The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, April 30, 2004

SIGN of the times: Marco Montoya and other campesinos camping out at San José’s Metropolitan Cathedral publicly ask for support from the Judicial Branch and Public Security Minister Rogelio Ramos in their effort to claim rights to the Bambuzal Farm in the Northern Zone, owned by Standard Fruit Company. Read more about the land dispute in today’s Tico Times print edition or digital PDF version.
Tico Times/Jeffrey Arguedas

Tariffs on Non-Traditional Exports
To Europe Go Into Effect
Costa Rican exports of non-traditional agricultural products – tropical fruits, ornamental plants and foliage – will begin paying tariffs of up to 16% as of May 1.
(Click for more)

Two Quakes Strike Pacific Coast
An earthquake jolted Guanacaste’s Papagayo Gulf, in the northern Pacific region of Costa Rica at 6:57 p.m. Wednesday.
(Click for more)

April 30

Artisans Fair
Artisans Fair Fri., April 30 and Sat., May 1, at the Plaza de Las Garantías Sociales in San José. Info: 285-4881.

Quintet Concert
Concert by Circuitos Secuenciales Quintet from Miami, 7:30 p.m. at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, Costa Rica-North American Cultural Center in Barrio Dent. Info: 207-7555.

First Lions Club Race
Long-distance athletic race (10.8 km) organized by the Lions Club to raise funds to buy a house for a disabled girl, Sat., May 1, begins at 9 a.m. (registration deadline, Fri., April 30 at Deportes Principe Hernández, Pavas; Tienda Pipo’s, Heredia; Fabrica Nacional de Trofeos, by Clínica Bíblica in San José).

National Museum Turns 117
Celebration of the 117 anniversary of the National Museum includes masquerades, folklore, typical food and more, May 2, 10 a.m., Av. Ctrl./2, Ca. 17 in San José. Info: 257-1433 ext. 312.

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Tariffs on Non-Traditional Exports
To Europe Go Into Effect
By Fabián Borges
Tico Times Staff
fborges@ticotimes.net

Costa Rican exports of non-traditional agricultural products – tropical fruits, ornamental plants and foliage – will begin paying tariffs of up to 16% as of May 1.

Costa Rica is part of the EU’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) – a unilateral trade concession that allows most exports from developing countries to enter European markets tariff-free.

Exports of each GSP recipient’s products are evaluated regularly to see if they meet the requirements for trade benefits. If exports of a product reach a certain volume during three consecutive years, the product “graduates” from the program and becomes subject to regular tariffs. If exports drop back to their original levels, a country’s product can once again benefit from GSP (TT, April 11, 2003).

Costa Rica’s products were originally set to begin paying the tariffs last May, but implementation was delayed as a result of the country’s successful lobbying effort in Brussels.

The EU agreed to implement the tariffs gradually. On Nov. 1 of last year, the country’s exports began paying 50% of the tariff. On May 1, they must pay the full tariff.

As of Saturday, Costa Rican melon and watermelon exports to the EU will pay an 8.8% tariff. Pineapple will pay a 5.8% tariff, plantain 16% and living plants 10.9%, according to the Costa Rican Exporters Chamber (CADEXCO)

Costa Rican exports will again be allowed to enter the EU without paying tariffs on Jan. 1, 2005. This is because of a significant drop in Costa Rican agricultural exports to EU during 2001 and 2002.

However, the GSP system may be overhauled completely next year. Experts say Costa Rica could be permanently excluded from the new program as of Jan. 1, 2006, for being “too successful.”

To eliminate the uncertainty of GSP and unilateral trade concessions, exporters have requested the government negotiate a permanent trade agreement with the EU in the near future (TT, Oct. 17, 2003).

For more on Costa Rica’s relations with the European Union and its 10 new members, read today’s Tico Times print edition or digital PDF version for the full story.

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Two Quakes Strike Pacific Coast
By Robert Goodier
rgoodier@ticotimes.net

An earthquake jolted Guanacaste’s Papagayo Gulf, in the northern Pacific region of Costa Rica at 6:57 p.m. Wednesday.

The quake, which measured 5.5 on the Richter scale, rattled an area 83 kilometers west of Cabo Velas on the gulf. Its epicenter was 17 kilometers below ground, according to the National Seismic Network of the University of Costa Rica.

It knocked out the power in Matapalo and Cabo Velas, and was felt strongly throughout Guanacaste and the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, but much less so in the Central Valley.

A resident of Flamingo Beach, Miriam Estrada, reported everything moved very strongly and things in her kitchen fell off the shelves.

Fifteen minutes later, the strongest aftershock registered 4.1 on the Richter scale. Another strong quake, with a magnitude of 5.6, struck the same day on the northern Pacific coast of Nicaragua.

The quakes were the result of the subduction of the Coco tectonic plate beneath the Caribe plate, according to the Seismic Network and the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).

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Candidate for Comptroller General
Disqualified for Stretching the Truth

A commission in the Legislative Assembly disqualified the current Sub-Comptroller as a candidate for the post of Comptroller General after inaccuracies were discovered on his resume, local newspapers reported.

Jorge Corrales was one of the final candidates for Comptroller General – the head official responsible for the financial review of government contracts and public bids – until the Legislative Assembly’s Naming Commission realized he does not have a doctorate in economics, as he claimed on his resume.

The revelation came Wednesday night, after the commission had announced the final candidates for the position, to be voted on by the Legislative Assembly.

Corrales has admitted he does not have the doctorate, but denied he intentionally misled the commission. Although his resume states he holds a Doctorate in Economy from the University of Wisconsin, Corrales had attached a document to his job application that explained the situation, La Nación reported.

The certification from the university, dated Feb. 9, 1973, said Corrales had completed all the required courses for his doctorate, but did not present his thesis or pass the subsequent oral exam.

National Liberation Party deputy Carlos Ricardo Benavides, a member of the commission, admitted the commission had made a mistake in not verifying applicants’ claims.

Corrales received five points for his doctorate, on the numeric scale the commission used to rank candidates. When the commission notified Corrales about his qualification, and gave him a copy of his awarded points, the candidate did not object to the five points awarded for the doctorate, Benavides told Al Día. The candidate did, however, point out he should have received an additional point for something he had published, according to Benavides.

The Citizen Action Party sent a letter to Corrales yesterday asking him to resign from his position as Sub-Comptroller.

The remaining candidates for the position are Alex Solís, Johnny Meoño, Guillermo Constenla, Luis Polinaris and Rafael Batista, Al Día reported. The winning candidate will assume position of Comptroller, currently held by Luis Fernando Vargas, on May 7.

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Work Begins to Ban
Scuba Fishing of Lobsters

Fishing authorities and members of the fishing industry from around the isthmus gathered in Panama City this week and pledged to work toward banning scuba diving as a method of catching the spiny lobster, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced.

The pledge came in the form of a “Declaration of Regional Accord,” signed by members of the fishing community gathered to discuss methods of conserving the lobsters and cultivating shrimp. The valuable crustaceans have been severely over-fished in recent years, according to the WWF.

According to the WWF, divers in Honduras using scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) gear to catch lobsters are often disabled and occasionally killed by decompression sickness while surfacing after deep dives.

According to WWF statistics, Central American exports of the lobsters to the United States increased from 1,908 metric tons to 3,646 metric tons in the past 15 years.

The Regional Environmental Program for Central America (PROARCA) organized the workshop.

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Wednesday October 26, 2005