators here left for Panamá and then filed a defamation claim long-distance via a power of attorney claiming that a raid by the Judicial Investigating Organization never took place. He wanted a court to force the newspaper to remove the story from its data base because it was affecting his new business in Panamá. The newspaper's corporation fought the case, and the claim died when the man’s lawyer failed to show up at a trial. The newspaper continues to get and reject occasional requests to alter history and remove embarrassing articles. The future remains bright for A.M. Costa Rica and A.M. Newspapers because Costa Rica still is a top choice for vacation and retirement. And our readership remains solid. Readers recognize that our staffers actually are in contact with officials and other newsmakers instead of just copying stories of questionable validity from the Spanish-language press. The new administration is expected to continue the policy that brought dozens of young First-World newspeople to work for months and even a year or more to learn about a different culture and Costa Rica specifically. For many, the time here changed their lives. They are now major market news staffers, lawyers, foreign correspondents in some of the world’s trouble spots and in many other positions where their Latin American knowledge can enlarge their world view. Particularly happy with my change in status is my wife, Sharon, who would like to spend some time with grandchildren in the United States. She managed to achieve the title long-suffering wife, bestowed upon her by our business partner, Saray Ramírez Vindas, who is now happily married and in Switzerland. The three of us continue to be owners of the newspaper corporation. Golden, who becomes news editor, is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and graduated with a bachelor’s in journalism and political science by Ohio Wesleyan University as a member of the class of 2016. He has had eight years of formal education in the Spanish language. Currently living in San José, he said his hopes for the future would include maintaining the standards of journalistic integrity as much as independence that, he believes, A.M. Costa Rica prides itself upon in its reputation and actions. Personally, some of his goals would be to continue in honing skills both as a writer and a forever-curious-but-always-suspicious journalist, he said. Ms. Vega joined A.M. Costa Rica in 2010 after an international career in financial management and investments. She quickly applied her administrative and creative skills to benefit hundreds of advertisers and eventually was named advertising director, heading a staff of four. She has been tenacious in getting the best possible deal for her advertising customers within the bounds of company policy. As general manager, she assumes full control of the newspaper's administration and said she is planning beneficial changes in the future. "A.M. Costa Rica has always defended the truth, has been an independent media without any economic interest behind the news, has never received any donations from any of the political parties and has never been manipulated by corruption," she said. "The newspaper has always had total respect for the dignity of the readers and the people who are part of the news." Jay Brodell
editor emeritus A.M. Newspapers
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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 Ro Colorado S.A 2017 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, April
17, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 75
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| Anti-zoo activists plan to join global
protests beginning April 30 |
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By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Anti-zoo activists here plan a protest April 30 against the Simón Bolívar zoo in north San José. The 10 a.m. protest in Parque Central will be one of a number of similar events around Latin America and in Spain. The Simon Bolivar Parque Zoologico y Jardin Botanico Nacional is operated on contract by the Fundación Pro Zoological. The organization has been the target of protests since 2013 by those who want the zoo closed because they do not like the idea of animals living in cages. A recent victory for the protesters was the relocation of the African lion Kivú to a more spacious compound in Santa Ana. However, the lion went downhill and died shortly after the relocation from the Barrio Amón site. Protests also are planned for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Spain, México and Perú on that weekend. |
 Photo via
YouTube
Protesters
call the Simón Bolívar zoo a 99-year-old prison
during a recent protest.
Some of the protesters espouse an anti-capitalistic point of view, saying they oppose the domestication and merchandising of the animals. |
| Prison police union calls government to
live up to salary increases |
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By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The labor union representing the prison police is calling upon the government to uphold its promises regarding an expected salary increase or face the threat of mass demonstrations. The Unión Nacional Trabajadoras y Trabajadores said that today at 10 a.m., the first group of the Policías Penitenciarios, mostly from the nearby prisons at San Sebastián and Vilma Curling, are going to demonstrate at the headquarters of the Ministerio de Justicia y Paz. The protest stems from a measure approved last December by the budgetary authority that increased the salaries of the prison guards. The new salary, according to the union, would represent an increase by about 7.6 percent. The union claims that the administration has been making the payment under the consideration that each individual worker has only produced a single year of income rather than the base salary defined by law. Essentially, that means the payment has been made irregularly, union officials said. |
This corresponds with a graver concern
for some officers of the prison police: salary
cuts that occurred during the first half of April,
the union said. The reduction is said to be up to
about 100,000 colons. Trabajadores also mentioned that, when the first payment of the new salary was assessed, there were 56 workers who slipped through the system’s accounts and did not receive any pay at all back in December. “It is worth saying that the administration, through the human resources director of the Ministerio de Justicia y Paz Geovanni Morales Sánchez, as always, does not give the face and much less explanations of what happened,” said a union statement. The protest is calling for Morales to return to the officers in question the balance of the salary reduced on April 1. The next demand is for the ministry to adjust the base salary corresponding with the new standard promised by the government. “Otherwise, in the coming weeks, we will call for a generalized demonstration of police throughout the Sistema Penitenciario,” the union’s statement concludes. |
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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's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, April
17, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 75
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| Humpback whales tracked to see breeding
habits in tropical waters |
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By the
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
press staff Whales from both poles migrate long distances to breed in tropical waters. Smithsonian scientist Hector Guzman and Fernando Félix at the Salinas Whale Museum in Ecuador, tagged 47 humpbacks with satellite transmitters to understand how the humpbacks Southeastern Pacific population moves within breeding areas. “Our work fills an informational void: we’ve known these whales move between feeding areas and breeding areas, but we hadn’t characterized their movements, and we couldn’t exactly pinpoint the range of the breeding area,” said Guzman, marine ecologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panamá. “Now we know that individuals move between countries within the breeding season and that their entire breeding area extends approximately 2,600 kilometers of non-straight coastline from Costa Rica to Peru.” For years, scientists have identified individual humpback whales, or Megaptera novaeangliae, based on their unique fluke and dorsal fin patterns. In this study funded by the institute, Panamá’s national office of science and technology, the Candeo Fund at the International Community Foundation and the Whale Museum, 25 whales were satellite tagged in Panamá and 22 in Ecuador between 2009 and 2015 according to methods approved by the Smithsonian’s Animal Care and Use Committee. On average, tags transmitted for about two weeks, although one tag lasted for 69 days during which a mother whale swam nearly 6,000 kilometers. Information from the 37 tags that transmitted for at least 1 day revealed the movements of 23 mothers accompanied by newborn calves and 14 unsexed animals. “Thanks to new spatial models that were used to evaluate the movement of the whales, we could differentiate behaviors and gauge the speed of the whales during their reproductive and migratory periods,” Félix said. Part of the Southeast Pacific humpback whale population breeds in Panamá’s Las Perlas Archipelago and in the Gulf of Guayaquil in Ecuador. The roughly 60,000 square kilometers of home range of the group in Panama was about twice the size of the home range of the group breeding in Ecuador, about 26,000 square kilometers, which means whales are not randomly distributed but show site fidelity. Whales tended to spend time in short-range movement, alternating with long-range, faster, directed movement. Mothers spent more time closer to shore than other tagged, unsexed individuals. Both types of whales swam into deeper waters mainly during migration. Mothers in Panamanian waters spent much more time in long-range movements than did mothers in Ecuadorian waters, perhaps because they were shifting from a nursing phase to a migratory phase. Guzman and Félix suggest that the overlap between breeding individuals exhibiting short- range movements and non-breeding individuals exhibiting long-range movements at the same sites creates confusion about how many animals are breeding at a given time. |
 Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute photo
Some humpback
whales got tagged to observe movements.
This is especially true in Ecuador because individuals breeding in Colombia, Panamá and Costa Rica pass through on North- South migrations. Humpback whales were once hunted nearly to extinction. Since the 1966 hunting moratorium, populations rebounded to more than 80,000 humpback whales in the world. But as human populations grow, the number of oil and gas terminals, offshore platforms, new ports and marinas is on the rise and coastal pollution, and traditional activities such as fishing and maritime traffic are intensifying. “Our breeding range analyses provided the first-ever insight at such a fine scale on the distribution of humpbacks and the coastal space they use for breeding and migration, particularly for mother/calf pairs,” Felix said. “We hope our density-distribution maps are carefully considered by the oil industry and governments planning seismic exploration in coastal areas along the North-South breeding axis of this species from Costa Rica to Peru,” said Guzman. “Strong scientific evidence suggests that cetaceans behavior can be affected by this activity several kilometers from the exploration area.” “By satellite tagging these animals we can better predict the impact of human activities on populations that are recovering by about 6 to 10 percent each year,” Guzman said. “There are more whales to take care of now, and there’s still a striking absence of policy governing the location of human activities, especially with increasing coastal maritime traffic overlapping migratory routes and oil exploration.” In a second study off the coast of Chile, Guzman and Juan Capella from Whalesound followed a group of seven out of 25 whales tagged in the Magellan Strait to see if tagging affected their behavior or health during a period of several years. Tagging did not seem to affect whale behavior or their health or reproduction. Indeed, a female returned to the feeding area twice with new calves three and six years after tagging. Several individuals had small scars or lumps near the tag site, but they completely healed within two years. This study provides evidence to assist decisions by taking animal welfare into consideration. |
| Semana
Santa finds rescues, arrests and effigies burned
over holiday |
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By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The statistics are in for this year’s Semana Santa from the Cruz Roja and Ministerio de Seguridad Pública. The Cruz Roja helped over 379 people during this past week. With a total of 1,400 workers, the Cruz Roja doubled the number of first responders on duty from Holy Thursday to this past Sunday, the organization said. Of those 379 persons helped by the group, around 28 of them were foreigners. Some of the types of incidents that required assistance from Cruz Roja were: water accidents, traffic accidents, poisonings, falls, assaults and other medical cases. The rumblings this past week from the Poás volcano have also caused an influx of preventive measures by the organization. "The auxiliary commission was reinforced in Poás, and other commissions such as Alajuela, Naranjo, Sarchí, Turrúcares, La Guácima and Santa Ana remain on alert,” said Edgardo Acosta, the national director for risk management and emergency care for Cruz Roja. “These are commissions that will be vigilant and monitor the situation with the volcano, but even more important, they carry out prevention work with the population.” Meanwhile, the police seized a plethora of weapons and drugs for this year’s Semana Santa. According to the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, police confiscated some 24 knives and 23 firearms as well as 2,719 doses of crack and 15,028 grams of marijuana, among other drugs. The Fuerza Pública also reported around 1,330 arrests were made as of this past Saturday. The police also needed to break up a few Quemas de Judas sessions in various areas. Judas Iscariot is the apostle who sold out Jesus Christ to the tribunal that led to the crucifixion. He has been reviled ever since as one of the worst of traitors and now sometimes comes in the garb of the Devil in various burning ceremonies all over Latin America. The Costa Rica observance is basically just rowdy young men who burn trash. Some do take the time to do what is done in other countries, which is to create a figure of Judas for burning. |
 Ministerio de
Seguridad Pública photo
Even the kids
are getting in on the Quemas de Judas.
In some other countries this is a tourism attraction with various elaborate effigies hung and then burned. Here the practice is more of an annoyance for the local police and sometimes motorists. The evening burnings can get out of hand. Police often try to confiscate the Judas dummy before they are ignited. In some areas, police stage the ceremony to keep the event secure. Apparently the controversial tradition caused another round this year of blocking streets, burning tires and other materials as well as throwing stones at both people and cars passing through. Some of those vehicles included police cars and motorcycles, the ministry said. A total of 21 people were apprehended by police in relation to these activities, while 120 were equally investigated within the provinces of San José, Heredia and Alajuela. The Guardacostas said it had seven different rescue incidences with three of them being at Playa Flamingo. The Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea said it also made four search and rescue flights with all happening near the north and central Pacific coasts. |
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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. 2016 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's Fifth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Monday, April
17, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 75
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Human
rights group accuses
Cuba of human trafficking By the Human
Rights Foundation press staff
The Human Rights Foundation and Cuba Archive have submitted an urgent report on the immense scale of human trafficking in Cuba to Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the U.N. special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children. The report was sent earlier today to coincide with Ms. Giammarinaro’s scheduled meeting with Cuban authorities to determine the progress made and the challenges Cuba faces in addressing trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation. The report, authored by Cuba Archive Executive Director Maria Werlau and former U.S. Ambassador-At-Large for Combating Trafficking in Persons Mark Lagon, documents several human trafficking schemes conducted by the government of Cuba and states: “Cuba’s human trafficking business has been growing exponentially in the last decade and includes export services of temporary workers, forced migration, forced labor and sex trafficking, and export sales of human blood and body parts. Cuba as a country, in fact, derives its main source of revenues from the first two.” Ms. Giammarinaro’s visit to Cuba, which is the first by an independent expert of the U.N. Human Rights Council in ten years, has been trumpeted by the Castro government. According to the Cuban Foreign Ministry, the U.N. representative will carry out activities that will allow her to confirm the commitment of the Caribbean island to the fulfillment of its international obligations towards this global problem. The foundation submitted the report to ensure that the special rapporteur obtains an accurate picture of the scale and gravity of human trafficking in Cuba. “Contrary to fighting human trafficking, the Cuban government is likely one of the largest and most profitable traffickers in the world,” the report states. “What makes the Cuban case unique — and astounding — is that human trafficking is an operation run by the government through numerous state enterprises and often with accomplices, participants, sponsors, and promoters all over the world.” Employers want to fill jobs, and advocates seek justice By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
You may have noticed: Much of the recent anti-immigration rhetoric in Washington most loudly comes from factions on the political right: H1B, H2B, it’s all about protecting American jobs. But every step of the way, progressive groups, while pro-immigrant, are just as critical of foreign worker visas. Federal regulations on the books, they argue, are inherently insufficient to protect visa holders from abuse, whether through unwarranted recruitment fees, misrepresentation of job requirements, fraud or intimidation. The issue plagues potential recruits, but also well-meaning businesses that can’t find enough Americans willing to take seasonal jobs. In Cape Cod, Massachusetts and other areas of the country whose economic models are centered on five-to-six-month tourist seasons, the work of H2B visa-holders becomes essential to business owners. Tyler Hayes, vice president of Cape Cod Restaurants, says he is fortunate that his seasonal foreign workforce, mainly from Jamaica, has created a family atmosphere during his 20-year tenure with the company. But while Hayes can only point to the well-being of his own workforce, he acknowledges that at least in recent years, abuse of workers has not been inconceivable. In response, the U.S. Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security cracked down on abuse within the H2B system in 2015, both in order to prevent the exploitation of workers and to ensure U.S. workers’ awareness of available jobs. Elizabeth Mauldin, policy director at Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc., calls those protections basic, including the right to receive a contract before entering the U.S. and protection from being charged a recruitment fee. But many aspects of those existing regulations, she argues, are difficult to ensure, absent greater transparency in the recruitment process. “It’s impossible to enforce a ban on charging workers fees,” said Ms. Mauldin. “When workers are charged fees upfront, they are vulnerable to the same type of economic coercion across the board.” As a result, she notes, foreign workers become susceptible to wage theft and other abuses, regardless of their visa category. A 2013 report issued by the center, whose findings were based on a survey and in-depth interviews with hundreds of H2B workers, found that 58 percent of respondents reported paying illegal recruitment fees, while 10 percent reported recruitment fraud having paid a fee for a nonexistent job. While there are mechanisms in place for foreign workers to report abuse, Ms. Mauldin argues that the disincentives are often too great. Jane Nichols Bishop, founder and president of Peak Season Workforce, a family-run company that helps Cape Cod-area businesses secure H2B visas, says the mechanisms in place to prevent exploitation, including audits by the Department of Labor, have largely worked. But in cases where they do not, she says it’s in everyone’s interest that the infractions are reported. “If there are abuses, we would like to see them caught,” Ms. Nichols said. “They give everyone who does this and who works at this very successfully a very bad name.” Despite ongoing reports of abuse nationwide, there is some hope for affected foreigners outside of federal regulations, thanks to the internet. A bilingual workers’ rights initiative, which Ms. Mauldin calls the Yelp for migrant workers, allows workers to review recruiters and share their experiences, and create a self-empowering community in the process. Federal judge orders halt to executions in Arkansas By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
A federal judge Saturday blocked Arkansas' plan to execute six inmates over the course of ten days. The State had initially planned to execute eight inmates over eleven days just two weeks before its supply of midazolam, a lethal injection drug, is set to expire. But another judge granted stays to two of the inmates. Nine death row prisoners brought the case to the state, arguing that midazolam could expose them to severe pain. Federal District Judge Kristine Baker in Little Rock also stated in her ruling that the execution team did not have antidotes on hand in case something went wrong with the executions, which is a possibility, she noted, which has already happened in cases in Alabama, Arizona, Ohio, and Oklahoma when using the same drug. The Arkansas attorney general's office said the decision strayed from previous rulings by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. "It is unfortunate that a U.S. district judge has chosen to side with the convicted prisoners in one of their many last-minute attempts to delay justice," Jude Deere, an office spokesman, said. The state of Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005 due to drug shortages and legal challenges. North Korea defies warnings with failed missile launch By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
North Korea conducted a failed missile test Sunday in defiance of increased U.S. warnings that there would be serious consequences for such provocative actions, including a possible military response. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was briefed on the failed launch and had been in touch with President Donald Trump, White House aides said. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis released a statement following the missile test saying, “The president and his military team are aware of North Korea’s most recent unsuccessful missile launch. The president has no further comment.” Sunday’s attempted missile launch was reportedly not an intercontinental ballistic missile that Trump warned would not be allowed to happen, because it would move North Korea closer to acquiring a long-range nuclear ballistic missile capability that could directly threaten U.S. national security. The failed test occurred as a U.S. naval strike force moves into the region in a show of force, and amid increasingly tough warnings from the Trump administration that the U.S. is prepared to take increased measures against North Korea that include possible military action. On Saturday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a massive military parade that prominently displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles. The parade was part of a celebration of the April 15 birthday of its founding leader, the late Kim Il Sung, the country’s most important holiday known as the Day of the Sun. North Korea, however, did not go through with a nuclear test Saturday that many expected, based on reports of recent activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site indicating a test was imminent. Vice President Pence and his wife Karen arrived in Seoul Sunday to begin a 10-day trip to Asia. After placing a wreath at the Seoul National Cemetery, he joined U.S. and South Korean troops for Easter Sunday church services and a dinner. At the fellowship dinner, Pence said North Korea's provocation is a reminder of the risks U.S. and South Korean service members face every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of South Korea and the defense of America in this part of the world. On Monday Pence will meet with acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-ahn to reinforce the U.S. commitment to its ally in the face of rising tensions over the North’s weapons programs, according to his aides. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Sunday saying, “North Korea showing a variety of offensive missiles at yesterday’s military parade and daring to fire a ballistic missile today is a show of force that threatens the whole world.” The leaders Pence is to meet with in Seoul, however, will soon be out of office; South Korea is in the middle of a presidential campaign because of the recent impeachment of conservative President Park Geun-hye. Ms. Park was forced from office for her alleged involvement in a multimillion dollar corruption and bribery scandal. She currently sits in prison as prosecutors pursue a possible criminal indictment. The presidential election is scheduled for May 9. In a recent presidential debate, all the top party candidates, representing both liberal and conservative views, spoke out against the U.S. taking unilateral military action against North Korea. And the two leading candidates, Moon Jae-in with the Democratic Party and Ahn Cheol-soo with the People’s Party, both support direct dialogue with North Korea to reduce tensions, positions that may put them in opposition to U.S. policy. Sunday’s failed missile test occurred near the naval base in Sinpo where North Korea is reportedly developing a sea-based nuclear deterrent. Pyongyang launched a ballistic missile from the same region earlier this month ahead of a summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where they discussed the North Korean nuclear threat. U.S. officials said that missile appeared to be a liquid-fueled, extended-range Scud missile that flew about 60 km, only a fraction of its range, before spinning out of control. Turks approve referendum on executive power increase By the A.M.
Costa Rica wire services
Turkey's ruling party has claimed victory in a referendum granting broad new powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, authorities announced late Sunday. With 99 percent of the ballots counted, official Turkish media placed the yes vote at more than 51 percent, and the no vote at just under 49 percent. The head of Turkey's electoral board later confirmed those results and said official tallies would be released within the next 12 days. Erdogan told cheering supporters outside his official residence in Istanbul that the yes camp had secured 25 million votes, 1.3 million more than those cast by opponents of the sweeping changes. He also said the referendum had ended Turkey's decades-long history of military intervention in government. "For the first time in the history of the republic, we are changing our ruling system through civil politics," he said in a brief address. The yes vote means the Turkish parliament will be largely sidelined. The prime minister and Cabinet will be abolished, and ministers will be directly appointed by the president and accountable to him. The president also will set the budget. The constitutional amendments also end the official neutrality of the president, allowing him to lead a political party. The president will have the power to dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency, while enjoying enhanced powers to appoint judges to the high court and constitutional court. The referendum has divided the nation, with both supporters and opponents arguing that the future of the country is at stake.“I voted no,” said one man in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, where voting was brisk earlier Sunday. “There is no such constitution in the world like the one they present to us. It is not republic, it is not democracy, it is nothing. All the power is united in one person. Let's assume this president is a good person, but what about the next one? Anyone can use this power in a very bad way.” The Istanbul Kadikoy district is a traditional stronghold of opponents of Erdogan, who has been in the forefront of campaigning for the change. “I voted for our future. I don't want a one-man regime,” another woman said. “Whether it is functioning well or not, we at least have a separate legislative, judiciary and executive powers. I want this system to continue. Erdogan insists the reforms will create a fast and efficient system of governance that will allow Turkey to face the challenges of fighting terror and the slowing economy. Erdogan cast his vote late in the morning amid heavy security, including police snipers on surrounding buildings in Istanbul’s Uskudar district. Speaking to reporters, he said he expected a high turnout in support of the referendum. "I believe that our people will decide for a faster development and even a leap forward. I believe that my people will walk toward the future by making their decision,” he said. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party and leader of the No campaign, stressed the importance of the vote in remarks to supporters and TV cameramen. “We are voting for Turkey’s destiny,” he declared. Critics argue the constitutional reforms would usher in an elected dictatorship. “A one-man regime,” is how Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, described the proposed changes at a rally Saturday in the capital, Ankara, saying the country was in danger. “We are putting 80 million on a bus with no brakes," he added. The referendum campaign has added to the deep polarization already plaguing Turkey. Concerns have been expressed that division could spill over into violence after the result. Ahead of the vote, both Erdogan and Kılıçdaroğlu called on their supporters to respect the result and their opponents.
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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, Monday, April
17, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 75
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Try not to sneak up
on your snakes When I was a kid, I learned to Indian walk, putting the balls of my feet and my toes down first instead of doing the usual walking heel first. You were less likely to snap a twig or bump into a rock. Indian walking, I was told, was quieter and let you get closer to wildlife. Well, it seemed to work, and
I don’t know about you, but I want snakes to get out of the way. Take this morning when I was out in the shade garden. I was using my walking stick so there was really vibration from three legs not two, and a small snake got out of the way, slithering quickly across my path and into the brush. It got out of my way so quickly that I’m not sure what it was, but from the coloring on its back, I don’t think it was one of the poisonous varieties that inhabit the property. In fact, it could have been one of the snake-eating-snakes, and I want those to stay around. There are a number of snake-eating-snakes in Costa Rica, so you really should know what they look like and leave them alone because they will even eat terciopelos (the Bothrops asper), one of our most dangerous snakes also known as the fer-de-lance. There are other reasons to leave snakes in the garden alone, of course, especially if you don’t know your terciopelo from your racer, because even a bite from a non-poisonous snake hurts and can become infected. All that being said, do I stay away from snakes in the garden? No I do not. Take this snake this morning. If I hadn’t been encumbered with gardening tools, I would have probably made a grab for it. I caught a lovely salmon-bellied racer that way during the rainy season. I am not quite as brave as my gardener, who has brought us several hog-nosed pit vipers and a couple of baby terciopelos. Since we lack accommodations for poisonous snakes, we call our friend Ray, a herpetologist, who takes them home, takes pictures, and releases them far away from us. When it comes to poisonous snakes, we are very glad for a friend like Ray.
Plant for the Week
There are a number of plants associated with the
season of Lent and Easter usually because the flower
emerges and blooms before the leaves present
themselves. One is resurrection turmeric, which has
a lovely inflorescence 8-10 days before leaves
appear. Once the annual cycle is over, the entire
plant disappears, so don’t forget where you planted
the original. This one popped up quite unexpectedly.If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit HERE! |
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| From Page 7: U.S. retail sales hit worst two-month stretch By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services Retail sales had their worst two-month stretch in more than two years in February and March, according to U.S. government data released Friday. The U.S. Census Bureau said overall retail sales declined two-tenths of a percent in March, driven by lower fuel prices and lower auto profits. The National Retail Federation said the delayed issuance of government tax refunds also contributed to weaker spending. Weaker than expected sales receipts in March and February may also reflect changes taking place in the retail landscape. Business Insider called the changes a retail apocalypse that has led to a wave of bankruptcies and store closures. About 3,500 stores across the United States are expected to close in coming months, including some from major chains Macy's, Sears and Kmart. But instead of a retail apocalypse, the federation’s chief economist Jack Kleinhenz says it's part of the natural evolution of the retail industry. "Other industries have gone through transformations," he said. "Look at the banking industry. We had twice as many banks 10 to 15 years ago as we do today. There are consolidations that go on. It's a natural phenomenon in a market economy." The phenomenon is driven by new technology and demographic shifts that have changed the way people shop. Kleinhenz said millennials, those who reached adulthood at the turn of the century, are a good example of how buying habits have changed. Others describe the changes as a perfect storm that has upended the retail landscape. Murali Gokki, managing director of the retail division of business consulting firm AlixPartners, said one of the bigger changes in the last decade has been the rise of e-commerce, and the even more rapid ascent of m-commerce, or the ability to buy almost anything from mobile devices such as smartphones. "Mobile commerce was marginal back in 2012. Now it accounts for almost 20 percent or more of online purchases," Gokki said. But while online retail companies like Amazon have been among the big beneficiaries, Sarah Spagnolo at FourSquare, a mobile analytics and social networking company, said e-commerce represents a small slice of the retail pie. "That's a topic that gets lost in the conversation around the growth of e-commerce. Ninety percent of foot traffic happens in the real world [of brick-and-mortar stores], and that should be an area that people pay a lot of attention to." Retail experts predict more brick-and-mortar stores will close in the United States in coming years, partly because of the overabundance of retail space. The U.S. has the world's largest ratio of retail space per capita with 23.5 square feet of shopping space per person. Compare that with second-place Canada with 16.4 square feet per person and third-place Australia with 11.1 square feet per person. The federation’s outlook for 2017 calls for retail sales to increase by 3.7 percent to 4.2 percent. "Consumers are actually having one of the best times, in terms of access and buying power," AlixPartner's Gokki said. "It's the retailers that are hurting right now." |
