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(506) 2223-1327           Published Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, in Vol. 11, No. 222       Email us
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Survey finds Costa Ricans satisfied or at least stoic
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A new survey paints Costa Ricans as distrustful of others, generally satisfied with their life but confronting criminality. The survey also shows that most Costa Ricans think they can make ends meet with their family income.

They do not believe the government functions for their best interest, yet they are strong supporters of democracy and reject authoritarian leaders. About a quarter of Costa Ricans said that the distribution of wealth in the country was  just.

The results by Corporación Latinobarómetro came from 19,000 interviews in 18 countries. The surveys reflect the views of 400 million inhabitants, the company said. The non-profit firm does a similar study each year. There were no dramatic changes in Costa Rican public opinion from prior years, but the confidence in government and progress seemed to decline.

Only 18 percent of the Costa Ricans think that the country is progressing. That is against 35 percent of Latin Americans. In Panama, to the question “Would you say this country is progressing, standing still or going backwards?” some 64 percent said progressing.

In 24 of 18 countries, the opinion held of progress was lower compared to 2010. In Costa Rica, that belief dropped 13 points.

However, Costa Ricans were the Latin leader in believing that they are satisfied with life. The question was “Would you say that you are very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, not very satisfied or not satisfied at all with your life.” In all Latin countries, more than half said they were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied. The survey said that 88 percent of Costa Ricans opted for the first two categories. But so did 87 percent of the Panamanians and 83 percent of the Colombians.

Some news reports said that this meant Costa Ricans were the happiest, playing on the promotional theme advanced by the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo. But being satisfied and being happy are not the same.

Respondents in El Salvador and Bolivia were the least satisfied with just 51 percent saying they were satisfied or somewhat satisfied.

About a quarter of Costa Ricans said that the distribution of wealth in the country was very just or just. The figure for 2011 was 24 percent, down two points from 2010. Some 42 percent of Ecuadorians said the distribution of wealth in that country was very just or just, reflecting the current political situation. That was up 10 points from 2010. Meanwhile, responses in Honduras fell 8 points from 20 to 12 percent. That also reflected political conditions there.

Overall only 20 percent of Latin American respondents and 19 percent of Central American respondents said the distribution of wealth was very just or just. Curiously, only 6 percent of respondents in Chile, a wealth country, said that about the distribution of wealth.

Just 10 percent of Latin Americans and 14 percent of Central Americans agreed that their family income was not sufficient to cover their needs. Some 23 percent in the Dominican Republic said this, but just 7 percent in Costa Rica.

Just 65 percent of Costa Ricans agreed that democracy is preferable to any other form of government. But 77 percent of Venezuelans agreed with this. Nicaragua at 50 percent, Brazil

Some snippets of Costa Rican opinion
Country is progressing
18 %
Satisfied or very satisfied with life
88%
Distribution of wealth is just
24%
Income does not cover needs
7%
Would not support military government
90%
Leaders govern for well being of all
19%

at 45, Honduras at 43, México at 40 and Guatemala at 36 percent were the only countries where the majority did not choose democracy.

Still only 44 percent of Costa Ricans said they were very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with democracy.  Only in Uruguay (72 percent), Argentina (58 percent) and Panamá (54 percent) did a majority of respondents express satisfaction with democracy. That opinion was shared by 36 percent of Central Americans and 39 percent of all Latins.

Costa Rica led every country when citizens were asked if they would support a military government. Fully 90 percent said no. Just 14 percent said that in some circumstances an authoritarian government would be preferable. Guatemala, which just elected a tough-talking former general as president, was at the bottom of the list with just 40 percent rejecting a military government.

Still only 59 percent of Costa Ricans agreed with the statement that without a national congress there could not be democracy. That was even lower than Nicaragua with 63 percent. Some 59 percent of Latin Americans agreed with this statement and 60 percent of those in Central America.

The majority in every country except Uruguay disagreed with the statement that their government was for the well being of all the people. Costa Rica was a mere 19 percent, 13th in a list of 18 countries. That was a 13-point decline since 2010.

When asked to name the country's most pressing problem, 45 percent in Costa Rica said criminality. That was second only to the 61 percent in Venezuela. Only 3 percent of respondents in Nicaragua cited this as a problem. Other possible choices were poverty, inflation, corruption, unemployment and the economy.

To explore the criminality situation, surveyors asked if the respondent or someone close has been robbed, subject to aggression or had been the victim of a felony in the last 12 months. Some 38 percent of the Costa Rican respondents said yes. That was fourth on the list after 42 percent in México, 40 percent in Perú and 39 in Argentina. Panamá was at the bottom of the list with only 19 percent saying this. In Central America 30 percent said yes, while 33 percent among Latins said yes.

Only 18 percent of Costa Ricans said they could trust the majority of the people. That was in contrast to 35 percent in the Dominican Republic and 33 percent in Honduras. Only 15 percent of the Nicaraguans said they could trust the majority of people.

On all the national institutions, the majority of respondents only expressed confidence in the church. Some 65 percent of Central Americans did and 64 percent of Latin Americans did.

Of national leaders, Laura Chinchilla Miranda received a 5.3 on a 10-point scale, but that was higher than Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega at 4.4 and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, also at 4.4. Fully 76 percent of the respondents did not know who Laura Chinchilla was. Some 18 percent had not heard of Barack Obama, who scored a 6.3 to lead the list.


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A.M. Costa Rica's  Second news page
San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 222
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Costa Rica Expertise

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Professional Directory
A.M. Costa Rica's professional directory is where business people who wish to reach the English-speaking community may invite responses. If you are interested in being represented here, please contact the editor.


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Our reader's opinion
The whole purpose of science
is to prove causation


Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

This is a fairly-written editorial about global warming except for one statement I would like to expound upon: namely that proving causation in science is difficult.  Actually, you do not have any scientific explanation for things until you can, indeed, show cause and effect because science is all about explaining how and why things happen.  This is why the carbon dioxide scam is so easy to detect.

Ever since industrial man began creating carbon dioxide as a result of his activities, notably the burning of fossil fuels in mind-boggling quantities, anthropogenic carbon dioxide additions to the atmosphere have gone nowhere but up.  Drake drilled the world's first oil well in 1859, although, of course, people had been burning coal prior to that time and even a bit of oil from natural seeps.  Today 7 billion people consume nearly 90 billion barrels of petroleum EVERY SINGLE DAMN DAY! 

Now, I submit to you for calm consideration, that's a huge increase since 1859 in both population and consumption . . . and I haven't even included all of the world's coal-fired power plants created since then, with just China alone said to be building one new plant every week.  But have global temperatures gone nowhere but up since 1859 as a result?  Clearly they have not. 

In fact, the evidence of only the last decade, just to pick the most recent period of human activity with the best scientific instruments yet devised, has been that no significant warming has even occurred, and, in fact, there might even be a small cooling effect taking place. 

Now you might expect that this would make a lot of frightened people very happy, since it is very, very obvious that neither the world's population nor petroleum consumption are going to decline in any conceivable near future. Heck, those numbers are not even going to stay on a flat line.  So if the planet actually was going to become uninhabitable because of anthropogenic carbon dioxide creation then there's absolutely nothing meaningful that can be done about it, therefore we ought to be very happy with this news that it's not going to happen. 

But some people have elected not to even use their own brains, relying on others to do their thinking for them.  I used to be more amazed about this, but then I realized that I can read every day about successful scams pulled off by telemarketers and quick-talking salesmen, Investors are regularly being fleeced in some dubious venture somewhere or other, and a large number of those investors were people smart enough to make a great deal of money to begin with. As we say in Costa Rica, the best way to come here and see your bank account total one million dollars is to have brought two million dollars down with you when you came. 

Look at all of the very bright people fooled by The Brothers, Madoff and Ken Lay and Solyndra, and the list goes on and on, even though there is also clear evidence that other bright people were actually warning investors about each of these scams, but to no effect.  And there are also well-meaning people who perhaps unthinkingly say things like "proving causation in science is difficult" — perhaps because they've heard it from someone else with an unknown less-pure motive and are merely repeating it — without stopping to think: "Wait a second, isn't the whole point of the discipline known as the 'scientific method' all about proving cause and effect?  Why, of course it is!" 

Whenever that turns out to be too difficult to do after careful study, then the scientific conclusion is that you are looking at the wrong cause for producing the effect you are observing.  Even if you do not possess the credentials to be "a scientist" but are looking for the cause of cyclical events, glaciations and warm periods which alternate, coming and going on a semi-regular basis, trying to attribute them to a cause which moves only in an ever-increasing direction ought to be enough to tip you off to the fact that some part of your logic must be wrong.

Gregg Calkins
La Fortuna

Is the witness newsworthy?

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

In your coverage of Mr. Camerer's death, you quote the opinions of his landlord and friend, Benjamin Over. Does Mr. Over have any credentials which would render his medical opinions newsworthy? Is he a physician? If not, what is the news value of reporting them?

I'm a political scientist by training. If I render an opinion as to the makeup of the rings of Saturn, is that newsworthy?

David C. Murray
Grecia, Alajuela

 
Find out what the papers
said today in Spanish


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Here is the section where you can scan short summaries from the Spanish-language press. If you want to know more, just click on a link and you will see and longer summary and have the opportunity to read the entire news story on the page of the Spanish-language newspaper but translated into English.

Translations may be a bit rough, but software is improving every day.

When you see the Summary in English of news stories not covered today by A.M. Costa Rica, you will have a chance to comment.

This is a new service of A.M. Costa Rica called Costa Rica Report. Editor is Daniel Woodall, and you can contact him HERE!
From the Costa Rican press
News items posted Monday through Friday by 8 a.m.
Click a story for the summary









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A.M. Costa Rica's
Third newspage
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San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 222
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Bid let for pavement work on Interamericana Norte job
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The nation's highway agency said Tuesday that a bid has been let for the construction of concrete pavement as part of the rebuilding of the Cañas to Liberia stretch on the Interamericana Norte.

Carlos Acosta, executive director of the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad said that the job had been won by Consorcio FCC- Interamericana Norte. Some 11 firms competed.

The winner is primarily a Spanish firm.
Much of the cost will be financed by a loan from the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. Acceptance of that loan is pending in the legislature.

The bid award is for 48.2 billion colons or about $24.6 million. The companies bid for both concrete and asphalt pavement. The concrete is supposed to last 20 years. The 50.6 kilometer stretch also will have 19 bridges. The section is a bit more than 33 miles.

The Consejo board envisions a four-lane highway with overpasses and bike and pedestrian walkways.


Transport ministry alarmed at number of motrocycle deaths
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A survey by the transport ministry on its Facebook page showed that motorists think that the more imprudent persons on the highway are motorcyclists. They also are leading candidates for the morgue.

The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transporte is so alarmed at the number of motorcycle deaths that its workers issued a special bulletin Tuesday.

Of the 14 persons killed on the nation's highways in October, six were on motorcycles, they said.

Last year 75 persons died while driving or riding on a motorcycle. That was 26 percent of the 287 highways deaths, the ministry said.

Of course, every motorist has seen the opportunistic way motorcyclists snake their two-wheeled vehicle through
traffic between lanes, alongside lanes and even sometimes on the sidewalk.

Motorcyclists are required to wear approved helmets and to wear reflective vests in the evening and night. Some motorcycle dealers give away helmets and vests with the purchase of a machine.

The ministry urged motorcyclists to use them.  Silvia Bolaños, executive director of the Consejo de Seguridad Vial, said that many motorcyclists fail to wear the proper garb when they are going short distances. Accidents can happen anytime, and motorcycles are basically unstable and unprotected, she said.

Helmets can cur the possibility of death by 45 percent and can reduce serious injury by 65 percent,said the ministry.
Meanwhile, motorcyclists should be aware that being on such a vehicle increases the chance of death by 15 times, the ministry said.


Veterans will be remembered at Escazú service Sunday
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

The Commonwealth Remembrance Day and the United States Veterans Day, Nov. 11, will be commemorated  Sunday at the 5 p.m. service of the Escazú Christian Fellowship at the International Baptist Church located in Guachipelin, Escazú.

The purpose of Nov. 11 is to honor all living veterans and the memory of those veterans who died serving their country.

The service will be led by Pastor Stacey Steck and will start and end with a bugle call by Philip Jarman. Kevin Ludeke will perform with his bagpipes. Jerry Thomas, the
chaplain of the Costa Rica detachment of the Marine Corps League, will offer prayer. In attendance will be members of The American Legion Post CR10 of Escazú, the Costa Rica detachment of the Marine Corps League and other veteran’s organizations.

Featured speakers will be British Ambassador Sharon Campbell, Cameron Mackay, the Canadian ambassador, and Eric Nelson, the deputy chief of the U.S. mission here.

Refreshments will be served after the ceremony. Everyone is invited to attend and honor the veterans of the United States and the Commonwealth countries on this their special day, said John Moran, commander of Post CR 10.


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A.M. Costa Rica's
Fourth news page
renes law firm
San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, Vol. 11, No. 222
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Guatemala, desperate for change, terrorized by men in hoods
By Shahrazad Encinias Vela
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

There have been more violent deaths after the 36-year armed conflict in Guatemala than there were during the war. Women and native Guatemalans are the majority of these deaths or disappearances. Last week Guatemalan journalist Lucia Escobar received threats after reporting on violence and missing people in the town of Panajachel.

Ms. Escobar wrote that a local security committee she referred to as the hooded ones are terrorizing the tourist town of Panajachel in the department of Sololá, and there has been no punishment because the men have impunity. These security committees are meant to protect the public, but tend to overstep their power and instill fear upon its so-called  protected, she said. She claimed their crimes range from abuse of authority, torture, kidnapping, assassinations, social cleansing and summary executions.

An analysis of the news

Guatemala is a country where the people hoped for progress since the 1996 Peace Accords were signed. Instead it has retrogressed to a time of killing and fear. In the 1980s the fight, according to the dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, was to keep out insurgents from left-wing rebel groups. Yet during his one-year stint as president there was documented mass killings of the native people where soldiers destroyed more than 600 villages, according to truth commissions.

Within the past few years there has been an increase in disappearances, attacks and killing of native leaders in Guatemala. A country that has 23 different Mayan dialects and uses it's native history as a symbol of the country to bring in tourists has downplayed the dangers facing the country.

The media have overplayed drug-trafficking and has not pointed out what Ms. Escobar dared say.

Leonardo Lisandro Guarcax was a Mayan leader and artist who was kidnapped, tortured and assassinated  Aug. 25, 2010. He was on his way to work where he was principal of a school in the community of Sotz’il in the department of Sololá. He was the third person assassinated in his family within the 18 months leading to his death. No one has been held accountable for the murder.
Calixta Gabriel Xiquín is a Kaqchikel spiritual guide, activist, and accomplished author, who was brutally attacked and left for dead in Antigua, Guatemala in 2010. She was found unconscious and bleeding from a puncture wound in her head. That happened to save her life. The puncture allowed blood to flow which in turn didn't form into cerebral hemorrhage. Her friends and family were scared to report her attack in fear that killers would return to finish the job if they found out the woman still was alive. For a time her friends and family kept her attack a secret. It was known only to her close circle of friends. No one has been held accountable for her attack.

These are only two victims, but these two people are leaders in their native community. There are more that are slowly coming to light. Fear withholds the criminal complaints. Ms. Escobar made a statement where she reported the disappearance of a youth in Panajachel, Now she is accused of drug trafficking by Juan Manuel Ralón Solórzano, a leader of the local security commission.

She may have some relief.  Juan Manuel Ralón Solórzano and another leader of the Los Encapuchados or the hooded ones have been jailed, according to reports as this issue went to press. They face a litany of charges, including murder. They and their fellow members of the ad hoc security committee patrolled the streets at night wearing hoods, But police said they often were lawbreakers themselves.

The Guatemalan scapegoat for violence, femicide and recent disappearances is the infamous drug cartels and their trafficking. The country faced a presidential election where mano dura or a "strong hand" was the platform of both presidential candidates including Otto Perez Molina. He won the 2011 Guatemalan election by 54 percent. But is more violence the answer to end violence? The Guatemalan public can only hope for change.

Perez Molina has alleged ties to kidnapping, torture and killing of innocent people during his Guatemalan army general days in the 1980s. There are victims who have testified, but his court case is still in process. He continues to say he is innocent. If he is found guilty, he will have immunity during his four years as president of the Republic of Guatemala.

The fact that a former military man won the presidential election in a country tarnished by violence proves that the country is in a state of disarray and desperate to be safe.


Latin newspeople are facing death, bullets and firebombs
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

The Inter American Press Association Tuesday expressed outrage at the death of a Brazilian cameraman as he was covering a clash between police and drug traffickers holed up in a shantytown, and at the same time condemned an attack on a journalist in Perú and the firebombing of a newspaper in México and another in Argentina, all incidents that it said clearly showed “the risks and reprisals that journalists face in reporting the news.”

“We much regret these terrible events, which confirm what we have been denouncing, that violence is journalists’ main enemy,” said Milton Coleman, senior editor of The Washington Post, in Washington, D.C., and president of the press freedom organization.

Gelson Domingos, 46, a cameraman with the Bandeirantes television channel, died Sunday outside the Antares shantytown in the Rio de Janeiro western suburb of Santa Cruz after being hit by a bullet that tore through his protective vest as he was filming while taking cover behind a police officer who was firing at drug traffickers sheltering there. Journalists in Rio de Janeiro said the vest he was wearing was not adequate to block a bullet shot from the kind of high-powered rifle used by the army and drug traffickers.

In Perú, Feliciano Gutiérrez Suca, correspondent of the Lima newspaper La República, was shot and wounded on Saturday in Juliaca in the southeastern Peruvian province of Puno as he was heading home and was intercepted by four armed and hooded men. He said he put up a struggle because he feared they were planning to kidnap him. Gutiérrez was recovering in hospital after suffering an injury to his left leg. In early October he had published reports on alleged links by police officers with smuggling activity.  
Gustavo Mohme, chairman of the press group's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information and editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper La República, meanwhile condemned the firebombing in recent days of newspapers in México and Argentina.

In México, early Sunday morning the plant of the newspaper Buen Tono in Córdoba in the Mexican state of Veracruz was set ablaze. The paper, which specializes in security matters, had begun publishing locally just over a month ago. Some 20 people who were in the building when the attack occurred were unhurt, but the plant was badly damaged.

According to the staff members some 15 assailants arrived at the building shortly after midnight, overpowered the night watchman and broke in, spraying gasoline and setting fire to the newsroom and design, advertising and administrative offices.

Veracruz state has seen an increase recently in violent actions against news media and journalists. July 26 the body was discovered of reporter Yolanda Ordaz. June 20 fellow journalist with the newspaper, Notiver Miguel Ángel López, was murdered along with wife and son. And June 1 the remains were found of Noel López Olguín, a stringer for the weeklies Horizonte and Noticias de Acayucan and the daily La Verdad.

He had gone missing March 8.

In Argentina, a fire set by unidentified assailants at the Junín, Buenos Aires province, newspaper La Verdad damaged the press and press room’s electric circuitry.

The attack occurred after the paper’s editor, Omar Bello, received a number of threats following publication of reports about drug trafficking in the city. 

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U.S. rights group seeks
compensation for cholera


By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

A U.S.-based human rights group has filed a claim with the United Nations seeking millions of dollars in compensation and an apology on behalf of more than 5,000 Haitians affected by the country's deadly cholera outbreak.

The Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti filed the petition, which was sent to United Nations headquarters in New York. A copy was sent to the U.N. mission in Haiti.

The group says the U.N. and the mission there are liable because they failed to adequately screen peacekeepers from countries experiencing cholera outbreaks. The organization alleges untreated waste from a U.N. base was dumped into a tributary of Haiti's Artibonite River, the country's longest and most important waterway, and that the U.N. failed to adequately respond to the epidemic.

The petitioners are demanding $100,000 in compensation on behalf of every cholera victim who died and $50,000 for every person who became ill but survived. The organization representing them is threatening a full court case if a settlement with the U.N. cannot be reached. The outbreak has been traced to Nepalese peacekeepers.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed receipt of the petition, but would not comment on it. He said the U.N.'s position is that of the experts' report in that a convergence of circumstances caused the outbreak.

In December, the U.N. said its mission and Haiti's government carried out tests of water samples from the Nepalese base and adjacent waters and that the results were negative. This past May, a panel of independent experts commissioned by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a report that found that the epidemic was “introduced into Haiti as a result of human activity.” It noted the strain of bacteria was not native to Haiti and “is very similar to, but not identical, to the South Asian strain” of cholera.

The cholera outbreak in Haiti has sickened nearly 500,000 people and killed more than 6,500 others since it began 13 months ago.

In its statement Tuesday, the Boston organization said the Haitians filing the claims are all either victims of the disease or relatives of victims.


Bolivia and U.S. resume
full diplomatic ties

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Bolivia and the United States restored full diplomatic ties Monday for the first time since 2008. 

Three years ago the Andean nation's government expelled the U.S. ambassador and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The U.S. expelled the Bolivian ambassador in return.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, a coca farmer, accused the Americans of inciting his political enemies. He has been critical of America's Latin American policies. 

The new diplomatic agreement includes the two nations cooperating in the war on drugs, but did not address the issue of American anti-drug agents returning to Bolivia. There was no specific date for the ambassadors to return to their respective diplomatic posts.

Bolivia is the world's third largest cocaine producer behind only Peru and Colombia.

Morales is a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.


U.S. attorney general says
gun scandal will endure

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the effects of a failed investigation into weapons-trafficking on the U.S.-México border will be felt for years to come.

Holder spoke Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on the so-called "Fast and Furious" operation meant to track guns bought in the United States and smuggled into México.

Agents with the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency have told lawmakers they were ordered by their bosses to stand aside while gun buyers purchased weapons that were suspected to be destined for Mexican drug cartels. The agents said they were told not to arrest the buyers, but instead to track where the purchasers went.

Two of the guns later turned up at the scene of a shoot-out in Arizona that left a U.S. border patrol agent dead.

Holder said Tuesday that any incidence of so-called "gun walking" is unacceptable and must never happen again. He added that the scandal has highlighted the fact that the U.S. is losing the battle to stop the flow of illegal guns to Mexico.

The revelations have outraged some members of Congress, prompting calls for Holder's resignation.

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Latin America news
Court rejects challenge
to tax on corporations


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Sala IV constitutional court had declined to hear a case against the proposed tax on the country's corporations.

The Poder Judicial said Tuesday that the magistrates have voted to reject the case. Only two magistrates would have heard the arguments advanced by opposition legislative deputies.

This is the second time the case has gone before the Sala IV. In September, the magistrates said they did not see any unconstitutional aspects in the proposal. The Sala IV frequently rules on proposed legislation.

The decision opens the way for lawmakers to pass the corporate tax,which is estimated to be more than $300 for every active corporation. Inactive corporations will pay half. The money would be due in January if the measure is passed quickly.

Small- and medium-sized corporations that are registered as that before the Ministerio de Industría, Economía y Comercio would be exempt under the current wording of the proposal.

The measure has passed once, but a second vote is required.

President Laura Chinchilla wants the tax money to pay for new police  officers, a police academy and to reintegrate felons into society.


Florida firm buys out
cell tower owner here

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

Global Tower Partners via its subsidiary GTP Costa Rica Holding CR, SRL and C.R. Transmission Holding Corp., consummated the closing last week under a Stock Purchase Agreement to take over Centennial Towers CR, SRL, which owns more than 250 towers currently constructed and occupied by the major wireless telecommunications operators in Costa Rica, the firm also has additional towers in various stages of permitting and construction still to be developed.

"This transaction represents a strategic decision by GTP to invest in the Costa Rican tower sector and establish ourselves as the largest provider of tower sites in Costa Rica," said Marc C. Ganzi, chief executive officer, Global Tower Partners.

"We went through a lengthy process to find the right acquirer of this business both to maximize shareholder value and continue growing the business professionally with the major wireless operators in Costa Rica in the next few critical years" said Jonathan Bettsak, director, C.R. Transmission Holding Corp. "We chose GTP given their reputation for closing transactions quickly and fairly as well as their reputation for operational excellence among the major carriers, both in the United States and Latin America. Today, we are extremely happy with the choice we made and look forward to a great working relationship in the future with GTP to maximize customer satisfaction."

Terms of the Transaction remain confidential between the parties. Global Towers is based in Boca Raton, Florida.











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