Today's Stories: Air Traffic in Crisis Costa Rica and Panama in a "Chicken" War Non-stop to Europe Intel Recommends Extra Effort News Briefs

Waiting around for flights to arrive, as many flights were delayed for an hour or more. Keeping a patient on eye on the arrivals monitor at Juan Santa Maria airport.

By 6:30am, officers of the Fuerza Publica (police) removed all the striking air traffic controllers from the main control tower building in Alajuela. The same occurred later at the Pavas and Liberia airports.

No airplanes left or landed from Costa Rica Saturday morning.

Air traffic controllers had kept their promise, however, by 9:00am the government gave the control to foreign air traffic controllers and "tico" pilots.

Flights were delayed, but did finally take off. The waiting area at Juan Santamaria airport was crowded waiting the arrival of flight that were up to one hour late in some cases.

Early morning flights were being diverted to Mexico and Panama as they could not land here. The arrivals screen at noon time showed one flight cancelled, from Toronto, Canada.

Most of the people waiting to board flights or those waiting on arrival of flights were not even aware of the strike. ICR spoke to several people waiting a flight to arrive and none had any idea of any strike.

Leonardo Leonardo Guillén, spokesperson for the air traffic controllers union called the government's action to place foreign controllers and pilots at the controls, irresponsible and a danger to air safety.

Guillén reconfirmed that the strike is not about a salary increase, but rather that the government keeps to it's agreement when in 1994 the government signed a pact with the air traffic controllers union that air traffic controllers would earn 35% more in salary that civil aviation inspectors.

The government's refusal to honour the agreement was the cause for calling the strike.

Transport Minister Javier Chaves will be petitioning the courts tomorrow morning to call the strike illegal and force the air traffic controllers back to work.

Thousands have been affected so far by the strike.

The question on the minds of many is how can only 20 controllers take the place of 95 and how long will the strike last?
 

Costa Rica and Panama  in a "Chicken" War
It all started when Costa Rica refused to allow a shipment of chickens from Panama, fearing it was tainted with Salmonella.

The Panamanians reacted by closing off the border to all Tico products, stopping much of the cross border traffic of merchandise that occurs daily at Paso Canoas.

Salmonellosis is an infection with a bacteria called Salmonella. Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without treatment.

However, in some persons the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.

The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.

Salmonella live in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals, including chickens.

Salmonella are usually transmitted to humans by eating foods contaminated with animal feces. Many raw foods of animal origin are frequently contaminated, but fortunately, thorough cooking kills Salmonella.

A study is being done to determine if the chicken was really contaminated or just an unjust action on the part of the Costa Ricans against the Panamanians.
 

Non-stop to Europe
European airlines are displaying an interest in expanding their services to Central America, as confirmed by the Spanish Air Madrid, which started non-stop flights between Madrid and Costa Rica.

Another Spanish carrier, Iberia, which now operates its flights to Central America via Miami, will soon start a non-stop service linking Madrid with Guatemala, Panama, and Costa Rica.

To point out the meaning of these services for the tourist sector, a source said that Air Madrid's flights mean the arrival in Costa Rica of an additional 50,000 tourists a year.
 

Intel Recommends Extra Effort
Intel Costa Rica launched the production of a new device for computers - the Chipset - and recommended that the country make extra efforts in order to become more competitive and thus attract more firms from abroad to settle here.

The Costa Rican plant of Intel competed with its peers in Malaysia and China to produce the Chipset, a regulator that enables to process information faster when several applications are being used at the same time in a computer.

Intel Costa Rica general manager Bill Abraham pointed out that their plant here enjoys the best supply of electricity among their facilities throughout the world, but pointed out that there are other areas - such as communications- that need improvement to make the country more attractive to other companies.
 

News Briefs

• Five members of the a street gang in La Carpio, west of San José, were sent to hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds, following a fight between rival gang members. Police say the disturbance was isolated between two rival groups and the armed conflict ended quickly. La Carpio was the scene of "mob" rule last month when residents decided to pressure the government into making good on it's commitment for the area and staged a protest that turned into violence.
   
• Marco Badilla, Immigration Director, confirmed that during an operative in San José Friday night, immigration officials detained seven Chinese nationals without documentation of being legally in Costa Rica, where part of a traffic ring that brought them here.