March 02, 2007

VOWING to Create a Safer City: Members of the new San José Security Council including San José Mayor Johnny Araya, Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal and Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) Director Jorge Rojas yesterday swore to participate in the council, an effort to coordinate efforts to reduce crime in San José.

LOCKS of Love: Christi Idavoy, 29, from New York, recently donated her long locks to make wigs for those who have lost their hair due to treatment for cancer and other illnesses. The Beauty Club salon in Escazú, west of San José, is offering hair cuts for half price during March to those who wish to donate their hair. The nonprofit Helping Hands is coordinating the effort; for more information, call Helping Hands organizer Evangeline Mathura at 215-3289 or the Beauty Club at 288-0059.

Pro-CAFTA Legislators Cheer Sala IV Decision

The leaders of the five parties in the Legislative Assembly that support a free-trade pact with the United States said yesterday that a recent decision by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) will allow them to not only vote on the agreement sooner, but also become more productive overall.

San José Security Council Members Sworn In

The first members of the newly formed San José Security Council, a group aimed at coordinating public institutions to make for a safer city, were sworn in during a ceremony yesterday at the San José Municipality, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

New Ambassadors Present Credentials

Vice-Minister of Foreign Relations Edgar Ugalde yesterday received the credentials of the new Austrian, Malaysian and Romanian ambassadors to Costa Rica, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry. Ugalde performed this duty in place of Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno, who is in Guyana attending a meeting of the Rio Group.

Escazú Highway Toll Booth To Be Removed

Pro-CAFTA Legislators Cheer Sala IV Decision

By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff | kstanley@ticotimes.net

The leaders of the five parties in the Legislative Assembly that support a free-trade pact with the United States said yesterday that a recent decision by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) will allow them to not only vote on the agreement sooner, but also become more productive overall.

Guyon Massey, the only legislator from the National Restoration Party and one of the five leaders who spoke at a press conference at the assembly, called the decision “a triumph for democracy.” The justices' ruling, released late Wednesday, states that legislators can apply a fast-track reform to international accords such as the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA). The reform would limit discussion of CAFTA to approximately seven weeks or less, depending on how often legislators meet.

Legislators from the opposition Citizen Action Party (PAC) had asked the court to evaluate the fast-track procedure, claiming it would be unconstitutional to apply it to CAFTA. Although they lost that battle, the justices did rule that legislators had violated assembly procedures when debating the reforms, and that the fast-track measure must return to commission so dissenting opinions can be heard.

This will take approximately two weeks from start to finish, said Mayi Antillón, faction head for the leading National Liberation Party (PLN).

“The important thing now is to fix that error,” she said, expressing her satisfaction with the court's decision.

PAC faction head Elizabeth Fonseca told The Tico Times she is pleased with that aspect of the decision, since it supports opposition legislators' right to make their opinions heard.

Lorena Vásquez, of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), emphasized that the ruling doesn't just affect CAFTA, but the assembly's long-term effectiveness. Because it supports assembly leaders' rights to set voting deadlines, the Sala IV decision could make the famously slow legislature a bit quicker to reach a vote on key issues, she said.

For more on this story, click here to read the article on CAFTA's fast-track approval in today's edition of The Tico Times.

San José Security Council Members Sworn In

The first members of the newly formed San José Security Council, a group aimed at coordinating public institutions to make for a safer city, were sworn in during a ceremony yesterday at the San José Municipality, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Among those present at the event were San José Mayor Johnny Araya, Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal, Finance Minister Guillermo Zúñiga and Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) Director Jorge Rojas. They represented their respective organizations that will make up the council, which also includes representatives from the National Police, General Immigration Administration and Drug Control Police.

The council's goal is to “assure citizens greater success in the fight against crime, vandalism, delinquency, corruption, drug use and trafficking, organized crime, labor exploitation, sex with minors and family violence,” among other crimes, the statement said.

“There is a serious problem with security in San José that threatens not only citizens who live here and visit, but also threatens the competitiveness of this city as an urban space,” Araya said.

Berrocal concurred that the city's public security is a priority, calling the council's creation a concrete action to improve it.

“In public security... what people want are results, not words. Through this agreement with the Municipality of San José, we will work on one of the most conflicted areas of the country... the urban center of our capital city,” he said, adding that the idea is to create these councils in 81 municipalities around the country.

-Tico Times

New Ambassadors Present Credentials

Vice-Minister of Foreign Relations Edgar Ugalde yesterday received the credentials of the new Austrian, Malaysian and Romanian ambassadors to Costa Rica, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry. Ugalde performed this duty in place of Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno, who is in Guyana attending a meeting of the Rio Group.

The new Austrian Ambassador is Werner Druml, a lawyer who began his diplomatic career in 1979 and has acted as ambassador to Italy, Nigeria, Libya and Mexico.

Malaysian Ambassador Shamsuddin Bin Abdullah has served as his country's ambassador to Romania, Indonesia and Italy, while Romanian Ambassador Manuela Vulpe studied at the National University of Australia and Harvard University and has represented her country as Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand.

As per diplomatic protocol, these new ambassadors were scheduled to also present their credentials to President Oscar Arias yesterday afternoon.

-Tico Times

Escazú Highway Toll Booth To Be Removed

Effective yesterday, drivers along the Próspero Fernández Highway leading from San José to the western suburb of Escazú need not pay a toll between 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, according to the daily La Nación.

The Roadway Safety Council (CONSEVI) adopted this measure to ease the traffic congestion this road usually sees in the mornings. The toll booths will continue to charge drivers on Saturdays and Sundays, when traffic is lighter.

Public Works and Transport Minister Karla González said free toll booths during the week will hopefully allow drivers to get to their morning destinations faster, as well as save gas and reduce environmental damage caused by stop-and-go traffic.

-Tico Times

The weather phenomenon known as El Niño, or “The Child”, affects all of Earth's atmosphere and waters, from the highland Himalayas in Tibet and China to currents running over Costa Rica's dive sites.

An El Niño becomes official when the eastern tropical Pacific warms up to higher than usual temperatures while the western tropical Pacific cools a bit compared to normal. Ancient Peruvians first named the warming of their coastal waters El Niño because they noted that it happened around the time of the birth of the Christ child, El Niño, or Baby Jesus.

Costa Rica's Pacific is part of the eastern tropical Pacific, and that means El Niño brings a warming of our waters as well. Anyone who has dropped into Costa Rica's Pacific waters in the past few months knows that the ocean's temperature has been about that of a warm bath. The last time it was this warm was during the last strong El Niño in 1997-98, when the warm water stretched from Peru to Canada. This time it made it only to Mexico, and so the experts have deemed this event a moderate one. That's good news for most of Costa Rica, but it's a mixed blessing for divers.

Seeing Clearly: A diver catches sight of a sea turtle in clear El Niño waters on the Pacific coast. El Niño causes warming and clearing of waters, though warmer water means fewer fish.

Shawn Larkin | Tico Times

El Niño not only means warm water at dive sites from Santa Rosa National Park in the northwestern province of Guanacaste to Cocos Island, hundreds of kilometers southwest of mainland Costa Rica, but also the waters turn clear.

During January and February, visibility topped 50 meters on some days at Caño Island Biological Reserve, 20 kilometers off Drake Bay on the Osa Peninsula, on the southern Pacific coast. The waters were so clear that it seemed that divers were suspended in air. The transparency revealed the topography of the bottom like few times before.

Many dive sites normally require navigation underwater to see different areas of interest. When you are underwater and the water is not so clear, to reach a distant rock or coral outcropping, you must navigate using a compass, or the sun's rays falling at an angle, or you might just see nothing but sand. This is when guides become very useful for divers.

But during the past couple of months, the water has been so clear that no navigation has been required. When you can see them, distant rocks are about as hard to find as the other side of a swimming pool. Most of us guides used this visibility to extend our knowledge of the area surrounding dive sites. It's a special thrill to see new parts of a site you have known for many years.

The clear water is nice, but the warm El Niño waters also mean fewer fish for Costa Rica's Pacific. A great deal of marine life prefers cooler waters. This season's humpback whales seemed to arrive late, were few in number, and were generally scarce during January, normally a peak month. A few corals at Caño Island began to turn white, or bleach, as a result of high temperatures – not a good thing.

Then, over the past few weeks, the cool, green water that El Niño usually holds down below 30 meters began to rise up toward the surface. A strong current began blowing the cool water from the southwest over the dive sites. Mirror-flat seas were replaced with a small swell that stirred things further. Corals at Caño grew their colors again, and fish started showing up in massive numbers. Rains fell on the parched forests of the southwest Pacific coast. Rains let up on the southern Caribbean coast, and the sea calmed down. El Niño is over, and not a moment too soon.

Both coasts were reporting good diving at press time. As usual, now is the time to go diving in Costa Rica.

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