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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 8, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 199 | |||||||||
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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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 Martin Bernard photo
Contest winner's tarpon dangles for all to
see.
Our reader's opinions
Fishing contest demanded
anglers kill their tarpon Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I wish to comment on the fishing tournament held recently in Los Chiles Alajuela. The rules of this tournament required the anglers to KILL any tarpon caught so that they may be weighed. This is an outrage. It is unnecessary to kill fish for sport. They could have been measured, photographed, or filmed to ascertain the winner. Luckily the water conditions were less than ideal, and only one tarpon was caught, killed, and strung up at the dock in Los Chiles. Its bloodied corpse was then seen by many tourists returning from their wildlife trips up the Río Frio. What sort of example of ecological conservation is that? I have visited this area several times and always practice catch and release. Our freshwater environments are critically endangered worldwide. Tarpon are not good eating, and there should be a focus on preserving the fauna and flora and not killing for sport. John Petchey
Developers do not have right for water at their projects Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I think your recent article Oct. 7, 2010, "A Pacific canton issues a plea for economic help," though informative about the pressing situation is unfair at the least if not down right misleading with regards to the water situation in the Coco, Hermosa, Sardinal region. By saying “even though they paid for the project” implies that they (the developers) have a right to the resource because they paid someone for something. Those developers building condominiums and other projects on a desert beach area where arguably it is already overbuilt because of the water availability, by passed the laws intentionally or perhaps not and have been ordered to go back to the drawing board leaving the investors bleeding. I trust future investors get the point. As the former president of the ecological NGO Fuentes Verdes, we have the same problem here in the Lake Arenal region where a developer has plans for a project of upwards of 300 condominiums. The Sala IV has ruled that they have not complied with the laws regarding water acquisition, leaving them with no legal water. (http://www.cantico.ca/sitemap.htm) That these issues are complex is without doubt, but when it comes to potable water and a sustainable future for the community here regardless of the world economic situation there is a line to be drawn. So for you to write “even though they paid for the project” is journalistically irresponsible given you don’t mention what the Sala IV (Supreme Court) says they are in the wrong. Edward Yurica
Tilaran, Guanacaste Tariff by Dominican Republic will be contests by nation Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Costa Rica is contesting with the World Trade Organization the Dominican Republic’s decision to put duties on polypropylene bags. The two countries have free trade as part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The Dominican Republic has put what it calls safeguard measures comprising a 38 percent duty for a period of 18 months, according to the Ministerio de Comercio Exterior. This type of trade measure is allowed to protect a local industry from sudden heavy competition. It must be for a fixed time period. In this case it applies to all importers, not just Costa Rica. There was a 30-day period for negotiation before the legal action started. With the advantage of the free trade agreement Costa Rica has exported $6.5 million in bags and tubes over the last three years, with Costa Rican companies supplying the majority of the market there, the ministry said. “For our country the imposition of this measure is a violation of WTO rules and a mockery of the preferential terms negotiated as part as the treaties between both countries,” said the vice-minister of foreign commerce, Fernando Ocampo.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 8, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 199 | |||||||||
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Chinese soon will get shots
of country's cafe liqueur By the A.M. Costa Rica staff A proposed free trade agreement with China would eliminate import duties there on frozen orange juice, fresh flowers, leathers, rum and other liquors. And the proposal would eliminate over five years duties of from 12 to 25 percent on frozen beef, chicken and pork. Frozen orange juice carries a 7.5 percent import duty, according to the Promotora del Comercio Exterior. Fresh flowers are assessed at 10 percent by the Chinese. Leather can be assessed from 5 to 8.4 percent, Promotora said. Alcoholic beverages now carry a 10 percent duty when imported to China. Already the Costa Rican firm Salicsa S.A has struck a deal to provide Cafe Rica, the firm's signature coffee liqueur, to 50 outlets in Beijing, China. Promotora said that the negotiations to achieve this took 18 months. Cafe Rica is a competitor of the Mexican Kalúa. About 99.6 percent of Costa Rican products will enter China duty-free under terms of the proposed treaty that is being considered in the legislature now. Some of the other products include tilapia, yucca, shrimp and chocolates, said Promotora, the country's quasi-public promotional arm. |
 Cafe Rica goes well with milk or cream
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| Is it city vs. country or some other dichotomy of interests? |
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| I recently read an
article by Kathleen Parker, a columnist for the Washington Post and now
co-host on CNN’s new talk show, Parker/Spitzer with Elliot
Spitzer. I gave up Jeopardy to watch the first program, and I
liked it. It was a relief to listen to civil conversations about
politics between people who try not to interrupt each other. I enjoyed
the guests, especially the talented screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
There were too many others for my taste and the program seemed geared
to people with attention deficit syndrome, but Ms. Parker is smart,
engaging and charming, and once Elliot Spitzer slows down and controls
his hyperactive brain, his intelligence and knowledge can be
appreciated. But the column I am referring to was comparing living in a big city to growing up in a small town in the South. Presently living part-time in New York City she is annoyed with the bureaucratic laws and rules as opposed to the freedom and self-regulation of a small town. There are many people living in rural towns in Costa Rica who would agree with her. I, too, grew up in a small town, actually, a village, moved to a town and then to a city. And she is right: The fewer the people, the fewer the regulations and rules of how to behave without infringing upon the rights of others. What she didn’t say was that in small towns the neighbors and what we used to call “Nosey Parkers” perform the same duties of rules and regulations. The rules they enforce may be different – having more to do with sexual and moral behavior than with lighting fires or jay walking or infringing upon the rights of others. Speaking politically, she thinks the new dichotomy will not be Republican and Democrat but high-density versus low-density. Another writer claims the new paradigm is the individual and the corporation. (the ‘small is beautiful’ group versus the ‘big is powerful’ group.) Another may be between the moderates and the fundamentalists. But back to big cities and small towns. I have met many people in Costa Rica who live in small towns and either dread the thought of coming to San José because they think it is ugly, dangerous and dirty, or refuse to visit it in the first place because they are simply afraid. I am uncomfortable in many small towns in Costa Rica because I think there are snakes and bugs, if not in the homes, lurking outside waiting to get in. They don’t like the |
crowds and bustle of the city; I fear the sameness of a small town. Most small towns have populations that are homogenous with perhaps two main ethnic groups and languages, and families that have lived there for several generations and everyone knowing what the culture is. Big cities are different. People from different ethnic groups, cultures, languages and religions are expected to get along. And there are always newcomers, including small town people hoping to make their fortunes in the big city. When Ms Parker says, ". . . the more people cram themselves into small spaces, the more government will be involved in their lives.” I agree, hoping she remembers that the government is the collective us. But times have changed, too. Some 40 or 50 years ago a family of eight living in a home with one bathroom and one car had more rules about sharing than today’s family of three or four with more bathrooms and cars. I no longer live in a city or in a small town. According to my son I live in the suburbs. Since it is a residential neighborhood and I cannot walk to the center of town, I guess he is right. If suburbs, were created to furnish the best of both worlds – country living with city amenities nearby -- I think they have failed. A population needs a community to succeed. Most suburbanites are commuters. They depend upon elsewhere for their subsistence, whether it be jobs or groceries. People who live in cities or towns meet one another in the pursuit of subsistence and thus have a community-in-waiting Meanwhile, I will continue to watch Parker/Spitzer (Note, she never interrupted me once.) They are a prime example that a big city slicker from the North and a small town belle from the South can get along. |
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| Construction begins next week on a new
Cinchona |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Next week government officials will gather to mark the beginning of construction at the Nueva Cinchona in Cariblanco north of Heredia. The occupants will be families that were displaced by the January 2009 earthquake. Consorcio Facoil-Dent will build out the new houses, and officials hope to deliver them to the residents before Christmas, they said. The earthquake destroyed Cinchona. Much of the community slipped down a hillside. The national emergency commission spent nearly $1 million for land nearby where the new community is being erected. Nearly $1 million more was spent on landscaping and roadways. Construction will cost about $3.6 million or about 1.8 billion colons |
 Comisión Nacional de
Prevención
de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias graphic Sketch of proposed housing at
Cinchona
The families involved collaborated on the
designs. Each home is built
to withstand future earthquakes and to accommodate persons with
disabilities.
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| 12-day-old baby among those burned in
Limón blaze |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A second fire in six months tore through a small rural home in Matama, de Limón Wednesday evening and injured the four occupants: A mother, a 12-day-old baby and children 3 and 4. The home was leveled. All that remains is the twisted galvanized sheeting that was the roof. The mother, identified by firemen as 19-year-old Susana Alvarado Montero, was the most badly burned. She suffered burns to her left side and leg. The 12-day-old baby, identified as Greivin Alvarado Montero, suffered burns to the right side of the face and head. Also burned and hospitalized are Daniela María Perez Alvarado, 4, Isaac Perez Alvarado, 3. Firemen said that the woman's home was leveled at the same site April 17. |
The cause
Wednesday was a candle used for illumination in a bedroom,
firemen said, basing their report on what the mother told them. They
will continue to investigate. The Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea of the security ministry used a twin-engine aircraft to carry all four individuals to Alajuela where they went by ambulances to hospitals. The mother is in San Juan de Dios, and the children are in the Hospital Nacional de Niños. They all are expected to recover. The location of the home cannot be reached with big trucks, firemen said. The call came in at 6:58 p.m. Firemen did not arrive until 23 minutes later because they had to go part of the way on foot, the report said. Three adults and eight children were living in the home that was destroyed in April, firemen said. |
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Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
Haitians
still face squalor as they struggle in camps By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A refugee advocacy group says displaced Haitians continue to live in overcrowded, unsanitary camps that are plagued by violence -- nine months after a deadly earthquake ravaged the nation. The Washington-based Refugees International issued a report Thursday saying the U.N.-directed humanitarian response in Haiti appears to be paralyzed, and more resources and experienced personnel are needed urgently. The group says people displaced by the January earthquake have been forced to live in camps for long periods of time that, combined with dwindling food and other assistance, has led to increased levels of violence, including sexual assaults. It says the displaced are being preyed upon by gang members and that camp managers are ineffective, arbitrarily appointed or completely absent. Addressing the U.N. Security Council last month, U.N. Special Representative Edmond Mulet said Haiti still has a number of challenges, including maintaining order in the camps, which he said were still plagued by sexual violence. Refugees International notes that Mulet serves both as the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti and head of the peacekeeping force in the nation. The group says a full-time humanitarian coordinator must be established to more adequately protect the rights of the displaced. It is calling on donor nations to fund the U.N. refugee agency to allow it to increase its staff and better coordinate the humanitarian effort in Haiti. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, Jan. 12, killed more than 200,000 people and left more than a million others homeless. International donors have pledged nearly $10 billion for the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Mulet told the Security Council in September that not all countries have followed through on their pledges, and he urged them to do so. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who is a U.N. special envoy for Haiti, visited tent camps in the country Wednesday and heard from the residents about the insecurity, squalid conditions and lack of jobs. On another front, the international charity Oxfam says the food aid pouring into Haiti is harming the country's economy, especially its agricultural sector. Oxfam says the international community needs to make a radical shift in how it deals with rebuilding the country. Oxfam says the aid that poured into Haiti after the earthquake was needed for the millions who were displaced — but it has not been good news for the country's agricultural sector. International senior researcher for the charity group, Marc Cohen, says the majority of Haitians live in the countryside and depend on agriculture for their livelihood, but for decades investment in that sector has been poor. "Dating back even into the late 1950s, the focus of both the Haitian government and donors was on urban development," Cohen said, "and to some extent a manufacturing sector and there was very little investment in the rural areas." He says that situation has not been helped by the major influx of overseas grains to cope with the earthquake. |
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