Three
Dead Swept Away by Under Current
The mid-term school break vacation just got underway and already has
claimed three lives. Three young women who were traveling with their
family on an excursion to the beaches, drowned shortly after 10am
Saturday when they were swept away by a strong current at playa Bandera,
in Parrita, Puntarenas.
The three girls were identified as Shirley María and Kendy de los
Ángeles Ballestero Barboza, 21 and 14 years of age respectively, and
their friend, Cinthya Elena Sánchez Cerdas, who was 21 years old.
The family was traveling from Poás de Aserrí, San José.
According to residents of the area, the tragedy came about when the
ocean was moving from a low tide to a high tide. The area where the
girls drowned is considered dangerous and the same place where last
Wednesday, Michael Springer, a 50 year old of German nationality,
also drowned.
Witnesses say that a group of seven girls were warned of the danger
minutes before the three were swept away by the under currents. The
group had been in the water and were warned of the dangers and to
get out.
The bodies of two of the girls Shirley María and Kendy were
recovered, however, the body of Cinthya Elena has not been found.
The three girls were part of a group of 35 that were family and
friends of the Poás de Aserrí area. The trip had been planned for
some time and were waiting for the mid year school break. The group
left their homes at around 3:30am and were at the beach area by 9am.
Mid-Term
Vacations Begin
Students left school for the traditional "veranillo" break that
marks the mid season of the school year. Most are headed to the
beaches with their families to enjoy what marks a break in the rainy
season each year.
According to the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) -
Metereological Institute - temperatures will soar to low thirty
Celsius during this week and will little rain in the forecast.
Beach areas of Guanacaste, Puntarenas, Quepos and Jacó are the
favorite spots.
However, authorities are calling for caution as this week high tides
and strong waves are expected and don't want to repeat the tragedy
of Saturday, when three young girls were swept away by strong under
currents and drowned.
In the Central Pacific waves up to three meters are expected and
strong under currents are normal.
965.000 students are on break from the classroom and the Red Cross
is on high alert to attend to all types of emergencies, especially
in the coastal areas.
Transit police is also reinforcing it's patrols of the highways,
especially on the main routes of the Interamerican highway that
leads to the Guanacaste beaches and resorts. Transit police will be
keeping an eye on speeders and non-use of seatbelts.
Ignacio Sánchez, director of the Transit police, told the press that
some 40 extra patrol cars and another 40 motorcycle units will be
added to the regular patrol and operatives will be held in the
evenings and early morning hours to curb drinking and driving.
The mid-term vacation period will continue until the 18th of July.
Bambuzal
"Campesinos" Decided to Stay Put
Evicted residents "campesinos" of the Bambuzal farm that have been
camping out in the Catedral Metropolitana for the last couple of
months decided to stay put after announcing Friday that they would
be returning home on Saturday.
Buses were lined up outside the Catedral in downtown San José and
bags were packed and makeshift mattresses rolled up, when leaders of
the group decided to stay put, rather than confront police who were
waiting their return.
The farm, in Río Frío de Sarapiquí, Heredia, is owned by the
Standard Fruit Company, which is being disputed by the residents who
just want to go home and get back to their lives.
The evicted residents of Bambuzal say they should be allowed to
remain on the property until court decides on their claim to the
land.
The dispute has been going on for 3 years.
A court order signed last December by the Second District Court of
Guápiles, Pococí, prohibits the 125 families from occupying the
lands. A decision by the same court on Friday reaffirmed the ruling.
It had been reported that some 700 police officers were waiting the
campesinos at the edge of the Bambuzal farm, however, director of
the Fuerza Publica, Wálter Navarro, said that only 20 officers on
regular patrols were in the area.
Though leaders deny it, it was this report that led the campesinos
to stay and avoid confrontation with police.
Some 120 people will continue to camp out in the Catedral, while the
rest of the campesinos are spread out in various areas.
Father Guido Villalta of the Catholic church will permit the
campesinos to continue to occupy the hallways of the church while a
peaceful resolution can be found.
About 20 campesions have declared a hunger strike to bring attention
to their plight.
Between 250 and 300 families, most of them from Heredia, Limon and
San José, first began occupying the 850-hectare Bambuzal estate in
May 2001.
Leaders of the occupation movement charge that the land does not
belong to Standard Fruit, and that the company was no longer using
the bamboo grown there, having switched to a cable system to hold up
banana plants.
Air
Traffic Controllers Strike Continues into Day 9
The air traffic controller's strike is into it's second
week and with end in sight.
Following a week of negotiations, neither government nor the union
is moving an inch towards a solution.
But, you would never know it, as the airports continue to operate
with little or no effect by the striking air traffic controllers.
125 air traffic controllers walked off the job on Saturday morning
to force the government to honour it's agreement to pay equity. The
controllers say that they should earn more than aviation inspectors
but in the last couple of years they have fallen behind and now want
to catch up.
The striking controllers were replaced over the weekend by 28
foreign controllers and "tico" pilots who, according to the
Transport Minister and the airlines associations, are doing a great
job of keeping the airplanes in the air and the passengers safe.
Quick Police
Action Ends in Arrest of Two
Quick action by a passenger and a quick response by
police led to the arrest of two men in the act of assaulting a bus
along the Paso Ancho route.
One man, who had a gun pointed at the head of the driver of the bus
were apprehended as police responded quickly to a call from the
cellular telephone of one of the passengers. The other, his
accomplice, waiting on a motorcycle fled the scene and was
apprehended shortly after a police chase.
In the chase, a police officer, Adolfo Salas, was struck by a
vehicle and is in hospital with minor cuts and bruises.
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