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updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
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Teacher's Strike Continues: Day
20
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Teachers will be fired if they don't return to work
The Government has stated clearly that if the
teachers don't get back to the bargaining table,
there will be sanctions.
The new Minister of Education, Manuel Antonio Bolaños,
is giving teachers today as a last opportunity to
return to the bargaining table. Come Monday,
sanctions will be applied which can mean teachers
will be fired among other actions.
It's been several days since the teachers union
rejected the Governments proposal, saying it was a
joke and broke off all discussions. It had been
expected that today there would be a decision made
to return back to the classrooms, but that seems
very remote at this time.
3 deaths in the last 5 days due to drowning
The heavy
rains have caused rivers to rise over their banks
and cause flash flooding and mud slides, is
attributed to at least 3 drowning deaths in the last
5 days.
A minor
identified as Gérald Andrés Moral Calderón, 4
years old, slipped and fell in waters of the
Corredores river in Neilly City. The currents
dragged the young boy. A search on the part of
neighbors and members of the Fuerza Publica began
immediately.
A kilometer away, a
group of neighbors managed to spot the body.
Thursday, a young
man, Norberto Enrique Meneses, of 17 years of age,
was dragged by a river.
Monday another minor
of 16 years of age, identified as Pablo Andrés
Valderde, died in waters of Toro Amarillo river.
DIS
turns 40
Born to neutralize any subversive movement to the
left; a Cuba with Fidel Castro, a troubled Central
America and the cold war, were the catalyst to
create a specialized organism.
Thus 40 years ago, the Agencia de Seguridad Nacional,
under the arm of the Ministry of Security 22 years
later, which then changed it's name on the 28th of
June 1985 to Dirección de Inteligencia y Seguridad
- la DIS.
Now it is exclusively
under the command of the president of the Republic.
Since then its mission has been to investigate and
to communicate to the chief executive the necessary
information, with the purpose of preventing any risk
to the stability of the country.
Handling vital
information is not it's only function. In
co-ordination with other world agencies, like
Interpol, it maintains a constant alert for criminal
organizations and terrorists that may have
operations in the country.
The DIS has been credited for providing vital
information to other police agencies in the capture
of wanted fugitives that have chosen Costa Rica as a
place to hide out.
Agreement on
investments
At the World
Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Costa Rica,
Canada, and South Korea are promoting negotiations
leading to a multilateral agreement on
investments.
The goal is to provide improved transparency and
legal security to foreign capital. According to the
Costa Rican ambassador to the WTO, Ronald Saborio,
the proposal already has the support of the United
States, the European Union, Chile, Switzerland,
Taiwan, Turkey, and Singapore.
Effort against
poliomyelitis
Even though
Costa Rica has not reported any polio cases since
1973, it is participating in a fund-collecting
campaign by the International Rotary Club to
eradicate that disease worldwide by the year
2005.
Currently, Africa and Asia record the most cases of
polio, a disease that caused a major crisis in Costa
Rica in 1954, when 1,081 cases were
registered.
The work of the 1.3 million members of the club in
163 nations and 400,000 young volunteers is to be
supplemented by a $40-million loan -for 10 years and
at no interest- from the World Bank, according to
Rotary sources.
WEF
summit hopes to contribute to Mideast peace, Iraq
development
A World
Economic Forum (WEF) meeting opens in Shuneh,
Jordan, this weekend in hopes of contributing
to peace between the Arabs and Israel, and promoting
democracy and good governance in the region,
including Iraq .
WEF senior managing director Jose Maria Figueres
(president of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998) said the
"spirit of reconciliation" sought by the
three-day event beginning Saturday also extends to
Iraq as the conference would discuss the development
of the war-torn nation.
"Yes, we would hope that this event in some
of the ways it approaches the issues is a
contributor to the establishment of peace," he
told AFP.
The venue is symbolic - the Jordanian shores of
the Dead Sea, facing the Palestinian territories
occupied by Israel. It is also the lowest point on
the surface of the planet - 415 meters (1,366 feet)
below sea level.
While the event was planned before the
Palestinians and Israelis signed up in early June to
the "roadmap" for peace drafted by the
international community, the meeting could now build
on that blueprint's potential.
The meeting, titled "Global Reconciliation
Summit", is "neither a part of the
roadmap, nor to pursue that agenda in an explicit
way," Figueres said.
"But if in some way or form the discussions
that take place help the process, so much the
better," he added.
A meeting of the diplomatic "quartet"
for Middle East peace, which drafted the roadmap,
will take place on the sidelines of the conference.
It will be attended by UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell,
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and EU Foreign
Affairs chief Javier Solana.
Around 1,900 world leaders, politicians,
businessmen, religious figures and academics will
take part in the event, half of them from the Middle
East, the organisers said.
Jordan's King Abdullah II will deliver the
keynote speech, while Annan will address the closing
session Monday.
Figueres stressed that the meeting is not an
attempt to restart the economic summits organised by
the WEF from 1994 to 1997 to promote regional
cooperation after the 1993 Oslo accords on
Palestinian self-rule.
"We do not come with a pre-determined agenda
in terms of supporting one plan or another. What we
come with is a genuine interest to provide the
region with a platform for dialogue," he said.
The same approach applies to the situation in
Iraq, which will be debated in several sessions with
the participation of the US overseer of the country,
Paul Bremer, and a leading Iraqi politician, Adnan
Pachachi.
Bremer and Pachachi, a former Iraqi foreign
minister, "will be given an opportunity to
present their viewpoints on what the actual
situation is on the ground and how they see the
future emerging," said the WEF official.
But he made clear that "this is not a
conference on the reconstruction of Iraq."
"The agenda is more a development
agenda," he said.
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Colombia
Defends Anti-Terrorism Measures
Colombia's
defense minister, in an impromptu debate with a top
U.S.-based human rights official, dismissed warnings
that new anti-terrorism statutes aimed at ending a
leftist insurgency may lead to abuses by Colombian
troops.
The encounter before a small group of journalists in
the Ministry of Defense underscored the government's
intent to take a harder line against the rebels, even in
the face of criticism from abroad.
The strategy centers on President Alvaro Uribe's
proposal to amend Colombia's constitution to give
military forces the power to make arrests, conduct
searches without warrants and detain suspects for 36
hours without judicial authorities present.
The Senate approved the measures Wednesday and the
House of Representatives is expected to pass them when
its recess ends in July.
Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez was briefing a
half-dozen foreign journalists on security measures late
Thursday when Jose Miguel Vivanco, the executive
director of Washington-based Human Rights
Watch-Americas, arrived for a scheduled meeting.
Ramirez asked Vivanco what he thought of the
anti-terrorism measures, and he said bluntly that they
"allow a wide margin for action that can lead to
very serious abuses." Earlier, he told journalists
the measures would lead to troops torturing and possibly
killing suspected rebels.
Ramirez, sitting at a conference table with a Christ
figure on the wall behind her, countered that Colombia's
guerrilla war called for special measures.
The insurgents claim to be fighting for Colombia's
poor, but finance themselves through drug trafficking,
kidnapping and extortion, and frequently attack
civilians. The war, which has dragged on for four
decades, kills about 3,500 people every year.
"It would be an irreparable mistake if nothing
is done when one has evidence or concrete information
that an act of terrorism is about to be committed ...
and 10 people are then killed," Ramirez said.
She said that in at least eight cases this year,
government troops knew where arms were being stored or
where rebel commanders were living, but didn't take
action because they lacked the authority to make arrests
or search homes.
"We know who they are," Uribe said Friday
at a ceremony at a police academy in Bogota.
"Overseas, they are (known as) politicians, and in
Colombia they are terrorists."
Uribe's father was killed by the rebels two decades
ago and has survived several guerrilla assassination
attempts. He expressed frustration Thursday that the
United Nations is not doing enough to help Colombia.
U.N. officials have refused Uribe's request for
peacekeepers in Colombia, saying a peace agreement must
be signed first. Uribe's calls for U.N. officials to
pressure the rebels to agree to a cease-fire and start
peace talks have also not been met.
"Sometimes the United Nations gives the
impression that it is afraid of being criticized by
Colombia's violent groups," Uribe said in a speech
in Costa Rica before the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights.
Colombian paramilitary leader sentenced to 40 years in jail
Carlos Castano, leader of Colombia's largest right wing paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
(AUC), has been sentenced in absentia to 40 years in prison for the killing of 30 peasants in 1997.
Castano is still in command of the paramilitary group.
Retired colonel Lino Sanchez who had been commander of an army battalion was also found guilty as a co-author of the crime against humanity.
According to human rights activists, the ruling on Thursday shows once again the links between some Colombian military officers with the
AUC.
AUC members slaughtered 30 people in the Mapiripan village in the eastern Meta province in July 1997. Most of the victims were decapitated.
The 10,000-strong AUC, which was set up by landowners and ranchers in 1996, is fighting to eliminate all other guerrilla groups in Colombia and is blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the country's decades-old civil war, which kills about 3,000 people every year.
Currently, the AUC is in a peace dialogue with the government of President Alvaro
Uribe, who seeks the disarmament of the AUC.
Although a new sentence against the paramilitary chieftain could affect negotiations, the government recently announced that it was prepared to parole the rebels or paramilitaries accused of serious crimes in order to impel the signing of peace agreements.
IMF approves release of loan to Argentina for debt payment
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved the release of an additional 320 million US dollars to Argentina, as part of a stand-by arrangement for its debt payment.
The decision was made after the IMF completed the second reviewof Argentina's performance under a seven-month, 3.1 billion-US dollar Stand-By Arrangement, which was agreed upon in January, themultinational financial organization said in a press release issued in Washington.
IMF chief Horst Koehler said "signs of recovery are encouraging" in Argentina in recent months.
"The Fund looks forward to working closely with the authoritiesin developing a strong and confidence-building medium-term successor program that would sustain growth and reduce poverty," said Koehler, who is to visit Argentina and meet with Argentine President Nestor Kirchner next week.
Since President Kirchner took office on May 25, the Argentine government has been seeking a long-term debt payment deal with theIMF to ease its debt burden.
Bush to visit Africa next month
US President George W. Bush will visit several African countries next month, in his first African trip since he took office more than two years ago, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday.
Bush's 6-day trip from July 7 will take him to Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria, the spokesman said.
The trip was originally slated for January but delayed due to the situation in Iraq, where the United States launched a war in March.
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