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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, May 19, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 97 |
Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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Legislative pay
raise hits
a legal barrier at Sala IV By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Lawmakers of the Partido Acción Ciudadana submitted the proposed pay raise for legislative deputies to the Sala IV constitutional court Tuesday, which will at least delay approval of the measure. The minority party members also called on President Laura Chinchilla to veto the raise when the legislation reaches her desk. The political party said that its court filing says that the pay raise for lawmakers is abusive, irresponsible, for their own benefit and was done with a violation of procedures. Lawmakers want to increase their pay 60 percent to 4.5 million colons a month, about $8,000. Putting pending legislation before the court is done often here. At least 44 of the 57 lawmakers approve of the pay raise, although there has been no vote on the measure itself. Lawmakers, however, have voted to place it on the so-called fast track to limit debate and to arrange for quick approval. Meanwhile, Acción Ciudadana had a success in the legislature. Lawmakers passed on first reading a measure to provide funding for education equal to 8 percent of the gross national product. That's a 2 percent increase that Acción Ciudadana lobbied for aggressively. All 57 lawmakers voted for the change. The new percentage will be in the budget for 2014. Our reader's opinion
Legislators out of linein seeking big pay raise Dear A.M. Costa Rica: It has been with a measure of amusement, and an equal measure of disgust, that I have followed the recent actions of the new Costa Rica legislature. While the nation was riding the high hopes of a new administration, led by the first female president ever no less, the legislature jumped into the fray by addressing the single most important issue facing that most austere body. Amid the crumbling bridges, worn out and poorly constructed roads, abject national poverty, rampant crime and a myriad of other national maladies, the legislature stepped forward and decided. . . to raise its pay! I admit to having misunderstood the initial figures which stated legislators made about $4,500 and wanted a raise to $7,200. That seemed reasonable to me until I realized they were talking per month and not annually. And now the latest figure I read is that they have increased their wants to about $8,500 PER MONTH! According to the National Bank, the average salary in Costa Rica is $455 per month. Therefore, according to my calculations, this means that each legislator believes that they are almost 20 times more important than the average citizen. Total it up and almost six million dollars will be paid to these 57 individuals this year, almost 24 million dollars to them over the course of their four-year terms, and one wonders what the nation will get in return. If history is any determination, the nation will get four more years of sluggish, irrational behavior, clothed in jibberish that makes little or no sense. (Refer to the new traffic laws, arbitrary taxes on high-end homes, immigration statutes, and on and on.) Two of the legislative minority parties voted against this blatant slap in the face of every Costa Rican, and they should be applauded now and remembered when the next elections roll around. The final vote was 44-11 in favor of the measure (apparently two legislators couldn't make it, or simply didn't want any part of this mess.) It continues to mystify me as to why elected representatives of the people believe themselves to become more important than those who put them in office in the first place. This seems to be true of all elected officials everywhere, not just Costa Rica. But here's the real kicker: This terrible measure apparently has the support and endorsement of the new president. James Lynch
San Francisco de Heredia Highway to Limón open for three hours more By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Highway officials have decided to extend the time when drivers can use Ruta 32, the key highway from San José to Guápiles and Limón. Drivers now have three more hours to pass by the dangerous section between kilometers 22 and 24 where the hillside has slid and more slides are expected. The route will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. That is during the daylight when spotters can detect any movement above. Traffic police will supervise. Vehicles are restricted to one lane, and traffic policemen will provide an escort. The highway passes along steep slopes that engineers say should have been reduced when the road was constructed in the 1980s. The highway cuts the travel time to the Caribbean coast and is usually less dangerous than the winding alternate route through Turrialba.
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, May 19, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 97 |
Photos
by
Daniel Martinez
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The Mississippi kite is an
important part of the northbound migration on the Caribbean coast. The |
small birds of prey winter in tropical America and head north at this time of year. |
Bird watchers on the Caribbean counted more than 600,000 |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Final counts from the Kèköldi raptor observatory for the spring migration season are in, with slightly over 600,000 birds of prey, vulture, and storks recorded. The count had complete coverage from Feb. 17 to May 6. Top species were turkey vulture with 385,500 individuals, |
while 116,000 broad-winged hawks,
55,000 Swainson’s hawks, and 44,000 Mississippi kites made up the bulk
of raptors counted. Lesser numbers of another 12 species of hawks,
kites,
and falcons were recorded. A single aplomado falcon was about the fifth
sighting for Costa Rica ever. Wood storks totaling 1,440 also passed the 11-meter observation tower on a ridge near Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast. |
This is the
Compañía de Danza Folclórica Huanacaxtle that
comes from the Universidad de Costa Rica Liberia campus. The group will
perform the afternoon of June 4. |
Oficina
Regional de Cultura de Guanacaste photo
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Two festivals join together in Guanacaste in early June |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There will be a double festival in Abangares from June 3 to 6. The third Festival Guancastearte will join with the fifth Festival Oro, Café y Mariscos. The Guanacastearte is held in a different community in the province each year. Next year the event will be in La Cruz. Both events are supported by the Ministerio de Cultura and Juventud. Guanacaste has its own culture with traditional dances and music. The double event begins June 3 with morning and afternoon workshops and an opening parade at 3 p.m. with local and invited artists. A number of artistic presentations will |
follow in the Gimnasio
Municipal. In addition, there is a puppet theater from San José
and a
local folk dance group. The day closes with an 8:30 p.m. dance for the
public. The fair goes into high gear Friday with workshops for dance, murals and the visual arts. There is a noon concert, more folk dance exhibitions in the afternoon and a presentation of Abangares popular songs at 7 p.m. Saturday has an afternoon of dance, workshops and theaters, ending with a tango presentation at 7 p.m. One event that might interest expats is Sunday at 10 a.m., a fair of small cultural businesses, also at the gym. The local fair gets its name because the area has been producing gold since before Columbus arrived. |
You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, May 19, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 97 |
At the press conference:
Fernando Ocampo, deputy negotiator; Anabel González,
minister of Comercio Exterior; President Laura Chinchilla; Gloria
Abraham, minister of Agricultura y Ganadería; and Roberto
Echandi, chief negotiator. |
Casa Presidencial photo
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Exporters, politicians and textile
firms pleased at accord |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Business groups and exporters are generally thrilled at the trade agreement with the European Union that allows entry without tariffs of much of the country's products. Textile producers are thrilled, too. The agreement was reached late Monday. According to reports from Madrid where the negotiations reached a successful end, Central American states are guaranteed the same deals that the European Union may work out with South American nations. The Mercosur group of nations, which includes Argentina, agreed Tuesday to resume negotiations that had been frozen. President Laura Chinchilla said she was happy that the country would have better access to the 500 million in the European Union. She appeared in a video conference from Spain. She said reaching the accord was one of her goals in her first 100 days in office. The president noted that with the free trade treaty with the United States and a proposed trade treaty with the People's Republic of China, the country would have access to the major markets of the world. The Asociación Nacional de Exportadores de la Industria Textil and the Cámara Textil Costarricense reported that their industry had achieved the right to export 7 million |
units of various
types of clothing and
four million units of socks. This quota will increase 9 percent per
year in the first five years, the organizations said. However, it was in agriculture where the major problems developed in the negotiations. Gloria Abraham Peralta, minister of Agricultura y Ganadería, said that the European Union agreed to progressively reduce its banana tariff of 176 euros per ton to 75 euros over 10 years. In the first year Costa Rica gets a million ton quota which will increase 5 percent each year. European countries are trying to protect the exports of their former colonies where bananas are produced. Costa Rica also earned a 200 metric ton quota for milk of the 1,900 tons allotted to all of Central America. There is a quota for hard cheese of 317 metric tons that will increase 5 percent each year. Costa Rica also will be able to export 9,500 tons of meat and 20,000 tons of rice free of duties each year. Frozen shrimp and yucca get free access immediately. Negotiations between the European Union and the Central American states began in 2007. The Unión Costarricense de Cámaras y Asociaciones del Sector Empresarial Privado noted that Costa Rica provides 60 percent of the exports that Central America sends to the European Union. |
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Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
go free in Dominical case By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A judge decided Tuesday that prosecutors have insufficient evidence to hold a 25-year-old man facing an allegation that he brutally beat and critically injured a Dominical area expat. So the judge in the Juzgado de Osa, set free the suspect, Jasón Rojas Rodríguez. Meanwhile, Ben Vaughn, the victim, remains in Hospital CIMA surrounded by family and friends. Indira Aguilar, a public defender assigned to Rojas, said that the judge lifted restrictions on the man because the Judicial Investigating Organization could not find sufficient proofs. Monday Rojas was ordered held for six months preventative detention. For some reason that has not been made clear, agents also leveled a fraud charge against the man, who, according to Dominical sources, used to work for Vaughn's Guys in the Zone real estate company. There were insufficient proofs for that, too, the judge ruled. The man has to sign in every 15 days with prosecutors, and he cannot leave the country, according to the stipulations of the judge. William Soto, the prosecutor assigned to the case, said that judicial investigators will continue to seek evidence that could lead to possible future judicial processes. The manner in which Vaughn was injured generated conflicting stories. Initially he was participating in a community watch and spotted men burglarizing a home. Later friends said he simply was sitting at home and saw a man steal something. In any case, the confrontation that led to his critical head injury took place near a restaurant where friends said there were witnesses. Students face robbers By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Three 16-year-old high school students became robbery victims Tuesday in two separate incidents. A band of four juveniles, from 12 to 16 years, robbed a student of the Colegio Superior de Señoritas of her backpack by the point of a knife to the neck and threatened a classmate, said the Fuerza Pública. Officers apprehended the four shortly after a passerby came to the aid of the girls. The girls left school and were on the way to a bus stop in the center of San José. Two of the suspects, both females, had been suspended from another school recently. In Plaza González Víquez, two men held up a Liceo de Costa Rica student. Two suspects were captured quickly. |
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