Costa Rica All Shook Up in April
Seismologists keeping a close eye on seismological activity say that there was a 160% increase in earthquakes April, compared to the previous month of March. Most of the activity was concentrated in the Central Valley.

Today's Stories: • Costa Rica All Shook Up in April • Vice President Annette Lu Receives More Honors in Costa Rica • Basic Telephone Service Cost to Increase, Long Distance Rates Will Drop • Chavez acceptance of referendum welcomed • Argentina warns of risks in sending troops to Haiti • APEC trade ministers meet in Chile From the jungles of Colombia to San Ramón de Alajuela and from the there to Europe and beyond. That was the planned route of a undisclosed amount of Cocaine that was discovered the the Organismo de Investigación Juicial (OIJ) in a juice packing plant this week. The alert was given by Italian authorities some months back of a group very active in Europe. Arrested were two Ticos and a Colombian. Police say more arrests will be forthcoming.

The Escazú fault is an example in increased activity. The fault runs from San Antonio de Escazú to San Antonio de Belén, about 15 kilometers that has been dormant for many years, when in April it registered 29 earthquakes of up to 4.0 on the richter scale.

Some residents of the area have felt many of the shakes, while others, perhaps more lucky did not feel a thing.

In the Central Valley experts have identified some 40 faults and with the largest population are exposed to greater risk. Experts now believe that the geological faults are the most destructive.

Last month, seismic activity calmed. However, that does not mean that principal faults like the Escazú won't keep on shaking.

Vice President Annette Lu Receives More Honors in Costa Rica
Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco decorated visiting  Taiwan's Vice President, Annette Lu, Thursday with the nation's highest honor - the Juan Mora Fernandez en el Grado de Gran Cruz Placa de Plata.

Pacheco said the decoration is in recognition of Lu's contributions to promoting democracy, human rights and relations between the Taiwan and Costa Rica.

Lu said it is great honor for her to receive the decoration and added that Costa Rica is her "dreamland," as nearly all of her life-long goals of gender equality, freedom, democracy, human rights and lasting peace prevail there.

Pacheco later hosted a state banquet in honor of Lu and her entourage. At the end of the banquet, all the Costa Rican dignitaries sand "Happy Birthday to You" in Spanish to wish Lu many happy returns of the day - Lu will turn 60 on June 6. Lu kissed Pacheco's cheek to express her gratitude for her host's surprise arrangement. She then cut a birthday cake to share with all the well-wishers.

Lu arrived in Costa Rica Wednesday after a three-day official visit to neighboring El Salvador, where she attended the inauguration of new Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca on behalf of  President Chen Shui-bian.

Over the past two days, she has met with nearly all influential Costa Rican politicians to discuss measures to further boost bilateral ties.

Lu said she has reached a preliminary agreement with Costa Rica's women's affairs minister on promoting exchanges of visits by outstanding women from both countries. After her return to Taiwan, Lu said, she will organize a delegation composed of female politicians to visit Costa Rica and other diplomatic allies. Costa Rica will also send a delegation of women leaders in various fields to visit Taiwan in the near future, Lu said.

During her talks with senior Costa Rican political leaders, including Pacheco, Vice President Lineth Saborio, National Assembly Speaker Gerardo Gonzalez and former President Oscar Arias Sanchez, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lu said they agreed to further boost bilateral and multilateral cooperation in human rights and other fields in order to enhance Taiwan's international profile.

The two countries signed an amity agreement in 1944 on forging "lasting peace and friendship."

Basic Telephone Service Cost to Increase, Long Distance Rates Will Drop
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) has made a request to the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) for an increase of 12% in telephone rates.

If the increase is approved by the regulating body, we will see basic residential service jump from the current ¢1.650 to ¢1.850 per month. Commercial rates will go from ¢2.000 to ¢2.240. The basic rated includes 150 minutes of call time, each additional minute will increase from the current ¢3.25 to ¢3.75.

Long distance rate will not be affected by the proposed increase.

Cellular telephone service will also see an increase from the current ¢2.900 to ¢3.250 per month that includes 60 minutes of call time and each additional minute of call time will increase to ¢34 from the current ¢30 for peak time and to ¢26 from ¢23 for the off-peak hours.

Peak time are the hours between 7am and 7pm.

The request is also calling for some reductions. The proposal asks for a ¢340 in the monthly rate for the advanced internet and long distance rates as well.

The proposal, if approved, will see a reduction of $0.15 per minute on all calls to the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Mexico, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Dennis Villalobos, an analyst at ICE, said the state monopoly is looking to cover it's costs and offer more competitive rates on international services.

Click here for the proposed rate card.

 

Chavez acceptance of referendum welcomed
The Organization of American States(OAS) and the Carter Center (CC) on Friday congratulated Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for accepting the calling of a recall referendum that might cut short his term.

"The way in which the president accepted the results forecasts a period of healthy democratic competition and respect for the rule of law," both organizations said in a statement released in the capital Caracas.

The OAS and the CC congratulated the electoral body and the Venezuelans "over the reaffirmation of their commitment with the defense and strengthening of the democratic system."

They also recognized that the speedy delivery of the results of the reconfirmation, a three-day process held last weekend to ratify or exclude doubtful signatures, "gave the process more transparency."

OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria and CC Director Jimmy Carter were present at the reconfirmation process of the more than1.19 million doubtful anti-Chavez signatures collected last November, and confirmed the transparency of the process.

Both the OAS and the CC urged the opposition and pro-government sectors to "maintain the environment of tolerance."

"Violence can't be justified in any of its forms at this moment," the statement said.

Also on Friday, the Brazilian government praised Chavez for recognizing the results of the reconfirmation process.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said that the referendum depends on the will of the Venezuelan people.

"It is the Venezuelan people who must decide on their future. Nobody else," Amorim said after a ministerial meeting with Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

He considered that there can be no foreign interference in the country, only the help of other nations to foster talks between the government and the opposition.

The foreign minister also said that Chavez's "democratic acceptance" and the launching of the debate on the recall referendum were very important.

"I think it is a sample of how solutions can be found with respect for democracy and constitutionality," he declared.

Earlier Thursday, lead judge of Venezuela's National Election Council (CNE) Jorge Rodriguez announced that the opposition had gathered 2,451,821 signatures to demand the referendum, surpassing the 2.43 million, or 20 percent of the registered voters, as required by the Constitution to trigger a referendum.

Hours after the CNE announcement, Chavez said he would accept a referendum on his rule and predicted he would defeat the opposition.

Both the opposition and pro-Chavez forces have called for demonstrations on the referendum.

On May 28, when the reconfirmation process began, the electoral body had announced that the possible referendum could be scheduled for Aug. 8.
 

Argentina warns of risks in sending troops to Haiti
Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa admitted Friday that Argentine troops serving as UN peacekeepers in Haiti will face risks because "they are militaries."

Bielsa said that the mission of the peacekeepers in Haiti "is to protect civilians, protect themselves and disarm armed contingents who conspire against social peace."

"There can be violence in any of these episodes. Let's hope this violence will not occur."

The deployment of Argentine forces in Haiti was passed last Wednesday by the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies is expected to approve it next week.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner was criticized by the opposition over his decision to send troops to the Caribbean nation, for they consider the country could be viewed as an accomplice in a US military intervention.

Under the government's plan, Argentina is expected to send 500 army soldiers, a marine infantry and 150 backup men, as well as two ships, three helicopters, and a mobile hospital.

The countries of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as full members and Chile, Bolivia and Peru as associates, have committed to dispatching troops to Haiti to oversee the peace process under the command of the United Nations.

The UN Security Council approved last April the dispatch to Haiti of 6,700 soldiers of different Latin American countries to replace peacekeepers of Chile, the United States, France and Canada.

They were deployed in Haiti after a rebellion that forced the resignation and exile of then President Jean Bertrand Aristide in late February.
 

APEC trade ministers meet in Chile
The ministerial meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum opened here Friday to focus on trade liberalization.

Trade ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific economies, commanding nearly half of world trade, gather in Pucon, a resort town in the mountains 700 km south of the Chilean capital of Santiago, to move forward with new talks of the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is scheduled for July in Geneva.

Among those attending the meeting are WTO Director Supachai Panitchpakdi, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai.

At the opening ceremony, Chilean Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear, also chairman of the current meeting, expounded APEC's priorities for this year, such as conducting internal institutional reforms, seeking accords on security and on a more liberalized trade between the members of the bloc.

APEC is a trans-Pacific consultation association founded in 1989 to facilitate trade, investment and economic cooperation among Asia-Pacific economies that represent 47 percent of global trade and 2.5 billion people of the world population.