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Venezuela backs Costa Rican government's decision to investigate Ortega conspiracy
Venezuelan Foreign Ministry (MRE) officials say they are pleased with a decision cabled from San Jose that their Costa Rican counterparts are launching an investigation into Caracas-based revelations that fugitive from Venezuelan justice, former Venezuelan Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV) president, Carlos Ortega has been abusing his political asylum privileges in the Central American republic to conspire against the legitimate government of Venezuela.
Deputy Foreign Minister Arevalo Mendez has told state-owned VENPRES that "we are satisfied for the moment" that Costa Rica has shown willing to investigate the case in which Carlos Ortega, the president of the largest Venezuelan trade union organization, the CTV, has been shown to be involved in actions which clearly prejudice his status as a political refugee in Costa Rica since he fled Venezuelan justice last March.
"What they will investigate is palpable and patent," Mendez says, assuring that there is more than sufficient evidence to show that Ortega is responsible for a conspiracy against the Venezuelan government...
Earlier in the week a group of congressmen had filed tape-recordings as evidence that shows that Ortega and current CTV president, Manuel Cova, had been preparing a plan to destabilize the Caracas government and to overthrow President Chavez Frias during the November
28 - December 1 collection of signatures petitioning a revocatory referendum that the opposition knows it has no chance of winning.
Last weekend, President Chavez Frias had called on Costa Rica to deal with the accusations and launch an investigation
- Ortega immediately rushed to challenge the charges claiming that the tape telephone call has been spliced together to compromise him ... "we have just one plan, and that is to get to a revocatory referendum against Chavez Frias' continued rule!" And, despite having taken a participating lead in both the April 2002 coup d'etat and the last
December - January 2003 national labor stoppage, Ortega adds: "the opposition in Venezuela is seeking Chavez Frias' dismissal by electoral means."
Nevertheless, Ortega is wanted on an international warrant to face trial in Caracas for his role in the coup and anti-government sabotage ... last March he fled to the Costa Rican embassy in Caracas claiming that he was being persecuted on political and not criminal charges...
US Airways Begins Service to San Jose, Costa Rica
From Charlotte and Philadelphia
US Airways will begin Saturday nonstop service to
San Jose, Costa Rica this weekend, with nonstop
flights from both Charlotte, N.C., and Philadelphia.
Both new flights will operate using 146-seat Airbus
A-320 aircraft, with seating for 16 customers in
First Class and 126 customers in Economy Class.
Flights will depart Philadelphia at 7:45 a.m., and
will arrive in San Jose at 11:47 a.m. Return flights
will depart San Jose at 2:45 p.m., and will arrive
in Philadelphia at 8:36 p.m. Charlotte-San Jose
flights will depart at 10:15 a.m., arriving at 1:24
p.m. Return flights will depart San Jose at 1:05
p.m., and will arrive in Charlotte at 6:10 p.m.
"San Jose is an important addition to our
growing Latin American network," said Douglas
D. Leo, US Airways vice president-international.
"As a top destination for eco-tourism,
beautiful beaches and surfing, Costa Rica caps off
an exciting year of expansion throughout the
Caribbean and Latin America. These flights will also
offer travelers from Costa Rica access to US
Airways' vast East Coast network, with easy
connections to more than 65 cities in the Northeast,
Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Ohio Valley and Great
Lakes."
"We are very pleased to welcome US Airways. We
are cognizant of the fact that tourism is
fundamental to the development of the airport and
the country. Alterra has proactively participated in
tourism development. Together with ASM, one of the
most respected aviation consultants in the world,
and the Costa Rican National Tourism Institute, we
have a global strategy to enhance relationships with
the international airlines interested in serving
Costa Rica," said Al Romeu, senior vice
president-Alterra Latin America.
On Feb. 1, 2004, US Airways will expand its San Jose
service to eight roundtrips per week, four from
Charlotte and four from Philadelphia.
Local Florida
leaders Called to Boost Costa Rican Trade
Enterprise Florida Inc. is seeking Northeast Florida business leaders to participate in an Export Marketing Mission to San Jose, Costa Rica, in February.
Although Costa Rica is Florida's top Central American trading partner, it has historically been a low-priority market for North Florida, said Robert Peek, spokesman for the Jacksonville Port Authority.
"A lot of that cargo moves through South Florida," Peek said, noting much of the nation's exports to Central America are perishables that require short shipping times.
However, increased trade between the Jacksonville port and Central America "definitely has potential," Peek said. "Particularly on the import side if [the cargo is] bound for markets in North Florida or north of Jacksonville. Instead of being unloaded in South Florida and trucked all the way across the United States, it can be shipped straight to Jacksonville," saving trucking time and expense.
Previously known as a major producer of bananas and coffee, Costa Rica now boasts investments by and the major presence of companies such as Intel Corp., Procter & Gamble, Abbott Laboratories and Baxter Healthcare Corp.
For $750 (plus $300 for each additional company representative), the mission includes one-on-one business appointments with potential clients and networking opportunities with Costa Rican ambassadors and other government and business leaders.
Twenty companies will be signed up on a first-come, first-serve basis. Top prospects for business with Costa Rica are companies that deal in: paper and paperboard; computers and peripherals; plastic materials and resins; telecommunications equipment; automotive parts; agricultural chemicals; construction equipment; and medical equipment.
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Death in Childbirth Remains High in Latin America
At least two Latin American women died every hour last year from complications during childbirth caused by poverty and a lack of access to proper health care, said a report released on Friday.
In the region, there were 190 deaths for every 100,000 births last year -- for a total of 22,000 deaths -- compared to an average 12 deaths per 100,000 births in developed countries, said a report by the Latin American Center for Perinatology and Human Development, which belongs to the World Health Organization (news - web sites).
The report, which was released during an international gynecology and obstetrics congress in Santiago, said there had been no significant decrease in the maternal mortality rate in Latin America and the Caribbean over the past four years.
"This is a social injustice that women within the same country or region, because they live in poverty that marginalizes them from medical care ... are more likely to have complications and die," said Jose Belizan, director of the center.
Women in Latin America and the Caribbean are more likely to die from blood loss, infections and miscarriages that would normally be considered survivable if they had been given proper hospital treatment.
More than two out of every five people in the region live in poverty, a percentage that is unchanged since 1977, according to U.N. figures.
Haiti and Bolivia had the highest maternal mortality rate in the region while Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago registered a rate closer to that of rich nations.
The United Nations has set a goal of cutting the Latin American maternal mortality rate in half by 2010 but Belizan said that was impossible. "We're not going to achieve that," he said.
Colombian military pinpoints kidnapped US citizens
Colombian Defense Minister Martha Ramirez said on Friday that the military has discovered the area where three kidnapped United States citizens are kept.
"We have a very clear idea of the spot where they are kept," Ramirez told a press conference, but he added that the military have not tried to rescue them.
It was the responsibility of the armed forces to prevent any operation that could endanger the kidnapped US people, the minister said.
The three US citizens, Tom Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell, were employees from the private US firm, California Microwave System. They were captured last February after a plane crash in Colombian territories under the control of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). They were doing intelligence work for the Pentagon.
Another US citizen and a Colombian soldier who traveled on the same plane were presumably killed by the rebels.
In an interview with a Colombian journalist, Stansell said he and his companions were going to die if any operation to rescue them took place. The FARC has proposed to swapping them and other Colombian political figures for imprisoned insurgents.
Ramirez said the military exerted constant pressure on the guerrillas to let them know "they have no possibility of keeping the hostages under their control for indefinite time."
He added that the military search and rescue operations for seven foreign citizens who were kidnapped by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the country's second largest guerrilla force, have not been suspended.
The kidnapped include four Israelis, one Spaniard, one Briton and one German. They were captured in the northern Colombian mountainous region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta on Sept. 12.
Clinton urges more contacts between US, China
Former US President Bill Clinton urged here Thursday more contacts between the United States and China.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the two-day Business Week CEO forum, he said a closer US-China relation will contribute to the stability of the world.
He said the free and fair trade between the United States and China will not only benefit both countries, but also benefit Asia.
"The continuing growth of the global economy will require, whether we like or not, a continuing growth of political cooperation and a continuing effort to resolve imbalances in the economy they arrive," he said.
He said the potential of the untapped market is great, adding that the continuing integration of the global economy is the shortest way for eliminating poverty and promoting stability and peace.
On appreciation of Chinese yuan, Clinton said China's position not to have a stronger renminbi was "understandable." It "has moreto do with financial stability in China than the desire to maintain the trade deficit with the US," he said.
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