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A.M.
Costa Rica
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Published
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May 8, 2017,
Vol. 17, No.
90
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Published Monday,
May 8, 2017,
Vol. 17, No.
90
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Union prepares for
fight against Caja
By Rommel
Téllez of the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The country’s biggest union will not recognize any agreement that implies workers paying more money to the social security system as of June 1. This was confirmed to A.M. Costa Rica by Albino Vargas, president of the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados. Vargas said it’s not workers fault nor duty to pay for management mistakes at the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. Back in January, the executive board of the Caja agreed to deduct one extra percentage point from the paycheck of every worker who belongs to its pension regime. That is almost 1.5 million workers affected. The change implies workers will see 10.17 percent of their paycheck deducted and transfered to the Caja’s coffers. The idea is strengthen the sustainability of the system, which could go broke by 2028, according to a latest study carried out by the Universidad de Costa Rica. “We are developing our own studies by highly reputed scholars,” Vargas said. “So far these experts know how to assure the Caja sustainability without hurting the most vulnerable members of the working class.” He also said they would be calling on marches by several organizations in case the increase is accepted by a recently mediation group established by the Caja. The group includes representatives from employers, employees, cooperatives, unions and government. Last Wednesday, government representatives called to suspend the measure while talks continue. On April 23, the Archbishop of the Catholic Church, José Rafael Quirós, called for a halt on the increase in the salary deductions and to protect the social security system. A study from Universidad de Costa Rica has proposed to increase salary deductions up to 24 percent before 2015 to assure there will be enough money for both the medical and pensions systems that Caja administers. “We are ready to fight in the streets should the increase be approved by a bunch of bureaucrats who do not represent the vast majority of the workers,” added Vargas. He also explained its organization is setting everything ready just in case. Even though workers’ organizations seem to be against the new measures, the Caja only received four objections from the citizenship in regards the increase. Objections were to be sent before April 30 to an email address made public in a press release. Two children killed in traffic accident By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The Judicial Investigating Organization recovered the bodies of two minors, ages five and eight, Saturday afternoon in the Valle la Estrella. According to an initial report, the two deceased were run over by a truck after falling off of a motorcycle. The 8-year old boy died at the site, judicial agents said. The 5-year old girl was taken to Hospital Tony Facio in Limón where she later died. The driver of the motorcycle, with whom it is unclear whether he is of any relation to the children, apparently lost balance and suffered minor injuries from the incident, agents said. The man was tested for alcohol and drugs, but the test came back negative.  Casa
Presidencial photo
Work on the
Alfredo González bridge is nearing final stages.
Platina
may be complete by mid-May
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Those concrete slabs that were part of the last bit of work to finish the Alfredo González Flores bridge were laid out for the lanes heading toward Alajuela. The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes said that the curing process requires that the no work on the structure can be done until next Tuesday on the Río Virilla bridge. In case some people were wondering, this is the notorious bridge colloquially called the platina, which has been shut down for months to receive a complete overhaul. Crews do plant to work on welding trusses, however, along the lower part of the bridge while waiting for the upper part to be ready to continue, the ministry said. Officials estimate that the three lanes out on the bridge should be on schedule for completion by the third week of May. In another development, another bridge was announced to be built across the Virilla. This one will connect Belén and San Rafael de Alajuela. The project was announced Friday with its inaguration including Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís as well as Carlos Villalta, the minister of public works. Public works estimates that this bridge will cost about $8.5 million to build and complete. Most of the financing will come from the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica, the ministry said. The project is expected to begin next year. The company in charge of the new bridge will be Copisa, while the project itself will be administered by the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad of the United Nations Office of Project Services, a statement by the government said. Bill calls to protect Criollo Limonense By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
At least 20 lawmakers have endorsed a bill that would insert into the Costa Rican Constitution Criollo Limonense as a protected language. The bill would require the state to support the survival of the language as it now is required to do by Article 76 for a handful of native languages like Bribri, Cabécar, Guaimí, Buglere and Guatuso. There are an estimated 70,000 Limón Criole speakers, nearly all along the Caribbean. A criole is considered to be a true language that has evolved from the original pidgin, which is a convenient mixture of two languages. In this case, Spanish and English mixed in the day-to-day discourses between Costa Ricans and Jamaican immigrants. Coast Rican lawmakers committed the state in 1999 to protecting and cultivating the native languages, but there was no mention at that time of Criollo Limonense. Some academic researchers have raised the concern that the unique Limón language is vanishing. The bill, No. 20.364, would give the state the responsibility to keep the language alive.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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Published Monday,
May 8, 2017,
Vol. 17, No.
90
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| 2017
Festival Internacional expected to draw variety of
artistic styles |
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By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Over 135 groups, composed of 1,500 artists, are expected to fill the capital for the Festival Internacional de las Artes beginning June 29. A 1.5 kilometer stretch of the city, from the Parque Nacional to the Antigua Aduana, will be taken over by artists and visitors alike at 26 different locations, according to a statement by Casa Presidencial. Of the groups chosen to participate in this year’s festival, over 50 represent artistic expression from 17 countries in Europe and Latin America. Casa Presidencial is calling the 15th edition of the festival a window for artists and the public to fill the urban area with an inclusive and refreshing interaction marked by the excellence of the chosen works. The government inaugurated the festival to much fanfare last Thursday at the amphitheater in the Centro Nacional de la Cultura. The festival is expected to include a living memory exhibition, performing arts, a European film festival, visual arts and literature. Avenida Segunda is expected to be shut down for the opening and closing day of the festival. |
 Casa Presidencial
photo
Performing arts and
more are expected at the festival.
It will be held from June 29 to July 9 from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. each night, organizers said. The Costa Rican government is contributing 900 million colons toward this event. Many of the shows being performed are expected to be free for the public. Those that will have an fee will be coordinated online with a digital ticket system, organizers said. Purchases can now be made for those events as of Sunday. |
| Visual
arts contest focuses on beautifying capital with urban
design |
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By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
The third edition of the visual arts contest has opened as part of the 2017 Festival Internacional de las Artes, according to the cultural ministry. Under the banner of “Es tiempo de transformar a San José en Arte,” Spanish for “It is time to transform San José into Art,” the ministry is receiving artists until May 18. The challenge is to turn the walls of a historic building into a contemporary artistic mural. For this year, that building will be the Hostel Casa del Parque, according to the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud. The building is easily spotted at the north corner of Parque Nacional. Marianella Protti, the program director, said that the purpose of returning the festival to San José Centro is to leave a legacy of beautifying the capital with art, particularly contemporary urban art. In order to reflect that, this year’s theme is free but with an emphasis on imagery of new urban icons, the ministry said. |
 Ministerio de
Cultura y Juventud photo
Hostel Casa del
Parque is this year's new mural canvas.
Participants accepting the call can be individuals
or in groups, organizers said. For the
winning proposal, the jury will select ten finalists
who will then compete for the adoration of the
public making their choice on social media, the
cultural ministry said.
The grand prize consists of $3,000 as well as materials and support needed to create the design and the decision will be announced as to the winner on June 9. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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Published Monday,
May 8, 2017,
Vol. 17, No.
90
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| Lack of licensing not the largest issue in Costa
Rican real estate |
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By Jay Brodell*
Special to A.M. Costa Rica There are a lot of problems with real estate in Costa Rica, but the lack of licensed agents is not a big one. The issue of licensing is in the news because the Cámara Costarricense de Bienes Raíces is working to propose a new bill that would require mandatory licensing. That organization and others have been remarkably silent on property fraud, the theft of customer money and real estate scammers. These are the really big problems. The licensing proposal comes with the claim that such a law would protect the consumer. In fact, a quick Google search of “real estate broker convicted” turns up pages of cases in the United States where there is strict licensing. Real estate brokers and salespeople are human and subject to temptation, yet illegal actions are almost never punished here in Costa Rica. Lawyers and notaries are highly educated and highly regulated by their own colegio. Yet some are engaged in criminal conspiracies. Thomas Ghormley, a successful Jacó real estate broker, makes the case for creating a real estate colegio of the type seen here among professionals such a physicians and dentists. Actually these governmental organizations, which are supposed to self-regulate their profession, have not done so and seem more interested in protecting their members. In fact, some lawmakers have begun calling them clubs. When it comes to medical and dental malpractice here, the action usually originates with prosecutors and not by the relevant colegio. Consider the difficulty lawyers have in getting a medical expert to testify against a colleague anywhere. What is needed immediately is a law to protect the money of real estate customers. Costa Rica has no law covering trust deposits. Some lawyers routinely steal money deposited with them by real estate buyers. |
And then they use to law to
keep from paying back the money. Sometimes poorer customers settle for pennies on the dollar. Such funds should be held by recognized corporations such as title companies or banks, not by lawyers, who also are human. A.M. Costa Rica has repeatedly called for a special court designed to expedite and adjudicate property fraud cases. This newspaper has reported on some cases, but there are many more that never are published here or in the Spanish-language newspapers. In fact, many highly placed individuals seem to profit by these cases, and lawyers and notaries, members of their colegio, usually are intimately involved. Speaking out against these crimes would seem to be a duty for the real estate organizations. It would be in their interest to urge action by lawmakers. But they have not. There is no reason to believe that a real estate colegio would do so either. In the meantime, those seeking to buy real estate here should be smart enough not to do business with someone met by chance in some bar or some free website. Ghormley is correct in noting that there is a need to regulate the profession. Until some kind of simple registration system is put in place, real estate buyers should make certain that those who claim to be salespeople or brokers are legal residents with the right to work here. That would be a good first step. A physical office would be a good clue, as would a good reference from a bank or credit agency. And a smart foreign buyer would never, never put big money in the hands of a third party here. *Brodell is the editor emeritus of A.M. Costa Rica and has been licensed in five U.S. jurisdictions as a real estate broker. He said that was to earn money to support his journalism habit. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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Published Monday,
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Vol. 17, No.
90
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in protests against Maduro By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
Hundreds of women dressed in all white marched in Venezuela's capital Saturday, continuing more than a month of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro. Saturday's protesters, led by opposition leaders and lawmakers, marched to the Interior Ministry to denounce repression over the past month as demonstrators have been hit with tear gas by security forces. Police in riot gear prevented the protesters from reaching the ministry. Isolated clashes between protesters and police took place in Caracas, media reports said. Protesters were demanding that delayed state elections be held and that the 2018 presidential election be moved up. Maduro has accused the opposition of trying to stage a coup and is working to rewrite the constitution. Similar rallies were also held in several other cities. The march came one day after a young man was shot in the head during clashes between demonstrators and security forces, bringing the death toll from such clashes over the past five weeks to 37. More than 700 others have been injured. Also on Friday, a group of young men in Venezuela's Zulia state destroyed a statue of the late leader Hugo Chavez. U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, met with Venezuelan National Assembly President Julio Borges in Washington on Friday to discuss the ongoing crisis and need for the government to adhere to its constitution. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also released a statement on the protests, calling on Maduro's regime to respect the constitution. In a call with the president of Perú, U.S. President Donald Trump addressed the deteriorating situation in Venezuela. A statement from the White House’s Office of the Press Secretary said Trump underscored to President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski that the United States will work together with Perú in seeking to improve democratic institutions and help the people of Venezuela. The demonstrations started after the Venezuelan Supreme Court's March 30 announcement that it would strip the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its legislative powers. The court reversed its position in the wake of domestic and international outcries about an attempted power grab. Macron claims victory in French election results By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
Voters in France have elected centrist Emmanuel Macron president, rejecting the anti-European Union, anti-immigrant policies of rival Marine Le Pen. With nearly all votes counted, France's Interior Ministry put Macron's lead at 66.06 percent, with Le Pen coming in at 33.94 percent. “A new page of our long history is turning tonight,” Macron told supporters Sunday following a bruising campaign in an election driven by anti-establishment sentiments, the first in modern history in which mainstream parties were shut out of a French presidential race. Sunday culminated a presidential election campaign that many French considered the country's most acrimonious and contentious in recent memory. Concession by Marine Le Pen came quickly on Sunday, but she vowed to fight on with efforts to mobilize voters in her crusade against globalism and a liberal immigration policy that has allowed for France’s Muslim minority to grow. “I have called Macron because I have the best interests of France in mind and I wanted to wish him the very best,” she told supporters on Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump reacted on Twitter to the results of the French presidential election, congratulating Macron on a big win and saying he very much looks forward to working with him. Surveys heading into Sunday predicted that Macron would win the election with a solid lead over Ms. Le Pen. There was little surprise, but much relief among his supporters, who filled the main courtyard of the Louvre Museum for a celebration. At 39, Macron a former banker and economy minister, becomes France’s youngest president. He is pro-European Union but wants reforms to make the grouping more democratic, and has warned that continuing business as usual with the European Union will trigger a Frexit, or a French exit similar to Britain’s. France’s deep divisions were clear in a final, vicious debate in which the anger, bitterness and personal dislike between the two candidates were on display when the two traded insults at their final debate last week, something observers say hurt Ms. Le Pen’s numbers. Turnout was less than expected, with voter disgust and anger causing many to abstain or submit blank ballots. French officials say 4 million abstained. Still, many braved the rain in Paris and turned out steadily throughout the day. On Paris streets, posters of Macron and Ms. Le Pen were pasted side by side, both often defaced with Macron’s nose cut out and Ms. Le Pen’s eyes scribbled over. In the end, it was fear of Ms. Le Pen that apparently weighed more on voters than anything else in a society that is proud of its long tradition of openness. The vote was historic, and seen by many as a turning point in French politics. France voted for change, but not revolution. Volcano causes rumblings in southern Guatemala By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
A volcano in the south of Guatemala was spewing hot ash high into the sky Friday, threatening nearby villages, according to local authorities. Guatemala's volcanic monitor, Insivumeh, said the Fuego volcano was spitting thick columns of black ash more than 5,000 meters into the air, some of which traveled more than 20 kilometers. It said the ash was accompanied by loud explosions and new lava flows. Three hundred people were evacuated as a precaution from the village of Panimache, the French news agency AFP reported. Falling ash forced the suspension of classes in 10 schools in the southern Escuintla district. The Fuego volcano is about 30 kilometers southwest of the country's capital, Guatemala City. The volcano has already spewed ash several times this year. The last major eruption was in 2015. At that time, the volcano's activity forced the closure of the capital's main airport. 50,000 evacuated from city to defuse old, WWII bombs By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
More than 50,000 residents of the northern German city of Hannover have been asked to leave their homes, as authorities prepare to mount a large-scale operation to defuse World War II-era bombs. City officials say two bombs were found at a construction site and three more nearby. The city prepared a series of events for the evacuees, including free museum visits and discounted film screenings. More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found buried on German land, legacies of the intense bombing campaigns by Allied forces against Nazi Germany. German broadcaster Deutsche Welle newspaper noted that on October 9, 1943, alone, some 261,000 bombs were dropped on the city, and many of them remain unexploded. Authorities worry the bombs are getting more dangerous with the passage of time as the material disintegrates. The biggest such evacuation took place last Christmas, when an unexploded British bomb forced 54,000 people out of their homes in the southern city of Augsburg. Islamic State leader killed following Afghanistan raid By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
The leader of Islamic State in Afghanistan has been killed in a joint raid in eastern Nangarhar province, Afghan and U.S. military officials confirmed Sunday. “Sheikh Abdul Hasib, the Emir of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Khorasan Province in Afghanistan, was killed in a combined Afghan-U.S. raid,” the U.S. military said. Dozens of Afghan and American special forces killed Sheikh Abdul Hasib along with his 35 fighters in a combined operation against an Islamic State cave and tunnel complex in the Achin district, the statement added. Other high-ranking Islamic State leaders also are said to have been killed in the April 27 operation. Hasib was appointed last year following the death of his predecessor, Hafiz Saeed Khan, a former Pakistani Taliban commander, in a U.S. drone strike in the same Afghan province. Branching out from Iraq and Syria, and fueled by a growing militancy in Central Asia, Islamic State launched its operations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region two years ago, naming it Islamic State’s Khorasan province to cover Afghanistan, Pakistan and “other nearby lands.” Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, praised the successful joint operation as another important step in the relentless campaign to defeat Islamic State in the country in 2017. Hasib was the mastermind behind a deadly attack against a military hospital in Kabul on March 8 that killed more than 30 people and injured 80 others, the Afghan Presidential Palace said in a statement. U.S. officials said the slain Islamic State chief also directed fighters to behead local elders in front of their families and ordered the kidnapping of women and girls to forcibly marry them off to his fighters. U.S. and Afghan troops had been involved in an intense 3-hour firefight that also killed two American servicemen, said a joint statement released after the operation. A counter-Islamic State operation has been under way in Nangarhar since early March, and Afghan forces, with the help of their U.S. counterparts, have killed or captured hundreds of fighters and liberated over half of the districts the terror group controlled in the province, according to the U.S. military. Last month, the U.S. Air Force dropped the mother of all bombs on IS-K’s stronghold in Achin district, killing at least 95 Islamic State militants, mostly foreign fighters. U.S. job market gets jump with drop in unemployment By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
The U.S. job market staged a rebound in April with employers, adding 211,000 workers to their payrolls and the unemployment rate fell to a 10-year low of 4.4 percent. April's employment numbers are a big improvement from March when the economy added only 98,000 jobs. Analysts say that makes it more likely the Federal Reserve will remain on track to raise its benchmark interest rates again in June. Job gains in April came from hospitality and leisure services, followed by health care and financial services. Average hourly earnings grew modestly, up 2.5 percent from the previous year. Despite volatility in March, the economy has now added an average of 185,000 jobs per month in 2017. Nigerian president meets 82 girls kidnapped years ago By the A.M. Costa
Rica wire services
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met Sunday with the 82 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped three years ago by Boko Haram extremists and released Saturday in Nigeria's troubled northeast. Details of the girls' path to freedom were not clear Sunday. But their release Saturday came after protracted negotiations with Boko Haram envoys that included provisions to free the girls in exchange for the release of captured Boko Haram commanders. The Associated Press reported earlier Sunday that five Boko Haram commanders were set free in the exchange. Sunday's meeting between the girls and the president capped an intense 24 hours that saw the young women taken under military protection near the border with Cameroon, and later brought to the capital in military helicopters. On arrival in Abuja, they underwent medical screening and were united with family members ahead of the presidential greeting. An earlier presidential statement said Buhari is optimistic about gaining the release of 113 Chibok girls still thought to be held by Boko Haram. The statement also praised security and military agencies for their roles in bringing the girls to safety, and it thanked the Swiss government, which sponsored negotiations leading to the releases. Authorities say 276 girls were kidnapped from a government-run girls' secondary school in Chibok on April 14, 2014. Nearly 60 girls who escaped during the first hours said their abductors forced them from dormitories into trucks that headed into the bush. Days later, a widely distributed video purported to show about 100 of the missing girls. Boko Haram claimed the captives had converted to Islam, and said they would only be released in exchange for militants held by the Nigerian government. At the time, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau vowed to sell the girls as slave brides. The abductions triggered an international outcry, including condemnation from the United Nations Security Council. There was no sign of the Chibok schoolgirls for more than two years, until one girl, by then a mother with an infant, turned up last May. Two other girls made their way to government controlled areas later in the year, and a group of 21 captives was released in October. Boko Haram, whose declared aim is to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 2 million during its 8-year insurgency.
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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Vol. 17, No.
90
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Spiders and snakes
ideally admired from far, far away...
Let me state here and now and for the record I do not scream. When I found a snake on the deck, I calmly shouted: “Snake on deck. Snake on deck,” (non-poisonous) and waited to be joined by my husband. This morning, however, I emitted what I believe to have been a high-pitched screech. Metric Man disagrees, he says I screamed (refer to the first sentence).
The last time I saw a spider that big was at a science center and it was behind bars. At that time, I wanted to back away, but I was surrounded by my Cub Scouts who thought it was way cool so I couldn’t even shudder. Thank heaven it was “hold the cockroach” day, not “hold the tarantula” day because I could deal with holding the cockroach -- barely. After all, it wouldn’t do to let my Cubbies see that I was afraid of stuff I could squish. But today it was a large spider in the house! For the record, I have actually learned to leave spiders alone in their natural habitat. I even saw my first tarantula in leaf litter. It was big and all I did was point it out to my gardener. But this was not the spider’s ‘natural habitat’ this was my natural habitat. So I screeched. And Metric Man? He was tolerant and mildly amused. He reminded me of the tarantula in the leaf litter so I chilled out a bit. Understand that spiders are our friends especially if we don’t get too close. Spiders trap pesky insects that mean to do us harm. Not as many as bats but enough. They seem especially fond of a nice juicy grasshopper, and grasshoppers cause a lot of damage. They also catch flies, beetles, and wasps among other things. Sadly, honey bees do get caught in webs but the good spiders do outweigh the bad. If it sounds like I am trying to convince myself to save the spider that is exactly what I am doing, even though I can admire a beautiful orb web and even its spider from a safe distance.
Plant for the
Week
Once upon a time here in Costa Rica, we were inhabited by megafauna. Giant armadillos the size of cars, huge beavers, sloths that weighed in at 4,400 pounds (and their little cousins of 1,400 pounds), the camelops, and the unpronounceable animals like Astrapotherium and Eremotherium. What did they all have in common? They all ate plants. Which leads us to today’s tree, the javillo or Hura crepitans. And why am I only showing you the trunk of this young tree? It’s because that’s where the spines are. The interesting thing about many of our spiny trees like the javillo, ceiba, and cedro is that the spines or spiny bumps don’t go all the way to the top of the tree they stop or get smaller or less distinct higher in the tree. Now if you were a giant armadillo or an Astrapotherium, would you want to chew on this? Our trees have defenses against extinct megafauna! Just don’t trip in the forest and grab for one or you will find out why the megafauna didn’t eat them. |
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| New agreement made to get Italian tourists By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The Costa Rican tourism board and the Spanish airline Iberia have signed an agreement to increase the amount of Italian tourists coming to Costa Rica. To achieve this goal, the airline will improve the routes of its direct flights coming from Milan and Rome and arriving at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, where a San José connection already exists at Terminal 4. The company also committed to improve the schedules so that connection time does not exceeds 90 minutes. Iberia will use an Airbus A320 and Airbus 321 to transport the Italian passengers. They have a capacity for 171 and 200 passengers respectively, as well as business and tourist class. The agreement is a result of the presidential visit to Spain paid by Luis Guillermo Solís and the Mauricio Ventura, the minister for tourism. According to data provided by the Costa Rican tourism board, in 2016, a total of 24,173 Italian tourists came to the country. That represents an increase of almost eight percent from 2015. According to Neil Chernoff, director of Alliances and Networks Development, Costa Rica has historically been a very important market, and joint efforts have been very productive. That’s why they are focusing now in the Italian market, which he deems to have a great potential. On the other hand, Costa Rica exported 793,000 tourists in 2016, according to data from Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería. This figure shows a 13 percent increase from that of 2015. The top destination for Ticos was the United States, with 278,000 visitors, followed by Panamá with 293,000 and Nicaragua with 189,000. Mexico shows up as the country with the highest increase as a destination for Costa Ricans. Around 28 percent more Costa Ricans traveled there than in 2015. |
