Archive for May, 2007

Legislators Mull Bill to Ban Physical Punishment

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

by Rod Hughes
Costa Ricans are well known for their adoration of children. But isn’t a law prohibiting parents to use any kind of physical punishment going too far?
The bill is out of committee with multi-partisan support. The current Family Code specifies that parents have “the rights and…duties to educate, care for, watch over and, in […]

This Time, for Sure! Rio Azul to Close

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

by Rod Hughes
We’ve heard it so many times that when Minister of Health Maria Luisa Avila seriously announced the definitive closure of the Rio Azul landfill near Cartago July 31, one is tempted to laugh.
The landfill, which opened in 1973, has faced a series of deadlines, some of which that passed almost unnoticed and […]

Minister Sleeps Over in Dirt-Floored Slum Hovel

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

by Rod Hughes
For the media, it was an irresistible photo opportunity. For the government, it was a prod to get congressmen off the dime to pass two anti-poverty bills.To some humorless Costa Ricans it was just a cheap publicity stunt.
President Oscar Arias’s point man in the government’s plans to alleviate poverty, Housing Minister Fernando spent […]

Finally!

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

31/5/7
I finally did it! My last post showed a picture of the footings, and the start of the block walls. I was just experimenting, and didn’t check the picture too closely. It clearly shows the outhouse they built on top of the […]

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

here we go again

Arson-Murder Trial Begins

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
The trial of Juan Carlos Ledezma, accused of arson and 19 counts of homicide, began Monday in criminal court. The defendant, a male nurse, was charged with causing one of the country’s most terrible tragedies in recent years, a roaring inferno that destroyed the fourth and fifth floors of the antiquated neurosurgery unit […]

Stations Show Solidarity with Venezuelan TV Channel

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

About 130 radio stations in Costa Rica observed one minute of silence at 7:03 a.m. yesterday to protest the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s decision not to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV).
The station has long been an outlet for opposition parties, according to CNN’s Web site. Chávez has accused RCTV of supporting the […]

Persistent

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

I’m going to make this work right, yet.

Another Picture

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

The first picture was of the concrete in the trenches. It surrounds a long cage of rebar. The columns in between the block walls are also full of rebar, and a corona will be poured around the top of all the walls, with everything linked together by rebar. They are using enough […]

7 Ticos in Champions’ League Tourney

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

by Rod Hughes
Seven Costa Rican soccer stars will play with clubs in the Champions’ League (European soocer federation), a tournament the daily La Nacion calls “the most relevant tourney of clubs in the world.”
Injury-plagued Gilberto (Tuma) Martínez, recuperating from a persistent knee injury, hopes to be recovered enough to play with his AS Roma team […]