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Pacheco Assures Everyone will be Satisfied with the Free Trade Agreement
President Pacheco assures that everyone will be please with the Free Trade
Agreement that Costa Rica just negotiated with the United States. Pacheco
says that "the agreement is not giving away the country" as some union
leaders and opposition to the FTA have commented in the last couple of days.
Pacheco added that medicine costs will go up and neither will the
agriculture industry be affected in a negative way.
The government has asked that all sectors - public and private - be patient
and that they will begin talks to clarify the points of contention on the
different parts of the agreement.
Major unions like the one representing Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) - the state run power and telecommunications monopoly -
have called for a mass protest against the Free Trade Agreement.
Pacheco said in a statement that they - referring to the unions - have a
right to demonstrate their points of view, however, not to be absent from
work or neglect their duties to participate in protests.
Domestic Violence Numbers Deadly!
A recent poll taken by the television
station channel 7, Teletica, shows that 90.6% agree that there is an urgent
need to pass new laws against domestic violence, while only 9.94% disagree.
On figures released by the Instituto Nacional de la Mujer (INAMU) - the
National Women's Institute - shows that in 2003 police attended to 245 cases
of domestic violence, of which 156 of those cases involved Nicaraguans.
The latest was the man who shot his three children, wounded his pregnant
estranged wife and then took his own life.
A study by the INAMU shows that between 1990 and 1999, 88.2% of all deaths
in domestic violence cases were caused by Costa Ricans, while 10.3% by
Nicaraguan nationals and .5% by other foreigners.
According to experts at INAMU, domestic violence cases are more frequent
that it is believed as many cases are not reported to the authorities. In
2002, according to court records, there were 43.000 orders against
aggressors of domestic violence registered, that resulted in the death of 23
women.
The Legislative Assembly has had a proposal before it to increase the
penalties for domestic violence for some time now. According to the
institute some 100 women have died since that proposal came before
legislators.
Accuser Asks for Eight Year Jail Term fo Casa Alianza Director
The Guatemalan notary, Susana Luarca
Saracho de Umaña, asked the criminal court today for an eight year jail term
for Bruce Harris plus his immediate arrest, US$ 125,000 in damages and his
deportation from Guatemala upon completion of the sentence.
Harris’ defense lawyer, Victor Hugo Navarro, insisted that the accuser has
not presented sufficient proof for the three-judge Tribunal to dictate a
condemnatory sentence.
Navarro stated that Walter Robles, Luarca’s lawyer, has been unable to
demonstrate the form in which Harris’ declarations - as Regional Director
for Latin American Programs for Casa Alianza – damaged the accuser’s
professional honor. Nor did he prove, according to Navarro, that the
September 1997 press conference, organized together with the Solicitor
General’s Office, was done with the aim of slandering her.
Seven years ago, Luarca sued Harris for defamation, calumny and slander
after declarations he made at a press conference held in Guatemala City
placed the results of an investigation into the business of irregular
international adoptions of Guatemalan babies in the public domain.
“Never in my life have I been seated in a court room accused of breaking the
law because of my defense of abandoned children, and obviously eight years
in a Guatemalan jail is not a pleasant thought. Since I was a child, my
parents have taught me that if you tell the truth everything will be fine.
There is no guarantee that this will be the case here in Guatemala”,
confessed Harris when the day’s proceedings ended at 3pm.
In Guatemala the law allows for a daily fine to be paid in lieu of a prison
sentence of less than five years. Nevertheless, by asking for the maximum
term, Luarca wants Harris to be jailed immediately.
The conclusions presented by Harris’ legal council sufficiently annoyed the
accuser to the point that she was asked by the Court to desist making facial
expressions.
“Mrs. Umaña functioned as a notary in the private adoption processes. As a
notary, she is a public official and, according to Guatemalan law, she does
not then have the right to present accusations of defamation, calumny and
slander”, emphasized Harris’ lawyer.
After a presentation of approximately 45 minutes, Navarro requested that the
members of the 12th Criminal Sentencing Court emit a sentence declaring
Harris’ innocence because “the supposed moral damage against the accuser was
never proven”.
After the revision of the evidence, which consisted of ten newspaper
articles and two videos, it was determined that Harris made reference to the
irregularities in international adoptions that continue to plague Guatemalan
adoptions even today, and that Luarca’s name figured amongst the list of 19
people mentioned.
Luarca’s lawyer requested that after Harris completes his jail term in
Guatemala, the Tribunal order his deportation to his native England. But at
the same time, Robles requested that the Tribunal open a new criminal
procedure against Harris for hiding evidence of a crime, arguing that he had
not presented evidence regarding the trafficking of babies.
“The Public Prosecutor received the results of the investigation on
September 16th, 1997 – five days after the press conference – and the then
head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office stated to the media that he would
cite Harris to declare, which was never done. With this lawsuit the
intention of Luarca is to stop the investigations”, stated Navarro.
Robles presented the written point of view of a journalist regarding press
publications as if it were new evidence, which was refused by the court.
This same document had been rejected earlier in the trial.
The trial will continue on Wednesday, January 28th, at 1pm with lawyer
Robles refuting the position of Navarro, after which Bruce Harris will
declare before the Tribunal. The court then has up to three days to reach
its ruling on the case, which continues to draw a significant level of
national and international interest and concern.
Where is My Car?
With the opening of two new malls - Terramall and Mutiplaza Este - in the
east of San Jose, car thieves have not wasted time to take advantage of the
rush.
So far this year, authorities have received 20 complaints of cars being
stolen from those mall parking lots. This number is one fourth of the total
cars stolen from mall parking lots in 2003, which came to 81.
Malls are not the only place were cars are stolen. The giant department
store Hipermas in San Sebastian - which is not technically a
mall - and the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) have an average of 20
cars stolen each year, despite security.
The Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) and National Insurance company
(INS) have a project to curb the increase in car thefts in malls and in
general.
Malls and parking lots don't claim responsibility for the theft of a car
parked on their lots. Signs posted tell the story, despite having to pay an
hourly fee for the use of the parking lot, which would also mean security
for the vehicle, not just the use of the space.
At Hipermas in San Sebastian, each car entering the lot is given a plastic
card which is to be returned on leaving. A car is not to leave the parking
lot unless the card is handed over to a guard when leaving, failing which
then driver has to prove ownership.
How can you protect yourself? You can't really. Authorities say that most of
the thefts are by organized gangs who have and use master keys to enter the
vehicle and drive off with it. A car alarm or some type of obstruction that
will make the entry and drive away more difficult may be the only deterrent.
For now.
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Plot 'to kill Paraguay
president'
The Paraguayan authorities say they have uncovered a plot to kill President
Nicanor Duarte Frutos. According to Brazilian and Paraguayan intelligence
services reports, six hired killers had entered Paraguay to assassinate the
president.
The authorities did not say who may have hired the killers, who are thought
to have surface-to-air missiles.
Mr Duarte's whereabouts are unknown, with some reports saying he is still in
Brazil and others saying he has left.
Initial reports said the president returned to Paraguay on Sunday from a
holiday in Brazil.
His plane was re-routed to the airport at Ciudad del Este on the border with
Argentina and Brazil after the authorities received reports of the
assassination threat, those reports said.
The president's road route from Ciudad del Este to the capital, Asuncion,
was kept secret.
From Tuesday Mr Duarte will continue with his planned activities, but he
will be under tight security.
Local press reports suggest that the security precautions may have been
extended to members of Mr Duarte's family.
Diplomat Worried of
U.S. Plans for Cuba
Dagoberto Rodriguez, Cuba's top diplomat in Washington, spends his days
looking for hints about what the Bush administration has in mind for his
country. He doesn't like what he sees.
Is "regime change" in the cards in this election year, he wonders. That
possibility can't be ruled out, he says, because the administration "has
proved a tendency in the past to solve problems through violent means."
The Bush White House has never outlined such an objective. It has, however,
expressed an interest in hastening a transition to democratic rule in
communist-run Cuba.
Rodriguez is not sure what that means, and he spelled out his concerns to a
reporter in an interview last week at Cuba's stately diplomatic mission a
mile or so north of the White House.
He said Cuba's suspicions have been heightened by what he sees as several
"provocative" U.S. actions in recent days.
One was what he described as the unjustified expulsion of Cuban diplomat
Roberto Socorro Garcia last month. Rodriguez adamantly denied news accounts
attributed to State Department officials that Garcia was expelled for
associating with criminal elements.
Another concern was the State Department's recent cancellation of talks on
migration issues, which normally are held every six months. U.S. officials
said Cuba has not been cooperating in achieving the goal of safe, orderly
and legal immigration. Rodriguez denied the allegation, contending that Cuba
always takes U.S. proposals seriously.
To Rodriguez, the most inexplicable and troubling development has been the
recent U.S. allegation of Cuban meddling in Latin America, sometimes in
collaboration with the country's main South American ally, Venezuela.
"That issue could legitimately have been raised 20 years ago, but not now,"
Rodriguez said, pointing out that Cuba has normal relations with all
hemispheric countries except El Salvador.
"They are trying to recreate the phantom of Cuban interference," he said.
As the administration sees it, Cuban President Fidel Castro is indeed, at
age 77, reviving his efforts to generate unrest in the region.
"It should be very clear to Fidel Castro that his actions have caught the
attention of Latin America leaders and that his actions to destabilize Latin
America are increasingly provocative to the inter-American community," says
Roger Noriega, the State Department's top aide for Latin America.
Speaking at a Jan. 6 news conference in New York, Noriega said, "Those that
continue in destabilizing democratically elected governments, interfering in
the internal affairs of other governments, are playing with fire."
Rodriguez listed several potential U.S. options for punishing Cuba:
suspending food sales, cutting off dollar transfers from Cuban-Americans to
family members on the island or sharply reducing U.S. air links to Cuba.
None of these is likely to be adopted, he said, because of legal and
political constraints on the administration.
"We are seeing the administration trying to create a climate that justifies
I don't know what kind of action," the Cuban envoy said. He suggested the
answers may come in early may when President Bush receives a report from an
official panel on Cuba that he set up last October.
The panel, designated "The Commission for a Free Cuba," is headed by
Secretary of State Colin Powell and is due to complete its report in early
May.
When Bush announced the commission last October, Powell suggested that the
goal is not to ease Castro out but to plan a strategy for Cuba once the
aging leader is no longer in power.
"It's prudent for us, as Castro gets older and this regime gets rustier, to
start to think about the fate of these millions of people in Cuba," Powell
said at the time.
The commission's focus, he added, is to decide what the United States should
be doing to help Cuban people in the post-Castro era.
Colombian President Uribe Faces EU Questions on Human Rights
A top European Union official warned Colombian President Alvaro Uribe that
he faces a barrage of questions about his government's respect for the rule
of law when he visits Europe next month to win backing for his tough, U.S-backed
security policies.
EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten made the comments Thursday
at the end of a two-day visit during which he angered government leaders
with thinly veiled criticism of Colombia's new anti-terrorism laws.
The legislation, adopted by Congress last month, gives the armed forces
sweeping judicial powers to detain suspects without warrants, tap phones and
search homes as part of Uribe's campaign to crush a four-decade leftist
insurgency.
Human rights groups, however, warned the bill could lead government forces
to commit abuses, while the United Nations said it was incompatible with
international law.
"Many people will want to discuss with him (Uribe) the recommendations of
the United Nations," Patten said at a news conference in Bogota. "The
improvement in civil liberties and human rights can and must go hand-in-hand
with the overcoming of violence."
Uribe, a close U.S. ally, is scheduled to tour EU headquarters in Belgium,
Germany and Italy on Feb. 7-14, the president's office said, in a bid to
secure political and financial backing for his policies. The United States
is funding much of the military buildup.
Patten said the government's commitment to basic freedoms "is important to
all of us in Europe who want to play as generous a part as possible to help
Colombia overcome its problems."
Similar comments over the past few days led Colombian Vice President
Francisco Santos, in an interview with daily El Tiempo, to denounce Europe
for having "a neocolonial concept of justice in Colombia" and for treating
the country as a "banana republic."
On Thursday, however, Santos glossed over the harsh words, saying: "It is
very clear the EU has a commitment to Colombia and Colombia to the EU."
Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco said after meetings with Patten
that "we know we have a partner in the EU, which is accompanying us in the
struggle against terrorism."
Patten also urged Colombia's two leftist rebel groups to release dozens of
hostages and enter peace talks with the government.
"The FARC should simply engage in negotiations and not make impossible
demands," Patten said earlier Thursday as he toured EU-funded "peace
laboratories" in northern Colombia. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, known as the FARC, has repeatedly rebuffed the government's
appeals to declare a cease-fire and resume peace talks that collapsed two
years ago.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's top envoy in Colombia, James LeMoyne,
who also attended Thursday's news conference, said he still holds out hope
that a negotiated solution to the civil war could be found.
Uribe, in a speech Thursday to diplomats, repeated that his government would
not enter peace talks until the armed groups halt their violence. "For this
government, it is urgent to secure a cessation of hostilities," he said.
Colombia's civil war, which pits the FARC and a smaller rebel group against
right-wing paramilitary factions and government forces, kills an estimated
3,500 people, mostly civilians, every year.
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