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06 Dic 2005

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, December 06, 2005

JUNGLEMAN Race: Competitors participate in last year's International Marathon and Half-Marathon, an annual race that covers a total of 63 kilometers from the Caribbean beach destination of Puerto Viejo to Cahuita National Park. This year's event, the race's third edition, will take place next Saturday. For more information, call 225-8295 or visit the Web site www.adventurerace.com.
Photo courtesy of Ruta de los Conquistadores

Award for Environment Minister
Unleashes Controversy
Costa Rican environmentalists and dailies questioned the naming of Environment Minister Carlos Manuel Rodríguez as Best Minister in Latin America and the Caribbean during a conference in Caracas last month.
(Click for more)

Poll Reveals Political Parties
Unlikely to Dominate Assembly
It may be “difficult” for any party to achieve a majority in the Legislative Assembly (29 of 57 legislators), after the Feb. 5, 2006 general elections, according to the results of an Unimer-RI poll released yesterday.
(Click for more)

Environmental Children's Art
Competition Open for Submissions
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has invited Costa Rican children and residents between the ages of six and 14 as of June 5, 2006 to participate with children from around the world in the 15 th annual International Children's Painting Competition, according to a statement from UNEP headquarters in Mexico.
(Click for more)

December 06

Newcomers Club for English-Speaking Women Christmas Party and General Meeting
With the Country Day Preschool Choir, Dec. 6, 9:30 a.m. Info: 232-3999, carol@pianopathway.com.

“9/11 Exposed”
Special showing of “Loose Change,” a documentary about 9/11, at 6:45 p.m., at Big Mike's Private Dinner Club and B-and-B, Escazú. Info: 289-6333.

Anthropologists' Congress
Everyone interested in the field is invited to participate, Dec. 6-8, at State University at a Distance (UNED), road to Sabanilla. Info: 233-0679.

Edited By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff
lbaxter@ticotimes.net

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Award for Environment Minister
Unleashes Controversy
By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net

Costa Rican environmentalists and dailies questioned the naming of Environment Minister Carlos Manuel Rodríguez as Best Minister in Latin America and the Caribbean during a conference in Caracas last month.

Environmentalist and Universidad Nacional (UNA) scholar Freddy Pacheco said Rodríguez lied during an interview published in the daily Diario Extra on Nov. 12, in which he announced he was selected from among 25 environmental ministers present at the 15 th Latin American and Caribbean Environment Minister Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, an activity organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

“All the information I have shows this prize does not exist, it was made up, it is a lie,” Pacheco told The Tico Times yesterday.

In addition, the daily La República published in its Dec. 1 humor section that one of its readers tried to find proof of Rodriguez's nomination, and found none.

However, The Tico Times yesterday contacted UNEP regional headquarters in Mexico, where spokeswoman Mariana Amescua confirmed that Rodríguez received the award during the forum held on November 3 rd and 4 th.

Amescua explained the distinction is awarded on the internal level annually during the gatherings.

Patricia Alpízar, head of the press office at the Ministry of Energy and the Environment (MINAE), agreed that Rodríguez earned the distinction and said for the moment MINAE would offer no comment on the controversy.

“Offering a reply (to the accusations) would be like joining a game we have no interest in taking part in,” she said, adding that Rodríguez might comment on this in the future.

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Poll Reveals Political Parties
Unlikely to Dominate Assembly

It may be “difficult” for any party to achieve a majority in the Legislative Assembly (29 of 57 legislators), after the Feb. 5, 2006 general elections, according to the results of an Unimer-RI poll released yesterday.

According to the inquiry, published in the daily “ La Nación,” among those who have decided to vote, about 39% support legislators of the National Liberation Party (PLN), whose presidential candidate, Oscar Arias, appears as the favorite in recent polls. Approximately 20% support the Citizens Action Party (PAC), 13% support the Libertarian Movement Party (ML), 9% back the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), and 5% support the emerging Union for Change Party (UPC).

Based on these results, it would be difficult for Liberation to attain a majority in the elections, though such an outcome is certainly possible, La Nación reported. In addition, the poll reveals that Unity, now the ruling party, is likely to become a minority party.

--ACAN-EFE

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Environmental Children's Art
Competition Open for Submissions

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has invited Costa Rican children and residents between the ages of six and 14 as of June 5, 2006 to participate with children from around the world in the 15 th annual International Children's Painting Competition, according to a statement from UNEP headquarters in Mexico.

Children are invited to express their hopes and fears regarding the future of the world's deserts in this year's painting competition, a theme adopted because 2006 was declared the International Year of Deserts and Desertification, the statement said.

First-prize winners on the regional level and a grand winner will receive a cash prize and a trip for themselves and an adult to the official World Environment Day 2006 celebration, whose location has yet to be announced. Prizes also include diplomas, T-shirts and drawing games, among others.

The winning paintings will be exhibited at various sites in Japan and other countries, as well as on the UNEP and FGPE Web sites. In the past, winning paintings have been used for UNEP postcards, calendars and publications distributed around the world, the statement said.

After the contest, all works will be stored at the National Ethnology Museum in Osaka, Japan.

The contest, organized by UNEP, the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE), Bayer AG and Nikon Corporation, has been held since 1990 and received more than 160,000 submissions from children in over 100 countries.

Works must be submitted to the corresponding UNEP regional office by Jan. 20.

For contest guidelines and information on where and how to submit the paintings, visit: http://unep.org/tunza/paintcomp15

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