by Rod Hughes

UPDATE: As of 8 p.m. Friday, eight more bodies have been uncovered by rescue workers, bringing the confirmed death toll of the avalanche to 10 with at least five more persons missing.

Atenas–An avalanche of rock and mud buried seven homes in Bajo Cacao in the San Isidro district of this town northwest of the capital during the early morning hours yesterday. As of this writing, two persons are known dead and 13 are missing as rescue crews and neighbors dig frantically through the accumulation of debris that once was part of a hillside.

Heavy rains signalling the end of the rainy season–wetter than normal–also flooded homes throughout the Central Valley this week, as rivers left their beds and flowed into surrounding neighorhoods. But this morning, the attention of the country is focused on the rescue attempt.

Shortly after 1:50 a.m. yesterday, a neighbor gave the alarm that “a tragedy of great proportions” had occurred. Other neighbors heard the thunder of the slide and struggled through a torrential cloudburst to the scene in pitch blackness. One of them, Freddy Artavia, told the newspaper La Nacion, “The rocks and trees didn’t let us pass. It was very dark and we couldn’t see a thing. It was raining a lot.”

By 9:05 yesterday morning, the first victim’s body was found, that of 25-year-old Jeffry Aguero. By 1:10 in the afternoon, Red Cross workers found Arquimides Aviles, 40, an employee of a nearby chicken ranch. Red Cross rescue crewman Randal Viquez of nearby Atenas arrived shortly after 2 a.m. and described utter confusion and screaming.

One of the first things Aguero did was to rescue a child of about seven whose feet were trapped by the slide. He was immediately taken to an improvised medical facility in the Fatima community center.

As often happens during disasters, there were miraculous escapes. Isabel Sandi was carried 100 yards by the slide but managed to extricate herself from the ruins with only a glass cut on her hand. “My husband had more injuries than I. It was dark and we didn’t know where we were,” she said.

The avalanche, 200 yards wide, left a path of devastation 400 yards long down the hillside, reaching the bank of the Cacao River before it stopped with parts of three autos showing through the debris. But the seven missing homes were not the only casualties. The Red Cross felt it prudent to evacuate 22 other homes in stricken Bajo Cacao as well as 40 more in the La Mandarina housing development.

Meanwhile, more than 785 homes have been damaged by flooding on the Pacific slope and 235 persons are in emergecy shelters. Especially hard hit was the Puntarenas province town of Parrita.

And, if that were not enough, the national Weather Institute says the torrential downpours may not be nearly over, with a low pressure area in the Caribbean moving in Costa Rica’s direction. The country’s topography is so narrow that a low pressure zone close in on the east inevitably sucks in wet air from the Pacific, bringing rains.

by Rod Hughes

The Costa Rican government has confiscated 32 farms along the Pacific coast in order to protect leathback turtles, the largest and most endangered of all turtle species.The farms will be added to the Las Baulas Marine Park, a strip of national park hugging the coastline along the northern section of the Nicoya Peninsula.

This is the most important area where turtles come ashore to lay and bury their eggs in the sandy beaches. Of eight extant species of turtles, six lay their eggs on Costa Rican beaches. Las Baulas (the Spanish name for the leatherback) Marine Park was established in 1991 protects nesting areas along Ventanas and Grande beaches as well as Tamrindo and San F¨rancisco estuaries and their mangrove swamps and Capitán and Verde islands. The majority of land originally envisioned for the park is in private hands

The government fears development may cause irreperable damage to the seagoing animals. Turtles nest at night and lights and noise disorient the turtles with the danger that the animals may abandon the beach and never return. Overdevelopment has already caused this on some Mexican beaches, notes Sergio Aráuz of the Marine Turtle Restoration Program. He fears that the construction of summer homes and hotels may be the last nail in the coffin of the leatherback as a species.

Development, if it is to happen, can be done in moderation and with care. Las Tortugas Hotel on Playa Grande, for example, was constructed decades ago with the welfare of the nesting turtles foremost. The hotel is set back from the nesting beach and its lights minimal and shielded from the beach. But the situation is delicate; one home with bright lights shining toward the beach and with loud music and wild parties during nesting season can drive away the scarce animals permanently.

But even more, unwise development can wreck mangrove areas that are immeasureably rich in all manner of wildlife.

Expropriation can take one or two years more. Property owners have a right to three separate evaluations by idfferent experts. The government says the going price is $800 per square meter but at least one owner told the daily La Nación that that price is far lower than it should be. “We’re indignant!” Ana Catalina Facio told the newspaper. “Residents already have light and noise control to not effect the turtles, This expropriation is unnecessary.”

by Rod Hughes

In a surprise move, the Citizen Action Party (PAC) has agreed to not obstruct 13 bills to implement the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) from coming to the Legislative Assembly floor for voting. PAC leaders warned that they still would vote against the bills, since the deputies consider them damaging to the country.

The new laws are needed to bring Costa Rican legal procedures governing business into accord with CAFTA provisions. PAC is the chief congressional opposition to CAFTA with 17 members and at first the party said its delegation would use every means to block passage of the reform bills.

The PAC numbers in congress are large enough to keep the Legislative Assembly from having a forum to do business if PAC deputies were absent in a group. This is a favorite blocking tactic, much like a U.S. Senate filibuster. The effect is to paralyze the legislative branch completely. Or PAC could have buried the 13 bills under a blizzard of amendments.

Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias entered into negotiations with the opposition immediately after the nationwide referendum Oct. 7 approved CAFTA by a narrow margin. PAC leaders may not have relished the negative reputation in the next elections of being the party that froze congress completely and prevented other important business from being enacted.

Among pending legislation are such important bills as an immigration reform and tax measures.

PAC leaders, meeting with President Oscar Arias and members of his cabinet, got agreement of the government to consider certain alterations to one of the bills the opposition considers particularly onerous.

by Rod Hughes

It took only three minutes in the second half for Saprissa to even things up against Las Brujas of Escazu yesterday, but not until after Brujas had given the Tibas team a scare during a well-played first half.

Saprissa, playing on its home turf, found itself trailing 1-0 at half time, due to veteran Victor Cordero’s being made the inadvertant author of a self goal at minute 20. What we wouldn’t give to hear what Saprissa coach Jeaustin Campos had to say to his charges at halftime!

Whatever it was, it must have been good because Saprissa took the fiel a different team, tight on defense and full of ideas about offense. After 65 minutes of play, Hairo Arrieta tied it up and three minutes later Alonso Solis took a pass from Jose Luis Lopez to win the game.

After having problems like his teammates during the first half, midfielder Walter Centeno was brilliant during the second half. And Lopez, who struck the ball at Cordero only a few feet away for the self-inflicted goal, finally redeemed himself.

by Rod Hughes

If President Oscar Arias is really serious about his zero carbon emission campaign, he is going to have to direct his Environment Minister’s attention to the country’s chief energy producer, ICE, a government monopoly. The president’s announced goal is to reduce petroleum consumption while increasing the carbon dioxide consuming forest areas.

ICE’s purchase of diesel and bunker oil rose a stunning 66% over the first nine months of this year comparing with the same period last year. As the English=language weekly The Tico Times has reported in past issues, although a chain of presidents have giving lip service to alternate means of producing electricity for the burgeoning energy demands in this country, ICE has been back-sliding every year.

Not only is this trend ecologically unwise, it is economically indefensible as well. the announcement was made today that, although gasoline prices well drop slightly soon, the price of diesel is going up.

According to the National Refinery, RECOPE, (another government monopoly) ICE bought 185 million liters of diesel this year, 54 million more than last year. And the power provider cannot plead low water levels in its reservoirs as it did at the end of the dry season. Fuel oil for thermic generators swallowed 7.9 million liters of fuel oil as opposed to only 4.8 million last year.

Of course, the demand for fuel has risen across the board. RECOPE reports that gasoline consumption has risen 5% so far this year. This is for moving the nation’s 531,000 cars and taxis registered with the National Insurance Institute (INS, still another government monopoly,)

The bottom line economically is this: RECOPE has bought $998 million in petroleum so far this year.

The only bright light in this tunnel of petroleum dependency is that ICE has announced that the rationing that plagued the country at the end of the last dry season will not be repeated in 2008, thanks to the wetter than average rainy season just now winding down and due to more petroleum-guzzling electrical generators in which ICE has invested.

by Rod Hughes

Negociations began the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and then the Legislative Assembly talked on and on and finally it went to a referendum and won a majority vote. Now, let the negociations begin…

These talks are between the government and a disgruntled Citizen Action Party (PAC in its Spanish acronym) who opposed the trade pact and whose 17-member congressional delegation have vowed to block the 13 bills that must refom Costa Rican laws to bring them into accord with CAFTA’s provisions.

But at least both sides are agreed about speaking to one another. PAC floor leader Elizabeth Fonseca and party president Otton Solis are agreed with Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, President Oscar Arias’s brother and chief advisor.

But one should not think that Solis has softened. He said he was going along so that he might “present some bills to mitigate the negative effects of CAFTA.” Among his proposals will be subsidies for small and meduim sized companies.

Meanwhile the tedious hand recount of the ballots is beginning in the offices of the Supreme Elections Tribunal. The work is expected to take at least two weeks.

by Rod Hughes

Prefabricated houses are supposed to go up in a hurry with less labor cost once the foundations are set. Right?

Tell that to the more than 11 families who a La Nacion report says are still waiting for their nice, new PrefaHogar of Costa Rica S.A. houses to be erected on their lots more than six months after ordering them. Nor are they all cheap homes and some families have paid up to 11 million colones (500 colones per dollar) as a down payment.

Monday some family members presented themselves in a group in the PrefaHogar offices to demand that their homes be built immediately or their downpayments refunded. In the worst cases, plans for the houses have not been delivered to their owners for approval or alterations.

At least the company has offices in which customers can complain. In the 1970s several scams resulted in customers filing legal papers only to be told that the prefab company office had mysteriously disappeared, right down to the sign out front.

In this case, at least, the company has a spokesman, general manager Carlos Maria Jimenez, who told La Nacion that the company was experiencing “organizational difficulties,” namely, that they do not have an engineer to supervise construction. The customers live in the San Jose area, Guanacaste and Puntarenas.

by Rod Hughes

The margin is thin with 95% of the votes counted, but the Central American Free Trade Agreemnt appears to have passed in yesterday’s historic referendum. The vote results now show that 51.6% voted “si” while 48.4% voted no.

Official results from a hand count that will put each ballot under a magnifying glass will not be complete for at least two weeks, but the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) count announcements through yesterday evening resulted in a celebration among CAFTA proponents. So certain was the pro-CAFTA campaign leader Alfredo Volio certain that projections were accurate that he announced victory in front of a banner reading, “Thank you, Costa Rica” that had evidently been prepared long in advance.

But opponents were guarded, begrudging even a hint that they had lost the long and often bitter debate about the trade pact. Anti-CAFTA campaign chief Eugenio Trejos told a crowd at the “no” headquarters that each vote would be scrutinized for fraud and constitional violations.

Otton Solis, president of the Citizen Action Party (PAC) who has bitterly opposed CAFTA from the beginning, was even blunter, refusing to concede pending investigations of vote fraud.

No election result has ever been questioned in this country since the creation of the Supreme Elections Tribunal in the 1949 constitution, following a brief civil war touched off by allegations of ballot tampering. In fact, this country has been cited internationally as an icon of democracy and its tribunal, a body independent of all political parties, hailed as an example for the rest of the world to follow.

Solis did admit to being impressed by the turnout and the result. In recent presidential elections abstentionism has climbed, climbing toward 50% as the electorate registered their displeasure with politics as usual. The referendum brought out about 60% of the voters, in contrast, well over the 40% necessary to make the referendum binding.

CAFTA yes votes won in the vital popilous San Jose province as well as in Limon, Heredia and Cartago provinces while losing in Alajuela, Puntarenas and Guanacaste provinces. But everywhere the margin was thin. It was the overall numbers that counted and even a one-vote margin enough to decide it.

Only two incidents, neither particularly violent, broke the generally good natured, festive air of the balloting. In San Pedro, a group of CAFTA opponents ripped “si” flags and banners from passing cars while behind the Elections Tribunal headquarters, anti=CAFTA students set fire to a pro=CAFTA banner until dispersed by police. Although probably a technical violation of the Tribunal ban on campaigning on referendum day, stands selling “si” and “no” flags, T-shirts and other trappings were set up across the street from polling places.

But Costa Ricans who had hoped that the referendum would be the end of the divisive issue and that things will return to normal may be in for a disappointment, warned the English-language weekly The Tico Times last Friday.

If the yes vote holds under scrutiny (and no reason exists to doubt it will not, despite grumblings from CAFTA opponents) the task ahead for the Legislative Assembly will be to pass 13 bills vital to implementing the treaty. Each bill is a reform of current laws that conflict with certain parts of the trade pact and PAC has given notice that it will fight each one no matter how the referendum fared in the polling places.

by Rod Hughes

The opponents to the Central american Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States gained the upper hand for the first time in the polls, the daily La Nacion reported Thursday. The Unimer pollsters found that, among those who have definitely decided, 55% will vote no and only 43% yes in the nationwide referendum Sunday.

Meanwhile, U.S. trade representative Susan C. Schwab told the press today flatly that the U.S. would not renegotiate the pact with Costa Rica if CAFTA is voted down. This is the hope that opponents to the treaty, especially the Citizen Action Party, have held out while urging a no vote on CAFTA, which has been ratified by all other Central American countries.

Moreover, Schwab again warned that the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) which gives trade preferences to countries in the trgion, including Costa Rica, may not be in force in its present form forever. And European Union sources for both the English-language weekly The Tico Times and La Nacion have warned that the E.U. will not consider a free trade treaty with this country if CAFTA fails.

The last flurry of propaganda was mustered by both sides late this week. For the “yes” vote, proponents saturated much of the media with ads while the CAFTA opponents plastered the country with posters. Both sides have campaigned hard and both mounted peaceful street demonstrations in the metropolitan area last Sunday.

Although the Catholic Church here has officially remained neutral, a stance reiterated this week by Archbishop Barrantes, the daily paper La Prensa Libre reported that at least 47 priests have been active in opposition to the pact as well as the bishops and a religious radio station. The country has no constitutional separation of church and state and the Catholic Church is the official religion of the country, although all faiths are tolerated. The Church carries great influence with a large segment of the people, if not necessarily with elected officials.

Some 7,000 policemen have been mobililzed to keep the peace during voting. Although no serious violence has been reported during the runup to the referendum, feelings often have run high and threats were reported earlier this year against students at the University of Costa Rica who wished to mount a demonstration favoring CAFTA. With singular good sense, the students decided they could show their support some other day.

No campainging will be allowed Sunday.

5/10/7

Everyone told me. I listened, but was not cautious enough. Problems exist in every country. A lot of the things ex-pats complain about here, I have experienced in Canada and the U.S. I was
reluctant to post a negative article, but, these experiences are a part of life, and an extra warning can’t hurt. There are people everywhere who wish to buy things, but have no desire to work for the money. Three of these people visited me on Sunday afternoon when I was out for supper. I had the dog with me. They took things from the new house, and from my garage. Carlos, the contractor, and I, lost a total of about $400. worth of stuff, including an old radio they listened to while working, skin cream for the sun, and a nozzle off my hose, as well as tools, cables, and a big back-pack pump for spraying the lawn with fertilizer or poison. My neighbour saw them leaving through the next lot, and the staff at the Huevo watched them walk past in front with the pump on their back and the bag full of cables and tools. My advisers, Jamie, Marvin, and Carlos, suggested we go to OIJ, the most important of three police forces here. Carlos and I went down to Puntarenas on Tuesday to file a report. Because we knew the names of the thieves, they took our statement. I had a similar problem with a mail theft in Canada. I did not know who took my mail, so the Mounties wouldn’t take my statement.
While we were in the Huevo Monday afternoon figuring it all out, the thieves came in for a beer. It took a lot of control not to take matters into my own hands, but I would have surely faced deportation. The officer from OIJ was here today to interview us and the other witnesses. He says they have had reports about these fellows before, assured us we did the right thing by filing a report, and thanked us for doing so. We shall see what happens next. The law is very short on punishment for small thefts, like Canada, so I understand they may not take them to court. I remember one particular trouble-maker in Bracebridge who was severely beaten during an arrest, and then charged with resisting arrest. Personally, I think this is the best way to handle things sometimes. One fellow here was a problem a few years ago. He was beaten up, and was asked to leave the community. He returned two years later with a much better attitude.
In a related story, I had my muffler repaired by a nice English-speaking Tico in Canas. While I was waiting for the work to be done, an American came in to talk to him. He told me later that the fellow had gone into the store for a pop, leaving his wallet on the seat of the open Jeep. There was only one fellow near the Jeep, and when the American came back out, the wallet was gone. He confronted the man, but the man denied everything. However, he did know where the wallet was, and would get it back for $20. So, the American came to the muffler shop to borrow the money. Now, the owner didn’t mind helping him out, but as he explained to me, the American has lived there for over five years. He has come to this shop for help about five times. Never has he been there for service to his Jeep. To me, it seems only fair that you would take your work to his shop, but to him it seemed downright rude. Most of the Ticos here will bend over backwards to help, as I have experienced myself many times, but they do expect a little consideration in return. I think that is only fair, too.
I think it is important to exercise due caution in any society, but when you are living in another country, listen to the advice of the neighbours, read the local papers, talk to people, get to know the people in your community. All of these steps will help you to know how to protect your belongings, and personal safety. There are, I know, more dangerous countries than Costa Rica. I have felt safe here for a long time now. Obviously, I was lulled into a feeling of security that was not warranted. I will change a few of my habits. I will leave the dog here when I go out, and will go out as little as possible when there is nobody else here. I had been given this advice, but Sunday afternoon?
I have another appointment with immigration tomorrow, and plan to chant to the gods all night to enhance the possibility that something will be done.
The house is progressing well. The ceilings have at least one coat on the drywall taping, the pool is almost done, all the ceramic is in the house, and almost all the outside cement work is done. The weeding has helped the lawn a lot. Most of the weeds aren’t coming back very fast, and the lawn is thickening up. As a matter of fact, I’m going out now to cut it.