Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 22, 2002

Punta Leona Protests Road Opening
By Fabian Borges
Tico Times Staff
Members of the central Pacific beach resort Club Punta Leona will gather at the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) this morning to appeal a Puntarenas court order that forced the resort last month to open a public road leading to the beaches of Mantas and Blanca.
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Personal Report: Democracy Takes Toll in Punta Leona
By Christine Pratt (cpratt506@yahoo.com)
Special to The Tico Times
My private boycott of the Central Pacific beach enclave of Punta Leona ended Oct. 10, when a small legion of police, a gutsy judge and an artful backhoe operator made swift history of a toll booth that had for some 30 years blocked the road to the beautiful Mantas and Blanca beaches.
(Click for more)

Germany Donates Funds for C.A. AIDS Prevention
The German government Friday it will donate $4.6 million to the Central American Economic Integration Bank to launch a regional AIDS prevention program, according to a bank press release.
(Click for more)

Spanish University to Offer Tourism Degree in C.R.
The Spanish University Las Palmas de Gran Canaria last week announced it has chosen Costa Rica as the location of its new university branch, which plans to offer the first International Master's degrees in Latin American Tourism.
(Click for more)

October 22

Attention Newcomers
Dress up and have some fun dancing with
music, bocas and drinks, Fri., Nov. 1, 7-10 p.m., Villa Belen, 600 m. east of
El Rodeo. Reserve tickets today at at Sabor Tico, Escazu. Info: 239-4678.

Chamber Music Recital
Tonight at 7 p.m., the University of Costa Rica tonight performs the music
program "Martes por la Noche". Eddie Mora' students will be in charge of the
show. San Pedro campus, in room 107 of the School of Music. Info: 207-5565.

Auditions
The Little Theater Group will be holding Auditions for "Blithe Spirit" by
Noel Coward. Auditions at the Blanch Brown Theater in Bello Horizonte, Dec. 2, 7:30
p.m. Looking to cast 5 women and 2 men between the ages of 18-65. Info:
289-3910.

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Punta Leona Protests Road Opening
By Fabian Borges
Tico Times Staff

Members of the central Pacific beach resort Club Punta Leona will gather at the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) this morning to appeal a Puntarenas court order that forced the resort last month to open a public road leading to the beaches of Mantas and Blanca.

Punta Leona representatives allege that their right to private property was violated when Judge Giovanni Mena and 50 police officers used heavy machinery to tear down the club's gate, which for the last 30 years has separated non-club members from the public beach.

The reopening was met with cheers from local residents, who proclaimed that justice and democracy had triumphed.

Eugenio Gordienko and Guillermo Carranza, administrative heads of the resort, said they are preparing to take legal action against Mena. They claim his actions were biased against the club and that he violated private property law by opening the road without proper authority.

The dispute over access and ownership of the road began when Punta Leona first opened in 1973. Representatives of the beach resort insist they built the road and the club has a right to charge non-members a fee using it.

Area neighbors disagree, saying the road existed prior to the resort and, because it is the only land access to the beaches, it must be public.

The matter was discussed in court several times during the last decade, but it wasn't until the October 2001 verdict that a definitive ruling was reached in favor of public access.

Punta Leona appealed the decision before the Puntarenas Penal Court. In May, the Penal Court ratified the original decision and ordered Punta Leona to open the road. District Attorney Francisco Molina and Garabito Cantón Mayor Victor Ríos were charged with ensuring the court decision was followed, if the club failed to comply within four months.

On Oct. 9, Mena ordered police to break down the gate and open the road.

Mario Pacheco, attorney for Punta Leona, said that prior to 1973, locals occasionally used the path that later became Punta Leona's main road. However, he insists, the road is not public domain. In his opinion, Mena's actions constitute an unlawful "expropriation of private property."

Mena disagrees. Punta Leona representatives "had a chance to appeal the original verdict," he told The Tico Times. "They did so and their second plea was also rejected. The court's decision was clear and firm, and there was nothing left to discuss. The only thing left to do was execute the court order."

On Oct. 10, Gordienko announced he would take legal action against Mena and those responsible for opening the road. The club, he said, would continue to do everything in its power to overturn the decision and protect the privacy of its members.

"The club belongs to the shareholders, none of whom were consulted during the court proceedings," Pacheco said. "The road was seized from its rightful owners."

Punta Leona has long prided itself in protecting a large tract of virgin forest surrounding the development, and for developing the club in harmony with nature.

"This decision could have serious repercussions on how foreign investors look at Costa Rica. What guarantee will other investors have that something like this won't happen again in the future?" he added. "This could scare off many potential investors. That's why we're taking this matter as far as possible. We're talking to chambers of tourism, appealing to the courts and talking with the government."

Mena denies claims that his actions were biased against the club. In his opinion, the court ruling, which is more than 300 pages long, provides more than enough legal precedent to merit the road's reopening.

See personal report from Punta Leona below

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Personal Report: Democracy Takes Toll in Punta Leona
By Christine Pratt (cpratt506@yahoo.com)
Special to The Tico Times

My private boycott of the Central Pacific beach enclave of Punta Leona ended Oct. 10, when a small legion of police, a gutsy judge and an artful backhoe operator made swift history of a toll booth that had for some 30 years blocked the road to the beautiful Mantas and Blanca beaches.

My boycott began in 1995, when I read in the papers about a group of area residents who began a legal battle to reclaim the road and beach access. I identified with the "little guys" in their legal battle against the well-funded and politically well-connected Goliath of Punta Leona.

The beaches are by law public, but when Punta Leona closed the route, non-members could reach them only by sea, or by paying $20 to enter the enclave's beach club via the toll road.

Punta Leona's lawyers and developers insisted the road belonged to the members-only project.
When the toll booth finally tumbled last week, and TV cameras filmed the cheers from area onlookers, I told myself it was time for a visit.

I turned onto the narrow, mud and rock road for the first time, four days after the judge's visit, and bumped westward toward the coast.

The road is like hundreds of beach-access roads all over the Central Pacific - swampy, with a few deep, muddy ruts and a ramshackle bridge that defies the laws of physics to remain standing.

It was exciting! I was finally driving on the "forbidden road," recently opened for the good of democracy. I was about to walk on the "forbidden beaches," float in the "forbidden waters…"

Rounding a turn, I came to the first evidence that this road was different from the others. Following last week's main event, jubilant residents made a large, hand-painted sign that reads, "Thanks to God, the truth won out. Justice was served on public beaches."

A few bumps later, I arrived at the historic toll booth site. The barricade that once crossed the road was nowhere to be seen. Bootprints, car and backhoe tracks were visible in the mud. The guardhouse looked partially damaged and was now deserted. An old bus carcass lined the left edge of the road.

Opposite the guardhouse, another sign erected by Punta Leona's staff stands as a monument to legal desperation - a marker to the alternative "access road" supposedly opened by the club. "In accordance with sentence 2917…," the sign says, "this is the beginning of the free-transit road that leads directly to Playa Blanca…"

The sign points the way to a barely visible cowpath that snakes up and over a hillside as abrupt and jungly as the rest of the coastline. To follow the route, pedestrians have to pick their way through a barbed-wire fence.

A few more bumps and turns west, and Punta Leona's condos and deco-block-paved streets spread out ahead. Another guardhouse - this one manned - marked the beginning of the enclave.

As I drove past, the guard emerged, but made no effort to stop the car. I waved at him, simultaneously transmitting a mental message - democracy had triumphed! I was inside Punta Leona, without paying and without being hassled!

I studied the guard in my rear-view mirror. He didn't seem any wiser to the defiant defense of democracy that he'd just witnessed. In fact, he sat down in a chair and rocked back against the guardhouse.

Inside the enclave, it becomes apparent why Punta Leona's developers fought so hard to keep the route closed. En route to the beach, I passed many cabinas, chained-off side roads - each with its own guard - and a quaint and well-maintained Catholic church. Farther west, the condos and cabinas give way to the beach club's ample public areas, picnic facilities, swimming pool and sports courts.

The dirt was still fresh around the posts of the many-stranded barbed-wire fence that was obviously hastily erected along the road's edge to keep non-members from wandering onto the grounds to get a closer look. In fact, there's no way to sneak in, not even from the beach - I checked.

Guards were posted at each intersection. Some responded to a friendly wave, others glowered in propietary zeal - they and property owners will now have to endure outsiders' daily invasion into their once-exclusive realm.

After the deco-bloc ends, the road widens at its westernmost end, where Punta Leona groundskeepers apparently made a small clearing to dump plant clippings. I left my car there. Area residents had already tramped a narrow path through the clippings to the edge of a small estuary. Pedestrians have to descend into the estuary, climb the other side and walk some 20 meters along a jungly path to Mantas Beach.

Following a heavy rain, the route will become muddy and the estuary treacherous, but the beaches beyond are worth the effort. Playa Mantas is an uncrowded and meticulously clean expanse of brown sand, palms and almendro trees. A short walk around the point reveals the idyllic Playa Blanca, with powdery white sand and emerald sea.

Round cement picnic tables scattered among the trees at the high-tide-line give beachcombers a shady place to ponder or eat lunch. Farther down Playa Blanca, Punta Leona's restaurant was open. Every 20 meters or so, a life preserver with coiled rope dangled from a palm tree. No boom boxes, no garbage, no pulsating beachside bar, nothing but a smattering of families quietly enjoying the surf and spectacular nature.

With democracy will come more people, garbage and vandalism. So the area residents' legal triumph will sadly transform these pristine beaches, which are less than two hours from San José.

As an outsider to the dispute, I couldn't help but think how everything could have been resolved without lawyers, judges, the police and the backhoe, if Punta Leona had come up with a workable solution to accommodate area residents and tourists who wished to visit the beaches without paying $20 to use the club facilities.

The challenges that lie ahead now are ecological, and both the enclave and area residents should work together to control development and create a culture of cleanliness, tranquility and respect for nature.

The future of Mantas and Blanca beaches will depend on decisions made over the next few years. Conservation will require teamwork, and both sides together can make it happen.

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Germany Donates Funds for C.A. AIDS Prevention

The German government Friday it will donate $4.6 million to the Central American Economic Integration Bank to launch a regional AIDS prevention program, according to a bank press release.

The money, which will come through Germany's Development Agency (KfW), will be used to create different educational programs aimed at raising public awareness about disease prevention and changing people's attitude toward HIV/AIDS patients.

Combating AIDS is one of the priorities of the Human Development Initiative of the Plan Puebla-Panama, the integration initiative between Central America and southern Mexico.

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Spanish University to Offer Tourism Degree in C.R.

The Spanish University Las Palmas de Gran Canaria last week announced it has chosen Costa Rica as the location of its new university branch, which plans to offer the first International Master's degrees in Latin American Tourism.

The two-year master's degree program is designed to simulate running a hotel, according to university spokeswoman Marcela Valdeavellano.

"We are looking to take advantage of Costa Rica's tourism potential, and establish professional alliances between people who are going to return to their home countries to work in tourism," she said.
-AFP

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