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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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| San
José,
Costa Rica, Monday, May 24, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 100 |
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Our readers' opinion
Calderón and Obama tryto divert public attention Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Having lived in México, Perú, Guatemala, Honduras, and for the past 12 years in my new home, Costa Rica, I have been watching the political charade going on with our Neighbors to the North. Have you ever been to México? As you drive down any highway in Mexico there are checkpoints. At these checkpoints the Mexican officials, with very large guns, use RACIAL PROFILING, to throughly check the immigration status of every white skinned person, GRINGOS, who happen to pass by. Better have your passport and papers in order in México or you will be hassled. At the very least a large bribe will be in order before you are allowed to go on your way. These checkpoints occur every 50 to 100 kilometers. They have been stopping people ever since my first trip in 1968. The exact same RACIAL PROFILING takes place in every Latin American country in the hemisphere, including Costa Rica. It is normal for the immigration officials to raid a tourist hangout and check the visa and immigration status of everyone in the location. I say no big deal. Every country and state has the right to control who is in their jurisdiction, including ARIZONA. The disgraceful speech by the president of México in front of the American Congress was one of the most hypocritical displays of political theater I have seen since I was old enough to watch "Howdy Doody." Shame on the Democrats for that standing ovation. If President Obama, Eric Holder, Napolitano, and the rest of the Chicago gangsters running things in Washington D.C. bothered to read the Arizona law, they would find out, as I have, that it is less intrusive then the federal Immigration laws that are already on the books. I predict it will win any legal challenge by the Supreme Court. They are not interested in facts, they are not interested in the truth. They are only interested in one thing, POWER and how to keep it. The easiest way to keep it is to divide and conquer. What is going on up there? Has everyone gone completely nuts? This president is grasping at straws and attempting to do whatever he can to divert the publics attention from the real problems facing the average American, THE ECONOMY, STUPID. Where are the JOBS? He has no clue how to fix things. All he cares about is polarizing the American electorate and getting re-elected. I am afraid that this president has not learned his history lessons very well. Remember what happened after President Johnson? NIXON. Remember what happened after President Carter? Reagan. The backlash from these two presidents and their moderate socialistic policies is nothing compared to what is about to occur in the U.S. Where does the President of Mexico get off lecturing the U.S. Congress, and the American people about discrimination, racial profiling, and illegal immigrants? Mr. Calderón needs to take a long hard look at his failed narco state and concentrate on fixing the problems of Mexico. He has found a partner in President Obama, in the tactics of diversions. Have you been to México lately? No wonder why they are fleeing by the thousands to the North. Every day that I wake up in Costa Rica I thank God for the opportunity to live and work in this tolerant society. I feel sorry for those in Arizona and the U.S. who have to listen to their politicians calling them racist and lighting the fires of racial tension. They are playing a very dangerous game. Leo Plumley
Playa Hermosa México should take care of its own citizenry Dear A.M. Costa Rica: While I can agree with much of what Mexican President Calderón said about the U. S. straightening out its immigration laws, and while I certainly do believe the U. S. needs to do something to control firearms, and needs to truly stop the so-called war on drugs (maybe legalize them, and tax the hell out of them), why is it that Mexico has never once taken responsibility for their own inability to feed, clothe, educate, and care for their own? Instead of pointing fingers at their neighbor, why doesn’t Mexico end its own corruption, and provide for their own citizens so that those citizens don’t continue their exodus from their homeland? Maybe if all those poor people who want to work could find work in their homeland, they wouldn’t be so attracted to the U. S. John G. Dungan,
Aguacate de Tilaran Chayote is good substitute for local apples in pies Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Regarding "In praise of the chayote." Despite assertion of the author, the person from whom I learned about chayote passed on her tradition of sharing the delicate, soft, delicious inner seed with the nearest person to you. My family have benefited from the experience, though, I admit it is not universally appreciated. Also, readers may be interested to know that the chayote makes a better "apple" pie than the bland, soft apples found in Costa Rica. It can be sliced, mixed with cinnamon, sugar, butter, and some tarter fruits like dried cranberries or blueberries and other ingredients for an interesting, tasty treat. Next time I will try mixing it with cerambola (star fruit). Jerry Ward
Vermont
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 24, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 100 | |||||||||
| Cliffs along major highways crumble as downpour hits |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The first strong dose of the rainy season revealed deficiencies in the major highways. Boulders as big as a volkswagen fell on a motorcycle and other vehicles on the new Autopista del Sol. Similar problems resulted in the closure of Ruta 32, the main highway from San José to Guápiles and Limón. That road was closed in early afternoon. The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional registered 51.8 millimeters, about 2 inches, at its Barrio Aranjuez headquarters. Nearly all fell between 2 and 5 p.m., according to the automatic weather station there. Some 37.4 millimeters, about 1.5 inches, were recorded at Juan Santamaría airport. Other parts of the metro area and elsewhere in the country reported no or small amounts of rain. Officials knew that a heavy rain would cause problems on the San José-Limón highway. This is an area of frequent rainfall between 22 and 24 kilometers north of San José in Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. A major slide took place in late April, and the traffic had been restricted to daytime only so observers could see the start of any landslide. The Autopista del Sol is the San José-Caldera highway that |
is being run
by a concession holder. That road, too, had steep slopes that were
bound to give way when rain hit. The concession holder hung up some
chain link fencing in critical spots, but the boulders that fell Sunday
could tear through that easily. They also demolished a concrete wall. Closing the highways is an economic body blow to the country. Limón-bound truckers are detoured through Turrialba, a narrow road where several accidents already have taken place because of the lumbering semis. The Caldera highway was billed as a boon to Pacific tourism and real estate. Earlier this month investigators from the Defensoría de los Habitantes toured the new road in the company with a geologist from the national emergency commission. The Defensoría reported that in one area the geologist went to the top of a hillside and saw cracks in some rocks that indicated the danger of future landslides. The visitors also saw vehicles trying to evade rocks falling from hillsides. And that was not a rainy day. In addition to the immediate danger, the maneuvers drivers have to take can cause an accident, the Defensoría said at the time. To eliminate the problem would be costly. Mountainsides would have to be trimmed back and contoured. Much of the land on the Caldera route that would need work is privately owned. |
| All eyes beginning to turn to South Africa and FÚTBOL |
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By Christopher Howard*
Special to A.M. Costa Rica With the World Cup just 18 days away the interest in soccer here is really heating up. The Cup is contested every four years and is the Super Bowl of soccer. This year’s edition of the cup will be held in South Africa. Retirees in Costa Rica are bound to become interested in soccer or fútbol as it is called in the Spanish-speaking world. The game is almost a religion. Whenever there is a major soccer game, everything comes to a stop and the party begins. Children of all ages can be seen playing soccer on the weekends. Adults even play informal games during their lunch breaks called mejengas. Recently I watched a clasicazo (classic) soccer game with my son. It was between perennial powers Real Madrid and Barcelona. The latter won 2-0, marking the second time the team has defeated Real Madrid at home. Barcelona is led by the superhuman Lio Messi, who is considered the best player in the world, and Real Madrid is led by Cristiano Ronaldo, the “Pretty Boy” of world soccer. In Costa Rica we have a clasicazo which refers to games played between arch rivals Alajuela, known as La Liga, and Saprissa, known as El Monsturo. Basically, here is how soccer is played: Using a round ball, a soccer match is played by two teams wearing different colored shirts. Each team consists of not more than 11 players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. An official match may not start if either team consists of fewer than seven players. Up to a maximum of three substitutes may be used in any match played in an official competition organized under the auspices of the world governing body, the Federation Internationale de Football Assocation. In other competition, the rules must state how many substitutes may be nominated, from three up to a maximum of seven. The duration of an official match is 90 minutes played in two halves — each half lasting 45 minutes. The aim of the game is for one team to score more goals than the opposing team. The winning team is the team that has scored the most goals at the end of the game. Players score a goal when they succeed in moving the whole ball over the opposing team’s goal line, between the goalposts and under the crossbar. Players may use any part of their body except their arms and hands (unless they are tending goal). The ball is out of play when it has wholly crossed the goal line, or touch line — whether on the ground or in the air, and when play has been stopped by the referee. The game is controlled by one referee on the playing field and two assistant referees placed on opposite sidelines. The field (or pitch) of play must be rectangular. The length of the touch line must be greater than the length of the goal line. Length: minimum 90 meters (98.4 yards), maximum 120 meters (131.2 yards). Width: minimum 45 meters (49.2 yards), maximum 90 meters (98.4 yards). International matches: Length: minimum 100 meters (109.4 yards) maximum 110 meters (120.3 yards) Width: minimum 64 meters (70 yards) maximum 75 meters (82 yards). The field of play is marked with lines. These lines belong to the areas of which they are boundaries. The two longer boundary lines are called touch-lines. The two shorter lines are called goal lines. The field of play is divided into two halves by a halfway line. The center mark is indicated at the midpoint of the halfway line. A circle with a radius of 9.15 meters (10 yards) is marked around it. A goal area is defined at each end of the field. A penalty area is defined at each end of the field. Goals must be placed on the center of each goal line. Soccer vocabulary: árbitro — referee banda — sideline cabezazo — header cancha — field defensa - The defense taken as a whole is la defensa. The back four is also termed la zaga |
 Federation Internationale de
Football Assocation photo
Ellis Park in Johannesburg is one of 10 sites where the
matches
will be played.defensores — defenders delantero — forward empate — tie entrenador — coach expulsión – expelled from the game equipo — team extremo - Winger – Easily remembered as a winger plays on the extremes of the pitch. falta — foul fuera de lugar — offside fútbol — soccer jugador — player “Gooooooooooool! — Goal! — Said when someone scores. guardameta, portero, arquero — goalkeeper hincha – a fan juez de línea – line judge marcar — to score medio tiempo – half time mediocampista — mid-fielder mejenga — an informal pick-up game mejengear — to play an informal pick-up game partido, juego — game pelota — ball penal — penalty kick penales— shoot out primer tiempo — first half referee - árbitro saque — kick off saque de banda — side throw-in saque de esquina – corner kick saque de puerta or meta – goal kick segundo tiempo— second half tarjeta amarilla — yellow card (warning) tarjeta roja — red card (expulsion) técnico - coach tiro de esquina — corner kick tiro libre — free kick travesaño — cross-bar * Christopher Howard, who has a master's degree in linguistics and Spanish, is the author/publisher of the 16th edition of the perennial bestselling "The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica," "Guide to Real Estate in Costa Rica" and the one-of-a-kind "Official Guide to Costa Rican Spanish." He also is a relocation and retirement expert who conducts custom and group retirement/relocation tours every month. For information: www.liveincostarica.com. Articles similar to the above may be found at www.costaricaspanish.net |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, May 24, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 100 | |||||||||
| Costa Rica online daily shakes up
president of Panamá |
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By Eric Jackson
editor of The Panamá News Nuestro Pais, the less than two-year-old Web site of a small news organization aligned with Costa Rica's leftist Frente Amplio party, which holds one seat in the national legislature, has all of a sudden made a big international splash. Its editor and publisher, veteran reporter Carlos Salazar, claims that he started out looking at suspicions that Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli was funneling money to right-wing candidates in Costa Rica's elections earlier this year, and came across something else. Thus, he claims, results a series of stories to the effect that: * The relationship between Ricardo Martinelli and his cousin, Ramón Martinelli, the latter now in prison in México on charges that he laundered drug money for the ultra-vicious Beltran Leyva Cartel (whose enforcers are the notorious Los Zetas) was closer than many people here ever expected, to the extent that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration believes that it involved Ramón funneling drug cartel money into the 2009 Martinelli presidential campaign via Ricardo's supermarkets and a private foundation. * U.S. relations with Panama are strained because of Martinelli's ties with the underworld because when he was a prosecutor one of Martinelli's high court appointees, José Abel Almengor, blew the cover on an international investigation that had the president's cousin as just one of many targets; that Martinelli replaced U.S. security advisors with Israeli ones "to evade U.S. vigilance over the mafia management of the government;" because the presence of the Israeli Mossad and its associated contractor companies compromises the neutrality and security of the Panama Canal; because Martinelli's acting attorney general has dropped cases against Colombian racketeer David Murcia Guzman and other high-profile organized crime figures; and because Washington does not like Martinelli's "dictatorial style." Martinelli and his spokespeople issued furious denials, which by and large did not match the specific allegations. The president said that his cousin was the "black sheep" of the family and had not had anything to do with his political party, Cambio Democratico, for nine years. Any and all associations with the drug offenders, real or alleged, around Ramón were denied. It was claimed that relations with the United States are excellent. Nuestro Pais, by and large, did not name its sources, but it said that they included Panamanians with close relationships with the Drug Enforment Administration, Mexican officials and U.S. diplomats. On the face of it, some of those Panamanian sources appear to be Partido Revolucionario Democrático-leaning people in the courts and prosecutors or former prosecutors who are not happy with the new management of acting attorney general Giuseppe Bonissi. The American Embassy here had no comment about the stories. But from various sources, the late April and early May visits of former U.S. diplomat John Maisto and Arturo Valenzuela, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for Western Hemispheric affairs included meetings with Martinelli and other top Panamanian officials that were in the nature of riot act readings. Nevertheless, when Vice President and Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela visted Washington for a meeting of the Council of the Americas, Hillary Clinton referred to Varela and his Colombian counterpart as "my friends." But afterwards, Varela met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg — not someone of equal rank like Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton, but a fourth- or fifth-string official. Their joint communique stated that Varela and Steinberg "reaffirmed the strong friendship between the United States and Panama, as well as our mutual commitment to continue working closely on a broad range of bilateral and multilateral issues." The Palacio de las Garzas and Don Winner, a Web site publisher, took this to be a ringing U.S. endorsement of the Martinelli administration. Those who know much about diplomacy saw it as a snub and an indication that there are indeed problems in the Washington-Panamá relationship. Meanwhile in Costa Rica, Nuestro Pueblo devastated the Martinelli administration's denials by publishing a series of photos taken during last year's election campaign, featuring Ricardo Martinelli embracing every one of the Panamanians arrested in Mexico along with his cousin. Panama's labor/left FRENADESO coalition chimed in with a detailed history of Ramón Martinelli's relationship with Cambio Democratico, which included his tenure as |
 Cambio Democratico photo
Martinelli grasps the hand of a voter on a campaign visit
before his election party treasurer and his 1999 to 2004 term as one of his cousin's hand-picked Central American Parliament deputies (complete with diplomatic passport) and his participation in the 2009 campaign. So much for not having had anything to do with the guy for nine years. President Martinelli's team blamed the Partido Revolucionario Democrático for being the source of the stories, which the opposition party denied. Although most of the mainstream media ignored the stories — largely because the oligarchs who run them are loathe to admit the validity of any story that a left-wing medium breaks — La Estrella and El Siglo were the main exceptions, while Telemetro provided a TV forum in which Martinelli fumed against Nuestro Pais. Then Carlos Salazar gave an interview over KW Continente radio, with journalist Adelita de Coriat. He was stumbling, rambling and sometimes evasive, but basically defended his stories. He seemed at one point to imply that the Israelis were actually doing security for the Panama Canal. Given that the Institutional Protection Service is, more than just the presidential guard, also Panama's national security intelligence agency, there might be reason to suppose this but there is no direct evidence of this on the public record. President Martinelli and Minister of the Presidency Jimmy Papadimitriu counter-attacked, calling Salazar a liar who's endangering the security of the Panama Canal and promising to send lawyers to Costa Rica to charge him with defamation — not about the gangland charges, but about the broadcast claims about Panama's security relationship with Israel. On Friday a delegation of lawyers representing the Martinelli adminstration went to Costa Rica to file charges. That, of course, brought in many international news agencies and most of Panama's corporate mainstream media around to covering the controversy. Now Panamá faces the prospect of defending its relationship with Israel and explaining the Panama Canal's defenses and why they are compromised by Carlos Salazar's reporting in a foreign courtroom. Nuestro Pais is calling Martinelli's bluff and journalists across the region are starting to rally to the Web site's defense. The appearance is that Martinelli doesn't want to litigate about his cousin or his campaign finances, but thinks that the truth is on his side about a detail of the Israeli role in Panama's security apparatus, and that he made a rash and impulsive legal decision that's likely to come back to haunt him. For one thing, he has set up an international spotlight on his government and created an opportunity for the controversy to be replayed for months and years to come. And consider the alternative, if the decision to take action in the Costa Rican courts was not a foolish mistake committed in the courts of a manic "gotcha" euphoria. If the decision to magnify and extend the publicity about this unpleasant set of stories by way of foreign litigation was deliberately made in cold blood, what desperate facts prompted that? — Used with permission.
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Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía
Law enforcement officers check out a presumed smuggling craft
that was burned after the cargo was unloaded.y Segurisdad Pública photo Burned boat is evidence of shift in smuggling routes By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas located the burned hulk of a fastboat on the Caribbean coast near the mouth of the Río Pacuare early Friday. The discovery prompted a series of searches over the weekend because trained dogs sensed traces of cocaine on the partly sunken craft. The boat probably was destroyed to eliminate clues. Also burned were the 200-horsepower outboard motors attached to the craft. The discovery underscored the shift in strategy of drug smugglers who now are using the coastal Caribbean more than in the past. The Guardacosta is reinforcing its operations there to counter the new threat. Drug smugglers are reported to be constructing storage facilities in lightly populated eastern Nicaragua. In the past Caribbean smuggler routes took boats with illicit cargo far to the east well out of Costa Rican waters. The drugs that the burned boat carried probably were taken by vehicle to a storage area where smugglers will make an effort to ship the goods north via a land route. There was a litter of food packages and other items around the boat that suggested the crew stayed in the mangroves for awhile. |
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