CLOUDS of tear gas filled the streets of the impoverishedshantytown of La Carpio, west of San José, onMonday evening as violent protestors shot at police andboth sides hurled softball-sized rocks at each other.At least 30 people were seriously injured in theriot, seven by gunshot wounds. Six were police officersand one was a 14-year-old boy.Dozens of young children suffered severe respiratoryproblems because of the gas, according to theRed Cross. Numerous protestors and residents alsosaid a 5-month-old baby had been asphyxiated, butthe Red Cross denied any deaths had occurred.THE violence erupted just before 5 p.m. whenpolice attempted to break up a blockade residents haderected on the only road going into the neighborhood.The blockade was in protest of the garbage companyEBI BERTHIER, which manages the EnvironmentalTechnology Park of San José, a landfill thatborders La Carpio.Residents demanded the company fulfill promises to pave local roads, build a communityassembly hall and assist them in obtainingland titles.MEDICS wearing gasmasks and helmetsattended to the wounded as rocksthumped against the tin roofs and poundedthe pavement around them.At one point, a medic rushed past thebarricade of riot shields and into the crowdof hundreds of protestors. After a fewmoments he ran back with a baby in hisarms, wrapped in a filthy blanket.The injured were taken to a makeshiftmedical center at a nearby Channel 13relay station, where the Red Cross alsoattended at least 70 people for respiratoryproblems related to the gas, which spreadwith the wind into the homes of numerousinnocent bystanders.Those bystanders said they were nervousand scared.“We’re waiting to see what happens,”said one woman, taking refuge in a smallgarage during the riot. “They’re asphyxiatingeveryone.”OFFICERS on the scene said they hadreceived orders from Public SecurityMinister Rogelio Ramos not to use teargas, but that it was necessary to defendthemselves.“He’s there. He’s not here,” said onemasked officer who asked not to be identified.“He doesn’t know what’s happening.”Shortly after, a protestor walked awayfrom the mob toward police with his handsraised. An officer stepped from behind thepolice barricade with his hands in the air,imitating the protestor.When the surrendering protestor wasonly a few feet away, the officer cursed athim and hit him full force in the face, sendinghim to the ground. The man laid on thepavement for a few moments before otherofficers dragged him off and handcuffedhim.THE barrage of rocks increased.Officers returned fire with tear gas andpicked up the rocks that landed aroundthem and threw them back at the mob.Several officers sustained gunshotwounds and hobbled away with the supportof their comrades. One was shot in thethigh, and propped against a wall as RedCross medics tried to control the bleeding.Another was carried away by four otherofficers, his body completely limp.Police then retreated.Protestors rushed forward in a columnthat filled the entire street, whistling andscreaming, but maintaining some distancefrom the officers.IT was then that Ombudsman JoséManuel Echandi attempted to negotiatewith the leader of the mob, who identifiedhimself as Didiehr Soto.Little progress was made. Echandipromised them he would work to see thatpolice officers left the neighborhood, butmost in the crowd wanted to advanceright away.Soto said they could use Echandi’spresence to ensure that police didn’t fightback. Echandi said he would not permitthat and returned to the police barricade.Police then ran back further, and thecrowd cheered in victory and lit a hugebonfire in the street, then danced around itas officers and government officialswatched from hundreds of meters away.PUBLIC Security Minister Ramossaid during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting thatresidents were also demanding money ofEBI.“What these people wanted was for thecompany to give them ¢1.5 million($3,456) each month for them to use fortheir own purposes. The company refusedto give them the money, saying it had noobligation to do so,” Ramos said. “It iscontributing through the competent institutionsin education and health care.”Around the time the landfill opened in2000, EBI promised to deposit money intoa special account to be used for communitydevelopment projects such as roadimprovements, new health clinics, sidewalksand expansions to area schools (TT,Aug. 11, 2000).EBI had been making payments.Howe-ver, La Nación reported on Tuesdaythat EBI manager Juan Carlos Obando saidthe company decided to suspend the paymentsbecause of suspected misuse of thefunds.A representative of the non-governmentalCentral American Water Tribunalthis week said EBI’s landfill, where mostof the waste from the San José area isdeposited, is causing irreversible contamination of the community’s drinking watersupply.RAMOS said a recent Supreme Courtruling preventing general immigrationsweeps has hindered the ability of police tocombat crime in the area.“In La Carpio and other parts of thecity there are important risks in terms ofsecurity. Along with this there is a concentrationof people of nationalities other thanCosta Rican. For that reason, it’s importantto take into account the immigrationaspect,” the minister said.On Jan. 30, Costa Rican police conducteda controversial immigration sweepof La Carpio just after a Nicaraguan immigrantliving there slaughtered several of hischildren and shot his pregnant wife beforekilling himself.The Nicaraguan Embassy respondedby requesting a full investigation of thesweep to determine whether there had beenhuman rights abuses by police (TT, Feb. 6).The Supreme Court ruled last weekthat the sweep was unconstitutional, andordered Costa Rica to pay damages to 65Nicaraguan immigrants, La Nación reported.THE riot also prompted a meetingbetween Costa Rican Foreign MinisterRoberto Tovar and Nicaraguan ChancellorNorman Caldera, who visited San JoséWednesday.Foreign Ministry officials said Tovarexplained what had happened in LaCarpio, “with the goal of guaranteeing thetranquility of its inhabitants…and especiallyto avoid that innocent personsbecome victims of attacks by gangs orgroups of organized criminals.”The conflict made the front page ofNicaragua’s two major newspapers, LaPrensa and El Nuevo Diario, for severaldays this week, with headlines such as “LaCarpio Militarized,” and “Ticos Were theAgressors.”However, former Nicaraguan ForeignMinister Emilio Álvarez told The TicoTimes the riot shouldn’t significantly affectthe two country’s relationships, anddefended the police action.“Countries have to establish order intheir own national territory,” Álvarez said.HE said the problems in La Carpio tellof the need to establish a clear immigrationpolicy between Costa Rica and Nicaragua,and that the political will to make it happenexists.The situation will not affectNicaragua’s support for former CostaRican President Miguel Angel Rodríguezas the next Secretary General of theOrganization of American States (OAS).Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolañossaid in El Salvador on Tuesday thatNicaragua will vote as a bloc with the restof Central America (see separate story).After discussing praise bestowed onthe country by major financial institutionssuch as the World Bank, Costa RicanPresident Abel Pacheco said Wednesdaythat economic gains and internationalrecognition mattered little if the countrycan’t respect social order.“It’s quite shameful for Costa Ricathat…a few small groups, unaccustomed tolife in democracy and without heedingCosta Rican law, are attempting to destroyour climate of stability,” Pacheco said.OMBUDSMAN Echandi met with LaCarpio community members on Tuesday todiscuss a resolution to the conflict. Areportfrom his office said they decided to hold avote for community leaders. Afterward,according to the report, the leaders willcome up with an agenda of needs.However, the ombudsman made itclear to the residents that outbursts such asMonday’s are not acceptable, and insistedthat law enforcement officers conduct an“investigation of the facts.”The Public Security Ministryannounced Tuesday it will conduct a thoroughinvestigation to determine who isresponsible for shooting the six police officers,all of whom are in stable condition.“We will not let them have impunity,”Ramos said.Ministry officials also said 12 peoplearrested Monday, suspected of inciting violence,have been placed in preventivedetention.Of the 12, according to the ministry,five are Costa Rican and seven areNicaraguan.(Tico Times reporters Fabián Borges andTim Rogers contributed to this article.)

NEGOTIATIONS between theNational University Council and the governmentover next year’s education budgetcame to a virtual standstill this week,as students continued to protest, non-violently,for the constitutionally mandated6% of public expenditures – a sum thegovernment says it cannot afford (TT,May 21, 28).The protesting university studentswere joined this week by public-worksemployees – mostly construction workers– who rejected the government’s decisionlast week to increase the public-sectorminimum wage by 8.33% instead of 10%.The protesting construction workersclaim their monthly paycheck of $80 isnot enough to meet the rising costs of living,and are demanding an increase insalary of at least 39% of the value of thecanasta básica, a market basket of basicgoods and services.THE transportation sector, which hadbeen promising to strike in response torising gas prices (TT, May 21), this weekpostponed their planned work stoppage asthe government of President EnriqueBolaños turned to Libya for help with oilprices.

GRANADA, Nicaragua – Minority partiesand splinter political movements comeand go in Nicaragua as frequently andephemerally as the rains.But when the ballots are counted, all therecent elections here have been a two-horserace between the country’ main caudillos –or political strongmen: Arnoldo Alemán, ofthe ruling Liberal Constitutional Party, andDaniel Ortega, of the opposition SandinistaNational Liberation Front.Even though Alemán, currently incarceratedfor defrauding the government of $100million during his five-year term asPresident (1996-2001), did not run for officeduring the 2001 elections, political observersnote that President Enrique Bolaños trailedOrtega in the polls until Alemán eventuallystarted campaigning on his successor’sbehalf and was able to swing the electionback to the Liberals.But after years of judicial and congressionalgridlock by a weak institutionaldemocracy that appears to be in the gripsof the country’s two rival politicos, a newparty has emerged promising to liberateNicaragua from the power strugglebetween Ortega and Alemán and return thecountry to the people.UNLIKE other upstart political movementsin the past, the Alliance for theRepublic last week received a massive pushout of the starting blocks by the country’stop public figure: President Bolaños.In a move unprecedented in Nicaraguanpolitics, Bolaños, a member of the Liberalparty, last week attended the Alliance’s officialinauguration as a party and said themovement would help de-politicize stateinstitutions such as theSupreme Court and theSupreme ElectionsCouncil.“This will be thesolution to many problemsin Nicaragua,”Bolaños said, invitingother members of theLiberal party and otherminority politicalgroups to join themovement.BOLAÑOS, who has been marginalizedfrom his own party for launching ananti-corruption campaign that landedparty boss Alemán in jail last year, said hewould not seek reelection in 2011 as acandidate for the Alliance, which claims itis anti-reelection.However, the President’s open invitationfor other Liberals to join the movement hasdriven the wedge even deeper into the rulingparty and led many Sandinistas to thinkthey have a chance of reclaiming the presidencyin 2006.Ortega, who has not commented specificallyon the Alliance, announced daysafter its formation that he intends to runnext year for his fourth consecutive bid atthe presidency, after losing in 1990, 1996and 2001.His announcement prompted groansfrom the more progressive element of theSandinista movement, who claim it is timefor Ortega to pass to torch to a new candidate,namely Managua’s Mayor HertyLewites, who leads public opinion polls asthe favorite potential Sandinista candidate.Ortega’s refusal to relinquish his grip onthe former revolutionary movementappears to be strengthening the Alliance’sclaim that underdevelopment and caudillismogo hand inhand.MIGUEL Lopéz,a Liberalcongressman andpresident of theAlliance for theRepublic, toldThe Tico Timesthis week that hisupstart party istrying to form anew political culturein Nicaragua.López, a medical doctor who lived inCosta Rica for 14 years before returning toNicaragua and turning to politics, claims hisparty – an alliance of five minority parties(The Grand Liberal Union, the ConservativeParty, the Nicaraguan DemocraticMovement, the Social Christians and theNational Unity Movement) – already representsalmost 19% of voters and seeks to capture40% of the vote by 2006 to win the presidency.“We are going to target the voters whodon’t identify with the Liberals andSandinistas; the young voters, women andthe indigenous,” he said.The new party, which so far has onlynamed one candidate for the upcomingmunicipal elections that will take place Nov.7 in 152 municipalities around the country,hopes to win several mayoral posts. But thebig contest will be the presidential electionsin two years, López said. The Alliance hasnot yet mentioned its candidate considerationsfor 2006.Thus far, the Alliance has only defineditself in very broad terms: anti-caudillo, anti re-election,respect for private property,respect for human rights, in favor ofprogress and pro-Nicaragua. López said aparty platform detailing social, political andeconomic policies is in the works and will bereleased later this month.POLITICAL analyst and Nicaraguanphilosopher Alejandro Serrano told TheTico Times this week that Nicaragua needsto move away from its caudillo politicaltradition in order to evolve as a democracy.But doing so won’t be so easy, he warned.In order for the Alliance for the Republicto succeed where the multitude of third forcemovements have failed in the past,the party must define a clear platform, saidSerrano, coordinator of the political thinktank The Citizen Participation andReflection Group.“The anti-caudillo element is important,but not sufficient,” said Serrano, who lastweek released his new book titled:‘Legitimacy, Legality and Power.’“They need to present a clear and seriouseconomic, political and social proposal,”he added.The political analyst noted that the currentcaudillo-driven system has resulted ina virtual political standstill: Congress thisyear has gotten into two fistfights but notpassed a single important law.SERRANO thinks that if the Alliance isable to articulate a clear proposal forchange, it will reveal that the two traditionalparties don’t have any clear proposalsfor the country. For the past 18 yearsthe Sandinistas and Liberals have definedthemselves as the opposite of the otherwithout really standing for anything ontheir own, he charged.However, he acknowledged, changinga country’s political culture is aHerculean task.“The anti-caudillo position could be anadvantage, but the country is accustomedto seeing caudillos,” he said.

SAN SALVADOR – Former soccerbroadcaster and business leader ElíasAntonio “Tony” Saca, 39, was sworn inTuesday as El Salvador’s third Presidentelected since the civil war ended in 1992.Saca promised his government wouldprioritize a social agenda in this economicallystagnant Central American country.Saca’s inauguration represents thefourth consecutive five-year Presidentialterm held by the right-wing, U.S.-friendlyNational Republican Alliance (ARENA),which came to power in 1989.The swearing-in ceremony, held at afairground on the west side of the capital,was attended by Presidents and foreigndelegations from 81 countries, includingU.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evansand Florida Gov. Jeb Bush representingWashington, D.C.NOTABLY absent from the eventwere members of the opposition left-wingFarabundo Marti National LiberationFront (FMLN), whose 31 lawmakers –representing the majority voting bloc inCongress – boycotted the swearing-in ceremonyand joined student and uniongroups in street protests.The FMLN protested what it calls anillegitimate victory for Saca based on ascare campaign (TT, May 21).Saca defeated FMLN candidate andformer guerrilla leader Schafick Handal bya margin of 57.7% to 35.7% in the electionslast March.Other groups, meanwhile, protestedeverything from the incumbent party’spolicies to El Salvador’s continued militarypresence in Iraq.While police and military officers keptprotestors at bay outside the fairground,Saca delivered his inaugural speech,promising to govern for the people.“As President, I promise to drive agovernment that is dedicated to the well beingof the people, those who are mostneedy. I will work in this line of servicewithout one minute of rest,” Saca told thegroup of some 5,000 gathered for theswearing-in ceremony.The new President promised to “fighthead-on the war on poverty” in this countrywhere 43% of the 6.6 millionSalvadorans are poor, according to theUnited Nations Development Program.He also pledged he would not attemptto privatize the public-health sector,despite efforts to do so by his predecessorFrancisco Flores, who recently said hisbiggest failure as President was to fail inthe privatization effort.Saca, the son of Palestinian immigrants,also promised to continue crackingdown on gang activity, saying he wouldapply a “super strong hand” to eradicatethe problem.SACA did not specifically mention ElSalvador’s troops in Iraq, although he didendorse the recently negotiated free-tradeagreement between Central America andthe United States (CAFTA), claiming thatunder the pact “all sides win.”Saca, the country’s second youngestpresident in history, announced his newCabinet picks Tuesday, including manyyoung men and women with business andfinancial backgrounds.Economic analysts claim the younggovernment will have its work cut out forit to invent new ways to rejuvenate a stagnateeconomy, where remittances from theUnited States last year accounted for 14%of the Gross Domestic Product.

GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) – TheUnited Nations this week thankedGuatemala for its decision Monday tosend 190 military troops to Haiti to participatein the United Nations Mission toStabilize Haiti, known as Minustha.Guatemala, which is in the process ofclosing military bases and downsizing itsarmy in compliance with the 1996 PeaceAccords, received similar U.N.-led aid toend its 36-year civil war in 1996.The U.N. mission in Haiti, led byBrazilian Gen. Augusto Heleno Riberio,will total 6,700 peace-keeping soldiers,mostly from Latin America.

TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) – LongIsland native Andrew Stephen Gole, 47,last Friday was found guilty in a criminalcourt of killing and dismembering his 25-year-old Honduran wife, MarthaMoncada, last year in a hotel room in theHonduran capital.Judge Helena Bonilla said Gole couldreceive the maximum jail sentence of 30-40 years during the formal sentencinglater this month.Gole, dubbed by the Honduran pressas “The Butcher from New York,” confessedto the gruesome murder on May 7,claiming Moncada had mistreated theiryoung son.Other accounts reported in New Yorkdaily newspapers claimed Gole flew intoa fit of rage when his wife refused tomove back to Long Island with him andtheir son.The New York Post reported thatMoncada had been a mail-order bride.After beating and strangling his wifeto death in the hotel room in front of theirson, Gole reportedly went out and boughta hacksaw and dismembered his wife inthe bathtub. Gole then checked out of thehotel with his wife’s body stuffed in severalsuitcases, which he later dumped bythe side of the road.A taxi driver found the suitcases andcalled the police, who quickly arrestedGole as he was returning his rental car inpreparation to leave the country for NewYork.

SAN SALVADOR – El Salvador’sregional prosecutor’s office in Soyapangolast week opened an investigation into thedeath of Matthew Hatfield Knight, theeldest son of Nike co-founder and chiefexecutive Phil Knight, according toSalvadoran daily El Diario de Hoy.The 34-year-old heir to the Nikesporting goods empire died May 16 whileon a diving trip with friends off Los PatosIsland in Lake Ilopango, 14 kilometerseast of San Salvador.The death is considered a drowning,but Salvadoran authorities have ordered acomplete forensic investigation.Drowning deaths are reportedly commonat Lake Ilopango, according to El Diariode Hoy’s interviews with area residents.Knight’s body was sent back to hishome state of Oregon last week on a privatejet.

GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) –Guatemala and Chile expect to sign abilateral free-trade agreement by nextweek at the latest, announced GuatemalanPresident Oscar Berger on Monday, followinga meeting with his Chilean colleagueRicardo Lagos.The announcement came despiteefforts by Guatemala, El SalvadorHonduras and Nicaragua – a CentralAmerican bloc known as the CA-4 – tonegotiate a regional trade pact with Chile.Costa Rica last year signed a bilateralfree-trade pact with Chile, and ElSalvador defected from the CA-4 severalweeks ago by announcing it too was inthe process of finalizing a bilateral pactwith the southern nation.Berger’s announcement took by surpriseseveral of Guatemala’s productivesectors, namely sugar producers, who areexpressing concerns the agreement willnot be to their advantage. Bergerannounced Chile agreed to increase itssugar import quota from Guatemala, butdid not say by how much.In 2003, Guatemala imported $92.8million of Chilean products, while Chileimported $9.2 million worth ofGuatemalan products, according to theGuatemalan Central Bank.

UNIONS from a number of sectors arecalling workers to the streets Monday for anationwide work stoppage and protestmarch through San José against the CentralAmerican Free-Trade Agreement with theUnited States (CAFTA) and governmentcorruption.Organizers said nearly 300 socialgroups would be represented in the march.The Internal Worker’s Front (FIT) ofthe Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE)is leading the work stoppage. It has beenjoined by the National Association ofPublic and Private Employees (ANEP), thePatriotic Union of Educators (SINPAE)and the Association of SecondaryEducation Teachers (APSE), among othergroups.State entities such as the NationalWater and Sewer Board (AyA) and theSocial Security System (Caja) are threatenedby CAFTA, corruption in the governmentand excessive capitalism, thesegroups contend.The teachers’ unions also are demandingan inflation-based pay raise for the secondsemester.

WITHOUT any government supervision,during six years the government ofTaiwan sent to a private Costa Rican association$4.8 million to channel to theCosta Rican Foreign Ministry, La Naciónreported.Both the president of the Associationfor Foreign Political Development,Bolívar Salas, and former ForeignMinister and ex-president of the associationRoberto Rojas, interviewed separately,admitted to the paper there was nolegal obligation to present accounts ofhow the funds were spent to any publicentity, but they assured reporters themoney was used for good purposes.The Association is just one of severalparallel financing associations the FinanceMinistry has had since 1986.LA Nación reported Monday thatTaiwan paid the salaries of 21 employeesof the Foreign Ministry.The workers paid the legal deductionsfor the salaries they received, which variedbetween ¢126,700 ($292) and¢816,000 ($1,880). However, othersreceived “salary complements,” whichfluctuated between ¢30,650 ($71) and¢600,000 ($1,382) but didn’t pay socialsecurity or income taxes on the money,according to Salas.Taiwanese chancellor Tan-Sun Chensaid in a cabinet meeting in Taipei thisweek that Taiwan contributed to CostaRica solely for development projects, notfor salary augmentations, La Naciónreported.Chen referred to a check for$250,000 that he said Costa Ricanauthorities had promised to use for thepromotion of tourism and commerce, butthe government used it for “otherthings.” Chen said Taiwan had nothingto do with the decision and cannot interveneat this point.THE funds came from a project of theTaiwanese government to help CentralAmerican foreign ministers. During thesame period, the project distributed $32.1million to the Foreign Ministries of theisthmus.According to the Taiwanese Embassyin San José, Costa Rica’s ForeignMinistry asked Taiwan for assistance.Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar insistedthe funds were handled in the mosttransparent manner possible. He said hehas asked the Finance Ministry if thefunds could be managed through a specialaccount in the National Treasury to maketheir use seem more transparent, but hadnot yet received a response.The bank used to make the payments,The International Commercial Bank ofChina, was the same used to make controversialanonymous donations totaling$500,000 to President Abel Pacheco’selection campaign, La Nación reported.