The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, January 31, 2003

HARD DAY'S WORK: 120,000 children work in Costa Rica.
TT/ Fernando Vindas

Campaign Launched to Eradicate Child Labor
Under the banner "Mobilize Costa Rica, Say No to Child Labor," the Ministries of Labor and Education joined forces with the International Labor Organization to launch a three-month campaign to educate the Tico public about the risks of child labor.
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January 31

Read today's Tico Times print edition for full calendar listings

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Celebrate the Year of the Sheep! It's Chinese New Year's Eve Saturday, Feb. 1, and Don Wang restaurant (233-6484) in downtown San José is putting on special dishes believed to bring abundance and prosperity. Especially unusual is Fantasy Chicken, cooked with bananas - a dish which is thought to bring good luck. A number of activities are planned, including a spectacular Lion Dance, which is scheduled to arrive at the restaurant around 1:30 p.m.

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Campaign Launched to Eradicate Child Labor
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net

Under the banner "Mobilize Costa Rica, Say No to Child Labor," the Ministries of Labor and Education joined forces with the International Labor Organization to launch a three-month campaign to educate the Tico public about the risks of child labor.

The campaign will feature workshops, media campaigns and a fundraiser scheduled for the first week in April to help raise funds and awareness toward the final goal of eradicating child labor.

"There are negative consequences for society when children get involved in the workforce at a young age," said Labor Minister Ovidio Pacheco. "Earning a family income is the responsibility of parents, not their children; kids who work have less time to dedicate to their academic preparation, as well as their physical and mental development."

An estimated 120,000 children work in Costa Rica, a country with just under 4 million people. More than 70% are boys, and most live in the rural parts of the country, according to statistics from a home survey conduced last July.

Many of the kids involved in the labor force work for very little pay and at high-risk jobs. The marginalized youth are also more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, and most are school dropouts, statistics show.

Carmen Moreno, regional sub-director of the International Labor Organization, applauded Costa Rica's educational campaign and said she hopes it will serve as an example to other Latin American countries.

Of the 300 million working children around the world, 17% are in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the International Labor Organization.

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Villalobos Group to Meet

The United Concerned Citizens and Residents (UCCR), a group of former clients of the defunct high-yield personal loan business of Luis Enrique Villalobos -- known as "The Brothers" -- announced this week it will hold an "investor's meeting" this Sunday at San José's Hotel Aurola - Holiday Inn, in Barrio Amón.

The meeting will feature guest speaker José Miguel Villalobos, President Abel Pacheco's former Minister of Justice who was fired after less than six months on the job (TT, Nov. 1).

Event organizer John Manners, president of the UCCR, told The Tico Times yesterday that the group expects upwards of 600 for Sunday's meeting. The group's last meeting, Oct. 27, drew some 450 concerned former Villalobos clients (TT, Nov. 1).

Manners said the idea of the meeting is to have former Minister Villalobos explain the judicial system, tell them what is happening with the case, and recommend what they should do next.

For at least 10 years, Luis Enrique Villalobos paid out 2.8 - 3% monthly interest payments on minimum investments of $10,000. He unexpectedly closed his businesses on Oct. 14, 2002 and is currently the subject of an investigation into alleged money laundering through his accounts. Villalobos' whereabouts are unknown and an arrest warrant was issued for him in November (TT, July 12,19,26, Aug. 2, 16, Oct. 18, Nov.1, 22, 29).

Manners, meanwhile, claims Villalobos' clients remain optimistic they will be able to recover their funds.

The meeting will start at 2 p.m

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More Funding for Inter-American Rights Court

Foreign Minister Robert Tovar yesterday applauded a decision by the Organization of American States (OAS) to again increase the annual budget of the San José-based Inter-American Rights Court's for 2004, according to a ministry press release.

At the recommendation of the OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Commission decided yesterday to increase next year's budget from $600,000 to $1 million.

The Inter-American Court was established in 1979 with an annual budget of $100,000. The 2002 budget of $1.3 million was increased by $500,000 for this year, following Court President Antonio Cancado's concern that the institution did not have the funding to keep up with the caseload (TT Daily Page, Nov. 7).

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Beware of Suspicious Refrigerator Repairmen

A Costa Rican man described by authorities as a "suspicious looking refrigerator repairman" was arrested yesterday in the Caribbean port town of Moín, when police discovered he was carrying 9 kilograms of cocaine in his tool bag.

Police suspect that Alfaro Padilla, 24, was attempting to smuggle the drugs onto a ship headed for the United States while posing as a repairman sent to fix the ship's faulty refrigerator.

In a separate police bust yesterday, two Italian men -- ages 23 and 33 -- were detained in Juan Santamaria International Airport when authorities discovered the two trying to board a flight to Madrid, Spain with almost $110,000 hidden in their shoes. Customs requires declarations for all amounts over $10,000 in cash.

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