ASK any Costa Rican why the country has seen an increase in violence in the last 10 years and he or she will likely come back with the same answer – immigration.

This is just one myth Kevin Casas and a United Nations program hope to dispel during the next year with an intensive analysis of violence in Costa Rica.

The study was kicked off last week at a conference of representatives from various  government and non-government agenciesthat focus on the causes and effects of violence in society.

Coordinated by the United Nations Program of Development (UNPD) and Casas, this network of groups will ultimately contribute to Costa Rica’s first National Report on Human Development with a focus on violence.

BEYOND dispelling myths, the UNDP study hopes to offer concrete solutions and propose policy changes to reduce violence in the country, thereby promoting development.

Although the country has seen an increase in violence, the perception may not be proportionate to the reality and may  ultimately worsen the problem, Casas told the conference’s audience at the Hotel Radisson in San José Feb. 26.

From 1990 to 2002, the number of property crimes in Costa Rica doubled from 62.7 per 100,000 habitants to 125.2 per 100,000 habitants.

During the same time period, the number of sex crimes more than doubled, from 52.3 per 100,000 habitants to 113.3 per 100,000 habitants, and the number of homicides increased from 4.8 per 100,000 habitants to 6.3 per 100,000 habitants.

“PEOPLE aren’t crazy, there is a visible increase in violence,” Casas said. In polls from May 2000 to October 2003, Costa Ricans listed violence as one of their top three concerns, usually their primary concern, among poverty, unemployment, corruption, high cost of living and drugs.

Still, Costa Rica is hardly the next Colombia, as some may be anxious to believe, Casas told the conference.

A comparison to other countries reveals the level of violence to be much lower, he said.

Comparing the most recent available figures before 2000, Costa Rica had a homicide rate of 6.8 per 100,000 habitants – much less than the 70.6 in Colombia, 64 in El Salvador, 18 in Venezuela and 10 in the United States.

With the exception of the United States, most developed countries had homicide rates of less than 3 per 100,000 habitants.

“THE problem is, when it comes to crime, perceptions do matter a lot,” Casas told The Tico Times. “Patterns of behavior derive from those perceptions. One obvious example is that people are buying guns, just because they feel terribly unsafe.”

In eleven years, the number of permits granted to carry a gun nearly quadrupled, from 5,609 in 1990 to 21,049 in 2001.

These numbers are a gross underestimation of the number of guns actually out there, Casas added.

“I can assure you that if we continue along this path (buying guns), in five years time, ten years time, the results are going to be perverse,” he said. “We are going to have more violence that way.”

Casas and the UNDP also hope to dispel the myth that nothing can be done to combat violence except buying a gun and hiding behind barred windows.

ONE of the main functions of National Reports on Human Development – which have been conducted in more than 135 countries since 1990 – is to propose real, concrete solutions. The report will look at how Costa Rican communities have approached the problem, and evaluate what other countries and cities, such as New York City and Colombia’s Cali, have done to decrease violence.

This is one of the advantages of the UNDP, Casas said. It is part of a worldwide network of people working on development issues.

The reason violence was chosen as a topic for the study is that it is ultimately a development issue, according to José Hermida, UNDP resident representative.

“Development can only happen when people are living without fear,” he said.

VIOLENCE can have not only very measurable effects on development – such as loss of work time by injured individuals, investment of government resources in crime prevention and punishment at the expense of other programs, and decrease in foreign investment – but also less palpable effects.

These include the spontaneous creation of these types of myths and erosion of tolerance, Casas said.

“I think at the end of this, we are going to be very surprised,” he said. “There are relatively few things a collective society believes that turn out to be true.”

“My initial impression, and there is some evidence to back it up, is that the effect of immigration on crime figures is negligible at best,” he later added.

The report will attempt to determine what has produced the increase in violence by exploring the last 20 years in Costa Rica, Casas said.

ANOTHER powerful impact v iolence can have on a society’s development is the disintegration of faith in democracy, conference leaders stressed.

To illustrate this effect, Casas cited an opinion poll in El Salvador that said two-thirds of people would be willing to live under a dictatorship if it meant less crime.

THOSE who walk the aisles of the Mall Internacional in Alajuela these days have a certain look, and it is not punk hair, large tattoos, multiple piercings, or anything mall security guards decide makes a person look like a bathroom vandal or gang member.

Fulton Arias is a tattooed and pierced 25-year-old man who visited the Mall Inter-nacional almost daily until the beginning of January, when a security guard barred his entrance because of a new mall policy.

When he tried to enter, accompanied by his wife, a guard told him that people like him were not allowed. He thought it was a fluke – he had visited the place so often he was friends with some of the shop owners and guards, and had once been hired for a performance there, the painful task of laying down on a bed of nails.

“WHAT do you mean ‘people like me,’ I asked him,” Arias said. “And he said people with tattoos and piercings.”

Several weeks later, Arias returned to the mall with a lawyer, Roy Rodríguez. Again he was blocked at the door by a guard.

“He told Roy that people like me rob stores and make the mall look ugly,” Arias said.

Arias decided to file a discrimination case before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) in late January. Against his expectations, the court agreed to review it.

Arias says he is not one of the kids who carve up bathroom stalls, nor is he part of a gang. He is married, owns an advertising agency called Nitro Art, builds and sells houses, and is inclined to hire a lawyer to press charges.

A lawyer in Rodríguez’s firm, Alvaro Sagot, now represents Arias in the case. Incidentally, he also has a tattoo, though his is on his back and is normally hidden beneath a shirt.

“I consider the fact that they barred his entry a violation of the human right to equality and the right to bear living art.

Those are rights that our Constitution guarantees in Article 33, which states that we are all equal before the law,” Sagot said.

It is clear that businesses cannot reject people because of their race, sex or other such conditions over which a person has no control.

But since people can choose whether or not to sit under a hot needle in a tattoo parlor, are policies that discriminate against them not the same as the “no shirt, no shoes, no service” signs and other such dress codes?

“Electing to get a tattoo is like choosing a religion,” Sagot answers. “As a business owner, I would have the right to manage the place how I want. But people who look different, who dress differently, they’re different from people who damage my property. Each case should be taken separately, rather than discriminating against all people who look a certain way.”

THE administrative committee of the Mall Internacional does not agree. Though other large malls, including the SanPedroMall and the new Terra Mall, do not have such policies, lawyer Armando Céspedes, who sits on the Mall Internacional’s committee, defends the mall’s right to admit only the people who conform to its image.

“It’s a family shopping center,” he said. “We reserve the right as a private enterprise to implement dress codes. It’s the same as our other policies – we don’t allow people who carry weapons or who behave in destructive ways, or who don’t wear shoes, for example.”

He clarified, however, that the media has misrepresented the mall’s policy. It is not against people who have tattoos. Some of the business owners there have them and one of the businesses in the mall is a tattoo parlor.

“WE are talking about people who send very strong messages with their appearances – their hair, their clothes, and their piercings and tattoos. It’s absurd to think that all people with tattoos are the same. But, sadly, we have had to make some rules. It’s not the mothers shopping with their children who paint graffiti in the bathroom stalls,” Céspedes said.

The decision as to who may enter is a judgment call left up to the security guards. Arias said the policy is not carried out fairly. The guards reject young men more often than young women, he said, adding that he does not think they would reject foreigners.

“When a person is eccentric there is always a price to pay,” Céspedes said. “The price of losing friends, of not being able to find work, and of not being allowed in certain places.”

Arias said he thinks that point is moot because tattoos and piercings are in style, and not necessarily signs of delinquency.

“The subject is very delicate and very dangerous,” he said. “That man has to wake up and realize that he lives in 2004. Professionals have tattoos.”

THE Sala IV decision, which Sagot said he expects in three to six months, could have a deceptively far-reaching impact in the context of security and gang violence. Céspedes mentioned a rise in gang activity during the last eight years since the Mall Internacional has opened, and associated tattoos with gang membership.

The most common gangs in Costa Rica, called barras deportivas, associate themselves with a soccer team and have gained a reputation for violence and vandalis.

THE advent in the 1990’s of the maras, violent gangs in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, has prompted some severe legislation in those countries.

Members of those gangs often bear tattoos that proclaim their gang affiliation, and some young men are painted literally from head to toe.

Honduras recently passed a law that mandates up to 12 years in prison for membership in such gangs, and it is policy for police to round up people with the telltale markings – whether or not there is evidence they have committed a crime.

The San José-based children’s rights advocacy group Casa Alianza and the Center for Justice and International Law this week presented their concerns for human rights violations against those thousands of jailed youth to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights in Washington D.C.

“WE consider that the new anti-gang laws approved by Honduras and El Salvador, and being considered by Guatemala, are contrary to the rights of children as defined by the American Convention on Human Rights,” said Bruce Harris, regional director of Casa Alianza. “Furthermore, countries should be taking the measures needed in order to give the children opportunities, not jailing them without evidence other than a tattoo.”

Sagot agrees with Harris that the Honduran gang laws violate human rights.

“Thank God in Costa Rica there is more tolerance,” he said.

If the Court decides in favor of Arias, Céspedes said that he will respect the decision, he does not share the belief that the mall’s policy is a violation.

“Every business must have the right to decide who can enter and who cannot,” he said.

CHICKENS everywhere are hoping this doesn’t turn into another gallo pinto episode. On Sunday, more than 70 Costa Rica chefs turned 12,750 eggs into the world’s largest omelette and got the country back into the record books.

In addition to the eggs, members of the National Association of Chefs used 17 liters of oil, 14 kilograms of salt, 600 sweet peppers and 49 kilograms of onions to cook the 20-meter-long, 2-meter-wide omelette.

Although they ultimately lost out to Nicaragua in the competition for the largest dish of gallo pinto, a typical rice and-bean breakfast dish (TT, Sept. 19, 2003), the National Association of Chefs currently holds the record for the world’s largest buffet.

In November 2002, the association beat Peru’s previous record of 300 dishes, with 430 different dishes served at one time.

“We always have the hope of setting more records. We are like a white army, in our coats,” said Alicia Ríos, secretary of the association’s board of directors.

The huge omelette was made as part of the Turrúcares, Alajuela, festival celebrating the town’s patron saint.

The cooking started Saturday when all of the ingredients were chopped. The chefs then spent six hours breaking eggs in a truck refrigerated to 4 degrees Centigrade to ensure no contamination occurred, according to Ríos.

“When we left we were like penguins,” she said.

Despite the preparations, the group of chefs ran into difficulties the next day when strong winds kept blowing out the 166 burners used to cook the eggs.

Breakfast was not finally served until 2 p.m., when the egg concoction was sold for ¢200 (47 cents) a portion.

THE Legislative Assembly last week voted 39 to 7 in favor of a bill penalizing violence against women that has been debated since 1999, according to an official statement from the Assembly.

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) will review the bill to determine whether it is constitutional.

If no discrepancies are found, the bill will return to the Assembly for a final debate and vote.

The Sala IV has declared previous versions of the bill unconstitutional on three occasions (TT, Nov. 28, 2003).

Aggressors convicted under the new law would face sentences of between 20 and 35 years in prison for killing a woman.

Additionally, the bill calls for aggressors convicted of violence against women to enroll in programs of rehabilitation for problems such as violent behavior and substance abuse (TT, Feb. 20).

Members of the Libertarian Party had ardently opposed the bill, which they called discriminatory. But late last week they voluntarily withdrew 90 of 101 motions they had filed against it, speeding its passage, according to the Assembly statement.

The government last month created a special commission to tackle the problem after a rash of domestic violence slayings this year.

In one case earlier this year, a man shot and killed three of his children, injured a fourth and shot his pregnant companion twice in the abdomen before taking his own life. The woman and her four-monthold fetus survived (TT, Jan. 30).

Costa Ricans will have to get used to living with dengue, Health Minister Rocío Sáenz said on Wednesday.

“After more than 10 years, the possibility of eradication is more and more remote,” Sáenz told La Nación. The announcement was the first time the admission was made publicly since the mosquito-transmitted virus reappeared in the country in 1993.

“This (admission) has practical applications because it forces us to contain this disease with different weapons,” Sáenz said.

Dengue is carried by the mosquito Aedes aegypti and comes in various strains. The symptoms are generally fever and bodily pain.

Vice-Minister of Health Eduardo López said that as of Feb. 29 there were 1,077 cases of dengue reported in the country. Of those, four were the hemorrhagic type – a strain of the disease that can cause death by the loss of bodily fluids if not treated in time.

The discovery of those hemorrhagic cases and a 50% increase in the number of infected people compared to this time last year has health officials concerned, La Nación reported.

In response, the Social Security System (Caja) will redouble efforts to destroy the small pools of water in which mosquitoes lay their eggs. Along with private businesses and municipalities, it plans a campaign to collect old tires and containers where water can gather and to distribute information about preventing the disease.

The ministry is now mapping the places in the country that present the greatest risk of dengue to focus its efforts on them.

The Ministry’s office of Health Vigilance reports that Limón, on the Caribbean coast, is the area with the highest number of dengue cases. In the first two months of this year 278 cases were documented in that region.

The city with the second highest number of cases this year is Matina, also on the Caribbean slope, with 88. Liberia in Guanacaste takes third place with 79 cases and Alajuela, northwest of San José, takes fourth with 61 cases. Those last two cities are the only two in the country that have major international airports.

The Caja has recommended that people in Limón wear strips of cloth sprayed with insect repellent around their wrists and ankles, especially in the most impoverished neighborhoods, La Nación reported.

COSTA Rica last Sunday offered exiled Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide temporary political asylum in the country. However, Aristide chose to seek asylum in the Central African Republic.

“The Government of Costa Rica wishes and will do everything in its reach to make it possible for the Haitian people to live in democracy and recover their tranquility and peace,” stated a government press release.

LEGISLATORS and the government last week agreed to extend the final deadline for the completion of last-minute changes to the government’s Permanent Fiscal Reform Package until March 6.

Last December, after 15 months of debate, a mixed commission that included representatives from every legislative faction, business chambers and other groups unveiled what was believed to be the final version of the tax plan. The government adopted the plan and submitted it back to the Legislative Assembly as a bill on Jan. 19 (TT, Dec. 5, 2003).

A nine-member legislative commission was created Feb. 5 to study the tax plan so it could be voted on. The commission was given until Feb 26 to make last-minute changes (TT, Feb. 13).

Commission members, in particular Federico Malavassi (TT, Feb. 20) of the Libertarian Movement and Humberto Arce of the Patriotic Bloc, issued several motions to reform the tax plan. When the Feb. 26 deadline arrived, there was still much work to do, they said.

Last week, while in Mexico during a 12-day, four-country tour, President Abel Pacheco (TT, Daily Feb. 21) said he agreed to give the commission one more week to study and modify the tax plan.

However, Pacheco made clear the new deadline would be final. The final deadline for the approval of the plan by April 30 would continue to stand, he said.

If the tax plan is not approved by then, the government will move ahead with “Plan B” – a ¢72 billion ($171.4 million, roughly 1% of the country’s gross domestic product) cut to the budgets of 15 different government ministries and several social programs.

DURING the last year, The Tico Times has reported the opinions of trade experts, proponents and opponents of the Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States.

This week, we went out on the street and sought the opinions of average Costa Ricans – the people who will be most affected by the approval or rejection of CAFTA.

We asked nine Ticos about their views, expectations and concerns surrounding the trade pact, which representatives of Central America and the United States expect to sign next month.

Antonio Araya, bus driver, San José-Tres Ríos

“IT will be harmful for the country in many ways. The poor will be the ones who suffer the most. It will create more problems. It will favor the rich. If most people are doing bad, that will affect me directly.”

Ronald Dotti, sales manager, Bansbach Music Supply Store

“I think it won’t affect us. Things will stay the same. We import our products from the United States and Asia. Maybe what we import from the United States will be cheaper. If there’s more money in Costa Rica, it will benefit us. That would help everyone. The free-trade agreement could benefit commerce.”

Wilmer Cortés, police officer in San José

“FOR us, as long as the Public Security Ministry continues to operate just as it does now, we will be fine. If it benefits the country, maybe it will benefit us with newer and better equipment with which to do our jobs. From what I’ve heard, there are good parts and bad parts. As a citizen, I think it will benefit me.”

Dr. Mauricio Robert, gynecologist and obstetrician at Clínica Sta. Rita “

I AM in favor. From the point of view of a doctor, we’re very interested in the opening of the insurance market. We believe the monopoly of the National Insurance Institute (INS) has created an obstacle for us. It’s tedious and bureaucratic.

Other companies will create additional options that will force INS to compete. This will benefit doctors and patients.”

Carla Uritecho, computer systems engineer

“THE opening of telecommunications services could help the country develop. However, the issue of health care [stricter enforcement of intellectual property rights for patented drugs] could be very detrimental. In insurance, I think competition is good. Right now, we have a closed and bureaucratic market. The situation with vegetables [gradual liberalization] is not a problem either. This will benefit the consumer. But the problem of access to medications worries me. Right now we buy generic drugs, which are cheap and effective. After it’s approved we might end up paying more for medicines.”

Secretary Norma Chacón (left) and her sister Mildred Chacón, a retired secretary

Mildred: “The government says it will create many jobs, but that’s what the government says. I feel the country’s population is not informed.”

Norma: “The people who know about the issue say it’s bad. This leaves me with doubts. Opening [the insurance and telecommunications markets] – I’m not really sure how it can benefit us.

Mildred: “They need to explain it, so people know what it’s about. There’s something hidden and secret about it. We have the right to find out what it’s about. I wonder if it will be good for the country.”

Norma: “Like I said, I can’t help but wonder why all these people that know about the issue are against it. Even if people complain, the decision to approve the treaty has already been taken. It’s like what happened with the Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Institute (ICE) Combo.”

Esteban Vega, ninth grade student, MaristaHigh School in Alajuela

“MORE than a treaty, it’s pressure from the United States. Costa Rica won’t sign it because it wanted to, but because the United States wants it to. It will benefit me because the price of many products will drop because of competition. Everything will be more competitive, so people will have to be better prepared when they look for jobs. We’ll have to be prepared for what comes.

More job opportunities will be created. But those opportunities won’t be within everyone’s reach.”

COSTA Rica exported $151 million in flowers and ornamental plants during 2003 – 3% more than in 2002. The sector is now responsible for nearly 40% of the country’s non-traditional agricultural exports (excluding bananas, coffee, pineapples, and sugar), according to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).

The European Union, which last year bought 52% of the country’s exports, is the largest buyer of Costa Rican plants. North America was second with 42%, and Asia third with 4%.

Costa Rica is home to 273 firms involved in the flower and plant export business. According to PROCOMER, the largest buyers of these products are the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Canada and the United States.

The country exports $66.5 million in plants, $55.3 million in foliage and $28.9 in flowers. Costa Rica imports approximately $9 million a year in bulbs and dormant tubers used to grow plants.

According to Bart de Lange, president of the Association of Costa Rican Flower Farmers (ACOFLOR), 90% of the country’s flower exports are sold to the United States. In 2003, the country exported roses, lilies, chrysanthemums and mixed bouquets, among others. Tropical flowers such as heliconias, ginger and foliage are popular in Europe, he said.

The country also exports geraniums, impatiens, mint, medical plants and ornamental plants.

“We’ve seen important growth since 2002,” de Lange explained. “There are factors that have benefited us, such as the experience in production and marketing and the improvement of the U.S economy.

COSTA Rican banana exports grew 12% in 2003, totaling 99.6 million crates weighing 40.6 pounds (18.4 kilograms) and generating $527 million in revenues, according to the National Banana Corporation (CORBANA).

During 2002, the country exported 89.4 million crates, which generated $465 million.

Last year’s increase was the result of improved climate conditions, according to CORBANA. During 2003, the sector was finally able to recover after facing two straight years of heavy rains and flooding that damaged crops in the eastern province of Limón, which is home to the majority of the country’s banana plantations.

Costa Rica remains the world’s second-largest exporter of bananas, trailing Ecuador, which last year exported 216.2 million crates. The country is followed closely by the Philippines, which exported 94 million crates.

According to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER), banana exports constituted 8.85% of total Costa Rican exports in 2003. Bananas are the country’s largest agricultural export, followed by pineapples and coffee.