The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, June 11, 2003

THE 'INVISIBLE' PROBLEM: Funding is scarce for Indigenous schools.
TT photo

C.R. to Open High-Tech Center
Against Child Exploitation
As part of its effort to combat the exploitation of children, the administration of President Abel Pacheco announced yesterday that the Washington-based Center for Missing and Exploited Children is planning to open a regional operations office in Costa Rica in the near future.
(Click for more)

Ombudsman Issues Annual Rights Report
Claiming that abuse of power, inefficient government administration and human-rights abuses are still serious problems in Costa Rica, the Ombudsman's Office yesterday released its annual report on human rights, with topics ranging from indigenous poverty to the government's support for the U.S.-led war against Iraq.
(Click for more)

Guimaraes Reportedly Close to
Signing with Honduran Team
Brazilian-born, Costa Rican-naturalized soccer coach Alexandre Guimaraes, who led Costa Rica's Selección Nacional to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, is close to signing a deal to coach the Honduran National Soccer team, according to local reports.
(Click for more)

June 11

Women’s Club Scholarship Lunch
Don't forget this important meeting, today at 10:30 a.m., at the Costa Rica Country Club, Escazú. Info: 267-7042.

National Youth Symphony Orchestra Concert
Admire this group of young musicians at 7 p.m. at Children’s Museum, Ca. 4, Av. 9. Info: 258-4929, ext. 122.

Spanish Trova Singer Joan Manuel Serrat in Concert
Celebrate Father’s Day with this great trova concert at 8 p.m., National Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 3/5. Info: 223-1960, 223-1086.

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C.R. to Open High-Tech Center
Against Child Exploitation
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net

As part of its effort to combat the exploitation of children, the administration of President Abel Pacheco announced yesterday that the Washington-based Center for Missing and Exploited Children is planning to open a regional operations office in Costa Rica in the near future.

Child Welfare Minister Rosalia Gil, recently returned from the U.S. capital, said the Center for Missing and Exploited Children's plan to open a Central American office here is still in the early stages and details such as cost and location are not yet known. However, Gil stressed, the intention to open the office here has already been expressed in writing by both the Center and the Costa Rican government.

"The center in Costa Rica will be used not only to help find missing children, but to crack down on Internet pornography of minors," Gil said. "This will be a great advantage because it will allow us to unite forces to fight against sexual exploiters."

Since it was created in 1984, the Center for Missing and Exploited Children has helped find or rescue 70,000 missing children, and successfully prosecuted hundreds of exploiters who produce and distribute child pornography, according to a press release.

The Center already has opened foreign branches in Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

According to Gil, the Center's regional office in Costa Rica will have state-of-the-art computer equipment to track Internet child-pornography sites, 53 of which the government estimates are based here. The government's Special Sex Crimes Unit has been unable to crack down on Internet pornography sites because the government has not equipped the office with computers and an Internet connection.

Pacheco, in a Casa Presidencial press release, said he is excited about the Center's new office here because "they have many of the services that we need urgently."

Gil explained that the Center has experts who can study photographs of pornography or of missing children and, in many cases, determine from the photo where it was taken and when.

The Center has set up the Web site www.missingkids.com to receive complaints, tips and photos of pornography and missing kids. Once the Center is operational here, it will set up a phone line to receive similar information.

In the meantime, Gil is asking Costa Ricans "who receive [unsolicited] pornographic pictures of kids in to their e-mail accounts" to forward the pictures to the Center's Web site in attempts to crack down on the illegal Internet industry.

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OAS Elects Tico Jurist to Inter-American Rights Court

The XXXIII General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) yesterday elected Costa Rican jurist Manuel Ventura a judge on the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Rights Court, according to a Foreign Ministry press release.

Ventura, who received 20 of 23 votes, said he is "very honored by the distinction," adding: "This is the culmination of a 25-year career in the Inter-American Rights Court."

Since 1979, Ventura has served as the Court's Secretary of the High Tribunal on Human Rights, according to the release.

Ventura thanked President Abel Pacheco, Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar and the member countries of the OAS who supported his bid for Court judge.

"As a Costa Rican, I am very satisfied that our country will be represented again at the Court, after a 10-year absence," Ventura said, referring to the former judgeships held by Costa Rican jurists Rodolfo Piza and Sonia Picado.

Brazilian jurist Antonio Cancado, president of the Rights Court, said: "I have known Dr. Manuel Ventura for more than 20 years and I consider him one of the great jurists of a new generation of judges. He supported the Court as Secretary, he knows the institution's history, and he is a very serious man with deep judicial knowledge. I am very happy with his election."

Ventura will begin his six-year term next January.

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Ombudsman Issues Annual Rights Report
By Jon Gambrell
Tico Times Staff

Claiming that abuse of power, inefficient government administration and human-rights abuses are still serious problems in Costa Rica, the Ombudsman's Office yesterday released its annual report on human rights, with topics ranging from indigenous poverty to the government's support for the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

The Ombudsman's Office, now in its 10th year, continues to focuses on "events that threaten the peace or do not have a positive effect on the country," said Ombudsman José Manuel Echandi.

Addressing the current teacher strike, the Ombudsman said the government needs to separate financial from social aspects.

"We cannot view social investment as an expense," he said.

Claiming that the plight of the country's impoverished indigenous community is "invisible," Echandi said land loss, the drug trade, domestic violence and under-funded schools plague Indian communities. Several indigenous groups have filed grievances with the Ombudsman's Office this year, he said.

Problems with home building continue to plague all Costa Ricans, according to the 676-page report, which notes that while the Ministry of Housing has worked towards enforcing building codes, there are still many problems.

"The Housing Ministry has much work to do. It needs to establish controls over construction and building materials," Echandi said. "We have received a large number of grievances regarding these issues."

Costa Rica's controversial "moral support" for the war in Iraq was also called into question in the report. The Ombudsman's Office, claiming that Pacheco's stance on the war violates Costa Rican law, last April filed a motion of unconstitutionality with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) (TT, April 25).

"The country's support for the war was against our constitution and against international human rights," said Max Esquivel, assistant to the Ombudsman. The Sala has not yet ruled on the motion.

According to Esquivel, the administration's disregard for law has also been seen in what the Ombudsman's Office calls the "illegal" appointment of 69 foreign-service officers, who are allegedly not qualified for their posts (TT, May 19).

Charging that the officers "pose a danger" to Costa Rica's international standing, the Ombudsman called for the appointment process to be re-examined and the 69 diplomats in question to be re-certified by the Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry responded by claiming the Ombudsman's report was erroneous and 20 of the diplomats were fit to serve (TT, May 23). The Foreign Ministry has not yet responded concerning the other 49.

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Guimaraes Reportedly Close to
Signing with Honduran Team

HEADING TO HONDURAS? Guimaraes
AFP/TT

Brazilian-born, Costa Rican-naturalized soccer coach Alexandre Guimaraes, who led Costa Rica's Selección Nacional to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, is close to signing a deal to coach the Honduran National Soccer team, according to local reports.

The several-month old rumors that Guimaraes is heading to Honduras apparently were given merit on Monday, when the former Tico coach reported met Rafael Leonardo Callejas, president of the Honduran Soccer Federation, for lunch in San José.

Reports that current Honduran coach Edwin Pavón was slated for the chopping block continue to circulate in the Honduran media, following the Central American team's 2-1 loss to a weaker Venezuelan squad last Saturday.

If Guimaraes takes the coaching job in Honduras, he would most likely be named after the regional Gold Cup tournament, scheduled for July 12- 27 in the U.S. and Mexico.
-AFP

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