|
 |
|
'Piratas' Block Traffic
The Minister for the Presidency, Ricardo Toledo, and other
government officials have agreed to meet today (Tuesday) with
representatives of informal taxis or "piratas" and "porteadores" for talks.
That was the condition to which the piratas agreed to remove their blockades
on Second Avenue yesterday.
Porteadores offer a service different than piratas The provide
transportation services to clients at their offices or homes under contract.
While piratas are similar to a licensed taxi, picking up customers in the
same way, though without the proper taxi plates.
Porteadores are concerned that the Transport police will apply the same
sanctions against them as they have on piratas, by haviing their cars
confiscated or being fined. The current fine for operating an illegal taxi
service ranges from ¢600.000 to ¢1.200.000 colones.
For about 30 minutes yesterday, both piratas and porteadores united to block
Second Avenue, the main thoroughfare eastbound through downtown San José,
demanding an audience with president Abel Pacheco.
That demand was put on hold waiting on the outcome of today's meeting.
Immigration
Getting Tough on Residency Applications
A report in La Nacion says that Costa Rica is applying a stringent policy to
restrict as much as possible those wanting to obtain legal residency,
including to those who have the support of employers and want to contribute
to social security.
In addition, the government is promoting a "tips" line to report illegals.
Without the legal documentation to stay in Costa Rica, illegal immigrants
find it had to get work and pay into the country's social security, la Caja
Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS).
Workers who, with the complete support of their employers are still being
refused permanent residency.
The immigration department is defending it's decision of getting
tough, rely on studies that show them the types of workers or professions
that are beneficial to Costa Rica. They say that there is sufficient manual
labour in the country.
Most illegals won't risk leaving the country with the possibility of not
being able to re-enter, therefore are left with no option to remain in Costa
Rica and work illegally.
Immigration officials say that there is a need for strict measures, quoting
numbers to support their position, saying that there are 450.000 foreigners
in the country and 270.000 or 60% of which are here illegally. During the
2001 and 2003 period, there were only 30.007 applications for residency and
17.996 were approved.
Immigration officials stress that to obtain legal residency, a foreigner
must enter Costa Rica as an investor (inversionista or rentista), pensioner,
or is related to a Costa Rican.
15.000 GSM Lines
Now Available
ICE(Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad), yesterday put on
sale 15.000 new GSM lines after several months of claiming it had exhausted
it's quantity of GSM lines and offering new subscribers only it's TMDA
technology.
Last year, GSM lines were being bought at the rate of 33.000 lines per
month. Alfredo Sasso, president of the Celluar Telephones Association, says
there is a sufficient supply of GSM telephones in the market place for those
who want to have that technology.
ICE still has about 100.000 TDMA lines available, down from the 150.000
lines it had avialable last year. New subscribers to ceullar telephone
service, until yesterday, were forced to purchase TDMA lines.
ICE re-confirmed that it is awaiting on the decision by the comptrollers
office (Contraloría General de la República) on the decision of it's
purchase last December of 600.000 GSM lines from Ericsson. Motorola and
Alcatel (the current supplier of GSM service) appealed the purchase claiming
unfair practices by ICE in awarding the contract to Ericsson.
To obtain cellular service in Costa Rica, one needs a cedula and the
original invoice for the purchase of the telephone. Foreigners who do not
have legal residency cannot get a cellular telephone.
And since cellular telephone service is not transferable, the only way a
foreigner can obtain a cellular telephone is to make a private deal with
someone who a line available and is not using or purchase the services of a
cellular telephone rental company.
Costa
Rica Bans Importing Poultry from Several US States
Costa Rica has banned importing poultry from several US states where high
pathogenic bird flu cases were detected.
Costa Rica's Agriculture and Cattle Ministry's Quarantine Director Oscar
Johanning said that Texas, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are among
the list of U.S. states where poultry will not be permitted.
Animal health certificate from those states will be withdrawn, Johanning
said.
But all the products and byproducts processed at over 80 degree Celsius are
exempt from the ban since the virus has been eliminated at that temperature.
Airport and seaport inspections will be tightened to prevent the entrance of
contaminated products.
Johanning indicated that the quarantine authorities have paid close
attention every day through Internet to reports of the International Animal
Health Organization to monitor the situation.
Costa Rica is free from the disease thanks to a strict monitoring program.
The EU, Mexico, the Philippines and South Korea have also banned importing
poultry products from several US states.
U.S.
Feds Say Man Scammed $3.6 Million
A man falsely representing himself as a bank official bilked 30
investors out of more than $3.6 million as part of a five-year overseas
investment scam, federal authorities said.
Richard H. Hinkle, 38, told investors he was with CornerStone International
Savings and Investment Bank and promised them returns of 2 to 3 percent a
month, authorities said. The money then was allegedly transferred to
Hinkle's accounts in Grenada, the West Indies and Costa Rica.
Instead of investing the money, Hinkle used it himself, authorities said.
He was originally able to conceal the fraud by paying initial investors with
proceeds that came in from later investors, but the scheme began to collapse
around September 2001, when investors complained about not getting paid,
authorities said.
The Internal Revenue Service and the FBI then began investigating, and a
criminal complaint was lodged against Hinkle in October. It remained sealed
until Thursday when Hinkle was charged with 19 counts of wire fraud and 39
counts of money laundering.
Hinkle, who has been living in Costa Rica was arrested last week and is
being held in a Costa Rican jail awaiting extradition.
|
|
With GSM and the Lowest Cost to Rent a
Cellular Telephone in Costa Rica! |
|
Uribe prodded on
security
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi urged Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe on Sunday to do more to protect human-rights activists working
under dangerous conditions in the South American nation's long-running civil
war.
''We told the president that in order for human-rights activists to conduct
their work, they must have liberty of expression and liberty of
association,'' Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer, told reporters after the meeting.
Uribe sparked protest from human-rights defenders around the world last
September when he accused some of the humanitarian organizations working in
Colombia of collaborating with leftist rebels who have been fighting the
government for 40 years.
Panama urged to have diplomatic ties with China
Former Panamanian ambassador to the United States, Eduardo Morgan, told the
local press Monday that Panama should establish diplomatic relations with
China as soon as possible.
Morgan put forward his argument as Panama City is bidding against other
cities for seating the permanent secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the
Americas. Panama could fail this time simply because it has no diplomatic
ties with China, he stated.
He said China is becoming a world economic power and one step Panama should
take is to establish diplomatic ties with that country.
The US city of Miami, regarded as the strongest rival to Panama City in the
competition, has attracted many Chinese companies here and is becoming a key
city for boosting China-Latin America trade, he said.
Other cities competing for the seat are Atlanta, Chicago and Houston of the
United States, Puebla and Cancun of Mexico, San Juan of Puerto Rico, and
Port of Spain of Trinidad and Tobago.
Opposition
blocks streets against Venezuelan president
Opposition groups blocked Monday the streets and avenues of some
Venezuelan cities to demand a recall referendum against President Hugo
Chavez.
Leader of the opposition Democratic Coordinator Enrique Mendoza was quoted
by the press as saying that "we call on the country to maintain a peaceful
resistance." He also urged for further mobilization of oppositions in
defense of the signatures collected to organize the recall referendum.
In some areas of Caracas opponents set up barricades with trash bags and
burned wheels. On Sunday thousands of Chavez' supporters demonstrated to
show support to the president.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) is to hand down soon the number of
validated pro-recall referendum signatures. The constitution stipulates that
2.4 million signatures or the 20 percent of the registered voters are
required to demand the recall.
The opposition assured it delivered 3.4 million signatures, a million over
the ones necessary, but the government said most of them were fraud.
The verification of the signatures by the CNE was observed by
representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Carter
Center (CC).
Chavez, accused by his opponents of wrecking Venezuela's economy, has
already experienced since his election in 1998 two general strikes and a
48-hour coup in April 2002 and a strike at the start of last year. The
recall referendum campaign is the latest challenge to him.
Chavez Calls Bush 'Asshole' as Foes Fight Troops
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush an "asshole" on
Sunday for meddling, and vowed never to quit office like his Haitian
counterpart as troops battled with opposition protesters demanding a recall
referendum against him.
Chavez, who often says the U.S. is backing opposition efforts to topple his
leftist government, accused Bush of heeding advice from "imperialist" aides
to support a brief 2002 coup against him.
"He was an asshole to believe them," Chavez roared at a huge rally of
supporters in Caracas.
The Venezuelan leader's comments came as fresh violence broke out on the
streets of the capital, where National Guard troops clashed with opposition
protesters pressing for a vote to end his five-year rule.
Military helicopters roared in low runs overhead as soldiers fired tear gas
and plastic bullets to repel several hundred opposition demonstrators who
threw stones and set up burning barricades in eastern Caracas late into the
night.
Troops and opposition activists also skirmished in other cities.
"We call on the country to continue with peaceful resistance," opposition
leader Enrique Mendoza said. "This fight will last as long as necessary."
A soldier and a cameraman were shot and injured during the clashes and an
opposition protester was wounded in the head by gunmen firing from
motorbikes, witnesses and officials said.
Electoral authorities, citing the need to preserve peace in the country,
said they were postponing until Monday the preliminary results of their
verification of the opposition's petition for a recall vote.
One demonstrator carried a banner reading: "Bye bye Aristide, Chavez you're
next," referring to Haiti's leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who fled into
exile on Sunday in the face of an armed rebellion.
But the firebrand populist vowed to defeat any attempt to unseat him and
threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States from the world's No.
5 crude oil exporter should Washington try an invasion or trade sanctions.
"Venezuela is not Haiti and Chavez is not Aristide," he said.
Tens of thousands of Chavez supporters marched earlier on Sunday to protest
what they condemned as U.S. meddling in Venezuelan affairs. The State
Department routinely dismisses the president's accusations.
The referendum campaign is the latest political fight for Chavez, who
survived the short-lived 2002 coup and a strike last year by opponents who
fear his self-styled "revolution" is slowly turning Venezuela into a
Cuban-style communist state.
Since his first election in 1998, the president has vowed to improve the
lives of the impoverished who see little of the country's oil wealth. But
his opponents say he has failed and has instead pushed the country into
economic ruin.
Political tensions have flared again recently as setbacks delayed a ruling
by the National Electoral Council on whether to allow the recall referendum
to go forward. Two protesters were shot and killed on Friday during an
opposition march.
The Organization of American States (OAS) and the Carter Center, which are
observing the referendum process, appealed for calm on Sunday ahead of the
council decision.
Electoral authorities said they would make a preliminary ruling Monday on
whether the opposition collected the minimum 2.4 million valid signatures
required for a vote. The opposition says it handed over 3.4 million
signatures.
Opposition leaders accuse pro-government officials in the electoral council
of trying to block the poll by disqualifying many valid signatures. Chavez
says his opponents' petition is riddled with forgeries.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
