EBI Continues With La Carpio Landfill
Costa Rican-Canadian consortium EBI has decided to continue operating the San José city La Carpio landfill, which will serve as a model for the proposed Azeri landfill, EBI Costa Rica commercial manager Diego Fernández told BNamericas.

EBI (Empresas Berthierville Incorporadas) is therefore reversing a previous decision to close the La Carpio landfill, having resolved local disputes that caused violent protests in part over its presence there.

"There was violence due to social issues," he said. "The people that live in the La Carpio area had closed off the landfill, demanding improvements from the government such as street repairs and improvements."

Protestors mistakenly blamed EBI for local infrastructure problems considering its presence attracted public works projects, Fernández said. While the government did install local infrastructure to support the landfill, the consortium was never responsible for non-landfill works.

Since EBI's arrival in 1999, the government has developed local sewerage and water systems plus electricity and telephone lines. EBI also made funds available for social programs such as schools.

The misunderstanding has since been cleared and La Carpio is a model landfill, with several Latin American countries visiting the area to learn from this "technological environmental park," he added.

The landfill receives some 600 tonne per day of waste. First-phase construction costs totaled roughly US$6mn, and Fernández estimates it will operate for another 15 years. La Carpio was designed to ease the strain on the Río Azul landfill which takes in some 1,200 tonnes per day of waste and is scheduled to close by October 2005.

La Carpio will now be used as a model for the proposed Aserrí landfill. According to local reports EBI recently bought the 27 hectares Aserrí site for US$1.35mn.

The new 400 tonnes per day landfill would receive waste from the cities of Desamparados, Alajuelita, Aserrí and Escazu, and "it may serve some 11 other municipalities," Fernández said. It would have a useful life of 20-25 years.

National environmental department SETENA is holding public audiences in the area surrounding Aserrí for residents to approve the landfill. "That is an important step for us, as we need the approval of the inhabitants," he said.

If all goes well, Aserrí may be opened during the first half of 2005. "We have everything ready - the machinery bought, etcetera," he said. "If Setena gives us the go-ahead tomorrow, we could have 50% of our operations up and running in no time."

Teacher Accused of Stalking, Near Riot Angry Parents
A near riot ensued yesterday by angry parents when police officers were removed a teacher accused of stalking, from the República de Argentina school in Barrio México.

The Ministerio de Educación (Education Minister) is concerned, that with yesterday's arrest, the total cases reported this year is 77.

The teacher, only identified by his last name, Garro, is accused of stalking several students. Parents outside the school became angry and caused a large scale commotion to show they feelings.

Education officials are asking all parents to talk to their children and if their child has been harassed and/or abused by a teacher, they urge that to report immediately. The Education Ministry has guidelines that indicate what is considered "acoso" or "abuso" and parents can consult school officials if they are in doubt in the event a child comes forward to tell.

In the case of the Barrio México school, the teacher will be re-assigned to an administrative function, one that does not have contact with children, while an investigation into the allegations is conducted.

Street Vendors Must Go, Court Rules
The fight between the Municipality of San José and the street vendors has been going for years.

At the beginning of this year, the Municipality decided, once again, to move the vendors off the streets and following several attempts, including using force, the vendors made appeals to the courts and slowly, the last appeal was decided on this past week.

However, the news was not what the vendors had expected. The Constitutional Court or Sala IV, ruled that the vendors must go.

The vendors in the area called "Zona de Truega", the 400 or so vendors must clear out and the Municipality has the legal force now to take action.

Rafael Arais, assistant to San José mayor, Johnny Araya, said that were notified last Friday (November 5), however, talks between the Municipality and vendors had been going on.

The legal process has ended, there are no more appeals and they must go, that is the position of the Municipality. They will not give in. This time.

Several months back, the Municipality made it clear that it would use force to evict vendors from the streets. Many vendors decided to go voluntarily, however, some remained behind and fight if necessary.

Municipal officials, in a move to avoid violence, decided to sit back and appeal to the courts for their rights. Vendors did the same.

Slowly, the streets, who were virtually free of vendors for almost a week, returned to same old, as those who left, decided to return.

The major complaint by the Municipality is the clogging of roads and store fronts. The area along 1st and 3rd Avenues and Calle 4 and 8, the sidewalks are impassable and traffic comes to a stand still, as a two lane road becomes one, as vendors on both sides of the streets operate their stands.

The area affected - La Zona Truega - is from the Mercado Central on Avenida Central to the Coca Cola and from Calle 2 to Calle 12.

The Municipality has not made a decision when it will enforce it's right to clear the streets, saying only that they will be open to negotiations, to move the vendors to other areas, municipal lots.

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Guide Dogs Permitted in Restaurants The Constitutional Court or Sala IV has ruled on an appeal by Gerardo Alberto Mora Rodríguez, last August, that "guide dogs" are to be allowed in restaurants and other public places. The court said that the guide dog is, in practical terms, "an extension of their owner and should be allowed in any place, including restaurants." Mora, who is blind, was told by employees of La Princesa Marina restaurant in Curridabat that his guide dog was not permitted in the restaurant. Owners of the restaurant defended their decision by saying that they don't allow dogs in consideration of the other patrons of the restaurant. The Court ruled, however, that the guide dogs are trained and become part of the owner and are not offensive towards other people. In Costa Rica there are 18 guide dogs that trained in Michigan, used by the blind. Roberto Sancho, former president of the Patronato Nacional de Ciegos, says each dog and it's owner have gone through special training. Sancho is pioneer of the guide dog program in Costa Rica that began in 1998. Central American, Mexican Leaders Discuss Boosting their Regional Economies The presidents of Mexico and five Central American countries Friday discussed ways to integrate their region, boost their economies and stop the flow of migrants north to the United States. Holding a one-day summit in the southern Mexican city Tuxtla Gutierrez, the group also was expected to talk about a growing gang problem. "For us, connecting central and northern Mexico with the southeast, and connecting the southeast and all of Mexico to Central America is a high priority," Mexican President Vicente Fox said at the opening of the meeting. Shortly after taking office in 2000, Fox proposed the so-called Plan Puebla-Panama project, aimed at integrating the region financially and attracting jobs and industry, especially to financially depressed areas like southern Mexico and rural Central America. In addition to Fox, the leaders of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama were taking part in the meeting. The six presidents were holding private discussions and planned a news conference for later Friday. Salvadoran President Tony Saca, who discussed regional integration with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier Friday in San Salvador, said the Plan Puebla-Panama will improve the futures of the region's 60 million residents. "We are proud to be successfully carrying out the process of integrating our region," he said. Saca said free trade agreements are the best way to bring jobs to the region and stop the thousands of Central American and Mexican residents who cross illegally into the United States each year looking for work. The leaders were also discussing ways to promote a Central American candidate to replace former Costa Rican President Miguel Rodriguez as president of the Organization of American States. Rodriguez resigned as OAS president last month and has been jailed in Costa Rica on suspicion of receiving kickbacks from a government contract granted to a French company while he served as Costa Rica's president from 1998-2002. Possible replacement candidates include former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores. The countries that make up the Plan Puebla-Panama are: Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Belice, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador. Colombia was recently accepted as an observing member.

The "Grandma Gang" Gets Jail
The four grandmothers who were arrested Thursday for operating a "drug store" - selling crack cocaine from their home, in Cañada II de San Sebastián, were ordered to three months of preventive detention.

María de los Ángeles Fonseca Fonseca,  83, Margot Navarro Araya, 75, Gladis Ledesma Fonseca, 59 and María Antonieta Solano Madrigal,  52, were arrested following an anonymous complaint that the "grandmas" were distributing "piedras" in the nieghbourhood.