Street Vendors Removed
As the holiday season came to an
end so did the stalls that lined
several streets of downtown San
José, as the Municipality made
good on it's long efforts to end
the "chinamos".
The battle has been going on for
years. Vendors who have taken
over the sidewalks of Calles 2
and 10 between Avenidas 1, 3 and
5 between on the North
side and Avenidas 4, 6 and 8 on
the South Side were removed by
Municipal workers and police
shortly after midnight Monday
morning.
The Municipality had made a
strong show of force several
months back when it had decided
that enough was enough and had
warned the Vendors that would be
removed by force if they
resisted. However, several
appeals to the courts stayed the
Municipalities' efforts.
In early December all the courts
had rendered their decisions and
had ruled in favour of the
Municipality. An appeal by the
Vendors swayed San José Mayor,
Johhny Araya, to stay any action
during the holiday season.
A few minutes after midnight
Monday, municipal trucks and
backhoes descended on the "Zona
de Truega" as it was called and
started removed any and all
illegal stalls and structures.
The operation was peaceful as
tearful Vendors watched what for
many had been their livelihood
for many years. Cries and
screams from the women asking
Municipal officials how now they
would feed their families could
be heard as television cameras
reported live.
Affected are 466 Vendors who
later in the morning took the
streets in protest, filling
Avenida Segunda, heading east to
the Plaza de la Democracia and
then west on Avenida Central
(the Boulevard) back to their
starting point.
Retailers and businesses along
the protest route closed their
doors and rolled down their
steel shutters in fear of
violence. The protest was
peaceful with a score of police
officers from the Municipality
and Fuerza Publica on hand,
while Transit police re-routed
traffic.
The move, according to Mayor
Araya, is to 'rejuvenate' the
downtown core. The Municipality
of San José, along with the
Fuerza y Luz and ICE have been
working on burying all overheard
electrical and telephone cables,
and enforcing signage controls
in an effort to clean up the
area.
Araya told television cameras
that the decision to remove the
Street Vendors was not an easy
one and now it will just as
difficult to keep them out. He
also said he hopes that many of
the retailers and businesses in
the area will now take the
initiative to renovate and
modernize their storefronts.
Donations, President
Investigated
The Prosecutor's Office
confirmed that it has re-opened
an investigation of President
Abel Pacheco and several members
of his campaign in relation to
illegal donations.
The investigation is in its
first stage. If the prosecutors
find evidence to continue the
case, they will request that
President Pacheco's immunity be
lifted, confirmed Fabian
Barrantes, a spokesman for the
Ministry of Justice.
For his part, President Pacheco
arrived early at Casa
Presidencial Monday morning
after his holiday vacation in
Spain and an undisclosed
Caribbean country and announced
on Radio Monumental that he will
give testimony before the
Fiscalía (prosecutor's office)
if he is called.
Pacheco says he is convinced he
has done nothing wrong, has
committed no crime and is open
to any type of investigation.
.
The case involves donations from
foreign firms that were not
reported to the Supreme
Elections Tribunal in the 2002
presidential campaign, as ruled
by law.
In addition to
the Pacheco, Roberto Tovar,
Ricardo Toledo, Rodolfo Montero,
Rina Contreras, Rodolfo Montero
and Fernán Guardia are being
linked to the investigation.
Guardia was treasurer and Toledo
was head of the Pacheco
campaign. Toledo later was
appointed Ministro de la
Presidencia (Chief of Staff),
who quit the Pacheco
administration last fall and
resumed his duties as a
Legislative Deputy.
Investment Risk
Moody's repeated its grade for
the risk of investment in Costa
Rica, following a recent
evaluation of the country's
economy.
The Ba1 rating for Government of
Costa Rica bonds, even though
not so good - means there is
some degree of speculation in
them, was welcomed by
authorities, who feared a lower
score, given the delay in the
approval of the fiscal reform.
Some 500,000 Jobs Threatened
Close to half a million jobs
linked to exports to the United
States would be endangered if
Costa Rica, as it is foreseen,
delays the approval of the
Central America - U.S. Free
Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
Manufacturers are worried about
a drop in sales, as compared to
the other nations in the area.
Tension has mounted because El
Salvador and Honduras submitted
the text to their congresses,
but also because they are
setting pressure on their
legislators to approve the
Agreement immediately. Nicaragua
has done likewise.
Meanwhile, the Government of
Costa Rica has placed conditions
on submitting the text to the
Legislative Assembly; it is
demanding that Congress first
approve the fiscal reform plan,
which is currently entangled.
The U.S. is Costa Rica's major
market, the destination of 50
percent of its agricultural
exports and 45 percent of its
industrial goods.
The chairman of the Costa Rican
Chamber of Industry, Jack
Liberman, said that 241,399
people are employed by firms
exporting to the U.S., and that
the related jobs - transport,
raw material suppliers, and
others - take the number to at
least 500,000.
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For the Better
Amidst the worst
corruption crisis, a
majority of Costa Ricans
believe that this is for the
better, that it is a most
valuable opportunity to make
a turn of helm towards
improving the conditions of
the country as a whole.
In a Unimer Research survey
for the Spanish language
daily La Nación, on
the effect of the corruption
scandals that have resulted
in the jailing of two
ex-Presidents and several
other former public
officials, 84 percent of
those polled agree that
things will improve as a
result of the crisis.
While 60 percent of them do
not hide that they feel
"ashamed" because of the
facts that have come to
light, they also believe
that the international image
of the country will not be
harmed, because this country
has shown that it is not
going to ignore misdoings,
no matter who is involved.
Also, a majority believe
that all those found guilty
will be properly punished
after the proper procedures
are followed on the courts.
Tourism Leads as Dollar
Earner
In 2004, tourism confirmed
its key role in the economy
of Costa Rica.
This sector allowed for
several economic and social
factors not to be as
negative as they would have
been, by counteracting the
effects of the extremely
high prices of oil, which
according to several
analysts and the Central
Bank affected in no less
than 1 percent the growth of
economy.
Meanwhile, tourism
experienced a 16 percent to
20 percent hike from 2003,
with an estimated 1.48
million visitors.
This represents income for
us$1.45 billion, as compared
to us$1.2 billion in 2003.
This also means that while
dollars from tourism
accounted for 19 percent of
the exports in 2003, in 2004
the figure was 20 percent -
8.7 percent of the gross
domestic product - almost
three times the banana
exports and more than eight
times coffee exports.
Tico Coffee on Rose Parade
Costa Rican gourmet coffee
was exposed to the world in
the 116th Rose Parade in
Pasadena, California, on
January 1.
This was so because the
Starbucks float featured the
quality of Tico coffee and
the work of the grower
families to offer consumers
the best.
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