by Rod Hughes

Costa Rican Henry Raabe of the BCR-Pizza Hut bicycle racing team grabbed the lead away from Cuban Ardonis Cardozo yesterday in the fourth phase of the Vuelta de Costa Rica (Tour of Costa Rica). Raabe leads the individual competition by two minutes.

This phase was a timed lap between the Nicoya Peninsula town of Filadelfia and a farm outside the Guanacaste provincial capital of Liberia. Liberia is 250 kms. northeast of San Jose. Because of the “wrinkled” nature of the country’s topography, the Tour of Costa Rica with its combination of chilly mountains, flat, hot tropical lowlands and high mountain valleys, is considered particularly grueling by bicycle racers.

In this particular phase, Raabe was the favorite to win on the flat, hot run and came in 11 minutes ahead of Cardozo and proving the experts right. This puts Raabe temporarily in the lead but the mountains lie ahead in the return to the Central Valley, so anything might happen before the final tape is broken.

by Rod Hughes

Saprissa stretched to 16 its string of “classics” (games with Alajuela) without losing but was only able to tie Sunday 1-1. But this was enough to send the “purple monster” to the final with Heredia in the Opening Tournament, which is actually the first half of the regular season.

Saprissa is in the finals, of course, by virtue of its previous 1-0 win over Alajuela the Wednesday before, making it 2 goals to 1 in the two game series. (Are you still with us?)

Meanwhile, in this period, Heredia was tying Brujas of Escazu in their two-game series before managing to win the last game 1-0 in overtime. For Brujas (formerly Guanacaste before the franchise moved to Escazu, it was a disappointment but established them as a power to reckon with in the First Division.

At least Alajuela did not disgrace itself this time, which may have been the greatest fear of coach Luis Diego Arnaez. In fact they acted like the tough opposent of yore, even after Ronald Gomez scored for Saprissa, assisted by Alejandro Alpizar at minute 24. They came right back 13 minutes later on Victor Nunez’s goal, generated with the help of Mario Viquez.

After that, in the second half, it was the usual fast interchanges of ball-theft and footwork one usually expects in a classic. Saprissa was not content with a conservative game but late in the second half gave Alauela goalie Wardy Alfaro several chances to show why he is considered one of the best in the business.

December 17, 2007

Estimated times for beginning or ending projects are at best, an estimate. I think that my mechanic and my builder depend on everything going perfectly to calculate times. Friday, Carlos said it would take one more week to finish the house. I told him that things had to go perfect, and maybe better to do that, and that he was late for his bus, and we would see next week. I hope he’s right. The ceramic tiles for outside, and the same thirteen for one bedroom aren’t here. The kitchen counters and island, nor the bars for the windows. He was supposed to get the ceramics and bars today in Heredia. His brother was coming here from the big job around the corner Sunday night to lend me the pickup. I was to get my mechanic and go to Heredia to get a new motor for my car. While I was there, I would get Carlos, the tile, and the bars, and we would all come back here. He couldn’t find his brother on the weekend. The truck didn’t show up. Carlos is on the bus on the way here because his clutch still isn’t fixed.
The only good thing is, I’m getting used to it. As long as the house gets finished, as long as the car gets fixed, I’ll be happy.

by Rod Hughes

(The following is a news analysis and reflects the opinion of the writer but not necessarily of American-European or any of its brokers.)

If anyone needs the divine intervention of the saint of lost causes, it is Jorge Woodbridge. He has been named to the cabinet-level post of a ministry so new that, when The Tico Times reported about it recently, it did not have a name yet. But its job is to reduce bureaucracy to make the country more business-friendly.

The new minister, formerly deputy minister of economy, will need at least a machete to cut through the red tape, if not a power saw. The patrician Woodridge, 61, has a lot of business savvy under his shock of white hair—he was president of the Chamber of Industry for years and comes from a family well-respected in the business community.

But he is up against a formidable foe: an entrenched bureaucracy that views any change as synonymous with an attempt to remove government workers of their cushy jobs. Streamlining the way Costa Rica treats business by negotiation will prove a challenge even for Woodbridge’s undoubted skills.

The new post grew out of a growing alarm in the Arias Administration that this country is renouned in the world business community as difficult and polls on the subject have shown the country slipping farther behind other countries in competitiveness indices. A recent World Bank survey showed Costa Rica a dismal 113th nation on a list classing ease of doing business. As Woodbridge points out, it takes an average of 77 days just to start up a company here.

But he feels that SETENTA, the environmental watchdog that clears impact studies, needs immediate attention. Businesses must wait money-losing months before a completed study passes through that understaffed and underfunded agency. He feels he can make it faster and easier while still doing a better job of zoning and environmental protection

He wants to cut in half the time it takes for construction permits and for business start up within six months, as well as simplify property registry, paying taxes and conducting international commerce. He cheerfully told The Tico Times business writer Peter Krupa, “I love challenges, so there’s no problem there.”

It is a pity that Woodbridge will only be working with the central government. Certainly, the nationalized banking system can use some help. Recently this reporter deposited a check in his Banco Nacional dollar account from an overseas investment institution–or tried to. Since the last deposit, the bank had changed it’s policy, charging the depositer a $30-100 commission for the “privilege” of placing his dollars in country. t
The transaction that once took fuve minutes consumed 40.

Even with a weak dollar, it is this reporter’s impression that bringing money into the country is a healthy thing for the local economy. But Banco Nacional’s board seems bent on penalizing this dastardly deed. As Woodbridge tries to move the country forward a step or two, the national banks slip back a step.

by Rod Hughes

The Ministry of Education has set next year’s grade and high school schedule. (This year’s classes will end Dec. 17.) Classes will begin again Feb. 11.

The mid-term vacation will come betwen July 7 and 18 and no classes will be held Easter Week. Several years ago, the school year was extended, a move accompanied by the wounded cries of teachers who felt that they were being asked to work a longer schedule and paid no more.

In all, the schedule is for 205 class days, five more than usual. The extra days will not have classes, though, but will be for teacher’s annual conferences. The calendar also includes a few holidays such as Independence Day (Sept. 15) where teachers and students will take part in civic activities.

by Rod Hughes

Alajuela fans are beginning to forget the last time their soccer side beat Saprissa in the national championship league. The younger ones probably never saw the last victory. And you can add the notches Saprissa has carved in its gunbutt in the UNCAF regional tourney.

Saprissa has won the last 15 “classics,” as the matches between the two winning-est teams in national soccer are called. They are two of the oldest in the First Division, Costa Rica’s equivalent of the MLS. And Saprissa did it again Wednesday on Alajuela’s home turf, Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium, 1-0. Alajuela’s nemsis this time was Saprissa’s Alejandro Alpízar who slammed a left-foot kick through the arc at minute 39.

Alajuela, which had been playing reasonably well, seemed to fall apart after that goal, as if to say, “Oh no, not again!” Saprissa by contrast played like a clock with a new battery, showing that the work of coach Jeaustin Campos has paid off in a big way. He drills his charges hard between games, but it obviously works.

Unnoticed by the fans, two members of La Doce, that group of drunken Alajuela fans who invaded the pitch Nov. 27 and whose violence against police caused Alajuela to lose a possible third place finish in the UNCAF internation tourney, tried to sneak in at half time. They were recognised by police and taken downtown to lockup. By court order, they should have been barred from Alajuela province, let alone the stadium. Six of the La Doce gang are banned from the stadium.

by Rod Hughes

While Saprissa was putting another step on its ladder to the so-called “opening tourney” of the regular season, Brujas of Escazu and Heredia were tying 0-0 Wednesday. For Brujas, clearly the dominant side, it was complete frustration, partly due to their having to oplay with 10 men for 50 minutes. This was after Colombian Ricardo Steer rammed Heredia defender Roberth Arias with his chest and referee Hugo Cruz gave him the red card. Some considered Cruz’s decision to expell Steer undly harsh but it was so blatant and ill-natured that the official could hardly ignore it.

Outstanding was Heredia goalie Ricardo González in staving off the repeated Brujas attacks. On the other hand, the offense of his teammates appeared timid and, well, inoffensive.

by Rod Hughes

Dr. Franklin Chang’s Ad Astra rocket lab in Guanacaste and NASA formally signed a cooperative agreement (reported last week in The Tico Times), giving NASA first grabs on discoveries from Astra’s experiments with the plasma rocket engine.

When reported by the English-language weekly last Friday, the only details to be ironed out were negotiations about patent rights. The Costa Rica born Chang, a former NASA astronaut and U.S.-trained physicist, explained that the agreement allows Ad Astra access to NASA research that will smooth the way to the projected 2010 test of the plasma engine.

Although the agreement does not imply any NASA commitment to buy the rocket engine, Chang noted that it does clearly demonstrate the space agency’s interest in it. The plasma engine works like a chemical rocket but, instead of the fuel currently employed, gas is superheated until it gives up one of its electrons. It is cheaper to run than current propulsion and accelerates faster.

by Rod Hughes

Despite the year old Administration that has vowed to set the country to rights, the Ministry of Education doesn’t seem to have things sorted out yet. The Comptroller General’s office reported this week that the ministry has been paying 235 dead people, at least one of which just celebrated his fourth burial anniversary.

The Comptroller team investigating the mess in the personnel section says that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid to dead people and in error to some living people as well. The budgetary watchdog agency is not saying that criminal intent is at work here but that the bureaucracy waits up to eight months to report an employee has died, if indeed they report it at all.

The employee who died four years ago not only continued getting paid but was promoted four times! The Comptroller study showed utter chaos in personnel records that failed to register vacations, sick leave and resignations. This accounts partly for the 9.6 million colones (figure about 500 colones per dollar) erroneously paid to 44,000 employees,

Another case was the employee who retired in 1997 but continued being paid for eight years. Even worse, most of this money is lost forever, partly because even if the error is caught, recovery does not even start until three years have passed. Some is irrecoverable because the statute of limitations has lapsed.

The ministry top officials officials have announced an overhaul in the human resources payroll system but it will not take effect until late in 2008 or even 2009. Until then, expect many in the cemetery to grow richer…

by Rod Hughes

The Costa Rican power monopoly, ICE, has petitioned the utility watchdog agency, ARESEP, strong rate hikes for March 2008. ICE wants to charge half a million residences 20% more and asks of electrical companies a 32% increase.

At one time, ARESEP had the reputation of being a compliant body that never met a rate hike it didn’t like, but apparently those days are over. Last year, ARESEP flatly rejected electrical rate hikes after a series of power outages that underscored deficiencies in ICE’s infrastructure.

The increase to power distributors like National Power and Light (Fuerza y Luz in Spanish), JASEC and COOPELESCAoopelesca will mean that they will be forced to raise their rates to customers. ICE itself directly serves Limon, Puntarenas, rural areas of San Jose province, Cartago and parts of Sarapiqui as well as the Nicoya Peninsula, northern Guanacaste province and Nicaragua border communities.

As calculated by the newspaper La Nacion, a family consuming 200kws would pay 1,800 colones more in the dry season (January to May) when diesel generators are employed. Thus, their monthly bills would jump from 9,200 to 11,000 colones.