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>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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Feature Article:
*Bus bound for Costa Rica runs on used cooking oil


*News Digest

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FEATURE ARTICLE
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*Bus bound for Costa Rica runs on used cooking oil

The Sustainable Solutions Caravan wants to show the world how to recyle more

and create less waste.

LARRY COPENHAVER
Tucson Citizen

The school bus spends part of the year in the Bay area.
Photos by XAVIER GALLEGOS/Tucson Citizen

Itai Hauben, Tom Shaver and Stephen Brooks pour used vegetable oil into a

1972 modified diesel Carpenter school bus they are driving to Costa Rica. The

oil was given to them by El Charro Cafe.
A 1972 former school bus, modified to run solely on used cooking oil, stopped

yesterday at El Charro Cafe, 311 N. Court Ave. to tank up on fat.

"The engine in the bus has been modified to run on used straight vegetable

oil," said Zak Zaidman, 36, one of the 10 members of the Sustainable

Solutions Caravan traveling on the bus from its summer home in the San

Francisco Bay area to winter quarters in Costa Rica in Central America.

The group was founded last year to promote sustainability through the use of

renewable energies, organic farming and sustainable lifestyles, he explained.

That means less waste and more recycling.

The main modification to the diesel engine involved installing a heating

element to keep the fat flowing freely so it doesn't clog the engine's

plumbing, he said. The vehicle also is fitted with a separate tank that

carries a refined biodiesel product that permits easy starting.

"We use the biodiesel to start the engine and get the engine hot, then we

flip a switch, and we go 100 percent used vegetable oils," Zaidman said.

Before loading up on the used cooking oil, there is a check for particulate

materials, which cannot be used in the engine.

Members of the caravan are sustainability experts, eco-technologists,

farmers, mechanics and others dedicated to educating the public about

alternatives to fossil fuels, he said. The group also promotes Earth-friendly

farming, which will be critical if the fuels of the future are to be grown

rather than mined.

The destination of the caravan is Punta Mona Center for Sustainable Living

and Education, an 85-acre organic farm and education retreat in Costa Rica,

he said. For more information, go to puntamona.org


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DISCUSSION
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NEWS DIGEST
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*Tonnes of Garbage Left Behind by Festival Goers

The Festival de la Luz Saturday night brought a lot of happiness and joy to

thousands who lined the streets of downtown San José with spectacular

displays, marching bands and dancing.

However, the Festival also left piles of garbage on streets.

As with every parade, a team of garbage collectors follow the parade end to

pick up the garbage left behind by the spectators. The Municipality of San

José estimates that some thirty tonnes of trash was left strewn in the parade

route, that went from the La Sabana park, along Paséo Colon, Avenida Segunda

and ended in la Plaza de la Democracia.

Garbage trucks followed the last parade float and by Sunday morning there was

no trace of the Festival trash, as the streets were again clean.

Perhaps, the hardest parade the clean up crew have to content with each each

year is the December 27 'Tope", when literally thousands of horses take over

the same route and leave a trail of, well, stuff that smells even after being

washed down.

The clean up crew were not the only persons working the parade. Red Cross

personnel and members of the Fuerza Publica and Municipal police were on hand

to attend to those needing medical attention and to ensure public safety.

The Red Cross reports have attended to sixty five persons, seventeen of who

were taken to hospital for closer medical attention during the festival.

Police did not have any major occurrences to report, saying the parade was

peaceful and eventful from their part.


*2006 Election Party Registration Underway

The upcoming 2006 'presidential' elections will be record for the number of

registered parties according to the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE).

The TSE says it has so far 43 parties registered for the 2006 elections, two

more than the same time for the 2002 elections, and will see many more that

it believes are in the process of being formed and will be looking to be

registered.

The deadline for registration of a political party for the 2006 election is

June 6, 2005, which will include regional, provincial and national parties.

For a party to be registered it must complete the required forms as set out

by the Dirección General del Registro Civil of the TSE and among other things

must include 3.000 signatures in the case of a national party (only 50 for

regional or provincial parties) and must have it's political constitution

well defined.

National parties are those that will be presenting a candidate for the

position of President and Vice President of the country. All other parties

that don't present a candidate for the top spots are considered regional or

provincial.

The national parties expected to take part in the 2006 election are the:

Acción Ciudadana, Alianza Nacional Cristiana, Fuerza Democrática,

Independiente Obrero, Integración Nacional, Liberación Nacional, Movimiento

Libertario, Patriótico Nacional, Renovación Costarricense, Rescate Nacional,

Unidad Social Cristiana, Unión General and the Vanguardia Popular.



*Nicaraguans Head Home for the Holidays

Thinking of spending the holiday season in Nicaragua? Well, consider this.

According to Marco Badilla, director of the Dirección General de Migración y

Extranjería, some 70.000 Nicaraguans are expected to overload the immigration

resources at Peñas Blancas and the Daniel Oduber airport in Liberia during

the next several weeks.

The annual trek of Nicaraguans heading home for the holidays begins this

week. The bus lines have sold most just about every seat to and from

Nicaragua for the period of 20 December to 5 January. As well, private bus

companies have set up special tours to Nicaragua for the holiday period.

The land border crossing at Peñas Blancas will be hardest affected, as most

Nicaraguans use the land crossing to get home for the holidays and their

return, compared to the more expensive way of flying. And, if immigration

officials are correct, most Nicaraguans are expected to bring along a friend

on their return.

The return bus rate at both Tica Bus and Transnica is us$20 that will take

you from San José to Managua, with stops in Rivas and Granada. Nature Air

that has regular service between the Liberia airport in Costa Rican and the

airport in Granada charges us$130 return (us$240 for the San José-Granada

route).

Foreign residents of Costa Rica need to also pay the us$20 consular fee to

leave and re-enter Costa Rica. Tourists and Costa Ricans are not required to

pay the consular fee.


*At Least 50 Houses and Shacks Destroyed in Fire

A fire Saturday night in Pavas, west of San José , destroyed at least 50

shacks and houses, according to the daily La Nación.

No one was injured in the fire, which took firefighters approximately two

hours to extinguish. The lack of fire hydrants, a tangled web of amateurly

crafted electrical connections and the construction materials used in the

shacks contributed to the difficulty fighting the fire, which took place in

the Bribri urbanization, La Nación reported. The only fire hydrant was

approximately 500 meters away.

The fire was first reported at 6:30 p.m. , when a resident called saying the

blaze started in a fire used to cook tamales, firefighters told the daily.

Others witnesses said fireworks could have been the source of the fire.


*Piercing and Tatoo Regulations coming!

Come January or maybe February, the Ministerio de Salud - Health Ministry -

hopes to have regulations in place that govern 'piercing' and tattoos, that

has gotten out of hand. The regulations will give Health officials the power

to close shops if they don't meet the health and sanitary regulations. Health

Minister, María del Rocío Sáenz Madrigal, says that regulation is ready is

waiting for official publication. Once the regulation is published, shops now

in operation will have to meet the regulation or close.


*Nicaraguan President Blamed for Internal Political Crisis

Nicaraguan president, Enrique Bolaños, is responsible for the current

confrontation between the country´s single-chamber Congress and the executive

power, according to political analyst Oscar Rene Vargas.

Speaking to Prensa Latina, Vargas said the president had been reluctant to

start talks on the issue and now is ignoring the reforms approved by

legislators.

He recalled that the General Secretary of the Sandinista National Liberation

Front (FSLN), Daniel Ortega, had invited him "to find some consensual

alternative to the crisis."

Differences between the legislative power and the presidential house became

more sour this week as Vargas ordered deputies to modify the Constitution in

an attempt to gain more power, while declaring he would defend his authority

"at any rate."

In less than one month the parliament ratified Law on Arms, which enables it

to accept or refuse the acquisition of war means as well as to destroy

weapons in the hands of police and the Army.

Another reform gives the deputies the authority to demand that ministers,

vice ministers and state officials report on their work.

The sociologist considered that Bolaños is pushing the nation into an

unprecedented crisis in which he is trying to involve the Army and the

Police.

He warned that if Bolaños accuses congressmen of plotting a coup d´etat there

is no way to sustain such a charge, as the legsilators are only acting in

line with the Constitution.

According to Vargas, the president refuses to listen to the opposition´s

arguments and to see the country´s stark reality as an impoverished

neo-colonial nation.

He ruled out the possibility of Bolaños declaring a State of Emergency, as it

would break the Constitutional order and end up in a a total disaster for the

country.


*Brazil's biggest party votes to leave government

Brazil's biggest political party voted Sunday to withdraw from the coalition

government, a second political blow to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in

as many days.

The Popular Socialist Party voted to leave the governing coalition on

Saturday.

Both parties are unhappy with Lula's conservative fiscal policies.

The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, called on all its members

to quit Lula's government and support the party's own candidate for the

presidential elections in 2006.

However, PMDB's two cabinet ministers, Communications Minister Eunicio

Oliveira and Pensions Minister Amir Lando, have indicated they would stay in

their posts in defiance of their party's threat that they would be expelled

if they do so.

It remains to be seen how many legislators would follow their party's call as

the party is divided.

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