|
Say
"NO" to Slot Machines
PANI, the child welfare agency has asked all
Municipalities to revoke licenses to all businesses that allow
“tragamonedas" or slot machines on their premises.
Rosalia Gil, president of PANI, is referring to all coin operated machines
that offer games and have a cash payout. "These kinds of games are addictive
to minors and we are obligated to protect them', said the Gil.
Slot machines are games where winning depends on luck and probabilities and
not the skill of the user. PANI says that these game machines have "invaded"
all kinds of businesses and neighbourhoods, especially where young children
and adolescents hang out and is asking Municipal officials to enforce their
laws and put the business license in jeopardy of those who do not comply.
Representatives of the makers and distributors of the machines say that the
answer is not prohibit them, but rather to regulate their use.
Municipal Mayors responding to the PANI request say they will comply even
though there is the possibility of an action being brought forth in the
Constitutional Court (Sala IV) and that the directive will be struck down.
The slot machines can be found in operation in all sorts of places like bars
and restaurants, where in some cases they have virtually become mini casinos
and including the "pulperias" or corner stores.
48%
of Highways to be Repaired
Potholes and bad roads is the one of the biggest
headaches for local municipalities and drivers and costly for government and
owners of vehicles.
Potholes, roads that are poorly maintained or in
a bad state of repair are everywhere to be found. Very few roads count
without some problem or other, and with the rainy season around the
corner, that small crack in the pavement will surely be a great pothole
in a few short months.
Anyone who has driven on a Costa Rican road can attest to this. |
 |
However, not to despair, help is on the way.
The CONAVI (Consejo Nacional de Vialidad) announced yesterday that it will
be tendering six contracts for the repair of 48% of the nation's highways.
This does not include the road repairs done or the responsibility of the
municipalities.
The solicitation calls for work to be done on all major roadways from
Guanacaste to the Southern zone. The total will be 1.860 kilometers of
roadway.
Pera Meets
With Pacheco
(AGI) - Rome, Italy - The president of the Italian Senate, Marcello Pera,
met with president Abel Pacheco de la Espriella, yesterday at the
Giustiniani palace.
During the heartily meeting they examined the prospects for the
strengthening of the bilateral relations, in the contest of the
consolidation of the relations between the European Union and the countries
of the central American area, promoted by the former Italian presidency of
the European Union.
They also discussed the most important themes of the current international
affairs, and particularly the fight against terrorism, says a bulletin from
the Presidency of the Senate.
Canadian Man
Detained
A Canadian national identified only by the last
name of Pecora was detained by police in Puntarenas yesterday, for suspicion
of fraud.
Few details were available at press time. Police report that Pecora is a
suspect in defrauding a man identified by his last name Sánchez last Apri.
The criminal courts in Hatillo had requested that Pecora make an appearance
to answer to the charges on the 29th of January this year, however, court
records show that the Canadian never appeared.
Semana Santa
Costly
A report in today's Spanish daily La Nación, says that over 90% of hotel
rooms in the Costa Rican beach towns have been reserved for the yearly Tico
(Costa Rican) pilgramige to the beach.
Semana Santa other than being a holy week is also the traditional last week
before the rainy season and most Ticos take advantage by hitting the
beaches. And room rates almost double, if you can get one.
In Puerto Viejo de Talamanca in Limón rooms go for as much as $70 per night;
breakfast is included.
The La Nación reports that it contacted 27 hotels around the country - from
the beach areas to the mountains - and found that only 16 had rooms still
available and with less than 10% vacancy.
The most costly days are Thursday and Friday where most hotels will charge
as much as an additional 35% more for a room for those two days to the
normal Semana Santa high rates.
Semana Santa begins on Monday April 5 and ends on Sunday April 10. The
official holiday days are Thursday and Friday where all government offices
are closed and most of Costa Rica is dry - the sale of liquor and beer is
suspended from midnight on Wednesday to midnight on Friday.
During the week most government offices and businesses are closed or operate
on limited hours. Some businesses that cater mainly to foreigners will be
open as regular on Monday and Tuesday, closing at noon on Wednesday and
re-opening normal hours on Monday the 12th. Banks and financial institutions
will all be closed on Thursday and Friday. Those that normally open on
Saturday will do so.
Venezuela to Protest About Exiles
Venezuela will protest to the United States and
Costa Rica after two exiled opponents of President Hugo Chavez took part in
an anti-Chavez demonstration in Miami, Foreign Minister Jesus Perez said on
Monday.
Perez said Chavez's government was "very concerned" that union leader Carlos
Ortega and businessman Carlos Fernandez participated in a public protest in
Miami on Saturday against the Venezuelan leader and his ally, Cuba's Fidel
Castro.
Venezuelan and Cuban exiles organized the demonstration.
"We are looking at how we are going to make our protest to these two
governments, the United States and Costa Rica," Perez told reporters in
Caracas.
Ortega and Fernandez were granted asylum in Costa Rica and the United
States, respectively, last year after leading a two-month strike against
Chavez that jolted Venezuela's oil-reliant economy. They fled after
Venezuelan authorities ordered their arrest on rebellion charges.
Costa Rica on Monday decided to ask Ortega to leave that country.
Chavez's government argues that Costa Rica and the United States should not
allow the two fugitives to take part in public political activities opposing
the Venezuelan president.
Venezuela is an important supplier of oil to the United States, but ties
have grown tense as Chavez has repeatedly accused Washington of backing
opposition efforts to overthrow him. The U.S. government denies this, but
has expressed support for a referendum on Chavez's rule.
Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived a brief coup in 2002, has
accused U.S. authorities of giving refuge to "terrorists" opposing him,
including Fernandez and two military officers wanted for bomb attacks in
Caracas.
|
|
 |
|
Japan
freezes accounts of illegal Colombian armed groups
The Japanese government announced Tuesday that it is
to cooperate with Colombia in fighting illegal armed groups and therefore
freezing the bank accounts these groupshold in the country.
Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco had suggested that the Japanese
government freeze the bank accounts of the leftist Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the
far-right Armed Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
The suggestion was accepted Tuesday by the Japanese side in a meeting
between Barco and her Japanese counterpart, Yoriko Kawaguchi, in Tokyo.
"The Japanese government has confirmed it is freezing all the accounts
linked to terrorism, FARC, ELN and AUC," said Barco.
She considered the Japanese decision "an expression of the commitment" it
has made to support Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's democratic security
policy.
With this move, Japan expressed its "repudiation of the Colombian terrorist
groups," Barco added. "Japan is also very interested in supporting us in all
humanitarian activities, especially on the issue of people displaced by
violence."
Japan recently included FARC, ELN and AUC in its list of terrorist
organizations.
Colombia has been locked in a four-decade civil war, the longest in Latin
America, in which government forces, leftist guerrillas and far-right
paramilitaries fight one another. The conflicts kill an average of 3,000
people every year.
Chile
might stop buying Argentine gas
Chilean Finance Minister Nicolas Eyzaguirre warned the
Argentine government Tuesday that if a solution for the gas supply problem
was not found soon, his country would change its energy policy to end the
dependence on foreign fuel.
In an interview with local daily El Mercurio, Eyzaguirre said, "If this
situation is not made clear soon, we will have to take a series of measures
to seek other energy sources rather than the Argentine gas in the medium
term," the minister said.
Almost one third of the energy required by Chile comes from Argentina.
Eyzaguirre, however, hoped that the current contracts with Argentina would
be implemented to avoid a gas cut.
Chileans purchase gas at a price three times higher than that in Argentina.
Anti-Chavez
ambassadors to be replaced: report
Venezuelan ambassadors and senior Foreign Ministry
officials who signed a referendum petition against President Hugo Chavez
will be replaced and transferred to other posts, Foreign Minister Jesus
Perez was quoted by the local El Universal newspaper as saying on Tuesday.
"Someone who is against the president, who signed against him, who does not
share the policy defined by the president, cannot expect to represent him,"
Perez said in remarks published by the paper.
Chavez, who is struggling to resist an opposition campaign to hold a recall
vote against him, has ordered a reshuffle in the country's diplomatic
sector, targeting ambassadors who do not publicly support his rule.
The order followed the sudden resignation earlier this month of Venezuela's
UN ambassador Milos Alcalay.
The referendum bid is faced with a bitter legal wrangling in the Supreme
Court over the validity of more than 800,000 pro-vote signatures questioned
by electoral authorities.
Last Saturday, opponents of Chavez marched to protest the dismissal of
nearly 8,000 public officials.
Chavez was elected to a six-year term in 2000. Venezuela's opposition says
the recession-mired, politically divided country cannot wait until 2006
presidential elections and demands a recall vote.
Venezuela pledges oil to help alleviate Argentine energy crisis
The Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA pledged to
send oil to Argentina in an effort to help alleviate the energy crisis
afflicting the country, local press reported Tuesday.
Argentine Planning, Public Investment and Service Minister Julio de Vido
said at a press conference that some 700,000 tons of fuel oil and
approximately 250,000 cubic meters of gas oil would arrive in the following
days, which would be paid with agricultural food.
Based on the swap of "absolutely necessary elements," the fuel shipments
would guarantee gas supply for the system, the minister assured.
Experts estimated however that the volumes promised could only cover the
needs of a month.
Facing a gas shortage to supply power plants, Argentina has been exercising
internal supply rationing, and power companies began an energy reduction
Monday afternoon without completely cutting service.
Dependent on Argentine oil and gas supply, Chile and Uruguay also sustained
fallout of the energy crisis, with both scrambling to seek solutions to
weather the supply shortage.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
