Costa Rica News and Views

Costa Rica Community Update

2009-02-12T17:11:00.000-06:00

It has been a long, long time since we have sent out any community updates because very little was happening.

The task to get an Intentional Community up and running is a daunting one indeed, and it has been about two years since we have really tried to put something together. Our last attempt almost succeeded, but we lost the option on the land we had found just as people were starting to show interest.

But now, with the worldwide economic crisis as well as the fact that food you buy commercially is generally not fit for human consumption, as well as many other problems of modern city "life," the need to get a self sustaining community in place has never been more urgent.

This is a preliminary email to let you know that we are reactivating this project and are going to use one or two new approaches.

One of the problems with getting a community up and running is a people problem. Sad to say, personality conflicts and disagreements have caused many community start up efforts in Costa Rica to blow up over the years.

I believe I have a way to nip this problem in the bud before it develops into a monster that could destroy the project before it comes into being, as has happened several times to my personal knowledge alone, and has surely caused hundreds if not thousands of failures in Costa Rica alone.

What we need to do is get together a core group of like minded people who are interested in working with us to build the community of our dreams. Over the years, various screening processes have been kicked around, most of which appeared quite promising, but none of which have ever worked out.

Yet, as the global situation gets more dire by the day, the urgency to get this project moving forward again has never been greater. If we don't get off of our rear ends and do something soon, the world situation will slam the door shut on such opportunities, at least for some time.

What I propose is very simple. We need a small, dedicated, core group to make this work. People who are committed to this dream and are willing to work with each other to bring it about. This core group will help to shape the character, vision, and, in fact, everything about our new home.

The simple idea I have is to invite those of you who are willing and able to relocate to Costa Rica NOW to do so. I propose that those coming down rent a house or apartment within a short distance of my location, so that we can have dinners, planning sessions, get togethers, and other social functions several times per week.

We need to get to know each other and get used to working with each other NOW, before the community is born, because, if we can't do that before the community is born, we most certainly can't do it once we have our new dream home.

Some people won't like other people, and some won't be able to work with and integrate into our group. That is human nature, but it's better to find this out BEFORE you invest your money in the community than to find out AFTER.

In other words, the situation I am proposing is a low impact way to find out if you are comfortable with the group BEFORE you make any real commitments or time or money. If someone doesn't fit in with the group or doesn't like the way things are going, it will be easy to leave and find a group you are more compatible with.

Further, if you understand the MasterMind principal and the Law of Attraction, you will already know that the larger the group we have working towards the same goal, the faster and easier it will be to obtain that goal. I will be writing more on these matters in the coming week, both on our community page and in my Costa Rica blog.

Once we have a group dynamic and have formed a MasterMind, then the Law of Attraction will see to it that we attain our goals. But we must be a group with common interests all working towards the same goals. That is the only way this is going to work.

Some of you reading this message subscribed to our autoresponder some time ago. You don't have to do anything to receive further updates, since you are already on this list. Others will be reading this on my blog or on a newsgroup or forum posting.

If you want to receive all of the updates, you need to subscribe to our autoresponder by entering your information at the bottom of the Community Page at So Ya Wanna Move to Costa Rica.

The url to this page is:

http://soyawannamove.com/costarica/wanna13.shtml

I will be sending out another announcement over the weekend or early next week once that page has been updated. We will also figure out how we want to "get together" to discuss these things.

I am considering using a Skype conference or chat once or twice a week, but if there is a better idea, please let me know by filling out a Helpdesk Ticket at the above website..

I look forward to getting this project moving forward, building our future in harmony with nature and ourselves.

Sincerely,

John Allen

What a Week!

2009-02-03T16:27:00.002-06:00

The week has only just started, and already we have lots of interesting headlines.

Costa Rica is still cleaning up the mess from the 6.2 earthquake in early January. It will still be sometime before things get back to normal near the epicenter.

In the area where I live, on the east side of San Jose, there wasn't any damage from the quake and I didn't even feel it because I was getting to my destination in a taxi just as the quake struck. I was wondering, though, why people were coming out of the building, but soon found out.

Taxi Strike Tomorrow!

I thought about going out tomorrow, but tomorrow there is a big taxi strike and it's possible some bus drivers might join in. This means a huge mess for traffic in and around San Jose, and the possibility that it will be impossible to find a taxi at various times and locations, so, if you don't have to go out tomorrow, that would probably be a good idea.

In other news, Domino's pizza closed without warning over the weekend, leaving their 130+ employees in the lurch. There have been other layoffs here recently, but not as many yet as in the US and elsewhere. I think one of the reasons is that as companies seek to tighten their budgets up north, they get rid of employees there and hire new ones here at less than half the price.

The call centers here save them considerable money over what they would have to pay elsewhere, and so part of the fallout of the economic crunch is that there are some new jobs coming here.

For example, Amazon is opening up a new operation here, and other companies are expanding the operations they already have here.

Normally, gringos can't work legally here, so many work under the table and under the radar. Other young couples are doing the "baby drop," which means that if you have your child in Costa Rica, then the parents can get permanent residency ad later citizenship, and the baby can get dual citizenship. You can't do much better than that!

In fact, I know a realtor friend of mine who has the perfect "baby drop" condo for rent right next to Cima Hospital, the best private hospital in the country. If you are interested, go to my consultant page in the list on the left and I will see if I can get you in. There is a long waiting list, though, so book early!

Meanwhile, that arrogant, bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy otherwise known as ICE is finally getting what they deserve -- COMPETITION! The new regulatory agency, SUTEL, has just been set up and they are already telling ICE that they can't just unilaterally raise rates whenever they feel like it with impunity. And, it looks like World Com wants to be their first competitor here.

It will be so nice when there is a real choice of internet service providers [maybe we will finally have world class service here]. And it will be a real nice day when you don't have to wait months or years just to get a cel phone....

Meanwhile, Costa Rica's coffee exports have dropped by 15%, so the world economic crisis is having an impact here.

Well, until next time, this is John Allen signing off!

Why not check out my new Consultant webpage in the links to the right and also check out our new Offshore and Costa Rica classified ads?

And, if you're a real employer looking for a free place to post your help wanted ads, place an ad on our new site.

There are lots more goodies there, so just click the link to check it out!

Medical and Dental Vacations

2008-12-10T16:27:00.002-06:00

Greetings everyone! Today we are beginning what we hope to be daily, if not several times weekly posts in this blog.

Today I am just going to comment on the topic of medical and dental vacations.

These types of trips are becoming ever more popular as the number of uninsured and under insured people grows in the United States and elsewhere. This is a common question I often get from friends calling me, as well as potential clients.

The truth of the matter is that Costa Rica has first world medical and dental treatments at third world prices!

As an example, a few years back and friend asked me how much it would cost to get a certain amount of dental work done that would cost him about $30,000.00 at home.

Fortunately, I had some of my Tico friends around at the time, and they all agreed that the work he was seeking could be done very well here for only around $5,000.00, which is a considerable savings, I think you would agree!

However, you need to be cautions, as there is at least one well known clinic that not only over charges by local standards, but also does their reconstructive dental work in a very bad way that causes the patient undue discomfort and sometimes even damage. However, they are in business because they take out major advertising on a regular basis in leading English language media.

Unfortunately, making your choice by reading ADVERTISING, can lead you into a lot of trouble. If you are really serious about getting the best treatment for your buck, you need to contact a Costa Rican consultant who can steer you in the right direction.

This is where I can help, as well as providing you guidance in many other fields. I DO NOT receive a commission for this type of referral, and so can assist you in this and other concerns in a fair and honest way. I charge a reasonable retainer for my services, and what you get is unbiased help because I do not have a commission incentive.

If you are interested in consulting with me, go to my online guidebook, "So, Ya Wanna Move to Costa Rica?", and fill out a Helpdesk ticket.

Another alternative would be to go to some of the popular online Costa Rica discussion lists for advice. My first comment on that is that "you get what you pay for." And as such, FREE ADVICE MAY NOT TURN OUT TO BE SO "FREE" IN THE END.

The other comment I have on this subject is that you need to remember that these lists are infested with people who have a financial interest in being there. They either earn a commission from their "free advice," are are the business owner themselves shamelessly hawking their wares.

This is why if you are really serious about either your move, or other matters concerning Costa Rica, it is best to HIRE someone to WORK FOR YOU instead of against you. I have an extensive network of reputable contacts here after almost 14 years of living in this country.

It truly makes a difference!

John

2007-07-02T09:11:00.000-06:00

I love you. I'm sorry. I forgive you. Thank you.

For those of you who read your email yesterday to the Real Truth list, you may recall the PEERS message I forwarded, inviting you to listen to an interview with Joe Vitale.

Joe has become pretty famous worldwide, both in his internet marketing work and also his more spiritual work, for which he was featured in the famous "The Secret" film.

But what Joe is working on now is way beyond "The Secret." In fact, it is the next logical step, which is taking personal responsibility for everything that happens around us.

That may seem bizarre, but if you think about it, it will ring true to you. I know it always has for me. We are responsible, ultimately, for what happens in our world around us.

I know this sounds rather bizarre, and if you haven't yet watched or listened to The Secret, you really should before you go on to this next level.

Joe's soon coming book, "Zero Limit" will pick up where his earlier works left off.

In the fascinating interview I listened to yesterday, he tells the story of a Dr. Len, who in the 1960's in Hawaii cured an entire ward of the criminally insane that no one else had been able to cure. He did it by taking the patient's files and saying over and over again over the file the phrases above: "I love you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you."

Miraculously all but 2 of the patients were made well, and amazingly, Dr. Len didn't see or treat any of them. These phrases come from ancient practices in the Hawaiian religion, which I am told is the ONLY religion officially banned by the US government. In fact, according to what a native Hawaiian told me years ago, there are certain books which are banned from leaving Hawaii.

This man claimed to be the son of the Big Kohona, and claimed to be his heir. Apparently, his father was the first to travel to Tibet, and compare the ancient knowledge of both places.

His father was able to teleport himself and had other interesting abilities.

If you recall, years ago Texxe Mars wrote a book in which he dealt with the "Warrior Monks" used and trained by the Black Opps boys of the US military to conduct psychic warfare on others. This was way beyond remote viewing, and I have reason to believe that this person of my acquaintance was one of these.

I have had other strange encounters over the years with this strange type of operative, including 2 years where a high level Mason was attempting to recruit me into the upper levels of that order, skipping all of the lower degrees and just stepping off at his high level.

He tempted me with riches, political power, and other perks, but of course my commitment is to God, and he eventually gave up. This is, of course, indirect vindication of who and what I am, but that is not a topic for discussion at this time.

But I digress.

The point is that Joe Vitale has hit upon something quite real, and quite "unthinkable" for most people. It goes beyond what is said in The Secret, and makes it quite clear that, indeed, "we create reality."

In fact, Christ said the same things in the New Testament, except that His listeners were not able to understand it at that time, and it has been covered up by organized religion. But, this same theme is elsewhere in the Bible as well, if you can dare to look.

In the Psalms, it says "Ye are gods."

And Christ said, "The Kingdom of God is within you," but man has mistranslated it to say "among you."

Furthermore, as Herbert Armstrong discovered years ago, it is God's intent and design for us to, in his words, "Become god as God is god."

Yes, it's all over your Bible if you care to look. In fact, this theme is the FOCAL POINT of the Bible because that is the transcendent purpose in all human life.

God has revealed many things to me in addition to this simple truth, but it's a great place to start. I suggest, if you haven't done so already, that you read Mr. Armstrong's landmark book, "The Incredible Human Potential," which is in our Basic Literature section of our website library.

http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/rcg/library.htm

As I am learning, though, there is more to this story, and we have as yet only begun to scratch the surface. I will be writing and speaking on these important subjects in the near future.

However, one thing that is still absolutely true is that we need to have the CHARACTER to go with the power that will someday soon be ours. And we can learn that character through a study of God's way of life, which is summed up in His law of love.

But one of our first steps along the way, is to transform and cleanse our lives, and we can start with Joe's phrases.

Think carefully about what each of these means:

"I love you." Christ told us to LOVE our enemies and BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU. It might seem crazy to most, but this is the first step upwards, and can have tremendous impact, as Dr. Len learned first hand.

"I'm sorry." It take REAL HUMILITY to say we are sorry and really mean it, even while we may still think we are in the right.

"I forgive you." Christ instructed us to forgive and forgive and forgive. The disciples were perplexed by this. They even asked Him, "If a brother offends me 7 times, shall I still forgive him?" And Christ's answer was, "70 X 7." In other words our ability and power to forgive should be almost INFINITE.

"Thank you." As I have discussed before, many times we have a problem because we lack an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE. Today, so many people think they are ENTITLED to this or entitled to that.

And, if you are "entitled" to something, then you often forget to say "thank you."

But saying "thank you" and being truly grateful is one of the first rungs to true success. When we can give honest, sincere, humble THANKS for what we already have, or for what someone else has done for us, then the universe acknowledges that and GIVES US MORE OF THE SAME.

That is one of the fundamental principles of the Bible and of The Secret and other books like "The Science of Getting Rich," etc., etc.

It all has to do with the Law of Attraction, which God set in motion at the begining. And an attitude of gratitude actually attracts MORE of the good into our lives.

We must learn to say "thank you" and be truly grateful for what we have, and then, the universal law of attraction says we can have MORE of it.

And of course, it works the other way around. If we always think about our PROBLEMS, then we will attract more of those problems into our lives.

But of course, the "attitude of gratitude" short circuits this problem, and attracts more abundance into our lives.

I am very thankful that God is opening my eyes on these subjects more and more. As the Apostle Paul so wisely stated, we should think on "whatever things are good, whatever things are pure...." If we do that, then we will attract more of the good into our lives.

Come to think of it, Paul had another word of wisdom that escaped me until just now. He said that whatever state he found himself in, he was "therewith content," and could actually REJOICE in the midst of his adversities.

It seems like Paul knew these truths millenia ago, and only now are we beginning to rediscover them.

Which brings to mind something out of Joe Vitale's story. Joe was not always the wealthy internet marketer and success coach that he is today. At one point in his life, he was flat broke and living out of his car.

Then, he began to discover the Law of Attraction, found things to give thanks for in his dire circumstances, began to think positive instead of negative thoughts, and the rest is history.

As Mr. Armstrong said over and over again, we are to be "teachers in the world tomorrow." He said that teaching is actually the highest calling one can attain to. Especially when we are to teach the right way of life.

But, in order to become teachers THEN, we must be good STUDENTS NOW.

There is no way around it. In order to teach, we must first learn God's way of life ourselves. We can't teach that which we do not know or understand.

So, let's be good students in this life. Let's learn how to be grateful. Let's learn to love. Let's learn to say we are sorry. and let's learn to forgive.

In fact, it might be a good idea to write these phrases down. Memorize them, and inculcate them into your life. And that will be the first step upon the road of learning God's way of GIVE and forsaking this world's evil way of GET.

John

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--<>-- --<<<+>>>-- --<>--
----> Discover the Secret Mysteries of the Ages!
http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/rcg/mystery/contents.htm
--<>-- --<<<+>>>-- --<>--

2007-06-21T17:42:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder in case you haven't noticed, that we are offering free classified ads at "So Ya Wanna Move to Costa Rica?"

Just go to our site and find the appropriate catagory on our classified ads page.

Then, click on the customer service link to submit your ad via email.

We only ask that your ad be no more than about 5 lines.

However, if you mention where you saw this announcement in the email, you can post up to 3 free ads per month while this promotion lasts. Each ad will remain online for a month.

Simply go to: http://www.soyawannamove.com

This free offer is for all text ads only. There will be a small charge to place an image in your ad.

Have fun!

John

2007-06-19T16:04:00.000-06:00

Costa Rica Tip of the Day

Today's tip will cover general information on Costa Rican real estate.

In many areas of Costa Rica right now, there is a real estate boom, and prices are skyrocketing at the Pacific beaches.

If you want to live in a real popular area like Tamarinda or Escazu, you are going to pay top dollar.

However, if you like a more laid back lifestyle, you should pick a less popular area. There are still some Pacific beach towns that aren't nearly so well known, and you can get better prices there.

If you really like a laid back lifestyle, you should try out the beaches on the Caribbean side. There are less tourists and much lower prices.

Likewise, in the Central Valley, you will often find homes at almost half price if you look outside "Gringo Gulch." Sure, you may not be next to TGI Fridays, but the latest I heard their food sucks now anyway.

You can find a TON of information and resources at our free guidebook page, "So Ya Wanna Move to Costa Rica?"

http://www.soyawannamove.com

2007-06-07T11:15:00.000-06:00

It has been sometime since I wrote an entry, but I promise to be good and enter blog entries on a regular basis from now on, Scout's honor.

If you've been watching the news from here lately, a lot has been happening.

The most onerous thing has been the passage of the new law that discriminates against men, making it a crime to even insult your girlfriend or wife. I personally believe this will be found unconstitutional by the Sala IV, as this discriminates against men and leaves the door open for women to denounce men for insults as a form of revenge. I certainly hope this is the case, because this is a very bad piece of legislation.

At least the rains have been holding steady, replenishing the reservoirs. I have even noticed the water coming out of the tap has been somewhat colder lately, no doubt because of all of the new water added to the reservoirs.

In other news, it was announced yesterday that Costa Rica was, sadly, breaking off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of China. It was a sad day for Taiwan, that's for sure.

It was also announced yesterday that the Banco de Costa Rica [BCR] was delaying the issuance of licenses and passports at its branches until July 1. Then, it will start with 10 branches and eventually expand that to 30 or so by the end of the year.

This should shorten lines at Immigration and the DMV someday. That's sorely needed, because instead of catching up on its workload, immigration is, reportedly now issuing appointments for AUGUST OF 2008 if you can believe it.

When Arias issued the automatic extensions late last year to residency cedulas, the intent was to shorten the waits and lines. Instead, it seems they have gotten further behind. Now, your renewal may be expired before you even get it.

This is an incredible mess, and hopefully the BCR strategy will work, becuase they will ultimately renew residency cedulas there as well. We can contrast this mess with Panama, where, supposedly, it only takes a matter of days to get some of this done instead of years.

But of course, all is not hunky dory in Panama either these days. On May 25 they passed a new law to issue only 30 day instead of 90 day visas to tourists, and it seems they want to start a witch hunt against so called "PT's".

Costa Rica gave up that stupid idea about 2 years ago, but it seems like bureaurats have nothing better to amuse themselves with than interference in people's lives, making them complicated.

Personally, I think people should be free to go wherever they want in the world without hassles, but then that idea isn't so popular with many.

Governments worldwide need to get out of the way ane let people live freely so that we can all enjoy life as much as possible on this planet.

By the way, we are working more on the community project, and we are about to make our debut in YouTube video with a new Costa Rica program. It will be a program filled with news and views and features from Costa Rica. We want this to be a FUN program everyone can enjoy, and it might even contain some entertainment segments.

If you have any program ideas, or would like to showcase your talent or idea, we plan to make this into a regular series. Please go to our So Ya Wanna Move to Costa Rica page and register your interest by sending us an email to Customer Service.

http://www.soyawannamove.com

We are also gearing up to provide top notch tours of Costa Rica. We will be appealing to some audiences not currently served, such as those on a budget, those who are interested in alternative therapies, organic food, and all of that healthy stuff.

So keep on visiting our page to keep up to date on what's happnin'. We also now have LOTS of classified ads, so give that a look too.

See you next week.

2007-05-18T18:48:00.000-06:00

I was hoping to make more than one entry this week, but it has been quite a week, and not necessarily in a good way.

For those of you who know about current events in Costa Rica, you will know that just a few weeks ago, for about a two week period, we had power rationing with 4 hour + rolling blackouts.

It was the end of the dry season, and some of the reservoirs were at record low levels. Thus, ICE had to conswerve the water in the reservoirs, because they are used both for power generation and for water and they were really low this year, and ICE has been neglected over the past 3 presidential administrations so no new projects were in the works, except the ones that were having environmental issues.

As a side note, Costa Rica really needs to explore geothermal energy. A friend of mine has called CR the "Saudi Arabia of geothermal energy," yet this resource remains mostly untapped.

These projects would cost about the same as the hydroelectric projects and take about as long to build, yet, they would not have the environmental impact of the huydroelectric plants that ICE seems to be fixated on.

In any event, about a week or so it started raining finally, so the rationing was cancelled after about 2 weeks. It certainly felt nice to have things "back to normal."

Well, things went along fine all last week, but then, between the time I went to bed Sunday night at 4 AM and the time I got up on Monday, I discovered that my internet and cable were down -- literally.

I called the cable company first thing Monday, and they promised to send somone out, but no one came. So I called several times on Tuesday, but still no one came, but they promised to come first thing Wed. morning.

When I turned my cel phone on at 7:17 AM or so, I discovered I had a message waiting, and it was from the cable people. When they said they were coming "first thing in the morning," apparantly they had meant it this time.

I called the dispatcher, and she told me they would be out to my house "in 15 minutes."

When they didn't show after half an hour, I began to paic. I then remembered how the cable company originally had my address wrong when I first had it installed, and how the techs barely made it out then.

Now I really was in a panic, thinking maybe my service visit was going to get bumped to the end of the day due to this stupid mistake. So, I called them, and, sure enough, they had given the techs the wrong address AGAIN. They hadn't made the correction from the previous visit.

So I gave them my correct address information again, and they said they would be right over, which they were in about 15-20 mins.

In talking to the techs, I found out that they had, indeed, went on a wild goose chase to the wrong address as I had feared, but, fortunately for me, the company had radioed them the correct address before they moved on to the next customer.

Finally, by 8:30 I had TV and internet again. What a relief. I could now get back to all of my backed up internet work.

The rest of this week has been a game of catch up and errand running. I had to go to the supermarket, the bank, Pricemart, the microbioticas, the post office -- everywhere it seemed. I was out of money, out of food [almost], had to pay the rent and utilities, all in the remaining days of this week.

Today has been the only relatively "normal" day this week, but I still had a ton of email backed up from yesterday since I was out and about most of the day.

Wew, what a week this has been.

And, on top of that came the guilty verdict in the ongoing Villalobos soap opera/trial. That would be too much to go into today, I am not writing a book today, you know.

This has been a very interesting, exciting, and hectic week here in paradise. It certainly helps that I know some Spanish or I would really have been in trouble with the cable company fiasco.

I'm going to try to wind down a little now and enjoy at least some of a weekend.

I will update my blogs again Monday or Tuesday, so until then, Pura Vida.

2007-05-11T11:26:00.000-06:00

May 11, 2007

Welcome to my new, revised blog.

From now on, I will be making posts to this blog several times a week, and daily if necessary. I am going to have a new focus for this blog. It will contain news and views as before, but also personal life stories and chronicles.

I have lived here for 12 years, and it recently occurred to me that what I take for granted every day might be news to you. So I am going to try to have a more chatty, personal dialogue, as if I am writing each of you a personal letter, which in a way I am.

Well, the power outage crisis seems to be over for now. The lights have been on now for a full week without interruptions, and the government is at least putting a band aide on the problem. I certainly hope they will look at the best long range solution, which is to harness the abundant geothermal energy this country has, but so far I have heard nothing about that.

Instead, ICE still seems to be stuck on the idea of hydroelectric, which is better than burning fossil fuels, for sure, but it damages the environment by flooding vast tracts of land, and when it is extremely dry, especially at the end of the rainy season as happened this year, the reservoirs can be very low indeed.

Geothermal energy doesn't have these pitfalls, and with all the volcanoes around, it is a natural source of all the energy this country could need, if ICE and the government would only think ahead and move into the future instead of dwelling on the past.

Anyway, enough about that. Other than that, this week has brought with it the same helping of bad news you see everywhere else in the world. It's quite a shame, really, that news doesn't dwell more on the positive instead of on the negative, but "that's showbiz." They have to have those sensational headlines and film clips to get readers and listeners.

Like that story from earlier this week about that drunken couple who rammed two cars in an Escazu plaza, after getting totally plastered in a bar in the plaza. They were having such a good time that they even shared the juice with their dog, and got it drunk.

Then, they stumbled out of the bar and got in their car, where they promptly started to move towards having sex in the car in broad daylight.

When the security guard saw it, he stopped them. The couple decided to leave with the woman driving, and she promptly rammed 2 cars in her drunken attempt to get out of the parking space.

The security guard told her to stop and wait for police, but she didn't comply, so he had to shoot out her tires.

Finally, police arrived to assess the damage and issue tickets.

I guess that's the news story that sticks out most in my mind this week, that and the fact that the TSE has finally decided that it will hold the referendum on CAFTA on Sept. 23.

I guess that's about all the news that stands out in my mind this week. Next week I will be making more entries, so I suppose more will stick out.

By the way, we are at a good point in the revision of our online guidebook, "So Ya Wanna Move to Costa Rica" right now. All pages have content now, and there is a lot of useful stuff there, but you need to check back often, as there are lots of things that need updating. In fact, unlike a print guidebook, this one will never be finnished and will always be fresh.

We have LOTS of useful resources you won't want to miss, so go on over there if you haven't already.

The url is: http://www.soyawannamove.com

Well, I'm done for today. As Walter Cronkite used to say, "That's the way it is, Friday, May 11, 2007."

See ya next week.

John

2005-09-03T14:09:00.000-06:00

Costa Rica's Libertarian movement is drawing
international attention! WAY TO GO!

http://www.bestsyndication.com/2005/A-H/DAVIS-Mike/090205-costa-rico-libertarians.htm

Controlling 1Libertarians becoming more Popular in
Costa Rica controlling 10% of Congress

September 2nd 2005

Libertarians becoming much more Popular in Costa Rica
Controlling 10% of Congress

Costa Rica

San Juan, Costa Rica—Imagine a US Congress with 10%
Libertarians. The latest news is how they’ve cut
taxes, stamped out incipient terrorism while squashing
proposals to military action, and are moving to fight
corruption in immigration that no one talked about for
years in the other parties. The country’s prestige is
at a new high. New Hampshire has announced it’s
studying legislation to enable governmentless
Libertarian communities because they’re good for
tourism. And even non-Libertarians say they’re doing a
good job, offering intriguing less-government
alternatives and keeping other parties on their toes.
Why, just like Costa Rica, people say.

Oh, and most of the Libertarian leaders are Black or
belong to other minorities.

Compare this to today, where the Libertarians in North
Carolina struggle to keep their party recognized under
that state’s draconian ballot laws. It’s easy to
speculate why the other parties are attempting to
marginalize them.

The major parties may not want another Costa Rica
Libertarian Movement, or Movimiento Libertario
(http://www.libertario.org/en/index.htm ). In that
country, Libertarians have 10% of the legislature, are
moving to more local positions, and are treated as
business as usual. But it may just be a matter of
time.

Libertarians advocate voluntary solutions and
individual rights, and support more tolerance, more
free enterprise and ever-diminishing government. Costa
Rica certainly has a few less government attitudes
that would seem like hopeless idealism to many people
in the US.. It has no military hence no military coups
or budget to worry about, yet plays a strong role in
international affairs through active diplomacy. People
can get many drugs without a prescription after
consultation with their pharmacist. Immigrants are
welcomed with open arms with a system encouraging
economic self-sufficiency that is a marvel of
simplicity compared to US regulations. It has
proportional voting and few ballot requirements,
making it far more democratic in engaging different
political than the US.

While Libertarians in the US wage what looks like a
complex chess game rolling back election laws often
specifically designed to keep them out, Libertarianism
has taken off in the tolerant “Central American
Switzerland” like El Cid riding to the rescue.
Libertarians there control 10 % of the Congress,
occupy influential positions, and over 70% of the
country thinks they’re doing a good job according to
newspaper surveys. When a Libertarian international
group met there some years back, the country’s
President made the welcome speech.

Any political party could probably learn from the
Costa Rican Libertarians, who admit they started off
by learning from the US Libertarian’s mistakes and
less well known but impressive successes.

CLASSICAL ANARCHISTS WITH GANNT CHARTS

Libertarianism, which says people would benefit with
an array of alternatives ranging from devolution to
local government and classical anarchist communities,
is looked at as something of a tough sell in politics.
It has no ready-made constituency except everyone’s
interest in their own individual rights, and in many
ways is more a political technology. So the growth is
all the more fascinating as until a few years ago,
there was only a small Libertarian study group in the
country. Local Libertarians contacted Libertarian
groups such as the International Society for
Individual Liberty and the Libertarian International
Organization (LIO) to get ideas. “We had just finished
a best practices study and basically gave them two
lists,” said Ralph Swanson, and LIO Board member. “We
said do simple boring cheap stuff on list A and don’t
do the tempting glitzy expensive stuff on list B. We
basically had found that US Libertarian groups that
focused on education on uncompromising application of
Libertarian principle and door-to-door legwork and
coalition activism did well, while those that
attempted to dilute their message and imitate the
campaign styles of the Republicans and Democrats shot
themselves in the foot. Next thing we knew they were
doing great, and when we checked up they said, ‘Well,
we followed list A.’ ”

Otto Guevara Guth, a former Costa Rican Congressman
who leads the Costa Rican group, put it more bluntly.
”When I first heard about Libertarianism, I said what
in the world is this? Are these people nuts? Like most
people I assumed that if government wasn’t making
people do it, then it wasn’t being done, and so you
had to accept a lot of regulation. Then here are
Libertarians saying government is actually the
problem, and we should just handle everything by
private groups with just one rule: respect individual
rights. As I saw the possibilities and saw that this
stuff worked, I realized we had a chance for a
movement able to think long term but have plenty of
immediate projects to get public support.”

List A had some unusual conclusions, reflected in the
Movimiento’s approach. It suggested things such as
dividing adherents into speaker, political and other
personality types; developing a radical no-government
message with detailed transition items; and outreach
through personal networks. Training was emphasized,
and a good part of the Costa Rican site deals in
philosophy. Yet as they crusade to dismantle the
government and replace its programs with voluntary
groups and alternatives, they also put a GANNT style
progress chart and emphasize baby-step approaches, and
trumpet the slightest success. They even set a
standard for news stories, patiently following up so
soon they were news resources, then the news, all
instead of ‘reacting to the news’ said Guevara Guth in
a talk with to US Libertarians.

“We expect a new story per 1 million population daily,
and if we’re not being treated fairly we get on the
phone,” he said.” However, by now we’re constant news.
Journalists say, ‘I wonder what the Libertarians are
doing now?’ Because that’s what their readers are
wondering.”

To judge by GOOGLE search results, the Movimiento is
certainly doing media wonders. Enter US Libertarian
Party and you only get 3340 results—somewhat
misleading, as Democrats get 18,000 and the LP is
basically local in the US so dynamic affiliates, such
as Pinellas, Florida, get about 10,000. Yet the
Movimiento turns in over 11.000—astonishing interest
in comparison to even the major US parties. Indeed
there’s such an array of articles, discussions, policy
papers, and fan sites, one might wonder if it’s a
party or a national tourist attraction.

Yet some of the press is wary. The Economist magazine
attracted derision when it did an article touching on
the Movimiento’s effect while failing to mention it
was Libertarian.

OPPOSITION

All of this reflects the aggressive, and ‘integrative’
Costa Rican attitude and a ‘Libertarian management’
approach. While US Libertarians hand out a ten point
political quiz, Costa Ricans have a 40 point one they
use to qualify people and immediately address issues
of agreement and training. They made branding
decisions in an afternoon, with attractive red polo
shirts for adherents and a seagull motif so as ‘not to
be confused with’ anyone. All projects are self-run
and self-funding, and they rely heavily on ‘bottom-up’
action, with supporters constantly handing out
literature to taxi drivers, waiters, and other casual
contacts.

They also made a decision to treat any defeat as an
opportunity and make lemon of lemonade, encouraged by
pep-talks and lengthy e-mails from their international
mentors. As the government realized they were
expanding under Costa Rica’s proportional
representation system, it imposed requirements that
political parties have 5 adherents in almost every
neighborhood, a burden seemingly well beyond a
struggling new group, and at first they thought the
end had come.

In due course, however, they agreed with their mentors
that they were being forced to do what they should do
anyway: get out and organize non-Libertarians around
local issues. At the same time, they were aided by a
government regulation that threatened to put small
lottery sellers out of business, which they exploited
immediately since in Costa Rica, many people sell a
few lottery tickets.

They didn’t look back, and are known for relentlessly
looking at world events from the point of vew of how
people can benefit from their Libertarian ideas. ‘They
simply refuse to react or have a position on other
people’s issues. They promptly turn it all around so
it’s their issue with a specific action proposal in a
very short period of time,” said a local observer.
When 9-11 came and other US State Libertarian parties
agonized over how to best express Libertarian
solutions on foreign policy, the Costa Ricans turned
it into a tax-cut issue, and successfully demanded
the government take no ‘hysterical actions’ that would
damage tourism or raise spending. They also have come
out in favor of the Central American free trade
treaty, unlike their US counterpart, but with far more
detailed line by line criticism—they feel it has
hidden and unfair regulations—so that they’re
controlling discussion and, observers say, are forcing
other parties to react to them.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

The Costa Ricans have also used local cultural
differences, or sometimes a difference of perspective,
to address issues that tax their US counterparts.
While the US has had a national goal of abolishing its
military for years under a little known law, Costa
Rica simply did it long ago, and so Libertarians
warning against military adventures have a ready
audience there.

There was actually an experiment in the 1800’s in
Libertarian communes in Limon province, so when
Libertarians there proposed eventual creation of a
Libertarian non-governmental community on classical
anarchist lines as one option, people hailed it as
restoring lost roots and a potential revenue-building
attraction.

They also used different terminology. They call
privatizations democratizations to better include the
idea of co-operatives. They decided to call their
party a movement—Movimiento Libertario—to express that
they didn’t see their main mission as merely getting
elected but creating a new ‘cultural group’ dedicated
to freedom and rights.

They’ve also found that, as US Libertarians are
discovering, little details argue philosophy. It’s all
very well to call for limited government and
responsive public services, but when Guevara Guth was
elected to Congress and announced he was carrying a
cell phone and would provide quick answers to
constituent’s questions, he created a sensation,
especially in the laid back Latin culture. Opponents
became apoplectic at the Libertarian reputation for
quick service to constituents, and as donations poured
in hinted darkly that the Movimiento was getting money
from the Mafia in New York, or worse, Sweden.

Perhaps their biggest management difference from most
of the US LP is a structure of welcoming general
supporters as members while having a certification
process to develop ‘militant’ Libertarian leaders.
While the US national party technically has the same
policy, under the influence of former Republicans it
tended in the last ten years to emphasize membership
and short-term politics while having no educational or
training program in place, though it has been moving
to change. However, some states parties, such as
Florida and New Hampshire, have farm team methods that
have served them well, being more like Costa Rica,
with both a more radical Libertarian message and more
Libertarians in government positions or as opinion
leaders.

Yet again and again the cultural differences are
intriguing. In the US Libertarianism polls more
favorably with African-Americans and Hispanics than
other cultural groups, but while they’ve done a good
job engaging Hispanics, and Blacks make a large number
of Libertarian registrations—more proportionally than
Greens or Democrats in many areas—bringing them into
the leadership has been haphazard. The Costa Ricans
have no such problems, pointing to international
economist Dr. Rigoberto Stewart, a Black and one of
their founders.

And in the US, while it’s a plus to emphasize a woman
in gender neutral activities, it’s rarely so with men.
Indeed, in some states a man might be investigated for
domestic abuse for arguing with his wife over domestic
affairs or ‘taking too great an interest’ in his
children by, for example, challenging doctor’s
decisions during childbirth. Sometimes taking their
cue from academics who maintain fathers are
irrelevant, US Courts in custody cases have only
recently begun to challenge professionals and accept
that fathers are more than financial contributors to
their children’s welfare. In much of Latin America,
by contrast, a father is expected to take such intense
interest in his children as might, to many in the US
from a Germanic background, seem at best exotic. When
he ran for election, Guevara Guth made a point of
letting people know he was directly involved in his
children’s daily routine, with the implication of
being the ideal Latin father who would examine
government affairs with equal zeal.

ECONOMY COUNTS

All this is important for a small party that can’t
waste effort—and the US Libertarian party is quietly
recognized as far better organized than its opponents,
getting widening influence despite it’s small formal
numbers--Costa Rica has focused on these issues from
the beginning. This has created two startling
statistics: many Costa Ricans vote Libertarian, and if
the US were doing like the Costa Rican Movimiento,
the US party would have proportionally almost 500,000
members—politically impressive when one realizes these
are not passive registered members but active
supporters. ”Economy counts, “ said Guevara Guth in an
earlier interview.

Nonetheless, Costa Rican Libertarians say they have
plenty to learn still, like good Libertarians, and are
always trolling for new ideas. “You have to be careful
generalizing about the American Libertarians, or for
that matter, Americans. Mnay of our people think they
get too self-critical, and simply don’t blow their own
horn enough,” said Mario Vedova, a Movimiento leader,
while on tour in the US. “Yet it’s really a vast
laboratory of 50 parties, and there’s no doubt from
abroad that US Libertarians are making a difference,
and you learn a lot from them. In fact, our co-founder
was once the chair of the Florida LP.”

What’s next? After some debate the Movimiento is
experimenting with running ‘less than 100% Libertarian
candidates’ as long as they advocate and carry out
Libertarian solutions, hoping to ‘bring them along.’
While some worry this may lead to the Movimiento being
seized by conservatives and ‘do-nothing pragmatists’
given to being overly impressed with political
consultants, they point to a tab on ‘philosophy’ at
their website and the division of labor of having
separate non-partisan think tank and activism-outreach
groups there.

The work of the non-political groups is in some ways
even more impressive. Libertarian think tank INLAP
(http://www.inlap.org/) , which proposed the
think-piece Libertarian province proposal now carried
on by a separate group, CELIDE
(http://www.celide.org/), has several initiatives,
and the new outreach Instituto Libertario
(http://www.institutolibertario.org/index.html ) has
in the last few months done seminars at major colleges
and schools across the country, with students checking
out it’s ‘cool website graphics,’ they say, and
links. There’s even a Libertarian consumer union
(http://www.consumidoreslibres.org ) fighting
government utility monopolies they feel raise prices.

Meanwhile, even as members discuss expanding and
cloning Movimiento Libertario parties up and down
Central America, they caution that effective politics
is a matter of repetition. The website shows they
focus on yeoman work: a radio station is up, an
attractive GIF has yet another attack on tax policies,
and an invitation to join the Libertarian youth group
is prominent. They boast of hard-fought legislation
that has cut campaign financing, and urge viewers to
join a new less taxes initiative.

“The biggest mistake the Costa Rican Libertarians can
make is what many businesses and political groups
do—get cocky and change what’s working, “ said
Swanson. “People are listening because they’ve been
listening as well. Real change takes time, and it’s
very encouraging their getting give- and-take from
young people. It’s a matter of consistent effort, a
matter of time. That’s politics.”

By Mike Davis and S. S. Palacheck
International Researchers and Journalists

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2005-08-08T15:26:00.000-06:00

President Pacheco Urges Congress to Approve Tax Plan

"Hunger will be waiting us. We cannot continue to lose opportunities like the present to resolve for once and for all our problems that have caused, as Monseñor Barrantes pointed out, to exist in Costa Rica several social and economic realities", said president Abel Pacheco on national television, making one more call to Legislative Deputies to approvel the Plan Fiscal (tax reforms).

The president made reference to the homage expressed by the Archbishop of San José on August 2 at the Basilica de los Angeles in Cartago, saying that there are three Costa Ricas - the rich, the poor and the real poor.

"As as a Catholic, I listen and pay attention to the words of my pastor... I will continue to fight against poverty and inequality...", Pacheco said.

President Pacheco urged the legislative deputies to approve the Reforma Fiscal Estructural, which will permit the future administrations to count with financial resources which have been denied his government, all which will be required to combat poverty.

The President added that the words of the Monseñor should move the consciense of the deputies, who have in their hands the responsibility and the constitutional power to make the decisions to close the social gaps in Costa Rica.

President Pacheco reminded his audience that in the year 2000, the Legislative Assembly, approved a contingency plan that would last into 2003, with the promise that in 2004 the new Plan Fiscal would come into effect. However, that has not been the case.

President Abel Pacheco de la Espriella, added that the international prices of crude oil and the ensuing high gasoline prices have greatly affected the cost of living in Costa Rica and that the approval of the Tax Plan is imperative.

COMMENT: Like all other socialist idiots, he doesn't understand economic reality at all. When governments RAISE TAXES they LOSE REVENUE! And for such a small country as this, the VAT would be a total disaster! It would send foreign corporations and ex pats fleeing for the exits so fast, they might even leave before Pacheco's term expires! Not only that, but his stupid connection of the global price of oil is a total non sequiter, and has nothing at all to do with his imbecilic tax plans. Furthermore, hidden away in this nefarious piece of excrement is a provision that would repeal Costa Rica's bank secrecy laws, which will mean even more capital flight. Far from doing this country any good, this plan foisted on Costa Rica by the ilk at the IMF would utterly bankrupt this entire country. What this country needs is to cut spending to the bone and live within its means -- something this government has NEVER been able to do!

Pacheco May Water Down Costa Rican Tax Package

It has emerged that President Abel Pacheco is prepared to water down one of the more contentious aspects of the long-delayed fiscal reform package in order move the legislation through Costa Rica's legislature.

Under the tax plan, Costa Rica's taxpayers will be required to pay tax on income earned worldwide, whereas under the current territorial system only income earned within the country's borders is taxed.

However, Pacheco met with legislative leaders last Thursday when it was decided that foreign income would only be taxed if it was remitted back to Costa Rica.

First proposed in 2002, the fiscal reform package intends to raise some $500 million in additional revenues, pay off the country’s growing foreign debt, and reduce the deficit to 2.65% of GDP through a series of tax hikes and improved collection methods. However, it has remained bogged down in the legislative assembly ever since despite attempts by government supporters to force through the reforms.

COMMENT: This piece of trash doesn't need watered down -- it needs to be FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET! This "plan" will quickly bankrupt this country.

Notables Report Due Today
The first report of the Comisión de Notables who is studying the Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) with the United States is due today.

President Abel Pacheco is set to meet with the leader and voice of the Notables, Franklin Chang Diaz.

The comisión is made up of several key Costa Ricans who will make a full report within 60 days to the government.

Along with Chang, former UCR director Gabriel Macaya, scientist Rodrigo Gámez, Catholic priest Guido Villalta, and lawyer Alvar Antillón will be making the recommendations.

Chang said last Friday that the TLC - approved or not - is sparking debate over the changes necessary in Costa Rica. "I believe that perhaps this will help us develop a little more, to fix our ship that has suffered damage over time".

130.000 Waiting for Cellular Service

Claudio Bermúdez, subdirector of telecommunications at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, says that the waiting list for cellular telephone service tops 130.000.

Bermúdez said that ICE hopes to satisfy the demand beginning the end of October of this year when the first 200.000 of the 600.000 cellular lines of the new GSM service will be made available.

At present there are no TDMA or GSM cellular lines available.

To get connected to the cellular network - one the lines are available - a subscriber will be required to post a deposit of ¢12.500 colones (us$25.75) and have a receipt for the telephone equipment and copy of a utility bill and a copy of their 'cedula'.

Foreigners and visitors to Costa Rica who do not have a residency cedula cannot subscribe to cellular service.

US Interference in Nicaragua Must Cease, Say Opposition Groups

Nicaraguan opposition deputy Agustin Jarquin demanded the cessation of continuous US interference in Nicaraguan domestic affairs.

Jarquin, a member of the National Convergence, a collection of groups allied with the Sandinista National Liberation Front, told Prensa Latina that US governments and officials "interfere and complicate Nicaraguans´ search for understanding."

He pointed out that intervention by US special envoys and the US Embassy in Managua is "illegal and inappropriate, violates law and sovereignty and creates a lot of complication."

He stated that instead of looking for solutions to the political crisis, they try to weaken the strength of the Front and the National Convergence by provoking confrontation, they create polarization to generate tension, and they complicate matters when Nicaraguan groups sit down to talk things out.

He said that the Nicaraguan government blindly obeys the orders of the White House without looking at the serious problems of the population, which are the product of its own neo-liberal strategy.

Jarquin said in the 19 years of mandate of those "democratic presidents", social differences widened, and most of the country's capital is concentrated in a minority while more than 70 percent live in poverty.

"In spite of the "dirty campaigns of disinformation" against the FSLN, the population feels defrauded because the rulers did not satisfy their needs, instead they intensified them," Jarquin noted.

¿The local elections in November 2004 showed this, as the National Convergence won 87 of 152 mayor offices, including Managua," he added.

"The Nicaraguan people accept our project against poverty, and for equality and social justice, and the Sandinista Front is ready to listen to all suggestions and proposals to improve the quality of life," he stressed.

He concluded that each day brings them closer to victory for the 2006 elections, with social projects to benefit all people, without exclusion.

Venezuela to suspend cooperation with DEA

Venezuelan President Hugo Chaves on Sunday suspended its cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), accusing the agency of using its agents for espionage.

Chavez said at a press conference, "we have been detecting intelligence work against Venezuelan government carried out by the DEA."

"Under these circumstances, we decided to shut down these agreements. ... The US DEA is not essential to the fight in Venezuela against drug-trafficking. We will keep working with international organizations against drugs," he said.

Venezuela is an major hub of smuggling routes for cocaine and heroin from Colombia to Europe and the United States. The US and Venezuela had agreed until recently to work together in the fight against the drug smuggling industry. However, foreign security officials say the two countries' relationship has been strained by mistrust and corruption.

Political relations with the US government have become more and more tense since President Chavez came to power in 1999. He ended joint military operations and exchanges with the United States and rdered US military instructors out of the country on April 22.

The DEA suspension adds further tension to Venezuela's already tenuous relations with the United States.

Atlantis proponent
next forum speaker

The lost island of Atlantis may have been here in Costa Rica according to author and professor Ivar Zapp. Zapp is the next scheduled speaker in the monthly speaker's forum at Big Mike's Place in Escazú. His speech is scheduled for Aug. 23 at 7 p.m.

The one-hour talk is called “Traces of an Unknown Civilization." In 1940, workers in southwest Costa Rica were clearing land for the United Fruit Co. when they stumbled upon stone spheres as large as nine feet in diameter buried in the earth. According to Zapp, the spheres were used by the Huetar Indians for navigation. Zapp said that the spheres prove that the skill of the Huetar in finding such out of the way places as Easter Island and the Falkland Islands was on the same level as that of the ancient Polynesians.

His speech will be about the process that lead to his book “Atlantis in America.” Zapp came to Costa Rica 33 years ago as an artist. He was invited by the University of Costa Rica to give a lecture on art. Afterwards, he said, officials invited him to be a professor. He said that he had had an interest in the spheres and often included them in his paintings. So when the University offered him the chance, he decided to find out what purpose the spheres served. His speech will be about that research, he said. He is convinced that not only were the spheres used for directional astronomy but also that the spot in southwest Costa Rica where they were found is Plato's lost island of Atlantis.

Entrance is 1,000 colons, a bit more than $2. Guests are invited to arrive at 6:30 p.m. to sample the snack bar and refreshments. For more information call 289-6333, 821-4708 or Mike at 289-6087.

2005-06-20T14:53:00.000-06:00

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*Thousands of Illegals Live in Fear of New Immigration Law

Many foreigners, especially Nicaraguans who come to Costa Rica looking for a

better opportunity, are living the fear that soon, very soon, the Policía de

Migración - immigration police - will visit their place of work in search of

illegals.

The immigration department estimates some 500.000 foreigners in Costa of

which 1/3 are believed to be in the country illegally.

The fear is real as the new Ley de Migración was approved in the first round

of debate on June 7 and is expected to be pass on the second round.

Legislative Deputies are concerned about the constitutionality of the new law

and thus have asked the Constitutional Court to comment before second debate

begins.

The new law would give the immigration department the authority to visit

places of employment and ask for documentation. The new law would also make

it illegal for anyone to traffick in illegals, including giving employment or

harbouring illegals.

Article 63 of the new immigration law states that anyone entering the country

in an illegal manner cannot apply for legal status or be allowed to remain

illegally, meaning they will be deported if detected.

Marco Badilla, immigration director, admits that it is not clear what will

happen to all the illegals now in the country. Their future will be

determined as the law evolves and is put into practice.

Badilla added that there exists the possibility that the government may make

some exceptions, like the amnesty program for Nicaraguans some years back,

however, his department is not in agreement.

Critics say that the government is not taking into account the economic

contribution this group (illegals) make, providing menial labour that Costa

Ricans don't want to do, like domestic work and in construction.

Nicaraguans mainly provide the coffee industry with a temporary labour force,

such that the Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (Icafé) began last year a

hotline for coffee producers to post their labour requirements which is

mainly filled by foreigners coming to Costa Rica illegally.

In addition, during the last crop season, the government passed a regulation

that makes the movement of foreign labour (Nicaraguans) much easier and

without many restrictions. Nicaraguans who depend on the Costa Rican coffee

crop can now move with much more freedom, providing the coffee industry with

a vital source of labour.

Badilla defends his position assuring that the new law is only to form a base

for immigration policies and not a persecution.

By the numbers
According to immigration data for the year 2004

Number of visitors refused entry: 46.552

Number of persons deported: 1.031

Number of refugees living in Costa Rica: 11.000

Number of foreigners in Costa Rican jails: 903

Number of foreign students: 45.900

Number of persons entering Costa Rica: 1.838.188

Number of persons leaving Costa Rica: 1.801.839

*Immigration In Action!

The Fuerza Pública assisting the Policía Especial de Migración (immigration

police) descended on various beach communities in an operation to detect and

detain illegals in Costa Rica.

In Jacó beach, the operation included visits to bars, cantinas and various

nightspots.

The operation began around 11pm and ran until 5am along with the support of

the Policía de Transito who operates several roadblocks in the area,

including Esparsa (east of Puntarenas) and Orotina.

Transit officials checked cars going in and out of the area, while the Fuerza

Publica assisted immigration officers in the various clubs and discos.

In total, officials say they interviewed 400 people of which 84 were

foreigners visiting the popular beach town. Of those 27 were found to have

irregular migratory status.

Of the 27, 19 were Nicaraguans, 5 Colombians, 2 Argentines and one American.

*Improved Economic Outlook

The international risk assessment agency Standard & Poor's improved its

economic outlook for Costa Rica.

The agency upgraded from "negative" to "stable" the ability of the Government

of Costa Rica to honor its external debts.

This is the outcome of what the agency deems an improvement in the fiscal

management during the last year, the likelihood of improved revenues, and a

lower public deficit, mainly.

However, Standard & Poor's does not omit that Costa Rica remains subject to

risks such as an elevated use of dollar in every day transactions and the

regulation of the banking sector.

The Minister of Finance Federico Carrillo and the president of the Central

Bank Francisco Gutierrez stated satisfaction at the news.

Carrillo pointed out that if the fiscal reform that the Government is

promoting is finally approved by the Legislative Assembly, it will be

possible to continue the capitalization of the Central Bank, therefore

lowering inflation, a step to modify the exchange rate, one of the incentives

for the use of the dollar instead of the local currency.

Gutierrez pointed out that the news is excellent, since it will eventually

enable the country to lower the interest rates, acting upon the perception of

lower external risk.

*Heredia Festival This Week

Music, theatre, dance, closes, puppets, acrobats, artist and artisans are all

on hand for the Festival Nacional de Las Artes in Heredia.

All week, different activities are being planned in different places and

times so that everyone can enjoy the festivities.

The Festival is geared to all ages and background and promises to entertain.

Each night at 9:30 there will be a free live concert at the Parque de

Heredia.

*"Godfather of Costa Rican poker players" competes in the World Series of
Poker
Humberto Brenes, the godfather of Costa Rican poker, member of the "Costa

Rica Connection" and one of professional poker's most beloved players is

taking on the world's best in The World Series of Poker (WSOP), the largest

poker tournament in the world.

es.sportsbook.com, the Spanish edition of the largest sportsbook on the

planet is currently offering odds on Brenes and all of the top professional

and celebrity players in the tournament.

Brenes sits currently at 1250-1 odds, with favorites Daniel Negreanu and Phil

Ivey both at 300-1. Hollywood stars such as Ben Affleck (2500-1) and Ed

Norton (7500-1), both very accomplished players on the celebrity tour, are

considered long shots for the title according to es.sportsbook.com fans.

Brenes learned how to play poker from his father at age 7 and began playing

poker tournaments a decade ago after a successful career playing baccarat and

craps tournaments throughout the Bahamas.

Brenes, who maintains homes in Costa Rica and Miami Lakes, Florida, runs a

number of successful businesses in Costa Rica including a construction

company. Brenes has won two world poker championships.

Poker is now one of North America's largest pastimes - both online and

face-to-face - and continues to grow in popularity as more tournaments are

created. The WSOP Championship Event takes place July 7 to 15 at the Rio All

Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

"We expect that Humberto will be a huge draw for Latin fans, adding to an

already gigantic audience for this event," said Tony Delgado, Marketing

Director es.sportsbook.com.

"Poker lovers who don't have a seat at the table have plenty of opportunity

on es.sportsbook.com to get involved with wagers on their favorite players."

* China, Costa Rica Draw 2-2

China and Costa Rica drew 2-2 in the first of two "friendlies" to be played

in China.

Sunday's game was China's first international match on home turf since the

national team was reorganized this year under new manager Zhu Guanghu.

China scored first through midfielder Zhang Yaokun in the 28th minute.

Costa Rica made it 1-1 12 minutes into the second half with a header from

Mauricio Solis, who had been set up by teammate Brian Ruiz. Costa Rica then

took the lead with a free-kick by Ronald Gomez in the 75th minute.

Chinese defender Sun Xiang made it 2-2 with a shot in the 80th minute.

A second friendly is scheduled to be played in the southern city of Guangzhou

on Wednesday.

China is struggling to recover after its elimination from the World Cup in

qualifying rounds last November.

Zhu was appointed in March and is the first Chinese manager to lead the team

in a decade.

*OAS chief warns of crisis in Nicaragua after failed mission
The newly elected chief of the Organization of American States (OAS) warned

of a crisis in Nicaragua Sunday at the end of his four-day political

mediation mission in the Central American country.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, who was last month elected to the

post, said he had "genuine reasons for concern, although society continues to

function."

Warning of "a profound political division" which could develop into a crisis,

he appealed to Nicaraguan politicians to make concessions to avoid it.

"It is necessary to make concessions," Insulza stressed, vowing to continue

the mediation.

The former Chilean interior minister has tried unsuccessfully to bridge

differences between Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños and the opposition

parties over constitutional reforms, which Bolaños sees as steps to cripple

his powers.

The OAS chief, who arrived in Managua Wednesday, reportedly proposed that

Bolaños accept a more powerful legislature in exchange for peace with the two

parties -- the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front and the

right-wing Constitutional Liberal Party.

Bolaños, who has repeatedly sought OAS help to ease a crisis, rejected the

offer which he views as against the "basic democratic principles."

The president instead proposed Saturday that a national referendum be held

during the next general election in 2006 on the forms recently approved by

the opposition-led Congress, according to presidential aide Ernesto Leal.

The referendum option has been sent to the two parties, said Leal.

"What I can say is that it is important to listen to the voice of people," he

told reporters after a meeting between Insulza and Bolaños.

The political discord erupted late last year when the National Assembly

revised the constitution, stipulating that Congress has the final say over

the appointment of Cabinet members and ambassadors accredited to foreign

countries. The powers are traditionally held by the president.

Bolaños and his government have rejected the reforms, citing a ruling by the

Central American Court of Justice which deemed Nicaragua's constitutional

reforms inapplicable, saying they limit the power of the executive branch in

appointing ministers and diplomats.

The tension escalated last week when Congress designated new directors in the

public services sector like telecommunications to replace those named by

Bolaños.

In response, the president ordered police to block the designees from taking

office.

*MERCOSUR Summit Opens in Paraguay

The MERCOSUR Summit opens Monday in Asunción, Paraguay, to debate an array of

regional issues, in particular how to strengthen integration and the

inclusion of Venezuela as a full member.

The 28th plenary meeting of the Southern Common Market, top MERCOSUR

political body, finalized on Sunday the agenda for the Summit of Heads of

States.

On Saturday, MERCOSUR foreign ministers looked into the agenda the presidents

will debate, whose main issue is the signing of the Structural Converge Fund

to fight poverty, which had been approved in the Brazilian city of Ouro Preto

in 2004.

They will also sign a letter of rights for MERCOSUR citizens to develop

education and solve infrastructure problems, as well as create a network of

gas and electric pipelines linking South American nations.

With this summit, Paraguay will hand over the pro tempore presidency to

Uruguay, which during the next six months will boost social integration under

the slogan "We are MERCOSUR."

Besides Paraguay´s President Nicanor Duarte and Uruguay´s Tabare Vazquez, the

high level meeting will be attended by Chile´s Head of State Ricardo Lagos,

Ecuador´s Alfredo Palacio, Colombia´s Alvaro Uribe and Venezuela´s Hugo

Chavez.

Venezuela will complete in Asunción all the requirements to join MERCOSUR as

full member by signing the Protocol of Ushuaia, in effect since 1998, and the

Presidential Statement on Democratic Commitment.

*Venezuelan Military Confirms Plot to Assassinate Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan officers confirmed Sunday the existence of a plot to assassinate

President Hugo Chavez, that´s why the site of the parade for the anniversary

of the Battle of Carabobo on June 24 has been changed.

Defense minister, General in Chief Jorge Luis García Carneiro, and Army

Commander, Division General Raul Baduel, told media that the evidence

recommended not to expose Chavez to unnecessary danger.

This time, the annual parade will not be staged in the traditional site of

the decisive battle for national independence, but at the military compound

of Fuerte Tiuna in Caracas, probably with the presence of the head of State.

Div. Gral. Baduel stressed that so far President Chavez has underlined his

desire to preside over the parade.

He told mass media the event on Army´s Day will have the participation of the

Army´s Air Command and a representation of land units.

Venezuelan authorities have ruled the involvement of active military in the

assassination plot, which is attributed to individuals residing abroad,

mainly ex military linked to the failed coup of 2002 and internal opposition

groups.

For his part, Defense Minister García Carneiro said Chavez will attend public

celebration for Independence Day next July 5th, though under strict security

measures.

He added that the president will not ride on a convertible car as it was

scheduled in the parade for the occasion and his presence in the main

platform will be short.

"We´ll step up measures because he risks too much and fears nothing. We have

to hold him up," the high ranking officer pointed out.

García Carneiro explained that "worrying reports" combine with the US

government´s recent failure at the Organization of American States and

augmented accusations against Venezuela to reinforce the likelihood of an

assassination plot.

* South Summit Rejects US Blockade of Cuba

The Group of 77 plus China expressed strong rejection of the US blockade

against Cuba in the meeting´s final declaration approved Thursday, Granma

daily highlights Friday.

The final text also pronounced for respect of the UN Charter´s principles, in

defense of multilateralism and against terrorism.

At the end of the meeting, the leaders of the Group, plus China, agreed

higher efforts must be made to revive and improve collaboration among

developing nations, as those links complement South-North relations.

Meanwhile, meeting participants noted the role of South-South cooperation in

a multilateral context is seen as a continuous, vital process for developing

countries to face emerging challenges.

*Embassy red-lines Centro El Pueblo

The U.S. Embassy has ruled the Centro Comercial El Pueblo to be off -limits

to its employees because of a wild shooting incident that killed a guard.

The embassy passed its decision along to the public via its Web site.

The Centro Comercial El Pueblo is located in Barrio Tournon in the north

central part of San José and is a popular nightspot with a handful of bars

that offer dancing. The center also is where a number of souvenir stores are

located.

The shooting took place about 3:30 a.m. June 10. Two groups of individuals

were ordered out of the center because they had been fighting. One man pulled

a machine pistol from his vehicle and sprayed the buildings. The dead man was

Ricardo Richard Campbell, 44, who worked for a private firm. He was killed as

he hustled customers in the Ebony 56 bar to safety.

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2005-06-14T12:43:00.000-06:00

2005-06-10T11:05:00.000-06:00

In between News Digests, we are now proud to present our new NEWS BITES service, which will be mini bites of news as they happen!

After today, this service will ONLY be broadcast to our main costa-rica@yahoogroup.com list, but the regular News Digest will continue to come out twice or three times weekly as needed.

Enjoy!

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NEWS BITES
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Deputy Asks for Hacienda Minister Resignation Over "Cover Up"

Gloria Valerín, a legislative deputy for the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) has asked president Abel Pacheco to fire Hacienda Minister, Federico Carrillo, and is asking the Fiscalía (prosecutor's office) to begin an investigation in the apparent "cover up" by Carrillo of a young man who is accused of rape and happens to also be member of his family.

In addition, Valerín will be asking the Comisión de la Mujer to investigate the case as well.

Valerín is accusing Carrillo of intervening in the case where a young lady was raped outside of a bar in Santa Ana (west of San José) last December 12 by a group of youths well known in the area and accustomed to getting bailed out of trouble by their influent families.

The young lady that was raped was 20 years old and told police that four young men held her pinned to the back seat of their car. The young men did not realize that there were two witnesses outside at the time that promptly called police.

A letter to Valerín by the father of the young girl asked for help in the case, where many strange things have happened. The letter accuses Carrillo of trying to use his influence to help one of the young men, who is his cousin and works at Hacienda.

"These are young men who are used to commit all types of crimes and never see jail because of their families influence on the system", adds the girl's father in his letter.

Forensic evidence points the finger tothe young men accused of the crime, but the young girl's father adds that the men who raped are still free. And that the Minister of Hacienda has talked bad about the girl in the press in defending his cousin, without even knowing her.

Deputy Valerín read the letter to the Legislative Assembly as part of her charges against the Minister and adds that the prosecutor handling the case had requested that the accusers not bother the victim, however, when the young girl was ready to give her testimony to the prosecutor, a former judge who is acting as defense attorney insults the girl's mother. And adds that even though the assailants are not permitted to be in the presence of the girl when she is giving her testimony, one of them is present to frighten the girl and with the approval of the prosecutor.

For his part, Minister Carrillo has refused to speak on the matter and is not making himself available to the press.

* Bolivian Congress accepts president's resignation

Bolivia's Congress Thursday unanimously accepted the resignation of President Carlos Mesa and appointed President of the Supreme Court Eduardo Rodriguez as interim leader of the South American country.

The appointment of Rodriguez came after both Senate leader Hormando Vaca Diez and House leader Mario Cossio refused to accept the post in succession, said reports from Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia.

According to the constitution, the interim president is entitled to call new elections.

The decisions were made by Congress in a quick late-night emergency session without debate.

Late on Monday, Mesa announced his decision to resign after mass anti-government protesters paralyzed the country for several weeks. Earlier this year, he also offered resignation, but was turned down by Congress.

The unrest in Bolivia erupted after the National Congress passed a law on May 17 to levy a 50-percent tax on foreign oil and gas companies operating in Bolivia, which has the second largest gas reserves in South America after Venezuela.

The opposition demands higher taxes on foreign firms and the nationalization of the country's lucrative oil and gas industry.

Demonstrations have escalated into riots since May 24 when demonstrators blocked a downtown square in La Paz, where the executive and legislative branches of government are located, and began to smash windows in buildings and cars in the surrounding streets.

In a bid to halt oil and gas production, hundreds of peasants in the eastern Santa Cruz province have blockaded roads and entrances to four natural gas fields operated by foreign firms

2005-06-09T11:16:00.000-06:00

2005-06-07T12:34:00.000-06:00

Below is an excellent commentary on what REALLY happened at the OAS yesterday, and how the OAS told Bush and Rice to shove it!

John

--- narconews wrote:

> Bush and Rice Encounter the New OAS Pro-Democracy
> Buzzsaw
>
> Yesterday, United States President George W. Bush
> and his Secretary of State Condoleezza
> Rice went to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to deliver
> lofty but worried speeches to the assembly
> of the newly independent Organization of American
> States (OAS, in its English initials).
>
> It was the first OAS meeting inside the United
> States in 31 years, a fact that Secretary Rice
> noted when she reminisced: "The last time the OAS
> met in the United States, some 31
> years ago, it looked a lot different than it does
> today. Of the 23 member states, 10 were
> military dictatorships."
>
> While taking that walk down amnesia lane, she and
> Bush kept mouthing the word
> "democracy" as if dropping the name of an important
> friend who they really don't know
> that well. The irony was not lost on the Latin
> American delegates. There, in Florida (hardly
> a poster state for electoral "democracy" after the
> last two simulated presidential elections,
> rife with Floridian fraud, in the U.S.) Rice waxed
> poetically about the times of dictators but
> neglected to recall that every one of those tyrants
> was installed and forcefully propped up
> by her own government – from Chile to Argentina, to
> Brazil to Bolivia to Uruguay to
> Paraguay, where a Washington-authored plot named
> "Operation Condor" slammed the
> boot down upon South American dreams of freedom.
>
> Even in the so-called "democracies" of that era,
> such as Mexico and Venezuela, the violent
> repression against authentically democratic and
> civil rights movements, the assassination
> of their leaders and journalists, the censorship of
> their press, the training of their military
> brass in torture techniques at the US's "School of
> the Americas," and the maintenance of
> keeping a few in power while the majorities suffered
> were the daily bread of U.S. policy.
>
> Indeed, many of the same U.S. officials found today
> in the Bush administration, including
> key members of Rice's own staff, were directly
> involved in the 1973 Chilean coup, the
> military waves of terror from Sao Paulo to San
> Salvador, the CIA-sponsored cocaine
> trafficking to form a slush fund for paramilitaries
> in Nicaragua in the 1980s… and yet
> there she was, speaking of once upon a time in
> América, as if her administration had any
> kind of authority at all to speak of "democracy" and
> instruct Latin Americans how to
> practice it.
>
> The Latin American nations yesterday, at that
> Florida meeting, rejected the Orwellian
> vision of Bush and Rice, with their newfangled turn
> of phrases in which "democracy," to
> them, means setting up new ways to impose their will
> upon the democratic aspirations of
> their neighbors to the South.
>
> Countries that only a few years ago could have been
> counted on to back any U.S. venture
> in the Organization of American States – countries
> like Argentina, Brazil, Chile and even
> Mexico, which in this blessed year of 2005 has
> finally halted its lurch away from Bolívar's
> country called América and stood together again with
> the South American and Caribbean
> nations – told Bush and Rice that they don't accept
> their version of making impositions
> and calling it "democracy."
>
> And the new chairman of the Organization of American
> States, José Miguel Insulza, of
> Chile, rebuked the U.S. proposal to create
> mechanisms of force over individual nations.
> (Remember just a few weeks ago when the Commercial
> Media told you that Rice claimed to
> have struck a deal to elect Insulza, as Narco News
> alone explained to you that Insulza had
> been elected, to the contrary, to stand up in favor
> of Latin American democracy against
> the anti-democratic aspirations of the Bush
> administration?
>
> If you missed that report, "Democracy Triple Play:
> Ecuador to Mexico to the OAS: the
> Smackdown of Condoleezza's Agenda Came on the Week
> of Her Latin American Tour"
> (Narco News, May 1, 2005), here's the link:
>
> http://narconews.com/Issue37/article1277.html
>
> It should now be clear, again, which journalists
> were telling you the truth and which were
> not. Insulza, in words as clear as the new day
> dawning in América, said aloud at the OAS
> meeting: "We can never use any mechanism without the
> consent of the country. If the
> states don't want something, then nothing will be
> done."
>
> Or, as Brazilian Secretary of State Celso Amorim
> said, standing up to Rice and Bush at the
> same OAS session in Fort Lauderdale, boomed:
> "Democracy cannot be imposed. It is born
> from dialogue."
>
> Democracy Comes Down from the Hills in Bolivia
>
> At the very moment that Rice and Bush prattled on in
> Fort Lauderdale yesterday, Luis
> Gómez reported to you from La Paz that
> half-a-million citizens from that nation had
> descended upon the administrative capital and shut
> it down cold.
>
> Gómez was there – your authentic journalist, now
> three-and-a-half years with Narco
> News, and its acting publisher - in the streets,
> where a democracy from below surges
> upward even as it comes down from the hills of the
> majority who still live in earthen or
> cardboard shacks.
>
> Gómez and our news team were with these multitudes
> that still struggle and worry each
> day whether their children will get to eat a dinner
> even as billions of dollars of nearby
> natural resources – gas, oil, mineral ores,
> agricultural plenty, and even their millenarian
> coca leaf and its proud traditions of struggle - are
> being siphoned away from their
> ancestral lands as a result of decades of imposition
> from above.
>
> As Gómez described, much like John Reed or Charles
> Horman or Mario Menéndez before
> him once reported from other Latin American lands at
> hours of moral crisis:
>
> "This morning there were more people in the streets
> than before, possibly more than ever
> before in the recent history of social mobilizations
> in Bolivia. Perhaps half a million people,
> perhaps more, according to the calculations of a
> leader from District 8 of El Alto.
>
> "The public school teachers arrived earlier at the
> Plaza de los Héroes. Today is Teachers'
> Day in Bolivia, and there were more than 30,000
> educators in the streets. It was just after
> 10:00 in the morning and they went out alone to shut
> down central La Paz. A half hour
> later the two immense marches from El Alto arrived,
> one made up of the city's southern
> districts and another from the north.
>
> "The mineworkers' federation arrived, as did the
> factory workers, the students, followed by
> the peasant farmers from the communities south of La
> Paz, and the neighborhoods from
> La Paz's eastern slopes, which form the border with
> El Alto. They were all there, together
> with Aymara peasant farmers from several
> provinces…."
>
> In the afternoon, the Mexican-born Gómez, alone
> among the foreign press corps in
> Bolivia, reported to you that Bolivian President
> Carlos Mesa "appears close to resigning."
> Gómez reported:
>
> "…according to a source within the Catholic Church
> who asked to remain anonymous,
> Carlos Mesa has a resignation letter ready and could
> present it, at latest, tomorrow night."
>
> Five hours later, by 10 p.m., Gómez's informed
> prediction became a reality. And the next
> few days in Bolivia will bring the final
> confrontation between imposed power from above
> and authentic democracy from below: Today, Tuesday,
> June 7, 2005, the people are
> coming down from the hills again, and our team is
> (again) reporting it, blow by blow, here
> on Narco News and its Narcosphere. I already know,
> beforehand, where the fastest, most
> accurate, information about what is happening will
> be available. And I'm very proud to say
> it is at www.narconews.com.
>
> An Hour to Protect Our Journalists
>
> But, kind reader, I would not be honest with you if
> I didn't add that these are the minutes
> and hours when I worry most about the safety and
> security of our journalists: these
> moments of immediate history, when imposed power
> from above has its back against the
> wall. These are the kinds of moments when the
> violent coups of years ago happened.
> Because when authentic democracy advances, as it did
> in Venezuela in 2002 and 2004, as
> it did in Mexico this year of 2005, and as it
> bubbles up right now from under indigenous
> Aymara bowler hats in El Alto and the hopeful eyes
> of coca growers, miners, teachers,
> students, senior citizens, farmers and people in all
> the other hot spots of Bolivia, these are
> the moments when those who are losing power have
> historically become the most
> dangerous.
>
> We all need – we being you and I and other members
> of Civil Society – accurate reporting
> from Bolivia this week. We need it like we need air
> and water and food, for authentic
> democracy requires not only a free press, but also a
> courageous press, to be able to
> function. "Without truth," the Proverbs section of
> the Bible says, "the people perish."
>
> I write you from another part of our América, from
> the place where I am here clearing the
> brush for the permanent campus for the Narco News
> School of Authentic Journalism, a
> place with no phone line and no cell phone service
> (yet), but where I have just shimmied
> up a palm tree to install a satellite dish so as to
> be able to speak with you once again at a
> moment of truth.
>
> And to be totally truthful with you – to tell you
> the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
> the truth – I confess that right at this moment I
> worry about our journalists and about our
> América and about our hopes and dreams for a more
> authentic democracy and a more
> authentic journalism. Because, as everybody knows,
> we don't have the millions of dollars
> that the corporate and institutional newspapers and
> simulator "press freedom"
> organizations have to protect their own, and only
> their own, commercial journalists.
>
> Our coffers are low, too low, which is why I have
> had to shimmy up palm trees to get the
> word to you from the swelter here where it is 90
> degrees in the shade, without an air
> conditioned office, without a company car (or any
> car), without any of the accoutrements
> that less-than-honest corporate reporters are
> provided. For we don't spend your
> donations on such luxuries: we spend it thriftily,
> on just the truth, the whole truth… and
> getting the facts to you.
>
> Luis Gómez and our team in Bolivia have none of
> those luxuries either. And yet day after
> day, hour after hour, they walk at street level
> tapping and adding to the surging power of
> the authentically democratic movements of real
> people who are making real history. They
> and we do this job free of the control by which the
> bureaucratic press flaks of Embassies
> and such that so effectively spin the dishonest
> "news" coverage by our commercial rivals.

2005-06-07T11:51:00.000-06:00

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NEWS DIGEST
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*President Pacheco Treated for High Pressure, Relinquishes Presidency

Temporarily

President Abel Pacheco was hospitalized on Monday morning with high blood

pressure, although his condition was stable by the afternoon, his spokeswoman

said.

Pacheco, 71, has had a number of health scares in recent years, including a

brief spell in hospital in February for heart problems.

A diabetic, the U.S.-educated president suffered partial facial paralysis

after a brain hemorrhage in 2000, two years before taking office.

Hospital director Luis Paulino Hernandez said Pacheco was in stable condition

and that his "arterial pressure came down in the past few hours."

Presidential spokeswoman Betania Aratavia said Pacheco would remain

hospitalized overnight.

Pacheco's latest health problem are a possible result following allegations

this week of irregularities in accepting gifts, used airline tickets given to

the government for personal and a connection between Spanish businessman

Bernardo Martín and his investment in a Papagayo land development and Paheco

appointing him Honourary Consul to Sevilla, Spain and getting his book

published free by a Martín foundation.

The pressure started when it was made public that Pacheco had accepted as a

gift a lifetime membership for he and his wife to a luxury resort in the

Dominican Republic when he visited there this year.

Next on the list of irregularities is the use of free tickets given as a

customary practice by the TACA Group airline to the government. Pacheco used

the free tickets for the San José - Miami - San José leg of his Spain trip,

which was a personal trip. Pacheco said he would reimburse the government for

the cost of the tickets

Also on the Pacheco watchlist is the connection between he and Spanish

businessman Martín, who was appointed Honourary Consul to Sevilla by Pacheco

and later invested in a land development project in Papagayo, Guanacaste,

which is owned by Rubén Pacheco Lutz, the former Minister of Tourism in Abel

Pacheco's administration and accompanied the president on the Spain Trip.

Also on hand on the Spain trips was also Jorge Arce, president Pacheco's

chief protocol officer at Casa Presidencial, who resigned last Monday

following reports in the media of possible wrongdoing.

Martín's foundation published a book of poems by president Pacheco and

presented last December on the President's second trip to Spain.

Pacheco came out fighting last week, taking to the airwaves on national

television and radio, defending his actions. He admitted that he may have

made some mistakes.

He told Costa Ricans that they know him and know what to expect from him. And

all the accusations are a campaign by the media who are angry at him and want

to smear his good name.

President Pacheco, according to his doctors, will probably be released from

the Calderón Guardia hospital today, following a 24 hour observation.

Hwever, doctors are now "ordering" to stay home for the next five days and

not a recommendation like the last time.

Facing doctor's orders, Pacheco made a call yesterday to temporary relinquish

his presidential powers to first Vice-President, Lineth Saborío, this

according to information released by Casa Presidencial.

Casa Presidencial press secretary, Carolina Murillo, confirmed yesterday that

Saborío will fill in for Pacheco while is out on medical orders.

Under the Costa Rican constitution, a president cannot resign office. The

transfer of power of the president can only occur on the death or "permanent"

incapacitation.

*24 New Political Parties Registered; Bringing Total to 72

The Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) reports that five new political

parties will be running candidates for the presidency in the 2006 elections.

The parties, Alianza Democrática Nacionalista (ADN) headed for former Justice

Minister, José Miguel Villalobos; Unión para el Cambio (UPC) headed by

Antonio Álvarez Desanti; Unión Patriótica (UP) formed by Humberto Arce and

José Miguel Corrales; Patria Primero by Juan José Vargas; and Unión Nacional

(PUN) all presented their documentation before the 4pm deadline yesterday.

In addition there are 19 new parties that will be fielding candidates for

regional and provincial positions in the election to be held next February,

bringing the total of political parties registered to 72.

Not all the parties are active on a national level or even known outside of

their community, though the number of candidates making a bid for elected

office will make the historic election interesting for Costa Ricans.

The new parties will face the mainstream parties Liberación Nacional (PLN),

Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), Acción Ciudadana (PAC).

Parties who have made a name for themselves in the last couple of elections

are the Integración Nacional (PIN), Renovación Costarricense, Alianza

Nacional Cristiana, Independiente Obrero (PIO), Movimiento Libertario,

Patriótico Nacional, Rescate Nacional and Fuerza Democrática, some of which

will seeking the presidential seat.

The traditional two party system began to disappear in the 2002 election when

the PAC forced a run off vote between the PLN and PUSC which saw president

Abel Pacheco elected, ending the traditional two party system and division of

party as each party would take the presidency in alternate elections.

The new parties are now inscribed in the official records and we will know in

the coming months which will be making a strong bid for the presidency and

other elected posts.

*Probation For Three Women in Trafficking Ring

Remember the case in 2003 when police raided homes in La Uruca and Escazú and

arrested a number of people in connection with a trafficking ring involving

minors?

In all 16 people were arrested and an investigation was begun into the

trafficking of minors that saw Guatemalan children sent to families in the

United States by way of Costa Rica.

One of the persons arrested as lawyer and former manager of the defunct Banco

Anglo, Carlos Hernán Robles.

Most of the accused in the case, including Robles, has yet to see formal

charges levied against them. However, three Guatemalan women also arrested

decided to accept the charges and submitted themselves to a fast track

process.

A has now sentenced the three women to two years and three months for their

role in the trafficking ring. However, since the sentence is less than three

years, the women are free on probation and if the stay clean for the

duration, will not see a prison cell.

*Dead Man's Missing Car is Owned by Police Commander

The Fiscalía (prosecutor's office) in San Ramon, northwest of San José, is

looking into allegations that the second commander of the Fuerza Pública de

San Ramón, Marco Hernández Barrantes, registered the purchase of a vehicle

after the owner had already died and the car had been reported missing.

The accusation is also against a lawyer identified as Barahona Segnini, who

is registered lawyer and notary number 82.

The complaint says that the Suzuki Gran Vitara was the property of North

American James Kent, who died in September of 2003. However, records show

that the sale was made in March of this year.

Kent's family had begun the legal process of possession following his death

in 2003 and was concluded last month. The vehicle in question had disappeared

from Kent's home during this time.

The OIJ was called in to investigate the case of the missing vehicle and

discovered that the vehicle was in the possession of the local police

commander. The national registry shows that the purchase was made this year

for ¢100.000 colones (us$210) while the vehicle has a value of ¢5 million

colones (us$10.500).

Police, once they located the vehicle, confiscated it from the police

commander and turned it over to the family of the deceased man. Police are

now investigating into the complaint against the police commander and the

fact the vehicle was in his possession after it was reported missing.

In Costa Rica the transfer of ownership of a vehicle is handled by a

lawyer/notary, which will make an entry into his "protocol" book and then

submit the required documentation along with taxes and "timbres" to the

national registry.

Both the seller and the buyer are required to sign the "protocol" before the

presence of the lawyer,/notary, but that is not always the case. There are

cases, like in the death of a foreigner, a lawyer, for a fee, will take the

buyer's word for the situation and banks that the deceased of his far away

family will not be around to complain.

The registry verifies that the document is in order, the tax is paid and the

"timbres" are attached to the paperwork. Once the verification is complete, a

owners certificate is issued.

*Two Wheeled Transportation on the Increase

The high cost of gasoline as a result of the high cost of crude oil on world

markets has forced Costa Ricans more ways to get around town.

Many have begun using buses more and those living a short distance from work

make it on foot. However, a growing market has been for scooters and

motorcycles.

According to Demtrio Pérez of the Asociación de Importadores de Motocicletas

(AIMA) the number of motorcycle sales have been steadily increasing over the

last several years and moreso this past year when gasoline prices began

setting record levels.

The AIMA attributes the increase in sales directly to the high price of the

combustible.

Peréz says that in 2002, 4.966 new motocycles/scooters were sold in agencies

across the country. In 2003, the number of sales of new motocycles/scooters

increased to 6.570 and in 2004 7.763 new motorcycles/scooters were sold.

For the first three months of thus year, 2.279 new motorcycles were sold.

Forecasts for this year may reach 10.000 sales.

Two wheel transportation not only saves on gasoline but time, as the roads of

downtown San José become more congested each day. Another benefit of a

motorcycle or scooter is the low cost in maintenance. Repairs to motorcycles

and scooters take less time and the cost is dramatically lower than that of a

vehicle.

Peréz adds that the owners of motorcylces/scooters are not the only winners

in this. With the increased use of motorcylce/scooters, the population in

general benefits also with lower contamination and less traffic congestion.

In Europe, major cities like Rome, two wheel motorized transportation is the

favouite way to get to an from work, as well as shopping and recreational

use. Many automobile owners also own a scooter for the trip into town, while

the auto is for family trips.

In San José, the demand for scooters has increased. When there was only one

or two dealers selling scooters, now along the Avenida 10 and La Uruca there

are a half dozen dealers selling scooters from the original Vespa to the

asian and other european imports.

*Mexico rejects US proposal to "supervise democracy" in L. America

Mexico rejected on Monday a US proposal which calls for the creation of a

so-called "democracy supervision mechanism" in Latin America.

"In principle, we don't agree with any supervision whatsoever, "Mexico's

presidential spokesman Ruben Aquilar told the press.

The US proposal also gives the Organization of American States (OAS) the task

of giving help to countries "where democracy is under threat."

"We agree in extending the guarantees and rights of the nations of the

continent, though. We do agree with extending the respect of human rights,

but never under the supervision of anyone," said Aquilar.

The remarks came at a time when a debate is under way on whether the OAS

countries are ready to have an observation mechanism to prevent and manage

crises at the bloc's annual general assembly being held between June 5 and 7

at Fort Laderdale, the United States.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that the "OAS has to be a

valid instrument to help the countries of America whose democracies are in

peril."

She warned that American countries failing to fulfill democratic principles

have to respond to the OAS.

*Bolivian president resigns amid mass protests

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa said late Monday that he would submit

resignation to the congress after mass anti-government protests paralyzed the

country's capital of La Paz, according to reports from the city.

Bolivian demonstrators attend a protest march in San Francisco square in La

Paz June 6, 2005.

"It is my responsibility to say that this is as far as it can go," Mesa said

on national television. "I have taken the decision to present my resignation

from the presidency."

Mesa's decision came hours after tens of thousands of Indians, miners and

labor protesters paralyzed La Paz in their largest anti-government march in

weeks demanding nationalization of the country's natural gas sector and early

elections.

Protesters marched through La Paz waving "Nationalize Now" and "The People

Demand Nationalization" banners, and vowed to maintain roadblocks which have

caused gas and food shortages in the capital after more than two weeks of

blockades.

Bolivian demonstrators attend a protest march in San Francisco square in La

Paz June 6, 2005. The protesters are demanding nationalization of the

country's natural gas sector.

A senior government official said earlier on Monday that it is "very

difficult" for the government and the president to continue in office if

"insecurity and instability" continue in the country amid mass street

protests.

If the social chaos and insecurity continue, "without a doubt it is very

difficult that the president and the government can continue," said Minister

of Presidency Jose Antonio Galindo. "We are on the verge of collapse."

Church leaders had called for a truce to help negotiate a solution to the

stalemate. They held a second day of talks on Monday as some members of the

congress suggested early general elections as the best way out for Mesa.

Earlier on Monday, the embattled president managed to flee his office after

protesters threatened to storm the presidential palace.

The recent unrest began after the congress passed a law on May 17 to levy a

50-percent tax on foreign oil and gas companies operating in the country,

which has the second-largest gas reserves in South America after Venezuela.

The opposition first demanded higher taxes on foreign firms and later the

nationalization of the country's lucrative oil and gas industry.

They also demanded the resignation of Mesa and a rewriting of the

constitution to boost indigenous representation in the congress.

Demonstrations have escalated into riots since May 24 when demonstrators

blocked a downtown square in La Paz, where the executive and legislative

branches are located, and began to smash windows in buildings and cars in the

surrounding streets.

The long-term crisis over the gas issue already forced Mesa's predecessor,

Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, to step down 20 months ago.

NOTE: This article is not entirely accurate. As readers of our Offshore
Destiny list know from yesterday's reports, this whole mess started because

of US interference in Bolivian internal affairs due to their ridiculous
"war on drugs." The coca leaf is a traditional crop of the indigenous
community, but the US government put massive pressure on Bolivia to destroy
the crop and the livelihoods of the Indian farmers who raise the crops, much

of it for their own use as they have done for thousands of years. This

insane and ludicrous "war" is what started this whole thing going, and the

indigenous groups added the gas issue later on. Now, because of this heavy

handed meddling in the affairs of another country, the situation has blown up

in the face of the US government, which is now trying to bring its policy of

"unilateral intervention" in the affairs of other nations to this hemisphere,

using the OAS as its cloak. As reported in the article above, Latin America

now outright rejects the interference of the US in their internal affairs.

And Nicaragua is another case in point where imperialism will no longer be

accepted. The only supporter of Enrique Bolanos is the US government. The

National Assembly and the Supreme Court have already rejected his

"government," which simply does whatever its master in Washington says. It

is my prediction that Bolanos will be impeached and put on trial for his

crimes and corruption, and that there is nothing that Wasthington can do to

stop it now. If they would have stopped their meddling, then this would not

have happened, but they seem to think that Latin American countries are their

colonies and that the colonies must do what master says still. Nothing could

be further from the truth, as people all over the world utterly reject their

policies of telling other sovereign countries what to do.

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*Two More Bodies Recovered Thursday

Officials said Thursday they have discovered two bodies from the crash of a

small plane that had carried U.S. and Canadian skydivers.

The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública ( Security Ministry) did not identify the

bodies that were discovered Thursday, a day after U.S. skydiver William

Slater, 34, was rescued from the water near a marina 96 kilometres southwest

of San José.

Authorities said Slater, who remained in Hospital Mexico Thursday, told them

the plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean Tuesday afternoon after encountering

turbulence.

He said he and two others had leaped from the plane with parachutes after

feeling strong vibration from the top of the aircraft.

Costa Rican officials identified the others aboard the plane as local pilot

Jorge Melendez; Milton Burton, a Canadian skydiving instructor who owned a

company called Skydive Costa Rica; Emanuel Sanchez Cornejo, a Mexican-born

U.S. citizen, and U.S. citizens James Simplicio and Jean Roman.

In a news release, the ministry said it "confirms the finding of the lifeless

bodies of two men" near Herradura beach. It said the others aboard the plane

"are intensively searched for."

Roger Sequeira, an employee of Skydive Costa Rica, told the Spanish language

daily La Nación the group was making its final skydiving flight of the day

"because it was dark and began to rain and there was a strong wind."

Authorities said pieces of the plane were seen in widely dispersed areas.

The search for the remaining bodies was called off at nightfall last night

and resumed at daybreak today. According to Jorge Rovira, rescue operations

chief for the Cruz Roja (Red Corss), said their strategy for the search is

use more aeral passes over the area, concentrating more on the area of the

crash.

Operators of the luxury resort Marriott Los Sueños have helped in the rescue

efforts as well as a score of private boat owners, according to Rovira, who

added that today they will be using special equipment to try to locate the

bodies and fuselage of the small aircraft.

What Caused the Crash?
The Preliminary investigation shows the plane may have been knocked down from

the sky excessive turbulence.

Investigators are discounting engine failure. If engine failuer had been

the case, the experienced pilot would have headed for the coast, experts say.

One of the investigators said that once they we eliminated the possibility of

engine failure, it can be assumed that the aircraft lost stability due to

excessive turbulence.

Authorities are presuming that the pilot got too close to a wind current in

his climb to gain altitude for the last jump of the day for the skydivers.

Unnamed sources close to the investigation told the press that, in the last

trip of the day, the aircraft's pilot Meléndez was surprised by the strong

wind current. At the time, the climate over the Pacific was bad and it was

raining.

The pilot was making his climb to the 8.000 foot altitude so that the

skydivers could make their jump, but, authorities believe he never made it

past 3.000 feet.

*Pacheco Criticizes Media For Attacks on Him

Last night, in a national address on television and radio, President Abel

Pacheco began his attack against the collective media for the persecution

campaign against him and for discrediting him in the past week.

The President told his audience that there are some media who are angry with

the government for not buying advertising space from them, the reason which

is that they are more expensive and that his government has to use public

funds wisely.

He did not name names.

Pacheco added that the game these people are playing is a dangerous one, as

they generalize their discredit, the real corrupt can take advantage of the

situation by dressing in sheep's clothing and create a climate of uncertainty

for all.

"You know me and know how I am. Abel Pacheco, will not yield his principles.

Costa Ricans can be sure about that", were the words spoken by the President.

Pacheco took the time to explain what he says is the "truth".

He said he has nothing to hide and explained in detail his trip to Dominican

Republic and Spain last year, and that it was all done in public and fully

covered my the media. There was no mystery or secret to his trips and that

now the media is trying to make a scandal out of it.

The president admitted that he did use the tickets for the San José - Miami -

San José portion of his trip, tickets given free of charge to the government

by TACA airlines, that which Pacheco commented was normal practice among the

other Central American presidents for decades.

The President spoke about the facts surrounding his trips to Sevilla, Spain

and the publication of his book by the prestigious Ateneo de Sevilla and the

Fundación Martín Robles, which are highly respected around the world. "In

this case they have tied a series of events that make me look corrupt and

that the publicatio of the book is payment for a favour, which I did not or

have conceded. This is false. It is a lie", the President told his viewing

and listening audience.

"You know me, you know how I am and not because I say it, but because there

71 years of public testimony of an honest and correct life", president

Pacheco referred to his reputation.

As to the naming of Bernardo Martín Moreno where he is accused of making a

trade, naming the Moreno to Honourary Consul in Sevilla, Spain, for the

publication of his book, Pacheco said it was utterly false and evil. "Costa

Ricans, things have gone so far, that one day, while I was flying to

Guatemala in economy class, they were watching to see if the peanuts I was

given were just for me or for all passengers. I could not beleive that. It

has gone to the ridiculous, to the point where my colleagues in the region,

kidding, are callinbg me 'el presidente ceniciento"."

Pacheco explained that there are powerful forced in the country that are

angry with him over the Plan Fiscal (Tax Plan) that will see the rich being

taxed as they should, like they should have been for many years already. They

tell me that there are also those who would have loved if I had sold off ICE

(the state monopoly on telecommunications and electricity), which I will not

do.

"If that is why they are angry with me, well let them continue to be angry,

because I will not yield on the tax reforms, the TLC and nor will I hand them

the ICE flag, nor the INS or the Caja, I will not hand over Costa Rican goods

so that a few can do business.

If these people is what they want to is treat me ill and discredit me, let

them because I can bear it for I am used to it," affirmed the President.

COMMENT: Well, well, well, now that HIS corruption is coming to light, it
is simply a "media circus" and all over peanuts? Spoken like a true
demagogue! Bravo! The facts are still the facts, el presidente, no matter
how you squell like a stuck pig when your evil deeds come to light! Let's
see, someone publishes your book for free, and in return, they become

honorary counsel and get the primest bids on a gigantic tourism project.
It is all so transparant, huh, and just a personal attack? HOGWASH! And
we are not forgetting your OWN illegal campaign contributions. But, in your
own words, maybe we should be going after the "truly corrupt," which, I

guess, means ANYONE BUT YOURSELF? I think we have it right. I hope they

strip you of your immunity and haul you away in the Perrara just like you did

to your enemies, and impeach you before your term is over. You were so quick

with your condemnations then, but now that the shoe is on your own foot, you

hide behind your own immunity. We most certainly DO understand!

*Canadian Arrested For Drug Smuggling

A 29 year old Canadian woman was arrested by the Policía de Control de Drogas

(PCD) at the Juan Santamaría airport in San José when it was discovered that

she was hiding drugs - heroin and cocaine - in her travel bags.

The woman identified only by her last name, Haehnel, was travelling with her

11 year old son when she was stopped by the PCD agents.

According to the PCD, the woman had 1.086 grams of heroin and 2.239 grams of

cocaine hidden in her suitcases.

The woman was travelling from Panama to Canada with a stop in Costa Rica

according to a spokesperson for Ministerio de Seguridad Pública, which also

added that the woman's child will be in the hands of the Canadian Embassy who

will contact the boy's family and arrange for his return home.

Thousands of kilos of cocaine have been confiscated by police this year,

however, this is only the fourth instance of seizure of heroin.

If found guilty, drug traffickers face a conviction of 20 years in prison.

*Man Chains Himself to Post Saying He Was Scammed

Michael Lee Rouco, a 45 year old American, living in Naranjo chained himself

to a light post on Wednesday to protest that an architect scammed him of

us$56.000 dollars.

Rouco took along a chair to sit on when he got tired while being chained to

post in Naranjo's central par. Naranjo is small community northwest of San

José.

It was about 9am when the man decided to chain himself to the post to bring

attention of his complaint against a man identified as Herrera, who according

to Rouco, represented himself as an architect to design and build his house

in Berlín de Sam Ramon for a fee of ¢26 million colones, but instead made off

with the money.

Quickly a crowed gathered around the man as the curious stood by to watch was

happening. Members of the Fuerza Publica (police) were dispatched to the

scene as well as the Cruz Roja (Red Cross).

Following a dialouge between police and Rouco, the police officers dispatched

to the scene left and Rouco remained chained to the post. Last report is that

Rouco is still there.

What Rouco wants, according to the Fuerza Publica officers, is that Herrera

show his face and admit his guilt.

Rouco talked to a reporter of the Spanish language dialy Diario Extra,

telling the reported that his nightmare began when he signed a contract with

Herrera. "I am happy to be living in Costa Rica among hard working people. He

was recommended and inspired my trust", Rouco told the reporter.

According to Rouco, Herrera told him that he could use a bank account help by

Herrera to make the deposit for the construction, of which only 25% of the

house is built and took off with the rest of the money in the account.

"I won't leave until h (Herrera) apologizes and finishes my house", Rouco

said.

Herrera being contacted by the newspaper told his side of the story, who

assures that his client is experiencing some kind of mental breakdown. He

said he has all the documents, contracts and receipts that prove the man is

lying and has offered to meet the man in his office to go over the bills, in

the presence of his (Herrera )lawyer

*Court Upholds Ericsson Contract

Costa Rica's Constitutional Court (Sala IV) has thrown out a lawyer's attempt

to annul a us$130 million contract awarded to Ericsson by telecom monopoly

ICE and approved by the comptroller, for the installation of a new GSM

network.

Lawyer Pablo Barahona took legal action last week against the officials of

the comptroller's office, reviving allegations of bribery between employees

of ICE and Ericsson. He alleged that Ericsson paid for hotel lodgings of

former ICE officials during a visit to Sweden last year.

The contract, which is for 600,000 GSM lines, got the green light in March

this year despite an internal investigation into possible bribery.

The nod from the constitutional court is an added guarantee that the project

will go ahead.

ICE hopes to begin selling lines by December 2005, when it will try to have

around 200,000 ready. Ericsson's GSM network will let subscribers send

photos, animated images and music from their handsets.

The current GSM network installed by Alcatel only allows SMS text messaging

GPRS internet service,

Costa Rica ran completely out of new mobile lines last December and has been

rapidly selling off phone lines from delinquent accounts to alleviate the

situation.

*Bolivian president takes measures to calm unrest

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa signed a decree on Thursday to quell weeks of

unrest over a new energy policy that indigenous groups felt fell short on

state control.

Mesa, who came into power 19 months ago, called on Congress to elect a

constitutional assembly to rewrite the constitution with the aim of

redistributing power in favor of the poor indigenous majority.

In addition, a referendum on regional autonomy would be held on October 16,

said the president.

"The country is experiencing a very critical moment, a high-risk

confrontational situation and in this context we cannot wait until Tuesday,"

he said in a televised announcement, referring to a planned debate in

Congress on constitutional reform and a referendum on regional autonomy.

"I urge this country to return to calm," the leader added.

He also called on the Roman Catholic church to sponsor a "national meeting"

of politicians and social leaders to calm the unrest.

Protesters took to the streets after the parliament passed a law on May 17 to

levy a 50-percent tax on foreign oil and gas companies operating in the

country which boasts an estimated 48.7 trillion cubic meters of natural gas,

the second-highest reserves in South America after Venezuela.

Trade unions, including the Regional Trade Union and the Bolivian Central

Trade Union, and farmer, indigenous and student organizations participated in

the demonstrations to push for a rewrite of the constitution and for

nationalization of the naturalgas wealth.

Demonstrators also demanded the resignation of President Mesa, the closing of

the congress and the trial of ex-president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada who

resigned in October 2003.

Demonstration has turned into riots since May 24 when marchers blocked a

downtown square in La Paz, where the executive and legislative departments

are located, and began to smash windows inbuildings and cars in the

surrounding streets.

Mesa released a statement Wednesday, calling on the demonstrators to "respect

the president of the republic, the national government and people in

general."

*Bolivia rejects OAS intervention in internal crisis

Bolivia rejects any kind of intervention in its internal affairs by the

Organization of American States (OAS), the Bolivian Foreign Ministry said

Thursday.

"The social difficulties faced by the country will be sorted out by the

Bolivian people within the framework of their institutions and democratic

mechanisms," the ministry said in a statement.

It added that the country's constitution has not been revised "to justify a

mediation" from the international community or "friend countries," according

to reports from La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia.

The statement came after the OAS said it may discuss the political situation

in Bolivia at a general assembly session, which will be held next week in the

United States.

The current unrest in Bolivia was sparked by a law passed by the congress

imposing a 50-percent tax on foreign oil and gas companies operating in the

country.

Opponents first demanded higher taxes but gradually turned their demand to

the resignation of President Carlos Mesa, the nationalization of the

lucrative oil and gas industry, the closing of the congress and a call for a

constitutional assembly.

Argentine Ambassador to Bolivia Horacio Mercado said last week that Bolivia

has turned down an offer from Argentina to mediate in its internal conflict.

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TODAY'S CONTENTS
=========================================
*Feature Article: Pacheco Will Not Give Up His Immunity
*Feature Article 2: Bolanos Delcares State of Emergency in Nicaragua

*News Digest

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FEATURE ARTICLE
=========================================
*Pacheco Will Not Give Up His Immunity in the Face of Accusations Against Him

President Abel Pacheco, following accusations of irregularities for accepting

and not reporting gifts, including the use of free tickets provided by TACA

airlines, said yesterday he won't give up his immunity in the investigation,

but will answer a call by the Ministerio Público and/or the Asamblea

Legislative.

The President is involved in accusations of wrongdoing when it was discovered

that Spanish businessman Bernardo Martín was appointed Honourary Consul for

Costa Rica in Sevilla, Spain, is also a partner in a development project in

Papagayo (Guanacaste) that is being headed by former Tourism Minister, Rubén

Pacheco, that requires a government concession to develop the property.

Bernardo Martín is also responsible for the free publication of President

Pacheco's book which was unveiled in December 2004, in Sevilla, when he was

accompanied by his former minister and Chief Protocol officer, Jorge Arce,

who resigned on Monday after it was discovered that he also acted as legal

counsel for Bernardo Martín.

The storm that is surrounding the President is growing every day, slowing to

become a hurricane, as the Fiscalía decided to open an investigation into

accusations.

Pacheco said he won't give up his immunity "because it would be foolish of

him, but God will help. That is what my enemies want, because if for the sake

of transparency, I give it up, at the same moment, they will make 60 charges,

60 trials or maybe 200, and I will spend my life defending the accusations

and not governing."

Pacheco added that it has been difficult concentrating on governing this past

week amid all the accusations and mudslinging and that if he gave up his

immunity he would be spending most of his time from court to court, but it

doesn't mean he won't answer to calls made against him, he will not hide his

face and make himself available to the judicial system and Costaricans.

"I am not hiding from the Fiscalía (prosecutor's office) and the moment the

fiscal general, Francisco Dall’Anesse, calls me I will go to him and give him

a full accounting of my actions, with all my conscience and clarity. I may

have mistakes, but that I acted in bad faith, not in a moment" added Pacheco.

To clear matters up, Pacheco said that he paid out of his own pocket the trip

to Spain and 3 day vacation to the Cayman Islands on the return leg of the

trip last December. He also assured that he has returned the lifetime

membership he received in Capa Cana in the Dominican Republic and that he

will never be back there.

He said he paid for the costs incurred on that part of the trip and will also

pay for the free tickers given to the government by TACA airlines for the San

José - Miami - San José leg of the trip to Spain.

Pacheco said that the "tarjeta azul" is given to all the presidents of the

Central American nations by the airline which saves the government money for

presidential travel. "Here there is a persecution against the President of

the Repubic. It hasn't occurred to anyone to ask the other Central American

presidents to give back their blue cards, given as a courtesy by TACA. These

attacks against the presidents are not good for the country" said Pacheco.

Since Monday, Jorge Arce, Pacheco's chief protocol officer has resigned and

former minister Rubén Pacheco has been removed from the President's counsel

on economic matters and Bernardo Martin resigned his post as Honourary Consul

for Costa Rica in Sevilla.

COMMENT: Well well well! A few years ago, Pacheco said he would give up
his immunity when he was accused of illegal campaign contributions from
some of the same sources that landed two other ex presidents in jail. But
apparantly, now that things have heated up considerably, he has suddenly
changed his mind! Among his connections in Spain, might we discover that
the folks behind RETIVE, the illegal private monopoly to check cars, have
enjoyed the same benefits and privileges as the Spanish businessman involved
in this scheme? INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!

========================================
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FEATURE ARTICLE 2
=========================================
*Power shortage draws decree of emergency

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — The President of Nicaragua, Enrique Bolaños Geyer, has

suspended by presidential decree the constitutional rights to petition,

assembly and protest as well as access to the court system. Also suspended

are the rights to immediate injunctive relief (recurso de amparo and recurso

de exhibición personal) as complementary measures. All the suspensions are

part of a decree of an economic state of emergency.

The decree includes an immediate emergency energy rate increase in an effort

to solve the continuing crisis of power generation in Nicaragua. The

constitutional rights that are specifically suspended are contained in

articles, 32, 45 and 52 of the Nicaraguan Constitution. These rights, by

presidential decree, are suspended for a term of six months unless the decree

is rejected by the National Assembly.

The president also decreed an 11.83 percent rate increase in favor of Unión

Fenosa, the Spanish multinational energy provider, increasing the cost of

electrical energy for all Nicaraguan consumers of more than 150 kilowatt

hours in one month. Energy suppliers to Unión Fenosa had turned off a portion

of the generating system last week forcing the Nicaraguan government to

purchase electrical energy from the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad

in Costa Rica at higher marginal prices to cover the energy shortfall and

avoid blackouts.

The suspension of constitutional rights is unprecedented in modern Nicaraguan

history. All of the members of the cabinet, with the notable exception of

Vice President Jose Rizo, signed the decree in public support of Bolaños.

Rizo refused to sign the document stating that it was an "additional attempt

to cause friction between the legislative and executive branches of

government." Bolaños retorted by stating that Rizo was a "solitary voice and

playing games."

Bolaños also announced that he was informing the United Nations of his

actions as well as the Organization of American States, which already is

scheduled to discuss the Nicaraguan political situation in a meeting next

week.

The National Assembly has only 72 hours to accept, reject or modify the

declared state of emergency from the date of publication in La Gazeta, the

national journal of Nicaraguan governmental affairs.

Both major political parties have sworn to reject the decree which may be

acted upon as early as today. Wilfredo Navarro, vice president of the

National Assembly, declared that the entire state of emergency was a "smoke

screen" for the benefit of Unión Fenosa and an effort to gather power in a

continuing battle by Bolaños against the National Assembly.

Sandinista Deputy José Figueroa stated that his party categorically rejects

the suspension of Nicaraguan constitutional rights without giving details

regarding further legislative actions. The veto, if in fact voted upon by the

deputies, will be easily rejected as 82 of the 92 votes of the Assembly are

controlled by the Partido Liberal Constitutionalista and Sandinista.

Political commentators also noted that the Dirección General de Impuestos,

the Nicaraguan tax agency, was commencing an audit process for all of the

individual returns of the members of the Assembly. This announcement is the

latest salvo in the war between governmental powers.

Deputies had cut $1.8 million dollars from the DGI budget last week

purportedly in retaliation for the enforcement of a tax lien imposed by DGI

against the bank accounts of the assembly. The DGI said the lien was due to

the alleged failure of the assembly to collect taxes from its members and

staff.

*Nicaraguan vice president urges rejection of state of economic

Nicaraguan Vice President Jose Rizo Castellon called on the National Assembly

on Tuesday to reject the "state of economic emergency" proposed in a decree

by President Enrique Bolanos and seek stability of the country.

Rizo said in a television program that he would ask his party, the Liberal

Constitutionalist, to reject the decree at the National Assembly as soon as

possible and seek dialogue with the executive power to search for solutions

based on consensus.

The economic emergency decree would only worsen the crisis instead of

overcoming it, he added.

Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos decreed on Monday a state of economic

emergency for 180 days in an attempt to tide over an energy crisis that has

forced a three-hours-a day rationing of electricity supply in the country.

Rizo said the emergency decree "does not produce initiatives to seek strong

alternatives to end the national energy crisis, and does not contain any

single idea on how to cope with the economic crisis."

"The solution will not be found by Bolanos alone," said the vice president,

who also suggested a national consensus on making a series of laws to cope

with the economic and energy crisis.

Bolanos said earlier that the current energy crisis was due to high fuel

prices. He announced on Monday an increase in the electricity rate by 11.83

percent for users who consume more than 150 kwh a month, but the date for the

decree to come into effect has not been decided yet. Only one-fourth of

electricity users will be affected by the surcharge.

Bolanos should send the decree to the country's National Assembly for

discussion and approval within 72 hours from its publication in the Official

Gazette.

=========================================
NEWS DIGEST
=========================================
*Fiscalía Asks TACA For Information on Free Tickets Used by President Pacheco

The accusations against President Abel Pacheco receiving unreported gifts and

the resignation of the President's Chief Protocol officer on Monday prompted

the Fiscalía de Delitos Económicos to open an investigation (Prosecutor's

office for ecomonic crimes) into the matter.

One of the first stops for the Fiscales (prosecutors) was at the airline

TACA, which last week made public that it donated, in the normal course of

business, the airline tickets used by the president Pacheco to Miami and back

for his personal trip to Spain in December of 2004.

The airline made it clear that it is a normal practice to give free tickets

to the government - the Ministerio de la Presidencia and Aviacion Civil - and

that the tickets used by the President were not given to him directly, but to

the government.

On Tuesday, the Fiscalía General de la República began collecting information

after having made a direct request, in writing, to the airline about

furnishing specific information referring to the free tickets used by

president Pacheco.

However, reports from the prosecutor's office say that Mario Zamora, general

manager for the airline, made a personal visit to the Fiscalía, to explain to

how exactly the "tarjeta azul" works, which provides free flights to

presidents of the Central American nations it flies to and from.

TACA airlines is based in El Salvador. Developing a strategic alliance with

the flag airlines of Guatemala (AVIATECA), Costa Rica (LACSA), and Nicaragua

(NICA), in the early 90's TACA consolidated operations under the name of

GRUPO TACA, thereby transforming the company into one of the most efficient

transportation systems in Latin America.

Currently, with a record of 92% on-time arrivals, TACA serves 34 cities in 19

countries on board the newest fleet across the three Americas, including 10

major cities in the United States, Toronto in Canada, Mexico City, all of the

countries of Central America, and the most important business and tourist

destinations in South America and the Caribbean.

*Ruben Pacheco Donates to Arias Presidential Campaign

Hedging his bets, former Tourism Minister and businessman, Rubén Pacheco

Lutz, who is involved in the controversy surrounding the granting of

concessions for his Papagayo project, is also a contributor to presidential

candidate Óscar Arias.

Last year, Pacheco Lutz donated ¢2.250.000 colones (us$4.750) to Arias' bid

for the presidential chair in 2006.

The news of the contribution was released yesterday by Martha Zamora, of the

Partido Accion Ciudana (PAC) party and backed by a publication in the Spanish

daily newspaper Al Día in November of 2004, naming Pacheco Lutz as one of the

165 contributors to Arias.

Arias' chief campaign manager confirmed the donation yesterday.

Pacheco Lutz is square in the middle of the storm surrounding his former

boss, President Abel Pacheco. Lutz accompanied the president on two trip to

Spain last year where he met Spanish businessman Bernando Martin, who later

became a partner in his Papagayo project to develop four lots, under a

government grant of concession, to build a residential community and hotel

that would include a 18 hole gold course.

Bernardo Martin was named Honourary Consul for Costa Rica for Sevilla, Spain

and published free of charge President Pacheco's book last of poems last

December.

Pacheco Lutz was also counsel to the government - the same government who

granted his project the concession - on economic matters. He was dismissed

from the counsel yesterday.

Arias is a front runner to win the presidential elections in 2006.

*Rising River Water Sweeps Away Vehicles

The alert went out that an automobile and it's occupants had been swept by

the rising waters of the La Gloria river in Jacó.

The call immediately sent into action local rescue workers and additional

help was requested from nearby Parrita, which since Monday night went looking

for the disappeared.

Following several hours of search, the vehicle was located but not it's

occupants, which led rescue workers to intensify their efforts.

Using kayaks, rescue workers navigated the river to the point it flowed into

the Pacific in the hopes of finding the occupants alive, but ready for the

gruesome task of recovering the bodies.

However, rescue workers got a surprise when they found Robert Sherman, the

American who had rented the vehicle, relaxing in a cabin. The car had gotten

stuck in the mud and decided to leave it - abandoning it completely - and

take a break.

Nearby, Austin Paine, also told authorities that his car had gotten stuck in

the mud and with the help of those nearby, they were able to pull it out,

though the water caused sufficient damage to the vehicle.

*Was it Wet Enough for You Yesterday?

Accodring to the weatherman - Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) - a low

pressure system coming from Panama is producing heavier than normal rains in

the Pacific coast and affecting the Central Valley (San José) as well.

The last couple of mornings San José has been waking up cloudy and wet from

rain during the night.

NOrmal for this time of year, is sunny and hot for the norming, clouding over

by mid-day and then mild to heavy rains for the afternoon. By the evening

hours the rain has stopped and repeats the following day.

However, for the next couple of days there will be more frequent and heavy

rain. The weatherman says it should all be back to normal by Friday.

*Costa Rica's National Team

Costa Rica has a long soccer history, one which dates back well before most

American fans came to know them through World Cup Qualifying. The Federación

Costarricense de Fútbol (FEDEFUTBOL) was founded in 1921, and gained FIFA

affiliation in 1927.

But although they won the championship of the old Confederation of Central

American and Caribbean Football seven times between 1941 and 1961, the

"Ticos" did not qualify for the World Cup until 1990, when Bora Milutinovic -

coaching the second of the five national teams he has led, after Mexico in

1986 - took another underdog to soccer's greatest stage.

Once in Italy, Milutinovic and Costa Rica pulled off one of the shocks of the

tournament. After stunning Scotland, 1-0, and losing to Brazil by the same

score, the Ticos came from behind to upset Sweden, 2-1, with a 75th minute

equalizer from Roger Flores and an 88th minute game-winner from Hernan

Medford, who has since become a familiar name to many North American soccer

fans. But the dream run ended with a 4-1 loss to Czechoslovakia in the Round

of 16.

In qualifying for the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, Costa Rica suffered

considerably from bad luck of the draw. The 1992 group stage put them with

Mexico and Honduras in Group A, and both of those teams tied for first with

13 points and advanced to the final round. The Ticos finished with nine

points.

In 1997, Costa Rica made it to CONCACAF's Hexagonal round, and it was here

that they first got into the consciences of many American fans. Battling

neck-and-neck with Jamaica for the third ticket to France, things were

looking up after a 3-1 win over the Reggae Boyz at the Estadio Saprissa in

San José. But then the wheels started to come off. Canada pulled an upset

with a 1-0 win in Edmonton, and El Salvador scrapped to a scoreless tie in

San José, while Jamaica defeated both teams 1-0 on home soil. So the Ticos

went to Portland, Ore., needing a result against the United States to get

back on track.

However, US midfielder Tab Ramos had other ideas. His stunning goal from long

range shook both the Civic Stadium roof and North American soccer to their

foundations, and left Costa Rica with a lot of work to do. Then came a trip

to Kingston, and with the National Stadium's nickname of "The Office" ringing

truer than ever, the Reggae Boys earned a 1-0 win of their own and all but

crushed Costa Rica's dreams of croissants and the Eiffel Tower.

But the Ticos kept fighting, and pulled off arguably one of the biggest

upsets in North American soccer history when they tied Mexico, 3-3, at the

Estadio Azteca. It was the first time Mexico had ever not won a World Cup

Qualifier in the legendary stadium. It wasn't enough though, as Jamaica

managed draws in every game the rest of the way, and took third place with 14

points to Costa Rica's 12.

Then came the road to South Korea and Japan, and this time Costa Rica had all

the weapons necessary to finally make it back to the World Cup. But once

again, the qualifying draw served up a hard path to success. Yet, what should

have been one of the easiest games turned out to be a disaster, as the

Barbados pulled off a 2-1 upset on home soil in Bridgetown.

A controversial 2-1 win over the United States in San José did nothing to

quiet alarm bells over coach Alexandre Guimaraes' future - and crowd trouble

forced the crucial game against Guatemala to be played in Alajuela instead of

the capital.

But a 3-0 revenge of the "Bajan Rockets" on the home side's return to San

José, and a 0-0 tie with the US in Columbus, Ohio let everyone breath a

little more easily. But then came a trip to Mazatenango, Guatemala, with

nerves up and down the continent frayed since Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the

US were all within a point of each other. The US took care of business with a

4-0 win at the Barbados, but Guatemala beat the Ticos, 2-1, and forced a

playoff for the last spot in the Hexagonal round.

So the two teams went to the Orange Bowl, and finally Costa Rica got all of

their cylinders firing when they needed them, cruising to a 5-2 win. And this

time, they kept it up all the way through the final round, including a 2-1

win in Mexico City - Mexico's first ever loss in World Cup Qualifying at the

Azteca - and the ultimate revenge for 1998, a 1-0 win in Kingston on the last

day of qualifying which sealed first place for the Ticos with 23 points.

Costa Rica's 2002 World Cup roster featured many players familiar to American

soccer fans. Among the famous names: Former New England Revolution

midfielders William Sunsing, Mauricio Solis and Mauricio Wright, forwards

Ronald Gomez and Hernan Medford, and, of course, Manchester City forward

Paulo Wanchope, arguably Costa Rica's greatest ever player.

All that attacking power helped the Ticos impress fans worldwide, especially

in the 5-2 loss to Brazil. Unfortunately, that game also sent Costa Rica

home, as a 3-0 win over China and a 1-1 tie against Turkey left them just

short of the second round on goal differential.

Suffice to say, though, that nobody will be overlooking Costa Rica on the

road to the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and that expectations for success will

be just as high at home as they have ever been.

As of May 31, Costa Rica sits tied for third in the final round of CONCACAF

World Cup qualifying.

The Ticos and Guatemala each have four points, two behind the U.S., which has

six points, and three behind Mexico with seven.

The top three teams will advance to the 2006 World Cup, while the fourth

place team will face an Asian team in a playoff for a spot

*Bolivian president warns of using force to end unrest

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa warned Tuesday of possible intervention of the

armed forces, should the political and social crisis in the country worsens.

Calling for peace and dialogue with opponents, Mesa said that in an extreme

case, the military will put down any attempt to destabilize the country. It

is the right of the Bolivian nation to defend itself, he said.

Unrest spilt over to La Paz, the seat of government, on Tuesday as protests

escalated in the neighboring city El Alto, according to reports from La Paz.

Thousands of demonstrators marched through downtown La Paz to rally at

Murillo Square, where the executive and legislative departments are located,

demanding the nationalization of the oil industry and the rejection of

autonomy demands by four regions.

The protesters cut off airport access and blocked main roads, isolating La

Paz from the rest of the country.

Trade unions, including the Regional Trade Union and the Bolivian Central

Trade Union, and farmer, indigenous and student organizations participated in

the demonstrations.

Demonstrators also demanded the resignation of President Mesa, the closing of

the congress and the trial of ex-president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who

resigned in October 2003.

Security was beefed up on Murillo Square as legislators convened on Tuesday

for their first session after a week-long recession.

The congress aims to address issues such as the modification of the recently

enacted Hydrocarbons Law, the call for a Constitutional Assembly and a bill

that would decide how greater autonomy would be granted to Bolivia's regions.

=========================================
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This publication is designed to have one display add
between each article or section. Thus, the more
articles or sections we have per day, the more room we
have for advertisements. Advertisements are filled
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We give you hard hitting, timely, common sense articles and
news that the mainstream, or corporate media, either will
not or cannot give you. Several times a week we bring you
an up to date digest on what is going on in the world around
you.

At The Costa Rica Digest, we don't give you hype or BS or
"common knowledge" solutions, but we aim to give you
the cutting edge information you need. If you wish to
become a writer for us, submit your article[s] for
approval to costarica@destiny-worldwide.net. We cannot
pay for articles, but, instead, you may include a resource
box at the end of your article promoting your website
or product. We welcome submissions of all kinds to
make this a great publication for all to read!
=========================================
Find out about our OTHER Exciting E-mail groups on a broad
range of important topics. Subscription boxes for all of
them may be found here:

http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/boards.htm

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The Costa Rica Page --
The Fun, the Sun.... The business opportunity
http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/costa-rica/

Your Safe, Secure, Offshore Payment Processor
http://www.offshorearnings.com

-----------------> Visit our Blogs! <-----------------
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----> The Real Truth http://destiny-worldwide.blogspot.com/
----> Costa Rica News http://costa-rica-news.blogspot.com/

=========================================

2005-05-30T13:32:00.000-06:00

=========================================
>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
=========================================

A publication of Destiny Worldwide Net
http://www.destiny-worldwide.net

Also Visit the Costa Rica Page:
http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/costa-rica/

Subscribe: costa-rica-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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=========================================
TODAY'S CONTENTS
=========================================
*Feature Article: Pacheco in More Trouble
*News Digest

=========================================
SO, YA WANNA MOVE TO COSTA RICA?
=========================================
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Buyer's brokerage, Businesses for sale and opportunities,
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DESTINY WORLDWIDE -- THE SERVICES YOU NEED, AT PRICES YOU
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FEATURE ARTICLE
=========================================
*President Pacheco in More Hot Water

President Abel Pacheco continues to be on the heat seat following several

admitted irregularities over the receipt of a lifetime membership to a luxury

club in the Dominican Republic and free airline tickets by the TACA Group

airline.

Now, there is a question on how, Bernardo Martín Moreno, the president of the

Immobiliaria Somersen, a real estate company in Sevilla, Spain, came to be

Costa Rica's honorary consul in Sevilla. Moreno is also the president of the

Martín Robles foundation that dedicates time and money to art and culture.

In April of 2004, the President, accompanied by his wife and chief protocol

officer at Casa Presidencial, Jorge Arce, and former Tourism Minister, Rubén

Pacheco, travelled to Sevilla for a private vacation where they met with the

businessman.

In July of 2004, Bernardo Martín Moreno founds in Costa Rica the corporation

Somersen Costa Rica SA, of which he is president and Fernando Pablo Méndez,

another foreigner is vice-president.

In less than a month, Bernando sends a letter to director of the Golfo de

Papagayo (Guanacaste) expressing his intention for the Somersen company to

participate as a partner in the Enjoy Hotels and Resorts, who is represented

by former minister Rubén Pacheco.

The project, based on the representation by the former Tourism minister, is

to build a residential community, hotel and an 18 hole golf course.

And it is at this time that Bernardo Martín Moreno is named as honorary

consul in Sevilla, Spain, as it is listed in the Foreign Ministry's website

of official consuls. The naming of Bernardo was confirmed by protocol chief,

Jorge Arce.

Five months later, in December of 2004, President Pacheco decides to visit

Spain again for his holiday vacation to announce the introduction of his new

book "Poemas y cuentos" which was published free of charge by the Martín

Robles foundation, headed by Bernardo Martín Moreno.

So, now, Bernardo is not only a real estate businessman in Spain, but also in

Costa Rica who has expressed an interest for a state owned concession (the

Papagayo project is under strict government control) and is also the honorary

consul for Costa Rica in Sevilla.

Accompanying the president in the December trip is again protocol chief Arce

and former minister Pacheco, who will could soon be Bernardo's partner. And

the former minister, notwithstanding that he had resigned his post at

Tourism, was still participating in government economic consulting sessions

and as an assistant to the president.

The December trip is also when president Pacheco decided to head to the Grand

Cayman islands, where he spent Christmas, following his book launching in

Spain. And it is this trip that raised the question of the TACA flight that

took him from San José to Miami and back that was not paid for by the

president, but donated by the airline to the government.

In mid-January of this year, the powerful public workers union, ANEP, sends

president Pacheco a strong letter asking for explanations on the financing of

his book and the business at Papagayo.

The ANEP letter heavily criticizes the foundation that published the book and

the negotiations of Rubén Pacheco and his role in getting a government

concession at the Papagayo project.

Notwithstanding the letter, and that the ANEP in October of 2004 had charged

that there was influence peddling going on at Papagayo, President Pacheco

only defended his book publication, saying that it was the Ateneo de España

that promoted the book and arranged for the illustrations and the

publications, all at no cost and has said nothing about the rest.

The situation is starting to look bad for the president, because in March of

this year, records show that a new company was formed in Costa Rica -

Somersen Enjoy SA - with lists Rubén Pacheco as president of the corporation

and Bernardo Martín Moreno as chief operating officer.

Making matters even worse is that Jorge Arce, Pacheco's chief protocol

officer, and who accompanied him on both trips to Spain, maintains a

professional connection to Bernardo Martín Moreno.

Arce acts as legal counsel for the Spanish businessman.

Though his protocol chief assures that there is no conflict of interest

offering his legal services to the president of Somersen and the foundation

that published president Pacheco's book.

Arce also insists that he has provided no services with respect to the

Papagayo project and the concession and insists that the professional

relationship is new.

Rubén Pacheco defends the role of Bernardo as a good businessman, meanwhile,

the President Pacheco continues to duck the issue, refusing to make things

clear.

His press secretary, Carolina Murillo, advises that a statement will be made

soon by the president on the matter.

=========================================
DISCUSSION
=========================================

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Rica discussion group. You will either get an
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NEWS DIGEST
=========================================
*Arias Would Win the Vote But Not the Election, Poll Shows

A recent poll by Borge y Asociados, puts Óscar Arias, presidential candidate

for the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) clear ahead of his rivals with a

difference of some 17 percentage points.

The poll was taken between May 13 and May 20 with more than 400 adults from

all over the country interviewed. The results have a margin of error of 5

percentage points.

One of the questions put to the people was: who would you vote for if the

elections where held today? 46.1% said they would decline to cast their vote,

while 25.7% said they would vote for the Liberacionista (Arias).

Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC), Ottón Solís got a 8.7% response, while

Ricardo Toledo, of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), a 5.6%.

Antonio Álvarez Desanti, of the Unión para el Cambio (UPC) got 4.1% and Otto

Guevara, of the Movimiento Libertario, was last at only 3.3%.

Notwithstanding that Arias would today win the vote from among those decided

to vote, he would not win the election, not reaching the required 40% of the

majority vote as spelled out in the Código Electoral - Elections Code.

Some experts say this election campaign will be very interesting, as most

candidates have no real identity to their parties.

This election a high number of young voters are expected to participate in

the election, who have no identity to a party or historic grouping of the

traditional politics for the "red" and "green" parties, the two parties that

have exclusively ruled politics in Costa Rica until the 2002 elections.

The scandals and accusations of corruption could also influence the vote, as

two former presidents (Calderón and Rodríguez) are under house arrest and the

current president on the hot seat over irregularities, belong to the same

party - the PUSC - and another former president (Figueres) has refused to

return to Costa Rica is for the PLN. For now, it seems that the Figueres

thing is all forgotten, but it could play a role in the election campaign

against the PLN.

*Buying a Used Car in Costa Rica Can be Tricky Business.

Making sure that the vehicle is mechanically sound, that all the accessories

work, there are no leans registered against the vehicle and that ownership

and registration is good are just part of a sound purchase

However, an additional requirement is needed - driving around to make sure

the vehicle you are intending to purchase is the only one on the road. Uh?

that the vehicle is not "twinned".

Such was the scope of an investigation by the Unidad de Robo de Vehículos del

Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) that took several months to

complete and came up with 15 "twinned" vehicles, which investigations believe

is only a small amount of the real number of duplicated vehicles circulating

on Costa Rican roads.

The investigation began in December when records show that several different

people were paying for the Marchamo - the he right of vehicle circulation

which is paid annually - for the same car and in more than one case at the

same time, leaving authorities to believe that there were two or more

vehicles circulating with the same license plate and original registration

documents.

"Twinning" is when two or more vehicles are circulating with the original

registration documents issued by the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS). The

documentation continues with the RTV, the annual vehicle inspection and the

ownership card issed by the Registro Nacional.

Investigators say that the 15 vehicles confiscate by the OIJ were purchased

by their current owners at a low price from uknowns who'se sales pitch was of

a distress sale. Sellers of "twinned" cars take advantage of those who are

looking for a "deal" on a used car and don't take the time for due diligence.

Authorities advise that before buying a vehicle they should double check the

vehicle's registration and purchase only from known persons (take down the

identification of the person selling the car, phone number, as much

information of the seller as possible) or from registered car lots, to avoid

losing money in possibly buying a "twinned" vehicle.

*Tamarindo Spoils Customers with Bank Offer

Banking, once the bane of every Tamarindo resident and tourist alike, is

about to spoil them with choice.

Four banks are currently fighting for locations in Tamarindo, and the

competition is heating up for offices in completed shopping centers.

BAC San José, Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Cuscatlán will all be moving into

Tamarindo to rival for a share of the financial services market, including

account management, loans and commission-based transactions.

Until now, Tamarindo and area residents have had to make do with a single

branch of the Banco Nacional to service all of their financial transactions,

as well as those of the thousands of tourists the town draws in, often daily.

In January, Banco de Costa Rica announced they would be opening a new branch

in Tamarindo in response to the 'exponential growth' in the volume of

business the town was generating, and following the success of their Flamingo

branch.

This week Edelberto Leal, Regional Chief for the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR),

confirmed the Tamarindo branch would open in August.

"We have the personnel but we want to do some further training," he says.

"They are qualified and bi-lingual and are mostly from Santa Cruz. We also

have a girl from Nicoya."

Mr Leal also confirmed BCR had found a location, but not the one it had

wanted.

BAC San José, the second largest private bank in Costa Rica and a subsidiary

of BAC International Bank, apparently beat them to the punch, recently

unveiling a branch in the newly-built Plaza Conchal in Tamarindo, much to the

chagrin of Mr Leal.

"I had been negotiating that space for a long time and it is the one we

wanted," he said. "Being a State bank we have to go through a process, but

private banks can make this decision quicker."

He confirmed that BCR will occupy another, larger space towards the back of

the shopping plaza.

BAC San José currently has 31 branches in Costa Rica. The Tamarindo branch

will be its second in Guanacaste, after Liberia.

The privately-owned Banco Cuscatlán has also confirmed that they will be

opening a new branch in Tamarindo, but would not reveal the location, nor a

scheduled opening date.

Regardless, the news of four banks where there used to be one, is likely to

come as good news for much of Tamarindo�s population.

In the past, even simple transactions such as cashing a check could take up

to an hour, with only three tellers to process the volume of customers filing

into the branch. Since Internet banking in Costa Rica is not yet equipped to

allow transfers between different banks, businesses were often forced to open

a second bank account, with the second branch up to 30 minutes away.

"We will have to wait and see," says Jorge Contreras of Client Services for

Banco Nacional in Tamarindo, in response to questions of the fresh

competition. " I am sure some people will go and experiment in other banks."

Banco Nacional, which since its arrival into Tamarindo in 1999 has had a

monopoly on the banking services in the area, is examining ways of

maintaining its share of business in the face of new competition, including

reinstating their loans service, which had ceased eight months ago.

"We have re-introduced loans for small businesses, for housing," confirmed Mr

Contreras. "This includes foreigners if they have residency, and can

demonstrate they are living here."

"Banco Nacional continues with the idea of expanding its services," he added.

"There was the possibility that we would move to a bigger space, but the

negotiations fell through. For the time being we are staying where we are."

*Pressured, Bolivian President Refuses to Resign

The administration of Bolivian President Carlos Mesa asserted he would

continue in his post, despite entrepreneurs, politicians, radical leaders and

even two insubordinate officers have asked him to resign.

Demands are ironically multiplying following two months of Mesa´s resignation

request to the Congress, which did not accept it.

Thus, he proposed to hold elections in advance to try to leave the

presidency, but once more, the entity turned down his decision.

On the issue, Presidency Minister Jose Galindo made it cleared that Mesa

would remain in the post until his mandate ends.

The president is governing and will govern until August 6 2007, as stipulated

by the Constitution, noted Jose Galindo in response to assessments by the

Bolivian Business Confederation and the Industry and Trade Chamber of the

city of Santa Cruz, which said Mesa should resign and call for advanced

elections if he is not unable to govern and re-establish order.

Members of the Nationalist Democratic Action Party, of former dictator Hugo

Banzer, and the National Union, of wealthy entrepreneur Samuel Doria Medina

considered Mesa´s resignation would resolve the situation.

On Wednesday, two officers who were expelled from the army for

insubordination also asked the current statesman to resign.

Congress President Hormando Vaca Diez (Social Democracy Party) only said Mesa

had to use his powers because the country faced a chaos.

Amid this panorama, the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, of ex president

Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, urged Mesa to call a state of siege, while

Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement to Socialism) leader Evo Morales expressed

his concern about stepped-up pressures for Mesa´s resignation, which he

considered that would not resolve the crisis.

Morales said the crisis could only be solved through a constituent assembly.

Meanwhile, people´s organizations informed their protests, which started on

May 16, would continue until next Monday, when more people will incorporate

to them.

Bolivians have been demanding to call to a constituent assembly and

nationalize or regain the hydrocarbon control.

=========================================
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Email us at the above address for more details.
=========================================
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=========================================
We give you hard hitting, timely, common sense articles and
news that the mainstream, or corporate media, either will
not or cannot give you. Several times a week we bring you
an up to date digest on what is going on in the world around
you.

At The Costa Rica Digest, we don't give you hype or BS or
"common knowledge" solutions, but we aim to give you
the cutting edge information you need. If you wish to
become a writer for us, submit your article[s] for
approval to costarica@destiny-worldwide.net. We cannot
pay for articles, but, instead, you may include a resource
box at the end of your article promoting your website
or product. We welcome submissions of all kinds to
make this a great publication for all to read!
=========================================
Find out about our OTHER Exciting E-mail groups on a broad
range of important topics. Subscription boxes for all of
them may be found here:

http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/boards.htm

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Destiny Central Success Resources
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The Costa Rica Page --
The Fun, the Sun.... The business opportunity
http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/costa-rica/

Your Safe, Secure, Offshore Payment Processor
http://www.offshorearnings.com

-----------------> Visit our Blogs! <-----------------
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----> The Real Truth http://destiny-worldwide.blogspot.com/
----> Costa Rica News http://costa-rica-news.blogspot.com/

=========================================

2005-05-27T14:54:00.000-06:00

Note: We are sending the Digest out to more groups than usual today to let you know we're BACK! If you want to receive the digest without missing an issue, please subscribe to the Costa Rica newsgroup, where it will be forwarded each and every time!

Enjoy!

John

=========================================
>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
=========================================

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Also Visit the Costa Rica Page:
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*We're BAACK!

*News Digest

=========================================
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=========================================
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Buyer's brokerage, Businesses for sale and opportunities,
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innovative shipping solutions, and much more:
http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/costa-rica/business.htm

DESTINY WORLDWIDE -- THE SERVICES YOU NEED, AT PRICES YOU
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WE'RE BACK!
=========================================
After a short absense, with today's digest, we are
starting regular publication of the News Digest again.

Shortly, we may luanch a web based edition as well.

Lots of things have changed at the Costa Rica Page,
including our new online guidebook. You also need
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If you are in investor, take advantage of the HIGH
LOCAL MORTGAGE RATES, without incurring any more risk
than you would back home, when done right. And if you
are a borrower, let us match you with an investor!

Contrary to popular belief, mortgages for foreigners
are NOT generally available in Costa Rica, and, for
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WE AIM TO CHANGE THIS!

You can access our online submissiton form for BOTH
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TO ENJOY!

John

=========================================
DISCUSSION
=========================================

Please send your discussion topics to our Costa
Rica discussion group. You will either get an
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=========================================
NEWS DIGEST
=========================================
* Pacheco In More Trouble Over Gifts

President Abel Pacheco continues to draw fire over accepting gifts and

bonuses for personal use.

Earlier this week, the Internal Auditor at Casa Presidencial, Herberth

Villavicencio, reprimanded the President in a letter, for accepting a

lifetime membership for he and his wife by the government of the Dominican

Republic, contrary to the new law "Ley contra la Corrupción y Enriquecimiento

Ilícito" - the new anti-corruption law.

Yesterday, Telenoticias, the local television channel 7 news, reports another

Presidential indiscretion; this one dating back to December of 2004, when the

President and his wife travelled to Spain for a vacation and his book

opening.

According to the Telenoticias investigation, the president paid from his

personal pocketbook the flight from Miami to Madrid and Seville and back to

Miami at a cost of ¢1.061.855 colones (us$2.300).

The question, however, is how did the president get to and from Miami from

Costa Rica?

An investigation to answer that question reveals that TACA airlines did not

charge the President the San José - Miami - San José portion of the trip.

Telenoticias was able to corroborate the fact the the President used tickets

given to the government by the airline, valued at ¢270.000 colones (us$565),

for he and his wife for the vacation trip.

Mario Zamora, manager of TACA airline in Costa Rica, confirmed that the two

tickers were issued to the President and his wife, following news reports

that the President was travelling to Miami.

The airline customarily provides the government of Costa Rica, primarily the

Ministerio de la Presidencia and Aviacion Civil, free passage on it's

airline. Zamora was emphatic that the free tickets are issued to the

government and no particular person or for personal use, and based on a

regulation by Aviación Civil.

The value of the tickets exceeded the "salario base" rule of the new

anti-corruption law.

The "salario base" in December of 2004 was ¢167.800 colones (us$355) while

the value of the tickets exceed that, which meant the President was obligated

to have reported it.

President Pacheco explained that the December trip was a "completely personal

trip" and nothing to do with his official capacity.

The anti-corruption law, signed by President Pacheco himself, came into

effect on October 29, 2004, less than two months before the president

accepted the free flight.

Article 20 of the anti-corruption law is clear that any donations and gifts

received by a public official as a courtesy or diplomatic protocol are

considered property of the state if the value is over the "salario base".

This is the second time in a week that President Pacheco is in hot water over

his trips abroad.

*Proposed immigration bill ups rentista amount

An amendment to the proposed immigration reform law says that a husband and

wife seeking rentista status here must show a monthly income of $2,000. And

they must show an additional $500 a month for each dependent they bring with

them.

The immigration law is approaching a vote in the Asamblea Legislativa, and

the draft of the bill was made available by the legislative services

department of the assembly.

*Immigration Will Issue Passports,
Residency Cards with New Technology

The Costa Rican government will begin issuing new types of passports and

residency cards for foreigners next year in efforts to reduce forgery.

Immigration Director Marco Badilla says the current equipment for issuing

these documents – which was purchased five years ago – is “obsolete” and

“produces unsafe passports that are easily altered.”

Badilla said that in numerous cases, legal Costa Rican passports have been

stolen, their photos ripped off and the information changed.

With the new system, passports will have 42 laser-security strips, imprinted

with technology similar to that used in Belgium , which will make forgery

very difficult.

The official explained that during the past three years, Immigration

authorities have been notified of 300 altered passports and so far this year,

“we already know of 65 legitimate Costa Rican passports that have been

altered.”

Badilla said the new equipment to manufacture passports is in “acquisition

process” and will cost ¢1 billion (approximately $2 million).

The money will be provided to Immigration through an extraordinary budget

that must first be approved by legislators.

The new equipment will also be used in a pilot program for the manufacture of

visas by the Costa Rican consulate in Nicaragua , Colombia and Dominican

Republic , countries where fake visas have been issued to enter Costa Rica .

Costa Rican authorities will also modify residency cards for foreigners that

will also be issued using the new laser technology, Badilla said.

According to Immigration, one million Costa Ricans have passports – of which

750,000 are valid and the rest have expired.

*Earthquake in south

An earthquake with a magnitude of about 3.5 took place about 10 kms. (about 6

miles) south of Quepos about 2:20 p.m. Thursday. There were no reports of

injuries or damage.

* Prosecution Asks 2.080 Years Sentence For Sexual Abuse

Prosecutor Héctor Sáenz is asking a Siquirres criminal court for a sentence

of 2.080 years for a 68 year old farmer who is accused of sexually abusing

his step-daughter.

The man, only identified by his last name, Artavia, is charged with 208

counts of rape and sexual abuse, that began when the girl was six years old

and continued until she reached the age of 18, when she finally could leave

home.

The abused woman, identified by her last name Esquivel, is now 27 years old,

cannot erase the memories of her childhood and as a result of her ordeal now

suffers traumas in her marriage and daily life, telling the court in the

abuse trial that she "feels nothing" when she is with her husband.

The court also heard testimony how the man would threaten her with a machete

to re-enforce his words. "He would tell me that if I left the house, I would

be reading the news of how my mother and brother were killed", the woman told

the court.

The woman had complained of the abuses to her mother, who in turn would ask

her husband, who would deny any such actions. The mother said that she asked

her husband one time swear on the Virgen de los Ángeles. And as such they

visited the Basílica de los Ángeles in Cartago, where on his knees he swore

never to have abused his step-daughter.

At the trial, abused woman's sister also came forward and declared before the

court that she too had been abused by Artavia.

A court decision is expected this morning (Friday).

*Lack of Telephone Has Residents and Tourist Upset
When does it cost ¢4.000 colones (us$8.50) to make a local phone call?

Residents and tourists of Nueva Virginia, Los Ángeles y Caño Blanco, near

Siquirres, are upset because that is what it costs for them to make a local

phone call.

Not that the call is costly, it is the cost to travel to and from the only

public telephones in the area.

The shortage of telephone lines in the area means a trip by fishing boat to

barra de Paismina where the only the public telephones that serve the

community of 700, are located. A round trip to use the public phones cost

¢4.000 colones

The other option is to travel 6km to barrio Meryland, in El Carmen de

Siquirres, where the owners of the local grocery store have a telephone.

Mariana Campos, an employee at the Caño Blanco tourist office, says that

tourists to the area are very upset at the lack of a telephone, which means

they cannot call home to check in with family and friends.

ICE doesn't have an answer for the neighbours. The manager of the local ICE

office in Siquirres was too busy to answer calls.

*Insulza of Chile sworn in to head OAS
Jose Miguel Insulza of Chile was sworn in as secretary general of the

Organization of American States, at its headquarters.

The former Chilean vice president and interior minister was elected to the

OAS post on May 2, to succeed Miguel Angel Rodríguez,, who resigned to face

corruption charges in his native Costa Rica. Rodríguez served as president

of Costa Rica from 1998-2002.and is currently under house arrest.

Insulza assumed his post 10 days before the OAS annual assembly, to be held

June 5-7 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

US representative to the OAS Luigi Einaudi had held the position of acting

secretary general.

Insulza spoke in favor of a US-backed initiative to monitor Latin America's

democracies as he met for the first time with the press as secretary general.

"It is not about giving the governments a grade, but to be able to say with

deliberation that there are problems here, difficulties here, needs here,"

Insulza said, after an earlier speech in which he asked for the tools for

what he called the effective application of the OAS Democratic Charter, which

can impose sanctions on countries that stray from constitutional democracy.

"I do not like the word 'monitor' very much," he said, alluding to the US

plan, which envisions a democracy monitoring commission, which Venezuela

rejected immediately.

Insulza said his alternative, an "evaluation mechanism," should exist with

the understanding of member states that it would not intervene in their

domestic affairs.

Insulza, 61, has served as Chile's foreign minister and interior minister, as

well as being named vice president when President Ricardo Lagos was traveling

outside Chile.

He has held cabinet posts for a total of 10 years, longer than anyone in

Chile's history, despite a 14-year exile during Chile's military dictatorship

under
Augusto Pinochet 1973-1990.

It was while exiled in Mexico that he met his Mexican wife, Georgina Nunez.

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2005-05-27T00:07:00.000-06:00

Hello all,

I am proud to announce the uploading of Chapter one and the forward of our new online guidebook, "So, Ya Wanna Move to Costa Rica."

This is a multimedia guidebook, that will include both text and interviews with various people of interest. We hope to tape the first 2 interviews shortly, and to add approximately one chapter per week until we are finnished.

And, of course, since this is an internet based guidebook, the beauty is that we can CHANGE IT whenever we need to! That should prove to be quite an advantage over stodgy old print!

And, of course, this is being offered to you FREE OF CHARGE! We are supported by your patronage of those services and products featured in the book, some of which we make a modest commission on!

So, if you have a worthwhile product, service, tour, etc., of interest to people visiting or wanting to live in Costa Rica, please contact us and we will get right back with you.

So come on, join the fun! Read our online guidebook today, and once per week!

Here is the URL:

http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/wanna/forward.htm

ENJOY!

John

2005-04-05T13:36:00.000-06:00

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN? As many of you have no doubt noticed, the News Digest

has only been coming out once a week or so for the past month. This is

because we are busy working on some surprises for you!

We are working RIGHT NOW on a new, FREE, retirement guide to Costa Rica, with

REAL USEFUL CONTENT, revised and updated websites, a redesign of the

publication, and also the start of webcasting again SOON. So keep watching

this publication for some exciting announcements SOON!

Trade pact prompts fears
of expensive AIDS drugs

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala — As the U.S. Congress prepares to debate passage

of the Central America Free Trade Act, some activists in the region are

hoping lawmakers in Washington will vote it down. Peasant organizations and

trade unions, worried about the effects of competition with U.S. companies,

are not the only ones taking to the streets. HIV-positive Guatemalans are

also opposed to the accord.

One, Rigoberto, a 55-year-old taxi driver, has been coming to a Guatemala

City AIDS clinic for his retroviral medicine for more than a year. But since

the government ratified the free trade pact, he says he has been worried

about getting the drugs he needs in the future. Activists say the accord's

provisions on intellectual property rights put serious restrictions on

generic drugs in countries that are too poor to pay for brand-name products.

"We can not buy expensive medicines," he says, adding that if he cannot get

medicine, he will die.

With the exception of the Caribbean, the Central American nations of Honduras

and Guatemala have the highest per-capita HIV-rates in the hemisphere.

During the past decade, activists have sued Central American governments to

force them to provide AIDS medicines in public- and social-security-run

hospitals. In recent years, activists like Costa Rican Guillermo Murillo have

fought to get governments to extend coverage to more patients.

While it is great that governments now give medicine, he says, more than half

the population in the region needing it is still not getting it. Under the

free trade pact, he said, it will be impossible to extend coverage.

Currently, generic retroviral treatments here cost about $400 per year per

patient. In coming years, patients may need to switch to new medicines, which

under the free trade pact would only be available in brand-name form. These

can cost as much as $10,000 per year per person.

Late last year in Guatemala, AIDS activists scored a big victory when a new

law was passed that further opened the country's market to generic drugs. But

the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Trade Representative put stern and open

pressure on the government to change the law, saying it contradicted the

already negotiated free trade pact.

In March, weeks before ratifying the free trade accord, the government

changed the law to bring it in line.

Rodolfo Lambour, who represents multi-national pharmaceutical companies in

Guatemala, agreed with the U.S. government's actions.

"For many years, there has been no intellectual property rights protection in

Central America, and now, we feel the time has come to respect a little bit

the intellectual property rights — which are legitimate and fair — of

companies that invest more than any other sector in industry, in research and

development of new products. It is our companies that help discover new and

innovative products that have given cures to many incurable diseases in the

past. We are not the enemy; we are friends of the people," Lambour says.

Lambour says there are mechanisms by which governments can still get

affordable medicine for AIDS programs, without hurting the companies that

develop them. Some analysts note there is a side letter to the free trade

pact that says intellectual property rights provisions should not affect

government AIDS programs.

But people like Alain Kergoat, of the humanitarian organization Doctors

Without Borders, says the only sure-fire way for Central Americans to ensure

continued access to generic drugs is for the U.S. Congress to vote against

the Central American free trade agreement.

"I hope there is enough time to explain to people in the United States the

effect this accord will have on health systems in these countries, he says."

At a recent protest outside Guatemala's Health Ministry, HIV-positive

demonstrators wearing paper bags over their heads shout, "We want health."

They say they are planning to stage protests like this one in front of U.S.

embassies across the region, and they are also working with AIDS activists in

the United States to lobby Congress.

The Senate is scheduled to hold its first debate on the trade pact Wednesday.

COMMENT: Since when is it "fair" to charge the poor, or anyone else for that

matter, $10,000.00 per year for a drug that should only cost $400.00? This

certainly shows whose loyalties the US government defends: those of the

insanely wealthy against those who have nothing.
And then there are still people who say "I don't understand why they hate us

so much." This is only one reason of many, and the people of the US should

also do something about this for their own benefit.

March Inflation
Registers at 0.83%

Costa Rica registered a monthly inflation of 0.83% in March, the National

Statistics and Census Institute (INEC) reported yesterday.

This brings inflation for the first three months of the year to 3.94%,

greater than inflation over the same period in 2004 (3.49%) and 2003 (2.12%).

The Central Bank has set its 2005 target inflation at 10%, and bank president

Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez has said controlling inflation is the bank's top

priority this year (TT, Jan. 21). Annual inflation in 2004 was 13.13%.

Former Vice-President of Ecuador
Returns Home, Gives up Asylum

The former Vice-President of Ecuador, Alberto Dahik, lost his political

asylum in Costa Rica , which he had enjoyed since 1996, upon returning to his

country last Friday, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

The legislation regarding asylum states that beneficiaries lose their status

upon returning to the country of their alleged persecution, the statement

said.

Costa Rica awarded Dahik asylum March 29, 1996, under legal arguments of

persecution, which he had alleged, but those arguments are no longer legally

valid as of his return to Ecuador , the statement continued.

Dahik had been in Costa Rica since Oct. 11, 1995.

The former vice-president returned to Ecuador one day after the Ecuadorian

Supreme Court annulled his conviction for corruption charges.

Upon his arrival, Dahik thanked his family in Ecuador and his friends who had

supported him during his absence, and thanked Costa Rica for being a “model

of liberty.”

“Dahik can formally present his renunciation of asylum and, if he desires, he

can also remain in Costa Rican territory, but no longer under the protection

of asylum,” the Foreign Ministry said.

--EFE

Carlos Santana In Concert in Costa Rica
Famous guitarist Carlos Santana will give his like concert tomorrow at the

Saprissa stadium San José.

The last time Carlos Santana appeared in Costa Rica was in September 29, 1979

where the legendary guitarist filled the Gymnasio Nacional, the crowds having

to gather outside the small building in the La Sabana park to listen to his

music.

Santana us who now 57 years of age, who is originally form Mexico, is on a

Latin America tour that includes Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador,

Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Since his start in the mid sixties, Santana has sold more than 30 million

albums and has appeared live before more than 13 million people.

Santana Band 2005 new line up
Joining the Santana Band for the 2005 Tour of Latin America / Mexico are

Bobby Allende on Congas & Tommy Anthony on Rhythm Guitar & Background Vocals.

Bobby Allende’s Afro-Cuban roots began at the age of three in New York City.

His dedication to his craft and spirited personality has earned him the

respect of some of the top names in the industry and the endorsements of

Latin Percussion, Vic Firth, Zildjian and many others.

Bobby has played and performed with musicians such as Tito Puente, Hector

Lavoe, Jose Alberto "El Canario", RMM All Stars and Ruben Blades, David

Byrne, Grover Washington, Jr., Rodney Jones, Spyro Gyra and most recently was

the musical director with Marc Anthony. To learn more about Bobby, please

check out Bobby Allende's bio.

Tommy Anthony brings warm rhythmic guitar tones and a beautiful voice to

complement the Santana sound. Tommy has a rich musical history & has toured

extensively with Gloria Estefan, Steve Winwood, Jon Secada, and Chayanne, His
Tickets Still Available
Tickets for tomorrow night's concert are still available and can be purchased

at any Mas x Menos supermarket. Prices range from ¢5.500 colones (us$11.75)

for the nose bleed sections of the stadium to ¢31.500 colones (us$67) for

floor seats.

New GSM Service in October, ICE Says
Following many months of speculation and uncertainties, the Instituto

Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) announced that is starting work on the

new GSM cellular network that will see the installation and marketing of

600.000 new GSM cellular lines.

ICE says that customers can start to make their request for the new cellular

service as early as October, but in reality it won't be until December when

the service will actually start operating.

The us$130 million contract with the Ericsson company has taken a long road

but it is now slowing becoming a reality, following the approval by the

Contraloría General de la Republica last month. Originally the contract was

signed in early 2004 and was to have been active by late last year.

Complications regarding the awarding of the contract and accusations possible

corruption following the Alcatel-ICE scandal last summer stalled the approval

process.

The new GSM network will be superior in service and quality of the existing

400.000 GSM lines installed by Alcatel.

ICE in the last 10 years, slowing but surely will count with the latest in

cellular telephone technology. With the new service, it is expected that the

transmission of photos will be permitted, along with a host of unannounced

services.

Current TDMA customers who want to switch to the GSM service will be able to

do so, connecting to the new GSM network without having to change their

current phone number.

One of the things that will be absent, for now at least, if the "pre-paid"

SIM chip. In most countries with GSM service, a customer can buy a

predetermined amount of calling time installed on a SIM chip that is inserted

in a GSM phone. Once the minutes are used up, the chip is discarded or

re-loaded with more minutes.

The pre-paid service is great for visitors to Costa Rica or those who don't

want to sign up for a fixed plan or want to limit the amount they call,

similar to the international calling cards 199 or 197 now on the market.
recording credits include Ricky Martin, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias and

Cristian Castro.

Reawaken your spirit, capture your soul, find your rhythm and explore one of

the few unspoiled places left in the world. Join the “African Wellness Diva”

Angelique Shofar from November 11-14, 2004 for the SoulFul Yoga and Nature

Retreat at the Playa Ocotal Resort in Costa Rica.

The SoulFul Yoga and Nature Retreat creates an atmosphere that allows the

awakening and healing of the mind, body and spirit, while participants find

true liberation and a deeper ancestral connection. The word “Soul” invokes

passion, aliveness and a tantalizing fusion and stirring of the senses. This

new style of Yoga, created by Angelique Shofar, encourages full expression

and reverence for the diverse African culture and speaks to the heart and

encourages people of color to experience the healing powers of this ancient

tradition.

This four day, 3 night experience will begin and end each day with a yoga

session. The retreat package includes single accommodations & breakfast, two

yoga sessions per day, a spa package at Fusion Natural Spa, a wellness

workshop and airport transfers from Liberia International Airport. There is

also a choice of nature tours to choose from. Deadline for registration is

September 15, 2004.

“More people are seeking retreats as a way to relax, regroup, revitalize and

rejoice in celebrating themselves through acts of self-love and

self-recognition, says Shofar. Venturing out of everyday environment allows

for a fresh perspective – a way to step outside the comfort zone and

experience other cultures.”

Angelique Shofar is a holistic health consultant, a certified yoga teacher,

African healer, body worker and body educator. The SoulFul Yoga and Nature

Retreat permits freedom to deepen the experience of natural, wholesome and

conscious living through the blending of both travel and retreat.

Playa Ocotal is the gate to the Gulf of Papagayo, a small beach protected by

hills and cliffs of sedimentary metamorphic rocks of 80 million years of age.

It is centrally located to several national parks, volcanoes, waterfalls,

caves and stunning beaches. The sea air is tinged with a whitish mist that

many healers believe to be rich in negative ions, small particles charged

with electricity that have beneficial effects on people, animals and plants.

Natural cosmetic line from Costa Rica to launch in US
Vista Group will be launching a line of natural cosmetics in the United

States using ingredients from Costa Rican lava fields. The line, labeled

"Rainforest Preserve", is not tested on animals and uses naturally-derived

ingredients like aloe leaf, chamomile, mint extract, orange hibiscus, and

green tea. If you enjoy this article, you may also be interested in an

article entitled 'FDA bans cosmetic makers from using brain and spinal cord

tissue as protection from mad cow disease.'

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 :: infoZine Staff :: page views
World Bank Approves $30 Million for Education in Costa Rica
The World Bank Group's Board of Directors approved today a $30 million loan

to Costa Rica to improve education indicators in the country in terms of

access, quality, completion, and equity of education.

WorldWashington, D.C. - infoZine - "Costa Rica has made extraordinary

achievements in the social sectors over the last 25 years, and this project

exemplifies the Government's commitment to closing the rural-urban education

gap, and improving the quality and efficiency of education," said Jane

Armitage, the World Bank's country director for Central America. "Sustaining

social progress in the country means optimizing the use of existing human,

physical and financial resources to benefit all Costaricans."

The Equity and Efficiency of Education Project will reduce existing education

quality gaps in rural education (including indigenous and afro-descendent

communities) and improve the equity and efficiency in the allocation,

administration and utilization of education sector resources in Costa Rica.

Specifically, the project will support the following activities:

* Reduce existing rural education gaps by empowering the technical units

of the Ministry of Public Education to prepare local initiatives that address

quality, equity, and internal efficiency in rural education. This component

will benefit approximately 230,000 students from indigenous/afro-descendent

and low-income communities in preschool, primary and secondary schools.
* Improve the impact of equity programs for low-income students by

increasing the capacity of the Ministry of Public Education to identify,

reach and monitor the delivery of education services in regions with low

education indicators and students from low income households. This component

will support demand-based equity programs -such as scholarships, vouchers,

transportation and school meals- and develop and implement an integrated

information system that can track the diverse education outcomes across

municipalities, communities and schools.
* Enhance the efficiency of the education sector's institutional and

economic resources allocated to the rural sector. This will be achieved

through inter-departmental integration strategies and working alliances

across central, regional and school organizations to conduct participatory

sector diagnosis, plan strategically, and implement, monitor and evaluate

education programs. In addition, the Ministry of Public Education's

coordination, fiduciary, monitoring and evaluation activities of externally

financed projects will be strengthened through increased capacity of the

Project Coordination Unit.

"By focusing on quality, equity and cost-effectiveness, the project aims to

sustain education indicators for all in primary and basic education, while

continuing to increase secondary education nationwide," said Joel E. Reyes,

World Bank task manager for the project.

The $30 million fixed-spread loan is repayable in 10 years and includes a

four-year grace period. The total project cost is $51 million, including $21

million in financing from the Government of Costa Rica.

For more information on the Equity and Efficiency of Education Project. For

more information about the World Bank's work on Education in Latin America &

the Caribbean, please visit: www.worldbank.org/laceducation For more

information about the World Bank's work in Costa Rica, please visit:

www.worldbank.org/costarica

RBTT Merchant sets up office in Costa Rica
Observer Business Reporter
Wednesday, March 30, 2005

RBTT Merchant Bank will next month open a representative office in San Jose,

Costa Rica, allowing it, the bank says, to capitalise on existing capital

market opportunities.

The merchant bank, a subsidiary of the RBTT Group, and a sister company to

RBTT Jamaica, has been very active in the Jamaican market, syndicating and

participating in hundreds of millions of dollars in loans.

The bank's managing director Lyndon Guiseppi, said the office in the

Spanish-speaking South American country would act as a resource and referral

point for ancillary business for the group. Its presence there would also

increase brand recognition in the financial community and gather market

intelligence.

"It is imperative that we continue to crave niches in new geographical

locations," said Guiseppi."Based on several years of information gathering on

the Central American financial landscape and our practical experience in

Costa Rica, we are eager to take this proactive step to create a physical

presence in what is considered to be the 'success story' of Central America."

RBTT Merchant Bank is a major provider of specialised financial services to

governments, public sector institutions and private-sector organisations in

the English-, Spanish- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.

COSTA RICA OPPOSES BEIJING USE OF FORCE AGAINST TAIWAN

2005/03/18 16:50:44

Washington, March 18 (CNA) The Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued

a statement Thursday calling for maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan

Strait and urging dialogue between Taiwan and mainland China to resolve

disputes peacefully. As a peace-loving country, Costa Rica opposes any use of

force unilaterally adopted by one side against the other, putting

cross-strait peace at stake, the statement says, adding that it is the common

position of all the world's peace-loving countries regarding the cross-strait

situation. Costa Rica, like all other countries in the world, hopes that

Taiwan and China can boost their mutual understanding and communications and

conduct negotiations to mend their differences based on the principles of

peace, friendship and respect for the people's free will, it says. Peace and

stability in the strait and Southeast Asia must not be undone by either side

through non-peaceful means, it stresses. The National People's Congress,

Beijing's ceremonial parliament, passed the Anti-Secession Law March 14 with

an aim of fending off Taiwan independence. (By Jorge Liu and Flor Wang)

ENDITEM/J

2005-03-30T13:16:00.000-06:00

From: lunarii
Date: (Date unavailable)
Subject: The Truth About Opus Dei lunarii@mailvault...

Since we have previously revealed that the mysterious Catholic
organization Opus Dei is running things in the present Costa Rican
administration, I thought that it would be appropriate to share with you
the facts about this group.

Note that this group was started 80 years ago in Spain by the fascist
dictator Francisco Franco. This group has its tentacles throughout
Latin America, but at the moment, it appears that only in Costa Rica
have they gained so much power.

They moved fast to punish their enemies here, starting in the first
months of the Pacheco regime, they moved to close down The Brothers,
which had done the most abhorrent thing imaginable to them: The Brothers
had built a nice new Baptist church, which is an affront to this group.

They were punished by being shut down and raided on trumped up charges.

But they weren't done yet by a long shot. They have brought down their
most hated rivals in the PUSC party, including former party leader and
powerhous Calderon. Then, they brought down former President Rodriguez
at the most embarrassing time possible.

This is nothing short but civil war and open warfare in the party. It
has nothing to do whatsoever with an "anticorruption campaign." That is
merely a smokescreen for their real motives, which are to gain absolute
an total power, and establish Costa Rica as a Dark Ages style
theocracy.

And never mind that Pacheco and his cronies probably have more skeletons
in the closet than the former presidents sitting in jail, and the third
in exile in Switzerland. These skeletons will never see the light of
day unless brave journalists refuse to knuckle under to death threats
and intimidation which this group gratuitously throws around like
confetti.

WHY DO YOU THINK THERE HAVE BEEN GUN SHOTS AT LA NACION? AND WHO DO YOU
THINK IS BEHIND THIS, AND WHAT NEWS ARE THEY TRYING TO SUPPRESS? By the
time you finnish this report, you will know who the most prominent
suspects are, and have an idea of what kinds of atrocities they are
trying to hide from public view.

But, we here at Lunar News have news for these thugs and criminals. we
will not stop digging until we get to the truth and broadcast it far and
wide for all to see. This group was started by the Nazi Franco in Spain
80 years ago for the express purpose of supporting the Vatican in its
secret war to return us to the period of the Dark Ages when this whore
ruled supreme. Make no mistake about it. Unless protestants raise an
outcry worldwide along with other freedom loving people, you will not
only have no religious freedoms left, but you will have no other
freedoms left at all that this new Church/State combine on the rise
permits you, the peasants, to have.

And, they appear to be starting their assent to power in Costa Rica and
Argentina, from all indications, and only in Costa Rica have they
managed to gain control of the government.

This is a dire warning to the people of both countries that this must
not be allowed to continue if you love freedom and prosperity.

Believe me when I tell you that the closure of 80 + protestant churches
for "noise pollution" and other fantasy charges are only the beginning.

Believe me when I tell you that government invasions of churches of
which the government does not approve during church services, and
ordering the people to leave their own church, and then locking the door
behind them is only the beginning of what they plan to do if allowed.

And now they have dared to even close down a Catholic Church, the priest
of which they do not like because they disagree with his policies. Yes,
they plan to "purge" and "purify" the Catholic Church as well of all
doctrines and beliefs contrary to their own.

This is a warning of things to come in this world, unless the cold light
of truth is shown brightly and clearly upon this evil, which will cause
it to slink back under the rock from which it came.

And so now, here are the details on this radical fascist gang that has
gained control of a small defenseless country.

[Opus Dei]
Secretive sect dubbed 'Mafia shrouded in white'
The Scotsman, UK
Jan. 21, 2005
Stephen McGinty
news.scotsman.com
• More news articles on Opus Dei
ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 9983 • Posted: 2005-01-22 12:47:04
It sits on a hill, a villa of honey-coloured stone in a leafy suburb on
the south side of Glasgow, and gives no hint of what goes on behind its
sturdy walls.

This is the Scottish headquarters of Opus Dei, which translates from the
Latin as "God’s work", a term familiar to the 120,000 Scots who have
bought copies of The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s global bestselling
novel. The thriller centres on a search for the Holy Grail which is
hampered by a villainous member of Opus Dei.

Dunreath, the house in Glasgow, is not home to a murderous monk, though
self-flagellation, as featured in the novel, is practised here.

The Catholic organisation, founded in Spain in 1928 by Josemaria
Escriva, has long been mired in controversy. It has been described by
critics as a cult and dismissed by one theologian as "the Mafia -
shrouded in white". Yet its members enjoy the personal favour of Pope
John Paul II, who made its founder a saint in 2002, in spite of his
close ties to the dictator General Franco.

In recent weeks, the media spotlight has focused on Opus Dei after the
appointment of Ruth Kelly as Secretary of State for Education.

While Ms Kelly has refused, as recently as this week, to confirm or deny
her involvement with the group, The Scotsman has established that she
is, indeed, a "supernumerary", as married members of Opus Dei are
described.

Last week, the Archdiocese of Westminster announced that a parish had
been entrusted to an Opus Dei priest, evidence of a thaw in relations.
The late Basil Hume, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, viewed the
group with deep suspicion.

His concern centred on what he believed to be the group’s manipulative
recruitment techniques. His official biographer, Anthony Howard, said
this week that Hume regarded them as he would the ‘Moonies’.

Yet Opus Dei has recently embarked on a PR offensive, using The Da Vinci
Code and the appointment of Ms Kelly to promote its agenda.

Jack Valero, Opus Dei’s British press spokesman, is upbeat. He says:
"Ten million people have now heard of Opus Dei thanks to The Da Vinci
Code. That can only be a good thing - 2005 is going to be the year of
Opus Dei."

Ronnie Convery, the director of communications for the late Cardinal
Thomas Winning, and now for Mario Conti, the Archbishop of Glasgow, was
a member for many years before leaving after he found it too demanding.

"As a student, I was quite taken with the idea that you could have a
vocation to work in the world, and not flee from it, which is a central
plank of Opus Dei’s message," he says.

"So it seemed an obvious step to take to join in 1990. Over the years, I
found the long daily list of prayers, devotions and customs too
demanding for me. So I left after eight years. I had read horror stories
of people being pressurised to stay in. Instead, the guy with whom I
discussed it said simply: ‘Better to be a happy former member of Opus
Dei than an unhappy member’."

The question is: what is Opus Dei’s role in Scotland, where they have
three large properties, all in Glasgow? In order to dispel the image of
a shadowy organisation, the group, when approached by The Scotsman,
opened its doors.

"We’ve really nothing to hide," said Dermot Grenham as he sat in a
comfortable armchair in one of the many elegant rooms at Dunreath, Opus
Dei’s centre for men, where, until this week, he was the director.

"Opus Dei’s role is to do God’s work out in the world. We are here to
help people become saints," he said.

The Church’s philosophy is that every man, woman and child - priest and
laity - has a universal calling to holiness and the capability to become
a saint. In Opus Dei, unlike many Catholic institutions, the power lies
with the laity. The group’s global membership is about 85,000, only
2,000 of whom are priests; the remainder are different types of
members.

While the organisation is most powerful in Spain and Latin America,
where prominent politicians are among its number, in Britain there are
only 520 members, of whom about 50 are based in Scotland.

It is an extremely wealthy body, with a net worth in Britain of about
?20 million, largely due to its property and a chain of student halls of
residence, which help recruitment.

Tommy Burns, the former Celtic player, has, in the past, attended Opus
Dei meetings, while Archbishop Conti dined at Dunreath before
Christmas.

There are four types of Opus Dei member:

• A numerary, such as Mr Grenham, is a celibate member who lives in an
Opus Dei house, segregated by gender, and donates his or her full salary
to the group, retaining only what is required for clothes, etc, to carry
out the daily "civilian" job.

• An associate is, again, a celibate member but who, for personal
reasons such as looking after an elderly parent, does not live in
community. Such members continue to donate any unrequired income to the
organisation.

• A supernumerary is a married member, such as Ruth Kelly, many of whom
make a monthly donation, though no amount is prescribed, and follow Opus
Dei’s spiritual formation on a daily basis.

• A co-operator is not a proper member. Instead, he or she is a
registered supporter who, in exchange for services, receives
"indulgences", or spiritual benefits.

All official members follow a prescribed process of prayer, meditation
and daily mass, and regularly read The Way, a book of 999 maxims written
by St Josemaria Escriva.

While supernumeraries offer small "mortifications", or discomforts, such
as keeping the heating low or forgoing sugar in their tea, numeraries of
both sexes induce physical discomfort by wearing a cilice - a wire band
round the thigh which irritates the skin - often for an hour each day,
and by whipping themselves with a knotted rope, known as "the
discipline", once a week.

"It may seem very strange to the outside world, but these mortifications
have been a part of the Catholic Church for centuries," says Mr Grenham,
who insists they are optional and do not draw blood.

In the past, one controversial aspect of Opus Dei’s work has been among
the young. The late Cardinal Hume issued instructions that Opus Dei
should not permit anyone under the age of 18 to join and, even then, any
admissions should be only in consultation with the parents.

In Scotland, both the male and female centres in Glasgow operate sport
and activity clubs for children. The Dunreath Club has a junior section
for boys aged between ten and 12 and a senior section for those 13-16.

Many of those who attend are the children of members, and those who are
not require parental permission. The centre’s library is available to
pupils for private study, which encourages teenagers to become more
involved with the group.

However, the parent of one teenage boy, who was pursued to join Opus
Dei, described its methods as "spiritual grooming". The man, who did not
wish to be named, said he had felt compelled to contact an Opus Dei
priest and insist he no longer contacted his son.

"I’m very uncomfortable with their methods," he said. "They are extreme
in their behaviour, in their practice, and I remain very suspicious of
them."

In Glasgow, as in Opus Dei across the world, the men and women are
separated by more than the River Clyde.

In the drawing room of a West End town house that is home to seven
female numeraries, Eileen Cole, a member for 27 years, explained that
the sexes rarely meet and are content to proselytise among their own
gender. However, female members are expected to organise all the cooking
and cleaning for the men. This is in keeping with the founder’s view of
the role of women, which many people find deeply sexist.

"If we didn’t do it, they would be living like savages," says Ms Cole.
"Women are simply better at these things than men."

She describes her vocation as rewarding and says: "The Work [as members
describe Opus Dei] has made me less self-centred. It helps you to spend
your life being of service to others."

The vast majority of members of Opus Dei, however, are supernumeraries.
There are 21 female supernumeraries in Scotland, such as Clare McDonald,
42, a mother of six children.

The former GP says: "We live in an utterly secular society today, and
I’ve found Opus Dei a tremendous help in maintaining my own moral and
spiritual values. It’s something you can do quietly. You can turn your
daily tasks into a prayer."

Unlike many members who are angry at their group’s portrayal in The Da
Vinci Code, Mrs McDonald thinks it "cool". She jokes: "Now, if people
ask about Opus Dei, I tell them, ‘I could tell you, but then I’d have to
kill you’."

WOMEN OF GOD

When Josemaria Escriva founded Opus Dei in 1928, "God’s Work" was
strictly for men only.

Two years later, however, the Spanish priest changed his mind and
permitted women to join. The sexes were to be kept strictly separate,
and there is no doubt which was to be the dominant partner.

Yet the organisation has more women in its number because, as one
explained: "We’ve got to look after the men."

Women in Opus Dei, as in the upper echelons of the Catholic Church,
remain second-class citizens.

Deportment and modesty are among the subjects on the curriculum for
female members of Opus Dei, while there is no equivalent for men. Opus
Dei’s new $50 million headquarters in New York has separate entrances
for men and women.

As Escriva wrote: "Wives, you should ask yourself whether you are not
forgetting a little about your appearance. Your duty is, and will always
be, to take as good care of your appearance as you did before you were
married - and it is a duty of justice, because you belong to your
husband." He also preached: "Women needn’t be scholars - it’s enough for
them to be prudent."

The most damaging charge against him was that he doubted the number of
Jews killed in the Holocaust. This charge is dismissed as a lie by his
followers.

Escriva was canonised by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FOLLOWER

AM: Rise exactly when alarm goes off. Get out of bed. Kiss the bedroom
floor and say: "Serviam" - Latin for "I will serve."

Morning prayers followed by 30 minutes prayerful meditation.

Noon: Say the Angelus, followed by a particular "examination of
conscience". For example, "am I being lazy?" or "am I humble enough?"
etc

Daily Mass is mandatory for members, and many fit this in during their
lunch hour. After Mass ten minutes is spent in "thanksgiving".

Evening: Five decades of the Rosary, ten minutes of spiritual reading,
five minutes of gospel reading, 30 minutes of spiritual meditation.

Before bed: General examination of conscience, followed by an Act of
Contrition.

Final prayer before sleep called the "Preces".

Weekly: Confession, evening prayer meeting called "the Circle".

Monthly: Evening event of reconciliation.

Annually: Five-day spiritual retreat.

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Opus Dei

Everything you need to know about the conservative Catholic
organisation

Simon Jeffery
Wednesday December 22, 2004

1. For some, 2004 was a bad year - for others, it was a good year.
Sometimes, the two were related. Take the author Dan Brown and Opus Dei.
Brown's novel Da Vinci Code was a runaway success but, in casting the
conservative Catholic group as its main villain, it perhaps made life a
little bit harder for them.

2. Devoted readers of the thriller will no doubt think Opus Dei deserve
it for the depicted peculiar devotion to self-flagellation and an intent
to suppress the secrets of the early church, but the group feels a
little misrepresented.

3. A section on its website addressed to loyal Da Vinci Code readers
(who are presumably in shock that a such secret society is online) tells
them: "These topics are important and valuable to study, and we hope
that interested readers will be motivated to study some of the abundant
scholarship on them that is available in the non-fiction section of the
library."

4. Founded in 1928, Opus Dei has around 80,000 members in Europe, North
and South America and elsewhere. Its invite-only members are asked to
promote traditional Catholic values and prayer.

5. It is not being the sect in Brown's bestseller, but its power in the
Catholic church (Joaquín Navarro-Valls, the pope's spin doctor, is a
member), and links to General Franco, the ultra rightwing Spanish
dictator, make it an intriguing body to outsiders.

6. Its founder, Josemaría Escriv´, became Saint Josemaría. He died in
1975, but the speed of his beatification and canonisation (the process
of becoming a saint) was contested by left-leaning Jesuits, who feared
Opus Dei's growing influence in Rome.

7. So it not the type of organisation one necessarily associates with
the Blair government, and today's report in the Times that Ruth Kelly, a
former Guardian journalist and the new education secretary, is a member
seems sure to raise eyebrows.

8. The newspaper says scientists are alarmed at the impact that Ms
Kelly's beliefs may have on her job. The mother of four has
responsibility for a £1bn research budget, and is believed to follow a
strict Vatican line on contraception, embryo research, cloning and
abortion. She reportedly told Mr Blair she could never support stem cell
research.

9. Such positions, are of course, possible to hold without being a
member of a "mysterious" religious organisation - a significant number
of those who voted for George Bush in the last US presidential election
would endorse them - but, as Brown knows, a Latin name and hints of
secret societies have a strange compulsion to them.

10. For its part, Opus Dei is not playing along. The handy FAQ insists
it is nothing more than a group for those with a similar spiritual
mindset. "For the most part [ordinary members] do their job and live
their family and social lives like everyone else, doing exactly what
they would do if they were not in Opus Dei," it says.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/netnotes/article/0,6729,1378794,00.html

================================

Now, here is more. It gets better, believe me:

Subject: colman from ireland.

> Dear brother Eric, I hope you are good today, i have found 2 great
websites
> dealing with Rome and her great corruption, the first site is,
> www.blessedquietness.com which has some great pictures of Hitler with
the
> pope and Opus Dei. The second website is, www.odan.org which deals
with
> Opus Dei alone. The former members of this Cult describe Jose Maria
Escrivas
> demonic ramblings and his woman hating arrogance. Did you know that he
said
> he could dishonour anyone he wanted to in the press. God Bless
fornow,
> Colman.

===================================

Opus Dei]
The Dei today
The Independent, Jan. 17, 2005
Peter Stanford
news.independent.co.uk
• More news articles on Opus Dei
ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 9936 • Posted: 2005-01-17 03:15:58 •
It wields huge influence in the Vatican yet is condemned as a sinister
and ruthless Catholic sect. Now the fundamentalist group is taking
control of a British parish for the first time - and one of its members
is in the Cabinet. Peter Stanford gains rare access to the closed world
of Opus Dei

From the outside, Netherhall House in Nutley Terrace is a bland 1960s
student block, tucked away in one of the maze of streets that tumble
down the hill from London's leafy Hampstead Heath to the A41 dual
carriageway. But behind the unassuming facade, Netherhall House is one
of the few public faces of Opus Dei, the secretive Catholic sect
regarded by many outsiders as sinister and misguided.

Last week, for the first time since the organisation was founded in
1928, Opus Dei was given its own parish by Cardinal Cormac
Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster. And in April, Father
Gerard Sheehan - one of 17 British Opus Dei priests in Britain - will
take over pastoral care of St Thomas More Church in Swiss Cottage, north
London.

But this respectability within the Catholic Church has been achieved
against a background of controversy. With the publication of Dan Brown's
bestseller The Da Vinci Code last year, Opus Dei emerged as less
trustworthy than Satan and about as welcome in the wider church as the
serpent in the garden of Eden. The publicity helped to transform this
corner of north-west London into a tourist destination. You can now book
(for around $3,000 including flight from the States and accommodation)
Da Vinci Code tours.

"We've had coaches of Americans turning up outside, standing there
staring through our windows," says Jack Valero, a Spaniard with a Kilroy
tan in his early forties. Valero is the public face of Opus Dei in
Britain. "You can imagine what they must think is going on inside, but
I'm afraid they'd be very disappointed if they could see what you're
seeing."

Valero is taking me on my own private tour of Netherhall House, and, as
he implies, there's not a dead body, a scheming albino monk to rival The
Da Vinci Code's Brother Silas, or a lost descendant of Mary Magdalene in
sight. Indeed there are no women at all because this is an all-male
facility. Opus Dei likes to keep the sexes apart - save for when
Netherhall needs cleaning, when female members are permitted to come in
to tidy up after the chaps.

What you do see a lot - in the chapel, in the library, in the meeting
room - are sugary portraits of Opus Dei's founder, Monsignor Josemaria
Escriva de Balaguer, a Spaniard who died in 1985 and was declared a
saint by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

The Polish pontiff evidently has a very different impression from The Da
Vinci Code readers of this 85,000-member-strong international
organisation started by Escriva in the time of Franco. For John Paul it
is a bastion of true Catholicism, accorded by him the unique status of a
personal prelature, putting it in effect above Catholic law and
structures, dependent solely on the Pope. There is an irony in an
organisation that prides itself on following to the letter Catholic
teaching being in effect given its own Get Out of Jail Free card.

Yet from the Vatican's point of view, it represents an extremely good
deal. In Opus Dei it has found, to its evident relief, a strong, mainly
non-clerical (only two per cent of members are priests) voice echoing
its own opposition to contraception, sex outside marriage, abortion,
condoms and stem-cell research amid a chorus of indifference or
downright opposition to such teachings from most Western Catholics. When
these a la carte Catholics demand reform of the official line, the Pope
has only to point to Opus Dei to show that not everyone rejects the set
menu.

And John Paul is not alone in his appreciation. Ruth Kelly, the new
Secretary of State for Education, is reportedly an associate of Opus
Dei. She is certainly listed (alongside William Dalrymple, Rocco Forte
and Stephen Pound MP) as one of the guest speakers in the Netherhall
House annual report.

In the face of protests that her links with such a conservative
religious body make her unsuitable to be Britain's headmistress, Kelly
has so far remained silent. Opus Dei meanwhile refuses to give out
information about its members - exacerbating the impression of a
Mason-like secrecy - but those who have met Kelly in private confirm
that she is enthusiastic in her praise for the organisation, anxious to
put her associates in touch with it (part of the duties of members is to
recruit among their social contacts) and utterly humourless when
challenged about its more bizarre practices. Some numinaries, as members
are known, choose for example to wear a medieval metal chain with spikes
round their thigh, with the spikes sticking into them, as a way of
mortifying their sinful flesh.

Part of the extreme reaction to Kelly's connection to Opus Dei recalls
the suspicion that lasted long after the Reformation that Catholics can
never be loyal servants of the crown, that they are in hock to an
overseas power with an agenda to force their extreme views on the rest
of society. Today, a mention of Opus Dei, thanks in no small measure to
The Da Vinci Code, plays readily to those age-old fears. It is foreign,
Spanish to boot, so virtually a second Armada. It is secretive. It is
part of the Pope's inner circle. And it has an apparently bottomless
purse for buying up prime locations around London.

It all chimes with the worst stereotypes of Catholic subversives from
Guy Fawkes onwards. In his obituaries, it was claimed that Cardinal
Basil Hume, the gentle Benedictine monk who was head of the English
Catholic Church until his death in 1999, had lain to rest such ghosts,
but the Kelly affair shows they still seem to have some life in them.

However, it is around Opus Dei's recruitment measures that the most
pressing concern is felt. Netherhall House, opened in 1967, offers
upmarket accommodation to male students at London universities. Its
residents come from 30 countries and only half are Catholics, Valero
tells me proudly, as if producing the killer fact that disproves every
allegation against Opus Dei. Yet this is accommodation with strings
attached. First, there's the sort of Catholic regulations in force that
turned Ireland against the church in the 1960s. No girls above the
bottom stair (unless they've got a mop in their hand).

And then there's the odd, antiseptic feel to the place, as if all life
has been drained out of it. Given that this is a student hostel, it is
unnaturally quiet and tidy. I can't help thinking that it looks as if it
has been arranged to look normal when really it is concealing terrible
secrets. But I've clearly been reading too many Dan Brown books. Valero,
for his part, makes no bones that the hostel is a kind of bait. Fishing
is a term commonly used within Opus Dei for its crusade to attract young
Catholics into its arms. Give them a comfortable place to live, show
them Catholicism at its best and hope that the experience will inspire
grateful residents to join up. "We hope simply being here and living as
we do will enthuse them," is how he puts it.

For Opus Dei this is simply good old-fashioned evangelisation and they
have no intention of apologising for it. Catholicism, they point out,
was founded as a missionary faith, even if most modern mass-goers
overlook the imperative to spread the Good News. For others, though,
such activities are what gives the organisation, and by association the
rest of the church, a bad name. Cardinal Hume was so concerned at its
activities in Westminster diocese in the 1980s that he issued it with
four recommendations. These demanded that no one under 18 should be
allowed to join, that all recruits should discuss fully their decision
beforehand with parents or guardians and be free at any time to leave
without pressure, and that all Opus projects be clearly identified as
such. Hume was a cautious man and would only have risked such a public
clash with the papal cheerleaders if he had clear evidence that Opus Dei
was doing all the things that he outlawed. My own experience in the
1980s was of meeting several youngsters who had arrived in the big city,
felt utterly lost and were therefore vulnerable enough to rush into the
arms of the Opus Dei student who had befriended them and offered them a
friendly place to live, only later to regret it and embark on a damaging
struggle to get free. It turned them off Catholicism for life.

Valero pooh-poohs such tales. He is a polished PR man. Before dedicating
himself full-time to Opus Dei, he ran a successful computer company. He
insists that all the mistakes of the past are now history, that Opus Dei
has changed, but the opportunism certainly remains. So, for instance,
when the Da Vinci Code trippers turn up outside, they are now invited in
for tea. Officially it is to dispel the caricature of Opus Dei produced
by Dan Brown - the courts might have been a more effective route - but
you cannot help but see the potential for a bit of fishing in such
apparently casual encounters.

Tour over, Valero ushers me into a side room with plush green leather
chairs, and produces coffee and biscuits while swatting away with a
smile the list of charges made against Opus Dei. I state these boldly,
just in case he has his fishing rod hidden anywhere. It is said, I
suggest, that you have too much money. He hands me a set of published
accounts for one of the Opus Dei trusts in the UK showing receipts of
?2.5m last year and reserves of ?12m. It is a lot, he admits, but there
is a lot to do.

What about the $50m office block you have just built in downtown New
York with separate entrances for men and women, I ask. Nothing very
secret about that, he counters, and looks straight into my eyes.

Only twice during our conversation does he avert his gaze. The first
comes when we get on to the founder. Some who knew him say that he was a
fraud who lied about everything from his real name to the extent of the
Holocaust. His diaries, they say, were written with a view to presenting
himself as saintly when the reality was that his actual interest in life
was power and advancement in the church, a process completed by his
followers after his death when they spent a lot of money on
fast-tracking his cause for canonisation in record time.

"Nothing makes me angry any more," Valero says, staring out of the
window, "but this thing about the Holocaust still does. It is all based
on the account of one man. I don't know of anyone else who heard the
founder say such things. It is a lie." The one man, it should be pointed
out, is an ex-Opus Dei member who left and is now a senior priest in
Westminster diocese. And one reason why the charge has stuck down the
years is the context of Escriva's life and work. Opus Dei rose to
prominence first in Spain under Franco's Fascist regime. Several
ministers were closely linked with it.

Later I ask Valero about his own route into Opus Dei. His father was a
member, he says, and at 15 he visited Rome and heard Escriva speak. It
made such a powerful impression on him that at 18 he joined. He is not a
priest, but has taken a vow of celibacy. Why, I ask. Again he is staring
out of the window. "Because it leaves me free to travel where I am
needed." But couldn't you do that with a family? "Not at short notice."

I cannot decide if my questions are unnecessarily prying, or perfectly
reasonable in an effort to understand the strange world of Opus Dei. Its
very name means work of God, and for members, life, work and
relationships are all tools of evangelisation. Every encounter is a
chance to make a new convert. You can see how a family would get in your
way. And how prized a Cabinet seat will be.

So, saints or schemers? Good people under attack for being out of step
with an increasingly secular society, or a cult-like sect with an
ever-increasing network of well-placed members aiming to subvert the
church and society? It may disappoint the sightseers, but it's probably
neither.

Manipulative? Yes, especially in recruitment. Zealous? Undoubtedly, and
that always unsettles us in such live-and-let-live times. Sinister?
Probably more like unpleasant and sly in its casual sexism and
determination to convert. Dangerous? Only in the same way that an
overactive teenager is dangerous. Too much enthusiasm, too many
black-and-white answers, too little tolerance. But teenagers grow out of
it, and compared to the Opus Dei I knew back in the 1980s, there are
certainly fewer pimples.

Peter Stanford was editor of 'The Catholic Herald' from 1988 to 1992

==============================

2005-03-30T12:57:00.000-06:00

> From: lunarii
> Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:22:01 00200 (CEST)
> Subject: [offshoredestiny] Church Closings in Costa
> Rica more outrageous than first thought!
>
> Well, folks, this is even more outrageous and
> egregious than even I had
> imagined.
>
> They have closed over 80 evangelical churches over
> the past year, and
> the last time even had the gall to invade church
> services!
>
> This is probably a very high percentage of all non
> Catholic churches in
> the country!
>
> And the "zoning violation" they were supposedly
> guilty of in many
> cases?
>
> Are you ready for this one?
>
> NOISE!
>
> I stand FIRM in my assertion that this is a Catholic
> Putsch against
> proetstant churches in Costa Rica, despite the
> pathetic token closing of
> one catholic church these Nazi pigs didn't think of.
>
> These assholes are part of Opus Dei, and we have
> PLENTY of information
> on these people we will be sharing with you in the
> coming days.
>
> So here is the belated, though much fuller story on
> this outrage from
> today's Tico Times:
>
> Unusual One-Man Protest Gets Results
>
> By Katherine Stanley
> Tico Times Staff
> kstanley@ticotimes.net
>
> A careful inspection of noise standards at the
> country's evangelical
> churches, to be conducted by the Public Health
> Ministry, Ombudsman José
> María Echandi and Legislative Assembly member Carlos
> Avendaño, is
> scheduled to begin this week – the result of an
> unusual one-man protest
> Avendaño staged March 18 before the government went
> on a week's vacation
> for Semana Santa (Easter Holy Week).
>
> The congressman expressed his opposition to the
> Health Ministry's
> closures of evangelical churches, not by staging a
> march or a boycott,
> but by setting a ladder beside the National Monument
> near the assembly
> building, climbing atop it, and refusing to come
> down until the ministry
> acceded to his demands.
>
> The National Restoration Party's only legislator and
> his supporters say
> the ministry has unfairly closed evangelical
> churches, which the
> ministry says do not comply with basic health, noise
> and parking
> requirements, throughout the past year.
>
> Supporter Edgar Sánchez told The Tico Times 80
> churches have been closed
> down nationwide since January 2004.
>
> “They are focusing on Christian (non-Catholic)
> churches,” Sánchez said,
> adding the ministry does not uphold such strict
> standards for churches
> of the nation's official Catholic religion or other
> establishments,
> including bars.
>
> The recent closure of a church in the northern San
> José suburb of Tibás,
> by ministry officials who entered the church during
> a service, was the
> final straw that prompted Avendaño's protest,
> Sánchez added.
>
> Avendaño, cheered on by his wife and a small group
> of supporters,
> climbed the statue shortly after 4 p.m. March 18,
> just before the
> assembly closed down for Easter Holy Week. As
> darkness fell, a curious
> crowd gathered. So, too, did a large contingent of
> police officers,
> rescue teams, ambulances and even a crane, for a
> total cost the daily Al
> Día estimated at ¢850,000 ($1,824).
>
> Red Cross workers took Avendaño's blood pressure –
> he suffers from
> hypertension, Sánchez said – and brought him water
> and coffee, with
> Avendaño never letting go of a handmade sign
> reading, “No More Church
> Closings.”
>
> Meanwhile, on the ground, Ombudsman Echandi, who
> told The Tico Times
> Avendaño called him Friday morning to inform him of
> his plan, paced back
> and forth in a crowd of Avendaño's supporters, his
> hands pressed to his
> ears. In one hand, he held a cell phone on which he
> spoke to the
> Vice-Minister of Health, Delia Villalobos; in the
> other, he held a
> walkie-talkie to communicate the progress of the
> negotiations to
> Avendaño.
>
> Onlookers' reactions varied. Many people knelt to
> pray, while others
> simply took in the strange spectacle or cheered
> Avendaño on.
>
> “Bravo, diputado ,” one man yelled. “That's how we
> do it!”
>
> “Don't come down until gas prices get lower!”
> shouted another.
>
> He didn't wait that long. At approximately 9:20
> p.m., Avendaño did come
> down, after the ministry provided a written document
> outlining the
> elements of the agreement that had been reached.
>
> In the agreement, the Health Ministry promised to
> reopen the churches
> that have been closed, and to begin a study of noise
> levels in churches
> that will include Echandi's and Avendaño's
> participation.
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> --------------------~-->
> What would our lives be like without music, dance,
> and theater?
> Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for
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>
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>
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>
>
> Please be sure to visit our offshore website at
> http://www.offshorearnings.com
> Learn how to turn the internet into YOUR very own
> ATM machine! Go to:
> http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/internetmoney.htm
>

Fwd: [costa-rica] Revolution in Alajuela?

2005-03-27T01:01:00.000-06:00

--- lunarii wrote:
> To: costa-rica@yahoogroups.com,
> irccr@yahoogroups.com
> From: lunarii
> Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 08:50:08 00200 (CEST)
> Subject: [costa-rica] Revolution in Alajuela?
>
> According to our man in the street, Alajuela is
> getting ready to revolt.
> The situation with the hospital fiasco has
> adversely affected the local
> economy, and is like a major depression.
>
> Almost nothing is functional in the new hospital, it
> is a shambles. It
> looks like more is to blame than just the Spanish
> construction company.
> Seems like everyone was squeling like pigs near this
> feeding trough!
>
> Equipment ordered never showed up and many other
> problems not reported
> on too much.
>
> The natives are restless in Alejuela. They are
> running out of medicine
> too at the hospital, and they frequently have to go
> to Hospital Mexico
> to get more.
>
> Looks like the Caja is in very serious trouble, and
> the people of
> Alejuela are getting really upset. They even talk
> of a new civil war
> rising up because of this and other major problems.
>
> On another front, it looks like Calderon has
> suddenly managed to get
> himself sent home!
>
> I am sure that you already heard Osvaldo was out.
>
> But there is now such a serious economic and
> politicl problem, that it
> is getting really explosive, at least here!
>
> There is also talk that Enrique will be back paying
> soon, so just hold
> on a little longer, our good friend is about to
> return!
>
> Seems like some people in the government finally
> realize the gravity of
> the situation, and realize that Enrique's return is
> the only hope this
> economy has of recovery. Other foreign investment
> has all but
> disappeared, considering how foreign investors have
> been treated by this
> excreble administration! The only hope for rescue
> now appears to rest
> with Enrique, and Costa Ric had better keep its
> fingers crossed, as
> under 50% of the investors remain. The majority are
> now gone to other
> parts of the world, and so Enrique's payments to
> them will be lost to
> the country.
>
> But, at this point, beggers can't be choosers, and
> half a loaf is better
> than no bread at all.
>
> I hope they finally understand this before no bread
> is left.
>
> Strike while the iron's hot, Costa Rica, otherwise
> your financial
> Armaggedon is almost upon you.
>
> ............................ LUNAR NEWS
>
> Learn how to turn the internet into YOUR very own
> ATM machine! Go to:
> http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/internetmoney.htm
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/costa-rica/
>
> <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
> to:
> costa-rica-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

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2005-03-17T14:08:00.000-06:00

=========================================
>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
=========================================

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*News Digest

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=========================================
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=========================================
NEWS DIGEST
=========================================
*Early Morning Bank Robbery in San José

Three men, heavily armed, stormed the branch of the Banco Crédito Agrícola de

Cartago (BCAC) located across from the court house in San José and made away

with ¢12 million colones (us$25.500 dollars) in an early morning bank heist.

This time there were deaths or hostages like the failed bank robbery of the

Banco Nacional branch in Monteverde last week.

According to police, three men waited patiently in the early hours of

yesterday morning when at 6:30am they took advantage of the lack security on

the changing of the guard rotation.

Using tear gas and they overtook the guards and waited for the branch manager

to arrive, who was taken by surprise and forced to open the bank vault.

Apparently the bank did not use a timed vault system.

The three men then fled in a the bank manager's automobile but abandoned it a

short distance from the bank when they realized the automobile had a tracking

device and fled on foot.

Police are still searching for the three men.

The Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) is looking in the possibility

that the bank robbers may have had some "inside" help, seeing it strange as

to how the three men could easily overpower the guards, knew exactly the time

of the guard rotation on when the bank manager would be arriving.

The OIJ agents got the feeling of something strang is going on with this

robbery after completing the initial interviews of the guards. An OIJ source

revealed to the press that the guards offered contradictory statements to

investigators. In addition, the bank alarm was never set off and no call was

made to 911.

Police say the action was well planned and the group knew that the bank did

not have video surveillance and nor did they take the cash that was set aside

for robberies, money that contained a dye mark system that would be visible

once it left the bank.

The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública and the Organismo de Investigación

Judicial (OIJ), along with Fuerza Pública chief, Walter Navarro, are denying

that a "bank alert" exists in the country. Aside from the robbery yesterday

morning and that in Monteverde last week, officials are denying are other

reports of any other bank robberies.

*Costa Rica Rules Out Immediate Ratification of TLC with US

Costa Rica on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of an immediate

ratification of the Tratado Libre de Comercio - TLC (Free Trade Agreement -

FTA) between Central America and the United States.

Foreign Trade Minister Manuel Gonzalez Saenz told the press that Costa Rica

will not ratify the TLC right now due to pressure from special groups.

Entrepreneurs and economic sectors of Costa Rica called for the immediate

ratification, while social sectors opposed the TLC and threatened to protest

if the agreement was presented to the parliament.

The minister said if the United States ratifies the treaty, Costa Rica will

undoubtedly feel pressure, but by now no pressure has been exerted by

Washington.

The opposition party Movimiento Libertario proposed to leave the TLC to a

referendum.

Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala signed the TLC

with the United States in May 2004.

El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have ratified the agreement, and in

Nicaragua, the text has been sent to the legislature, while Costa Rica's

executive branch still holds on to the document.

*Natural Cosmetics From Costa Rica

Vista Group is to launch a new natural skin care line on the US market that

is manufactured in Costa Rica.

Rainforest Preserve utilizes features clays unique to the lava fields of

Central America – a formula that aims to feed the growing demand for natural

cosmetic formulations, writes Simon Pitman.

Vista says that it will immediately begin distribution from its facility in

Chester, Virginia from where the company will be supplying retailers

throughout the United States.

"Rainforest Preserve has been designed for up-scale consumers interested in

top-quality natural and organic cosmetics," said Rocio Kemp, director of

sales for Vista. "After three years of intense market research, numerous

focus groups, and countless revisions to refine the formulations, we've come

up with a line of products that meets this discerning customer's

expectations."

Kemp added that, contrary to the no-fuss hippyish image connected with

consumers of natural cosmetic products, consumers buying these type of lines

are just as likely to now be well educated, sophisticated individual with

real concerns about the environment and the type of products that come into

contact with their skin.

"Our initial launch features three products with differing natural colors and

body uses. Red Volcanic Mask, like its name insinuates, is made of red

volcanic clays and is designed for the face. Liquid Lava is made of black

lava and is a body scrub. Natural Clay is a mild daily facial exfoliant made

from white earth,“ Kemp also added. The new range of products features

naturally derived ingredients that include aloe leaf, chamomile and mint

extract all found in the Red Volcanic Mask facial cleanser; wild orange

hibiscus, tillia and aloe vera in the Liquid lava body scrub; together with

lemon and oragne peel oil and green tea extract found in teh Natural Clay

facial exfoliant.

The ingredients for Rainforest Preserve are largely natural or organic and

are not tested on animals.

*IRS to Help Out the Costa Rican Tax Man

The Dirección General de Tributación Directa (DGT) - the Costa Rican tax man

- is getting ready to apply stricter controls to it's tax collection problem,

thanks to the help of the United States Treasury, that oversees the Internal

Revenue Service (IRS).

The U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica made public that Larry Westfall will be

heading the U.S. team to help the Ministerio de Hacienda (Costa Rican Revenue

Service) in planning, training, auditing and collecting of taxes.

Hacienda has a long running problem with it's computer system and the U.S.

will help out with that too.

The agreement was signed yesterday (Wednesday) between the Westfall and

Hacienda minister, Federico Carrillo and president Abel Pacheco.

The agreement is in preparation of the planned "reforma fiscal" - tax reform

- that has been debated for some time.

Carrillo commented that the union with, and without a doubt, the strongest

tax organization in the world, will help strengthen Hacienda and to bring

more equality and justice to the Costa Rican tax system and taxpayers.

*Semana Santa is Not A Paid Holiday

Yesterday we reported that all government offices will be closed all week

during Semana Santa, save for the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad

(ICE), FyL (electricity), Aya (water) and state bank - Banco Nacional, Banco

de Costa Rica, who will be open on Monday and Tuesday.

The move to close all government offices from closing on Friday March 18 to

the morning of Monday March 28, is to save the government money. What we

didn't make clear, that though government offices will be closed, only

Thursday and Friday - according to the Ministerio de Trabajo (Ministry of

Labour) - are paid holidays.

Government employees are given Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off, but it will

come off their vacation time. Saturdays and Sundays government offices are

normally closed.

Fernando Trejos, Ministro de Trabajo (Labour Minister), said "Thursday and

Friday are legal holidays and any worker - public or private sector - who is

expected to work on those days will be paid double the normal salary".

The Ministerio de Trabajo has made a toll free line available to employees

and employers who are not clear on the holiday rules. Callers can call

800-TRABAJO or can visit any of the 32 offices the Ministry has in the

country for a full explanation.

*Florida fugitive captured in Costa Rica:

[World News]: By LES KJOS WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.,, March 16 : A man who fled

from the Palm Beach County, Fla.,, courthouse on the last day of his

manslaughter trial in 1998 has been arrested in Costa Rica.

Ken Cojocar, 34, a former machinist from Royal Palm Beach, Fla.,, was working

at a sports gambling business in San Jose, Costa Rica, when he was arrested,

the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday.

Cojocar was convicted of drunken-driving manslaughter in the deaths of Alice

Tyler, 46, and Heather Durkin, 15, in a head-on collision in Jupiter, Fla.,,

in 1996.A U.S. Marshals Service task force and State Department agents began

looking for him in 2003. They were getting close a year ago, when Cojocar was

mentioned on "America's Most Wanted" and he began lying low again.

They finally caught up with him Tuesday.

"It's a magnificent day," Assistant State Attorney Ellen Roberts said."I can

hardly wait to see him."

*Costa Rica Police Storm Besieged Bank, Nine Dead
Thu Mar 10, 2005 03:36 AM ET

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - A bungled bank raid in Costa Rica that

erupted into a bloody hostage crisis ended on Wednesday when the only robber

left standing gave himself up to police after a day of shootouts that left

nine dead.

The man was one of four or five robbers whose heist at the Banco Nacional in

Santa Elena northwest of the capital went awry when a security guard shot two

of them dead on Tuesday night.

The remaining robbers then took more than 30 people hostage, demanding

$40,000. An assault by heavily armed police failed and left one officer dead.

Television showed at least two bodies crumpled outside the bank for several

hours during the standoff. It was not clear if they were some of the five

hostages killed or hostage takers.

The only robber left eventually gave himself up, security officials said.

"It was possible to disarm him without having to offer anything," said

security minister Rogelio Ramos.

The robbers released about half of the hostages on Wednesday morning. By the

end of the siege, 19 bystanders had been injured, half of them by gunshot.

It was unclear how another of the robbers died, and police said a fifth

culprit may have escaped unseen.

The ordeal, parts of which were broadcast live on television, shocked Costa

Rica, an orderly country that is generally less violent than neighboring

Central American nations, where youth gang crime is rampant.

But the country's reputation was tarnished last year by corruption scandals

and a hostage incident when a policeman shot himself and three other people

inside the Chilean Embassy after learning he was to lose his job.

*Costa Rica: A bird lover's paradise

Nature Notes column by Beverly Overmyer

I've been described by those who've known me for decades as an "advertiser's

nightmare." Since I was a teenager, I could recite or sing every slogan or

theme song popular on the radio or television. The problem was then -- and

remains today -- that I seldom remember the business, product or show that

the jingle touted.

Recently when friends asked, "How was your Costa Rica trip?" I immediately

answered, "You should go."

I don't know what business urged customers to visit their store, but the

slogan seemed a perfect reply.

I had mentioned to my son (I don't remember this either) that we'd like to go

to Costa Rica sometime because there were so many birds there that we'd never

see otherwise. Last year we were surprised with an itinerary for a 12-day

trip to top birding spots in the tiny central American country tucked in a

Costa Rica bird book at our birthday party.

When questioned by friends, family and co-workers, we'd tell everyone what a

special place Costa Rica is to visit, not just for the birds but for the

country's efforts to save their rain and cloud forests and the natives' and

lodge owners' genuine affection for Americans even though our Spanish was

sorely lacking.

I remembered different highlights of our trip when I talked to different

friends.

Elaborating on my first answer, I'd tell fellow birders that on the first day

at Chacon Mountain Lodge with our guide Martino, we'd seen 31 species that

we'd never seen before. (And heavy winds made it a "bad birding day.")

For our gardener friends I'd tell them they should go to see the magnificent

flowers and other vegetation. My husband mentioned that there was something

growing on every available surface in the forests and on the roadsides.

Looking out our hotel window at midnight in a light drizzle, I was astounded

to see a 10-foot-high solid wall of purple, orange, red and purple

bougainvillea stretching along the side of the hotel as far as I could see.

Our guides were amazed that calla lilies growing wild along the roadsides

were the feature of pricey wedding bouquets here. Even familiar garden

annuals like impatiens and hydrangeas grow here to giant sizes in the warm,

moist air.

I tell my artistic friends about the incredible color and folk art decorating

every available surface that isn't covered with flowers. We were driven from

one lodge to another enjoying the colorful houses and stores and buses

crowding San Jose and the countryside.

The bird guide at the resort on the Pacific Ocean took us to the nearby Costa

Rican village where murals adorned the school, houses and day-care center for

the resort workers' children. He explained that the small mirrors in one

village mural allowed the visitor to become part of the picture.

For the people who are more interested in exotic, furry mammals than birds, I

whip out the pictures of the pacas, agoutis and coatis feeding close to the

lodge's terrace at dusk and sunrise. Some of these animals, as well as some

large black wild turkeys with bright light blue bills, are endangered and

protected by the resort owners. Some exist nowhere else.

One of the guide books promised a really close-up look at huge iguanas in the

treetops that could be photographed from the bridge at treetop level.

In the midmorning sun, a yard-long orange fella basked in the sun amid the

clicks of dozens of tourists' cameras.

This critter looked fierce, unlike their smaller cousins that wandered into

the outdoor dining room to be fed their lunch banana by the waiters -- again

to the delight of the tourists.

If anyone asks or not, I tell everyone about an amazing experience on the

plane ride home over cloud-covered Indiana. Out of the plane window shined a

round rainbow with the shadowed silhouette of our plane in the middle. I took

it as a sign that we'd land safely and return to Costa Rica, which was indeed

the gold at the end of several rainbows we'd marveled at during the two weeks

in the cloud forests.

*COSTA RICA’S NEW AMBASSADOR TO OAS

Costa RicaFeb. 25 2005

Press Release - Organization of American States

Ambassador Javier Sancho Bonilla, presenting credentials today as Costa

Rica’s new Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States

(OAS), renewed his nation’s commitment to the regional Organisation and the

inter-American system as well as to the defense and promotion of human

rights, democracy and hemispheric security.

The new envoy delivered his accreditation letters to Acting Secretary General

Luigi Einaudi, conveying greetings from President Abel Pacheco and Foreign

Affairs Minister Roberto Tovar. The brief ceremony at which Ambassador Sancho

Bonilla presented credentials followed private discussions he held with

Ambassador Einaudi.

In welcoming the new envoy, the Acting Secretary General noted Costa Rica’s

contribution to the hemispheric agenda. He made particular mention of the

Central American nation’s longstanding leadership on the defense of human

rights, the promotion of democracy and in “the quest for sound

inter-Americanism based on the dignity of democratically-organized

countries.”

A career diplomat, Ambassador Javier Sancho Bonilla has held a variety of

senior positions prior to this appointment, including as Director General of

Foreign Policy with his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as

Ambassador in Brazil, Korea and Thailand. He has represented his government

at numerous international conferences, including as head of delegation to the

Conference of National Coordinators of the Rio Group, held in Santiago,

Chile, in March 2001.

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=========================================
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=========================================
If you want to be successful in the years to
come, with the new technology of the internet,
you need to break free of the limitations that
bind the majority of people. ONe of the worst
problems individuals and businesses face today
are high taxes, unfair litigation, lack of
privacy in financial matters, etc.

You cannot be truly successful and free unless
you use all the tools at your disposal, which
includes being financially free, and learning
the ingredients to true success.

These secrets used to not be available to the
ordinary person. They were the guarded secrets
of the elite.

Destiny Worldwide is unique in that we not only give
you the education you need to succeed, but we also
give you access to cutting edge tools in many
different aspects.

From e-commerce to success in your career, regular
business, and handling your finances secure from
the many risks out there today, our constellation
of services gives you the advantages you need to
succeed.

Go to these websites to begin running down the road
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=========================================
FEATURE ARTICLE
=========================================
*Feature Article: Outrageous Internet Group Warfare
in Major Costa Rica Group

Just today, a letter to the editor of online publication AMCosta Rica
sparked a backlash out outrageous proportions from Chuck Leaky, the
qurky, hard headed moderator of the internet newsgroup for Costa Rica
discussions called Gallo Pinto.

As his response to one of his subcriber's letter to the editor, he
banned that member from the list.

Here are Leaky's words on the subject:

"Apparent Deterioration: From the looks of things either
the editorial policies of the morning Online News
Thingee from --- and supposedly about Costa Rica --- has
been taken over by its Hard Copy Left Wing competitor.
The Letters Section today included two frothy-mouthed
attack pieces against the United States of America. One
allowed by an unnamed source from an unnamed location
--- and the other from a one-time member of GalloPinto.
The Old Factotum can do nothing about the former, but
the latter complainer and defiler will never again be a
member of this group, at least under his own name. I am
very surprised that what could have been a very good
addition to the Costa Rica news scene has lost any
semblance of fairness and objectivity and turned at
least part of its LETTERS space into just another
second-rate-left-wing-favoring-muckmongering venue
against the United States. Perhaps those old days of
being a journalism professor make it just too difficult
to be fair-minded and objective.

Sea feliz,

chuck"

+++++++++++++++++++++

Now, here are the letters that generated such a vitriolic attack by
Leaky. Do you consider any of the letter below to be "frothy mounted?"

If you do, I guess you have found a friend in Chuckie, So you should
benefit from joining his little Nazi fiefdom.

If any of you members of the Costa Rica list comments on this topic,
you are free to send your comments there. For non list subscribers,
we suggest you join the group right now so that you can be guaranteed to
receive each edition of this newsletter every time it comes out.

Now, onto the entertainment for today. Do any of you see any "froth"
in the letters below, and can you IMAGINE ever being thrown off of
an internet discussion board for writing one of these to another
publication.

OK, so on with the insanity:

"Letters to the editor
Readers think that U.S.
should evaluate itself

EDITOR’S NOTE: The three letters that follow respond to the U.S. report on

human rights published here Tuesday.

Let’s match U.S. with Costa Rica

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

The U.S. incarcerates more people per 100,000 than any other country in the

world, including the former USSR. In addition, their prisons are so

overcrowded with non-violent drug offenders that building new jails has

become a national interest.

I wonder how the U.S. compares to C.R.? Probably much worse! Of course a

comparison wasn't included in the report. It would have been good to see some

comparative statistics in your article. It would be good for the morale of

Ticos.
Aaron Lagadyn
Nanaimo, B.C., Canada

Let’s clean up our backyard

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

The US government apparently forgot to include one country in its analysis of

civil rights infractions in 196 countries — itself!!

The Bible teaches us to cast the mote from our own eye before we point out

.the splinter in our neighbors'. The Christian-oriented administration in the

U.S. seems to enjoy applying the teachings of Christ only when it serves

their own purposes. I do not condemn Christianity, only the hypocrites that

.use it, or for that matter, any other religion, to further their own ends.

Compared to some countries, I have no doubt the U.S. would score well, but it

would not fare as well as most industrial nations, in main part due to its

involvement in the Middle East and its attacks on socialist-leaning

.governments. Let's clean up our own backyard before we attack our neighbors

in our ever shrinking globe.
John French
Philadelphia

Report is just more hypocrisy

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Your piece this morning on the A.M. Costa Rica Web site regarding that annual

hypocrisy known as the U.S. State Department Report On Human .Rights was

notable more for what it left out than what it included. It .never mentioned

human rights abuses in the United States — which are .becoming as egregious

as anywhere in the hemisphere. So to correct that omission, here is what

that State Department report and your description of it would have included

had it been honest:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The human rights situation in the United States continues to deteriorate. A

presidential election in which numerous and serious statistical anomalies,

nearly all in favor of the winning candidate, remain unaddressed by official

investigatory agencies, is symptomatic of .increasing impunity and a

declining respect for the rule of law.

The public pronouncements about human rights and self determination are

.increasingly belied by discussions, within the administration, of such

.possible activities as the "Salvador option" as a means of imposing its

.will in countries it militarily occupies, through the implementation of

death-squad activity and state-sponsored terror as it did in El Salvador two

decades ago. With the active encouragement and help of the administration,

the press in the United States increasingly engages in self-censorship, and

has done little reporting on these and similar domestic human rights issues.

The administration has recently been accused of stacking the White House

press corps with at least one ."journalist" who was apparently present for

the purpose of asking .questions the administration wanted asked.

Subversion of foreign governments, including those with widespread support,

continues, while private individuals engaging in foreign subversion supported

by the U.S. government remain unpunished. Many of the dissidents recently

arrested and jailed by Cuba were found to have been carrying large amounts of

cash in U.S. dollars, traced to the U.S. .Interests Section, but while the

United States continues to make angry pronouncements about the fate of those

people, the individuals who were .responsible for the bombing of the Cubana

Airlines plane in the Bahamas three decades ago, leading to the death of

dozens of people, remain at .large and unpursued.

One of the persons believed to have been part of that plot currently holds a

position of considerable responsibility in the government of the State of

Florida. Another person who operated death squads and a subversion campaign

in Nicaragua in the 1980s in contravention of U.S. law and defiance of the

U.S. Congress, is now the host of a popular national television program.

Pronouncements about the right of other nations to pursue self determination

remain unhonored by the current government of the United States. 2004 saw

the United States funneling arms to rebels within .Haiti through Grenada and

the Dominican Republic for the purpose of overthrowing a freely elected

government which enjoyed considerable .popular support, and replacing it with

a friendlier government run by persons closely associated with the FRAPH and

Tonton Macoute thugs of .the deposed "Papa Doc" Duvalier government.

Agents sponsored by the .United States engaging in subversion against the

government of Venezuela continue to be caught and arrested by that

government, in spite of the fact that the current government's support of the

people was overwhelmingly reaffirmed in a referendum widely regarded as free

and fair.

Domestic repression in the United States continues to increase. Dissidents

continue to be harassed and intimidated; those even remotely considered a

threat but who are not particularly high-profile, occasionally find

themselves jailed on trumped-up "terrorism" charges, detained indefinitely

without charge, or find themselves fleeing into .exile.

Demonstrations are frequently repressed, often violently, and .police abuses

of those arrested usually go unpunished. Officers of charities who look

after the rights of those detained for political .reasons are often harassed

and intimidated, placed on "watch lists." This year it was revealed that the

United States occasionally engages in .a process it calls "extraordinary

rendition," by which it occasionally .sends detained persons to other

countries known to engage freely in the brutal torture of persons in

detention.

At least two of the victims of .this procedure are known to have been killed,

and several more are known to have sustained permanent debilitating injuries.

For these reasons, the numbers of people fleeing from the United States for

political reasons has recently increased dramatically over the last year,

particularly since the election; an absolute minimum of 200 per .month

(possibly has high as several thousand) are known to be settling in Latin

America, Canada and Europe. In response, the United States government is

exerting pressure on the recipient nations to tighten their residency

requirements.

The United States continues to detain suspects it calls "enemy .combatants,"

at facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Kabul, Afghanistan, and several

locations in Iraq. Only those at Guantanamo have a legal .right to any kind

of trial, where they are offered only "military .tribunals," which are widely

regarded as being show trials, conducted only because they were required by

court decisions.

The foreign nationals who have been released from Guantanamo Bay detention

have told .stories of torture and abuse that are consistent with those that

have .been revealed from Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. administration

.continues to refuse to accept the applicability of the Geneva Conventions,

to which it is signatory, with regards to the legal status of the detainees.

The United States continues to refuse to accept the jurisdiction of the

International Criminal Court and continues to refuse to sign the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights.

If you publish this, please do not use my name or location. I am one of

those who fled under pressure, and I don't need to add to the pressure I

continue to feel. Thank you.
Name withheld by request"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OK, so just who do YOU think is nuts?

=========================================
DISCUSSION
=========================================

Please send your discussion topics to

costa-rica@yahoogroups.com

If you are not yet a member of this egroup,
you may either subscribe from your yahoogroups
members area, or subscribe by email by sending
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This group is for the distrubution of the Digest
as well as discussion on topics of interest to
those living or wanting to live in Costa Rica.

Enjoy!
=========================================
NEWS DIGEST
=========================================
*Costa Rica Formally Rescinds Harken Energy Oil Contract

The Costa Rican government formally canceled the1998 concession for oil

exploration it had granted to Houston-based Harken Energy Corporation (HEC),

after years of wrangling over the deal.

"This marks the end of the administrative process and the definitive

rescission of the contract," said Environment Minister Carlos Manuel

Rodriguez.

President Abel Pacheco said that "what has happened here has nothing to with

us, rather it is due to Harken's failure to comply with several parts of the

contract."

"When they failed to comply, we simply took this measure," Pacheco said.

In 2004, the government backed away from previous plans to pay Harken Energy

a settlement as part of the contract dispute.

Costa Rican officials say that Harken was to blame for failing to present an

adequate environmental impact study on the oil project.

Rodriguez had once said the government was considering a payment of between

US$3 million and US$11 million because it was cheaper than risking a trial in

U.S. courts.

In October 2003, Harken dropped a US$57 billion claim before the World Banks'

International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, but said it would

still pursue compensation.

Harken Costa Rica Holdings won concession rights in 1998 to explore for oil

off the coast of Limon, 100 miles east of the capital, San Jose. But the

Environment Ministry denied a permit to explore there, saying the plan wasn't

" environmentally viable."

*Three Former Presidents Worst Presidential Candidates, Recent Poll Reveals

A poll of 1.205 people by Channel 7 television news, Telenoticias, between

February 15 and 24 shows that 47.5% of the respondents have not made up their

mind on which party they will support in the 2006 presidential elections,

while 19.5% have decided on the Partido Liberación Nacional, (PLN), 9.5% for

the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC), 4.5% for the Partido Acción

Ciudadana(PAC). 2.1% for the Movimiento Libertario (ML), 1.5% for others and

15.3 decided not to give an answer.

Asked if they were prepared to vote Oscar Arias in 2006, 54% said no, while

26.7% said yes. The group was also asked if they believed that Arias has the

election locked up, 49.5% said no, while 33.1% believe he will be the next

president.

Asked about various personalities to have made the news this past year, the

group gave an overwhelming support for Fiscal General Francisco Dall’anese,

believing he would make excellent presidential material, while the worst of

the bunch are former presidents, Miguel Angel Rodríguez, followed by José

María Figueres Olsen and Rafael Angel Calderón.

*Recording Will Identify Calls Made From Prisons

A problem for police and jail authorities has been the number of calls made

by prisoners from public pay telephones installed at the prisons to outsiders

who have been threatened and blackmailed.

The situation has gotten so far out of hand that prisoners, working with

those on the outside, were making a good living. And getting away with it.

Basically, a prisoner would use any one of the public telephones installed in

the prison to make calls to extort and/or threaten their potential victims.

The person on the outside would pick up the payment or follow through with

the threat.

The problem was such that police have received more calls of complaints that

they can handle, leaving judicial officials scratching their heads at a

solution.

Well, Patricia Vega, Ministra de Justicia y Gracia, who operates the

penitentiary system and working with the Instituto Costarricense de

Electricidad (ICE), announced that now a recording will precede every phone

call placed from a pay phone in the prisons

The system allows that when you pick up the receiver, if the caller is

calling from a prison, a message is played telling you the call is

originating from a prison and identifying the prison as well.

This change will not stop the criminals from making their calls, but it can

help the receiver of the call by letting them know that they are potential

victim and make a complaint to police.

*Aerial Photos To Help in Property Registration
Next time you are outside, look up and smile. You could be on camera.

Say what?

The government has launched an ambitious program called "Propiedades

inscritas y seguras" by the Regularización de Catastro y Registro, which,

with the help of NASA, will photograph every inch of the national territory,

to avoid mistakes and problems with the land registry.

The first flight began this week with the area of Límon, was confirmed by the

director of the Centro Nacional de Alta Tecnología (Cenat), Pedro León, who

says they hope to cover 90% of the national territory by the project's end.

The program will cost us$92 million dollars and is party financed by a loan

from the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID).

The program is strengthen the national registry to avoid and eliminate many

of the problems with the registration process and in the hopes of also

attracting more investment dollars to the country, by having a sound and

solid property registration program.

Many owners and buyers of property have run into problems with title and have

had to spend money and time to correct many of the problems that have gone

unchecked for years. In some cases, property owners have lost part of their

property due to mistakes in the registry.

in other cases, buyers have been left holding the bag when the property they

thought they bought was non-existent or never registered. Problems with the

property registration has been a nightmare for many.

The aerial photos will be used to verify property demarcations of the 1.2

million property registrations and plans on file at the Registro Nacional.

The

The aerial photography part of the program is to take about six weeks to

complete, which is expected to take about 8.500 photos in 66 flights.

*Semana Santa Closing Will Save Government Millions

Public sector employees will be off work between March 20 and March 27 for

the Easter holidays known as "Semana Santa" - Holy Week.

The government announced yesterday that all public insitutions will close at

the end of the day Friday March 19 and re-open Monday March 28.

The 10 day holiday will save the government some ¢600 million colones

(us$1.275.000 dollars)

Banks have not announced their hours for the Semana Santa, as stores and

private businesses.

This year Easter Sunday is March 27, but in Costa Rica as in most of Latin

America, Thursday and Friday during Semana Santa are the holiest of days.

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2005-03-01T15:08:00.000-06:00