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| A.M. Costa Rica Second newspage |
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 A.M. Costa Rica/José Pablo
Ramírez Vindas
Work continues despite the inauguration of new boarding areas
at airport.Some boarding lounges
opened at Juan Santamaría By Helen Thompson
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Rodrigo Arias, minister of the Presidencia, cut a ribbon with the colors of the Costa Rican flag Friday to inaugurate new boarding salons that have more than doubled the size of the Juan Santamaría airport passenger facilities. Eight boarding gates, four bridges and six immigration points were opened in a ceremony involving Karla Gonzalez, the transport mininster, and Arias, the president's brother, who said that the growth of the airport was of direct benefit to all Costa Ricans. The modernizations were begun in 2001 to cope with the ever increasing number of tourists. “Next high season we are expecting 300,000 people each month to use the airport,” said Monica Nagel, the executive director of Alterra Partners, the company who carried out the work and manages the airport under a contract. “We are proud that our country is a growing tourist destination which generates employment for the whole country.” That number is about 15 percent more passengers who passed through the airport during high season last year. The new salons, which total 4,400 square meters, represent a 130 percent increase in the size of the airport's waiting rooms, and up to 17 airplanes can park at the airport's gates at the same time. The $15 million update is not yet completed, however, with men still working on waiting rooms in the downstairs part of the airport. Arias and Yunus seeking end to poverty in 50 years By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
President Óscar Arias Sánchez called on universty students Friday to unite with the world and eliminate poverty. As students from Universidad Escuela de Agronomia del Trópico Húmedo or EARTH, waited to recieve their diplomas Friday morning, they listened to speeches from President Arias and fellow Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. The two men spoke about ending poverty and the role the students would play in the years to come. Yunus, creator of the Grameen Bank, which is known as the “bank for the poor,” won the Nobel Prize just last year. The bank, founded in 1983, is said to use a low interest micro-credit system which is available to impoverished populations around the world. A credit program used by the Costa Rican Grameen Association has helped more than 3,000 women from Limón Province, according to EARTH University. “Dr. Yunus has said 'poverty does not belong in civilized societies. Its appropriate place is in a museum,'" quoted Arias. “'Fifty years from now poverty is something children will contemplate in a school exhibtion, filled with incredulity and horror because of their ancestors, this idea can change the world and it is an idea Costa Rica already knows something about,” said Arias. Ninety students graduated from the university which is located in Guácimo, Limón. The university is dedicated to agricultural sciences and natural resources and states as its goal “to contribute to sustainable development in the tropics by seeking a balance between agricultural production and environmental preservation.” CATIE grads told to create even distribution of resources By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Graduating university students were told Friday they are expected to create a balanced distribution of the world's resources, reduce unjustifiable levels of poverty and hunger, and reverse environmental destruction. That may sound like quite a lot for a small class in central Costa Rica, but then again, this isn't just another liberal arts college. The university, El Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza or CATIE, specializes in science and environmental agriculture. The school describes itself as a teaching grounds for reduction of poverty in Latin America, management of natural resources and sustainable rural development. Its members include students from all over Latin America. This year's graduate degrees included: tropical agro-forestry, management and conservation of biodiversity, management of hydrographic river basins and management of socioeconomic environment. This year 56 students graduated with a master's degree and 14 received their doctorate. An honorary doctorate was given to Dr. Rodrigo Gámez Lobo, president of Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad and a former professor at University of Costa Rica. Gámez was recognized for his scientific contributions and work in education and development in countries throughout Latin America. His work has also influenced the political world, and Gámez was invited by former president Abel Pacheco to participate in the del Consejo de Notables and analyze possible effects of the free trade agreement. “We must work on creating solutions to confront the global changes and to revert those that have already damaged the ecosystems,” said Gámez. This was the 61st graduation. The campus is located in Turrialba.
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| A.M. Costa Rica third newspage |
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| Consumer
law could help those victimized by Internet thefts |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Bank customers who have lost money through Internet scams may be able to get their money back based on a Sala III decision over the March 2005 bank robbery in Monteverde. The Sala III, the highest criminal court, determined in November that a consumer law covers those who were damaged in the abortive bank robbery. Nine persons, including three robbers, died in the crime. The Sala III decision issued in November, stems from the trial of the surviving bandit, Erlyn Hurtado, who was sentenced to hundreds of years in prison. At the same time the Puntarenas trial court did not levy damages against Banco Nacional nor against the guard company that was providing security. In the appeal, the Sala III equated the case to one in which a San José supermarket was held responsible when thieves stole the vehicle of a shopper. That case was decided in another Corte Suprema de Justicia chamber in April. The essence of the decision is that commercial establishments are responsible for what happens on their premises. The decision also has wide application for business owners in Costa Rica who may find themselves held accountable for actions of unrelated third parties if a customer is injured. The consumer law, No. 7472, said in part that the producer, the provider and the merchant should answer together and independently for the existence of a fault if the consumer is injured by goods or services, or as a result of inadequate or insufficient information about them or their use and risks. |
The Sala III decision did not seem
to put sufficient emphasis on any
fault that may have existed in the Monteverde case. In fact, a security
guard suffered serious bullet wounds defending the bank and its
customers. The fault in the case of the stolen vehicle was inattention
in that the motorist had put his car in the hands of employees. The public banking institutions have been plagued by electronic thefts from the accounts of their customers. One expat lost $215,000 from an account at Banco de Costa Rica, and the nation's chief prosecutor places the amount of the loss this year at $8 million. The individual cases run into the hundreds, and investigative agencies lack the training and resources to fully investigate what happened. The banks have claimed that the thefts are being done by persons outside the institutions who somehow manage to steal the account information and passwords of customers. However, some cases raise the specter that the thefts were inside jobs. In one theft, the amount taken, $60,000, was 12 times the size of the bank's daily limit on transfers In another, more than $20,000 vanished from an account just hours after the money was deposited. The banks have been slow to respond. Banco de Costa Rica is putting in a second level of security as of today for its Internet customers. The $215,000 series of thefts happened in July. Banco Nacional has not yet taken any steps to provide additional security although it has issued warnings. If the Sala III decision is read so as to apply for the massive Internet loses, the banks could be at risk for the actions of third parties, that is the Internet thieves. That is particularly true because another part of the same consumer law says that those in charge of a business are responsible for their own acts and the actions of their subordinates. |
| Villalobos
friends want to get in their two cents for appeal |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The dwindling Villalobos faithful are calling for a letter-writing campaign to enlighten magistrates who will decide the appeal of convicted fraudster Oswaldo Villalobos Camacho. These are the people who believe — despite strong evidence presented at trial earlier this year — that the Villalobos high-interest operator was not a ponzi scheme. An e-mail message being distributed widely by the United and Concerned Citizens of Costa Rica asks former investors of the defunct operation to write letters to clear up misconceptions that the Sala III magistrates might have about Oswaldo Villalobos and his fugitive brother, Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho. "Our objective with this campaign is to try to reverse some of the misconceptions the judges might have about the two men: Osvaldo, who has sat in jail for practically 5 years, and Luis Enrique, who has been consistent in his ongoing communications with his creditors, the most recent just days ago," said the e-mail. "His messages continue to demonstrate the quality of the man and his sincere intention to honor his commitments." The United and Concerned Citizens did not have a role in the trial. Oswaldo Villalobos was the defendant and the victims were a number of Villalobos creditors who pressed their claims along with the prosecutor's criminal case. However, the United and Concerned Citizens do not want any letters sent to the magistrate that suggest that they should uphold the aggravated fraud and illegal banking convictions. The Villalobos supporters want to see the letters before the magistrates do. This is the same group that embarked on a campaign to cause victims in the case to withdraw their legal claims. Those who did withdraw claims were not awarded compensation by the trial court when the tribunal convicted Oswaldo Villalobos. "We should remind the magistrates that there are many thousands of us who remained outside the formal legal arena, who continue to reject the false accusations of the |
fiscal, and who support the
innocence of both Osvaldo and Enrique Villalobos," said the letter. The group has distributed yet another letter it says came from Luis Enrique Villalobos. This is about the ninth or 10th such communication purportedly from the fugitive financier. However, there has been no evidence that the letters actually came from him. Some seem to be rehashes of a known Villalobos letter and e-mail sent to A.M. Costa Rica five years ago after the two brothers closed down the operation that was headquartered in Mall San Pedro. The Sala III magistrates will hold an open hearing Dec. 18 mainly to hear arguments from victims who had pressed their cases but had not been awarded money. In some cases the individuals' lawyers failed to show up or present the correct documents. The defense team of Oswaldo Villalobos also has presented appeals in which they claim the original raid on the Villalobos operation July 4, 2002, was not supported by evidence and that judicial officials involved in the case did not follow the rules of evidence. However, in none of the pleadings does anyone suggest where could be found the estimated $1 billion that was on the books of the Villalobos when they closed down. Some associated with the United and Concerned Citizens claim that Villalobos is willing to return the money to his former investors but that the possibility of criminal action keeps him from doing so. There was no effort at the trial by Oswaldo Villalobos to explain what the brothers did with the money they got from investors. Oswaldo Villalobos tried to separate himself from the activities of his brother and claimed he was but the operator of the Ofinter S.A. money exchange house that was physically nearby but apart financially. However, prosecutors showed that Oswaldo's company handled much of the money that investors gave to Luis Enrique and judges decided that he was a partner in the entire operation. The operation paid 3 percent per month, frequently in cash, but made investment at standard investment-grade rates. Prosecutors said that Luis Enrique accepted some $200 million in the first nine months of 2002. The clientèle was heavily North American. |
| A
mainstay at downtown establishments will be remembered Wednesday |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
He was called Capt. Billy or Sailor Bill by the many expats and tourists who knew him in a vague fashion. The nickname was in deference to his time as a torpedoman in the U.S.
Those who would dismiss Sailor Bill as a simple drunk |
would be wrong.
He was a man who did things, as in the Frank Sinatra song, "my way." Robert Foster, another expat who was a friend of Capt. Billy for 23 years, said the man was well-read and knowledgeable. The man was born on Cape Cod to a family of seafarers March 15, 1930. He served on the submarine Trumpetfish as a torpedoman and elsewhere in the U.S. Navy for seven years and later sailed with merchant vessels. He had no children and never married, said Foster. What Capt. Billy had was a schedule. He was to arrive at one of a handful of downtown bars before midday and drink beer until he felt the time had come to go home. Then he would say goodbye to those nearby in a gravely voice that frequently was not easily understood. He avoided muggings by nearly always taking a taxi home and doing so early in the evening. He smoked heavily. He was envied by many tourists and expats who believed that they, too, would enjoy the freedom that Costa Rica gives, to spend their days grasping a cold beer, chain smoking and swapping stories with friends. |
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| Children's
hospital telethon makes its goal and then some |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
This year's annual telethon for the Hospital Nacional de Niños announced the final total is 416 million colons or about $832,000. That amount exceeds the goal organizers set. The telethon is a television event broadcasted on all the major Costa Rican channels. People collected money all over the country, including scouts and members of Rotary International. The actual event and concerts were held at Palacio de los Deportes in Heredia. The money raised from the telethon will go towards the construction of “Hospital de las Sonrisas,” a new section of the hospital. According to Hospital Nacional de Niños, the hospital has not undergone sufficient improvements in emergency care since its construction in 1964. Infant |
mortality is a large problem
in Costa Rica due largely to the car
accidents and accidents in the home, said a report from the children's
hospital. The new building, says the hospital, will place Hospital Nacional de Niños among the top in child treatment facilities in the Americas. Top companies, diplomats and the people of Costa Rica are uniting to make this dream a reality says the hospital on their website. Dozens of international and national artists performed this year at the telethon. Among them were Puerto Rican salsa legend Jerry Rivera, 8-year-old reggaeton sensation Miguelito and Panamanian star Roockie, among others. Money raised from past telethons helped construct Centro de Especialidades Médicas and supplied children's hospitals around the country with modern equipment. |
| Our
readers have their say on Iran and banking safety |
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| Iran wants Israel
to 'vanish' Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Jo Stuart needs to do a little more reading in current events. She paints a picture of Iran as a fine, neighborly country, sounding as if worthy of admiration. Their government was effectively an accomplice in the holding of the U.S. hostages for well over a year. This is benign? They actively sponsor and support the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, providing financing, arms and advisers. (And what about human rights? Jo, try walking down the street in a skirt that is above your ankles, without a big head covering. See what happens. Jo mentions the pronouncement by the President of Iran, they wish Israel to "disappear" as if it is a fairy tale, just a sweep of a magic wand, Israel is gone, and all is well. What they are talking about is massive bombing of a population of about 6 million people, Jews, Christians and Moslems alike. She implies that it is only rhetoric. That's an approach reminiscent of Neville Chaimberlain's "peace in our time"... right? Hitler's talk was only rhetoric, too. By the way, why, Jo, do you think that Iran wants to anihilate a soverign country and all of its inhabitants? (Perhaps it is a bit ironic that this article appeared on Dec.7, Pearl Harbor Day, one on which one country committed the crime of attacking another without provocation.) Regarding the benefits of having a state (official government) religion, her point that by having such the government can go about its daily life more easily makes no sense whatsoever. Why can't a government behave the same way without giving one religion more privilege than another? Why should the tax payments of all citizens, including, of course, non-Catholics be used to support Catholic churches? It is simply unfair. Jo, you do a great job describing the trials, travails, and enjoyments of daily living in Costa Rica. With all due respect, please stick to your day job. Glen Love
Haverford, PA and Dominical
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Persian Empire
sought again Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Jo Stuart’s column about Iran may only be partially correct. Modern day Iran may not be known for starting a war, although I do remember one with Iraq in modern history. Extremely brutal from both sides. Perhaps she has never heard of the Persian Empire and the conquest by the Persians of a major chunk of the then-known world. It stretched from India to Africa. They were not gentle with those who opposed their endeavor to conquer the world. There are those leaders in modern day Iran who would love to duplicate and expand that early Empire. I enjoy Jo’s column when she relates stories about Costa Rica and her daily adventures. I love visiting Costa Rica and it’s wonderful people, so her writings keep me in touch. I am not interested in her political views, as I see enough bias in the paper’s here in the United States. Al Cavalier
Micanopy, Florida BAC San José uses a
clock!
Dear A.M. Costa Rica: I have several "accounts" (I think of them as one) with BAC San Jose. I have had unlimited screwups with their Internet banking and was really pleased to be told by my BAC broker that a new system was being set up. It is a really good, simple, and infinitely compatible idea (RARE!). They will RENT you a clock at $2 a month. This clock will not plug into your computer, therefore it will work with ANY system that currently works. Every 60 seconds the clock will show a different "random" number - technically a pseudo random number — which is your password for NOW. You put in your "user name," a "password" assigned by the bank (that could be written down) PLUS the "password of the moment" which appears on your clock. I think that I have seen progress in security COMBINED with ease of use, a rare combination. Explaining this was NOT simple — even tho the idea is as simple as dirt. I would like to thank María Carolina Mora Castro for taking the time to assure me of how the system operates and to assure me that I will not loose ANY functionality. Unfortunately I will not GAIN any functionality either — transferring funds from your broker to "cash" (selling stock) or such will still require speaking to a broker, but, seeing that your orders have been executed will be at your fingertips without the need to remember your password. I would like to put in a special thank you to María Carolina for something rare in Costa Rica — customer service. Charlie Merritt
San Isidro de Alajuela |
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| Venezuela
adopts its own hour standard: Chávez saving time |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Venezuelans have set their clocks back half an hour as the country adopts its own time zone. Speaking ahead of Sunday time change, President Hugo Chávez told reporters that he doesn't care if people think he is crazy. He said the new time will go ahead anyway. The Venezuelan leader has said the time change will give schoolchildren more daylight. |
The change was first announced
several weeks ago but had been delayed for technical reasons. Clocks will be set to Universal Time (UTC) minus 4.5 hours. The change is likely to affect time/date entries on computers and other devices. Several other countries have time zones that set them apart from other nations. They include Afghanistan, Burma, India and Iran. |
| Police
await wife of resurrected British canoeist to amplify tale of 'death' |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
British police have filed fraud charges against a man who faked his death in a canoe five years ago to collect insurance money. Meanwhile, his wife is reported to be returning from Panamá to England. Police in northeast England Saturday charged John Darwin with an elaborate deception to clear his family of debt. The father of two has been in detention since last week when he entered a police station saying he did not remember anything of the past several years. Darwin was declared dead after failing to return from a |
2002 canoeing
trip. His wife, Ann, received his life insurance money. After Darwin
re-emerged last week, she told reporters he returned home about three
years ago and continued to live with her secretly. The pair were photographed at a hotel in Panamá during that period, and the photo was placed on a tour company's Web site. Ann Darwin was living in Panama when her husband turned himself in. Her confession was published Saturday in British tabloid newspapers. She says when her husband staged his death, they both had full-time jobs, but were experiencing mounting debts with investment properties. |
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