6.2 Quake Shakes Costa Rica
A strong earthquake shook Costa
Rica early Saturday morning,
causing power outages and
material damage. There were no
immediate report of casualties,
however, as the night gave to
morning, six persons were
reported to have died as a
direct result of the quake, suffering
heart attacks and in traffic
accidents.
The quake, with a magnitude of
6.2 on the Richter scale, hit at
2:07 a.m. (08:07 GMT) and was
centered 48 km south-southwest
of San Jose.
The areas that hardest felt the
quake was Quepos and Parrita,
where power and communications
were restored several hours
later.
More than 60 aftershocks were
felt until 4:15am and then two
hours later, at 6:17 a slight
movement was felt again. At
7:30am, officials from Ovsicori (Observatorio
Vulcanológico y Sismológico de
Costa Rica) say more than 70
aftershocks have been felt since
the main movement, something
that will continue during the
next few days, as the energy is
released.
No major damage was reported.
Two houses in Alajuela and
Cartago were reported to have
suffered slight damage and
Zurqui tunnel, the major roadway
connecting Límon to San José is
temporary closed due to rock
slides.
The earthquake struck when
leaders of 21 nations were
gathered here for an Ibero-American
summit. Authorities assigned to
the security of the foreign
dignitaries reported that all
leaders were safe and all normal
after the early morning scare.
The Ovsicori details the quake on
their website (in Spanish).
Click here.
Ibero-American Summit Lacks Star
Power
Despite the absence of many of
the region's key leaders, the
two-day Ibero-American Summit of
Spain, Portugal and Latin
American heads of state kicked
off Friday with talks expected,
at least publicly, to focus on
education.
Even most of the protesters that
such gatherings sometimes draw
chose to take a pass on the
meeting.
With the leaders of Portugal,
Brazil, Chile, Venezuela and
Cuba skipping the event and the
presidents of Argentina and
Mexico limiting their
participation to brief cameo
appearances, the annual event
presided over by Spanish King
Juan Carlos is not expected to
have the same profile that
previous gatherings have
garnered.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
canceled his trip after the
car-bombing on Thursday of a top
prosecutor investigating
Chávez's political opponents.
The absence of the outspoken
Chavez robbed local organizers
of the best-recognized leader
they had been expecting to
attend.
Cuba again drew the bulk of
pre-summit attention, in spite
of being represented here not by
Fidel Castro but by Foreign
Minister Felipe Pérez Roque.
A draft of the joint statement
the 14 heads of state attending
will sign at the summit's
conclusion today condemns the
United States' Helms-Burton law,
which aims to thwart investment
in Cuba. However, Cuba failed in
its attempt to explicitly
condemn Panama for its August
pardon of anti-Castro militant
Luis Posada Carriles and three
other Cuban exiles convicted in
connection with an alleged plot
to assassinate Castro.
Instead, the summit is expected
to call on ''every state and
international judicial bodies to
prevent impunity for those who
commit terrorist acts in any
part of the world'' without
mentioning any country by name.
The language also pleases Spain,
which has recently stepped up
efforts to capture members of
the Basque separatist group ETA,
and Colombia, where several
armed groups keep the country
mired in civil war.
Officially, the summit talks
today are scheduled to focus on
education.
''Our objective is peace and
social democracy,'' said Spanish
Prime Minister José Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero, making his
first trip to Latin America
since his upset victory days
after the March terrorist
attacks in Madrid. ``We have a
great opportunity for prosperity
and development in education,
which this summit will
discuss.''
But issues off the official
agenda could dominate.
Central American presidents are
expected to lobby for former
Salvadoran President Francisco
Flores to replace disgraced
former Costa Rican President
Miguel Angel Rodríguez as
secretary general of the
Organization of American States.
Rodríguez, who helped Costa Rica
land the right to host the
event, is in jail about 10 miles
from the summit's site, awaiting
trial on charges he received a
kickback from the ICE-Alcatel
scandal and the governmentof
Taiwan.
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Street Vendors Can Stay Until
January
In a show of compassion, listing
to the cries of the Street
Vendors, San José Municipal
Mayor, Johnny Araya, announced
that the removal of the street
vendors won't occur until
January.
For years the Municipality has
been trying to remove the
vendors from the sidewalks of
downtown San José, the courts
have given the Municipality the
green light and support to the
action.
However, the Municipality will
allow the vendors to continue
for the Christmas holidays
rather than face a hard and
possible violent confrontation,
as many vendors have said they
fight to stay.
The Tribunal Contencioso
Administrativo voted in favour
of the Municipality in six of
the appeals made by the vendors
following a failed attempt by
the Municipality to remove them
last March.
Many street vendors spoke openly
on national television, as
cameras toured the clogged
streets, telling their story of
hardship if the Municipality
removes them, especially at this
time of year.
The area affected are Avenida 1
between Calles 6 y 16; Avenida 3
between Calles 6 y 10; Avenida 4
between Calles 6 y 10; Avenida
Sexta between Calles 1 y 14 and
Calle 8 between Avenidas 2 and
10; and Calle 14 between
Avenidas 0 y 1.
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