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Authorities Investigate Death Of U.S. Citizen in Nosara
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Authorities are investigating the death of a U.S. citizen whose body was discovered at his house in the northwestern beach town of Nosara, according to Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) spokeswoman Margarita Morales.
The man, identified by the OIJ as Carl David Brainard, was last seen Monday by his gardener, who entered the house Wednesday to look for him after detecting a foul odor coming through the window.
Brainard, 72, was originally from the U.S. state of Michigan and was a long-time resident of Nosara, where he lived alone in a house in Esperanza de Nosara, Morales said. Nosara residents told The Tico Times he worked for Nosara Real Estate and owned the popular Juice Lab smoothie bar next door.
Brainard’s body was discovered in the bathroom of his house with his hands and feet tied and a shirt pulled over his head. He appeared to have been strangled, Morales said.
His car, a 2001 silver Toyota 4-Runner with the Costa Rican license plate 558094, is also missing, and his house was in a state of “disorder,” suggesting that items may have been loaded into the car and stolen, Morales said.
No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been identified. Brainard’s body was transported to a San José morgue, and authorities are awaiting the results of an autopsy.
Chamber of Industries Announces Plans to Boost Exports
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
In light of President Oscar Arias’ challenge for Costa Rica to triple its exports to $18 billion annually by 2010, the Chamber of Industries yesterday announced its plans to help businesses achieve this goal.
The chamber launched a program to “internationalize” businesses by helping them “improve critical aspects related to increasing sales on the foreign market,” according to a statement.
This means helping exporters boost their sales and assisting small and medium businesses to grow into exporters, chamber president Jack Liberman said at a press conference yesterday.
Reaching Arias’ export goal requires promoting education, adopting cutting-edge technology and improving ports, airports and roads, Liberman said, adding that the academic, private and government sectors are involved in the program.
“We must seek to create sources of innovation and train leaders in skills like English and technology,” Liberman said. “We can then convert this knowledge into prosperity.”
The program offers assistance to its 650 member businesses in evaluating their operations to determine export potential, identifying new market opportunities, managing their portfolios, improving production capability, setting prices according to international markets and monitoring quality standards, the statement said.
Sala IV Accepts Case Against Tuna Farms
A lawsuit filed against a controversial project to construct a tuna farm off the southern Pacific coast will be reviewed by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV), according to a statement released yesterday by the environmental organization PRETOMA.
The case was filed by PRETOMA and the town council of Punta Banco, the coastal community near the proposed installation site. Fifteen organizations from the communities around the Golfo Dulce also support the lawsuit.
The project, which would be the country’s first commercial fish farm in ocean waters, received the final go-ahead from the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA) June 23, following approval from the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE) (TT, June 30).
Representatives from these groups, legislators, business owners and others staged a protest against the project in San José Tuesday.
One of the main risks the tuna farm poses is that “15,000 baby endangered turtles that hatch on the beaches right in front of the proposed site will swim right into the nets. The baby turtles are small enough to fit through the mesh of the nets, which would be located just one kilometer offshore,” the statement said.
Denise Echeverría, president of the environmental organization Fundación Vida Marina, said opponents of the project are “pleased that the court has accepted the case, and we are confident that the Court will rule for the well-being of the communities and endangered ecosystems,” the statement said.
See today’s print or pdf editions of The Tico Times for more on this story.
-Tico Times
Latin American-Iberian Mayors Meet in San José
Mayors of Latin American and Iberian capitals and other large cities met yesterday in San José for the 12 th Assembly of the Union of Latin American-Iberian Capital Cities (UCCI), an initiative to promote these cities’ development.
Mayors from 26 cities are attending the conference, including Alberto Ruiz, from Madrid, who said the primary challenge cities face is “converting themselves into dynamic forces in society.
“The 21 st century is the century for cities; in 2001, for the first time in the history of humanity, more people lived in cities than in rural areas. If we want strong countries that provide well-being and stability, we must first strengthen municipal structures,” Ruiz added.
President Oscar Arias inaugurated the event at the National Theater, remarking that cities play a roll as “neuralgic centers of countries, where their identities are formed.
“Democracies need to provide security, education, employment, health and a healthy environment. Strong local governments are the key to getting people to participate more in the construction of these societies,” Arias said.
During the bi-annual assembly, which concludes today, the mayors are defining work objectives for the next two years and will sign a “San José Declaration.”
Mayors from Madrid, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and around Latin America participated in the assembly.
-ACAN-EFE
McConaughey Gets Down in C.R.
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Confirming his status as one of Star Watch’s most talked-about stars, actor Matthew McConaughey surfed, rafted, sang and danced his way through a Costa Rican vacation late last month. The curly-haired Texan told a reporter upon his arrival that he wanted privacy, but his exploits made headlines throughout his stay – first on the Caribbean coast near the beach town of Puerto Viejo, then during a river trip on the Pacuare (documented by a photographer from the daily La Nación), and then in Santa Teresa de Malpaís on the southern Nicoya Peninsula. Mending a broken heart after his breakup with Spanish actress Penelope Cruz? Not by the looks of things. Wendy Angulo, owner of the Mar Azul bar in Malpaís, said McConaughey dropped by June 30 at 9 p.m. and danced the night away until 2:30 or 3 a.m., taking to the dance floor with the friends traveling with him as well as women in the bar, more than happy to take People magazine’s 2005 Sexiest Man Alive for a spin.
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McConaughey |
• Sometimes celebrity news here is as much about who’s rumored to be in Costa Rica, but isn’t, as it is about who actually makes the scene. McConaughey was incorrectly rumored to be on vacation here in January, and the same appears to have happened last week with Australian Oscar winner Nicole Kidman. Though Radio Dos reported Kidman, married June 25 to country singer Keith Urban, was headed here for her honeymoon, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reports they spent their post-nuptial days at the St. Regis resort on Bora Bora.
Maybe the star of “The Hours” and “Moulin Rouge” didn’t fancy a run-in with President Oscar Arias, who has publicly declared his admiration for Kidman on various occasions. Local dailies didn’t hesitate to rib Arias on the actress’s marriage; Al Día’s headline read, “¡Se le fue al Presidente!” (roughly translated, “She got away from the President!”).
• Some stars of Costa Rica’s political scene were on display at a U.S. Embassy lunch July 3 to celebrate Independence Day. Second Vice-President Kevin Casas and Foreign Relations Minister Bruno Stagno were among the leaders, from Cabinet members to legislators, who shared a menu including Tex-Mex favorites – perhaps in honor of U.S. Ambassador Mark Langdale, who, like his friend and Commander in Chief, hails from Texas – along with red and white wine. Guests were subject to tight security, correspondent Amanda Roberson told Star Watch.
• The return of the National Soccer Team from the World Cup in Germany – empty-handed, except for two goals against host and eventual semifinalist Germany by star forward Paulo César Wanchope – brought some famous faces to Juan Santamaría International Airport June 21. Former Miss Costa Rica Nancy Soto waited for her boyfriend, Alvaro Saborío, though, according to Al Día, the star player walked right by her, perhaps because of the angry reception some disappointed fans gave the team (TT, June 23).
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