San José, Costa Rica -  Tuesday 31 August 2004

1.116 Unique Visitors Daily Average in July!  What's This? 

Updated every day by 8:00AM Central Standard Time

San José Municipal workers joined the march and protests yesterday, leaving garbage piling up all over the city. Click for larger image!

Inside Nicaragua! A new weekly feature published on Sundays, featuring a summary  of current news and events in Nicaragua.

Costa Rica in Crisis
"Big" Monday Was a Bust
Union leaders and truckers on strike since last Monday had taken the weekend off to re-group and had promised something "big" for Monday.

Costa Rican Business Leaders Seek End to Costly Truckers' Strike
Costa Rica's business community said it had suffered millions of dollars in losses due to last week's general strike, which continued on Monday.

Our Readers Write
I just wanted to let you know about my recent experience in Costa Rica.  I was in your country on vacation with my family and I got caught in traffic due to the strike.

Banco Elca May Avoid Closing; Buyer Still in Negotiations
What does an American real estate broker want with a small bank that is on the border of closing?

Basic Telephone Service Cost to Increase; Long Distance Lower
The cost of telephone service is going up. The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) held a public meeting where no one showed up to oppose the 12% hike requested by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). Both, cellular and fixed line telephone service is affected by the increase.

More Foreigners Rejected
Immigration officials have vowed not to let their guard down and are continuing their operatives to expose and expel all foreigners who are illegally in Costa Rica.

Demolition Threat to Coastal Bars, Restaurants
Some of the Guanacaste Coast’s more popular bars and restaurants may disappear as part of an order by the Municipality of Santa Cruz to seize back land within the so-called 50-meter maritime zone.

British Cloning Call Divides Scientific World
Britain's leading scientific institution is urging countries to back a campaign to stop a possible ban on stem cell research.

Did you Know?
Did you know that Costa Rica is the #1 destination in the world for adventure honeymooners?

Cuban charge d'affaires to Panama to return
Cuban Foreign Ministry announced Monday that its charge d'affaires to Panama, Carlos Valdes, will return to the island Tuesday after the government broke diplomatic relations with Panama.

Colombia's rebels want direct negotiations with govt
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has proposed to hold face-to-face negotiations with the government in a demilitarized zone, instead of over the Internet.

Stripping Pinochet of immunity opens way to int'l proceedings: lawyer
The recent stripping of former Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet from immunity has opened the way for legal investigations by judges from other countries, a lawyer said Monday.

Venezuelan opposition criticizes Chavez's land policy
The Venezuelan opposition coalition on Monday attacked President Hugo Chavez's land policy, accusing the government of being the protector of robbers. 

International News from the New York Times
 

We Still Can't Speak Of Slavery In The Past Tense… As the world celebrates the UN designated International Day to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition this week, hundreds – if not thousands – of Central America’s young girls are holed up in some of the bleakest brothels in the Americas. Victims of economic violence and the desperation to find work, the young teenage minors are offered supposedly respectable jobs in adjoining countries only to be duped into a life of slavery in a brothel. Hundreds of under age girls from Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala have all been found in brothels throughout Guatemala after a nine-month investigation by Casa Alianza into 264 such establishments throughout the country.

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