With Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the crew cheering her on, Costa Rica's Gabriela Traña won the Women's division of the Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando, Florida, Sunday, according to the Miami Herald.

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

By the end of the year, the government plans to have $5 million to spend on boardwalks, restoration projects and other public works aimed at boosting tourism in the Pacific province of Puntarenas, and taxpayers won't have to foot the bill.

The state-owned Banco Nacional announced plans yesterday to sell bonds to private investors. These bonds will ultimately be purchased by the private concessionaire Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera, S.A., which operates Caldera, just south of Puntarenas.

Officials from Banco Nacional, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and the Pacific Port Institute (INCOP), met at the Tourism Institute's offices yesterday to sign a contract to seal the deal, known as a fideicomiso.

Ronald Vargas, the director of Banco Nacional's Investment Bank, said it will likely take six months to a year for the money to be approved by the Comptroller General's Office and the Superintendence of Securities (SUGEVAL). INCOP will be in charge of spending the money.

Although where the money will go isn't set in stone, Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides and INCOP Director Paul Zúíñiga has mentioned the possibilities of putting it toward building a boardwalk, restoring the Capitanía de Puntarenas building, restoring the train station and improving the cruise ship dock at Puntarenas, among other projects.

“The project to privatize management of the port didn't just call to make the port more effective, but to make social spending more effective,” Benavides said.

The Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera, a Columbian and Costa Rican joint venture, took over administration of the Caldera port from the government in August (TT, Aug. 18, 2006).

The concessionaire is expected to buy off the interest-collecting bonds within about four years, Vargas said.

A Costa Rica with fewer smokers is what Health Minister María Luisa Avila said yesterday she hopes she'll see if the Legislative Assembly this year ratifies a World Health Organization (WHO) agreement aimed at reducing smoking.

Costa Rica signed the agreement in 2003, but it has not been approved by the assembly because opponents have presented 250 motions against it since May 2005, Avila explained.

The Minister said she hopes the assembly will ratify the agreement this year even though lawmakers have other big tasks on their agenda, namely the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

“With or without the agreement, we're working on promoting non-smoking by rewarding smoke-free companies and carrying out educational campaigns,” she said.

The Tobacco Control Agreement is an initiative by WHO to combat tobacco use that was signed by 168 countries in 2003; 120 of these countries have since ratified it.

The agreement promotes smoke-free public spaces, limits advertising for tobacco companies, advocates placing information about the harms of smoking inside packs of cigarettes and raising taxes on tobacco.

In Costa Rica, there are more than 750,000 smokers. Each year about 3,300 people die from diseases caused by the consumption of tobacco, according to the Institute of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (IAFA).

Statistics from the Pan-American Health Organization indicate that half of all Costa Ricans younger than 15 have tried tobacco and 20% are habitual smokers.

-ACAN-EFE

With Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the crew cheering her on, Costa Rica's Gabriela Traña won the Women's division of the Walt Disney World Marathon in Orlando, Florida, Sunday, according to the Miami Herald.

Traña, 26, took the lead just two-tenths of a mile before the finish line to to complete the race in two hours, 57 minutes and four seconds, pulling ahead of Christa Benton, from the United States, according to the daily.

This was the first marathon for this native of Alajuela, northwest of San José, who hopes to compete in the Olympic Games in China next year.

“It was excellent. It is a very beautiful marathon,” Traña told The Miami Herald.

In the Men's division, Tico Roy Vargas also made his countrymen proud, finishing third behind second-place competitor Matthew Dobson, from the United States, and winner Adriano Bastos, from Brazil. Vargas ran the 26.2 miles in two hours, 33 minutes and 42 seconds.

-Tico Times