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Arias Promotes Arms-Trade Treaty
Before U.N. General Assembly
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Urging other countries to join Costa Rica in denouncing weapons proliferation and promoting education and human rights, President Oscar Arias addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York yesterday.
Arias' speech, which was broadcast and translated into English on the United Nations' Web site, touched on his often-mentioned principles of literacy, development, nonviolence and free-trade, drawing on quotes from the author William Faulkner and former U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.
“I am convinced that humanity has reasons to be optimistic and that, as Faulkner said, ‘I believe that man will not merely endure -- he will prevail,'” Arias said.
Arias also urged fellow U.N. member countries to ratify a proposed Arms-Trade Treaty, which would prohibit the sale of weapons to countries that violate human rights and those that could use them to attack other countries. It also would limit totalitarian nations' ability to acquire arms, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.
Lauding Costa Rica as a country where “children have always marched to school with books under their arms and never with rifles on their shoulders,” Arias said all countries should follow Costa Rica's example of condemning weapons.
He proposed the creation of a Costa Rica Consensus, which would “create mechanisms to forgive debt and give international financial support to developing nations that invest more and more in education, health and housing, and less and less in soldiers and weapons.”
Alliances of countries such as the G8 use developing countries' incomes to determine debt forgiveness, the statement said. The Costa Rica Consensus seeks to reward these countries for investing in health, education and infrastructure.
Arias yesterday met with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and the King of Jordan, Abdullah Al Hussein. Today, he plans to join the United Kingdom in presenting a draft of the Arms-Trade Treaty resolution.
See this Friday's print or pdf editions of The Tico Times for more on this story.
Former Estonian Prime Minister Recommends “Flat Tax” for Costa Rica
Former Prime Minister of Estonia Mart Laar yesterday recommended that the Costa Rican government consider applying a “flat tax” to improve its economy, as Estonia has done in recent years.
Laar was in Costa Rica Monday and yesterday giving a presentation, and yesterday met with Minister of the Presidency Rodrigo Arias, Central Bank president Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez and Production Minister Alfredo Volio, among other officials.
A flat tax “could be applied in any country, and in most of the countries where it has been applied, it has shown satisfactory results. In Estonia, which has a large population of farmers, it has reduced inequality, created more income for the government and lowered the poverty rate,” Laar told journalists yesterday.
Laar said that in Costa Rica, a “flat tax” – which replaces multiple tax rates with two fixed rates -- would have excellent results, considering that there are trained people to apply it and a government that would allow for controlled tax collection.
Minister Arias said after the meeting that “for the government, it has been very useful to listen to his experiences,” although he said the possibility of applying a flat tax will have to be analyzed.
During the next few weeks, Laar will send the Costa Rican government information about the tax-reform projects he carried out in Estonia, which will be analyzed by the Finance Ministry, Arias said.
Laar was the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992-1994 and 1999-2002, during which he supported the implementation of tax reforms that allowed the country's economy to grow 7% per year, almost eliminating unemployment and poverty.
-ACAN-EFE
Man Arrested for Allegedly Transporting Cocaine in His Stomach
A man identified by the last name Paterson, 46, was arrested Sunday at Juan Santamaría Intern ational Airport for allegedly attempting to transport 359 grams of cocaine in his stomach, according to a statement released yesterday by the Public Security Ministry.
Paterson, who is from the Caribbean province of Limón, was attempting to board a flight to Madrid and was acting nervous, the statement said. Police determined that he was not carrying drugs in his luggage and submitted him to radiological exams, during which they discovered the drugs in his stomach.
It took three days for Paterson to expel all the drugs from his stomach, the statement said. He is the 270 th Costa Rican arrested so far this year accused of possessing drugs.
-Tico Times
Filming of Costa Rican Movie Complete
Co-directors of the Costa Rican film “El Rey del Cha Cha Chá” (The King of Cha Cha Chá), featuring Mexican actor Damián Alcázar, announced yesterday that shooting of the movie is complete.
Co-directors Isabel Martínez, from Costa Rica, and Vicente Ferraz, from Brazil, said they are “very excited” about the project, which was completed on a very tight budget, but with “a lot of passion.”
The movie tells the story of Paco Jarquín, the 10 th commander of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua from 1970-80. Jarquín is hailed as a hero by some Nicaraguans and a traitor by others.
During the 1980s, Jarquín disappeared after an armed conflict with opposition forces along the Costa Rican border, but 20 years later, his wife found out he was living in the country and began searching for him.
The film shows how Jarquín gave up the revolution for his true passion, dancing the cha, cha, chá and teaching dance classes in San José, the co-directors explained.
Alcázar said he traveled to Nicaragua to interview former Sandinista commanders and army officials to research the historical context of the film.
The entire production crew of the film is Costa Rican, with the exception of Alcázar and film students from the Veritas University in the southern San José suburb of Zapote.
The project will now enter the phase of post-production, which will take place in Brazil and Mexico. Co-directors hope to screen it next June in San José.
The movie was filmed in Costa Rica and Nicaragua over a two-month period and cost $670,000 to produce.
-ACAN-EFE
Pleasingly Plump Paula
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Paula Kowalski and I go back like forever. Successively we have been classmates, sweethearts, lovers, married and divorced, but now we are just very good friends, and I am content with that. I love the girl dearly, but the trouble is I just can't stand her for more than three months at a time. In my cups I have raised my hand to her; in my need I have cheated on her and then lied about it, but she has always forgiven me, like a mother forgives her child no matter what the offense. In fact, my shrink claims she is my surrogate for the mother I never knew, and our stormy partings the inevitable result of the shame I feel at my incestuous behavior.
Whatever. But the truth is that there is something about her larger than life, and certainly I am far from the only one to fall under her spell. For instance, I was writing for Metro, and just for kicks I took her along to a story conference. For hours we sat around the table tearing the script to pieces and reassembling it more to our liking until Ross Herschell, the director, said, “Okay men, I think we have a winner. Shall we give it a push?”
Everyone nodded agreement except Paula, who, after remaining silent all day, now said very loudly, “It's a flop!”
Since as a sit-in she hadn't even been included in the question, Herschell simply ignored her and initiated the long and outrageously expensive process of making the film. Which turned out to be a resounding flop.
The Hollywood rule is “three flops and you're out,” so Herschell, to protect all his bases, hired her for his next conference. Once again Paula remained silent until, even before the final question, she said, “It's a winner!” And a winner it was, netting Metro more than 3 million smackers.
After that, Herschell had her vet every story, even before conference, and refused to touch anything she turned down. As a result, he had an unbroken string of successes until he got canned for political reasons. But Paula didn't miss a beat, and promptly became the darling of every director who could get his hands on her.
She had always been on the chubby side, and I believe it was Oliver Stone who dubbed her “Pleasingly Plump Paula.” Between that and a troublesome renal problem, she soon became affectionately known throughout the industry as “PP.” Then, after a cancer scare, she gave up smoking and compensated by overeating. Inevitably, she put on a lot of weight, and that was when her luck, or perhaps I should say her talent, ran out. She miscalled three flops, and the iron rule was now applied to her. She had been largely responsible for propelling a minor studio into the big time, but bankers don't deal in sentiment, and she was out on her ear.
Which was fine by me, as I got her all to myself until our next fight. But that is another story altogether.
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