A dockworkers strike that began Tuesday has paralyzed Costa Rica's Caribbean port of Limón and prevented a 1,896-passenger cruise ship from docking.

Cargoes of fruit are standing by in containers, shippers are concerned about making it to northern markets before their supplies spoil and vendors and tour operators are vocally protesting the missed opportunity.

“People are very upset,” said Abraham Goldgewicht, who owns a coffee shop and art gallery in Limón. “There are a lot of independent contractors who can't work because of what's going on here.”

The strike comes at the same time that Costa Rica is trying to attract nearly $900 million in private investment – along with $80 million it's putting in on its own – to make the port city a modern, tourist-friendly destination.

“It's regrettable, deplorable and shameful,” said Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias in response to the strike. “This is the alternative that offers nothing. It's not the Costa Rica that we want, nor the one we dream of, nor the Limón that we are working toward, and will continue to work toward.”

The conflict between the Arias administration and dockworkers in Limón has been an ongoing battle, and no matter how many press conferences or dialogues, Arias has been unable to sweep it under the rug.

On Tuesday, workers began a protest for higher pay and proceeded to block three outgoing ships in Moín and two in Limón.

The union's administration is trying to distance itself from the strike, calling it irresponsible and unjustified.

“It's really just a small number of workers,” said Israel Oconitrillo, press officer with the Atlantic Port Authority union, explaining that a mere 53 of the union's 1,400 members are on strike.

Despite being turned away at the port, Holland America Line – which operates the cruise line – expects to return.

“We certainly realize that all parties want to resolve the issues and are hopeful this will be done for future visits,” said Erik Elvejord, spokesman for the Seattle-based company.

Nicaragua's long-divided opposition movements are starting to show signs of union in defense of the country's institutional democracy, following a highly suspect ruling by Sandinista Supreme Court magistrates Monday to allow their leader, President Daniel Ortega, to seek re-election in 2011.

The ruling by the six Sandinista magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court was conducted behind the backs of the opposition Liberal party magistrates. Supreme Court President Manuel Martínez, of the Liberal party, described the move an “ambush” by the Sandinista magistrates and a growing number of Ortega's detractors are blasting it as an illegal assault on Nicaragua's constitutional democracy.

After a full day of meetings yesterday, representatives of all the opposition political parties in the National Assembly – who together make up a majority – issued a joint statement stressing they do not recognize the judges' ruling, nor Ortega's right to seek consecutive re-election, which is banned by the constitution.

Nicaragua's opposition includes the Liberal Constitutional Party, the Liberal Independent Party/Vamos con Eduardo Alliance, independent lawmakers and a party led by Ortega's former comrades turned opponents called the Sandinista Renovation Movement.

Together they condemned the magistrates' ruling as “a coup d'état by Orteguismo” and called for a series of coordinated moves to “avoid the consolidation of an Ortega dictatorship.”

Also involved in the meeting were civil society groups and business leaders.

The opposition leaders announced they will block the government's recent tax reform bill and budget cuts, and redefine a new opposition economic strategy in the legislature.

The Nicaraguan-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) also came out Wednesday against the controversial ruling.

“We do not recognize the decision adopted in an illegal and illegitimate manner,” the business chamber said in its statement.

Constitutional experts are also expressing shock about Monday's ruling.

Legal analyst and former judge Sergio Garcia Quintero told The Nica Times that one would be “hard pressed to find a more corrupt judicial system in the world,” and compared the Supreme Court justices to the “seven plagues of Egypt.”

Ortega, meanwhile, went on live television for a nationally televised address Monday night and said that the Sandinista ruling is “non-appealable” and “written in stone.” He called his political opponents “residual garbage” who should be thrown in jail.

The Sandinista base, too, has reacted to the news with the same defensive triumphalism they displayed after last November's highly contentious municipal elections, in which the Sandinista Front was accused of stealing more than 30 mayor's seats.

The Sandinistas have taken to the streets of Managua to “permanently defend” Ortega's re-election efforts and prevent the “right wing” from protesting.

See this Friday's Nica Times for more on this story.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) faces a fine for unauthorized service fees charged to the telecommunications company Radiomensajes, the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) said this week.

The fine, which is more than ₡ 1.5 billion ($2.6 million), is the largest amount ever imposed on a public institution in Costa Rica.

According to ARESEP, from Oct. 1, 2005 to Jan. 31, 2009, ICE overcharged Radiomensajes for use of a 900 number. Though ICE set up the 900 number for Radiomensajes, ARESEP reports that over the three-year span ICE withheld 28 percent of the earnings generated by the phone service.

The authorized amount of the tax that could be withheld for the service was 3.86 percent.

Regulatory officials estimated that the amount of earnings retained by ICE totaled ₡ 305,137,688 ($535,329). ICE will have to reimburse Radiomensajes the withheld amount, as well as pay the fine to the National Treasury, which is five times the amount of money withheld, ARESEP said in a news release.

ICE, Costa Rica's longtime telephone monopoly, is expected to appeal the fine in the Administrative Contention Court.

If the decision is brought before the court, it will be second time in which ICE has disputed regulatory intervention by ARESEP in the past two months. In September, ARESEP proposed a decrease in electricity rates through the remainder of the year due to savings earned by the reduced cost of fossil fuels. ICE disputed the rate reduction in the Administrative Contention Court, though the court ruled in favor of ARESEP, lowering electricity rates as of Sept. 10.   

Feeling pura vida : Tom Nakashima, middle, Olympus' division manager for digital cameras, dons a company kimono Tuesday evening for the ceremony of ribbon cutting, and sake sipping, for the new Costa Rica office.

Photo courtesy of Olympus

Representatives of the Japanese camera company Olympus dressed in purple kimonos and cut a ribbon bearing the Costa Rican flag colors Tuesday night, as the camera and imaging company officially inaugurated its offices in the Forum building in Santa Ana, northwest of San José. The offices in Santa Ana will serve as the first Olympus hub in Central America.

Representatives at the center will also oversee distribution, post-sale support and client services of Olympus products in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

“I feel pura vida,” said Tom Nakashima, Olympus' division manager for digital cameras, using Costa Rica's famous saying, which can mean anything from “good vibes” to “thank you.”

“We have operating centers in all of the bigger markets but are yet to establish as many as we would like in emerging markets, such as in Latin America. Today we make a change,” Nakashima said.

Nakashima said Olympus chose Costa Rica based on the country's commitment to social responsibility, respect for ecology, customer relations and central location for Central America and northern South America. The Olympus location in Santa Ana will focus its efforts on improving the Olympus name in the region by offering a wider array of digital cameras and improve regional distribution and customer relations with Latin American clients. The center is expected to coordinate marketing operations and distribution for over 900 stores in the Central American and northern South American countries. 

The Olympus product line includes digital and 35mm cameras, professional digital imaging systems, voice recorders, binoculars, microscopes and endoscopes.

According to Jorge Chavarría, sales manager for Olympus in Costa Rica, annual worldwide sales of Olympus products averages around $10 billion.