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Friday 21 March 2003

3 Costa Ricans Charged in Student Slaying
Three Costa Ricans have been charged with murder in the death almost two years ago of a University of Kansas student, officials said Thursday.

Emergency Tourism Committee Ready
Business and Government established, as of this past Wednesday, an emergency committee to define actions to be take to diminish the impact that the war in Iraq will cause on the national tourism.

The preoccupation began in the sector some weeks ago, when some reservations began to be cancelled in several hotels, and tour operators began to notice minor affluence of the visitors.

The fear to the war caused, after the attacks of the 11 of September of 2001 in New York, the decrease of tourism everywhere in the world.

Businessmen assure that they are still feeling the consequences of that event, but what troubles them more is the uncertainty of how the current events will affect tourism.

The commission, presided over by the minister of Tourism, Rubén Pacheco, will work, among other points, in the obtaining and permanent monitoring of reliable information on the tendency of the industry in the market and make the right decision to counteract.

An official communication of the Costa Rican Institute of Turismo (ICT) mentions that it will maintain a continuous liaison with embassies, airlines, wholesalers and other sources, that can provide first hand the necessary information.

According to statistics of the ICT, more than 50% of the tourists who visit Costa Rica every year come from the United States and Canada, and nearly 15% of Europe.

Orotina gets ready for celebration...
Orotina, located about 1 hour from San Jose is getting ready to celebrate he thirteenth edition of the community festival, that runt until the 30th of March.

Mangos, watermelons, oranges, papayas, are the stars of this fair. But don't think that Orotina has only fruits. Other activities are organized: the fruit classic, for example, is an athletic race.

Also there will be competitions in mountain cycling, concerts, and recreative and cultural activities.

If you do not want to go by car or bus, you can reserve a seat on the train 'tren a la tica'. During the next weekend, you can make the stroll by train that leaves at 6am from the train station Pacifico in San Jose and returns at 4 that afternoon. 

Three thousand colons is the price for a pass and reservations are a must. For you reservations you can call at 233-3300.
 

Click to place YOUR AD here

The communiqué, issued by the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry, said that non-fulfillment of the United Nations Resolution 1441 on the Iraqi side had endangered international security.

Nicaragua was ready to offer humanitarian assistance after the military action, which would include sending experts for mine clearing operations and offering medical assistance to victims, said the communiqué. It added that offering such humanitarian relief complied with the laws of Nicaragua.

Nevertheless, politicians, intellectuals and the majority of people in Nicaragua condemned the military action launched by the United States on Wednesday night, without the authorization of the United Nations.

In a television program, Alejandro Serrano, a former Nicaraguan ambassador to France, said the US strike on Iraq was against the spirit of UN Resolution 1441 and a blow to the UN multilateral system.

Public opinion in Nicaragua also condemned Managua's support for the war against Iraq.

Despite rain in Managua, tens of people lined up outside Radio Primerisima, a local station, to voice their opinion on the war.

Mexican president condemns US attack on Iraq
Mexican President Vicente Fox on Thursday rejected the United States-led military attack on Iraq and announced that citizens of the Latin American country will collaborate with the international community in undertaking humanitarian relief tasks.

In the first public statement issued by Fox since the start of the US-led military operation on Wednesday night, Fox reiterated that his country's position is "definitely not war," and that Mexico always supports seeking a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis.

About 54 percent of the Mexican population considers US President George W. Bush and his allies as bearing the responsibility for attacking Iraq, according to an opinion poll released by local daily Reforma.

Fox said measures had been taken to guarantee the security of Mexicans and maintain a terrorist-free border without affecting the flow of goods and people.

Security has been beefed up at airports, ports, borders, oil, nuclear and other strategic facilities. The number of Federal Preventive Police (PFP) agents on Mexican highways has increased since 20:45 p.m. local time (0445 GMT) on Wednesday.

The Mexican government also deployed 18,000 troops to reinforce the police force.

In a press release issued by the presidential office on Thursday, the government also adopted extra measures to guard the US embassy and consulate in the country, as well as the life and interest of US citizens living in Mexico.

US, Spain suspend diplomatic missions in Argentina
The United States on Thursday closed its embassy in Buenos Aires to avoid possible terror attacks as the war on Iraq went into the second day, while Spain also suspended one of its consulates in the country.

The US Embassy decided as a "preventive measure" to close its office which provided services to the public and was in charge of issuing visas and passports. Diplomatic representatives said it was because of the beginning of military actions in Iraq.

Because of bomb threats, Argentine authorities declared on Thursday a state of maximum alert at the Ezeiza International Airport, the destination of five United States airliners.

An anonymous call, received at about 10:45 a.m. local time, warned of bombs in the five planes. Following its arrival in Ezeiza, a United Airlines airliner was inspected by bomb-squad personnel, but no explosive device was found, said the National Aeronautics Police.

Following the US missile attacks on Iraq, Argentine authorities reinforced the country's security measures, including those adopted at airports and vital infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Spanish vice consulate in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata, on Thursday, canceled its activities after being pelted with stones. The Spanish vice consul, Fernando Garcia, told the press the diplomatic facility, whose facade was damaged, would reopen next Monday. So "attention to public will be suspended until that day."

The attack on the Spanish diplomatic representation in the city, 404 kilometers southeast of Buenos Aires, occurred in the early hours of Thursday just after the US air raids on Iraq. The government of Spain, in contrast with most public opinion in the country, supports the US military action. At midnight, tens of demonstrators outside the vice consulate protested against Spanish support for the US-led attack on Iraq.

The police denied the diplomatic representation took gun fire and gave an assurance that holes in glass were caused by stones and other objects.

The authorities confirmed there were no arrests or injuries in the attack.

Iraq fires ninth missile to Kuwait, no casualties reported
Iraq fired a ninth missile at neighboring Kuwait early Friday as it continued to retaliate for the US-led invasion, but no casualties were caused, a Kuwaiti military spokesman said.

Kuwait Television quoted Colonel Yussif al-Mulla as saying that a ninth missile was fired by Iraq, but it was not regarded as a threat to any vital or populated area. He did not mention where the missile landed.

Before the attack that came just after midnight, sirens sounded for the seventh time in the capital following eight missile attacks throughout Thursday in the wake of a US-led attack on Iraq.

Late Thursday night, two missiles landed in the sea off the coast of this tiny emirate without causing any harm, Kuwaiti government said in a statement. The missiles fired were aimed at al-Shuaiba area, the site of one of Kuwait's main oil refineries, 80 kilometers south of Kuwait City, the statement said.

Earlier Thursday, Kuwait's Defense Ministry said Iraq had fired a total of six Scud missiles on northern Kuwait in retaliation for a US-led attack. Two of the Scud missiles were intercepted by the anti-missile Patriot batteries deployed in the tiny Gulf emirate, the ministry said.

The Kuwaiti Defense Ministry reported no casualties in the attacks, adding that the missiles only carried conventional warheads despite the fear that Iraq might unleash chemical or biological retaliation.

But Iraq denied Thursday that it has Scud missiles and other weapons of mass destruction.

After the US forces launched the first wave of predawn air raids on neighboring Iraq, sirens sounded repeatedly in Kuwait as television flashed "Danger" warnings periodically.

The airport here remained open Thursday and flights out of the country were packed with mostly foreigners seeking to flee the danger of war. The oil-rich emirate was freed from the seven-month Iraqi occupation by the US-led coalition forces in the 1991 first Gulf War.

Kuwait is currently hosting about 140,000 US-British troops in a massive military buildup in the Gulf region for a massive military offensive to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.