High wind is the culprit
as Ticos wrestle with cold


They call the place Cerro de la Muerte because oxcart drivers sometimes would die there from the cold. Now motorists breeze by the place, a high point on the Interamericana Sur.

But even 75 years ago, the temperature probably did not dip below freezing. Like Monday, it was the wind, and death came from exposure.

Early today high up on the Turrialba volcano at the automatic weather station there, the mercury was at 4.9 C. or 41 F. That's still a few degrees above freezing.

Elsewhere temperatures were higher, although there probably is a Costa Rican mountain with a temperature of 3 or 2.5 C.

High up in Desamparados, the temperature at 1 a.m. was 12.1 C or about 54 F. In San José the temperature was a balmy 16.9 C. or about 52.5 F.

The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said that the cold front that has descended on the country also is bringing stiff winds. Thus the weather seems colder than the mercury said.

The weather institute said it had logged winds of from 50 to 60 kph, about 30 to 37 mph. It said that the mountains might see winds of 90 kph or about 56 mph.

It also predicted high winds and high seas as a result of the weather. By comparison, New Yorkers today are battling a blizzard that dumped two feet of snow on the northeast United States.


Defensoría issues grim report
with litany of ills in north


With the Nicaraguan invasion of an island in northeastern Costa Rica, official attention is being paid to the general area.

The Defensoría de los Habitantes said a team from that independent agency visited Barra del Colorado and found misery, unemployment, lack of security and a litany of other problems.

The agency said that employees met with persons in the zone and heard complaints straight from the mouths of individuals. There are two communities, Colorado Norte with about 700 residents and Colorado Sur with about 300. The communities are separated by the Río Colorado.

Among the problems the visitors found is that residents do not own their land even if they have lived there 50 years. The land is technically owned by the Junta Administrativa Portuaria de Desarrollo de la Vertiente Atlántica, which is better known for its management of the docks in Limón.

Most of the living in the area is subsistence, said the Defensoría. There are few sources of employment, and tourism has not been developed, it said.

Security is minimal and local fishermen have been detained in Costa Rican waters by Nicaragua patrols and made to pay fines and others costs, said the report. The Río Colorado provides easy access to the Caribbean.

In addition a supposed police station in Colorado Sur was characterized as a slum. Materials for a new station have been delivered in part but no construction has taken place on a new station, it said.

Also police have no boat in an area where boats are necessary to travel, and police officers cannot respond to calls from Colorado Norte because there is no way of crossing the river, the report said.

The Defensoría said that its employees were told that teachers frequently skip class because there is no supervision.

The report also said that potable water is only available from wells that frequently are contaminated when the river floods.

The public agencies that are supposed to handle these problems are absent from the zone, said the report. It said that with such conditions it is easy to understand that child prostitution, traffic and consumption of drugs, alcohol, domestic violence and other vices flourish.

The agency said it would seek short- medium and long-range planning by the central government to help the area.

The area has seen an increase in security because at least 100 Fuerza Pública officers are stationed in the community now as part of the country's response to the Nicaraguan invasion nearby.


Bridge work generates
major highway bottleneck


The traffic was light in the Central Valley Monday but not at the construction site at the bridge over the Río Tiribi on the Autopista General Cañas.

To add insult to injury, traffic police were ticketing motorists who used the traffic lane restricted to buses. Police said they issued about 70 tickets.

The slowdown was caused by work to remove the center concrete barrier for several hundred meters on either side of the bridge. Traffic in each direction was reduced to one lane.

The Autopista General Canãs is considered the main route from Juan Santamaría airport to the city center.

The bridge is the one made famous by the expansion joint that would not stay fixed. Highway officials have been wrestling with the joint for more than a year. The plan now is to redo the entire bridge, install more steel and repave it.

In the meantime, traffic will have to find another route. Traffic officials suggest using the Autopista del Sol to reach San Antonio de Belén, which has access to the airport and the highway west of the bridge. There also is a route to the north through Heredia that also happens to be under construction.

Work started Sunday and is expected to last at least two months.

The highway likely will see much more traffic when the Christmas holidays are over.


Tamarindo friends seek
woman missing since Dec. 5


Friends in Tamarindo and the nearby area are expressing

Barbara Struncova

concern about a Czech woman who has not been seen since Dec. 5. The disappearance has been reported to the Judicial Investigating Organization. The missing woman is Barbara Struncova. Friends say she was seen last entering her home at Playa Langosta about 1 a.m. Dec. 5. Her family has not heard from her since the day before. Her friends are asking that anyone with information contact the judicial police at 800-8000-645. Friends in Tamarindo and in the

United States said they have set up a Web site to raise money for searches, posters, fliers and other efforts to find the missing woman.

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

Costa Rica news summaries are disabled on archived pages.

Have you seen these stories? From A.M. Costa Rica

Top story feeds are disabled on archived pages.

Have an opinion? Write us a letter for publication, and then we will keep it for weeks on our opinion page! Check it out HERE!