Today's Stories: Unions Demand Revenue Minister Resignation No Agreement Reached with Striking Air Traffic Controllers "Silent Earthquake" A First in Costa Rica Emerging Parties Fail Program Against Junk Food Growing Trade Deficit CAFTA Lacks Votes Olympic Soccer Takes Back Seat

Ottón Solís, president of the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) and brother of Comptroller Alex Solís, appeared before a Legislative Commission on Monday to support his brother. Otton confirmed that he authorized his brother to sign his name to a legal document, having complete faith in his brother. The controversy over the appointment of Alex Solís as Comptroller is over the the signature and that Solís was also involved in high interest loans to those wanting to make illegal trips to the U.S.

The union organization, Coordinadora Unitaria Sindical y Magisterial (CUSIMA), which unites a majority of the public employee unions is basing it's call, saying that Minister Dent's is closed and opposite to the interests of workers.

The unions are annoyed at the 4.5% increase in public wages for the second part of the year by way of government decree that will affect 150.000 public employees.

The unions had demanded an increase of 10% to keep pace with the rising cost of living, adding to the 6.26% increase for the first half of the year.

"A 4.5% adjustment is absolutely unjust and insufficient to confront the loss of spending power... the decision of the minister... is an additional challenge to the series of violations of the rights of workers", Dennis Cabezas said in the CUSIMA bulleting.

The representatives of the public employees say the government is the culprit "feeding the bonfire" and that Tuesday they will announce what measures they will take.

Cabezas added, "the government must know and understand that we already had our one day of protest on July 29 and that we are ready to to whatever is necessary to arrange of a national strike".
 

No Agreement Reached with Striking Air Traffic Controllers
The meeting on Monday between representatives of the striking 125 air traffic controllers and government lasted five hours, but no agreement was reached.

At 2:00pm yesterday, both parties met at President House. Ricardo Toledo, Minister for the Presidency headed the meeting that was cordial, no agreement could be reached.

The strike is now into it's 44th day. The government immediately replaced the striking controllers with foreign air traffic controllers and Costa Rican pilots to keep the air traffic moving at the three airports, Juan Santamaria (San José), Daniel Oduber (Liberia) and Tobias Bolaños (Pavas) and the radar control centre in Alajuela.

The government has declared the strike illegal, however, no controllers have been fired for failing to return to work.

At the heart of the dispute is the claim by striking air traffic controllers that they were promised pay equity with other Civil Aviation employees, in an agreement dating back to 1994, which will give them a 35% increase in salary. Representatives of the striking controllers say the government owes them about 700 million colones.

Both sides have been disputing air safety during the strike. Controllers have been making claims of near misses and passenger safety is in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Aviación Civil, says the foreign controllers are doing an excellent job, and will continue to do so until the strike is over.
 

"Silent Earthquake" A First in Costa Rica
Earthquake experts have detected the first "silent earthquake" in Costa Rica's history.

Although silent earthquakes are imperceptible by humans, it caused a slide in the Cocos plate, similar to a magnitude of 6.0 on the Richter scale.

Traditional earthquakes release energy within 5 to 9 seconds, however, the Nicoya earthquake lasted 25 days, according to experts at the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori).

The 'silent' earthquake produces no destruction and does not register on seismographs. Similar silent movements have only been found in Japan, the United States and Perú.

The only way to detect silent earthquakes is by the use of Global Positioning Satellite (GPS).

However, the earthquakes on Monday in Pérez Zeledón were not silent. The first of the quakes to shake the area were felt Sunday night and then again on Monday morning and registered 2.1 on the Richter scale. The epicenter was located in Alaska de Pérez Zeledón.

Emerging Parties Fail
Congressmen of emerging parties have failed to make a difference as compared to their peers from traditional organizations, according to analysts.

Because voters were not pleased with the performance of legislators from the two traditional parties, National Liberation (PLN) and Social Christian Unity (PUSC) - the current ruling party - they elected a good number of congressmen from emerging parties, in hopes of obtaining a much-desired balance, more transparency, and efficiency in the Legislative Assembly, but their hopes were short-lived.

Now, two years into their four-year term, the people consider that those congressmen have not played a major role in solving the problems of the nation and that, moreover, they have further mired the activities at Congress, the analysts add.

However, Congressman Carlos Salazar, of the emerging Libertarian Movement, claims that two years is not long enough to bring about the positive changes the representatives of his party and of other minority organizations will have achieved by the end of their term.
 

Program Against Junk Food
The Government of Costa Rica launched a program aimed at convincing the people of avoiding junk food, which is loaded with fat and sugars which result in obesity.

The growing presence of illnesses linked to a bad diet that disable and kill, prompted the launching of the program, a joint project involving the ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Economy, Industry and Commerce, which aims at promoting a healthy diet.

The Minister of Health, Maria del Rocio Saenz, pointed out that the program is ambitious and that it is the first such effort ever.

Analysts agree with the Minister, while pointing out that the project is a must, given the fact that 60 percent of the Ticos in the ages between 20 and 64 are overweight.
 

Growing Trade Deficit
The deficit of the trade balance of Costa Rica increased this year's first six months, as compared to the same period in 2003, according to data from the Central Bank.

Between January and June this year, Costa Rica imported goods worth $4,065 million, while it exported $3,205 million. According to the bank, the deficit in foreign trade in the period was $860 million, one of the highest levels in recent years.
 

CAFTA Lacks Votes
The Central American Free Trade Agreement would lose if a vote were taken today, supporters acknowledged Monday. And while the coalition of CAFTA backers is short on votes now, they believe the spread is close enough to be turned around.

A vote is expected during a lame duck congressional session after November's U.S. elections. To do that, they'll need to overcome opponents, including the Democratic Party and labor unions, which argue that CAFTA needs to do more to protect worker and environmental rights.

Those who back the treaty met Monday in Houston, where a round of trade talks was held late last year, to determine how they can turn things around. Ambassadors from several Central American nations said a major goal in coming months is to battle the claims of CAFTA haters.

"The biggest lie by the opponents of CAFTA has been labor rights," said H.E. Salvador Stadthagen, Nicaragua's ambassador to the United States. He and other speakers at the conference said opponents of the trade agreement are painting the region as having labor laws like those in place years ago, but reforms have been made.

They warned that Texas stands to lose if CAFTA fails in a congressional vote because so much trade from Central America already moves through this area.

CAFTA consists of the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Some 1,200 Texas companies already trade with CAFTA countries, and 72 percent of the trade through the Port of Houston comes from those countries, noted William Morley, vice president for congressional affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which backs the deal.

Olympic Soccer Takes Back Seat
The world's most popular sport at the biggest event on the planet. It sounds like the ideal combination when soccer and the Olympics meet.

But it doesn't work that way, at least in the men's competition. Soccer can't grab the spotlight away from athletics, swimming and gymnastics, which tend to dominate the games.

The Olympic performances of athletes such as Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis and Olga Korbut are etched in the minds of sports fans.

FIFA, soccer's world governing body, doesn't want the Olympic soccer competition, which starts Wednesday - two days ahead of the rest of the program -- to rival its World Cup in any way and insists that teams are restricted to players age 23 or under.

The only concession is that the 16 finalists can choose three who are over that threshold, so that some of the stars of the game have made it to Greece.

On Thursday, it's Paraguay vs. Japan at Thessaloniki and Ghana vs. Italy at Volos in Group B. And Costa Rica vs. Morocco at Eraklion and Iraq vs. Portugal at Patras in Group D.

The Americans start out against host Greece at Iraklion on Wednesday when the Germans, who are in a different group, face another strong contender, China, at Patras.

Brazil and Australia, who are in the same group as the Americans, face each other at Thessaloniki and Sweden and Japan meet at Volos.

The other two teams in the women's competition, Mexico and Nigeria, don't play until Saturday. The Nigerians meet Japan in Athens and Mexico faces China at Patras.