Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, March 18, 2004
 President Abel Pacheco signs the Bible at a ceremony yesterday commemorating the laying of the first stone of the new Clínica Bíblica hospital building in south-central San José. The private hospital donated more than $350,000 last year in health care for the impoverished. Tico Times/Alex Roach |
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Municipality: Street Vendors
Have Three Months to Leave
San José city officials have decided to oust informal curbside vendors from several of the capital city’s main streets.
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Court to Decide Whether to Release
Suspect in Journalist’s Killing
An Heredia judge is expected to decide today whether to release businessman Omar Chaves, a suspect in the 2001 assassination of radio journalist Parmenio Medina, representatives from the Judicial Branch said yesterday.
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Catholic Church Promotes
Controversial Film Premiere
The Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Archbishops of Costa Rica and Catholic radio station Radio Fides invite the public to a fundraising premiere of Mel Gibson’s controversial film “The Passion of the Christ.”
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Costa Rica, Qatar Establish
Diplomatic Relations
Costa Rica and the Middle-Eastern nation of Qatar yesterday established diplomatic relations, according to the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry.
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March 18
Mass for the Victims of Spain Attack
Mass will be led by Archbishop Hugo Barrantes, 11 a.m. at the Cathedral, Ca. 1, Av. 2/4 in San José. Info: 221-3820.
Special Equinox Celebration
Celebration includes yoga, meditation and chants, by Dr. Freedom and Leela, 7-9 p.m. at Multi Spa Cipreses across from Horti Fruti. Info: 271-0357, 232-2646.
Orchestra Concert
Las Americas Orchestra performs at 8 p.m. in the National Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 3/5 in San José. Info: 221-1329.
Municipality: Street Vendors
Have Three Months to Leave
By Fabián Borges
fborges@ticotimes.net
San José city officials have decided to oust informal curbside vendors from several of the capital city’s main streets.
“We [the San José Municipal Council] are giving informal street vendors three months to move out,” said San José Mayor Johnny Araya during a press conference yesterday. “We consider it a reasonable length of time for them to individually or collectively come up with a strategy to relocate.”
Once the three months are up, police will be ordered to shut down all chinamos (street stands) in the Zona de Tregua (Zone of Truce) – an area spanning Ave. 1 from the Central Market to Coca Cola bus stops, Calle 8 from Ave. 2 to Ave. 8, small sections of Ave. 4 and Ave. 6 and one block on Calle 13.
These areas were given that name in 1996 after municipal authorities agreed to temporarily allow informal vendors to operate there. According to a survey conducted by the Metropolitan Police, approximately 440 informal street vendors are operating in these areas. That number does not include the permanent street vendors in those areas, who have obtained operating permits from the Municipality.
Municipal authorities claim the 1996 agreement gives them the right to unilaterally revoke the concession when they see fit. Council members, who represent four different political affiliations, voted unanimously to impose the ban.
The decision to expel the vendors is part of the municipal government’s plan to “reactivate, regenerate and repopulate” San José by transforming it into a place for residents and tourists to visit and shop.
Araya accused the vendors of spreading “chaos and anarchy” in San José. He also said they were responsible for “strangulating the sidewalks by leaving no room for pedestrians and forcing them onto the streets, creating conditions favorable to criminal actions and the sale of drugs, producing large amounts of garbage, giving San José a dirty image and polluting its scenery.”
He said the vendors also obstruct access to formal commercial establishments, making it difficult for them to conduct business. This, he said, works against urban renewal in San José.
“What this does is make formal businesses – commerce, restaurants and hotels – leave the city,” he said.
Araya said the Municipality would not assist vendors in relocating to other parts of the city, since previous efforts to do that in the 1970s and 1990s had a high cost and were unsuccessful because vendors kept returning to the areas where they had been removed.
Court to Decide Whether to Release
Suspect in Journalist’s Killing
By Steven J. Barry
sbarry@ticotimes.net
An Heredia judge is expected to decide today whether to release businessman Omar Chaves, a suspect in the 2001 assassination of radio journalist Parmenio Medina, representatives from the Judicial Branch said yesterday.
Chaves is serving a six-month preventive detention sentence in San Sebastian jail for his suspected co-authoring of the slaying, though he has yet to be formally charged with a crime.
“There is not proof enough to keep him in preventive prison,” said Ulysses Calderón, one of the lawyers on Chaves’ defense team.
“It is irrational and disproportionate,” he told The Tico Times yesterday.
Guiselle Rivera, the prosecutor heading the investigation of the Medina assassination, claimed Chaves had threatened witnesses and prosecutors associated with the case, and should remain behind bars.
Another man suspected of being an intellectual author of the crime, Catholic priest Minor Calvo, was granted conditional freedom from Gerardo Rodríguez jail March 12.
Calvo is prohibited from leaving the country or contacting other witnesses involved in the trial, and he must present himself before a judge every 15 days.
Catholic Church Promotes
Controversial Film Premiere
By Sonia Cordero
scordero@ticotimes.net
The Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Archbishops of Costa Rica and Catholic radio station Radio Fides invite the public to a fundraising premiere of Mel Gibson’s controversial film “The Passion of the Christ.”
Proceeds from the event, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Cine Magaly (Ca. 23, Av. Ctrl./1) in San José, will be donated to the Programa de Comedores Infantiles, a church program that provides meals to poor children.
“We are going to start with a concert by Alas de Luz at 7:30 p.m., and at 8:30 p.m. we’ll show the film. Afterward, the public is invited to participate in the movie forum with Victor Hugo Munjía, Randal Soto, Mario Montes and psychologist Fernando Muñoz,” said Father Glen Gómez, press director for Radio Fides.
Another showing will take place at Cinemark del Este in Curridabat.
Tickets for the benefit premiere cost ¢3,500 and reservations (18 and older) are required. For more information call 258-1414.
The film will be shown in Aramean with subtitles in Spanish and English. The film’s official opening is March 26, and it will be shown in most of the country’s movie theaters.
Costa Rica, Qatar Establish
Diplomatic Relations
Costa Rica and the Middle-Eastern nation of Qatar yesterday established diplomatic relations, according to the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry.
The official announcement was made yesterday in New York during a brief signing ceremony during which Bruno Stagno, Costa Rica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and his counterpart from Qatar, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, exchanged letters, formalizing diplomatic relations between both countries.