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A SAFE Space: Valeria Flores (left), 15, and Stefania Colombari (right), 17, yesterday attended the inauguration of a new room at the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) headquarters in downtown San José where children who have been victims of sexual abuse will be interviewed. These two students at The British School of Costa Rica helped paint colorful murals on the walls of the center's waiting area to help put kids at ease. |
| Mónica Quesada | Tico Times |
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| New Interviewing Room Receives
Child Victims of Sexual Abuse |
Complete with colorful murals and children's drawings posted on the walls, a unique room inside the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) headquarters in downtown San José was inaugurated yesterday. Judicial Branch and British Embassy officials say they hope this space will help prevent the “revictimization” of children who have suffered sexual abuse.
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| Mayor Halts Construction
On Southern Zone Mountains |
The municipality of the Osa canton, in the Southern Zone, is reining in construction on the Fila Costeña mountain range, effective at the end of this week. |
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| Another Woman Killed In Domestic Dispute |
In an incident eerily similar to one that occurred less than 24 hours earlier, a young woman identified as Wendy Zumbado, 20, was shot and killed in the northern suburb of Tibás by her ex-boyfriend Marco Antonio Zúñiga, 23, who then shot himself, according to Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) spokeswoman Xinia Zamora.
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| March 27 |
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“Costa Rica Inspirations”
Collective exhibit by Andre Paradis, Deirdre Schanen and Kathi Packer, oils, mixed techniques, through Friday, National Gallery, Children's Museum. Info: 258-4929.
Free Concert
With Leonard Candelaria (trumpet) and Kathryn Fouse (piano) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 7 p.m., University of Costa Rica (UCR) School of Music, room 107, San Pedro, east of San José.
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Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net
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New Interviewing Room Receives
Child Victims of Sexual Abuse |
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net
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Complete with colorful murals and children's drawings posted on the walls, a unique room inside the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) headquarters in downtown San José was inaugurated yesterday. Judicial Branch and British Embassy officials say they hope this space will help prevent the “revictimization” of children who have suffered sexual abuse.
Historically, children coming forward to denounce abuse have had to relive the experience by undergoing a series of interviews with officials from different departments to get their story on the record, explained Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall'Anese.
The new room -- painted by students from the The British School in Costa Rica, in the western suburb of Rohrmoser, and outfitted with advanced technology provided by the British Embassy -- is designed to “change the judicial culture in this country,” he said.
Digital recording and video equipment will allow young victims to be interviewed only once so that judicial authorities from different departments can later review the recorded interview. The Chief Prosecutor called this a “more humane, more reasonable and more respectful” process than the current one.
The British Embassy has been involved in this project since 2004, when it brought Cuba's chief prosecutor here to train Costa Rican officials on interviewing techniques used in Cuba with child victims of sexual abuse.
For these children, “innocence has been damaged, and that's something that can't be recuperated, but what we can do is minimize the trauma” they must go through during the process of recounting what happened to them to authorities, said British Ambassador Tom Kennedy. |
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Mayor Halts Construction
On Southern Zone Mountains |
By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff | lbaxter@ticotimes.net
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The municipality of the Osa canton, in the Southern Zone, is reining in construction on the Fila Costeña mountain range, effective at the end of this week.
Concerned by the environmental effects of rampant development with little oversight, Osa Mayor Jorge Alberto Cole told The Tico Times yesterday his municipality would no longer be authorizing a variety of construction permits for the mountain range until it approves a canton-wide zoning plan, or plan regulador.
That plan is being drafted with help from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and the environmental organization Conservation International, and is expected to be ready in January 2008 (TT, March 16).
“The municipality is very concerned about the destruction caused by a lot of companies and a lot of people,” Cole said. “The municipality is a poor municipality. Right now, it is impossible to manage an adequate oversight (of development), and until we can, we aren't going to give more construction permits.”
Construction projects already under way that have all their permits in order will be allowed to continue, Cole said, but will be “put under a microscope.”
By halting all future projects, the municipality can dedicate all of its resources to regulating ongoing projects, the Osa mayor added. Small-scale projects, such as individual homes, will be allowed if they meet all legal requirements, but will also fall under heavy scrutiny, the mayor said.
The moratorium on construction permitting will take effect once the pronouncement is published in the official government newspaper La Gaceta, which is expected Thursday or Friday. However, Cole said, the municipality will be taking suggestions, alternatives and complaints into consideration for 10 days following the publication, and may choose to alter its plans based on feedback provided.
The Tico Times contacted several developers in the area yesterday, but they declined to comment until they know more about the plan. |
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Another Woman Killed In Domestic Dispute |
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net
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In an incident eerily similar to one that occurred less than 24 hours earlier, a young woman identified as Wendy Zumbado, 20, was shot and killed in the northern suburb of Tibás by her ex-boyfriend Marco Antonio Zúñiga, 23, who then shot himself, according to Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) spokeswoman Xinia Zamora.
The couple was arguing in the street, and when Zumbado tried to get away, Zúñiga shot her and then turned the gun on himself, according to a statement from the Judicial Branch.
Sunday afternoon in downtown San José, a similar incident occurred when a man identified as Alfonso Zuria shot and killed his wife, identified as Angela Rosa Pozos, and then shot himself in front of the couple's three children ages 24, 15 and 11, Zamora said.
This killing was preceded by yet another Saturday in the Caribbean town of Matina, when a man identified by the last name Abarca shot and killed his mother-in-law, identified as Sonia Hernández, according to a separate Judicial Branch statement.
National Institute for Women (INAMU) president Jeannette Carrillo told the daily La Nación these murders are “worrisome” and pointed to the Legislative Assembly's failure to pass the Law to Penalize Violence against Women, which she said would better punish aggressors and protect victims of abuse.
In other news, Minister of the Presidency Rodrigo Arias yesterday announced in a statement from Casa Presidencial that the government plans to create a commission of judicial and governmental authorities to speed up the implementation of legal measures aimed at confronting the “wave of violence” sweeping the country.
Protecting victims, combating organized crime and increasing police presence in public spaces are among the tasks it plans to tackle.
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