Making the Ticos Proud: Surfer Natalie Bernold, 13, from the northwestern Guanacaste town of Santa Cruz, is in second place in the Women's competition at the World Surf Championships being held this week in Portugal. Today she is scheduled to surf against France's Paulina Ado, Venezuela's Rosany Alvarez and Peru's Nadja De Col.

The Central American Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology Associations and Societies (FECASOG) yesterday urged the Nicaraguan government to lift its ban on therapeutic abortion.

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

Costa Rica came one step closer to having part of its debt to the United States canceled in exchange for spending on environmental protection programs during a ceremony yesterday at the Foreign Ministry.

Through the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA), Costa Rica will have the chance to exchange about $12.6 million of its approximately $100 million owed to the United States and put these funds toward programs to protect forestlands.

President Oscar Arias first pitched the idea of debt cancellation to U.S. President George Bush during a visit to Washington D.C. in December of last year (TT, Dec. 18, 2006). Bush expressed interest, and the U.S. Treasury Department later deemed Costa Rica eligible to join 11 other countries in qualifying for debt forgiveness through TFCA.

Additionally, the nonprofits The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International pledged a combined $2.5 million toward debt cancellation, and they will be involved in the environmental projects in which Costa Rica chooses to invest.

Now there is a relatively tight timeline for Costa Rica to complete the next phase of the process necessary for debt forgiveness – it must choose which loans to cancel and which projects to invest in by Sept. 30, explained U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elaine Samson.

Although this deadline is “ambitious,” Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles said committees have been created to carry out the necessary tasks and that the project's focus has already been identified as the southern Osa Peninsula; La Amistad Park, on the Panamanian border; the Tortuguero area, on the northern Caribbean coast; and the northwestern Guanacaste province, including the Rincón de la Vieja area.

Also in attendance at the ceremony were Finance Minister Guillermo Zúñiga, Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno, The Nature Conservancy Costa Rican program director Zdenka Piskulich and Manuel Ramírez, of Conservation International.

Langdale voiced his vote of confidence that Costa Rica will meet the project's deadline.

“I am pleased by the commitment of the ministers to meet this calendar and I feel confident that all parts will do everything necessary to make this exceptional opportunity a reality,” he said.

Residents and business owners in the Central Valley provinces of San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago will soon pay an average of 4% more for their electricity, thanks to the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) recently giving the green light to a price hike requested by the area's power company, the National Power and Light Company (CNFL).

Residential electricity prices will increase 5%, while general rates will increase 2.5%, preferential rates will increase 13.6% and public wiring will increase 17.96%. These increases are “inferior” to those requested by CNFL, according to a statement from ARESEP. They will go into effect as soon as they are published in the official government daily La Gaceta.

At the same time it approved at least part of the price increases CNFL asked for, ARESEP asked the power company to review its methods used to project the number of electricity users and calculate energy costs.

ARESEP recently rejected a request from the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) of an average 23% rate increase in electricity rates. This rejection came in the midst of a national energy crisis that forced the country to deal with scheduled power outages (TT, April 27).

-Tico Times

The Central American Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology Associations and Societies (FECASOG) yesterday urged the Nicaraguan government to lift its ban on therapeutic abortion.

The group's pronouncement, published in local media, states its solid backing of national efforts to lift the ban, which has been in place since late last year, when the National Assembly voted to lift a century-old law allowing therapeutic abortions to save a woman's life (NT, Nov. 3, 2006).

The law criminalizes abortion and sanctions women and doctors with up to eight years in jail.

In January, Nicaraguan activists presented the Supreme Court with a case against the law (NT, Jan. 5); the court has yet to issue a ruling.

The group maintains that therapeutic abortion is a practice “necessary for our specialty that saves lives and avoids severe medical complications for women.”

The pronouncement was signed by members of obstetrics and gynecology associations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua.