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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, December 21, 2004
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| POETIC Leader: President Abel Pacheco poses with Spanish artist Juan Valdés, the illustrator of Pacheco's new book, “Poems, Stories and Drawings,” presented Saturday in Sevilla , Spain . Pacheco called himself a “poet and narrator by vital necessity” and said the book explores “the pride of being Latino.” The book is being published by the Fundación Martín Robles and includes an introduction by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. |
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Alterra, Government Reach
Preliminary Agreement
After nearly two years of dispute and 15 days of the latest round of negotiations, airport operator Alterra Partners and the Costa Rican government have reached a preliminary agreement that may finally allow the airport's renovation to begin again.
(Click for more)
Finance Ministry Announces
New Tax Minister
Former Customs Director and auditor Francisco Fonseca will replace José Armando Fallas as director of the General Taxation Administration (DGT) on Jan. 1, 2005, according to a statement released yesterday by the Finance Ministry. Fallas, who has headed the Taxation Administration since July 2003 but took on an additional role as Vice-Minister of Finance in May of this year, will stay on as vice-minister.
(Click for more)
Salvadoran Candidate Flores
Confident of OAS Election
Santiago de Chile (EFE) – Former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores says he feels certain he will be the next Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) with the support of Central America, the United States and some South American countries.
(Click for more)
December 21
Jokes with Music
Grupo Octavo will perform a show mixing music with jokes. Attendees will participate in a drawing for dinner for two and a night's stay in Jaulares, San Pedro de Poás. Show begins at 9 p.m. at Meridiano al Este in Barrio La California . Info: 256–2705.
Concert by Miguel Cabrera
Concert begins at 8 p.m. at the Lizard Lounge, Centro Comercial Cocorí, Los Yoses. Info: 224–2149.
Edited By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Alterra, Government Reach
Preliminary Agreement
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
After nearly two years of dispute and 15 days of the latest round of negotiations, airport operator Alterra Partners and the Costa Rican government have reached a preliminary agreement that may finally allow the airport's renovation to begin again.
Under the proposed agreement, Alterra agrees to use airport-user fees to recover only $3.4 million in development expenses, rather than the $18.6 million company officials claimed they were allowed to collect – the original cause for the dispute.
The user fee amounts will allow Juan Santamaría International Airport to remain competitive for airlines and ultimately for tourism, according to officials from Alterra, which owns a renewable 20-year concession contract to operate and renovate the airport.
The agreement will also allow construction and renovation of the airport's terminal and boarding gates to restart in June or July 2005 and be complete in the next two years.
To be final, the Technical Commission of the Civil Aviation Authority (CETAC) must approve the agreement, followed by the Comptroller General's Office, which will have 45 days to study the proposal.
The proposal will also be presented Jan. 15 to international banks financing the airport's renovation. Last year, the banks suspended the final $30 million of Alterra's $120 million loan until the dispute is settled, effectively halting the renovation project.
The proposed agreement opens the possibility of asking international creditors to extend the loan term by two years. It will also extend Alterra's contract five years and raise the capital expected of the company, whose major partner is construction giant Bechtel, to $34 million, up from $20 million agreed upon in the original contract.
“To arrive at this agreement we all sacrificed something for the benefit of all…In the end, Costa Rica wins,” Alterra general manager Al Romeu said in an official statement.
Alterra has maintained since March 2003 that it is able to use airport-user fees to collect $18.6 million in development expenses. A report by the comptroller at that time put that amount at $3.4 million (TT, March 28, 2003).
Alterra officials said they agreed to the $3.4 million amount because development expenses will be covered under a new distribution of earnings, the details of which are still being negotiated with government officials. They also said they gained legal security and financial equilibrium in the agreement.
The airport project is the first attempt by the Costa Rican government in recent history to assign a major public works project to a private company.
Finance Ministry Announces
New Tax Minister
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Former Customs Director and auditor Francisco Fonseca will replace José Armando Fallas as director of the General Taxation Administration (DGT) on Jan. 1, 2005, according to a statement released yesterday by the Finance Ministry. Fallas, who has headed the Taxation Administration since July 2003 but took on an additional role as Vice-Minister of Finance in May of this year, will stay on as vice-minister.
Finance Minister Federico Carrillo explained in the statement that the change is designed to allow Fonseca to focus all his energies on the Taxation Administration.
“As part of our efforts to increase the income of the government and strengthen the fight against tax evasion, it is important to form a team in which each person has clear and specific tasks,” Carrillo said.
Fonseca has extensive experience within the Finance Ministry. He has served as auditor and coordinator in the ministry's Tax Collection Division, manager of the Major Contributors Division, and director of the General Customs Administration.
The ministry has placed extra emphasis on efforts to reduce tax evasion in recent months. Poor collection of taxes has become an important issue for the Pacheco administration, since critics of the administration's tax plan have argued it does not do enough to improve collection of existing taxes before imposing new ones (TT, Sept. 4).
Fallas and Carrillo have publicized recent crackdowns on tax evasion or Customs fraud (TT, Nov. 5), and last month revived the Fiscal Lottery to encourage Costa Ricans to ask business owners for receipts when they make purchases – one of the most basic forms of tax evasion, according to Carrillo.
Salvadoran Candidate Flores
Confident of OAS Election
Santiago de Chile (EFE) – Former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores says he feels certain he will be the next Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) with the support of Central America, the United States and some South American countries.
“So far, Guatemala , El Salvador , Nicaragua , Costa Rica , Panama , Dominican Republic , Colombia , Ecuador , Uruguay , the United States and possibly Mexico have made a commitment,” Flores said in an interview the Chilean daily La Tercera published yesterday.
In his judgment, Mexican Chancellor Ernesto Derbez's inscription as a candidate is not an act of betrayal, even though President Vicente Fox had promised Flores his support.
“I do not consider it the norm, but I do believe it is quite normal that a country change its position,” he said.
Besides Flores and Derbez, José Miguel Insulza, the Chilean Minister of the Interior, is also a candidate.
“Our candidacies have had major support from different countries from the beginning,” Flores said. “When the Mexican candidate started out, he had Belize and when Minister Insulza started, he was supported by the Argentinean and Brazilian foreign ministries.”
He expressed confidence he will obtain support from Honduras , who initially vetoed his candidacy.
“It is definitive that by a majority I have become Central America 's candidate,” he maintained.
In Flores ' opinion, not all the initial candidates for the position of OAS Secretary General will remain in the race until the election, since some will drop out until only the most firm and well–supported candidates remain.
The OAS will elect its new Secretary General in June to replace former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodríguez, the first Central American ever to hold the position. Rodríguez stepped down after one month in office after he was accused of corruption in Costa Rica (TT, Oct. 15).
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