[dailyarchive/2004_10/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 20, 2004
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| UNITED against child exploitation: Representatives of 19 Latin American countries, Portugal and Spain signed a list of agreements at the end of a two-day Conference of Ministers of Child Welfare. Above (from left), Elizabeth Patiño, Bolivian Vice-Minister of Youth and the Elderly, Rosalía Gil, Costa Rican Minister of Child Welfare, and María Amparo, Spain's State Secretary of Social Services, Family and Disabilities, talked at the conference. The countries agreed to work together to try to prevent the abandonment, abuse and neglect of children, as well as their economic and sexual exploitation, and all forms of violence against them. |
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Government Begins Emergency
Fuel Conservation Plan
The Costa Rican government will implement an “energy-saving plan” in response to rising fuel prices, intended to save between $5 million and $10 million a month, Environment and Energy Minister Carlos Manuel Rodríguez announced during yesterday's Cabinet Meeting.
(Click for more)
Ex-President Received
Taiwan Money “As a Loan”
The former Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Miguel Angel Rodríguez, received $400,000 from the Taiwan government “in terms of a loan” for personal businesses, Rodríguez's legal defender Rafael Gairaod said yesterday.
(Click for more)
Fraudulent E-mails
Target Citibank Customers
Any Citibank or Citigroup customers receiving an e-mail asking them to visit a Web site and enter their account information should report it immediately to bank officials because it is fraudulent, Citibank spokeswoman Irene Fariña told The Tico Times yesterday.
(Click for more)
U.S. Voters Abroad:
Still Time Left to Vote
Both the U.S. Embassy in San José and the private mail company Aerocasillas have said they will send U.S. election absentee ballots to the United States for free through Nov. 1. However, the Consulate section of the embassy reminded voters it takes approximately one week for mail to arrive at its U.S. destination from the embassy.
(Click for more)
October 20
Music Conference
Learn about music and literature today and tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. at Librería Francesa in San José.
Piano Concerts
Piano music performed at the Juan Santamaría Museum in Alajuela, 7 p.m. today and tomorrow. Info: 441-4775.
Auction and Potluck
The Computer Club invites the public to its Auction and Potluck Benefit next Saturday. Guests are asked to bring an item to auction for the benefit of the club, potluck dishes, drinks and ¢1000. The activity begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, at Casa María in Escazú. Info: 228-0190.
Edited By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Government Begins Emergency
Fuel Conservation Plan
By Steven J. Barry
Tico Times Staff
sbarry@ticotimes.net
The Costa Rican government will implement an “energy-saving plan” in response to rising fuel prices, intended to save between $5 million and $10 million a month, Environment and Energy Minister Carlos Manuel Rodríguez announced during yesterday's Cabinet Meeting.
“This is an emergency situation, and it will be handled as though we were in a state of emergency,” he said.
Rodríguez outlined several proposals for saving energy, such as alternative fuel sources and electric transportation, but said the first step would be a voluntary program in which designated vehicles will abstain from driving on certain roads during peak traffic hours, 7-9 a.m. and 5-7 p.m.
He said representatives of the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE) are working with the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) to determine which streets will be affected and a method of selecting vehicles. They have 22 days to present a plan.
The minister said the plan would include adjusting the schedules of public employees so that not all workers are commuting at the same time. This, he said, would “decongest the chaotic traffic we have in the metropolitan center.”
He also mentioned an educational program, to be launched starting next school year, which will aim to teach high school and college students about the importance of saving oil.
Rodríguez said the plan would mean a change of culture for Ticos.
According to the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE), the amount of petroleum consumed by Costa Rica grew 45.5% from 1993 to 2003, primarily because the number of vehicles in circulation doubled in the same period, from 439,235 in 1993 to 949,049 last year, according to MOPT.
Costa Rica's oil tab also doubled in the past decade, from $215.4 million to $525.94 million.
President Abel Pacheco said he would take advantage of the presence of Latin American leaders at the 2004 Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State, to be held in San José next month, to discuss the oil situation here.
“There are ways out, definitely, for our country,” Pacheco said.
“I believe in biodiesel,” the President added, referring to an environmentally friendly form of diesel fuel, normally mixed with vegetable oil.
Another possible measure Rodríguez has mentioned in the past is lowering import tariffs on vehicles that use alternative fuel or are powered by electricity.
( Tico Times reporter Rebecca Kimitch contributed to this report. )
Ex-President Received
Taiwan Money “As a Loan”
The former Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Miguel Angel Rodríguez, received $400,000 from the Taiwan government “in terms of a loan” for personal businesses, Rodríguez's legal defender Rafael Gairaod said yesterday.
“It was not a gift, a price, nor anything of this style,” but rather a loan, said the lawyer, who will lead the defense of the former Costa Rican President, who is being investigation for alleged crimes relating to corruption.
Rodríguez has been under house arrest in an apartment east of San José since Saturday.
Last week, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica asked for explanations from the government of Taiwan about transfers of $1.4 million, allegedly made between 1999 and 2002 and directed at Rodríguez during his presidency.
Rodríguez allegedly received from the Taiwan Minister of Foreign Relations $200,000 through an account in Panama, and later the Taiwan Embassy in San José gave him an equal amount, according to a statement made before the Prosecutor's Office by Rafael Sequeira, administrator of the company Denisse, controlled by Rodríguez.
Last weekend, the government of Taiwan denied the payments to Rodríguez and attributed them to “animosities” in the internal politics of Costa Rica (TT Daily Page, Oct. 18).
“It's impossible,” Taiwanese Foreign Minister Chen Tan-sun told the press. He said the allegations result from internal political bickering.
Rodríguez is currently under house arrest in an apartment in Vargas Araya, a neighborhood east of San José. However Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall'Anese appealed the sentence yesterday afternoon, requesting nine months of preventive detention.
-- AFP
Fraudulent E-mails
Target Citibank Customers
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Any Citibank or Citigroup customers receiving an e-mail asking them to visit a Web site and enter their account information should report it immediately to bank officials because it is fraudulent, Citibank spokeswoman Irene Fariña told The Tico Times yesterday.
The e-mails, which contain the Citibank logo and warn recipients that unless they provide information including their account number, password, PIN and credit or debit-card number at the listed Web site, their accounts could be blocked. While the Web site appears to have been deactivated at press time, the e-mails continue to worry Citibank officials, according to Fariña, since any customer providing such information could become the victim of identity theft or credit-card fraud.
“We are collaborating with authorities to find the source of the e-mails,” she said, adding that neither Citigroup nor any of its subsidiaries or affiliates request account information by e-mail. Citibank Costa Rica is a corporate bank and does not offer personal accounts, so those most likely to have been taken in by the e-mails' warning would be those who have Citibank accounts in other countries.
Recipients of the e-mails should forward them to Citigroup officials at ellen.arauz@citigroup.com or everth.gutierrez@citigroup.com, and then delete the e-mail. The forwarded e-mails may help officials in their effort to trace the messages to their source. Citibank customers who have already entered personal account information at the fraudulent site should contact Citibank immediately at the customer service number that appears on their account statement, Fariña said.
U.S. Voters Abroad:
Still Time Left to Vote
Both the U.S. Embassy in San José and the private mail company Aerocasillas have said they will send U.S. election absentee ballots to the United States for free through Nov. 1. However, the Consulate section of the embassy reminded voters it takes approximately one week for mail to arrive at its U.S. destination from the embassy.
Absentee ballots can be dropped off at the Consulate Monday through Friday, 8-11:30 a.m. and Monday, 1-3 p.m. Voters who registered on time but did not receive their ballots can use a Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot, available at the Consulate.
Ballots also can be dropped off at Aerocasillas offices in Escazú, across from Pricesmart; Curridabat, across from the National Registry; Centro Comercial Novacentro; or La Uruca, 300 meters north of Hotel San José Palacio. For more information, call Aerocasillas at 208-4848.
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