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*News Digest

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NEWS DIGEST
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*Bi-Lateral Agreement with the U.S. Will Force Payment of Child Support

Costa Ricans who leave the country for "greener" pasture in the United States

forgetting loved ones at home and Americans who skip out on child support to

hide in Costa Rica can do so no more.

A bi-lateral agreement signed yesterday by representatives of the United

States and Roberto Tovar, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica, will

ensure that minors will not be left out in the cold.

The agreement will now allow mothers on both sides of the border to apply the

law regarding child support.

The program has been two years in the making, which had to be approved by

various levels of government institutions before it could come into effect.

The Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI), the Procuraduría General de la

República and the Corte Suprema de Justicia had to all agree to the agreement

before it could be signed.

Douglas Barnes, chief negotiator for the U.S. said that this is the first

agreement signed with a Latin American country. The U.S. has similar

agreements with Canada, Australia and eight European countries, but nothing

south of the border.

Rosalía Gil, Ministra de la Niñez y la Adolescencia said this is an important

move to help those families in need, for mothers who have to raise their

children alone and without financial support while the fathers leave Costa

Rican territory and the good life in the United States.

Roberto Tovar, for his part, said that is a signal to all the "dead beats"

who come to Costa Rica to avoid their responsibilities.

The agreement now has to be ratified by the Legislative Assembly and then for

the Foreign Ministry notify the U.S. government, before the agreement will

come into effect.

No date was specified for when this will be done, though it is expected to be

in no time.


*CCSS To Sue Spanish Consortium for Alajuela Hospital Deficienies

Following President Abel Pacheco's strong comments the earlier day, the Caja

Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS) had announced it will sue the Spanish

consortium that built the Alajuela Hospital, following complaints about the

construction and medical equipment that does not work.

As President Pacheco said in his comments the day earlier, it has taken some

25 years to plan, design and build the hospital and one would expect that

would be working properly.

The Spanish consortium OHL delivered the completed building last fall. "They

are saying that they have completed all, had the provisional receiving

ceremony and have been responding to the complaints", said Dr. Alberto Sáenz,

president of the CCSS.

The Spaniards had agreed to send a mission to Costa Rica to look into the

problem, but never stated when. Meanwhile, Costa Ricans who are paying the

price for the problems for the faulty construction and medical equipment that

doesn't work properly or at all.

The process of determining the total cost of the problems and initiating a

court action which will eventually make the final decision is underway. As

well, the CCSS has decided to investigate those public officials who were

supposed to have carried out the inspections and will follow up on several

key CCSS managers who, though are no longer working for the government, will

face legal action if found to have been negligent in their duties.

CCSS officials say that the building has no structural faults and there is no

danger there.

Dr. Sáenz also said that CCSS has learned it's lesson and will make sure the

same doesn't happen with the new Heredia hospital.


*National Debt Reaches $10 Billion Dollars

The Minister of Hacienda, Federico Carrillo, said yesterday that the national

debt grew by 13.82% in 2004, reaching us$10 billion - yes billion - dollars

or ¢4.921.897 million colones. The Revenue Minister stated that to wipe out

the debt, each Costa Rican must pay out ¢1.3 million colones or us$2.800

dollars at the current exchange rate.

Carrillo added that if the current Reforma Fiscal (Tax Reforms) is not

approved, the situation will not worsen.

The government has been spending more than it has taken in and part of the

increase in the national debt is increased payments to finance it. "If we

continue in this way the situation becomes cronic and unsustainable, no

matter now hard we have tried to cut spending", said the Minister.

The Minister says that the new tax reforms will help the government with

increase revenues to combat the growing national debt, which is now placing

tremendous pressure on the government and it's efforts to curb inflation.

The Minister said that currently 50.88% of government revenues are going to

pay debt obligations, while 36% is going to pension, leaving only 14% to pay

for all other expenses.



*BAC San José Bank Announces Payday Loans

Customers of BAC San José, a private bank, don't have to wait for their

paycheck anymore. The bank made the announcement yesterday, that it's

customers can now get an advance on their salaries.

Government institutions and many large and medium businesses use direct

deposit to pay their employees each 15th and 30th of the month. The employer

make the deposit to their bank account, eliminating checks and cash payments.

With this new plan, BAC San José customers who receive their salaries through

the bank can now get their money before payday, even though the employer has

not yet made the deposit to their account.

The bank will treat the early withdrawl as a cash advance and can only be

made at an ATM machine. The cost for this service is ¢50 colones for each

¢1000 colones withdraw with a minimum ¢200 colones for each transaction.

BAC San José officials say that some 10.000 customers can take advantage of

this plan, expecting only 20% to actually use it.


*Nicaragua Ready for One Border Control Post at Peñas Blancas

The President of Nicaragua, Enrique Bolaños, announced yesterday that

Nicaragua now has the money to move the Costa Rican Peñas Blancas border

control point into Nicaragua, creating one united border point than the

current separate posts.

"We hope that in no time the Costa Rican immigration authorities will move to

our installations to be able to provide better migratory services", said the

Nicaraguan president.

Bolaños made the announcement while at the border point with Honduras to

announce a free movement of goods and people between the two countries that

will also affect Guatemala and El Salvador.

Costa Rican authorities were not available for comment and Costa Rican

President, Abel Pacheco, though invited to the ceremony, did not attend.


*Owners Have 60 Days to Claim Impounded Vehicles

Are you one of the 500 owners of vehicles impounded for not having the gas

emissions certificate? And you haven't picked it up since the certificate law

was shelved last December?

Well then, get a move on. Yesterday, Luis Gómez, director general de Aduanas

- Customs - announced yesterday that owners will have 60 days to get their

cars out of will start the process of selling auctioning them off.


*Newspaper faces probe of printing press sale

The Spanish-language daily La Nación is in trouble with the tax man, and its

competitors are taking advantage of the situation.

The tax woes came to light in a news story Tuesday. But the news story was

not in La Nación. The sensational daily El Diario Extra played the news as

its top Page One headline and gloatingly published a full-page article on

Page 2.

Finally, La Nación published its own story, a bit more sedately, on Page 18

Wednesday.

A judge has ordered banks to provide tax authorities with information from

the La Nación accounts. A number of banking establishments were named in the

Extra story.

Tributación Directa, the tax-collecting agency, wants to know why a pair of

rotary printing presses were sold in 2001 by the newspaper to a leasing

company for $2 million and then resold two months later to a third party for

$5 million. The implication is that La Nación understated the value of the

presses for tax purposes.

Television news shows picked up the story Wednesday.

The La Nación story described the transactions as part of a leasing

operation. The newspaper sold the presses and then agreed to lease them from

the new owner. However, the newspaper did not describe the transaction in

detail and give a reason for the differences in sale prices.



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