By Katherine Stanley, Tico Times Staff

Strikes by unionized workers, including teachers, health-care workers, employees of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) and others, are likely to cause delays in traffic and public services today and tomorrow as they protest the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), under consideration in the Legislative Assembly.

Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias has estimated the strikes will force 89,000 patients to cancel appointments, postpone 1,160 surgeries, and leave the country’s approximately 900,000 elementary- and high-school students without teachers. Union leaders, who say thousands of people are ready to express their opposition to the controversial trade pact, aren’t denying these claims, though they say all protests will be peaceful.

President Oscar Arias sent an open letter to union leaders late Thursday instructing them that although the National Police will ensure their right to protest on the streets, demonstrators can only use half of any given thoroughfare, leaving the other half for “the free transit of citizens.”

In the letter, he reiterated his support for activists’ right to make their message heard, but urged protestors to minimize the inconvenience to other Costa Ricans.

According to strike coordinators, protestors in San José will gather Monday morning at four points – the University of Costa Rica (UCR) campus in the eastern suburb of San Pedro, in front of the La República newspaper offices in Barrio Tournón, in front of the ICE building in the western neighborhood of La Sabana, and, in the south, by the Pacific Railway Station and the Y Griega rotonda – and march “between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.” to the Legislative Assembly downtown.

Officials have advised drivers to leave their homes 90 minutes early in order to be sure they reach their destinations on time.

The statement from strike coordinators warned participants that the government may infiltrate the protests with people paid to incite acts of violence.

20/10/6

I haven’t mentioned it before, but we are trying to start a bed and breakfast business in our small home. We have rented our extra bedroom to six people, so far. The first couple enjoyed the peace and quiet of our home, but did not like the noise of Costa Rica. After leaving here, they stayed at Marvin’s cabins, near the Bar Huevo, and were kept awake by karaoke on the weekend. Before they stayed here, they stayed at Playa Coco. This is a party town, full of bars and many people party there every night. They left for their country two weeks early, but you can’t please everyone.

The other four people were men. Three of them are friends of mine. They thought Costa Rica was marvelous. They enjoyed staying in a Tico environment, and all of them commented that the best part was meeting my neighbours.

My most recent visitor went home on Wednesday. When I talked to him last night, he was planning a return trip. Just for one example, he is a fisherman. We hired my neighbour to take us fishing. Howie, my friend, has fished for all kinds of fish, all over the world. He said he has never had so much fun. He is in a wheelchair. Rafa carried him from the car, down the steep steps to the panga ( an open boat they use for fishing around here), and set him in the boat. It is 18 feet long, with a 40 HP outboard. I also got in the boat, and because we were late, it was low tide, they pushed us 800m. through mud that was over their knees to get us to the ocean.  No problem. Once under way, we headed across the Gulf of Nicoya to San Lucas Island. This island was once used as a prison, but is now a beautiful nature reserve.

They fished with nylon line wrapped around a plastic bottle. They baited the hook with a shrimp, and threw it out. When they caught fish, they brought them in hand over hand. It was obvious to me they were all having a lot of fun. This is what the locals do for fun, and Howie was right in there, learning all their tricks. They didn’t need my interpreting skills to joke with each other when one of them caught a garbage fish, or a bigger fish than the last guy, they were saying the same things all fishermen do, and the five of us hardly stopped laughing the whole day. When we returned, he booked another day in the boat for two days later. If anything, that day was better because we weren’t late, and they didn’t have to push the boat through mud. Both days were very productive, and as Howie would rather go out for a hamburger, we gave all the fish to the guys. They were happy with that.

Anyway, I got an email from my cousin today. He was thinking of coming for a holiday, but it is more expensive to fly here, than it is for an all-inclusive. I tried to explain that cost isn’t everything, and if he could get away for two weeks, Costa Rica would be more cost effective. The holiday is different. Not everyone wants to swim and drink for a week. The hotels are usually isolated from the society, and many Caribbean islands get boring after four days. Everyone who has been here has left wanting more. Costa Rica has so much to offer tourists; three or four separate climates, volcanoes, beaches, rain and cloud forests, bird reserves, (not to mention all the wild birds), fishing, night life, and tranquility. Ticos enjoy a quality of life unconnected to how much money they make, or what problems they must solve daily. Life is so different here, and discovering the differences has been a marvelous education for this old man, and my guests have felt the same.

People here are used to having problems, and they know what to do about them, solve them. My windshield wipers quit on the way to the airport with Howie. After I got him sorted out at the airport, I went to my friend’s hotel I had stayed in the first week. Larry and his family have stayed here a few times, once for three days, and I have got to know him quite well. He figured that we should take the car to his mechanic. The mechanic fixed it for a good price, and I had my car back around five. I don’t like driving through the mountains at night, so I stayed over. Larry was broke, so he charged me a whole ten dollars for the room, and I headed home early in the morning to feed Raz. Problem solved.

The margin between the dollar buy and sell rate went from 6.77 colones to 5.31 colones on Thursday.  In the wholesale market $14.5 million dollars were exchanged and the exchange rate went to a low of 515.46 colones per US dollar.

The exchange rate of reference (the sell rate for individuals that need to buy dollars) fell from ¢521.82 to ¢520.50.

The main complaint of people on Wednesday and Tuesday was that the margin had increased significantly.  On Monday, the last day under the old mini-devaluation system, the margin between the buy and sell rate was  2.77 colones.  Under the new system – with an exchange band – the margin was ¢6.59 on Tuesday and ¢6.77 on Wednesday.
The president of the Central Bank, Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez, said that it is premature to draw  conclusions in so few days. He expects that the margins will be reduced as market forces come into play.

María Isabel Cortés, executive director of the Asociación Bancaria Costarricense (Costa Rican Bankers Association), said that the “increase in the exchange rate margin observed by the public is a result of the  Central Bank’s decision to increase its margin of exchange.  Before the reform, the bank operated with a tighter margin, less than one colon per dollar.  Now it is higher. ”.

The Banco Nacional, with one of the lowest margins, explained that the organization’s surpluses allowed it to offer better prices to the public.

By Amanda Roberson,  Tico Times Staff  

At the request of a group of doctors at San Juan de Dios Hospital in San José, Ombudswoman Lisbeth Quesada took a tour of the facility yesterday and wasn’t pleased with what she saw, said Ombudsman’s Office press chief Amed Tabash.

Damaged infrastructure, dangerous working conditions and a lengthy waiting list for patients to get appointments and receive treatment are among problems Quesada observed and plans to include in a report her office is preparing for the Social Security System (Caja).

A group of doctors filed a complaint regarding the hospital this week with the Ombudsman’s Office, prompting Quesada’s visit, Tabash said.

The Ombudswoman found that several columns in the building, which is more than 100 years old, are beginning to deteriorate, and the workshop where prosthetics are made has no ventilation, making it swelteringly hot for workers. Additionally, the hospital’s waiting list is full of about 7,500 patients who have been waiting four to 40 months.

Quesada’s office is preparing a report to give to Caja officials spelling out these problems and suggesting ways to remedy the situation including building a hospital in the southern part of San José.

One of San Juan de Dios’ problem is the saturation of patients that arrive from the south side of San José because there is no periphery hospital nearby, Tabash said.

“It’s urgent that another hospital is built to meet this demand,” he said.

The Ombudsman’s Office is also considering asking the National Emergency Commission (CNE) to declare San Juan de Dios in a state of emergency, Tabesh said, explaining that “what we saw there was a true emergency.”

The Ombudsman’s Office will be completing this report in the next couple of weeks and will work with the Caja to assess its plans for improving the country’s public hospitals, he said.

The government took steps Thursday to deflate the general strike that free trade opponents plan for Monday and Tuesday.

The major step was a decree signed by President Óscar Arias Sánchez to strengthen the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the telecommunications monopoly. The agency known as ICE is one of the major sources of strength for trade treaty opponents and workers fear what might happen if the company has competition..

Arias issued a presidential decree because a proposal to do many of the same things is tied up in the Asamblea Legislativa. The idea is to free ICE from some financial requirements and permit it to act as a private firm might do in the face of competition. In addition, ICE can contract its own debts and refinance existing obligations without going through government agencies. This will allow ICE to borrow a total of $435 million this year and next.

The decree also affects Radiográfica Costarricense S.A., the retail Internet provider, and the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz. Both are ICE subsidiaries.

The decree also creates a fund to provide access to telephone service for persons who do not now have it. Previously ICE paid for this.

In the second step to blunt participation in the two-day general strike, Arias released a letter he sent to union leaders in which he asked them to use only half the street for their marches. That way, he said, they will not block traffic.

Of course, blocking traffic is the whole idea. But the letter from Arias puts the unions on notice that they will be blocking free passage, which is a right of citizens. It may presage criminal action. And it is at least a maneuver in the public relations war.
Union leaders anticipate a big turnout Monday and Tuesday. The goal is to shut down the country and put a show of force on the streets.

By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff

With many glumly predicting dismal voter turnout during the Dec. 3 municipal elections, analysts and electoral officials gathered yesterday at the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) in San José to discuss ways to improve not only the voting process, but also municipal governments as a whole.

The speakers, including a national legislator, several analysts and others familiar with municipal government, emphasized the importance of increasing local control in Costa Rica, the most centralized country in Latin America, according to Fabio Molina, president of the Institute for Municipal Development (IFAM). Molina said that although the press focuses on low voter interest in the upcoming election, the level of interest is actually quite remarkable, given that municipalities account for only 1.7% of total public spending.

In the first-ever popular elections of mayors in 2002, the abstention level was 77.4% — but taking into account null and blank ballots, only 21% of the 2.3 million registered Costa Rican voters cast valid votes. Carlos Sojo, of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), told The Tico Times in 2002 that the disappointing turnout “was like a class officer election at a university” and that parties would have to work hard to inspire voters if the next municipal elections were to show better results (TT, Dec. 6, 2002).

TSE magistrate Eugenia Zamora said at the forum that municipal governments are in a state of “permanent crisis,” with problems including difficulties in collecting municipal taxes and the lack of state contribution to political parties for municipal campaigns (unlike presidential and legislative campaigns). Many reforms have been proposed, but an excess of varied proposals has caused backup in the Legislative Assembly, Zamora said.

The forum was part of the “Dialogue About Well-Being” series sponsored by FLACSO, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

Students from the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica in Cartago will be displaying their creative ideas Thursday in the X Feria de Ideas de Negocios.

The event will be in the Biblioteca José Figueres Ferrer of the institute, one of four public universities in Costa Rica. Some of the ideas put forth at previous events have gone into commercial production. The three categories are eco-friendly, services and computers-electronics. Top prizes are $1,000. The event is being sponsored by many of the major companies in Costa Rica.

The new system of exchanging money went into effect Tuesday, and those who didn’t know what the buy and sell rates meant, still didn’t.

The Banco Central has let the colon float within limits, but its one thing to shop around for a good price for a new car. Doing the same thing with pockets bulging with dollars is another.

The Central Bank envisions the savvy economic man, but there was not a lot of difference in the rates offered by the public banks Tuesday. There was a 3.5 to 4 colon difference in the buy and sell rates.

The story was different at smaller, private entities. One reported that it would give customers 470.60 colons for each dollar.  That was well below the average of about 521 colons to the dollar. That was another way of saying they had enough dollars or maybe “Tourists welcome.”

The market showed some movement Tuesday, mostly because of the pent-up demand from a three-day weekend.

The Central Bank will be publishing a daily reference rate that will be the rough average of all transactions at supervised entities.

Some expats think that the market will take a month or two to get evened out. The rates will show seasonal changes as tourists and seasonable businesses make deposits and withdraw funds.

For many, the uncertainty of tomorrow’s rate represents a de facto dollarization of the economy.

The Central Bank expected to get off the hook in supporting the colon. Officials there say that the floating colon will reduce inflation. Others expect the colon to devalue quicker under the new system than it would have had the 20-year-old system of daily mini-devaluations stayed in place.

More than half the debt in Costa Rica is denominated in dollars, as is the exterior national debt. A drop in the value of colons could have serious effects on individual borrowers and the government. which collects its funds in colons.

Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of the new system are those shady guys who hang around the boulevard and Calle Central with calculators in their hands. They offer tourists and others better rates, and looking for a better rate is being encouraged now.

Of course they offer better rates because many of the dollars they sell say hecho in Colombia in small letters under the engraving of Pablo Escobar.

Investigators said they arrested 15 persons who used their government positions to award land to themselves, close relatives or accomplices.

The law also requires that the appplicants meet certain requirements, and agents said that those who were arrested altered documents to show that those who recieved the land were eligible when they were not.  The investigation was delayed because much of the documentation for the agricultural development agency during that period had been destroyed. Agents say this was done on purpose.

Investigators said that in-laws, brothers and other relatives of the public employees got the gifts of property. At least 65 separate cases are being investigated.   The land area is some 689,108 square meters, agents said. That’s about 170 acres.

Judges are being asked to order the detained individuals not to leave the country. In some cases, prosecutors are seeking preventative detention.

There is no justification for the general strike that anti-free trade forces have planned for Monday and Tuesday, the Arias government said Wednesday.

Arias noted that the ratification of the treaty is now in the hands of the assembly. Legislative leaders said Wednesday  that no more testimony would be taken at hearings on the document and that discussion now would be limited to lawmakers.

Opponents of the treaty are working to bring union dock workers from Limón and Moín into the strike. Union workers there want the government to promise that they will not put the docks out to bid for a private concession as happened on the Pacific at the Caldera docks. Workers have been engaged in job actions.

They are seeking to get farmers to protest in San Carlos, San Isidro de El General, San Ramón and Limón. They also want to paralyze the entire educational system. The protest is being called the Primera Gran Jornada de Lucha contra el TLC, using the Spanish acronym.

One question mark is how many of the estimated 40,000 employees of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, the health and welfare agency, will join the protest. Union leaders there have struggled to show how the treaty might affect hospital and health workers with minimal success.