Teacher's Strike
Continues: Day 16
•
Government say Pension issued a closed subject
• Teacher to take to streets today
The
Government has told union leaders that the Pension
issue is a closed subject and it cannot legally
reverse a decision made earlier and meet the demands
of the teachers.
Ricardo Toledo, Minister for the Presidency, told
unions leaders that the only way he sees a change in
the issue, is if the teachers make a petition before
the Justice Tribunals, where the legal question can
be answered.
A march on Presidential House is planned for today.
Teachers will gather at Parque Central in downtown
San Jose and head to Presidential House in Zapote.
As on the last march - the route expected is Avenida
Segunda (2nd Ave.) east to San Pedro, then a right
in front of the mall and continue the next kilometer
or so to it's final destination - traffic police
will be ahead of the marchers to re-direct traffic.
Casa Alianza to
explain dangers
of Sex Tourism
before the OAS
The
risks and dangers of child commercial sexual
exploitation in Latin America will be the subject of
a presentation by Casa Alianza before the 14th
Inter-American Travel Congress that will take place
in Guatemala on June 18, 19 and 20.
This activity is
organized by the Organization of American States
(OAS) and will analyze the situation of the tourist
industry in the continent; its importance for
economic development and the threats that it faces.
It will bring together representatives of
governments and the tourism industries. Casa Alianza
is one of the few social agencies represented.
Engineer Arturo
Echeverría, National Director of Casa Alianza
Guatemala, will present the subject and explain how
the organization fights against the sexual abuse of
children by tourists in Central America.
It is hoped that by
the end of the Congress there will be a consensus
between the participants on the best mechanisms to
prevent the threat of abuse of children by tourists,
as part of the policies for a sustainable
development of the Latin American nations.
Casa Alianza recently participated in the Regional
Consultation on Sexual Tourism, organized by the
World Tourism Organization, that took place in Costa
Rica in May. The necessity to stimulate the
commitment of the tourist sector in the fight
against child commercial sexual exploitation was
then established.
Ex-Nicaraguan
President Resists Probe
MANAGUA, Nicaragua -
Prosecutors are investigating a third corruption
case against former President Arnoldo Aleman, who
is under house arrest awaiting a pair of trials on
fraud, embezzlement and money laundering charges.
In a phone interview Saturday, special prosecutor
Raimundo Romero said authorities believe Aleman's
administration may have stolen $113.7 million in
state funds before he left office in January 2002.
The former president, who is under house arrest,
has already been indicted on charges he funneled
about $100 million in public funds to bank
accounts controlled by his family in Panama, then
distributed the money to candidates from his
Constitutionalist Liberal Party.
Prosecutors later secured a separate indictment
against Aleman for allegedly stealing $1.3 million
that was supposed to go toward modernizing a
state-run television station.
Aleman has denied the charges and has refused to
answer prosecutors' questions regarding the latest
allegation, claiming immunity because he became a
legislator upon leaving office. Lawmakers voted to
strip the former president of that immunity late
last year, however.
"As a citizen, a public servant and an
ex-president he has the obligation to testify so
we can determine if he had any responsibility in
this crime," Romero said.
Since Dec. 12, Aleman has been confined to his
ranch 15 miles outside the capital, Managua,
awaiting each of his trials to begin.
Romero did not say what action prosecutors would
take against Aleman for refusing to testify.
Romero said prosecutors are also looking into
preparing charges against Noel Ramirez, a
legislator from Aleman's party who headed the
Central Bank during Aleman's administration, and
against former treasury minister Esteban
Duquestrada.
Candidate
for El Salvador’s president vows to move
Israel embassy if elected
The
leader of El Salvador’s most popular
political party said this week that he would
close his country’s embassy in Jerusalem if
elected president next year.
In a television
interview with a small station in San
Salvador, Shafik Handal, leader of the leftist
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front
legislative bloc and the front-runner for the
party’s presidential bid, said that “as
someone of Palestinian descent,” he would
close the Jerusalem embassy if he wins the
March 2004 presidential elections.
Early polls
show that a plurality of voters support the
FMLN, which has the largest voting bloc in the
legislature. The ex-guerrilla party hopes to
unseat the right-wing National Republican
Alliance, or ARENA, from the presidency. It
has controlled the presidency since the
mid-1980s, when U.S.-backed ARENA governments
fought a bloody civil war with Marxist FMLN
rebels.
Costa Rica
and El Salvador, which received military aid
from Israel during the civil war, are the only
countries with embassies in Jerusalem,
Israel’s capital. Most countries have their
embassies in Tel Aviv; many do not recognize
Israel’s rights in Jerusalem.
Canadian
questioned in two unsolved murder cases
But the more
Bruce Harris, director of a Casa Alianza, learned about Holly Jones's
horrific slaying, the more it reminded him
of the unsolved descuartizador or
hatchet man case in his own country.
And even more
remarkable, a Canadian had been a suspect in
the case in San Jose, Costa Rica, until he
left the country.
"My
first reaction was, Harris, don't be
ridiculous, Toronto and San Jose are 5,000
kilometres apart. But there are many
similarities between the two cases,"
said Mr. Harris, executive director of Casa
Alianza in Latin America, a sister agency of
Toronto's Covenant House. "The modus
operandi was the same and the victims in all
three cases are girls."
Parts of
10-year-old Holly's dismembered body were
discovered May 13, the day after she
disappeared while walking home from a
friend's house. Her body parts were found
floating along Toronto's water front, in a
gym bag and a small suitcase. Toronto police
have set up a Holly Task Force in a case
closely followed by the public, frightened
for the safety of their own children. >more
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