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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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traffic signals pretty hard By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The transport ministry says that some of its traffic light systems have taken a beating during the last week of heavy afternoon thunderstorms. The Dirección General de Ingeriería de Tránsito of the ministry said the worst problem is in Guadelupe because a lightning strike burned out the controller and communication antenna of the complex system at an intersection. Workers put the system on local control while they installed a new controller. The traffic lights usually are in constant communication with a central office so that they work together. Other problems are at Avenida 9 and Calle Central and Avenida 11 at Calle 13 in Barrio Amón, both in San José, said the agency. Also knocked out by lighting was a monitoring camera near the Caribbean bus station. Disgraced governor's wife here to brave jungle By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Illinois news outlets report that the wife of former governor Ron Blagojevich is headed to Costa Rica to participate in an NBC reality television show. This is the "I'm a Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here" show that debuts Monday. The woman is Patti Blagojevich, still not exactly a celebrity. But her husband, who is under indictment, was stopped from participating by a federal judge who would not let him leave the state. He became a celebrity when it appeared he was trying to auction off Barack Obama's senate seat to the highest political bidder. There are eight to nine participants selected so far. The tenth is still not known to the public. Also not known is where the participants will brave the Costa Rica jungle. Some have suggested the Papagayo Peninsula in the vicinity of the upscale Four Seasons Hotel. Others have said the impenetrable depths of Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. But one inside source suggests a rainforest preserve near Dominical. The show's Web site suggests that participants will have to eat bugs in order to survive. Budget request will pay for protection of victims By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Casa Presidencial will send the legislature a budget amendment calling for 3 billion colons, some $5.3 million, to pay for protection of victims and witnesses. The legislature passed the law but did not provide a way to finance it. The decision comes after a meeting between officials from all branches of government Thursday afternoon. Lawmakers eventually put the responsibility for protecting witnesses and victims on the Ministerio Público, but that is simply an independent agency of lawyers. So the responsibility fell on the next best agency in the judiciary, the Judicial Investigating Organization. Director Jorge Rojas complained that his employees were investigators and were not trained in protection techniques. He also said he needed money to hire new people, buy equipment and readjust his staff. That's where the budget amendment comes in. Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, minister of the Presidencia, said that the government would seek donations from the People's Republic of China for additional resources. Anti-tuna fiesta generates letter to the president By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Some 704 persons have signed a letter to President Óscar Arias Sanchez in opposition to the proposed tuna farm in the Golfo Dulce. The letter was reported by the environmental organization Program para Restauración de la Tortuga Marina. The signers ask Arias to overrule his environmental minister who has approved the tuna farm. This is the project by Granjas Atuneras de Golfito S.A. that seeks to buy captured yellow fin tuna from local fishermen and raise them in what are basically ocean feedlots. The environmental organization and the residents of the area worry about pollution from tuna waste and uneaten food. The signatures were gathered at a festival last week in Pavones in southwestern Costa Rica. Same-sex marriages vetoed By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Sala IV constitutional court has rejected an appeal against a section of family law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A lawyer filed the appeal, which, if accepted, would have opened the way to same-sex marriages. The appeal sought to change the family code phrase to say marriage is a union between persons. New Heredia police station By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Government officials will inaugurate the site of a new regional police headquarters in Aurora de Heredia this morning. Oil supply to be unchanged, cartel members decide By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Members of the international oil monopoly have decided to keep the cartel's production unchanged following a ministerial meeting in Vienna, Austria. The decision is based on expectations that the world may soon recover from its economic slump. The decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to keep output at nearly 25 million barrels a day was widely anticipated. And ministers at the meeting in Vienna did not dash those expectations. Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri told reporters the decision was based on confidence that as the world emerges from its current economic crisis, it will begin to use and demand more oil. That, in turn will drive up slumping oil prices, a better outcome for cartel members than boosting prices through production cuts.
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Two lawmakers question
quality of highway reconstruction
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Another controversy is brewing. This one is over the reconstruction of the Autopista Próspero Fernández. Two opposition lawmakers led an inspection of the work and called on the central government not to allow the concession holder to collect tolls until the highway is brought up to specifications. This is the easternmost portion of the Autopista del Sol, the highway to Caldera which will open the central Pacific coast to easier access. The complaints by the lawmakers are technical but could have long-term ramifications. For example, they complain that some storm sewers are too small and that some grading is too steep. They also said that the contractors reduced the width of the access way to bridges. The lawmakers are Marvin Rojas Rodríguez of the Partido Acción Ciudadana and Mario Quirós Lara of the Movimiento Libertario. They called attention to what they |
said were anomalies in construction
during a legislative session Thursday. In an earlier press release the unlikely pair said that certain finishes were bad and that the company has not made a sufficient payment to be applied against any environmental damage that might take place. The company posted $1.2 million but should have posted $3 million as a percentage of an expanded project, the pair said. They said they seek an independent technical commission to inspect the work. One serious allegation, based on third-party assessments, is that the materials used to widen the bridges is not adequate. Quirós has filed a Sala IV constitutional court appeal seeking inspection reports and other information on the highway job. The toll will be 310 colons for each leg of a San José-Santa Ana-San José trip. That's about $1.10 round trip. Tolls are not being collected now, in part because the toll booth plazas are not completed. |
| After necessary visits a retreat into 19th century is in
order |
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| My
calendar for the past two weeks contained chores I had been dreading.
Prior to my appointment with my cardiologist I had to go to Hospital
San Juan de Dios for some lab tests. I have become weary of long
lines, so I went to a private lab and asked how much the exams would
cost. Almost 50,000 colons, the lab technician told me. For nearly $90 I figured I could wait in line. So I headed to the hospital at 7:30 without breakfast. San Juan de Dios is my least favorite of the Caja hospitals. It is the oldest and largest (or seems so) and, if I didn’t know better, I would say there are always thousands of people there. The huge main waiting room is filled no matter the time of day. The lines in front of the lab windows were not that long, and one in particular had only one person, so I stood there. The young man ahead of me looked at the paper in my hand and told me I should go to another line around the corner. It was another line for seniors, disabled and pregnant. There were a dozen people there, but it moved quickly because two lab people were being very efficient. (The lab technicians with the Caja are the most expert I’ve found.) When it was my turn, I was informed that I was in the wrong line and to return to where I had been. So much for unsolicited advice. But I discovered myself finished and out on the sidewalk within a half-hour from my arrival. I didn’t know what to do with myself except dance a little jig. Okay, I handled that. Second challenge was to go to immigration to replace my resident’s carnet, which had got itself lost. Now I think it was stolen. I had noticed before that the crowds at immigration were smaller as the morning wore on, so I went in the middle of the morning. I had my letter from the lawyer and wish I’d made a copy of my carnet before I lost it. The young man who waited on me was the same one who had told me I needed a letter from my lawyer — except now he was wearing a surgical mask. He took my letter and went away. And stayed away for 45 minutes. He returned to tell me there was no such number as given on my carnet and no name matching mine in their files. That’s a bit of a downer for someone who has been accepted as a resident for over eight years. He told me to return next week with a copy of my passport. |
I still had my cardiologist appointment to get through, or I
should
say, wait for. Three of us waited for over two hours on the back
patio of
the hospital. We watched the lightening slice the sky and
listened to
the crack of nearby thunder and the rumble of the more distant thunder.
And we watched as the water rose above the drain ditch and flowed onto
the patio. Then back to immigration where my passport did no good.
I am still
unknown and unheard of. Unlike the friendly pub Cheers, at
immigration, nobody knows my name. |
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ICE plans to offer television
over the Internet this year
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, known as ICE, said Thursday that it expected to be offering television over the Internet by the end of the year. The disclosure came as the Contraloría de la República rejected two appeals disputing the award of a $19.7 million contract to set up the electronics for the television feeds. Two firms that did not win the contracts filed the appeals. The company ITS Servicios de Infocomunicación S.A, won the contract. ZTE Corp. and Consorcio DESCA-ATL. filed the appeals, which were dismissed in decisions announced Thursday. The Contraloría, as the nation's budgetary and financial watchdog, now has to study the contract in detail and either approve or reject it. The contract was awarded April 15, and a notice to that |
effect was
published in the La Gaceta official newspaper later in the month. A company spokesman outlined the possibility of television service in discussing the contract. Television already is available through the Internet, although the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is no longer promoting connections. Teletica, Channel 7, has a pay-per-view system and places videos online on its own Web page. However, the new service is expected to be television on demand, hence the need for a new system. The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad has been hard pressed at times to deliver e-mails much less television signals, and the company management complains that its best technicians are being lured away by private companies that are now entering the telecom market. Amnet, the television cable company, has applied to offer independent Internet service. |
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Labor monitor predicts
bleak employment situation By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The International Labor Organization is predicting between 210 million and 239 million people around the world will be unemployed in 2009. That corresponds to global unemployment rate of from 6.5 to 7.4 percent respectively. The organization has launched a report on "Tackling The Global Jobs Crisis" in advance of the organization's annual conference, which begins Wednesday. The report presents a bleak picture of increasing job loss in every region of the world. It projects an increase of between 39 and 59 million unemployed since 2007. And, says 200 million more workers are at risk of joining the ranks of people living on less than $2 a day. The director general of the International Labor Organization, Juan Somavia, said the economies of some countries that have introduced fiscal stimulus packages are beginning to show faint signs of recovery. But, he says it is hard to know when unemployment will bottom out. "Based on the experience of previous crises, we know that unemployment returns to pre-crisis levels at a slow and uneven pace and on average, it can take four to five years after economic recovery starts or pre-crisis unemployment levels to be recuperated," said Somavia. The Report says 2009 will represent the worst global performance on record in terms of job creation. It notes 45 million new job seekers enter the global labor market each year. This means that in the period between 2009 and 2015, around 300 million new jobs will have to be created simply to absorb the growth in the labor force. Somavia says everything points to a global jobs crisis. And, that, he says is why the International Labor Organization is proposing a global jobs pact, which is intended to reduce the lag time between economic recovery and unemployment recovery. He says this is not a jobs program, but a policy approach, that aims to make sure stimulus measures and other government policies better address the needs of people who need protection and work. He says it also is based on a productive vision of crisis management through investment and enterprise promotion. Among its key findings, the report notes the developed economies and European Union are likely to account for 35 to 40 percent of the total global increase in unemployment, despite accounting for less than 16 percent of the global labor force. The International Labor Organization projects an increase in unemployment of up to 25 percent in the Middle East and up to 13 percent in North Africa this year. And, it says, in sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 73 percent of the region's workers are in vulnerable employment. It adds this could rise to more than 77 percent this year. |
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| Latin
American news digest |
 Quake kills at least six
in coastal Honduras By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Officials still are assessing the damage after a strong earthquake struck off the Honduran coast early Thursday. The quake killed at least six people in Honduras and sending residents fleeing into the streets across parts of Central America. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.1 magnitude quake struck about 64 kilometers northeast of the Honduran island resort of Roatan. The agency said the earthquake was at a depth of just 10 kilometers (6 miles) and centered about 130 kilometers (about 80 miles) north of the coastal city of La Ceiba. Authorities said the dead included a 15-year-old boy who was killed when a home collapsed in La Lima, Honduras. The quake caused damage to buildings in a number of towns. Other children were reported to have died under the rubble, too. The Pacific Tsunami Center issued a tsunami watch for Honduras, Belize and Guatemala. But it canceled the alert after no damaging waves occurred within two hours after the quake. Much of the country appears to be cut off from telephone or Internet service. Cell phone service was spotty. The quake, which took place at 2:24 a.m. local time, also was felt in Belize. A report from Honduras said that the courthouse in San Pedro Sula suffered damage and that a stadium wall collapsed in Santa Barbara. |
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