By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net

Standing proudly beside their new bicycles and motorcycles yesterday outside the Public Security Ministry, 122 Tourism Police became the first officers of their kind.

The creation of the Tourism Police is an initiative to crack down on crime in areas heavily visited by tourists by providing a specialized police force trained to work with foreigners and handle the crimes they are all-too-often victims of, explained Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal.

“If we don't work hard in the field of security, we are going to lose the battle for economic development,” Berrocal said, explaining a philosophy later echoed by President Oscar Arias that bringing more tourists and their cash to Costa Rica requires making them feel safe here.

The 122 officials who graduated yesterday will work in San José, the north-central area surrounding San Carlos, the northwestern Guanacaste province, the Caribbean province of Limón and Alajuela, northwest of San José. During their intensive training, they learned about criminal analysis, organized crime bands, falsification of documents and customer service, according to a statement from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), which partnered with the Public Security Ministry and provided funds to make this new specialized police force possible.

The private sector also contributed to the effort. A group of business owners on the northern Pacific coast called the Association of Concessionaires of the Papagayo Golf Tourism Project (ASOPAPAGAYO) donated plans for the construction of two stations for Tourism Police in Playa Panamá, Guanacaste and at the Daniel Oduber Intern ational Airport in that province's capital city of Liberia.

Additionally, the Southern Zone Development Board (JUDESUR) donated ¢265 million ($514,563) to build new police stations or improve existing stations for Tourism Police in the cantons of Osa, Buenos Aires, Golfito, Corredores and Coto Brus.

Yesterday's ceremony marked the beginning of an initiative the ministry hopes will expand next year, Berrocal said.

See this Friday's print or electronic edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.

By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff | kstanley@ticotimes.net

President Oscar Arias announced an unusual New Year's resolution this week: starting in January 2007, he's going to put his money where his mouth is by donating his entire salary each month to the poor.

Arias made the announcement Tuesday during a Christmas party held at a sports complex in Rincón Grande de Pavas, in western San José, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

“The truth is, I'm not going to live better or worse with my salary,” Arias said. “I'm going to give it to some senior citizens' homes that need help, and… associations that have to do with kids, with the sick, with the disabled, with schools.”

Before taking office May 8 for his second term – Arias was also President from 1986-1990 – he received a government pension for his previous service, but the law required the suspension of that pension when he returned to the presidency, Casa Presidencial spokesman Esteban Arrieta told The Tico Times yesterday.

The President told The Tico Times earlier this year that he voluntarily gave up the “exclusive dedication” bonus he is eligible to receive in his current post (TT, Sept. 8), though Casa Presidencial clarified this week that Arias donates the funds to various charities. These include the Palliative Care Foundation, the Costa Rican Cystic Fibrosis Association, the Orphans' Hospice, the Works of the Holy Spirit Association and the Social-Productive Workshop for the Disabled, the statement said.

Arrieta said he does not have the exact amount of Arias' salary but that it is “more than ¢4 million (approximately $7,767).”

At the Rincón Grande event, Arias handed out 15 government housing grants, or bonos, nine checks for low-income families with kids in high school and two wheelchairs.

By Blake Schmidt
Tico Times Staff | bschmidt@ticotimes.net

The Promotion Ministry of Spain has flown more than 4,000 passengers from Spain back to their destinations in Latin America in what has been some sign of relief after Spanish airline Air Madrid suspended all flights last week, leaving thousands stranded.

In Costa Rica, there are an estimated 500 Europeans still stranded after their flights were cancelled, while some 250 stranded Central Americans - 100 of them Costa Ricans – remain in Europe, according to Air Madrid's director in Costa Rica Mario Socatelli.

The airline, which uses San José as its Central American hub, suspended operations in protest Dec. 15 after the Spanish Promotion Ministry threatened to revoke the company's aviation license because of motor problems and failed inspections, reported the Spanish daily El País.

The falling out between the Spanish government and the airline, which brings about 25,000 visitors to Costa Rica per year, has caused holiday travel chaos for thousands of passengers and resulted in thousands more cancelled flights for the next month at least.

See this Friday's print or electronic edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.