WASHINGTON, D.C. _ U.S. lawmakers Tuesday heard testimony about the plight of so-called "mail order brides," women from other countries who marry American men whom they met through international marriage brokers. While many women find the love and happiness they seek, others find themselves victims of violence and prostitution. 

Marriage brokers, for-profit companies that operate solely to connect men and women of different countries with the intent of getting married, have seen an explosive growth in business.

In 1999, the Immigration and Naturalization Service commissioned a study that found that more than 200 international marriage brokers were operating around the globe, arranging between 4,000 and 6,000 marriages between American men and foreign women every year. 

Today, experts put the number of international marriage brokers at nearly 500 worldwide. The experts estimate that there are between 20,000 and 30,000 women who have entered the United States using an international marriage broker in the last five years. 

Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington State, has been looking into the phenomenon of "mail order brides", and has found troubling trends. 

While a number of such women find happy lives in the United States, others are not so fortunate. "Tragically, it is becoming apparent that there is a growing epidemic of domestic violence abuse among couples who met via international marriage brokers," she said. 

"Immigrant groups and women advocacy groups across the country report seeing an increase in the number of those who are seeking to escape physical abuse from husbands they met through international marriage brokers. In several cases the abuse progressed to murder."  Ms. Cantwell testified before a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee. 

Chairman Sam Brownback of Kansas was clearly troubled by what he heard. "This is one of the dark clouds of globalization," he said. 

John Miller, director of the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, said women are often recruited by marriage brokers, either directly or through family members, mail, newspapers or the internet. He says there is often a cash payment involved. 

Miller said many of the women, who often come from poor economic circumstances, believe the opportunity could give them a brighter future. 

"We know from rural villages in Asia, slums in major South American cities, women are deceived into leaving their homes and traveling across international borders in the hopes of marrying men who can provide them with better lives," he said. 

But Miller says frequently these women find abuse, whether they go to the United States or elsewhere. 

He cited reports indicating extensive trafficking in women from Vietnam to Taiwan, where they marry Taiwanese men who then sell them to brothels. 

Donna Hughes, professor of Women's Studies at the University of Rhode Island, is not surprised by such reports. 

"A number of the marriage agency websites have links to pornographic websites and prostitution services, so it is easy to see how the intersections of these two types of services would enable the sexual exploitation and trafficking of women," she said. 

In an effort to improve the plight of such women in the United States, Sen. Cantwell has introduced legislation that would better inform women entering the country about whether their prospective spouse has a history of domestic violence or a criminal background. It would also provide them with information about their legal rights if they find themselves in abusive relationships.

Vannessa Ventures Ltd. said Tuesday that it has submitted a request to begin international arbitration against the government of Venezuela.

The request has been filed with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, D.C., the company president, John Morgan, said in a press release.

The company says its rights to develop the Las Cristinas gold deposit located in Bolivar State, Venezuela, have been expropriated. The rights to develop the property are held by a 95 percent-owned subsidiary of Vannessa de Venezuela.

Vannessa also is the developer of an open pit gold mine in northern Costa Rica.

In the filing, Vannessa claims that Venezuela breached an investment treaty with Canada. The company is based in Calgary, Canada.

Vannessa said it wants the development rights back, plus $50 million in damages or it will settle for $1 billion, which includes lost profits of $885 million.

The company also is engaged in a dispute over its Costa Rican property, and President Abel Pacheco announced in June 2002 that he was banning open pit mining. The company continues to appeal and says that it had an agreement here that predates Pacheco’s edict.

The international center is the same World Bank organization that some creditors of Luis Enrique Villalobos’ failed high interest scheme have approached to seek damages against Costa Rica for failing to protect them.

Pair shoot at police
in Limón standoff

Two men fired at and then held off police for nearly three and a half hours Tuesday in Barrio Cristóbal Colón, Limón.

Finally police wounded one of the men as he tried to flee the family home where the two, brothers, had barricaded themselves.

No policemen were injured, but one brother, 25, suffered a bullet wound in the arm and was hospitalized at Hospital Tony Facio in Limón. Both men have the last names of Mc Murray Hall.

Police said the owner of the home, the mother of the brothers, complained that the two were doing damage there, so officers arrived to restore order. They were met with gunshots and withdrew, they said.

More than 15 policemen surrounded the home during the standoff, which was from about 8:30 a.m. to noon. A Judicial Investigating Organization negotiator was called in.

After the second brother, 20, surrendered police found weapons in the house including a 12-gauge homemade shotgun, the said.
 

Fishing boat missing

Marine officials are seeking a fishing boat that left Limón Monday en route to Isla Uvita.

The craft faces rapidly worsening weather. Three men are aboard.

The Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas had a plane up Tuesday and boats on the Caribbean looking for the craft without success.

A.M. Costa Rica
Consultantes Río Colorado S.A.

James J. Brodell.........................editor
Saray Ramírez Vindas.... associate editor

Avenida 11 bis, Barrio Otoya, San José

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The company that makes Imperial beer has decided to seek a little market share in the United States. This has been hailed as a triumph of Costa Rican exportation.

They make beer, too. In fact, Anheuser-Busch is the largest producer in the world. Coors operates the world’s largest brewery. And the country is populated densely with brewpubs and smaller enterprises.

Costa Rican beer executives might consider their 

However, Imperial has failed to generate the type of following that, for example, the Colorado-based Coors had in the early 1970s. That was when tourists were smuggling cases of Coors to the East Coast where the then-regional brewery had no outlets.

At a sendoff to the beer, President Abel Pacheco said that the shipment to California showed that "Costa Rica is a country capable of competing."

Pacheco continued with praise of the proposed free trade treaty with the United States. But as with nearly all official comments on the trade treaty, the concept always is Costa Rica exporting more. 

Nothing is said about the possibility of 50 container loads of Budweiser hitting the San José-Jaco market.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — New Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca says his country plans to send additional troops to Iraq next month to work on the reconstruction and humanitarian effort there. 

After meeting President George Bush in Washington Monday for the first time since Saca took office June 1, the Salvadorian official told reporters his country cannot abandon the effort in Iraq "when a solution is on its way." 

El Salvador currently has about 370 troops stationed near Najaf. 

President Bush thanked his Salvadoran counterpart for his strong support in rebuilding Iraq. 

El Salvador is the last Latin American country with a contingent in Iraq. The Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras have withdrawn troops. 

The State Department official said that Bush is completely committed to securing confirmation of the U.S.-Central American trade agreement that he believes will be beneficial to all parties.

"It is very important to establish this agreement to expand economic opportunity for our people in the United States and for Salvadorans, as well," Noriega said.

The Bush administration hopes for bipartisan congressional approval of the trade pact, Noriega added. After consultations with U.S. congressional leaders, it appears that securing support for the agreement will be more likely following the November elections in the United States, he explained.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick warned a group representing the world's poorest countries that, unless they chose more flexible positions, the long-stalled World Trade Organization negotiations could collapse again.

In remarks Monday at the G-90 trade ministers' meeting in Mauritius, Zoellick said the United States remained willing to consider giving developing countries some special protections from imports, decided case by case.

Negotiators realistically have only until the World Trade Organization General Council meeting at the end of July, he said, to establish a framework for completing the negotiations, formally called the Doha Development Agenda, or risk final failure. Zoellick traveled the globe to help revive the negotiations after they collapsed at the ministers' September 2003 meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

"And if we fail again — because we did fail the last time — I do not know for sure what will happen to the Doha Development Agenda," Zoellick said. "I do not know whether it will be revived."

The United States has been insisting that developing countries must open their markets to agricultural imports in return for wealthy countries eliminating export subsidies and sharply reducing domestic support for agriculture.

Yet as recently as July 11, members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries issued a draft negotiating position essentially rejecting any commitments to open their agricultural markets or to make any other reforms in agriculture. The 79-member group represents the largest bloc in the G-90.

The U.S. trade representative, urging developing countries to open their markets to imports of industrial goods and services, asked them to consider the potential benefits of such a move to their own exports.

"We need to figure out how to limit the burden on countries but not limit the opportunities of countries," Zoellick said.

For almost four years, Daniel Lane was haunted by the memory of an unusual, yellowish bird. He and an associate caught a glimpse of it while bird watching in Peru. They even recorded some of its song. Right away, they knew it was something new. Something different.

Now, thanks to Lane, a specimen of that bird — previously unknown to science — rests in a Lima museum and it will soon bear a name of Lane's choosing. As the discoverer of what could be a new species or, perhaps, a new genus, Lane will also be the first to author a scientific description of the bird.

The process will take some time, but, for someone who says his interest in birds began when he was "3 or 4," it's all a labor of love.

Lane, a New Jersey native is a research associate for the Louisana State University Museum of Natural Science, He says his quest for the mystery bird dates back to 2000. As a part-time international bird-watching tour guide, Lane was one of the leaders of a group near the Manu National Park in Peru. He and fellow guide Gary Rosenberg spotted the bird along one of the park's major roads. Unfortunately, almost as soon as it was there, it was gone and no one else in the group had seen it.

The bird remained in Lane's mind as he returned to lead tours in the area for the next few years, but it didn't reappear.

"After three years, I was starting to doubt my sanity," said Lane.

Then, last year, the pair finally saw it again, and this time, the rest of the group saw it as well. They were also able to make a lengthy recording of its song, a critical part of ornithological study. Nevertheless, they were unable to obtain a specimen and, therefore, remained reticent about announcing their find.

Determined to obtain the proof he needed of his find, Lane returned to the region last November and played the recording of the bird's song. His attempt to attract his quarry failed and he once again went home empty-handed. Then, last month, Lane and some cohorts were in Peru conducting other field work when they made spur-of-the-moment plans to give it one more try.

After obtaining permission from the proper authorities, Lane and his group set off on their mission. On the morning of June 9, the playing of 

the taped song worked and the bird appeared, coming to rest in some nearby bamboo, just off the road. After observing and playing "cat and mouse" with the bird for almost an hour, Lane finally got his specimen.

Lane explained that the bird is likely a tanager, a type of songbird found mostly in tropical regions of the Americas. He describes it as having a short, bushy crest and olive back, wings and tail that contrast with a burnt orange crown. For now, the specimen is in the keeping of the National Museum in Lima where it will become the "type," the specimen on which the species' description is based and against which all others will be compared. Eventually, it will be sent to Lane so that he can write the scientific description and record his observations and its DNA will be tested to determine its specific relationship to other birds.

However long it takes, Lane is understanding of the pace of science. He's been in a similar situation before. In 1996, while on another expedition in Peru, he discovered the Scarlet-banded Barbet, a small, colorful toucan-like bird. And besides, he says, it feels good to know that he was sane after all.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The World Bank here says it needs pledges of more than $900 million in aid for Haiti. 

A rebel uprising earlier this year in Haiti caused the president to flee and the country to slide into anarchy. A multinational peacekeeping force restored order.

Now, an interim Haiti government has developed an economic recovery program that has won support from the United States, the European Union and World Bank. 

Caroline Anstey, the World Bank's country director for the Caribbean, says the new government is determined to create 35,000 new jobs by September. Most of the jobs will be in public works, such as clearing away garbage and repairing roads.

"I think that the government is very committed to making sure that by the time schools open in September children can go to school, they can have books, they can have uniforms, that hot meals are available," she said. "They are committed to a rapid employment program between now and September." 

Ms. Anstey says progress has been made in this capital, which has electricity for nine hours a day instead of the two hours it was available just three months ago.

Haiti's development needs are enormous, but its capacity to absorb assistance is limited. Like many developing countries, previous aid programs were largely ineffective as money was stolen or never made its way to hungry people. 

Barbara Szaszkiewicz of the Inter-American Development Bank says her multilateral institution has invested $300 million in Haiti, adding:

"What we have done with this support is not only implement our program, but open and pave the way for a broader donor re-engagement and keep the institutions running until the additional support from this important new initiative arrives." 

Two thirds of Haiti's eight million people live in poverty. Life expectancy is only 53 years and per capita income is $353 a year.

Meanwhile, Haitian police and government officials have given armed rebels and militants loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide two months to lay down their arms. 

Those who don't disarm by the Sept. 15 deadline will face arrest. The September deadline allows time for the factions to comply, while giving the police force time to strengthen itself. 

Meanwhile, Brazilian officials are also looking to help Haiti disarm. They recently announced Brazil's national football team will play an exhibition match against Haiti here, probably Aug. 18. 

Instead of paying for tickets to see the match, fans will exchange firearms for entry.  Brazil's so-called "football diplomacy" is expected to be a success, as Brazilian soccer is very popular in Haiti.