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>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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*News Digest


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WHAT'S NEW AT THE COSTA RICA PAGE!
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Our real estate section has just been totally updated with lots of
new listings, mostly in the residential real estate section, but also
we have a new rental on the rental page and some new additions to the
land for sale section.

http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/costa-rica/real.htm

We are adding new things every day, and when our merger comes with
COSTARICACENTER.COM, we will have a fully operational Mercado Central
for you to buy Costa Rican products over the internet from local merchants
[if you have a reputable business here, and want to sell through the
Mercado, just let us know. We can help you to accept credit cards and
all the major e-currencies on the net! We break through the Great Barrier
that many Costa Rican merchants face getting their products on the net!].

Hotels and tourist businesses will be able to add their own links, and you
will be able to place your own online classifieds and MUCH MUCH MORE!

Watch this newsletter for our official launch, coming soon!

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FEATURE ARTICLE
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DISCUSSION
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NEWS DIGEST
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*Passport thefts cause officials to call for copies

U.S. citizens are robbed or are victims of theft at a rate better than
nearly two a day, according to statistics released Wednesday.

Thieves or robbers took some 293 U.S. passports in the first half of
2004. Some 56 per cent of tourists are from the United States.

These figures were acquired from the U.S. Embassy and used to support
the Costa Rican government’s decision to relax rules regarding tourist

identification, officials said.

Security officials basically approved what everyone already does: keep
the passport in a safe place and carry a photocopy. The decision was

announced at a conference Wednesday about how to improve tourist security
in Costa Rica. Rogelio Ramos Martinez, minister of Gobernación, Policía y

Seguridad Pública, Rodrigo Castro, minister of Turismo and ambassadors
from 39 countries also attended.

Ana Helena Chacon, vice minister of Seguridad Pública, was the one who

announced that tourists will not have to carry their original passport.

She said that the majority of items that get stolen have been left

unattended. "Wallets and bags that are stolen are left on the beach
while people go swimming. In every five violent crimes that are
committed, four victims know their assailant so on the whole tourists
are safe here," she said.

The conference came in advance of the peak tourism season that begins in

December.


*Beach Safety Tips

1. Stay inside of the large beach breaks or swells unless you are a
strong swimmer.

2. Ask locals about known shore rips and learn
how to survive if you are caught in a rip or current.

3. Beware of outgoing tides and do not allow low tide conditions to lull
you into thinking it is safe to venture beyond the beach breaks.

4. Always attach the leash from your board to an arm or leg.

5. NEVER swim, surf or boogie board alone.

6. NEVER mix alcohol or social drugs with swimming or boarding.

Unfortunately, a combination of one or more of these mistakes once again

proved to be a deadly mixture.



*Rodríguez Heads to Court Today

Today may be a good day for former president Miguel Angel Rodríguez.
Or, it may be the worst of days, as the former president leaves his
apartment in Montes de Oca for a hearing before the Juzgado Penal,
who will hear both the appeals by Rodríguez and the Fiscalía.

The Fiscalía has asked the courts for nine months of preventive detention

(jail) for Rodríguez following his arrest.

However, a penal court judge preferred to give Rodríguez six months of
"house arrest" in lieu of jail and ordered the former president to pay a

¢250.000.000 colones bond.

The Fiscalía appealed the original decision and argue before the court
today that the former president should be in jail and may be taken to
one of the detention centres following the hearing, if the judge agrees.

Rodríguez on the hand will argue that he should remain under house arrest
and is appealing the judge's decision for a reduction in his bond.

This hearing is one where all the parties are present and similar to a
trial, they can make arguments before the court.

However, unlike original trial, the judge has to render an almost
immediate decision on the arguments, though the decision could come
minutes or even hours following the arguments.

Former president Miguel Angel Rodríiguez is being accused of receiving

monies, by way of his former Housing Miniser, José Antonio Lobo Solera,
from the Alcatel firm with respect to the multimillion dollar "prize" -
the contract that was awarded to Alcatel to install the GSM network in
Costa Rica.

There are also allegations that Rodríguez received money from the
government of Taiwan.


*Figueres Olsen Asked to Return to Costa Rica
Former president José María Figueres Olsen admits that he received
us$906.355 dollars between 2000 and 2003, payment for consulting
services, contracted by his former government advisor Roberto Hidalgo

In a written press statement from his office at the World Economic
Forum (WEF) in Geneva, Switzerland, Figueres says he received us$900.355

dollars for consulting work, payment he received after leaving the
presidency and has not committed any improper or illegal act.

The payment was for consulting work, contracted by the Hidalgo company
for advice on the promotion and modernization of the telecommunications

technology in Costa Rica.

Figueres did not mention in his statement that the payment originated
from Alcatel, nor what his specific duties where as a consultant under
the terms of the contract.

The situation is worsened with the revelation that Carmen Valverde,
former secretary general of the PLN party and former legislative deputy
from 1994 to 1998, the same period period Figueres was president, also

received us$900.000 from the Hidalgo company.

Doña Carmen is also the sister of Edgar Valverde, the former president
of Alcatel in Costa Rica and now in preventive detention for making
payments to public officials.

Critics are asking that former president José María Figueres Olsen come
to Costa Rica and "show his face" to explain what went on.

Humberto Arce, a strong critic and a legislative deputy that most
Costa Ricans call perhaps the most honest politician the country has or
has seen, told television cameras that the country for more than a decade
has been run by "gangsters and mafiosos".

Arce's comments refers that the last three former presidents have been
linked to payoffs from Alcatel, a company that used it's financial might
to ensure itself a future in Costa Rica's telecommunications industry by

paying off large amounts of money to public officials and functionaries,

including the last three presidents.

President Pacheco did not miss his opportunity to make his indignation
known and likened the current situation to cancer. "Costa Rica is will
and we need to heal it from the cancer that has developed in the form of

corruption", he told the noon hour television cameras.

Nobel Prize winner, Óscar Arias Sánchez, who belongs to the same party
as Figueres, the Partido Liberacion Nacional (PLN), considers the
actions by Figueres "a betrayal to the ideals and inheritance of Don
Pepe (José María Figueres Ferrer)".

Don Pepe, is father of Figueres Olsen proved to be one of Costa Rica's
most influential leaders, as head of the Founding Junta of the Second

Republic of Costa Rica.


*Alcatel Fires 2nd Executive in Costa Rica
PARIS (AFX) - Alcatel SA said it has fired another senior employee as
part of its investigation into alleged bribery of politicians at its

operations in Costa Rica.

Alcatel said it has fired Christian Sapsizian, director of Alcatel
Central America, for violating the company's code of ethics, without
giving further details.

Earlier this month, Alcatel announced that it had fired Edgar Valverde,

president of Alcatel Costa Rica, for the same reasons.

'Alcatel is fully cooperating with all the relevant authorities and

reiterates that its policy is to conduct its business in full
compliance with laws and regulations, both locally and internationally,'
the company said.

Officials in Costa Rica are leading a wide investigation into corruption
by government officials, which has resulted in the arrests of former

presidents Rafael Angel Calderon Fournier and Miguel Angel Rodriguez.


*Greatest and the Worst Press Freedom

North Korea, Cuba, Burma and China are ranked among the countries with
the worst press-freedom records in an index released by a media watchdog

group this week.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, which defends imprisoned
journalists and press freedom throughout the world, said East Asia
and the Middle East have the "worst press-freedom records," while
northern Europe is "a haven for journalists."

North Korea, at 167, stands at the bottom of the list for the third
year running, preceded by Cuba at 166 and Burma at 165. China is ranked
162, Vietnam 161, and Laos, 153. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is
ranked 159, Iran 158 and Syria 155.

Costa Rica is ranked at 35.

The United States, at 22, is ranked below Bosnia-Herzegovina and Trinidad
and Tobago because of "violations of source confidentiality, persistent

problems in granting press visas and the arrest of several journalists
during anti-Bush demonstrations," the group said Tuesday.

Reporters Without Borders said the continuing war has made Iraq "the
most deadly place on Earth for journalists," with 44 killed there
since fighting began in March 2003.

It also ranked U.S. behavior toward the press in Iraq separately
(at 108) from the overall situation in the country (at 148).

It said six journalists and media assistants were killed by U.S. Army
gunfire and that the military failed to conduct proper inquiries into
the deaths. The group said the new Iraqi government has not yet
established a framework guaranteeing press freedom and "reacted in an

authoritarian manner toward the pan-Arab satellite TV news stations
whose coverage they view as pro-terrorist."

The American democracy advocacy group Freedom House, which releases its

ranking of press freedom around the world in May every year, placed the

United States at 15 and Iraq at 142 out of 193 countries studied during
2003. Senior researcher Karin Deutsch Karlekar at Freedom House, who also

helped in the survey for Reporters Without Borders, said this week's index

was fairly similar to the Freedom House ranking, especially at the top and

bottom of the list.

The reason for the difference in the ranking of some countries, including
the United States, was that Reporters Without Borders considered attacks
and imprisonment of journalists, while Freedom House looked at the legal
and economic aspects of journalism.

"The press in the United States has a very strong legal structure," Mrs.

Karlekar said. She expressed surprise, however, at the ranking of India,

"which has very vibrant media," at 120, below Afghanistan and Swaziland.

Freedom House placed India at 93. Reporters Without Borders said China,
with 27 journalists in jail, and Cuba, with 26 behind bars, are the
world's "biggest prisons for journalists."

Countries where the greatest press freedom is enjoyed are located in
Europe: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway
are all ranked 1, along with Slovakia and Switzerland. Of the top 20

countries, only three are outside Europe: New Zealand (9), Trinidad and

Tobago (11) and Canada (18).

The index shows that rich countries do not have a monopoly on press
freedom. Jamaica (24), El Salvador (28), Costa Rica (35), Cape Verde (38)
and Namibia (42) rank fairly high on the index.


*Supporters of CAFTA Brace for a Tough Fight in US Congress
Last May the United States and the five countries of Central America –

Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica – signed the

U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement known as CAFTA. Several months

later, the Dominican Republic joined the agreement, which would eliminate

almost all trade barriers among the participating countries.

According to Dan Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy
Studies at the Cato Institute, a research organization in Washington,
the trade agreement has some flaws. But overall, he says CAFTA is a
winner for the United States and the other six countries, not only in

economic terms but political terms as well.

"This is a region that is in our backyard," he says. "It has a tortured
past. It was only in the 1980’s that Central America was one of the
biggest headaches for U.S. foreign policy. Today the region is at peace.
All six CAFTA countries are multi-party democracies. They’re making
progress on social trends, on political rights and CAFTA would encourage

that."

Opponents counter that CAFTA will impede social progress. Carol Pier is
labor rights and trade researcher for Human Rights Watch. She says as

drafted, CAFTA freezes substandard labor laws in place and does not give

these countries any real incentive to improve them. For example, workers’

rights to organize are not sufficiently protected in many Central American

countries. Ms. Pier says she would like to see CAFTA not only require

countries to enforce their labor laws but have them meet a minimum

international standard.

Carol Pier also faults CAFTA for not protecting workers from
discrimination. "You’re dealing with countries in which the work
force in the free trade zones is majority female. And yet you’re not

requiring the countries to effectively enforce their laws on sex

discrimination? To me that’s ludicrous," she says.

Opponents of CAFTA also fear it will damage the rural sector. According to

Jeff Vogt at the Washington Office on Latin America, a democracy and human

rights monitor in Washington, one-point-five million Mexican farmers were

forced off their land after NAFTA was implemented in 1994. Central American

farmers – who in some countries represent more than half the economically

active population – could be harmed even more.

"There is a real concern that there is going to be increased unemployment
in the rural sector," he says, "because Central Americans are not going
to be able to compete with very highly subsidized agriculture, which will

come in eventually to the Central American marketplace."

American farmers receive one-fifth of their income from government farm

subsidies, which enables them to sell their crops below market cost.
While importing cheaper grains into the Central American market will
benefit those who live in urban areas, it will hurt rural farm workers
and their families who stand to lose their livelihoods.

And as Jeff Vogt points out, one crop that Central Americans grow

competitively isn’t included in the free trade agreement. "If you look
at the Central American market, one of the major crops that it produces
is sugar," he notes. "And that’s one product on which the U.S. is
continuing to keep trade barriers. So in the one product where they could
be competitive there’s a barrier to entry in the U.S. market."

Even free-trade supporters like the Cato Institute’s Dan Griswold concede

that the sugar exclusion is one of CAFTA’s glaring failures. But he argues

that even flawed, CAFTA is a good recipe for economic growth across the

region.

"You look around the world and there seems to be a connection between
trade liberalization, development and democracy taking root," he says.
"We’ve seen it in South Korea, Taiwan, Chile, Mexico, and it’s happening in

Central America. As these countries turn toward the global market, as they

liberalize their economies, we’re seeing democracy and human rights take

root."

It remains unclear when CAFTA will be sent to the U.S. Congress, although

some speculate it could be as early as November, after the election but

before the next president and congress are sworn into office in January.


*"El Gordo" is getting fatter this year.
The annual Christmas lottery known as El Gordo will offer ¢1.750.000.000

colones as the grand prize to be divided among 5 winners.

The lottery tickets are divided into 'portions' and "entero" (complete

series) will pay out ¢350.000.000 colones, some ¢50.000.000 colones more
than last year.

Each "entero" (complete series) is divided into 40 portions and will pay
out ¢8.750.000 for the main prize.

The cost of an enterio is ¢20.000 colones or ¢500 colones for each
portion. The annual draw will be held of December 19 this year

The annual draw is sponsored by the Junta de Protección Social de San
José (JPS), which confirms that as of yesterday, the tickets are in the
hands of the vendors and expects to be sell out all of the 500.000 enteros

printed before the draw date, in 52 days.

Some of the favourite numbers expected to sell out first ate 22, 19, 00 and

33.
Lottery results: http://www.jps.go.cr/premios1.cfm?tipoDefinido=N


*Dentists Out of Work

According to a report by the Colegio de Cirujanos Dentistas, three out of
ten orthodontists are without work.

The Colegio says that the profession is oversaturated.



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