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Riteve Passed on
Costs
La
Contraloría General de la República - the
Comptroller General office - determined
that RITEVE, the company that operates the mandatory
vehicle inspections, transferred costs to the
users.
This was disclosed in a report by the Contraloría
before deputy Jose
Miguel Corrales made a request for an investigation.
All the inspection centres are complete and Riteve
put the cost of the work at 100%, when in fact the
Contraloría has said it should have been set at
10%.
The legislator said that Riteve owes it's users
money and the Contraloría should ensure that it
gets it back. A request for the refund will be
formally made to the Contraloría and that the
re-imbursement should be in a way of lower tariffs
for the service.
In addition, Corrales, said that the Riteve tariffs
should be reviewed by the ARESEP - the regulating
authority - and not MOPT, the Ministry of Transport
and Public Works.
Radio For Peace International Under Siege in Costa Rica
The only shortwave radio station dedicated to peace and social justice in the Western Hemisphere is under siege. Founded in 1987, Radio for Peace International broadcasts Democracy Now!, Free Speech Radio News, and other independent radio programs as well as United Nations.
Radio for Peace International is housed on the grounds of University for Peace, a United Nations mandated university located in El Rodeo, Costa Rica. On July 21st, the University served an eviction notice to the radio station staff.
Armed guards employed by the University locked the station’s access gate and patrolled the premises. They ordered the staff to evacuate the facilities in two weeks. A number of Radio for Peace International employees refused to leave the station. Supporters delivered supplies and food to the locked station and a group of listeners is collected donations for a legal defense fund.
Well yesterday the United Nation's University for Peace began to use aggressive means to force the shut down of the station. At noon they cut off the water supply to the remaining 8 staff and volunteers holed up in the building. Four hours later the University cut the telephone lines. Security guards have turned away reporters and cameramen who have come out to try to enter the campus.
Since the University is owned by the United Nations, they are claiming immunity from all laws and law enforcement; the station has little power against this major act of censorship.
Powell praises Honduran reforms, but says no to helicopter deal
US Secretary of State Colin Powell
offered firm support for Honduran President Ricardo Maduro's reform programs, but said Washington would not sell four high-tech helicopters to the Central American country.
Powell, on a brief visit here on the last leg of a three-nation tour of Central America, also said Washington was hopeful negotiations on a regional free-trade agreement would be wrapped up by the end of the year.
But, while stressing US support for Honduras' fight against drugs, Powell said it would not grant Honduras' request to sell it four high-tech helicopters to help fight narcotics trafficking, saying their purchase price of 4.1 million dollars, plus upkeep, was too high.
"They are very expensive both to provide and to operate and, although we would like to do more, I think at the moment we are resource-constrained with respect to providing additional helicopters," Powell said.
While he and Maduro spoke with reporters after their meeting, protesters expressed opposition to the so-called US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and to International Monetary Fund restrictions on Honduras.
"We are very excited about CAFTA and we are hopeful that the negotiations will end by the end of this year and we can take it to our Congress sometime next early next year," Powell said, as around 50 demonstrators loudly chanted in opposition.
"CAFTA will open a new era of economic opportunity for all the countries of Central America as well as for the United States," Powell went on.
The United States opened talks on CAFTA with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua last year and is hoping to use it as a springboard for movement on reaching a pan-American free-trade agreement in 2005.
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US embargo against Cuba rejected by UN General Assembly
The four-decade old embargo by the United States against Cuba was stoutly rejected Tuesday by the UN General Assembly with an overwhelmingly passed resolution.
The resolution received 179 in favor and two abstentions. The United States, Israel and the Marshall Islands voted against it, which calls for a prompt end of the trade and travel embargo since Fidel Castro defeated the CIA-backed assault at the Bay of Pigs in1961.
Speaking to the assembly before the vote, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Roque said the blockade against Cuba qualifies "a crime of genocide."
"The blockade is a flagrant, massive and systematic violation of the human rights of the Cuban people," he said, adding it is also deleterious to the rights of the American people, the rights of the Cubans who live in the United States and the rights of those nationals from other countries who wish to trade with and invest freely in his country.
Deputy Permanent Representative of China Zhang Yishan said
that the embargo is aimed at forcing Cuba to give up its
"independently chosen road of development," and must be lifted.
"The United States has claimed that these (sanctions) are
aimed at enhancing the so-called democracy and human rights," he said, "but in reality, they have seriously constrained Cuba in its nation-building efforts to eradicate poverty."
Cuba demands US end embargo to promote trade
The Cuban authorities said Tuesday that if Washington lifts its embargo on the island, it would become an important market for agricultural products from the United States, particularly rice.
With the end of the embargo, Cuba would increase its rice imports from the United States to over 300,000 tons every year, Pedro Alvarez, director of Cuban state-run company Alimport said.
Alvarez made the remarks at a press conference with US rice producers participating in the 21st International Fair of Havana.
"Should there be no restrictions imposed by Washington over four decades ago, the United States could have become our second or third most important supplier of rice," Alvarez said.
Alimport's executive said the island needs to import half a million tons of rice annually.
He revealed that over the last two years, business between
both sides totaled 554 million US dollars and the amount is expected
to increase to over 620 million dollars this year.
Marvin Lehrer, president of the US Federation of Rice
Producers,s aid he was pleased with the business with the Cuban company and demanded an end to the blockade led by Washington against Cuba.
The businessman, who headed a US delegation to an expo Havana, said his presence in the island is a new demonstration of the interest of US agricultural producers to do business with Cuba.
A blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba in 1962 has barred normal trade between the two countries, which have maintained a four-decade political conflict.
Cuban officials have said the Caribbean country is ready to import up to 60 percent of agricultural and food products from
the United States if these restrictions are removed.
After Hurricane Michelle ripped through Cuba in November 2001, Washington offered humanitarian assistance to Cuba. Cuba thanked the United States for its goodwill gesture, but opted to purchase what it needed directly from the US market.
The granting of licenses by the US Departments of State and Treasury led to unprecedented commercial exchanges between the
two countries which do not have formal diplomatic relations.
Panama puts $200M into canal
improvements
The Panamanian government announced on Tuesday it will pour 200 million US dollars into the Panama Canal zone to improve the two-way movement along this inter-oceanic infrastructure.
The General Administrator of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Alberto Zubieta, indicated that through the works of dredging, Gatun Lake will possibly become deeper and contain a greater
water volume for ship movement.
The improvements of some parts of the Canal will allow
vessels, those with a greater draft, to move in both directions, he added.
Zubieta pointed out that it was expected about 1,000 vessels of more than 275 meter length would move through the Canal during the present fiscal year. "That is why some improvements are needed," he noted.
According to the ACP, during the 2003-2004 fiscal period, investment channeled to the Panama Canal will amount to a budget of 942 million dollars, equal to its total income.
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