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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Friday,
Sept. 26, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 191
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Secret court
records damage society
Dear A.M. Costa Rica: The new administration owes it to the public for a complete top down review of the draconian interpretation of the country's data laws that allowed the Poder Judicial to shut down alphabetical access to its index of civil and criminal court cases in 2012. Prior to this arbitrary shutdown by Supreme Court Judge Roman Solis Zelaya, anybody with internet access could search the court's public database to see if a person or corporation had any civil or criminal cases on file. As I understand the history of this case, some wife beater didn't like his name in the system and complained to the supreme court, which in turn removed this function solely based on this judge's ruling. He also restricted access to the file documenting this wife beater's misbehavior. Lena White Curling, a functionary from the Poder Judicial at the time, stated that only a member of the Assembly could introduce a law to re-open these files. This means that a resident of Costa Rica could have a convicted child molester or murderer living in the next house over, or worse, next to a school yard, and no one would have the ability to check this out. Now, I fully understand about protection of privacy (I'm a card carrying member of the ACLU), but these records belong to in public view, not restricted to a few unknown people who have access. Court systems that remain shuttered and secret belong in the dustbin of history along with all of the Latin American dictatorships that supported this type of secrecy in the past. I tried repeatedly to find out who had the passwords to this system and was rebuffed by Poder Judicial. Information is power and leaving this access in the hands of a small group of functionaries that can be politically manipulated is a disservice to the democracy that we all love here in Costa Rica. To make matters worse, when these records were shut down in 2012, a staff attorney from my office was immediately approached by a functionary in the court offering to sell access to the system. As our office not only abides by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and, in fact, we enforce it for our clients, our staff attorney politely turned down the offer. I don't think this is the type of free market capitalism that the current president is supporting. Now I have been informed that a man was recently arrested who works in the central offices because he has been selling criminal records (rap sheets) maintained by the Judicial Investigating Organization. I have been instrumental in conducting due diligence investigations to place branches of multi-national corporations in Costa Rica which brings jobs and capital into the country. It is routine to check the civil and criminal index on both the principals and corporations in which my clients wish to do business. Subsequent to this rule change in 2012, I have not placed one company in Costa Rica. Whether or not this data restriction has an effect on my clients' decision making, I do not know. But I do have my suspicions. Seth Derish
Chico, California Three teens held in brutal, fatal beating By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Three teens, 14, 15 and 16, have been detained in the brutal and fatal beating of a vagrant in Hatillo last May. Judicial police conducted raids early Thursday to make the arrests. The vagrant, a man with the last name of Araya, was well known in the area around the Escuela de Sagrada Familia. He was set upon between 8 and 10 p.m. May 18 by assailants who struck him repeatedly with an iron pipe, a board and even the butt of a pistol, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. Agents said there was no apparent motive for the killing. Araya was 31. This is a different kind of drug smuggler By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Frontier police say that common smugglers are now using techniques perfected by drug traffickers. They said they have found hidden compartments in the floor of public buses that contained contraband medicines. They also have found medicines hidden in the walls of truck trailers, they said. The discoveries have been along the northern border with Nicaragua. There is a steady trade in medicines from Nicaragua because they are cheaper and because Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica prefer medicines with which they are familiar. The latest discovery of a hidden compartment in a bus involved a Nicaraguan man who is a resident of Costa Rica, said police. There were 2,500 tablets and 100 other items, police said. Location of Heredia bus stop being changed By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Consejo de Transporte Público will change the location of the Heredia #400 bus stop early Monday. The stop now is on Avenida 2. Monday morning it will be on the west side of the Parque del Ministerio de Salud, about 100 meters to the south.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 191 | |
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| CBS to treat Costa Rican justice system with story of Bender
case |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Television viewers in the United States will get a glimpse of the Costa Rican justice system Saturday when the CBS Network show "48 Hours" features the Ann Patton case. She is the wife of a multimillionaire who has been acquitted and then convicted of the murder of her husband. The network just reported that a husband and wife team of forensic experts have raised serious doubt about the investigation and the evidence that was used to convict the woman. A trailer for the program shows that Ms. Patton was interviewed extensively on camera. She claims that she unsuccessfully wrestled with her husband, John, to prevent his suicide. The death took place in the five-story glass mansion on the 5,000-acre reserve the couple owned in La Florida de Barú de Pérez Zeledón. Patton was half a billionaire from his trading career winnings. Expats here have been watching the case closely because of their own concerns about the Costa Rican justice system. U.S. viewers certainly will be surprised by the way the law here allows an appeals court to reinstate a charge after acquittal. Anglo-American justice rejects double jeopardy. A trial court acquitted Ms. Patton Jan. 21, 2013. The second trial May 27 resulted in a guilty verdict. Since she was the only other person there when her husband died, prosecutors depended heavily on the position of the body, the entry wound and testimony from a medical examiner, Gretchen Flores Sandí. Supporters of Ms. Patton, including her brother Ken, have shown that Ms. Flores made significant changes in her testimony between the first and second trial. Supporters also point out that prosecutors have never established a motive for a murder. That was one reason she was acquitted in the first trial, according to the decision by the three judges. The "48 Hour" experts concluded that the account provided by Ms. Patton, that she wrestled her husband for the gun, could be consistent with the fact. He was shot in the right side of the back of the head. Bender and his wife suffered from depression, and he had talked |
 Bender family photo via CBS Network.
By all accounts, the Benders
were devoted to each other.about
suicide in the past. In testimony, Ms. Patton admitted three
suicide attempts since 2000.
Testimony also showed that neither of the Benders had gunpowder residue on their hands when police investigated. The weapon was a 9-mm. Ruger pistol. Ms. Patton has appealed the guilty verdict. |
| Man facing gun charge has been detained 90 times in past,
police say |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Fuerza Pública said a police officer in Moravia detained a man who has been brought in 90 times in the past. This time the man was in the possession of a firearm, said police. Meanwhile, a man who was described as being well-known to police was detained inside a church in Quepos. The Moravia incident began when a police officer noticed three men sitting in a vehicle near Plaza Lincoln. The police officer sought identity documents and then found a .38-caliber pistol within the vehicle, said police. |
Carlos
León, head of the local Fuerza Pública detachment, said
that the
man with the record had been detained on allegations of robbery and
crimes against property. There was no explanation why he still was on the streets. The pistol was reported stolen during a burglary at a local coffee firm, he said. In Quepos Wednesday night neighbors of the Iglesia Cristiana Luz del Mundo called police when they heard noises at night. The Fuerza Pública said that the man they found inside had been detained various times in the last few months to face allegations of similar crimes. In this case, entry to the church was made through a hole in the roof, police said. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 191 | |||||
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| Dementia may be preceded by noticeable memory lapses, study
says |
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By
the University of Kentucky news staff
New research by scientists at the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging suggests that people who notice their memory is slipping may be on to something. The research, led by Richard Kryscio, chairman of the Department of Biostatistics and associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center at the university, appears to confirm that self-reported memory complaints are strong predictors of clinical memory impairment later in life. Kryscio and his group asked 531 people with an average age of 73 and free of dementia if they had noticed any changes in their memory in the prior year. The participants were also given annual memory and thinking tests for an average of 10 years. After death, participants' brains were examined for evidence of Alzheimer's disease. During the study, 56 percent of the participants reported changes in their memory, at an average age of 82. The study found that participants who reported changes in their memory were nearly three |
times more likely to develop memory and thinking problems. About one in
six participants developed dementia during the study, and 80 percent of
those first reported memory changes. "What's notable about our study is the time it took for the transition from self-reported memory complaint to dementia or clinical impairment -- about 12 years for dementia and nine years for clinical impairment -- after the memory complaints began," Kryscio said. "That suggests that there may be a significant window of opportunity for intervention before a diagnosable problem shows up." Kryscio pointed out that while these findings add to a growing body of evidence that self-reported memory complaints can be predictive of cognitive impairment later in life, there isn't cause for immediate alarm if persons can't remember where they left car keys. "Certainly, someone with memory issues should report it to their doctor so they can be followed. Unfortunately, however, we do not yet have preventative therapies for Alzheimer's disease or other illnesses that cause memory problems." |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
news page
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 191 | |||||||
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| FBI director says bombings may not have defused plots By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Terrorist plots against the United States and Europe may still be in the works despite this week's air strikes against the al-Qaida cell known as Khorasan. FBI Director James Comey told reporters in Washington Thursday he is not confident at all that attacks by U.S.-led coalition disrupted Khorasan's plans. Comey said the Khorasan group remains at the top of the FBI's list of terrorism concerns. It's comprised of al-Qaida veterans from Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Comey. U.S. intelligence officials say Khorasan has been trying to perfect a non-metallic bomb that can evade airport security. The director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation also said the U.S. believes it has identified an executioner from the Islamic State group, the man shrouded in black who spoke with a British accent in videos the terror group circulated showing the recent beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker. Comey did not disclose the man's name or say whether he carried out the killings himself. British officials have previously said they were close to identifying the masked man. About a dozen Americans are believed to be in Syria now fighting with extremist groups, Comey said, adding that more than 100 Americans have either been intercepted and arrested while trying to reach Syria, or have returned to the U.S. after joining the Syrian conflict. The FBI chief said those who have come back to the U.S. after fighting with extremist groups are either under investigation, under surveillance or have been arrested. Despite intensive attempts to identify and track Islamic State fighters active in the United States, Comey said he fears that a home-grown terror attack within the United States could be attempted by Islamic State supporters. Some approvals given for use of drones in U.S. By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. government has begun lifting commercial restrictions on the use of unmanned aircraft, allowing six movie and television production companies to film scenes with small drones. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, speaking Thursday, described the move as a significant milestone in expanding commercial drone use. Until now, the Federal Aviation Administration has banned all commercial drone operations outside of oil fields in sparsely-populated Alaska, citing safety risks to both private and commercial aircraft in U.S. airspace. The new FAA permits limit the drone use to restricted areas, and require an operator to hold a private pilot's license. Ground operators will also be required to fly the small aircraft at altitudes below 122 meters during daylight hours only. Dozens of other industries have also applied to use drones. Companies want to use them to inspect pipelines, oil platforms and bridges, and to spray crops. Online retailer Amazon wants to deliver packages, while commercial realtors, news organizations and many others are seeking to use them as well. The U.S. Congress in 2012 directed aviation officials to formulate plans for drone use in U.S. airspace. That directive extended from tiny drones weighing a few kilograms to giant unmanned vehicle surveillance aircraft. The FAA is facing an October 2015 deadline to complete those plans.  Voice of America/ Victor Lopez-Illescas
Candido Mezua is the
president of the Embera-Wounaan General Congress, which includes about
10,000 people living in the tropical rain forests of Panamá.Rain forest
peoples meet
to share common concerns By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The forests that many native peoples call home are more than a means of food, raw materials and other necessities for survival. They are also their source of spiritual connection to the Earth, their ancestors and a meaningful way of life. The leaders of many of the world’s forest peoples were in New York this week in connection with the first United Nations Climate Summit and the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. Agnes Leina is the founder of Il’laramatak Community Concerns, a grassroots group in a remote region of Kenya dedicated to equality for girls and women in her forest community. With her hands resting gently on the vividly colored patterns of her native dress, she explains that there is a spiritual connection between the animals, both domesticated and wild, her fellow pastoralists and the forests. “It’s through the forest that young men are initiated into men. And all the sacred trees, the sacred leaves, the sacred gums are actually found in that forest. We naturally use gourds made out of dried wood. Even our cups and bowls! We depend on the forest for everything,” she said. Ms. Leina knows countless traditional songs. But one, about a familiar forest bird, is a special favorite. “Coo doo loo,” she said, imitating the bird’s calls, then sings. ”It says ‘before it gets dark, please allow me to go home before the cows are brought home.’ Even those words connect us to the forest, and with the animals with the birds and human beings - all interconnected and living at peace with each other,” she explained. A tall tribal crown, big bare belly and scarlet, orange and blue yarn costume signify Candido Mezua’s role as president of the Embera-Wounaan General Congress. It includes about 10,000 people living in the tropical rain forests of Panama. Mezua has fought corporate logging most of his life. Through an interpreter, he said that as a teenager, he was inspired by an old woman who approached his group’s campfire one night. “And the grandmother spoke to us with a very calm voice, but with a crying voice. And even though it was dark and we could not see her eyes, but only listening to her voice, we started to cry also. And the grandmother said, ‘Look at the trees they are cutting down and taking away.' And she said, ‘Look, every tree cut down and taken away is a brother of us. Look how many of our brothers have been killed and taken away. So we need to start thinking. What are we going to do? Are we going to be disappear, our brothers, the trees and all the life they carry? Are we going to disappear?’” he recalled. Abdon Nababan, the secretary general of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago in Indonesia, says that nearly half his community’s forest homeland has disappeared in recent decades, and with it, something of himself. He said he and his people must live with the grief and rage from what they regard as the theft and violation of much of their ancestral homeland. “Home is a community. It’s where you feel you can talk [about] your story. You can dance. You can eat the meat that you get from the forest. That’s home," he said. "You just feel that you belong to that land. Because you depend on that land. Your identity is the land, forest.” He paused. “That’s the crisis. You will lose yourself, because your identity, the place where you stand, is not there anymore. That’s the situation.” If attitudes at the U.N. translate into national policies, that situation may change. This week, the United Nations hosted the first World Conference on Indigenous Peoples, a high level plenary session of the General Assembly where over 1,000 delegates were invited to share perspectives on best practices to ensure indigenous rights worldwide. Rich Chinese fear collapse and are getting money out By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The nearly $10 billion in fake business deals Chinese regulators Thursday announced they have discovered is just the tip of the iceberg of the money flowing out of China, says one leading U.S. financial expert. Jim Rickards, author of the book "Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis," says: “Wealthy elites are getting their money out of China before the collapse comes.” Rickards said it's been happening for a long time, but Chinese authorities seem less willing to look the other way. Some people in China have managed to circumvent currency controls by disguising their personal financial transactions with the ordinary course of international business, which appears to be what the Chinese were talking about in their announcement this week. For example, Rickards said a Chinese manufacturer sets up a Panamanian subsidiary and sells its product for half of what the parent company knows the subsidiary will get from the sale of the products. When the sales take place, the Chinese company has a lot of money in Panama. The financial crisis in China is coming, Rickards is certain. He says the country has relied too heavily on investment to drive economic growth. He said there is nothing necessarily wrong with using investment to grow the economy, but in the case of China, it has been financed by debt, which has been sold to retail investors who have been left very, risky junk bonds. Scientists create long record of ice ages and sea levels By the University of Southampton news staff
Glacial decay at the end of the last five ice-ages caused global sea-levels to rise at rates of up to 5.5 meters per century, according to a new study. An international team of researchers developed a 500,000-year record of sea-level variability, to provide the first account of how quickly sea-level changed during the last five ice-age cycles. The results, published in the latest issue of Nature Communications, also found that more than 100 smaller events of sea-level rise took place in between the five major events. Katharine Grant, from the Australian National University, Canberra, who led the study, says: "The really fast rates of sea-level rise typically seem to have happened at the end of periods with exceptionally large ice sheets, when there was two or more times more ice on the Earth than today. "Time periods with less than twice the modern global ice volume show almost no indications of sea-level rise faster than about 2 meters per century. Those with close to the modern amount of ice on Earth, show rates of up to 1 to 1.5 meters per century." Co-author Eelco Rohling, of both the University of Southampton and the Australian university, explains that the study also sheds light on the timescales of change. He says: "For the first time, we have data from a sufficiently large set of events to systematically study the timescale over which ice-sheet responses developed from initial change to maximum retreat." "This happened within 400 years for 68 per cent of all 120 cases considered, and within 1,100 years for 95 per cent. In other words, once triggered, ice-sheet reduction (and therefore sea-level rise) kept accelerating relentlessly over periods of many centuries." Rohling speculates that there may be an important lesson for our future: "Man-made warming spans 150 years already and studies have documented clear increases in mass-loss from the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. Once under way, this response may be irreversible for many centuries to come." The team reconstructed sea-levels using data from sediment cores from the Red Sea, an area that is very sensitive to sea-level changes because it's only natural connection with the open (Indian) ocean is through the very shallow (137-meter) Bab-el-Mandab Strait. These sediment samples record wind-blown dust variations, which the team linked to a well-dated climate record from Chinese stalagmites. Due to a common process, both dust and stalagmite records show a pronounced change at the end of each ice age, which allowed the team to date the sea-level record in detail. The researchers emphasize that their values for sea-level change are 500-year averages, so brief pulses of faster change cannot be excluded. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 191 | |||||||||
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 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública photo
There are 16 plants in this
car trunk, police said.Aggie
activity did not go as planned
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Someone spotted men moving marijuana plants from a rented home to a waiting vehicle Thursday and tipped off police. Agents of the Policía de Control de Drogas showed up at the location in Santa Gertrudis Sur in Grecia and took four men into custody. They said there were 16 plants about 20 inches tall in the vehicle's trunk and 32 small plants inside the vehicle. Agents confiscated the vehicle as well as a motorcycle one of the men was riding. Tourism committee sworn in By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Eight members have been sworn in to serve on the Comisión Reguladora de Turismo. This is the committee that the tourism sector has been pushing to have finalized. Vice President Ana Helena Chacón conducted the swearing-in ceremony because President Luis Guillermo Solís is in the United States. Serving from the private sector will be Mario Socatelli Porras, Mauricio Campos Brenes, Gustavo Araya Carvajal and Erasmo Rojas Madrigal. The committee is in charge of approving tourism contracts, including construction jobs that have a tourism purpose. The tourism sector argued that without an active committee, the country would lose investments. Guns, pets banned at inspection stations By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Motorists will have to leave Bruno elsewhere and surrender their pistol when they bring a vehicle for inspection, according to new rules issued Thursday by the Consejo de Seguridad Vial. The consejo said that the rules fill a void and the purpose is to make sure that attendants at the vehicle inspection stations are not intimidated, menaced or facing aggression. The consejo said that if any weapon is spotted anywhere in the vehicle, attendants will call police. The rules also cover all types of animals instead of just well-dentured German shepherds. Kids are OK, but they need to be in a safety seat if they are required by law to be in one due to age. |
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| From Page 7: Industrial chamber unhappy with rate hike By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The industrial chamber says the price regulating agency is inconsistent because it has approved a 3.7 percent increase in electrical rates. The Cámara de Industrias de Costa Rica said that the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos promised to hold the line on rate increases for 18 months. The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad has received a 7.11 percent increase in generation and the 3.7 percent increase in distribution rates. The chamber noted that this means electrical rates will have gone up 20 percent in the year. The increase injures the competitivity of the country and the industrial sector that has lost 6,000 jobs in just 19 months, said the chamber. The chamber discounted the claim that the increase would be absorbed by an Oct. 1 rate cut because the reduction is not finalized, it said. New Quiznos will be a drive-through By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
QSR International, which holds the franchise for Latin America and the Caribbean for Quiznos restaurants, says it will build the first drive-through facility in Guadalupe near the judiciary building there. This will be the eighth restaurant owned and operated by a franchise partner of QSR International, Food Corp. It also will be the 29th Quiznos in Costa Rica, the firm said. The Guadalupe restaurant will incorporate a new, high-speed dual equipment line which has proven to reduce service times by 40 percent, and is the new standard for QSR’s high volume and drive-through Quiznos restaurants, the firm said. QSR International also said it was opening the fourth Quiznos in Nicaragua at Multicentro Las Americas Mall, Villa Progreso, Managua. |
