Insulza calls for dialogue
to end Honduran standoff


The Secretary General of the Organization of American States made a strong call Wednesday for dialogue in order to achieve the restoration of unity within the Honduran people and its democratic institutions.

During the inauguration of talks with representatives of President José Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government in Honduras,  the secretary general, José Miguel Insulza,  said that “we all need dialogue to heal divisions and so that Hondurans don't have to keep paying the consequences of what happened.”

The session took place in the Madrid Hall of the Clarion Hotel in Tegucigalpa,

Dialogue, Insulza said, will allow the return of the “previous democratic institutionality, guarantee that the elections on November 29 will truly be the free expression of the people’s will, the path through which the democratic political process will be channeled and the end of sanctions that we never wanted to impose.”

The head of the hemispheric organization said that the process of dialogue that started Wednesday should consider all issues included more than two months ago in the document known as the San José Accord.

The agreement, authored by Costa Rican President Óscar Arias Sánchez, is clear on five points: the restoration of President Zelaya to power; the formation of a government of national unity; the guarantee that there will be no new initiatives focused on amending the constitution; amnesty for political crimes that might have been committed; and the international supervision of the agreement.

Afterwards, Insulza said that it is “indispensable to fulfill certain political and procedural requirements,” among which he highlighted: the restoration and upkeep of constitutional guarantees; the restitution of suspended media outlets; guarantees for the life of President Zelaya; the empowerment of the parties to reach binding agreements; a commitment to avoid disruptive demonstrations; the elaboration of an agenda including all issues at stake; and the establishment of clear and short deadlines to reach an agreement.

“None of those requirements should take too much time if, above all, there is a real political will to reach an agreement. We can and are willing to help, but we cannot and we will not substitute the effort of the citizens of this country,”  Insulza said.

Finally, he encouraged “those assuming responsibility for this dialogue to face it without hidden intentions, with good will, sacrificing legitimate interests, leaving all prejudices and fears aside, and being generous in the name of the greatness of the nation.”

Among those in the delegation headed by  Insulza was Bruno Stagno, Costa Rican foreign minister.

Zelaya wasousted June 28, The United States and other nations have condemned Zelaya's overthrow. Washington also has revoked the visas of Honduran officials and cut aid to the Central American country. Many conservative U.S. lawmakers have criticized President Barack Obama's support of Zelaya.

The de facto government says Zelaya was ousted because he was trying to illegally change the constitution to extend his term in office.


LaserCard beefs up security
on its ID card products


LaserCard Corp., the Mountain View, California, firm that provides equipment for making residency cédulas in Costa Rica, said Wednesday that it has enhanced the security of the product.

The Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería uses the company machines to produce residency cédulas. The  innovations are to the firm's optical security media that aid document examiners in visually authenticating identity credentials when electronic card readers are not available.

The company said it now provides:

• higher resolution security artwork: Security features are embedded into the optical media in the LaserCard controlled manufacturing process. These images are resolved at up to 25,000 dots per inch, well beyond the capability of current or conceived scanning, copying and printing technologies;

• higher contrast, higher resolution cardholder image laser etched onto the optical security media  to resist substitution or tampering of a credential’s printed or lasered facial image(s);

• new personalized features which enhance the embedded hologram, including ghost image (a faint duplicate of the credential holder’s facial image) and continuously variable text, both of which enhance counterfeit resistance;

• complex background images to lock the elements of the embedded hologram together, such as watermark. and wallpaper, which enhance visual authentication, prevent tampering and further deter counterfeiting, and

•A new optical media card configuration which complies with International Civil Aviation Organization standards for travel cards.


Murder of motorcyclist
was mistake, agents report


A man who shot an 18-year-old motorcycle passenger in the back Sept. 27 in Golfito killed the wrong man, investigators have concluded.

They arrested a murder suspect on a bus in Pérez Zeledón and held him for the crime, said the Judicial Investigating Organization. Agents said that he mistook the victim, who had the last name of Lobo, for someone else


Two robbery suspects caught


Two gunmen stuck up a pharmacy just 300 meters from the center of San Rafael de Alajuela Tuesday night, but Fuerza Pública officers managed to collar two suspects. Officers confiscatedd 70,000 colons (about $121) and two sidearms, a Tauras and a Ranger, they said.


Opinions of living here
based on financial status

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I’ve noticed that there are generally two points of view about most Gringo issues in Costa Rica.  The articles written by Garland Baker recently have spawned plenty of replies that illustrate this.

One letter writer and I were both high tech professionals in California when the tech industry collapsed in 2000/2001.  The big difference was how much money we had when we came to Costa Rica.  I lost almost everything I had when the tech market collapsed, the other writer was able to sell a home in California and make their start with that capital.  I ended up working odd jobs. They ended up in real estate.

After living in Costa Rica for six years, I can tell by an expat's view of local events or opinions about life there whether they came there with a lot of cash or very little.  It’s a pretty simple division in mentalities. 

Most of my “poor” friends came to Costa Rica because it was cheap. They wanted to live Tico style and liked things how they were years ago – and didn’t want things to be like the States.  The people I know with money are different.  They have visions of a more developed Costa Rica, one with all the luxuries of the U.S.A., and most wanted to change things and make money doing it.

If you’re a Gringo in Costa Rica and you don’t have much money, than you are exposed to the work issues that Garland Baker wrote about when you try and support yourself.  You can’t afford to buy residency through investment, so you play the revolving tourist visa thing.  You don’t live in a gated community, so you are closer to crime and often a victim of it. 

Many, like me, buy an old vehicle and have to deal with inspections & mechanics and all of those sorts of headaches.  These things are not issues for Gringos with plenty of cash, many of whom live a life detached from the community in which they live and pay people to do the stressful things that everyone else has to deal with.

Personally, I agree with most of what Garland Baker has written and in many cases have personal experiences that are similar.  He’s been in Costa Rica a long time and seen the changes.  It’s easy to be optimistic when you are trying to sell Costa Rica to people but when you see your home being sold out from under you, it’s not.