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Get Ready to
Buckle Up
Come Monday, the proposed law making seatbelt use
mandatory for the driver and passengers of a vehicle is expected to pass in
the Legislative Assembly.
As it stands now, the use of seatbelt is not mandatory after the Sala IV -
the Constitutional Court - struck it down several years ago. The proposed
new law was sent to the Constitutional Court before it's first reading by
deputies who wanted to avoid a repeat of the previous efforts to make the
use of seatbelts mandatory.
The Sala IV rendered it's opinion in January, saying that only the driver
could be obligated to use the seat belt, while obligating a passenger would
infringe on his or her constitutional right. Legislative deputies have
chosen to ignore the court's opinion and have forged ahead to mandate that
drivers and all passengers buckle up.
The president of the congress says that next week the proposed law will come
up for second debate this coming week and if passed will become law.
The fine for not using a seatbelt will be 7.000 colones.
Replacement Aortic
Value is Fit to Expand
After seven years of intense work, researchers headed by Costa Rican
cardiologist Dr. David Paniagua have developed a replacement aortic valve
that expands in size once it is in place.
This allows the procedure to be done without the need for surgery.
"We make a small incision in the patient's groin and insert a catheter
through which the valve is transported to the site of the damage," Dr.
Paniagua said.
"Once there, the replacement valve expands to the correct size." The
replacement valve is between 3 mm and 4 mm in size while it is in the
catheter. After it is placed in the heart, it can expand to 25 mm.
The technique, called percutaneous aortic valve replacement, is in phase III
clinical trials.
The Price of Fame
After becoming the most famous cow in Costa Rica. María del Milagro, a 2
year old Jersey dairy cow that was stolen by tow men who stuffed in the
backseat of a taxi and later rescued by police has become costlier as well.
Arnoldo Campos, owner of the farm and the cow in the small community north
of San José, says that the Milagro is now worth a cool ¢1 Million Colones
and is offering her for sale. Before the fame she could be sold for only
¢200.000 Colones.
This news comes following a police report where the cow had been valued at
the lower amount. The owner told the Spanish daily newspaper Diario Extra,
that they didn't take into account the sentimental value.
The man who were apprehended by police shortly after having stolen the cow,
who is known locally as "Pelicula" and goes by the last name of Vargas, was
set free given the low value of the cow, according to the prosecutor's
office.
TACA Announces Lower
Fares
In an effort to heat travel between the Central American countries,
Grupo TACA, has announced a
decrease in fares of up to 40% as of this coming week.
Enrique Beltranena, vice-president of the group, says that they will be
looking for increased traffic and will then evaluate the results before
making any permanent changes to their rates.
The lower rates are for travel during the months of March, April and May of
this year.
Beltranera added that if the marketing effort works, it will mean an
increase in revenues of $2 Million Dollars for the airline.
The new rates in effect will mean a cost of $169 for a return trip between
San José and Guatemala and $189 for a two trip between San José and San
Salvador. Tickets at that rate must be purchased 7 days in advance. 3 day
advance purchases are $199 and $219 respectively, while the cost goes to
$229 and $249 respectively with no advance purchase.
$1 Million per
Kilometer
Costa Rica will invest $1 million to pave every kilometer of the 40 that
separate Quepos from Dominical Beach, to complete the Coastal Road linking
Nicaragua and Panama along the Pacific seashore.
The Quepos-Dominical
stretch is the last unpaved one, and the high cost results from the fact
that many bridges have to be built, according to official sources.
Dominican
Republic and U.S. Complete Trade Deal
Efforts to integrate the Dominican Republic into the Central American Free
Trade Agreement (CAFTA) have been concluded, with the country assuming the
same set of obligations and commitments as Costa Rica, Honduras, El
Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
Under the agreement, the United States Trade Representative's office (USTR)
said U.S. exports of consumer and industrial goods will become duty-free in
the Dominican Republic immediately, with remaining tariffs phased out over
10 years.
More than half of current U.S. farm exports to the Dominican Republic will
become duty-free immediately, including corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans, many
fruits and vegetables, and processed food products. Tariffs on most U.S.
farm products will be phased out within 15 years, with all tariffs
eliminated by 20 years. Duty-free access under tariff-rate quotas will be
established for U.S. beef, pork, poultry, rice and dairy products.
Both countries also agreed to work to resolve sanitary and phytosanitary
barriers to agricultural trade, in particular problems and delays in food
inspection procedures for meat and poultry.
Accused Godfather of Cuban Gambling Organization Arrested on Cruise Ship
Alleged Cuban crime boss Jose Miguel Battle Jr. was arrested early this
morning by U.S. Coast Guard officers while vacationing on a cruise ship in
the Caribbean.
Federal prosecutors say Battle, 51, of Key Biscayne, has succeeded his
74-year-old father as ''El Padrino'' or Godfather of the Cuban Mafia
organization known as ``The Corporation.''
He was picked up, without incident, aboard the Celebrity Summit at 4:30 a.m.
Authorities were concerned that Battle could have jumped ship in the next
port of call in Costa Rica to avoid extradition to the U.S.
Battle is among 25 indicted Thursday on racketeering
and illegal gambling charges. Three are at large.
Miami-Dade detectives and IRS agents are continuing to plow through reams of
seized bank accounts, mortgages, business and financial records.
The indictment covers the Battles' control of the bolita racket from New
York to Miami, drug trafficking and money laundering -- all of it backed by
murder, arson and witness intimidation.
Prosecutors allege ''The Corporation'' grossed more than $1.5 billion over
four decades, laundering the funds through ''puppet'' and legitimate
businesses, including a Peruvian casino venture in the mid-1990s.
Detectives discovered Battle Jr.'s travel plans during a raid at his Key
Biscayne home.
Because the cruise ship is flagged in the Bahamas, U.S. Justice Department
officials had to seek permission to board the ship from the Bahamian
government.
Battle Jr. was transported to the USS Thomas S. Gates, an Aegis
guided-missile cruiser based in Pascagoula, Miss., and is expected to be
flown back to Miami early next week to appear before a federal magistrate.
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Panama's civil group urges withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq
A Panamanian civil group demanded the immediate withdrawal of the
coalition troops from Iraq, saying the purpose of US intervention in the
Arab country was to control the oil there.
So far, the existence of weapons of mass destruction has not been proved and
US President George W. Bush's purpose of launching the war was to "topple
Saddam Hussein and impose a government that would serve its own interest and
control the oil there," the Panamanian Committee for Peace said in a
communique released on Friday.
Since May 1 last year when Bush declared an end to major combat operations
in Iraq, not a single week has passed without US soldiers dying there, said
the communique.
Since the war began, more than 550 US troops have died in Iraq and 138 of
them were killed during the war.
The group described itself as one of the millions of voices that demand the
immediate withdrawal of US troops a year after the US intervention in Iraq.
"The world's policeman still pursues its interventionist policies by
stepping over the legitimate right of people to decide on their own destiny
and ousting and imposing presidents, like in Haiti or in Venezuela, thus
leading to political instability there," the group said.
Meanwhile, it said last week's Madrid terrorist attacks were a consequence
of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's pro-US policy on the Iraq
issue.
Venezuela supports OPEC decision to reduce oil production
Venezuela expressed its support Friday for a decision of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reduce oil production from April 1,
Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez said.
"If it is necessary for Venezuela to support another decrease in the
production we will do it, because we are committed to maintaining the price
of our oil at fair levels," he said.
If necessary, the group could even opt for an additional cut in the upcoming
meeting on March 31 in Vienna, Austria, the minister told the press.
Ramirez said that if external factors "affecting the price of oil force us
to keep the price at the present high levels," he would recommend a revision
of OPEC's price band per barrel, which currently ranges from 22 to 28 US
dollars.
International crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday to 38.18 dollars a
barrel, a 13-year high since Oct. 16, 1990, when Iraqi troops were occupying
Kuwait.
The price increase resulted from fear of an energy shortage after a US
Energy Department report showed that US gasoline inventories had fallen to
the lowest level in four months last week.
Despite the current price rise, OPEC decided in February to cut its
production by 1 million barrels per day, effective from April 1, in an
effort to sustain the oil price as demand falls for seasonal reasons.
Hopefuls in
Salvadoran presidential elections
Some 3.5 million Salvadorans will go to polling stations Sunday
to choose their new president and vice president to rule the country for
five years as of June 1.
Of all the candidates, the most hopefuls are widely believed to be
39-year-old Tony Saca, a successful sports radio commentator and
businessman, and 73-year-old Schafik Handal, a lawyer and former guerrilla
member.
Both are of Palestinian descent but have lived completely different lives in
El Salvador. Saca will run as the candidate from the ruling Nationalist
Republican Alliance (ARENA), while Handal will contend for the opposition
Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN).
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