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Arias Marks 100 Days By Preaching Peace
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias marked his first 100 days in office yesterday by slicing an AK-47 assault rifle in half and planting a tree of peace, symbolic acts consistent with his international campaign for peace.
The ceremony, held at the National Park in downtown San José, coincided with Arias' completion of 100 days as President. However, he did not acknowledge the milestone during the event, speaking instead at length about the importance of peace and disarmament.
As Arias spoke, opponents of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) waved flags, blew whistles and held up a blindfolded caricature of the President to express their disapproval of his support for the agreement.
Without acknowledging the protestors, Arias went on to announce that the Costa Rican Embassy in Israel would be moved from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Costa Rica and El Salvador are the only countries that have their embassies in Jerusalem, a territory Israel and neighboring Palestine have long disputed, both claiming it as their own.
“This is not about offending the dear people of Israel, with whom we are united, and will continue to be united by close ties, deeper than any political juncture. This is about respecting international law,” Arias said in a statement from Casa Presidencial.
The President said at a press conference following the ceremony that he had received a phone call the night before from Shimon Peres – Israeli Vice-Premier and former Prime Minister, and a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate – who asked Arias to reconsider the decision.
“He is a good friend, a dear friend,” Arias said. “But, well, that is life. When one makes decisions, it doesn't always suit everybody.”
For more on Arias' first 100 days in office and his decision to move the Costa Rican Embassy in Israel, see this Friday's print or PDF version of The Tico Times.
Indigenous People Suffer Lack of Basic Needs
Housing Minister Fernando Zumbado yesterday called for improvements to living conditions for Costa Rica's indigenous people, 59% of whom survive with at least three of their basic needs unsatisfied, while only 27% of them live in homes considered to be in good condition, according to a statement from the Housing Ministry.
“We should make an extraordinary effort … to give a better quality of life to Costa Rica's indigenous populations,” Zumbado said.
Statistics from the ministry indicate that living conditions for the indigenous have gotten significantly worse, especially for Cabécar communities in the Southern Zone Chirripó region, where more than 90% of people do not have their basic needs met, including decent housing and access to services like potable water.
Zumbado said only 27% of indigenous homes are in good condition, while 32% are in poor condition and the remaining 41% are in average condition.
“The indigenous population faces multiple cases of social discrimination in economics, politics and gender,” Zumbado said.
Among actions the ministry is taking to improve quality of life for the indigenous include economic support for more than 100 families to help children stay in school in the southern Caribbean Talamanca area.
Additionally, the ministry is working on programs to provide adequate housing while respecting indigenous traditions, Zumbado said.
Statistics indicate that about 30% of the indigenous population is not registered in the Social Security System (Caja) and that 131,437 hectares, or 40%, of the country's indigenous territories, are in private hands.
In Costa Rica, there are eight indigenous groups which inhabit 24 indigenous territories. About 2% of the country's population is indigenous.
-ACAN-EFE
Costa Rica Steps Up Protection of Leatherback Turtles
Thanks to a decree by the Ministry of Energy and Environment (MINAE), Costa Rica's endangered leatherback turtles have their own new refuge on the beach of Caletas, in the northwestern Guanacaste province, where they lay their eggs.
The decree issued last week created the Caletas-Ario Wildlife Refuge, which will protect an average of 20 leatherback turtle nests and hundreds of nests built by other turtle species, according to the daily La Nación.
"This is a big achievement because the leatherback turtle is almost extinct and a small colony comes to Caletas Beach. We must protect them down to the last turtle," said Randal Arauz, president of the nonprofit Marine Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA).
The new refuge spans 313 hectares on the Nicoya Peninsula, as well as 19,846 hectares of ocean.
PRETOMA, together with MINAE, also plans to implement programs to prevent the theft of turtle eggs from nests, educate fishermen about the proper use of marine resources and create eco-tourism projects in the area.
The leatherback turtle can grow to be more than two meters long and weigh more than 1,980 pounds. The species is in critical danger of extinction in the Pacific, where its population is estimated to be 2,500 females, a significant decrease from the estimated 91,000 recorded in 1980.
The turtles' natural habitat is threatened by various factors, including the meteorological phenomenon known as El Niño, fishing, pollution and urbanization and lighting near beaches, Arauz said.
These turtles navigate by the moonlight reflected on the ocean's surface. Artificial lighting confuses them and causes them to lose their sense of direction, preventing them from reaching the beach to lay their eggs.
-ACAN-EFE and Tico Times
IBM to Invested $4 Million to Expand Costa Rican Operation
IBM recently invested $4 million in its Costa Rican operation to build a customer support center for its North, South and Central American clients, according to a statement released by the company yesterday.
The new building, inaugurated Tuesday, is located in a free zone in Heredia, north of San José, and will offer client services in four languages: Spanish, Portuguese, English and French. IBM's main office in Costa Rica is located in Santa Ana, west of San José.
The company has been here since 2004 offering human resources services including payroll, benefits administration and online training to global companies.
IBM General Manager Mónica Luzón said that with the new building, the company hopes to grow its client base and add about 500 new employees. IBM employees 720 people in Costa Rica.
- ACAN-EFE
Ginger Has It All: Attractive Foliage, Exotic Flowers and Delicious Roots
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Those of you who enjoy the hot, spicy tang of ginger as a seasoning will find growing it in the home garden easy and practically care-free. Recently a reader sent me an e-mail and asked how she could grow ginger. This article gives you all the tips you need to harvest ginger at home.
First, you'll have to shop around for some ginger. Most supermarkets sell the Asian variety, which is plump and succulent and most desired for kitchen use. However, local markets often carry Jamaican ginger, which is smaller but very pungent.
Select roots (rhizomes, actually) that look healthy and are not wrinkled from dehydration. I'd suggest planting six palm-sized roots for a large family. Once you have acquired your ginger, you can prepare a space for them in the garden. I recommend planting ginger in areas around the main garden; the plants become permanent stands and can get in the way of annual garden vegetable production. Ginger plants make nice ornamentals, blooming August through October in most regions of Costa Rica.
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Exotic Blooms: Ginger flowers bloom August to October in Costa Rica. |
For each rhizome, prepare an area 50 centimeters in diameter, well dug to 50 cm deep. Add a shovel full of aged compost and mix it well with the soil. Then plant one ginger rhizome very superficially in the center of your prepared circle. Cover with soil in such a way that you can see several of the buds protruding from the soil. Sunlight will activate the rhizome to produce new roots and leaves.
Now comes the time to be patient. It will be at least nine months before you can begin harvesting from your ginger plants. Meanwhile, keep the stands of ginger weed-free and cultivated. Ginger plants like to have soil tilled up around the base of the plant, which stimulates more production of rhizomes.
If new leaves look pale green, try foliar-spraying your plants, preferably with organic fertilizers such as compost tea or seaweed extract. Adding more compost around the base of the plant helps improve growth and production.
Ginger dedicates its first stage of growth to roots and vegetation, followed by production of new rhizomes. At this time, you can start treasure hunting in your ginger patch. Since new rhizomes grow close to the surface of the soil, you can lightly brush away the soil to uncover them. A sharp kitchen knife is useful for separating a new clone from the mother plant. That's right; each root is an identical genetic copy of the mother rhizome you planted.
If you leave about half of the new growth on each mother plant, you'll have a bumper crop for the following year, and will be able to harvest fresh ginger all year long.
For more info on home gardening in the tropics, visit www.thenewdawncenter.org or e-mail the newdawncenter@yahoo.com.
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