[dailyarchive/2004_11/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, November 24, 2004
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| HOT topic: Vladimir Zacasa Elizondo, legal advisor to the Ecologists' Association of Montes de Oro, and Eduardo Madrigal, director of the Technical Secretariat of the Environment Ministry (SETENA), participated in a debate yesterday on the environmental effects of an open-pit mine scheduled to open in Miramar, a town northwest of the central Pacific port city Puntarenas. Last Saturday, Miramar residents protest against the mine, which they say could cause contamination of the local water supply. (See Friday's edition of The Tico Times for the full story.) |
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University Rectors Announce
Education Initiative
The National Association of University Rectors (CONARE) announced an initiative yesterday to create concrete goals for education in Costa Rica and more clearly define a nationwide educational policy.
(Click for more)
Government Releases
Earthquake Damage Figures
National Emergency Commission director Luis Diego Morales said yesterday that Saturday morning's earthquake, which measured 6.2 on the Richter scale, has caused an estimated ¢2.5 billion ($5 million) in damages..
(Click for more)
Court Extends Detention Order
For Murder Suspects
The Second Circuit Penal Court on Monday ordered the preventive detention orders for the men accused of murdering Costa Rican journalist Ivannia Mora last year in San José be extended for four more months.
(Click for more)
November 24
Electronic Night
Santos and Surdo are ready to make their audience move with their electronic music and videos at 9:30 p.m. at Bar & Restaurant El Observatorio, in front of Cine Magaly in Barrio La California . Info: 281-3770.
Tropical Journeys
The Organization for Tropical Studies invites interested parties to register for one of its trips to Corcovado , Jan. 5-9 and Jan. 19-23; Monteverde, Dec. 30-Jan. 2; or Peru , Dec. 26-Jan. 6. All trips include transportation, specialists, written material, meals, lodging, lectures, and travelers' insurance. Info: 524-0625 or 377-6169.
Edited By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
University Rectors Announce
Education Initiative
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
The National Association of University Rectors (CONARE) announced an initiative yesterday to create concrete goals for education in Costa Rica and more clearly define a nationwide educational policy.
CONARE president Sonia Marta Mora said the ambitious proposal, titled “Rethinking Education,” is “a fundamental task for Costa Rica .”
“This country cannot move ahead if, in the field of education, there is no defined state policy,” she said, emphasizing the need to outline short, medium and long-term goals in all subjects.
According to the presentation Mora made to President Abel Pacheco and government ministers during yesterday's Cabinet meeting, it is also crucial to integrate various educational proposals that have been made during the past 15 years by education associations, political parties, business chambers, social organizations and intellectuals.
She added that standardizing educational goals nationwide would help reduce disparities between rural and urban schools and inconsistencies from one President's administration to the next.
CONARE and the Public Education Ministry will lead the effort, Mora said, but the goal is to involve students, teachers, parents, business leaders, and other groups in order to make the effort “as pluralistic as possible.”
The ambitious project has several phases, including a “social dialogue” to establish proposals for educational improvement, evaluation of the educational policy of the Public Education Ministry, and the creation of a document outlining final recommendations, to be unveiled in July 2005.
Mora said some initiatives that likely will be considered include changes to the hiring system, labor conditions and incentives for teachers, and widespread secondary education reform.
“The President has signaled to us his interest in, and approval of, this project,” Mora added.
Government Releases
Earthquake Damage Figures
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
National Emergency Commission director Luis Diego Morales said yesterday that Saturday morning's earthquake, which measured 6.2 on the Richter scale, has caused an estimated ¢2.5 billion ($5 million) in damages.
The earthquake, which was felt throughout the country at 2:07 a.m. Saturday and indirectly caused six deaths, five by heart attack, resulted in power outages, loss of access to potable water, and damage to buildings throughout the central Pacific coast. The worst damage occurred in the town of Parrita , just north of the quake's epicenter (TT Daily Page, Nov. 22).
According to figures presented at yesterday's Cabinet meeting, buildings with severe structural damage included 390 homes, with an estimated repair costs of ¢1.3 billion ($2.8 million); one health-care facility, the Parrita Clinic, with an estimated cost of ¢250 million ($555,500); and 56 schools, with estimated costs of ¢400 million ($888,000).
In addition, Morales presented estimates of damage to 17 bridges at ¢140 million ($311,000), 29 national and local roadways at ¢350 million ($777,000), 2 dams at ¢20 million ($44,000) and two aqueducts at ¢25 million ($55,000).
At the Cabinet meeting, President Abel Pacheco, along with the ministers of the Presidency, Health, Public Works and Transport, Education and Housing, signed a declaration officially declaring a state of emergency in the Central Pacific area. The President also announced he would visit Parrita and Quepos on Saturday.
Court Extends Detention Order
For Murder Suspects
The Second Circuit Penal Court on Monday ordered the preventive detention orders for the men accused of murdering Costa Rican journalist Ivannia Mora last year in San José be extended for four more months.
One of the accused is Uruguayan business executive Eugenio Millot. The other four, whose last names are Serna, Cortés, Navas and López, are from Colombia , according to a statement from the Judicial Branch.
Mora was killed Dec. 23, 2003 , while driving her car on a crowded street in eastern San José . She was 33.
Two men shot her from a passing motorcycle and took off. The journalist died minutes later as she was taken to a hospital.
Millot, who was Mora's editor at the business magazine where she worked, has served six months of preventive detention since the end of May.
--EFE
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