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updated by 8:00 a.m. CST each day
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Drinking and Driving
Still a Problem
Between
Saturday night and Sunday morning, 562 people were
issues summonses for driving under the influence of
alcohol.
During the six hour operative, 11.2 Million colones
in fines were levied against drivers and in 62
cases, their vehicles were impounded.
The reaction from drivers was extreme from accepting
the summons, to insults towards the transit
officials and one man tried to run away from police
after testing positive for being under the
influence.
Transit police operations are carry out every
weekend, mainly in key points in Escazy, Montes de
Oca, San Pedro, Heredia and key points along the
Circunvalación.
However, come December 15th, according to Ignacio
Sánchez, director of the Transit Police, spot checks
will be every day.
55 years of Costa
Rican Demilitarization
Fifty-five years ago today, on Dec. 1, 1948, a
ceremony took place in San José that would change
the future of Costa Rica forever.
On that day, José Figueres Ferrer, president of the
governing junta, stood up on one of the turrets of
Fort Bellavista in San José and knocked down one of
the walls with a sledgehammer.
He then handed the keys of the fort to the Minister
of Education and announced that the fort would hence
become a National Museum. Figueres then proceeded to
officially disband the tiny Costa Rican army and a
few months later, under Article 12 of the new
Constitution, Costa Rica became one of the first
countries in the world to constitutionally abolish
the existence of a standing army.
At that time, Costa Rica was coming out of a short
civil war in which Figueres led a force that fought
the government's forces after it refused to
recognize the election of the rival candidate.
Figueres then installed a civilian junta to bring
stability to the country, draft a new Constitution
and pave the way toward a peaceful transition of
power.
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'Winter' is
Slippery Concept
Today is Dec.
1, late autumn in the year 2003. Or is it?
Like so many concepts of time, it depends on your
perspective.
If we were in Saudi Arabia, the official Islamic
Calendar would say today is the sixth day of
Shawwal, the 10th month in the Islamic lunar year.
And the year is 1424, not 2003.
Elsewhere, the Hindu, Hebrew or Chinese calendars
might well prevail.
Our own Gregorian calendar is the most widely used
today, but it has changed over time, too. The name
December, for example, is derived from the Latin
decem, for 10. It was the 10th month of the year
until the first century BC, when Julius Caesar
inserted July and August.
Also open to interpretation is the notion that we're
in the final three weeks of autumn.
Officially, winter this year begins with the
solstice, at 2:04 a.m. Monday, Dec. 22. But for the
purposes of the National Weather Service, each
season is three calendar months long, and winter
runs from Dec. 1 through Feb. 28. Meteorologists
start recording their 2003-2004 "winter" statistics
today.
But who says winter must begin in December?
First, of course, it's a hemispherical conceit. For
people in the Southern Hemisphere -- south of the
Equator - December marks the official start of
summer. But even that convention isn't universal.
Costa Rica is in Central America, 10 degrees
north of the Equator and well inside the Northern
Hemisphere. But for Costa Ricans or "Ticos," it's
the beginning of summer, not winter.
Britain Closes its
Honduran Embassy
Britain has
closed its embassy in Honduras as part of its
continuing effort to redirect diplomatic resources
to the war on terrorism.
British Consul Neal Carlin said Friday night that
the British embassy in the capital of Tegucigalpa
closed because of "a reorganization of foreign
service resources."
Ambassador Kay Coombs plans to leave the country
Dec. 31, Carlin said.
In March, Coombs announced the embassy would soon
close, saying the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the
United States "radically modified the mission of the
British diplomatic corps, which is now focused on
... the fight against terrorism."
Britain closed diplomatic offices in El Salvador
earlier this year and plans to do the same in
Nicaragua at the beginning of 2004.
Britain's embassies in Guatemala, Costa Rica and
Panama will remain open, Carlin said.
British Ambassador to Guatemala Richard Lavers will
now serve as the diplomatic authority in that
country as well as in Honduras and El Salvador. Next
year Nicaragua also will fall under his
jurisdiction, Carlin said.
Carlin said the embassy's closure "would in no way
affect our excellent relations with El Salvador,
Nicaragua or Honduras."
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Venezuelan president
accuses opposition of "mega fraud"
Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez on Sunday slammed the
country's opposition in their campaign seeking a
referendum to end his rule, saying that they were
attempting a "mega fraud."
"There are elements arising that seem to stain this
process... In any light, this looks like an attempt
at a mega fraud that the Venezuelan people will not
tolerate," Chavez told his supporters at a Caracas
market.
He said there are fraud allegations that his
opponents were using names of the dead on petitions
and pressuring people to sign against their will.
Chavez said he will try to meet with international
observers to discuss the issue.
The opposition entered the third day of a four-day
signature drive on Sunday. There are reports that
some signature collection centers have run out of
petition forms.
The signature drive is being monitored by the
Organization of American States (OAS) and other
international observers such as the Carter Center,
run by former US president Jimmy Carter.
OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, who is leading
the monitoring mission, praised Venezuelans for
remaining mostly peaceful, saying that the petition
drive has gone smoothly except for a few isolated
incidents.
"People have been able to sign... and the process
has been democratic and as far as our observers have
been able to see, clean," Gaviria said.
"I am very satisfied with the democratic process, in
an atmosphere of calm and mutual respect, because
the government has sought to lower tensions," he
said.
"I believe that the election commission will accept
the results."
The Venezuelan government on Sunday closed part of
the border with Colombia to prevent people with
false identity cards participating in the signature
drive.
All private airports and heliports were also closed
to avoid a repeat of events in 2002 when grenades
were thrown at political demonstrators from
aircraft.
Three people were arrested as they were accused of
linking to attacks on polling stations in the
capital and two northern states, according to the
government.
In the four-day drive, the opposition needs to
gather 2.4 million signatures, representing 20
percent of the electorate. If successful, a recall
referendum on Chavez's rule could be held around
April next year.
The government and opposition accused each other of
cheating during the petition drive.
The government said it was investigating 124 reports
of private companies forcing their employees to sign
the petition against Chavez.
But some opposition leaders complained soldiers
deployed at the3,000 signature centers nationwide
were obstructing the process and had seized
petitions.
FARC declares US
soldiers in Colombia "military target"
The
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
declared on Saturday US soldiers deployed in the
country "military target."
"There are more than 1,000 US troops in Colombia
training and supporting the official forces in the
anti-insurgent war and against people," one of the
FARC leaders, Luis Devia, also known as "Raul
Reyes," said in a website statement.
"Military targets are both the invaders and their
war instruments," said Reyes, the ex-negotiator of
the FARC in the failed peace dialogue with the
previous government.
The 17,000-strong FARC is the largest guerrilla
force of Colombia, followed by the National
Liberation Army (ELN), with 5,000 combatants.
Colombia is one of the countries to which the United
States provides military and economic assistance. In
the past three years, the US aid to Colombia has
surpassed two billion US dollars, merely less than
those provided to Israel and Egypt, with an extended
range covering ammunition, military consultancy,
satellite surveillance and telecommunications
monitoring.
With the conflicts between the Colombian guerrillas
and the government escalating since last year, the
United States has intensified its military aid
accordingly.
FARC warned previously that the US intervention in
the Colombian domestic conflicts would make the
peace process complicated and worsen the current
situations. The guerrilla group demanded that all US
military personnel withdraw from Colombia, a
prerequisite for a ceasefire.
The FARC and the US military personnel have not
fought each other yet.
In regard to the demobilization of the
paramilitaries of the United Self-Defense Forces of
Colombia (AUC) on Tuesday in Medellin, Reyes
described it as a "publicity show by President
Alvaro Uribe."
The dismantling of one fraction of the AUC "is not
good news for Colombia, the FARC, or the
international community," he added.
Since taking office in 2002, Colombian President
Uribe has adopted a tough policy against the leftist
guerrilla groups and far-right paramilitaries in a
bid to put an early end to the country's four-decade
civil war, the longest in Latin America. An average
of 3,500 people, mostly civilians, are killed every
year in the conflict.
Peru burns down tons
of narcotics
The Peruvian
government has burned down 4.12 tons of narcotics
confiscated all over Peru in the capital Lima,
according to local reports on Sunday.
Reports said that the narcotics included 1.45 tons
of coca, 2.12 tons of cocaine and some marijuana and
opium.
Police seized the narcotics, worth 155 million US
dollars in Europe, in anti-drug actions conducted in
August and November.
In late August, the Peruvian government burned down
9.39 tons of narcotics at the same site in Lima.
Peru is one of the world's major drug producers. In
recent years, the Peruvian government has stepped up
anti-narcotics efforts. In the first half of 2003,
police have captured 87 tons of drugs and arrested
thousands of suspected drug-traffickers.
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