By Katherine Stanley, Tico Times Staff

The U.N. General Assembly voted Monday to begin work on an international arms-trade treaty to prevent weapons from reaching conflict zones and developing countries. A resolution condemning “the absence of international, common norms for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms” received the support of 139 countries, with only the United States voting against it and 24 countries abstaining from voting, according to the BBC Web site.

The proposed Arms-Trade Treaty would prohibit arms sales to countries that violate human rights and require states to consider the likely use of arms before authorizing an arms transfer, among other controls.

The approval of the resolution drew words of praise from the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, created by President and longtime arms-control advocate Oscar Arias, as well as from Casa Presidencial.

“With its vote, the United Nations recognizes the efforts of our founder, Dr. Oscar Arias Sánchez, who since May 1997 has proposed an initiative to regulate the trade of arms, which is out of control,” said a statement from the Arias Foundation.

The resolution gives the U.N. Secretary General one year to publish a report on how to introduce international arms-trade norms, according to the BBC – which also reported that while an actual arms trade treaty could be years away, the resolution marks a first step toward that end result.

Major arms manufacturers Russia and China abstained from the vote. However, other top arms manufacturers, including France, Germany and Britain, as well as emerging arms exporters Bulgaria and Ukraine, were among the 139 supporters, according to the BBC.

Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Price in 1987 for his role in the Central American Peace Plan, addressed the General Assembly Sept. 19, urging members to support arms-control measures. He also asked for support for his proposal, dubbed the Costa Rica Consensus, to restructure aid from developed countries to developing countries to take into account not only countries’ needs, but also their spending habits. Countries that reduce their military spending would be rewarded (TT, Sept. 22).

Victor Urbina Thursday became the sixth of eight fugitives who escaped from La Reforma prison Oct. 9 to be found by police, the daily La Nación reported.

Urbina, who was sentenced to 27 years in jail for rape and aggravated robbery, showed up at the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) office in Tres Ríos, east of San José, Thursday, accompanied by his mother and two brothers.

He told officials he didn’t want to run from the police anymore, so he was turning himself in, Ronald Zúñiga, of the OIJ, told the daily.

Four of the other escaped convicts were captured last week and one was killed during a shootout with police at a house in Guácimo, on the Caribbean slope (TT, Oct. 27). Officials identified the convict who died at the scene as Freddy García. Johel Guillermo Araya, Alberto Martínez and Johnny Rodríguez were also arrested. Additionally, Roberto Clark was arrested last week during the Caribbean city of Limón’s Carnival festivities.

Urbina’s arrest leaves two of the eight prisoners who used escaped from the Alajuela prison Oct. 9 still at large.

-Tico Times

The government is expected to announce a sweeping improvement plan for the Provincia de Limón today, just a few days after the latest dock strike there ended.

The government said Friday that the dock strike in Limón is over. The accord was reached early Friday. The government dropped its demand that strikers must be punished and agreed to make a $900,000 payment long overdue strikers.

President Óscar Arias Sánchez said in San José that he was pleased with the agreement and promised to sit down with not only dock workers but all sectors of the society in the Provincia de Limón to discuss plans.

Friday morning the Amsterdam, a cruise ship of the Holland American Line, reached Limón with 1,300 passengers from Panamá. No problems were reported. A Carnival cruise ship skipped Limón Wednesday because of the strike, inflicting significant economic loss to those involved with tourism.

The president also said Friday he envisions a $350 million megaport on the Caribbean coast but he said everyone knows the government does not have the money to set up this kind of operation. Then Casa Presidencial announced a meeting for today to discuss Limón redevelopment.

Union dock workers oppose the idea of the government leasing the docks at Limón and Moín as a concession to a private firm, But Arias said they might change their mind when they understand the plans.

The plan for redevelopment, which is supposed to be set out in detail today is expected to include the megaport and significant investments all along the coast. The multi-nation Plan Puebla Panamá calls for a major highway to link Nicaragua with Panamá along the Caribbean coast.

The largest US bank, Citigroup, purchased Grupo Financiero Uno, which has a presence in Central America and Panama, according to an announcement by the company Friday. The amount of the transaction was not stated, and it is subject to approval by regulatory agencies.
Grupo Uno owns Banco Uno and Aval Card in Costa Rica. It also has operations in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador.  It has a capital of 2.1 billion dollars and over 1 million clients, principally in credit cards, 75 branches, 100 offices and points of sale.

Citigroup operates in 24 nations in Latin America, with over 1600 branches and 500 customer service points. entros de atención al consumidor.  One of its strengths is consumer banking, and this is the motive behind the purchase of Grupo Uno – with its high market penetration in credit cards – and important step for positioning Citigroup in the isthmus.

Manuel Medina-Mora, executive president of Citigroup Latin America & México, stated that the aquisition was a platform for expansion in the region. Medina-Mora commented that with the purchase of the Grupo Uno, Citigroup widened its opportunities and geographic reach in this region.

The Citigroup foray into this area was expected earlier by local bankers, but it was delayed.  The purchase is proof of a more aggressive strategy by Citigroup in Latin America. This tendency accelerated after Citigroup decided to concentrate the administration of its Latin subsidiarias in Mexico rather than New York.

Local experts think that with a more active Citigroup, the level of competition will rise, as will the quality of services and the regulatory standards, all of which will benefit the consumers in the region.

This adquisition follows earlier purchases by GE Consumer Finance of the Grupo BAC; Scotiabank of Corporación Interfin, and the recent purchase of Banistmo de Panamá by HSBC of England.

Bankers expressed that this transaction confirms support in the region by the large international banks and companies, due to the opportunies presented by CAFTA.

- La Nacion

The government and the dock workers union (JAPDEVA) reached an agreement yesterday that ended the strike on the dockes. The parties signed an agreement after tough negotiations, particularly on sanctions to be applied to striking workers and workers who participated in the work slowdown which was declared illegal by a Limon court.

Point 4 of the agreement said : “JAPDEVA will not cause workers or union representatives to be prosecuted at work, in court or  through administrative means. ”.

The accord established sanction for the 4 days of the strike, one day’s salary will be docked in each of the next 4 months. There was no promise by the Government to exclude Limon from concession.

http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2006/octubre/27/pais874999.html

Orlando Cascante, director of Mobile Services at ICE, confirmed yesterday that the Ericsson GSM lines were sold out as of last Wednesday.  The 600.000 Ericsson lines were sold in 11 months, about 2,000 lines per day.  TDMA lines are still available.

Cascante stated that some lines will be recovered in the short term due to non payment of the bills, on the average ICE disconnects 5,000 overdue users per month.

Alfredo Sasso, President of ASOFAC (Association of Representatives of Cellular Manufacturers) expressed displeasure at the lack of lines. “ICE offered prepaid lines, portability (changing from TDMA to GSM and keeping your number ) and they did not do it, now some of our members are overstocked on telephones. ”

ICE plans to increase by 50% the Ericsson and Alcatel cellular networks, an extra 500,000 lines, but no information was available as to the status of that project.  In Costa Rica there are 1.5 million cellular lines, 600,000 Ericsson GSM, 400,000 Alcatel GSM and 544,000 TDMA.

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad said Thursday that vandals have damaged a fiber optic communications line between Liberia and Cañas in Guanacaste. The communications monopoly said that its crews would be doing work on the line between 10 p.m. Friday and 4 a.m. Saturday and that service might be interrupted.

The dock situation in Limón still is not resolved.

The government is ready to pay dock workers some $900,000 promised by the prior Abel Pacheco administration. But dock workers want amnesty for those who participated in this week’s strike, something the government is not prepared to offer.

Francisco Morales,the minister of Trabajo, has been negotiating for the government.

On the other side are representatives of the union of employees of the Junta de Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Econmico de la Vertiente del Atlántico, the government agency that runs the docks.

The main concern Thursday was to clear the way so that a cruise ship can arrive today. Officials said the local economy lost more than $100,000 when the captain of the Carnival Victory declined to dock with 3,000 passengers Wednesday because of the strike.

So far the cruise ships for today and Saturday still are scheduled to arrive. This means work for many in the province who depend on the tourist trade.

Security still is an issue. Police confronted young fire bombers and rioters Wednesday night and to a less extent Thursday. The youngsters, who were from some of the area’s poorer neighborhoods are being considered surrogates for the union members.

Police officials said they wondered how poor youngsters got their hands on so much gasoline and special nails they rigged to puncture tires of passing cars.

Dock workers have been conducting a slowdown since late September. The slowdown morphed into a full-scale strike earlier this week in concert with demonstrations by union workers in San José who were opposed to the free trade treaty with the United States.

Although not directly involved with the free trade treaty, the main concern of dock workers is that the Óscar Arias administration not lease the docks to a concessionaire. That was done at the Caldera docks on the Pacific, and the initial results are tempting.

The concessionaire, Sociedad Portuaria de Caldera S.A,, reported Thursday that the firm had already invested about $1 million in equipment at the docks. That includes a sophisticated computer system. The success or failure of the concession on the Pacific directly affects strikers at the Caribbean Limón and Moín docks because the Pacific venture is competition.

Officials like concessions because they can authorize major improvements without investing public money.

The Arias administration can take a hard line in Limón because a judge found that the strike is illegal. So union workers who participated can find themselves facing criminal charges. And they fear that the government would not hesitate to bring in strikebreakers if union workers do not go back on the job.

The focus of the government and free trade opponents has shifted to Limón where dock workers have upgraded their slowdown to a full-scale strike.

President Óscar Arias Sánchez has reiterated his desire for dialog but insists that he will not do what trade treaty opponents want: withdraw the document from the Asamblea Legislativa.

“This boat has a captain, and the captain knows where he wants Costa Rica to go,” Arias told reporters Wednesday.

Meanwhile, union leaders at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad said they would stage another protest and demonstration sometime in November. Workers from that communications monopoly dominated the protests Monday and Tuesday.

The dock workers have other reasons for their strike, although the free trade treaty figured into their grievances too. They are expecting a payment from the government that was promised by the Abel Pacheco administration. The amount is 470 million colons or about $900,000. But they also fear the government will lease the docks to a concessionaire, thereby jeopardizing their jobs.

The tourism minister said Wednesday that the Limón area took a hit because the Carnival Victory skipped a scheduled stop there and went on to Jamaica due to the strike. The loss to the business people and the government was 57 million colons or about $110,000, said Carlos  Ricardo Benavides of the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo. The boat held 3,000 passengers and 1,050 crew members, he said.

More cruise ships are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, and Benavides asked union leaders to consider the impact their actions were having on their neighbors.

Reports from the Caribbean say that both the Moín and Limón docks are at a standstill. Workers had been conducting a slowdown that was ruled illegal by a judge.

Central government officials said that since the strike has been declared illegal, the agency that runs the docks, the Junta de Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Económico de la Vertiente Atlántica, could apply unspecified sanctions. They also plan to take steps to make sure the cruise ships can dock.

The government also is considering holding up paying the money owed to the dock workers and using it as a lever. Much of the nation’s agricultural exports pass through the docks on the Caribbean.

Arias, in his discussion Wednesday, said that the government was flexible. He noted that he had promised that he would not let protesters Monday and Tuesday block traffic. But when Universidad de Costa Rica’s anarchist club set up barriers on a main road, Arias pointed out that he declined to send in police. He said he did this in part because the police had been disarmed at his order and they would be facing youngsters with sticks and bottles of flammable liquids.

The government is disposed to make concessions when it has to, he said.

He also chided the students for covering their faces with ski masks and bandannas. He said hiding one’s identity was not very Costa Rican.

A committee of the legislature probably will send the free trade treaty to the assembly floor in the next few weeks. A debate will begin. Assembly leaders anticipate a vote in January or February.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19388

Reporters Without Borders issues its fifth annual Worldwide Index of Press Freedom. “Journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed,” the organisation said. “The steady erosion of press freedom in the United States, France and Japan is also alarming.”

The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of “national security” to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his “war on terrorism.” The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.

Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year.

France (35th) slipped five places during the past year, to make a loss of 24 places in five years. The increase in searches of media offices and journalists’ homes is very worrying for media organisations and trade unions. Autumn 2005 was an especially bad time for French journalists, several of whom were physically attacked or threatened during a trade union dispute involving privatisation of the Corsican firm SNCM and during violent demonstrations in French city suburbs in November.

Rising nationalism and the system of exclusive press clubs (kishas) threatened democratic gains in Japan, which fell 14 places to 51st. The newspaper Nihon Keizai was firebombed and several journalists phsyically attacked by far-right activists (uyoku).

New Countries Move Up

New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones.

“Unfortunately nothing has changed in the countries that are the worst predators of press freedom,” the organisation said, “and journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed. These situations are extremely serious and it is urgent that leaders of these countries accept criticism and stop routinely cracking down on the media so harshly.

Rankings in the Americas 

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19381

Bolivia and Canada ranked highest in the Americas at 16th place in a tie with Austria.

Trinidad and Tobago was 19th and Jamaica 23rd while Cost Rica followed at 29th.

Panama (39) and El Salvador (41) were in the top 50.  While Chile (49) and the Dominican Republic (52) also ranked ahead of the US at number 53.

Except for Guatemala (90th), Central America as a whole has good rankings despite the gap between countries such as Costa Rica (29th), Panama (39th) and El Salvador (41st), and Honduras (64th) and Nicaragua (69th). The few physical attacks on journalists also shows that self-censorship is at work.