The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, February 25, 2004

REMINDER: U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, during his brief visit to Costa Rica yesterday, warned the trade privileges Central America receives under the Caribbean Basin Initiative are not permanent and could be revoked by the U.S. Congress at anytime.
Tico Times/Jeffrey Arguedas

Zoellick: Caribbean Basin
Initiative Not Permanent
While visiting Costa Rica yesterday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick warned that the trade privileges Central America and most Caribbean nations receive under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) are not permanent.
(Click for more)

Study Shows Sea Turtles Are
Worth More Alive than Dead
A preliminary report released during the 24th International Sea Turtle Symposium, being held this week in San José, indicates sea turtles are capable of drawing much more revenue as a tourist attraction than as a meal in Costa Rica.
(Click for more)

Violence: An "Underreported"
Obstacle to Development
Is there an alternative to barred windows, razor wire atop stone walls, double doors and dead bolts in Costa Rica? A new United Nations report will explore options other than those security measures, which coordinators say can instill more fear than a sense of safety.
(Click for more)

Presidents of Costa Rica, Mexico
Hope to Reform U.N. Security Council
MEXICO (AFP) - Mexican president Vicente Fox and his Costa Rican counterpart Abel Pacheco have issued a statement saying they believe it necessary to reform the United Nations Security Council.
(Click for more)

February 25

Conference About Transformation
Opportunity to learn about Change as an Opportunity for Transformation, 6 p.m. at the Librería Internacional in Multiplaza, Escazú. Info: 800-542-7374.

Women's Club 2004 Traditional Neighborhood Teas
Members from Alajuela, Cariari and Heredia are invited. Info: Anne, 267-7042.

Video Conference on Trade Agreements
Conference about free trade agreements. Participating countries include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the United States, 9 a.m. at the video conference room of the UNED building (Building A, third level), Mercedes de Montes de Oca, road to Sabanilla.

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Zoellick: Caribbean Basin
Initiative Not Permanent
Fabián Borges
fborges@ticotimes.net

While visiting Costa Rica yesterday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick warned that the trade privileges Central America and most Caribbean nations receive under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) are not permanent.

"CBI is an action by our Congress," Zoellick explained. "What Congress gives, it can take away. An example of this was the 2002 Trade Act, which included some changes to CBI. The danger for CBI and other one-way trade preferences is they are not based on a reciprocal agreement."

CBI is a unilateral trade concession granted by the United States to Central America and most Caribbean countries, which grants duty-free access to the U.S. market for most of the region's exports.

Consolidating CBI benefits under a permanent and reciprocal free-trade agreement was one of Central America's main objectives during the Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) negotiations the United States last year (TT, Dec. 19, 2003; Jan. 30).

Zoellick was in the country yesterday to address the foreign trade ministers of the countries of the Cairns Group, which is taking place here this week (TT Oct. 17, 2003; Jan 30, TT Daily, Feb. 23). The group is composed of 17 agriculture-exporting countries dedicated since 1986 to promoting the liberalization of agricultural products under the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The visit was part a worldwide tour by Zoellick aimed at securing international support for the reactivation of stalled WTO multilateral trade talks.

During his visit, Zoellick said CAFTA would give Costa Rica and other Central American countries greater rights in their trade relations with the United States, which in turn would result in greater long-term certainty, not only in terms of trade but also foreign investment.

Costa Rican opponents of CAFTA have argued that the concessions the country had to make to be part of CAFTA, specifically committing to opening its public telecommunications and insurance monopolies (TT, Oct. 31, Dec. 19, 2003), are excessive and unacceptable.

The Citizen Action Party, which holds eight of the Legislative Assembly's seats, has said it will vote against CAFTA (TT, Feb. 13).

The party has argued that the concessions made under CAFTA are not necessary, since the majority of the country's exports already have access to the United States under CBI. That access is not in jeopardy, since CBI will continue to be extended indefinitely by the U.S. Congress, party leader Ottón Solís has argued.

Business sectors have repeatedly stated they are not willing to take that risk, and have expressed concern over the possibility CBI might not be renewed after it expires at the end of 2007 (TT, Dec. 24, 2003).

Zoellick also announced that U.S. President George W. Bush last Friday took the first steps toward making CAFTA a reality when he sent a signed letter to the Congress formally notifying it that negotiations had concluded.

Legislators now have 90 days to evaluate the treaty and make recommendations to the President. After that, the presidents of the countries participating in the agreement are expected to sign the treaty. After that, the legislative bodies of the United States and Central American countries must ratify the agreement.

"President Bush has a very strong commitment to Central America," Zoellick said. "That is the main reason behind this free-trade agreement. We think the CAFTA will be good for both Central America and the United States. It will help with growth, development and equal opportunity."

Although confident CAFTA will be approved, Zoellick admitted its approval would be complicated by the length of the U.S. Congressional session, which will be shorter than usual because of this year's presidential campaign and elections, and renewed concerns over U.S. trade policies.

Read this week's print edition or digital PDF version for more on the results of the Cairns Group meeting.

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Study Shows Sea Turtles Are
Worth More Alive than Dead
By Steven J. Barry
sbarry@ticotimes.net

A preliminary report released during the 24th International Sea Turtle Symposium, being held this week in San José, indicates sea turtles are capable of drawing much more revenue as a tourist attraction than as a meal in Costa Rica.

The report, released after a study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), says the bottom line is that "sea turtles are worth more alive than dead."

"With this study, we're putting a new dimension over the table of discussion of the use of sea turtles and the economic effects of failure in conservation efforts," said Carlos Drews, one of the specialists from the WWF who conducted the study between September and December of last year.

He said the goal of the study was to find the best examples around the world of consumptive and non-consumptive uses of marine turtles in coastal communities.

In Ostional, on Costa Rica's northern Pacific coast, where scientists from the WWF met with other Latin American turtle specialists last weekend, turtle eggs brought in $992,850 in 2002, according to the study.

But in Tortuguero, on the northern Caribbean coast, where the turtles are a major tourist attraction, 26,292 visitors drew an estimated $6.7 million that same year, the report said.

"(Non-consumptive uses) have a better chance of multiplying jobs and increasing participation of women, and they raise the probability of an increase in turtle populations," Drews said.

And sea turtle populations, according to Drews and other experts, are declining rapidly.

Roderic Mast, president of the International Sea Turtle Association, told The Tico Times yesterday the population of the American Pacific Leatherback Turtle went from tens of thousands in the 1980s to only a few hundred now - a 97% decrease in the past 20 years.

Drews stressed that the results released during the Symposium are only preliminary, and the WWF will release a final version in May of this year.

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Violence: An "Underreported"
Obstacle to Development
By Robert Goodier
rgoodier@ticotimes.net

Is there an alternative to barred windows, razor wire atop stone walls, double doors and dead bolts in Costa Rica? A new United Nations report will explore options other than those security measures, which coordinators say can instill more fear than a sense of safety.

The United Nations Program for Development will meet at the Radisson Hotel in San José tomorrow to discuss the theme of its upcoming report on Costa Rica: "Defeating fear: Violence, Citizen Insecurity and Human Development in Costa Rica."

The U.N. program makes global human development reports every year, focusing each region's coverage on one topic.

Kevin Casas, general coordinator of the National Human Development Report, said the way that violence obstructs human development is relatively underreported.

The report is one of two legs of the project. The other the National Human Development Network, a forum for the discussion of policy between those involved in security issues and solutions in San José and across the country.

"The intention behind this project is to use the network to generate a national discussion about violence and national security, geared toward creating safer communities, and getting rid of the feeling that there is very little we can do about security other than locking ourselves up," Casas said.

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Presidents of Costa Rica, Mexico
Hope to Reform U.N. Security Council

MEXICO (AFP) - Mexican president Vicente Fox and his Costa Rican counterpart Abel Pacheco have issued a statement saying they believe it necessary to reform the United Nations Security Council.

"The Security Council, the international organization with the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, should be reformed to operate in a democratic, efficient and transparent manner," said the joint statement, issued yesterday after the two Presidents met in private at the start of Pacheco's two-day visit to Mexico.

The statement also said they will join forces to strengthen institutions such as the Organization of American States (OAS), the Plan Puebla-Panama and the Free-Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

"Both presidents consider the need to strengthen the OAS, with the establishment of work methods that assure efficient and effective functioning," the document said.

Pacheco yesterday thanked Fox's administration for favoring the candidacy of former Costa Rican president Miguel Ángel Rodríguez for the position of OAS secretary general.

"Mexico is decidedly supporting this candidate, because we see him as an enormous benefit to the region. He will bring a new dynamic to the presence of the OAS in all the Latin America area," Fox said.

Both candidates reiterated their commitment to supporting FTAA negotiations with the hope of progressively eliminating barriers to commerce and investment throughout the continent.

Pacheco agreed with Fox in the "urgency to strengthen the inter-American mechanisms to fight poverty," such as the Inter-American Council for Integral Development and the Inter-American Commission for Social Development. The presidents also discussed health and education issues both countries are facing.

After the private meeting, the presidents were witnesses to the signing of an agreement of sanitary cooperation between the Mexican Secretary of Health and the Costa Rican Ministry of Health.

Regarding the Puebla-Panama Plan (PPP), Pacheco admitted Costa Rica "has been a little slow."

The PPP is a plan to improve the road and electrical systems from Puebla, in southern Mexico, to Panama, south of Costa Rica. Both candidates reiterated their commitment to the initiative and its goal of improving the quality of life for the 65 million people who live in the southern states of Mexico and countries of Central America.

While in Mexico, Pacheco, accompanied by his wife Leila Rodríguez, plans to visit former professors and classmates from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where he studied medicine.

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Wednesday October 26, 2005