[dailyarchive/2005_03/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, March 29, 2005
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Unusual One-Man Protest
Gets Results
A careful inspection of noise standards at the country's evangelical churches, to be conducted by the Public Health Ministry, Ombudsman José María Echandi and Legislative Assembly member Carlos Avendaño, is scheduled to begin this week – the result of an unusual one-man protest Avendaño staged March 18 before the government went on a week's vacation for Semana Santa (Easter Holy Week).
(Click for more)
Man Convicted of Killing
U.S. Citizen Absolved of Crime
A Costa Rican man sentenced to 35 years in prison for the murder of a retired U.S. citizen at a beach on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica has been absolved of the charges by the Penal Branch of the Supreme Court (Sala III) after having served 16 months in prison.
(Click for more)
Paraíso is GMO-Free
The town of Paraíso , in the eastern province of Cartago , has declared itself the first transgenic-free territory in Costa Rica , the Central American Alliance for Biodiversity Protection announced yesterday.
(Click for more)
March 29
Mexican Groups Perform
Three Mexican music groups will perform this week in San José . The choir La Rondalla , accompanied by guitar and accordion, will sing tonight at 6 p.m. at FANAL. A women's choir will perform tomorrow at 11 a .m. in room 107 of the University of Costa Rica 's School of Music , and a jazz group will play tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the Mexico Institute in Los Yoses. All presentations are free.
Concert by Senderos Group
Performance begins at 5 p.m. today at the National Amusement Park in La Uruca , 2 km . west of Hospital México.
Low-Cost Dog and Cat Spaying
The National Association for Animal Protection (ANPA) will spay dogs and cats today at a low cost, in San Antonio de Coronado. Info: 245-3027.
Edited By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Unusual One-Man Protest
Gets Results
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
A careful inspection of noise standards at the country's evangelical churches, to be conducted by the Public Health Ministry, Ombudsman José María Echandi and Legislative Assembly member Carlos Avendaño, is scheduled to begin this week – the result of an unusual one-man protest Avendaño staged March 18 before the government went on a week's vacation for Semana Santa (Easter Holy Week).
The congressman expressed his opposition to the Health Ministry's closures of evangelical churches, not by staging a march or a boycott, but by setting a ladder beside the National Monument near the assembly building, climbing atop it, and refusing to come down until the ministry acceded to his demands.
The National Restoration Party's only legislator and his supporters say the ministry has unfairly closed evangelical churches, which the ministry says do not comply with basic health, noise and parking requirements, throughout the past year.
Supporter Edgar Sánchez told The Tico Times 80 churches have been closed down nationwide since January 2004.
“They are focusing on Christian (non-Catholic) churches,” Sánchez said, adding the ministry does not uphold such strict standards for churches of the nation's official Catholic religion or other establishments, including bars.
The recent closure of a church in the northern San José suburb of Tibás, by ministry officials who entered the church during a service, was the final straw that prompted Avendaño's protest, Sánchez added.
Avendaño, cheered on by his wife and a small group of supporters, climbed the statue shortly after 4 p.m. March 18, just before the assembly closed down for Easter Holy Week. As darkness fell, a curious crowd gathered. So, too, did a large contingent of police officers, rescue teams, ambulances and even a crane, for a total cost the daily Al Día estimated at ¢850,000 ($1,824).
Red Cross workers took Avendaño's blood pressure – he suffers from hypertension, Sánchez said – and brought him water and coffee, with Avendaño never letting go of a handmade sign reading, “No More Church Closings.”
Meanwhile, on the ground, Ombudsman Echandi, who told The Tico Times Avendaño called him Friday morning to inform him of his plan, paced back and forth in a crowd of Avendaño's supporters, his hands pressed to his ears. In one hand, he held a cell phone on which he spoke to the Vice-Minister of Health, Delia Villalobos; in the other, he held a walkie-talkie to communicate the progress of the negotiations to Avendaño.
Onlookers' reactions varied. Many people knelt to pray, while others simply took in the strange spectacle or cheered Avendaño on.
“Bravo, diputado ,” one man yelled. “That's how we do it!”
“Don't come down until gas prices get lower!” shouted another.
He didn't wait that long. At approximately 9:20 p.m., Avendaño did come down, after the ministry provided a written document outlining the elements of the agreement that had been reached.
In the agreement, the Health Ministry promised to reopen the churches that have been closed, and to begin a study of noise levels in churches that will include Echandi's and Avendaño's participation.
Man Convicted of Killing
U.S. Citizen Absolved of Crime
A Costa Rican man sentenced to 35 years in prison for the murder of a retired U.S. citizen at a beach on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica has been absolved of the charges by the Penal Branch of the Supreme Court (Sala III) after having served 16 months in prison.
“In this case there were negative elements since he was in preventive detention, but there was the fallback option through the appeal. That is to say, there was a control that allowed for the correction of the mistake,” Judge Fernando Cruz told Radio Monumental.
Jorge Martín, 44, a former banana worker, unofficial taxi driver and shop assistant, was sentenced Sept. 23, 2004, for the death of 76-year-old U.S. hotel owner, Percy Lee Wilhelm.
Wilhelm was found dead Oct. 27, 2003, in his house in Playa Naranjo, on the Nicoya Peninsula in the central Pacific zone. He had died from brutal blows with a blunt weapon and asphyxiation (TT, Oct. 1, 2004).
After Gutiérrez was charged with the crime, his defense team appealed before the Sala III, which declared him innocent March 18 with a vote that leads to his immediate release.
Gutiérrez was implicated in the case by a cell phone that police say was stolen from Wilhelm the day of his death.
The phone was found in a San José pawnshop, the owner of which claimed Gutiérrez had sold it to him. The owner's testimony led to Gutiérrez's conviction, though a DNA comparison of Gutiérrez and hairs found at the scene of the crime proved negative.
Gutiérrez told the daily La Nación it all came down to revenge, as years ago he and the pawnshop owner had problems and the owner had warned him he would pay him back one day.
--EFE
The town of Paraíso , in the eastern province of Cartago , has declared itself the first transgenic-free territory in Costa Rica , the Central American Alliance for Biodiversity Protection announced yesterday.
“The Paraíso Municipal Council declared itself the first transgenic-free territory in the country last March 21,” said a statement from the alliance.
According to the statement, “the municipal vice-president of Paraíso, David Valverde, presented a motion to declare the town transgenic-free, which was approved unanimously.”
“We share the happiness of being able to say the town of Paraíso is an exemplary model in protecting our natural and genetic resources, as well as the environment in general,” Valverde said.
Paraíso is an agricultural town dedicated principally to the production of vegetables and roots such as potatoes.
The approved motion includes “a declaration to prohibit growth of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in the town, as well as a campaign to educate and inform people about the risks and impact of transgenics on health and the environment.”
The alliance's statement added there are “hundreds of voices that call for the urgent application of the cautionary principle that points to the establishment of moratoriums and transgenic-free areas in the country.”
In Costa Rica , a group of environmental activists and indigenous groups belonging to the Network of Biodiversity Coordination are demanding a moratorium from the government to impede production of GMOs until their effects on the environment and human health are known (TT, Feb. 25).
Transgenics are products whose genetic structure is modified in laboratories to make them resistant to plagues or to have certain traits they could not develop naturally.
According to official statistics, Costa Rica has approximately 1,450 hectares of transgenic crops, mainly corn and cotton, used for production of seeds exported by transnational companies.
--EFE
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