The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, June 29, 2004

JUST kidding: The foreign ministers of Costa Rica, Roberto Tovar (left), and Guatemala, Jorge Briz, joked around in Guatemala City yesterday during a meeting of foreign ministers from Central America, Panama and Belize. Despite the jovial mood, Costa Rica was accused of being anti-integrationist during the meeting, which preceded today’s summit between the region’s Presidents to discuss Central American integration.
AFP photo/Orlando Sierra

Government Remains Hard-Edged
Against Striking Air Traffic Controllers
The country’s air traffic controllers, on strike since Saturday, received a clear warning from Presidency Minister Ricardo Toledo yesterday: “Be careful. Be very careful.”
(Click for more)

June 29

Seminar on the Legal Implications of New Customs Rules
Organized by the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), today 8:30 a.m.-noon, Hotel Tryp Corobici. ¢15,000 members, ¢17,500 non-members, includes materials, certificate and snacks, reservations required. Info: 220-2200.

Jam Session
Guest musicians improvise: Kin Rivera (drums), Walter Flores (piano) and Mario Alvarez (bass), 10 p.m. at the Jazz Café in San Pedro. Info: 253-8933.

Film Festival on Refugees
Festival includes the following movies about refugees: Extranjeras, Balseros, Poniente, Vieiros, La Hija del Puma. Today’s showing is 2-9 p.m. at El Semáforo in San Pedro. Info: 253 9126

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Government Remains Hard-Edged
Against Striking Air Traffic Controllers
By Steven J. Barry
sbarry@ticotimes.net

The country’s air traffic controllers, on strike since Saturday, received a clear warning from Presidency Minister Ricardo Toledo yesterday: “Be careful. Be very careful.”

His words illustrate the hard-line approach government officials from five different ministries seem to have adopted against the striking workers, who are demanding salaries they claim were agreed to in 1994.

Toledo said if the controllers don’t work, they won’t be paid. He said attempts to negotiate with the workers have been fruitless, and that the air traffic controllers’ lawyer nearly completely broke off negotiations yesterday.

However, at the end of a press conference at the Casa Presidencial yesterday, Toledo said the government will continue to actively pursue dialogue with the controllers.

Since the near 100 controllers began the strike last weekend, 28 interim foreign controllers provided by the Central America Navigation Agency have kept the country’s airports operating normally, save a several-hour disruption Saturday after the strike began.

Alvaro Durán, of the Department of Civil Aviation’s Technical Security Committee, said the reduced number of controllers does not allow the airports to continue normal radar operations, but that should not slow down airline service or make it any less safe. He likened the change to switching from “a computer to a word processor.”

“Legally and procedurally, this strike should be declared illegal,” said Labor Minister Ovidio Pacheco.

Pacheco said Costa Rica’s Labor Code stipulates that employees of public transportation agencies must negotiate before announcing a strike – something he said the controllers did not do. He said Labor Ministry representatives should be delivering requests to penal judges in the municipalities nearest the country’s major airports, asking them to officially declare the strike illegal.

Pacheco also said the code declares any strike that causes “economic damage” to the country to be illegal.

Tourism Minister Rodrigo Castro said paralyzed airports could have a devastating effect on citizens who are dependent on Costa Rica’s vast tourism industry, “from those who sell fruit to the hotel bartenders.” However, he said the strike has had no effect on tourist traffic so far.

Public Security Minister Rogelio Ramos said several of the interim controllers have received threats and at least one was followed home after work. Ramos said police are providing additional security measures for the substitute controllers, but did not specify what those measures are.

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President of Central American Parliament
Berates Costa Rica for Reduction Proposal

GUATEMALA (AFP) – The president of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), Honduran Mario Facussé, yesterday accused Costa Rica of promoting the disintegration of the region and rejected the country’s proposal to reduce the number of member deputies in the parliament.

The remarks were made at a press conference the day before today’s summit of Central American Presidents, who aim to reform integration organizations within the region.

“PARLACEN should be exclusively made up of deputies elected directly in general and secret elections, in each one of the countries,” Facussé said in a press conference.

The Presidents of Central America and Dominican Republic are expected today to define the future of integration organizations, such as PARLACEN, in accordance with recommendations made by the region’s foreign ministers yesterday.

Among the proposals discussed yesterday was one from Costa Rica that aims to reduce from 20 to five the number of deputies in the parliament – which is currently 20 officials and 20 substitutes. However, Costa Rica is the only Central American country that is not part of the parliament.

Costa Rica proposed that PARLACEN deputies be the same legislators from the congresses of each nation, and not elected by a popular vote, according to Facussé.

“Costa Rica is not part of PARLACEN. So, how is it possible that they are judging something that does not concern them? It should be excluded from this decision,” he said.

According to Facussé, Costa Rica has “been anti-integrationist. In their schools they teach about the benefits of not being integrated into Central America. It is considered the Switzerland of Central America, but from Switzerland to Costa Rica there is a world of difference,” he said.

“Costa Rica wants us to pay the bill. That we take the test, and we initiate integration and when they see the apple is red, then they will come and integrate. Very nice position, very comfortable,” Facussé added.

Nevertheless, the president of the organization recognized the need for a structural reform of PARLACEN, which is sought by the region’s Presidents, but with the aim of strengthening the process of political integration, not weakening it, he said.

“Better if they (Costa Ricans) say frankly ‘we do not want to integrate’ and not act as if they want to integrate and be brothers. This is a lie and they show it,” he charged.

PARLACEN operates with a permanent headquarters in Guatemala and is financed by an annual contribution of $1.7 million from each member country. Costa Rica is the only country that is not part of the parliament, having not ratified the statute of its creation.

PARLACEN has elected deputies from Central America and Dominican Republic, and permanent observers from Mexico, Taiwan and Puerto Rico.

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Bishop Admits Sending
Money to Fugitive Priest

A Catholic bishop admitted yesterday to having provided economic aid and having kept secret the whereabouts of fugitive priest Enrique Vásquez, wanted in Costa Rica for alleged sexual crimes against a minor, a former acolyte boy.

The admission comes after a week of silence from the diocese of San Carlos, in the Northern Zone, as officials there awaited the return of the Bishop Ángel San Casimiro, who was out of the country.

The furor over the Bishop’s possible involvement with the fugitive began when the Casa Alianza announced last week that Vásquez had been working at a parish in Honduras, but recently fled to an unknown location. The news was the result of a three-month investigation by Casa Alianza’s Honduras chapter in tandem with the U.S.-based newspaper The Dallas Morning News.

San Casimiro announced at a conference yesterday morning that he “did not lie” when he told a state prosecutor he did not know where Vásquez was, though he admitted he later sent the priest money when he was hiding in Mexico.

“When the prosecutor sent me the two letters (asking where Vásquez was) I, at that time, responded that I didn’t know where the father was. The prosecutor did not ask me to tell him when I found out.”

Vásquez is wanted by authorities in Costa Rica because of allegations of sexual abuse of a 10-year-old child nearly ten years ago, an alleged crime of which the priest was accused in 1998. He fled the country that year and has since worked in the U.S. state of Connecticut and in the Honduran village Güinope, where he was last seen.

San Casimiro admitted that on two occasions he sent Vásquez money while he was in Mexico under medical treatment, and he spoke with the fugitive by phone.

“I help him not so that he can evade justice, but so that he can face it with a little more dignity,” the Bishop said.

See Friday’s print edition of The Tico Times or pdf digital version for details.

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Wednesday October 26, 2005