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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 218 | |||||||||
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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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recovers for Latin America Special to A.M. Costa Rica
Foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean recovered significantly in 2010 with regard to the drop in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis. According to new data released by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, direct investment to 11 of the region's economies grew 16.4 percent during the first semester of 2010 in comparison to the same period last year. This increase totaled over $7 billion, rising from $43.2 billion in 2009 to $50.3 billion this year. Latin American and Caribbean investment abroad grew strongly, jumping from $5.5 billion in the first semester of 2009 to $20.8 billion in the same period this year, the commission said. Based on these results, the commission said it estimates that foreign direct investment will rise moderately in 2010, but will fall short of the record levels seen in 2007 and 2008. The increase in foreign direct investment is due in the first place to the economic stability and growth in most countries of the region. In South America, the high prices of prime materials have continued to encourage investment flows to mining and hydrocarbons. Added to this are the recovery of world trade and the improved outlook for international financial markets, the commission said. Foreign direct investment to Mexico in 2010 showed signs of a significant recovery, as in Chile and Peru. In Central America, investments to the two main recipients in the subregion, Costa Rica and Panama, also grew with regard to 2009. During the first semester of 2010, Brazil continued to be the region's prime foreign direct investment recipient, with flows reaching $17.1 billion. This is largely explained by the strong interest in investing in traditional activities and emerging sectors (oil prospecting and ethanol production), as well as loan payments from Brazilian subsidiaries of multinational corporations to company headquarters. Our reader's opinion
Viewer says he's unhappywith service from Amnet Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I read the recent article in A.M. Costa Rica about Amnet's new program packages and fees with the usual disdain I reserve for national monopolies that continually and unapologetically provide lousy service to their customers. What remains the same: (1) Every month the US networks, CBS, NBC and ABC go off the air. Usually they're blacked out for 2-3 days. As of right now, 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, they've been off the air for 82 hours and counting. (2) Various non-network channels regularly have sound/picture problems or go off the air for days at a time. In the seven years I've used the cable services, (previously owned by another company) I can't remember a time when all channels were available and unaffected by technical glitches. (3) Even moderate climatic disruptions interrupt programming. (4) When the cable goes out it stays out for hours on end because Amnet doesn't keep spare parts or enough personnel on call to get the problems fixed in a timely fashion. (5) American movies are consistently censored and overdubbed. (Only in Latin America would the censors find fault with "My Stepmother is An Alien!"). What's new: (1) Channel 29, "The Movie Channel," used to show English language movies in English during prime time. Now they broadcast exclusively in Spanish. (2) Channel 36 "CineMax" never used to show overdubbed movies. Now they show them all day. Only in the evening are the movies available in English. The same is true of Channel 38, "CineCanal," more overdubbed movies than ever before. (3) Turner Classic Movies, CineCanal and Cinemax never used to interrupt programming. Movies were shown straight through with no interruptions. Now all of these movie channels interject commercials for their new program packages into the movies. So it seems that Amnet wants us to pay more for less than what we've been getting, which was of poor quality to begin with. And that's what you get when the government awards monopolies to companies who don't understand the concept of excellence in business. (And yes, I know, I could get a satellite dish, but I have too many trees around my house and I'm not about to cut down a tree to that end.) Dean Barbour
Manuel Antonio
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 218 | |||||||||
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| There's plenty of rain, flooding, refugees and road damage |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The rain just will not quit. The automatic weather station at Tobias Bolaños airport reported at 2 a.m. that 114.3 millimeters (4.5 inches) of rain had fallen since 7 a.m. Wednesday. That is on top of 52.3 millimeters (2 inches) that fell between 7 a.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday. Of course, compared to rainfalls of more than 15 inches in Quepos, during the same period, the Pavas totals are not a record. However, there was flooding in lower spots in the Central Valley, including Los Anonos. There were homes flooded and people forced to seek shelter elsewhere. The metro area had a break during the afternoon, but rains resumed about 7 p.m. and peaked at 11 p.m. Tomas, which had returned to tropical storm status, continues to move north and west. Weather experts expect it to make a sharp turn and threaten Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba within the next 48 hours. It was a combination of Tomas and a low pressure area that generated the heavy rains since Wednesday. Conditions are expected to remain unchanged through Friday, said the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional The Dirección General de Policia de Tránsito reported a number of road problems. Most are unchanged since an A.M. Costa Rica update at 3 p.m. Wednesday. |
The agency maintains a Web
page that lists road closures. The Interamericana Norte is open but there are one-lane sections due to road damage and slides. The Interamericana Sur is closed at Kilometer 29 about three kilometers from Pérez Zeledón due to a slide. It also is closed at Térraba at Kilometer 220, at Kilometer 235 between Buenos Aires and Peje and at Kilometer248 at Bergel, all due to slides. An editor made the trip from La Fortuna to San José at the peak of the storms Wednesday night and arrived about 11:30 p.m. without major incidents. The Costanera Sur still is closed south of Dominical due to road damage, and there are damaged roads all over the country. In the canton of Osa, there is a road closure between Puerto Jiménez and Chacarita due to a slide. The roadway gave way between Quepos and Manuel Antonio earlier Wednesday, and officials said it would take several days to fix it. Much of the flooding is in places where residents face the problem several times a year. Parrita appears to be the hardest hit with the Río Parrita running out of its banks and around and over dikes designed to control it. There may be as many as 700 persons in shelters early Thursday due to flooded homes. An exact count was not available. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, Vol. 10, No. 218 | |||||||||
| Another Escazú phone scammer
sentenced to U.S. prison |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
A Miami federal court judge has sentenced Donald Williams in connection with a series of Costa Rica-based business opportunity fraud ventures, the Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service announced. U.S. District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke sentenced Williams to a term of 78 months in prison and a term of five years of supervised release. Williams also was ordered to pay $3.9 million in restitution to victims of the scheme. Williams pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud June 29. He was arrested in Houston on May 7 following his indictment by a federal grand jury in Miami March 9. The indictment charged that Williams and his co-defendants, Silvio Carrano, Patrick Williams and Gregory Fleming, conspired with others in Costa Rica to fraudulently sell beverage and greeting card business opportunities to U.S. citizens. The business opportunities purportedly included assistance in establishing, maintaining and operating the ventures. The charges form part of the government’s continued nationwide crackdown on business opportunity fraud. Two co-conspirators who worked with Williams in Costa Rica, Stephen Schultz and Dilraj Mathauda, previously pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami and were sentenced in related cases. Charges against Williams’ codefendants, as well as those against defendants Jeffrey Pearson and Sirtaj Mathauda in the related cases, remain pending. The Department of Justice gave this explanation: In pleading guilty, Williams admitted that he worked for fraudulent companies known as USA Beverages Inc., Twin Peaks Gourmet Coffee Inc. and Cards-R-Us Inc. Beginning in 2005, USA Beverages sold business opportunities to own and operate coffee beverage display racks. USA Beverages rented office space in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and otherwise made it appear to potential purchasers that USA Beverages’ operations were fully within the United States. However, USA Beverages actually operated from Costa Rica, either Escazú or Sabana Sur. |
After USA
Beverages, Williams worked for Twin Peaks Gourmet Coffee
Inc., which was a Florida and Colorado corporation. Twin Peaks also
sold business opportunities to own and operate coffee beverage sale
display racks. Twin Peaks rented office space in Fort Collins,
Colorado, to make it appear to potential purchasers that Twin Peaks’
operations were fully within the United States. However, Twin Peaks was
actually operated from the same Costa Rican locations. Williams later worked for Cards-R-Us Inc., which was a Nevada corporation that sold business opportunities to own and operate greeting card sale display racks. Cards-R-Us rented office space in Reno, Nevada, to make it appear to potential purchasers that Cards-R-Us’ operations were fully within the United States. However, like USA Beverages and Twin Peaks Gourmet Coffee, Cards-R-Us was actually operated from Costa Rica. Williams admitted that he and his co-conspirators made numerous false statements to potential purchasers of the business opportunities. Williams and other salesmen falsely told potential purchasers that the companies were established years earlier, had a significant number of distributors across the country, and had a record of success. Posing as references purportedly living in various cities in the United States, Williams and other conspirators told false tales of their success as business opportunity owners. Through these and other misrepresentations, the conspirators led purchasers to believe that they likely would earn substantial profits. "Scam artists who engage in schemes like this one cause major financial hardship for consumers who are trying to start a business and earn an honest living," said Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. "Business opportunity fraud is a serious crime that we will pursue aggressively, as this prison sentence demonstrates." West also commended the Federal Trade Commission, which previously brought a related civil suit and made a criminal referral. |
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| Conference on innovation begins today in
San José |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Organization of American States will hold today and Friday in San José a dialogue titled, "Intellectual Property Rights to Foster Innovation and Competitiveness," in which 200 people are expected to participate, including researchers, scholars, businessmen, artisans and government officials from 15 countries of the Americas. The event is organized within the framework of the First National Conference on Innovation 2010, or "CR Innova.” The event was co-organized by the hemispheric organization, the Centre for the Management of Intellectual Property in Agriculture at the University of California-Davis, and the University-Business NEXO Commission of Costa Rica’s Consejo nacional de Rectores. The objective is to promote intellectual property as a tool to boost innovation, productivity, and competitiveness in Latin America and the Caribbean, said a news release. It also |
seeks to foster more
favorable public policies and encourage the compilation and exchange of
experiences about the effective use of intellectual property, the
organization said. Experts and entrepreneurs who have employed
intellectual property strategies and tools in their business models
will join the panels. The organization said that according to the Global Competitiveness Report, countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are at the bottom of the global competitiveness ranking, in large part due to low levels of innovation. Countries in the region are on average at position 91 of 133 nations with respect to rates of innovation. Low levels of innovation, productivity and competitiveness affect economic growth, job creation, and consequently people’s incomes and quality of life. The event is at the Consejo Nacional de Rectores, the Dr. Franklin Chang Díaz Building, in Pavas. |
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Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
Cartago
university starts nanotechnology program By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica announced a new academic option Wednesday. Students now can choose nanotechnology. The Cartago-based public university becomes the first in Central America to offer this program. The training is based on engineering with heavy mathematics. There also is a segment on intellectual property so that nano discoveries and creations can be patented. The university has invested $1 million in equipment and infrastructure for the program, it said. The program is being supported by a number of well-known industrial firms, mostly international. Tilarán artist presents his works Saturday Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The exposition "Begin Anew," by Kéyer Segura. opens Saturday at the Hidden Garden Art Gallery just west of the Daniel Oduber airport in Liberia. The gallery said that Segura lives in Tilarán and is an architect and graduate of the Universidad de Costa Rica. He participated in classes by the late Chilean artist Juan Bernal Ponce and Spanish architect Nicolás Belcic, said the gallery, adding: "His work transports us to a magic world of abstracts and design." This is the first time in more than 10 years of artistic work that Kéyner presents a collection of over 20 paintings, the gallery said.. López campaign to caravan By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Supporters of Óscar López for mayor of San José plan a campaign caravan Saturday from San Francisco de Dos Rios through the entire central canton of San José, they said. The campaign invited supporters to join in. López of the Partido de Accesibilidad Sin Exclusión is a former legislative deputy. His opponent is longtime mayor Johnny Araya. |
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