JANUARY 31, 2007

MONEY Tree: President Oscar Arias yesterday cut the ribbon to inaugurate the new “Money Tree” program, which will provide housing to 2,000 poor families in Guararí de Heredia, north of San José.

SINGING His Heart Out: Carlos Miguel Gueverra, 36, sings karaoke-style Latin ballads, salsa and other songs every day for about eight hours six days a week in front of the Culture Plaza in downtown San José. This blind musician said he sings to earn money and that Christian songs are his favorites.

Police recently arrested 11 people and confiscated 2,050 kilograms of cocaine in the breakup of an alleged ring that aided the trafficking of drugs from Colombia to the United States, said Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) Director Jorge Rojas yesterday at a press conference.

Fighting poverty without creating more bureaucracy is the goal of a new law signed into effect by President Oscar Arias yesterday during a ceremony in the community of Guararí, Heredia, north of San José.

The Central Bank estimates Costa Rica will see a 5% increase in its gross domestic product and 8% inflation this year, said the bank's president Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez yesterday during a press conference.

Fishing Boats Used to Traffic
Cocaine, Transport Gasoline

By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net

Police recently arrested 11 people and confiscated 2,050 kilograms of cocaine in the breakup of an alleged ring that aided the trafficking of drugs from Colombia to the United States, said Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) Director Jorge Rojas yesterday at a press conference.

The alleged leaders of this operation, two Colombian brothers identified by the last name Reina, were arrested yesterday in Grecia, northwest of San José, and vehicles believed to have been used in the trafficking were confiscated from a car distributor there.

Police had been investigating this case for nine months, Rojas explained. They believe the leaders contracted fishermen in the Pacific port city of Puntarenas to transport cocaine, as well as gasoline, out to the middle of the ocean. There, they would meet up with boats that left from Colombia and were headed to the United States with drugs.

“They refueled at sea so they wouldn't have to stop in Costa Rica on their way to the United States,” Rojas explained. “It seems they had a whole route set up.”

Police began to suspect the operation partly because of “abnormalities” in trucks delivering gasoline to a Puntarenas port, where the fishing boats that transported the drugs and gas fueled up. Trucks carrying large quantities of gasoline entered the port through a back entrance, Rojas explained.

The five fishing boats allegedly involved likely made two trips per month from Puntarenas. During the past several months, all of them have been confiscated, along with 2,050 kilos of cocaine and $161,000. The U.S. Coast Guard aided in the seizures.

A total of 11 Costa Ricans and Colombians have been arrested, and Rojas said police suspect at least five more were involved in the operation. OIJ yesterday did not provide the names of all those arrested.

Last Friday, Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal met with U.S. authorities and legislators in the southern port town of Golfito, where Berrocal asked that the U.S. Coast Guard be given more flexibility in patrolling Costa Rican waters. A record of nearly 27 metric tons of cocaine have been seized since President Oscar Arias was sworn in last May.

Law Strengthens Institution To Fight Poverty

Fighting poverty without creating more bureaucracy is the goal of a new law signed into effect by President Oscar Arias yesterday during a ceremony in the community of Guararí, Heredia, north of San José.

The Law to Financially Strengthen the Mixed Institute for Social Aid (IMAS), approved by the Legislative Assembly late last year, increases this institute's budget by about ¢5 million ($9,708) to help poor families obtain housing, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

It also seeks to “put the house in order” at IMAS by allowing for “efficiency and the rational use of public funds,” the statement said.

“With this law, no new taxes are created, no new bureaucratic positions are created... and the country's budget is not strained,” Arias said. “We are simply organizing an institution that must exist as long as hunger and misery exist in our country.”

The law simplifies the process for families in need to apply for help from the institute and gives extra funds to social programs for older adults, disabled people, women heads of household and childcare.

Arias, together with Housing Minister Fernando Zumbado, also inaugurated yesterday the “Money Tree” program which will provide a house for 2,000 families in Guararí.

-Tico Times

Officials Predict Slowed Economic
Growth, Lower Inflation This Year

The Central Bank estimates Costa Rica will see a 5% increase in its gross domestic product and 8% inflation this year, said the bank's president Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez yesterday during a press conference.

Costa Rica's main goal this year is to reduce inflation from the 9.46% registered at the end of last year to 8%.

For 10 years before that, inflation in Costa Rica had remained above 10%, reaching a peak in 2005 with 14%.

Foreign direct investment is expected to decrease from the $1.4 billion seen last year to about $1.17 billion this year, Gutiérrez said, explaining that last year's investment boom is not a pattern that's likely to continue.

Gutiérrez called these predictions “normal” and said that last year's elevated growth was not sustainable, adding that slowed growth should not be taken as a bad sign for the national economy.

Last year was a “very good year” for Costa Rica, and 2007 will be a time to “stabilize and consolidate achievements,” he said.

As long as international fuel prices remain stable and there are no dramatic changes in the world, the Costa Rican economy will continue improving, he said.

-ACAN-EFE

Business Leaders Plan for Continued
Exchange with China, Taiwan, South Korea

Hoping to build on lucrative exchanges between Costa Rican and Chinese business leaders in the past, the program China Ya this year is organizing trips to China for Costa Rican business owners and planning other initiatives to encourage commercial exchanges between the two countries, according to a statement from China Ya.

Last year, about 250 Costa Rican business owners traveled to China to present their goods and services, and this year they will be given the opportunity to also visit Taiwan and South Korea while in Asia to “maximize their investment and evaluate business alternatives in nearby countries,” the statement said.

A Costa Rican delegation will again attend the Canton Fair, Asia's biggest commercial exhibiton, in April. For the first time this year, the fair will feature a stand to display exports, giving Costa Rican companies a chance to show their products to buyers from around the world.

China Ya was started five years ago by members of four Central American business chambers: the Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Costa Rican Chamber of Exporters, Nicaraguan Chamber of Industries and Guatemalan Chamber of Commerce, the statement said.

Asian fetishists, gun control zealots and people with opinions about the Mexican-U.S. border will find some fodder in acclaimed Mexican director Alejandro González Iñarritu's “ Babel.” But don't let the trailer fool you; it's not about international terrorism and doesn't have much scope or philosophical relevance beyond the lives of its three casts of characters.

González Iñarritu, the director who brought us the heavy-hitting films “Amores Perros” and “21 Grams,” teamed again with writer Guillermo Arriaga and brought a bigger budget than ever (but, at an estimated $25 million, still paltry compared to what Hollywood bankrolls) to bear on a movie that aspires to deal with communication.

Not a Cartoon, at Least: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett star in Alejandro González Iñarritu's “Babel,” set to open today in Costa Rica.

Photo courtesy of United International Pictures

The film is told in three dramas that occur simultaneously in four countries and are linked by a Winchester 270 rifle. The plot is thin enough that a brief summary can't avoid being a spoiler, but here goes: a U.S. couple is traveling in Morocco when the woman (Cate Blanchett) is accidentally shot. She writhes in pain while the couple's nanny takes their kids across the Mexican border to a wedding and a deaf and mute Japanese girl undresses in a misguided bid for acceptance.

The cast is flecked with superstars such as Blanchett, Brad Pitt and Gael García Bernal, and their prowess, commendably, is shored up or sometimes eclipsed by that of the no-names often given center stage.

The dream-team cast, writer and director and fascinating on-site filming in Morocco, the Mexican border and Japan were a potentially potent formula that fizzed – it's the story, man; it's mediocre. González Iñarritu claims it's about communication breakdowns in many forms – linguistic, physical, cultural, etc. – but such a broad theme alone does not justify corralling three plots into the same fold. The philosophical component is flimsy enough that it will spawn only conversations that end before you've wiped the last kernel of caramel popcorn from your shirt as you stand during the credits.

It is not surprising that the U.S. couple (Blanchett and a baggy-eyed Pitt looking his age) who argued bitterly in the opening scenes becomes closer while Blanchett is bleeding and pissing herself. Nothing brings people closer than a gunshot wound – after all, only a real bastard would keep an argument going while his spouse is dying in his arms. Likewise, the abuses Mexicans suffer at the U.S. border are not interesting enough to stand alone as a plotline. García Bernal shines as a blithe and smiley wedding goer but his wealth of talent is frittered away in a relatively minor supporting role. The Japan storyline is the most provocative, one of isolation and the pathetic attempt to escape it; and it ends with a peek at redemption. That third might be enough to justify the rest of it.

But maybe you should see this movie not for what it is, but because it's not a cartoon. It's also not “Eragon” or the worst Ben Stiller flick ever, which is sort of like a cartoon, but more depressing. Of the eight movies offered in Costa Rica at the time of this writing, three were cartoons, one was “Eragon,” and another was the worst Stiller flick ever, which makes “ Babel ” pretty attractive.