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not supported universally By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A debate is under way in Brazil over the direction of the country's foreign policy. Brazil is seeking out political and trade relationships with developing nations, especially China, not among its traditional allies. Meanwhile, government critics claim the country is weakening its position with long-time friends such as the United States and Europe. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and it is known for its sizzling beaches, the sounds of its samba, and the flavor of its coffee. Brazil has experienced a boom in its export industry in recent years, and at the same time it is showing increasing confidence beyond its own shores. In the country's capital, Brasilia, national leaders say they are working for a new world order, where power is divided more evenly. "We want a world order that is more democratic, more balanced, in which the asymmetries are progressively done away with," Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said. He adds, the government in Brasilia has made stability in Latin America, and solidarity with other developing nations, a priority. Costa Rica's president, Óscar Arias Sánchez, was a visitor there last week. Brazil mediated a standoff, earlier this year, between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela and is working with Venezuela on regional energy independence. It leads the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti. This year, the country is chairing the G-20 group of industrialized and emerging-market countries. Five years ago, Brazil joined India and South Africa in pushing to expand the U.N. Security Council. This vast nation of nearly 200 million people now is seeking a permanent seat on the Security Council. Minister Amorim says the Council's current five permanent members should share power. But opposition leaders criticize the government's talk of solidarity with developing nations. Rodrigo Maia heads the center-right Democratas Party. "I think Brazil should emphasize first its development and then worry about solidarity with other countries," Maia said. "We can help the others after we become a leading country internationally ourselves." With a stable economy and steady export growth since 2003, Brazil has clashed with powerful allies on trade.As the world's largest exporter of soybeans, coffee, orange juice, beef, poultry and sugar, Brazil has criticized U.S. and European Union agricultural subsidies. Brazil now lists China as one of its largest export markets, with trade between the two countries increasing tenfold from 2000 to 2007. Despite growing Chinese demand, official figures show Brazil recorded its first ever trade deficit with the Asian country in 2007. Opposition leader, Rodrigo Maia, argues Brazil is neglecting more lucrative traditional relationships. "Brazil has not been emphasizing its relations with the U.S. and Europe," Maia said. "It has not been focusing on countries that are going to generate commercial relationships so that Brazil can grow and develop." Our reader's opinion
U.S. windfall profits taxwas a failure before Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Nice editorial regarding big oil. The last time this "windfall profits tax" was tried, the socialist Jimmy Carter, managed to stick his fingers directly into the pockets of the citizens of the U.S. When will these idiots learn that the American people are smarter than they think we are. I have no doubt Obama will lose by one of the largest margins in U.S. electoral history. This smoke and mirror game the media here is playing is going to blow up in their faces. The lack of substance on the part of the left wing in this country will be exposed as this election cycle continues to grind along. This class warfare rhetoric being spewed forth from the democrat party sounds like the same populist B/S that loses them most other major elections. McCain may not be the best choice for president of the United States, but, he is still head and shoulders above the presumed democrat/socialist nominee with the silver tongue. We may not be the most informed electorate on the planet, but we weren't born yesterday.
Al Loria
New York, New York
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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Rodrigo Arias to get his day before a legislative commission
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Today is the day that Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, the brother of the president and the current minister of the Presidencia, goes before a legislative committee to answer questions about the financial scandal that has blemished the Arias administration. Wednesday there was an effort by some members of the ruling Partido Liberación Nacional to lessen the impact of the financial disclosures. One, Francisco Marín, argued that it was not the place of the legislature to punish executive branch officials. There has been a movement to censure Fernando Zumbado for his financial dealings with a $1.5 million donations from the government of Taiwan. He spent the money on organizations and experts and not the flooded out poor in Rincón de Pavas that was specified by the donor. But Marín argued that it is the role of the Ministerio Público, the independent prosecutorial agency, to seek punishment. Zumbado resigned Tuesday and had been on leave since July 9. He is likely to face judicial action. The allegation against Zumbado is that he used the money to hire a series of consultants and paid for a contract with the Centro Internacional de Derechos Humanos, an organization that he founded and used to head. Rodrigo Arias is called behind his back "the cardinal," a |
reference to
the pragmatic Cardinal Richelieu, who advised Louis XIII, or perhaps
the Italian cardinal, Jules Mazarin, who advised Louis XIV. Some critics have called the Arias administration a joint presidency because Rodrigo Arias has been the more visible figure. He will be asked about the administration's relationship with the Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica. The bank has served as trustee for the $1.5 million from Taiwan and another trust of $2.5 million. Both sums were dispensed in part without public knowledge to friends and even enemies of the Arias administration. One such person is an alternate magistrate of the Corte Suprema de Justicia. Critics argue that the magistrate, Federico Sosto López, crossed the line when he accepted money from Arias while serving on the court. He was cleared by the other magistrates. Sosto is one of 82 individuals who are being investigated by the Comisión de Ingreso y Gasto Público for receiving consulting salaries from the Arias administration from a secret slush fund that was exposed by La Nación June 30. Rodrigo Arias made public a letter he sent in support of the magistrate. The scandal confirms in the minds of critics that some free trade treaty votes were encouraged by the payment of cash. |
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Increases approved in the fares for long-distance public buses
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The rate regulating agency Wednesday said it had approved an increase averaging 12.87 percent for the nation's long-distance buses. The rate increase covered all types of rising costs for bus operators, including the price of fuel, salaries, maintenance and repairs, said the Authoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos. The main contributor was the increase in the price of diesel, said the agency. The fares increased and average of 59.5 colons (about 11 U.S. cents), but the biggest increase was 770 colons (about $1.41).
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The last time the rates were increased was in February, the agency
noted. The new rates will go into effect a week from today when the resolution is published in the La Gaceta official government newspaper. The Óscar Arias Sánchez administration has taken note of the fuel squeeze for public transportation and proposed a complex plan of dropping the tax on diesel but increasing the road tax for private vehicles that use diesel. The Asamblea Legislativa pronounced that plan dead on arrival, but lawmakers are considering exempting all public transport from the diesel fuel tax.
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| How about 43 years more, Doll? |
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Mexico conference highlights discrimination facings gays
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
At the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City this week, there has been a great deal of discussion about violence and discrimination directed at homosexuals and lesbians, often based on the mistaken assumption that they are responsible for the disease. Participants in the conference also see improvements in attitudes as a result of education and government actions to protect people from discrimination. Public health officials and organizations working to diminish the impact of AIDS around the world agree that more tolerant societies have better programs to combat AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. But, they say, discrimination against those whose sexual orientation differs from the norm, whether official, cultural or religious, often works against efforts to control the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS. One nation that has taken steps in recent years to address the problem of discrimination against gays is the conference host nation, Mexico. "What we have done is, first, an amendment to the constitution," said Jorge Saavedra, director of the Mexican national HIV/AIDS program. "It was done in 2001. It states that no one can be discriminated against because of his or her preferences and then the national law was approved. It is a national law against discrimination, and it addresses specifically sexual orientation," he said. Saavedra says anti-gay discrimination and occasional violence continue in Mexico and other Latin American nations in spite of laws against such actions and that public education is still needed to change attitudes. He says that Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are the leading nations in Latin America in terms of protecting gay rights. Globally, he says the countries that are most advanced in their non-discrimination policies are The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain and South Africa, all of which allow people of the same sex to marry. |
Joel Nana, a native of Cameroon who works with a gay rights group in
South Africa, says efforts by outsiders to influence governments in
Africa have sometimes been counterproductive because of the impression
many Africans have that gay sex is something being imposed from outside. "The behavior has existed in Africa since the world was the world. But the language we now use to call the behavior is new and it is the language that freaks people, and it is the language that makes people feel this is an imposition from the West. So what I would tell our European and American brothers would be to be wary of the way they introduce the issue to various governments. They should build on the issue of the behavior rather than the language," he said. The situation for gays in the Middle East and Asia is especially difficult. Shivananda Khan, Chair of the Asia-Pacific Coalition on Male Sex Health and a resident of India, said, "We are trying to find ways of creating dialogue with Islamic leaders and Hindu leaders and Buddhist leaders to enable them to understand the diversity of sexuality in human cultures. Right now, if I were to speak about issues of sexuality in Iran, I could potentially get hanged. In India I could be arrested, and in Afghanistan and Pakistan I could also be arrested." Khan says he sees signs of hope because of recent inter-faith dialogues between Christian leaders and Muslim leaders on the issue of ending violence against gays. He also notes that many of the discriminatory laws in his part of the world originated from the British and were based on their Christian values. Delegates from other parts of the world say religion has often played a role in anti-gay discrimination and acts of intolerance, but they note that some religious leaders, like Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, have been champions of anti-discrimination. Some Christian leaders have encouraged more tolerance, citing the call to love thy neighbor. Members of some gay organizations say they see real opportunities for dialogue with religious leaders. |
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Supreme Court rejects plea, and Texas inmate dies By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Authorities in Texas have executed a Mexican-born inmate over the objections of an international court and the Mexican government. Theinmate, Jose Medellin, convicted of the rape and murders of two teenage girls 15 years ago, was put to death late Tuesday by lethal injection. The execution was delayed more than three hours while the U.S. Supreme Court debated a stay of execution. The court rejected the move in a five-to-four vote. The Mexican government says it sent a note to the U.S. State Department saying Mexico was concerned about the precedent that the execution may create for the rights of Mexicans who may be detained in the U.S. Medellin's attorneys had argued their client was not told he could seek legal help from the Mexican consulate after his arrest. They said this was in violation of a United Nations convention on consular relations. Last month, the International Court of Justice ordered the U.S. government to grant a stay of execution to Medellin and four other Mexicans on death row in the U.S. Tuesday, U. N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the U.S. to halt Medellin's execution. The International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 that Medellin and at least 50 other Mexican inmates should have new hearings to determine whether the 1963 Vienna Convention was violated during their arrests. U.S. President George Bush ordered Texas to comply with the international court's ruling and reopen the Medellin case. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year Bush overstepped his authority. Disabled have to drive to Heredia for a permit By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The central government is exempting the disabled from the vehicle restrictions in the Metro area core. If a handicapped person is stopped driving a vehicle with the final license plate number that is forbidden that day, they will not get a ticket. There is a big but. The disabled individual has to present a document from the Consejo Nacional de Rehabilitación y Enseñanza Especial located in la Valencia de Heredia, according to the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes. The motorist will have to travel there to apply. Then once their permit is approved, the handicapped motorist has to retrieve the permit at the Dirección General de Ingeniería de Tránsito east of Y Griega. |
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