Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 05, 2005
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Hotel Owner Denounces
Forced Removal
Accusing the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) and local police with theft and disregard of human rights, Jan Kalina, the owner of the controversial Hotel Las Palmas resort in Manzanillo on the southern Caribbean coast, which was forcibly evacuated last week (TT, Sept. 30), vowed yesterday to pursue legal action against the authorities responsible.
(Click for more)
Costa Rican Remains
Under Arrest in Nicaragua
The Costa Rican Embassy in Nicaragua is continuing to assist a Costa Rican arrested Sunday by Nicaraguan authorities near the border between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry reported yesterday.
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Woman Dies After
Landslide Buries Her Home
One woman is dead after a small hill broke loose and the resulting landslide buried her house, located in Naranjo, 50 kilometers northwest of San José, where moderately intense rains caused flooding, according to a emergency response worker.
(Click for more)
October 05
8th International Symposium
of Freedom and Poetry:
Features a magic show by Alejandro Navas tonight at 9 p.m. and a puppet show at 9:30 p.m. at Café Arte/Taller del Artista, Tres Ríos.
Presentation Concert of the Album “ Costa Rica Reggae Night”
Tonight the bands Native Culture, Mekatelyu, Pushin' and Bamaselo are playing as part of the presentation of the new disc by Papaya Music, at Jazz Café, San Pedro. Info : 225-2492.
Voices of the World Choir Concert
Performing tonight, two contemporary operas, “Trouble in Tahiti ” by Leonard Bernstein and “The Face on the Barroom Floor” by Henry Mollicone at 8 p.m., at the National Auditorium, Children's Museum. Info: 250-7373.
Edited By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net
Hotel Owner Denounces
Forced Removal
By Scott J. Krischke
editorial@ticotimes.net
Accusing the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) and local police with theft and disregard of human rights, Jan Kalina, the owner of the controversial Hotel Las Palmas resort in Manzanillo on the southern Caribbean coast, which was forcibly evacuated last week (TT, Sept. 30), vowed yesterday to pursue legal action against the authorities responsible.
“There were troops coming across the roofs, showing up as if they were about to go to war,” said Kalina, who presented reporters with photographs of last week's eviction at a press conference in San José. “This isn't a war, this is my hotel. It (was) filled with relaxing tourists and me walking around in shorts with a cup of coffee in my hand.”
The order of evacuation, to be executed by MINAE, was approved July 6 by the Inter-Institutional Eviction Commission of the Ministry of the Presidency as a result of 12 years of accusations and studies from environmental groups accusing Kalina of causing ecological damage to the neighboring Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (TT Aug. 19).
Kalina, however, says that MINAE seized his hotel for economic purposes, as opposed to environmental ones.
According to Kalina, MINAE officials and local police entered the hotel at the scheduled eviction time of 9:30 a.m., forced scared tourists staying at the hotel into the street and stole his supply inventory in order to be able to loot anything located within the hotel.
Kalina also accused MINAE and the responding officers of then stealing alcohol, food and electronic appliances in the rooms, as well as physically assaulting his wife, vandalizing the building and leaving doors and windows open to potential thieves.
“An eviction has a certain process,” said Paula Mora, Mr. Kalina's lawyer. “That process must be in respect to private property and one that does not involve violence… It's unbelievable that the country of Costa Rica would do something like this, especially with all the money earned from tourism. All these tourists left the country horrified with what had happened.”
On Sept. 29, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) ruled that MINAE should not have gone through with the forced evacuation until a ruling had been made on an appeal filed earlier by Kalina, the daily La Nación reported.
Costa Rican Remains
Under Arrest in Nicaragua
The Costa Rican Embassy in Nicaragua is continuing to assist a Costa Rican arrested Sunday by Nicaraguan authorities near the border between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry reported yesterday.
Nicaraguan authorities arrested Diego Ortiz, a Costa Rican police officer working on a farm near the northern border, for “migratory reasons,” according to a statement from the ministry.
“The Costa Rican embassy in Nicaragua reported it is assisting a Costa Rican citizen who has been detained in Nicaragua since Sunday, and is working to protect his rights,” the statement added.
Ortiz, 35, was caught in Nicaraguan territory near the Costa Rican border together with Nicaraguans Julio Hilario García, 27, and Fredy Alexis Laguna, 30.
“Gerardo Zúñiga, consul general of Costa Rica, said he will visit the arrested man to ensure that his rights are being respected,” the ministry reported.
Ortiz was arrested in an area where border crossings are easy, Security Ministry Rogelio Ramos said. “The three of them were in Nicaraguan territory trying to walk around a wetland, which could only be done on the Nicaraguan side,” he said.
Official sources said Ortiz did not have a weapon and was not wearing a uniform because he was working on a farm.
The arrest occurred after Costa Rica announced it would take a dispute over the San Juan River, which divides the two countries and belongs to Nicaragua, to the International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands (TT, Sept. 30).
In response to the announcement, Nicaragua stepped up its police presence on the border and reiterated its position that no Costa Rican police officers could leave Costa Rican shores on the river while armed.
-ACAN-EFE
See this week's print or pdf edition of The Tico Times, available now on newsstands or online, for more on the river conflict.
Woman Dies After
Landslide Buries Her Home
One woman is dead after a small hill broke loose and the resulting landslide buried her house, located in Naranjo, 50 kilometers northwest of San José, where moderately intense rains caused flooding, according to a emergency response worker.
A Red Cross spokesperson told ACAN-EFE today that the woman is Maureen Arroyo, age 36.
“The landslide occurred because of erosion and saturation of the soil. We cannot categorically respond directly to the rains in the area, but they could be the cause,” the spokesperson said.
Although the weather showed notable improvement in the early hours of yesterday morning, showers in the Northern Zone and on the Pacific increased in the afternoon.
For this reason, the National Emergency Commission (CNE) maintains a green alert (preventative) in those areas, but declared a red alert (maximum) in various cantons in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.
Oscar Gutiérrez, CNE representative in Guanacaste, told the press that because of the showers the organization has had to house some 570 people in 12 shelters, among which “we have 15 children with respiratory problems.”
On Monday night, authorities evacuated 400 people after various rivers flooded in Guanacaste.
“Sunday's rains provoked various incidents in Abangares, Cañas and Filadelfia in the province of Guancaste and la Union, central Cartago and Curridabat in the Central Valley,” a CNE statement said.
On Sept. 27, President Abel Pacheco signed a national emergency decree in order to expedite the transfer of resources to attend to the damages caused by the rain showers that affected Costa Rica the weekend of Sept. 24-25 (TT, Sept. 30).
Infrastructure damages from that weekend, principally in the Northern Zone and the Pacific, rose to nearly $20 million. In addition, some 1,900 people were evacuated, of which 1,139 were housed in 35 shelters due to the intense flooding caused by the storm.
Currently, CNE reports that 759 evacuees from that weekend remain in shelters.
According to information provided by the National Meteorological Institute, the tropical storm Stan, which is off the Yucatan Peninsula, is affecting the Pacific slope of Costa Rica, principally Guanacaste, with moderate rains.
-ACAN-EFE
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