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José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 198
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 Photo by Richard
Bartz
This is a tick
of the Ixodes genus that can
transmit the bacteriumresponsible for lyme disease. U.S. tick study
suggests caution here
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Not only human illegal immigrants are making their way to the United States. Microbiologists say that tropical birds are carrying a variety of ticks in their migration, and the scientists are afraid some of the ticks will find a home. The study also points out the need for concern about ticks in Costa Rica because some of the birds begin their flight in Central America. Some fly all the way from Brazil. A study showed that tick species not normally present in the United States are arriving there on the migratory birds. Some of these ticks carry disease-causing Ricksettia species, and some of those species are exotic to the U.S. The research was published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Three percent of the birds carried foreign ticks. Based on the total number of migratory birds arriving in the U.S. each spring, in the billions, the investigators estimated that more than 19 million exotic ticks are introduced into the U.S. each spring, said Emily B. Cohen of the Migratory Bird Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Washington, D.C. The ticks carried bacterium that is responsible for lyme disease and also for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Our story is said to be way off the mark Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Your piece on why Americans are leaving is WAY off the mark. Indeed, your entire effort to attract Americans is tainted by unrealistic claims. My wife and I lived in Costa Rica for almost SEVEN years before leaving. Here's the real reasons: 1.) We were tired of being ROBBED. (3 times). 2.) The police have NO power or concern. 3.) The court system is broken, dysfunctional and loaded with politically appointed judges that have no experience or legal training. 4.) Land fraud is rampant! 5.) The infrastructure is crumbling, and people are dying as a result. The government would rather buy Prados for their employees. 6.) Unbelievable restrictions on acquiring the cédula, driver's license or any other documents to remain legal residents. It's clear that those Costa Ricans in power do not want us there. 7.) Cost of living is beyond explanation. Regarding your assertion that we Americans cannot or do not make Tico friends, we made many Tico friends that we miss every day and will continue to do so. We had the courage and wherewithal to move to Costa Rica, assimilate and live in a foreign land. Why would anyone think we could not or would not leave? And yes we are fully aware that you will not publish this response because it does not fit with your not researched opinions. Barbara and Doug Arthur
Williams, Arizona Friendship is different with Ticos Dear A.M. Costa Rica: The issue of Tico friendship is interesting. The dynamics here are about as different as English and Spanish. Most Ticos have so much family around them they need or have no room for friends, Tico or gringo. They may go to bars with other Ticos but rarely depend on individual friendships for emotional support or company. Ticos find company easily, as most are eager to talk, unlike, let's say, Southern Californians, Small talking to many people is the their idea of friendship. Americans may think it's superficial. I find a beauty in it. It's a bit like small town U.S.A. where you can go to the local coffee shop and have relaxing small talk with your neighbors, Try that at a Starbucks in Southern California, and you may come to appreciate Tico friendships, which are not as deep as what Americans are used to. In my opinion, one reason Americans form deeper friendship is real estate speculation. Americans use their principal residence as an investment vehicle. Communities and families are disrupted by the selling of the principle residence to make a profit, and moving somewhere else. Ticos hesitate selling a personal residence to make money to buy more things at the expense of leaving family and community. They value their roots. To deal with community change, Americans have become good at making extended family from friends. The Tico celebrations I have attended were mostly family members. Typically, I remember equal amounts of family member and friends at Thanksgiving celebrations in the U.S. Ticos are not inclined to make extended family members through friendship. They are a tolerant and accepting people. But, don't think that tolerance and acceptance includes friends becoming extended family. In my experience, they just don't roll that way. And their idea of friendship is a 15-minute talk across the fence, which is mostly a monologue, one neighbor listening and the other speaking. Friendship here is a matter of quantity rather than quality. A quantity of superficial friendships means many different people having that 15-minute conversation across the fence. It takes the place of a handful of quality friendships in which people open up about their hopes and fears in a deeper way. Both can be satisfying. Which you prefer has to do with your culture, community and proximity to family. Many people move to a different country and forget they are moving to a different culture. They marvel at the happy Tico and think if they move here they will be happy as well. Then they don't learn even a moderate amount of Spanish, fail to at least partially assimilate, and they move back to where they can have their cultural expectation easily met. Phil Baker
It's Oktoberfest time in San Ramón By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The month is October so it is time for Oktoberfest. The Community Action Alliance plans such a celebration Saturday at Magallanes Community Center in San Ramón with German food and music by the Jagermeisters. Promised are bratwurst, knockwurst, sauerkraut, German potato salad, and apfelkuchen. The organization said that beer will come from Lake Arenal Brewery. The time is from 1 to 5 p.m. This is the third annual Oktoberfest put on by the service organization. Admission is 5,000 colons for association members and 6,000 for non-members. Have you got an original Halloween tale? A.M. Costa Rica announces another of its annual Halloween story contests. We invite readers to submit a Halloween story related to Costa Rica. Stories should be 1,000 words or under. And we’ll publish the Halloween stories next month. We will try to publish as many as we can. Stories will be judged by professional writers, and the winner will get $100. By submitting the stories, the authors give A.M. Costa Rica the non-exclusive right to publish them. Send your story to editor@amcostarica.com |
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 198 | |
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| Solís seeks talks with unions that call for national
strike Oct. 16 |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Luis Guillermo Solís said Tuesday that he is willing to discuss grievances with unions that have called for a national strike Oct. 16. Meanwhile another group of unions have set Oct. 26 as a day for yet another general strike. These unions are mainly of employees from the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo S.A. and Limón dock workers. And yet another group, mainly those from the far left, plan a similar action in November. Solís had just returned Tuesday from a 10-day visit mainly at the United Nations in New York. He was asked about the strike call at a press conference following the weekly meeting of his cabinet, the Consejo de Gobierno. He said he did not have contact with the union leaderships because of his U.S. trip. However, as he has done many times, he suggested dialogue as a way to resolve differences. The Oct. 16 strike that has been long promised by mostly public employees to protest changes in the way salaries are computed, the cost of living, taxes and other actions the group deems to be neoliberal. The announcement also called for the renationalization of telecommunications. The announcement came from the Bloque Unitario Sindical y Social Costarricense, which has been designated by two other major labor organizations as the entity that sets the date and time of the strike. |
The decision
was made at the facilities of one of the other
organizations, the Unión Nacional de Empleados de la Caja y la
Seguridad Social. The call for a national strike follows a march by the same groups Aug. 20 that brought thousands into the streets. At that time, union officials presented a document to lawmakers and said that a national strike would be forthcoming. The protest also is about current social problems such as unemployment, lack of housing, low salaries and the imposition of unjust public policies. The Caja employees union has a long history of pointing out deficiencies in the national public health system. Representatives of the Bloque Unitario Sindical met with President Luis Guillermo Solís as soon as he took office. However, it appears now that the groups do not see him as an ally. The basic issue is the rising governmental deficit that makes union members concerned about possible salary cuts and layoffs. The call for a strike Oct. 26 comes from the organization known as Frente Patria Justa, which is associated with the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos. A private group also has taken to the streets seeking the privatization of the state refinery. Patria Justa also has submitted a petition to the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones asking for a referendum on raising the nation's minimum salaries. If approved, the organization will have to collect 160,000 signatures. |
| State telecom firm says it will save money with a new office
tower |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the state telecom company, says it is going ahead with a new building on land it already owns in Sabana Norte in order to relocate 600 office workers. The project is expected to save some $10.8 million in rents over three years because the company now leases 10 buildings for the same employees, it said. Excavation has begun for the new building, which is expected to be ready by 2017. Public institutions are under pressure to save money, and eliminating costly rentals in favor of new construction is one way to do that. The Ministerio de Hacienda is seeking to purchase a new structure, and the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes seeks to build an 11-story office tower in Plaza Víquez, although a dispute among agencies has delayed that job. |
 Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad
photo
Excavation is under way at the building
site.
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| Psychologist outlines 16 human desires satisfied by religion |
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By the Ohio State University news staff
Throughout history, scholars and researchers have tried to identify the one key reason that people are attracted to religion. Some have said people seek religion to cope with a fear of death. Others call it the basis for morality. Various other theories abound. But in a new book, a psychologist who has studied human motivation for more than 20 years suggests that all these theories are too narrow. Religion, he says, attracts followers because it satisfies all of the 16 basic desires that humans share. “It’s not just about fear of death. Religion couldn’t achieve mass acceptance if it only fulfilled one or two basic desires,” said Steven Reiss, a professor emeritus of psychology at The Ohio State University and author of "The 16 Strivings for God," due to be published by Mercer University Press. “People are attracted to religion because it provides believers the opportunity to satisfy all their basic desires over and over again. You can’t boil religion down to one essence,” he said. Reiss’s theory of what attracts people to religion is based on his research in the 1990s on motivation. He and his colleagues surveyed thousands of people and asked them to rate the degree to which they embraced hundreds of different possible goals. In the end, the researchers identified 16 basic desires that humans all share: acceptance, curiosity, eating, family, honor, idealism, independence, order, physical activity, power, romance, saving, social contact, status, tranquility and vengeance. Reiss then developed a questionnaire, called the Reiss Motivation Profile, that measures how much people value each of these 16 goals. More than 100,000 people have now completed the questionnaire. The research is described in Reiss’s book "Who Am I? The 16 Basic Desires that Motivate our Action and Define Our Personalities." “We all share the same 16 goals, but what makes us different is how much we value each one,” Reiss said. “How much an individual values each of those 16 desires corresponds closely to what he or she likes and dislikes about religion.” A key point is that each of the 16 desires motivates personality opposites and those opposites all have to find a home in a successful religion, Reiss said. For example, there is the desire for social contact. “Religion has to appeal to both introverts and extroverts,” Reiss said. |
For
extroverts, religion offers festivals and teaches that God
blesses fellowship. For introverts, religion encourages meditation and
private retreats and teaches that God blesses solitude. Religion even finds ways to deal with the desire for vengeance, Reiss said. While some religions preach of a God of peace and encourage followers to turn the other cheek, there is also the other side: the wrath of God and holy wars. “Religion attracts all kinds, including peacemakers and those who want a vengeful God,” he said. All religious beliefs and practices are designed to meet one or more of these 16 desires, Reiss explained. For example, religious rituals fulfill the desire for order. Religious teachings about salvation and forgiveness tap into the basic human need for acceptance. Promises of an afterlife are designed to help people achieve tranquility. What about atheism? While all people need to fulfill the same basic desires, not everyone will turn to religion to satisfy them, Reiss said. Secular society offers alternatives to fulfill all of the basic desires. “Religion competes with secular society to meet those 16 needs and can gain or lose popularity based on how well people believe it does compared to secular society,” Reiss said. One of the basic desires, independence, may separate religious and non-religious people. In a study published in 2000, Reiss found that religious people (the study included mostly Christians) expressed a strong desire for interdependence with others. Those who were not religious, however, showed a stronger need to be self-reliant and independent. Reiss said one advantage of his theory is that, unlike many other theories of religion, it can be scientifically tested. “In '16 Strivings for God,' I discuss a mystical personality type, the kind of person who would likely find value and meaning in mystical experiences and would be attracted to religion for that reason,” he said. “We can test that and find out if there really is a mystical personality type,” he said. While the theory can say a lot about the types of people who are attracted to religion and different religious experiences, it cannot say anything about the truth of religious beliefs, Reiss said. “I’m not trying to answer theological questions about the existence or nature of God,” Reiss said. “What I’m trying to answer is the nature of why people embrace religion and God.” |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 198 | |||||||
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| U.S. lawmakers going slow on Pacific trade partnership By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Many U.S. lawmakers reacted cautiously to the successful conclusion of negotiations to forge the world’s biggest trading bloc. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would reduce trade barriers among 12 Pacific Rim nations that account for 40 percent of global economic output. Sen. John McCain stood out among lawmakers by immediately and enthusiastically endorsing the pact. “The TPP offers a historic opportunity to reduce trade barriers, open new markets, promote made in America exports, and keep American companies competitive in one of the most economically vibrant and fastest-growing regions in the world,” McCain, a Republican, said in a statement. Meanwhile, Independent Bernie Sanders, who is running for president as a Democrat, promptly proclaimed his fierce opposition, saying it will hurt consumers and cost American jobs. “I will do all that I can to defeat this agreement,” said Sanders in a statement. “We need trade policies that benefit American workers and consumers, not just the CEOs of large multinational corporations.” McCain and Sanders are exceptions to a wait-and-see approach that currently prevails on Capitol Hill. Many lawmakers said they needed time to read the accord and digest its provisions. “I haven’t read it yet,” said Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat. “I have serious questions about it that I am going to have to have answered.” “It’s a complex agreement,” said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican. “None of us has seen the text yet, so it’s premature for me to reach a decision.” Even so, senators who are generally supportive of freer trade are voicing apprehensions about the agreement’s impact on the states they represent. “I’ve been very concerned that the administration was not protecting domestic athletic shoe manufacturers like New Balance, which employs nearly a thousand people in my state,” said Sen. Collins of Maine. “So I will be looking specifically at the tariffs in that area.” “I think it’s a good idea for us to export the things we grow and make to other parts of the world,” said John Cornyn of Texas, a Republican. Cornyn, however, adds that some trade treaty provisions concern him, such as “limitations on our protection of our pharmaceutical drugs that we invest very heavily in here in the United States, and the rest of the world gets the benefit.” President Barack Obama said Tuesday he expects resistance to the pact on Capitol Hill, but is confident the agreement’s benefits will win the argument. "The TPP took five years to negotiate, and I want to get the best possible deal done for American workers and American businesses, and that is what we have achieved,” the president said at the Department of Agriculture. "This agreement makes us more competitive by eliminating 18,000 tariffs that are placed on America’s products in these other countries." "This week marks an important step forward, but there is going to be a long, healthy process of discussion and consultation and debate before this comes to an actual vote,” Obama added. Getting the agreement to the president’s desk will require approval in both houses of Congress as lawmakers gear up for next year’s elections. Earlier this year, many Democrats and a few Republicans opposed Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA, also known as fast track, which subjects trade pacts to simple majority votes with no amendments allowed. Fast track ultimately was approved, but foreshadowed a bruising legislative battle over the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “One of the problems with having passed fast track is we can’t change the agreement,” said Sen. Collins. “I am not at all convinced that this is going to be a fair agreement.” Republican Orrin Hatch, who helped shepherd fast track through the Senate, said the Pacific trade pact cannot survive many defections by lawmakers who support the accord in concept but object to some of its provisions. “Every vote is a tight vote,” said Hatch. South Carolina is awaiting more problems from rain By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The sun shone on the Carolinas Tuesday after a week straight of being pummeled by historic rains that led to 16 deaths, widespread flooding and burst dams. Yet, the worst isn't over. "Don't let the sunshine fool you," South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said. "We are still in the mode that the next 36 to 48 hours will be volatile." Gov. Haley took an aerial tour of the flooding and damage Tuesday and said, "We still have to be cautious. ... What I saw was disturbing.'' Tuesday was the first completely dry day in Columbia since Sept. 24, but officials warned that new evacuations could be ordered as several rivers remained above flood stage, sending a huge mass of water flowing toward the sea, threatening dams and displacing residents along the way. At least 14 weather-related deaths in South Carolina and two in North Carolina were blamed on the vast rainstorm, described by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a fire hose of tropical moisture aimed directly at the state. Gov. Haley said it was too soon to put a price tag on the amount of damage the state has suffered, saying it could be any amount of dollars, although some insurance experts were saying it would be well over $1 billion. The governor asked for and received a federal disaster declaration from President Barack Obama, freeing up money and resources for the state. State residents reeled under the effects of weekend flooding. In Columbia, the state capital, as many as 40,000 homes lacked drinking water, and the rest of the city's 375,000 customers were told to boil water before using it for drinking or cooking, an order that Mayor Steve Benjamin said will likely be in effect for quite some time. Tuesday, about 800 people were in two-dozen shelters, but Gov. Haley said that number was expected to rise in the coming days. While nearly 30,000 customers were without electricity at the storm's peak over the weekend, the power grid had returned to normal by Tuesday afternoon, officials said. A tropical air mass over much of South Carolina since Thursday dumped up to 51 centimeters (20 inches) of rain in some parts of the state between Friday and Sunday, the National Weather Service said. In South Carolina there are about 2,400 dams, almost all privately owned, according to media reports. At least 10 of them have failed in the past few days, state officials said Tuesday. Emergency management officials said about 300 state-maintained roads and 160 bridges remained closed, with about 200 engineers checking the structures for safety. Many of the closures are in the Columbia area, which registered record rainfall this week and where as many as six people drowned in their cars from flooding. Haley stressed the need for motorists to mind police barricades on flooded roads after reports of people moving the barricades or driving around them. "We are doing this to protect you," she said. Members of the South Carolina National Guard were also called in to assist state and county emergency crews and first responders. A 120-kilometer (75-mile) stretch of Interstate 95 was also closed Tuesday due to flooding and overall poor road conditions. Also Tuesday, the University of South Carolina in Columbia, which has more than 30,000 students, canceled classes for the rest of the week. The campus doesn't have full water capacity and has brought in more than 150 portable restrooms. The 42.2 centimeters (16.6 inches) of rain that fell at Gills Creek near downtown Columbia Sunday made for one of the rainiest days recorded at a U.S. weather station in more than 16 years. Former U.N. Assembly chief held in major bribery case By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A former United Nations General Assembly president was arrested in New York and charged with accepting over a million dollars in bribes and committing tax fraud in a multi-year scheme to promote the interests of a Chinese businessman. The former official, John Ashe, 61, was Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the U.N. from 2004 until his election as the president of the 68th session of the General Assembly in 2013. He was arrested Tuesday morning at his home in a New York City suburb, authorities said. In a 37-page complaint, Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, detailed allegations against Ashe, including Ashe's acceptance of at least $1.3 million in bribes in 2013 and 2014 and his failure to pay U.S. taxes on them. “As alleged, for Rolexes, bespoke suits and a private basketball court, John Ashe, the 68th president of the U.N. General Assembly, sold himself and the global institution he led,” Bharara told reporters at a news conference announcing the indictment. Ashe is accused of taking the money from Ng Lap Seng, also known as David Ng, a billionaire Chinese businessman from Macau with real estate and gambling interests. Ng was arrested Sept. 15 on separate charges. Prosecutors say Ng was seeking Ashe’s influence to promote the building of a multi-billion-dollar U.N. conference center in Macau. In June 2013, they allege that he submitted a document to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pressing for the conference center in Macau. The U.N. said a preliminary search for the document was fruitless. “Although this case involves the high-flying world of billionaire business executives and influential U.N. officials, at its core, it was just a classic quid pro quo criminal scheme, bribes paid in exchange for official actions taken,” Bharara said. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not inform the secretariat of the investigation, nor did the U.N. chief ever discuss Ng’s hopes for a Macau conference center with Ashe. “I think all of this was news to us when we read about it in the paper this morning,” he said. Dujarric added that the secretary-general was shocked and deeply troubled by the allegations, which he said go to the heart of the integrity of the United Nations. Authorities have charged Ashe and five others in the scheme, including Francis Lorenzo, who is the current deputy ambassador of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, and four Chinese business associates of Ng. It is alleged they funneled the bribes to Ashe through at least two non-governmental organizations. While not named in the complaint, they match the description of South-South News and the Global Sustainability Foundation. Lorenzo is president of South-South and Ashe is honorary chairman of the Global Sustainability Foundation. Sheri Yan, who is also charged in the complaint, is the CEO of the Global Sustainability Foundation. According to the group’s Web site, another of their board members is Edith Gasana Kutesa, the wife of Ashe’s successor as president of the U.N. General Assembly, Sam Kutesa. Kutesa’s 2014 election as the 69th president of the General Assembly was shrouded in controversy over corruption allegations against him in his native Uganda. The complaint also alleges Ashe shared some of his bribe money with Antigua's then-prime minister in a bid to support the Chinese group’s business interests in the Caribbean island nation. The U.S. attorney said the investigation is continuing. “I’m not commenting on who may be in crosshairs, who may be arrested,” Bharara told reporters. “It’s early and we’re looking at a lot of things, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you would see other people charged.” Japanese and Canadian share Nobel Prize for neutrinos By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The 2015 Nobel Physics prize has been awarded to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur MacDonald for their discovery of neutrino oscillations, which show that neutrinos, the second-most abundant particles in the universe, next to photons, have mass and change identities. The Nobel Committee said the research done by Kajita of the University of Tokyo and MacDonald of Queen's University, Canada, has changed the world's understanding of the innermost workings of matter. According to the Standard Model of particle physics, a theory that explains the hundreds of fundamental particles that comprise the atoms that make up chemical elements and other particles, there are three types of neutrinos — electron-neutrinos, muon-neutrinos and tau-neutrinos. In experiments designed to count the number of neutrinos that arrive from the sun, particularly electron-neutrinos, scientists found that up to two-thirds of the calculated amount was missing. The research conducted by Kajita and MacDonald confirmed suspicion that neutrinos change from one identity to another while in the atmosphere and this metamorphosis requires them to have mass. According to the Nobel Committee, this breakthrough has revealed the first apparent crack in the Standard Model. "It has become obvious that the Standard Model cannot be the complete theory of how the fundamental constituents of the universe function," said the Nobel statement. "The universe where we live in is still full of unknowns. A major discovery cannot be achieved in a day or two. It takes a lot of people and a long time. I would like to see young people try to join our pursuit of mystery solving," said Kajita at a press conference organized by his university. MacDonald said scientists would still like to find the actual weight of neutrinos. Experiments are underway to investigate whether there are other types besides the three that have been observed. Monday, the Nobel Committee announced the prize winners for medicine: scientists from Ireland, Japan and China. William Campbell from Ireland and Satoshi Omura from Japan shared the prize for their discovery of a new therapy for infections caused by roundworm parasites. And China's Tu Youyou discovered a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria, so she will also share in the prize. Nobel Prizes are awarded each year in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economic sciences. The money comes from a bequest by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel and the awards, in existence since 1901, have become a top achievement award in each field. Winners are awarded a monetary prize that varies slightly from year to year. In 2015, the Physics prize is $963,000, to be divided equally between the winners. They also receive a medal and a Nobel diploma. |
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Business seen as
unemployment antidote
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two lawmakers Tuesday came out with a new proposal to reduce unemployment by teaching young people to run their own businesses. The proposal includes protecting some of these startups from certain government charges, although the new enterprises would pay taxes. The plan was advanced by Karla Prendas Matarrita and Michael Arce Sancho, both of the Partido Liberación Nacional. The text of the bill was not yet available. The proposal follows the government's announcement Monday of a major digital effort that is designed, in part, to bring more persons into the workforce. Casa Presidencial added new information Tuesday to the digital plan and said the price tag was $300 million over five programs. The idea is to connect 140,000 homes of poor people to the Internet, including the homes of those in extreme poverty. The government never really clarified how Internet access would translate into jobs. And the proposal took a hit in the legislature Tuesday when lawmaker Maureen Clarke Clarke said the project was the same that was proposed in 2011. Nothing happened then either, she said, and blamed the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones. The Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos said in its last report that there are 217,933 persons unemployed in the country. The two liberation lawmakers who presented the proposal Tuesday said the percentage was 10.1 percent. Government pays some of back Caja bill By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The central government made a 25 billion colon payment to the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social Tuesday, and nearly half the amount was interest on the back debt. Casa Presidencial said that the payment was up until December 2014 of the money owed for social charges on employees. The amount is about $47.3 million with just $27 million going for the debt. The interest was 10.6 billion colons or about $20 million. Casa Presidencial said the payment was the result of a conciliation that began in August 2014. Anti-smuggling bill received final OK By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Lawmakers Tuesday passed for the second and final time a bill that provides stiffer penalties for smuggling. The measure now goes to President Luis Guillermo Solís for his signature. The bill is one of those proposed by the executive branch. Those convicted of smuggling goods valued more than $5,000 can face up to five years in prison and some violations could bring an 11-year sentence, according to a summary of the bill. |
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| From Page 7: Wine show opens to the public Thursday By the
A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's major wine show, ExpoVino Costa Rica, opens to the public Thursday at the Centro de Eventos Pedregal west of San José. This is a show that featured nearly 200 exhibitors with the emphasis on wines. But cheese and chocolates are included if past shows are any guide. For a $65 entry fee, a visitor receives a cup and permission to sample wines that are on display. The wines are expected to come from the U.S., Argentina, Chile and other world wine-growing centers. Exhibitors are paying from $700 to $1,800. The organizer is EK Consultores Internacional. The show takes place once every two years, and this is the fifth edition. Hours are from 3 to 9 p.m. Those in the trade were to have a preview today. |
