Vol. VIII, No. 3 - San José, Costa Rica, Monday, September 16,  2002

Kids Take Over Congress
Demanding increased government protection for the country’s youngest citizens, a group of Costa Rican children took over Congress Friday morning and lectured lawmakers on the importance of passing a new legislative initiative aimed at boosting funding for the financially-strapped Child Welfare Office (PANI).
(Click for more)

Tico Hotel Chamber
Joins Cyber Age
Finding the perfect hotel at the right price just got a whole lot easier here, thanks to The Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels (CCH), which leapt into the modern age Friday by launching the country’s first comprehensive online-reservation service.
(Click for more)

Migration Deports 46
Extranjeros Last Week
Document checks conducted last week by immigration officers resulted in 54 foreigners detained in the Caribbean port town of Limón and in the Central Pacific beach towns of Jacó and Puntarenas, according to a Security Ministry press release.
(Click for more)

Joint Drug Patrol
Success Eyed
Anti-narcotics boosters are calling the oft-criticized two-year-old joint drug patrol between Costa Rican and the U.S. a success. During a press conference held Friday morning by representatives of the U.S. and Costa Rican governments, released statistics as evidence that the drug patrol was working.
(Click for more)

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Kids Take Over Congress
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff

Demanding increased government protection for the country’s youngest citizens, a group of Costa Rican children took over Congress Friday morning and lectured lawmakers on the importance of passing a new legislative initiative aimed at boosting funding for the financially-strapped Child Welfare Office (PANI).

Occupying the 57 congressional seats as well as the central table normally occupied by the legislative body’s directorate, the kids took turns lobbying for congressional approval of a bill that would insure the PANI receives a direct annual budget of .22 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“The project addresses funding for the PANI; the money is there, but it is passing through too many hands and not getting to the kids,” said 16-year-old high school student Jonathan Medina, one of the more eloquent of the young politicians-in-training.

The PANI’s 2002 budget is ¢7.5 billion ($20.5 million). However, the funding has proved to be inadequate to meet the welfare agencies needs, says PANI Minister Rosalia Gil, and the problem of abandoned street kids and closed shelters has become endemic.

Gil told The Tico Times this week that she is worried about government proposals to slash the PANI’s budget by an additional ¢2 billion ($5.4 million). However, she remains hopeful that congress will pass the new project to fix the PANI’s annual budget at .22 percent of the GDP, which would translate into some ¢10 billion ($27.3 million) for next year.

The bill is expected to be voted on and passed in the first round next week.

Read Friday’s TT print edition for complete coverage.

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Tico Hotel Chamber
Joins Cyber Age
By Benjamin Witte
Tico Times Staff

Finding the perfect hotel at the right price just got a whole lot easier here, thanks to The Costa Rican Chamber of Hotels (CCH), which leapt into the modern age Friday by launching the country’s first comprehensive online-reservation service.

“It’s the first real online system in real time that features a secure server and offers access to more than 190 hotels,” Executive Director of the CCH, Ana Gabriela Alfaro, told The Tico Times.

The user-friendly reservation system, which can be found on the Chamber’s website, www.costaricanhotels.com, offers tourists and nationals the opportunity to select a hotel based on price range, location and category of the services offered, and provides the user immediate price and availability information.

Alfaro expects the reservation system will be of great benefit to both hotel guests and owners, adding that the nation’s hotels will be able to offer more competitive prices by working in coordination.

Besides the new reservation system, the hotel chamber’s website, which is available in both Spanish or English, also features interesting facts about Costa Rica, useful information for travelers such as visa requirements and available medical services, and an activities calendar.

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Migration Deports 46
Extranjeros Last Week

Document checks conducted last week by immigration officers resulted in 54 foreigners detained in the Caribbean port town of Limón and in the Central Pacific beach towns of Jacó and Puntarenas, according to a Security Ministry press release.

Of those detained, 46 were deported to their country of origin, while the other eight are under investigation.

The foreigners busted by Immigration – most of whom were here with expired tourist visas or invalid work permits – came from Colombia, the U.S., Italy, Argentina, Panama, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Israel, Canada and Germany, according to the release.

Immigration Director Marco Badilla says the police operation will continue throughout the country as an effort to better enforce the Immigration Law.

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Joint Drug Patrol
Success Eyed

Anti-narcotics boosters are calling the oft-criticized two-year-old joint drug patrol between Costa Rican and the U.S. a success. During a press conference held Friday morning by representatives of the U.S. and Costa Rican governments, officials noted the following statistics as evidence that the drug patrol is working:

- 68 U.S. drug patrol boats have docked at Costa Rican ports during the 30 months of the joint patrol, injecting $4.3 million into local economies in the form of fuel and other expenses.

-  Joint-drug patrol operations in Costa Rican waters off the Caribbean and Pacific coasts have resulted in the capture of 35 tons of cocaine.|

- Inside Costa Rica’s 200 nautical miles of maritime territory, drug patrol boats have managed to disrupt the trafficking of 9.8 kilos of cocaine.

-  U.S. drug patrol boats have shared information with Costa Rican authorities about illegal fishing in national waters.

-  U.S. patrol boats have assisted in the rescue of 12 Costa Rican boats in danger on the high seas.

-  None of the U.S. armed boats that have docked in Costa Rica has carried nuclear weapons.

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