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14 Aug 2006 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, August 14, 2006
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| CALDERA Concession: A ceremony in the Pacific port town of Caldera Friday marked the handing over of the port's operation from the Pacific Port Authority (INCOP) to the private company Sociedad Portuaria Caldera, a Colombian-Costa Rican company that will run Caldera for 20 years and carry out modernization projects. Here, the concession is made official by Public Works and Transport Minister Karla González, accompanied by Pacific Port Authority (INCOP) president Paul Zúñiga, first Vice-President Laura Chinchilla and Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera president Oscar Isaza. Photo courtesy of Casa Presidencial |
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BetonSports Shutting Down Operations in Costa Rica
Approximately 1,200 employees at the sports betting call center BetonSports are out of a job after the company Thursday decided to close down its office at the San Pedro Mall, east of San José, according to Francisco Conejo, an attorney for BoS Costa Rica, the Costa Rican branch of the London-based BetonSports PLC internet sports gambling enterprise.
(Click for more)
Caldera Begins Operating
Under Private Concession
The Pacific port of Caldera Friday became the first Costa Rican port to operate based on a model of private concessions for public works.
(Click for more)
Paniamor Creates Database to Combat Child Sexual Exploitation
The non-profit organization Paniamor has created a database to help combat child sexual exploitation, the organization announced Friday.
(Click for more)
August 14
Philharmonic Orchestra Concerts
With Victor Kapusta, tonight and tomorrow, 8 p.m., Melico Salazar Theater, San José. Info: 257-6005.
International Dance Festival
Featuring the Clair Obscur Sax Quartet, 8 p.m. Gran Hotel Costa Rica, San José. F ree concert by the Divertimento Orchestra, 7 p.m., Church of Hatillo 6, San José.
Initiation of Dukhar
Energy that counteracts negative emotions, with visiting Tibetan Buddhist monks, University for Peace, Ciudad Colón, southwest of San José, $15. Info: 234-8503.
Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
BetonSports Shutting
Down Operations in Costa Rica
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff
aroberson@ticotimes.net
Approximately 1,200 employees at the sports betting call center BetonSports are out of a job after the company Thursday decided to close down its office at the San Pedro Mall, east of San José, according to Francisco Conejo, an attorney for BoS Costa Rica, the Costa Rican branch of the London-based BetonSports PLC internet sports gambling enterprise.
A recent order from a court in the U.S. state of Missouri ordered BetonSports to stop accepting bets from U.S. gamblers, all of whom were routed via phone and e-mail to the San Pedro call center, Conejo said.
In light of this order, the company decided it was impossible to keep the expansive San Pedro office open and was forced to lay off about 1,200 employees Thursday, Conejo said. Additionally, approximately 2,000 employees were laid off from the company's operation in Antigua, though BetonSports offices in the Far East and other Latin American countries remain open, he said.
The decision to shut down BetonSports' Costa Rican and Antiguan operations follows the arrest of the company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Carruthers, a citizen of the United Kingdom, in the Dallas, Texas airport July 16. Carruthers, along with 10 other people working for the enterprise, is being charged with racketeering, conspiracy and fraud, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (TT, July 21).
“This is the saddest moment in the company's history,” Conejo told The Tico Times. “The directors are very sad that they've been forced to make this decision.”
A few employees lingered around the BetonSports office on the 9 th floor of the mall Friday collecting their belongings as reporters and cameramen waited to speak with Conejo, who, along with a receptionist, was stationed in the lobby.
Some employees are still working in the office to close it down and carry out final financial transactions, including paying money owed to U.S. betters, Conejo said.
“I'm looking for any opportunity for work,” said assistant manager Ivan Alonso. “I've been working here for six years; now I've got 20 days left to work.”
The company is looking to get out of its lease with the San Pedro Mall and plans to move out of the space within 90 days, Conejo said.
See Friday's print or pdf edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.
Caldera Begins Operating
Under Private Concession
The Pacific port of Caldera Friday became the first Costa Rican port to operate based on a model of private concessions for public works.
Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera, a Colombian-Costa Rican company, Friday assumed administration of the port for a 20-year period. Historically, Caldera has been run by the Pacific Port Authority (INCOP).
Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera plans to invest $35 million in renovation projects during the next three years, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.
These improvements will allow the port to operate 24 hours, the statement said, hopefully reducing notoriously long waits for ships to be loaded and unloaded (TT, Sept. 23, 2005)
A ceremony at Caldera Friday to inaugurate the port's new administration was attended by First Vice-President Laura Chinchilla, Public Works and Transport Minister Karla González, Tourism Minister Carlos Ricardo Benavides, Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera president Oscar Isaza and INCOP president Paul Zúñiga.
Chinchilla spoke on the various benefits the concession offers, according to the statement.
“It benefits the worker to have an efficient and competitive port that will allow for the attraction of greater investment and more jobs,” Chinchilla said. “It also benefits the consumer in general because he will enjoy lower prices on imported goods.”
-Tico Times and ACAN-EFE
Paniamor Creates Database to
Combat
Child Sexual Exploitation
The non-profit organization Paniamor has created a database to help combat child sexual exploitation, the organization announced Friday.
Paniamor president Milena Grillo said the database will allow for better crime investigation and help to determine which legal modifications are necessary in Costa Rica to fight child sexual exploitation.
The database contains profiles and criminal histories of all criminals convicted of sex crimes registered in the judicial system as well as a profiles of victims and the areas of the country where the most child sexual exploitation occurs.
The database also calculates the average time required for investigations into child sex crimes to be completed, the average time the judicial process takes in these cases and the average prison sentence for child sexual exploitation offenders.
Paniamor hopes to use this information to fill “holes” in the legal process of protecting children who have been sexually exploited, Grillo said.
According to statistics gathered by the organization, sexual tourism in Costa Rica proliferates the commercial sexual exploitation of children, most of whom are girls who are first exploited at the average age of 12.
The project is financed by the U.N. Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), the Italian Embassy and Costa Rican judicial and government authorities.
-ACAN-EFE
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