The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, February 17, 2004

STRENGTHENING ties: Florida Governor John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (left) and President Abel Pacheco (middle) yesterday promised to strengthen economic and cultural ties between Florida and Costa Rica.
Tico Times/Jeffrey Arguedas

Jeb Bush: I'm a Friend of
Costa Rica and CAFTA
Florida Governor John Ellis "Jeb" Bush and a delegation of more than 30 business leaders from throughout that U.S. state kicked off a weeklong visit to Central America yesterday in San José.
(Click for more)

Costa Rican Authorities
Reinforce Adoption Controls
Costa Rica's Judicial Branch has centralized the process for direct adoption of Costa Rican minors by foreigners into a single court, La Nación newspaper reported this weekend.
(Click for more)

Authorities Deport 45
Undocumented Immigrants
Costa Rican Immigration Police in the past week have designated 54 illegal immigrants for deportation, and only nine remain in the country, the Public Security Ministry announced yesterday.
(Click for more)

Social Institute Invests in Education
The Mixed Institute for Social Aid (IMAS) continued its commitment to the education of under-privileged youth yesterday by announcing an investment of more than ¢2.08 billion ($4.9 million) in various public aid programs.
(Click for more)

February 17

Seminar: "A Global Vision
for the Regional Reality"
Hosted by the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce, inaugurated by Florida Governor John Ellis "Jeb" Bush and a group of U.S. businessmen, Feb. 17-18, 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Costa Rica Marriott Hotel, San Antonio de Belén, Heredia. Info: 221-0005.

Exhibit of Japanese Ceramics
Herberth Bolaños of the School of Art and Visual Communication will offer the conference "Art Experiences in Japan," tonight at 6:30 p.m. to open an exhibit on Japanese Ceramics, which will remain on display through March 2 at Dr. Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia Museum, 100 m. east, 125 m. north of Santa Teresita Church in Barrio Escalante. Info: 255-1218, 222-6392.

Conference
Dr. Pilar Rahola, journalist, writer, politician and former Mayor of Barcelona is talking tonight about the New Anti-Semitism in Europe and the Mid-West, 7:30 p.m. at the Hebrew Cultural Center in San José. Info: 291-2940, 291-2943.

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Jeb Bush: I'm a Friend of
Costa Rica and CAFTA
By Fabián Borges
fborges@ticotimes.net

Florida Governor John Ellis "Jeb" Bush and a delegation of more than 30 business leaders from throughout that U.S. state kicked off a weeklong visit to Central America yesterday in San José.

Bush met with President Abel Pacheco and addressed the members of the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) at a luncheon.

The purpose of the trip, which will also include visits to Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras, is to strengthen economic relations between Florida and Central America and promote Miami as the site for the Permanent Secretariat of the upcoming Free-Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

During his stay, Bush repeatedly stated his support for the U.S.-Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA), promising to help secure U.S. support for the treaty in any way possible. Bush went on to describe himself "a friend of CAFTA."

"We have come here to further extend the relationship that exists between Costa Rica and the state of Florida," Bush said in near-perfect Spanish. "We congratulate Costa Rica on concluding CAFTA negotiations (TT, Jan. 30). The agreement reached will benefit both countries."

President Pacheco reiterated the importance of the long-standing economic and cultural ties that exist between Costa Rica and the United States.

"Our country is a friend of the United States," Pacheco said during a speech at the National Museum yesterday morning. "We have always and will always be its friend because we share the same values that give life to our peoples."

Pacheco expressed deep appreciation toward the state of Florida.

"Today has been a beautiful day for Costa Rica," Pacheco said during a brief press conference following his meeting with Bush. "We have received a visit from great friends, Jeb Bush and his wife Columba. Mister Bush has been a friend to us and speaks fluent Spanish. We Ticos see Florida as a paradise on earth. We all remember the Everglades, shopping in its malls and going to Disney World."

During the conference, Bush noted the many similarities between Florida and Costa Rica.

"Costa Rica's commitments to protecting the environment, improving the quality of education for its children and its recent efforts to attract investment from high-tech firms make me feel as if I was still in Florida," he said. "We have a lot in common."

He reiterated those comments while having lunch with AmCham at the Costa Rica Marriott Hotel in San Antonio de Belén, Heredia.

"Costa Rica and Florida have much in common in terms of policies," he said. "We also share optimism about free trade."

Bush also made his case for Miami as home to the FTAA's secretariat, calling it "a logical choice" given its position as a gateway to the United States and Latin America.

"Miami has one foot in Latin America and the other in the Caribbean," he said.

However, Bush's efforts to persuade Pacheco to support Miami were not successful. Pacheco promised to honor his pledge to support Trinidad and Tobago's capital city of Port of Spain's bid to be the home of the secretariat.

"We are committed to supporting Trinidad and Tobago and its capital Port of Spain," Pacheco said. "If Trinidad withdraws its bid, we would seriously consider supporting Miami. However, our commitment remains firm."

Bush is scheduled to leave the country today at 10 a.m. after giving a speech at the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce's "Megatendencias" seminar.

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Costa Rican Authorities
Reinforce Adoption Controls

Costa Rica's Judicial Branch has centralized the process for direct adoption of Costa Rican minors by foreigners into a single court, La Nación newspaper reported this weekend.

Though the change was in process last year and went into effect Jan. 1, La Nación was to the first to publicize it, along with the results of its investigation into children's rights defense groups such as Casa Alianza.

As of January, the only judicial body with authority over the adoption proceedings of minors is the Children's and Adolescents' Court of the First Judicial Circuit in San José, according to the Supreme Court of Justice.

People can adopt children in Costa Rica in two ways: through the government's Child Welfare Office (PANI), or a direct adoption through a lawyer who conducts the process before the proper court.

Before the Supreme Court decision, a number of family courts throughout the country ruled on adoptions, called direct adoptions because they circumvent PANI. Those courts have been ordered to discontinue adoption procedures.

The ruling was an attempt to "unify criteria" and "give better public service for the protection of the interests of the child," explained a press release from the Judicial Branch.

In the case of a direct adoption, PANI is not authorized to take action in regard to adopted minors in their new families, and it still has less regulatory power if the adoptive parents are foreigners, as is the case in the majority of those adoptions.

Children's rights organizations, such as Casa Alianza, have insisted the practice of direct adoption contradicts the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoptions, which Costa Rica signed, which states there must be a government office to supervise all adoptions.

"Adoptions in Costa Rica have not had the transparency that the children deserve," Casa Alianza Director Bruce Harris said.

A reform project now in Congress, called the Family Code, stipulates that foreigners cannot adopt Costa Rican children without approval from PANI. The legislation would also authorize PANI to supervise, over a period of 10 years, the living conditions of the adopted child with the new family.

The Executive Branch has sent the plan to Congress, where it ranks number four on a list of priorities, and could be approved within a few weeks.

Both Rosalía Gil, the Executive President of PANI, and Harris said they are in favor of the reform.

"We are against direct adoptions because they are susceptible to corruption," Harris said.

Harris is outspoken on adoption issues throughout Central America. Last month he was cleared of slander charges filed against him by a Guatemalan adoption lawyer whom he had accused of conducting irregular adoptions in that country (TT Jan. 23, 30, Feb. 6).
--AFP

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Authorities Deport 45
Undocumented Immigrants
By Steven J. Barry
sbarry@ticotimes.net

Costa Rican Immigration Police in the past week have designated 54 illegal immigrants for deportation, and only nine remain in the country, the Public Security Ministry announced yesterday.

The 45 already deported were all arrested within the past week. Eight of the remaining nine are among a group of 15 Vietnamese sailors trapped in Puntarenas since last August, police said.

Officials within the ministry told The Tico Times the arrests were the result of routine identification checks of "suspicious" persons by police, not massive immigration operations like the one in La Carpio, a neighborhood west of San José (TT, Feb. 6).

Thirty-six of the immigrants were Nicaraguans arrested last weekend in San José and Guanacaste. Police said none of the immigrants carried any type of documentation, and after investigating the immigration status of each police determined they had entered the country illegally.

According to immigration authorities, the immigrants were deported to Nicaragua on Sunday.

Police last Friday also detained six Peruvians and three Ecuadorians in Sabalito, in the southern zone of the country. After police determined their residency identification cards were false, the group was handed over to the Public Security Ministry, who oversaw their deportation from Juan Santamaría International Airport yesterday.

The Vietnamese have been detained since November, and are part of a group of 15 fishermen who have been docked in Puntarenas since cremating the body of a fallen crewmember there last August, police said.

The sailors were abandoned by the ship's captain, who took their passports back to Vietnam, and lack money to purchase fuel to return to their country, La Nación reported Sunday. Police arrested the five sailors Nov. 1 as they played soccer 300 meters from the shoreline, and three others shortly afterward.

Immigration Director Marco Badilla has said in recent weeks that drastic measures must be taken to control the influx of immigrants here. He said among those measures will be immigration sweeps that are "more substantial than ever before" (TT, Feb. 6).

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Social Institute Invests in Education
By Rebecca Kimitch
rkimitch@ticotimes.net

The Mixed Institute for Social Aid (IMAS) continued its commitment to the education of under-privileged youth yesterday by announcing an investment of more than ¢2.08 billion ($4.9 million) in various public aid programs.

With a budget of approximately ¢1 billion ($2.37 million), the Access to Education program aims to help parents buy their children supplies such as books and uniforms. The approximately ¢20,000 ($50) each family receives can also be used for transportation to and from school.

IMAS hopes to help 8,000 families in 2004 with this program.

Parents of students who are students themselves might also receive IMAS aid. Through the program Opportunities for the Development of Childhood and Adolescence, IMAS hopes to ensure young parents will not have to leave high school, work or work-training programs to care for their children during the day.

Families can receive ¢23,000 ($55) each month per child to pay for childcare in a Community Home. Community Homes are private homes in which a mother takes care of children from the community while their parents are at work or school.

More than 4,000 children will be helped through Opportunities for the Development of Childhood and Adolescence, which has a budget of ¢1.08 billion ($2.56 million), according to IMAS spokeswoman Wendy Madrez.

Students of all ages living in "extreme poverty" should not be prohibited by their limited resources from staying in the classroom, said IMAS President Fernando Trejos.

IMAS will also fund programs to help teenagers receive job training and internship placement. Last year, 37% of young people who received this training were hired for full-time positions in the businesses where they did their internships, Madrez said.

IMAS has identified various regions throughout the country that suffer from the greatest poverty. These areas will receive aid first, she said. But people in any area can go to a regional IMAS office to request help, she added.

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Wednesday October 26, 2005