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13 Dic 2005 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, December 13, 2005
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Fugitives Escape
La Reforma Penitentiary
Two inmates sentenced for homicide escaped from La Reforma Penitentiary, in the province of Alajuela, on Saturday, according to Reinaldo Villalobos, associate director of social adaptation at the Ministry of Justice.
(Click for more)
Organization Promotes Sending
Remittances to Nicaragua
The Latin American Development Fund (FOLADE) is encouraging Nicaraguans to invest or save part of the remittances they send to their country from Costa Rica to contribute to their families' development.
(Click for more)
More than One-Third of Families
Are the Victims of Crimes
A member of 38.7% of Costa Rican families became the victim of a crime in 2004 – nearly double the 20% registered in 1986, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study released yesterday.
(Click for more)
December 13
Showing of Videos
Free showing of videos made by students of TV Directing, tonight at 8 p.m. at the Mini-Auditorium of the Social Sciences Building at the University of Costa Rica campus in San Pedro.
The Nutcracker
The famous classic dance show is being performed Dec. 13-17, at 7 p.m. and Dec. 11, 18, at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., at the National Theater. Info: 221-5341.
Benefit Dance
Everyone is welcome to a night of dancing to the tunes of Los de la Calle, Gerardo and Los Hicsos and Revelación Bands to collect money to contribute to reconstruction costs of Hospital Calderón Guardia, partially destroyed in a fire earlier this year. Organized by the Foundation for Cancer Patients, El Tobogán dance hall. Entrance fee is ¢2,000.
Edited By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
Fugitives Escape
La Reforma Penitentiary
By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net
Two inmates sentenced for homicide escaped from La Reforma Penitentiary, in the province of Alajuela, on Saturday, according to Reinaldo Villalobos, associate director of social adaptation at the Ministry of Justice.
After fleeing, one of the fugitives, Charleston Hernández, 18, turned himself in at the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) office in the province of Heredia on Sunday, Villalobos said yesterday.
“He said he regretted his action. I imagine he did not find what he hoped for (outside), or that his family urged him to turn himself in,” Villalobos told The Tico Times, adding that Hernández did not provide any information on the whereabouts of Michael Inglish, 20, the other fugitive who remains on the run.
Prison guards noted their absence Saturday at 1 a.m. while making their routine rounds.
Hernández, 18, was immediately taken back to La Reforma 's young adult section to continue serving the remaining five years of his seven-year sentence.
Inglish had been completing a 15-year sentence at the young adult section since 2001.
Both fugitives committed the crimes they were convicted for as minors, Villalobos said.
Authorities suspect Inglish may have fled to the metropolitan area. He may be avoiding the Caribbean province of Limón, where both fugitives are from, because he is widely known in that area, Channel 6 News reported.
Organization Promotes Sending
Remittances to Nicaragua
The Latin American Development Fund (FOLADE) is encouraging Nicaraguans to invest or save part of the remittances they send to their country from Costa Rica to contribute to their families' development.
FOLADE director Edgar Zurita explained at a press conference yesterday that the organization is promoting a program to make sure remittances are used not only for consumption, but also for families to save or invest part of the money in a small business.
Zurita said the program will begin in January, when smaller sums of money are being sent.
FOLADE offers training to Nicaraguans who live in Costa Rica on how to start their own businesses, and uses informational programs to urge them to save money.
According to Zurita, the program has 1,000 Nicaraguan clients in Costa Rica who send home, on average, $50 monthly.
Statistics from FOLADE indicate that in 2005, Nicaraguans have so far sent $600,000 home from Costa Rica, of which 75% has been used to buy food, 5% to start small businesses and 5% for savings. The rest of the money is used for other activities, such as to purchase or rent homes.
In Costa Rica, the organization has 16 offices from which to send remittances, located in areas with large immigrant populations.
According to statistics, there are approximately 500,000 Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica working mainly in agriculture and sending part of their earnings home to their country.
FOLADE is a non-governmental organization created in 1993 that promotes financial development mechanisms for small businesses, micro-enterprises and assistance services. It is made up of 30 branches in 17 Latin American countries.
-ACAN-EFE
More than One-Third of Families
Are the Victims of Crimes
A member of 38.7% of Costa Rican families became the victim of a crime in 2004 – nearly double the 20% registered in 1986, according to a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study released yesterday.
The data forms part of the National Report on Human Development: Defeating Fear: Citizen Insecurity and Human Development, researched in 2004 and released yesterday by UNDP.
“Although Costa Rica has one of the lowest rates of criminality in Latin America, you can detect an increase in the level of criminal violence in the country,” said José Manuel Hermida, resident representative of UNDP in Costa Rica.
“It's not foreigners who commit the crimes, contrary to what the majority of Costa Ricans think,” he continued.
According to the report, 89% of delinquents are Costa Rican, 5.8% are Nicaraguan and 1.7% are Colombian.
The most common victims of crimes – 31.5% – are men between 25 and 34 years old from a high economic level.
Hermida said that applying a “heavy hand” against crime will not solve insecurity, and “we need a new model composed of prevention, control and protection of human rights.”
The study recommends ten strategies to combat crime, such as generating safe urban environments, strengthening public institutions, improving equality and increasing attention to young people.
According to UNDP, Costa Rica invests 3.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in combating lack of citizen security.
The report is based on official data and a poll of 2,400 people throughout the country, with a margin of error of 3%.
– ACAN-EFE
