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11 Jan 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, January 11, 2006
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Nature Air Flight Breaks Off
Wing
During Take-Off From
Puerto Jiménez
The wing broke off of a Nature Air plane after hitting a light post and fence during take-off from Puerto Jiménez, on the southern Osa Peninsula.
(Click for more)
Libertarian Movement
Announces Platform
With less than one month until the Feb. 5 presidential elections, the Libertarian Movement party finally released its platform yesterday.
(Click for more)
U.S. Expects to Finish
Investigation of
Tico Shot
in Miami in Six Months
Family members of Rigoberto Alpízar were informed Monday they must wait six months to receive the results of an investigation by U.S. authorities into the death of Alpízar, who was shot and killed by two U.S. Federal Air Marshals in the Miami International Airport in Florida in December.
(Click for more)
January 11
Opening of Palmares Fiestas
Tonight the rural town of Palmares, northwest of San José, will open its famous, traditional fiestas with a Lantern Parade. Participants will leave at 6 p.m. from the Catholic Church downtown and parade to the Bull Fight Ring. Visitors will enjoy a two-week celebration with rides, concerts, sports and cultural events. Info: 453-0013.
Art on the Streets
The Municipality of San José announced that today at 9:30 a.m. it will open a public exhibit of the highlighted Costa Rican artist Rafael Fernández. His paintings will be shown at bus stops along Avenida Central. The activity is part of the designation of San José as American-Iberian City of Culture 2006.
Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Nature Air Flight Breaks Off Wing
During Take-Off From Puerto Jiménez
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
The wing broke off of a Nature Air plane after hitting a light post and fence during take-off from Puerto Jiménez, on the southern Osa Peninsula.
None of the 11 passengers, pilot and co-pilot suffered physical injuries, said Red Cross spokesman Alexander Morales.
However, Red Cross workers treated a 50-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, both from the United States, for nervous breakdowns. Their names and the other passengers' nationalities have not been released.
Flight 141 from Puerto Jiménez to San José was scheduled to leave at 11:45 a.m. yesterday, according to a statement from Nature Air.
“Difficulties registered at the moment of take off, which caused the plane to shift to the left and face obstacles in the airport space. The pilot then stopped the plane and it banged its wing on a light post and fence,” the statement said.
Civil Aviation Authority workers are in Puerto Jiménez investigating the situation, Aviation Director Rodolfo Cruz said.
The plane was a twin-engine Twin Otter with 30,000 flight hours logged, Cruz said, with capacity for 19 passengers and two crewmembers. The pilot was identified as Juan Manuel Retana and the co-pilot as Arturo Ortela.
Last Dec. 16, eight passengers survived a Nature Air crash when another twin-engine Twin Otter attempted an emergency landing in Tamarindo, in the northwestern Guanacaste province (TT, Dec. 23, 2005).
The eight passengers aboard were taken to area medical centers. Six were treated for light injuries, and pilot María del Rocío Vargas, 32, and a French tourist, Jacques Bitoune, 72, were hospitalized with broken bones.
Nature Air, which began flying in 1991 under the name Travel Air, uses two types of planes -- Britten-Norman Islanders to fly to remote destinations and 19-seat DeHaviland Twin Otters for closer locations. The airline offers 74 flights daily.
Libertarian Movement Announces Platform
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
With less than one month until the Feb. 5 presidential elections, the Libertarian Movement party finally released its platform yesterday.
The party – which consistently comes in third in the polls – has named the platform “The Time to Act: A Contract with the People of Costa Rica.”
“Everything you can expect from the Libertarian Movement from 2006-2010 is here,” presidential candidate Otto Guevara said, holding up a booklet with the platform.
Not only is Guevara committed to the document, but candidates for the Legislative Assembly and city councils nationwide will perform their duties, if elected, based on the ideas explained in it, Guevara continued.
These goals are based on typical campaign promises aimed at addressing the country's greatest problems – crime, corruption, high cost of living and poverty.
Specifically, to reduce crime, the party proposes revealing the faces of criminals, modernizing the justice system to accelerate judicial processes, increasing penalties for repeat offenders, and deporting criminals from other countries.
To reduce corruption, the platform suggests increasing penalties for corruption; eliminating unnecessary permits, which Guevara said create more opportunities for corruption; and decentralizing the government. Greater power in few hands equals more corruption, Guevara said.
As far as addressing poverty, the party is firm on one point – taxes are not the answer.
“We are the only one of the top three parties that opposes more taxes; we defend the pocketbooks of Costa Ricans,” Guevara said.
Instead, the party proposes reducing inflation, opening the country's monopolies, increasing foreign trade, streamlining permits for small businesses, many of which work in the black market, and granting greater property rights.
The Libertarian Movement is one of the last parties to release its platform. Guevara said that, through campaigning, they have been talking to Costa Ricans recently throughout the country and wanted to incorporate their needs and concerns in the document.
The booklet feature the diverse faces of many of these Costa Ricans, Guevara said, adding that it is written in a style that everyone can understand.
The complete platform ( plan de gobierno in Spanish) is available on the Libertarian Movement Web site, www.libertario.org.
U.S. Expects to Finish Investigation of
Tico Shot in Miami in Six Months
Family members of Rigoberto Alpízar were informed Monday they must wait six months to receive the results of an investigation by U.S. authorities into the death of Alpízar, who was shot and killed by two U.S. Federal Air Marshals in the Miami International Airport in Florida in December.
Alpízar, a Costa Rican with U.S. citizenship whose wife said he suffered from the mood-altering bipolar disorder, rushed off an American Airlines flight still parked at its gate on Dec. 7 and was shot by two undercover marshals in the jet way connecting the plane to the terminal (TT, Dec. 9, 2005).
According to the Federal Air Marshal Service, Alpízar did not follow the marshals' orders to get down on the ground, said he had a bomb and reached into a bag he was carrying, forcing the officials to fire. Witnesses on the plane, however, said they never heard Alpízar mention anything about a bomb. No explosives were found in the Costa Rican's luggage.
Alpízar's two brothers met with Costa Rica 's acting Foreign Minister Marco Vinicio Vargas Monday to discuss the investigation. At a press conference the same day, Vargas said the United States would hand over a report of the incident to Costa Rica in six months, after which a prosecutor would review it to determine if the case should be taken to court.
Vargas added he would speak with the prosecutor to see if Costa Rica should send an official to the United States “at least to request information.”
“I don't know if North American laws permit it,” he said. “We should be prudent.”
Vargas also said he had been visited by the Costa Rican ambassador to the United States, Tomás Dueñas, who assured him that Alpízar had said he had a bomb before he was shot.
Alpízar's brothers said they are satisfied with the support the Costa Rican government had given them and the meeting had served to clear up some of their doubts.
“We expect the investigation will be transparent,” said Rolando Alpízar, one of the brothers. “Until we see the investigation, we cannot say if we are satisfied or not. We understand that this takes a lot of investigating and there are a lot of people involved in this.”
In the press conference following President Abel Pacheco's weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, Pacheco said that the case is “very sad,” and “we have asked for explanations in the case.”
The Tico Times/EFE
