Postal Workers Threaten Strike
In what could almost be
considered a joke, a prank,
mailmen in Costa Rica are
threatening strike action.
Mail carriers, post officer
workers at the main post office
in downtown San José and
districts stopped work for some
time yesterday after what they
feel is a serious labour problem
with the administration.
Even though it is almost to
impossible to spot a mail
carrier and the only contact
anyone has with postal workers
is a visit to the post office,
there are thousands employed by
Correos de Costa Rica and are
threatening strike action if the
government doesn't address their
issues.
According to Guido Fallas, of
the Asociación Nacional de
Empleados Públicos y Privados (ANEP),
the problem is a change in the
work hours. The administration
wants employees to now work a 48
hour week without a pay
increase, while workers want to
keep their 40 hour work week
that was initiated in 1998.
Another complaint by workers is
the amount paid to directors to
attend meetings. Each post
office director received ¢88.000
colones (us$188.) while
directors at other public
institutions, like the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE), receive only ¢18.000
colones (us$38.62).
Union leader, Geovanny López,
added that since the post office
began to be administered by
private hands, workers lost many
of the benefits and guarantees
received by other public
institution workers.
The workers want to be paid for
the extra hours or will take
action.
Ministerio Público Considering
Investigating Madam Clients
Now
that the court has ruled against
Sinaí Monge for "proxenetismo
agravado" and sentenced the
Madam to eight years in jail,
the Fiscalía de Delitos Sexuales
is analyzing the possibility of
investigating the clients who
used the Madam's services.
According to the press court
office the Ministerio Público -
the state accuser - is reviewing
the evidence gather during the
police investigation, including
some 6.000 hours of taped
conversations, that led to the
arrest of Sinaí in October of
2003.
The client list has been kept
secret and was never made part
of the trial, leading some to
believe that it was a result of
a deal made between the Madam
and the prosecution, giving the
Madam a lighter sentence for
keeping her mouth shut.
The client list is said to
contain names of important
people that could include
judges, prosecutors, members of
the Organismo de Investigacioni
Judicial (OIJ) - the same police
agency that gathered the
information - sports celebrities
and prominent businessmen. And
though the Sinaí provided adult
prostitutes to her clients,
there could be a case or cases
where some "prominent" people
could have partook the services
of minors.
Investigators will be looking
into some accusations that need
to be cleared up, mainly several
calls made from telephones from
the offices of the Contraloría
General de la República - the
Comptroller's office - moments
before the raid on Sinaí's
operation. The numbers that the
calls were made from were not
related to the investigation.
Other allegations that the
Ministerio Público is looking
into is the declaration by some
of the minors that someone from
the office of the Sección de
Capturas of the OIJ made calls
to Sinaí, the reasons of which
are not clear.
The work by investigators is to
identify the names on the list
to the taped conversations and
other evidence in the hands of
the Fiscalía, which include
license plate numbers of cars
believed to have been at the
Sinaí home to pick up girls and
photos from surveillances.
Rosalí Gil, head of the child
welfare agency, Patronato
Nacional de la Infancia (PANI)
is pressing the Fiscal General
de la Republica, Franciso
Dall'Anese, to take a strong
action against the "sexual
abusers".
The letter sent to Dall'Anese by
Gil points out that "it would be
unjust if only the proxenetas
(pimps) were condemned." Gil has
vowed to seek those minors who
were affected so that they can
make charges against them. "I
hope it is not tool late to
charge these people. If they are
known they have a social burden
to consider, either way, they
must face justice", added Gil.
Article 159 and 160 of the Penal
Code clearly sets out a jail
term for anyone who has sexual
relations - oral, anal or
vaginal - with a minor, that is
to say anyone under the age of
18, and either sex gender. The
law also makes it clear that
vaginal or anal penetration by a
finger or fingers or one or more
objects is also punishable under
the code.
The law is clear on the
penalties in a case involving a
minor:
1. Four to ten years prison if
the minor is under the age of 12
2. Three to eight years prison
if the minor is over 12 and
under 15 years of age
3. Two to six years if the minor
is over 15 and under 18 years of
age.
The penalty is more severe when
the abuser is an uncle, aunt,
brother, sister, mother, father,
tutor or guardian.
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ICE Announces High Speed
Internet for June
June is the month
that the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) has
promised to provide high
speed internet service to
more than 100.000
subscribers.
Internet Avanzada (IA) as it
is known here, has cost ICE
us$48 million dollars and
three years to set up.
ICE has currently 15.000 IA
customers mainly in the San
José area, which were part
of the work to set up and
test the network and in less
than four months it will
make available the other
85.000 connections.
Internest Avanzada is the
same as ADSL (Asymmetric
Digital Subscriber Line)
used in North America that
allows the use of the
telephone line to connect to
the World Wide Web. ADSL
customers can be connected
to the internet 24/7 and do
not need to share the
telephone line similar to
the ISDN and will have a
fixed monthly cost without
incurring per minute
charges.
ICE plans to offer 128/64
access for us$28 per month.
A similar connection by way
of cable modem by Amnet and
RACSA costs us$35.
Higher speeds of up to
512/128 have been announced
but no prices have been set
as yet.
Canadian
Opthamologist,
Give Free Eye Exams
A
group of 34
opthamologists
from Canada are in Costa
Rica to give eye exams and
perform surgery free of
charge to residents of
Moravia and San José.
The Canadian company
LensCrafters began the
service about two weeks ago,
oraganized by the Lions Club
of Costa Rica.
More than 41.000 pairs of
eye glasses will be donated
to those attending the free
clinics that will close next
Friday.
Humberto Ortiz, of the Lions
Club in Guadalupe,
Goicoechea, said that some
3.000 people are attended to
daily ar the Universidad
Católica, starting each day
at 7:30am.
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