The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, June 27, 2003

END IN SIGHT? Education Minister Bolaños hopes strike ends Monday.
TT/ Julio Lainez

Teachers Vote Could End Strike
Teachers could be heading back to work as early as Monday, following a congressional vote to place union-proposed changes to the current pension law as the first item on next week's legislative agenda.
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June 27

Canada Day Celebration
Special emphasis on French Canadian and Western food, Labatts beer, Sun., June 29, volunteers still needed. Info: 282-1146.

Artist’s Fair
Paintings, sculptures, ceramics, textiles, drawings by students of the National Culture Center, cultural activities and food sale, Fri.-Sun., June 27-29, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Guadalupe, 25 m. east, 50 m. south of the intersection (Old Rotunda), next to the Cemetery of Guadalupe. Info: 376-8570, bo@bahiagigante.com.

National Prayer for Peace
Everyone is invited to offer their prayers for peace and personal needs on Sun., June 29, at 7:30 a.m., Parque de la Paz, Desamparados. Info: 222-9062.

Teachers Vote Could End Strike
By Amanda Schoenberg
aschoenberg@ticotimes.net

Teachers could be heading back to work as early as Monday, following a congressional vote to place union-proposed changes to the current pension law as the first item on next week's legislative agenda.

Thirty-two congressional representatives yesterday promised to support the reform measures and form a joint commission with union representation to discuss pension changes within the next 30 days.

"We have faith in their word," said Floribel Lotes, general secretary of the Union of Costa Rican Education Workers (SEC). "We consider the results very satisfactory."

According to Cesar Cespedes, representative of the National Counselors Union, the congressional decision paved the way for unions to return to negotiations with the government.

Union leaders met yesterday with Education Minister Manuel Antonio Bolaños and Presidency Minister Ricardo Toledo to discuss salaries, funding for lunchrooms and administrative boards, and payment for the 200-day school year.

Officials promised that teachers who returned to work on Monday would not face previously threatened repercussions by the Education Ministry, including salary reductions and non-payment for the increased school year.

Two of the larger teachers' unions will meet today to vote on the strike, while several of the other smaller unions are expected to vote on Saturday.

The union-proposed change to Article 2 of pension law 7531 would allow teachers who have belonged to the same pension plan for 20 years or more to retire according to the rules governing that plan.

The debate over pension laws affects 8,000 teachers who claim that they should be allowed to retire with 100% of their salaries after 30 years of work.

Attorney General Farid Beirute stoked the pension debate April 28 when he said the Sala IV decisions were wrong because they applied the term "resident" to teachers who had been in the same contributive pension system for 20 years (TT June 13).

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Caja May Provide Free Viagra for Ticos

The Social Security System (Caja) is taking a long, hard look at the possibility of including anti-impotency drug Viagra on the list of medicines distributed free to patients in the national health-care system, according to press reports.

"We have to study the sector of the population that suffers from impotency and how much providing the medicine would cost the institution," Caja President Eliseo Vargas told reporters.

Official figures show that at least 300,000 men suffer from erectile dysfunction. Viagra and other similar drugs are currently available only in pharmacies by prescription.

The Caja study comes on the heels of the Mexican Social Security Institute's decision to include Viagra on its list of free medications.

It is estimated that erectile dysfunction affects nearly 50% of males between 40 and 70.

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Foreign Minister Regrets Cuba's
Ratification Sentences Against Dissidents

Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar expressed "deep regret" yesterday following the ratification of "disproportionately harsh sentences" by the Cuban Supreme Court against the 75 opposition leaders and political dissidents arrested earlier in the year.

Last Monday, Cuba's Supreme Court confirmed and ratified the sentences issued originally issued in March.

"We regret that Cuba's high court chose to ignore the pleas issued by the international community and Pope John Paul II, requesting amnesty for the dissidents," Tovar said. "Our tradition of respect for human rights compels us, once again, to insist Cuban authorities free the detainees and respect universal human rights."

Since last April, Costa Rica and other Latin American countries have requested Cuba free the dissidents.

The country, along with Peru, Uruguay and Nicaragua, also co-sponsored a motion before the United Nations Human Rights Commission to appoint French magistrate Christine Chanet as special envoy to Cuba to monitor the country's compliance with basic human rights (TT Daily, April 11, 21, 22, 28).

-AFP

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