The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, April 20, 2004

RUNNING for President: Outspoken former Justice Minister José Miguel Villalobos says he is planning to form a new political party and run for President in the 2006 elections. Read Friday’s Tico Times print edition or digital PDF version for the full story.
Tico Times/Jeffrey Arguedas

Day of the Aborigine Celebrated with
Recognition of Achievements, Needs
New homes, schools and clinics have improved the quality of life of Costa Rica’s indigenous population in the last two years, Vice-President Lineth Saborío told an audience at the Casa Presidencial yesterday during an event to commemorate Day of the Aborigine.
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April 20

Seminar on How to Negotiate with Canada
Lidia Kamaoun and Leo Arsenault lead a seminar on how to do business with Canada, 8:30 a.m. at Aqua Marina Salon at the San José Palacio Hotel, on General Cañas Highway outside of San José. Info: 291-3090.

Trova Concert
Abril Group will perform Trova and other Latin American rhythms, 9:30 p.m. at the Jazz Café in San Pedro. Info: 253-8933.

Italian Singer Eros Ramazzotti in Concert
Tickets are on sale and selling fast for the May 5 concert, 8 p.m., at the Saprissa Stadium in Tibás. Tickets are on sale at Megasuper Supermarkets from ¢7,000-30,000 ($16.32-69.93).

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Day of the Aborigine Celebrated with
Recognition of Achievements, Needs
By Rebecca Kimitch
rkimitch@ticotimes.net

New homes, schools and clinics have improved the quality of life of Costa Rica’s indigenous population in the last two years, Vice-President Lineth Saborío told an audience at the Casa Presidencial yesterday during an event to commemorate Day of the Aborigine.

Various government institutions have built 497 new homes and brought food and services to more than 1,500 indigenous families since the administration of President Abel Pacheco took office in May 2002, Saborío said.

“They have given us much more support than other (administrations) before,” agreed Carlos Chaverri, president of The Foundation for the Social and Cultural Development of Ethnic Indigenous Costa Ricans (FUNDEICO). “For many years, we were abandoned by other governments, and now they are doing something.”

“But there is still so much to do,” he added. “We are lacking in so many areas.”

Numbering nearly 64,000 people, Costa Rica’s indigenous community represents 1.7% of the total population, according to the latest National Census. This population consists of members of eight different ethnic groups: Bribrís, Cabécares, Guaymíes, Teribes, Brunca Borucas, Malekus or Guatusos, Huetares and Chorotegas.

A new pain clinic and soon-to-be-completed delivery room in Hone Creek, north of the southern Caribbean beach town of Puerto Viejo, will serve 12,000 indigenous people, according to the Casa Presidencial. Two basic community health clinics also have been installed at the Chirripó reservation, helping raise the level of health coverage among the area’s indigenous population to 76%, according to authorities.

This year, 15 new schools have been opened in indigenous-populated areas, representing half of all the new schools opened in 2004, according to the Ministry of Public Education.

But while Chaverri says he is pleased with these steps, he feels academic development should be taken to the university level.

“We need to create more opportunities for professionalism,” he said. “We need to see more indigenous doctors, congressional deputies, dentists… We have been abandoned for too long.”

Although education, health and economic welfare are serious concerns for Costa Rica’s indigenous population, the most serious problem threatening the community is the loss of their culture, Chaverri said. Outside customs and drug use threaten their traditions, he said.

Day of the Aborigine, celebrated throughout the Americas, allows people inside and outside of indigenous communities to reflect, analyze and raise consciousness about the indigenous situation, he said.

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Airport Receives Rave Reviews;
Exit Tax for Ticos Will Decrease

Juan Santamaría International Airport was recently named the third best airport in the world in the under 5 million passengers a year category and fourth overall in the Americas (including North America) by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The rating was based on the quality of the services provided by the airport as well as other aspects, for example, the attentiveness of the airport’s staff.

“The results are a sign that we’re walking in the correct direction,” said Al Romeu, General Manager of Alterra Partners Costa Rica, the firm that holds the concession to modernize and operate the airport.

“...May 5 will be the third anniversary of Alterra as operator of Juan Santamaría International Airport,” Romeu said in a statement. “Nearly 36 months after having begun operations, the accomplishments reached in every section of the airport’s areas fill us with pride and satisfaction.”

In related news, the fee Costa Rican nationals and residents are required to pay to fly out of Juan Santamaría will be reduced by 40% next Sunday, from $43 to $26, the Finance Ministry announced.

The measure had been scheduled since last April, when airport authorities eliminated the timbre (tax stamp) system and agreed to establish a single airport fee for all travelers.

As part of the reform, the exit tax for tourists and other foreign travelers was increased from $17 to $26 last year, and officials agreed to lower the rate Ticos and residents pay on April 25 of this year.

The drop in the exit tax for Ticos is not expected to have a significant effect on the government’s tax revenues. The exit tax is responsible for only 0.9% of total tax revenues. Exit tax revenues from Costa Ricans leaving the country make up only 0.3% of total revenues, according to the Finance Ministry.

Of the $26 each traveler pays to leave the country, $12.15 are transferred to the Central Government and $12.85 are transferred to the Technical Council of Civil Aviation (CTAC).

The remaining $1 is used to fund projects to expand and modernize the Liberia, Limón and Pavas airports and 28 rural airstrips, according to the daily La Nación.

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Tica Swimmer Places Third
In 400-Meter French Open

In her first race since the end of a two-year ban from public competition, Costa Rican Olympic gold-medallist swimming champion Claudia Poll placed third yesterday.

The first day of the French Open Championship in Dunkerque, France, closed with Poll claiming the 11 spot in the worldwide ranking for the women’s 400-meter open and a finishing time of four minutes, 11.91 seconds.

In first place, Laure Manaudou, of France, finished with four minutes, 8.72 seconds on the clock and Rebecca Cooke of Great Britain finished in four minutes, 10.3 seconds.

Today, Poll will swim the 200-meter open against the woman who has the highest world ranking in that race, Melanie Marshall of Great Britain. Her other competitor will be Solenne Figues, of France, who holds the 12th spot worldwide.

The 31-year-old Poll, winner of the 200-meter freestyle 1996 Olympic race in Atlanta, Georgia, was banned from competition in 2002 after testing positive for an anabolic steroid. She maintains her innocence and has filed a case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and brought a case against the laboratory in Montreal that conducted the steroid test (TT, April 16).

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“The Classic” Soccer Match
Stays Under Control, Police Say

Police yesterday announced they had detained 44 people during Sunday’s soccer match between Saprissa and La Liga Deportiva of Alajuela, but there were no reports of havoc or property damage related to the game.

Saprissa defeated La Liga 1-0. The Costa Rican teams are staunch rivals of one another, and that rivalry in the past has translated into acts of delinquency or aggression among the fans of those teams during the match-up, known as “The Classic,” police said.

The 44 people were all detained for minor incidents in the city of Alajuela and were only held for a few hours, according to police. Officers said they found several small knives, a false ¢5,000 ($11.62) bill, and 18 cigars that may contain marijuana among those who were arrested.

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Wednesday October 26, 2005