by Rod Hughes

Public school in Costa Rica are plugging holes in their meager budgets by collecting paper, glass, aluminum and other materials for recycling, reported the daily La Nacion.

But not only students and teachers contribute. Neighbors and residents nearby pitch in to collect refuse that would otherwise add to the urban glut that has become a serious municipal problem as landfill fill up. Costa Rica in the latter part of the 20th century became not only a throwaway society but, unfortunately, a litterbug one as well, so no shortage of raw material for recyclers exist.

Proceeds from sale to recyclers go toward buying teaching materials, classroom furniture and even electric appliances for use in the schools. But the Asencion Esquivel Ibarra School in Alajuela has taken the fund-raising use of refuse one imaginative step further.

Students make ornamental objects for the home from objects cast away as useless. One popular item for sale are bottles painted artistically for a multitude of uses, including as candleholders during power outages, for example. A tavern owner in town contributes empty bottles to the cause.

The school’s 10-year-old program last year netted enough funds to buy bookcases and a large table last year. It serves to teach the students protection of the environment as well as to earn funds, the teachers oint out, but it is hard work to collect, sort and prepare the materials as well as to transport items to the point of sale.

At the town of San Ramon in the same canton, the Escuela Laboratoria uses a more conventional approach, selling the refuse to a recycler in the canton. “What we make isn’t a big deal,” says school principal Cecilia Cuadra, “but it’s enough to buy paper for making (lesson) photocopies.”

One person’s trash is another’s treasure, goes the saying…

by Rod Hughes

In a surprise move yesterday, the Catholic Church of Costa Rica announced its support of the referendum on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the English-language weekly The Tico Times reported on its Web site.

The referendum, Costa Rica’s first popular vote on an issue instead of for fixed-term public offices, was hailed by Francisco Ulloa, the president of the Episcopal Conference, as “an effective mechanism to reach a national agreement” on this most controversial issue, reported the newspaper.

Friday, President Oscar Arias announced the government backing for the referendum, thus putting it on a fast track. The Supreme Elections Tribunal, an independent elections watchdog, has 90 days to place the ballot before the public if at least 29 members of the Legislative Assemby (congress) ratify it.

The Episcopal conference called on the media to be objective and open to the expression of all opinions on the important issue, adding that it would urge all believers to get out and vote.

Roman Catholicism is the official religion in Costa Rica and it is not unusual for the Church to throw its influence behind public issues, although often its counsels are ignored by elected officials.

(See past CAFTA coverage on this newsfeed.)

 by Rod Hughes

For the rebounding Saprissa First Division soccer club, it was an important victory, especially since it was in Santa Cruz’s home field in the Guanacaste province’s low coastal area—meaning it was scorching hot compared with Tibas’s climate.

For Santa Cruz, the Saprissa 3-0 victory was a disaster, sending them packing to the Second Division and making way for another team in that division to play with the big boys next season.

Try Bennett opened the cannonade after the first 18 minutes of play on a “golaso,” as they say in Spanish, scoring from a goodly distance. Ten minutes later, Alejandro Alpizar acted on a pass from Bennett. Then in the second half, Alpizar put the cap on Santa Cruz’s misery on a pass from Victor Cordero.

Meanwhile, Alajuela dumped Brujas in a hard-played game, 2-1, win still complicates life for both teams. especially for Brujas which had high hopes of passing on to the second part of the champiosnip tourney.

Things looked bright, indeed, for Brujas when their Danny Fonseca scored after only eight minutes of play. They looked even brighter when Alajula’s Pablo Salazar was expelled in minute 25.

Then the cloud obscured the Brujas day when Alajuela’s Carlos Hernandez scored in the final two minutes of the first half on a pass from Pablo Herrera, tying the score. Even at minute 81, a tie appeared likely—until Herrera scored on a pass by Victor Nunez.

In other Sunday games, Santos dumped Carmelita 3-0, Puntarenas regained its winning touch 1-0 over Liberia, and a surprising San Carlos edged Heredia 1-0 on a header by its star, Andy Furtado.

The Santos win, by the way, puts that team in striking distance of the second round with a makeup game coming Wednesday.

by Rod Hughes

Police followup in cases of domestic violence has been mandated by a multi-agency task force, putting even more teeth into law enforcement in cases where women are targets of male aggression, the daily La Nacion reported today. In the past, police were often negligent about watching households where the husband, legal or common law, clearly constituted a risk.

The results of the joint conference follow closely on the heels of the new women’s protection law passed last week by the Legislative Assembly. The new law is even more strict than similar legislation passed in 1998.

The new protocol specifies that victims may be sent to a refuge when a restraining order has not been issued against their male housemate. In 2005, such orders were disobeyed 10% of the time, often with fatal results for the women they were supposed to protect.

Now violations may result in six months to two years in jail. Participating in the drafting of the new protocols were representatives of the Ministry of Public Security, the court system (including judges and its investigative division OIJ), the National Institute for Women, the child welfare agency PANI and the Ministry of Justice.

Old customs die hard and Costa Rica, like most Latin American countries, was a machismo society until relatively recently, where men ran the household often like iron-handed tyrants. Through the 20th century, however, this gradually changed with the women gaining the vote in mid-century and a rapid increase in the number of businesswomen and female politicians. The final blow that led up to the new legal procedures was a rapid increase in reported domestic violence that culminated in the woman’s death.

by Rod Hughes

President Oscar Arias, after a long cabinet meeting, has given his support for the first-ever nation-wide referendum, on the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), saying he hopes the the balloting machinery could be in place for a vote in August or, at the latest, September.

The Arias Administration approval of the balloting avoids the use of an alternative for organizing a referendum, the time-consuming collection of 132,000 signatures in a petition. The forum will be under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Elections Tribunal. A spokeman for the tribunal said budgeted funds exist for the balloting.

Arias did specify that if an insufficient number voted in the referendum, he would not withdraw the CAFTA ratification bill from Congress where, at present, it appears to have the bare 38 votes needed for passage.

CAFTA was signed in 2005 by then-President Dr. Abel Pacheco, but needs ratification to become law. Costa Rica is the lone holdout on ratification of the Central American countries and the Domincan Republic.

Arias said that the 13 currently bills in congress designed to bring Costa Rican law into alignment with provisions of CAFTA would not be delayed or withdrawn.

Otton Solis, former presidential candidate for the Citizen Action Party which opposes CAFTA, lauded Arias’s action but all was not roses for the Pesident. Jose Miguel Corrales, a former congressman and a dissident from Arias’s own party, called the President’s action a “fraud” and said an early vote did not allow time for the public to become fully informed.

Costa Rica, one of Latin America’s oldest democracies and the most stable, had legal provisions in its 1949 constitution only for voting in fixed-term elections. The law setting up referendums was quietly drafted during the Pacheco Administration.

The trade pact has been the hottest topic in Costa Rican political discussions and has been the subject of a number to peaceful street demonstrations, pro and con, in the past two years. Generally, the unions–especially those representing government and government-monopoly employees–oppose the pact while business and many professionals support it.

by Rod Hughes 

A severe law for the protection of wives, legal or common law, overwhelmingly passed the Legisilatiive Assembly by a vote of 45 to 3. The three male congressmen opposing the law were all from the Libertarian party.

The lone female member of the Libertarian congressional delegation voted for the measure. Libertarian opponents of the law tried to gather the 10 signatures necessary to send the bill to the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber but failed, reported the daily La Nacion.

The law specifies 20 to 35 years in prison for murder of a spouse. The bill was drafted during the last congressional term in answer to a rising number of husbands or male companions murdering women.

The law also specifies up to two years for forced oral, anal or vaginal sex, as well as for insulting, demeaning or menacing a female companion.

One Libertarian deputy who voted against the bill on an earlier reading said he feared women would abuse the law in order to wreak vengeance on their spouses or gain other undue advantage. All the opponents felt the law was discriminatory against men, although they did not oppose the stiff penalty for murder.

Edio Ricci Giampietri yesterday received the National Energy Globe in Brussels, Belgium, considered the “Nobel Prize of energy and environment,” according to the daily newspaper La Nacion.

A researcher at the National Autonomous University at Heredia (UNA), the scientist received the recognition for his development of a solar oven to disinfect biocontaminated hospital waste. The energy-saving oven will treat liquids, gases and solids, including contagious materials, at extremely low cost.

“It’s the only apparatus that can completely sterilize this kind of infectious waste and still be environment-friendly,” commented physicist Alejandro Gutierrez, director of the International Oceanic Institute at UNA, who served as Ricci’s project coordinator.

How is the National Soccer First Division race going this year? Tighter than a sailor on an annual shore leave, that’s how!

In Group A, Saprissa tightened its hold on first place yesterday with its 1-0 shutout of Puntarenas while Alajuela blanked Santos 2-0 to tie Cartago for first in Group B. Everyone else in that group are also-rans.

To sum up the Wednesday scores, it was Heredia, consistent as usual this year after a rocky start last year, over Santa Cruz, 3-1, Perez Zeledon over Carmelita 2-1, Brujas and Cartago scoreless and a resurgent Liberia downing San Carlos 2-1.

For Cartago, a scoreless tie was bad news for the erstwhile leader of Group B. But the foggy city, as Cartago is nicknamed, is still tied with Alajuela for first with 24 points each.

The only goal in the Saprissa-Puntarenas game came late in the second period by Alejandro Alpizar on a pass from Try Bennett.

Top scorers are Saprissa’s Alonso Solis with 16, followed by Alajuela’s Rolando Fonseca (14), Heredia’s Leandro Barrios (13), Kurt Bernard of Puntarenas, Athim Roper of Brujas and Alejandro Sequeira of Caremlita, all with 12 each.

by Rod Hughes

Dr. Franklin Chang, Costa Rica’s ex-astronaut and favorite native son, this week kicked off a unique campaign using temporary tatoos to save endangered species in the southern Pacific Osa Peninsula region, reported the national press today.
The stick-on tatoos cost 500 colones, less than a dollar, with the proceeds to go to strengthen coastal and ranger vigilance in the national park that covers most of the mountainous peninsula. Last year, the English-language weekly Tico Times reported widespread poaching of wild boar and jaguars in the park and rangers scarce due a severe budget pinch. Private enterprise has been working to make up the lack.
The tatoos depict whales and dolphins (found off the peninsula’s coast) as well as the jaguar, wild parrot and the frog.