Visits by U.S. boats again
fails to pass in legislature


For awhile Friday, security officials thought that lawmakers had approved the entry of some 17 U.S. ships to Costa Rican ports. This has been a month-long effort for the administration.

Friday the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública sent out an announcement that the shore leave for these U.S. warships had been approved. But that was an error.

A short time later, the ministry sent out a correction and said that officials there had been incorrectly informed about what happened in the legislature Friday. Aides at the legislature thought that the approval for docking and shore leave had been approved. But what really happened is that lawmakers voted to consider the measure without the formal reading of the lengthy document. They never actually voted on the measure itself.

Then when time came to discuss the measure, Claudio Enrique Monge Pereira of the Partido Acción Ciudadana began a lengthy address. Eventually enough lawmakers left the room so that there no longer was a quorum.

When a quorum was reestablished, lawmakers moved on to another theme.

Monge prevented consideration of the measure earlier in the month. The boats are on patrol in both the Pacific and Caribbean trying to capture drug smugglers.

Meanwhile, the request from the security ministry to lawmakers revealed that the United States is expected to buy an estimated $2.9 million in fuel and pay port fees of some $384,673 for the 17 ships. In addition, the crews are estimated to spend $702,6563 in hotels, food and drinks during their shore leaves. The fuel will come from the state-owned Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo.

The visits by individual ships is scheduled to last until May 22 with each vessel docking from one to three days. Eight of the visits are expected to be in Golfito and nine in Limón. All are staffed by members of the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as U.S. Navy personnel.

The Costa Rican constitution prohibits the arrival of foreign warships without legislative approval.


U.S. team from Honduras
treats 704 on Pacific coast


Members of U.S. military services said they treated 704 patients during a two-day visit to the central Pacific coast.

In all, 38 persons from Joint Task Force-Bravo at Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras traveled to San Juan and Damitas, both in Puntarenas province. The visit was coordinated with the Ministerio de Salud and the Caja Costarricense de Saguro Social, said the U.S. southern Command.

Patients received preventative medicine briefings, health screenings, dental care, and prescription medicine, the military said.

The effort was a medical readiness training exercise, said the Southern Command. There are several mission objectives to these exercises, to include providing U.S. military personnel training in delivering medical care in austere conditions, promoting diplomatic relations between the U.S. and host nations in Central America, and providing humanitarian and civic assistance via a long-term proactive program, said 1st Lt. Christopher Diazo, who wrote about the exercise.


Noise impact on dolphin
being studied at Boca del Toro


Researchers are studying the impact of tourists and noise on bottleneck dolphin that can be found in Dolphin Bay in Panama’s Boca del Toro just south of Costa Rica.

The researchers are with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. In one two-hour period, the researchers said they counted 37 boats with tourists coming to see dolphin. The institute said that some at the controls of the boats move in quietly, but others full throttle to the location.

The institute researchers also are taking skin samples of the dolphin to obtain a DNA outline of the creatures there. They use a special rifle to snag little pieces of tissue.

Part of the study is to determine the impact of tourism on the mammals.