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Crime of Passion, Third This
Year
This time, the body was found in an
apartment in
de
Barrio San José de Alajuela, the victim of the
third crime of passion to occur this year.
Teresa Rosario Miyora, a Dominican woman of only 23 years of age was found
with a bullet wound to the head. The prime suspect in the murder is her
live-in boyfriend who rented the apartment for the couple.
According to neighbours, the victim was last seen on Sunday when she went
out to meet with her boyfriend and had not been heard from since.
Police did a search of the premises, both inside the apartment and outside
to look for clues and evidence, principally a .22 calibre pistol that was
used to take the life of the young woman.
Police have no clues of the boyfriend's whereabouts and what motivated the
murder. The investigation continues.
Father Minor and Chavez Seek
Freedom
Today, Wednesday, is a crucial day
for Father Minor and businessman Omar Chavez, both in preventative jail for
being the principal authors in the Parmenio Medina murder in 2001.
The two men will be before a judge in a closed hearing to determine if they
should go free while waiting trial of continuing their preventative
detention.
The hearing is convened following a petition from defense lawyers who claim
that they have evidence that will clear their clients. If the petition is
granted the two men will go free, otherwise they will continue with the
original order of 3 months jail.
Security around the courthouse is tight, as extra police officers will be on
hand. Given the high profile of the case, the judges in the case say there
is no external pressure on them.
Medina, a journalist, was murdered by yet unknown gunmen outside of his home
in July 2001. Several arrests have been made in the case, including Minor
and Chavez who are accused of having financed the murder, but the actual
'triggermen' are still at large.
Transit Police Warn Drunk
Drivers
Transit police, following the scandal
revealed last week were more than 58% of their vehicles were taken off the
road have announced that they will used a firm hand with drunk drivers.
The special operative will commence tomorrow afternoon at 3pm, following the
opening of the Palmares festival, where more than 300 transit police
officers will be on had to curd drinking and driving.
| Transit police will have on
hand breathalyzer testing machines that can indicate the level of
alcohol in the blood in 10 seconds and will fine drivers between 10.000
and 20.000 colones and confiscate the vehicle and all the headaches
involved in getting it back. |
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Ignacio Sanchez, director of the Tranist
police, says that there will be no way to avoid the traffic road blocks the
police have planned. They are serious about getting drunk drivers off the
road and Palmares is the largest festival outside of San José and a large
consumption of alcohol takes places each year.
First Technology
Show to be Held in Costa Rica
Costa Rica will be host of the first
Congress the International of Technology and Information. Costa Rica has a
flourishing technological industry, as much in software and as in services.
Many factors like a high level of education, the dominion of languages and
the installation of high tech companies in the country, have allowed the
industry to grow.
The industry now is trying to improve it's image, so that the world
perceives Costa Rica as one of the best places for the technology
businesses.
For that reason, on the 28th, 29th and 30th of this month Costa Rica will
host the first International Congress of Technology and Information,
where both private and public sectors will participate.
In Costa Rica there presently more than 200 companies that produce software,
generating more than $170 Million Dollars in sales each year.
The industry employs some 4.000 people directly, but that number more than
doubles to 9.000 jobs if you include service and call centers used by the
technology companies.
The activity is organized by PROCOMER - the promoter of commerce, Caprosoft,
Prosoftware, Intel Captial, Oracle, Codisa, Microsfot and the Bank of Costa
Rica.
Wagering Company Launches Petition, Letter Writing Initiative
BetonSports.com, the largest online wagering company in the world, based in
Costa Rica, officially launched today a petition and letter writing
initiative for online gambling enthusiasts to voice their support for
Internet-based wagering.
Available on the company's web site, these efforts are the latest elements
in BetonSports.com's "Right to Wager" campaign that gives consumers an
opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns regarding regulatory
efforts to ban online gambling, including sports betting and casino games.
Consumers who support online gambling have the option to sign a petition
that will be sent to state and federal decision makers. BetonSports.com has
also created a form letter that urges elected officials to pass responsible
legislation that will allow American consumers to exercise their freedom of
choice to wager online.
Consumers have the ability to send the letter to their respective federal
and state elected officials.
"Our 'Right to Wager' campaign was launched in an effort to show policy and
decision makers that the American public demands the right to choose whether
or not they want to participate in wagering online," said David Carruthers,
CEO of BetonSports.com.
"The government has committed time and energy to restrict consumers rights
when it comes to wagering online and our latest initiatives are giving
consumers a voice in the ongoing debate. We believe that making the petition
and letter to Congress available online will serve as a powerful vehicle to
reach a larger audience who agree with and support our campaign."
BetonSports.com originally launched a grassroots petition drive on October
24, 2003 in New York City. Since then, a BetonSports.com bus and marketing
team has traveled to approximately 25 cities throughout the United States to
gather signatures from consumers who want to protect their right to wager
online. The bus will make its final stop at Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston,
Texas on February 1, 2004.
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Canada Aims to
Beat U.S. in Race for Free Trade
New Canadian Prime Minister Paul
Martin said on Tuesday that he intended to beat the United States in the
race to set up free trade deals with the countries of Latin America.
Efforts to set up a free trade agreement between the 34 nations of the
western hemisphere have run into trouble due to arguments between Brazil and
the United States over subsidies. Bilateral free trade deals have emerged as
obvious alternatives.
Canada has signed free trade deals with Chile and Costa Rica, and Martin -
who has already announced new efforts to create a free trade deal with the
15-nation Caribbean Community - said he had other targets in mind.
"It's clear the Americans intend to sign bilateral agreements everywhere. I
have no intention of letting the Americans get in front of us. I want Canada
to be there and to be there as quickly as possible," he told reporters.
Some 40 percent of Canada's gross domestic product consists of exports.
Martin said he recalled the events of 1997, when Canada signed a free trade
deal with Chile before the United States.
"Suddenly we saw the advantage going to Canada. I want Canada to have that
advantage with the other countries as well," he said.
Officials said Canada had already held preliminary talks with Bolivia, Peru,
Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador (news -
web sites), Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.
Last November Washington announced plans to begin new trade talks with
Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.
Argentinean ex-president charged with crime of omission
Argentinean Federal Judge Norberto
Oyarbide has charged ex-president Carlos Menem with the offense of "omission
of information," and ordered property of Menem's worth 500,000 US dollars to
be impounded.
Menem "omitted" to present in his sworn statement a secret 600,000 dollar
account he owned in a Swiss bank when he was head of state, the local press
reported Tuesday.
For this, Menem was indicted on Dec. 19, 2003, by the Second Tribunal of the
Buenos Aires Federal Court and ordered to pay a hefty fine.
Menem was also ordered to appear during the first work-days of each month at
the La Rioja Federal Court to verify he had not left Argentinean territory,
the reports said.
Corruption scandals have clouded the 72-year-old Menem who ruled Argentina
from 1989 to 1999.
During the corruption investigation in 2001, Menem, his former
brother-in-law and businessman, Emir Yoma; ex-army commander and current
ambassador to Colombia Martin Balza, and former defense minister Erman
Gonzalez, were jailed for several months.
However, Menem was eventually released from house arrest in November 2001
for lack of evidence.
Menem participated in the April 27, 2003 elections and finished first in a
close, first-round vote, but subsequently failed to win wider support and
finally abandoned the bid for a third presidential term.
Agricultural issue to dominate Dominican-US free trade negotiations
The Dominican Republic and the United
States resumed Tuesday negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) in Santo
Domingo, with the agricultural production high on the agenda, according to
reports received here.
The negotiations will also address the issues of customs, sanitary measures,
training programs, service and intellectual property.
The talks, held in the Caribbean country's capital, were attended by trade
negotiators from both countries, including US Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick.
According to a trade official, Dominican President Hipolito Mejia hoped to
advance fast on the negotiations, which will conclude on Friday.
Although the Dominican government tried to calm the producers of rice, bean
and banana, there was growing opposition to an eventual FTA, which many
termed as unequal.
Peru
introduces new screening system for foreign visitors
Peru's immigration authorities said
Tuesday they had introduced a new screening system at the capital's
international airport for foreign visitors.
The Integral Control and Checking System, installed at the airport terminal,
will improve the work efficiency of the immigration authorities and police,
immigration officials said.
The system will help them immediately know whether the passenger is wanted
by the police, and will also verify the authenticity of the passenger's
travel documents.
When a travel document is passing through an electronic sensor, a green
light turns on if there is nothing wrong. Otherwise, a redlight appears.
Airport security has been stepped up around the world in recent weeks after
Washington said US intelligence showed Al-Qaeda could be planning airborne
suicide attacks similar to those on Sept. 11,2001 on New York and
Washington.
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