The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September 9, 2003

CELEBRATING YOUTH: Today is the Day of the Child and will feature parades and children's events throughout the country.
AFP/TT

Martin Murder Prelim
Hearing Held Today
The preliminary hearing for the second set of murder charges filed against three Costa Rican suspects identified in the 2001 slaying of University of Kansas student Shannon Martin is being held today in the southern pacific town of Golfito.
(Click for more)

PANI to Open New
Street Kid Program
Two years after the Salvation Army was forced to close San José's only integral program for street kids, Child Welfare (PANI) Minister Rosalia Gil told The Tico Times that at the end of this month the PANI will open a new program to feed, bed and counsel abandoned children in the capital area.
(Click for more)

Tico Trade Delegation to U.S.: Can't Touch ICE
The Tico trade delegation that traveled to the United States last week to express Costa Rica's position and expectations regarding the negotiations for the U.S. Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) reminded the U.S. yesterday that opening or privatizing the Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Institute (ICE) is non-negotiable.
(Click for more)

September 9

Bello Horizonte Residents to Meet with Police
Residents concerned with recent crime wave will meet tonight at 7 pm at Centro Comunal Los Pinares. For more info call 228-0305

Circus Activities
Including Pre-premiere of the Movie The first Circus Camp in Costa Rica," a live presentation of the Kids, juggling, clowning, making balloon figures, doing acrobatics, and performing some acting. Participants can enjoy some Costa Rican food, and get a free. Remember the entrance is free. Today at 7:30 p.m., at Cine del Valle, San Isidro de El General, Pérez Zeledón.

Chamber Concert
Advanced students of the School of Music of the University of Costa Rica are performing works by Anthony Holborne, Félix Mendelssohn, Camille Saint-Saëns, Gabriel Fauré and Eddie Mora at 7 p.m., at room 107, of the school. Info: 207-5565.

Puppet Show
The Puppet group Gente Como Yo is performing a nice show about children’s rights, 9-11 a.m., including games and a visit to the butterfly garden, all activities at the National Museum. Info: 257-1433.

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Martin Murder Prelim Hearing Held Today
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net

Shannon's Cross in Golfito
TT/ Tim Rogers

The preliminary hearing for the second set of murder charges filed against three Costa Rican suspects identified in the 2001 slaying of University of Kansas student Shannon Martin is being held today in the southern pacific town of Golfito.

Martin, a 23-year-old biology honors student, was brutally stabbed to death around midnight May 13, 2001 on a dark airstrip access road next to an abandoned hangar. Her body was found in the early morning hours 30 meters from her host family's house (TT, March 18, 2001).

Golfito Prosecutor Erick Martínez leads the Costa Rican investigation and presented the judge May 27 with his case for supporting first-degree murder charges against Kattia Cruz, 27, Rafael Zumbado, 52, and Luis Alberto Castro, 32.

All three suspects were officially presented with murder charges during a preliminary hearing last May. But sources close to the case claimed the evidence presented against the two male suspects, known by the street names "Caballo" and "Coco," was weak and feared it would not result in a conviction (TT, May 2).

Before a murder-trial date could be set, Martin's mother, Jeanette Stauffer, of Topeka, Kansas, filed a motion for legal representation in her daughter's murder. Before her appeal for participation, it was a state-prosecuted case with no legal representation from the victim's family.

Stauffer was granted representation last June, and retained the legal counsel of Costa Rican lawyer Juan Carlos Arce, who conducted a new investigation with the help of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (TT Daily Page, June 20).

Arce told The Tico Times last June that he hoped to present a stronger case that clearly established a motive, named 22 witnesses and identified at least one other murder suspect. However, the new set of murder charges he filed last July did not define a clear motive, named the original 16 witnesses and identified the same three suspects.

According to the new murder charges, the Costa Rican lawyer alleges that the crime was a "joy killing," but admitted the motive is still unclear (TT Daily Page, July 8).

Arce has hinted in the past that he will try to implicate two other suspects during the murder trial.

Today's preliminary hearing, which will be attended by the three suspects and their defense counsel, Stauffer, Arce, and Martínez, is considered a legal formality. The charges will be read to the three suspects again to make sure they understand the accusations before a date for the murder trial is set.

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PANI to Open New Street Kid Program
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net

Two years after the Salvation Army was forced to close San José's only integral program for street kids, Child Welfare (PANI) Minister Rosalia Gil told The Tico Times that at the end of this month the PANI will open a new program to feed, bed and counsel abandoned children in the capital area.

In commemoration of Children's Rights Day today, Gil plans to sign a government decree making official the new shelter, which will be the only street-kid shelter in San José, since the "Club de Paz" shelter folded last year.

The new shelter will be located in Alajuela, northwest of San José, and will act as a transitory home for 30 to 40 children, Gil said last week.

The Salvation Army's street kid program, which provided safe shelter, food and education to some 230 children in the San José metropolitan area, was forced to close in September 2001, following a lengthy dispute with the government over funding and the model of attention (TT, July 6, Spet. 1, 2001).

No similar program has existed since.

Read Friday's TT print edition for full, exclusive story.

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Tico Trade Delegation to U.S.: Can't Touch ICE

ICE workers took to the streets last May to remind the government that ICE is not for sale.
AFP/TT

The Tico trade delegation that traveled to the United States last week to express Costa Rica's position and expectations regarding the negotiations for the U.S. Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) reminded the U.S. yesterday that opening or privatizing the Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Institute (ICE) is non-negotiable.

Costa Rica is the only country participating in the CAFTA talks that still has a state-owned monopoly on electricity and telecom services -- markets viewed as attractive to foreign investors. ICE is expected to become a sticking issue in the remaining three rounds of trade talks.

Although Costa Rica's government and a majority of the population have maintained a firm position regarding ICE, Samuel Yankelewitz, president of Costa Rica's private business chamber, admitted it is still not clear how the U.S. will deal with the theme of telecommunications.

"If we don't change our position, they might ask for other things," Yankelewitz warned.

The Tico trade delegation, comprised of Costa Rica's head negotiator Anabel Gonzalez and business chamber leaders, has been criticized by civil-society groups here that claim the business-sector interests are not representative of Costa Rica's position on CAFTA (TT Daily Page, Sept. 5).

The next round of CAFTA talks are scheduled next week in Managua, Nicaragua, followed by the last two rounds in the U.S. cities of Houston and Washington, D.C.

Sources close to the negotiation process have expressed their concern that the U.S. is waiting for the final round to put political pressure Central American countries regarding "sensitive topics" such as textiles and telecommunications.

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