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San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 217
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 Ministerio de Gobernación, Policia y
Seguridad Pública photo
Frontier policeman shows off his
weapon$100 million
sought to improve
transportation at nation's borders By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The central government will ask the legislature for permission to negotiate a new $100 million loan to improve the boarder crossings at Peñas Blancas, Paso Canoas, Sixaola and Las Tablillas. The project really is a commercial effort to improve the flow of goods in and out of the country. Some 80 percent of the loan will be spent on infrastructure. Now there are long lines of trucks at the major border posts of Peñas Blanca in the north and Paso Canoas in the south. The Sixaola crossing in the southeast at the Panamá border is the site for a new bridge, but the old railroad span that was used for vehicle traffic is what most people remember. The border controls there are not very tight. The loan is expected to be repaid by user and customs fees. The announcement comes at the same time when the central government and security officials are paying more attention to the northern border. The northeast section of the border along the Río San Juan was abandoned for years, and that is why the Nicaragua government was able to move in and begin dredging work before Costa Rica could react. That was three years ago. This month law officers uncovered what appears to be a helicopter way station in northwestern Costa Rica. A camp in a wooded area there appears to have been a fueling station for helicopters carrying drugs north. Police arrived to find an abandoned site but with barrels of fuel. The Policía de Fronteras has been clearly outgunned because one of the items found at the hidden camp was a RPG rocket launcher. That was among the AK-47s and the M-16s. Costa Rica prides itself on not having an army, but the recent events have militarized the police forces. They carry military style weapons and wear protective vests on the job. That has not gone unnoticed in Nicaragua where President Daniel Ortega joked about the new Costa Rican army. The security ministry has put a police unit in the northwestern part of the country specifically to suppress drug trade and smugglers.  Ministerio de Gobernación, Policia y
Seguridad Pública photo
This is one of the new frontier
police units that are on patrol.First hint of
transition comes
from today's weather forecast By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The meteorologists are using the T word to describe the current weather. November is a month of transition towards dry Pacific and more rain on the Caribbean coast, said the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional Nacional Thursday night. That is good news to those not on the Caribbean coast who have had a run of heavy rains over the last two weeks. But there still was rain on the Pacific coast Thursday evening. The weather institute put out an advisory at 2:30 p.m. in which it said that the high temperatures and the western winds are making conditions right for development of heavy rain mainly in the southern Pacific coast. The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad said later that a landslide had closed Ruta 14 between Golfito and Río Claro and that workmen were trying to open it. There was a string of thunderstorms that battered the area. The weather institute predicted rains up to 50 millimeters or about two inches. In the Pacific there is Tropical Depression 18 off the coast of México moving due north at 7 mph that has had an influence on coastal weather. There still is no activity in the eastern Atlantic where depressions that might become hurricanes form. The U.S. Nacional Hurricane Center figures Nov. 30 to be the end of the season although hurricanes can develop at any time. The highest frequency in the Atlantic and Caribbean is between May 30 and Nov. 30. The Weather Underground, A.M. Costa Rica's weather service, said that there was a 60 to 80 percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms in the Central Valley through Monday. The firm's satellite map showed a large area of unsettled weather due west of Costa Rica. British newspeople received advice on how to hack phones By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Reporters on Rupert Murdoch's News of the World repeatedly hacked the phones of senior politicians and even rival journalists in a desperate bid to get ahead on salacious front-page stories, a London court heard Thursday. Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, two of Britain's most high profile former newspaper editors, are on trial with six others accused of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages and make illegal payments to find exclusives when they ran the now defunct Sunday tabloid and its daily sister tabloid, the Sun. “In the dog-eat-dog world of journalism, in this frenzy to get this huge story, and to try and get something better or at least as good as what everyone else has got, that is what you do if you're Ian Edmondson,” said prosecutor Andrew Edis. “You hack the competition.” Edmondson, one of those on trial, ran the news gathering desk at the tabloid when Coulson, later Prime Minister David Cameron's media chief, was the editor. Edis said it was three emails sent to Edmondson in 2006 which ignited the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and ultimately led to the paper's closure. Following legal action from hacking victims, the firm handed over the three internal emails to police, which revealed how to tap into the phones of senior politicians and royalty, the jury of nine women and three men were told. Edis told the court at London's Old Bailey the discovery prompted detectives to look again at Murdoch's tabloids. “They have had quite an effect,” he said. The emails were from Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator and accomplished phone hacker who was highly paid by the paper, giving details of the mobile phone PIN numbers that were required to intercept voicemail messages. The phones belonged to then deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, ex-Labor minister Tessa Jowell and Frederick Windsor, the son of Queen Elizabeth's cousin. The jury were told how the paper responded to news that Prescott was having an affair in April 2006 and its frantic attempts to match one of its rivals, the Mail on Sunday. The court heard the story was so big that Coulson authorized senior editors to offer large sums of cash to Prescott's lover. “Start at 100,000 pounds,” Coulson wrote in a quickly fired-off email to Edmondson, while Mulcaire, who has already pleaded guilty to phone-hacking charges, began to tap into the voicemail messages of her phone and that of the minister's aides. The amount is about $161,000. To ensure that they knew what the Mail on Sunday were planning to write, he hacked the phones of two of its journalists, Edis said.
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 217 | |
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| Measure to protect animals better
advances in legislature |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Every dog has its day, and it was Thursday at the legislature. Lawmakers on the Comisión Permanente Especial de Ambiente reported out favorably a change in the criminal code that stipulates stiffer penalties for those who mistreat, molest or cause the death unnecessarily of an animal. The measure also beefs up fines for dog fighting and those traditional cock fights that are a staple of Latin weekends. Another prohibits breeding or making a hybrid of an animal to increase its aggressiveness. Another section prohibits making an animal work excessively. The measure now goes to the full legislature for discussion and a possible vote. The current law also calls for fines for many of these violations. Some sections of a 2002 update also have been annulled by a Sala IV ruling. The summary that introduces the text of the bill said that the Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal does not have the legal instruments to act effectively and to protect animals. The summary said that there are an average of 300 animal mistreatment or cruelty complaints a week. The summary also said that there is a link between animal |
cruelty and violence within the home
and other forms of violence in the community. There also are laws on the books that provide penalties for illegal hunting and killing turtles, the summary noted. In the current law the penalties for violations usually are a fine for about a month's basic salary, about 380,000 colons now. The proposed law increases some of the fines to 200 days of a base salary and would impose one to six years jail time for unnecessarily killing an animal, torturing an animal or providing a public show where animals are killed. This section does not appear to include dogs or chicken fights. The measure contains a long list of specific acts that would be subject to a fine of four to eight base salaries. These include conducting animal experiments without the approval of the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, keeping an animal in inadequate conditions, arranging animal fights, failing to provide water for an animal, and breeding animals to make them more dangerous. A second list provides for one to six years in prison for such acts as operating without anesthesia or conducting animal sacrifices. There is no guarantee that the law will be passed. Cock fighting has a long tradition, and the law's summary noted that then-president Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno vetoed a law in 1912 that forbade cock fights. |
| It's déjà vu for the Butterfly as a new
arrival confronts life |
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| These
past days of heavy rains in the afternoon make me think of my friend
Grady’s remark (made from the sunny town of Palm Springs where he stays
when he is not living in Costa Rica). That is that he loves the
downpours in Costa Rica as long as he can watch them from the safe side
of his window. That is where I have been most afternoons . . . . watching some awesome storms, safe and dry in my apartment, which has only one tiny leak. Meanwhile, I have been following the adventures of my friend Audrey. We have been pen pals for over three years although we have never met. Through her emails I have become aware of her staunchly positive outlook as she has braved and overcome all sorts of challenges including a broken hip with complications, incurred while on some formidable hike with her son. Her dream was to move to Costa Rica when the time was right. I sent her a copy of my book, “Butterfly in the City,” hoping that it would give her some guidelines and also the pitfalls so she could avoid them. Reading of her adventures, I recalled my own early months. She arrived in September to look, with the help of a local real estate agent, for a home to buy. (Oh, no! cries the Butterfly), but she is determined. She, like five other people I know, arrived via plane from North America with some terrible respiratory illness. I have begun to wonder if this could indicate something epidemic. For a while Audrey stayed in a hotel in the city, nursing her illness. Her hotel was right on Paseo Colon where she could experience all of the joys and noise of the parades that just happened to be scheduled for the month of September. And she got to know the city by walking around downtown. (Thatagirl, says Butterfly). Her agent, whom she now considers a friend, has tirelessly shown her one house after another – all of them well outside the city and often seemingly on the side of one of the many mountains in the Central Valley (Are you serious? wonders the Butterfly, ah well, not everyone is a city girl.) And Audrey wants the peace of the countryside. Finding just the right home takes time, so Audrey needed an |
apartment until that home appeared. The apartment she finds is in a beautiful setting, high up, of course, but in an elegant building, resonant of a romantic past. In short, she falls in love at first sight and ignores, or thinks she can handle, the roaches and mold she notices on her first visit. Instead, she must have been carried away by her image of having her morning coffee in the elegant living room gazing out the window at the really stunning garden of exotic flowers she can’t even name. (Been there, done that and out of there, says the squeamish Butterfly.) So Audrey signs the lease. It is only after she moves in that she discovers that the shower doesn’t work, the tired Atlas fridge, in a last desperate effort at life, freezes everything she has bought, including the eggs and vegetables. And she is somewhat isolated, no handy bus stop and not enough Spanish to explain where she wants to go to a taxista. (My worst nightmare! cries Butterfly.) At this point I write to Audrey and tell her I am so sorry, I should have told her of a delightful and comfortable new place in Sabana Norte where she could stay temporarily without a lease. But she does not want to lose her last month’s rent, she says, (Who does?) so she is going to tough it out. Besides, she adds, that actually she is having a great adventure, and that if she did it any other way, “It wouldn’t be my life, it wouldn’t be Costa Rica, and it wouldn’t be half the fun.” (Three cheers for Audrey, whispers an exhausted Butterfly). There are some people who just do not fit or belong in Costa Rica. And they often find this out themselves and leave. There are others who do belong, and find the gems among the stones, doing it their way. Audrey is certainly one of them. I am eager to meet her in person and give her a big hug of welcome, and wish her great success with the book I am sure she will, and should, write about her adventures in this challenging wonderland. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 217 | |||||
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| Impact in U.S. of medical tourism considered in new journal
article |
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By
the Wolters Kluwer Health news staff
Would you consider traveling to Mexico or India for a less-expensive rhinoplasty or breast augmentation procedure? Many Americans are doing just that, and the trend is having an impact on the market for cosmetic plastic surgery, according to an article in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery—Global Open®, the official open-access medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The paper, by society member and surgeon Kevin C. Chung and Lauren E. Franzblau of the University of Michigan, discusses “the rise and transformation of the medical tourism industry, foreign and domestic forces that influence cosmetic surgical tourism, and the pros and cons for all involved parties.” Chung and Ms. Franzblau write, “The rapid globalization of the industry also marks a fundamental shift in the world’s perception of elective procedures: patients are becoming consumers and these medical services are being viewed as commodities.” Traveling for medical care is nothing new, but in the past, people were more likely to travel from poor countries to obtain higher-quality care in wealthier countries. Today, prompted by the ease and relatively low costs of travel, more patients from the United States and other western countries are traveling to the developing world to access less-costly medical and surgical procedures. Because cosmetic plastic surgery procedures aren’t covered by insurance, they make up a major part of the burgeoning medical tourism market. Figures vary, but there’s a consensus that medical tourism is growing rapidly: India alone may have more than one million medical tourists per year. Other countries with growing medical tourism industries include Mexico, Dubai, South Africa, Thailand and Singapore. Prices for cosmetic surgery in these countries are typically much lower than at home. For example, a breast augmentation procedure that would cost $6,000 in the U.S. can be done for $2,200 in India. Even after the costs of |
airfare are
factored in, having an operation overseas can be
much less expensive. In many countries, governments are working actively to foster their medical tourism industry. Some destinations even market procedures performed in resort-like settings, encouraging patients to combine a vacation with cosmetic surgery. Traveling abroad also lets patients recuperate privately, without anyone at home knowing that they’ve had plastic surgery. The growth of medical tourism may have a significant impact on the cosmetic surgery market in the U.S., but also raises concerns over physical safety and legal protection. Although destination countries promote the quality and safety of their procedures and facilities, there is often little evidence to support these claims. “Because the practice of medical travel does not appear to be going away in the foreseeable future, plastic surgeons must understand the international market and learn to compete in it,” Chung and Ms. Franzblau write. Since U.S. surgeons may find it hard to compete on price, effective strategies may include emphasizing superior quality and safety of care, or developing niche markets of procedures that can be profitably performed at home. The authors emphasize that medical tourism is not purely good or bad —neither for patients nor the countries involved. Patients may be drawn by lower costs, but must consider the potential risks of undergoing surgery in a foreign country, as well as traveling after surgery. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons provides information for patients considering travel abroad for cosmetic surgery, including risks and follow-up care. For the U.S. and other developed countries, medical tourism means fewer patients and less revenue but may also bring increased opportunities for collaboration with rapidly modernizing countries in other parts of the world. Chung and Ms. Franzblau conclude, “To retain patients and be competitive in a global market, U.S. plastic surgery must be vigilant of the changes in medical tourism and must adapt accordingly.” |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, Vol. 13, No. 217 | |||||
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| U.S. FAA lifts prohibition against airborne electronics By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Frequent fliers in the United States are likely breathing a collective sigh of relief as the Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday it would allow the use of portable electronic devices during all phases of flight. Previously, devices had to be turned off and stowed during both takeoff and landing. In a release, the FAA said it “based its decision on input from a group of experts that included representatives from the airlines, aviation manufacturers, passengers, pilots, flight attendants and the mobile technology industry.” The experts concluded that most commercial airplanes can tolerate radio interference signals from electronic devices. According to the FAA, there may be rare instances of low-visibility during which the crew will instruct passengers to turn off their devices during landing. “We believe today’s decision honors both our commitment to safety and consumer’s increasing desire to use their electronic devices during all phases of their flights,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “These guidelines reflect input from passengers, pilots, manufacturers, and flight attendants, and I look forward to seeing airlines implement these much anticipated guidelines in the near future.” Talking on a cell phone during a flight will still be banned, as the FAA said they differ from most devices in that they are designed to send out signals strong enough to be received at great distances. Passengers can still use smartphones for listening to music, playing games or watching videos, but the phone must be in airplane mode. Changes to electronic device policies will not happen immediately and will vary by airline, the FAA said. U.S. carrier Delta already issued a statement saying it hoped to begin allowing the use of devices as early as today, pending FAA approval. Computer experts wondering how NSA managed those taps By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The latest revelations from exiled former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden highlight security weaknesses in some of the world’s most popular Internet networks. According to the Washington Post, the NSA and its British counterpart have tapped into links between Google and Yahoo data centers and collected text, audio, video and vast amounts of other data. “Technologists and people who work on privacy in general have known that this can be done and may have been going on for a long time,” said Lance Hoffman, head of the George Washington University Cyberspace Security Policy and Research Institute. Hoffman says that while the companies store data in secure facilities around the world, and even have some of their own fiber optic networks, at certain points they travel through the same cables as the rest of the Internet’s data. “Whenever you’re moving things from point A to point B, there’s a possibility of an intercept,” he added. NSA says its data collection is legal and is used solely to look for clues that would prevent terrorist attacks and other security threats. While little is known about how the spy agencies made those intercepts, the routers that direct Internet traffic are one possibility, said Jeff Tjiputra, computer scientist at the University of Maryland-University College. “I have known hackers that can hack into routers that change the code that will make it a device that transmits traffic to a third party,” he said. “At this point,” he added, “it goes back to what we always thought: that if you send anything on the Internet, it’s the same as if you’re sending a postcard. Anybody that handles that mail can see it.” A Yahoo spokesperson said the company has “strict controls in place to protect the security of our data centers.” Google said it is extending encryption across more of its services. But as more and more information goes to distributed cloud computing networks, computer experts see both risks and benefits. “I think many folks in the security community look at cloud computing as inherently more risky,” said Syracuse University computer engineering Professor Shiu-Kai Chin, adding: “Does that mean we shouldn’t use it? No. If I want to store my videos and my music up there, I’m really delighted to do that. Would I want to store the nuclear launch codes for the United States and the keys to the U.S. Treasury? Probably not.” Hoffman said he was not surprised that security agencies were able to crack into Google and Yahoo. “The surprise to me is that it’s taken so long to galvanize the public to have the conversation, to put in place the proper controls,” he said. But he adds, “The technology always gets out ahead of us. People don’t generally write laws until they see something that needs to be organized or controlled in some way.” “Basically, it’s time to have this discussion, to do it fast, to get agreement on controls that guarantee civil liberties” and address the privacy concerns raised by the NSA revelations. “In some sense, privacy is a precursor to freedom. If you don’t have privacy, you don’t have freedom.” New York Marathon to host at least 48,000 runners By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
This year’s New York City Marathon will have reminders of Superstorm Sandy, which forced its cancellation last year, and of the bombings at the Boston Marathon in April. Runners affected by both calamities will be among the 48,000 racing along the winding, 42-kilometer route that touches every New York City borough. Security will be beefed up as well, with thousands of police stationed along the route, backpacks and some other items prohibited, and restricted entry for blocks around the finish line. Among the runners Sunday will be 19,000 international competitors from all over the world, including a few who will stay with Bill Staab, president of the West Side Runners Club in Manhattan. At 74, Staab no longer enters marathons himself, although he says he ran 28 in his time. These days, retired from his import-export business, he dedicates much of his time to working with foreign-born members of the club and with runners visiting from abroad. The face of running in New York is changing, Staab said, as immigrant and working-class runners take up the sport. Some years ago, his club began to attract South and Central American immigrants, many of whom work low-wage jobs and train and compete in their few spare hours. “There is a mixture of motivations, for those runners from Latin America,” Staab said. “They often started running through soccer, and when they wanted to develop their stamina, they started running longer distances and found that they were really very, very good. And some of them dropped soccer all together, and began to run in races. Sometimes it’s just for the honor of doing well, sometimes it’s when the race does have some prize money.” Later, he said, “More Africans began to come here, of even a higher quality, and these runners consider themselves to be professional, and they basically train and run races in order to earn an income when possible. So, New York is a mosaic in the races of a huge mixture of abilities, economic levels, colors; it’s absolutely fabulous,” Staab said. Staab has hosted international marathon runners for many years at his two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. This year, for the New York City Marathon, eight or nine Ethiopians will be staying for several days. Everyone helps cook Ethiopian food or pasta, and he said it never seems too crowded. “You know, these are very quiet people, and they’re small, and good sleepers,” he said. “If you train very hard, you get exhausted, and you just knock out and sleep.” Staab said there is a good chance this year of a New Yorker crossing the finish line first. If it happens, it would be the first time a local has won in 39 years. Staab’s hopes for a local winner are pinned on Buzunesh Deba, a member of West Side Runners, who was born in Ethiopia and has lived in New York for five years. Deba ran the 2011 New York race in two hours, 23 minutes and 15 seconds, losing the women’s event by just four seconds. “Her chances are probably as good as any other elite runner's, maybe better,” Staab said. “But there is very strong competition, both from other international runners who have been invited in specifically for the race, and Americans who are living in the U.S. coming in from California and other such places. So we just wish her all the luck in the world, and hopefully she can win, and if she doesn’t, hopefully she can have a very good time.” The runner who beat Deba in 2011, her friend and fellow Ethiopian, Firehitwot Dado, is competing again in this year’s race, as are the two top favorites, Kenyans Edna Kiplagat and Priscah Jeptoo. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya, who won in 2011, and Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede are favored in the men’s event. Another México-U.S. tunnel discovered and shut down By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. officials have disrupted a major drug smuggling operation by shutting down a sophisticated tunnel linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Federal officials say three arrests have been made and they're targeting more suspects. Police say they confiscated a large stash of marijuana and cocaine from the tunnel, which is equipped with an electronic rail system and elaborate electrical and ventilation systems. "This was the third one since 2011. We found them all before they could successfully get any drugs into the United States. Their traditional roots, their methods . . . are failing at this point, they're very desperate; they're doing whatever they can to get into the U.S.," said William Sherman, a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Laura Duffy, U.S. Attorney for Southern California, said law enforcement also have their sights on the leaders behind the sophisticated drug smuggling operations. "We've had great success in discovering and shutting down these tunnels, but we're going after the management now as well. In February of 2012, we charged Jose Sanchez-Villalobos, who is identified in court documents as one of the senior lieutenants of the Sinaloa Cartel with building, financing and operating two of the super tunnels that we've mentioned. One was discovered in November 2010 and the other precisely a year later," said Duffy. Officials say that more than 75 tunnels have been discovered since 2008 linking the southwestern U.S. with Mexico. U.S. begins a big promotion to get more foreign investment By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The United States has traditionally been the world’s largest recipient of foreign direct investments, but that is changing. Since 2000, when the U.S. held nearly 40 percent of the world’s foreign investments, its share of capital inflows has declined to just 17 percent. The White House hopes to reverse the decline and is launching an aggressive campaign to attract more foreign investment to the United States. More than $160 billion in foreign investments flowed into the U.S. economy last year. It's a sizable sum, one that boosts U.S. productivity and creates new jobs. But in this interconnected global economy, foreign investors are increasingly putting their money elsewhere. That’s one reason why Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker welcomed more than 1,200 guests to Washington for the first Select USA Summit. “Business leaders from 58 countries and across the United States are here today. A warm welcome to all of you from all of us in the Obama administration," said Ms. Pritzker. The sales pitch comes as foreign investment in the U.S. continues to slide. Down 28 percent in 2012 from the year before, it’s on pace for another big decline this year. Economists say the reasons are many from the slowdown in emerging markets to the political dysfunction in Washington. Still, among the advanced economies, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew says the United States boasts the most favorable business climate. “We need the world to sustain greater growth, and the world continues to need the United States to be the backbone of a stable global economy," said Lew. The Summit represents a new push by the White House to remind investors that the U.S. is open for business. And it was an opportunity seized by President Barack Obama. “I want more American products being sold in your countries, and I want your companies investing more here in the United States of America," said Obama. To do that, the White House has launched a four-pronged effort to persuade international investors to buy American from coordinating assistance, through U.S. embassies, to cutting red tape for direct investment. “You should find out why there’s no substitute for those proud words Made in America. We are open for business and we’re looking forward to partnering with all of you in the months and years ahead. Thank you very much," said Obama. Caracas motorcycle plague is a problem for president By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Choking traffic, causing pileups and even ambushing drivers, Venezuela's hordes of motorcyclists are an increasingly high-profile problem for the new government of President Nicolas Maduro. Denounced in the media as a plague,' they provide essential, cheap transport but are often held responsible for anarchy on the roads and the terrifying number of homicides, kidnappings and armed robberies that beset the South American country. Some also see them as shock troops of the late Hugo Chávez, who pushed through radical socialist policies during his 14 years in power before dying from cancer in March. For many opposition-leaning voters, especially in wealthier areas, the bikers are the public face of the underworld. Most of these motorizados, a term that can be applied to almost anyone who works on a bike, in Caracas say they are just trying to scrape a living as taxis and couriers in a congested city that desperately needs them and are being blamed unfairly for the crimes of a few rogues. Maduro was handpicked by Chávez, but he only narrowly won the election to succeed him. He faces a huge test to crack down on the lawlessness often associated with the motorizados while still retaining their many working-class votes. "They're a problem,'' Interior Minister Miguel Torres said, launching a strategy last month to control Venezuela's hundreds of thousands of bikers. "Not all of them, but there are lots who think they're in the old Wild West.'' Many behave atrociously, he said, riding on sidewalks, knocking off mirrors as they weave in and out of traffic, and hurling abuse whenever challenged. Some are involved in much more serious offenses, including abductions and drive-by shootings. In recent months, funeral corteges of dozens of motorcycles have become regular flashpoints, with bikers creating gridlock in order to smash windows and rob drivers at gunpoint. Venezuela suffers one of the world's highest murder rates, and violent crime is the No. 1 issue ahead of Dec. 8 municipal elections that are the first major ballot test for Maduro. The government's new plan includes high-level meetings with motorizado groups to improve relations with the security forces and get them to agree to some basic rules of the road. Officials are also trying to win over the bikers by building shelters so they don't need to huddle under overpasses when it rains - often strangling traffic to a single lane by doing so. A stuttering government effort to register motorcycles has recorded about 300,000 so far. Local business groups estimate there are about a million. The explosion in the number over the last decade is due to Chávez-era deals with China that flooded the country with bikes going for a few hundred dollars, and social programs that meant more poor people could contemplate buying their own transport. For many of the motorizados, Chávez himself took on an almost God-like status. Motorcycle accidents are so common they're often referred to in the press as a public health problem, and it is estimated that each hospital in Caracas admits at least 100 injured motorcyclists every week. Gas prices may be the lowest in the world, but Venezuela's annual inflation rate hit almost 50 percent in September, piling the pressure on Maduro to show economic improvements. According to Venezuela's national investigative police, the CICPC, about twice as many motorcycles as cars are reported stolen in Caracas. Many are taken violently. As the government seeks to engage the bikers, some of the more organized mototaxi groups are among those calling the loudest for clear laws. They argue that lives and livelihoods are at risk if an agreement can't be reached. One proposal to stop drive-by shootings would ban passengers riding with motorizados, which would destroy the mototaxi business. Fuel thieves puncture line carrying gasoline in México By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Officials in western Mexico say thieves tapped into a fuel line causing gasoline to spray several kilometers into the air, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. Authorities from the state-owned Pemex oil company say no one was injured in Wednesday's incident near the town of Guadalajara. Officials say emergency crews were able to contain the gas. "The situation now is that they're sealing it. Mexican Petroleum is here, there are pipes to extract the gasoline that was segmented at a specific point and now what is happening is remediation work. There are personnel from the Attorney General who are carrying out expert work and will raise a report for the investigation and establish those responsible," said State Interior Minister Arturo Zamora-Jalisco. Pemex says illegal taps drilled into pipelines is an ongoing problem, amounting to large financial losses. Pemex also announced Wednesday that dozens of employees and contractors had been arrested on the suspicion of stealing fuel in neighboring Guanajuato state. |
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Texting can be
roadblock in committed relationship By
the Brigham Young University news staff
Couples shouldn’t let their thumbs do the talking when it comes to serious conversations, disagreements or apologies. Brigham Young University researchers Lori Schade and Jonathan Sandberg studied 276 young adults around the country and found that being constantly connected through technology can create some disconnects in committed relationships. Here are a few highlights from the report they published this week in the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy: * For women: Using text messages to apologize, work out differences or make decisions is associated with lower relationship quality. * For men: Too frequent texting is associated with lower relationship quality. * For all: Expressing affection via text enhances the relationship. “Technology is more important to relationship formation than it was previously,” said Schade, who earned her doctorate in August. “The way couples text is having an effect on the relationship as well.” The study participants weren’t just casually dating. 38 percent said they were in a serious relationship, 46 percent were engaged and 16 percent were married. Each participant completed an extensive relationship assessment that included questions about their use of technology in the relationship. About 82 percent of them traded text messages with their partner multiple times a day. And it’s not always “I <3 u!!!” or “Where do you want to go for lunch?” Many of the couples used texting for stuff scholars call relationship maintenance or the kind of conversations that help couples get on the same page. Ordinarily having these conversations is a good thing, but texting can get in the way and makes things worse. “Reaction to disappointment and reality testing occurs more quickly face to face,” Sandberg said. “There is a narrowness with texting and you don’t get to see the breadth of a person that you need to see.” For men, more texting doesn’t necessarily mean a better relationship. And they don’t just get tired of receiving texts. Their relationship satisfaction is also lower when they send a lot of texts themselves. “We’re wondering if this means men disconnect and replace in-person conversations with more texting,” Schade said. “Maybe as they exit the relationship, they text more frequently because that’s a safer form of communication. We don’t know why, that is just a conjecture.” The good news is that saying something sweet in a text works universally for men and women. In fact, sending a loving text was even more strongly related to relationship satisfaction than receiving one. |
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| From Pge 7: Major project planned at airport By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Spanish firm Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas S.A. has been hired to build a new hangar at Juan Santamaría airport. The contract is for 25 million euros or about $34 million. The hangar, which will be used by a maintenance firm, will be able to accommodate six Boeing 757s. It will cover 21,894 square meters or about 235,665 square feet. The Consejo de Aviación civil is relocating the maintenance facility to give the airport concession holder Aeris, space to build more passenger ramps. In Costa Rica, the company is expanding the Cañas-Liberia national highway in Guanacaste and holds the concession (through Globalvía) to operate the San José-Caldera toll road. At the end of 2012, FCC obtained a contract to build the control tower at Colombia's El Dorado airport, which ranks first in Latin America in terms of cargo volume and third in passenger traffic. |
