Printers push the deadline
with city transit decree


The central government's expanded restrictions for the San José central core are supposed to go into effect today when and if the presidencial decree finally is published in the La Gaceta official newspaper.

The cover of today's La Gaceta was available online, and it made reference to the decree. This is issue No. 133 for the year. But the inside pages online are those of the Wednesday edition. That includes the decree section. So the actual decree was not available by 1:30 a.m., and the cutline of the cover photograph said incorrectly that the decree would be enforced 24 hours a day.

Transit officials said late Wednesday that the times of restriction were being reduced to 13 hours, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. But that information appears to have not made the La Gaceta.

In addition to an online version, the La Gaceta is available in paper and as a .pdf file. But the .pdf file online was that of Wednesday, too.

The likely scenario is that transit police will be ticketing offending vehicles in the central core regardless of what the La Gaceta says. Vehicles with license plates bearing a 7 or 8 as the final digit are the prey starting at 6 a.m. The ticket is 5,000 colons or about $10.

One change is that delivery vehicles with perishable products like fruit are exempt from the restrictions if the driver obtains a permit from the transit authorities.

Heavy trucks only will be subject to the rules one day a week from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Business people in the restricted zone complained that 20 percent of their fleet would be in the garage every day. Now trucks will only be restricted five hours a day depending on the last digit of the license plate.

Housing minister quits
amid growing scandal


The growing financial scandal in the Arias administration claimed its first victim Wednesday when  Fernando Zumbado Jiménez, the housing minister, stepped down from his job "temporarily."

Zumbado is the key figure in the management of some $1.5 million donated by the government of Taiwan in 2006. Supposedly the money was to go to improve living conditions in the Rincon Grande de Pavas slum. The money was set up in a trust with the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica.

Still it appears that the money was not used for the Pavas residents but instead went to some 39 persons or companies, including one that had been founded by Zumbado.

President Óscar Arias Sánchez lamented the resignation of Zumbado in a press release Wednesday. The president noted that the case was being investigated by the Contraloría General de la República, the nation's financial watchdog. It also has been referred to the administration's ethics committee.

Legislators of the Movimiento Libertario said that Zumbado and the bank awarded a $315,000 contract to the  Centro Internacional para el Desarrollo Humano Sostenible, an entity that Zumbado founded and served as president until 2006.

The minister also reported that some of the money went to his office manager and two public relations employees who work in the ministry, said the release from the Libertarians.

Zumbado's leave will be without salary, Casa Presidencial said.

The Arias administration is facing yet another financial woe also involving the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica. Some $2 million was dispersed to Arias, and perhaps as many as 90 persons and entities shared in the bonanza.

Casa Presidencial said Wednesday that Alfredo Ortuño, director for Costa Rica at the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica, had been asked to provide access to investigators to the documentation on these payments that were part of two agreements. Arias promised Tuesday that investigators from the Contraloría could have this access. But much of the information has not yet been made public.

 The events have been particularly embarrassing to the Arias administration because the president prides himself on helping the poor and in transparency of government actions. But Casa Presidencial had declined to make full disclosure on the $2 million slush fund, saying that the money is not public.

Tamarindo lifeguard force
posts 20 rescues in June


Safety and beach cleanliness are apparently on the rise in Tamarindo following the revival of a lifeguard force four months ago in the Pacific-coast town in Guanacaste.

Between the three lifeguards, swimmer safety is maintained six days a week during peak hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to an update from the program.

A total of 20 rescues were reported in June by the guard staff without a single case of drowning, an update said.

About $2,080 has been collected for the guard program since May 31 from various local fundraising activities, and the force participated in a Surfrider and Scotia Bank effort to clean the beach and touch up the guard towers last month, the release said.