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2.500 Evacuated in
Caribbean Coast
About 2.500
persons had to take shelter from the heavy rains and
floodings of the last couple of days in the
Caribbean zone.
The government was forced to declare the area and
emergency zone and allocated 2.000 Million Colones
to help those affected by this crisis.
The climate showed some improvement by late
yesterday, nonetheless, the Comisión Nacional de
Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias (CNE)
is maintaining a red alert as the flood waters
haven't receded yet.
The Meteorological Institute has said that the storm
is weakening and moving north towards Nicaragua.
The waters in this region only need about 12 hours
to reach flood levels but then 72 hours to go back
to normal levels.
E-mails to Fiancée
Unveil a Man full of Life and Love
A man writes
beautiful letters to his beloved. He writes about
coming to realize how much he adores her, not
knowing he will never see her in this world again.
He writes to her in Costa Rica, far away from where
he is studying in Toronto, not knowing she is
destined to cry at his funeral at the church where
they would have been married.
And yet this young man, Augusto César Mejia Solis,
who died a hero in Monday's collapse of Toronto's
Uptown Theatre, knew very well how fleeting life can
be. He lived every moment of his 27 years feeling
blessed, thankful to be alive.
We know this because it's what he wrote to his
fiancée, Marcela Acuña, 25, back home in the small
town of Heredia, just north of the Costa Rican
capital of San José.
"My darling," he called her. "My little doll." "My
true love."
Perhaps the knowledge of his wisdom will make it
easier for friends and dignitaries, including Carlos
Miranda, Costa Rican ambassador to Canada, who plan
to celebrate his life today at a memorial service in
Toronto.
Perhaps it will ease the pain for his loved ones,
including his own Marcela, who will crowd into Our
Lady of Mercy Church in Heredia on Sunday to bid him
a final farewell.
In between the two services, his body will be flown
tomorrow from Toronto to San José.
Central America Free
of Cholera
The Pan American Health
Organization declared in Washington that Central
America is free of cholera, after no case of the
disease has been reported in the region in the last
12 months.
This comes 12 years after cholera broke out again in
Latin America, in an epidemics that affected 400,000
people in 14 nations.
The last cases in Central America were recorded in
Guatemala in 2002, and in 1998, only 10 percent of
the cases in Latin America were located in this
region, in spite of the feared consequences -among
which an expansion of cholera was among the first-
from the devastation wrought by hurricane Mitch.
In Costa Rica, no cases have been recorded sin 1997.
In 1856, an epidemics of cholera killed 60,000 Costa
Ricans, a large chunk of the population at that
time, when the lack of knowledge on the disease and
the lack of means to fight it meant almost certain
death for those who were infected by it.
A Courageous Girl
Tired, but very proud, Iriria Rodriguez left the
Home of the Association of the Struggle against
Child Cancer bound for her hometown, Suretka, an
Indian village in the Talamanca region, on the Costa
Rican Caribbean.
Iriria, 13, was able to pass her exams for her
graduation from elementary school, in spite of being
subject to chemotherapy for she has leukemia.
A Ministry of Education source explained that the
Indian girl did the same exams as thousands of other
children throughout Costa Rica, which means her
efforts are outstanding given her obvious
disadvantages.
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US issues security
alert to its citizens in Colombia
The United States Friday
warned its citizens against becoming targets of
terrorist attacks in the Colombian cities of Bogota
and Cartagena.
The US embassy in Colombia issued the warning,
asking US citizens in this South American country to
raise their alertness and stay away from such public
places as commercial centers and night clubs.
The advice said the US Department of State saw "a
big possibility" of terrorist attacks in Bogota and
warned of "believable threats" in the tourist resort
of Cartagena.
"We also advise US citizens to reduce to a minimum
the time they spend in crowded areas, like the El
Dorado International Airport (in Bogota)," it added.
Peruvian president
demands whole cabinet's resignation
Peruvian President
Alejandro Toledo asked all his cabinet members,
including Prime Minister Beatriz Merino, to resign
to pave the way for his cabinet reshuffle, a
presidential statement said late Friday.
The statement said Toledo had also demanded that all
presidential advisors quit.
He said in his statement that the country's
constitution accorded him the right to make such a
request, and added that new cabinet members have
been chosen but will only be sworn in on Monday when
Merino, who is in the United States on a visit,
returns home.
Analysts attributed Toledo's Friday announcement to
some recent political events in the country.
First Vice President Raul Diez Canseco was forced to
quit his post as minister of foreign trade and
tourism in mid-November amid corruption charges.
Merino had reportedly presented her resignation to
Toledo afterc omplaining to him that former Prime
Minister Jorge Fernandez Maldonado Solari accused
her of being a lesbian.
Brazil proposes
creation of G-20 free trade area
Brazilian President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva proposed on Friday the creation
of a free trade areaamong members of the Group of 20
developing nations (G-20).
Lula presented the proposal to delegates of the G-20
meeting, underway in Brazil, to develop a common
position for the coming round of negotiations of the
World Trade Organization (WTO), according to
Brazil's state-run news agency.
"Why shouldn't we test this logic to its natural
conclusion andhave a free trade area for the
countries of the South?" Lula askedG-20 delegates.
G-20, established in September during the 5th WTO
Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, aims to
unify the positions of the developing countries on
the issue of agricultural subsidies which led to the
failure of the Cancun meeting.
"This does not mean we are placing the developed
nations aside,as they will continue being
fundamental. Rather, we are going to fully exploit
the potential among us, which does not depend on
theconcessions of the rich countries," said the
Brazilian president.
Lula called on the G-20 representatives to carefully
analyze this idea before the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
convenes in June 2004 in the Brazilian city of Sao
Paulo.
"The voice of G-20, in addition to being heard in
the WTO, gains resonance in every debate on the
perfection of multilateralism. We have many allies,
even in the developed world," said the Brazilian
leader.
Lula stressed that the G-20 free trade area idea is
nothing more than a concept for discussion at this
stage and does not represent a concrete Brazilian
government proposition.
G-20 countries include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,
Chile, China,Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico,
Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Paraguay, South
Africa, Tanzania, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Cuba says US verdict
on Cuban hijackers right
Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Perez Roque on Friday approved a verdict of
guilt issued by a United States court against six
Cubans who hijacked a passenger plane from Cuba to
the United States.
"It seemed to us a right decision, a positive sign
and ...consistent with the idea of fighting
terrorism," said Perez Roque when receiving a
delegation from the Spanish province of Asturias.
The six Cubans were convicted of hijacking in
Florida on Thursday after their argument that the
crew cooperated in the hijacking was rejected.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 26.
The Cubans will face at least 20 years in prison for
hijacking a twin-engine DC-3 domestic plane with 37
people aboard, including the hijackers and crew
members. It flew to Key West airport in Florida on
March 19.
Perez Roque stressed that only by abolishing the US
laws that encourage illegal migration from Cuba will
hijackings be stopped.
Perez Roque also praised the prosecutor for his
resistance against "enormous pressure" from the
far-right Cuban groups in Miami for the release of
the hijackers.
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