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Second news page |
 Click HERE for photo tour of 526 properties for SALE or RENT in Escazú, Ciudad Colón, Santa Ana, Rohrmoser, Curridabat, Heredia and the Pacific Coast. |
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| Costa Rica Expertise Ltd http://crexpertise.com E-mail info@crexpertise.com Tel:506-256-8585 Fax:506-256-7575 |
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Vannessa borrows cash
to do feasibility study By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Canadian company developing the controversial Crucitas open pit gold mine in north Costa Rica has borrowed $2 million to help pay for a feasibility study for the project, according to John Morgan, president. The company, Vannessa Ventures Ltd., says it has borrowed the money from Exploram Enterprises Ltd., its controlling shareholder. Interest is payable on the loan at a rate of 9.5 percent per year, payable monthly and a 3 percent structuring fee will be paid by Vannessa to Exploram. The loan is payable on demand after Feb. 15 and is secured by a general security agreement over the Company's assets. The proceeds from the loan will be used to fund general working capital requirements and to advance work on the feasibility study for the Crucitas gold project, the company said. Crucitas is being developed by the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Industrias Infinito S.A. As previously announced Dec. 13, the Crucitas project recently received a resolution from the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía and its Secretaría Técnica Ambiental approving the project's environmental impact statement and the Secretaría Técnica also specified the amount of the environmental performance bond at $600,000 which the Company said it anticipates will be placed in early 2006. The mine location is near the Río San Juan and the Nicaraguan border. Environmentalists fear a disaster if the cyanide used to leach gold from the rock finds its way into the river. Our readers’ opinions He prefers that priority rests with the workers Dear A.M. Costa Rica: Reading Jay Brodell’s editorial of Dec. 28 entitled “Can Costa Rica Compete?” makes it very clear why so many are against the signing and ratification of the TLC or CAFTA, whichever you choose to use. The editorial is clearly written with the typical, right wing, militant, corporate mentality currently in use by the Republican “regime” that is destroying the U.S. with it’s non-worker-friendly business tactics. Much of Costa Rica’s work environment is worker friendly, and I hope it stays that way. After all, we are dealing with human lives and not oxen nor robots. There seems to be an assumption that because Costa Rica does not do it the way Jay suggests, it must be wrong. This is that ugly, non-humanistic business model of right wing, corporate America that believes in maximum profit over all other considerations. Not signing and ratifying the TLC/CAFTA is not the end of the world as many doomsayers would have the world believe. Costa Rica will be fine. It has existed thus far without CAFTA and certainly will compete well enough through other avenues of trade already well-established and others currently being worked on. Don’t knock Costa Rica’s humanistic business model because it’s not like the way it’s done up north. Chuck Crider
Orlando. Florida Bush is untrustworthy as treaty partner Dear A.M. Costa Rica: As a businessman, I sign contracts and make written and oral agreements quite often. As important as it is for the contracts to be fair to both sides, I always make sure I trust the other party to honor the agreement before I sign anything. I need to be sure the other party is honest and has a history, a track record, of honoring and following through on its obligations and will keep their word. The Bush administration has backed away from and broken treaties and established national and international laws from Day One of his administration. They have lied uncountable times on almost every action they’ve taken. They have blatantly disregarded the Constitution, Bill of Rights, international agreements including those on torture, spied on their own people and people around the world without judicial support, and shown a total disregard for keeping any promises they have made. Fighting terrorism and building democracies around the world are wonderful concepts, but do not excuse every immoral, greedy, self-serving action they’ve taken. Bush cannot be taken at his word. I’m not against the Trade Agreement, but no matter how good the Trade Agreement could be for Costa Rica, signing it with a dishonest and immoral partner would be suicide. If you can’t trust the other party in a deal or contract, it would be stupid to sign on the dotted line. Andy Gingold
Ciudad Colon EDITOR’S NOTE: Another reader reports that he paid a total import duty on a new Ford automobile of 52.3 percent. That included the 13 percent sales tax, the reader said. We said in the article Wednesday that import duties could be 89 percent. We believe that the rate is highly variable. |
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| Morning Quepos quake wakes up those late sleepers |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck shortly before 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, and it awakened people sleeping on the Caribbean coast and caused a desk to bounce around an Escazú office. However, there was no major damage reported. The epicenter of the quake was in the mountains north and east of Quepos on the Pacific Coast. The location was about 65 kms. (40 miles) east southeast of Puntarenas and 25 kms. (15 miles) southwest of San José. Mariano Protti said the quake was within the Cocos tectonic plate that is pushing under the country from the west. He is with the Observatorio Sismológico y Vulcanológico de Costa Rica. The quake, he said, originated in the Cocos plate and was not a product of the collision between the Cocos and Caribbean plates. Stress between the two plates has been responsible for much seismic activity in Costa Rica. |
 Map courtesy U.S.
Geological Survey
Yellow square marks the probable
epicenter of the Wednesday quake. |
| Uruguay approves revised investment treaty with the United
States |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The Uruguayan government has ratified an investment treaty with the United States that is intended to enhance relations as well as trade and investment ties, according to the U.S. State Department. Upon assuming office earlier in 2005, Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez asked the United States to renegotiate technical points in the treaty signed by the United States and Uruguay in 2004. The new U.S.-Uruguayan treaty was signed Nov. 4 during the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, passed by the Uruguayan Senate Dec. 21 and ratified by the lower house of the Uruguayan Congress Wednesday by a vote of 84-0. |
The treaty still
requires approval by the U.S. Senate. Once it enters
into force, it should yield important benefits for both countries, a
State Department official said. “We expect that it will produce new business opportunities and employment, increasing the well-being of citizens in both countries,” the official said. Beyond the economic benefits, the U.S. official said the treaty also reflects the ability of the governments of the United States and Uruguay to work together. The United States is Uruguay’s largest trading partner, and U.S. foreign direct investment in Uruguay was $533 million in 2004. |
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| Brazil reports major oil find off its Atlantic coast |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The state-owned oil company, Petrobras, says it has discovered what it calls a giant oil field off the Atlantic coast of Rio de Janeiro state. Petrobras says the new oil field, called Papa Terra, contains between 700 million and one billion barrels of heavy crude, at a depth of some 1,200 meters, about 4,000 feet. |
The company says it
expects to start production in the new field by the end of 2011. Petrobras owns 62.5 percent of the oil field, and its U.S.-based partner Chevron owns the other 37.5 percent. Brazilian officials expect the nation to be self-sufficient in oil in 2006. Petrobras currently produces more than 1.8 million barrels of crude oil a day. |
| Communist candidate endorses Michelle Bachelet in Chile's
runoff |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
SANTIAGO, Chile — The Communist Party has endorsed Socialist presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet in January's runoff election. Communist supporters account for about 5 percent of the vote in Chile. Jan. 15 voters in Chile will decide between Ms. Bachelet, who is backed by a center-left coalition, and a millionaire businessman, Sebastian Pinera. |
The runoff was
triggered when no candidate won a majority of votes during the first
round of the presidential election Dec. 11. Tuesday's endorsement suggests Ms. Bachelet could draw support from voters who initially cast ballots for Communist Tomas Hirsch, who finished fourth and won 5 percent of the vote earlier this month. With the runoff less than three weeks away, a recent opinion poll indicates Ms. Bachelet is leading Mr. Pinera by 5 percentage points. |
| Inmates involved in Christmas riot surrender at overcrowded
prison |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Rebellious inmates at a remote Brazilian prison in the Amazon have ended a four-day uprising and released nearly 200 visitors they had taken hostage on Christmas Day. Officials say the hostages at the Urso Branco penitentiary were released unharmed Wednesday after authorities agreed to some prisoner demands — including the return of gang leader Ednildo Paula |
Souza, transferred to
another facility following a recent escape attempt. During the riot, prison officials cut off food, water and electricity supplies at the overcrowded facility, which was meant to hold 350 people but houses at least 950. In April, the Urso Branco prison was the site of a bloody five-day uprising that left at least 14 inmates dead. Uprisings are a regular occurrence in Brazil's often overcrowded prisons. |
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