SAPRISISTAS Celebrate: Fans of the Saprissa soccer team turned the streets of downtown San José into a party Sunday night to celebrate their 3-2 victory over their rival La Liga Alajuelense that made Saprissa national champions. Painted faces, honking, hanging out of cars and blasting music were part of the soccer fever.

If you go to a restaurant and end up being charged a price higher than that which was advertised, you don't have to pay the difference.

“Periferias al Centro” Film Festival
“Intervención Divina ” ( France, Morocco, Germany, 2002), today; “Caminos a Kiktebel ” (Russia, 2003), May 22; “El Hombre sin Pasado,” (Finland, Germany, France, 2002), May 29; all at 6:30 p.m., Contemporary Art and Design Museum, San José. Info: 157-9370.

Patricia Coenjaerts
Portraits, oils, acrylics, through today, Las Arcadas café gallery, in front of National Theater, San José.

By Dave Sherwood
Tico Times Staff | dsherwood@ticotimes.net

A controversial tuna farm near the mouth of the Golfo Dulce, in the southern Pacific region, has been put on hold by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV), pending the outcome of further studies to determine the environmental impact of the project in the region's delicate ecosystem.

The order resulted from a lawsuit presented by The Marine Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA) and the Punta Banco Association, requesting an injunction against the National Technical Secretariat of the Environment Ministry (SETENA) and the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA), according to a statement from PRETOMA.

The two government agencies had granted permits for the project to Granjas Atuneras de Golfito, S.A., a Costa Rican company with Spanish and Venezuelan capital, in June of last year, based on an environmental-impact study which has since been questioned by environmental groups (TT, June 29, 2006).

The point in question is the direction that waste – including excrement from hundreds of tuna concentrated into floating cages in a relatively small area – will travel from the farm.

Environmentalists charge that the company's own environmental-impact statement raises similar questions, stating that currents could potentially disseminate waste inside the gulf, which is a valuable natural area and a critical breeding and feeding ground for sea turtles, whales, dolphins and a wide range of fish species. The company's representatives, meanwhile, have sworn under oath that no such issue exists.

According to the Sala IV, this discrepancy must be resolved in order to “guarantee beforehand, with reasonable certainty, that the metabolic waste resulting from the form will not cause environmental damage.”

The Tico Times left a message for Eduardo Velarde, the spokesman for Granjas Atuneras, yesterday but did not hear back from him by press time.

Four suspected human traffickers, or “coyotes,” were arrested Sunday at a checkpoint in the southern Caribbean town of Tuba Creek, according to a statement released by the Public Security Ministry yesterday.

Police arrested the alleged coyotes at this checkpoint near the Panamanian border between Limón and Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, where all vehicles must stop while police ask the driver and passengers to present identification, and sometimes search their luggage.

The first car, which was stopped at about 5 a.m., contained four Colombian passengers traveling to Limón. Upon becoming suspicious about their immigration status, Border Police interrogated them and gleaned that they flew from their country to Panama. There, they allegedly contacted a coyote, crossed the Río Sixaola by boat and entered Costa Rica, the statement said. Police believe they each paid about $1,700 to make this journey.

Later that morning, two other alleged coyotes -- one identified by the last name Brooks and the other a 16-year-old whose name was not released -- were arrested when they allegedly tried to smuggle a 39-year-old Colombian man into Costa Rica, the statement said.

Another alleged coyote identified by the last name Rosales, a native of Tuba Creek, was stopped by police a few hours later and arrested for allegedly helping an ex-member of the Colombian government's Special Forces to enter Costa Rica illegally.

The four alleged coyotes arrested face charges before the Prosecutor's Office, and the migrants they were with are in the custody of the Immigration Police, according to the statement.

-Tico Times

If you go to a restaurant and end up being charged a price higher than that which was advertised, you don't have to pay the difference.

That's what the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) said recently in a statement reminding consumers of their rights when faced with a pricing discrepancy.

Businesses are obligated by law to advertise prices with all taxes and charges included. If an advertised price at a business doesn't include taxes, the client doesn't have to pay the taxes, according to a statement from the state-owned Banco Nacional publicizing the ministry's announcement.

Businesses can lose money because of this policy, especially those whose menus have prices that don't include the 13% sales tax and the 10% service charge. According to the law to promote competition and defend consumers, it's the business' job to clearly inform the consumer in detail and in Spanish of the total price they will be charged.

Consumers obligated to pay prices above those advertised can get their money back by filing a complaint with the Economy Ministry. To file a complaint, call 800-266-7866.