The weather is pretty good in Costa Rica, but "The Drive for the Forest" ran into early winter problems in Russia.

Karl Jaeger of the Slovene Association for the Protection of the Environment said he has postponed for this year his effort to drive 25,000 miles from Maribor, Slovenia, to San José by Volkswagen.

Jaeger said he left Slovenia too late this year and realized after experiencing the Russian roads that he would need two months just to cross Siberia. that would have put him in a town north of the Arctic Circle by the time winter really hit. But he would have been stuck there, the association said. He left in late July.

". . . we are still continuing our efforts with saving the forests, by planning on providing international eco tours, both in Europe (multiple countries) and in Central America," said Jaeger in an e-mail message. He is a former resident of San José.

The purpose of the trip was to raise awareness and also funds to save endangered forests both in Slovenia and in the Americas. 

President Abel Pacheco has been drumming up support for his new tax plan, and now he has the church on his side.

The president had lunch Thursday with nine Roman Catholic bishops, and afterwards Casa Presidential issued a statement that said the church leaders would plead for economic solutions in the Catholic Mass.

The president also had a meeting with Carlos Avendaño, the only deputy of the Partido Renovación Costarricense in the morning. And he was supposed to meet with leaders of the Partido Liberación Nacional in the afternoon.

Román Arrieta Villalobos, the archbishop of San José, came close to supporting Pacheco after lunch. He called upon lawmakers to pass whatever laws that would favor and contribute "powerfully and decisively" to solve the fiscal problem of the country.

Avendaño said after his meeting that the fiscal problem is not just a political problem but something every Costa Rican has the responsibility to solve.

Deputies are being asked to pass a temporary tax plan while a committee studies a long-term plan. In both cases, a central element is a value-added tax that would replace the existing sales tax. The value-added tax would raise much more money because it is designed to cover services as well as sales of items. 

Visits to physicians, lawyers, mechanics and other service vendors would be taxed. They are not now.

Pacheco and his administration have been on a campaign to get action from the deputies. Some lawmakers are nervous about passing new taxes in hard economic times. Pacheco says the country will go bankrupt if they do not.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Research Council released a study Saturday identifying concerns that surround the use of biotechnology in animal populations. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested the study from the National Research Council as it prepares to begin regulation of these new developments in animal husbandry.

The possibility that a genetically engineered creature might escape and introduce its genes to wild populations is the most significant potential problem identified by the panel of scientists who studied the issues. The risk is that the genetically engineered species might be more successful at reproduction, or become competitive for food with the natural population, the panel reported.

"By identifying these concerns, we hope we can help this technology be applied as safely as possible without denying the public its potential benefits," said John G. Vandenbergh, committee chair and professor of zoology at North Carolina State University.

The committee found no evidence indicating that cloned livestock would be unsafe for human consumption, but indicated that further research is necessary.

Colombia recruits 
to stave off rebels

BOGOTA, Colombia — The government here says it plans to recruit and arm 20,000 peasants to support the military's fight against outlawed leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries. 

Officials said Thursday the peasants will receive military training, uniforms and a small salary, and could be deployed by the end of the year to patrol their villages. 

Human rights groups say arming peasants could cause more bloodshed in the country's 38-year civil war, which pits the rebels against the paramilitaries and government. The human rights groups say arming neutral civilians risks turning them into targets. 

The government announcement came just days after newly-installed President Alvaro Uribe decreed emergency powers to crack down on rebels blamed for deadly inauguration day attacks on Aug. 7.

The decree enables the Uribe government to impose a war tax to boost security forces. 

In a related development, rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have criticized President Uribe's efforts to obtain United Nations help in ending the war. 

In an open letter to President Uribe, the group known as the FARC said issues to be resolved must be negotiated directly with the state, not the United Nations. 

Andres Pastrana, Colombia's former president, attempted U.N.-mediated talks with the FARC, but called them off in February because they were not working. Since then, rebel violence in the Andean nation has intensified.

Fisk against lifting
U.S.-Cuban tourism ban

The U.S. tourism ban preventing Americans from legally visiting Cuba should not be lifted. That’s the opinion of Dan Fisk, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere office. Fisk recently wrote an op-ed piece that appeared in The Jacksonville, Fla., Times-Union.

Fisk argued that American tourism dollars should not support Castro's repressive system. His column bashed the Castro regime, blaming its allegiance to socialism as a reason for the country’s poverty. "Castro has kept in place a top-down, plantation-style command political structure and economy that ill-serves Cuba's impoverished citizens," said Fisk.

The deputy assistant secretary of state also cited Castro’s denial of human rights as a deterrent for doing business with the country. He said that there are virtually no political rights in Cuba, no freedom of expression, assembly or movement.

Fisk warned of the country’s continued close ties with fellow rogue states, as a safe haven for cop-killers and other fugitives from U.S. justice, links to terrorist organizations, and a biotechnology development effort that could be turned against the United States.

While some political leaders argue that lifting the ban would revitalize the U.S. tourism industry and promote a democratic transition on the island, Fisk strongly disagreed.

"Travel to Cuba would contribute neither to the economic revitalization of the beleaguered U.S. airline and travel industry nor to sparking a political transformation on the island itself," said Fisk.

Fisk added that tourism in Cuba does little to benefit most Cubans and merely enhances the control the Cuban government maintains over its citizens. The government takes a nearly 90 percent cut of the salaries paid to the workers it provides on contract to foreign tourist concessionaires, according to Fisk.

Hubbard offers 
Latin economy advice

Economic growth in Latin American countries is achievable by altering domestic policies, said Glen Hubbard, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, in a column published by The Financial Times Wednesday. In his column, Hubbard advised three policy priorities. 

The first priority is to establish the rule of law, according to Hubbard. He argued that individuals must have confidence that their property rights will be respected. Without this confidence, Hubbard said, economic activity is stifled, and assistance from the international community will be ineffective. He cited Argentina’s current economic disaster as an example of what happens when public confidence breaks down.

The second priority, recommended by Hubbard, is a fiscal policy centered on limiting the size of government. "While the state should provide essential public services and ensure a social safety net, it should not enter into areas more efficiently handled by the private sector," Hubbard said. 

The economic adviser said that a third policy priority for growth is effective monetary control. "Individuals cannot form expectations for inflation without effective monetary policy — the resulting uncertainty depresses investment and growth," said Hubbard.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — More than half of the population in Argentina is now living in poverty, as the nation slides deeper into its economic depression. That is just one of the alarming facts in a poverty report released Thursday.

The report shows 18.5 million Argentines are now living below the poverty line. That is 53 percent of this country's population. 

One of every four Argentines is considered indigent, barely making a dollar a day, too poor to buy the food he or she needs. And the report released by the census office also says 4 million children are living in poverty — almost three-fourths of all children in Argentina.

Every week the protests grow bigger and louder here, as the country sinks deeper into crisis. Argentina's unemployment rate recently hit 21.3 percent — an all-time high.

Those who do work earn pesos that have lost 70 percent of their value since the Argentine currency was devalued last year.

Most people who put their life savings into banks still can't touch the money, because it remains locked in the corralito, the nationwide banking freeze.

Last week, President Eduardo Duhalde and Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna sent a letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund. It was a formal request for a bailout, and the Argentine leaders are waiting for a response.

But critics say an emergency loan may do more long-term harm than good. The International Monetary Fund wants Argentina to cut spending. And less spending on social programs could mean more poverty.
 

Dobriansky hopeful
summit has results

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Paula Dobriansky, secretary of state for global affairs, says the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg offers an opportunity for both developed and developing countries to work together on a shared vision for reducing and eradicating poverty and fostering sustainable development.

Ms. Dobriansky told reporters at the State Department Foreign Press Center Wednesday that this vision is predicated on a commitment to domestic good governance, sound economic policies and an investment in people.

Ms. Dobriansky said the United States views the Johannesburg summit as the continuation of a process that started with the Doha Trade Ministerial and the discussion on financing for development that took place in Monterrey, Mexico, earlier this year.

"The discussion that took place in Monterrey … was historic," she said. "An historic compact was embraced by the global community, which basically called upon developed countries to provide assistance, but at the same time to ensure that there is co-accountability, co-responsibility by developing countries to come forward and provide a foundation for that assistance, to have that assistance go to its targeted need and use."

In this context, Dobriansky said, developing countries would provide a commitment for domestic good governance, "ensuring that there is transparency, rule of law and accountability on the ground so that the resources coming in are, in fact, invested in people. This is what the Johannesburg summit is about. It's about people."

Dobriansky said the U.S. approach in Johannesburg will be action oriented, one that focuses on working to unite governments, the private sector and civil society in partnership to mobilize development resources more effectively.

"There are a number of areas where we need to step forward and ensure that action is taken by governments and by the private sector," she said. These areas include water, forests, and energy, and providing access to energy.

"There are other initiatives that … we have attached a great deal of importance to," she said. "In particular, combating infectious diseases, and education, ensuring that those sectors of the population that don't have access to education are in fact educated, and provided with the facilities and training and equipment toward that end."
 
 

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