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Lawyers Convicted of Trafficking Guatemalan Babies
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Two Costa Rican lawyers have been sentenced to 10 years in prison each for bringing nine Guatemalan babies here for adoption, Judicial Branch spokesman Sergio Bonilla told The Tico Times Friday.
A San José court Thursday convicted Carlos Robles and Rodrigo Johanning of international human trafficking and illegal possession of minors, Bonilla said. Costa Rican police found the babies, all less than one year old, in a house in La Uruca, the northwestern district of San José, in September 2003.
Robles' defense attorney Dunia Chacón told local press she will appeal the case and that her client is innocent, according to the wire service ACAN-EFE.
Robles was manager of Anglo-Costa Rican Bank when it folded in 1994; he has since been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for four crimes, three of which are related to the bank's closing.
The court's ruling indicates that Robles carried out monetary transactions to take the children out of Guatemala for adoption in other countries, including the United States, where adoptive parents had agreed to pay $42,000 for each child, reported ACAN-EFE.
Costa Rican police rescued the nine children and arrested seven people associated with the crime on Sept. 21, 2003.
The children remained under the control of the Child Welfare Office (PANI) for almost one year before they were repatriated to their country, according to ACAN-EFE.
Industrial and Agricultural Exports Remain Strong
Costa Rican industrial and agricultural exports showed growth of 18.1% and 17.3%, respectively, during the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year.
Statistics from the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER) indicate that from January to May, industrial exports generated $2.4 billion, while agricultural exports generated $841 million.
During the first five months of 2005, exports of industrial products reached $2 billion and agricultural exports registered $717 million, according to statistics published on PROCOMER's Web site.
The industrial products that have shown the most growth so far this year are manufacturing items such as integrated circuits and electric microstructures, registering sales of $316 million.
Additionally, other circular modular parts generated $247 million, textiles generated $201 million and medicines generated $101 million.
In the agricultural sector, banana was the product showing the most growth in foreign sales, with $241 million, followed by pineapple, with $179 million, coffee, with $148 million and melon with $83 million.
In total, Costa Rican exports during the first five months of 2006 registered $3.3 billion, a 17.2% increase over the $2.8 billion registered during this period in 2005.
Last year, Costa Rica exported a total of $7 billion, a 11.5% increase over 2004.
-ACAN-EFE
Airplane with Six Passengers Makes
Emergency Landing
A small, private airplane was headed toward Bocas del Toro, Panama with six passengers Friday when a problem with its landing gear forced the pilot to make an emergency landing at Tobías Bolaños airport in Pavas, west of San José.
Footage broadcasted on Channel 7 news showed the plane, a Navajo seven-passenger registered TI-AMX, landing without problems at the airport shortly after it took off. Pilot Mario Brenes and copilot Orlando Chávez apparently realized there was a problem with the plane's landing gear.
Four tourists whose names and nationalities have not been released were also aboard. A Red Cross ambulance arrived to the scene, but workers assessed that there were no injuries, according to Red Cross spokesman Douglas Prado.
Before landing, the pilot circled the airport for about 15 minutes to use up fuel and reduce risks posed by landing without landing gear completely intact.
-ACAN-EFE and Tico Times
Regulatory Authority Approves
Decrease in Internet Rates
Costa Rican Internet users will soon pay less for their high-speed connections – the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) has approved reductions in the cost of advanced, ADSL Internet service solicited by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), according to a statement released by the regulatory authority Friday.
The cost of high-speed Internet service—which ICE, the state-run electricity and telecommunications monopoly, provides to 18,330 clients -- will be reduced 50%, the statement said. Additionally, the regulatory authority has established new quality guidelines by which ICE must abide, including standards for availability and speed.
Under the new rates, which will go into effect as soon as they are published in the official government daily La Gaceta, users with a 128/64-kilobytes-per-second (kbps) connection who pay $25 per month will pay $19 per month, and their connection will be upgraded to 256/128 kbps, the statement said.
Those with a 256/128-kbps connection who pay $41/month may keep this velocity for $19 or upgrade to a connection of 512/256 kbps for $25.
-Tico Times
Plants at a Glance: Breadfruit
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Common Name: Breadnut or breadfruit
Spanish Name: Castaña or fruta de pan
Latin Name: Artocarpus altilis
Family: Moraceae
Breadfruit is called fruta de pan, árbol de pan or pan de pobre in Spanish. The seeded variety is known as breadnut, or castaña or ramón in Spanish.
Geo-distribution: The breadfruit is believed to be native to a vast area extending from New Guinea through the Indo-Malayan Archipelago to western Micronesia. It is believed to have been distributed in the Pacific area by migrating Polynesians. Hawaiians say it was brought from the Samoan island of Upalu to Oahu in the 12th century. The Spanish were the first to transplant the breadnut tree from the Philippines to Mesoamerica.
The story of Captain William Bligh’s first voyage to Tahiti on the Bounty in 1787, and the loss of his cargo of 1,015 potted breadfruit plants because of the mutiny of his crew, is well known. He set out again in 1791 and delivered 2,126 plants of five different varieties to Jamaica in February 1793. Later, immigrants from this island distributed these trees in the Caribbean coastal region of Central America. The breadfruit is more commonly found in coastal regions, while the breadnut has adapted to both the coastal and midrange regions.
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Botanical Description: The breadfruit tree is a handsome, fast-growing tree from six to 25 meters tall, often with a smooth, gray trunk buttressed at the base. The leaves are evergreen, ovate, 23- 90 centimeters long, and 20- 50 cm wide, entire at the base, then more or less deeply cut into five to 11 pointed lobes. The upper surface is bright green and glossy, with conspicuous yellow veins, and the underside is dull, yellowish and coated with minute, stiff hairs. It is difficult to distinguish between the two types of trees; however, the breadfruit has a soft, white pulp with no seeds, while the breadnut contains many seeds. The fruit is spherical in shape, five to 30 cm in diameter, with a pattern of conical cells on the surface. It starts out green, turning to yellow-brown when ripe.
Food Uses: The ripe pulp of the breadfruit is eaten raw, baked or steamed, while the chestnut-like seeds of the breadnut are boiled or baked and peeled to provide a nutritious meal. Breadfruit flour contains 4% protein, 77% carbohydrates and 331 calories per 100 grams. The seedless breadfruit is low in protein compared to the breadnut, which is considerably higher in protein (13%). Both are valuable food crops that can be grown in the orchard.
Medicinal Uses: Older, dried leaves of these trees are used to prepare a tea for the treatment of kidney stones and bladder infections. In Trinidad and the Bahamas, a decoction of the breadfruit leaf is believed to lower blood pressure, and is also said to relieve asthma. Crushed leaves are applied on the tongue as a treatment for thrush. The leaf juice is employed for earaches. Ashes of burned leaves are used on skin infections. A powder of roasted leaves is employed as a remedy for enlarged spleen. Toasted flowers are rubbed on the gums around an aching tooth. The latex is used on skin diseases and is bandaged on the spine to relieve sciatica.
Preparation: One large leaf is shredded and boiled in four liters of water for 30 minutes.
Dosage: One to three cups of tea per day.
Notes: These trees can be particularly useful for gardeners in the coastal and midrange zones of Costa Rica; however, because of their large size, they are not recommended for small home lots. The breadfruit tree can be propagated only from new vegetative shoots that arise from the roots of the mother tree, which is why they are so rare and difficult to acquire. On the other hand, the breadnut is very common in Costa Rica, and the fruits or seeds can often be found in local farmer’s markets, and can be used for planting.
Plant one seed in a plastic nursery bag with fertile soil and water frequently. Young seedling trees prefer partial shade for the first year of growth; then they can be transplanted to permanent sites. Rich, fertile, soil with wet to moist conditions, such as riverbanks, are best for these trees. It is also important to note that livestock love to eat the leaves, so fencing is essential to protect them in their early stages of development.
For more information on tropical medicinal plants and gardening, visit www.thenewdawncenter.org or e- mail thenewdawncenter@yahoo.com.
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