Taiwan Denies Paying Costa
Rican Workers
Taiwan's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs yesterday denied that Taiwan had
been paying the salaries of Costa Rica's foreign
ministry workers, but failed to fully clarify
questions concerning Taiwan's foreign aid to the
Central American nation.
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Storm waters and street
garbage now flow directly
into the beach at Parque
Vargas in Limón. A
project by the Instituto de
Acueductos y Alcantarillados
(A y A) will see the
contaminated water sent
along a 2km pipe that will
be connected to a treatment
plant. |
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Alterra Partners, managers of
the Juan Santamaria airport may
have to pay a $1.7 million
dollar fine for failing to
complete it's contractural
obligations.
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Costa Rica's daily Spanish newspaper La Nación
reported Monday that about US$15,000 a month in
funds from Taiwan was used to pay the salaries of 21
employees at the foreign ministry and US$7,000 was
spent to complement the salaries of another 13
employees.
Ministry spokesman Richard Shih yesterday denied the
report, emphasizing that Taiwan would never pay
personnel salaries for a foreign country.
The newspaper report said that Costa Rican Foreign
Minister Tovar had confirmed the payments and quoted
Tovar as saying that the last payment had come in
May 2003 and was part of a pattern extending back to
1986.
Shih however suggested yesterday that a publicized
check for US$250,000, written on May 5, 2003, was
for implementing a project aimed at stimulating
tourism and trade in Central and South America.
"I don't understand why he would say so," Shih said.
Shih noted that Costa Rican's foreign affairs
ministry had instructed Taiwan to issue the funds to
the Association for the Development of Foreign
Policy of Costa Rica which Taiwan understands is a
group assigned to implement the tourism and trade
project.
Shih said yesterday that cooperation projects
between Taiwan and its diplomatic allies in Central
America have all been implemented under agreements
reached by governments through bilateral or
multilateral meetings.
Taiwan currently sponsors five projects in Costa
Rica, including establishing a export processing
zone, construction of a public highway,
establishment of a guava pulp processing
manufacturing plant, expansion of the terminal Moín
Port, and establishing a fund for loans to small
farmers.
The paper also noted that President Abel Pacheco
received about US$500,000 for his 2002 election
campaign from anonymous donors in Taiwan.
The government is issuing a strong warning to those
who will be absent from worn this Monday to take
part in the the planned demonstrations against the
Free Trade Agreement or CAFTA that will be signed in
Washington this Friday.
Strong Warning to Demonstrators for Monday
President Pacheco issued a
strong statement that workers who take part in the
demonstrations will have their salaries docked and
said he doesn't want to hear any complaints
afterwards.
The march is being organized by various unions who
are against the Free Trade Agreement that Costa Rica
made with the U.S.
Organizers say the march will begin about 9am from
the La Merced church at the western end of Avenida
Segunda and will continue to the Legislative
Assembly. Another group of protestors will leave the
ICE building in La Sabana Norte.
President Pacheco added in a democracy there exists
the right to manifest one's opinion, however the
government has to fulfill it's duties. Pacheco said
that 3 out of 4 Costa Ricans support the Free Trade
Agreement and that the unions are being unrealistic.
The Free Trade Agreement has to be approved by the
Legislators following it's signing in Washington and
following public debate in the Legislature, the
agreement will then be ratified or not.
Thousands are expected to march on the streets of
San José. The teacher's unions "la Asociación de
Profesores de Segunda Enseñanza (APSE) and el
Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Educación
Costarricense (SEC)" expect most of their 11.000 and
23.000 members respectively to demonstrate. Another
10.000 ICE workers will be on hand as well.
The objective of the unions is paralyze the country
for one day.
Central American and U.S. Groups Say CAFTA is Bad
for Central Americans
Diverse groups from across the U.S. gather with a
former high - ranking Costa Rican official to voice
their concerns about the impact of the Central
American Free Trade Agreement on the eve of its
signing.
Otton Solis, former Economic Policy Minister of
Costa Rica will join representatives of the
environmental and labor movements, small farmers and
immigrant and faith-based groups to bring attention
to the negative effect the free trade agreement
could have on Central Americans.
CAFTA is a trade accord negotiated between the
United States and five Central American countries:
Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and
Costa Rica.
This Friday, trade ministers from CAFTA countries
join the United States Trade Representative for a
signing ceremony at the Organization of American
States.
Speakers will discuss the negative impact CAFTA is
expected to have on local economies, particularly
low-income and poor families on both sides of the
border.
They will address the potential for deterioration in
labor rights and environmental protection, as well
as the destruction of livelihoods of family farmers.
They will also discuss opposition to passage of
CAFTA in the U.S. Congress and in legislatures in
Central America.
A press conference will be held tomorrow, Thursday
May 27, in Washington, DC.
Otton Solis, president of the Citizens Action Party
of Costa Rica and former Minister of Planning and
Economic Policy, will be accompanied at the press
conference by, Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive
vice-president, AFL-CIO; Brent Blackwelder,
president, Friends of the Earth; Oscar Chacon,
president, Salvadoran American National Network;
Kathy Ozer, executive director, National Family Farm
Coalition, and; Mary Lord, assistant general
secretary, AFSC
Participating groups include Oxfam America, AFL-CIO,
Friends of the Earth, Alliance for Responsible Trade
(ART), The Development GAP, American Friends Service
Committee (AFSC), Washington Office on Latin America
(WOLA), and the Salvadoran American National Network
(SANN).
World Economic Forum CEO to
Address Seattle Leaders
Jose Maria Figueres, chief executive of the World
Economic
Forum and former president of Costa Rica, will
address
Seattle's business, civic, and political leaders on
"Environment, Trade and Development."
The meeting comes a week before the G-8 Summit in
Sea Island,
GA where a key agenda item is private-sector-led
growth and
poverty alleviation. Seattle and Washington State
gets more
of its income from international trade than any
other North
American city or state.
A crucial challenge facing the developed world
today is how
to accommodate the legitimate economic and social
desires of
more than half of the world's population who live on
less
than $2 a day, while sustaining the world's natural
resource
base for future generations.
Studies by WRI indicate that poverty is at the root
of major
challenges facing the environment -- from global
warming to
the accelerating loss of biodiversity.
Jose Maria Figueres, a WRI board member, has been
tackling
this issue for most of his professional life.
As
head of the
World Economic Forum, he brings together the world's
political, business, and civil society leaders for
an annual
meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
When he was president
of Costa
Rica, Figueres made information technology an
integral part
of the country's economic development strategy,
successfully
attracting high-tech companies and manufacturing,
while also
bringing computers and smart cards to rural areas.
The World Resources Institute is an environmental
research
and policy organization that creates solutions to
protect the
planet and improve people's lives
Copa Gets the Chop from
Costa Rican Star
Manchester City's Costa
Rican international striker Paulo Wanchope will not
play in June's World Cup qualifiers or the Copa
America he revealed.
The 27-year-old told the Premiership club website he
wanted to focus on being fully fit for the next
domestic campaign.
Wanchope has suffered knee problems over the last
three seasons and he insisted that if he regained
full fitness it would be not only of benefit to City
but also to his country, who he played for in the
2002 World Cup finals.
"With the medical staff at City, I have decided that
it is better for everyone if I rest this summer," he
said.
"In the long term it will benefit both Manchester
City and Costa Rica."
Even though Wanchope did not play often for City
last term his header in the 1-0 defeat of Newcastle
on May 1 - his third goal of the campaign - allowed
them to establish a six point gap over then third
from bottom Leeds and effectively preserve their
Premiership status.
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Hundreds
dead in Caribbean floods
More than 500 people have been killed and many more are
missing in floods and mudslides in Haiti and the Dominican Republic,
officials say. The border areas of the two states on the Caribbean
island of Hispaniola are among the worst affected.
Emergency officials in the Dominican Republic say more than 13,000
people have been made homeless. US and Canadian troops in Haiti are
taking part in the relief work. More rain is forecast.
The floods came after two weeks of persistent rain saturated the ground.
People in the Dominican Republic are calling this the worst natural
disaster to have affected their nation in the last 100 years.
One Dominican woman said that she tried to hold on to her two little
children but the water just pulled them away from her. Another prayed to
God to give her the strength to cope with losing many members of her
family. Entire villages have been obliterated and dozens of bodies are
piling up in makeshift morgues.
As rescue workers reach the more remote areas where the flooding was at
its most severe, the number of corpses being pulled from beneath the mud
and wreckage continues to rise. There are simply too many for them to
get a proper burial.
With makeshift morgues filling up, fear of disease means that the dead
are now being buried in mass graves. Near the Dominican town of Jimani,
two rivers overflowed and swept away many houses, killing at least 110.
One resident was reported to have been swept along by the raging
torrent, only surviving by catching on to the branch of a tree. Frantic
relatives have been digging through mud for loved ones, as a makeshift
morgue at the town hospital filled with dozens of corpses. More than 200
people in the Jimani region are missing and thousands have been made
homeless.
Air force and army teams have been searching for survivors. Many roads
remain impassable after weeks of rain. Peacekeepers stationed in Haiti
have been using helicopters to carry supplies to the worst-hit regions,
a spokesman for the US-led 3,600-strong force said. The government has
sent emergency teams, including hundreds of extra troops, from the
capital, Santo Domingo.
"We are co-ordinating urgent measures to rescue survivors and evacuate
people who are in danger," said National Emergency Commission (NEC)
chief Radhames Lora Salcedo.
In Haiti, at least 140 people have been reported killed, according to
local radio stations. The dead were mostly from towns in the south-east
of the country, near the Dominican border and Jimani.
Damage to both countries' crops and infrastructure is being estimated at
many millions of dollars. In the neighbouring US territory of Puerto
Rico, at least one man was missing and some 100 people had to flee their
houses because of flooding.
Colombian
official resigns over alleged air danger
Colombian Civil Aviation Air Security Secretary Carlos Ortega resigned
Tuesday over the alleged air insecurity in the Andean country which he
attributed to human errors.
Ortega noted that President Alvaro Uribe was almost killed last October
when his plane nearly crashed before an emergency landing.
The danger is far from being over, he said, adding that every Colombian
passenger could have suffered an accident caused by human errors.
He referred to a case that drug addicted pilots were identified and
taken to rehabilitation centers.
Mistakes made by air controllers led to 26 cases close to an air
accident this year, he said.
But Civil Aviation Director Juan Carlos Velez argued that Colombia, in
the eyes of international air security organizations, has a good air
security system.
Colombians do not need to worry about air security, he said.
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