A jazz trio from New York Universitywill perform at the Eugene O’Neill Theaterin San José at 7:30 p.m. today.The group is comprised of JonathanLorentz on saxophone, Paul Defiglia onbass, and Joseph Salvati on drums.“They will play jazz standards and originalcompositions,” said Manuel Arce, thetheater’s cultural director.The performance is third in the theater’spopular Promising Artists of the 20thCentury program.“Promising Artists isan inter-cultural programthat brings musical talentfrom students in the UnitedStates to Costa Rica. Theidea is not only to playconcerts but to teach CostaRican musical students,”Arce said. “And the (visiting)musicians also learn alittle bit about Costa Ricanculture. While here, theylive with host families tomake it a more interactivecross-cultural experience.”ACCORDING to Arce, the musicianswill be busy during their week-long stay.The main concert is today, and tomorrowthey are scheduled to perform at theWomen’s Club of Costa Rica’s “MimosaMorning” fund-raiser at 11 a.m. at theBelgium Ambassador’s residence. The ticketdonation for the fund-raiser is ¢10,000per person.The trio will hold a jam session at theAcademia Music Bach in San Pedro from 5-8 p.m. (which is open to the public).Yesterday, the group performed a concertat Universidad ULACIT.“They have three cross-cultural sessionswith students of cultural center,” Arceadded. “And they are going to ride a rainforestaerial tram to get to know a little bitof Costa Rica.”ARCE explained that from 1988 to2001 the program, which is financed byprivate sponsors, was called MusicalArtists Performing Arts Series and featuredonly music. In 2001 the programadded dance and musical theater to its lineup.“This program proves that private initiativescan make possiblecross-cultural interactionsbetween United Statesuniversities and hostcountries,” Arce said.Previous performancesin the seriesincluded jazz groups fromthe Juilliard School ofMusic in New York inMay and San Diego StateUniversity in California inJune.In August, Kansas’sEmporia State Universitywill perform a musical, aUniversity of Colorado dance group willvisit in September and Florida StateUniversity will offer a classical music performancein October.The Eugene O’Neill Theater is locatedat the Costa Rican-North American CulturalCenter in Los Yoses (an eastern San Joséneighborhood).Call 207-7554 or 207-7555 for ticketsor info. General admission tickets are¢2,000 ($4.60), ¢1,500 ($3.40) for studentsand senior citizens.
Granada: Make a Run for the Border
GRANADA – This 480-year-old city bythe lake has a strange effect on foreigners: Acomplex quasi-gravitational pull that perhapsonly Stephen Hawking could understand fully.With its colonial architecture, safe brickstreets and old-world charm, many have foundGranada is hard to leave once they entered thegrips of her tractor beam. Many of the expatriatesliving here came on vacation and neverwent home. Still others are people who cameto make a visa-renewal border run from CostaRica and never looked back.The influx in travelers and foreign capitalhas brought an increase intourism infrastructure:hotels, restaurants and barsfor all tastes and budgets.In the heart of the city,on the southeast corner ofthe Central Park, the historicLa Gran Francia Hotel andRestaurant is one of theGranada’s landmark architecturaljewels.The original building isthought to date back to themid 1520s – shortly afterGranada was founded.During the last five centuries, this elegantSpanish-colonial home has been home toFrench Duke Hugo Theobald and later fell intothe hands of U.S. mercenary William Walkerin the 1850s.AFTER surviving the fire Walker set toGranada upon his departure in 1856, the homecrumbled through years of abandonmentbefore being fully restored to its original colonialelegance in 1995 and turned into one ofthe city’s most exclusive hotels and restaurants.With spacious high-ceilinged rooms, bathtubsand air conditioning, the hotel offers allthe comforts of home. The upstairs restauranthas a wrap-around outdoor balcony that is aperfect setting for a cocktail and watchingpeople in the park.But the real charm of La Gran Francia is inthe details and the attention to history. Eachhotel room has a large ceramic sink hand paintedwith the various historical churchesand Cathedrals from around the country.Antiques in the hotel lobby date back centuries,and the home’s original dungeon/jailhas been converted into a bar, complete withhand shackles and chains still attached to thewall.Double occupancy starts at $70 up to $90for a junior suite.ANOTHER new hotel that has quicklybecome a fan-favorite is the stylish El Club.Located on the main drag four blocks from theCentral Park, this Dutch-owned hotel, bar andrestaurant has become one of the trendiestplaces in Granada, attracting an internationalcrowd and the well-to-do Nicaraguans fromManagua who come for dinner and drinks duringthe weekend.The back of the hotelhas several modern andspacious rooms set arounda pleasant courtyardremoved from the noise ofthe bar and restaurant.Rooms start at $35.On the other side of thepark, just next to the SanFrancisco Convent, is thenew and charming CasaSan Francisco B&B. Seton a quiet street next to thechurch, Casa San Francisco is a cozyMexican-fare restaurant and bar with fourcomfortable rooms in the back set around acozy brick patio and fountain.Rooms start at $30 for a double, with acolonial annex home complete with Jacuzziand pool for $75 a room.Whether you are coming to explore thecity and the Isletas of Lake Nicaragua or justcrossing the border for 36 hours to renew yourvisa, remember to say goodbye to your friendsand loved ones before traveling to Granada.You may stay here longer than you anticipated.FOR more info, contact The Gran Franciaat (505) 552-6000 or visit its Web site atwww.lagranfrancia.com. Contact El Club at(505) 552-4245 or www.elclubnicaragua.com. Casa San Francisco can becontacted at (505) 552-8235 or www.casasanfrancisco.com.
Big Hopes For Small Technology, At New Nanotechnology Lab
JET-PROPELLED shoes, dust-size robots,noncrushable metals…No, William Shatner isn’t taking a breakfrom spoken word to hang with the Spy Kids.This is reality and it is coming to a Costa Ricanlaboratory near you.Beginning next month, the National Center forHigh Technology (CENAT) will inaugurate CentralAmerica’s first nanotechnology laboratory, andembark on a voyage that may put biotechnologydebates on genetically modified organisms(GMOs) to shame.Nanotechnology is the manipulation of atoms tomodify nearly every product known to humans – foodand beyond – at a science fiction-like magnitude,researcher Silvia Ribeiro said at last week’s Threats toBiological and Cultural Diversity Conference at the Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Heredia.Ribeiro works with the CanadianbasedAction Group on Erosion,Technology and Concentration (ETCGroup), which has for more than two yearswarned that lack of government regulationworldwide could allow such technology tospiral out of control with monumentalimpacts.ALLAN Campos, administrator ofCENAT’s new National Laboratory ofNanotechnology, Microsensors andAdvanced Materials, isn’t so pessimistic.“It’s an absolute wonder. The applicationsare infinite,” he said.Nanotechnology is the emerging scienceof manufacturing materials on a scalesmaller than nanometers – one billionth ofone meter, or one-millionth the size of apinhead.When reduced to the nano-scale, ordinarymaterials like carbon can exhibitvarying traits with respect to strength,chemical reactivity, melting point andcolor, unlike those possessed on a largerscale. The manipulation at this level, therefore,allows for the mixing of living andnon-living materials in new and innovativeways.Both proponents and critics agreenanotechnology could revolutionize areassuch as health care, microelectronics, militarydefense and manufacturing in general.It has already been used to make everydayitems such as scratch-resistant sunglassesand graffiti-proof walls. and is havinglarge impacts on information and energystorage. Nanochips have been producedinstead of microchips since the millennium.MUCH of the nanotechnology that hasemerged in the commercial arena is basedon carbon nanotubes. These will be thefocus of Costa Rica’s new laboratory.Carbon nanotubes are made of largemolecules of carbon that are 100 timesstronger than high-strength steel and aboutone-sixth the density. They conduct heatand electricity extremely well. Beyondstructural reinforcement, carbon nanotubesare already being used in lithium-ion batteriesand flat television screens.While nanotechnology already hassome applications, the possibilities arewhat have scientists most excited, Campossaid.Anticipated applications include: medical“nanobots” – miniscule robots – ableto enter the body to destroy cancer cells orconstruct nerve tissue and end paralysis;military shoes with built-in power packsallowing soldiers to jump over 20-footwalls; and nanobots able to manipulate theatoms of an oil spill, rendering it harmless,according to Futurist.com.NANOTECHNOLOGY could alsogreatly increase hydrogen-fuel storage,increasing the efficiency of fuel-cell cars.Thailand is attempting to circumventthe GM controversy by creating anAtomically Modified Organism (AMO)with its famous jasmine rice. The rice – cutwith a nano-sized hole that is inserted witha nitrogen atom to rearrange DNA – wouldrequire less light to grow year round.Nanotechnology could also bring aboutfoods that use proteins to deliver drugs totargeted areas of the body; food packagingthat changes color to warn consumerswhen the food is spoiling; and beveragesable to change flavor based on consumertastes.Critics argue that such nano-particlescould be toxic, and some studies indicatesuch.THE ETC Group concedes that governmentson both sides of the Atlantic arefinally acknowledging that engineerednanoparticles may require regulation.However, governments are already in aposition of catch-up and clean-up, Ribeirosaid.In an effort to learn a lesson from therapid, unregulated dispersion of GMOtechnology, the ETC Group is calling for amoratorium on nanotechnology.Scientists and society must togetherengage in a discussion about the socio-economic,health and environmental implicationsof this emerging technology, accordingto Ribeiro.But scientists argue nanotechnology isjust the expansion of already existing scienceslike physics, chemistry and engineering.According to Campos, doubters arejust afraid of the unknown.“Whenever there is new technology,people fear it,” he said. “Yes, the humanbeing is capable of good, and bad. But in(nanotechnology) we are working towardthe development of Costa Rica.”BECAUSE the new laboratory will befunded by individual research projects,requested by the University of Costa Ricaand other organizations, it will be regulatedby the requesting entities. It also falls underregulation of the National Council ofUniversity Rectors, Campos said.Startup costs for the laboratory camefrom the Costa Rica-United StatesFoundation for Cooperation (CRUSA),which donated ¢3.7 million ($8,400).Funding to construct the laboratory camefrom the Ministry of Science andTechnology at a cost of ¢50 million($114,000). It is outfitted with basic materialsbut still in need of equipment,Campos said.While the laboratory is expected to beself sufficient through outside-fundedresearch projects, Campos and lab headJorge Díaz are also looking for some maintenancesupport from foundations andgrants.The lab has also received the support ofthe U.S. National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA) in the form ofinformation, Campos said.THE U.S. National Science Foundationexpects the nanotechnology industryto grow to $1 trillion by 2015. U.S.research alone in 2003 was estimated at$2.1 billion.Among the companies researchingnanoparticle use are Dupont, Hewlett-Packard, Toyota, Monsanto, ConAgra,General Mills, Sara Lee, Kraft Foods,PepsiCo, Nestlé and Campbell Soup,according to various online sources.
Rampant Jaguar Poaching in Costa Rica Continues in South
CONTINUED rampant poaching of jaguars and their main prey, the white-lipped peccary, has brought numbers of both species in the country’s southern Pacific region to unprecedented lows, and scientists aren’t certain enough animals remain to repopulate the zone. Once the small source populations of both species in Corcovado and Piedras Blancas national parks disappear, experts say the animals will likely become extinct from the area. Scientists working on perhaps the world’s most comprehensive jaguar study, headed by Eduardo Carrillo of the Universidad Nacional (UNA), warn that could happen as soon as this year.
MONTHS after an official request by functionaries of the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE) to declare a state of emergency in the area (TT, March 19), Corcovado National Park – spanning more than 54,000 hectares (133,439 acres) on the southwest corner of the Osa Peninsula – still lacks additional park guards officials say are necessary to curtail the killing.
Assistance provided by the Public Security Ministry in the form of police officers to accompany park guards on patrols ended May 15. And in spite of a media frenzy in March and several large donations to combat the poaching in Corcovado, the park’s northern border, where most illegal hunters enter, remains essentially unmanned because a project to re-open a guard station there is tangled in red tape.
POACHERS seek out the savored white-lipped peccary (Tayassa pecari) and kill them in groves with heavy weaponry, often times the AK-47, an automatic weapon that fires a damaging 7.62-millimeter round. They slaughter as many as 50 of the gregarious animals at a time, experts say, and sell the meat for ¢9,000 ($21) a kilogram on the black market.
Jaguars (Panthera onca) rely heavily on the peccary as a source of food: the cousin to the pig comprises nearly 70% of the great cat’s natural diet. With its food supply vanishing, the few remaining jaguars are leaving the relative safety of Corcovado and preying on livestock and dogs in the outlying communities. Residents then shoot the animals out of fear or to protect their own economic interests.
With their numbers as low as they are, Carrillo said that at this point, “to kill a jaguar is a mortal sin.”
ENVIRONMENT and Energy Minister Carlos Manuel Rodríguez told The Tico Times this week that President Abel Pacheco in May rejected MINAE’s request for an emergency declaration, saying the country does not have sufficient financial resources to pay for the additional park guards the declaration would entail.
He said Pacheco told him the government would not be able to fund additional guards until the Legislative Assembly approves the Fiscal Reform Plan, and that the emergency declaration “would not solve much, in pragmatic terms.”
The two-year-old tax proposal cannot be voted on until the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) rules on an action of unconstitutionality that questions measures taken earlier this year to speed up the plan’s approval (TT, July 9).
“It’s not within my power to resolve the problem,” the Environment Minister said. “I would have to be President.”
According to the UNA study, residents of the Southern Zone have shot at least nine jaguars in the past year. Carrillo told The Tico Times the latest such killing was in April. He said the jaguar had developed a taste for dog meat and had killed several before it was shot.
Carrillo manages jaguar studies from Mexico to Panama, and has headed the UNA study for the past 14 years. He has spent years working in the jungle and interacting with indigenous communities. He said that unlike its more aggressive cousin, the puma, he has neither heard of nor read about a single incident of a jaguar attacking a human.
According to his study, based on information gathered through the use of radio collars, footprint tracking and a series of heat activated camera traps, the jaguars’ population in Corcovado has declined from 150 four years ago to between 40 and 50 now.
The decline, he said, began in 1994 when MINAE lost 50 park guards due to a lack of funding. But because of a general lack of care for the peninsula, he said, it was in 2000 that the hunting skyrocketed and the animals’ populations began to plummet.
IN addition to the assault the animals are facing from commercial poachers, wildlife on the Osa Peninsula is being chipped away by area residents who have traditionally hunted for subsistence.
Luis Angel Campos has lived in Dos Brazos, a small community comprised mainly of former miners that sits at Corcovado’s southeast edge, for 31 years. For years, Campos was an orero – he panned and mined gold in the park for a living.
“The orero is a hunter by nature,” he said. “We live in the mountains, and our meat comes from the mountains. It is simple that way.”
Campos said he and other community members have noticed area wildlife is rapidly disappearing. He said commercial hunters, who used to walk through the streets of Dos Brazos toting rifles and fresh kills, have also disappeared.
UNLIKE some other communities, says Walter Montes, chief park guard at the nearby Rio Tigre station, the residents of Dos Brazos have called the guards to report poachers entering the park.
Alvaro Ugalde, director of the Osa Conservation Area (ACOSA) and one of the men who designed Costa Rica’s national park system more than 30 years ago, said that though progress is slow, recent MINAE efforts have helped reduce hunting inside the park.
“I’m hoping that little by little we’re pushing them out,” Ugalde said. “That’s my plan: to make it hard for them to tease us the way they do.”
Ugalde responded to rumors of police and some MINAE functionaries hunting in the area by saying, “I would like to have names and concrete evidence.”
Elizabeth Jones and Abraham Gallo, who manage the Bosque del Río Tigre Lodge in Dos Brazos, said one main reason hunting has slowed in the zone is the sheer lack of animals.
“WE can’t tell people to come here for the wildlife, because there’s no wildlife left,” Jones said. “They’ve hunted it all.” Area residents said hunters do not limit themselves to peccaries. Poachers frequently kill the tepesquintle, a large fruit-eating rodent and another important food source of the jaguar, which like the peccary has a reputation for having excellent meat.
Sport hunters also kill the endangered tapir – the largest animal in Central America, which locals say tastes awful – and howler monkeys, even though the meat smells of urine when cooked. Gallo said poachers also target spider monkeys to feed their dogs.
Like the jaguars, the hunters are not confined by the boundaries of the park.
Sixty-year-old Alcides Parageles, who owns a 600-hectare private reserve northeast of the park, said his life has been threatened on numerous occasions – by men toting firearms and machetes – because of his efforts to keep poachers off his property.
Parageles said hunters enter his property and neighboring private reserves on motorcycles, motorboats, horses and on foot, well-armed and often accompanied by well-trained hunting dogs.
PARAGELES has been living on the property for 53 years. He admitted to occasionally hunting there to feed the two generations of his family living in his remote cabin with him, but he said he believes there is an important difference between the kind of hunting he engages in and the hunting he believes has drastically reduced wildlife on his property.
“There is one kind of mountaineer who is dying of hunger,” Parageles said. “There are others who are sport hunters, who use good hunting dogs to track down the jaguars and shoot them.”
Parageles said he has hidden in the bushes and attempted to photograph the hunters, and said he has called MINAE functionaries on numerous occasions to report the poachers. The one time they came, two years ago, a fleeing hunter fell and broke the stock of his rifle, which Parageles keeps in his home.
A few kilometers away from the entrance to Parageles’ property, José Luis Molina lives with his wife and four young children in a makeshift home with no walls. He said a real estate company purchased land between main roads and their former home, and threatened to pursue trespassing charges if he and his family continued entering, and so they left five years ago. Molina, unemployed, said he must hunt to feed his family.
“I don’t like to go around killing animals, but I do it for necessity,” he said.
Carrillo said that by itself, subsistence hunting outside the park would not be detrimental to the animals, but because of the dwindling numbers no type of hunting should be permitted now – anywhere.
So few jaguars remain in the area that Carrillo speculates they may already be inbreeding, which could make the remaining population too unstable to survive. Still, he thinks they may be salvageable.
“It’s possible things have improved a little bit, but it is not sufficient,” Carrillo said. “We are at the point where we must reverse this situation. But we must act now, and with energy.”
MINAE’s Rodríguez said he believes the jaguars can be saved, but he is worried that Corcovado alone will not be enough to support a population of the great cats over a long period of time, and pointed to the necessity for a biological corridor connecting Corcovado and Piedras Blancas, which sits just opposite the Golfo Dulce from the peninsula.
He said that though the government cannot provide any significant form of financial support to combat the poaching, Pacheco has been supportive of the battle.
Pacheco acknowledged the severity of the crisis at Tuesday’s Cabinet Meeting when questioned by The Tico Times, but said, “I can’t get rid of doctors to hire park guards.”
Gold Mines Seek Final Approval
A controversial plan to develop an open-pit gold mine inthe country’s Northern Zone in the face of a national moratoriumon the practice seems to be going ahead as planned,according to the developers and government officials.One of the final steps to obtain approval to start miningis a public meeting scheduled for next week.The proposed Las Crucitas project is being carried outby Industrias Infinito S.A., the Costa Rican subsidiary ofthe Canadian company Vannessa Ventures, and is one oftwo mining companies declared exempt from the 2002moratorium on open-pit mining signed by President AbelPacheco as one of his first acts in office.The other is Río Minerales S.A., a subsidiary of anotherCanadian company, Glencairn, which has a concession to mine for gold near Montes de Oro, about 17kilometers northeast of the Pacific port townof Puntarenas (TT, Jan. 30).THE Las Crucitas mine, which will bebuilt on a concession of 176 square kilometers(68 square miles) in the Northern Zone,just south of the border with Nicaragua inthe Alajuela province, has encounteredapparent political opposition from thePacheco administration, and IndustriasInfinito has fought a lengthy legal battle withthe government to obtain the go-ahead forthe project (TT, June 6, 2003).While Río Minerales has had a governmentconcession to extract gold from itsproperty in Montes de Oro, Puntarenas, forsome time now, Industrias Infinito had itsconcession signed on Jan. 30, 2002, justmonths before the administration of formerPresident Miguel Angel Rodríguez ended(TT, March 14, 2003).Before beginning mining operations,both companies must obtain the approval ofthe National Technical Secretariat of theEnvironment Ministry (SETENA), theHealth Ministry and municipal authorities.Mariano Peinador, head of SETENA’sDepartment of Environmental ImpactStudies, said the agency will likelyannounce a final decision regarding theLas Crucitas project in August, three tofour weeks after the mandatory publicaudience about the mine is held on July 31,at the Coopevega Community Center, from8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The meeting is open to thepublic.THE audience is the final step thecompany must take before Peinador andhis co-workers approve or reject the study,which consists of enough paper to fill anentire bookshelf with thick, black binders.“We’ve read it. We’ve made observations.Now we have to hear what the publichas to say about it,” Peinador said.Industrias Infinito chief Jesús Carvajalsaid the company has gone to extensivemeasures to inform the public about theproject and about the meeting, and that heis not concerned the meeting will becomean obstacle for the progress of the mine.He claims the company has participatedin at least 25 community meetings duringthe past ten years, and has hosted aweekly call-in radio show on Radio SanCarlos (AM 1440) during which communitymembers can ask questions of variousexperts involved in the project.Carvajal said the company hasannounced the upcoming meeting on itsradio show, purchased radio, television andnewspaper ads to run the week before themeeting, and will send a truck with loudspeakersthrough area communities toannounce its time and location.He said company representatives alsosent written invitations to the heads of areaschools and opposition and environmentalgroups.“ALL of the opposition in San Carlosis duly informed,” Carvajal said. “We hopefor the participation of groups in oppositionto this project.”He said Industrias Infinito sees themeeting as “a great civic party.”The vast number of people interestedin the project could serve as an indicator ofits controversial nature. According toSETENA officials, at least 1,500 peoplehave asked to be “apersonado” in the LasCrucitas file, meaning SETENA isrequired to notify each of them by faxevery time the project moves a step closerto final approval (TT, July 2).Blanca Vargas, a schoolteacher in thearea and a member of the Front inOpposition to Mining Projects in theNorthern Zone, said she and other communitymembers are concerned the projectwould destroy the little wildlife thatremains in the area.Vargas said she and other oppositionfront members visited the site of the proposedproject and saw howler monkeys,white-faced capuchins and numerousspecies of parrots.“There used to be a level of flora andfauna that has already disappeared fromour communities because of deforestation,”she said.Vargas said opposition members arealso concerned about potential contaminationof the nearby San Juan River, and thesubsequent impact such contaminationwould have on the Indio-Maíz IndigenousReservation, on the Nicaraguan side of theriver.IN March 2003, SETENA officialsrejected an environmental impact studysubmitted by Industrias Infinito afterreviewing it for more than a year – a movethat nearly halted the project in its tracks.Industrias Infinito immediately appealedthe decision to SETENA officials, whichcompany representatives claimed failed torespond for more than two months.The Constitutional Chamber of theSupreme Court (Sala IV) in June 2003sided with the mining company on thematter, and ordered SETENA to respond tothe appeal within five days. The court alsoordered SETENA to pay damages to thecompany, because the delay caused thecompany’s stock to drop while the price ofgold rose (TT, June 6, 2003).Andrés Soto, a spokesman forIndustrias Infinito, said the governmentgave the company a period of four years totake civil action to claim the damages.However, he said the company probablywould not pursue payment.Carvajal told The Tico Times he is notat all concerned that politics will be a factorduring the final revision of this study,submitted by Industrias Infinito inFebruary of this year.“YES, the government did include politicsin a technical process,” he said. “Butthe government now has it very clear thatthe concession was legally obtained.”“The behavior and form of the SETENAfunctionaries who are currentlyreviewing the study has been nothing butobjective, transparent and professional,”Carvajal said.The current price of gold is $392 perounce, according to the Web site ino.com,meaning that at that rate the mine wouldproduce about $34.5 million annually from88,000 ounces of gold the company hopesto extract each year from Las Crucitas.Carvajal said that in addition to theapproximately 150 jobs the mine will generatefor area residents, about 40% of thatrevenue will be dispersed into the outlyingcommunities in the form of agriculture andlivestock development programs, a furnituremanufacturing and export project,reforestation and aquaculture projects, anda biological station in Las Crucitas thatwill be developed with collaboration fromthe University of Costa Rica.HE claims the mine will provide muchneededeconomic stimulation to the impoverishedregion and promised the accompanyingprojects will leave the communitywith a stable economy after the companyextracts some 724,000 ounces of gold overthe course of just more than eight years.No parallel development opportunityexists for these communities, Carvajal said.Perhaps the most controversial aspectof both projects is the proposed use ofcyanide to extract gold from the ore thatcontains it, a standard practice at open-pitgold mines. While Environment MinisterCarlos Rodríguez said the government is“worried about the possibility of contamination,”Río Minerales general managerFranz Ulloa said it would take an “act ofGod” to cause an accident (TT, Jan. 30).Both Ulloa and Soto said the use ofcyanide is essential to separate smallamounts of gold from the ore and topsoilthat contains it.After using the cyanide, both companiesprocess it using a technique calledInco-SO2/Air, which representatives ofboth companies said breaks down the basicchemical structure of cyanide into harmlesselements.Soto said the Health Ministry willmonitor the use of cyanide at the mine.WORK on the Río Minerales concessionin Montes de Oro became a center ofcontroversy early this year when thecompany began initial earth movementoperations at the site without propermunicipal authorization. Montes de OroMayor Álvaro Jiménez said he imposedan $8,500 fine on the company for workingafter he rejected a request for municipalauthorization it submitted inNovember 2003. The company at thattime lacked the approval of the HealthMinistry, but on Jan. 13 presented allnecessary paperwork (TT, Jan. 30).The Montes de Oro mine, which sits ona 1,066-hectare (2,634-acre) concession –100 hectares (247 acres) of which will beused for the project – will generate 241jobs for area residents, Ulloa said.SETENA officials on June 1 issued aresolution on the project, which appears togive it the go-ahead from the agency, butoutlined numerous stipulations.The agency resolved that Río Mineralesmust intensify its efforts to develop betterrisk-management techniques and controlerosion at the project site. The SETENAresolution also stipulates that RíoMinerales not begin building the administrativeoffices or structures necessary toseparate gold from its ore until receivingnecessary approval from the HealthMinistry and municipal authorities.The gold from both mines, accordingto company representatives, will be sent toprocessing plants in the North America orEurope to be purified, as there are nopurification plants in Costa Rica.
Legislators Discuss Proposed Fishing Law
A bill that would update Costa Rica’santiquated and virtually unenforceablefishing law has finally arrived to the floorof the Legislative Assembly, its approvalurged by environmental organizations butslowed by objections from somedeputies.Portions of Costa Rica’s current fishinglaw, passed in 1948, were declared unconstitutionalin 1995 because penalties for violatingthe law were not defined clearly enough.Since then, the country has remained withoutenforceable fishing regulations.The new law would allow for a penaltyof up to two years in prison for personsconvicted of unloading shark fins withoutthe bodies attached at Costa Rican ports –definitively outlawing the lucrative practiceof “shark finning.”THE lack of regulations has made iteasier for foreign long-line fishing vesselsto unload literally tons of shark fins withoutthe bodies attached, to be exported andsold on the Asian market for up to $200 akilogram. In what it called an effort to controlthe practice, the government adoptedregulations that limited the percentage ofshark product unloaded at Costa Ricandocks to 7-16% fins. Opponents of themeasure claimed it only encouraged fishermento simply discard the carcasses oflarger sharks they caught (TT, Oct. 10,2003).According to a study conducted by theCosta Rican Sea Turtle RestorationProgram (PRETOMA), the practice ofshark finning has resulted in a 60%decrease in the shark populations in CostaRican waters during the past 10 years (TT,June 18).LEGISLATIVE deputies have discussedupdating the fishing law since 1998,but it was not until 2002 that the current billwas written. When it was finally brought tothe floor for the first time last year, deputiesfound the text too technical to allow for aproductive discussion, according to MarcelaVargas, a representative of the non-governmentalAssociation Marviva.It was then the assembly named the“Mixed Inter-Institutional Coastal MarineCommission,” comprised of Costa Ricangovernment officials as well as representativesof non-governmental organizations,said Vargas, who is a member of the commission.Vargas said the commission – whichincludes members of the Costa RicanFishing and Aquaculture Institute (INCOPESCA)– worked for a period of eightmonths, and in October 2003 presented 40motions to modify certain aspects of the bill.She said the motions have been incorporatedinto the text of the current bill.As of press time yesterday, no decisionon the law had been announced.THE 40-page bill would outlaw some20 different fishing practices and giveINCOPESCA the power to recommendpenalties for violators ranging from steepfines to years in prison.For example, anyone caught fishing inCosta Rican waters without a license couldface a fine of between 40 and 60 times astandard base monthly salary as defined byCosta Rican law.The proposed law would also providefor more strict regulation to ensure the useof Turtle Exclusion Devices (TEDs). TEDshave proven effective in preventing seaturtles from being inadvertently capturedand subsequently drowning in fishermen’snets, but many fishermen complain thedevices are cumbersome and affect catches,and so do not use them frequently.The proposed law has received the supportof the PRETOMA, the AssociationMarviva and the Association for thePreservation of Wild Flora and Fauna(APREFLOFAS).“THE new fishing law includes measuresof management and conservation thatpromises to have very positive effects inthe long run, for the fishing industry thatwants to make use of marine resources in asustainable manner, as well as for thespecies of marine life threatened withextinction,” said Randall Arauz, presidentof PRETOMA, in a statement.The law has received some criticism,particularly from members of theLibertarian Movement Party.Peter Guevara, brother of former presidentialcandidate Otto Guevara and theLibertarian deputy charged with handlingthe fishing law for the party, said certainaspects of the bill are worrisome because“they open the door to corruption.”He said the law gives INCOPESCA toomuch authority to impose hefty fines, whichcould encourage functionaries of the agencyto use such power for personal gain.“I am in agreement with the law,”Guevara said. “What worries me is that thesanctions are rather excessive.”MARVIVA, PRETOMA and APREFLOFASrepresentatives, however, said ina statement that the project to update thefishing law has been held up by “legislativepractices that are being used to delaythe discussion of this project.”“We are monitoring this situation veryclosely,” Vargas said. “If this doesn’t pass,we are going to continue without control inour seas.”
Charges against Campesinos Thrown Out
GRANADA, Nicaragua – A group ofimpoverished Nicaraguan campesinosclaiming to suffer health complications fromworking with a hazardous pesticide in the1970s and 1980s hasone less thing toworry about thisweek: they are nolonger accused ofbeing mafiosos in theUnited States.California JudgeNora Manella ruledlast Wednesday tothrow out the criminalracketeeringcharges brought by Dole Food Companyagainst more than 1,000 former bananaworkers who claim they were poisoned by apesticide known as Nemagon, and are suingfor damages.The multinational banana company suedthe campesinos last December for allegedlyviolating the U.S. Racketeer Influenced andCorrupt Organizations (RICO) federal law,which was created to combat mafia activity.“WE beat them in their own backyardand in their own justice system,” saidBenjamín Chávez, of Nicaraguan firmOjeda, Gutiérrez, Espinosa and Associates(Ojeda), whose lawyers were also named inthe racketeering suit. “This shows that wewere always right.”The absolved plaintiffs belong to agroup of some 20,000 Nicaraguancampesinos who are suing multinationalcompanies Shell Oil, Dow Chemical andDole in some 100 lawsuits totaling damagesestimated at $17 billion – $16 billion morethan Nicaragua’s annual budget.Nemagon, the popular brand name of achemical called debromochloropropane(DBCP), was used widely in the UnitedStates to protect crops from worms.It was banned in the continental UnitedStates by the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency in 1979, andHawaii in 1985, aftertesting revealed itcauses sterility and respiratorycomplicationsin workers who arecontinually exposed tothe chemical. Themultinationals reportedlycontinued toexport the chemical tobanana plantation inLatin America until themid-1980s.THE former banana workers in northernNicaragua claim to suffer health complicationssuch as sterility, cancer, and problemswith the liver, kidneys and skin. Manywomen who used to work on the bananaplantains claim their chronic exposure toNemagon has resulted in birth defects in thechildren, or stillbirths.Similar cases have emerged in neighboringHonduras and Costa Rica.Ojeda has filed more than 70 Nemagonlawsuits in the last five years, representing4,200 former banana workers from thedepartments of León and Chinandega.Although the firm has managed to win fourcases in Nicaragua, totaling $600 million indamages, it has still not received a dimefrom the multinationals, which continue toappeal the rulings.The Nicaraguan firm responded by filingtwo cases for $489 million against themultinational companies’ holdings in theUnited States and Venezuela, Chávez toldThe Tico Times in a phone interview fromChinandega.“We will not stop until they pay,”Ojeda’s Chávez said. When and if they pay,the lawyers will take their 40% fee, headmitted.JOSE Augusto Navarro, Minister ofAgriculture and Livestock and head of thefour-month-old presidential commission forNemagon, say this week that the governmentis trying to bring all sides to the table,but it has been a difficult task because of thenumber of involved parties and the amountthat is being demanded in damages.Lawyers representing the multinationalcompanies in Nicaragua did not return TicoTimes’ phone calls this week.
New Force Will Combat Violence in Guatemala
GUATEMALA CITY – PresidentOscar Berger this week continued to grapplewith the violent crime wave here withouthis Public Security Minister but with anew “elite” police force.Berger announced the resignation ofSecurity Minister Arturo Soto on Monday,but told the press he is not discouraged andhis government will continue its agenda toprevent and pursue crime.This agenda includes the installation thisweek of a new police force with a dependenceon the militaryunseen since the country’s36-year civil warended in the mid-1990s.Soto had beenblamed by many sectorsfor security officials’inability to stemthe year’s crime wave,which has left morethan 2,000 dead.However, Bergersaid the resignation wasfor personal reasons,and explained Sotocompleted his commitment to stay during a“transition period” and initiate a plan topurge and restructure the Armed Forces.MEMBERS of the restructured ArmedForces are part of a 5,000-strong elite force,also made of police and presidential security,created to combat crime. The military isincluded despite a provision of the 1996Peace Accords that prevents the participationof the military in civilian security.“Violence is one the biggest problems andwe have to act immediately,” Berger said.The latest victims of crime include thepresident of the board of directors of theNational Electrification Institute (INDE),Jaime Cáceres.Cáceres, 75, was shot to death and his carstolen last week after attending a work-relatedactivity late in the evening. The attack,which Energy Minister Manuel Gonzálezsaid looks like a common crime, occurred inthe southern section of the capital.Also last week, a group of 17 volunteers,including 13 minors, were attackedlast week on a bus on the Inter-AmericanHighway, near thepopular Lake Atitlán.The assailants madeoff with $11,000 thatCalifornia-basedorganization Seeds ofLearning had collectedto build schools inCentral America.THE wave ofcrime has created seriousanxiety among theGuatemalan public.According to a public poll published Sundayby the local press, 76.3% of 1,225 peopleinterviewed by the firm Vox Latina believeviolence is affecting the entire country, while28% of those interviewed said they havebeen victims of the crime wave.Dozens of humanitarian, indigenous,religious and academic organizations, aswell as unions and private entities, lastweek initiated the Front Against Violenceto demand response from the government.Nearly half of the more than 2,000murders this year have occurred inGuatemala City. The government’s newelite force will work in 40 places considered“hot” in the capital.“There will be a lot of (police) presence,24-hour patrols. We are going tocause some bothers to the population, but itwill be good for everyone,” Berger said.He also asked for the public’s participationin a national disarmament campaignto collect an estimated 1.8 million illegalfirearms in the country (TT, July 16).IN related news, Vice-President EduardoStein visited the United States this week toinitiate negotiations to lift a 1979 embargothat blocks military assistance from theUnited States because of human rights abusescommitted by the Guatemalan military.Stein told the press he hoped theUnited States would lift the restriction inorder to help Guatemala comply with thePeace Accords.
Huge Sandinista Rally Marks 25th Anniversary
MANAGUA – Flags, booze, mortarsand revolutionary rhetoric. These were thefour main ingredients of Monday’s celebrationof the 25th anniversary of thePopular Sandinista Revolution that oustedthe U.S.-backed Somoza family dynasty onJuly 19, 1979.The theme of the day was revolutionarypride and Nicaraguan nationalism, but themessages of peace and reconciliationappeared inconsistent and confused throughoutthe day.The celebrations began with a mass celebratedin Managua’s Cathedral byNicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando, whospoke of the importance of peace, forgiveness,and learning from history. Sandinistasecretary general Daniel Ortega sat in thefront row during mass, offered a brief homilyon the importance of peace, and tookcommunion.THE mass is being called an historicalmending of the rocky relationship betweenthe Catholic Church and the SandinistaFront. As a result, the mass was much moreof a media spectacle than a solemn religiousevent, with members of the national presscorps swarming Ortega during the entiremass and effectively knocking down the velvetrope and storming the alter, pushingpriests out of the way, to get pictures of theSandinista leader taking communion.After mass, Ortega and company traveleduptown to Plaza de la Fe Juan Pablo II,on the southern shore of Lake Managua, fora massive party rally that drew more than200,000 Sandinista faithful from all over thecountry.The plaza was swarming with people ofall ages, selling food, waving a variety revolutionaryflags, shooting mortars into the air,hoisting children onto their shoulders andforming human pyramids. Many of theteenage and adult men were visibly drunk,some passed out on the ground.The event – which featured representativeguests from the Zapatista movement inMexico, the Farabundo Marti NationalLiberation Party in El Salvador, the WorkersParty in Brazil and the Cuban government –paid homage to past and present Sandinistaheroes and icons.ORTEGA finally delivered the keynoteaddress – a nearly two-hour speech – at theend of the afternoon, as the crowd wasalready starting to thin after having stood inthe sun all day.The speech, which recounted the heroicsof the revolution and counterrevolution (TT,July 16), touched on Latin American history,addressed current world events, criticizedU.S. foreign policy from the days of WilliamWalker to the present, and blasted free-tradeagreements such as the one pending betweenCentral America and the United States(CAFTA).Ortega also spoke about the failures ofrepresentative democracy, and promised thatthe new Sandinista government, if elected in2006, would usher in a new era of participativedemocracy.Overall, the mood of reconciliation andforgiveness that set the tone during themorning mass, appeared to return to theold angry, revolutionary spirit of us-versus-them by the afternoon, as Ortega laidon thick the anti-Yanqui and anti-governmentrhetoric of the past.Although Monday’s rally was an impressiveshow of force, it remains to be seen ifDanielismo is as strong as Sandinismo – inother words, whether Ortega will be able todraw as many Sandinistas to the votingbooths in 2006 as he was able to draw to theplaza this week.
New Tico Ambassador To United States Chosen
The government has unofficially confirmedthat Tomás Dueñas, president ofthe Costa Rican Investment Board(CINDE) and a former trade minister, willsoon be named Costa Rica’s ambassadorto the United States.Dueñas is expected to replaceAmbassador Jaime Daremblum, who willstep down Sept. 15 to serve as an aid toformer President Miguel Angel Rodríguez(1998-2002), who last month was chosento head the Organization of AmericanStates (TT, June 11).
