[dailyarchive/2005_01/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, January 19, 2005
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| WASHED Out: Torrential rains on the Caribbean slope Jan. 8-10 caused floods that damaged banana fields such as this one, photographed Jan. 11, on the road to the Panamanian border town of Sixaola. Yesterday, President Abel Pacheco signed a decree declaring workers on damaged banana and plantain farms to be in a state of conditional poverty. The workers will receive subsidies of up to 50% of their salaries for up to two months. |
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Government Offers Subsidies
To Workers Stricken By Floods
In an attempt to mitigate recent floods' effects on workers in Costa Rica's Caribbean coastal region, the government has pledged to provide monthly subsidies to workers on banana plantations destroyed by torrential rains.
(Click for more)
Health Ministry Announces
Tattoo, Piercing Regulations
The Ministry of Health announced yesterday that new regulations designed to ensure that body-piercing facilities meet basic health and hygiene standards are now in effect.
(Click for more)
Central America to Begin Free-Trade
Negotiations with Europe in 2006
Brussels (EFE) – The nations of Central America plan to initiate free-trade negotiations with the European Union in May 2006, the month of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit in Vienna, Austria, according to the Honduran Vice-Minister of Commerce, Irving Guerrero.
(Click for more)
January 19
Making Seals with Paper
A class for all ages, 10 a.m.-noon at the National Museum, Av. 2, Ca. 17. Info: 256-8643.
Musical Potluck Lunada
Bring your family and your instruments to the Biesanz place in San Antonio de Escazú, Sat., Jan. 22 starting at 6:30 p.m. Call 228-5533 for more details and reservations.
Edited By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Government Offers Subsidies
To Workers Stricken By Floods
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
In an attempt to mitigate recent floods' effects on workers in Costa Rica's Caribbean coastal region, the government has pledged to provide monthly subsidies to workers on banana plantations destroyed by torrential rains.
President Abel Pacheco, Presidency Minister Lineth Saborio, Labor Minister Fernando Trejos and Agriculture Minister Rodolfo Coto signed a special decree yesterday at President Abel Pacheco's weekly Cabinet meeting, declaring the workers on affected farms to be in a state of conditional poverty.
According to the document, the Mixed Institute for Social Aid (IMAS) will provide all workers at damaged banana and plátano farms in Limón and Sarapiquí, both cantons on the Caribbean slope, with monthly payments of up to 50% of the minimum salary they would normally receive.
The institute will offer the subsidies for as long as two months, according to the decree. For workers to be eligible, their names must appear on the most recent roster their employer presented to the Social Security System (Caja).
The institute's regional offices in Limón and Heredia will be in charge of distributing the subsidies.
Labor Minister Trejos said the minimum daily wage for the workers is ¢3,903 (approximately $8.55) with a monthly total of approximately ¢100,400 ($219.20).
Luis Diego Morales, president of the National Emergency Commission (CNE), estimated that the floods damaged 6,600 hectares of farmland. Record-breaking rains Jan. 8-10 left many Caribbean-slope residents without housing, clothes and potable water (TT, Jan. 14).
After the Cabinet meeting, Pacheco, Morales and Douglas Barnes, Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.S. Embassy in San José, signed documentation of a $50,000 donation from the U.S. government to Costa Rica for flood relief efforts.
The funds, donated through the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance for Latin America and the Caribbean (OFDA), will be used for air transport to stricken regions, bottled water, food, cleaning wells and other relief efforts, according to an embassy statement.
Embassy spokeswoman Evelyn Ardon told The Tico Times in an e-mail that the U.S. government has made a donation for flood relief efforts in Limón once before, in 2002. The United States also donated equipment for forest fire prevention in the northwestern province of Guanacaste in 2003-4 and funds for earthquake relief efforts in Limón in 1991.
Health Ministry Announces
Tattoo, Piercing Regulations
The Ministry of Health announced yesterday that new regulations designed to ensure that body-piercing facilities meet basic health and hygiene standards are now in effect.
The Regulations for the Operation of Tattoo and Piercing Establishments, which took effect Monday, prohibits body piercing at fairs, beaches, hair and beauty salons, jewelry stores, kiosks or any business not designed specifically for the purpose of providing body piercings, according to a statement from the ministry.
The new regulations also require piercing and tattoo parlors to have a biologically secure recipient for needles, a basic first-aid kit, paper towels and an ultrasonic sterilizer to guarantee that materials and equipment used for invasive procedures are adequately disinfected.
All tattoo inks must be registered with the ministry.
Clients must have access to brochures with information about the risks and possible consequences of the procedures.
According to the statement, tattoo and piercing facilities have three months to comply with the new regulations, which have been published in their entirety in the government newspaper La Gaceta. After the grace period, establishments failing to comply will face sanctions.
Central America to Begin Free-Trade
Negotiations with Europe in 2006
Brussels (EFE) – The nations of Central America plan to initiate free-trade negotiations with the European Union in May 2006, the month of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit in Vienna, Austria, according to the Honduran Vice-Minister of Commerce, Irving Guerrero.
Guerrero, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Central American System of Integration (SICA), which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Belize, is in Brussels to participate in the meeting of the EU-Central American mixed committee.
Participants in the meeting are launching a joint evaluation procedure of the degree of integration of Central American communities, a process designed to lead to future free-trade talks.
The evaluation procedure under way may not produce results until next October, when the mixed committee will meet again, allowing negotiations to begin in May 2006.
The Dominican Republic and Belize, whose commercial relations with the European Union are channeled through the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific-rim (ACP) countries, will not participate in the negotiations.
The Honduran Vice-Minister of the Exterior, Mario Fortín, said a future Free- Trade Agreement with the European Union would make access to the Central American market for Europeans “more predictable and stable,” attracting more investors to the region.
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