THE SINGAPORE of Central America?: The Caribbean port city of Limón could become “the Singapore of Central America” if a proposal to expand it into a $300 million megaport becomes a reality, said President Oscar Arias yesterday during a visit to the area. Arias was in Limón to assess environmental damage caused Dec. 13 by a massive fire at the chemical storage facility Químicos Holanda and sign an agreement to promote tourism in the area.

Groups opposed to the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) announced yesterday that they haven’t given up their fight against the controversial pact and are planning a protest Feb. 26 to urge leaders to renegotiate it. 

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

The 81 mayors set to take office Feb. 5 converged on Casa Presidencial in Zapote, southeast of San José, yesterday to meet with President Oscar Arias and most of his Cabinet at the first-ever National and Local Government Coordination Meeting.

Rodrigo Arias, the President’s brother and spokesman, told the assembled authorities that he hopes the encounter, as well as individual meetings between administration officials and each mayor, will become an annual tradition.

“During this administration, you’ll always find an attentive ear” at Casa Presidencial, he said.

Carlos Luis Marín, mayor-elect of Liberia, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, told The Tico Times the gathering seemed well worth the trip.

“Although we’re local governments, we depend on central institutions,” he said, adding that he hoped to firm up plans with the Labor Ministry to create an employment directory that would connect new businesses arriving in the booming province, where multinational corporations and hotels set up shop each year, to local entrepreneurs who can meet their needs.

During the event, a series of speakers including the ministers of Public Works and Transport, Housing, Tourism, Public Security, Justice, Planning, the Environment and Energy, and Foreign Trade were called on to outline their plans for the next four years, focusing on the areas where local and central authorities will need to coordinate.

The deterioration of municipal roadways was, unsurprisingly, a top priority. Transport Minister Karla González said she plans to work with the new mayors, elected Dec. 3, to maintain 2,700 km of local roads, improve 325 km, build 56 bridges and rebuild 16 this year.

She admitted that while fixing potholes is necessary until more profound improvements can take place, most of the country’s roads are fundamentally flawed and must be rebuilt.

“We’re throwing asphalt into a pothole of waste,” she said. “That’s true.”

By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff | lbaxter@ticotimes.net

Family and friends yesterday continued to search for Ronald Perugini, 26, arrived in Costa Rica from the United States on Jan. 13 and could be dangerous. According to Ron Perugini, the missing man’s father, his son, who goes by the name Eric, is a bipolar schizophrenic who came to Costa Rica with only enough medication for two days.

Eric Perugini’s last known location was Puerto Viejo, on the southern Caribbean coast, and he could be heading for the Panamanian border, his father said.

“There’s no saying what he might do if he gets in a weird situation,” said Chad Concolino, a close friend of Perugini’s who is assisting with the search. 

Perugini is about 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 220 pounds, and has brown hair and green eyes. Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts can call 863-2924, 869-0177, 819-8028 or 777-1936.

Groups opposed to the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) announced yesterday that they haven’t given up their fight against the controversial pact and are planning a protest Feb. 26 to urge leaders to renegotiate it. 

President Oscar Arias’ administration should “take advantage of this occasion to sit down at the table and renegotiate the several negative aspects CAFTA has for Costa Ricans,” said Albino Vargas, secretary general of the National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP), during a press conference yesterday.

The United States has recently renegotiated trade pacts with South American countries, Vargas argued, so reworking parts of CAFTA should also be considered a possibility.

Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz said the United States was able to renegotiate agreements with Peru and Colombia because they had not been ratified by any country’s legislature. The situation with CAFTA is different, he said, since the U.S. legislature has approved it, and it has gone into effect in other Central American signatory countries.

At the upcoming march, CAFTA opponents plan to meet at various points downtown before converging on the Legislative Assembly.

-ACAN-EFE