| NEWS |
|
updated by 8:00 a.m. CST each day
|
Costa Rica Leaves Trade
Talks
The Bush
administration's drive to reach a free trade
agreement with five Central American countries
suffered a setback Tuesday when Costa Rica balked at
U.S. demands and said it needed more time before it
would be ready to complete a deal.
At issue, in large part, was
U.S. access to Costa Rica's telecommunications and
insurance market.
Costa Rica's trade negotiators abruptly left talks
yesterday, saying they hoped to return to the
talks in January after consulting with political
leaders in San Jose.
U.S. trade officials said efforts would continue to
reach agreement with the other four countries. The
president of one of those nations, Nicaragua, told
reporters that his nation was ready to proceed
without Costa Rica.
"One country is dragging its feet," Nicaraguan
President Enrique Bolaños told reporters, referring
to Costa Rica.
Bolaños said although Costa Rica may decide to stay
outside of the pact for a time, it was his view that
the rest of the countries should move ahead because
"Central America cannot wait for more time. Central
America needs to advance rapidly."
President Abel Pacheco, told reporters in San Jose
that "we are not in a hurry to close negotiations."
He said he expected to return to the negotiating
table in January.
Trade officials working on the proposed Central
American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, worked late
into the night Tuesday, trying to resolve sticking
points to completing an agreement.
Carlos Sequeira, chief trade negotiator for
Nicaragua, said an agreement was within reach, but
he said discussions were continuing in two of the
most sensitive areas, agriculture and textiles.
The Bush administration hopes to use a successful
free trade deal with Central America to re-energize
discussions over a bigger goal -- creation of the
world's largest free trade area covering the 34
democracies in the Western Hemisphere. Those talks
have snagged over disputes between Brazil and the
United States on how comprehensive the free trade
agreement should be.
The Central American negotiations have raised
concerns among various politically powerful forces
in the United States including textile makers, sugar
growers and unions. They fear a free trade deal with
the region would subject them to unfair foreign
competition.
Costa Rica withdrew from the bargaining Tuesday over
U.S. demands that it open up various service
sectors, including telecommunications and insurance,
to foreign competition.
"Obviously services is a critical issue for us,"
Richard Mills, a spokesman for U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Zoellick, told reporters.
"Costa Rica has a monopoly in telecommunications and
insurance ... so these issues have to be addressed."
Mills said he did not want to speculate on whether
the United States would go ahead with a free trade
agreement for Central America that did not include
Costa Rica, the region's second largest economy. He
said Zoellick planned to hold further discussions
with Alberto Trejos, the country's trade minister,
next week.
The other countries involved in the CAFTA talks are
Guatemala, the region's largest economy, Nicaragua,
El Salvador and Honduras.
A free trade agreement would remove virtually all
trade barriers among the nations over the next
decade.
U.S. Tries to Combat
Sexual Abuse of Kids
It's the
seamier side of the rise in international tourism:
the sexual abuse of children, some as young as five.
Many of the predators are American.
The United States and other governments worldwide
are taking increased notice of the phenomenon.
A law enacted this year makes it a crime for any
person to enter the United States or for any citizen
to travel abroad for the purpose of sex tourism
involving children.
The first indictment under the law occurred in
September in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Michael
L. Clark, 69, was charged with having sexual contact
with young boys in Cambodia. If convicted, he could
be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
Last month, a federal grand jury in Seattle handed
down an indictment against Gary Evans Jackson, 56.
He was accused of having sex with three Cambodian
boys, between the ages of 10 to 15.
The State Department is granting $500,000 to World
Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization, to
assist the group's efforts to combat the practice in
Cambodia, Thailand and Costa Rica.
World Vision cited statistics to show that more than
1 million children are recruited annually into
commercial sex slavery.
The highest concentrations of child prostitutes are
found in Asia and South America, it says. The
figures, it adds, have increased enormously in the
recent past in Russia, Poland, Romania, Hungary and
the Czech Republic.
Many sex tourists are born pedophiles but the
majority are "situational offenders" driven by
curiosity or other reasons, World Vision says.
Dole Food Buys Costa Rican
Pineapple Farms
US fresh
fruit and vegetable producer Dole Food has announced
that it has purchased Costa Rican pineapple farms
and other assets from an affiliate of Maui Land &
Pineapple Company for approximately US$15.3 Million.
"This acquisition will enable Dole to better serve
our customers, primarily in the Central and Eastern
United States, as well as Europe, with increased
supplies of Dole's Tropical Gold sweet pineapple
from Costa Rica," said David H Murdock, chairman and
chief executive of Dole.
Dole Food had 2002 revenues of $4.4 Billion. The
company produces fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and
fresh-cut flowers as well as marketing a growing
line of packaged foods.
Confused? The Old 500
Colones Coins Are Still Good!
Currently in there are two types of 500 colones
coins - the new ones and the old ones, which are
commonly mistaken for 100 colones.
The Banco Central de Costa Rica introduced the new
500 colones coins to avoid the confusion shared by
many and has announced that of January 1st, the old
coins will lose their legal value.
ARESEP, the
government agency that regulates public service
prices, has recieved complaints of merchants and
several bus companies not accepting the old coins.
The Central Bank says there are 5.000.000 coins in
circulation and that the moment it only10% of the
circulation back.
Ricardo Rodríguez,
Treasurer for the Banco Central, has issued a note
to all banks to accept old coins for exchange and
retain them for the removal from the market.
|
|
|
|
|
ZYBAN is the first nicotine-free pill that, as a
part of a comprehensive program from your
health care professional, can help you stop smoking.
Click here for more details! |
Colombian vice
president lauds capture of guerrilla leader
Colombian Vice
President Francisco Santos Tuesday described the
capture of Wilmer Marin, one of the major leaders of
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),as
a "forceful" blow against the guerrillas.
Members of the secret police, or DAS, recaptured
Marin on Tuesday on a highway in Bogota after
trailing him for several months.
"It is not easy to capture such an individual who
will not easily be replaced, as he has been in the
organization (FARC) for many years," Santos said.
The vice president announced that Marin, known as
the commander of Front 22 of FARC, would be moved
with utmost care to the Combita Jail, in Boyaca, to
prevent him from escaping again.
The police had captured Marin in August 2000, and
put him in the Picota Penitentiary, Bogota. But he
managed to escape from that prison on Sept. 18,
2001.
The 17,000-strong FARC is the largest rebel group in
the country.
On Monday, the police captured Ivan Diaz, who is a
leader of the far-right paramilitary group United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), in the
northwestern Colombian state of Antioquia.
Colombia has suffered a four-decade-old civil war
involving government forces, leftist guerrillas and
far-right paramilitaries. About 3,500 people are
killed in the armed conflicts each year.
Argentine judge bans
ex-president from leaving country
Argentine Federal Judge
Rodolfo Canicoba Corral has banned former President
Fernando de laRua and all those involved in a case
of corruption from leaving the country "without
judicial authorization," justice sources said on
Tuesday.
The sources said that besides De la Rua who served
as president from 1999-2001, former intelligence
minister Fernando de Santibales and former minister
of labor Alberto Flamarique were involved in the
case.
Judge Canicoba said the travel ban would apply to 11
others including two powerful provincial governors
and a central bank director.
A judicial spokesmen pointed out that more names
could be included in the list.
Argentine justice authorities are investigating
whether the government of De la Rua paid five
million US dollars to several senators for approving
the so-called "Labor Flexibility Law" which demanded
that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) grant new
credits to Argentina.
The ex-president, who resigned amid a serious social
and economic crisis in December 2001, has denied his
participation in negotiation on the law, and claimed
he was a victim of persecution.
China's bank grants
loan for Venezuela railway repair
China's Export and
Import Bank (Eximbank) will grant a 150 million US
dollar loan for repair work on a railroad in
Venezuela.
The 11-year credit, with a two-year grace period and
a six-percent annual interest, amounts to 80 percent
of the cost of the Railroad System Rehabilitation
Project of Venezuela, said a statement released by
the Venezuelan Finance Ministry on Tuesday.
Venezuelan Finance Minister Tobias Nobrega and
representatives of Eximbank signed the agreement on
Monday.
Under the agreement, the Chinese Yankuang Group will
take on the repair work of the 244-kilometer-long
railroad linking the cities of Puerto Cabello,
Yaritagua, Barquisimeto and Acarigua in two years
and a half.
Economic and political relations between Venezuela,
which is the world's fifth largest crude exporter,
and China have been greatly strengthened in recent
years, especially since Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez took office in 1998.
Poll shows most
Venezuelans expect presidential recall referendum
A poll by the local
firm, Consultores 21, shows that 54.3 percent of
Venezuelans look forward to a presidential recall
referendum before August 2004.
According to the survey, quoted on Tuesday by the
local daily, El Nacional, 44.7 percent of those
polled considered it would be President Hugo
Chavez's fault if there was not a referendum,
while35.3 percent attributed this to the opposition.
The poll also indicated that 26.8 percent of those
polled believe a consultation will take place
between January and March next year; 17.3 percent,
between April and June; 5.9 percent, in July, and
4.3 percent did not specify.
The poll claimed that 18 percent of those consulted
said they were capable of defending their political
ideas with arms; 12 percent appeared ready to back a
coup, and another 12 percent claimed they could
march with violence.
In a scenario with Chavez contending against a
single opposition candidate, the poll revealed that
48 percent would back the opposition, while 39.8
percent would favor the president.
A total of 700 people were polled. They were from
different social classes in Caracas, Valencia,
Maracay, Maracaibo, Barquisimeto, Puerto la Cruz,
Guayana and San Cristobal. There wasa margin of
error of 3.78 percent.
The adversaries of Chavez announced on Dec. 2 that
they had collected 3,602,051 signatures, 1.2 million
signatures more than needed under the constitution
to call a revocation referendum.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela is
verifying the signatures and will decide by early
January whether a consultation is called.
Once the total number of the necessary signatures is
confirmed, the referendum would take place in the
first quarter of 2004. In case Chavez was revoked,
there would be new general elections in the
following months.
In 2000, the Venezuelan leader obtained 3,757,773
votes in presidential elections and was re-elected
for a second term.
Email
this page To a Friend
|
|
|
