FEBRUARY 02, 2007

SURFING Under Spectacular Skies: The central Pacific beach town of Jacó attracts surfers for its waves and beachgoers of all persuasions for its water and sunsets.

BORAT: Sacha Baron Cohen, from the TV program “Da Ali G Show,” has taken his character as a reporter in Kazakhstan to the big screen with the new movie “Borat,” which arrives to Costa Rican theaters today. The film documents Borat's humorous journey from his country to the United States to film a documentary.

Environmentalists from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama yesterday said they will encourage their governments to pass laws to protect the Pacific Ocean.

A proposed legislative reform that would put the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) on a fast track got slowed down Wednesday when legislators opposed to controversial trade pact voted for the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) to weigh in on the proposal's constitutionality.

A U.S. citizen accused of child molestation and possessing child pornography identified by the last name Mastin, 70, was arrested yesterday in Playa Garza, on the Pacific Nicoya Peninsula, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

Environmentalists Seek Joint
Protection of Pacific Ocean

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

Environmentalists from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama yesterday said they will encourage their governments to pass laws to protect the Pacific Ocean.

These countries started working together three years ago, when they established the Marine Conservation Corridor of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (CMAR), explained CMAR technical secretary Ricardo Meneses. The corridor is a “regional conservation and sustainable-use initiative to manage biodiversity and marine resources... by establishing regional governmental strategies,” according to a statement from the marine conservation organization Marviva.

The corridor focuses on unique and delicate ecosystems such as Isla del Coco, off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica; Malpelo e Isla Gorgona, in Colombia; and the Galapagos Islands, in Ecuador.

“The Pacific Ocean is a source of development for these four countries, and we're looking to create sustainable management instead of the exploitation that has always gone on,” Meneses said. These countries are now ready for the next step: a legal document signed by the four countries to regulate the use of Pacific waters, he said.

CMAR, together with Marviva and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is drafting a document that will be presented to these countries' environmental ministries, nonprofit environmental organizations, judicial branches and ministries that regulate fishing, tourism and foreign relations, according to a statement from Marviva.

These groups will have a chance to discuss the document and send it to each country's legislative assembly, where lawmakers will vote on whether to approve it. This process will begin this year and could take up to three years, Meneses said.

Court Studying Legality of CAFTA “Fast Track”

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

A proposed legislative reform that would put the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) on a fast track got slowed down Wednesday when legislators opposed to controversial trade pact voted for the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) to weigh in on the proposal's constitutionality.

Legislators this week discussed the fast-track proposal, which would reform the assembly's regulations, allowing legislators to speed up CAFTA's congressional track by limiting how many sessions legislators can spend debating it, according to legislative aides.

Legislators will continue to debate the fast-track proposal while the court looks into the matter. The court has a month to review the case, and discussion of CAFTA on the assembly's main floor is expected to begin next week.

U.S. Citizen Accused of Child
Molestation Arrested in Playa Garza

A U.S. citizen accused of child molestation and possessing child pornography identified by the last name Mastin, 70, was arrested yesterday in Playa Garza, on the Pacific Nicoya Peninsula, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

Immigration Police located Mastin at a liquor store he owns in Playa Garza. Records show he entered Costa Rica in 1999, fleeing Florida, where he was wanted for alleged crimes against children, the statement said. He was residing here illegally and faces deportation to the United States.

-Tico Times

IMF Forum Analyzes Investment In Central America

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is initiating a forum today in San José to identify the Central America's strengths and weaknesses in attracting foreign direct investment.

IMF Director Rodrigo Rato, from Spain, as well as government officials from Central American countries and business leaders from the region and abroad are attending.

The forum's goal is to study Central America in terms of infrastructure, education, regulatory legislature, bureaucracy and the cost of doing business in the region.

Now is “a perfect moment” to gather investors, since the region is experiencing economic growth and an increase in foreign investments, said IMF Central America Director Dominique Desruelle yesterday during a press conference.

Desruelle called Costa Rica an example of a country that has successfully attracted foreign investment, which is why it was chosen to host the forum.

Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Marco Ruiz said the event will allow Central America to analyze how different countries have fared with their strategies to attract investment.

Central Bank president Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez said the chance to host the conference is “a good opportunity because we are going to bring together people who make political and economic decisions and high-level investors.”

Companies participating in the forum include Telefónia, Barceló, Unión Fenosa de España, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Wal-Mart and Microsoft.

Authorities say they plan to continue holding this forum every year in different countries around the region.

Arias Criticizes Chávez for “Negating Democracy”

President Oscar Arias yesterday criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez for usurping power and “negating democracy” in an interview broadcasted on the radio station Radio Columbia.

“There's a simple difference between a dictatorship and a democracy: if a democracy has no opposition, it feels obliged to create it, while the dream of a dictator is to eliminate all opposition,” Arias said.

Venezuelan legislators Wednesday gave Chávez the power to legislate by decree, a move that yesterday sparked international criticism, according to the Associated Press.

Arias remarked that in the past several years, South America has reached a “peak of populist leadership that is the disease of Latin America inherent in our culture, history and way of being,” criticizing Venezuela and Nicaragua for allying with Cuba rather potential trade partners such as the United States, European Union and China.

Latin American countries should follow the example of Chile, which has signed 50 free-trade agreements with countries all over the world and become the most developed country in the region, Arias said.

The coastal native Americans of the U.S. Pacific Northwest lived in a land of such plenty that they used to hold potlatches, ceremonial feasts for an event such as a wedding, in which the host distributed gifts according to each guest's rank or status. Between rival groups, the potlatch often involved extravagant or competitive giving and destruction of valued items as a display of superior wealth. The Bellevue-Redmond area of Seattle, Washington, where I stay when I am in the United States, is one of the places where native peoples lived and celebrated their prosperity. You may think that much has changed, but, in some ways, things are not so different after all.

This is one of the upscale neighborhoods in Seattle, the area where Bill Gates decided to establish Microsoft. As I stroll through this neighborhood and look around, I can't help but contrast it with Costa Rica.

As if string theory weren't enough, traveling from a remote mountain area of Costa Rica to this place in less than a day gets me to wondering about the true nature of reality.

This is the place where…

Everybody has a bread machine and a juicer, but nobody makes bread or juice.

You can buy five different kinds of salt.

Everyone sleeps under a duvet.

Wedding costs begin at $15,000.

Nobody throws garbage on the ground.

There is a special park just for dogs.

Nobody has to watch commercials any more.

Grocery shopping is available online – free delivery next day.

The hospital reception area features floor-to-ceiling aquariums and a classical pianist.

No one ever overcooks vegetables.

There are no stray dogs.

Everyone has an outdoor hot tub and speakers hidden in fake rocks.

Yards with dogs all have invisible fences.

No one knows, thank goodness, what a chayote is.

Bus drivers are always helpful.

All appliances (large or small) must match the decor of the kitchen.

Dog sitters charge $25 a night.

People leave blenders and toasters on the sidewalk for Goodwill pick up.

Everyone has at least one gas fireplace.

Black beans are a gourmet item.

During the Christmas season, stores feature a section for doggie stocking stuffers.

No one jaywalks.

Everyone eats organic.

You can get your money back on merchandise for any old reason.

UPS comes two or three times a week.

People stop their cars for pedestrians to cross the street.

For just $1 apiece, you can buy one kind of lemon (yellow, thick and pulpy).

Each child has his own DVD player for the car.

The roads are perfect.

Everyone recycles.

Little girls take ballet and little boys take karate.

Landscapers charge $900 to prune two apple trees.

A four-lane highway is a very small one.

Phone cable stays put.

All the traffic lights work.

CDs are passé.

Everyone has a redwood deck.

Sushi is a standard item in grocery stores.

So what is my conclusion? Is Bellevue, which means “pretty view” in French, better than where I live? Better than my view of the Costa Rican mountains from the windows of my funky cabin?

Mmm, I don't think so.