SINGING His Heart Out: Carlos Miguel Gueverra, 36, sings karaoke-style Latin ballads, salsa and other songs every day for about eight hours six days a week in front of the Culture Plaza in downtown San José. This blind musician said he sings to earn money and that Christian songs are his favorites.

The Central Bank estimates Costa Rica will see a 5% increase in its gross domestic product and 8% inflation this year, said the bank's president Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez yesterday during a press conference.

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

Police recently arrested 11 people and confiscated 2,050 kilograms of cocaine in the breakup of an alleged ring that aided the trafficking of drugs from Colombia to the United States, said Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) Director Jorge Rojas yesterday at a press conference.

The alleged leaders of this operation, two Colombian brothers identified by the last name Reina, were arrested yesterday in Grecia, northwest of San José, and vehicles believed to have been used in the trafficking were confiscated from a car distributor there.

Police had been investigating this case for nine months, Rojas explained. They believe the leaders contracted fishermen in the Pacific port city of Puntarenas to transport cocaine, as well as gasoline, out to the middle of the ocean. There, they would meet up with boats that left from Colombia and were headed to the United States with drugs.

“They refueled at sea so they wouldn't have to stop in Costa Rica on their way to the United States,” Rojas explained. “It seems they had a whole route set up.”

Police began to suspect the operation partly because of “abnormalities” in trucks delivering gasoline to a Puntarenas port, where the fishing boats that transported the drugs and gas fueled up. Trucks carrying large quantities of gasoline entered the port through a back entrance, Rojas explained.

The five fishing boats allegedly involved likely made two trips per month from Puntarenas. During the past several months, all of them have been confiscated, along with 2,050 kilos of cocaine and $161,000. The U.S. Coast Guard aided in the seizures.

A total of 11 Costa Ricans and Colombians have been arrested, and Rojas said police suspect at least five more were involved in the operation. OIJ yesterday did not provide the names of all those arrested.

Last Friday, Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal met with U.S. authorities and legislators in the southern port town of Golfito, where Berrocal asked that the U.S. Coast Guard be given more flexibility in patrolling Costa Rican waters. A record of nearly 27 metric tons of cocaine have been seized since President Oscar Arias was sworn in last May.

Fighting poverty without creating more bureaucracy is the goal of a new law signed into effect by President Oscar Arias yesterday during a ceremony in the community of Guararí, Heredia, north of San José.

The Law to Financially Strengthen the Mixed Institute for Social Aid (IMAS), approved by the Legislative Assembly late last year, increases this institute's budget by about ¢5 million ($9,708) to help poor families obtain housing, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

It also seeks to “put the house in order” at IMAS by allowing for “efficiency and the rational use of public funds,” the statement said.

“With this law, no new taxes are created, no new bureaucratic positions are created... and the country's budget is not strained,” Arias said. “We are simply organizing an institution that must exist as long as hunger and misery exist in our country.”

The law simplifies the process for families in need to apply for help from the institute and gives extra funds to social programs for older adults, disabled people, women heads of household and childcare.

Arias, together with Housing Minister Fernando Zumbado, also inaugurated yesterday the “Money Tree” program which will provide a house for 2,000 families in Guararí.

-Tico Times

The Central Bank estimates Costa Rica will see a 5% increase in its gross domestic product and 8% inflation this year, said the bank's president Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez yesterday during a press conference.

Costa Rica's main goal this year is to reduce inflation from the 9.46% registered at the end of last year to 8%.

For 10 years before that, inflation in Costa Rica had remained above 10%, reaching a peak in 2005 with 14%.

Foreign direct investment is expected to decrease from the $1.4 billion seen last year to about $1.17 billion this year, Gutiérrez said, explaining that last year's investment boom is not a pattern that's likely to continue.

Gutiérrez called these predictions “normal” and said that last year's elevated growth was not sustainable, adding that slowed growth should not be taken as a bad sign for the national economy.

Last year was a “very good year” for Costa Rica, and 2007 will be a time to “stabilize and consolidate achievements,” he said.

As long as international fuel prices remain stable and there are no dramatic changes in the world, the Costa Rican economy will continue improving, he said.