"We believe that the approach that we've adopted in CAFTA (U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement) is the approach that was agreed upon by Congress" in 2002, Regina Vargo, assistant U.S. trade representative for the Americas, told reporters after a speech to a business group.

Top Democrats have warned CAFTA is in trouble in Congress because of its labor provisions, which they say are too weak. They want the agreement renegotiated to require the five countries - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua - to incorporate the International Labour Organization's "core labour standards" into their laws.

Those include the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association and the elimination of forced labour and discriminatory employment practices.

But in a speech to the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, Vargo said the CAFTA labour provisions were consistent with Congress' instructions that countries only be required to enforce their own labour laws as a condition of becoming a U.S. free trade partner.

A recent ILO report found that enforcement, rather than the countries' labour laws themselves, was the biggest problem the region faced in the labour area, Vargo said. The United States has been engaged in "ongoing dialogue" with the CAFTA countries aimed at improving their enforcement, she added.

Bill Morley, a lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged that CAFTA supporters were far short of the votes they needed to win approval in Congress.

However, it was still possible there could be a vote on the agreement before the end of the year, if congressional leaders decide to come back after the November elections to finish up legislative business, Morley said.

Vargo told reporters she still expected the U.S. government to sign the agreement this year, even though the White House has not yet set a date for that event.

A decision on when to submit the agreement to Congress is also up to the White House, she said.

Vargo denied rumors the United States and the Central American countries were making changes to CAFTA as part of a final legal scrutiny of the agreement this week.

Costa Rican Among Scientists to Win Fellowship
A total of 10 scientists from eight countries India, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,  China, Ethiopia, Kenya and Costa Rica, have won a fellowship of the US-based International Fund for Agricultural Research (IFAR), a foundation dedicated to fostering scientific excellence in agriculture.

These scientists will spend up to three months working with world class scientists at IFAR's Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)'s centres.

The fellowship winners developed innovative results-oriented proposals together with their proposed host research centres, IPGRI, World Agroforestry Centre/ICRAF, IITA ILRI and the Africa Rice Centre/WARDA.

The proposals, which were assessed by a team of international experts, cover areas such as the development of rice lines for drought prone rice production systems, modeling gene-flow to assess risk to biodiversity in traditional cropping systems.

The Evaluation Committee included experts from India, Brazil, Cameroon and New Zealand.

Nicaraguan Gang Will Try to Enter Costa Rica
Following the bloody massacre on Tuesday of four police offices in the Caribbean city of Bluefields, Nicaragua, by a gang of ten Nicaraguans, Costa Rican police along with Nicaraguan police forces are maintaining an alert fort he men in the northern border region.

The men, armed with AK47 assault rifles, ambushed the four Nicaraguan police officers, robbed them of their uniforms and then slit their throats.

The men are suspected to be headed for the San Juan river area that borders with Costa Rica. The men, who are considered very dangerous and who among them may include a man known as "Guatuso" who is wanted in Costa Rica for planning the attempted kidnapping of a businessman in Upala (Costa Rica).

Police officials on both side of the border believe that the jungle, the remote distance from the border points and the number of police officers, both Costa Rican and Nicaraguan, will make it impossible for the gang to enter Costa Rican territory.

Rogelio Ramos, Costa Rican Minister of Public Security, said that they will maintain a vigilance for the men for as long as necessary.
 

Grace Period For Drivers Without Seatbelt
The new seatbelt law came into effect yesterday following publication in the official daily newspaper La Gaceta.

However, Transit police say they will waive the ¢8.350 colones fine until the 20th of May.

Yesterday, at various points along the highways and parts of the city, Transit officials were randomly stopping cars in what they called routine spot checks. Drivers and passengers who weren't using their seatbelt restraint were given warnings instead of a fine.

The seatbelt law that was passed last April 13 and came into effect yesterday will see the driver and any passenger - front or rear - fined for not buckling up. The responsibility will be on the driver to ensure that all passengers are using the seatbelt restraint and the fine.

The law also gives Transit police some new tools to combat drinking and driving, excessive speeding and dangerous driving.

Transit police can now confiscate on the spot the license of any driver who is driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as for speeding and driving dangerously. On this, there is no grace period.

Following their achievement in reforming the Ley de Tránsito (Transit Laws), Transit officials will be looking at modifying some 37 more laws, that will include an increase in fines, stopping vehicles that don't have proper headlights (Transit officials presently cannot fine a driver with a broken headlight), carrying too many passengers and not having a rear view mirror.

Car bomb leaves 3 dead, 38 injured in Colombia
At least three people died, including an eight-year-old child, and 38 others were injured after a car bomb exploded in Tame, western Arauca department, Colombian authorities said Wednesday.

A vehicle loaded with more than 50 kg of explosives was detonated in front of La 14 supermarket, in a bustling commercial district near Tame's industrial park.

The commander of Colombian army's 18th Brigade, Gen. Gustavo Matamoros Camacho, blamed the terror act on the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and offered 50 million Colombian pesos (about 18,800 US dollars) as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, the police commander in Arauca, Col. Oscar Perez Cardenas, said the car bomb was detonated by remote control.

Tame and Arauca department as a whole are considered volatile regions, in which the FARC, the National Liberation Army and the paramilitary United Self Defense Forces of Colombia are operating.