The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, May 05, 2003

POSTPONED: Taiwanese President Chen Shui Bian (L) will take a rain check with Pacheco. Photo from Pacheco's visit to Taiwan last October.
AFP/TT

Grenade Explosion Prompts
New Anti-mine Sweep
Five months after Costa Rica was officially declared landmine-free last December, Tico mine sappers in the Northern Zone were forced to once again pick up their metal detectors and search for hidden explosives on a farm in Los Chiles, following the explosion of an abandoned grenade last Friday.
(Click for more)

Taiwanese President Postpones
C.A. Trip Due to SARS Outbreak
TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwanese President Chen Shui Bian announced Saturday that he will postpone his Central American tour due to the SARS (atypical pneumonia) epidemic in his country.
(Click for more)

May 05

Learning Hebrew Culture
Call today and register in one of the classes that the Hebrew Cultural Center is offering and learn about its culture. Info: 220-1421, 291-2940.

Free How to Learn Spanish Classes and Free Seminar
With Glen Smith, contact him at 640-0573, glenhsmith@yahoo.com

Photo Contest
Take your picture and take into account the following indications to participate. The topic is open, include an explanation of the photo, such day, place, where it was taken, and meaning, in a sealed envelope with personal data, deliver photos before May 30 to Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Awarding Ceremony June 30, 277-3253.

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Grenade Explosion Prompts
New Anti-mine Sweep
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net

Five months after Costa Rica was officially declared landmine-free last December, Tico mine sappers in the Northern Zone were forced to once again pick up their metal detectors and search for hidden explosives on a farm in Los Chiles, following the explosion of an abandoned grenade last Friday.

The war relic - thought to be a 20-year-old leftover from the war in Nicaragua - reportedly exploded due to extreme heat caused by the recent forest fires in the Northern Zone, which authorities are blaming on arsonists (TT Daily Page, April 30).

The explosion was reported to authorities by farm owner Noa Cano, who was previously unaware that there was abandoned war material on his property, reported the daily La Nacion.

Officer Freddy Santamaría, head of the retired national demining operation, ordered his old sappers to re-inspect the farm, which had already been swept and declared mine-free two years earlier. This time around, however, the sappers reportedly found oil and rags used to clean weapons and old tent posts, suggesting the area was once used by anti-Sandinista rebel forces.

No other explosives were found.

Costa Rica's de-mining project, which cleared more than 131,600 square meters of land along the northern border, helped to recapture land that was inactive for almost 20 years, Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar announced during the Dec. 10 celebration to declare the country mine-free (TT, Dec. 13, 2002).

Since the de-mining project began here in September 1999, the Ministry of Public Security's 40-man minesweeping team cleared 346 mines and deactivated a number of other explosives, rockets, booby-traps and a 1,000-pound bomb left behind from the war in Nicaragua.

Two Costa Ricans have been killed and one injured after stepping on mines over the last 20 years (TT, Sept. 28, 2001).

The last leg of Costa Rica's de-mining project was completed last October with the help of a $25,500 donation from the Italian government (TT Daily Page, Oct. 14).

One hundred and forty-six countries have signed the 1997 mine ban treaty, known as the Ottawa Convention. In the Americas, only Cuba and the United States have not ratified the treaty.

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Tourism Numbers Recovering

Costa Rican tourism growth was up 6.6% during January and February, after dropping 1.6% during 2002, according to numbers revealed last Friday by new Tourism Minister Rodrígo Castro.

Castro blames last year's dip in tourism - which he claims was relatively small - on external factors following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and subsequent military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

However, he assured, the downward trend has reversed itself and recent numbers show tourism during the first two months of this year was up substantially from January and February 2001.

"In 2003, we expect tourism to grow, and our goal is to have it grow by 6.6%," he said.

According to the Tourism Ministry's statistics, slightly more than 1.3 million tourists visited Costa Rica last year, 18,047 fewer tourist than in 2001.

Tourism is Costa Rica's number one money maker, accounting for 9% of the Gross Domestic Product and employing 200,000 people.
-AFP

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Taiwanese President Postpones
C.A. Trip Due to SARS Outbreak

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwanese President Chen Shui Bian announced Saturday that he will postpone his Central American tour due to the SARS (atypical pneumonia) epidemic in his country.

In the last 10 days, the number of SARS cases has tripled in Taiwan, resulting in seven deaths, according to the country's ministry of health.

The Taiwanese President was originally scheduled to depart May 29 for visits to Costa Rica, Belize, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. While in Costa Rica, he was to be honored during a ceremonial opening of the Tempisque Bridge, a $26 million gift to Costa Rica from the Taiwanese government. After much delay, the bridge - connecting the mainland to the western province of Guanacaste -- was finally opened to traffic April 10 (TT, April 11).

No new date has been set for the President's visit.

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C.R. to Host Conference On
Sexual Exploitation of Minors

Costa Rica this week will host a regional conference on the protection of children from sexual exploitation in tourism, according to government release.

The conference will be attended by government and civil society representatives from 12 countries from Latin America, the U.S., Canada and the European Union.

"The primary focus of the meetings will be to study and propose regional measures to eradicate the sexual exploitation of minors," explained Tourism Minister Rodrígo Castro.

This week's conference will be the second of four regional meetings scheduled for this year. The first was held last month in Italy, and the third and fourth will be held in Indonesia next June and Senegal next September.

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