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on display to foreigners By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
About 130 business people from 23 countries are at the San José Palacio Hotel today in discussions with 100 Costa Rican service, health and product providers. The event is the Costa Rica Services Summit. The organizer, the Promotora del Comercio Exterior, said that there were 1,800 confirmed appointments where foreigners will discuss business with Costa Rican company representatives. The two-day event is the fifth edition. In addition to face-to-face meetings, the visitors will be attending specialized seminars to hear what Costa Rica offers in such areas as health. Man, 20, murdered on beach in Puerto Viejo de Limón By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An early morning discussion on the beach at Puerto Viejo de Talamanca ended in murder early Wednesday. A group of younger residents were gathered on the beach after partying all night. About 4 a.m. one individual, suspected to be drunk, according to the Judicial Investigating Organization, went to his nearby home and returned with a pistol. With much discussion he shot Carlos Navarro, 20, twice in the head, twice in the chest and twice in the arm. Navarro was dead at the scene when emergency crews arrived. The suspect was detained a few hours later on the identification of witnesses. Our readers' opinions
The choice is simple:Either pay or renounce Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Mr. Barbour is not ready to pay taxes, nor is he willing to renounce his U.S. citizenship. Seems he would rather complain to all of us than remedy his own situation. His choice is rather simple: either renounce or pay. I have learned throughout the years that people pay for what they value. G. J. Rancourt
London, England He wants the perks but doesn't want to pay Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Just another opinion from a regular Costa Rica visitor, a response to a recent opinion by Dean Barbour. Paying fair taxes is a responsibility of all U.S. citizens. The fact that you've benefited from a U.S. lifestyle that gave you the ability to earn enough to make such decisions as to move away doesn't automatically relieve you of your responsibility on your terms. It's obvious you've rejected citizenship in your heart, claim to only hold onto the citizenship so you get treated better in the airport lines. I don't buy this one instant as it's obvious you want the perks but don't want to pay. Yes, you can rationalize all you want: You claim Bush was a venal man, so you refuse to live in that country with those "people" who would elect him. Wow, you are to be admired! Grow-up. Try this: Don't visit or live the U.S. as somewhere, somehow, we'll vote another president into office you don't agree with. Renounce your citizenship. As long as you keep it, you're part of the venal-person-electing population. If you were truly one to be admired, you'd stand on your principles rather than talk. I noticed you didn't bad mouth Obama much, who is actually the one telling you to pay up. Yes, I have liberal leanings, wasn't happy with the Bush election, but embraced our democracy and worked harder in 2008. Your fellow liberal, Jim Myers
Virginia How about past benefits from U.S. tax money Dear A.M. Costa Rica: People like Dean Barbour offend me, plus you offend two of our presidents that have nothing to do with you trying to avoid paying taxes. Did you vote ? Are you collecting monies from Social Security and a pension? Do you have family in the U.S. ? If you do, do they know how you feel about the U.S. ? Did you go to public schools? I'm betting you did and maybe you have family who attend public schools that cost U.S. taxpayers. People from Cuba die on handmade boats to come to the U.S. then work paying there taxes. I've met two men from Costa Rica who marred U.S. woman to stay in the U.S. paying there taxes. You should take your passport to our U.S. Embassy our taxes pay for then ask somebody. How you can give up your U.S. Citizenship? Then go to a Costa Rica embassy asking somebody can you be a Costa Rican Citizen ?. Ed Fulmer
Cape Coral, Florida, Costa Rican tourist We urge a needed change Dear readers: It is the position of A.M. Costa Rica that everyone should pay their fair taxes. However, the position of this newspaper is that U.S. citizens overseas should not be obligated to pay taxes on money that they earn outside the United States. That once was the rule, but the father of the former U.S. vice president, also a U.S. senator, pushed in 1969 and 1970 to expand the U.S. tax code to include expats. Expats at that time had a slogan: "Gore Sen. Gore" as a means of showing their unhappiness. But of course they had no voice. If the United States insists on charging taxes on money its citizens earn overseas, there is another action it should take. But remember that the first $87,600 earned overseas is tax free. So the tax rule does not affect too many working individuals. The absence of Medicare services overseas is unfair. U.S. Social Security beneficiaries here must pay for Medicare but they cannot use it unless they fly back to the United States. The system should be expanded to accommodate them. Jay Brodell
editor of A.M. Costa Rica
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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Legislature OKs eight-hour
workday for domestic employees
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
What a concept: An eight-hour workday and extra pay for extra hours. And benefits even. While much of the world accepts such conditions as traditional and normal, domestic servants in Costa Rica work 12-hour days frequently without overtime or benefits. In fact many are in what could easily be described as servitude, working without benefits and at the whim of employors. The Asamblea Legislativa for the second and final time voted Wednesday to change the legal code so that domestic employees will only work eight hours a day. That is certain to put a crimp in the lifestyle of some in Costa Rica who expect the maid to serve an early breakfast and a brandy at bedtime. |
The introduction to the bill, which
still must be signed by President
Óscar Arias Sánchez, quotes an Estado de la Nación
report that said
only 7, 514 domestic workers were signed up under the social security
system and workplace insurance. An advocacy organization, the
Asociación Nacional de Trabajadoras Domésticas, said that
there are
about 80,000 domestic employees in Costa Rica and that those signed up
with the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social represented about 10
percent of the workforce. In addition, many of the domestic employees are illegal immigrants, mainly from Nicaragua, who are vulnerable to all sorts of exploitation. There also are many children working at such jobs. Some lawmakers characterized the current conditions as discrimination. Lawmakers noted that the measure was 15 years in the legislative hopper. Final approval had been held up over technical issues with the bill. |
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Costa Rican national team
retains dominance at home
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Visiting U.S. soccer players were mauled Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss to the Costa Rican national team. Costa Rica's Alvaro Saborio scored first with less than two minutes gone in the first half, and that set the tone for the rest of the evening. The game was in Estadio Ricardo Saprisssa in Tibás where the U.S. team never has won. Another Tico goal in the 13th minute and one in the |
second half sealed
the victory. U.S. player Landon Donovan managed to score a goal
on a
penalty kick almost as the game ended. The U.S. team will host Honduras in Chicago Saturday. Costa Rica will play in Trinidad. The victory Wednesday put the Costa Rican team at the head of its group in World Cup qualifying play with nine points. The U.S. team is two points behind. Three of the six-team group will go to south Africa next year for World Cup competition. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page |
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Door open a crack to let Cuba
join hemispheric organization
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Organization of American States has agreed to reverse a 1962 decision suspending Cuba's Communist government from the regional group. Officials say the decision may have little impact for Cuba, which has said it will not return to the group. Delegates debated over two days before reaching an agreement that invites Cuba to return to the group after meeting a series of conditions. Officials say differences over whether to include conditions and in what form was the main point of contention in the negotiations. Cuban allies like Nicaragua and Venezuela opposed placing any conditions, and the United States wanted to ensure Cuba complied with democratic principles before returning to the Organization of American States. Patricia Rodas Baca, The Honduran foreign minister, read the resolution to delegates in San Pedro Sula. She said Cuba can rejoin after initiating a dialog with the group and conforming to its practices and principles. The document says those principles include democracy, self-determination and human rights. In San José President Óscar Arias Sánchez called for a direct and open dialog and normal relations that would let nations discuss their similarity and disagreements. His administration announced March 19 to resume normal diplomatic relations and to exchange ambassadors with Havana. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who took part in negotiations Tuesday, said she was pleased with the compromise measure. The top State Department diplomat for Latin America, Tom Shannon, told delegates that |
Washington continues to pursue
greater contact with Cuba. "We will seek new ways to engage Cuba to benefit the people of both nations and the hemisphere. And we will continue to advocate for democratic governance in Cuba and throughout the Americas," he said. For some Latin American leaders Cuba's suspension from the organization revived bitter memories from the Cold War and civil conflicts throughout the hemisphere. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said the vote helped to turn a new page. Zelaya said the Cold War had ended here in San Pedro Sula, and he thanked all the delegates for their cooperation. Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Cuba and other Latin American nations have suffered a long history of injuries at the hands of so-called imperialism. He told delegates that the United States could do even more to reconcile the past. Maduro said it should not be too much to ask for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba. He said Venezuela welcomed the decision but it was not enough. Cuba's government has repeatedly said it has no intentions of rejoining the Organization of American States regardless of the actions taken by delegates. An essay published Wednesday and attributed to former president Fidel Castro said the group was an accomplice to crimes committed against his country. In Washington, a group of U.S. congressmen condemned the decision and proposed a bill that would withhold U.S. funding for the group, which is based in the U.S. capital. In a statement, Rep. Connie Mack of Florida said hundreds of Cubans live as political prisoners and many suffer constant fear and repression. |
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Tiananmen anniversary fails to get noticed in Costa Rica
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Today is the 20th anniversary of the Chinese crackdown on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, but there does not seem to be any formal activities planned here in Costa Rica. Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets for weeks in Beijing and around the country, first to honor the late reformist leader Hu Yaobang and then to demand basic |
rights denied to them, the
U.S. State Department said, adding that hundreds of lives were lost
when the army was called in. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of State, called upon China to release those who still are languishing in prison as a result of the crackdown. Elsewhere there were reports that China has blocked Internet sites to prevent anymention of the crackdown. |
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U.N. investigator critical
of U.S. death penalty By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A U.N. Special Investigator is criticizing the application of the death penalty in the United States, saying it sometimes leads to miscarriages of justice. The expert, Philip Alston, calls for the United States to enact more stringent safeguards to protect the innocent. Alston submitted a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Alston is not calling for the United States to end capital punishment. But, he urges the government to make sure the imposition of the death penalty complies with fundamental due process requirements. "It is widely acknowledged that innocent people have most likely been executed in the U.S," said Alston. "Yet, in Alabama and Texas, the two states that I visited, I found a shocking lack of urgency about the need to reform criminal-justice system flaws." The Innocence Project, an unrelated non-profit legal clinic affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at New York's Yeshiva University, says that there have been 238 post-conviction exonerations in the United States based on new DNA evidence. Some 17 of those exonerated were on death row. Alston says the U.S. Congress should enact legislation permitting a review of state and federal death penalty cases. Alston, an Australian, teaches at New York University's School of Law. The acting deputy chief at the U.S. mission in Geneva, Lawrence Richter, said he accepts Alston's observations on the need for safeguards in serious cases of capital punishment. But, he adds the U.S. system already has robust safeguards in place. "For example, if the death penalty were disproportionate to the severity of the underlying offense, it could be challenged under the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as being cruel and unusual punishment," said Richter, adding: "We fully share Professor Alston's concerns about the need to address the issue of wrongful convictions, and indeed the U.S. government has made this a priority. We are one of only five countries in the world that belong to the Innocence Network, a group of countries that are working to embrace modern forensic science and reforms to prevent wrongful convictions." |
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Telecom agency seeks registration of networks By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The telecom agency wants any person or company operating a network to file a registration. The wording of the telecommunication law covers even persons who are operating a private telecom network that does not require use of the electromagnetic spectrum. The agency, the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, said that firms providing services to the public must register by June 30, too. That would include companies like Amnet and Cable Tica that provide Internet services. Those firms already have made various applications. But the announcement is unclear as to where the agency draws the line. It says that companies that offer Internet and voice-over-Internet protocol must register even if they do not use the spectrum. The announcement also covers firms or individuals who offer services even if they are not owners of the network. That would seem to include Internet cafe operators who provide Internet telephone service over an outside public network. The announcement also covers those who use private networks that do not require the use of the electromagnetic spectrum. Read literally, that could include a central telephone system, but it seems directed at Internet cable system startups. The requirements are ample and include financial information, maps, technical standards, and plans to service customers. Heredia-San José rail fare to be 350 colons each way By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The new Heredia-San José train line will charge passengers 350 colons (about 61 U.S. cents) for each trip, according to the Authoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos. That is, when the service begins. That could be this month, but the Insituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles is continuing to work on the line. This week the government agency had crews using a special machine to embed concrete cross ties more firmly into the soil. Despite renovating the lines and getting rid of most wood cross ties, the rails still had plenty of motion when a train passed over them. The line has been in service for months but mostly for work trains. The rail agency plans to conduct several days of testing by using passenger trains but no passengers to verify that the route is safe. |
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