The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September 16, 2003

TROUBLE BREWING: Workers in Limon, home to Costa Rica's largest port, are going on strike today.
TT/AFP

Limón Union Workers Go on Strike
Claiming the government of President Abel Pacheco has failed to comply with promises to inject funds into the impoverished Caribbean port town of Limón - Costa Rica's main port - the Federation of Limonense Workers (FETRAL) has announced a suspension of dialogue and an indefinite strike that began today.
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Seventh Round of CAFTA
Negotiations Underway
MANAGUA - The seventh of ten rounds of free-trade negotiations between Central America and the United States began yesterday in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. Negotiators are expecting to reach substantial agreements on market access for agricultural and industrial products, services and investment, and rules for government procurement of goods and services.
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Police Respond to 22,000 Domestic Abuse Cases
Police have attended to 22,022 reported cases of domestic abuse throughout Costa Rica this year, according to a Ministry of Public Security press release.
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Ticos Pound Belize in Olympic Qualifiers
Costa Rica's Olympic Soccer Team last weekend outscored Belize 23-0 in its first two qualifying matches for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
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Limón Union Workers Go on Strike

Claiming the government of President Abel Pacheco has failed to comply with promises to inject funds into the impoverished Caribbean port town of Limón - Costa Rica's main port - the Federation of Limonense Workers (FETRAL) has announced a suspension of dialogue and an indefinite strike that began today.

The workers' union - made up of employees of the Atlantic Port Authority (JAPDEVA), the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE), the Tony Facio state hospital, the Municipality of Limón and the Agriculture Chamber - is demanding an increase in port tariffs to compensate for rising costs and $10 million for compensation and development projects, including the reactivation of the railroad system that was closed eight years ago, according to local press reports.

The strike threatens operations at the Caribbean port, which handles 70 percent of Costa Rica's imports and exports, and could cut off the oil supply to the rest of the country.

President Pacheco called the strike "unjustified and unnecessary," and stressed during his speech commemorating Costa Rica's 182nd anniversary of independence: "Instead of strikes, we need work."

The government has assured Costa Ricans that services, highway transit and oil supplies will not be interrupted by the strike. Pacheco stressed during his weekly televised address Sunday that his administration already has invested $73 million in development and modernization projects in Limón, the President's home province.

Union leaders, however, claim that what they are requesting was agreed to by the government last May, but has not been fulfilled. FETRAL last week announced it had broken off further dialogue with the government and was going on strike today.

Pacheco's administration is calling the union leaders' demands impossible to meet because of their cost and because demands such as a port-tariff increase is controlled by the independent Public Services Regulatory Authority, not the Executive Branch.

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Seventh Round of CAFTA
Negotiations Underway
By Fabián Borges
fborges@ticotimes.net

MANAGUA - The seventh of ten rounds of free-trade negotiations between Central America and the United States began yesterday in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. Negotiators are expecting to reach substantial agreements on market access for agricultural and industrial products, services and investment, and rules for government procurement of goods and services.

"We hope to work the same way we did during the sixth round," Costa Rica's chief negotiator, Anabel González said. "We're expecting significant advances in market access and services and investment chapters, as well as in government procurement."

Market access negotiations will center on technical trade barriers, plant and animal health regulations, and defining safeguard mechanisms for countries to protect their local producers from subsidized imports.

Central America is awaiting a response from the United States to a proposal on tariff reductions made last month by representatives of the region's textile and agricultural producers. As in previous rounds, the main stumbling block for textile negotiations is expected to be the rules of origin on fabrics imported from outside Central America. Negotiators, however, are optimistic that some advances will be made in Managua.

During the seventh round - the last to occur in Central America -- Central American negotiators will formally request funds and technical assistance from the U.S. for customs modernization.

Several chapters of the agreement are expected to conclude this week, and important advances also are expected in defining CAFTA's trade-dispute settlement mechanism. Central America is in favor of harmonizing trade-dispute mechanisms to solve trade, labor and environmental disputes.

Central America also expects a response to its request for technical assistance to meet environmental requirements spelled out during the last round. In order to meet these requirements, Central America has agreed to sign a regional environmental agreement outside of the CAFTA pact. In the coming months, the region's environment ministers will meet to discuss the terms of the agreement.

"It will be a week of very intense work," González said. "I believe our preparatory meeting in El Salvador was beneficial and has prepared us to face this new challenge."

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Police Respond to 22,000 Domestic Abuse Cases

Police have attended to 22,022 reported cases of domestic abuse throughout Costa Rica this year, according to a Ministry of Public Security press release.

Most of the abuse cases occurred in San José (4,265), followed by Alajuela (2,939) and the Caribbean province of Limón (2,782), according to the police numbers.

The report revealed that in 95 percent of the cases, the abusers were men and most were Costa Rican (85 percent). In 14 percent of the cases, the male aggressors were Nicaraguan.

Of the more than 22,000 reports of domestic violence attended to by police, charges were filed in 17,802 cases and charges were dropped in 4,220 cases, according to the report.

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Ticos Pound Belize in Olympic Qualifiers

Costa Rica's Olympic Soccer Team last weekend outscored Belize 23-0 in its first two qualifying matches for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

The Tico's explosive two-game attack was lead by up-and-coming forwards Erick Scott and Alvaro Saborío, who scored six and four goals respectively, and fullback Junior Díaz, who managed to net three goals while playing defense.

Scott and Saborío proved to be Costa Rica's new "young guns" in last week's friendly match between the Selección Nacional and China. Each of the young forwards, called up recently to Sele by coach Steve Sampson, scored against China in Costa Rica's 2-0 victory (TT Daily Page, Sept. 8).

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