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A.M. Costa Rica
Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |||||||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 19, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 121 | |||||||||
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 Laboratorio de Ingeniería
Sísmica graphic
Red dots are the estimated epicenters of
the quakes.There were five 3.0+ quakes
registered over the weekend By the
A.M. Costa Rica staff
The earthquake monitoring laboratory has counted five quakes of magnitude 3.0 or more from Friday through Sunday. The first took place a few minutes before 11 p.m. Friday in the active zone near Tobosi. It was felt most intensely in Frailes de Desamparados, said the Laboratorio de Ingeniería Sísmica Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería at the Universidad de Costa Rica. The second and third quakes took place off the coast of Jacó. The first with a magnitude of 3.2 took place at 1:24 a.m Saturday. The second with a magnitude of 3.7 took place at 12:21 p.m. Sunday. A few minutes later at 12:27 p.m. Sunday a quake with a magnitude of 3.5 took place about some 5 kilometers northeast of San Isidro de Coronado in the Central Valley., Finally a quake with a magnitude of 3.5 took place Sunday at 8:48 p.m. some 13 kilometers or eight miles east of Sámara on the Nicoya peninsula. The Laboratorio's estimate a intensity differed slightly form those reported Monday from the Red Sismológica Nacional. Also at the university.
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
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| A.M. Costa Rica Third
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 19, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 121 | |
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Municipal and other officials get a little testy when they find that someone has disregarded their orders to close, as in this case where the plastic tape has been broken. Beyond are fields of pineapples. |
 Tribunal
Ambiental Administrativo photo
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| Criminal action sought against firm that
grows pineapples |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A pineapple-growing operation in Pococí is facing a criminal action because operators disregarded restrictions put on the plantation by the municipality and the Tribunal Ambiental Administrativo. The action comes at a time when such monoculture operations are coming under increased criticism from environmental groups. For example, the group COECOCeiba Amigos de la Tierra Costa Rica came out with a scathing critique of pineapple production also Monday. The Tribunal Ambiental Administrativo said that since the first of the year residents of San Antonio del Humo, Roxana and the Floridas, in Jiménez de Pococí have field complaints about tree cutting, earth movements and planting pineapples without permits or environmental control. The object of the complaints was the firm Pequeñas Anonas Rojas PAR S.A. The legislative lawmaker José María Villalta filed a complaint with the Tribunal. |
In response to the complain the
Tribunal issued an order insisting on respect for protected areas and
waterways. The Pococí municipal council went even further and Feb. 29 ordered the pineapple operation to close because it had expanded despite a moratorium in effect for growers. In a visit April 22, officials found that the municipal seals had been broken, so the municipality reported it had filed a criminal complaint Thursday. The environmental group COECOCeiba Amigos de la Tierra Costa Rica noted in a press release that pineapple growing has increased as much as 300 percent since 2004. It is a $2 billion business, but the group says that transnational companies, principally Dole, get this money but there is no transfer of wealth to the citizens or communities. The group also complains about the proliferation of flies due to the pineapple wastes and the elimination of traditional agriculture. The group also complain about many of the same environmental problems that the Tribunal has cited in the past: chemicals seeping into the water supply, erosion and even the labor practices. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 19, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 121 | |||||
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| Business chamber proposes a 2.47 percent
salary increase |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The business sector has proposed minimum wage increase of 2.47 percent for the second half of the year. That is in contrast to a proposal by labor leaders for an increase of almost 6 percent. The proposal was by the Unión Costarricense de Cámaras y Asociaciones del Sector Empresarial Privado to the Consejo Nacional de Salarios, which will make the final decision. The business chamber said that the proposal was based on the Central Bank estimate of 5 percent inflation this year and on a formula that was approved by both business and labor in the past. |
The chamber noted that the minimum
wages were increased at a rate of 3.17 percent for the first half
of the year. There are 1.2 million private sector employees, and many of them will be affected by the increase, the chamber noted. Many Costa Ricans work for the minimum wage, which is different for each occupational group. The business chamber proposal would mean a series of monthly raises ranging from about 4,500 colons or $9 to 12,000 colons (about $24) for the range of minimum salaries. Government worker are not covered by the minimum and negotiations for these salaries are not on the table now. Also outside these negotiations are professionals, whose salaries usually are set by their various professional groups. |
| Lawmakers OK for the second time casino
and call center tax |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The legislature Monday passed for the second and final time a tax on casinos and gambling call centers. The measure levies a monthly tax on each slot machine, each gambling table and monthly net income. The call centers face a tax based on the number of employees. Lawmakers pointed out that such a tax was part of the platform on which President Laura Chinchilla ran. A.M. Costa Rica estimated that some casino owners will have to pay the government up to 8.5 million colons (more than $17,000) a month plus 10 percent of their net income, according to the new tax bill. Operators of gambling call centers will have to pay up to |
$82,000 a year in taxes under the
same proposed law. Although the actual wording of the final bill will not be known until it is published in the La Gaceta government newspaper, preliminary drafts grandfathered in casinos that were not related to hotels. Any new casinos will have to be associated with a four- or five-star hotel. Such a measure continues the fiction that the casinos are for tourists, when the bulk of the customers are Costa Rican. The measure passed with 42 of a possible 57 votes. A court appeal by casino operators is possible. The tax is supposed to be used for security purposes, but a last-minute amendment may have allocated all the money for the Ministerio de Justicia y Paz to build jail cells. |
| Methane
discovery advances sea level rise estimates |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A new disclosure of methane gas released by thawing permafrost represents something more for coastal residents to worry about. A Florida State University professor says ancient reserves of methane gas seeping from the melting Arctic ice cap are a powerful greenhouse gas that causes climate warming. The university reports that until recently, the frozen soil and ice served to plug or block these vents. But thawing conditions have allowed the conduits to open, and deep geologic methane now escapes, the university said. The head of the four-member research team is Jeff Chanton. Because he is located in Florida, the bulk of his concern is directed there. He says the methane will expedite the rise in ocean levels. In their studies of Alaska and Greenland, the team found 77 previously undocumented methane seep sites, comprising 150,000 vents to the atmosphere. They used air photos. People who live in coastal areas in Florida could be directly affected, said Chanton, who analyzed the methane and dated it to more than 40,000 years old, according to a university release. All this seeping |
methane
causes more melting ice, Chanton said, which causes sea levels
to rise and could affect coastal real estate values — sooner rather
than later, possibly over the next 50 to 100 years, Chanton said. "Along the flat Florida coastline, a 1-foot rise in sea level could cause anywhere from 10 to 100 feet of shoreline retreat — erosion," the university quoted Chanton as saying. "For us here in Florida, this is really important because we can expect the coast to recede." The study has relevance to coastal Costa Rica where researchers already has estimated the impact of varying amounts of sea level rise. Until now most of the concern has been directed at the release of carbon dioxide, a component of what is called greenhouse gas. The sea is rising at about 3 millimeters a year now. Another recent study said that predictions of sea level rise advanced in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change did not account for some factors. The Intergovernmental panel predicted sea level rise by 2100 to be 20 to 60 centimeters, about 8 to 24 inches. Instead, this current study predicts an increase in sea level of between 60 and 180 centimeters or from two to six feet. And that is without considering methane. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M.
Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 19, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 121 | |||||||||
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| Google
sees censorship on rise even in democracies By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
If the latest numbers from Google are any measure, 2012 is not shaping up as a good year for free speech on the Internet. For the last two or so years, following a high-profile dust-up with the government of China regarding content, the search engine giant Google unveiled its “Transparency Report.” The site compiles specific requests from governments or claimed copyright holders to remove or block content, and charts Google’s responses. For example, from July to December 2011, the government of Brazil issued 128 court orders to remove content, which Google says it complied with 67 percent of the time. In contrast Australia only had six requests during the same period, with a reported Google compliance rate of only 17 percent. The report has become a helpful reference for those monitoring the general tolerance of free expression around the globe, and online trends in specific countries. This week, Google released a new trend report, and, according to Google’s Dorothy Chou, Google senior policy analyst, the news is troubling. “When we started releasing this data in 2010, we also added annotations with some of the more interesting stories behind the numbers,” writes Ms. Chou on the company blog. “We noticed that government agencies from different countries would sometimes ask us to remove political content that our users had posted on our services. We hoped this was an aberration. But now we know it’s not.” The latest report goes on to detail a noticeable increase in the number of governments requesting material be taken down or blocked not for legal reasons per se, but more for image purposes. 270 requests came from Spain regarding material that was critical of public officials, including links, blog posts and YouTube videos; a first-ever request came from Poland to remove an item critical of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Google says it did not comply with any of these requests. However, overall Google reports a 65 percent compliance rate with take-down requests, and as those requests increase — even for nonlegal reasons — so, too, do worries about a growing intolerance of free online expression. “It’s alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect — Western democracies not typically associated with censorship,” says Ms. Chou of the data. Los Cabos hosting summit of leaders from major nations By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The leaders of 19 nations and the European Union, known as the Group of 20, are gathering at the Mexican beach resort Los Cabos for a two-day summit, Monday and today, with worries about economic crises in several European countries overshadowing most other issues. Officials from G20 working groups say the drive to help needy countries remains a major focus of the summit. Mariachi musicians greeted delegations from around the world as they arrived at one of Mexico's most luxurious beach resort areas. But, although much of their work takes place in hotels and conference halls within view of the beaches, the leaders attending this summit will be spending much of their time talking about the debt problems facing Greece, Spain and Italy. The G20 host, Mexican President Felipe Calderón, says participants in the summit should firm up their pledges to the International Monetary Fund of more money to deal with the debt crisis. G20 nations promised to provide more than $400 billion in new loans in April, but several have yet to follow up on that pledge. Representatives from some non-governmental organizations are worried that the G20 focus on the problems of relatively rich nations in Europe might detract from efforts to help poor, non-industrialized countries where most of the world's neediest people reside. "The last two summits have been dominated by the Eurozone crisis, by Greece, and that means that there is very little agenda time for other issues," said Christina Weller, lead economic analyst for London-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development. Ms. Weller argues that G20 leaders would be helping their own countries by doing more to help the millions of people in developing nations who cannot participate in the global economy. She says poverty is more than a moral blight. "It is also an economic problem. It lowers demand. That is where the growth should be is in those markets and if you tackle poverty, everybody benefits," said Ms. Weller. But, although the world leaders who meet here may have little time to discuss much beyond the debt crisis in Europe, officials from those nations continue to advance their work on previously approved agendas such as economic development and poverty reduction. The director of Mexico's agency for international development, Rogelio Granguillhome, who co-chairs the G20 Development Working Group, told reporters that this effort has advanced steadily, in the past few years. He says this group, which met here in Los Cabos in May, is presenting leaders with concrete and precise recommendations on such issues as infrastructure development, food security and green growth. This group also worked in concert with representatives of the business sector, who are holding a concurrent meeting, called the B20, at a nearby beach hotel. The director of policy and business practices for the International Chamber of Commerce, Stefano Bertasi, says corporate leaders from around the world take part in these forums in an effort to be partners with governments in promoting economic development. "We want this to be an enduring, ongoing process of collaboration and discussion that takes place before summits, during summits and after summits," he said. Bertasi says that, although there are areas of concern for businesses, like the rise of protectionism and higher taxes, there are many areas of mutual interest such as the promotion of green energy. He says the way business leaders often work out differences on various issues can serve as a model for government leaders as they struggle to find agreement. "If we bring consensus views and ideas, brought by business to government, hopefully, that will help governments themselves come to consensus on some of these issues," said Bertasi. Groups that might want to express disagreement with any of the actions taken at either the G20 or the B20 meetings are quite restricted in what they can do and where they can stage a protest. The meetings are being held under tight security in an area along the tip of the Baja peninsula where all access roads are patrolled by heavily armed Mexican federal police and soldiers. Helicopters swoop overhead on a regular basis and Mexican coast guard and navy ships are anchored just offshore, in plain sight of the summit participants and the thousands of tourists staying at beachfront hotels. |
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Food |
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Jo
Stuart |
| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by Consultantes Río Colorado 2012 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| A.M.
Costa
Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, June 19, 2012, Vol. 12, No. 121 | ||||||||||
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Latin America news |
Planned power
outage today
in center of San José By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Electric company workmen will be cutting off power in the center of San José today from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The areas involved are along avenidas 1 and 3 between calles 4 and 8, Avenida Central between calles 2 and 6 and calles 4 and 6 between avenidas 2 and three, said the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz. The work is described as preventative maintenances on the underground electrical distribution system. The area of the outage includes Pizza Hut at Calle 4, part of the Mercado Central, the Royal Dutch Hotel, Panadería Samuelito, the Pascoa store, La Gloria, the McDonald's east of the Banco Central and a host of other establishments. Not included in the outage are the Banco Central, Banco Nacional, Cafe Volio and Penny Lane, said a company announcement. Some of the businesses in the outage area have their own emergency power source. Two held in ATM scam that stole credit card data By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two men have been detained as suspects in a scam that stole credit card information with a device stuck in automatic tellers. The Poder Judicial identified both men as Bulgarians with the last names of Chopov and Alexandrov. But the Judicial Investigating Organization said over the weekend that one of the men was a Canadian. The Poder Judicial said that both men were jailed for preventative detention. Judicial police said that 12 persons had been defrauded in May in Limón, but that the current investigation involved scams at banks in Tamarindo and Flamingo. Agents said the men were detained Friday afternoon in Carrillo when they were headed to their lodgings in Liberia. A search of where they were staying turned up portable computers, credit card blanks ready for duplication and other evidence, they said. One of the fake credit cards cloned in Limón was used in Canada, said agents. Clown faces abuse charges involving Puntarenas kids By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Judicial agents have detained a 44-year-old man who worked as a clown and accused him of abusing four youngsters. The man also has a radio show directed at children on a Puntarenas station. Agents said they have been investigating the cases for a month. They accused the man of using his part-time job as a clown and the radio show to make contact with youngsters. |
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