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30 Mar 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, March 30, 2006
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Program Seeks to “Open Doors”
to Technology for Youth
Getting good grades could result in jobs awaiting graduating students at 39 vocational high schools around the country – a new program in coordination with the First Lady's Office and the technology company ITS offers jobs to students selected for excellent scholastic performance and performing well in an interview.
(Click for more)
Plans to Improve
Port Caldera Approved
The Comptroller General's Office Tuesday approved the first of three contracts with private companies to modernize the Pacific port of Caldera, which has long suffered from size and facility constraints resulting in lengthy delays (TT, Sept 23), according to the daily La Nación.
(Click for more)
Authorities Search For Alleged
Murderer Fronting as Diplomat
Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) in the Central Pacific port town of Quepos are searching for a man who carried a fake diplomatic identification card and allegedly murdered a Costa Rican woman, according to a statement released yesterday by OIJ.
(Click for more)
Flooding in Limón Caused
by Rains Abnormal to Season
Out-of-season heavy rains that caused flooding in the Caribbean province of Limón yesterday led the National Emergency Commission (CNE) to declare a yellow “action” alert for the Caribbean slope, while a green “preventive” alert was declared for the Northern Zone.
(Click for more)
One of Top 10 Tico Fugitives
Most
Wanted
by Interpol Arrested
in United States
Immigration authorities in the U.S. state of New Jersey informed International Police (INTERPOL) in San José yesterday of the arrest of Costa Rican Mirciades Solano, one of the 10 fugitives most wanted by INTERPOL Costa Rica, according to a statement from INTERPOL.
(Click for more)
March 30
International Mathematics Festival
Conferences, workshops, lectures, today 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; tomorrow 6 a.m.-7 p.m., Colegio Universitario de Puntarenas, Pacific province of Puntarenas, Info: 233-7701.
7th Annual Flag Football World Cup
Costa Rican team competing, March 30-April 2, Panama City, Florida. Info: www.FlagMag.com.
Short Film Viewing
Winning shorts from the 240-film contest, Cinépolis, Terramall, east of San José. Info: 223-0610.
Free Concert by Girl's 21
A choir with 46 female voices from Englewood, 6:30 p.m., Galerón Aspinall-Murray, Cerro Plano, Monteverde, north-central region.
Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Program Seeks to “Open Doors”
to Technology for Youth
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Getting good grades could result in jobs awaiting graduating students at 39 vocational high schools around the country – a new program in coordination with the First Lady's Office and the technology company ITS offers jobs to students selected for excellent scholastic performance and performing well in an interview.
The program “ Abriendo Puertas ” was announced at a press conference yesterday at Casa Presidencial. To participate, students must be in their final year of high school and send their grades to an evaluating committee at the First Lady's Office. Each year, the committee will select 10 finalists, interview them and select five winners who are offered jobs as Level One Technicians at ITS.
President Abel Pacheco spoke in place of his wife First Lady Leila Rodríguez, who was out of the country, at yesterday's press conference, calling the program “a model of social and business responsibility in the field of education” and “a new opportunity for Costa Rican youth, through academic effort, to have access to the latest technological training and first-class working spaces.”
In addition to offering jobs to selected students, ITS will send its technicians into classrooms at these technical schools to give workshops.
The five students selected this year will be announced April 19.
Though faces at Casa Presidencial will change when Pacheco is replaced by President-elect Oscar Arias May 8, ITS President Vladimir Vargas and Minister of Science and Technology Fernando Gutiérrez both expressed a desire for the program to continue and be expanded in years to come.
Yesterday's event was attended by students from the Heredia Professional School, one of those eligible to participate in the program.
Jenny Durán, a 16-year-old student from the school, said the program is important for young people like herself who need to make contacts in the professional world.
Plans to Improve
Port Caldera Approved
The Comptroller General's Office Tuesday approved the first of three contracts with private companies to modernize the Pacific port of Caldera, which has long suffered from size and facility constraints resulting in lengthy delays (TT, Sept 23), according to the daily La Nación.
Under the contract, the Pacific Port Authority (INCOP) will cede Caldera's management of containers, vehicles, cement, iron and aluminum to Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera, a private consortium of Costa Rican and Colombian companies. The consortium will also take over hiring personnel to operate loading and unloading at Caldera's dock.
The contract states that Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera will pay the government $5.1 million to operate the port and invest an additional $3 million to improve its infrastructure, the daily reported.
Approval by the Comptroller General General's office is pending for two other contracts for constructing a new platform at the gain terminal and providing towboat service from the bay to the dock.
-Tico Times
Authorities Search For Alleged
Murderer Fronting as Diplomat
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) in the Central Pacific port town of Quepos are searching for a man who carried a fake diplomatic identification card and allegedly murdered a Costa Rican woman, according to a statement released yesterday by OIJ.
The approximately 35-year-old, blond, English-speaking man allegedly checked into a Quepos hotel Saturday and showed hotel workers a card identifying him as a member of a diplomatic corps in Nicaragua, the statement said. Though officials know which country the main claimed to represent and have an idea of his nationality, they will not release this information until it is confirmed, OIJ spokesman Francisco Ruiz told The Tico Times.
The man allegedly entered the hotel with a young woman and later went to a local bar and returned to the room that night, the statement said.
Three days later, hotel workers noticed a foul smell coming from the room and discovered the body of Ana Patricia Guevara, a 24-year-old Quepos resident and mother of two, under the bed. The death was established as a murder, according to the statement, and police are searching for the man who presented the false diplomatic card as the prime suspect.
Flooding in Limón Caused
by Rains Abnormal to Season
Out-of-season heavy rains that caused flooding in the Caribbean province of Limón yesterday led the National Emergency Commission (CNE) to declare a yellow “action” alert for the Caribbean slope, while a green “preventive” alert was declared for the Northern Zone.
Floods were reported in the Limón towns of Cieneguita and Pueblo Nuevo, while heavy rains were reported in Valle de la Estrella and Talamanca. Rising water levels also registered in canals near Matina and in the Banano and Chirripó rivers, according to a statement from CNE.
The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) reported that these weather conditions are “anomalous” to this time of year and are the result of “the interaction of various phenomenon,” including a high-pressure system in the Atlantic and a stationary front between Puerto Rico and Costa Rica, the statement said.
CNE asked that the area's population remain vigilant, especially those living near rivers and in areas prone to mudslides. They also warned fishermen and others out in boats to be alert for heavy winds and waves.
CNE officials have been stationed in the Limón area since Tuesday and are paying particular attention to the towns of Matina, Valle de la Estrella (including Sixaola) and Talamanca.
-Tico Times
One of Top 10 Tico Fugitives Most
Wanted
by Interpol Arrested in United States
Immigration authorities in the U.S. state of New Jersey informed International Police (INTERPOL) in San José yesterday of the arrest of Costa Rican Mirciades Solano, one of the 10 fugitives most wanted by INTERPOL Costa Rica, according to a statement from INTERPOL.
A San José court issued an international arrest order for Solano, who is convicted of raping a minor, in 2004. He was arrested Tuesday in the New Jersey town of Summerville.
Solano was driving a school bus in 1994 when he took one of its passengers – a mentally handicapped 14-year-old girl -- to an empty lot where he raped her, leaving her pregnant, the statement said.
Police suspected Solano fled to the United States, and last year, they received information that he was working illegally in New Jersey. Solano was in the United States illegally, according to the statement, and faces deportation to Costa Rica to serve a 10-year sentence for the crime of raping a minor.
-Tico Times