U.S. Embassy experience
is called a nightmare
 
Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

The United States Embassy in San José is a poor excuse for what most American’s would expect from their embassy. From my visits, past and present, this is the typical experience for an American approaching the embassy in San Jose:

-At the entrance, the guard does not speak English.
-Inside the door, the security personnel do not speak English.
-The security scanners who search you do not speak English.
-Once inside the complex, there is no greeter or help desk.
-The people who take passport photographs do not speak
      English.
-There are no signs or instructions in English.

-There are crowds of people sitting and milling around inside the complex, none of whom are embassy employees.

Since there are no embassy personnel on the grounds to assist anyone, it is not possible to figure out what to do or where to go.

When I visited the embassy I would have had to leave and return with someone fluent in Spanish if it weren’t for the kindness of an American stranger who was bilingual and helped me.

This is an absolutely inexcusable situation and the ambassador should take a few minutes and go inside the embassy with the "little people" and see what the experience is really like.  It is a nightmare and a disgrace that there are no English-speaking employees there to assist Americans in the procedures necessary to get them to the proper service windows. 

The ONLY employee in the embassy who spoke English to me was the man behind the service window and astonishingly enough he initially addressed me in SPANISH!

As an aside, my husband is Canadian, and when he visits his embassy here in San José every employee there is tri-lingual.  They are all able to address him in English, French or Spanish.

I encourage everyone who has had a similar complaint with the U.S. Embassy here to contact Jennifer Van Trump at the U. S. Department of State on 202-647-3519 or e-mail her at vantrumpjr@state.gov and report the incident.  It will be remedied if we take action.

I have one message to the Ambassador regarding this issue: Madam Ambassador, your embassy is a disgrace to the American people it is there to serve.

Go after those tax evaders
before making new taxes
 
Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

It is with no small sense of resignation that I see La Presidenta introducing yet another tax (this one on corporations, the last one on luxury housing) that seems designed to hit disproportionately on expats and others not able to make their displeasure felt at the ballot box.
 
All the while that collection of existing taxes is almost non-existent, and Ticos make a sport of not paying taxes owed, Even many professionals like doctors and lawyers will only accept cash for their services, presumably so they can avoid taxes.
 
Real estate seminars tout not only the low property taxes, but also the ease and evidently universal practice of vastly underreporting the value of property for tax purposes.
 
Until the government gets more serious about pursuing tax evaders, please hold off on proposing yet more taxes on the few who might actually pay them.

U.S. not the most generous,
and aid goes to war zones

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

While Mike Michael is right in praising the humanitarian (and zoomanitarian?) assistance provided to some 6,000 people and 3,000 animals by the U.S. military during the controversial docking in Limón, he appears to have a bit of difficulty with context, and with facts.

The people of Costa Rica enjoy a relatively high standard and quality of living largely because they wisely eliminated their own military more then 50 years ago. This has resulted in financial resources being dedicated to the social infrastructure rather than a corrupt military that destroys rather than produces. The primary purpose of any military is to kill and destroy. Of course, every military has doctors and cooks and musicians, but the primary task of the organization is to kill and destroy. No need to take my word for it, just ask the generals.

While said killing and destruction in the name of national defense is justified is debatable, the primary purpose of a military is not.

Regarding the United States as being "the most generous country on the planet," again, while we're all entitled to our own opinions, we aren't entitled to our own facts. It is true that individuals in the United States are very generous when it comes to giving to those in need. But when it comes to the generosity of "the country," as of 2008, the United States as a nation ranks 19th in terms of foreign aid as a percentage of GNP. And the vast majority of that aid goes to Iraq, Afghanistan and Colombia, where we are fighting or supporting wars of fraud (Iraq), folly ( Afghanistan) and failure ( the war on drugs in Colombia).

So while I, like Mike, will always commend any acts of compassion, by individuals or governments, if Mike is interested in reality as opposed to "patriotic" proclamations — rather than "We're # 1!," would you buy "We're # 19!" ?

Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . http://www.oecd.org

U.S. is reported at #9

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Yes, the United States as a whole is the most generous country when it comes to charitable contributions, but when it comes to amount per citizen, it ranks ninth, below the United Kingdom and three Arab countries.  There is a chart on Wikipedia which shows the data from 2008 which is the most current available.  I guess this statistic is more important to me as I identify more with the people than the institution.

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Municipalidad de San José photo

Gerardo Paniagua Castro, 25, as he walked with a girlfriend in front of the famous Teatro Nacional.