[dailyarchive/2005_04/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, April 01, 2005
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Project Launched to
Combat Illegal Felling
The Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) yesterday launched an ambitious project to control illegal logging, which produces an estimated 35% of all lumber sold in Costa Rica.
(Click for more)
Coca-Cola Bottler Fined
For Monopolistic Practices
The government's Competition Promotion Commission ratified a sentence yesterday against the company FEMSA, which bottles and sells Coca-Cola in Costa Rica . The commission ordered FEMSA to pay a $145,000 fine for monopolistic practices.
(Click for more)
U.S. Ophthalmologists
To Visit Ciudad Quesada
Starting today and continuing through April 15, a group of ophthalmologists from the United States will be offering their services free of charge in the hospital of Ciudad Quesada , also known as San Carlos , in north-central Costa Rica .
(Click for more)
April 01
Amubis Festival 2005
Saturday: 6:30-7 p.m., parade, 7:30 p.m., Show Ancestros, 8:30 p.m., Show by Octavo group. Sunday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m., traditional games, 2 p.m., Show La Mogiganga, 3 p.m., concert by Azúl Silencio, 3:30 p.m., Son Urbano, salsa concert, craft fair, 6:30 p.m., opening of the Exhibit of the Jesús Jiménez Academy, 7 p.m., Poetry Recital, 7:30 p.m., Concert by Natalia Esquivel; 8 p.m., Flor Urbina, 8:30 p.m., Play. April 4: 6:30 p.m., Costa Rican Film Presentation, 7 p.m., Magic show, 8 p.m., Play Los Tres Mundos. April 5: 6:30 p.m., Documentary, 7 p.m., Play El Tunel, 7:30 p.m., Folklore dances, 8 p.m., Play Divinidad Pájara. April 6: 6:30 p.m., Costa Rican film show, 7 p.m., Poetry Recital, 7:30 p.m., Ballet Show, 8 p.m., Concert Honoring The Beatles, 8:30 p.m., Popular Dance Show. April 7: 6:30 p.m., Films for Children, 7 p.m., Dance Show, 8 p.m., Play Zuzanka. April 8: Central American Singing Recital. April 9: 10 a.m., kite workshop, 1 p.m., circus show, 2 p.m., Play Caperucita en la Ciudad, 3:30 p.m., Rock concert, 7 p.m., Closing Concert. All presentations are on the south side of the soccer field in San Isidro de El Guarco, Cartago.
Sports Day
Competitions, demonstrations and special events, Sunday in La Sabana Park. Info: 284-8716
Andersen's Fair
Fair celebrates Hans Christian Andersen's 200 anniversary, and includes storytelling shows, movies, books, ballet show and more, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday at FANAL, National Culture Center (CENAC), Av. 3/7, Ca. 11, 257-5524. Club de Libros will be collecting books for Maleku Indian kids at the fair; people can also drop them off at the Cámara del Libro, 100 m. south, 100 m. east of Casa Italia, Los Yoses. Info: 305-6074.
Edited By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Project Launched to
Combat Illegal Felling
By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net
The Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) yesterday launched an ambitious project to control illegal logging, which produces an estimated 35% of all lumber sold in Costa Rica.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) financed the project, called the Strategy for Control of Illegal Felling (ECTI), through a $257,000 donation to the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), part of the Environment Ministry.
ECTI coordinator Juan José Jiménez told journalists at a press conference yesterday at the San José Palacio Hotel, in the capital, that the project's main objective is to “strengthen the Environment Ministry and other key institutions involved in the project's efficient implementation to prevent, control and mitigate the economic, social and environmental impact of illegal felling.”
The project contemplates the training of 20 SINAC forestry officials, research, and a communications campaign through a series of radio shorts and documentaries for environmental education.
The project also includes the implementation of new technologies to control wood transportation through tracking devices.
Funds from the project were already used to purchase 38 hand-held computers in February. The Foundation for Development of the Central Volcanic Mountain Range (FUNDECOR) hosts a Web site containing a computerized felling-detection system. The system is the product of an agreement signed last September (TT Daily Page, Feb. 16).
“It may seem strange for FAO to be involved in illegal felling, but this matter is not just environmental. It is a social and economic global problem, and the United Nations is in charge of combating injustice in rural areas,” said FAO forestry official Eduardo Mansur, also present at the conference.
The U.N. official said FAO became involved in the 18-month project after President Abel Pacheco visited the FAO headquarters in Rome requesting the organization's support.
In his opening speech at the conference, Environment Minister Carlos Manuel Rodríguez said the present government has placed a strong emphasis on putting an end to illegal tree cutting.
According to the minister, the discussion should not center on whether logging should be eradicated completely, but should focus on the common enemy: illegal felling.
To help detect illegal logging and collaborate in the protection of Costa Rica 's natural resources, visit the FUNDECOR Web site at www.fundecor.org
Coca-Cola Bottler Fined
For Monopolistic Practices
The government's Competition Promotion Commission ratified a sentence yesterday against the company FEMSA, which bottles and sells Coca-Cola in Costa Rica . The commission ordered FEMSA to pay a $145,000 fine for monopolistic practices.
“The case has been resolved, and notification was released (Wednesday),” interim commission director Isaura Guillén said yesterday.
The case began in 2001, when Pepsico Inc., which represents the Pepsi soda brand in Costa Rica , and other small soft-drink bottling companies denounced FEMSA before the commission for trying to build a monopoly.
“The Coca-Cola bottling firm had signed various exclusivity contracts” that prohibited Coca-Cola vendors from selling Pepsi, Guillén said.
FEMSA was also in the practice of releasing lists with “suggested prices” for its products, which “was a form of imposing prices” on the local market, which is illegal, Guillén added.
In addition, the firm did not allow vendors to place other soft-drink brands in refrigerators bearing the Coca-Cola logo, even though vendors had to buy the refrigerators themselves.
The commission ordered Coca-Cola to suspend these practices and imposed the $145,000 fine in June 2004, but the company presented various appeals in August. The commission rejected those appeals Feb. 8 of this year, but did not notify the parties of the decision until Wednesday.
The Competition Promotion Commission is under the aegis of the Minister of the Economy, and is empowered to make decisions regarding commercial competition independently.
--ACAN-EFE
U.S. Ophthalmologists
To Visit Ciudad Quesada
Starting today and continuing through April 15, a group of ophthalmologists from the United States will be offering their services free of charge in the hospital of Ciudad Quesada , also known as San Carlos , in north-central Costa Rica .
The doctors are from Unit 59 of the U.S. Air Force and, in a humanitarian effort, will attend patients on the hospital's waiting lists. Their services for patients will include vision exams, diagnosis, eye surgery and others, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in San José .
The team, headed by Dr. Richard Lane , is made up of four ocular surgeons, two assistants and an anesthesiologist.
For more information, call the embassy's press office (220-2441) or the Ciudad Quesada Hospital (401-1200).
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