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A.M.
Costa Rica
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Published
Wednesday,
May 3, 2017,
Vol. 17, No.
87
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Published Wednesday, May
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17, No. 87
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Suspects detained for
stealing from police
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Three suspects were detained by police on suspicion that they are responsible for stealing at least 14 firearms from a police delegation in Jicaral. According to a statement from the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, a man went to the local police station around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning asking for help. While the desk officer on duty was distracted, others came in to the delegation where they confiscated the officer’s firearm and beat him, officials said. The ministry was quick to note that the other police officers on duty were on patrol in Jicaral at the time of the incident. The Fuerza Pública captured two of the suspects in a white Toyota Yaris after an alleged witness described the vehicle and another gray car. The other vehicle was apparently discovered today in Pilas de Canjel, police said. The location is being watched by police, while a search warrant remains pending. The third suspect that police are monitoring has a prior history of aggravated robbery and even murder, police said. The stolen firearms, however, have still not been located, according to a police report. Mayors agree to regional waste agreement By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Five mayors in the Zona Sur region of Costa Rica agreed last Friday to form an inter-municipal company responsible for taking out the trash in the region. This represents a first step in the process, however, as the agreement needs to be approved by the municipality councils, according to a statement from the Instituto de Fomento y Asesoría Municipal. The mayors for the cantons of Buenos Aires, Coto Brus, Osa, Golfito and Corredores signed the agreement, known as the “Acuerdo de Cuenca.” The institute praised the agreement as being a necessary solution for what is considered by them to be a regional problem. The agreement proposes the implementation of an inter-municipal company that will be provided with a dumping area for the final disposal of solid waste, according to the institute. The proposals come threefold in order to achieve this end goal. First, the agreement devises a temporary solution for the construction of an emergency landfill at the Osa landfill site currently in operation. For this to work, the institute must be prepared to finance the costs of the project and Osa’s municipal council must approve the measure. The idea is for this emergency measure to be operational by October and capable of receiving the waste from the other cantons with an operating life of two years, the institute said. The next measure would be to establish the framework for the Empresa Intermunicipal de Servicios Públicos del Pacífico Sur and how it will get its resources and money. The last measure would be to establish a landfill site that includes all the necessary infrastructure required of its scale and operation by the public company. There is a great social and environmental sensitivity in our cantons, people love and respect nature and would like to keep it that way, so for this project to be successful in environmental matters,” said Alberto Cole, the mayor for the Osa canton. “We must have a lot of organization and solidity in a type of company that will answer the needs of the south.” The meeting between representatives of the institute and the five cantonal mayors occurred in Ecuador. Participants are examining the Ecuadorian-based company Empresa Municipal de Aseo de Cuenca as a model for its Costa Rican comparative. Our reader's opinion
Response to
libertarian ideology story
In your May 2 edition there was a single paragraph in the otherwise well done article, "Libertarian group offers alternative ideology in Costa Rican politics", that caused me to stop and swear softly. "The libertarians in Costa Rica often face very strong opposition to much of their proposed legislation due to the massive spending, as much as the aforementioned tax cuts, that would occur should the party obtain the reins of power" As written, it states that libertarian policy is for "massive spending" and implies other (enlightened?) parties oppose that. That is the complete opposite of libertarian policy. Libertarian policies consistently adhere to the principle that we should enact the minimum amount of government possible at the lowest possible cost that allows individuals the maximum opportunity to make purely personal decisions in their own best interest. This of course is what the parties in power oppose; an empowered citizen, free from excessive government restraint. Where we agree with the entrenched parties is that some form of tax will be necessary to sustain the legitimate functions of the State. Libertarians want that burden to be transparent to the citizens and oppose the current methods, which are to hide those costs in debased currency, hidden taxes, systemic inefficiencies, and abuse of powers delegated to them. The opponents of libertarian policies are those who believe in "massive spending" on more government involvement in more of your activities every day. Chuck Dumas
La Central, Naranjito
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Published Wednesday, May
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17, No. 87
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| National
symphony orchestra to be conducted by Tica for first
time |
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By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
A concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional is a fairly regular occurrence as far as events go in Costa Rica. The difference with this ensemble is that, beginning Friday evening, the orchestra will be conducted by a Costa Rican woman. This represents the first time in the 76-year history of the orchestra that a Tica will be leading the music for the ensemble, according to the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud. The concert begins Friday at 8 p.m. in the Teatro Nacional with an encore occurring Sunday at 10:30 a.m., organizers said. 36-year old Gabriela Mora Fallas will be the conductor for the evening. Ms. Mora currently is the director for the Orquesta Sinfónica de Cartago, the Orquesta Sinfónica Intermedia and the Banda Avanzada for the Instituto Nacional de la Música. For me it's not only an honor, it's a beautiful opportunity to work with the orchestra and do my work to another level, since an official season concert is much more serious in all its surroundings,” Ms. Mora said. Mora studied at the Instituto Nacional de la Música and later at Universidad de Costa Rica. She later earned her master’s degree in management at the Conservatory of Boston in the United States, the cultural ministry said. The program for this weekend’s show includes Igor Stravinsky’s “The Consecration of Spring” as well as the “Tombeau de Couperin” by Frenchman Maurice Ravel. |
The orchestra said that there will be 20 extra musicians adding more flutes, oboes, clarinets, French horns, trumpets and a tuba. That brings the total up to over 90 musicians for the concert. Among the guest performers will be Polish guitarist Marcin Dylla. Organizers said that Dylla has performed in recitals within the major cities of the United States as well as having regular performances in Europe. Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the theater or its website, the cultural ministry said. Prices are based on seating and will be anywhere between 4,000 and 18,000 colons with half prices for students. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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Published Wednesday, May
3, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 87
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| Global bleaching database could aid future
testing of coral health |
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By the University of
British Columbia press staff
A University of British Columbia-led research team has developed a new global coral bleaching database that could help scientists predict future bleaching events. Until now, knowledge of the geographic extent of mass coral bleaching has been incomplete. “We know that mass coral bleaching is happening all over the world, but the majority of events are in places in the developing world where the capacity for monitoring them is limited,” said Simon Donner, associate professor in the department of geography and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the university. “But no report doesn’t mean bleaching didn’t happen. It could be that the monitoring resources are not available or the reefs are too remote to visit.” To build the database, the researchers scoured academic journals, government documents and other sources for reports of coral bleaching missing from an existing voluntary database commonly used by scientists. Then, they personally contacted local experts in places where they suspected coral bleaching had occurred. So far, their database contains 79 percent more reports than the voluntary database. The researchers also found two-thirds of the new reports show moderate or severe bleaching. Using the data, Donner and his team also created global maps showing areas where coral bleaching likely occurred between 1985 and 2010, despite the lack of previous reports. The database will help scientists more accurately assess changes in the frequency of mass coral bleaching. It will also help predict future bleaching from ocean temperatures and allow scientists to test whether coral reefs are adjusting to rising ocean temperatures. |
 Wikipedia photo
Example of what
bleached coral looks like.
“If oceans continue
warming at the current rate for the rest of the
century, it’s likely that we won’t have many corals
left,” said Donner.
“About a quarter of the ocean’s biodiversity exists on coral reefs. People depend on them for food, income and protection from rising seas.” A loss of the world’s coral reefs from climate change would be disastrous for people in the tropics and Donner encourages everyone to contribute to the open-source database. “You don’t even have to be a scientist,” he said. “To anyone who is a diver, your citizen-scientist engagement can be valuable for us trying to understand what’s happening to coral reefs around the planet.” The study, published this month in the journal “PLOS ONE,” was co-authored by Gregory J.M. Rickbeil and Scott F. Heron. |
Here's reasonable
medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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Published Wednesday, May
3, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 87
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to improve customer service By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
U.S. lawmakers have put the nation's airlines on notice: improve customer service or we will make you. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing for top airline executives to testify and to determine how Congress might respond after a passenger was violently dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight. “Seize this opportunity,” committee Chairman Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican, told United CEO Oscar Munoz and other airline executives at a hearing. Otherwise, we're going to act and you're not going to like it, he said, predicting a one-size-fits-all solution that may serve some airlines but not all. Munoz apologized repeatedly for the removal of David Dao, 69, who last month refused to give up his seat to make room for airline employees. The video of airport police dragging Dao from his seat went viral. “In that moment for our customers and our company we failed, and so as CEO, at the end of the day, that is on me,” Munoz said. “This has to be a turning point.” Executives from American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines also joined Munoz and United President Scott Kirby at the hearing. American Airlines experienced its own public relations fiasco last month when a passenger video went viral, showing a woman on a plane in tears holding a child in her arms and another at her side after an encounter with a flight attendant over a baby stroller. United and other airlines have announced policy changes regarding overbooked flights. Airlines have said they routinely overbook flights because a small percentage of passengers do not show up. Health experts baffled about mysterious illness By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
Global health experts are striving to identify a mysterious illness in Liberia that has already killed 12 people. Officials with the World Health Organization in Monrovia have already ruled out Ebola, yellow fever and a regional virus called Lassa. They have sent samples to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further tests. The illness causes fever, vomiting, diarrhea and headaches. At least 21 cases have been confirmed so far and nearly all of the victims had attended the funeral of a religious leader last month in Sinoe County. The health experts are looking for a link between the victims and food and drinks they may have consumed at the funeral. Study says aspirin may aid the breast cancer battle By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
Low-dose aspirin might help fend off breast cancer, according to a new study. Researchers at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center noted an overall 16 percent reduction in breast-cancer risk among the 57,000 women who took an 81-milligram dose of aspirin three or more times a week. The most striking finding, according to researchers, was the effect the aspirin had on the most common form of breast cancer, known as estrogen or progesterone receptor positive HER2-negative breast cancer. The risk of developing that subtype was reduced by 20 percent. The participants, part of the California Teachers Study that began in 1995, filled out questionnaires that included their exercise, smoking and drinking habits, family history of cancer and medications they took, including hormone replacement therapy. By 2013, almost 1,500 women reported having developed invasive breast cancer. The reduction in breast cancer risk in the City of Hope study was seen in comparison to the results of other large studies investigating the possible benefits of higher-dose aspirin and other painkillers. The study's findings were published online in the journal Breast Cancer Research. Investigators did not see a breast-cancer risk reduction among women who took regular-strength aspirin or other types of painkillers. They said that may be because some women only took the aspirin occasionally, for pain relief. Low-dose aspirin taken regularly has been linked to other health benefits, including reductions in the risk of heart disease and colon cancer. Investigators in the latest study only found an association, not a causal link, between the use of baby aspirin and a reduced risk of breast cancer. Researchers noted aspirin reduces inflammation, which plays a role in the initiation of disease. They also said the painkiller is a mild aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase inhibitors reduce the amount of the female hormone estrogen circulating in the bloodstream, which fuels breast tumors, so they are used to treat some forms of breast cancer in post-menopausal women. At this point, researchers are not recommending that women start taking low-dose aspirin to protect themselves against breast cancer. They said more research is needed showing a definite link between baby aspirin and cancer prevention. Putin denies involvement in U.S. election interference By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Tuesday that Russia interfered in last year's U.S. presidential election, saying such allegations are simply rumors that are being leveraged for political reasons in the United States. Putin's denial came at a joint news conference in Sochi, Russia, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the two leaders met amid increasingly strained relations over the war in Syria, and Russia's annexation of the Crimea region in neighboring Ukraine. Putin's remarks are at odds with findings from U.S. intelligence agencies that have reported Russia was responsible for the hacking of Democratic Party email accounts, which were intended to benefit Republican Donald Trump and harm his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. In response to a reporter's question, Ms. Merkel said she was not fearful about the threat of Russian interference during this year's German elections and would respond to inaccurate information with facts. "I am not an anxious person. I will fight the election on the basis of my convictions," she said, adding that Germans would handle decisively any disinformation campaigns. Before the meeting at the Black Sea resort in Sochi, Putin said the talks were an opportunity to discuss Ukraine and Syria, although Merkel signaled no major breakthroughs were expected. The two leaders last met in Germany in October 2016 in an attempt to revive the stalled peace process in eastern Ukraine. Although a peace agreement mediated by Germany and France in 2015 has helped reduce the fighting, violence has continued. Ms. Merkel and Putin strongly disagreed Tuesday on the cause of the Ukrainian conflict. But both confirmed their support for the peace agreement. On Syria, Germany has been firmly opposed to Russia's support for President Bashar al-Assad. Ms. Merkel has suggested that Russia was partly responsible for atrocities resulting from airstrikes carried out by Russian forces in civilian areas. Putin on Tuesday called for strengthening Syria's fragile truce. Russian-led peace negotiations involving Syrian rebels and government officials are set to begin Wednesday in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana. Also during the meeting, Ms. Merkel asked Putin to help ensure the rights of gays in Chechnya, one day after Russian police arrested gay rights activists. During a May Day parade Monday in St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, Russian police arrested about 20 protesters, including the leader of an organization that is helping gay men escape from Chechnya, where they are reportedly subject to torture and other types of abuse. Tuesday's trip to Russia was Ms. Merkel's first for a bilateral meeting there since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014, which precipitated the most intense confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. The Eagles are suing a hotel for alleged false advertising By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
The surviving members of the legendary rock band The Eagles, are suing a Mexican hotel that calls itself Hotel California, which is also the title of what is likely the band’s most famous song. The suit was filed Monday against the 11-room hotel in Baja California Sur, saying the hotel owners actively encourage the notion that the hotel is somehow associated with the band. Allegedly one way the owners do this was through playing the song and other Eagles hits over the hotel’s sound system. The hotel also sold merchandise such as T-shirts calling itself legendary. The suit, which was filed in Los Angeles, also claimed the hotel owners tried to register the Hotel California name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. "Defendants lead U.S. consumers to believe that the Todos Santos Hotel is associated with the Eagles and, among other things, served as the inspiration for the lyrics in Hotel California, which is false," according to the complaint. The hotel opened in 1950 and was called Hotel California, but had gone by the name Todos Santos until being purchased by a Canadian couple in 2001 who changed the name back to Hotel California. Hotel California appeared on the 1976 album of the same name and took home a Grammy for album of the year. Don Felder, Glenn Frey and Don Henley wrote the song, which is known for winding guitars and oblique lyrics. Frey died in 2016 at age 67. According to Henley, the song is about a journey from innocence to experience. It's not really about California; it's about America, he said in an interview with CBS News last year. Islamic State regrouping in parts of Iraq, officials say By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
A car bombing in east Mosul is confirming fears of some analysts that the offensive against the Islamic State is dealing the terror group military defeats but not necessarily political setbacks. More than 190 days since U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces launched their campaign to oust the Islamic State fighters from Mosul, the militants remain in parts of the western half of the city. And last month the group detonated a car bomb in the Zuhur district of east Mosul that left four dead and 14 wounded. Zuhur was meant to have been cleared of Sunni militants back in January when Baghdad declared eastern Mosul fully liberated, but the bombing demonstrated that active Islamic State cells are still operating there, despite strenuous efforts by Iraqi security personnel to unearth them. Out but not down is how Kyle Orton, an analyst with the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank, describes the terror group’s strategic position. Zuhur is part of a pattern of attacks that suggests the Mosul operation itself was rushed and more importantly that IS is already recovering in liberated areas, he warned in a study for the think tank. He cautions that the group’s loss of territory should not be seen as the sole measure of how this war is going. U.S. and Iraqi officials estimate that Islamic State now controls just seven percent of the country, down from a high of 40 percent. Islamic State hopes to emulate its precursor jihadist organizations, which were able to weather the military defeats inflicted on them by U.S. forces during the 2007 to 2008 Surge. The group is exploiting its strategic depth in remote territory both in west and east Iraq such as the Euphrates River Valley bordering Syria, the Jalam desert east of Samarra and in the Hamrin mountains. The purpose is to launch hit-and-run attacks like an April 23 ambush on a government military convey near the western Iraq town of Rutba that left 10 Iraqi soldiers dead. Islamic State has regrouped in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. The militants still control half the province. Recently, Iraqi commanders announced they are considering an assault on the town, which is overwhelmingly Sunni Arab, using Shi’ite militias. That would continue, argues Orton, one of the worst aspects of the campaign against Islamic State, namely the use of demographically inappropriate forces to cleanse local areas that has meant the group’s military losses are not political losses. When it comes to Mosul, Baghdad has managed to prevent Shi’ite militias from entering the city, allowing the offensive inside to be conducted by regular Iraqi security forces. Even so, most Iraqi soldiers are Shi’ite, which doesn’t help Baghdad with its hearts-and-minds campaign for the long-term loyalty of local Sunnis. Thanks to the terror group’s brutal handling of civilians the Shi’ite influx into Mosul has not turned Sunnis en masse against the security forces. But rising civilian casualties in west Mosul from coalition airstrikes is starting to anger local Sunnis. Operation pace starts to wear on the U.S. Special Forces By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
A continuous, heavy reliance on the most elite U.S. forces is threatening to erode what many officials now see as an increasingly indispensable set of military capabilities. Already on the front lines in the battle against terror groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaida, U.S. special forces are increasingly being called upon to help combat a growing variety of threats from state and non-state actors at a pace that Pentagon officials fear may not be sustainable. "We've been operating at such a high op-tempo for the last decade-plus," Theresa Whelan, acting assistant defense secretary for special operations and low-intensity conflict, told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. "We've mortgaged the future in order to facilitate current operations. Approximately 8,000 U.S. special operations forces are currently deployed to more than 80 countries, according to U.S. Special Operations Command. That figure includes high-profile missions in Syria and Iraq, where about 600 special operations forces have been working with local partners to help defeat Islamic State. Special operations forces have also been playing a key role in Afghanistan, where just last week two Army Rangers were killed in a large raid with Afghan counterparts that is thought to have killed the leader of Islamic State in that country. Additionally, the operations command has been given new responsibilities, taking the lead in coordinating military actions against terrorist organizations and also maintaining the Defense Department's efforts to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction. But Gen. Raymond Thomas, commander for Special Operations, and Ms. Whelan cautioned that the additional responsibilities combined with a larger role on the ground, in many areas, have led to increased strain, especially in a tight budget environment. In some cases, support staff has taken a hit, Ms. Whelan said. Officials also worry about the lack of certainty when it comes to funding. Nearly 30 percent of the command’s money comes from the Overseas Contingency Operations budget, meant to help fund current military operations. But the vast majority of that money pays for long-term functions or capabilities. The renewed concerns about special operations funding came the same day President Donald Trump touted a $20 billion military spending increase, included in a bill expected to be approved by the House of Representatives this week. Still, the impact when it comes to stabilizing the command’s funding is unclear, as the military spending increase includes billions of dollars for special forces. But even if funding is stabilized, there remain deep and long-standing concerns about trying to do too much with not enough, possibly pushing special operations force troops past their breaking point.
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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Published Wednesday, May
3, 2017, Vol.
17, No. 87
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 Ministerio de Justicia
y Paz photo
These screens show
bracelet-wearers being tracked.
Justice
ministry gives tracking update
By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The justice ministry provided an update on how the new electronic surveillance system is working on parolees in the Costa Rican criminal justice system. The surveillance system is really a fancy word for the ankle bracelets placed on the individuals so as to better monitor their movements along with the GPS system tracking them. According to the Ministerio de Justicia y Paz, 144 men and 27 women are obliged to wear an electronic ankle bracelet as the result of a judicial order. The Unidad Especializada de Atención a Personas Sujetas al Uso de Mecanismos Electrónicos is responsible for enforcing these court orders since the system became active back in Feb. 27. Since the system was activated, the justice ministry has caught nearly 14 users for tampering with the device, mainly by cutting it. Of those 14 cases, seven have been required to wear a new one. Meanwhile, others are required to have a landline telephone and still some were immediately recaptured and processed into the system. Ankle bracelets are a normal form of parole and monitoring device pending someone’s day in court in countries such as the United States. In Costa Rica, these bracelets are often given to persons on a form of conditional release, under house arrest and for those accused of domestic violence to ensure compliance with a court order. Those situations represent the few instances where the Ley de Mecanismos Electrónicos de Seguimiento en Materia Penal can be applied. This law is mainly based on the individual ruling of a judge in court rather than a one-size-fits-all policy. Puntarenas police join in on the fun By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Police officers joined in on the fun in Puntarenas throughout the weekend. The Fuerza Pública shared in the celebrations of the municipality’s own version of a smokeless, drug-free event along the paseo de los turistas, according to the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública. Masquerades, inflatable play areas, dances, parades and rock climbing walls were among the activities enjoyed by parents and kids alike. The strategy by the police force is similar to the U.S. Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, known by its acronym DARE. Police used the opportunity to give information out to parents as well, according to the ministry. “All parents and children were pleased and pleased to have these spaces that allowed them to have fun and exercise, and receive advice from the officers,” a statement from the ministry proudly proclaimed. |
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| From page 7: Evading taxes with Airbnb may mean charges By Rommel Téllez of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Foreigners making an income based in Costa Rica through the Airbnb platform and skipping taxes may be subject to a fiscal evasion accusation in their country of origin through the Ministerio de Hacienda. According to Fernando Rodríguez, the vice-minister of revenue, Costa Rica has signed several international agreements that require the country to alert foreign authorities of their citizenry’s income gains in Costa Rican soil. This measure will be specially enforced for those people who are renting property and not reporting their income for tax purposes, said Rodríguez. “People renting property for less than 30 days must be enrolled in the Tribunet digital system under the category named Alquiler de Casas de Estancia Transistoria. A failure to do so means they are breaking the anti-fraud laws approved in December.” he explained. Currently, Airbnb hosts and any residents using similar platforms must withhold a 13 percent sales tax and pay it on a monthly basis to Tributación Directa. Aside from that, owners must also pay the regular Impuesto sobre la Renta, a yearly income tax. Back in March, Shawn Sullivan, Airbnb director of public policies for Latin America revealed that 228,000 visitors to Costa Rica chose an Airbnb host rather than paying for a hotel. The majority of them prefer to rent a complete property rather than sharing spaces. Sullivan also met with Rodríguez to figure out a way to make Airbnb withold the sales taxes automatically, however no further agreements were reached up to date. “According to our interpretation of the law, we are entitled to ask the company for the list of providers registered with them and check the compliance with local and international law,” Fernández said. “They are not really convinced of it but we know we can do it.” Several attempts by A.M. Costa Rica to contact Airbnb garnered no response. Industry hit According to the Cámara Costarricense de Hoteles, many hotels are suffering the consequences of Airbnb competition, according to its director Flora Ayub. “Right now the consequences for the hotel industry are negative, not only in terms of tourism visitation, but also in regards business and executives visitors,” Ms. Ayub said. “Many hotels in San José who offer convention centers have noticed a decline in their bookings.” Many of those executive visitors seem to rent condos in gated communities through the platform, where prices are lower, explained Ms. Ayud. “We don't mind the competition, as long as rules are the same for everyone. People in that platform do not pay taxes, social security fee and payrolls as we do,” she said. |
