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Second news page |
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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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Go home HERE! |
Undersea tuna ranch raises local concerns By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The idea seems to be a weird one: Catch a bunch of young yellow fin tuna. Put them in an underwater feedlot and harvest them as the consumer demands. That's the plan of Granjas Atuneras de Golfito S.A. And protests are starting to build over the location in Golfo Dulce in Costa Rica's southern Pacific coast. The size of the project is staggering. The tuna firm wants to construct underwater holding cages 7.4 kms. (4.6 miles) long and 2.1 kms. (1.3 miles) wide. The cages would be down 22 meters into the water, some 70 feet. The tuna farm would be about a kilometer (six-tenths of a mile) off the coast. The Programa Restauración de Tortugas Marinas came out with questions about the project Wednesday and said that the board of directors of the Instituto Costarricense de Pesca y Acuicultura was going to vote Friday and whether it would back the project. The turtle organization said that the project had not been discussed enough and that local fishermen think that the undersea project will affect their own harvests. The company plans to purchase young yellow fin tuna from local fishermen. Concerns also have been raised over the wastes generated by the caged fish and particles of the sardines they will be fed. However, an agency of the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía already has approved the plan. The turtle organization is involved because it has operated a conservation project in the area for 10 years. Honduras and El Salvador ratify boundary accord By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The presidents of Honduras and El Salvador have formally put an end to a boundary dispute dating back to a short, but bloody conflict between their countries in 1969 that left thousands dead. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and his Salvadoran counterpart, Elias Antonio Saca, met Tuesday at the tiny border town of El Poy to ratify their 375-km. (233-mile) border. A representative from the Organization of American States, along with diplomats, also attended the ceremony along the border. The border had been in dispute since the brief conflict, which grew in part out of Honduran resentment of Salvadoran migrants. Although a peace accord was later signed in 1980, the case went before the International Court of Justice, which in 1992 set out a boundary giving Honduras 69 percent of the disputed territory in the border area. With Tuesday's development, both leaders say they plan joint infrastructure projects including a hydroelectric dam. Large pot haul uncovered By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Publica officers and coast guardsmen uncovered two tons of marijuana in the Reserva Cur de Paquera in Punta Blanca on the east shore of the Nicoya Peninsula. A park ranger at the private reserve made the initial discovery. The marijuana was in 1,212 packs placed in 49 bags, police said. |
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on our real estate page HERE! |
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Third news page |
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| San José,
Costa Rica, Thursday, April 20, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 78 |
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| U.S. asks China about its intentions in Latin America |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
China is building stronger ties with Latin America, in part to satisfy its need for raw materials to fuel industrial growth, and in part to strengthen its worldwide diplomatic reach. This has drawn the attention of the United States, which last week dispatched its top diplomat for Latin American affairs to Beijing. Analysts say the visit by Thomas Shannon, the assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, highlighted Washington's concerns that China is increasing its influence in a region where the U.S. has traditionally been dominant. Shannon met for two days in Beijing with Chinese officials in what he said were the United States' first consultations with China on Latin America. He said the Chinese gave him assurances that their intentions remain more economic and less political. Shannon said the Chinese acknowledged that their growing relationship with Latin America has a military component. "They told us, a kind of primary thrust of their engagement with the region [and] their engagement in the region is economic and is focused on trade and investment," said Shannon. The commander of U.S. forces in Latin America, Gen. Bantz Craddock, last month told U.S. senators that China's military presence in the region is — in his words — "widespread and growing every day." He said China is sending increasing numbers of personnel for training, as well as what he described as more non-lethal equipment to the region. Craddock said more Latin American nations have turned to China for military training because of a U.S. law that bans sending American military training personnel to countries that are signatories to the new International Criminal Court. That includes Brazil and at least 10 others in Latin America. The Bush administration wants U.S. troops excluded from the court's jurisdiction. Political science Professor June Teufel Dreyer, a China scholar at the University of Miami in the U.S., says China has made its political intentions clear for a long time, and says Beijing's reaching into Latin America fits well with its plan. "The Chinese government has been worried since the fall of the Soviet Union that the world has become uni-polar. They have been saying for well over a decade now that what they would like is to see the emergence of a multi-polar world," said Dreyer. "So, |
as they establish these
political and economic ties with Latin American
countries, this helps China in its goal of establishing a multi-polar
world." It has been relatively easy for China to build close ties with nations with leftist governments — Cuba, Venezuela and more recently Bolivia. Their leaders have ideological reasons to embrace China, which they see as a symbol of remaining Communist influence the world. But for Latin American countries with freer economies, such as Chile, the reason for wanting closer relations with China is trade. In November, China signed a free trade agreement with Chile, Beijing's first with a Latin American country, and discussions are under way with others. Latin America is rich in the natural resources China needs to fuel its economic growth. The region's exports range from seafood to timber to oil and metals. China's trade with Latin America has doubled since 2000, to $50 billion a year. Although the figure is much smaller than the $800 billion that the U.S. does in business with Latin America each year, it is growing rapidly. Beijing aims to raise the figure to $100 billion by 2010. In the case of Mexico, which has a closely interlocked relationship with the United States, there has been resistance to China from some in the manufacturing sector, which is threatened by cheaper Chinese labor costs. However, many Mexican exporters are starting to look for expanded ties with China. At a ceremony in Beijing marking Mexico's biggest ever cultural exposition in China, Mexican Ambassador Sergio Ley says Mexican exporters are looking to expand beyond their traditional U.S. markets. He says China is a natural choice. "Simply put, it is the fact that China last year imported $700 billion worth of foreign goods, making it a major buyer. Then, our businesses are looking for niches in this great, great market that is China," said Ley. "We want to take advantage of the opportunities and if Mexican exporters could capture at least a little piece of those 700 billion dollars, we would be very happy." Ley says there is another reason that exporters in his country, who have traditionally depended on the U.S. market, now look to diversify. He says businesses need to protect themselves from fluctuations in the U.S. economy, which have historically reverberated south of the U.S. border. |
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Fourth news page |
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| San José,
Costa Rica, Thursday, April 20, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 78 |
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| Canadian convicted in strange case of Paquera fraud |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A Canadian who promised residents of Paquera vast sums for development now stands convicted of fraud. Also convicted is his associate and two members of the Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de Paquera. The decision came Wednesday afternoon in the Tribunal de Juicio de Puntarenas. The Canadian is Francesco Pecora, who came to Paquera on the Nicoya Peninsula in late 2003. He promised the development association $57.8 million in gold to construct a new port, an airport, a hospital, hotels, a university and casinos and other public service projects, according to a summary by the press office of the Poder Judicial. Testimony said that he also wanted the interest payments on the generous loans paid up front. Later it became clear that he did not have substantial sums of money. |
The decision by the
three-judge panel Wednesday is subject to appeal and review by the Sala
III high criminal court. The judges gave Pecora eight years and a similar term to Ileana Romero Bermúdez, his associate. The trial heard 22 witnesses. They said that Pecora gained control of the books and checkbooks of the association. The development association paid him 5.1 million colons (about $12,000) in commissions or interest and 164,540 colons ($411) for food and lodging. Pecora approached the development association when it was in financial difficulties, particularly with operating the ferry service that links the peninsula to Puntarenas. Albin Jiménez Jiménez and Hernán Sánchez Araya of the development association each got five years in prison. The trial was held in February. Both Pecora and his associate were in presentence detention. |
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It's 1928
all over again Students of the Taller Nacional de Teatro model 20s garb as part of their presentation at the inauguration of the restored facade of the Teatro Popular Melico Salazar Wednesday night. The theater was built in 1927 and 1928, remodeled in 1960 and suffered a devastating fire in 1967. It reopened as a government building in 1981. Actors are María Jesús Castillo, Wilbert Carvajal, Andrea Monge, Marielos Rocha and Lucía Vasquéz. |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Saray
Ramírez Vindas
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| Training on commercial sexual exploitation draws Italian
expert |
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By Saray Ramírez Vindas
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Some 80 persons turned out Wednesday to address the problem of commercial sexual exploitation. The keynoter was Italian expert Vincenzo Castelli, and the seminar was presented by the Asociación Construyendo Esperanzas or building hope. In addition to attendees from various private and public agencies, officials of the Dirección de Investigación Especializada also attended what amounted to training. This is the unit in the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública that has been arresting fugitives from sex crime convictions. The association believes in an integrated treatment program for minor, drug victims and those being exploited sexually. The group promotes improving the state and quality of health and reinsertion to society. The director of the specialized investigation unit, |
 A.M. Costa Rica/Saray
Ramírez Vindas
Paul Chávez, head of a special investigative unit,
explains the role of his ministry. Paul Chávez Cambronero, said the training strengthens the professional formation of agents in his charge. Also at the session was Rosalía Gil, executive president of the Patronato Nacional de Infancia, the government child welfare agency. |
| Second man dies from head wound received in Guadalupe ambush |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A 19-year-old man died early Wednesday, the second victim of what appears to have been an ambush in Purral de Guadalupe. The shooting took place about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday when three men approached a vehicle in which three other men were riding. The men on foot pulled guns and fired into the car. |
Dead at the scene
was Rodolfo Auxilio Araya Mora, 42, who suffered a
chest wound. Marco Andrés Chacón Quesada, the
19-year-old, suffered a
head wound and went to Hospital Calderón Guardia where he died
Wednesday. A third man in the car escaped harm, according to agents for the Judicial Investigating Organization. |
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