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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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 U.S. Earthquake Information
Center graphic
Orange squares show where Wednesday quakes took place. The
yellow square shows the estimated location of the Tuesday morning quake.Ground dancing around
near Nicaraguan border By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The ground under southern Nicaragua appears to be restless. Three earthquakes have hit within 24 hours. The magnitudes ranged from 4.1 to 6.3, according to the U.S National Earthquake Information Center. All three took place while most Costa Ricans still were asleep, although at least the quake with the highest magnitude was felt in the Central Valley. The first quake struck at 5:35 a.m. Tuesday. This was the 4.1 magnitude quake, and it was located just off the Nicaraguan coast and only a few miles north of the Costa Rican border. Then Wednesday morning, at 3:27 a.m. a 5.0 quake took place, and the epicenter was on land but not far for the Nicaraguan coast. Then some 96 minutes later at 5:03 a.m. the 6.3 quake was registered in nearly the same area, some 30 to 40 kms (20 to 25 miles) east southeast of the city of Rivas. Both quakes were relatively shallow, some 10 kms. or 6 miles. There were no reports of serious damage, although quakes of the higher magnitudes can cause destruction. However, the Tuesday quakes were of short duration. Search for missing boat still without success By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Costa Rican coast guard was out at 3 a.m. Wednesday for another day in what is becoming a frustrating search for five persons missing in a small fishing boat since Friday. Joining the search was a C-130 Hercules which took off Wednesday morning from a base in El Salvador. The aircraft is used to spot drug smugglers on the high seas, so it is equipped for this type of high-altitude search. The U.S. craft does not have permission to enter Costa Rican air space, so its crew was to concentrate their efforts on the high seas. It was the patrol boat Juan Rafael Mora, based at the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas facility in Puntarenas that put to sea early Wednesday from Flamingo. It's goal was to search Costa Rican waters to the north of the Pacific community, which is the direction of the local currents. Comisionada Kattia Chavarría, director of the Guanacaste region of the Fuerza Pública, said that part of her staff was continuing a ground and sea search. One of their procedures was to question the crews of as many ships as they could contact to see if any had seen the small fishing boat. None had. The U.S. Navy was reported to have been conducting searches in Salvadoran waters. U.S. military craft also cannot enter Costa Rican territory or waters without the specific permission of the Asamblea Legislativa. The missing boat, the King Fisher I, put to sea for a short tourist trip Friday at midday. questions have been raised in the Spanish-language press about the seaworthiness and the safety equipment aboard the boat. However, the husband of the U.S. honeymoon couple aboard, Mark Vockery, is a fire and safety instructor at Eastern Kentucky University. Friends do not think he would have gone to sea without at least a life jacket, particularly because he was in the company of his wife, Laura. Vockery also was reported to be a strong swimmer. Even if the ship had suffered a massive structural failure and sank, searchers are perplexed as to why there would be no fuel slick or other floating evidence of the event. Also missing are Captain Harold González Rodríguez, his brother Danilo González Rodríguez, both in their 20s, and Mayel Gómez Alanís, a 16-year-old. Employees union rips assembly president By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The public employees union says the president of the Asamblea Legislativa is on the verge of committing a constitutional crime which approaches a coup d'etat. The union leaders are outraged that the assembly president, Gerardo Alberto González Esquivel, has suggested that he would bring the proposed free trade treaty up for discussion in the legislature. The union, the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados, a strong opponent of the treaty, said González is playing with fire and launching a dangerous provocation. The union has vowed to call a national strike if the treaty goes to the assembly for discussion and possible ratification. The union contends that only President Abel Pacheco has the power to submit the treaty to the legislature. The president has seemingly buckled to union pressure and has declined to forward the treaty to lawmakers. In another free-trade related development Wednesday, Amparo Pacheco Oreamuno, a vice minister of Comercio Exterior, lost her job, presumably at the request of the president. She was a strong advocate for the free trade treaty and served on the team that negotiated the agreement. |
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with the observations of Dr. Lenny Karpman Click HERE! |
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| Sarapiquí reforestation
program is educational, too |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center high school scholarship program is teaching high school students a lesson about grassroots forestry, community awareness and the impact humans have on conservation and the environment. Through workshops, hands-on learning, and field work, the center's reforestation program will teach more than 30 high school students about their community in terms of its physical and human environment, the importance of water to the area, and the significance of trees in the protection of water and providing wildlife corridors valuable for biodiversity conservation and tourism. The center is in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí. These students are beginning the process of reforesting the Chilamate area, a critical stretch of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Reforestation with native tree species will help to cement this stretch of the corridor and allow people in the Sarapiquí Region to benefit from rainforest conservation through sustainable wood production and habitat protection for wildlife of interest to ecotourism, said the center. The program begins with community mapping to make connections between watershed and reforestation. Students learn about the importance of trees in riparian zones and the benefits of water quality. A garden is being prepared for planting, along with a compost bin and dirt sifter. Field trips focus on what types of trees should be planted for different conservation and production objectives. To select planting sites, students will interview landowners to determine why they want to reforest. The students have been focusing on the Sotacaballo tree, a leguminous tree that develops a wide root system and is thus one of the most commonly encountered trees along intact waterways in the Sarapiquí area, said the center. Students, along with parents, will plant these and other trees on local farms. As a final component of the program, the students will track the growth of the trees, take tests to compare water quality, and review the program in order to apply the results to future planting sites. |
 Sarapiqui Conservation
Learning Center photo
Narcisa Hernández Suazo, a learning center high school
scholarship student, fills a nursery bag in preparation for planting of
native tree seedlings.“The scholarship program is a great first step toward integrating the center with community development, environmental education, and conservation,” explained Greg Basco, director. “Reforestation related to the biological corridor helps to put all of these efforts into a larger context.” Since its inception in 1995, the Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center has focused its mission on linking local communities and conservation through education and ecotourism in the Sarapiquí region. The center has become a resource for the Sarapiquí community by providing and coordinating activities that will both enhance education and support sustainable development in surrounding areas. Additional information is available on the center's Web site. |
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| Hurricane season may turn out to be a record |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has increased the number of predicted storms in its 2005 hurricane season outlook. According to a press release, the weather agency expects 11 to 14 more tropical storms from August through November, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes, including three to five major hurricanes. In total, the season will likely yield 18 to 21 tropical storms, with nine to 11 becoming hurricanes, including five to seven major hurricanes. Although Costa Rica does not experience hurricanes directly, the weather patterns can bring torrential rains and other problems. "The tropics are only going to get busier as we enter the peak of the season," said David Johnson, director of the agency's National Weather Service. "This may well be one of the most active Atlantic hurricane seasons on record, and will be the ninth above-normal Atlantic hurricane season in the last 11 years." Atmospheric and oceanic conditions that favor an active hurricane season are now in place. "Warmer-than-normal sea-surface temperatures and low wind shear are among the culprits behind these stronger and more numerous storms," said Gerry Bell, |
lead meteorologist on
the Atlantic hurricane seasonal outlook. Such a combination of optimal ocean and atmosphere conditions in the past has produced increased tropical storm activity in 20- to 30-year cycles. Because of this, the agency expects above-normal seasons to continue for another 10 years or longer. The cycle that has contributed to increased Atlantic activity since 1995 has also produced a marked decrease in hurricanes in the eastern Pacific hurricane region. Similar conditions produced very active Atlantic hurricane seasons during the 1950s and 1960s. An average Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, produces 10 named storms in which six become hurricanes, including two major hurricanes with winds of at least 111 mph. The 2005 Atlantic hurricane outlook is a joint product of scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center, Hurricane Research Division and National Hurricane Center. Meteorologists use sophisticated numerical models and high-tech tools to forecast tropical storms and hurricanes. The scientists rely on data gathered by agency and U.S. Air Force Reserve personnel who fly directly into storms in hurricane-hunter aircraft. |
| Bush appointee praises Uribe on eve of his visit |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Colombia has made important progress in a number of areas in the three years since President Alvaro Uribe took office, and future U.S. support for Colombia will build on this success, said R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of State for political affairs. In remarks Wednesday to the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, Burns outlined Colombia's progress under Uribe as well as the future of U.S. support for Colombia. Burns spoke on the eve of Uribe's planned visit to Crawford, Texas, to meet with President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Burns said that the United States has "no better partner in Latin America" than Uribe. He added that with U.S. support, the Uribe administration has made great strides combating narco-traffickers and terrorists, strengthening Colombia's democracy, and improving the lives of the nation's citizens. "President Uribe is transforming Colombia by |
energetically pursuing
his vision of a strongly democratic Colombia
free from violence, drugs and corruption," Burns said. "In a
nation
afflicted by over four decades of violence, the Uribe administration
has achieved impressive progress on all fronts." As evidence of this progress, Burns noted that Colombia's violent crime rate is at the lowest level in 16 years. He pointed out that Colombia has also carried out an intensive campaign against the nation's illegal armed groups. Burns observed that Colombia, under Uribe, has also amassed an impressive economic track record, including 4 percent growth, increased trade, a 70 percent increase in investment, and declining unemployment. This strong track record, Burns said, is a major reason why the United States launched free-trade talks with Colombia, along with Peru and Ecuador. Although Colombia remains a major source and transshipment country for illegal drugs, Burns noted that Colombia's counternarotics strategy has also enjoyed success. |
| Press freedom group unhappy with probe of Venezuelan
editorial |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
MIAMI, Fla. — An independent advocacy group for freedom of the press based here has criticized actions taken by the government of Venezuela against a newspaper. The Inter-American Press Association criticized an announcement by Venezuela's attorney general that an official investigation would be opened regarding whether a July 25 editorial in the Venezuelan newspaper, El Universal, offends and exposes Venezuelan officials to public ridicule. The press association described the Venezuelan government's action as "interference in the editorial policy of an independent newspaper and an affront to free speech and press freedom." The opening paragraph of the editorial in question, which discusses the nation's justice system, says that "subordinating justice to ideology and depriving it of autonomy and effectiveness is like a train running off the rails. The Attorney General's Office and courts are increasingly losing legitimacy." |
Gonzalo
Marroquín, the Inter-American Press Association's chairman of
Freedom of the Press and Information, said the new action by the
Venezuelan government against El Universal "demonstrates once again the
existence of an ongoing government strategy against freedom of the
press," which has already "increased sanctions for critics of public
officials." Marroquín, editor of the Guatemalan daily newspaper Prensa Libre, added that the "resistance of Venezuelan officials and their rejection of criticism is notable and shows a lack of awareness of the valuable role the press plays in a democratic society. Democracy demands a particularly high tolerance for criticism, especially when dealing with opinions that should be refuted and debated on equal terms." Also, "intimidating the news media, through investigations or threats of conducting investigations and imposing punishment, is nothing less than an abuse of governmental privilege," Marroquín said. "The ultimate aim of these intimidating actions is to limit freedom of the press and the right of the Venezuelan people to be informed." |
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