Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, August 05, 2005
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Puerto Viejo Reggae Bar
Burns to the Ground
To the dismay of all those who have ever enjoyed the Bambú Bar's famous Reggae Night, the bar, in the popular Caribbean beach destination of Puerto Viejo, burned to the ground in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning. No one was hurt.
(Click for more)
San José Mayor Testifies
About Corruption Allegations
He has said it before and he said it again yesterday: “I never received payments from EBI,” San José Mayor Johnny Araya told a legislative commission, referring to allegations that he received a $65,000 payment from the waste-management firm Berthier EBI.
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Fines on Restricted
Driving
Start Today
Today, transit police will begin fining drivers who enter central San José in violation of restrictions based on license plate numbers.
(Click for more)
Legislative Assembly
Elects Ombudswoman
One day shy of two months without a permanent Ombudsman, the Legislative Assembly agreed yesterday to place Dr. Lisbeth Quesada, 53, in the post. Quesada will be sworn in on Tuesday afternoon.
(Click for more)
August 05
Gran Ballet de Kiev
Performing “Carmen Suite,” “The Nutcracker,” “El Corsario,” and “Don Quixote,” Aug. 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Aug. 7 at 4 p.m., tickets at Häagen-Daz, Escazú and Curridabat. Info: 223-1960, 223-10886.
“Let's Play About Reading with Pinocchio” Workshop
Including crafts and games to motivate children's love for reading, Aug. 6, 1-3 p.m., FANAL, CENAC, Av. 3/7, Ca. 11. Info: 221-2154.
Opera Madama Butterfly
With an international cast, including two Japanese sopranos, Aug. 7, 5 p.m.; Aug. 9, 11, 12, 7 p.m., National Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 3/5. Info: 221-1329.
Juggling, Acrobalance, Comedy Festival
By the Sprockets World Tour 1997, Aug. 5-7, 4:45 p.m., Puerto Viejo, Limón, on the beach, in front of Jamin. Info: 391-5191.
Edited By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Puerto Viejo Reggae Bar
Burns to the Ground
By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net
To the dismay of all those who have ever enjoyed the Bambú Bar's famous Reggae Night, the bar, in the popular Caribbean beach destination of Puerto Viejo, burned to the ground in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning. No one was hurt.
According to Puerto Viejo police officer Luis García, thieves may have intentionally started the fire after sacking the bar's safe. However, authorities do not know if anything was stolen because the site was declared a total loss.
“It appears that two thieves gagged and tied up the guard, then threw him into the sea, where police found him,” García told The Tico Times yesterday.
The tenants of the property, a group of four Italians, filed a report Wednesday with the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), who spent Wednesday and yesterday looking for evidence at the site, García said.
Because Puerto Viejo does not have it own fire station, fire fighters had to come from the port city of Limón and took more than an hour arriving at the fire, which was reported at approximately 2 a.m., according to firefighter Gilbert Warren.
“When we arrived, it was going up in flames. The damage was total. There was only one person there at the time, just the guard,” Warren said, adding that the owner of the property is Limón resident Zoila Medrano.
In April, Citizen Action Party (PAC) legislator Edwin Patterson released a statement criticizing the lack of a fire station in the canton of Talamanca, where Puerto Viejo is located (TT, May 6).
In October 2004, U.S. citizen Daniel Loroin, 49, died in a Puerto Viejo house fire when firemen also took one hour to arrive from Limón.
According to Patterson, although a fire truck and ¢20 million (approximately $50,000) had already been set aside to build a fire station in Puerto Viejo, his political opponents blocked the project from happening.
San José Mayor Testifies
About Corruption Allegations
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
He has said it before and he said it again yesterday: “I never received payments from EBI,” San José Mayor Johnny Araya told a legislative commission, referring to allegations that he received a $65,000 payment from the waste-management firm Berthier EBI.
Araya was called before the Legislative Assembly's Public Expenditures Commission to discuss the allegations that he accepted the payment in connection with a multimillion-dollar contract awarded to EBI to operate the capital's only landfill in La Carpio, in western San José (TT, July 22).
During his two-hour testimony, Araya said a report in the daily La Nación that revealed the allegations was written and published with “bad intentions” on the part of the newspaper.
He said a document published in the daily, which allegedly discloses the transfer of payments totaling $112,800 from EBI to Araya and nine other municipal advisors and council members made between 1999 and 2001, is false. Six of the nine people named in the document were city council members who voted to approve the EBI contract to operate La Carpio.
Furthermore, the mayor said reporters manipulated an interview with him to cast suspicion on him.
La Nación reporter Mauricio Herrera, who wrote the story with two other reporters, told The Tico Times after the testimony that what was published in La Nación is the truth. He also said he is not worried about a lawsuit that officials from EBI have said they are in the process of filing against the reporters and La Nación because of the report, which the EBI officials also call false.
Araya asked where the document listing the alleged payments could have come from, and later answered his own question, pointing at the possibility that a political adversary, Luis Ballestero, could be behind it.
Ballestero denied to The Tico Times that the document is false and that he was behind the allegations. He said he knows the source and that the document is real.
For their part, legislators questioned Araya about his personal friendship with EBI de Costa Rica Executive President Juan Carlos Obando. Araya testified that EBI or Obando, he couldn't remember which one exactly, donated $10,000 to his brother Rolando Araya's presidential campaign.
See this Friday's print or online pdf edition of The Tico Times for the full story.
Fines on Restricted Driving
Start Today
Today, transit police will begin fining drivers who enter central San José in violation of restrictions based on license plate numbers.
The fine is ¢5,000 ($10.50).
Under the restrictions, which were decreed by President Abel Pacheco to reduce national fuel consumption by reducing traffic, drivers are restricted one day a week from entering the area from Avenida 9 to Avenida 16 and from Calle 11 to Calle 22, 7-8:30 a.m. and 4-5:30 p.m.
The restrictions are as follows: Monday, license plate numbers that end in 1 and 2; Tuesday, plates that end in 3 and 4; Wednesday, plates that end in 5 and 6; Thursday, plates that end in 7 and 8: Friday, plates that end in 9 and 0.
Police, taxis, buses, vehicles authorized for student transportation, handicap vehicles, fire trucks and other some other vehicles are exempt from the restrictions.
The government plan was sparked when international oil prices reached $60 a barrel.
Transit officers have since Wednesday been distributing informational material to drivers regarding the new restrictions.
Transport Minister Randall Quirós originally said the fines would not begin until Monday, Aug. 8, but upon determining that drivers had been sufficiently informed, decided to begin fines today.
Legislative Assembly
Elects Ombudswoman
One day shy of two months without a permanent Ombudsman, the Legislative Assembly agreed yesterday to place Dr. Lisbeth Quesada, 53, in the post. Quesada will be sworn in on Tuesday afternoon.
Quesada originally studied dramatic arts before getting her doctorate in medicine from the University of Costa Rica. Her focus is palliative medicine, and she formed the first palliative center in Latin America in El Salvador.
Palliative care is a relatively modern branch of clinical medicine that deals with pain and symptom relief, as well as emotional support, for patients with terminal diseases, such as cancer and heart failure.
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