Tiquicia's News Archives

New monitoring stations detect 'silent earthquakes' in Costa Rica

2009-02-15T14:02:00.002-06:00

Chicago (EurekAlert) - After installing an extensive network of monitoring stations in Costa Rica, researchers have detected slow slip events (also known as "silent earthquakes") along a major fault zone beneath the Nicoya Peninsula. These findings are helping scientists understand the full spectrum of motions occurring on the fault and may yield new insights into the events that lead to major earthquakes.

A slow slip event involves the same fault motion as an earthquake, but it happens so slowly that the ground does not shake. It can be detected only with networks of modern instruments that use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to measure precisely the movements of the Earth's crust over time.

Susan Schwartz, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, leads a team that has installed a permanent network of 13 GPS monitoring stations and 13 seismic stations on Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula.

"At least two slow slip events have occurred beneath the Nicoya Peninsula since 2003," Schwartz said. "When we recorded the first one in 2003, we had only 3 GPS stations. By 2007, we had 12 GPS stations and over 10 seismic stations, so the event that year was very nicely recorded."

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded the work by Schwartz and others to install monitoring equipment in Costa Rica. Schwartz, who directs UCSC's Keck Seismological Laboratory, has been working in the region since 1991. At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Chicago, she will describe results from the past decade of fault-zone monitoring in Central America.

"The newest discovery is the occurrence of these slow slip events. But there has been a decade of focused effort in this area that has significantly advanced our knowledge of the Central America seismogenic system," Schwartz said. "Initially, we focused on areas of the fault that are locked up, which slip in an earthquake. The slow slip is occurring in regions that are not strongly locked, and a big question is whether that is loading the locked area, making it more likely to break, or relieving stress on the fault."

Schwartz said she does not think slow slip events significantly increase the likelihood of a major earthquake on a locked portion of the fault. She noted, however, that scientists are still at an early stage in terms of understanding the implications of different kinds of fault motion and translating that information into earthquake hazard assessments.

Flanked by active tectonic margins on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, Costa Rica is one of the most earthquake-prone and volcanically active countries in the world. Just off the west coast is the Middle America Trench, where a section of the seafloor called the Cocos Plate dives beneath Central America, generating powerful earthquakes and feeding a string of active volcanoes. This type of boundary between two converging plates of the Earth's crust is called a subduction zone--and such zones are notorious for generating the most powerful and destructive earthquakes.

The slow slip phenomenon was first observed at subduction zones where hundreds of GPS and seismic instruments are deployed: the Cascadia fault zone (off the coast of Washington and British Columbia) and Japan's Nankai Trough. At these and most other subduction zones, the part of the plate boundary where earthquakes originate, called the seismogenic zone, lies beneath the ocean. But in Costa Rica, the seismogenic zone runs right beneath the Nicoya Peninsula.

"It's a perfect opportunity to study the seismogenic zone using a network of land-based instruments," Schwartz said.

The 2007 slow slip event in Costa Rica involved movement along the fault equivalent to a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. But it took place over a period of 30 days rather than the 10 seconds typical for an earthquake of that size, and such slow motion does not radiate the seismic energy associated with normal earthquakes. The instruments did pick up seismic tremor, however, which Schwartz likened to a lot of very small earthquakes. Tremor activity is also associated with slow slip events in Japan and Cascadia, but there are some differences in Costa Rica, Schwartz said.

"Costa Rica has a different type of subduction zone from the well-studied ones in Japan and Cascadia," she said. "One thing that makes it interesting is that the temperature is much cooler at the depth range where slip occurs, and that is helping us work out the role of fluids in generating slow slip."

Ultimately, the goal of this research is not only a better understanding of subduction zones, but also better assessments of earthquake hazards. Schwartz said her Costa Rican colleagues have been working to educate the population of Nicoya about earthquakes and related hazards. With a growing population along the coast, the region faces a potential tsunami threat as well as the possibility of a major earthquake, she said.

This University of California - Santa Cruz public release was distributed via EurekAlert

Contact: Tim Stephens
Email: stephens@ucsc.edu
Phone: 831-459-2495

For more articles on this subject:
-Scientists Dig Deep for In-Depth Look at Earthquakes (Live Science)
-New Monitoring Stations Detect 'Silent Earthquakes' In Costa Rica (Science News)

Cash helped China win Costa Rica’s recognition

2008-09-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

By Graham Bowley
New York Times

As part of an incentive package to persuade Costa Rica to shift its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China last year, China used the muscle of its enormous foreign exchange reserves, agreeing to buy $300 million of Costa Rican bonds, documents released in Costa Rica this week revealed.

The deal shows that China is using its $1.8 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, the world’s largest such cache of foreign currency, to further its political goals, despite promises that it would not do so.

As China’s economic might has risen in recent years, so has concern about its international reach, particularly in the United States. China is thought to be the largest foreign holder of United States government-backed debt, and bankers estimate that $1 trillion of China’s total foreign exchange reserves are in American securities.

The terms of the agreement were meant to be kept secret, according to La Nacion, a Costa Rican newspaper, but the government was forced by the constitutional court to publish the memorandum of understanding signed by both countries, as well as other documents. The court considered the information to be in the public’s interest.

The memorandum, posted on the Web site of Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry, is dated June 1, 2007, the month that China and Costa Rica established diplomatic relations, and it is co-signed by Yang Jiechi, China’s foreign minister.

The memorandum states that in return for Costa Rica’s shutting its embassy in Taiwan and expelling Taiwanese diplomats, China agreed to buy $300 million in bonds.

It also agreed to give $130 million in aid to Costa Rica, as well as other incentives, including 20 scholarships each year for Costa Ricans to study in China.

The documents show that the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the secretive organization that is the steward of China’s foreign exchange reserves, agreed to buy $150 million in state bonds, with a term of 12 years and carrying an interest rate of 2 percent per year, in January of this year and a further $150 million in January 2009.

La Nacion reported that the Costa Rican finance minister, Guillermo Zuniga, had warned this week that the decision to make the details of the agreement public could jeopardize the purchase of the second set of bonds by China. It quoted the Chinese ambassador to Costa Rica, Wang Xiaoyu, as saying that China was now assessing the impact on relations between the countries.

In a statement published Wednesday, Vice President Laura Chinchilla defended the agreement. “We believe that the country received only positive news with the establishment of this relationship,” she said.

China’s ruling Communist Party considers Taiwan, a democracy of 23 million, a rebel province that must be brought back into the fold. China has threatened to use force to reclaim Taiwan if it takes steps to formalize its de facto independence from the mainland.

China for years has devoted considerable diplomatic energy and financial resources to persuading other countries to sever ties with Taiwan. After Costa Rica’s switch to China last year, Taiwan was left with only a small circle of 23 international supporters, most of them tiny, poor nations, while Beijing commands the support of 171 nations.

China has also worked to block Taiwan from joining certain international bodies, like the World Health Organization. Both sides have vied for friends with lavish offers of financial aid and infrastructure projects, but the involvement of the foreign exchange administration in providing a lure is a new one.

The revelation that the foreign exchange administration had used funds under its supervision to achieve China’s diplomatic goals may complicate the agency’s efforts to broaden and diversify the investment of China’s largely dollar-based foreign currency holdings.

Both the foreign exchange administration and the China Investment Corporation, a state-run investment fund that has a separate role in investing China’s foreign-currency holdings in overseas assets, are eager to find new, more lucrative outlets for earning profits in dollar-based investments.

But politicians in the United States have raised concerns that China could use such investments as leverage to realize political and diplomatic goals that sometimes clash with Washington’s priorities.

Serial killer might be on the loose in Costa Rica

2008-08-23T13:24:00.001-05:00

By Uri Ridelman

Costa Rican authorities are investigating whether four murder cases have any connection and were commited by the same individual after eery similarities were found at the crime scenes.

All the victims have been killed near the 19th day of the month, with a shot to the head, the bodies abandoned in places where it's easy to find them and the crimes have all taken place in the Western area of San Jose. Also the victims had valuables and cash with them, which leads police to believe that robbery was not the motive in these cases.

In the latest case the bodies of a man and a woman, which knew each other, appeared 1.6 miles apart in separate places in the area of Pavas during the morning hours of August 20.

The first body to be discovered was that of 22-year-old Pamela de Jesus Chaves Umaña, which was found 100 meters east of the Jack's factory in Pavas, when Rafael Lopez Mena, a homeless man looking for trash in a empty lot, saw a bloody body around 5:45 a.m.

Authorities have revealed that Chaves, who lived just about a mile away from where her body was found, most likely was killed somewhere else and then her corpse was left in the lot. She had been shot once in the left temple, had her hands tied behind her back and had several bruises on her face.

She was wearing jeans, a white blouse, a white watch, a green bracelet and green tennis shoes. Police also found on the crime scene 12,000 colones in cash and a two-day-old receipt for a $50 bank transaction which belonged to a bank in the province of Heredia.

At about 10: 15 a.m. of the same day the body 24-year-old Rolando Orozco Alpizar, was found near the Tobias Bolaños Airport in Pavas. The authorities found about this murder because someone called 911 to report it.

Orozco was on his stomach with the hands tied in front of him and had a shot on the right temple. Authorities believe that the man had been dead for about 8 to 10 hours by the time he'd been found.

He was wearing gray cargo pants, a dark blue jacket and white tennis shoes. His wallet with 7,000 colones in cash, his driving license and his national ID card were found on him. No bullets or bullets shells were found on neither crime scene.

The last time he was seen by his father was in the morning of August 19 when he left his house driving a gray Nissan Sunny automobile. The car, which belonged to Orozco's mother, was later found abandoned at the Pali supermarket in the center of Pavas with no apparent traces of blood in it.

From what the authorities have been able to put together so far it seems that the two victims were graphic design students that had been studying together to prepare their graduation thesis when they decided to go out to eat something.

La Nacion newspaper reported that Gerardo Leon, a friend of the Orozco, saw them at the Burger King restaurant in La Sabana area at about 9 p.m. That is apparently the last time anyone saw either of the victims alive.

A similar double murder is being investigated after the bodies of 34-year-old journalist Julio Cesar Acuña Agüero and 23-year-old Yoselin Yariela Rojas Chinchilla were found on June 19 with shots to the head.

His body was found around 5:30 a.m. near Alajuelita, with shots to the face, right arm and hand. At the crime scene the authorities found a backpack and a woman's purse that belonged to Rojas and allowed to identify her body.

Rojas, a math teacher, was found about 30 minutes later on the Prospero Fernandez road in the intersection to Escazu, near the toll to the Multiplaza Mall. Her body had two shots to the head and was completely naked when found.

From what police has been able to find out Acuña and Rojas were friends and were last seen alive on June 18 late at night at a bar called "El Higueron." They left together around midnight.

A woman that lives near the place where the corpse of the journalist was found told the authorities that she heard about five gunshots around 2 a.m. Both bodies presented cuts and bruises.

A special crimes unit is investigating these two double murders to determine whether they are connected. The authorities have not ruled out the possibility that both double murders were commited by more than one person working together.

There are two other cases that took place on June 19 and are also being investigated, although these victims apparently didn't know each other as is not known yet whether they have any connection to the two double murders. The first one was a trasvestite that was partially nude and had a shot to the back of the head. His body appeared at about 3:55 a.m.

The second one involved a 23-year-old university student that was found alive almost 30 minutes later and about half a mile from where the trasvestite's body was. He was found inside his pickup truck next to a gray backpack with a shot in the right temple. He died the next day.

This article was written using information released to the public by the Costa Rican authorities and with news articles from La Nacion, Al Dia and Diario Extra newspapers.

Costa Rica vacation homes hit by crisis

2008-08-01T12:45:00.001-05:00

By John McPhaul

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - The U.S. mortgage crisis has hit Costa Rica's once booming vacation home market, with sales plummeting as Americans who dream of buying a tropical getaway struggle to find financing.

U.S. retirees and vacationers often pay for beach homes along Costa Rica's jungle-fringed beaches by taking out mortgages on their homes in the United States, but trouble in the banking sector has made that more difficult, realtors say.

Prices for some vacation houses and condominiums in the Central American country have dropped as much as 40 percent from their peak a few years ago and sales have slumped at least 30 percent over the past six months, they say.

"Most of the sales to Americans are in cash after they take out a second mortgage on a property or mortgage a property they have clear title to," said real estate broker Iris Mailloux.

"I've only had seven sales that were (locally) financed in the 15 years I've been here."

Real estate agent Sabastian Pecher said sales are particularly slow for less expensive condos in the $100,000 to $200,000 range, which typically have two bedrooms and are within strolling distance to a beach.

"On the lower end we're down at least 50 percent to 60 percent," said Pecher, who sells second-hand homes as well as new condominiums.

Homeowners in the United States are facing foreclosures at a record pace, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

As a result, U.S. banks, many of which have been burned by lending to clients with poor credit histories, have tightened lending rules to reduce risks.

Home sales in Costa Rica are still strong to visitors from Canada and Europe, where banks have been less affected by the U.S. mortgage industry slowdown, said Mailloux.

Developers selling new condominiums in Costa Rica, which has a reputation as a peaceful amateurism paradise, are trying not to cut prices, even if that means holding onto empty buildings, said realtor Murray Greer.

Realtor Mark Price said realistic sellers are cutting prices 20 to 40 percent compared with three years ago, when the Costa Rican market peaked.

He gave an example of a three-bedroom house in the beach town of Tamarindo selling for $490,000, down from an asking price of $650,000.

As many as 60,000 Americans live in Costa Rica, according to Linda Solar, executive director at the American Chamber of Commerce.

The northern Pacific coast in the province of Guanacaste has become particularly popular since an international airport was built in the city of Liberia five years ago.

Last year, foreigners invested $664 million in Costa Rican real estate, according to the country's construction industry association.

(Reporting by John McPhaul; Editing by Jackie Frank)

Twins will return to Costa Rica

2008-01-23T10:01:00.000-06:00

By Barbara Feder Ostrov
Mercury News

After six months of doctors poking and prodding, multiple surgeries and daily physical therapy sessions, it is time for Yurelia and Fiorella Rocha-Arias to go home - not as one, but two.

Born joined at the chest and abdomen, the 2-year-old twins were successfully separated at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in November.

Now fully recovered, they are expected to return to their native Costa Rica with their mother and oldest sister as soon as their doctors clear them for travel.

"I feel very happy and content," said their grateful mother, Maria Elizabeth Arias, at a news conference Tuesday. "My girls were born anew in this hospital."

The girls, for their part, cheerfully blew soap bubbles and played with toy shopping carts as cameras from U.S. and Latin American media clicked madly.

It has been a difficult journey for Yurelia and Fiorella, the 10th and 11th children of Arias, a cookhouse cleaner, and their father, security guard Jose Luis Rocha. The parents, from Nicaragua, moved to San Jose, Costa Rica, before the twins were born.

The twins, minor celebrities in Costa Rica since birth, were brought to the United States by Mending Kids International, a nonprofit organization that is underwriting their transportation and housing.

After a Southern California hospital declined to take the girls' case, Packard Hospital agreed to evaluate them. The hospital paid for their treatment.

Extensive imaging tests showed that the girls shared a liver. Their two separate hearts were connected at the right atria. Yurelia, the weaker of the two, had her own congenital heart defect that would need to be repaired.

Conjoined twins are thought to occur as rarely as one in 200,000 births. Most never survive a pregnancy, and most who are born alive do not survive for more than a day.

To prepare the girls for surgery, inflatable balloons known as tissue expanders were inserted into their bodies to give them an additional eight centimeters of skin; the new skin from the uncomfortable process would help cover the incisions when they were separated.

Then, on Nov. 12, came the rare separation surgery itself, a nine-hour procedure that involved dozens of surgeons and other health professionals.

The girls' prospects were grim. Doctors gave them only a 50 percent chance of surviving the surgery. But survive they did, recovering at a pace that pleased their many doctors.

When Arias heard the surgery was successful, "I got down on my knees and said, 'Thank you, Lord, for giving my girls back to us,'" she said through a translator.

When the girls woke up after their initial separation surgery, they immediately looked for the other, Arias said. They still sleep together and want to be together all the time, she added.

Yurelia underwent another surgery to correct her heart defect Nov. 14, and Fiorella had minor surgery on her chest Nov. 19. Physical therapy visits and periodic post-surgery check-ups followed. Soon, they were learning how to walk on their own.

The girls are now separate individuals, but their personalities have not changed, their mother said. Fiorella, dressed in a blue party dress and matching headband, "has the strongest personality," Arias said. "Yurelia has more of a sweet personality."

When Fiorella wanted water or something to eat, Yurelia would want it, too. "Now that they're separated, it's the same thing -- they're still fighting," Arias said to laughter from the crowded hospital auditorium.

Arias said she did not know exactly when the family would be returning to Costa Rica, but she hoped it would be soon. She will be returning to her poor immigrant neighborhood on the outskirts of San Jose and said she likely will not be able to return to her job for some time.

In previous interviews, she has said that she asked the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan governments for help with the twins' ongoing care.

None appears forthcoming for now, said Enrico Cacciatore, editor of InsideCostaRica.com, an online English-language publication that has covered the twins. But the girls are likely to receive intense media attention upon their return.

"They've had coverage from day one," Cacciatore said. "I would imagine there will be a big hurrah at the airport."

As Arias on Tuesday thanked the many doctors and other professionals involved in the girls' care, she appealed to her countrymen for their continued prayers and support.

"Please keep praying for our babies," she said. "We still have yet to see their biggest step, which is to grow and have a normal life."

More images of the Atenas disaster

2007-10-15T14:25:00.000-05:00

This is the second part of the images taken on the days of October 11 and 12 in Atenas after a mud avalanche killed 14 people and destroyed 7 houses. (All images by Juan Carlos Ulate/ REUTERS).

Deadly landslide devastates Atenas

2007-10-15T09:17:00.000-05:00

Rains Continue Around Costa Rica

(Tico Times) - Tears of tragedy followed pounding rain this weekend in the town of Atenas, northwest of San Jose, where rescue workers pulled the bodies of 14 people out of their houses after they were buried by a landslide late last week. Meanwhile, communities around the country suffered damages caused by persistent rains.

The National Emergency Commission (CNE) yesterday reported that recent bad weather caused by a low-pressure system over Mexico 's Yucatan Peninsula blowing rain over Costa Rica has left 1,500 houses damaged, more than 700 people in 17 shelters and 16 people dead, according to a statement from the CNE.

In Fatima de Atenas, a landslide buried seven houses, killing 14 people last week. As rescue workers pulled their bodies out of the wreckage Friday and Saturday, two more people became victims – a 21-year-old woman who was pulled away by a current when attempting to drive across a river in Atenas and an 87-year-old man who was swept away by Rio Enmedio in the northwestern Guanacaste province.

The central Pacific canton of Parrita also saw frightening water levels as Rio Parrita rose, covering more than 1,000 houses and forcing inhabitants to flee to nearby shelters.

CNE officials yesterday visited the Parrita communities of La Julieta, La Pitahaya, Los Angeles and Playon Sur to assess the situations of the more than 350 people who remain in shelters, bringing more food, blankets and other necessary supplies.

In the Central Valley, relentless rain caused damages to communities including Santa Ana, Desamparados, Aserri and Mora.

Conditions are returning to normal in the central Pacific community of Puntarenas, which last week was hit by heavy rains. However, 147 people remain in shelters in the areas of Barranca and El Roble and in the towns of Garabito, Herradura and Tarcoles.

In light of continuing rains and saturated soil, the CNE is maintaining a red alert for the cantons of Parrita, Garabito, Puntarenas Centro and Atenas, while the rest of the country remains under a yellow alert, except for the Caribbean coast, which is under a green alert, the statement said.
The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) expects rains to continue today as more low-pressure systems roll in.

Costa Rica dealt wild card in trade pact rift

2007-09-21T12:18:00.000-05:00

Government officials' letter urging dirty tricks to sway voters to back an agreement could backfire.

By Marla Dickerson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA - With just over two weeks to go before Costa Ricans head to the polls to vote on a free-trade agreement with the United States and six other countries, Alfredo Volio should be a happy man.

As head of the "yes" campaign championing the pact, known as CAFTA, he has watched public support climb in recent months. The latest opinion polls showed Costa Ricans leaning toward backing the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which would dismantle most trade barriers between the United States and half a dozen Latin countries.

But that was before a memo written by CAFTA advocates was leaked to the public this month, fueling outrage here. The document, dated July 29 and written by two high-level government officials with close ties to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, outlined a campaign of dirty tricks intended to sway voters.

The authors proposed smearing CAFTA opponents by linking them to leftist firebrands such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro. They called for a public relations campaign to "stimulate fear" among citizens about the alleged dangers of snubbing the deal.

They also advocated punishing local officials - by withholding funds for public programs in their regions - if their constituents repudiated CAFTA.

CAFTA opponents have cried foul while supporters have suddenly found themselves on the defensive over a measure that appeared headed to victory. Prominent CAFTA backers, including Arias, have distanced themselves from the memo, which was addressed to him and his brother, Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias.

One of the authors, Second Vice President Kevin Casas, has resigned from the "yes" campaign and temporarily stepped down from his Cabinet post as planning minister while election officials investigate whether any laws were broken.

"It's a bombshell," said Luis Guillermo Solis, a political science professor at the University of Costa Rica who opposes CAFTA. "It's Watergate."

Solis predicted that the memo would spark a backlash among undecided voters and citizens fed up with corruption scandals that have roiled Costa Rica in recent years. Other analysts have dismissed the incident as political noise that will quiet down by the day of the referendum, Oct. 7.

What's clear is that the document has energized CAFTA opponents and embarrassed Arias just ahead of the crucial vote.

"It's a blow," said Volio, a former government minister, in a recent interview in his office in an upscale suburb of Costa Rica's capital. He said he knew nothing of the memo until it was leaked to the media, adding that the "yes" forces had not acted on any of its recommendations.

Few trade experts would have predicted that Costa Rica, Central America's most prosperous economy and a model of social stability for the region, would be roiling over CAFTA. It's the only member of the seven-nation deal that has yet to ratify the pact, which includes the United States, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

The trade issue has proved so divisive among Costa Ricans that the government relented this year to allow voters to decide whether to ratify it.

Business groups are solidly behind the deal, saying it's the best way to bullet-proof trading relations with the United States, the destination for about half of Costa Rican exports of coffee, fruit, apparel and high-tech products, and its biggest source of direct foreign investment.

A number of U.S. companies, including Intel Corp. and Baxter International Inc., have set up shop in Costa Rica, attracted by its location, political stability and high-quality workforce. Others are eager to enter the nation's industries such as telecommunications and insurance, currently government-run monopolies in Costa Rica that would be pried open to competition if CAFTA is approved.

Volio said the trade deal would mean lower prices, faster export growth, continued U.S. investment and jobs. Costa Rica is experiencing sluggish economic growth and has high unemployment.

"Costa Rica is at a crossroads," Volio said. "This is about our future."

Opponents are wary of the U.S.-prescribed recipe of unfettered trade and privatization for the region. Some portray CAFTA as an attack on their nation's unique social model. Costa Rica abolished its army in 1949, choosing instead to invest in education, universal healthcare and social programs that have made it a prototype of human development for the region.

Foes say the benefits of CAFTA will flow mainly to Costa Rica's elite, making the country more like its impoverished neighbors. For example, some worry that competition will bankrupt the state-run phone service, which, while hardly the epitome of efficiency, has provided Costa Ricans with some of the lowest telecom rates in Latin America. Others fret that protections granted to U.S. pharmaceutical makers will make it harder for Costa Rica's national health service to procure low-cost generic drugs.

Costa Rica's powerful public-sector unions are opposed to CAFTA. So are rice and dairy farmers who produce mainly for the domestic market. They fear a flood of subsidized U.S. agricultural commodities will wipe out their livelihoods.

"Our [profit] margins are thin, but this business has always been stable," dairy farmer Roberto Rodriguez Vargas said. "A lot of us couldn't survive even one or two bad years."

Others reason that if the benefits of CAFTA were so patently obvious, then supporters wouldn't need to craft a clandestine campaign to scare people into voting for it. Farmer John Brealey said he was fed up with "lies" about how the U.S. would retaliate against Costa Rica if citizens voted against the pact or that leftists such as Castro were bankrolling the "no" campaign.

"Fidel would be so happy that he'd probably live another 10 years if Costa Rica voted it down, but he's got nothing to do with this," Brealey said. "It's shameful the way [CAFTA supporters] are trying to frighten people."

Leaders of campaign against the pact say they aren't against free trade; they just want to cut a better deal by negotiating a separate, bilateral trade agreement with the United States.

Some experts say that's wishful thinking. Democrats in the U.S. Congress have put the brakes on pending trade pacts with Peru, Colombia and Panama and wouldn't be enthusiastic about a new round of trade talks with Costa Rica.

"It's very unlikely [Costa Rica] will get another deal" said Michael Shifter, analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank. "That's a high-risk bet" by CAFTA opponents.

The whole debate has put Costa Ricans such as Juan Vargas in a bad mood. The retiree said he was furious about the scare tactics advocated by the secret memo he had read about in newspapers. But he is also worried about a small country such as Costa Rica trying to go it alone in a globalized world.

"Right now I'm not sure how I'll vote," he said. "I'm fed up with the whole thing."

Costa Rican gold mine suspended due to pollution risks

2007-09-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

Cyanide, other chemicals may have already leaked into environment

By EARTHWORKS

A multinational coalition of environmental and human rights organizations are calling on Canadian mining company Glencairn Gold Corporation to disclose information about suspected cyanide and metals pollution from the Bellavista gold mine in Costa Rica.

Glencairn shut down the mine in late July, following heavy rains that caused substantial earth movements, and has reported in financial statements that the mine "may remain closed indefinitely," but has not made available any information about the extent of current or potential damage. The groups also demand proper cleanup and remediation of any current or future contamination.

"Glencairn must disclose complete information about the conditions at the mine site," notes Sonia Torres of CEUS del Golfo in Costa Rica. "Without this, how can we protect our people and drinking water from pollution?"

Bellavista is an open-pit gold mine, and uses a method known as "cyanide heap-leaching" – in which huge piles of crushed ore are soaked with cyanide solution to extract gold. According to Glencairn, heavy rainfall in May led to significant earth movements that disturbed these massive heaps of cyanide-tainted wastes as well as other waste rock piles at the mine.

Experts familiar with the mine fear that such conditions could lead to pollution of water and soil with cyanide and other contaminants due to a rupture in the leach-pad lining. Glencairn has said that it first noticed cracks in two corners of the leach pad in May, but the company continued to operate the mine and apply cyanide until July 25.

"Putting an open-pit gold mine in a mountainous, tropical region prone to landslides and torrential rainfall is a disaster waiting to happen," said Anna Cederstav, a chemist with the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA). "Unfortunately, the risks of toxic ground-water contamination are now real and must be dealt with at once."

In 2005, Dr. Cederstav had testified before Costa Rica's Supreme Court about the likely impacts of the Bellavista mine. Even before the mine was approved, Dr. Cederstav and other independent technical experts had warned that the region's topography and rainfall make it an inappropriate location for a large-scale mine.

Cleaning up and controlling mining pollution can be extremely expensive, costing hundreds of millions of dollars for long-term treatment to protect water supplies. Glencairn has provided just $250,000 in financial guarantees for Bellavista – funds which are intended for mine cleanup, and do not provide insurance against mishaps like the unstable leach pad.

Jim Kuipers, a mining engineer and mining bonding expert based in Butte, MT, says, "These types of events typically result in an order of magnitude increase in remediation costs above the original estimate. And this mine was almost certainly under-bonded to begin with."

The coalition of groups calls on the Costa Rican government to commission a team of independent technical experts to conduct a review of the Bellavista mine, and to ensure that Glencairn will undertake and fully cover the costs of all necessary mitigation and remediation.

"Glencairn must make sure that communities around the mine are protected from pollution, and that includes paying for clean-up," said Payal Sampat of EARTHWORKS and the "No Dirty Gold" campaign. "Otherwise taxpayers and communities are stuck with the bill – and the pollution."

Costa Rica outlawed all new open-pit mining in 2002, but the Bellavista mine was given a permit prior to the ban. It is the only operating large open-pit mine in this ecotourism-dependent country. High metals prices are driving a gold mining rush in other parts of Latin America.

"Costa Rica has had the foresight to ban open-pit mining, which can be incredibly destructive to people and the environment," said Gabriel Rivas-Ducca of Friends of the Earth in Costa Rica. "We hope this incident will serve as a warning to other regions that are opening their doors to gold mining."

Cyanide and the metal contamination produced at mines such as this are toxic to humans and extremely dangerous for wildlife, especially aquatic species. If mixed with acidic water, typically present at gold mines, cyanide generates hydrogen cyanide gas, an even more potent poison.

Cyanide spills at gold mines elsewhere, including other parts of Latin America, Europe and Africa, have led to fish and wildlife kills and water pollution. Gold mining can also cause significant pollution of soil and water with sulfuric acid drainage and metals such as arsenic and mercury.

Costa Rica clears up scavengers

2007-08-09T12:04:00.000-05:00

Eco-tourism hot spot cleans up its garbage sites leaving scavengers unemployed.

By JOHN MCPHAUL

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, (Reuters) - Costa Rica, an eco-tourism haven of volcanoes and tropical wildlife, is cracking down on its stinking garbage dumps, putting scavengers who made a living from collecting rubbish out of work.

Despite being home to quetzal birds and jaguars, Costa Rica is struggling with saturated landfills, low levels of recycling and the dumping of about 300 tons of garbage a day into vacant lots and rivers.

Poor scavengers, known as skin divers because they push through the garbage with a breast stroke-like swimming action, collect cardboard, zinc, paper and glass. Their finds are passed on to other scavengers who separate the goods for sale to middlemen who haul off the recovered trash.

But the Costa Rican government, which depends on tourism as its top source of foreign-exchange earnings, says there is no place for skin divers in its strategy to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2021, as rubbish tips emit harmful methane gases.

"We are looking to ecological solutions like the industrialization of solid waste, recovering 70 percent of what is generated," Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila said in an interview.

"The future should see recycling and reduction."

The new policy, which means switching to industrial recycling and a public education program to teach people to separate garbage in their homes, is bad news for skin divers.

Many came to Costa Rica from impoverished Nicaragua, attracted by the relatively high pay of $100 a week and undeterred by the respiratory and skin diseases that come from working and living on a rubbish dump.

"It is horrible work but you get used to it," said 52-year-old Angela Cano.

Skin divers say they started working on the rubbish tips because they struggled to find work in Costa Rica's cities and coffee farms. Coffee pickers make up to $75 a week but the work is seasonal.

Taking a pay cut

Skin divers will now have to survive on $40 a week that the government will provide for up to three months until they find other jobs.

"You can't live on $40 a week and at this time I don't see any option for work, especially at my age," said Cano.

Her husband and fellow skin diver Maximo Castillon plans to go to work in construction with one of their sons, while Cano could become a lower-paid domestic worker.

The government is undeterred. It closed the country's largest landfill, Rio Azul which received most of the garbage from the Costa Rican capital and surrounding communities, last month. Smaller dumps are receiving the trash until next week when a new landfill will open in Asseri, near Rio Azul.

But skin divers will no longer swim in any landfills, said Pablo Fernandez, a lawyer with Costa Rica's Ombudsman's office.

"From now on the law prohibits them from skin diving because of the health risk it exposes them to," he said.

Peaceful Costa Rica wages war on drugs

2007-07-24T08:43:00.000-05:00

Costa Rica is showing progress in its war on drugs, but concerns exist that the country is used as an exchange center for major drug trade.

BY BLAKE SCHMIDT
Special to the Miami Herald

San Jose, Costa Rica - Known abroad mostly for its political stability, pristine beaches and eco-tourism, this country without an army has suddenly found itself in the middle of the war on drugs.

During President Oscar Arias' 14 months in office, Costa Rican and U.S. authorities have set seizure records in increasingly spectacular drug busts - nearly 50 tons of cocaine, compared with 2003, when seizures didn't reach one ton.

In the latest case, scuba divers are still trying to recover a suspected boatload of cocaine that sank to the bottom of the Pacific after its crew set it on fire last week as authorities approached. The four Colombian crewmen were handed to immigration authorities due to a lack of evidence.

''That's the third boat in recent months drug traffickers have burned in attempts to hide proof,'' said Security Minister Fernando Berrocal.

Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall'Anese says he believes the increase in seizures here may be due to Costa Rica's growing role as an exchange center in the flow of Colombian drugs toward the Mexican traffickers who smuggle the drugs to U.S. cities.

''The Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers are using Costa Rica as an exchange center,'' Dall'Anese wrote in an e-mail to The Miami Herald.

The increase has forced Costa Rica, which abolished its military in 1948 and now has only a national police force, to rely more on the U.S. Coast Guard. Berrocal recently asked Congress to allow Coast Guard ships to roam Costa Rican waters with less oversight in order to assist Costa Rica's mostly U.S.-donated fleet of smaller counter-drug boats and planes.

''We've become the eyes and ears of Costa Rica,'' said Dwight Mathers, executive officer of the 378-foot Cutter Rush that has been patrolling Costa Rica's waters.

Late last year, Costa Rican and U.S. authorities nabbed eight tons of cocaine abroad a Costa Rican fishing boat - the biggest seizure in Central America until authorities in March stopped a ship in Panamanian waters with 20 tons on board.

And earlier this month, authorities arrested five Colombians who had allegedly come to San Jose to assassinate Berrocal and Minister of the Presidency Rodrigo Arias, who also is the president's brother, in retaliation for drug seizures.

The Colombians were sent home because the Costa Rican criminal code doesn't include the crime of conspiracy, officials said. Berrocal said he also feared an armed attack by other Colombians to liberate the suspects. In Colombia, the five faced no charges and were set free.

Costa Rica's drug traffic also is attracting locals.

Authorities say they have caught many Costa Rican fishermen puttering out into the Pacific to sell gasoline to northbound smuggling boats. And drugs have never been so readily available here.

''We were once a bridge for drugs. Now we're not. A lot of it's staying,'' said Dr. Vera Barahona, technical coordinator at the government's Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Institute.

Drug consumption of all types has multiplied in the past decade, according to the institute. The percentage of youths who've used marijuana has tripled to 7.4 percent and cocaine use has quadrupled to 2 percent.

Among Costa Rican youths, 16 percent have consumed an illegal drug - the highest recorded rate in Central America, though still less than half the U.S. rate.

On a recent morning, taxi driver Jorge Bonilla bumped along San Jose's potholeridden streets, lamenting that his son had become a crack addict.

''There's drugs everywhere,'' Bonilla said. "It's impossible to eliminate them.''

Post office implements new address system

2007-03-21T11:23:00.000-05:00

(Inside Costa Rica) - The mailing address on all correspondences has changed as the Correos de Costa Rica (Costa Rica's Post Office) implemented its new postal code system, it announced Monday.

Now, every piece of mail sent inside and out of Costa Rica must include this new system, which Correos de Costa Rica is using to begin to standardize addresses.

The new postal code system aims to reduce, in the short term, the errors made in bad directions and the mail service trying to find the right mailbox.

This is the first step in an ambitious project to standardize addresses and mail service. The second step will soon begin with signs on all streets in the country.

Moravia, east side of San Jose, was chosen for the implementation of the project. During March and April the post office will offer information to teach the public the new system.

All addresses in Costa Rica will soon, regardless of what direction is placed on the address line, a postal code that is based on the Calles and Avenidas and a number assigned to each location. The number will be based on the distance in metrers from the cross corners.

The new system will not affect p.o. boxes.

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Costa Rica blames plant's closure on Venezuela spat

2007-02-22T13:21:00.000-06:00

By Adam Thomson in Mexico City and Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas
Finacial Times

Costa Rica's government has accused Venezuela of closing down an aluminium plant and relocating it elsewhere because of a political spat between the two country's leaders.

Rodrigo Arias, the chief of staff and brother of Oscar Arias, Costa Rica's president, said of the decision: "It seems to us that there is a political motivation." The comments late on Wednesday night followed Venezuela's decision to close the plant and move it elsewhere in the region.

The Alunasa aluminium plant has been operating for more than 25 years and was bought by Venezuela's state-owned heavy industries conglomerate, the Corporación Venezolana de Guyana, or CVG, in 1990. Bienvenido Venegas, a Costa Rican lawmaker, claimed on Thursday that the decision by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela to close the plant, which produces about 10,000 tonnes a year and employs 400 people, could not be economically motivated.

"It's a completely crazy idea to remove the company from Costa Rica. Last year it had record production," Mr Venegas said.

Marco Vinicio Ruiz, Costa Rica's trade minister, stressed that the company had increased exports to $47m last year, compared with $26m in 2000, although aluminium prices have roughly doubled in the same period.

Luis Guillermo Solis, a professor at the University of Costa Rica and a former foreign secretary, supported the view that the decision had not been taken for financial reasons. "The company is not only profitable, it is very profitable," he said. "It has an excellent reputation in Costa Rica. It has improved its financial position in recent years and it is producing efficiently."

But Prof. Solís also criticised Mr Arias's approach. "A head of state has to be much more careful. Costa Rica does not gain a thing by criticising Hugo Chavez. It only loses."

The 66-year-old Costa Rican leader, who won a Nobel peace prize in 1987 for his efforts to end the civil wars in Central America, is firmly in the free-market camp. He recently lambasted the regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba, comparing it with the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

The diplomatic spat between Caracas and San Jose has been simmering since the start of February, when Mr Arias implied Venezuela's leader was "a dictator" after he was granted extraordinary powers to rule by decree for 18 months.

This week Mr Chavez rejected the Costa Rican government's accusations, insisting the decision to close its plant was the result of "economic considerations".

"They say I'm angry and that is why I gave the decision to remove the plant," he said. "No, it's just that there are geopolitical reasons as well as economic and technical reasons."

Flush with cash, Americans snap up properties abroad

2007-02-14T10:33:00.000-06:00

Tony Czuczka

WASHINGTON (Hispanic Business) - U.S. cookbook author Mimi Bean went to Costa Rica looking for a holiday home. She wound up buying a restaurant as an investment, sold it and now lives in a beach village that is fast becoming a surfers' paradise.

Whether it is Bean leaving Atlanta and changing her life, or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie spending holidays at a luxury resort, Americans citizens are flocking to Central America like never before. More and more often, they buy.

Ageing baby boomers who want to retire without paying Florida prices, young professionals flush with profits made in the U.S. housing boom, developers who see huge potential in places like Panama - all are heading south from the U.S. in search of beauty, fun and profit.

"A huge part of it is that the cost of living and taxation on properties are very low," said Karen Ebanks, a real estate agent in Costa Rica who helped Bean with her transactions. "You can afford to have a live-in housekeeper and gardener."

Foreigner-friendly changes in property laws, better communications and growing political stability have already heated up real estate markets in first-tier destinations like Mexico and Costa Rica to the point that would-be expatriates are looking farther afield.

Bean came to Tamarindo on Costa Rica's northern Pacific coast after selling her restaurant near the capital San Jose last year. Now she does interior design and plans a food condiments venture.

"For her it just started out as an investment," Ebanks said in a telephone interview. "She hadn't planned to move here full time and just fell in love with the place."

Soaring home prices over the past five or six years have fueled the foreign property craze. Owners have cashed in by selling or leveraging their U.S. homes; at the same time, buyers priced out of the domestic market are looking south of the border for deals.

Take Chris Lyman. He and his wife Carmella, partners in a public relations firm, sold their three-bedroom second home in Arizona in October 2006 for $570,000, 73 percent more than they paid for it three years earlier.

The proceeds went to help buy a seaside villa with pool in Canto del Mar, southeastern Costa Rica, which the couple hope to rent out when they are not spending time there.

"It's dirt roads, miles of beach that you don't see another person on," said Lyman, 37. "It's a huge escape from pretty much anywhere in the U.S."

Though relatively remote, the community has Internet and mobile phone service, critical for two networked professionals whose main residence is in California.

"It's not like you're taking a backpack and going off into the jungle. You don't have to be detached when you're there," Lyman said.

And compared to the superheated U.S. property market, Costa Rica offered far more value for money, he said.

Meanwhile, higher-end U.S. customers who already own that ski chalet and a desert getaway, might look to places like Costa Rica for a third or fourth home.

All that money trickling down south is pumping up prices in Mexico, a favorite destination for next-door Californians, and Costa Rica.

Right now, Panama is red-hot. Experts see Honduras, Nicaragua and Belize as the likely next big things in the foreign-home rush.

"Countries have done a great job of opening up their second-home market," said Jeff Hornberger, an executive at the National Association of Realtors. "They see it as an economic development tool."

As U.S. residents have grown bolder about traveling and investing in property abroad, some have bought in overseas holiday hotspots in Croatia, Turkey and Asia.

But Central America has the natural advantage of closeness and, for better or worse, historical ties. Little things make a difference - for example, that Panama's currency is the U.S. dollar.

"Latin America is what's booming right now and it's offering a lifestyle that people can't afford any more in the U.S.," Hornberger said. "And people are making money on their property, too."

Source: Copyright 2007 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH

Costa Rica Realtors - What You Need To Know

2007-02-06T15:06:00.000-06:00

By Scott MacDougall
welovecostarica.com

During the last five to ten years Costa Rica has become a country that many foreigners have selected as the location for their new home, vacation property, retirement property or investment property.

During this time the real estate industry has experienced phenomenal growth. This growth will continue at a steady rate over the next fifteen years as over 60 million North Americans will retire during this time period, and many will look to Costa Rica for that little piece of paradise to call home.

The first thing that anyone looking to purchase real estate in Costa Rica should do, as they would in their home country, is to seek the advice of an experienced professional realtor.

The reasons for this may be more profound in Costa Rica. You may be asking why?

As a newcomer to a foreign country, you will not be familiar with the local laws that govern real estate transactions, the laws pertaining to the ownership of property, the various legal designations of property and the general 'do's and don'ts' related to purchasing a property.

This knowledge is critical to ensure you do not meet with any surprises along the way. An experienced professional realtor will ensure this is will be a transaction where you are informed and comfortable at all times.

One of the most important pieces of information you should know as a prospective buyer of property in Costa Rica is that realtors are not licensed here. There is no entity in Costa Rica that acts as a watchdog over the real estate industry and the real estate agents.

Anyone can sell real estate in Costa Rica and because of this, the expression "buyers beware" should be taken very seriously indeed. It is common knowledge that realtors make their livelihood from commissions received when they sell property.

As there is no license to lose, and the need to put food on the table, some realtors may slightly embellish the actual attributes of a property or a home. This one aspect alone should make you understand that the process of selecting your realtor is something that you need to do with a critical eye.

There are however two associations that realtors can become members of; the oldest and most well established of these associations is the 'Camara de Corredores de Bienes Raices.'

Established in 1974 the CC has a membership of 220 realtors. The second is a newly formed association founded in Guanacaste and is called the 'Guanacaste Association of Realtors' (GAR).

Members of the associations pay annual dues, share listings, and work to create a more formalized procedure for purchasing real estate, thereby helping to make the purchase of a property, a safe and secure process for the buyer.

Additionally, the Associations work to educate their realtors and have ethics policies that its members are suppose to abide by. Both are lobbying for the establishment of mandatory licensing for all realtors.

Now having said all of that, the reality is that, whether or not a realtor is a member of either or both Associations some will be good and some will (I hate to say it), be bad. There are some basic characteristics that you can look for in a realtor that will help you end up with a good one.

Professionalism is one of the key elements that all good realtors have. It is the general packaging of the realtor. Professionalism incorporates a broad spectrum of characteristics.

Experience & Knowledge - The two go hand in hand and like any other profession, an experienced realtor will definitely make the process of purchasing a property a more comfortable experience than a non-experienced realtor. Their experience and knowledge is directly related to the time they have lived and worked as a realtor in Costa Rica.

Organization - Take note of how well organized your realtor is. Do they have all the information they said they were going to have and is it current and accurate? Is their office well organized and orderly?

Appearance - Though seemingly not important, appearance is important. Your realtor should have enough concern for themselves and their level of professionalism to be attired appropriately, and well groomed.

Punctuality - A good realtor will return your phone calls, as well as answer your e-mail inquiry in a timely manner. They will be on time for appointments. 'Tico time' does not apply in the business world, even in Costa Rica.

Customer Service - Real estate is a service industry. The good realtors go beyond what is expected of them regarding customer service before and after the sale. Is your realtor giving you the service you expect? Are they willing to work hard to find you the property that is the right property for you, or are they trying to sell you that property that is the right property for them?

Pressure - The old hard sell is alive and well in Costa Rica. If you feel any pressure at all from your realtor an alarm bell should be ringing. Do not allow yourself to be pressured by your realtor. Do not buy that one and only deal of the century because someone else may buy it tomorrow. A good realtor will not pressure you at all, and should work to ensure that your purchase is a comfortable one for you. Good properties sell themselves. Your realtor is responsible to find out what fits your needs and show it to you.

Take note of the above and use common sense when dealing with realtors in Costa Rica. Do not hesitate in slowing things down and seeking second or third opinions.

There are many truly professional and experienced realtors working in Costa Rica that perform their duties with one goal in mind. That goal is, complete customer satisfaction. Look hard, be critical, don't settle for the first realtor you run into and shop around. Find the one that you feel most comfortable with. Use your common sense. It constantly amazes me how many people for some inexplicable reason leave their common sense at home.

Yes, Costa Rica is an incredibly beautiful country. Yes, the people are incredibly friendly. Yes, this is a great place to live. Yes, it is a very advantageous time to consider purchasing real estate here.

Work with an experienced professional realtor to help you acquire all the information and knowledge you need to make a comfortable and informed purchasing decision and you will end up with that perfect piece of Paradise that you wanted, and it will be done in the manner you hoped for and expected.

Scott MacDougall has lived in Costa Rica for the last ten years and has been intimately involved in real estate construction and land development during this time. Scott is presently the co-owner operator of 'Century 21 At The Beach' - a full service real estate and development company.

Former telecom exec charged with bribery in Costa Rica

2006-12-05T09:03:00.000-06:00

The FBI has traced $2.4 million payments from Alcatel to a senior ICE official in Costa Rica and $2.56 million to the official's wife.

MIAMI (AP) - A former top executive for the Latin American business of the French telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent faces U.S. corruption charges for allegedly funneling millions of dollars in bribes to Costa Rican officials to win lucrative contracts.

Christian Sapsizian, a 60-year-old French citizen who was a senior vice president for Latin America for Alcatel-Lucent, was free Tuesday on $525,000 bail after making his initial appearance Monday in federal court. Sapsizian is scheduled for arraignment Dec. 18 on a charge of making corrupt payments to a foreign official.

According to an FBI affidavit, Sapsizian agreed in 2000 to make payments to an unnamed senior official with Costa Rica's state-owned telecommunications authority, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, or ICE.

In return, the official would "vote in favor of awarding Alcatel a contract'' and provide other valuable assistance, according to the FBI.

Paris-based Alcatel S.A. completed its $11.6 billion acquisition of Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. last month, officially assuming the new Alcatel-Lucent name. The allegations involving Sapsizian, who is now retired, were under the former Alcatel S.A. corporate name.

Regine Coqueran, an Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman in Paris, provided a company statement Tuesday saying that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating payments by the company in foreign countries. The company said it would "cooperate fully in any inquiry or investigation into these matters.''

According to U.S. court documents, a subsidiary that handled Costa Rican business, Alcatel CIT, was awarded two contracts worth over $250 million in 2001 and 2002. Before that, according to the FBI, Alcatel CIT had frequently lost out to competitor Sweden's LM Ericsson AB.

The FBI traced $2.4 million payments from Alcatel to the senior ICE official in Costa Rica and $2.56 million to the official's wife. These alleged bribes were routed through a Costa Rican consulting firm hired to assist Alcatel in winning the contracts, using wire transfers from accounts at banks in New York, the Bahamas and Miami.

Sapsizian's attorney, Roy Kahn, said Sapsizian will plead not guilty to the charges and added that companies frequently hire such consulting firms for business ventures in Latin America. The Costa Rican consulting firm was paid some $14 million by Alcatel, according to the FBI.

"It appears that this is an institutionalized means of doing business by international companies in Latin America,'' Kahn said.

In addition, a cooperating witness told investigators that the ICE official and a official, also unnamed, "agreed to share whatever bribe payments were made by Costa Rican governmentSapsizian to the ICE official,'' according to the FBI affidavit.

The FBI affidavit quotes Sapsizian as telling investigators after his arrest on Nov. 20 at Miami International Airport that "he could not explain'' what Alcatel received in return for the money paid to the Costa Rican consulting firm.

The affidavit also says that Sapsizian arranged for a group of ICE officials to stay at a Paris hotel for four or five nights in October 2003 and told an Alcatel employee to pay their bills in company cash. In the later FBI interview, Sapsizian is quoted as telling agents that he wanted to pay cash so he would not "leave a paper trail'' and that it was "wrong'' to pay these officials' expenses.

Incofer seeks to offer urban train under concession

2006-11-30T13:26:00.000-06:00

Costa Rica's state rail administrator Incofer is looking to concession capital San Jose's urban train in 2007, local paper La Prensa Libre quoted Incofer president Miguel Caravaguiaz as saying.

Authorities came to the conclusion that the city's railway system needs further modernization, which would be possible through a concession scheme, Caravaguiaz said.

However, changes in the country's concession law are first needed before the train and other public infrastructure can be turned over to the private sector, a source from Costa Rica's national concession council (CNC) told BNamericas.

President Oscar Arias and other government authorities are promoting the changes in the current concessions bill, while CNC officials work diligently for the process to continue to move forward, the source added.

Incofer officials have long sought to concession San Jose's urban train system in an effort to upgrade its service quality and have its route expanded.

"I believe we - the institution [Incofer], the MOPT [ministry of public works] and the government - are working as a whole and have visualized this as an alternative. We will work hard towards a concession in 2007, that will provide us with a modern railway system," said Caravaguiaz.

Authorities are focusing on purchasing new equipment with MOPT funding and working with Spanish public transport services company Feve.

Incofer renewed operations on October 7 last year with the urban train linking the east and west of San Jose. The railway uses an old existing rail line from the 1980s and rolling stock donated by Feve during the 1990s. The service stopped operations in 1995.

The train - which has a capacity to transport 600 passengers a trip - traverses the city in about an hour and is an attractive alternative to traveling by bus, as the same trip would take an hour and a half and require three bus transfers.

Seeing the beauty of Costa Rica, from the saddle

2006-11-16T08:04:00.000-06:00

By Peter Walker for CNN

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (CNN) - Costa Rica is a magnet for international tourists and the Central American state's astonishing geographical and biological diversity - packed into an area just slightly bigger than Switzerland - means many are attracted by the great outdoors.

Long a well-known surfing center, Costa Rica also draws those seeking thrills such as white-water rafting, jungle trekking and sea kayaking.

However, every year a sizeable group arrive with the express intention of seeing the entire breadth of the country from a slightly different viewpoint - that of a bicycle saddle.

La Ruta de los Conquistadores ("The Route of the Conquerors"), the 14th edition of which has just finished, markets itself as the toughest mountain bike race in the world.

It is three days of coast-to-coast off-road riding, taking in environments ranging from tropical jungles to high-altitude volcanoes and coffee plantations.

The event is different in that while a smattering of the 400 or so competitors (around a tenth of them female) are top professional mountain bikers, the vast majority are ordinary amateurs who have spent months of their own time training hard to tackle the challenge of the race.

A good number are in their 30s, 40s or even 50s, giving up valuable vacation time as well as spending thousands of dollars on flights, hotels and the entry fee.

While the leaders whiz through the stages in times ranging from four to six hours, the backmarkers can take twice as long - beginning at dawn before limping across the finish line in near darkness.

The scale of the task is such that this year, almost a third of the field failed to complete all three stages within the allotted time.

A tough challenge

"I always knew it would be hard, probably harder than anything I had done before," said 37-year-old Paul Reyburn, an architect from Cape Town, South Africa, now living and working in Hong Kong, after the race was over.

"But I didn't realize exactly how hard."

Whatever the pain involved, the rewards are truly spectacular, granting participants a view of Costa Rica unmatched in everyday tourism.

La Ruta tracks the journey of an army led by Spanish mid-16th century conqueror Juan de Caballon, who spent two decades forging a path from Costa Rica's Pacific coast to the Caribbean side.

He began from the Pacific - the "wrong" side for a European invasion force - because the Spanish were by then already established in Central America and able to avoid the dense jungle of the Caribbean coast.

La Ruta started in 1992, when Costa Rican cyclist Roman Urbina read about de Caballon's exploits and set off with 34 fellow riders to retrace his steps, something that evolved into a major annual event.

Day one of the latest version began in the Pacific resort town of Jaco Beach, with the riders soon climbing high into the central hills, taking on rocky paths, the very occasional road and - most challenging - apparently near-vertical mud tracks on which even the strongest riders had to haul their bikes onto their backs and trudge up in slow motion.

The stage, deemed by organizers not quite tough enough in 2005, had been extended. This, combined with the sapping, tropical heat, saw scores of competitors fail to reach the finish, some even carted off to hospital suffering from dehydration or heatstroke.

Day two brought some relief, taking the field into the cooler air near the peak of extinct volcano Irazù, around 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level, before plunging them back down a twisty dirt path and through lush coffee plantations.

The final day was more spectacular still, the last part following an old railway line cut through the jungle, over rickety iron bridges towards the final finish point - a beach on the Caribbean coast.

The traditional end saw the sweaty, exhausted riders drop their bikes in the white sand and sprint, fully clothed in the sea.

"It's hard to explain why you do something like this," reflected Reyburn afterwards. "Partly, it's a way to see places you'd never otherwise see."

"But also, it's a good way to get on your bike and keep out of the bars."

A tyrant returns to Managua

2006-11-06T09:16:00.000-06:00

By Investor's Business Daily

Latin America: Daniel Ortega's near-certain return to power in Sunday's election is a new Marxist disaster for Nicaragua. For the rest of us, Ortega should be kept at arm's length as global forces send him their message.

It's a shame, because Nicaragua had a lot going for it. The Central American state is very poor, but it did have a free trade pact with the U.S. in the works, much of its national debt has been forgiven and its leaders were dreaming of a new cross-country canal to rival Panama's. It had even begun attracting foreign investment from Asia with factories ready to go up, as well as U.S. retirees seeking inexpensive paradise homes.

Not insignificantly, Nicaragua, in one of the region's best political neighborhoods, was supported by friendly states, such as El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama, all working for free trade, sustainable development and becoming dynamic "jaguar" states in this continent's answer to Asia's tigers.

All of these advantages, along with $220 million in U.S. aid, stand to go down the tubes with the new Ortega presidency.

Foreign investment, worth $291 million, already is fleeing. Corruption is set to snowball, given Ortega's rapacity and socialism's inability to create wealth. The economy will tank as the government grows and the private sector is abused. And thousands of refugees will join millions of illegal immigrants already flooding the U.S.

It's hard to find an election more infuriating for its wasted opportunities. Technically, it probably was close to what the government legislated it to be, so it will likely get the imprimatur of democracy from gullibles like Jimmy Carter, who observed the process.

Ortega walks off with the presidency with just 40% of the vote, a result based on legal changes he himself had a hand in after making an alliance with corrupt officials. The opposition did its part to blow this, too, refusing to unite behind one candidate, though they could plainly see how low Ortega's bar for victory was.

Make no mistake: Daniel Ortega is a totalitarian. He insists he's changed and even found Jesus, but he's aligned with the region's tyrants. He's never apologized for the civil war he inflicted or his crimes as dictator from 1979 to 1990. He still faces charges in The Hague for crimes against humanity from Nicaragua's indigenous Indians.

He's likely to turn his country back into a satellite, not of the Soviets, but of his patrons, Cuba and Venezuela. From there, he may again set off to destabilize the region as he did during the 1980s, when he armed El Salvador's Marxist terrorists.

Ortega's changed all right, but only in his mastery of new tactics. When he was booted from office in the 1990s, he vowed to "govern from below," and piece by piece he has. Through various legal maneuvers, he controls the courts, the electoral authority and the legislature. That should effectively concentrate his power as president.

He may say he's a new Ortega, but it only calls to mind his false claims during his Marxist Sandinista regime from 1979 to 1990 that he wasn't really Marxist, or that he would build a truly good communism, different from all the others. History shows he was lying.

And so does the present. Ortega outspent his nearest rivals by 20% to 50% and shamelessly pandered for votes. He got energy handouts from Chavez and openly distributed them as bribes to voters. He doled out other goodies on his campaign tour, a man at his side ladling checks and medicines from a big black bag, playing candy man and claiming this was how poverty would end.

That's some sustainable economic solution.

Like all Marxist regimes, Ortega's will fail just as surely as his last. He may have Chavez to bail him out for a while, but the Venezuelan leader has spread his overseas pork too thinly, and faces a potential electoral defeat at home next month.

As for the U.S., we'll probably recognize Ortega as president for the time being. But we should be ready for his old tricks as he tries to create wealth through robbing Nicaragua's middle class, shipping illegal immigrants our way, destabilizing neighbors and making himself dictator for life.

It's unlikely we can throw him out. But when the realities of globalization hit and the pork barrel from abroad runs dry, he'll face the music on creating sustainable development through market forces. Let's hope he doesn't destroy Nicaragua first, taking it from the second-poorest country in the hemisphere to the first.

Costa Rica, Russia revive trade, energy agreements

2006-09-28T08:25:00.000-05:00

Costa Rica and Russia have revived a series of agreements on trade and energy, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno and visiting Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said on Wednesday.

Kislyak and Stagno made the remarks at a joint press conference on Wednesday, the last day of Kislyak’s two-day visit, following a late Tuesday meeting with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

The three agreed to activate a reciprocal investment protection agreement, signed in 1999 but never brought into force.

"We will also seek an agreement to avoid double taxation, and an agreement that will facilitate the coordination of banks in the two countries," Stagno said.

Stagno said that Costa Rica-Russia trade fluctuated a lot, and that many Costa Rican products appeared in Russian trade statistics as products of a third party, which prompted the two countries to seek a more direct relationship.

Russia currently imports 17 million-U.S.-dollar worth of Costa Rican products, down from a peak of 34 million dollars in 1998.

Stagno said that the figures gave ample room for exports to increase, adding, “I called a meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA) energy ministers to allow Russia to offer help and opportunities for collaboration.”

Costa Rica currently holds SICA’s rotating presidency, and the meeting is part of an existing energy cooperation agreement.

Stagno also presented to Kislyak his country’s key foreign policy ideas, including proposals, dubbed the Costa Rica Consensus, for writing off debts and promoting investments in education and health for countries that reduced their arms budgets.

At a meeting in February 2007, international aid experts would hold a session on the Costa Rica Consensus and present it to the international community, Stagno said.

For his part, Kislyak said he agreed with Stagno that Russia was not fully using its relationships.

He said he was very interested to hear the Costa Rica Consensus ideas, adding that his nation would follow progress on the regulation of the arms trade, in which Russia is one of the world’s largest trading nations.

"Many organizations and nations are trying to solve the disarmament problem," Kislyak said. "We believe that before setting up working groups, there may already be areas where many states are in agreement. My country would be very interested in analyzing such a document."

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Big Dig victim buried in Costa Rica

2006-07-19T08:35:00.000-05:00

By MARIANELA JIMENEZ, AP Writer

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - A woman crushed in her car in Boston’s Big Dig was buried in her hometown in Costa Rica on Wednesday, nine days after an accident that her husband told mourners, “will never be erased from my mind.”

Milena Mora de Del Valle’s oldest daughter, Yetty Raquel, 23, and her sons Caleb, 19, and 17-year-old Jeremy, sang and prayed in the Oasis of Hope Christian temple in Moravia, just north of the capital, San Jose.

As her coffin adorned with flowers was lowered into the ground in pouring rain, her youngest son broke down.

Del Valle, 39, left her children behind when she went to the United States to find a better life.

She was reunited with them a month before she was killed by 12 tons of ceiling panels as she and her husband drove through a Big Dig tunnel on their way to Boston’s Logan International Airport. Her death has unleashed a host of revelations of problems with the $14.6 billion project — the most expensive in U.S. history — which buried much of the city’s highway network in tunnels.

Her husband of four years, Angel Del Valle, survived the accident with minor injuries.

He told reporters after the funeral that he felt “very bad, sick for everything that has happened.”

“It will never be erased from my mind,” said Del Valle, a native of Puerto Rico.

The Big Dig Project was started in the 1990s and took over a decade to complete. It has since been plagued by leaks, falling debris, cost overruns, delays and problems linked to faulty construction.

Massachusetts authorities are considering criminal charges in the ceiling collapse. They have said documents have shown there was a dispute over whether the design could sustain the weight of the panels, and other documents showed problems with the bolts were known as long ago as 1999, the year the panels were installed.

The contractor on the tunnel, Modern Continental Construction Co., has issued a statement saying it was cooperating with the investigation and is “confident that our work fully complied with the plans and specifications provided by the Central Artery Tunnel Project.”

Two Big Dig tunnels have since been closed for inspections and repairs since Del Valle’s death.

In a book at the funeral, Del Valle wrote a final message to his wife: “The happiness that you gave me during these four years will always be in my heart and in my mind. I will never forget you because there will never be anyone like you.”

Costa Rican family deported to native country

2006-07-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

CTV.ca News Staff

As people across the country gathered for Canada Day celebrations, a Costa Rican family living in Toronto flew back to their native country after losing a deportation fight.

The five members of the Lizano-Sossa family said goodbye to the country they called home for five years before being deported on Saturday.

Before they boarded a plane at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, they embraced friends, shed tears, and thanked the community and members of the media for offering them support.

"They want to take me out of the country, but nobody can take Canada from my heart," Gerald Lizano, the father, told reporters.

"Now is a sad time, but we will be back soon," daughter Kimberly, 15, said as she wept. "God has been with us all this time."

"Canadian immigration policy has failed this family," immigration lawyer Scott McDonald told CTV News.

The family arrived in Canada in 2001 and filed for refugee status, claiming they feared for their lives as they were on a drug lord's hit list.

Immigration authorities, however, dismissed their fears.

On Wednesday, a federal court judge rejected the family's request for a deportation extension, ruling there was no compelling reason to allow them to stay.

McDonald said the decision missed the point.

"I do immigration law day in and day out, and I have yet to find a policy that allows working and poor people to come to this country," he said.

Sima Zerehi, of We Are Not Illegal, a Toronto group representing immigrants and refugees, was upset by the way the family's case was handled.

"I'm really sorry to be celebrating Canada Day like this today -- I am very ashamed to be a Canadian citizen today," she told the media.

"This family serves as an example of the over 500,000 people we have living in this country working hard, building our communities who deserve to be legalized, who deserve full immigration status."

The Lizano-Sossa family made headlines nationwide when immigration officials yanked Kimberly and her brother Gerald Jr., 14, out of their Toronto school in April.

Their mother and two-year-old Canadian-born sister were taken into custody the same day.

The unusual tactic was apparently used by immigration officials to draw their father out of hiding. A deal was struck that released mother Francella Sossa on a $3,000 bond and allowed her husband to come forward and go free on a $2,000 bond.

The family agreed to buy plane tickets to Costa Rica dated no later than July 2 as a condition of the deal that allowed the children to finish the school year.

In his written ruling on Wednesday, Justice Richard Mosley said the family had strong support from the community and indicated that would be taken into account while their residency application is being processed.

Mosley noted the family had previously failed to report for removal and to tell immigration authorities where they were living.

The couple said they still fear for the safety of their family as they return to Costa Rica.

With files from CTV's Denelle Balfour

1,600 recall the lives of four who drowned on a class trip

2006-06-17T11:16:00.000-05:00

BY AMANDA O'TOOLE
The Wichita Eagle

PARSONS - The balloons drifting over Parson's blue skies had a special significance. The pink ones were for Danielle Tongier.

The purple for Jessica Pierce.

The red for Andrew Harpstrite.

The blue for Brett Carlson.

Friends and relatives of the three students and teacher at Labette County High School watched as the balloons were released following a memorial to celebrate their lives Friday in Parsons.

All four drowned off the coast of Costa Rica on June 9 while they were on a class trip. Rescue crews pulled the bodies of the youths from the churning Pacific waters shortly after the incident; Spanish teacher Brett Carlson's body was recovered Friday.

Eight students who were also on the trip planned the service and each took a few moments to recall memories of their friends to a packed audience of about 1,600 people in the Municipal Auditorium.

Their messages were positive, sometimes funny and always clear: the four who died were good people and good friends.

"They wouldn't have wanted us to be sad," said Sarah Snyder. "They had a wonderful life and they would've wanted us to be happy."

Students dabbed at their eyes as photos of their classmates were displayed during a slide show on stage. One boy covered his face with a baseball cap as a soundtrack of a country song played in the background.

Witness accounts have said Carlson, Pierce and Harpstrite all died trying to save others. Carlson pulled at least two people to safety.

Jason Clark, who was rescued from the water and treated at a Costa Rica hospital, gave one of the most emotional speeches.

"Mr. and Mrs. Carlson, you should be very proud of your son for what he did that day," he said as he started to cry.

Student witnesses said Clark was pulled out by a student from Iowa who was also on the tour, organized by EF Educational Tours.

Boxes in the same pink, purple, red and blue colors as the balloons were set on tables in the auditorium's lobby, so that friends, relatives and others could deposit written memories that will be compiled for the families, many who attended the memorial.

A scholarship fund has also been set up through Labette County High School in Carlson's honor. So far, more than $2,000 has been collected, said Jeff Peagues, a friend of Carlson's.

High school principal Greg Cartwright said the service was a way for students to heal and help give closure to friends and relatives.

"I think more than anything, kids rely on kids for comfort," he said. "It's a way to get together with friends and be consoled by friends.

Shooting of Costa Rican man is ruled justified

2006-05-24T16:12:00.000-05:00

To read the official State Attorney's office report (in Adobe Reader format) click here. Warning: page 36 contains graphic photographs.

Posted on Wed, May. 24, 2006

The air marshals who shot and killed a bipolar man who said he had a bomb aboard a plane at MIA won't face any charges. The resident of Maitland, Florida was born in Costa Rica

BY NICHOLAS SPANGLER
Miami Herald

Two federal air marshals who shot to death a Central Florida man at Miami International Airport last December after he bolted from an American Airlines flight, telling some passengers he was carrying a bomb, were ''legally justified'' in their actions, the Miami-Dade state attorney's office announced Tuesday.

The death of Rigoberto Alpizar, 44, of Maitland drew international attention because he was the first passenger killed by air marshals since the federal government sought to bolster air security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

''The shooting death of Mr. Alpizar, while tragic, is legally justified in light of the surrounding circumstances presented to the air marshals,'' the state attorney's office wrote in the 46-page report concluding its investigation.

The marshals ''demonstrated remarkable restraint in dealing with Mr. Alpizar,'' investigators noted. Neither will be charged with any crime.

The report also suggested a partial explanation for Alpizar's actions: ''It is reasonable to conclude Mr. Alpizar was not properly medicated for his bipolar disorder on the incident date,'' investigators wrote.

Alpizar had missed a scheduled visit with a psychiatrist the month before the shooting and had not taken prescribed lithium pills in the days before.

But, investigators wrote, ``it is factually and legally irrelevant whether Mr. Alpizar actually suffered from a mental illness or whether he was suffering from an episode of said illness at the time of the shooting.''

The names of the two air marshals involved in the shooting were not released for national security reasons. They were removed from aircraft enforcement following the shooting, said Dave Adams, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Administration Office of Law Enforcement. ''Now that this report has cleared them,'' Adams said, ``they will be back flying shortly.''

A lawyer for the air marshals, Paul Calli, said he had not yet reviewed the report and could only say he was ``relieved with the finding.''

ARRIVED IN MIAMI

Alpizar and his wife, Anne Buechner, 43, arrived at Miami International Airport just past noon on Dec. 7, 2005, aboard a flight from Quito, Ecuador, where they had gone to do church missionary work. They had taken a side trip to Peru to take in the sights.

Alpizar, a native of Costa Rica who became a U.S. citizen, had begun acting strangely by the end: disappearing once for hours, having trouble making even the simplest decisions, such as which brand of bottled water to buy, and mentioning concerns about his and his wife's safety.

On the last day, he started carrying his backpack on his chest. That wasn't strange at all. But later that day, after Alpizar and his wife boarded American Airlines Flight 924 -- the last leg of the long trip home to Orlando -- two undercover air marshals would see him reaching for one of the backpack pouches, consider the possibility he was reaching for a bomb detonator and shoot him down.

Interviews with passengers, flight attendants and the two marshals describe a countdown to chaos:

''Come on, baby, it's just one more flight,'' a passenger heard Buechner say to her husband before they boarded. ``I know you're tired.''

Alpizar looked scared -- ''crazy looking'' with ''bulging, very wide open eyes,'' said a fellow passenger -- as he took his seat near the rear of the plane carrying his backpack.

At 2:10 p.m., less than 10 minutes before the plane was scheduled to take off, Alpizar bolted up the aisle toward the cockpit, past a flight attendant who stood in his way. What follows, according to most accounts, took less than 60 seconds:

''I've got to get out of here!'' Alpizar yelled in Spanish. His wife ran after him, shouting, ''He's sick!'' A flight attendant in first class heard her add: ``Let me calm him down . . . . He's bipolar. He needs his medication!''

CONFUSION

What Alpizar said next is not clear, and that confusion may have ended his life. Some passengers remember ''There's a bomb.'' Others, and the two marshals, heard Alpizar say he had a bomb and would detonate it.

''Get your hands up,'' shouted the man identified as Federal Air Marshal 2, age 31. He drew his government-issued Sig Sauer semiautomatic pistol. ``Get on the floor. I'm a police officer.''

The marshals gave commands in Spanish and English; Federal Air Marshal 1 is fluent in Spanish.

Alpizar was off the plane and up the jetway back toward the airport when he stopped and began walking back.

''I'm going to blow up this bomb,'' Air Marshal 2 remembers him saying. ``I'm going to show you.''

Pilots and flight attendants heard him say, ``Shoot me!''

Federal Air Marshal 1, who is 30, remembers Alpizar asking where his wife was; the marshal replied she was behind him and OK. She remembers seeing her husband at the far end of the jetway, motioning and calling for her to join him.

The marshals were retreating to the plane door. Alpizar was close -- seven to 10 feet away -- when they saw him reach for the backpack on his chest.

Air Marshal 2 fired once, later telling investigators he thought Alpizar was reaching for the bomb he had claimed to be carrying.

There was no bomb -- just a bottle of water.

NINE SHOTS

Alpizar kept walking, so they kept firing -- nine shots in all -- until he stopped. He fell to his knees and then to the ground.

The marshals went back into the plane to secure it. Later, investigators wrote, ``Mr. Alpizar's wife approached [Air Marshal 2] to say she was sorry.''

Buechner was with her mother Tuesday afternoon when the report came out. She declined to comment, through her mother.

Costa Rica farmers win suit vs. DuPont

2006-05-17T19:08:00.000-05:00

By RANDALL CHASE, AP Business Writer

(AP) DOVER, Del. - A group of Costa Rican fern growers received a multimillion-dollar award against DuPont Co. on Wednesday for damages to their crops caused by the fungicide Benlate.

A jury in Miami, Fla., returned the verdict against the Delaware-based chemical company on its fourth day of deliberations, agreeing with the plaintiffs that Benlate had damaged the ferns' underground stem systems, resulting in annual crop losses that continued for years.

Plaintiffs' attorney Don Russo said they relied on new scientific evidence suggesting that Benlate promotes excessive bacterial growth in plants it is used on, resulting in recurring losses in perennial crops such as leatherleaf ferns.

"It explains why the symptoms don't go away," Russo said.

DuPont spokesman Clif Webb said the company would appeal.

"We believe there were a number of significant errors in this case that prompt an immediate appeal by DuPont," DuPont senior vice president and general counsel Stacey Mobley said in a prepared statement. "We have a strong basis for appeal and are confident that we will gain a reversal as we have done in a number of other Benlate cases."

Russo said he plans to file a motion asking the court to award $150 million to the 27 fern growers to rehabilitate their farms and compensate them for lost profits.

"Our chances of getting an increased verdict are infinitely better than their getting the verdict that was given reversed," he said.

Wednesday's court award totaled almost $114 million, but was adjusted downward because of contributory negligence by the plaintiffs. Russo said the gross damages awarded by the jury ranged from about $750,000 for a three-acre farm to $15 million for a farm of about 200 acres.

DuPont officials said the adjusted award is between $50 million and $60 million.

Russo said there was little evidence presented to prove contributory negligence on the part of his clients, but that DuPont persuaded Judge Amy Steele Donner to allow for that finding on the jury forms.

"We fear that kind of thing happening," said Russo, who also is representing citrus growers in Florida and Costa Rica in Benlate litigation.

Russo also said evidence presented during the trial suggested that DuPont employees were told to "eliminate" records pertaining to Benlate.

"We don't know what we were missing," he said.

DuPont shares closed down 93 cents, or 2 percent, at $43.75 Wednesday in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Costa Rica: a new destination for medical care

2006-05-11T15:14:00.000-05:00

Americans head south for back surgery and face lifts -- at half the cost

Updated: 5:00 p.m. ET May 11, 2006
By Melissa Francis
Reporter
CNBC

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Imagine a place where you receive the best care in the world from some of the best doctors in the world, while having access to some of the latest medical technology. It’s a short plane ride from the U.S. and it’s about half the cost.

Look no further than Costa Rica. Here, doctors limit themselves to the number of patients they can handle at one time, making the patient feel special.

“I have all sorts of American physicians visiting us and seeing patients getting care here. . .the patients enjoy it and that’s what they want,” said Dr. Eduardo Huertas, a neurosurgeon at CIMA hospital here.

Doctors in Costa Rica perform many of the same procedures that are done in the United States, everything from back surgery to face-lifts. Insurance companies with international coverage will honor many of the surgeries, making it even more appealing for those ready to go under the knife.

"Between 75 to 85 percent of my patients are American - either retired or coming here looking for the same quality with better price," said Dr. Huertas.

Cheaper, yes. But is it safe?

"Working in a hospital such as this one, we have all the same standards as you have in the United States," said Huertas.

It is those standards, along with highly educated and trained surgeons, that are drawing thousands of patients a year to Costa Rica – many of whom come for plastic surgery.

"People who come from the U.S. generally come for facial surgery -- eyes, lips, face-lift," says Huertas, "Mostly people come for a couple of procedures, it is very rare to see someone come for just one procedure."

It isn’t just the quality of care attracting patients. Not looking forward to surgery? Imagine planning your recovery in paradise… whether its by the beach, or pool.

New hospitals are popping up next to some of the biggest resorts in Costa Rica, giving patients some of the best recovery rooms the world has to offer. Those recovering are often asked to stay at least 15 days, so doctors can be sure that the body has fully healed.

Doctor’s orders . . .

Costa Rica seeks to shut its doors to illegal migrants from Nicaragua

2006-04-02T22:07:00.000-05:00

The Central American nation is worried that the unchecked influx is straining its services.

By Marla Dickerson and Rebecca Kimitch
Special to The Times

March 23, 2006

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Crime and joblessness have long been part of the tough Leon XIII neighborhood of Costa Rica’s capital, where residents such as Alexandra Martinez do their best to steer clear of broken pavement and street-corner drug dealers.

But the 37-year-old homemaker says that things have gotten worse in the last few years. Her explanation: “There are a lot of Nicas here,” she says, using a slang term for Nicaraguans.

Martinez says these immigrants, many of them undocumented, are hard-drinking, aggressive people who compete with Costa Ricans for jobs and drain the nation’s public services. She approves of a recent federal law aimed at stemming the influx.

“It’s the biggest problem we face in the country,” she says.

Many Costa Ricans are more temperate than Martinez when discussing immigration. But the continued southward flow of impoverished Nicaraguans into Central America’s most prosperous nation has inflamed tensions between these neighbors.

The 192-mile border is virtually unguarded, allowing Nicaraguans to slip easily into Costa Rica, where the per capita gross national income of $4,700 is six times higher than in Nicaragua.

Some analysts say Costa Rica, known as the Switzerland of Central America, has benefited from the steady supply of cheap labor to harvest the nation’s bananas and coffee, mop its floors and tend to its children.

Costa Rica boasts the region’s highest standard of living and provides universal healthcare. The nation has invested heavily in education and boasts a thriving technology industry.

But nagging poverty, sluggish economic growth and fraying of the social safety net have many Costa Ricans fearful that uncontrolled immigration is undermining their hard-won gains.

An estimated 180,000 undocumented Nicaraguans account for about 4.5% of the nation’s population, a slightly higher percentage than the overall proportion in the United States, where illegal immigrants make up 4% of the population.

Including legal residents, experts calculate that as much as 15% of Costa Rica’s population is foreign-born. Most of them are Nicaraguans, who have been arriving in large numbers for 25 years because of war, natural disasters and social instability in their country.

“Even the United States would have problems” absorbing so many newcomers, says economist Eduardo Lizano, president of the San Jose think tank Academy of Central America.

Approved late last year and slated to be implemented in August, Costa Rica’s new immigration law is aimed largely at those who profit from undocumented workers. It makes human trafficking a crime punishable by as much as six years in prison. And it significantly increases fines on Costa Ricans caught employing illegal immigrants — to $3,600 per violation, up from as little as $10, says Johnny Marin, Costa Rica’s immigration director.

Marin says the nation of slightly more than 4 million people lacks the resources to guard its border or to engage in mass deportations. Costa Rica deported just 775 people last year.

“Control of the migratory phenomenon lies in the employer sector,” Marin says. “Because if they don’t hire illegals, the people won’t come, they won’t migrate.”

Marin says immigration has largely been a good thing, providing Costa Rica with labor and cultural diversity. But he says rising acrimony has necessitated reforms.

Costa Ricans blame Nicaraguans and other foreigners for all manner of ills, Marin says. News reports frequently note the nationalities of foreigners accused of crimes, particularly Nicaraguans and Colombians.

He cites an urban myth here that 1 million Nicaraguans are living in Costa Rica.

“The theme of migration awakens passions here,” Marin says. “Migratory chaos is always dangerous…. We have to maintain an equilibrium.”

Some Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica say their lives have become more difficult because of increasing resentment. Juana Lopez recounts how a security guard humiliated her and her children at a public park.

“The guard asked me for my identification card and documents for my children, and he wouldn’t let me in. He said we don’t have the right to enter any playground,” says Lopez, who lives in a San Jose slum known as Triangulo Solidario, a tangle of tin and wood shacks.

The immigration issue has added to long-running tensions between Costa Rica and its northern neighbor. The countries are embroiled in a dispute over navigation rights to the San Juan River, which runs between them. Nicaragua recalled its ambassador to Costa Rica last fall and previously sent troops to the border region, a move viewed as particularly provocative by Costa Rica, which has no standing army.

Nicaraguans are incensed by the November death of Natividad Canda Mairena, a Nicaraguan living in Costa Rica. A suspected burglar, Canda was mauled by a Rottweiler guard dog for 1 1/2 hours while bystanders watched. The attack prompted a barrage of jokes in Costa Rica, including a cartoon showing a pack of Rottweilers defending Costa Rica’s northern border.

Although there is a widespread impression among Costa Ricans that their safety net is being strained by Nicaraguans, some studies show that the latter are using services at rates well below their share of the population. Many Costa Ricans blame Nicaraguans for a surge in street crime, but prison statistics don’t appear to bear that out either. From 1998 to 2003, Nicaraguans made up 5.8% of the jail population, according to the United Nations Development Program.

Immigrant advocates say Costa Rica’s reforms aren’t likely to stem the tide of job seekers.

Employers have come to rely on this cheap source of labor. And desperation knows no borders, says Gustavo Gatica, who works with Pastoral Social, an immigrants rights group affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church in San Jose.

“Even if they build a wall along the border with Nicaragua, like they have between the United States and Mexico, this won’t stop immigration,” Gatica says. “As long as there is hunger, as long as there is poverty, immigration won’t be stopped.”

Costa Rican presidential hopeful promises to obstruct Cafta

2006-02-27T10:17:00.000-05:00

By Adam Thomson in San José
Financial Times

The leader of Costa Rica's second largest political party has vowed to obstruct efforts to ratify a 2004 free trade agreement between Central America and the US.

Otton Solis, a leftwing presidential candidate for the Citizens' Action party (PAC), said that Cafta, as the agreement is known, would "bankrupt Costa Rica's agricultural sector", and that fundamental changes to the text would have to occur before the treaty could be deemed acceptable.

Rejecting arguments from trade experts who insist that Cafta cannot be renegotiated or modified, Mr Solis told the FT: "If the government does not renegotiate the agreement, we will vote against it."

Mr Solis's uncompromising line on Cafta which, among other things, envisages increasing access for Central American products entering the US in return for opening the region's economies to greater competition, comes as many local economists warn that Costa Rica will fall behind its neighbours unless it ratifies Cafta quickly.

The Central American nation of just over 4m people, which has traditionally been considered the most politically stable and developed in the region, is the only member that has so far failed to ratify Cafta. Last week, El Salvador announced that it would be ready to implement the accord in the coming weeks.

Costa Rica's electoral authorities are almost certain to proclaim Oscar Arias, the country's former president and a firm believer in Cafta, winner of this month's closely fought vote. The result of a manual recount last week showed Mr Arias with a slim lead of 1.1 per cent over Mr Solis, and observers expect authorities to declare Mr Arias the winner by the second week of March.

But even if Mr Solis loses, his party could end up with as many as 18 of the legislative assembly's 57 seats. Experts say that would be enough to cause Mr Arias almost insurmountable difficulties in obtaining the majority needed to ratify Cafta.

In the case of Costa Rica, Cafta would mean ending the state monopoly in telecommunications and insurance, though it would not oblige the country to privatise its state-owned companies. Even so, Mr Solis said that was unacceptable.

"The private multinationals are not going to come for the bad parts of the telecommunications market. They are going to go for the beef, which is what allows our state institution to subsidise the losses in the bad markets and achieve universal access."

Asked if he was concerned that Costa Rica might be left behind as other countries press on with implementation, Mr Solis said: "They can go ahead. On many issues they have gone another way from Costa Rica. Thank god we did not copy them. I don't see why we should copy them now."

One dead in protests over Haiti vote count

2006-02-14T22:49:00.000-05:00

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) -An eruption of gunfire has left one person dead in the capital of Haiti, amid protests over the result of the country's presidential election.

United Nations (UN) peacekeepers deployed around the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, where crowds protested partial results that showed frontrunner Rene Preval narrowly missing the 50 per cent he needs to be elected president without going to a second round.

A UN spokesman denied claims by demonstrators that a member of the 9,500-strong UN Stabilisation Force in Haiti (MINUSTAH) shot the protesters, saying the troops had only fired two shots in the air.

UN spokesman David Wimhurst said gunfire erupted after the troops had left the immediate vicinity of the incident, near Port-au-Prince's international airport.

There were also reports that several people were wounded.

At one stage, a small group of protesters hurled rocks at a Nigerian peacekeeper, who emerged unhurt and eventually managed to calm down the crowd.

Preval followers used car wrecks, rocks and burning tires to block major avenues, paralysing the city and causing businesses to shutter their doors.

The situation calmed down after word spread that Preval had flown in from his hometown of Marmelade.

Mr Preval held talks with UN Special Envoy Juan Gabriel Valdez at the airport before heading to the presidential palace to discuss the situation with interim president Boniface Alexandre.

Meanwhile, Brazil, which leads the UN force, asked the United States to organize a UN Security Council (SC) meeting on the new tensions in Haiti.

The United States SC president for February urged Haitians to respect the outcome of the elections.

Crowds gathered outside the headquarters of the Provisional Electoral Offices (CEP) demanding that Mr Preval be declared president immediately and claiming the vote count was fraudulent.

They also stormed the gates of the Montana hotel, where the CEP had announced partial results in past days.

Demonstrators jumped into the pool of the luxury hotel, and danced on the tennis court, chanting "Preval president." UN helicopters landed reinforcements on the roof.

Former South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged the demonstrators to remain calm and leave the hotel, which they eventually did.

"You must show the world that you abhor fighting," the Nobel peace laureate said, speaking from a hotel terrace.

Haiti's interim prime minister Gerard Latortue also called for an end to the protests.

"A little calm, a little patience. The will of the people will be respected," Mr Latortue said on television.

"The victory will not be stolen."

Orderly Costa Rica takes vote crisis in stride

2006-02-10T23:02:00.000-05:00

By John McPhaul

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Costa Rica is embroiled in its most contested election of modern times but unlike other Latin American countries where upheaval is rife, the quiet Central American nation is expected to sail through.

A small country with no army, Costa Rica has gone about its daily business with little fuss since Nobel Peace laureate Oscar Arias tied with Otton Solis, his former planning minister, in last Sunday's election.

Both candidates won just over 40 percent but neither is claiming victory until the electoral body gives a final count. That could take 2 weeks but newspapers say partial figures from the recount put Arias, a former president, ahead.

In one of the few signs of anything out of the ordinary, a small group of 20 college students has been holding a sporadic vigil in front of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to protest Arias and a U.S. free-trade deal with Central America he supports.

Costa Rica, a producer of high-quality coffee, sees itself as more orderly than the rest of Central America and avoided the civil wars that tore the region apart in the 1980s.

"It's a country that's accustomed to elections every four years. Clean, crystalline, transparent elections," Arias told Reuters.

The vote count is not completely free of controversy. Solis' Citizen Action Party has formally appealed to the tribunal to review 30 polling tables where it says it has detected irregularities, including incomplete registers of who voted.

A series of corruption cases has tarnished the country's reputation in recent years. Two former presidents were jailed briefly in 2004 on charges of receiving bribes from foreign countries.

Inflation last year was one of the highest in Latin America at 14 percent, and large groups of demonstrators have taken to the streets in recent years to protest attempts to break up the state's telecoms and electricity monopoly.

Other protests are expected if Congress approves the trade pact with Washington, known as CAFTA.

FAIR PLAY

A tradition of fair play in politics is strong.

"What one expects is that the loser or the losers pick up the telephone and call the winners to say, 'I'm here to serve, congratulations,"' Arias said.

Costa Rica's army was abolished in 1948 by then-President Jose Figueres after a civil war.

The history of Costa Rica was already different from that of its volatile neighbors. With no significant gold reserves or Indian populations to exploit, the country was more or less left to its own devices during Spanish colonial rule and it developed strong political institutions from an early date.

Costa Rica is the only country in the region not to ratify CAFTA because of fears it will damage small farmers and local industry.

There have been no claims of serious fraud in the Costa Rican election unlike in countries like Mexico where vote-rigging allegations are common.

"There is a lot of confidence in the process of counting the votes by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Costa Rica has many years of experience with elections where the will of the majority is always respected," said Jorge Castro, a retired economics professor.

"Costa Rica is a culture that avoids confrontation," said Jorge Rovira, a sociologist with the University of Costa Rica's Institute of Social Research.

Some Costa Ricans see the calm after the election as a signal of apathy and resignation in the face of a system plagued by corruption.

"It's probably because this time what we expect is more of the same. There's no assurance that anything is going to change," said Andres Rodriguez, 24, a law office messenger.

CAFTA: In Costa Rica, it all boils down to rice

2006-02-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

Beleaguered agricultural sectors and embattled state unions have made Costa Rica the only country involved in CAFTA not to ratify the agreement.

BY STEVEN DUDLEY
MiamiHerald.com

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - In Costa Rica, there is consensus on very few issues regarding CAFTA, the free-trade agreement among the United States, five Central American nations and the Dominican Republic.

One seems to be this: If CAFTA takes effect, the rice industry here probably will not survive.

The same could be said for some smaller agriculture industries. But it's the rice growers who pose the biggest moral dilemma for a country that has always been serious about keeping its poverty levels at a minimum by controlling prices and production of staple products such as rice.

''It's the only product that continues to be regulated by law . . . because it's the most important staple in the diet,'' said Oscar Campos, the head of CONARROZ, the rice federation that represents 1,200 growers.

Costa Rica remains the only country of those that signed CAFTA whose congress has yet to ratify the agreement. The reasons for Costa Rica's obstinacy are as multiple and layered as the agreement itself.

CAFTA was supposed to take effect Jan. 1, but implementation has stalled as those who have ratified the agreement - Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic - scramble to alter their tariffs, duties and regulations to match the accord.

UNION FIGHT

At the heart of the debate in Costa Rica are sovereignty, pride and poverty. CAFTA would open the market for private telecommunications and insurance companies to compete with state monopolies in those industries, something the militant state unions have resisted for years.

The unions have successfully thwarted the CAFTA agenda during two straight administrations with a mix of protectionist and anti-U.S. rhetoric.

Some CAFTA supporters in Costa Rica blame President Abel Pacheco for the delay. They say Pacheco's administration has been too weak to take on the unions despite their seeming minority.

OUTSPOKEN OPPONENTS

''The opponents of CAFTA are much more militantly opposed than the proponents are militantly supportive,'' said Carlos Denton, the head of the CID-Gallup polling firm in San Jose. Denton adds that the majority of Costa Ricans support CAFTA.

But the state unions may face a tougher, more agile foe if Nobel laureate and former President Oscar Arias wins the presidential election. Arias maintained a razor-thin lead Tuesday, and a manual vote recount to determine the winner is underway. The process could take two weeks.

Arias supports CAFTA and says he will open up telecommunications and insurance to private competition without selling off the government companies. His opponent, Otton Solis, opposes ratification of CAFTA.

''I have said that we will not sell a bolt or a nut,'' Arias told The Miami Herald. ``I think we've educated the people that one thing is to open up the monopolies and another thing is privatization.''

What may be more difficult for Arias is leaving agricultural industries like rice to compete with U.S. farmers. Arias is a committed free-market supporter, but the balance between finding food security to help keep food prices at manageable levels and allowing the free market to run its course may put him in a quandary. In fact, he said the Costa Ricans had tried to exclude rice from the agreement, but the United States balked.

''The U.S. is a tough negotiator,'' Arias told The Miami Herald. ``You don't get what you want, you get what you can.''

CRUCIAL STAPLE

Rice cannot compete in an international market. Costa Rica already imports at least 100,000 metric tons of rice per year, while producing 250,000 metric tons per year. But it's a staple in the Costa Ricans' diets, especially those of the poor.

What's more, rice growers in the Unites States receive government subsidies, something the growers in Costa Rica claim give them an unfair advantage.

''The treaty is this: I screw you and you let me screw you,'' CONARROZ's Campos said.
Campos, a former minister of agriculture, says Arias should renegotiate the treaty, and he is threatening to take action alongside the state unions if Arias wins and does not.

''[We will do] whatever we have to do,'' Campos said. ``One thing is what Oscar [Arias] thinks today and another thing is what he's going to have to think tomorrow.''

LITTLE SYMPATHY

CAFTA proponents have little sympathy. They argue the unions represent a minority and that rice, and other agricultural industries, were never competitive anyway.

''In the case of rice, rice growers were destined to disappear,'' said Hernan Pacheco, the president of the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce. "I'm not saying we shouldn't give special help to farms in this country, but we should help when we have a competitive advantage.''

The United States has said it will begin implementing CAFTA with or without Costa Rica, a prospect that terrifies some local business leaders who think investors will turn elsewhere and local exporters will not expand.

''If we don't approve CAFTA, Costa Rica would be sending a message that it wasn't trustworthy from a legal point of view,'' said Mario Montero, the director of the Union of Business Chambers, a pro-CAFTA voice.

All sides agree CAFTA will not be ratified until the new president and congress take over in May. Regardless of the new president's position, the ratification process will likely be difficult.

Election reaches dead heat as Costa Rica contemplates CAFTA

2006-02-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

By Marla Dickerson and Evelyn Iritani, Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, February 7, 2006 6:37 PM CST

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - The top two candidates in Costa Rica's presidential election were deadlocked Monday in a race some say has become a referendum on a controversial free trade pact with the United States.

Sunday's contest was supposed to have been a coronation for former President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who vowed to seek quick approval for the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Instead, with 89 percent of the vote counted, Arias finds himself in a dead heat with Otton Solis of the Citizens' Action Party, a staunch CAFTA critic who has called the trade agreement a "factory of poverty."

Election officials said it could take days, even weeks, before the race is decided. Arias holds a tiny lead, having garnered 40.5 percent of votes counted compared with Solis' 40.3 percent.

Experts predict that the deep polarization among Costa Rica's voters will prevent the speedy approval of CAFTA -- even if Arias emerges the winner.

Costa Rica is the only country in the seven-nation deal that has yet to ratify the pact, which established a free trade zone with the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the United States.

The accord would open the U.S. market to more apparel, sugar and other goods. In return, those nations would lower barriers for U.S. farm products, manufactured goods and services such as banking.

But some signatories are expressing discontent. CAFTA's schedule Jan.1, 2006, implementation is on hold because nations are balking at making changes to their intellectual-property rules and other laws.

"There is powerful symbolism in what's happening in Costa Rica," said Michael Shifter, an analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank. "Here is a country with enormous affinity with the United States, where there is a tremendous convergence of shared values ... and even they are not convinced that unquestioned support of the United States is in their best interests."

Several pre-election polls had shown Arias to be the overwhelming favorite, with Solis projected to win about one-quarter of the vote in a race with 14 candidates. But analysts said Costa Ricans who are uneasy with the trade pact and the U.S.-prescribed model of development for the region defected from minor candidates to cast their lot with Solis on election day.

"Voters saw in Solis the only anti-CAFTA candidate with a chance of winning," said Sergio Araya, president of the College of Professionals in Political Sciences and International Relations in San Jose.

Although U.S. exports to the CAFTA region account for less than 2 percent of total foreign sales, the deal has strategic importance for the Bush administration. Unable to persuade major economies such as Brazil and Argentina to join a hemisphere-wide trade bloc, U.S. negotiators have been chipping away at Latin America, piecing together an economic coalition through smaller bilateral and regional deals in hopes of ratcheting up the pressure on skeptical nations.

Activists in Central America are worried that their farmers would not be able to compete against subsidized American agricultural products and they fear protections granted to U.S. pharmaceutical makers could make it tougher to procure cheap generic drugs to battle HIV-AIDS and other life-threatening diseases.

But economist Eduardo Lizano, director of the Central American Academy, a private research center, said a rejection of CAFTA would be "catastrophic." He said export growth, U.S. investment and jobs were needed to jump-start the nation's sluggish economy and to combat its high unemployment .

Some say the trade and development model pushed by Washington has been oversold. They point to Mexico, which signed the North American Free Trade Agreement a decade ago and has become America's second-largest trading partner. Despite the deal, half of Mexico's people live in poverty, and illegal immigration to the United States is at an all-time high.

Solis and others say Costa Rica isn't against free trade, but wants a better deal than the one offered under CAFTA.

They portray the trade pact as an attack on the nation's unique social model. Costa Rica abolished its army in 1949 and invested in education, universal health care and other programs that turned it into an oasis of stability in a region once torn by strife. CAFTA foes see the free trade deal as a pact that aims to make their country more like its impoverished neighbors.

Times researcher Rebecca Kimitch in San Jose contributed to this report.

Homegrown cas for a delicious fruit drink

2005-10-20T09:43:00.000-05:00

by Ed Bernhardt - Tico Times Newspaper

This time of year, many sodas (mom-and-pop cafés) and homes around Costa Rica serve a natural fruit drink called fresco de cas.

The cas fruit is blended with a sweetener to make a creamy, delightful, sweet-acid drink that has a hint of guava flavor. That's because cas belongs to the guava family. Known as Costa Rican guava in English, Psidium friedrichsthalianum has many different names in Latin America, including guayaba ácida (Guatemala), guayaba agria (Colombia), guayaba de danto (Honduras), guayaba de agua (Panama), guayaba del Choco (Ecuador), guayaba montes (Mexico), guayaba (Nicaragua) and arrayán (El Salvador).

It's worthwhile to note that Latinos refer to guavas as guayabas, which is actually the same as the scientific name for this genus of fruit trees. To make things more confusing, Latinos use the term guavas for the long seedpods from the genus of trees known as inga or guavo in Spanish.

Each seed from these pods is wrapped in a natural cotton-candy pulp and is truly delicious. I'll have more on ingas in a future article. Let's return to cas, which is actually an indigenous name for the fruit; in the Brunka dialect, cas is called kás-kra.

Cas is a hardy wild fruit tree that requires no special attention, has no significant problems with insect pests or diseases, and grows well in all types of tropical soils in coastal and intermediate regions. If you have the space, it can be a nice addition to your home fruit orchard.

Many Costa Rican families earn a little extra money selling cas fruits to sodas and restaurants. Because of its acidity, the fruit is mostly used for making sweetened fruit drinks, jellies and jams or filling for pies.

Cas can be propagated by seed, which you can collect from fruits sold in local markets. The seeds can be planted in plastic nursery bags filled with average soil and kept well watered until they sprout. Once the seedlings reach a height of 30 centimeters, transplant them to your fruit orchard. The trees are small, and need approximately 5 meters of space between other trees. Cas trees often produce fruit in 3-5 years.

This year we have a bumper crop of cas fruit, and would be glad to share seeds with our readers. For a gift pack of seeds, send a self-addressed envelope to: The New Dawn Center, A.P. 372-8000, San Isidro de El General, Costa Rica .

Saving history: a fight against time, indifference

2004-12-10T23:38:00.000-05:00

December 10, 2004

By Uri Ridelman
Special To The Tico Times

On Aug. 2, 2002, the people of Cartago were astounded to find out that the house where part of the family of Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno (three-time President of Costa Rica) used to live was reduced to rubbish.

This wooden Victorian house was a landmark in the former capital of Costa Rica , not only because of its rich history, but because of its architectural design.

Unfortunately its owners didn't seem to care, and before the house could be officially declared architectural and cultural patrimony of Costa Rica by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCJD), they decided to tear it down.

Ileana Vives, an architect working for the Center of Research and Conservation of Cultural Patrimony (which belongs to the MCJD), said that when the owners found out the house was under study to be declared national patrimony, they decided to demolish it.

“The problem is that if a private building has not yet been declared national patrimony and its owner decides to tear it down, there's nothing we can do,” Vives said, “no matter how valuable or important it might be.”

The process to declare a building national patrimony can take as long as six months, and in the meantime the owners can do as they please.

After receiving a request to add a property to the nation's patrimony, the Ministry's Patrimony Center conducts a historic and architectural study to determine whether the property meets the conditions to obtain that status.

Then the National Commission of Patrimony approves the process and the legal department of the MCJD notifies the owner and the municipality of the location of the building. A file is opened, which implies a prohibition against demolishing or changing the structure or making alternate use of the property.

To be declared patrimony, a building needs the approval of the Patrimony Commission, which has 15 days to reach its decision. If after two months of being open, the file is lacking a decision, two additional months can be granted to special cases with written permission from the Culture Minister.

If those two additional months pass without a decision, the file expires and three years must go by before another file can be opened on the same property.

The process can be further delayed by appeals from the property owner. In the cases where this doesn't happen and the Commission approves the patrimony declaration, the MCJD issues an executive decree, which must be signed by the President of Costa Rica and then published in La Gaceta, the official government newspaper.

Vives said that when a building's owners don't care about its architectural and cultural value and decide to build something new that will earn them some money, they generally prefer to destroy the building before the law ties their hands.

“Once a building has been declared patrimony, the owners face several restrictions and penalties if they destroy or make big alterations to their building,” said Vives.

In Costa Rica , 320 historic buildings have been declared national patrimony, which means they can be protected and restored by law to avoid a fate similar to that of the house in Cartago

On Oct. 22, 1995 Law 7555 (also known as the Law of Historic and Architectural Patrimony of Costa Rica) went into effect, with the aim of conserving, protecting and preserving the nation's historic and architectural treasures.

However, that definition applies only to real estate “of private or public ownership with historic or cultural importance that has been declared as such by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports,” according to Law 7555.

Every year the Center for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Patrimony chooses from 15 to 20 buildings to be restored based on their condition, use and architectural and historic importance. It also studies suggestions of buildings to be added to the patrimony.

Some important structures recently restored with the center's assistance include:

–Casa de San Gabriel , Aserri: in the southern Central Valley town, this old house's walls and roof were repaired.

– Church of Puntarenas : the stone structure was restored to reverse damage produced by sea salt, sand and the inclement weather of the Pacific port city.

–Sala Magna, Liceo de Heredia: the floor of this room in this public high school in the northern Central Valley city was changed and repaired.

For 2005, some of the most important public properties to be restored are the National Museum in San Jose ; the ruins of the old church converted to gardens in Cartago; the temples of Orosi and Quircot – also in Cartago Province – the Church of Barva , Heredia Province , and the House of Culture in Heredia.

Since 1997, the center has held an annual competition called “Saving Our Patrimony” to choose a building to be declared national patrimony and receive funds for its restoration and maintenance.

The most common way a building is considered for patrimony status is through suggestions from average citizens. Anyone can make a suggestion to the center simply by calling the offices and providing them with information about the proposed place; sending them a fax, or bringing a written suggestion to their offices in the National Center of Culture (CENAC) in San José , on Calle 11, Ave. 3/7.

Although not every suggestion gets serious consideration, almost all are at least visited by members of the center.

“When we get a suggestion from a citizen, we are compelled by law to look into it,” Vives said, “and although we may not look into every one of them because of a lack of human resources, we cover most of them.”

To make a suggestion, call 223-2533 or 255-3523, or fax 256-4891.

Vives said that fortunately, not every owner of a historic building is eager to tear it down. Actually, a lot of owners are willing to help with their buildings' preservation if they have the money, or to look for help if they don't.

“Many owners of buildings that have been declared patrimony not only comply with the regulations, but also try to improve it if they can,” Vives said.

An example of this is Pasaje Cristal in the Caribbean port city of Limon , a historic building being repaired and restored entirely with private funds. In these cases, the center assists the owner in matters such as regulations to follow, changes that can and cannot be made, and steps to follow during the restoration process.

When the property is a public institution, it is restored and maintained using funds assigned to the center, which can also use donations from other public institutions and private groups.

Since several changes to historic buildings that have been declared patrimony are regulated by law and require permits from the MCJD, owners are sometimes baffled by what they are and aren't allowed to do without the intervention of the authorities.

“Minor reparations such as changing a broken window don't require a permit, but if you need to do something big, such as tear down a wall, or change the roof, then permits will be required,” Vives said.

Interested owners can also obtain a manual with recommendations for the conservation of real estate that has been declared patrimony. Although the manual does not detail which situations require permits and which don't, it has some important guidelines and useful information.

Other important achievements that benefit patrimony owners include an agreement with the National Insurance Institute (INS) to cover their property, and an agreement with the Banco Nacional to facilitate credit for financing the restoration and maintenance of property projects. The center has information about both plans.