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A.M.
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Published Friday, July 15, 2016, in Vol. 17, No. 139
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 15, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 139
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Investigators
are seeking burly thieves
By the A.M. Costa
Rica staff
Someone made off with 250 sacks of coffee while the beans were being transported from Grecia to the docks at Moín, and the Judicial Investigating Organization said it seeks help from the public to find out what happened. A typical sack of coffee weights about 70 kilos, so agents must be looking for strong and health thieves. The agency said that the producer put seals on two containers, but that one obviously was tampered with when the shipping container arrived at the docks. It was empty and beans worth about 35 million colons or about $64,000 were missing. The coffee was on its way to the United States Librarians are charting their future By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The country’s library system, like others elsewhere, is trying to find itself after having been buffeted by the internet explosion. A German expert, Dirk Wissen, spoke to librarians this week in Heredia, said the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud that supervises the system. The goal was to come up with plans that make libraries more attractive to the public. Wissen stressed promotion, according to a ministry summary. Most expats probably do not know that there are community libraries all over the country as part of the Sistema Nacional de Bibliotecas. But the libraries are far outclassed by fast food outlets in promoting themselves to residents. Wissen presented a number of outreach ideas that might promote the institutions. Libraries have been eclipsed by other government agencies in providing internet hookups and places where residents can go online. In fact, the central government is in the process of providing computers and internet hookups for 140,000 low-income homes. Chamber consortium rips fuel monopoly By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
A consortium of 23 commercial and industrial chambers has issued a blistering critique of the state refinery. The organization seeks to open the motor fuel market to other vendors. The consortium is the Cámaras de Comercio y Asociaciones Empresariales de Costa Rica, which says it includes representation from chambers of commerce, industry, agriculture, services and tourism. The chamber said in a statement that it supports an action of unconstitutionality against the contract that the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo S.A. has with its union. The original legal action came from the Cámara de Industrias . Benefits provided the refinery union under the agreement are considered excessive, and the constitutional court suit claims they also violate the fundamental rights of consumers and users. The chamber consortium also said that Costa Rica urgently needs a free market for fuel. The refinery now is a state monopoly, and fuel prices are the highest in the region. The refinery as a state monopoly does not represent the best interests of the citizenry, said the statement. The price of fuel hurts the countries competitivity, productivity and development of the country, it added. The statement also urged that roadways be improved.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 15, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 139
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| Arts
festival organizers are betting on the southern zone
this year |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The culture ministry is taking another big chance this year by organizing the XXVI Festival Nacional de las Artes in communities in the southern part of the country instead of the Central Valley. The festival last year was a disaster, in part because the Solís administration insisted on putting activities in other communities. In some cases, the sound system never caught up with the activity. And there were major scheduling problems. The festival was such a flop that key public employees lost their jobs, including the culture minister This year, under a new minster of Cultura y Juventud, the festival will be even further away from the Central Valley. The festival is Aug. 5 to 12. The locations are Ciudad Neily, Golfito, San Vito, Agua Buena, La Cuesta, Comte, Río Claro, Ciudad Cortés, Palmar Norte and Rey Curré. The ministry has been conducting meetings in the southern zone for the last three weeks to find artisans who want to sell arts and crafts that express the cultural heritage of the region, it said. Participation is being restricted to those who live in the area, and those who want to participate have to submit an application and photos of their works. Among those sought are those who use materials from the area and construct their crafts by hand, said the ministry. |
 Ministerio de Cultura
y Juventud photo
A festival crowd from a prior year.In the past the festival took over Parque la Sabana and there were hundreds of exposition booths and vendors. Performers already had to apply to the Centro de Producción Artística for participation. Some 600 million colons ($1.13 million) is allocated for the festival, which is not being called international this year. Organizers have dropped the word international because participation is being restricted to Costa Rica participants and performers. The ministry said that officials hope to have an international festival in 2017 and 2018 because they need time to approach other countries and foreign groups. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 15, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 139
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| Could
these be considered some necessary modest proposals? |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The central government plans what is being called a marathon of ideas as part of its social challenge contest. The event is Wednesday at the Universidad Veritas, just a few days before submission of proposals for the contest closes. The central government has designated four problems for which it says it seeks solutions. The four areas are handling of solid waste, access to education, obesity and traffic accidents. There’s a good bet that the solutions selected will be ones that create more laws or amplify existing laws. So A.M. Costa Rica staffers took a shot at these problems, but the answers probably are not what the government wants to hear. Solid waste can easily be handled by modern incinerators that generate electrical power at the same time. More than half of the garbage produced by homes is biodegradable, says the government, giving a hint at the winning solution. The real problem is that there has been strong opposition by the environmentalist lobby against municipalities seeking to install incinerators. Access to education as a challenge suggests that everyone should go to university. The government says only 46.3 percent of youngsters between 17 and 21 years complete secondary school and only 34.2 percent of young people between 18 and 24 years go to university. Perhaps the Ministerio de Educación Pública should bring back the truant officer and big, burly men to have chats with parents. Obesity is an easy problem to solve. The government reports that 60 percent of adult Costa Ricans are obese and this costs the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social a lot of money each year. That’s like saying 60 percent of the people are above |
 average height. Clearly they just need to move the fat scale up a few notches. Finally, the government is concerned about traffic accidents. Of course officials are because motorcycle drivers kill themselves two or three at a time on weekends. Eliminate the motorcycles and a good part of the problem will go away. But one has to be careful what is wished. University of Washington researchers are now proposing that cougars be reintroduced into the eastern United States to trim the deer herd. Virginia whitetails jumping across the road are a major reason for vehicle crashes there. The researchers said that large cats could thin the deer population by 22 percent and prevent fatalities, hundred of injuries and million in property damage. Unfortunately sometimes older mountain lions also reduce the human population. That might work with obesity and motorcycle drivers, too. Vice President Ana Helena Chacón Echeverría is in charge of the challenge contest. Much more serious and well-thought-out ideas can be found on the challenge Web site HERE! |
Here's reasonable
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 15, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 139
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 Creative
Commons photo
A man sits next to a body after a truck ran
into a crowd celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday in Nice, France. Anti-terror unit to
investigate
French truck attack in Nice By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
France's anti-terrorism investigation department was asked to take over inquiries into the Thursday night attack in which a truck mowed through crowds of people in the southern coastal resort town of Nice, media reported. At least 84 are reported dead and more than 100 injured. Officials declined to formally declare the attack as terrorist assault pending further news. But several French media said the anti-terrorist investigation department had been put on the case. The French government denied there was a hostage-taking incident after the truck plowed into the crowd, which had been watching a Bastille Day fireworks display. "There is no hostage-taking," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry said, denying rumors. "An individual drove a truck into the crowd. He was killed by police." He added that investigations were under way to determine whether any accomplices were involved. French media report an ID found in the truck suggests the driver had dual French-Tunisian citizenship and was 31 years old. Christian Estrosi, the president of the region that includes Nice, said the truck was loaded with arms and grenades. Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native, said he witnessed the man emerge with a gun and start shooting, but Sylvie Toffin, a press officer with the local prefecture, said that to her knowledge' there was no gunfire. In Washington, President Barack Obama condemned "what appears to be a horrific terrorist attack," a White House statement said. The president said he had directed his team to offer any assistance France might need to investigate the attack. In London, a Downing Street spokesman said Prime Minister Theresa May was being kept updated on reports coming in from Nice. “We are shocked and concerned by the scenes there,” said the statement. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by this terrible incident on what was a day of national celebration. We stand ready to help any British nationals and to support our French partners." A Foreign Office spokesman urged Britons in the Nice area to "follow the instructions of the French authorities." Trump says he would ask Congress to OK going to war By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump responded to the terrorist attack in France Thursday night by saying if he were president he would ask for a formal declaration of war from Congress against the Islamic State group. During a phone interview with Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly, Trump said he would be prepared to declare war on unspecified terrorists and commit NorthAtlantic Treaty Organization troops in a world war. “This is war. If you look at it, this is war coming from all different parts. And, frankly, it’s war and we’re dealing with people without uniforms. In the old days, we would have uniforms. You would know who you’re fighting,” he said. O’Reilly then asked Trump if NATO troops should be involved in a ground and air war against the terrorists, and Trump said he “would be just fine” with that. Hillary Clinton was later asked about Trump’s comments by Anderson Cooper on CNN, and she responded by agreeing that we are at war with the terrorists, but cautioned against a ground war with the Islamic State. “I think it is clear we are at war with these terrorist groups and what they represent. It is a different kind of war and we need to be smart about how we wage it and win it. So I think we need to look at all possible approaches to doing just that,” she said. Cooper pressed Mrs. Clinton on with whom, exactly, is the United States at war with, and she said, "We are at war against radical jihadists who use Islam to recruit and radicalize others in order to pursue their evil agenda." Trump also cancelled a news conference he had scheduled for Friday morning to announce his choice for a vice-presidential running mate. Experts fear an explosion of jihadists at fall of ISIS By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Top U.S. counterterror and law enforcement officials are offering grim warnings about what awaits once the Islamic State terror group's self-declared caliphate ultimately collapses. Much of the U.S. and coalition strategy against the Islamic State has been predicated on the idea that without the ability to hold territory in Iraq and Syria, the terror group will falter, unable to make good on its promise of a utopian society. Yet as the fall of the caliphate looks to draw nearer, U.S. officials are increasingly cautious, saying the group will remain a dynamic and formidable threat for some time to come. "We all know there will be a terrorist diaspora out of the caliphate," FBI Director James Comey told the House Homeland Security Committee Thursday. "Those thousands of fighters are going to go someplace," he said. "Our job is to spot them and stop them before they come to the United States to harm innocent people." As many as 40,000 foreign fighters from more than 120 countries are believed to have flocked to the conflict in Syria, with a majority of them joining the Islamic State while the group grew and saw its fortunes rise as it advanced across Iraq. Now, Comey and others worry the terror group is in a prime position to take advantage of the flow home. "ISIL's external operations has been building and entrenching during the past two years," according to Nicholas Rasmussen, National Counterterrorism Center director. ISIL is an acronym for Islamic State. "We don't think that battlefield reverses alone in Iraq will be sufficient to degrade that terrorism capability," he said. "Over time we will degrade their capability . . . but there may be a significant lag." Adding to the concerns is the terror group's use of forged documents to get its operatives into Europe, where some became key players in the terror attacks that rocked Paris and Brussels. "We know it's a part of ISIL's tradecraft," Comey said. U.S. Homeland Security officials say they have bolstered the department's abilities to detect fraudulent travel documents, though the risk remains that an Islamic State operative could find a way to sneak into the U.S. Concerns also persist about the challenges facing some U.S. allies, especially in Europe where, despite ongoing crackdowns, intelligence officials fear the Islamic State has become deeply rooted, using perhaps hundreds of jihadists who returned from Syria and Iraq to mold thousands of would-be foreign fighters into guerrilla units. "The Europeans have made progress since the horrific attacks in Paris and Belgium, but clearly more progress has to be made," CIA Director John Brennan said Wednesday during an appearance at the Brookings Institution. "Some of the countries themselves, their internal and external services, will not talk with one another; they're not knitted together," he said. The threat of attacks inspired by Islamic State messaging on social media is also increasing. FBI officials have said they are currently investigating about 1,000 such cases, but face difficulties as many of the would-be terrorists are not actively communicating with other sympathizers or operatives. Some of Trump’s family on tap to address convention By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Real Estate billionaire Donald Trump has lined up an array of family members, political supporters and a handful of celebrities to speak at next week's Republican National Convention, where he expects to claim the party's 2016 presidential nomination. The list of more than 60 speakers set to support Trump includes his wife, Melania; his four adult children, Ivanka, Eric, Donald Jr. and Tiffany; and key Republican congressional leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. At least five of the 16 Republican presidential candidates Trump defeated in his yearlong surge to the top of the American political scene are also planning to speak, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Trump has also lined up other speakers for the convention in the Midwestern city of Cleveland, Ohio, who may not be as well-known to the American public as they watch on television. Among them are two survivors of the 2012 terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, Mark Geist and John Tiegen; pro golfer Natalie Gulbis; Las Vegas casino owner Phil Ruffin; PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and Dana White, president of the mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship. One outspoken law enforcement official, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sheriff David Clarke, will also speak at the convention. Clarke has denounced the Black Lives Matter group that has drawn attention to the high-profile police killings of African-American men in street confrontations, saying the group is unleashing hate on U.S. police officers. With the controversy surrounding many of Trump's political views, such as his call to deport 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S., the list of convention speakers is as notable for the key Republican figures who have decided to skip the quadrennial gathering. The past two Republican presidents, George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush, are not planing to attend. The party's past two presidential contenders, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, also will be absent. Of the four, only McCain has endorsed Trump, and Romney has openly denounced Trump's candidacy. Justice Ginsburg says words on Trump were ill-advised By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was engaged in an unprecedented war of words with Donald Trump, said Thursday her critical comments about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee were ill-advised. “On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised, and I regret making them,” she said in a statement. “Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.” U.S. Supreme Court justices almost never voice their opinions about U.S. political campaigns, adhering to long-standing legal ethical standards against such commentary and because they could be called on to help decide an election, as occurred in 2000. But Justice Ginsburg, in several interviews with news outlets this week disparaged Trump, who surged past a large field of Republican presidential contenders and is expected to claim the party's nomination at its national convention next week. Justice Ginsburg, who has well-known liberal views, said she expects Trump's Democratic opponent, former U.S. secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to defeat him in the November national election. But she told The New York Times, "I can't imagine what this place would be, I can't imagine what the country would be, with Donald Trump as our president." Later, Justice Ginsburg, at 83 the oldest justice, told the CNN television network, "He is a faker. He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment." She added, "He really has an ego . . . How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns? The press seems to be very gentle with him on that." Trump called her comments highly inappropriate, as did legal analysts who cited normal strictures against judges offering their opinions about political candidates. A Washington Post editorial said it agreed with her political comments about Trump, but they "were still much, much better left unsaid by a member of the Supreme Court." The unabashed Trump continued to denounce her Wednesday, saying on his Twitter account, "Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot -- resign!" U.S. presidents appoint members of the Supreme Court, subject to confirmation by the Senate. There already is one vacancy on the nine-member court because of the death last February of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative stalwart on the nation's top court for nearly 30 years. By the time a new U.S. president is sworn in on Jan. 20, three of the remaining eight justices will be 78 or older: Justice Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer, leading to the possibility that either Mrs. Clinton or Trump could have several vacancies to fill over the next four years if any of the justices retire or die in office. Mrs. Clinton visits Dems in Congress seeking unity By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton proclaimed unity of vision and purpose after meeting with Senate Democrats, a caucus that is in the minority but hopes to capture the majority in November. Mrs. Clinton, who represented New York in the Senate from 2001 to 2009, said Thursday's meeting at the Capitol was "focused on the very positive difference that Democrats want to make in the lives of Americans, particularly when it comes to economic opportunity." Republicans won a Senate majority in 2014 that is now widely believed to be in jeopardy, as they are defending more than twice as many seats as Democrats in this election cycle. Mrs. Clinton's visit to the Capitol came one week after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump sought to rally wavering House and Senate Republicans behind him. By contrast, Mrs. Clinton has the support of all Senate Democrats heading into her party's national convention later this month, having secured the endorsement of her last remaining rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders. "We're united. We're stronger than ever. And we're stronger together," proclaimed Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland as she emerged from the meeting. Cambodian fishing workers file labor suit in United States By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Cambodians who were forced to work in slave-like conditions aboard Thai fishing boats filed a complaint in a U.S. federal court against two American companies and their Thailand-based suppliers. The complainants, two women and five men, were recruited by Bangkok-based Phatthana Seafood Co. Ltd. between 2010 and 2012 and faced forced labor, involuntary servitude and peonage at the hands of their employer, said their lawyers, who filed the case in California's Central District Court last month. U.S. companies cited in the case sell shrimp and other seafood to large North American chain stores, such as Walmart. The case also targets Thai firm S.S. Frozen Food and California-based Rubicon Resources and Wales & Co. Universe Ltd. Agnieszka Fryszman, an attorney with Cohen Millstein law firm, said that her clients' employer deducted an excessive amount of money from their paychecks for expenses. "They were working long hours and because of all the deduction to their pay for the tools and the housing, and the van, they ended up not having enough money to eat," Fryszman said. "The conditions were bad," she added. "And I think the extra tragedy is the people are worse off than when they returned home. After having worked so hard for a year or more, they didn't make any money and were further in debt when they returned home." Because they could not afford to buy food, Fryszman said, some workers resorted to eating dead fish that washed up near their shacks, which were overcrowded and flooded when it rained. Keo Ratha, one of the complainants, was recruited from Cambodia's Pursat province by Phnom Penh-based recruitment agency CDM Manpower. Convinced he would earn a higher income in Thailand, he sold his motorbike to pay for a passport and incurred debts to pay the recruitment fees, agreeing to pay it off out of his future earnings. After arriving in Thailand in October 2011, he was exposed to job-site chemicals, such as chlorine, which damaged his health. In the lawsuit, he said he was never paid the $250 per month he was promised, receiving only $135 before rent and other deductions. Ratha's ordeal ended in January 2012 when media reports emerged of his plight. "What happened to me was wrong," Ratha said in a statement released by his attorney. "I filed this suit so companies would think twice before exploiting trafficked workers in the future and to help the workers who were exploited with me." Sem Kosal and Sophea Bun were living in Battambang when CDM Manpower recruited them to work for Phatthana. They left Cambodia in December 2010 and returned in July 2012. Despite working hard, they barely had any money, the complaint said. They could not afford medicine when their children fell ill, and without their grandparents, the children would have starved. Yem Ban and his wife, Nol Nakry, from Kampot province were recruited to work in Thailand in 2011 and were deported in 2012. With hard-working conditions and insufficient food, they decided to report themselves to Thai police as undocumented workers because the company refused to return their travel documents and identification. Phan Sophea from Battambang was recruited to work in 2010 and returned in October 2012. Sophea took out a loan to finance the costs. In Thailand when his mother died, Sophea was not allowed to attend the funeral unless he could deposit almost $200 to get his passport back. He returned home in debt and poor health from handling chlorine without adequate protection, according to his complaint. The final victim in the complaint, Sok Sang from Kampot, was recruited to work for Phatthana in May 2011 and returned in April 2012. "I have an enormous amount of respect for the plaintiffs in this suit," attorney Fryszman said. "They are wonderful, dignified people. They are so hard working. They are lovely, decent people who didn't deserve what happened to them, and I'm impressed with their courage for being willing to step up for themselves and for all other fellow citizens." |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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contents
of
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Colorado S.A. 2016 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 sixth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, July 15, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 139
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Accord reached on importation of milk By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica and Nicaragua have reached a preliminary accord on health regulations for milk, the government said Thursday. The countries had frozen imports of milk. The ruling affects initially Dos Pinos and the Mexican firm LaLa that is setting up operations in Costa Rica. The agreement came form a meeting by representatives of the Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal of the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería and the Instituto de Protección y Sanidad Agropecuaria of Nicaragua. Milk prices in Nicaragua has plummeted after Costa Rica froze imports over sanitation at farms and processing plants. Reptiles liven up customs inspection By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Customs police are investigating shipments of reptiles that were brought into the country by courier this week. The creatures were found when workers at the customs agency inspected packages. The Policía de Control Fiscal said Thursday that they still did not know the type of reptiles or the origins, although they are thought to have come from theUnited States. The importer is believed to be a hobbyist. The creatures were purchased by internet, police said. The Ministerio de Hacienda also raised the concern about importing species that might become free and affect the wildlife here. The same agency also said that its workers intercepted 80 drums of ethanol at the Peñas Blancas border crossing. The fluid it frequently used in bootlegging. |
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| From Page 7: Fears mount about resistant malaria spreading By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire services
The number of new malaria cases in Africa fell 42 percent from 2000 to 2015, according to the World Health Organization. The drop was due in large part to insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor spraying and better access to effective treatments. But this progress could be derailed by a new wave of drug-resistant malaria that's currently affecting Asia. Abdoulaye Djimde, head of the molecular epidemiology and drug resistance unit at the Malaria Research and Training Center in Bamako, Mali, said that "we should be concerned. . . . Given the frequent interconnection between Asia and Africa, you have direct flights from almost everywhere to several parts of Africa, there is the risk for importing these resistant parasites.” In the 1970s, millions of Africans contracted malaria resistant to the front-line drug at the time, chloroquine. The results were catastrophic. As of last year, five countries in Southeast Asia had reported cases of malaria resistant to the latest treatment, Artemisinin-based combination therapies, or ACT. “We need to be alert so that what happened with chloroquine resistance does not catch up with us," said Eunice Misiani of South Africa's National Malaria Control Program. "We have to make sure we conduct the efficacy testing standards on a regular basis, every two to three years.” Counterfeit drugs continue to be a big problem in Africa. The fake drugs, while cheaper, often have lower levels of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and using them can lead to drug resistance over time. Getting people to complete the treatment regime is also difficult. Many stop taking the pills after a day or two, once they start to feel better. Hans Rietveld, market access director at Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis' Malaria Initiative, said doctors in Africa often over-prescribe anti-malarial drugs. “First of all, ensure that there is adequate diagnosis before initiating treatment," he said. "And that is an issue in many countries where the practice . . . of diagnosing prior to treatment isn’t yet embedded in normal medical practice.” Some studies show that an estimated 40 percent to 60 percent of cases treated as malaria in Africa aren’t actually malaria. Novartis said there are now two new potential drugs in the works. But getting these new drugs onto the market will take at least a few more years. |
