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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Aug. 27, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 169 | |||||||||
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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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handguns and some drugs By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers backed up by members of two other law enforcement organizations raided an arena for cock fights Sunday and ended up detaining five persons. The raid was in Pavas, and officers were confronted by about 50 angry participants in the cock fighting. The Unidad Intervención Policial and the Judicial Investigating Organization participated. Officers shook down some of the participants and found handguns, several types of drugs and at least one baggie of marijuana. Bootlegged alcohol also was confiscated. There was no immediate indication of what the purpose was for the raid, although chicken fights are frowned on officially. More than two dozen fighting birds were found in tiny individual cages.  Directional signs of the type to be
fabricated
Approval given to purchase
materials for road signs By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Contraloría General, the nation's financial watchdog, has given the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo approval to purchase raw materials to make directional signs. The signs are supposed to help tourists, both national and international. The material, mostly metals of copper, steel and aluminum will be purchased from the firm Abonos Agro for 190 million colons, some $377,000. The entire job, including fabrication and erection will cost 300 million, about $577,000. Some 225 signs with coffee-colored backgrounds will point the way to national parks, reserves and other sites of tourist interest. Some 379 other signs will point the way to the nation's beaches, and 599 signs will be installed on the Interamerican north and Route 32 from San José to Limón. The signs will be made of galvanized metal to reduce the temptation for thieves to steal them, tourism officials said. They said that galvanized metal is not recyclable. Crew of 5 dumps packages and sets the fastboat afire By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Yet another crew of a fastboat has fallen into police hands. A U.S. Coast Guard unit on patrol offshore in the Pacific spotted such a boat, typical of drug smugglers Sunday and called in Costa Rican officials who launched an aircraft to track the vessel. The crew of five dumped packages into the sea and then set the craft afire before fleeing in the vicinity of Playa Conchal. They were apprehended eventually by police units. The charred boat was recovered and still was afloat. Some Costa Rican coast guardsmen were at sea attempting to locate the cargo from the boat. The packages are presumed to be cocaine. Before the latest capture police were proud of having confiscated some 40 tons of cocaine, mostly from such fastboats on the Pacific. Depending on what is hauled out of the Pacific, that number may increase. Typically such boats carry between two and three tons of drugs. Air passenger detained on drug count By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Another air passenger faces an allegation that he was smuggling narcotics. The Policía de Control de Drogas detained a Guatemalan man with the last names of Villatoro Argueta at Juan Santamaría airport. He was headed to Honduras, officers said. The man, who is 31, was carrying some 795 grams of heroin attached to his body, they said. That's about 1.75 pounds. Young men face murder counts By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two brothers, believed to be members of the notorious Cueva de Sapo gang fell into police hands Friday. Both are facing murder allegations. One is 19 and his brother is 15, said a spokesman for the Ministerio Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública. Both men have the last names of Salinas Mendoza. They were apprehended in the La Carpio neighborhood in La Uruca. Drag racers die in head-on crash By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two men on motorcycles collided head-on with a vehicle Saturday night at Río Frio, Sarapiquí. Occupants of another motorcycle are believed to have fled. Officials say the two motorcycles were engaged in a drag race in the area and one strayed into the path of an oncoming vehicle. Three persons in the vehicle were injured. They went to the Hospital de Guápiles.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Aug. 27, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 169 | |||||||||
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| It's the
readers who make A.M. Costa Rica such a sensational advertising vehicle |
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| Insomniacs
will get a chance to see total lunar eclipse here |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Earth's shadow will creep slowly across the surface of the Moon early Tuesday, culminating in a total eclipse. If weather conditions are favorable, the eclipse will be visible in North and South America. East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands will also be able to view the event if skies are clear. The eclipse, although partial, will begin at 08:51 UTC That's 2:51 a.m. Costa Rican time and Mountain daylight time in the United States. Sunrise will end the show for people in eastern North and South America. In east Asia, the moon will rise in various stages of eclipse. The eclipse is scheduled to end at 12:24 UTC, which is 6:24 a.m. Costa Rican time. An eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light. During the full eclipse, the moon will not be completely dark because some light still reaches it around the edges of the Earth. |
 NASA/A.M. Costa Rica graphic
Progress of the total eclipse is displayed here. |
| Costa
Rica adds Lebanon to its list of states with which it maintains
relations |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rica and the Middle Eastern country of Lebanon have resumed diplomatic relations after a 23-year break. The official action came in New York at the United Nations where Jorge Urbina Ortega represented Costa Rica. He is the country's ambassador to the U.N. The decision is part of a shift in Costa Rican foreign policy by President Óscar Arias Sánchez and his foreign minister, Bruno Stagno. Middle Eastern Islamic states broke with Costa Rica because the country decided to install its embassy in Jerusalem instead of the more politically correct Tel Aviv. That happened in 1984. The decision took place during the administration of Luis Alberto Monge Álvarez. Arias |
followed Monge as president but did
nothing during his first
presidential term from 1986 to 1990. Last Aug. 16 Arias announced the move of the embassy to Tel Aviv and called the decision to locate the diplomatic seat in Jerusalem an historical error. Since then Costa Rica has established relations with Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrein and Yemen. The pragmatic foreign policy also resulted in establishing diplomatic relations with Communist China last June 1 and the exodus of Taiwanese diplomats from Costa Rica. Red China has just finished installing its embassy close to the Arias home in Rohrmoser, and Arias will visit China at the end of October as part of an extensive Asian trip, according to officials. |
| Multiple
rabbits are a euphemism for duplicity and trickery |
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| El que persigue a dos liebres no
coge ninguna. “One who chases after two hares catches neither.” This dicho has to do with duplicity, people who are double talkers, players of both sides of the coin, or who always try to please everyone. Recently much new information has come to light concerning President Oscar Arias’s receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize back in 1987 for his having brought peace to
This is one current example of trying to do too much with too little by attempting to please all factions at the same time. Let’s hope that for Costa Rica’s national dignity he is successful. I have a friend who, when we meet someone new, always says how much he likes the person. But he also never fails to point out some rather indeterminate flaw in our new acquaintance’s character. He will say something like, “I can’t quite put my finger on it,” or “I don’t know just what it is, but . . . .” And I usually have the feeling that he’s really playing both sides of the coin so that should the new person actually turn out to be something of a heel, my friend will always be able to say “I told you so.” Trust is a very important issue in interpersonal relations. But it is also important to understand that we are all humans and to be able to forgive one another our misdeeds. My friend, |
who never seems to quite trust anyone, also has a very hard time forgiving others. He would rather simply erase them from his life than to see their mistakes as human and forgive them as such. I believe at some point in his life perhaps he was deeply hurt by someone he trusted. I do understand his position, but I think I can be happier if I don’t pursue life as though it were an enormous emotional minefield. A very wealthy lawyer of my acquaintance in the United States was once visiting us in Costa Rica when he asked me to help him to undertake a certain “deal.” I said I’d be willing to help him as long as everything was on the up and up. This fellow and his “deal” did not command my fullest confidence, so I kept careful records of all the translations I did for him, and especially any document that required my signature. Sure enough this slightly shady “deal” fell through, and he was very upset. After returning to the States I never heard from him again. Apparently he was only my friend so long as I was useful to him. In the beginning this hurt me, but now I feel I’m better off without such a duplicitous “friend” in my life. You see, I’d much prefer having one nice cuddly little liebre, than a hundred of them hopping crazily all over the place. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
| A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page |
A.M. Costa Rica rates Display and classified rates have increased as of June 18, 2007. The average display increase is between 6 and 8.5 percent. This is the first rate increase in the six-year history of the newspaper. The new rates are posted here: As usual, the bulk of any income goes to get you a better newspaper. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Aug. 27, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 169 | |||||||||
| Some
U.S. housing markets still are posting higher prices |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica stsaff
and wire service reports North American home prices, the engine that fuels much of Costa Rica's housing boom, have dropped as much as 7 percent in some sections of the U.S. mainland, but prices still are climbing in other sections. This is despite a credit crisis that may mean mortgage rate increases for some 2 million persons within the next two months. With mortgage interest rates at historic lows, in many parts of the country prices of single-family homes doubled in the early part of this decade. Some homeowners cashed in, moved to Costa Rica and built here. Others refinanced their homes or obtained a second mortgage to purchase a condo or second vacation home, most likely on the Pacific Coast on in the central highlands. But the boom is now over and prices in many U.S. regions have turned down. Nationwide, U.S. home prices are 1.5 percent lower than a year ago. Regional differences are significant with prices still rising in Seattle, the San Francisco Bay area and Charlotte, North Carolina. But prices in the Midwest rust belt cities of Detroit and Cleveland are down 7 percent. Prices are also down in Phoenix, Las Vegas and most parts of Florida. Stephen Frater, a New York Times reporter covering real estate in southwest Florida, says until 2006 home prices in the Sarasota-Bradenton area of Florida were rising 25 to 30 percent per year. "In a four- to five-year time frame prices doubled. And we've given back how much of that, I would say more than 10 percent, probably closer to 20 per cent," he said. Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Bank in |
Pittsburgh, believes the
credit squeeze is putting additional downward pressure on home prices.
"And I think the decline in the housing market has a good bit further
to go," he said. As elsewhere, most Americans buy their homes with long-term mortgage loans. A high 70 percent of all American families own the homes in which they live. The fixed rate 30-year mortgage has become less of an industry standard as many home-buyers pay off their loans in 15 years or take adjustable rate mortgages, which at the beginning are often cheaper. The credit squeeze occurred in large part because of trouble in sub-prime mortgages. These higher interest rate loans are offered to borrowers with poor credit histories. Until recently, many sub-prime loans had teaser rates where interest was waived or very low for the first few years. Many of these borrowers are now behind in their payments and repossessions are way up. An estimated two million borrowers in the next few months will have their interest rates reset to higher market levels. Richard Berner, chief economist at Morgan Stanley in New York, says the credit squeeze is likely to make it harder for home buyers to get loans. "It's going to be an environment in which investors are going to be a lot more cautious. Credit officers will be a lot more cautious," he said. Since a home is the principal asset of most Americans, if price declines take hold there is bound to be a political impact. Most experts say the Federal Reserve Board will cut interest rates if the housing market remains weak. Fortunately for Costa Rica, sub-prime borrowers probably are not the individuals buying condos and vacation homes here. Real estate brokers here report sluggish sales, but they also report that buyers still are active but are taking longer to come up with the cash. |
| Newspaper
says Panamá mansion being readied for Noriega |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
and wire service reports A U.S. judge has refused to block the extradition of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France to face money laundering charges. At the same time the judge, William Hoeveler, also said that it is unclear if Panamá is actively seeking Noriega's return to face charges of embezzlement, corruption and murder. But The Panamá News, an English-language online weekly, reported this week that workmen are fixing up the luxury mansion once occuped by Noriega. The newspaper also published a scathing Page One story in which it said the current regime of Martín Torrijos is "largely staffed by apparatchiki from the dictatorship" of Noriega. Said the newspaper: ". . . in Altos de Golf, a group of laborers directed by an attorney for General Manuel Antonio Noriega is restoring a mansion where the former dictator used to live. Now isn't that strange? After the 1989 U.S. invasion the government expropriated the building because after lengthy hearings it was found that it had been acquired with the proceeds of illegal activity. The property was turned over to the Ministry of Finance. "Ah, but the present Minister of Finance, Héctor Alexander, just happens to have been the Minister of Planning and Economic Policy when Noriega ran the government here." The newspaper also accused government officials in Panamá of being involved in the use of hit men and national police officers to kill activists in the construction worker's union. |
The federal judge in Miami rejected
claims from lawyers for Noriega,
who are seeking to block an extradition request from France. The
lawyers filed motions in July, arguing that Noriega should be returned
to Panamá, because he was declared a U.S. "prisoner of war"
following
his 1992 conviction on drug trafficking charges that followed the U.S.
invasion of Panamá. In his written decision, Hoeveler noted that the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war does not require that Noriega be repatriated, nor does it protect him from future prosecutions. The decision of where Noreiga will go now is left to the U.S. Department of State. Noriega's lawyer, Frank Rubino, said he was disappointed by the ruling, and said Panama's government is partly to blame for failing to press its extradition claim. "Panama obviously is terrified and scared to death that Noriega would return to Panama, and that is why they have done nothing about getting his return," he said, in an apparent contradiction of the essence of the Panamá News story. Noriega's lawyers have alleged that officials from France, Panamá and the United States have agreed to the French extradition, to save Panama's government from any political embarrassment. Panamanian officials say they have filed several extradition requests in the United States. Rubino said he will consult with Noriega about filing another U.S. court motion or making a possible appeal to the United Nations to block the extradition. Noriega is set to be released from a U.S. prison Sept. 9, after serving 17 years of a drug sentence. In France, a court already has issued a 10-year prison term against Noriega on charges of using millions of dollars in alleged drug money to buy luxurious apartments in Paris. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Aug. 27, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 169 | ||||||
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