by Rod Hughes

Two years ago, Costa Ricans were complaining bitterly about illegal immigration, fearing that Nicaraguans would take work away from Ticos who demand and get at least the legal minimum wage. This led to immigration legislation so severe that President Oscar Arias refused to enforce much of it, saying that it violated foreigners’ rights. Meanwhile, illegal immigrants continue to pour across the border.
Now, the agricultural sector and construction complain that they face a shortage of labor, bordering on a crisis. In agriculture alone, the shortfall is estimated at 70 to 80,000 jobs vacamt for lack of willing hands. The image of rotten coffee berries falling off the trees and ruined pineapples spoiling in the fields give nightmares to economists and farmers alike.
Granted, during past coffee harvests, seasonal agricultural workers have been in desperate demand, but this is the first time in the nation’s history that more labor demand than supply has existed on a permanent basis: 5,000 to cut sugar cane, 5,000 in the Caribbean banana plantations, 4,000 in the pineapple fields. And this is not counting the 50,000 seasonal coffee pickers that will be needed in the harvest at the end of the year.
Nowhere has the labor shortage been felt more than in the country’s fast-growing construction industry, where wages for unskilled jobs have been forced up to attract workers. But this has merely deepened the agriculture crisis as workers abandon the fields for manual labor in concrete. “How are you going to keep them down on the farm?” went the old song and that is what farm owners are singing now.
In part, Costa Rica’s success in attracting foreign investment is at fault. International corporations like Intel have skimmed much of the cream off the top of most of the educated market that might otherwise be under employed, forcing the non-high school graduates into unskilled labor. Many young high school graduates have filled jobs in the now-sagging sportbook industry but many have found call center jobs with other companies or are working in tourism.
On a social level, the shortage may cause the average Costa Rican to re-think his prejudices. It was not long ago that Nicaraguans, nicknamed “Nicas” were blamed for the rising crime rates (with no statistical basis for the assumption) and for lowering salaries by being willing to work for slave wages. Two Nicaraguan governments have complained about anti-Nica discrimination. (Although Nicaraguan presidents tend to point the finger at any foeign country that distract the public away from a focus on their own mismanagement of their country. No doubt, their troubled economy makes the money illegal immigrants send home a powerful motive to want immigration to Costa Rica more attractive.)
If this sounds familiar, like the southern border of the United States, it is because many of the same factors are at work. Currently, critics of the immigration muddle in the United States are beginning to urge that illegal immigtration be made harder while legal entry for Mexicans be made easier. That is precisely what the immigration reform bill currently before Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly is aimed at accomplishing.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica has no plans to build a fence anywhere on its borders.

by Rod Hughes

Minister of Health María Luisa Avila has denied the Caribbean port city of Limon a license to hold its annual carnival, the biggest and most colorful civic festival in the country. The reason: an outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever throughout the province.
So far, no deaths have been reported but the outbreak has swamped Max Peralta public hospital in Limon where six wards with a total of 45 beds are reported full of suffering patients. The illness can cause death but usually symptoms are the high fever and headaches. The outbreak has raised the number of cases from 225 last year to 1,300, an increase of 600% so far this year.
Avila said she had no choice, since the visitors could carry the disease all over the country. The illness is most common in the tropical lowlands and outbreaks have occurred in other coastal areas. In the entire Limon province, dengue has been growing at a rate of 300 cases per week with no sign of a peak.
But Limon residents oppose the ban, a source of extra income in an economically depressed area. And tourists also have ample reason to lament the cancellation of the carnival. The event revolves around music, a veritable showcase of the Caribbean rythmns and folk dancing with nearly universal participation by the locals. As one source once described it to this reporter some years ago, “You jus’ can’t help but dance. The music is just so enticin’, you can’t resist!” Much of this music is produced by steel bands whose instruments are produced by cutting the ends off 55-gallon metal drums, forming and tuning them and using a type of drumstick to produce the sound. Despite being a percussion instrument, the sound is a deep resonance more akind to that of an organ.

by Rod Hughes
It seems like a “no brainer,” but La Nacion reports today that the flooding metropolitan areas suffered this week is due to antiquated, inadequate storm sewers, exacerbated by a build up of litter and garbage. In San Jose a squad of 30 workers constantly tries to maintain the sewers, to prevent the entry points from being clogged.
Costa Ricans are, unfortunately, notorious for tossing litter casually into the street and others cannot be bothered to wait for the day of the weekly garbage pickup but place their refuse on the curb where it washes into the sewer system. The San Jose squad, for example, collects 20 tons of garbage per week.
But the sheer volume of water that fell Monday, 70 liters per square meter in Tibas and Alajuela in only three hours, when the average rainstorm dumps only 10 or 20 liters was bound to have its effect.
But worse, even without the garbage, the standard 24-inch storm sewers are inadequate to handle a really hard cloudburst. These pipes should be from 36 to 50 inches, says Roy Delgado, director of urban development in Alajuela. Some of these concrete pipes actually ruptured under the pressure, he added.
Hidden beneath the city streets both in Tibas and Alajuela, the country’s second-largest city, is an amazing disorder, experts say. Delgado noted that each builder seems to have his own idea when new structures go up because of a lack of standards and supervision.
Nowhere is this chaos more obvious than in Tibas where an engineer has ordered adequate drainage but that runs into a storm pipe installed by the city in days past when no one seemed to plan ahead. Thus, a new neighborhood’s 50-inch pipe runs into a 14-inch with the predictable result of backup of water and flooding.
Even at that the country was spared the effects of Hurricane Dean that devastated Jamaica a couple of weeks ago. It passed far enough offshore not to cause torrential rains. It was represented only by heavy wave action in the Limon area, causing now damage.
Elsewhere in the country, one man was swept away and drowned in a flashflood while another barely escaped with his life.

by Rod Hughes

Heavy rains yesterday damaged homes in the capital’s suburbs and in the southern zone of the country. Worse, the Meteorological Institute says more is in store for today and perhaps tomorrow.
In the southern area, several villages were isolated as creebeds overflowed and some bridges were damaged. Some families were forced from their homes. In downtown Tibas, some seven homes were damaged.
At least one man is missing and feared dead after he fell into the swollen Alajuela River in that city.
Meterologist Rosario Alfaro promised worse rains for today at least.

by Rod Hughes

The Ministry of Transport (MOPT) has is so enthralled with its new spacious La Uruca district office building that it is promising the elimination of intermitable lines and license renewal within 15 minutes. The 850-square-meter building was inaugurated yesterday and is located alongside the Banco Nacional bank branch in that district.
It has a free parking lot for customers and ramps for handicapped access.
All it takes, according to Roy Rojas, head of the Traffic Safety Council, is submission of the medical exam, the taking a photo and the license will be handed over. Of course, one must also have a receipt that they have paid their fees at any Banco Nacional or Banco de Costa Rica branch.
The new streamlined system will, MOPT promises, end the incidious “gavilan” process, where a runner is paid to stand in line for the license seeker or “sold” his place in line. So long was the wait at the old facility on Plaza Viquez that only the young and determined would have the strength to stand for the time required to reach the window. Closed-circuit TV monitors will ensure that they do not return to their old tricks, added MOPT spokesmen.
The old building will close forever. In the middle of last year, the labor inspectors said the structure was dirty, humid and, literally, flea-infested.

by Rod Hughes

A bill that would ban foreigners marrying Costa Ricans solely to obtain residency is gathering support in the Legislative Assembly, reports the daily paper La Nacion.
This practice usually takes the form of a foreign man going to a lawyer, who then seeks out a poor or drug addicted native woman for a bogus marriage. Many times, the Costa Rican mate has never met or even seen anyone except the spouse’s lawyer in order to sign the papers in exchange for a one-time payment ranging from 5,000 colones to 25,000 (about $10 to $50) and many times, if they wish to marry later, find themselves prevented by the convenience marriage.
Immigration chief Mario Zamora has found himself twice running afoul of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court for slowing down applications for residency status because of these marriages. By attempting to control the situation, Zamora finds himself personally liable to lawsuits as well as his department.
The immigration reform bill currently in special session of congress attempts to close this loophole.
Zamora points out that lawyers, for a legal fee of about 10,000 colones, will seek out the indigent or the addicted. The notaries who witness the signatures also receive their cut.
“We’ve seen a case in Cristo Rey barrio (a rough part of San Jose) where a drug addict received drugs for her signature on marriage liceses,” said Zamora.
But not all locals who lend their signatures to this trade are women. La Nacion interviewed Jose Amgel Aguilar, 47, who told the reporter, “I was broke and needed money. All I knew was that I married a woman I’d never met. There in Pavas and Lomas, they marry anyone.”
The bill that would end this practice and for which Zamora is lobbying hard, has gathered the support of Evita Arguedas of the Libertarian Movement and National Liberation deputy Francisco Antonio Pacheco who have promised their support. The bill, which would also make adjustments in the Family Code, the Penal Codes as well as the natoary codes, is currently in committee. Nine Costa Ricans who “married” for a fee have testified that they have applied for anullments.

by Rod Hughes
Perhaps the newspaper Al Dia’s sportswriter summed it up best when he sarcastically wrote that he could scarcely believe his eyes that both teams were on the field but that Heredia appeared to be playing alone in their 1-0 romp over Alajuela.
The way Milton Montenegro wrote it up, Alajuela simply stood around while like observers while All-Star Alajuela goalie Wardy Alfaro repeatedly saved Costa Rican soccer’s winningest team from “major shame.”
Heredia first knocked at the door, then hammered and finally broke it down in minute 69 when Marvin Angulo put one past goalie Alfaro. According to Montenegro, Alfaro’s teammates were standing, thumbs in their waistbands (possibly because soccer shorts don’t have pockets to put their hands in) like spectators at an accident scene. Manfully, Alfaro accepted the blame for the defeat but at least one Tico sportwriter doesn’t believe a word of his mia culpa.
Saprissa-Carmelito
While Saprissa coach Jeaustin Campos shouted at the trainer to hurry up and get Pablo Brenes, replacement midfielder, ready to go on the field late in the first half, he must have had some premonition. Brenes came on at minute 42 and, four minutes later in replacement time, passed to Alonso Solis for the winning (and only) goal of the game. It was the first loss of the season for high-flying Carmelita and its new coach Mauricio Montero.
In other results during the weekend, it was Puntarenas over Santos, 1-0, Liberia and Brujas finishing tied 2-2, Perez Zeledon swamping San Carlos 3-1 and University of Costa Rica over Cartago 2-1.
Puntarenas still leads Group A with 11 points, trailed by
Alajuela, Heredia and UCR each with 8 points. In Group B, Liberia has surprised even itself by leading with 8 points, trailed by Saprissa and Perez Zeledon with 6.

by Rod Hughes
Costa Rica has long been near the top of the world list for having the most traffic accidents per capita. Today, the daily La Nacion focused on the cost to the National Insurance Institute (INS, the Spanish acronym) that is passed on to the individual policy holder.
Some 60 traffic accident injuries per day cost INS an average of 27 million colones.That is more than $50,000—not a monstrous sum in the United States but a heavy burden on INS, even if it does have a government insurance monopoly. The company runs its own medical care and rehabilitation facility and also contracts with the private hospital La Catolica for surgery and intensive care.
But INS is not the only public heath agency taking a hit from traffic mishaps. Some ambulances take accident victims automatically to a Social Security (Caja) hospital. The Caja attended 21,912 injuries to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in 2006. INS treated 18,320 last year. But these figures are a trifle misleading, since often a Caja hospital will treat a traffic victim’s hurts, stabilize the patient, then pass the patient to INS for follow up and rehab.
The newspaper focused today on the motorcycle injuries, common here since many drivers disregard the rights of passage of bikes and their all too vulnerable riders. The paper interviewed patients in a ward that seemed to specialize in bike riders. Some were quite eloquent, as were their injuries.
Zaira Mora, 49, was returning home only five kilometers away in Grecia, riding the bike driven by her husband Fernando when a public transit bus swerved out of its lane Aug. 9 and hit them. She suffered a fractured femure and tibia in her left leg. “It should be called a “muertocicleta” she said bitterly, a clever pun in Spanish. (Motocicleta is the word for motorcycle, while the word muerto means dead.) She is looking forward (if the word forward may be used) to six or eight months of recuperation followed by painful rehab.
Red Cross volunteer Victor Benavides was hit by a drunk driver Aug. 14 as he rode on a highway in San Carlos canton. He is waiting his turn for surgery on three fractures of the right leg.
Randy Esquivel, 21, has three leg fractures and is also the victim of a hit-and-run. “(Car) drivers are brutes,” he said, “They don’t measure the dangers, so here I am paying the consequences.”

by Rod Hughes
On an average this year, 15 children per day are treated in public hospitals and clinics for the effects of abuse, a recent study shows. Abuse is numbered among five reasons for seeking treatment that are required to be reported by hospitals and clinics to the Ministry of Health.
This figure, topping 6,000 so far this year, is astounding in a culture that deeply cares for its children. These cases account for 35% of the 15,000 cases of medical treatment of intrafamilial abuse. “The most chilling part of this number is that it includes babies who have yet to reach their first birthday,” said Roy Wong, who compiled the study.
The only reasons for seeking medical treatment for children more frequently are traffic accidents, hypertension, (surprisingly) workplace accidents and dengue fever. The majority of the little girls are treated for sexual abuse, the boys for blows.

by Rod Hughes
Some 211 school bus routes providing free transport to public school students may be eliminated by the Ministry of Education. But the free ride is not over for the students affected, said Minister of Education Leonardo Garnier. The routes are served by public buses and the ministry would pay the fares. No date was announced for the decision about the routes.
Contracted private school buses have been the subject of criticism for lack of supervision on board and for their often delapidated state. Students have been killed in collisions and, most recently, a student thrust his head out of the bus and was decapitated before the horrified eyes of his schoolmates.
Currently, the ministry has contracted 727 routes hauling some 85,000 students, mostly in rural areas.
A study by the Ministry of Transport revealed that 61 routes coincide with public transportation but that they should be retained for night students because public buses reduce their frequency of service drastically as the evening progresses.