[dailyarchive/2005_01/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, January 14, 2005
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| TEAM work: Red Cross volunteer Carmen Valerín passes a bag of donated food down a human chain to be loaded into truck destined for flood victims in the Caribbean. The Red Cross office in central San José has received food and cleaning supplies for the victims of the flood, in which four people died and more than 8,500 were evacuated. Donations are being accepted throughout the country (see article). |
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Proposed 4% Salary Increase
Irrational, Say Labor Unions
Union officials said yesterday the administration of President Abel Pacheco is trying to “provoke” them into confrontation by offering what they call an “irrational” 4% salary increase for state employees.
(Click for more)
Donations Requested to Help
Caribbean Flood Victims
Thousands of people on the Caribbean slope are returning to homes rinsed clean of possessions this week after floods devastated 200 communities throughout the region.
(Click for more)
Ex-President Rodríguez
Criticizes Prosecutor's Office
Former President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002), who has been serving a preventive detention order since Oct. 30, 2004, has denounced alleged “scandalous violations” of his basic rights by the Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating him on charges of corruption.
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Beloved Educator
Dies at 95
Uladislao Gámez, considered “one of the pillars of Costa Rican education,” died Wednesday, according to a statement released yesterday by the Ministry of Public Education.
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January 14
Costa Rica Slopestyle 2005
Slide into the first mountainboard competition ever in Costa Rica, a non-profit event that will attract local and international athletes, spectators and sponsors, today at noon, Barreal de Heredia Dirtboard Track. Info: chadincr@yahoo.com or www.crdirt.4t.com
National Astronomy Day
In preparation for the solar eclipse on April 8, the public is invited to take part in an educational open house at the National Museum in San José Sunday, National Astronomy Day. Activities begin at 2 p.m. and will include educational lectures and constellation observations. Entrance is free of charge. Info: 257-1433.
Panamanian Concert in Palmares
The Panamanian band Los Rabanes will perform at the Palmares fiestas Sunday, and is scheduled to sign autographs at Arenas Store in Los Yoses on Monday, at 2:30 p.m.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
The U.S. Embassy and Consulate in San José will be closed Monday, Jan. 17 to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., leader and civil rights defender.
Edited By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Proposed 4% Salary Increase
Irrational, Say Labor Unions
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Union officials said yesterday the administration of President Abel Pacheco is trying to “provoke” them into confrontation by offering what they call an “irrational” 4% salary increase for state employees.
“We think they can offer more, but they want to confront us. They want to see if we can take the streets,” said Edgar Morales, adjunct secretary general for the National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP).
Morales said union leaders will not immediately call for public protests or demonstrations, which they used last year to pressure the government into a higher salary increase for the country's approximately 160,000 public employees.
“Because of the emergency situation in Limón right now, it wouldn't be fair,” he said. Flooding in the approximately 200 communities in the Caribbean slope, including the port city Limón, caused four deaths and more than 8,500 people to be evacuated earlier this week.
He said union leaders will meet to discuss how they will respond to the proposed 4% salary increase, which came after three meetings between government and union officials.
Union leaders were asking for an increase of between 11.62-13.13%. The higher figure matches inflation last year, which closed out 2004 at 13.13%
Labor Minister Fernando Trejos told the daily La Nación each percentage point approved amounts to a cost for the government of ¢10.6 billion ($23 million).
Trejos maintains the government cannot afford a larger increase, particularly considering they will have to negotiate another increase in the second semester.
When the second-semester salary increase was being negotiated in August of last year, talks broke down after the government offered a final 4.5% increase to unions leaders' demand for a 6.26% increase.
Unions took to the streets to protest, and were joined by truckers' association protesting mandatory vehicle technical inspections, in a week of demonstrations and roadblocks that paralyzed parts of the country (TT, Aug. 27, 2004).
To end the protests, the government agreed to a 5% increase, which calmed the unions but spurred an avalanche of resignations of government leaders, particularly members of Pacheco's economic team who objected to the additional increase (TT, Sept. 3, 10, 2004).
Donations Requested to Help
Caribbean Flood Victims
By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
Thousands of people on the Caribbean slope are returning to homes rinsed clean of possessions this week after floods devastated 200 communities throughout the region.
To lend them a hand, the National Emergency Commission (CNE), the Costa Rican Red Cross, the Corporación Supermercados Unidos, Channel 7 TV, private and state banks and Costa Rican scout groups have issued a call for donations for the victims.
Palí, Más x Menos, Hipermás and Maxibodega supermarkets throughout the country – 126 locations in total – are collecting non-perishable food items and supplies today through Sunday.
Today, Channel 7 TV will hold a televised donation marathon on a stage in front of the National Stadium from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Private and national banks Banco Nacional, Banco Interfín, BAC San José and Banex are accepting donations in an account called “ Ayuda Caribe ” (Caribbean Aid).
Volunteers from the Costa Rican Red Cross and scout groups are helping with the collection and organization of the donations. The scouts will collect donations door-to-door Saturday, and all the donations will be stored in the emergency commission's distribution center in the Central Valley before emergency workers deliver them where they are needed.
Supplies needed include: personal hygiene products such as toothpaste and brushes, soap, diapers, toilet paper, sanitary pads and tampons; canned foods and dry goods like beans, rice, pasta, sugar, coffee, salt, powdered milk (and canned milk) and bottled water. The commission will not accept clothes or medicines, and money is only accepted at the banks.
The Red Cross is also collecting donations, including the above items as well as clothes in good condition, rubber boots, blankets, laundry and cleaning detergents, and kitchen supplies. Donations can be delivered to local Red Cross centers.
Monetary donations to the Red Cross can be made to Banco Nacional at the account 100-100-7, Banco Popular at 5000-8, Banco de Costa Rica at 176-00303 (in colones) and 204-6 (in dollars). For information call the San José center at 233-7033.
Ex-President Rodríguez
Criticizes Prosecutor's Office
Former President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002), who has been serving a preventive detention order since Oct. 30, 2004, has denounced alleged “scandalous violations” of his basic rights by the Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating him on charges of corruption.
Rodríguez made this statement in a letter to the Costa Rican Lawyers' Association. The letter, which asks for a response from the association, was published yesterday in the daily press.
In the letter, the former President – who was also the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) for one month before he stepped down Oct. 15, 2004, to return to Costa Rica and face corruption allegations – said he hopes to be judged in the courts “in a process aligned with the law” and that he is not “condemned and lynched” by public opinion.
Rodríguez added that when crucial witnesses provided testimony to the Prosecutor's Office, “a few minutes later (the testimony) was in the hands of the media.”
“They have given the media transcriptions of proceedings that should only be used in court,” Rodríguez said in the letter as published today in the daily La Prensa Libre.
The ex-President accused Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall'Anese of a “dangerous” desire for attention, manipulating the media, and creating a spectacle upon Rodríguez's return to influence both public opinion and judges.
When Rodríguez arrived in Costa Rica on Oct. 15 of last year, he was immediately handcuffed and transported to court in a paddy wagon (TT, Oct. 22, 2004). A judge ordered him to house arrest, and two weeks later he was ordered to six months of preventive prison.
“I ask that (the Lawyer's Association) take a position about these facts... and that the public know that we lawyers are not simply spectators when our democracy is put in danger,” Rodríguez said.
Rafael Gairaud, Rodríguez's defense attorney, said the letter was presented last week and no response has been received.
Rodríguez is accused of accepting illegal payments from various sources, including global telecommunications firm Alcatel, which obtained a lucrative government contract in 2001.
--EFE
Uladislao Gámez, considered “one of the pillars of Costa Rican education,” died Wednesday, according to a statement released yesterday by the Ministry of Public Education.
“Don Lalo,” as he was popularly known, served the country's schools in various roles: as a primary teacher at the Escuela Antonio Gámez in the Pacific port town of Puntarenas, among various other schools; as director of the Escuela Mixta de Esparza, near Puntarenas; and as a three-time Minister of Public Education (1948-49, 1953-58 and 1970-74).
Gámez is credited with developing the Fundamental Education Law, approved in 1957, among other achievements.
Current Education Minister Manuel Antonio Bolaños said in the statement that the educator “leaves a permanent mark on our educational system...the nation will keep him always.”
According to a statement from Universidad Nacional, the public university Gámez helped found in Heredia, north of San José, a wake was held yesterday afternoon on the university campus.
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