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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 9, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 91 | |||||||||
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Ministerio
de Cultura y
Juventud photo
Irina Bokova,
left, is
among those
viewing a
stone spherethat was found in situ. U.N.
official
gets a look
at those famous stone spheres By
the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Irina Bokova got a first-hand look at the stone spheres that Costa Rica has put forth as candidates for world heritage status. She is director general of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization which contains an agency that eventually will make a decision on the spheres. Ms. Bokova, a Harvard grad, toured three of the four major sphere sites in southwestern Costa Rica. They are Finca 6, El Sitio and Batambal. All are in the Cantón de Osa. Costa Rica is counting on world heritage designation because it will give a boost to tourism, among other advantages. The Museo Nacional is developing a museum devoted to the spheres and the culture that made them on Finca 6, near Palmar Sur. Although archaeologists are not sure why the spheres were made, the current thinking is that they represented symbols of rank and were placed near the entrances to the homes of chiefs. The world heritage process is lengthy. Experts made an original inspection in 2010. Earlier this year, the U.N. agency's World Heritage Committee said the spheres were on its agenda for cultural heritage consideration. The collection of locations would be the first Costa Rican cultural listing. There already are three natural heritage sites: Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Parque Nacional de Isla del Coco and the Talamanca Range and the cross-border Parque Nacional La Amistad. Costa Rica also is represented on the intangible human heritage list with the distinctive oxcarts and the boyero tradition. The intangible list includes activities such as dances, songs and crafts. Ms. Bokova noted that the decision on heritage status is not hers to make but rests with the committee. She visited last week in part for a ceremony at the University for Peace in Ciudad Colón. Baby kidnap suspect goes to prison for investigation By
the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
A judge has remanded the suspect in a baby kidnapping case to prison for three months investigation. The Poder Judicial identified the woman by the last name of Ureña. This is the case of the 2-month-old child who went missing at the Coca Cola bus station at midday Tuesday. The Fuerza Pública confirmed press accounts Wednesday that the baby's mother handed off the child to an acquaintance because she had to go to the bathroom. There is a video of the event that police used to find the baby. When the mother emerged from the bathroom she contacted police nearby because she could not find the woman with the baby. Law officers tracked down the baby that night and recovered the child in the Llano section of San Miguel de Desamparados. A motive had not been provided. President seeking accord with opposition politicians By
the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
President Laura Chinchilla met with some of the leaders of the opposition Partido Unidad Social Cristiana Wednesday in an effort to create a common agenda that could be passed rapidly. Casa Presidencial said that the president favors reforms to the regulations of the legislature so that a time period could be established for voting on a proposal. However, such a decision would have to be taken internally by lawmakers. Today the president is scheduled to meet with leaders or representatives of Partido Accesibilidad sin Exclusión, Restauración Nacional, Renovación Costarricense and Frente Amplio. The last three have but one member each in the legislature. The president already has outlined her plans with her own Partido Liberación Nacional and has succeeded in helping elect members of that party to leadership positions in the Asamblea Legislativa to better expedite executive branch proposals. CEO exec gets a deal to expedite victim's funds By
the A.M. Costa
Rica wire
services
U.S. federal prosecutors and defense attorneys have reached a deal under which disgraced former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling could have 10 years trimmed from his 24-year prison term. Skilling was convicted in 2006 on 19 charges, including conspiracy, securities fraud and insider trading, for his role in Enron's downfall. The Houston-based energy giant collapsed in 2001, after what prosecutors said were years of corrupt business deals and accounting gimmicks. The new agreement, which is awaiting approval by a federal judge, provides for a prison term of 14 to 17 years and levies a $40-million penalty against the 59-year-old Skilling. U.S. Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the deal ends all legal appeals by Skilling and allows victims of the collapse to begin receiving financial restitution. Authorities say the ongoing case had so far prevented the government from distributing Skilling's seized assets to victims. A federal appeals court has on two occasions upheld Skilling's convictions, while calling for a reduction in his sentence. Skilling is the highest ranking executive to be punished in the massive corruption scandal. Company founder Kenneth Lay's similar convictions were vacated after he died of a heart attack in July 2006, just weeks after being found guilty on 10 corruption counts. Our
reader's
opinion
Crematory
project diedbecause ministry stalled Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I totally agree with what Dan Gibson said in his letter. In 2011, I was dealing with the Ministry of Health in getting permission to open a new crematory in Costa Rica. It was an opportunity to bring the latest state-of-the-art equipment into the country, as the existing equipment at the time was antiquated, generated pollution, was very time consuming, and, very costly. The new facility would offer an extremely low-cost option to the public, no pollution, and, the ability to have someone cremated and the cremains (ashes) returned to the family within two hours. Various members of the Ministry of Health applauded and supported the concept, but, when it came to granting permission, they totally vacillated and came up with various stories as to why they were delaying. Like other business people, I threw in the towel! Many businesses will only benefit the public, offer new services, and, create jobs, but, it seems the present administration excels at dragging their feet. If Costa Rica want to be progressive and see greater immigration, they need to realize that business is the key to achieving such. This is a beautiful country with beautiful people, but, it must become more forward thinking, progressive and opportunistic. Bruce
Jacobs
New Jersey
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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Costa Rica advertising reaches from 12,000 to 14,000 unique visitors every weekday in up to 90 countries. |
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 9, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 91 | |
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The USNS Swift moves out for sea trials with an aerostat or blimp in tow to check out the capabilities of this arial platform and the Puma unmanned aircraft. |
 U.S.
Navy/Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker
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| Navy checking out cheaper ways to keep an
eye on smugglers |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Out in the oceans, that seagull way above may be packing a camera. The U.S. Navy is experimenting with small, unmanned aircraft to keep an eye on sea routes and to intercept drug smugglers. The military service also is testing blimps for an eagle-eye view. The unmanned aircraft are tiny compared to their big brother drones that are used to blast away terrorists in the Middle East. The little battery-powered craft weigh only 13 pounds and can be put in the air with a human hand as if they were model planes. They carry no armament but they do have an electro-optical and infrared video camera. Other services also are buying the devices from the manufacturer, AeroVironment, Inc., in California. The craft, called a Puma, has a wingspan of just over nine feet. The Puma can fly for two hours and has a nine mile range at 23 mph. That means the little plane can quietly fly above sea traffic and let its controller know what is going on. |
The Military Sealift Command has
been testing these devices as well as what the Navy calls a tethered
aerostat. This is a blimp that can be deployed 2,000 to 3,000
feet above a vessel. The U.S. Southern Command said that these aerial
platforms are being tested to see if they can seek out organized crime
in Operation Martillo in both oceans. The blimp and the unmanned aircraft are much cheaper to operate than helicopters, noted the Southern Command. "In the current fiscal environment, U.S. 4th Fleet is exploring innovative, cost effective solutions that can address the capability gaps caused by budget cuts. Aerostats and unmanned aircraft systems are platforms that warrant more research due to the benefits of enhanced fuel efficiency, payload capacity, and persistence," said Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris. "By leveraging the unique capabilities each platform has to offer, we can bring low-cost, high-tech tools to maintain a robust detection and monitoring mission for Operation Martillo." He is commander of the U.S. Fourth Fleet that has responsibility for the oceans in the Caribbean and Central and South America. He was quoted in a news release. Some testing was done by the crew of the USNS Swift out of Key West, Florida, which is now on anti-drug duty. |
| Judge held in assassination attempt of her boss in Pococí |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The case of the attempted murder of a judge seems like something from a television show. Judicial investigators said that a judge in Pococí used intermediaries to hire hit men to do away with her boss. Agents said she feared she would be fired for less than adequate performance. This is the theory that led to the arrest of the judge Wednesday. The judge, who sat on an appeals tribunal has the last name of Córdoba. The shooting was well publicized. The crime took place last December when Jorge Paisano Saborío, 45, was driving to his office. Gunmen opened up from a nearby car. They missed him and put bullets into the driver's seat. At the time the |
shooting appeared to be
something orchestrated by some crook unhappy with a legal decision by
the judge. The case shocked the Poder Judicial. Almost immediately after the arrest, Zarela Villanueva Monge, acting president of the Corte Suprema de Justicia, suspended Ms. Córdoba from judicial duties. She would be unable to exercise them anyway being in jail. Then the court president announced that a disciplinary procedure would be started against the woman. This is the beginning of an effort to remove someone from a job. Five other persons also were detained this week including three men that judicial agents identified as the gunmen. The investigation generated leads based on a description of the vehicle used by the gunmen and from employees in the Pococí judicial building. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 9, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 91 | |||||
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| Accounts of election violence in polarized
Venezuela are
open to dispute |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Residents of La Limonera neighborhood in Venezuela's capital Caracas are still on edge and in mourning after a wave of post-election violence that killed two people in their community. Neighbors of the low-income settlement say opposition protesters threw Molotov cocktails and fired shots amid nationwide demonstrations after President Nicolas Maduro won a narrow victory against challenger Henrique Capriles. Nine people died around Venezuela, authorities say. The opposition questions the government's version of the events, dismissing accusations that various state-run clinics were burned down across Venezuela and suggesting some of the deaths were from the country's notoriously high murder rate. Establishing the truth is not just a matter of historic record, but a crucial factor going forward in Venezuela's explosive transition to the post-Hugo Chávez era. Government investigations into the post-vote unrest could lead to criminal charges against Capriles, the opposition leader who won 49 percent of the votes and is refusing to accept Maduro's win. While Capriles insists Maduro stole the presidential vote, the president counters that the trouble afterwards demonstrated that he was planning a coup d'etat. South American neighbors have urged dialog, but so far there is no sign of that. The violence has not been just on the street: A brawl in parliament last week between pro- and anti-government fractions left 11 legislators from both sides injured. Two opposition parliamentarians were particularly badly hurt, one with a bloodied and bruised face, another with a fractured nose. Each side has its own version of the events after the April 14 vote, a pattern typical of the polarization of the South American oil-producing nation under Chavez's 14-year socialist rule. In La Limonera, a so-called socialist city Chávez created last year to house some 430 poor families in new tower blocks, there is outrage at the violence and fear of more. Residents on motorcycles and soldiers now patrol the area, surrounded by middle-class homes. “You may not agree with me, but you have no right to shoot me, set off rockets, or bang pots and pans every night while my kids are trying to sleep,'' said Oscar Canizales, 21, a resident who patrols on motorcycle. When official results showed him narrowly losing, Capriles on the night of Sunday, April 14 called on supporters to demand a full recount by marching in the streets. A day later, opposition protesters near La Limonera went to a state-run clinic staffed by doctors from Cuba who were hired through a Chávez-era oil-for-services deal. Witnesses said about 100 protesters surrounded the clinic for around two hours shouting slogans such as “Get out Cubans, we don't want you here,'' banging pots and pans. Maduro sympathizers including hairdresser Rosiris Reyes and carpenter Jose |
Luis Ponce
arrived
to protect the clinic from harm, witnesses and
relatives said. As the protest died down they began
returning home, but
never made it. “From a Toyota, someone starting shooting and shouting opposition slogans. One of the bullets hit my mother in the back,'' said 15-year-old Yonylexis Reyes, who lives with two brothers in a small apartment decorated with the posters with the faces of Maduro and Chavez. “She fell off the motorcycle and we took her to the hospital.'' Her mother died two days later. Ponce was also shot while returning from the clinic, according to witnesses. A family member said one person was later wounded at his funeral by a shot fired from a neighborhood near La Limonera. Information Minister Ernesto Villegas several days later said Johny Pacheco, whom he identified as another defender of the clinic,' was shot in the head without being robbed. Local media quoted Pacheco's family saying he was in fact killed during an attempt to steal his car, a version also given by residents. At the entrance to the community, the words “Capriles murderer'' are written in red paint. A special legislative commission is investigating allegations he spurred the violence, and one minister has vowed to put him behind bars. The opposition says the violence has been exaggerated in state media to distract from irregularities on the day of the vote. Capriles is challenging it in the country's highest court. In La Limonera, witnesses confirmed that the clinic where the opposition protests took place had not in fact been set on fire, as asserted by government leaders. Reporter visits to that and another of the Caracas-based clinics known as CDIs indicated that they had suffered no evident damage and that they were functioning normally. “If they had attacked us we would not be open, because we would be too scared,'' said the director of one the centers who asked not to be identified. Venezuelan human rights group Provea later released a report saying it had found no evidence that any of the CDIs had been attacked, drawing furious criticism from government leaders including Villegas. Two provincial headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party were set on fire, state media said, but nobody has been detained in connection with those incidents. Security forces have detained close to 250 demonstrators around the country. The opposition has accused soldiers of beating some of them until they chanted pro-government slogans. Opposition activist Delsa Solorzano said their only crime had been to bang pots and pans in protest. “We didn't know that having a pan and a metal spoon was terrorism,'' said Solorzano. The instability has unsettled markets, with Venezuelan debt prices falling since the post-election violence. |
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| A.M.
Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 9, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 91 | |||||||||
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Queen
Elizabeth
says
immigration to be harder By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The British government has announced plans to tighten immigration rules. The plans were revealed in Queen Elizabeth's annual speech to mark the formal opening of Parliament. In a ceremony packed with symbolism, the monarch delivered her 60th consecutive queen’s speech to a joint meeting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The eight-minute speech covered a broad range of issues, focusing on continuing efforts to stimulate economic growth and reform health care and welfare services. But the lines that received the most attention promised an effort to make it more difficult for immigrants to come to Britain. “My government will bring forward a bill that further reforms Britain’s immigration system," Queen Elizabeth said. "The bill will ensure that this country attracts people who will contribute and deters those who will not.” Immigration has been an increasingly prominent issue in Britain, focused particularly on people from new member nations of the European Union. A growing movement to force a British withdrawal from the union is based largely on such concerns. But the co-director of the Immigration Research Unit at University College London says the concerns are mostly exaggerated. “The overall effect of migration is broadly neutral," said Professor John Salt. "It has increased the size of the UK economy. It has had various beneficial effects in terms of providing labor where there are shortages. There is no hard evidence that unemployment among the indigenous population has worsened.” According to Salt, immigration can affect youth unemployment, and put pressure on housing and land use over time. But he says immigrants do not overburden the welfare system as some activists claim. The queen’s speech also touched on foreign affairs, with the British government promising to fight terrorism and sexual violence in war, support countries in transition in the Middle East, and help advance the fledgling peace process in Afghanistan. As president of the Group of Eight industrialized countries this year, the government says it will promote free trade, government accountability and efforts to fight climate change. The government also pledged to protect residents of the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas and claims as its own. The two countries fought a war over the islands 31 years ago. In Wednesday’s speech, the British government pledged to allow residents of all British overseas territories to determine their own political future. In a referendum in March, Falkland Islanders voted almost unanimously to remain a British territory. Rescue of women in Ohio raises questions about police By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Euphoria over the rescue of three Ohio women from a decade-long kidnapping ordeal gave way to questions of how their captivity inside a house on a residential street in Cleveland went undetected for so long. The women, freed when a neighbor was alerted to their presence by screams for help, huddled privately with family under FBI protection Tuesday as investigators combed through the house, seeking evidence against the accused captors. Three brothers were arrested as suspects Monday evening just after the women escaped and are expected to be formally charged soon. One of them, Ariel Castro, a former school bus driver and the owner of the house, was thought to have lived there alone. Mayor Frank Johnson confirmed Tuesday that child welfare officials had paid a visit to the house in early 2004 because Castro was reported to have left a child on a school bus while he stopped for lunch at a fast-food restaurant. But the ensuing inquiry found no criminal intent, officials said. Contrary to unconfirmed accounts of several neighbors, the mayor denied that authorities had overlooked or failed to respond to suspicious activity at the modest, two-story home. The women's imprisonment came to a dramatic end after a neighbor, drawn by the sound of screams, broke through the door to rescue Amanda Berry, whose 2003 disappearance as a teenager was widely publicized in the local media. He helped her place an emergency call to authorities "Help me! I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here. I'm free now,'' a frantic Berry can be heard saying in a recording of the call released by police. Berry, now 27, was found with her 6-year-old daughter, conceived and born during her captivity, and two other women, Gina DeJesus, 23, who vanished at age 14 in 2004, and Michelle Knight, 32, who was 20 when she went missing in 2002. Ariel Castro, 52, fired from his bus job last November after school officials cited him for a "lack of judgment,'' was arrested almost immediately. Two brothers, Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50, were taken into custody a short time later. Police have not said what role each man is suspected of playing in the case, but Ms. Berry named Ariel Castro in her 911 call as the man from whom she was trying to escape. Questions have mounted about why the women's captivity escaped notice, despite what neighbors said were a number of suspicious or disturbing incidents at the house in the low-income community on Cleveland's West Side. "We didn't search hard enough. She was right under our nose the whole time,'' said Angel Arroyo, a church pastor who had handed out flyers of Ms. DeJesus in the neighborhood. Aside from the school bus incident in 2004, city officials said a database search found no records of calls to the house or reports of anything amiss during the years in question. "We have no indication that any of the neighbors, bystanders, witnesses or anyone else has ever called regarding any information, regarding activity that occurred at that house on Seymour Avenue,'' Mayor Johnson told reporters Tuesday. Israel Lugo, a neighbor, said he called police in November 2011 after his sister saw a girl at the house holding a baby and crying for help. He said police came and banged on the door several times but left when no one answered. More recently, about eight months ago, Lugo said, his sister saw Ariel Castro park his school bus outside and take a large bag of fast food and several drinks inside. Another neighbor, Anthony Westry, said a little girl could often be seen peering from the attic window of the Castro house. "She was always looking out the window,'' he said. Castro would take her to the park to play very early in the morning, `"not around the time you would take kids to play,'' he said. Cleveland police, who have said they believe Ms. Berry, Ms. DeJesus and Ms. Knight were confined to the Castro house for their entire time missing, did not immediately respond to repeated requests for comment about reported calls from neighbors. In the one acknowledged visit to the house by Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services Department officers in January 2004, more than a year after Ms. Knight disappeared and eight months after Ms. Berry went missing, no one answered the door, the mayor said. Police said Castro was interviewed extensively during the investigation regarding the child left on the bus, and that no criminal wrongdoing was found. A witness had reported Castro telling the child to "lay down, bitch,'' but child welfare officials concluded the complaint was unsubstantiated. After their rescue, the three women were taken to a local hospital, reunited with family and friends and released. Cleveland FBI special agent Vicki Anderson said federal agents were taking care of the victims to help shield them from a global media onslaught. Ms. DeJesus' aunt, Sandra Ruiz, emerged from the home of Ms. DeJesus' father Tuesday to appeal to a throng of reporters to respect the family's privacy, saying: "Give us some breathing room.'' Born in Puerto Rico, Ariel Castro played bass in Latin music bands in the area. Records show he was divorced more than a decade ago and his ex-wife had since died. He is known to have at least one adult daughter and son. On a Facebook page believed to be his, Castro said last month that he had just become a grandfather for a fifth time. Court records show he was arrested in 1993 on a domestic violence charge that was subsequently dismissed. More than half of inmates at Guantanamo reject food By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In the past two weeks, the number of detainees on hunger strike at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has grown to 100, more than half of the 166 men being held there. The hunger strike has succeeded in drawing attention to their indefinite detention, and their treatment at the hands of the U.S. military, which runs the prison. Among the chief complaints is the practice of force-feeding prisoners. It is a daily routine at the detention facility; military staff, including a medical team, check to see who is eating and who is not. For the staff at Joint Task Force Guantanamo, whose mandate is to be safe, humane, legal, and transparent, the decision to force feed by inserting a tube into a detainee's nose and down to his stomach, is a matter of procedure. Navy Capt. Robert Durand is a spokesman for the Guantanamo facility. “When a detainee refuses food, when they miss nine consecutive meals and declare an intent to be a hunger striker, we label them as a hunger striker, and we start monitoring their health. When they lose enough weight to endanger their health potentially, before they get to that point, usually about 85 percent of their ideal body weight, our joint medical group, the doctors and nurses and corpsmen, will make a recommendation to the joint task force commander that that detainee be enterally fed," he said. The hunger strike began in February. The detainees, held for years, are protesting the U.S. government's failure to try those it suspects of being terrorists, or release the 86 detainees who have been cleared. President Obama promised to close the prison when he took office in 2009, but his administration blames his failure to do so on congressional restrictions that require security guarantees from the countries that would receive them. Recently, he restated his desire to see the prison closed. But words are not enough for advocates pressing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to authorize the release of those who have been cleared. Attorney David Remes represents 17 of the hunger strikers. "My message to Hagel is to work with the administration and begin signing the national security waivers that Congress granted the president, which provided him with the authority and flexibility to transfer detainees who are at Guantanamo. The administration can not keep passing the buck to Congress," he said. U.S. military officials say their responsibility is limited to providing care for the detainees. “Our job here is to make sure that they are held in a safe and humane manner and that when the time comes to transfer them, or release them, we will do that. But until that time comes, you can be assured that we will do our job to safely and humanely detain them to the best of our ability," said Durand. Just a few months ago, the issue of the Guantanamo detainees was largely ignored by the U.S. media. The hunger strike, and accounts of force-feeding, have put it back on Washington's radar. Sensational trial ends in murder conviction By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
An Arizona jury found Jodi Arias guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder in the death of her ex-boyfriend in a capital trial that riveted America for months with graphic sexual evidence and bizarre testimony. Ms. Arias, who could face the death penalty as her case goes into the penalty phase of the trial today, has admitted to shooting 30-year-old Travis Alexander, whose body was found in the shower of his Phoenix valley home in June 2008. He had been shot in the face, stabbed 27 times and his throat had been slashed. Ms. Arias, 32, had tried unsuccessfully to convince the jury that she acted in self-defense after Alexander attacked her because she had dropped his camera while taking photos of him in the shower. She teared up as the jury's decision was read, while a crowd of hundreds erupted into cheers outside the court. Jurors could have convicted Ms. Arias of a lesser crime such as second-degree murder or manslaughter, but instead found her guilty of the most serious charge possible. "Five long years . . . of lying, manipulating. Now the citizens of Arizona have spoken,'' Dave Hall, a friend of Alexander, told reporters as he left the court. He said a death sentence would be appropriate. "If what she did to Travis does not justify the death penalty in America today, then what do we have one for?'' The trial, which was punctuated by graphic testimony and evidence including a sex tape, captivated a nation enthralled by the story of an attractive and soft-spoken young woman charged with such a brutal crime. The case, which began in early January and was streamed live on the Internet, drew parallels with the similarly high-profile Florida murder trial of Casey Anthony, another young woman charged with an unthinkable crime. She was ultimately acquitted in 2011 in the death of her toddler daughter, Caylee. In the Arizona case, jurors heard how the petite, dark-haired Ms. Arias met and began dating Alexander, a businessman and motivational speaker, in 2006. During 18 days of often salacious testimony, Ms. Arias said she and Alexander continued to have sex despite their break-up from a relationship marked by emotional and physical abuse. Ms. Arias said Alexander had made her feel like a prostitute and that he kicked and attempted to choke her, although she admitted never reporting the alleged abuse to the police, seeking medical treatment or documenting it in her journal. Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi argued that Ms. Arias had snapped in the sudden heat of passion in the moments between a final photograph she took showing Alexander alive and taking a shower and a subsequent picture showing him covered in his own blood. But prosecutor Juan Martinez painted a different picture of Ms. Arias, portraying her as manipulative and prone to jealousy in previous relationships, and said she had meticulously planned to kill Alexander. "Nothing indicates that this is anything less than a slaughter,'' he told jurors in his summing up on Friday, asking them to return a verdict of felony first-degree murder. An attorney for Alexander's siblings, Jason Beckstead, said the family was pleased with the verdict and that his law firm planned to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Ms. Arias "in the very near future.'' He would not stipulate damages sought. At the sentencing trial beginning today, the prosecution will present evidence to try to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that aggravating factors exist that call for the death penalty. The defense can also present rebuttal evidence. Jurors will then determine if the aggravating circumstances were proved to exist beyond a reasonable doubt. In making his case for premeditated murder, Martinez had accused Ms. Arias of bringing the pistol used in the killing, which has not been recovered, with her from California. He said she also rented a car, removed its license plate and bought gasoline cans and fuel to conceal her journey to the Phoenix suburbs to kill Alexander. Martinez said Ms. Arias lied after the killing to deflect any suspicion that she had been involved in his death, leaving a voicemail on Alexander's cellphone, sending irises to his grandmother and telling detectives she was not at the crime scene before changing her story. The jury, which reached a verdict on its third full day of deliberations, had grilled her on her claims that her mind went blank after she shot Alexander, and wanted to know why she had not called emergency responders, questions she struggled to answer. The defense called a psychologist who testified that Ms. Arias' memory lapses stemmed from post-traumatic stress as a result of Alexander's alleged abuse and the killing itself, claims disputed by prosecutors. In closing arguments, Martinez told the jury Alexander had sent an instant message weeks before his death saying he was extremely afraid of Ms. Arias because of her stalking behavior. Chinese Internet users ask Obama to solve problems By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Internet users in China, a country with a long tradition of petitioning, are appealing to a new authority to resolve grievances and controversies such as the merits of salty or sweet tofu - the U.S. White House petitions Web site. Created by U.S. President Barack Obama, the online petitioning system was designed as an easy way for Americans to make their voices heard, according to the Web site. But he may have underestimated its global appeal in the Internet age. "We request that the U.S. government make sweet the official flavor of jellied tofu, namely through the addition of syrup, granulated or brown sugar or other sweeteners," said one petition, written in Chinese, on the site. The number of signatures for the appeal created Tuesday was steadily climbing. As of Wednesday morning, it had received more than 1,000 digital endorsements. That falls far short of the 100,000 signatures needed to merit a response from the Obama administration, a threshold the government has reserved the right to adjust. There is a regional divide in China on how jellied tofu should be consumed, with a slightly sweetened variety enjoyed in many parts of the south and a saltier style common in the north. "Send troops to liberate the Chinese people," reads another petition, this one with more than 3,500 signatures. Part protest, part entreaty, petitioning has deep roots in China, a country where courts are seen as beyond the reach of ordinary people or beholden to officials. Many seek redress for land seizures, factory layoffs, or medical and police disputes. But doing so in China can be a risky affair, often leading to detention in secret facilities dubbed black jails. The China-related requests appeared alongside pleas for Obama to reduce gun violence and increase the budget for NASA, the U.S. space agency, and not all were funny. One called for the United States to extradite a suspect in the 1994 poisoning of Chinese graduate student Zhu Ling. It received 134,000 signatures in five days. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, May 9, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 91 | |||||||||
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Many
rural
water systems reported to endanger users By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's regulatory agency issued a grim report Wednesday on the state of rural water systems. The agency, the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos, said that inspectors visited 25 systems and found problems in 75 percent that endangered the health of the users. The agency said that the problems involved the water source, or the storage facilities or the distribution network. These are what are called asociaciones administradoras de acueductos rurales of ASADAS. They are not part of the Instituto Nacional de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, the country's major water provider. Still, the Autoridad said that nearly 24 percent of the country's population gets water from one of these rural systems. The basic problem seems to be that the associations do not have money for experienced help, continual monitoring or infrastructure. For example, the Autoridad said that many rely on testing by the national water company's Laboratorio Nacional de Aguas but that these tests are sporadic and incomplete. The water system administrations are not checking for a host of other factors that influence water quality, said the Autoridad. That includes the existence of bacteria in the water, it said. The report also said that many systems count on plumbers or unskilled labor to keep the system running. The Autoridad said that it has ordered the rural systems to install meters so it can collect reasonable fees from users, but that many systems had not done this. It promised new regulations to improve the income of the rural systems. Public officials surrender in immigration case Special to A.M. Costa
Rica
An agent with the Department of Homeland Security and a former immigration officer surrendered to federal authorities Wednesday morning after a grand jury Tuesday indicted them and three others who allegedly participated in a long-running immigration fraud scheme that was fueled by official corruption, said the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles, California. The conspiracy was allegedly orchestrated by a Los Angeles attorney who paid bribes as high as $10,000 to officials with several agencies in the Department of Homeland Security to help secure immigration benefits for aliens he was representing. An 18-count superseding indictment returned Tuesday afternoon outlines a wide-ranging bribery scheme in which attorney Kwang Man Lee, who was previously charged in a criminal complaint and is not named in the indictment issued yesterday, used illegal tactics to procure immigration benefits for clients. Lee paid bribes to public officials to secure admission stamps and lawful permanent residency status for aliens who paid fees ranging from a few hundred dollars to well over $50,000, said the indictment. Lee paid bribes to government officials, with payments ranging from $50 to as much as $10,000 given to an officer with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the indictment said. Authorities have identified several dozen aliens who improperly received immigration benefits, but that number is growing as the investigation continues, they said The four current and former government officials named in Tuesday’s indictment conducted a number of official acts to help Lee’s clients obtain immigration benefits, said the government. For example, the indictment specifically alleges that three added documents to and removed documents from immigration files. Lee is a former officer with an agency previously known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He became an attorney in 1997 and maintains offices in the Mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles. |
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