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 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía
y Seguridad Pública photo Fuerza Pública officers haul
marijuana to a bonfire.
Police are back in
Talamanca
harvesting, burning marijuana By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
In what has become a ritual, Fuerza Pública officers took to the high Talamanca this week to destroy some 9,000 mature marijuana plants, most more than 6 feet high. In all, officers have uprooted and destroyed some 14,000 plants in just the last two weeks, they said. Officers from Valle de la Estrella said they traveled to Alto Cuen where they found marijuana plants in six separate lots. They also reported that they found three nurseries for smaller plants that were ready for transplant. The impoverished and remote Talamanca is a principal source for marijuana in Costa Rica, and officers are there frequently cutting and burning the illegal crops. Officers also harvested in Kunabri this weekend and also in the Cantón de Osa on the Pacific coast. Pair acquitted in murder of girl, 6, in her home By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A three-judge criminal panel acquitted a man and a woman Wednesday in the murder of a 6-year-old schoolgirl. The judges said there was not enough evidence to convict. The crime happened April 26, 2006 when someone began firing at the family home in Vista de Mar, Goicoechea. The victim, Valeria Gaitán, received a bullet in the head. The two suspects were a man, identified by the last name of Mora Montenegro and a woman with the last names of Rivera Vargas. Prosecutors said the crime was motivated by an effort to seek revenge against the mother of the child. They sought 35 years in prison for each suspect. Civil union referendum received an approval By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones has authorized Wednesday the form for the collection of signatures to put a referendum on the ballot over civil unions for persons of the same sex. Proponents of the measure have to collect signatures from 5 percent of the voters, that is 136,751, the tribunal said. The most current list of voters is the one that closed Aug. 31. The tribunal approved the idea Sept, 30, but said the exact form of the document that will be used must be approved, too. The approved document is 8.5 by 13 inches. Costa Rican law only allows one referendum a year, so it is unclear when the question will be put on the ballot even if sufficient signatures are obtained.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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There will be a lot of magic
in the air Saturday at festival
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By Elyssa Pachico
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Feeling the need to whisper sweet nothings into your loved one's ear – in elvish? Have a friend who's depressed about the Dark Lord's ascension as the new ruler of Middle Earth? Look no further than Saturday's fifth annual Tolkien festival, celebrating all things Orcish, Elvish, Hobbit-ish, magical and Medieval. Organized by the Sociedad Tolkien de Costa Rica, the event is intended as a homage to J.R.R. Tolkien's award-winning trilogy of fantasy novels. Formed in 2004 and currently consisting of 350 members, Ronny Ramírez, vice president of the Tolkien society, said that interest in all things Tolkien surged in Costa Rica in 2004, following the release of the Academy Award winning films. “It's true that fantasy and Medieval themes are European, but the values that Tolkien inspires through his works are for everyone,” he said. “You don't just read them to have a good time.” Ramirez said that in order to become a member of the Tolkien society it was not necessary to have read all of the books or even to have watched the films. “I'd say maybe 25 percent of our members have read all of the books,” he said. “80 percent have read at least one.” Fans can join by registering at the group forums at www.sociedadtolkiencr.com, and selecting an appropriate Tolkien-themed identity such as Aragorn II, Thuringwethil or Eldarung, lord of the dragons. Other members have become part of the group simply by showing up at social activities, said Ramirez, adding that the group usually hosts a monthly dinner or fundraiser for a local charity. Even fans of that other best-selling boy-wizard saga are welcome. |
 Tolkien character from poster announcing
festival
“Curiously enough, there's no feelings of competitiveness between Harry Potter or Tolkien fans,” said Ramirez. “Probably because people who are members of one fantasy fan group are likely to be members of the other.” Saturday's Tolkin festival will feature highlights such as lessons in elvish and magical runes, Celtic and Medieval dancing, and a 4 p.m. lecture entitled “Mortal Men Destined to Die.” Held in the Centro Nacional de La Cultura from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., the festival costs 2,000 colons for adults and 1,000 colons for children under 10. Proceeds benfit the Cruz Roja. |
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Tamarindo betterment group
downsizes to sharpen focus
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
In a move that may foreshadow similar tough spending decisions for non-profits concerned with over development on Costa Rica's beaches, the community organization Asociación Pro Mejoras de Playa Tamarindo in Guanacaste has closed its office due to lack of funds. “We were doing a lot of projects this year,” said the group's former executive director and treasurer, Federico Amado. “And there weren't enough funds to do everything that needed to be done.” With 150 members, the group focused its monthly budget of $5,000 to $6,000 primarily on environmental projects like beach clean-ups and water inspections. The group also tried to address security problems by providing the local police station with cable, air conditioning, fax and Internet services as part of an ongoing effort to bring more police to the area, said Amado. Money came from small donations from local business owners. However, funds took a hit this August, partly because some expat-owned businesses only operate seasonally, said Amado, and also because the non-profit was juggling more projects than ever before. “The funding just wasn't there, especially with the end of the summer and the economy being as it is,” said Steve |
Broyles of the real estate company
Bratton, Broyles & Associates, who also sat on the group's board of
directors. According to Amado, after some soul-searching in July, the group decided that it was better to close its office and cut Amado's position, and instead use the money to deal with the area's many environmental problems. “Things have been so messed up here with the beaches and water contamination that [the group] had an environmental bent to it by default,” said Brock Menking, owner of Osprey sports-fishing company in Tamarindo, who also sat on the group's board of directors. The national water company, the Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, found high levels of coliform bacteria in Tamarindo's ocean waters a year ago. The pollution ranged from 3.3 to 329 times the amount permitted for swimming. Recent tests found 1,000 coliform bacteria in every 100 milliliters of water, down from as much as 4,600 in 2007. That is within the permitted range. Amado said that the Asociación Pro Mejoras has also been working with the water company and the health ministry in order to continue water testing and build a new water treatment plant in the area. He added that as seasonal businesses re-open at the end of November, the Asociación will likely begin attracting funds. |
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Plane crash in México
might bring greater U.S. involvement
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A plane carrying two of Mexico's top crime fighters crashed Tuesday on a busy street in the heart of Mexico City, killing all eight people on board and a number of people on the ground. Experts see this tragedy as a setback, if not a crippling blow, to Mexico's effort to fight powerful drug cartels. The crash produced a horrific scene on one of Mexico City's busiest intersections. Dozens of automobiles burned in the fire caused by the crash, and police evacuated nearly 2,000 people from the site. The most prominent victim of the crash was Mexico's interior minister, Juan Camilo Maurino, a major figure on President Felipe Calderon's anti-crime team. Also killed was the former chief prosecutor for drug crimes, José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos. Peter Zeihan is vice president of analysis for the Austin, Texas-based private intelligence and analysis company Stratfor. He says there is reason to suspect Mexico's powerful drug trafficking organizations were behind the plane crash. "We cannot rule out that it was a mechanical failure," said Zeihan. "But considering the identity of the people on board, I think it is pretty obvious that the cartels are in some way responsible for this." Ziehan says sources Stratfor has contacted within Calderon's government say officials there believe the crash was caused by the drug traffickers. "The information that we are getting out of the Mexican government is absolute fury," he said. "We are seeing the elites of Mexico in a state of anger that we have never seen before." Mexico expert George Grayson, who teaches at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, said if the drug gangs did bring down the plane carrying Juan Camilo Maurino and other officials, the implications are enormous. "One has to only pray that the death of Juan Camilo was truly an accident and was not a move by the drug cartels to |
send a message to the
Calderón administration to back off from their aggressive
activities," he said. Since taking office in December, 2006, President Calderón has waged a major war against the drug cartels, kidnapping gangs and organized crime in general. While Maurino was a major player in that effort, analyst Grayson said the chief strategists are Mexico's secretary of defense and attorney general, who will continue to prosecute the war on criminal gangs. "It is a setback for Calderón," he said. "But it is not a fatal blow to his anti-cartel activities." Zeihan is less optimistic about Calderon's chances of successfully continuing his war on organized crime groups. Although Mexico has traditionally shunned direct U.S. involvement in its affairs, he said Calderón may have to consider U.S. help on a level similar to America's involvement in Colombia, where the government has made major progress in defeating drug trafficking groups. "Mexico is moving in one of two directions: One, this is going to break the back of the war on the cartels and Mexico is going to devolve into a failed state, which will force the United States to take much more direct action," said Zeihan. "Option Two, this is going to break the back of the Mexican resistance to getting the Americans involved, in which case we will be involved in a more direct way. Either way, the level of American involvement in the war against cartels in Mexico is about to skyrocket." Grayson said another approach would be to concentrate on the market for most of the drugs and the source of money that allows criminal gangs to thrive. "The responsibility lies principally in the United States," he said. "We, after all, are the major consumer of the drugs produced in Mexico and the drugs that pass through Mexico." Grayson said U.S. decriminalization of some drug use, better treatment and education programs, and perhaps even legalization of some drugs would shrink the size of the illicit drug market and undermine drug traffickers. He says that might allow Mexico to gain ground against the powerful criminal gangs. |
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to keep his change By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Three men tried to steal the driver's change from a public bus Wednesday near Parque de la Paz, but the driver was able to prevail. Fuerza Pública officers detained three men a short time later at the San Miguel turnoff in Desamparados. The driver of the Barrio Corazón de Jesús de Aserrí — San José bus told officers that one of the men tried to grab the sponge in which he keeps his change. Most bus drivers have a piece of sponge about one foot by two feet in which pockets are cut to keep various denominations of coins. The three men, when caught, did not carry any weapons nor did police find any evidence linking them to the bus incident. They were brought to court. 13 seeking posts on panel to regulate telecom firms By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The board of directors of the Authoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos has picked 13 persons as finalists to serve on a new telecommunications panel. The 13 have been picked from the 80 persons who applied. The panel is charged with setting rates, resolving conflicts, giving approvals, protecting the rights of users and assuring the efficiency quality and continuity and improved operation of telecommuncations. The entity is called formally the Consejo de la Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones. It was created as part of the new telecommunications law that ended the government's monopoly in providing such services. The final council will be three persons and an alternate. The Reguladora board of directors has until Nov. 13 to submit the names of panel members to the Asamblea Legislative, which has the right of refusal. The 13 persons selected include lawyers, engineers and even two persons with doctorates in economics. New campus in Sarapiquí By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Universidad Nacional will inaugurate its new campus in La Victoria de Horquetas de Sarapiquí Nov. 18. The campus is expected to draw students from the northern zone and from the Caribbean. These areas generally are considered deprived, and the new campus is an effort by the university to reach out to them, the university said. Classes will start in January. |
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