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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, Vol. 9, No. 236 | |||||||||
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Oxen powerfully
blessed
during Sunday's parade By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The oxen that participated in the Entrada del los Santos to San José Sunday received a powerful blessing. The holy water was delivered by none other than the apostolic nuncio, the direct representative of the Roman Catholic pope, Benedict. The archbishop, who was born near Saigon, Vietnam, looked every bit a Tico Sunday with a campesino hat to protect from the bright sun and a red scarf accenting his priestly robes. He is Pierre Nguyen Van Tot, who appeared to be enjoying the action even though the line of carts was the longest ever. Muncipalidad de San José workers said that there may be 500 individual units in the march. Some 350 were expected, and that would have been a record. It is traditional that the teams of oxen or bueyes receive a blessing with holy water. The unusual aspect Sunday was the rank of the priest sprinkling the holy water. The Rev. Van Tot said that he wanted to learn about Costa Rica when he arrived last year, and he told a reporter that he tried to have Costa Rican dishes for some daily meals. As apostolic nuncio, he is the ambassador of the Holy See. Arias brings peace plan to troubled Holy Land By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Óscar Arias Sánchez told Palestine leaders that a great step in the direction of peace would be abolishing the army just as Costa Rica has done. Arias was visiting Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Saturday. Arias is the first head of state to visit Palestine, which the administration here considers to be a country. The two governments began diplomatic relations Feb. 5, 2008. Sunday Arias met with Shimon Peres, president of Israel. The men discussed the conflict between Palestine and Israel, and Arias urged negotiations. Sunday night Arias and his delegation were off to Portugal where he will participate in the summit of the Iberoamerican heads of state. Previously he visited Turkey. Chávez woos Palestine, too, hosting its President Abbas By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has agreed to upgrade relations with the Palestinian Authority in support of its quest for an independent Palestinian state. Chavez hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Caracas Friday and promised to open a Venezuelan embassy in the West Bank, where Abbas's government is based. The Venezuelan president — a harsh critic of Israel — praised the Palestinians for what he called their struggle against a "genocidal state of Israel" that seeks to exterminate their people. Chavez's government also signed a series of aid agreements with Abbas's delegation, including an offer of scholarships for Palestinian students. Abbas thanked Venezuela for its support. He also reiterated his rejection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to restart peace talks by freezing new housing construction in West Bank Jewish settlements for 10 months. In a speech to Venezuelan lawmakers, Abbas said Israel's prime minister faced a choice between peace and occupation, and chose occupation. Abbas has refused to resume peace talks until Israel stops all construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Netanyahu's settlement freeze proposed this week does not apply to east Jerusalem or to already approved housing projects in the West Bank. Israel considers Jerusalem to be its undivided capital, while Palestinians want the city's eastern sector as the capital of a future state. Abbas visited Venezuela at the end of a South American tour that also included Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Paraguay. President Chavez is a strong critic of both Israel and the United States. He cut ties with Israel in January to protest its military offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Time to light up the town By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The lights are up and ready to make festive the city for the holidays. Officials will turn them on tonight at 6 o'clock from the Parque Central. Mayor Johnny Araya will be accompanied by officials from the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz and the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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Mobile telephone
firms will bid for their spectrum share
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The new Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones plans a bidding process to allocate the radio spectrum, mainly the part dedicated to mobil transmissions. The agency said it had received $639,300 from the government of Japan to develop a study of the process and the method that will be used. Telecommunications Management Group, Inc., a U.S. firm, has been picked to assist and advise the regulator for awarding mobile telephone services concessions, the firm said in a separate announcement. The project is being funded by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank, as well as by the donation from Japan, to support the modernization process of the telecommunications sector in Costa Rica, the company said. In particular, this project will advise the Superintendencia |
on the
preparation, discussion, and revision of legal and financial aspects
needed for the development of the most appropriate public tender model
for the awarding of the mobile services concessions, as well as develop
and prepare all the documents needed to carry out the public tender
process, it said. The management firm is associated with BLP Abogados in Costa Rica. The company said that the law firm specializes in administrative, contractual, and telecommunications law and has extensive experience in issues related to concessions and tender processes in Costa Rica. The new telecom law opens up the market in Costa Rica, and many companies seek to offer wireless service. Much of the spectrum already is occupied, and the Superintendencia will be trying to locate bands that new arrivals can use. It already has asked every spectrum user to report on what is being used now. Under the concession process, companies will have to pay for the right to sue the spectrum, and they will bid to obtain the rights. |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Zoo Ave Wildlife Conservation Park, the well-known tourist attraction in La Garita, is struggling financially, but director Dennis Janik vows that the wildlife rescue operation will continue. In addition to the world and local economic crises, Janik has been in the midst of a divorce for the last year, and that personal situation has had an impact on the foundation that cares for the animals. As he and his wife, Susan, divide up the personal property, the foundation sometimes is affected. Janik said Sunday that the foundation lost about 40 million colons, about $70,000 because of his personal dispute involving a large parking area. The parking area had been improved by the foundation but was not in the name of the foundation. The lot is being treated as personal property in the divorce, which is not yet final. Janik said that during the 10 months that the lot was not available to visitors, many just did not come in, particularly on Sundays. The foundation estimates that some 60,000 visitors came each year. Janik said that the foundation again is using the lot, which is critical to the foundation because about 96 percent of the visitors are Costa Ricans and come by car. Zoo Ave operates locations elsewhere where the experts put animals into the wilds. One is along the Golfo Dulce north |
of Golfito. There such birds as the
great curassow (Crax rubra)
and the scarlet macaw (Ara macao)
have been liberated after being extinct in the area. Janik said that
the macaws are beginning to breed on their own in the wilds. Also
released there have been other species of birds and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri oerstedii), he said. A second location is in Guanacaste where spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi geoffroyi) have been released. That species, too, had vanished from the Nicoya peninsula, Janik said. Neither of these locations are open to the public. Zoo Ave has been a landmark since 1990. The property in La Garita is 14 hectares, about 36 acres. Some 115 species of birds are on display. All of the animals at Zoo Ave were donated as injured, orphaned, or former pets or were captive bred at the zoo, the foundation said. Janik said that the foundation is able to release about 30 to 35 percent of the animals brought to it. Some require long periods of recuperation. About 30 persons work at Zoo Ave, and Janik said that the nature park continues to survive after some staff and expense reductions. He said his wife is a member of the foundation leadership as teasurer, but that he hopes to reduce the impact on the oganization from his personal situation. The foundation seems to have lost control of its Web site because the only pages that come up are in German. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, Vol. 9, No. 236 | |||||||||
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For your international reading pleasure: News of Nicaragua News of Central America News of Cuba News of Venezuela News of Colombia News of El Salvador News of Panamá |
| Conservative
rancher appears to be winner in Honduras |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
and wire service reports Porfirio Lobo Sosa appears to be the next president of Honduras. The Partido Nacional candidate had 56.4 percent of the vote by 11 p.m. Sunday. The candidate in second place had 32.94 percent, according to the official count from the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. He is Partido Liberal candidate Elvin Santo who conceded his defeat by mid-evening. Lobo is considered conservative, and Santo is the former vice president to ousted José Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Zelaya, who was escorted out of the country June 28, has been holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa for two months. He called on a boycott of the election. But some 613,154 persons voted for Santo despite the boycott call. Election officials said that about 61.4 percent of the 4.3 million voters went to the polls. That does not count the many in other countries who voted Sunday, Most U.S. major cities had a polling place for Hondurans. The Los Angeles Times said that many voted in that city despite banners and posters by opponents urging abstention. Honduras itself has 5,312 voting places, and the 11 p.m. vote totals were considered to be based on about 60 percent of the vote. The election tribunal said that it had computer problems that impeded the count. Those in support of the election generally called the day peaceful and a success. But left wing outlets inside and outside the country cited problems. The U.S.-based Americas Program, for example, said that although most streets appear calm and polling places have reported no incidents so far, reports of repression and coercion have been pouring into the human rights hotlines established by non-governmental organizations. In the last 24 hours, human rights organizations have received and confirmed reports that several houses of resistance leaders have been raided, it said, adding that residents report that at 4 a.m. 200 soldiers entered the Tegucigalpa neighborhood of Hato de Enmedio, searched homes without presenting a warrant or reason, and arrested one resident. The farm community of Guadalupe Carney, in the department of Colón — active in supporting Zelaya — had been surrounded by some 200 soldiers. |
A press freedom
group said that a bomb had been thrown at and exploded next to a
newspaper. The same organization, the Comité
por la Libre Expresión, said that a Spanish reporter had been
detained.
The reporter, Mario Gazcón Aranda, was detained by plainclothes
officers in the center of the capital while he was taking photos, said
the group which also has the name C-Libre. The organization said later in the day that Reuters photographer Herbert Villarraga was hit in the head with a rock while covering a demonstration in San Pedro Sula. The group said it did not know who threw the rock but the injury happened while police were trying to move pro-Zelaya protesters. There were no reports of serious disturbances in the Honduran press this morning. The tribunal had extended the voting time one hour to 5 p.m. Voters choose a president to replace the de facto government led by President Roberto Micheletti, who took over after Zelaya was ousted. Many voters hope the next leader can boost jobs and security, and restore foreign ties damaged in recent months. Speaking at the Brazilian Embassy, where he has taken refuge since October, Zelaya said a high abstention rate would doom the vote. He was urging voters to stay away but had urged supporters to avoid violence or clashes with police. De facto President Micheletti cast his ballot early Sunday, saying nothing could stop the Honduran people from taking part in the vote to show the nation's commitment to democracy. Lobo is a wealthy rancher. Supporters of both candidates say key goals for the next president are creating more jobs, increasing security and restoring foreign ties. The United States and other foreign government have cut aid to Honduras since Zelaya was removed from office amid charges of treason and abuse of power in June. As president, Zelaya raised concern among some Hondurans for seeking stronger ties with Venezuela and other leftist governments in the region. Critics said the goal was to impose socialism. As expected, Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president, ridiculed the Honduran election. But he praised the election of a former guerrilla leader in Uruguay. Voters say the six-month-old crisis between Zelaya and the de facto government has overshadowed the election and damaged confidence in the political process. |
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| Former
guerrilla leader appears to be winner in Uruguay |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
and wire service reports Voters in Uruguay appear to have elected a former guerrilla leader. Exit polls and unofficial results give the winner, Jose Mujica, a former leftist rebel who spent 14 years in prison, more than 50 percent of the vote. Luis Alberto Lacalle, a former president who led the country from 1990 to 1995, had about 44 or 45 percent. Uruguay organized Sunday's run-off vote after Mujica fell just short of winning an absolute majority in the October election. |
He will replace
President Tabare Vazquez, who is barred from seeking a second
consecutive term. Both candidates pledged to maintain the fiscal policies of the popular Vazquez administration, which have helped Uruguay's economy expand despite the global recession. In the 1960s, Mujica was part of the Tupamaro guerrilla movement that used bank robberies, political killings and kidnappings to fight Uruguay's conservative government. He was imprisoned during most of Uruguay's military dictatorship from 1973 to 1985. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, Vol. 9, No. 236 | |||||||||
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| Press
freedom report cites 88 newspeople killed in '09 Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
At least 88 journalists have been killed so far this year and hundreds of media employees have been arrested and jailed, most often following sham trials or without formal charges being brought against them, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers said in its half-year review of press freedom worldwide. The horrific attack in the Philippines Nov. 23, in which more than 30 journalists were among the 57 murdered, was the deadliest single attack on media in memory. That brought the total of journalists killed in the Philippines to 35 this year, making it the most dangerous country in the world for journalists. More than 750 journalists have been murdered worldwide in the past decade, said the report, presented to the organization's board, meeting in Hyderabad, India, on the eve of the World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2009, the global summit meetings of the world’s press. The report said: • Hundreds of media employees have been arrested for their work in the past year, and at least 170 remain in jail today. • The hostility of many governments to any form of dissent continues to impede independent news reporting in Asia. Journalists reporting on corruption find themselves in the firing line of those directly or indirectly exposed by their reports. Continued imprisonment of journalists in China, Burma’s mass censorship and repression of independent media, the consequences of decades long civil war in Sri Lanka, and the violence against the press in Nepal are only some of the key challenges facing press freedom in the region. • Governments throughout the Middle East and North Africa continue to demonstrate their intolerance for truth, dissent and satire. Journalists and freedom of expression advocates are continuously targeted by the authorities, while the severe crackdown on blogging regionwide reveals how much governments believe that the Internet can be a threat to their power. • Across Africa, heads of state and their friends continue to abuse criminal defamation and sedition laws to punish journalists who expose policy failures and corruption, and who report on conflicts and opposition views. Crackdowns on the independent press and the use of force are intensifying, inducing both self- and government-imposed censorship. • In Latin America, governments and criminals ruthlessly attack journalists investigating high-level corruption and organized crime. Reporters are murdered with impunity, while critical and opposition media are shut down arbitrarily. • Prosecution and violence continues to be aimed at journalists in various parts of Europe and Central Asia, as they question government policies, use information deemed classified or unveil human rights abuses. Police raids, abductions and imprisonments remain common. The report, with region-by-region details, is available on the organization Web site. Details of the cases of journalists murdered in 2009 can be found HERE! The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organization of the world¹s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organization was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organization for the news publishing industry. |
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Latin American news Please reload page if feed does not appear promptly |
Two men
caught in home where robbery took place By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two men invaded a home in the el Bosque section of San Francisco de Dos Rios Sunday. They wore masks and they were armed. Quickly one of the men began tying up a male resident and two women, including a senior citizen, he found on the second floor. The second man began looking for valuables on the first floor. That's when Fuerza Pública officers arrived after a neighbor's call. The community has been on edge because of similar home invasions. Police found the gate and door to the home open, so they had no trouble confronted a masked man with a gun on the first floor. He surrendered, as did a second suspect on the second floor. One man was a Colombian identifieddd by the last names of Suarez Castro. The second man is a Costa Rica with the last names of Jiménez Rodríguez, said police. Murder suspect captured By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers and judicial agents have detained a suspect in the murder of a 15-year-old girl in Corredores near the Panamá border. The girl, identified as María José Obando Carrillo, was found a week ago. She had disappeared the previous Saturday while riding a bicycle. The suspect was identified by the last names of Alvarado Quirós. He was detained in the community of Tamarindo de Laurel. Festival will begin Friday By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The community of Palmichal de Acosta is celebrating its first Feria del Café, el ua y Turismo Rural starting Friday for 10 days. Those who visit will be treated to the local coffee and be abel to learn about the water resources that the area protects. There will be a variety of traditional games, local food, crafts and cultural festivals, said an announcement. The objecttt of the fair is to increase the socioeconomiinvolvement ofofof the communities of Palmichal and Tabarcia, it said. Residents also would like to become involved with rural tourism at the coffee-growing operations. |
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