ICE Strike: Day 8
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Pacheco asks
for a clear accounting from Pablo Cob, president
of ICE
President Abel Pacheco, made the request to the
head of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE),
Pablo Cob, by means of a sent Thursday.
In the document, the
chief executive expresses that he has received
documented information that indicates that between
the numbers given by the board of directors of ICE
to the Central bank, when the request was made to
authorize 100 million dollars in bonds, there
registers a difference of 40.000 million colones.
In the letter Pacheco
asks Pablo Cob to clarify if this information is
correct, since they do not agree with the financial
projections of the institution for this year.
According to Fabio Chávez,
representative of ICE worker's union, this is a
strategy on the part of the institution (Central
Bank) to weaken the agreement that ICE made made
with the government in February.
Cob told the press
that he will not talk on the subject until today
(Friday).
Overvalued colon
The cost of a
Big Mac last month points to an overvalued colon,
the currency of Costa Rica.
The Big Mac Index - an unusual economy analysis by
British magazine The Economist - compares the
price of a Big Mac in the United States and other
countries.
The index is based on the theory that currencies
throughout the world tend in the long term to move
towards similar levels, taking as a reference the
prices of a "basket" of products.
While in the US the Big Mac costs $2.71, the price
for Argentina is $1.40 and $1.20 for China, but in Costa
Rica it is $2.89.
This means that the Tico currency is 7 percent above
is true rate of exchange with the dollar, analysts
explained.
Lower
fiscal deficit
The deficit
of the combined public sector of Costa Rica -
including the Central Government, the Central Bank
and non-financial institutions - was almost half of
what had been expected for this year's first
quarter.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the excess of
expenses over income of the combined public sector
(the deficit) was 0.7 percent of the Gross Domestic
Product, as compared to the 1.5 percent that had
been expected.
According to the sources, that is a good fiscal sign
and a clear indication that the overall deficit
expected for this year, 3.1 percent of the GDP, will
be attained.
Costa
Rica Intervenes at U.S. - Owned Academy Dundee Ranch
The Costa
Rican authorities moved yesterday (May 22) to seize
the American - owned behavior-modification academy -
Dundee Ranch, in Orotina - for children after
hearing allegations of physical and emotional abuse,
officials said.
Parents and program
officials described a chaotic scene at the site,
where about 200 children, ages 11 to 17, almost all
of them Americans, live in a former hotel under a
strict regimen.
Government officials
said the program had been ordered by a local
prosecutor to comply immediately with all Costa
Rican laws. A parent at the academy, Jan
Bezuidenhout, said the order "means that the
program as it exists now will cease to
function." >more
Casa Alianza Satisfied
with Dundee Ranch Search after Eight Months of
Complaints
Casa
Alianza
May 21, 2003 - Eight
months of complaints finally gave way on Tuesday,
May 20th, to the search of the Dundee Ranch Academy
by a judge, a public prosecutor, and two agents of
the Judiciary Police (OIJ). The Academy is located
in the western part of Costa Rica, in La Ceiba de
Cascajal de Orotina.
Yesterday, a group of
children abandoned the center, taking advantage of
the intervention of the authorities.
The proceedings are
part of an official investigation of the
institution, which began after authorities received
complaints from Susan Flowers, the mother of one of
the children, regarding human rights violations.
According to the Dundee Ranch website, its personnel
are dedicated to helping children with behavioral
problems.
Casa Alianza has
received a series of complaints from various
parents, who feared for the physical and emotional
integrity of their children, who were held there.
Casa Alianza's Legal Support Office in turn informed
the Director of the National Children's Welfare
Organization (PANI in Spanish), Rosalía Gil,
several weeks ago.
"We want to
congratulate the Public Prosecutor for his courage,
because since the newspaper The Tico Times completed
an investigation about the place eight months ago,
no one has done anything," stated Bruce Harris,
Regional Director of Casa Alianza, an organization
that defends children's rights.
Harris recently
requested a further investigation of the case before
the Costa Rican Constitutional Court on behalf of a
14 year-old girl from the United States, who was
taken to the Dundee Ranch against her will. In
letters to her mother, the girl wrote:
"Please,
whatever, take me out of here, please."
Unfortunately, the
Magistrates rejected the case and asked that it be
transferred to the Family Judge. Now the Public
Minister will determine if a crime occurred behind
the walls of the ranch.
"To enclose
children in tiny rooms on their knees or stomachs
for hours is cruel and inhumane treatment and needs
to be investigated by the authorities," added
Harris.
Representatives of
the PANI and the Health Minister accompanied the
judicial personnel during the search. A day prior,
members of the Office of Migration and Foreigners
completed an inspection of the ranch and found that
100 of the 193 children did not have appropriate
migration papers.
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