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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 250
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 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública
photo
Anti-drug police prepare to
force their way into this home.Five held in
hydroponic marijuana raids
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A U.S. woman is back in the news because she was detained Wednesday for the second time in less than four months on a marijuana-growing allegation. Anti-drug police identified her by the last name of Dittrich. She was one of five persons detained as police made raids in Grecia, Alajuela Centro and Santa Ana. The five are accused of using hydroponic methods to grow marijuana. Ms. Dittrich, 58, and a 44-year-old Costa Rican with the last name of Chamorro had been detained Aug. 31 when it appears they were transporting equipment from one location to another. That was in Coyal de Alajuela. The two were identified as a married couple. The investigation began last May with telephone calls from neighbors, said police. Highway work stalled by relocation By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Highway officials are putting the brakes on design work for the northern section of the Circunvalación because residents of the low-income Triángulo de Solidaridad in Tibás are in the way. The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes said that the land must be cleared for engineers and others in the design work so they can see the topography. The Triángulo de Solidaridad is a well known area of substandard housing, and the Ministerio de Vivienda y Asentamientos Humanos has the job of relocating the residents. The design work is being done by the Consorcio Estrella-Hernán Solís, and it appears that work will be stalled until March while the 181 families are moved to other quarters. The Circunvalación Norte will run from the end of the existing highway at an intersection in La Uruca to Calle Blancos and then to Ruta 32. This is a $147 million project that will take 18 months. When done, the new highway will expedite motor truck traffic and allow drivers to skirt the metro area to go to and from Ruta 32, which is the main highway to Limón and the boat docks there. Such drivers might be carrying pineapples from the southern zone or industrial supplies from the docks to a factory in Puntarenas. Now the drivers have to leave the four-lane Circunvalación for secondary highways in La Uruca and Tibás. Tourist police get transportation By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's tourism institute has presented the Policía Turística with equipment worth 60 million colons, some $114,000. The equipment includes 12 motorcycles and a four-wheel-drive vehicle. The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo has been investing in the tourist police force since 2011. Officials created the force with members of the Fuerza Pública to stem waves of thefts at tourism locations.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 250 | |
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 Van Oord/BAM International graphic
This is a rendering of how the completed
stage two of the terminal will appear
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| $1 billion Moín container terminal gets environmental
approval |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The nation's environmental agency has given a green light to the $1 billion container terminal proposed for Moín. The decision is far from final because opponents of the terminal are expected to challenge the decision and eventually carry the case once again through the country's courts. The decision came from the Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental. APM Terminals Moín S.A., the local subsidiary of a Dutch firm, plans to build the project as a concession. Eventually the terminal will revert to government management. The job involves building an artificial island in the harbor, constructing protective breakwaters and dredging a channel for container ships. The project is favored by the government, but workers on the public docks and some environmental activists oppose it. The dock workers fear the competition of a modern container handling facility. Some |
of the
environmentalists have opposed nearly every new project. The Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental said there were more than 100 deficiencies in the environmental impact statement presented earlier. The approval was of a rewrite. The consortium Van Oord/BAM International said that it already had been contracted to build stage two of the project. This Dutch firm estimates that this will take three years. A world-class sustainable container terminal that modernizes the port system to help Costa Rica achieve its economic ambitions, the firm said on its Web page. In challenging the decision, the lawyers for the dock workers union will have to seek administrative remedies first. The central government shuts down most offices for Christmas on Friday, so there will be no action on this until January. However, the Sala IV constitutional court is open 24 hours a day even over vacations, if opponents choose that route. The project already has been the object of a handful of appeals in the nation's courts. |
| More protection sought for rivers that run through metro area |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Although many of the metro area's rivers are protected by trees, there are some problems, the Contraloría General de la República said in a study summarized Wednesday. And some of these problems are big enough to be life and property threatening, it said. The rivers are the Torres, Siquiares, Uruca, Cañas and Toyogres. Some 127.61 hectares of 150.14 hectares of property along the banks are tree-covered, but the land that is not needs to have some planted, the report said. Some 6.22 hectares mainly along the ríos Torres, Cañas and |
Toyogres have been
invaded for crop cultivation and structures, said the report, adding
that these are illegal uses. Part of the problem can be blamed on inadequate maps that do not show correctly the official river protective zones, it added. The Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación, which has the responsibility to protect the rivers does not have a policy to do so, the report said. And in the case of primarily invasive slum housing along the rivers, there continues to be risks and eventually the situation will generate damage to persons, goods and the environment, the report warned. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 250 | |||||
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| Illegal money flows taken from developing countries put at
trillions |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Poor countries lose a lot more money each year from corruption and corporate tax evasion than they receive in foreign aid. A new report called the losses a structural cause of extreme poverty. The non-profit research organization Global Financial Integrity says developing nations lost $6.6 trillion between 2003 and 2012. Eric LeCompte, head of the Jubilee USA Network, said it’s a problem growing by nearly 9.5 percent each year. He said that illicit financial flows refers to the amount of money that leaves countries that’s untaxed. In general, that money is anything that ranges from tax evasion to the monies that are leaving through corrupt practices. And because of the types of money and because many countries don’t have protections in place, countries around the world are losing annually almost a trillion dollars due to illicit financial flows, he said. The Global Financial Integrity report said a record $991 billion was lost to illicit financial flows in 2012 alone. Jubilee USA Network is a coalition of 75 U.S. organizations, 400 faith-based communities and 50 international partners. It lobbies for global financial reforms to bring debt relief to poor countries. It works with Global Financial Integrity to propose reforms to end illicit financial flows. LeCompte said despite ongoing efforts and statements by G-7 and G-20 nations, the problem persists. “Around the world, many policy makers and decision makers are still learning about this reality – that a trillion dollars is leaving countries untaxed. And although there’s movement, there’s still needs to be a lot of education around the issue. And I think for the first time we’re looking at processes where we could actually start to curb this kind of illicit money.” The report compared the illicit outflow of money to the inflow of aid dollars. “The amount of money that is leaving some of the poorest countries in the world is 11 times the amount of aid they receive,” he said. The Jubilee USA executive director said that illicit financial flows are making a bad situation worse in Ebola-stricken West Africa. “The three countries that have been affected and hit hardest – |
Sierra
Leone, Guinea, Liberia – currently are losing $1.3 billion a year to
illicit financial flows. That dwarfs what is for these countries a
budget that is less than $300 million to deal with health issues. When
this money leaves it’s not addressing some of the important
infrastructure concerns in the developing world,” he said. And LeCompte said even some prominent G20 countries are being affected. “In terms of the recent report by Global Financial Integrity, the top five countries around the world losing money to illicit flows between 2003 and 2013 were China, Russia, Mexico, India and Malaysia,” he said So, if all that money is coming out of the developing world, where’s it going? “We don’t totally know who is benefitting. We know that it’s a whole range of actors,” he said. He said those that could benefit from illicit financial flows include the extraction industries and banks. “Essentially, 80 percent of all illicit financial flows are caused through a process called trade mis-invoicing, where money is sent out, capital is sent out of the country. When materials leave the developing world they’re not being taxed properly for the actual value of cargo that’s leaving.” LeCompte added that it’s a problem that can be solved, for example, by ensuring customs authorities know the true price of goods. Global Financial Integrity estimated it would cost each country a one-time charge of two million dollars to establish such a mechanism. “If this process were put in place, it would literally generate billions of dollars for some of the world’s poorest economies every year,” he said. Jubilee USA and its partners will push for financial transparency mechanisms at next July’s International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa. They’ll also lobby to make them part of the sustainable development goals, which build upon the expiring millennium development goals. If successful, they say, developing countries would have billions of dollars more each year to invest in health, infrastructure and education. |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 250 | |||||||
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| U.S.-Cuban freeze had a long, dangerous history By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In a few short minutes Wednesday, President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro took the first steps toward ending decades of hostility and struggle between their two countries. Washington’s policy toward Cuba since the 1960s has been punctuated by economic embargoes, diplomatic isolation and covert efforts to undermine the Cuban government. For its part, Havana never stepped back from its 1960s socialist policies after nationalizing all U.S.-owned businesses, including oil refineries, banks and telephone companies. In a historic announcement Wednesday, Obama moved to reverse U.S. policy by easing travel, financial and other restrictions. At the same time, in Havana, Castro announced the release of a number of political prisoners, and signaled his willingness to negotiate trade and other issues. The policy reversal followed a prisoner swap between the two countries. Relations between the two countries first soured after Fidel Castro seized power in a revolution in 1959, causing then pro-Washington dictator President Fulgencio Batista to flee the country. Castro swiftly began expropriating international business properties, farmland and land owned by foreigners. By the early 1960s, Fidel Castro started reaching out to the Soviet Union, reaching a number of trade deals. The United States, under President Dwight Eisenhower, reacted by placing embargoes on Cuban products. Those decisions started decades of antipathy between the two countries, separated by only 145 kilometers (90 miles) of water. By 1961, Washington had cut diplomatic relations with Havana, and desperate Cubans who were seeing their businesses and properties taken over by the Communist government started trying to escape the country. Some 1 million Cubans left. A failed CIA-led attempt to overthrow Cuba, known as the Bay of Pigs invasion, conducted with the approval of then-U.S. President John Kennedy, further deepened the mistrust between the two nations. Relations reached an all-time low in 1962, when the U.S. discovered that the Soviet Union was planning to build a missile base on Cuba. The Cuban missile crisis ended with Moscow pledging to remove the missiles and Washington pledging not to invade Cuba and also to remove its missiles from Turkey. Since the 1960s, successive U.S. presidents have maintained a crippling economic and diplomatic blockade on Cuba, driving more people out of the island nation. Fidel Castro, who stepped down in favor of his brother, Raúl, in 2008, recently called for a civilized relationship with Washington. The United Nations has repeatedly condemned the embargo. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to extreme economic hardship in Cuba but did not force a change in Fidel Castro's policies. Relations between the two countries started to ease under Obama and Raúl Castro. Castro has taken steps to allow a private sector to develop, including in the agricultural sector. Critics say Cuba still has a long way to go to end political repression. Wednesday, Obama announced the U.S. intent to move toward restoring diplomatic relations, a move echoed by Castro on Cuban television on the same day. The deal followed months of secret talks brokered with the help of the Vatican and Canada. Obama said Wednesday that the past policies had failed to advance U.S. interests. Travel, remittances and financial transactions have been eased. But the U.S. embargo, although eased, stays in place. Many lawmakers do not fall in line with Obama's proposal By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. President Barack Obama’s move to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba drew sharp and sharply differing reactions across America’s political spectrum, among Cuban exiles in Florida and from the international community. While the return of imprisoned American contractor Alan Gross to U.S. soil was universally welcomed, reaction to a thaw in relations between Washington and Havana was decidedly mixed. Sen. Patrick Leahy, one of three lawmakers who flew to Cuba to bring Gross home, called Obama’s announcement a positive step away from a policy of isolation that failed to drive Cuban Presidents Fidel and Raúl Castro from power. Leahy is a democrat. "The fact is, they are there, fact is Cuba is still there," Leahy said. "We ought to face up that we will have differences, but that we can improve the lives of Cubans … by stopping this idea of a closed door. …" By contrast, Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican whose parents came to the United States from Cuba in 1956, called Obama’s announcement "a victory for the oppressive Cuban government, but a serious set-back for the repressed Cuban people." "The White House has conceded everything and gained little," said Rubio, who will chair a Senate foreign relations subcommittee on the Western hemisphere. Negotiators "gained no commitment on the part of the Cuban regime to freedom of the press, or freedom of speech, or elections," Rubio said. "No commitment was made to allowing the establishment of political parties or even begin the semblance towards a transition to democracy." Rubio represents Florida, home to a large and vocal Cuban-American community. Historically, Cuban-Americans have nursed anti-Castro sentiment, but polls show an erosion of support for the U.S. trade embargo – particularly among younger generations – and a growing desire for normalized relations between the two countries. A Twitter account linked to Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, asked: "Why is Obama so impatient? We need to give the sanctions some time to work." Reaction did not fall entirely along partisan lines. Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat and also a Cuban-American and the outgoing Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman said, "President Obama's actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government." But a Republican senator, Jeff Flake, said renewing ties with Havana should not be seen as a concession to the Cuban government. That view "is simply wrong," he said. "The policy we have had in place for the past 50 years has done more, in my view, to keep the Castro regime in power than anything we could have done. I am pleased these actions have been taken. I think they will improve the lot of ordinary Cubans, and it is good for Americans, as well." Obama’s desire to end the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba would require cooperation from a Congress that will be Republican-controlled beginning in January. The topic is likely to be fiercely debated by lawmakers in 2015. At the end of his news conference, Rubio said flatly, "This Congress is not going to lift the embargo." In Miami’s exile community, there were similar accusations of betrayal. "Miami, the heart of the Cuban exile community, reacted with a collective shock," the Miami Herald said of Wednesday’s announcements by Obama in Washington and by Raúl Castro in Havana. "The Cuban exile community that has made a foundation out of standing firm against the Castro government has been, in essence, sold out," Miami-Dade County Commissioner Esteban "Steve" Bovo, a Republican, complained to the Herald. The paper’s Web site Wednesday prominently featured a photo of angry demonstrators outside the Café Versailles, a hot spot in the city’s Little Havana neighborhood, bearing signs complaining of an Obama administration conspiracy. The plan to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba drew approval from at least several other countries. Russia also lauded the measure. “We see this as a step in the right direction. We do not believe that imposing sanctions by the U.S. on whatever country has legitimate basis and legal grounds,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax. Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, applauded the “very good news in these times rich with conflict.” Likewise, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius cheered the lifting of the embargo. “France remains by the side of the Cuban people as it enters this new phase in its history." Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, hailed the measure as a gesture of courage and called it “perhaps the most important step of his presidency.” Caracas and Washington have had strained relations, with the U.S. Congress voting earlier this month to impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials over free speech violations. Sony pulls movie over fears of attacks on theatergoers By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Media reports say the U.S. has determined that North Korea is behind the hacking of Sony Pictures, which on Wednesday canceled the release of a film about a fictional plot to assassinate Pyongyang's leader, Kim Jong Un. Speaking on condition of anonymity, U.S. officials said investigators have connected North Korea to the cyberattack, which has resulted in the leak of tens of thousands of documents and has escalated to threats of terrorist attacks over the film "The Interview." It is not clear how investigators made the determination or how the White House will respond. The National Security Council said the FBI is leading the investigation and will provide an update at the appropriate time. In a statement Wednesday, Sony said it is scrapping the Dec, 25 release of "The Interview," after several major theater chains chose not to show the film. The statement said Sony shared those safety concerns. The so-called Guardians of Peace on Tuesday released a statement promising a bitter fate to those who see "The Interview," which had been set for nationwide release on Christmas Day. In broken English, the brief statement invoked the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the U.S. and warned potential movie-goers to keep yourself distant from theaters that show the film. It also included another round of leaked emails that appear to be from Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it is analyzing the message, but insisted "there is no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters." The film's main actors, Seth Rogen and James Franco, canceled their public appearances on Tuesday. Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer of cybersecurity firm BeyondTrust, said he believed it was the first time a film screening had been pulled in the wake of a high-profile cyber attack. In the film, Rogen and Franco play the part of frustrated television journalists who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean leader. North Korea has strongly denounced the comedy as an act of terrorism and called for Sony to cancel the film. It has praised the hacking as a righteous deed but has said it is not involved. It is not clear whether the Guardians of Peace, or GOP, is linked to Pyongyang, which is known to have a very capable group of Internet hackers at its disposal. Some suspect the hackers may have been aided by an insider at Sony. Since the initial hacking attempt surfaced in late November, the group has released several rounds of sensitive, internal Sony e-mails that include everything from financial figures to squabbles between company executives and Hollywood actors. The leaks also include private employee data and high-quality copies of yet to be released films. Current and former Sony employees have started two class-action lawsuits against Sony over the leaks, claiming the company did not adequately protect its computer systems or warn its employees of the leaks. Lampoon of Kim Jong Un might endanger his status By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
After major American theater chains decided not to run a new Hollywood comedy about a U.S. plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, its financial backer, Sony Pictures Entertainment, decided not to release it. The decision follows a threat by mysterious computer hackers to attack theaters showing the movie. North Korea's reaction to the “The Interview” underscores its intolerance for any ridicule of the country's young leader. Inside North Korea, Kim Jong Un, like his late father and grandfather, is depicted as infallible. The state-controlled media jubilantly reported that he won an election to the Supreme People's Assembly last year with 100 percent of the vote. Of course, his was the only name on the ballot. So it is not surprising that North Korea is angry about “The Interview,” a dark comedy that ridicules the leader before depicting his assassination. The Foreign Ministry in Pyongyang called the film an act of war and promised retaliation. Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea, says Pyongyong is very protective of its leader’s image. “North Koreans react to satire very sensitively and there were some cases that they complained about it harming the dignity of their leader in the past,” says Kim Yong-hyun. North Korea protested the movie “Team America: World Police” that comically depicted Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, when it came out a decade ago. But the country never took any provocative action in response. That may have changed with the cyber attack on Sony. Pyongyang denied any involvement, but the unknown hackers who released confidential company information had threatened to release more unless the studio cancelled the release of “The Interview.” Korea analyst Victor Cha with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington says Kim Jong Un’s weeks-long disappearance earlier in the year and the execution of his uncle indicate the young leader may be struggling to solidify his grip on power. “The leadership transition is now three years old. We still don’t know if it’s entirely complete. There continue to be purges inside the country, which gives one the sense that there’s some turn inside the system,” he said. Cha says lampooning Kim Jong Un’s carefully managed image can undermine the regime in a way that sanctions or hostile actions cannot. “They can always rally the people around western hostility but western ridicule is harder for them to rally their people around because it raises questions about the leadership,” Cha said. The commotion over a comedic film is adding to the tension in the region as international talks to curb North Korea’s nuclear program remains deadlocked and the United Nations continues to pressure the regime on charges of human rights abuses. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 250 | |||||||||
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Robbers killed the manager of the La Bomba pharmacy in Guayabos de Curridabat Wednesday evening. The dead woman was 24 and identified by the last name of Córdoba. She leaves a 3 year old. The bandits arrived on motorcycles and one shot the woman in the head. She died at Hospital Calderón Guardia. The chain, La Bomba, is well known to expats because it sells drugs and medical equipment at low prices. The main store is in San Pedro. The woman become the latest fatal victim of a growing wave of robberies not only in the Central Valley but, it appears all over Costa Rica. Stores, pedestrians, lottery vendors and buses are the main targets. There are several arrests by judicial agents for robberies each day. There also are crimes. But most that do not concern expats never make this newspaper. For example, a business that provides goods imported from Internet sales in Guadalupe was the victim of a stickup Monday. In an unusual twist a bus driver ran down and killed one would-be robber Monday night. A pair of masked bandits tried to stop the bus at Finca Londres, Cariari de Guápiles. One robber threw a stone that broke the windshield, and the driver told investigators that he thought the missile was a bullet so he stepped on the accelerator and ran over one of the crooks. New York moves to halt fracking By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The U.S. State of New York is moving to ban the oil and gas drilling technique known as fracking, following the release of a report highlighting health and environmental risks. Hydraulic fracturing has created a fossil-fuel boom in the United States, raising domestic energy production and reducing imports. But reports of polluted water and leaking fumes near fracking wells have fueled vigorous opposition. Many New York towns had already restricted fracking. The state report cites potential impacts on air and water quality, uncertain health effects, increased risk of earthquakes, and noise and traffic problems linked to fracking projects. It says there is not enough information to decide whether the risks are worth the benefits. "I think it would be reckless to proceed in New York until more authoritative research is done," said the state health commissioner, Howard Zucker. "I asked myself, 'Would I let my family live in a community with fracking?' The answer is no. I therefore cannot recommend anyone else's family to live in such a community, either." Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping high-pressure water, sand and chemicals into rock formations deep underground. Fracturing the rock releases oil and gas trapped inside. New York sits on the northernmost section of the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation containing huge amounts of natural gas. Most of the formation lies beneath Pennsylvania and West Virginia, which are peppered with thousands of fracking wells. Pennsylvania has the nation's second-largest proven natural gas reserves. The New York State Petroleum Council called the ban politically motivated and misinformed. It said Wednesday that regulations already protect health and the environment, and that hydraulic fracturing could have brought major economic benefits to the state. "This is a missed opportunity to share in the American energy renaissance, and for New York’s future prosperity," said executive director Karen Moreau. |
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| From age 7: Price regulator hands out fines By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The price regulating agency has assessed a natural gas provider, bus companies, service stations and even the nation's rail system with fines for various infractions. The agency, the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos said the total fines were 32 million colons, a bit more than $60,000. The firm Gas Tomza got one fine for 4.5 million colons for refilling substandard cylinders. Transportes Alfaro, a Guanacaste bus firm, got a fine for charging unauthorized fares and services, said the agency. The Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles got a 1.9 million-colon fine for charging unapproved fares to carry pilgrims to the annual Cartago religious festival. |
