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Shannon Martin's
Mother
Says Trial Was Fair
The mother of a University of Kansas student Shannon
Martin, slain in Costa Rica, said Tuesday she
accepts the verdict imposed on the two people
convicted of killing her daughter.
"I am very satisfied with the Costa Rican judicial
system," said Jeanette Stauffer, the mother of
Shannon Martin. "The judges analyzed the evidence
very well.
"But as a mother, there is no sentence that would be
enough to punish the brutal murder of my daughter.
Nothing will bring her back to me."
Kattia Cruz, 28, and Luis Alberto Castro, 38, were
found guilty of murder and sentenced to 15 years in
prison for killing the student from Topeka, Kansas.
Martin, 23, was stabbed to death on May 13, 2001,
after she left a nightclub in Golfito, 105 miles
south of the Costa Rican capital of San Jose.
A third defendant, Rafael Zumbado Quesada, 48, was
found innocent of all charges by the three-judge
court.
Cruz and Castro were absolved of more serious
charges of premeditated homicide, which could have
carried a sentence of more than 30 years.
Stauffer thanked Security Minister Rogelio Ramos,
who assigned four agents to protect her after she
received threats during the final days of the trial.
She also said Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent
Larry Thomas and investigator Jesse Ibarra "made the
difference" in the case by interviewing at least 50
witnesses and finding evidence to help convict
Castro.
After nearly a dozen trips to Costa Rica and after
spending five weeks here for the trial, Stauffer
said she would return to the United States this
week.
Cars Not Safe in
Commercial Centre Parking Lots
Parking your
car in a commercial centre, with guards, doesn't
assure you car will be there on your return.
According to figures released by the Organismo de
Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) more than 100 cars have
been stolen this year from the parking lots of
commercial centres in San José.
A study done by the police officials show that
Multiplaza in Escazu heads the list with 18 autos
stolen from the parking lot. Next on the list is the
parking lot at the Hospital Mexico at 14 cars stolne,
which is not a commercial centre, but that doesn't
deter thieves.
Novacentro in Guadalupe is in this place at 6, while
Centro Comercial del Sur and Terramall are tied at
5. Terramall opened it's doors the past month and
also offers 'valet' parking.
Many of the thefts are high priced autos and stolen
by gangs that have been the target of police
investgiations. Jorge Rojas, director of the OIJ,
tells that police are giving car thefts a high
priority and asks that owners and managers of
commercial centres sit down with police officials to
find a solution to the problem.
Festival of Lights
Near
December 13
is the day that Festival of Lights will be held this
year, with songs, dances and parades.
A total of 11 floats, 10 bands and 7 cheerleader
gorups will take part in the festivities.
The route will be same as in the past years,
starting in the west at the National Gym in La
Sabana, taking route along Paseo Colone/Avenida
Segunda and ending in the east at the Plaza de la
Democracia.
Will Venezuelans Sign
Up To Dump Chavez?
Political
tensions are rising again in Venezuela. In early
November, government authorities seized weapons that
President Hugo Chavez claimed were intended for an
attempted coup against his government.
Then, Chavez threatened to close down the country's
private television stations to "ensure peace." And
Chavez has accused the CIA, Costa Rica, the
Dominican Republic, and "fascist" local rivals of
conspiring to topple him.
What's rattling the populist President? Most likely,
a development that is neither secretive nor illegal:
On Nov. 28, Chavez' chief opponents -- a group of
five politicians backed by business, labor, and the
private media -- will launch a four-day drive to get
voters to sign a petition demanding a recall
referendum on Chavez' presidency.
Their pitch: It's time to dump a leader they accuse
of trashing the economy and gutting democratic
institutions. If the opposition collects the
signatures of 2.4 million voters, or 20% of the
electorate, the National Electoral Council [CNE] is
expected to schedule a referendum for April. Such a
vote is allowed under the country's constitution. If
Chavez loses, he would have to resign three years
before his term ends, and new presidential elections
would be held.
Opposition leaders are hoping for a resounding
victory. If they collect well over the threshold
number of names, "the President will be a lame
duck," says Henrique Salas Romer, an opposition
presidential contender.
But Chavez may not go easily even if a recall
referendum were to win. The danger remains that his
supporters and opponents alike could take to the
streets -- and that Chavez could declare a state of
emergency. Venezuela's political struggle is far
from over.
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Colombian AUC paramilitaries lay down arms
A total of 855 paramilitaries of the United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) laid down
their arms Tuesday in Medellin, the second largest
city of the country.
The disarming ceremony began with a minute of
silence in memory of the victims of the armed
conflicts and a video message from AUC's political
chief and founder, Carlos Castano.
"The road to peace is open in Colombia," said
Castano.
The government peace commissioner Carlos Restrepo
and Medellin's incoming Mayor Sergio Naranjo and
incumbent Mayor Luis Perez participated in the
ceremony.
The right-wing paramilitaries of the Cacique
Nutibara Bloc have operated in the state of
Antioquia for two decades.
After the ceremony, they were to gather in the
neighboring state of La Ceja for three weeks of
training.
In order to facilitate their reinstatement as
civilians, the Colombian government issued three
decrees on Monday to suspend judicial processes
temporarily, establish a special assembly zone in La
Ceja, and usher in a new phase of dialogue with the
paramilitaries.
The local media reported that the government of
President Alvaro Uribe appointed the Antioquia
Peace-Facilitating Commission"to advance the
verification of the process for the signing of and
compliance with the agreements" with the AUC.
The AUC, the largest right-wing paramilitary group
in the country, was established in the 1980s by drug
traffickers and landowners to fight leftist
guerrillas in areas where government troops
exercised little control. It was active in
northeastern Colombia, particularly in the states of
Antioquia and Cordoba.
After painstaking negotiations, the Colombian
government and the AUC reached an agreement in
mid-July, under which the 13,000 paramilitaries will
lay down their arms by Dec. 31, 2005.
The AUC demobilization process will help ease a
four-decade-old civil war in the country, the
longest in Latin America, which claims about 3,500
lives every year.
Concorde jet sails to new home at New York museum
A supersonic Concorde jet sailed up the Hudson River
Tuesday to its final resting place: the Intrepid Sea
Air Space Museum in Manhattan, New York.
The plane left JFK Airport on a barge Tuesday
morning after its engines were removed and the
remaining fuel was drained to prepare it for the
public display.
When the 62.2-meter-long, 88-ton jet whisked
passengers across the Atlantic Ocean in just three
hours, round-trip tickets cost over 10,000 dollars.
Visitors, however, will soon be able to climb aboard
for the price of admission to the museum.
The Concorde will become part of a permanent new
exhibit and officially open to the public next
spring, the museum's chief executive officer Col.
Tom Tyrrell said in a statement.
The Concorde retired from British Airways last month
after 27 years of service and its pals' service in
Air France halted in May. Both airlines said the
service was too expensive to operate, and the
Concordes' image has never recovered from a crash
outside Paris in 2000 that killed 113 people.
The Concorde made an aviation history as the world's
only supersonic passenger aircraft, cruising at more
than twice the speed of sound, and at an altitude of
up to 60,000 feet (about 18,200 meters).
In addition to the Intrepid museum, British Airways
selected six other sites to receive Concordes,
including the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
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