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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 21, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 188 | |||||||||
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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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Contraloría cites
problems
Our readers' opinionsin Playa Dominical project By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Contraloría de la República has told the Municipalidad de Osa that various irregularities exist in a tourism project constructed with its approval at Playa Dominical. The project is Hotel Kiana Dominical operated by Cabinas Sonidos del Mar de Dominical S. A. According to the Contraloría, the project is 26 bungalows. Among other problems reported by the municipal services section of the Contraloría, the municipality approved the project even though the plans were not approved by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo and the Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo. In addition, the Contraloría report said some of the buildings do not conform to the plans presented to the municipality and that parts of at least one building is in a protected zone along a drainage ditch. The project is in the maritime zone, said the Contraloría. Municipalities can issue concessions for maritime zone projects in their borders. The Contraloría ordered the municipality to obtain from the developer complete plans approved by the appropriate agencies or to take appropriate action if the plans were not forthcoming, according to a release from the Contraloría. The municipality also must seek guarantees of completion from the developer and conduct a study to see if any of the structures are in a protected zone or the public right-of-way. If irregularities are found, the municipality must proceed to cancel the maritime concession, said the Contraloría. $113 million in water projects includes Puerto Viejo system By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The national water company is planning a $113 million investment in some 24 projects in 32 cantons of the country, according to an announcement from Casa Presidencial Thursday. The Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica is providing $68.5 million and the water company, the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, is coming up with $44.5 million. One major job will be in the creation of a water system in Puerto Viejo de Limón. In Puntarenas province jobs will be in Buenos Aires, Esparza, Palmar Norte, Coto Brus, Golfito, Jacó and Ciudad Neily. Other projects are planned for San Ramón, Palmares, San Mateo, Poasito and Atenas in the province of Alajuela.. A major investment will be made in Pérez Zeledón, said Ricardo Sancho, executive president of Acueductos y Alcantarillados. Jobs also are planned in Nicoya and Liberia in Guanacaste province and in the west side of San José. Northern zone fair at mall By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An eco tourism fair starts today and runs through Sunday at Multiplaza mall in Escazú. The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo said that the major tourism providers from the northern zone of the country will be present. In part, the reason for the event is to attract attention to the northern zone during the low season of October and November, the institute said. of violence, reader says Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Thank you for the article, “Some women swindle with domestic violence law” (9/17) by Garland Baker. The abuse of domestic violence law is so often ignored in the media. I’d like to also add that women commit domestic violence as often as men. Although men are less likely to report the violence, virtually all randomized sociological data from around the globe shows women initiate domestic violence at least as often as men and use weapons more than men, and that men suffer about one-third of the injuries, even though crime data shows lower numbers because men are less likely than women to report it. Professor Martin Fiebert of California State University summarizes about 200 of these studies in his online bibliography. In fact, a recent 32-nation study by the University of New Hampshire, which included five Latin American nations, found women commit partner violence as often as men and that controlling behavior exists equally in perpetrators of both sexes. Gender politics has left male victims invisible while their kids suffer long-term damage by the exposure. This is a serious but hidden problem. That's why a global coalition of concerned experts has formed to support honest, research-based, inclusive solutions that put social science over ideology. Their Web site is at http://www.nfvlrc.org/ Marc E. Angelucci, president
He opposes tourist taxLos Angeles chapter National Coalition of Free Men http://www.ncfmla.org and roadside garbage Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Not in Favor of $15.00 entrance fee I already pay the Costa Rican government $26 every time I leave. Now they need $15 more every time I arrive. If the government wants more tourists, instead of spending $800,000 U.S. for an advertising campaign, why not get the people of Costa Rica to quit throwing all their trash onto the road way. The Ticos are constantly cleaning their homes and stores but continue to treat the environment as their personal trash can. The better the country looks from the window of my taxi, the more likely I will return and tell my friends how clean Costa Rica is. Now I will be telling them Costa Rica isn't a country it's a country club with an admittance fee. Making it more expensive to come here Carlos Ricardo Benavides DOES NOT DRIVE TOURISM TO YOUR COUNTRY. Kevin Burdock
Ciudad Colón
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 21, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 188 | |||||||||
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| Nation's
most visible fugitive finally arrested in Heredia |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A woman who was on the U.S. F.B.I. most wanted list has been living openly in Heredia for years, but officials appear to have put off arresting her until her daughter turned 18. The woman is Chere Lyn Tomayko, who was sought for parental kidnapping of her daughter, Alexandria Camille Cyprian, in May 1997. She finally was detained Wednesday by the Dirección de Inteligencia y Seguridad, acting with the International Police Agency. Her daughter turned 18 in July. The case of Ms. Tomayko is a strange one because the fact that she was living in Heredia was well known to employees at the U.S. Embassy here and F.B.I. agents in her home state of Texas. Readers contacted A.M. Costa Rica reporting her whereabouts teaching English in the area after the newspaper published a story that she was a fugitive Feb. 7, 2002. When a reporter informed embassy officials in 2002 at the request of a reader, officials there said that the case was a sensitive one and said that a female F.B.I. agent in Texas would contact the reporter to find out additional information. The agent never called. Periodically, A.M. Costa Rica would mention Ms. Tomayko in news stories about U.S. fugitives. The most recent was last Feb. 16. The Regional Security Office at the U.S. Embassy never made inquires. She also was mentioned in an earlier news story about differences in official treatment of male fugitives with offspring and women with offspring. Also periodically reporters would discuss the case with local INTERPOL agents, but they said they had no knowledge of it. The suspicion grew that U.S. officials were keeping their hands off the case because Ms. Tomayko is white and her boyfriend is black or that they did not want to return the |
daughter to the father. The U.S. F.B.I. fugitive poster listed the race of her daughter as black. Said the F.B.I.: From 1990 to 1996, Chere Lyn Tomayko and her boyfriend were involved in child custody proceedings for Alexandria Camille Cyprian and acting as "joint managing guardians." In December of 1996, the Tarrant County District Court, Tarrant County, Texas, determined that both parents should retain joint custody. It was also determined that Alexandria's residence would be in Tarrant County. In May of 1997, Chere Tomayko fled Texas with Alexandria Camille Cyprian in violation of the court order. Further investigation determined that, at that time, Tomayko left the United States with Alexandria and her other daughter and may have fled to Costa Rica. On November 15, 2000, Tomayko was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, on one count of international parental kidnapping. Ms. Tomayko was not just another fugitive. She was listed as one of the F.B.I.'s 10 most wanted, and her photo and information was easily available on the Web site. There also is the question of how private schools could hire an employee without checking the background. Information on Ms. Tomayko was available with a single simple Internet search. |
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| A trip to the feria shows that prices usually are
better there |
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| Recently I heard
something
interesting on health news coming from the U.S. Dr. Sanje Gupta,
of CNN, commented that the U.S. does not grow enough fruits and
vegetables for its citizens to get the desired five servings a day to
keep them healthy. That situation does not prevail in Costa
Rica. Of course, the U.S. is able to import produce — at a
price. A Costa Rican can get his daily dose without ever
resorting to imported fare. However, having heard that food is getting more expensive here, I decided it was time to check out prices at the feria. Not being within easy shopping distance of the Pavas feria where I used to spend happy Saturday mornings, I asked my friend Doug to do the research. He and his ever-helpful driver, Eric, not only checked out dozens of prices at the feria, they checked some of the same products in the Supermarket. We were amazed at the differences in some items. I don’t have room to list all of them, but at right are some of the fruits and vegetables and their prices Thing grow fast in Costa Rica, and fruits and vegetables are “in season” more than once a year. In the supermarket the other day I saw what looked like a new crop of tomatoes. When I first came here, the tomatoes reminded me of those I ate when I was young. Real tomatoes! These, stacked high on the counter, were larger than softballs and harder than rocks. I fear they are already being grown for export. Change happens. I was talking with a woman who works at a senior living complex in Virginia about institutional food. She mentioned that for a morning snack, residents at her complex got popcorn. Here, in the morning we are brought a fruit, usually a slice of fresh pineapple, a banana, or a bowl of grapes or chunks of watermelon. Popcorn once in a while sounds good, too. To end his segment on health, Dr. Gupta commented on the irony that in a country that is striving so hard to get its citizens to lose weight, the two major food products grown in the United States are corn and soy beans. From corn comes fructose, which is used in so many sweets, drinks, snacks and foods that are not good for you. (However, pretty soon it looks like corn is going to be turned into an alternate energy source so the price is going up on fructose, as well as corn products that are part of the basic diets of many people). Soybeans are a very healthy food — and much of it is used for fodder — but soybean oil is used to make many products like mayonnaise, margarine, dairy creamers, and snacks, all of which contain TRANS FATS! And none of us needs to be told how bad trans fats are for the body. In contrast, the two main products that Costa Rica grows are bananas and coffee. Just about every day we are learning of the newly discovered benefits of bananas, that |
they are good energy food, contain fiber, potassium, lots of vitamins, and the peels even are reported to get rid of warts. And we all know of the new respectability of coffee, which, besides being delicious and a good pick-me-up, the caffeine it contains is considered good for the heart. This does make me wonder why sadly, more and more Costa Ricans are becoming fat. Obviously it is not just the availability of healthy foods that does the trick. One must want to eat them. I think there is an old saw that says that. |
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| You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE! |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 21, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 188 | |||||||||
| Defamation laws as political tool raising worldwide concern |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Press freedom advocates are expressing concern that many governments worldwide are jailing reporters on specious charges of defaming or insulting heads of state. The Virginia-based World Press Freedom Committee says that defamation of a public official remains a crime in dozens of countries, including in several democracies, "where legislators should know better than to allow such poor examples to exist." The committee said countries where defamation laws are in effect include Russia, Ethiopia, Cambodia and Tajikistan. Costa Rica also has such a law. The situation is particularly acute in Venezuela. The Virginia press group said in a report that Venezuelan criminal code reforms that took effect in 2005 stiffened penalties for defamation of the country's president, attorney general, national assembly legislators and senior military leaders. Penalties for defamation increased from a maximum of 30 months in prison to a new maximum of four years’ imprisonment if the defamation is made in a document distributed to the public. Javier Sierra, the World Press Freedom Committee's projects director, said that Venezuela has "a new set of very severe criminal defamation laws which they use very often." The laws were used, for example, to sentence Venezuelan journalist Julio Balza in 2006 to almost three years in prison and a fine of about $15,000 for "continuous aggravated defamation" against a government minister of infrastructure. Balza had criticized the minister's job performance following a bridge collapse outside the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, in denouncing defamation charges against journalists in Venezuela, cited the 2005 case of Henry Crespo, a reporter for the Caracas-based weekly Las Verdades de Miguel. Crespo was sued by the governor of the Venezuelan state of Guárico for aggravated defamation after the reporter wrote about government corruption and human rights violations in that state. Crespo was given a suspended sentence of 18 months in prison. The Committee to Protect Journalists said that "for a Venezuelan public official to criminally prosecute a journalist for criticizing his conduct in office is a serious abuse of power that sends a chilling message to all Venezuelan journalists." |
Thomas Melia, deputy executive director for the independent group
Freedom House, said that insult laws and other provisions against press
freedom "effectively bar journalists from doing what journalists do" in
reporting the news. Such provisions, he said, "constitute a growing
problem in inhibiting freedom of expression in many parts of the world." Melia said American diplomacy and the efforts of nongovernmental organizations clearly have more to do to draw attention to the importance of allowing the press to criticize heads of government and of building legal environments to protect journalists. Libel and insult laws and alleged defamation of heads of state are issues that arise in U.S. human rights reports each year, said Melia. American embassies should move these issues to the top of their human rights agenda because they involve stifling free speech, analysis and public discussion, Melia said. A landmark 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a civil rights advertisement helped strengthen freedom of the press in the United States by introducing the idea of malice as a requirement for libel suits against public figures. That case, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, involved a ruling that conformed with the free press guarantees of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court held that the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials, except when statements are made with "actual malice" The court defined that term to mean publishing with knowledge that statements are false or in reckless disregard of their truth or falsity. Following that Supreme Court decision and other subsequent rulings, plaintiffs in defamation cases rarely have prevailed in the United States because of the extremely high burden of proof needed to show a writer's intentions. Before that 1964 decision, the Supreme Court had refused to use the First Amendment to protect the media from libel lawsuits. These lawsuits were based on the publication of false information that damaged a person's reputation. Hugo Black, who joined with the other eight Supreme Court justices in ruling in favor of The New York Times, said the United States could "live in peace without libel suits based on public discussions of public affairs and public officials. But I doubt that a country can live in freedom where its people can be made to suffer physically or financially for criticizing their government, its actions, or its officials." |
| European Union to seek closer political and economic ties with Latin America |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Portugal's president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, has called for deepening political and economic ties between the European Union and South America. Cavaco Silva said Portugal will use its current term in the rotating European Union presidency to strengthen political cooperation with South America and to revive trade talks. He spoke in Lisbon after meeting Thursday with Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez. The Uruguayan leader is head of the South American trade |
bloc, Mercosur, which also includes Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Talks on a trade agreement between Mercosur and EU officials began in 1999, but broke down in 2004. Vazquez also voiced his support for closer ties between the two regional organizations. Tuesday, Mr. Vazquez met with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Brussels. The two discussed the possibility of a joint declaration expressing the commitment of the two organizations to seek closer ties. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 21, 2007, Vol. 7, No. 188 | ||||||
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