Magistrates of the Sala IV constitutional court will be hearing arguments this morning that President Abel Pacheco acted unconstitutionally when he showed support for the U.S. war against Iraq.

A number of Costa Ricans and organizations have challenged what they see as a presidential endorsement of the war and have joined in the action. Among these is the office of the Defensor de los Habitantes.

After hearing the arguments, the magistrates have a month to issue a decision. It is unclear exactly what they might be able to order if they agree with the persons making the appeal.

Pacheco, for his part, claims he has opposed terrorism and did not specifically support the U.S. actions.
 

Controllers settle
and will return

Air traffic controllers will be back on the job tomorrow after having reached an agreement to end their strike Wednesday.

The settlement appears to call for a pay hike of nearly 30 percent for the 115 controllers.

The government also has agreed to discontinue efforts to fire the controllers. The seven-week strike has been declared illegal in three labor courts.

Controllers from other Latin countries have been managing air traffic since the Costa Ricans walked out. Strikers have claimed the skies were unsafe, but there were no serious incidents.
 

U.S. citizen’s vehicle
kills girl near Limón

An 8-year-old girl died in Estrada de Limón when she got off a bus and stepped into traffic. The vehicle that hit her was driven by a U.S. citizen, investigators said.

The girl was identified as Tracy Garita Medina. The driver of the car was identified as Christopher Michael Loreon of the U.S. state of Oregon.

The girl was travelling with her stepfather but seems to have let go of his hand to cross the street.  Loreon was passing the stopped municipal bus when the tragedy took place.

The girl went to the Clinica de Batan where she was pronounced dead.

Santa Cruz plans
cheese weekend

If you like cheese, Santa Cruz de Turrialba has a deal for you. Sunday residents there will be cutting the largest cheese ever made in Costa Rica; some 250 kilos (550 pounds), the end result of some 1,500 liters of milk.

The event is all part of the Exoferia del Queso in the farming community. The event begins Friday at Hacienda Miravalles where there is parking for 3,000 vehicles.

Nearby are the Irazú and Turrialba volcanoes. In addition to cheese at the festival, traditional competitions are planned as are tours of a dairy, tours in tractors and sales of food and artists products.

The event is sponsored by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo.

Santa Cruz produces 200,000 kilos (440,000 pounds) of cheese a month and 98 percent of the population are directly employed in that business, said the tourism institute.

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

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

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Wednesday called for a free, fair and transparent electoral process in Venezuela, where citizens vote Sunday in a referendum on the political future of President Hugo Chavez. The State Department reiterated concern about incidents of harassment and intimidation in the run-up to the vote. 

The Bush administration has had a difficult relationship with Chavez, who has had close ties with Cuban President Fidel Castro and been a strong critic of U.S. policy in Iraq and elsewhere. 

But officials here say the United States is not taking sides in the recall election. In a statement issued in advance of Sunday's vote, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the vote, if conducted freely, fairly and transparently, will be an important step toward a peaceful, electoral, democratic and constitutional solution to Venezuela's long-running political crisis.

The referendum, which asks Venezuelans whether Chavez should leave office two years before his current terms ends, was put on a ballot after a controversy-ridden petition process in which recall supporters collected more than two million signatures for his ouster.

At a news briefing State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli noted that the United States had raised concerns about incidents of harassment and intimidation in the long run-up to the vote, and said the Caracas government now has a special responsibility to ensure a proper environment for a free and fair election:

Powell said in his written statement that effective electoral observation will be vital to the credibility of the referendum, and he urged that observers including those of the Organization of American States and the U.S.-based Carter Center be given the "unrestricted access necessary to do their jobs."

He said Venezuela's future is in the hands of its citizens and that the United States calls on all Venezuelans to reject violence and respect the rights of others. He said the United States "stands firmly with them" as they seek to strengthen their democracy and support national reconciliation.

U.S. officials have expressed concern over several incidents in the recall campaign including the jailing of the anti-Chavez mayor of a Caracas suburb and the investigation of a non-governmental group for accepting funds from the U.S.-supported National Endowment for Democracy.

Chavez has repeatedly accused the United States of financing the campaign against him, and insists despite U.S. denials, that the Bush administration was behind a military coup that briefly unseated him on 2002.

If Chavez loses the referendum, a presidential election would be held within 30 days.

CARACAS, Venezuela — The country’s oil minister says the Organization of Oil Producing Nations, OPEC, has reached its maximum production capacity.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez said OPEC will discuss the possibility of increasing production when the 11-member group meets Sept. 15 in Vienna. 

Ramirez says he does not expect the price of oil worldwide to drop any time soon, due to high demand and instability in the Middle East. The price of oil reached over $45 a barrel earlier this week.

Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC and is the world's fifth largest oil exporter. 

Nicaragua has destroyed another portion of its missile stockpile in a move that the United States says will thwart terrorists from attempting to shoot down civilian aircraft.

A spokesman for the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington confirmed Wednesday that his country's government had destroyed 333 more shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles that were obtained from the former Soviet Union in the 1980s. In May, Nicaragua had destroyed a first batch of 333 shoulder-fired missiles, known as "manpads," which stands for "man-portable air defense system."

The destruction of the missiles occurred at a site about 96 kms. (60 miles) northwest of the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. Among those observing the destruction of the missiles were several officials from the U.S. State Department, the Nicaraguan spokesman said.

The spokesman said Nicaragua also plans to destroy another batch of about 333 missiles in November. This means, the spokesman said, that by the end of 2004, Nicaragua will have destroyed about one-half of its original inventory of 2,000 missiles.

The spokesman said there is "interest and willingness" on the part of the Nicaraguan government to continue destroying its inventory of missiles, but that such an action depends upon approval by the Nicaraguan parliament. In addition, the action has to conform to a treaty among Central American nations to maintain a "reasonable balance of forces" in the region, the spokesman said. That treaty, he said, was initiated by Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños, which aims to achieve a balance of military forces" in Central America.

The United States has praised Nicaragua's decision to destroy the missiles, saying the weapons have

The U.S. State Department has said it is working with other countries in Latin America and around the world to reduce the threat of these missiles. A U.S. contractor is carrying out the destruction of the missiles in cooperation with the Nicaraguan government, the State Department said.

Nicaragua's 2,000 surface-to-air weapons were obtained from the Soviet Union during the Cold War era of the 1980s, when the left-wing Sandinista government, then in power in Nicaragua, was fighting a civil war against right-wing rebels.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said during his November 2003 trip to Nicaragua that the nation's stockpile of shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles did not have a role to play in Central America's current political climate.

Powell said the missiles did not provide security for Nicaragua, nor were they necessary for establishing the region's balance of forces. Instead, Powell said, the missiles were a burden on the nation's military and a potential danger — and should be entirely eliminated.

Powell praised Nicaragua's Bolaños for demonstrating leadership on security issues by encouraging the region's other heads of state to reduce their defense expenditures and establish a reasonable balance of defense forces in Central America. Powell said this adjustment was a natural extension of increased integration and cooperation in the region, and a recognition of the changing threats facing Central America.

"The Nicaraguan people and the people in other nations in Central America should be more worried about narco-trafficking and terrorists than they should be about being invaded by a neighbor," Powell said Nov. 4. 

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republica — Authorities say 33 migrants who tried to reach Puerto Rico by boat have been found alive, but dozens more are missing and feared dead. 

Officials say fishermen found the migrants Tuesday near the northern coast village of Nagua and they were severely dehydrated. Two migrants died on the way to the hospital. 

The Coast Guard says that since October, 60 people are known to have died trying to cross the waters between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. More than 5,000 have been intercepted at sea since then.