Vol. VIII, No. 3 - San José, Costa Rica, Tuesday, September 3,  2002

Mudslide Victims’ Family Orders off Search for Buried Bodies
Alto Loaiza de Orosí- Standing in ankle-deep mud and watching the ominous rain clouds roll in over the mountains, José Angel Sánchez was forced to make a difficult and painful decision Monday afternoon. “On behalf of the Sánchez family, I am going to ask rescue workers to stop searching for my sister and my two nephews,” he told The Tico Times, referring to his 55-year old sister Isabel and her two children, Idaly, 25; and Fabián, 15.  All three were buried in Saturday morning’s deadly mudslide, which destroyed 13 homes and disappeared seven and perhaps eight people.
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Río Group Works to Sharpen Teeth
of Hemispheric Human Rights
Delegates from the 19 Latin American countries belonging to the Río Group met here Monday to begin a two-day meeting to try to iron out reforms to the hemispheric human-rights system. The need for reform measures was spelled out in a document prepared by the Costa Rican delegation and signed by the other member countries during the Río Group’s first working group of 2002, held here last July.
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Mudslide Victims’ Family Orders
off Search for Buried Bodies
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff

 Alto Loaiza de Orosí- Standing in ankle-deep mud and watching the ominous rain clouds roll in over the mountains, José Angel Sánchez was forced to make a difficult and painful decision Monday afternoon.

“On behalf of the Sánchez family, I am going to ask rescue workers to stop searching for my sister and my two nephews,” he told The Tico Times, referring to his 55-year old sister Isabel and her two children, Idaly, 25; and Fabián, 15.  All three were buried in Saturday morning’s deadly mudslide, which destroyed 13 homes and disappeared seven and perhaps eight people.

“By continuing the search in the rain, we are putting more people at risk,” Sánchez stressed. “Now we have to leave everything to God.”

However, so far, God is not cooperating with search efforts, as afternoon downpours make the rescue mission all but impossible.

Heavy digging equipment brought to the disaster zone was called away from the site by 10:00 a.m. due to the risk of additional landslides, and all rescue workers were ordered off the mountain at the first sign of rain.

Red Cross workers estimate that the mud is more than 15 meters (50 feet) deep, and that the missing bodies could be up to 10 meters under the churned earth.

Vice-President Lineth Saborío – who is acting President while Abel Pacheco is in South Africa for the Earth Summit – visited the area Monday afternoon to see the disaster area and assure local residents that the government would provide the economic support necessary to help out the victims.

The landslide is being blamed on heavy deforestation, which was exacerbated last year by the construction of an illegal highway built by a local businessman connecting his farm to the town below. When the municipality found out about the project, it ordered him to halt construction.

The Environment Ministry reportedly warned the community’s residents last year that they were living in an area considered at risk of avalanche, but the warning apparently went unheeded.

People who witnessed the mudslide told The Tico Times that the avalanching mud and rock easily plowed through the crops of bamboo that were planted on the deforested land surrounding the mountainside community.

While the government has pledged its support, some residents are already raising a critical voice about a rescue effort they claim is uncoordinated and ill-planned.

Don’t miss this Friday’s print edition of The Tico Times for complete coverage of the disaster and rescue efforts. Plus, find out how you can help the victims.           

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Río Group Works to Sharpen Teeth
of Hemispheric Human Rights

Delegates from the 19 Latin American countries belonging to the Río Group met here Monday to begin a two-day meeting to try to iron out reforms to the hemispheric human-rights system. 

The need for reform measures was spelled out in a document prepared by the Costa Rican delegation and signed by the other member countries during the Río Group’s first working group of 2002, held here last July.

“During this meeting, we hope to achieve concrete results as well as define the human rights responsibilities we have before the international community,” said Javier Sancho, the leader of the Costa Rican delegation, in a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Strengthening hemispheric human right, as well as “strengthening the family and the fight against poverty,” were the central themes of the Río Group’s 2002 Summit, hosted by Costa Rica last April (TT, Apr. 19). However, the proposed agenda was overshadowed by the coup attempt in Venezuela, which became the central theme of the two-day meeting.             

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