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Lower
devaluation in 2004
The economic
stability achieved in 2003 and a positive
international economic outlook for this year are
likely to prompt the Central Bank to lower the rate
of devaluation of the colon vs. the U.S. dollar, in
the coming months.
Promotion of tourism
This year, the funds allocated for the promotion of
Costa Rica as a tourist destination will decrease by
26 percent as compared to the amount spent last
year, according to Costa Rican Board of Tourism (ICT
in Spanish).
The actual figures were $12 million in 2002 and $9.5
million in 2003, and now the amount is $7 million.
In 2003, only 270 fourths of one page were printed
in newspapers in the United States and Canada
mainly; however, both the official and the private
sectors state satisfaction with the achievements of
advertising, that include the arrival of six other
airlines and 65 new flights per week.
The ease in transportation is considered one of the
major means for the arrival of tourists.
Illegal
telephone networks
Illegal
networks that operate from offices throughout San
Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, handle 25 percent
of the telephone calls from the United States and a
percentage - not yet well assessed - of the calls
coming from elsewhere in the world.
Known as "By pass", this illegal operation means at
least $5,000 a day to each operator, according to
Costa Rican officials.
The operation itself consists in downloading - from
a satellite or the Internet - calls from abroad that
are then transferred as if they were local, via the
domestic telephone network.
This traffic represents losses of at least $7
million a year to the state power and
telecommunications institute (ICE), according to an
official source.
Because there are no regulations defining the "By
pass" as such, those involved in it cannot be
prosecuted and ICE ís actions are limited to
switching off their local telephone lines.
The latter leads the illegal operators to get a new
line and go on with the business, at least until the
Legislative Assembly passes a law aimed at legal
action against such operations.
Putting
the Sex Trade on Notice
Around the
world, about one million women and children are
seduced into leaving their homelands every year and
forced into prostitution or menial work in other
countries.
Most are duped with promises of good jobs in more
prosperous nations. These cases are not confined to
remote parts of the world.
Of the 15 nations the U.S. State Department listed
last year as having done little or nothing to stop
this growing human rights abuse, five of the worst
offenders were in the Western Hemisphere: Belize,
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Suriname.
A study by the Inter-American Commission of Women at
the Organization of American States in Washington
shows that Latin American nations have mostly sat
back as women and children were treated as chattel.
Women from Colombia were smuggled as far away as
Japan, and Dominican women ended up against their
will in Switzerland. Young Mexicans were enslaved in
several states, including Texas, Florida and New
Jersey.
Costa Rica and Belize became destinations for
impoverished women from Nicaragua, Guatemala, El
Salvador and Honduras. Without passports or money,
they were forced to supply sex to tourists, usually
from the United States and Europe.
At least 70 Internet sites promote sex tourism in
Costa Rica.
Fortunately, all that is beginning to change,
largely because of pressure from Washington. Since
the United States first passed a law against human
trafficking in 2000, an unusual alliance of
religious groups, including conservative
evangelicals, and liberal women's and human rights
organizations has pressed for more action.
Evangelical groups were partly responsible for
President Bush's strong statement at the United
Nations on human trafficking. They also won the
appointment of John Miller, a former congressman
from Washington State, as an adviser on human
trafficking to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The Bush administration deserves credit for its
tough stance. Its efforts in Eastern Europe and Asia
in particular improved law enforcement and helped
women freed from captors. But Washington has yet to
give as much attention to Latin America.
That needs to change if sex traders are to
understand that their free ride in our backyard is
over. |
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18 Colombians
die in attacks blamed on guerrillas
Eighteen people were killed
Thursdayin three separate attacks blamed on guerrillas across Colombia,
local media reported.
The Attorney General's office of Pensilvania, a city in the midwestern state
of Caldas, said eight youths were gunned down in the rural area, presumably
by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the
nation's largest rebel group.
Authorities said the victims, killed by the FARC's Front 47, were peasants
from two coca-growing families that angered rebels because they refuse to
sell them their produce.
Also on Thursday at El Salado, a town in the west of Santo Domingo, the
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a paramilitary group, shot dead
seven people on several occasions, said a regional ombudsman.
In the early hours of Thursday, three people were murdered in abar of
Sincelejo, the capital of Sucre. Witnesses said two men opened fire and ran
away.
Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer and the top supplier of
heroin to the United States, receives hundreds of millions of dollars in US
military assistance every year to fight drugs and rebels.
Diplomatic row between Argentina, US over Cuba ties worsens
A diplomatic row between Argentina and
the United States over Buenos Aires's ties with Cuba has worsened, with
President Nestor Kirchner vowing to bring up the issue at a meeting with his
US counterpart George W. Bush next week.
Kirchner has, twice in two days, publicly denounced the US attempts to
meddle in Argentina's foreign policy. On Thursday, he told a group of
visiting US lawmakers that criticism of Argentine policy was "inopportune
and unacceptable."
The diplomatic spat erupted on Tuesday when Roger Noriega, US assistant
secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told reporters the United
States was "disappointed" with Buenos Aires' approach to Cuba and Argentina
was increasingly veering to the left since Kirchner took office.
Noriega also said Washington was concerned with Argentina's handling of its
foreign debts.
Meanwhile, Washington reportedly notified Buenos Aires Bush planned to hold
talks with Kirchner on the sidelines of a special summit of the Organization
of American States scheduled for Jan. 12-13 in Monterrey, Mexico, and that
Argentina's policy towards Cuba and its handling of foreign debts would
figure largely.
Noriega's remarks drew a swift, angry response from Argentina. Argentine
Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa telephoned US ambassador Lino Gutierrez on
Tuesday night and asked Washington to clarify whether Noriega's comments
reflected the official stance of the US government.
On Wednesday, Kirchner, in his first public comment on the bickering, told
reporters Argentina "will win by a knockout" in the face-to-face meeting
with Bush next week.
While one after another in Argentina joined in an avalanche of official
criticism of the US interference, Buenos Aires appears reluctant to see the
row grind to a deadlock.
In an apparent bid to bring down the temperature, Interior Minister Anibal
Fernandez said on Thursday Buenos Aires had no intention of slipping into
dispute with Washington and that President Kirchner's remarks on Wednesday
were only meant to defend his country's dignity.
Washington, however, failed to appreciate Buenos Aires' gesture. A State
Department spokesman reaffirmed Noriega's remarks on Wednesday, saying they
were all "correct." US Secretary of State Colin Powell also expressed
support for Noriega.
The diplomatic spat is becoming more complex as a result of Washington's
uncompromising line, analysts said.
Colombian legislators call US migration plan "political opportunism
Colombian parliamentarians Thursday
described the migration proposal by US President George W. Bush as
"political opportunism", aimed only at seeking votes for his re-election
from the Hispanic community living in the United States.
Future Hispanic migrants going to the United States in search of work would
be "greatly affected" by the new migration plan as Washington could toughen
its migration policy without resorting to expulsions, said senator Enrique
Gomez of the Conservative Party.
Senator Jimmy Chamorro was more pointed, saying that Bush was short of clear
legislative support and only wanted to seek votes from the Hispanic
community living in the United States for his re-election.
Bush announced Wednesday an immigration reform plan to grant three-year
renewable visas to foreigners working in the United States and those who are
offered jobs there.
The reform plan, still to be approved by the US Congress, could benefit
141,000 Colombians clandestinely working in the United States.
The Hispanic population has been growing in the United States and represents
a swinging voting bloc that Bush aides see as key to victory. Bush won only
35 percent of the Hispanic vote in the 2000 presidential election.
Peru
praises DPRK's willingness to freeze nuclear program
Peru is satisfied with the decision of
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to stop nuclear activities,
the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement on Thursday.
Pyongyang's decision promotes the dialogue and diplomatic negotiations among
the DPRK, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, the
statement said.
Peru looks forward to a positive development of this dialogue, which could
strengthen the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it said.
In a statement released Tuesday by the DPRK's official Korean Central News
Agency, Pyongyang said that it is set to refrain from the test and
production of nuclear weapons and stop even operating nuclear power industry
for a peaceful purpose as first-phase measures of a package solution to
settle the nuclear issue peacefully.
The first round of negotiations on the Korean nuclear issue was held in
Beijing late last August with the participation of representatives from the
DPRK, South Korea, Russia, China, the United States and Japan. Diplomatic
efforts are underway to set the date for the next round of six-party talks.
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