JANUARY 09, 2007

SAFETY Measures: Members of the Nicaraguan military and National Police yesterday practiced security tactics for the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Daniel Ortega in Managua Wednesday. About 2,000 people including several Presidents are planning to attend.

SMOKE Free: The Health Ministry hopes the Legislative Assembly will soon ratify an agreement to limit billboards like this on downtown San José's Avenida 2 that advertise cigarettes. The agreement also calls for smoke-free public spaces and educational campaigns about the health problems caused by smoking.

By the end of the year, the government plans to have $5 million to spend on boardwalks, restoration projects and other public works aimed at boosting tourism in the Pacific province of Puntarenas, and taxpayers won't have to foot the bill.

A Costa Rica with fewer smokers is what Health Minister María Luisa Avila said yesterday she hopes she'll see if the Legislative Assembly this year ratifies a World Health Organization (WHO) agreement aimed at reducing smoking.

Nicaraguan authorities yesterday began deploying the approximately 7,000 police and military officers who will provide security during the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Daniel Ortega Wednesday.

Puntarenas Project Seeks to
Improve Tourism Infrastructure

By Blake Schmidt
Tico Times Staff | bschmidt@ticotimes.net

By the end of the year, the government plans to have $5 million to spend on boardwalks, restoration projects and other public works aimed at boosting tourism in the Pacific province of Puntarenas, and taxpayers won't have to foot the bill.

The state-owned Banco Nacional announced plans yesterday to sell bonds to private investors. These bonds will ultimately be purchased by the private concessionaire Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera, S.A., which operates Caldera, just south of Puntarenas.

Officials from Banco Nacional, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and the Pacific Port Institute (INCOP), met at the Tourism Institute's offices yesterday to sign a contract to seal the deal, known as a fideicomiso.

Ronald Vargas, the director of Banco Nacional's Investment Bank, said it will likely take six months to a year for the money to be approved by the Comptroller General's Office and the Superintendence of Securities (SUGEVAL). INCOP will be in charge of spending the money.

Although where the money will go isn't set in stone, Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides and INCOP Director Paul Zúíñiga has mentioned the possibilities of putting it toward building a boardwalk, restoring the Capitanía de Puntarenas building, restoring the train station and improving the cruise ship dock at Puntarenas, among other projects.

“The project to privatize management of the port didn't just call to make the port more effective, but to make social spending more effective,” Benavides said.

The Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera, a Columbian and Costa Rican joint venture, took over administration of the Caldera port from the government in August (TT, Aug. 18, 2006).

The concessionaire is expected to buy off the interest-collecting bonds within about four years, Vargas said.

Health Ministry Hopes to
Ratify No-Smoking Agreement

A Costa Rica with fewer smokers is what Health Minister María Luisa Avila said yesterday she hopes she'll see if the Legislative Assembly this year ratifies a World Health Organization (WHO) agreement aimed at reducing smoking.

Costa Rica signed the agreement in 2003, but it has not been approved by the assembly because opponents have presented 250 motions against it since May 2005, Avila explained.

The Minister said she hopes the assembly will ratify the agreement this year even though lawmakers have other big tasks on their agenda, namely the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

“With or without the agreement, we're working on promoting non-smoking by rewarding smoke-free companies and carrying out educational campaigns,” she said.

The Tobacco Control Agreement is an initiative by WHO to combat tobacco use that was signed by 168 countries in 2003; 120 of these countries have since ratified it.

The agreement promotes smoke-free public spaces, limits advertising for tobacco companies, advocates placing information about the harms of smoking inside packs of cigarettes and raising taxes on tobacco.

In Costa Rica, there are more than 750,000 smokers. Each year about 3,300 people die from diseases caused by the consumption of tobacco, according to the Institute of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (IAFA).

Statistics from the Pan-American Health Organization indicate that half of all Costa Ricans younger than 15 have tried tobacco and 20% are habitual smokers.

-ACAN-EFE

Authorities Prepare for Ortega's Inauguration

Nicaraguan authorities yesterday began deploying the approximately 7,000 police and military officers who will provide security during the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Daniel Ortega Wednesday.

Ortega, a former President of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), will assume the presidency for Enrique Bolaños during a ceremony attended by the National Assembly, heads of state and international visitors.

While security is being beefed up in Managua, the city's hotels are packed to accommodate those in town for the ceremony, to be held at the Omar Torrijos plaza in Managua before more than 2,000 people.

At least 14 Presidents and heads of state have confirmed their attendance, including Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Dominican President Leonel Fernández, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadineyad and Taiwanese President Chen Sui-bian, according to Rosario Murillo, Ortega's wife. From Cuba, Vice-President José Ramón Machado plans to attend. The United States is sending Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt.

“Never before have we seen so many high-level delegations as during this inauguration,” remarked Police chief Aminta Granera.

-ACAN-EFE

Tica Wins Disney World Marathon

With Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the crew cheering her on, Costa Rica's Gabriela Traña won the Women's division of the Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando, Florida, Sunday, according to the Miami Herald.

Traña, 26, took the lead just two-tenths of a mile before the finish line to to complete the race in two hours, 57 minutes and four seconds, pulling ahead of Christa Benton, from the United States, according to the daily.

This was the first marathon for this native of Alajuela, northwest of San José, who hopes to compete in the Olympic Games in China next year.

“It was excellent. It is a very beautiful marathon,” Traña told The Miami Herald.

In the Men's division, Tico Roy Vargas also made his countrymen proud, finishing third behind second-place competitor Matthew Dobson, from the United States, and winner Adriano Bastos, from Brazil. Vargas ran the 26.2 miles in two hours, 33 minutes and 42 seconds.

If you want to know what it feels like to be small, take a dive in Costa Rica's Pacific Ocean. Really, the Pacific is where the wild things are. Big wild things such as sharks and rays and other fish that weigh more than you do. While Costa Rica is perhaps most famous for its biodiversity, the big-school-and- predator productivity of the Pacific is just as impressive.

True, there are not as many species in Costa Rica's Pacific as in other places in the world, but the sheer numbers of some groups of the same species are just as awe-inspiring. Fish schools that number in the thousands seem to support a few predators of very large proportions. But schools, or shoals, of fish that number in the millions support many large predators. And many large predators, from plankton eaters to meat eaters, swim with divers in Costa Rica's Pacific waters. Rays provide some classic examples.

Size Matters on the Pacific: a diver keeps a safe distance from a stingray.

Photos by Shawn Larkin | Tico Times

Manta rays feed in the open water on tiny animals known as plankton that drift with the currents. The giant manta grows to be among the largest of Costa Rica's fish – just one would probably fill any room in your house.

Mantas in Costa Rica school in enormous numbers. The flapping groups can seem to be the size of a small island. When they school in groups, they also leap from the water in what could be a sort of mating dance. Often, several at a time will fly like popcorn from the water, flapping like huge bats, before splashing back down into the water. Maybe, with a few million years of evolution, they will learn to fly!

On the sandy bottoms of the Pacific coast, large numbers of stingrays gather at certain times of the year. Stingrays do not swim through the open water like manta rays, but rather hunt along the bottom for fresh fish, eel and crab. Divers need to take care not to swim too close over them, as they can live up to their name. Their famous stingers can be longer than your hand and covered with slimy, nasty bacteria. To avoid the stingray's scorpion-like tail-sting response, shuffle your feet at the beach. If you avoid getting over them, they are unlikely to cause problems. Sometimes the sand can seem covered with these strange beasts.

Orcas make regular stops along the Pacific coast to feed on big prey such as stingrays and manta rays.

Photos by Shawn Larkin | Tico Times

Rays, in turn, are preyed upon by even bigger predators such as hammerhead sharks and orcas. Both stingrays and manta rays appear to be favorites with these large, toothy hunters. Ray congregations may even be the main reason orcas make regulars stops along Costa Rica's Pacific coast.

Pacific diving has been excellent recently by all reports. Sadly for divers, Caribbean diving has all but shut down during the past two months of big surf. With El Niño in effect, the Caribbean will probably remain a surfing paradise until March or April.

For info on diving or to contribute to this report, call 835-6041, e- mail shawn@costacetacea.com or visit www.costacetacea.com.