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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-9393 |
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La Costanera, Quepos, Parrita, Manuel Antonio |
| Minister Pacheco jumps
ship at Obras Públicas By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Ovidio Pacheco, minister of Obras Públicas y Transportes, resigned Monday just six weeks after taking the job. He said his health was failing, in part due to the impossibility of doing the job without adequate resources. Pacheco denied that his departure had anything to do with a story in La Nación Monday that suggested a firm he operates in Turrialba is engaged in predatory financing. Pacheco said he will return to private life and stay away from politics. Before taking on the ministry that deals with roads, bridges, airports and docks, Pacheco was minister of Trabajo. La Nación said that the firm Pacheco founded in 1977 loaned money to farmers at 60 percent a year interest. It recounted stories of some individuals in the area who had lost their homes and land because they were unable to pay the interest. In taking his leave, Pacheco said he was not involved with the company Compañía Agropecuaria La Pradera S.A. However, he had told La Nación earlier that the company was owned by his family. The resignation is another embarrassment to President Abel Pacheco. The transport minister is the 14th high official to leave the administration. Nevertheless, President Pacheco was gracious and characterized Minister Pacheco as a hard worker. The president confirmed that Minister Pacheco talked to him about resigning 15 days earlier. In an afternoon meeting with reporters, Pacheco basically said his job was impossible to do. Indian encounter set
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Representatives from the eight Indian peoples who live in Costa Rica will meet Thursday through Sunday in San José. The encounter is primarily for members of the Indian groups to share experiences, but there also will be expositions and an Indian art market for the public. The annual encounter is under the auspices of the Ministerio de Cultura, Juventud y Deportes, and much of the activities will be at the ministry, the Centro Nacional de la Cultura, also known as the old liquor factory, just southeast of the office building of the Instituto Nacional de Seguros. Nearly 64,000 persons who identify themselves as Indians live in Costa Rica, many in 24 designated territories. The ministry said they represented about 1.7 percent of the population in the 2000 census. Some of the groups, like the Malekus have just 460 persons. The Bri-Bri with 9,645 persons in the Talamanca mountains is the largest. Attempted hijacking
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff A man and his bodyguards came under fire in Barrio Tournón in north San José. Men in another car either were trying to steal the victims’ car or kidnap the occupant, identified only as an Oriental. The would-be victims said a vehicle began to follow them and tried to get them out of the car near the La República newspaper building. A Fuerza Pública officer in a motorized unit heard shots and intervened. Three suspects were taken into custody. Guns and masks were found in their car, police said. Our readers reply He says vaccines
Dear A.M. Costa Rica: All too often the medical mafia pharmo drug dealers have 100 percent
control over the mainstream media distribution of their lies about vaccines,
the nature of disease, and the true cures. I read on your pages recently
a short story about flu season in Costa Rica and you
quote one of these Medical Mafia Doctors who promote the lie for "those
at risk of flu" to take two shots a year!
A little research into the ingredients of these shots will show you that these flu shots are full of poison. One in particular is called Thimersol which is primarily mercury. Thimersol is used to keep the vaccines from contamination after production. But since these shots are nearly 50 percent Thimersol, how much Mercury are the recipients receiving each and every time they get a flu shot? The number one reason people get and are sick is diet! Worldwide people eat too much processed foods which contain many poisons such as the excitotoxins MSG and Aspartame. Further most people drink very little water. If doctors were honest, they would tell all patients to change their diet, drink more water, and eat only fresh natural foods. The doctors should be leading the charge against the multi-national corporations who force pesticides and other poisons on us but they say nothing. Doctors who do speak out are ejected from the profession with criminal charges! Let’s show how brave we are and stand up for our right to healthy food, clean water, unpolluted air, and medical truth! Bob Jones
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Stabbing at Escazú
mall
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff A man stabbed a woman in the Centro Comercial Multiplaza in Escazú
Sunday. The assailant, identified by the last name of Membreño,
was quickly detained. The woman suffered three knife wounds to the stomach
and was hospitalized.
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Haiti is a violent basket case filled with death |
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Political violence, instability and natural disasters are taking their toll on the people of Haiti. In the past few weeks more than 50 people have died in political violence. Nearly 2,000 died and hundreds remain missing from floods caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne. Haitian police each day work their way through the slums of Bel Air, exchanging gunfire with the dreaded Chimieres, gangs of supporters of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide. The Chimieres, which in Creole roughly means ghosts, live up to their name. They disappear into a maze of alleys in one of Port-au-Prince's oldest neighborhoods that is a stronghold of support for the former president. Scores have died in violence in Haiti since Sept. 30, when Aristide supporters began violent demonstrations calling for his return. Aristide, who lives in exile in South Africa, says he was forced to leave Haiti earlier this year by the United States and France, a charge both countries strongly deny. Haiti's interim government blames Aristide for the violence. Justice Minister Bernard Gousse said what his government is facing is nothing less than terrorism: "We are facing, the society is facing, acts of terrorism and very barbaric acts, where you have people being beheaded, and people being burned. It did not happen once, but you can say there is a scheme of terrorism that is coming down in the city, and the government has to face that, along with the police force." A force of about 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers, headed by a Brazilian general, backs up the Haitian police. But U.N. officials say it is not their job, but the job of Haiti's police, to disarm the gangs. A promised international force of 8,000 troops has failed to materialize. U.N. officials say they hope to add several thousand more troops by the end of the year. U.N. officials also say they have other concerns in Haiti. In a rural town there are women scooping up cans of beans and carrying the food away in heavy sacks. They are waiting for relief food in the town of Passeraigne, about 20 kms. (12 miles) north of Gonaives, Haiti's third largest city. Gonaives was devastated by floods from Tropical Storm Jeanne one-month ago. U.N. officials have organized a massive effort to provide relief to the flood victims. Food deliveries in Gonaives were suspended after violence broke out, and now those who need food must find their way to Passeraigne to receive it. Many, like Mirais, say they barely survived the floods. Mirais says she and her family of six had to climb trees as the flood waters destroyed their home near Gonaives. She says she has lost everything, but unlike many of her neighbors, all the members of her family survived. Tropical Storm Jeanne did not hit Haiti directly, but because the country is deforested, the storm turned deadly. Trees and soil that could have absorbed the rain have been replaced by scrub and cactus around Gonaives. As a result, a cascade of water, mud and rocks swept through the city. Fernando Arroyo is overseeing relief efforts for the United Nations in Gonaives. He says the basic reason for the tragedy is extreme poverty: "The bottom line is deforestation, but that responds to a critical economic situation. When the people of Haiti do not have any other recourse, they will chop the trees and they will transform them into charcoal to sell the charcoal as the last resource. This is what has happened in Gonaives and in so many other areas of Haiti." Gonaives has begun a slow recovery, but relief supplies to the city have been slowed down because the main road to Gonaives is now blocked by a meter-deep lake caused by the storm. Political |
violence in Port-au-Prince has also
prevented authorities from unloading ships carrying relief aid for the
people of Gonaives.
Arroyo says Haiti's government also needs to do more: "A number of streets in Gonaives are still clogged by mud. A number of drainage channels are still dirty, filled with mud and branches and objects. The humanitarian agencies are making an effort to remove the debris and unclog the streets, but we need bigger support from the government in terms of heavy equipment, which we know is available, to come here and integrate this common effort." Local officials at the Gonaives city hall are reluctant to discuss the issue of government inaction, saying the officials responsible for the cleanup are not in the city. Haiti's interim government has named a cabinet minister to oversee recovery efforts, but when Haiti's interim president and prime minister recently visited Gonaives they were greeted by angry residents who complained of government inaction. There is also anger in Port-au-Prince at the way Haiti's interim government has responded to the political violence. Backed by U.N. peacekeepers, Haitian police have stepped up police sweeps in pro-Aristide slum areas, and arrested several prominent Aristide supporters. Among them is Dr. Louis Gerald Gilles, a surgeon and Haitian senator, who is a member of Aristide's Lavalas Family political party. Gilles, who was recently released from jail, says the violence in the slums is being caused by extremists who have no connection with Aristide's political movement. Gilles says he opposes the violence of the pro-Aristide gangs, who, he says, believe they can force the return of the former president. He says he does not know who is backing them, and he rejects government charges that he and other Lavalas politicians offer encouragement to the gangs. Gilles and other Lavalas politicians say Haiti's government is using the violence to crack down on Lavalas, which is the largest single party in Haiti's suspended parliament. Members of Haiti's interim government reject the charges, saying there has been no crackdown on Lavalas political activities, but that Lavalas activists who support the gangs will be brought to justice. The growing violence is raising fears of involvement by another group of heavily armed Haitians — members of Haiti's disbanded army. Former army members led a rebellion earlier this year that helped to force Aristide out of office and the country. Now, they are threatening to move against the pro-Aristide gangs. At his heavily fortified house outside Port-au-Prince, ex-Haitian army major Remissainthe Ravix says he is waiting for the government to call for assistance. He says he knows where the Chimieres are, and he is ready to take them on. He says Haiti's government should fulfill its responsibility to end the violence, and he is willing to do his part to bring that about. While some members of Haiti's interim government have said they would welcome support from anyone to end the violence, others like Justice Minister Bernard Gousse warn of a catastrophe, if ex-Haitian army officers get involved. Gousse says more police recruiting is under way, and international support is in place to reinforce Haiti's police. He says he is confident Haiti's police will eventually be able to assert their authority. Most Haitians battered by violence and Mother Nature in recent weeks hope he is right. They fear violence could spiral out of control if the police are unable eventually to disarm the forces that threaten Haiti's stability from all sides. |
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