Shannon Martin's
Mother Threatened
The mother of a slain
Kansas University student who traveled to Costa Rica
for the trial of the three people accused of killing
her daughter has received death threats, police said
Tuesday night.
Authorities responded to the threats by assigning
police officers to protect Jeanette Stauffer, who is
staying with other family members in the southern
community of Golfito, where the trial is taking
place, said Luis Angel Nunez, chief of police for a
region that includes Golfito and neighboring Rio
Claro.
The trial began last week and was scheduled to
resume today, after a four-day break. Nunez said
there would be twice as many police officers
attending the trial this week as there were when it
began and added that authorities intended to limit
the number of observers allowed inside the courtroom
to better protect Stauffer.
Nunez said a caller threatened to kill Stauffer, but
would not say if the threat was heard by Stauffer
directly or if it came into the courthouse office of
the prosecutor in Golfito.
He also declined to confirm when the call was
received.
Shannon Martin, a 23-year-old KU student from
Topeka, was stabbed to death on May 13, 2001, after
she left a nightclub in Golfito, about 100 miles
south of the Costa Rican capital, San Jose. Martin
was in this country to gather specimens for a
biology project.
On Friday, a key witness in the case, Rosibel Munoz,
was forced to give her testimony behind closed doors
because of death threats. Shortly before Munoz was
scheduled to testify, the courthouse office of the
prosecutor received a call saying, "If Rosibel
testifies, we'll kill her."
Stauffer, who had offered up to $50,000 to anyone
who could provide information about the killing, has
traveled to Costa Rica repeatedly since her
daughter's death and has vowed to remain in Golfito
for the duration of the trial. She was unavailable
for comment late Tuesday night.
Rafael Zumbado Quesada, 52, Kattia Cruz, 29, and
Luis Alberto Castro Carillo, 33, have been accused
of homicide in Martin's killing.
Stabbed 15 times, Martin's body was found along an
airport access road about 100 feet from the home of
the Costa Rican family she was living with.
Immigration
Installs New Document Detection Equipment
Immigration officials have
announced the addition of new equipment to detect
falsified and altered documents at all border
crossings.
The new equipment donated by the U.S. to Costa Rica
is valued at 90 Million Colones, uses fibre optic
readers to detect any changes to a document.
In addition, the system is online and now
immigration officials can immediately check the
entrance and departure of any individual to and from
Costa Rica.
The new system will help immigration officials in
their fight to curb the traffic of persons and other
criminal activity.
Fugitive Tico Coming
Home After Four Years
After nearly fours on the run, Costa Rican Jorge
Martínez Meléndez, was arrested in his apartment in
Toronto, Canada.
Martinez, a 46 year old lawyer fled Costa Rica in
November 1999 to avoid being arrested for fraud in
the amount of 459 Million Colones.
According to a report in the daily La Nacion, this
week Costa Rican agents will be arriving in Toronto
to return Martinez to Costa Rica under a extradition
order.
Martinez had been asking for refugee status in
Canada, and was arrested after his final hearing
denied him his stay. This has the second time he was
denied his request, the first hearing was in 2001.
According to police authorities, Martinez was wanted
in the fraud of the
Fondo de Compensación
Social that was in place in the José María Figueres
(1994-1998) administration.
Nestle's Nespresso
Opens Costa Rica Coffee Mill
Nespresso,
the espresso coffee-making unit of global food maker
Nestle, on Tuesday opened a new mill in Costa Rica
meant to help it guarantee supplies of quality
arabica beans amid rapid growth.
The mill will provide the Paudex, Switzerland-based
company with about 15,000 46kg bags of top quality
green coffee each season and will be followed in the
coming year with similar operations in Ethiopia and
Colombia, Nespresso chief executive officer Gerhard
Berssenbrugge said.
Nespresso is the latest in a growing number of large
coffee buyers creating ways to guarantee supplies as
farmers worldwide struggle amid continued low
prices.
Nespresso, one of the fastest growing operating
units of the Nestle Group, says it expects revenue
to grow at about 25 percent per year in the near
future as it continues to build its customer base.
"So our vision is that in 2007, we should achieve
one billion (Swiss francs) in turnover,"
Berssenbrugge said at the inauguration of the La
Giorgia mill on the outskirts of San José.
Berssenbrugge said part of the reason behind the La
Giorgia and subsequent mills was to guarantee the
company with a reliable, consistent supply of
high-quality beans as it strives for growth goals.
"For sure there is a fear from our side that due to
the price situation right now, there is less vision,
less passion behind the coffee farmers to treat the
coffee farm as it should be," said Berssenbrugge.
"There is a fear that we don't get enough of this
excellent coffee in the future."
The coffee industry is entering its fifth year of
crisis that many say has been the worst in the
industry's history. The crisis began in late 1999 as
new global producers erupted onto the market,
causing a surplus that drove prices below production
costs and pushed many farmers out of business.
Nespresso makes espresso coffee in capsules and
special expresso machines to brew the beverage. The
machines and capsules can be bought over the
Internet and are sold mostly to homes and offices.
Miami Police Cordon
Off Downtown Area Ahead of Expected FTAA Protests
Thousands of riot
police fanned out across downtown Miami to face an
expected flood of anti-globalization protesters, as
trade ministers from the Americas prepare for a
major free-trade summit here.
However the only major protest of the day was held
by about 300 members of a group called Root Cause,
which staged a noisy and colorful march to a
downtown park.
"We're obviously doing something right," said
Melodie Malta, one of the protestors, commenting on
the heavy police presence as she danced to the beat
of homemade drums. "It's an appropriate picture, and
an unfortunate one."
Anticipating larger protests, some 2,500 police from
40 area jurisdictions have surrounded a six-block
downtown area with barricade fences and roadblocks.
Trade ministers from every country in the Americas,
except Cuba, will meet Thursday and Friday at a
hotel within the protected area to work on the Free
Trade Area of the Americas agreement.
Police seek to avoid the violent clashes that marred
meetings of the World Trade Organization in Seattle
in 1999 and in Cancun, Mexico, in September.
Authorities are preparing for around 30,000
protesters, though they believe fewer will show up.
Protesters say they are expecting anywhere from
50,000 to 100,000 from around the country.
Protest marchers, virtually all wearing yellow
t-shirts, banged on drums, blew bugles and horns,
and danced as they took turns chanting slogans like
"They say free trade, we say go away!"
Carl Jordan had traveled from Baltimore, just
northeast of the US capital, to join the protest.
"We're for trade, but fair trade," he said.
The crowd, surrounded by police officers on
bicycles, marched from the nearby city of Fort
Lauderdale to a park a few blocks from the hotel
where the summit is to be held.
Tom Garrett, who walked under a foam dolphin
costume, said he was protesting the free trade deal
because, as he put it, "when corporations take over
there is mass cruelty to animals."
Many of the trade ministers will arrive in Miami
fresh from last week's meeting in Bolivia, where the
leaders of Spain, Portugal and their former colonies
in the Americas held a two-day summit addressing
agriculture, trade, poverty and anticorruption
measures.
The controversial issue of agricultural subsidies is
also set to dominate the Miami talks, as Brazil and
the United States -- the two hemispheric trade
giants -- strongly disagree over such subsidies.
The issue prompted the surprise collapse of the WTO
talks in Cancun after Latin American countries
rebelled against US and European Union farm
subsidies.
Ministers have just 14 months to go to meet the
January 1, 2005, deadline to complete negotiations.
Officials held workshops for business leaders on
issues ranging from market access and government
procurement to property rights.
On Tuesday, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick
announced here that the United States will continue
to seek separate trade agreements with countries and
regional groups in the Americas -- a way to
undermine any potential opposition from Brazil and
Argentina at the FTAA talks.
US officials would begin free-trade talks next year
with members of the Andean Community -- Colombia,
Peru, Ecuador and Colombia -- as well as with
Panama, Zoellick said.
"We intend to work closely with the Andean countries
to support the US goals of achieving hemispheric
economic integration and dismantling trade barriers
around the world," said Zoellick.
"Some countries want to move more quickly" to reach
a free trade deal, he said.
US officials are already in the final stages of
negotiating a free trade deal with the five Central
American countries -- Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
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