1.000 Cases of Child Abuse Reported Monthly
PANI, the child welfare agency, reports
that about 1.000 calls are received each month of
abuse against children. The majority of the calls
come from the 911 emergency service from callers
reporting all types of abuses.
|
Don't forget your umbrella.
The rainy season in the
Central Valley is official.
Sunny and hot in the morning
and rain in the afternoon
will be the normal until
November. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bikini Babe Kate in Honeymoon
Heaven!
The honeymoon is clearly just
beginning for "Van Helsing" star
Kate Beckinsale, who shares a
passionate kiss with new hubby
Len Wiseman on the beach in
Costa Rica.
"Mrs. Wiseman," who wears her
man's name in her heart - and on
her bikini bottom - spent the
day cavorting with Len, who
directed her in "Underworld."
|
|
|
The calls typically received by the emergency
service include physical and verbal abuse, possible
sexual abuse, the exploitation of minors, and
children abandoned.
PANI says that during the first three months of
2004, it received 2.984 calls or an average of 995
calls per month.
The numbers were released yesterday by the Rosalia
Gil, Minister for "la Condición de la Niñez".
The Minister said that the numbers are on the
increase daily mainly due to the conscience of the
public who are deciding to report the abuses, rather
than keep it quiet as it has been the case in the
past.
According to figures released by PANI, 13.779 cases
were reported and attended by that organization
during the last 15 months. PANI pays "la Fundación
Ser y Crecer " about ¢20 Million colones per year to
maintain a 24 operation to attend to calls made
through the 911 emergency service.
PANI is also planning opening officers in Upala,
Talamanca, Santa Ana and Escazú.
Other statistics released by Minister Gil include:
- 113.525 children and youth (10.3% of the
1.100.000 children and youth) are in the workforce
- 32 of every 100 minors working live in
poverty or extreme poverty
- 70% of the child workers live in rural areas
- 48% of those living in poverty are under the
age f 18: 14.2% of those are under the age of 5
- one out of every 4 households the woman is the
head of the house
Additional information see:
Unicef Costa Rica
Heavy Rain Expected for Today and Tomorrow
An call has been made for all areas of
the Pacific Coast and the Central Valley by the
Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) to be on
alert flooring and mudslides that can result from
the heavy rains expected today and tomorrow.
The IMN says that tomorrow Wednesday may see a
considerable amount of rain in the region and
throughout the country.
"Michigan
Boys" Defend Themselves
Following the television "airing" last
Sunday on Detroit's WXYZ-TV - an ABC affiliate - of
the "Michigan Boys" trip to Costa Rica for the 2004
season, Angelo Nucci, the organizer of the trip,
said he's outraged that the media are calling his
annual fishing tournament a sex party with
prostitutes.
And local leaders who attended also stepped forward
to defend their reputations.
A group known as the Michigan Boys go to Costa Rica
each year for the trip. Buses are used to take the
165 men to a private resort for a week of fishing
and fun.
Among those on the trip were Warren Police Chief
Danny Clark and Macomb County judge Edward Serito.
Both men insist they ignored Costa Rican prostitutes
and focused on fishing.
"I can only respond on my part. I was there to catch
sailfish, marlin and tuna," said Clark. "I'm sure
that if I go to Las Vegas and there was a convention
there with 150 businessmen that there is going to be
prostitutes at those locations, too."
Nucci says prostitution is not only a way of life in
Costa Rica, but it's legal. He says the newspapers
there were off base in painting the Michigan Boys as
a wild bunch.
"We've been going there 17 years and all of the
sudden this year they're making us to be monsters.
What about all the great things we've done," said
Nucci.
Nucci says the Michigan Boys bring gifts to Costa
Rican kids and pump much needed dollars into their
economy. He says the trip is about hooking fish not
hookers and that the controversy will not cancel
future Michigan Boy fishing trips to Central
America.
"I've got guys that want to bring me deposits now
for next year," said Nucci.
Warren officials say they have talked to Clark and
trust that he wasn't involved in any misconduct.
They say they will support the chief as he weathers
the storm
|
 |
Guards
accused over Honduras fire
The scale of the tragedy at the jail has shocked Hondurans survivors of
a devastating fire that killed 103 inmates in a Honduran prison say many
died because guards refused to open the cells in time.
"We screamed at them to let us out," one told AP,
saying they had to break down the doors themselves. The victims,
many of them gang members, either suffocated or were burned alive.
Prison officials insist they freed the inmates as quickly as they
could, while the Honduran president has promised a full inquiry.
|
The scale of the tragedy at the
jail has shocked Hondurans |
President Ricardo Maduro broke off a European tour to return to
handle the crisis personally. He promised a thorough investigation into
the fire at the prison in the northern city of San Pedro Sula - the
second major tragedy to hit a Honduran jail in just over a year.
In April 2003, fighting between rival gang members and a subsequent fire
left 69 people dead. Monday's fire broke out in a block housing mainly
members of the "Mara Salvatrucha" street gang - one of the most violent
of Central America's gangs.
Police say it was probably caused by an electrical short circuit, but
some of the survivors claim it was started by other inmates. They also
allege that guards refused to open the cell block, where 186 prisoners
were housed in a space built for 50.
"They wanted to leave us to die," survivors told the Honduran newspaper,
La Prensa. "We heard them say 'let's leave these pieces of garbage to
die'".
However, coroners said there was so far no evidence to support claims by
some inmates that guards had shot at them to stop them getting out.
Human rights activists said overcrowding had contributed to the high
number of deaths and injuries. Several of the 23 people taken to
hospital have severe burns.
The prison population has grown over the past year after President
Maduro's administration began taking tough action against gangs.
Last August, Mr Maduro backed legislation outlawing gangs. Hundreds of
suspects have been rounded up on charges of violence, robbery and
drug-related offences. Itsmania Pineda, who works with gang members,
told AP the prison was under great pressure, filled with desperate gang
members.
In Honduras, some 30,000 youths - mostly recruited from street children
- are believed to be gang members. The "maras", which have their origins
in the street gangs of Los Angeles, are active in several Central
American countries
Dominican president-elect vows to focus on economic woes
Newly-elected Dominican President Leonel Fernandez said Monday that his
government will deal with pressing economic issues facing the island
country in West Indies, according to reports from Santo Domingo, capital
of the Dominican Republic.
"The key (to solving the crisis) is growth with stability and low
inflation," Fernandez told a news conference after winning Sunday's
presidential election in the first round with more than 56 percent of
the votes.
The former leader of the Dominican Republic (1996-2000) said that the
challenge facing the new government was to regain people's trust and
thus pave the way for the recovery of 3 billion US dollars "that left
our economy in the last two years."
If capital returns and foreign investment is boosted, the country will
be better positioned to revalue the Dominican peso, which will in turn
reduce inflation and improve the people's buying capacity, Fernandez
said.
Fernandez, chief of the Dominican Liberation Party, will rule in the
future four years a country that has been immersed in severe economic
crisis and plagued by high inflation and rapid depreciation of the peso
for years.
The country's inflation stood at 42.6 percent in 2003 and at 24.3 in the
first quarter of this year. The dollar, at 17 Dominican pesos in January
2000, is currently worth 45, against a record high of 55 pesos.
11
killed in bus accident in Mexico
At least 11 people were killed and 21 injured in an accident
Monday in the central state of Mexico when a bus crashed into a tree, a
Mexican official said.
Joaquin Becerril, director general of public relations at the Public
Security Secretariat, said the causes of the accident were still
unclear.
Becerril said the wounded, including the bus driver, were sent to local
hospitals.
Some reports blamed brake failure for the mishap.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
