Government officials are expressing concern over a Venezuelan “peace base” that opened in the western San José neighborhood of Rohrmoser last week.

The peace base – no more than a room in the Venezuelan embassy – is part of a hemispheric initiative inspired by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to inspire reflection and dialogue over the future of the Americas.

Preparing for an inaugural event Oct. 13, the peace base in Costa Rica is the fifth of its kind. Bases have already been open in Nicaragua, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba.

“The peace base is an open forum for dialogue, for conversation, for an interchange of ideas, all with the motive of creating a new world,” said Venezuelan Ambassador to Costa Rica Néstor Pineda. “America needs a profound period of reflection to allow us to envision new societies in the context of the America we are and of the America we want to be.”

But the initiative has caused a stir among Costa Rican officials, who have long pitched their country as “the country of peace.” As one of the only countries without an army, home to the United Nations University for Peace and among the first to establish a Peace Ministry, the creation of a peace base has many scratching their heads, wondering why the country needs it.

Yet, the reaction goes beyond puzzlement.

For Costa Rica, which has tried to distance itself from Chávez, the peace base opens doors to an unwelcome alliance or – as some have labeled it – interference.

“I think there should be no intervention on the part of any ambassador or foreign country in Costa Rican affairs,” said Costa Rican top cabinet member Rodrigo Arias. “And I think this project – from what we know of it today – rubs poorly with the Vienna Convention – which governs diplomatic ties between states.”

Arias has instructed Foreign Ministry officials to keep an eye on the base.

Costa Rican Ambassador to Venezuela Vladimir de la Cruz said the initiative of establishing peace bases is nothing more than an effort to counter U.S. foreign policy and the presence of military bases in South and Central America.

Venezuela itself spends $1.1 billion annually on military expenses, and continues to purchase arms, which raised questions on why they would be sponsoring this initiative.

De la Cruz said, “The politics of peace and anti-militarism of the Arias administration denounces all governments that buy and sell arms … that divert economic resources which should be used to solve housing, education and health problems…. It is obvious President Chávez and President Arias have opposing views about military spending, so it seem s absurd to have a Peace Base in Costa Rica.”

The Finance Ministry has cut funds from the environmental services payment program for 2010, according to the National Forestry Office (ONF).

The office, which had been promised ¢ 11,219 million for the program for 2010, will only receive ¢7,336 million next year.

The Finance Ministry is expected to use the money from the 35 percent cut in other areas. The Tico Times could not confirm by press time how the money diverted from the program will be spent.

The environmental services payment program is a government subsidy paid to residents who live near forests and waterways to implement conservation practices and plant trees.

In total, the state promised to help fund the protection of 57,600 hectares. After the administrative cuts and quota liquidation, the ONF estimates that the only 23,358 will be protected.

Alfonso Barrantes, executive director of ONF, said the lack of funds could put Costa Rica's 2021 carbon neutrality goal in jeopardy.

“A large part of the forestry that has been planted in the last 15 years due to this program is still growing,” he said. “If there is no support from the state to protect these forests with the environmental services payment (PSA) we put these growing trees at risk of loss. When the state revokes support of the PSA, the impact that the forest will have in sequestering carbon will be much less.”

Since the early 1990s, Costa Rica has boosted the amount of forested land from 21 percent to 51 percent of the country's total land area.

A raid in a drug-riddled area north of San José was conducted by government officials on Wednesday, two days after a 78-year-old man was shot and killed when caught in a drug-related firefight.

The operation involved some 80 officials from the Public Security Ministry, the San José Municipality, the Health Ministry, the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) and the Immigration Police.

Sniffer dogs found marijuana and crack cocaine in some of the half-dozen businesses raided by police, according to Public Security Ministry spokesman Carlos Hidalgo, who said 16 Dominican and Colombian citizens were arrested. He added that a number of illegal weapons were also found.

The Dominicans and Colombians entered the country illegally and had no immigration papers, Hildago said.

The coordinated raid was aimed at combating lawlessness in an area well-known as a haven for crack dealers from the Dominican Republic and Colombia. It came after the murder of knick-knack salesman José Aguilar, who was caught in the crossfire of a shootout between two members of drug gangs.

Asked prior to the raid about the blatant drug trafficking by foreigners in the area only four blocks north of the Banco Nacional in downtown San José, officials said capturing traffickers is problematic as possession of small quantities of drugs is not illegal.

Immigration officials said their hands are tied because they cannot deport alleged criminals until after they are convicted. OIJ officials said the problem falls under the jurisdiction of the Public Security Ministry, which, in turn, said it can't take action without proof.

Hidalgo denied that the murder of Aguilar served as a catalyst for the officials to finally take action, saying that the authorities had made arrests in the area before.

Latin America and the Caribbean region continue to grapple with the widest socioeconomic gap in the world, according to a group of economic experts who met this week in Chile.

During a conference Wednesday at the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC) in the Chilean capital of Santiago, experts warned that the region is off course to reach goals set out in the Cairo Action Program. The program is an agreement signed in 1994 by 179 countries in Cairo, Egypt, intending to improve and develop the health and education of people around the world.

“Despite significant achievements, we shouldn't be complacent. There are still unacceptable levels of social inequality and segmentation in our region, especially in the area of employment,” said ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena.

Approximately 180 million Latin Americans live in poverty, she said.

" Latin America has a lot to celebrate, but the greatest challenge continues being how to reduce the disparities," said Mari Simonen, deputy executive director of the United Nations Population Fund. "We just have five years to accelerate the achievement of the Cairo Action Program," Simonen said.

The group went on to discuss more grim statistics. The region's maternal mortality rate, which  U.N. agencies gauge as an indicator for human development, remains high at 200 for every 100,000 in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Peru.

In July, a study released by the Costa Rican Demographic Association showed this country showed this country's rate, while much lower than those of the countries cited above, is climbing. Whereas 18 out of 100,000 Costa Rican women died during childbirth in 1995, that number has risen to 30 in every 100,000.