by Rod Hughes

In a surprise move Sunday, on the eve of his scheduled testimony in front of lawmakers on FARC guerrilla penetration into Costa Rica, Minister of Public Security Fernando Berrocal from his post. The resignation came after a huddle at the residence of President Oscar Arias in the western San Jose of Rohrmoser.

Berrocal’s stepping down apparently is connected with his statement, made March 15, that he expected the computer captured in Ecuador by the Colombian army March 1 could reveal connections between Costa Rican politicos and the FARC guerrilla organization that has been trying to topple the Colombian governmnet for four decades. Later, Berrocal said he had no specific “list of politicans” in mind, a clarification that some interpreted as backing away from his previous stand after the press pushed for him to name names.

The Presidential offices produced a press release that promised “the Executive Branch would supply all the information necessary… (to the courts and the Legislative Assembly) in due transparency and responsibility with which it always has handled topics of national interest.” In a clarification that raised more questions than it answered, Berrocal said he and the meeting with President Arias and Minister of the Presidency Rodrigo Arias came to the conclusion that the subject “should not be politicized.”

(The “transparency” promise may ring hollow to the press, which has been smarting since they were denied access to environmental information from the Ministry of the Environment by recent decree signed by Arias. The press has been probing deeply into violations of regulations involved in granting permits for construction projects and the resulting pollution as well as destruction of plant and wildlife habitats.)

The entire FARC subject arose in the international controversy surrounding the Colombian incursion into Ecuador, the deaths of 20 rebels including FARC’s number two officer, Raul Reyes, along with the capture of laptops and other records. In the aftermath, Costa Rican detectives and police intelligence raided an Heredia home and found $480,000 in FARC funds in a safe. (See previous article last week.)

by Rod Hughes

Head coach Hernan Medford’s job is still safe—for now—despite an 11-game losing streak. The most recent defeat for Costa Rica’s national team came Wednesday in an exhibition game in South America, losing to Peru 3-1. (Fortunately, the match was not aired on TV here because of technical difficulties Channel 7 would have faced hooking up coverage from the Peruvian town of Iquitos.)

But the All Stars’ gloomy record is taking its toll of the national soccer federation (FEDFUT) in the form of growing fan nervousness as the World Cup eliminations approach. Even FEDEFUT director Carlos Quesada admitted, “I’m worried, especially since I heard Medford promise we’d see ‘a different team,’ but however different it might be, it still didn’t win or even tie…”

Although the World Cup is not until 2010 in South Africa, FEDEFUT realizes that one does not build a champion soccer machine overnight. It was not until 1990 that this country made it past the eliminations and that team did the best of all, making it to the second round. Medford himself has made the bench a musical chairs game as he experiments with a variety of player combinations. Nothing has worked so far.

With only three months remaining before the first World Cup elimination match, fans have a right to be upset. To rub salt in the wound of the Sele’s last defeat, Peru’s coach salted his side with novices taken from that country’s minor soccer leagues!

by Rod Hughes

Who ever heard of a supposedly Third World country where local business looks abroad for labor? But precisely that is happening in Costa Rica, where unemployment at well below 5% and a lack of capacity in training programs has businesses scrambling to find skilled labor.

In most Third World countries, immigration policies are quite protectionist and obtaining a work permit nearly impossible. So it was in Costa Rica until this century began. As little as three years ago, one of the biggest national resentments was illegal immigration from poverty-stricken Nicaragua and violence-torn Colombia. But in the past two years, the supposed danger from Nicaraguans taking jobs away from Ticos has become a non-issue. (It was never the burning political issue that it is currently with Mexican labor in the United States.)

The reality here is that business is growing so fast that neither training nor the labor pool itself can keep up, as anyone can attest who has tried to find a carpenter, accountant or plumber lately. But businesses are putting pressure on the Arias Administration to smooth the way for foreign skilled labor to get work visas. And not all the demand for labor comes from multi-nationals that have settled here.

A recent article in the English-language weekly The Tico Times illustrates the plight of a 20-year-old family plastics manufacturing business in Desamparados, a southern suburb of San Jose. The Costa Rican family started with the plant in their house, then moved the operation into an old bread factory down the street, reported financial writer Peter Krupa. Today, Plasticos CMB turns out injection-molded products for supermarkets and has ambitions to produce items for the big-time companies operating in the country’s free zones.

But the snag in their expansion plan: no trained workers. Last year, Krupa notes, the government’s National Training Institute (INA) turned out 297 plastics technicians. The Chamber of Industries estimates that the need for this specialty is 1,500. “We have problems getting qualified labor because the knowledge required injection (molding) is scarce,” the company’s CEO, Alex Villalobos, told Krupa.

At best, manufacturing workers were not plentiful before the economy’s expansion hit critical mass: only 250,000 Costa Ricans labor in factories, 13% of the work force. The smokeless industry the country has striven to attract has a tendency to need skills not at all plentiful in Latin America, Asia or Africa. But that is precisely why a company like Proctor and Gamble settled here, currently employing 1,200 in back-office accounting and services here.

Another article in the same Tico Times edition notes that P & G is looking to expand here to open a Regional Center of Business Transformation for the Americas. They are undaunted by the shortage of skilled professional help—in fact, an official P & G statement mentioned that it was because of Costa Rica’s highly trained work force that it is explanding its operation.

Not surprisingly, La Nacion today reported that the burgeoning construction industry is seeking engineers in topography and electrical installation, technical designers and fine carpentry. But even the culinary industry is desperately searching abroad for chefs and the demand for computer-related engineers is serious. And the companies are not only combing the region but also probing such countries as Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and southern Mexico. Jose Peres, Central American delegate for the International Organization for Immigration, feels that the country’s northern neighbor alone cannot fill the gap. “Construction in Costa Rica uses workers of a high level, such as in big hotels” he says, “I ask myself if Nicaragua has this kind of work force. I doubt it.”

Immigration Director Mario Zamora confirmed that he was getting heat to make it easier for foreign professionals to get limited-time work visas. “There are companies unable to accept new contracts because they don’t have the personnel. We’re considering safe ways to bring in personnel without displacing the local work force,” he admits.

But the labor situation has another face: the influx in Nicaraguan agricultural and other unskilled work, steadily growing since the 1980s and a worry as little as two years ago, has stopped increasing. In a country where, at one time, Costa Rican students picked coffee to finance their studies or help their families, Nicaraguans have largely taken over jobs most locals consider “beneath them.” The labor picture has changed radically in less than a generation, thanks to the foresight of succeeding governments who made universal education their top priority for 50 years.

by Rod Hughes

The discovery of a safe containing $480,000 of funds in a Heredia home, left there by officials of the murderous Colombian guerrilla group FARC, (see newsblog 1635) has not only raised a firestorm in the press but resulted in Colombian and Costa Rican police cooperating in trying to track down how far FARC has penetrated this country.

The English-language weekly The Tico Times will report on the probe in depth this Friday, including allegations that some local politicians are involved with the rebel group that has been trying to topple the Colombian government for four decades. Some clues may be found in the computer of FARC number two leader Raul Reyes, who was killed recently in the Colombian army raid on a FARC camp in Ecuador. So far Colombian officials have released no information about what data the captured computer contained.

The couple residing in the Heredia house in which the funds were found admitted that they met two top FARC officials but denied knowing their real identity. But chief of Colombia’s National Police Oscar Naranjo is not buying that story at all. Naranjo, 51, an experienced cop named to his high post 10 months ago, scoffed that “no one gives half a million dollars and power of attorney to someone… if there were not previously constituted and enduring trust built over time.”

Indeed, it stretches the imagination of an objective observer that a guerrilla group, evolved from rebellion into drug trafficking, kidnapping and terrorizing whole provinces, got that way by being ingenuously trusting. Asked by the newspaper Al Dia if Reye’s computer might reveal even more Costa Rican ties to FARC, Naranjo would not discount it. “We’re interested that Costa Rica isn’t going to become a victim, like happened in Colombia, to FARC terrorist activity.”

Naranjo, who holds probably the toughest and most dangerous law enforcement post outside of Iraq, formed a special team of investigators to work with Costa Rican officials on the FARC case. But cops from both countries may find that rumors of sinister connections between FARC and Costa Rican politicos may stem from a misreading of recent history.

Talks between FARC and high government officials were authorized by President Jose Maria Figueres (1994-98) in the vain hope of arranging peace talks between guerrillas, the U.S. and Colombian officials, perhaps aiming to join President Oscar Arias on the world stage as master peace negotiator. Former Vice Minister of the Presidency Alicia Fournier received a sub rosa visit from two guerrillas at Figueres’s urging, even though she thought the Foreign Ministry a more appropriate venue. Fournier’s post was the equivalent of depty chief of staff of the White House so, not surprisingly, the talks were held in the Presidential Office Building in Zapote.

Indeed, FARC officials did meet with then-Foreign Minister Fernando Naranjo who openly talked about it with the newspaper La Nacion on Dec. 22, 2000, noting that the talks were authorized by Figueres. As late as 2001, FARC’s own “foreign minister,” Rodrigo Granda, talked with Rogelio Ramos, minister of public security under President Miguel Angel Rodriguez (1998-2002) about possibly moving FARC’s political office from Mexico to San Jose. The Rodriguez government turned down Granda’s proposal.

Those meetings were not the only ones held here in the forlorn hope of negotiating peace for Colombia. That country’s Minister of Defense Juan Manuel Santos met, under the auspicies of Costa Rica’s Forign Ministry, with two FARC spokespersons, including Reyes. Nothing came of that peace try.

by Rod Hughes

Does anyone remember the controversy late last year that hit the National Olympics Committee, with charges flying against its chairman, Jorge Nery Carvajal? Well, the committee’s special assembly used a new broom and swept him out, along with other top officials yesterday as the Pekin Olympics looms on the horizon..

The unrest emerged after a dismal showing in Caribbean games last year by the Costa Rican contingent and was heightened by charges of mismanagement leveled by various sports officials against Carvajal, along with dark hints of funds manipulation. The latter refused to resign. But the general assembly, representing 26 federations of various sports plus five individuals, voted 31-0 to replace him with Henry Nunez.

The revolution did not end there. Out went secretary general Adrian Peterson and the assemby refused to recognise the appointments of Ronald Rojas and Melvin Lobo as, respectively, treasurer and fiscal, the latter post a Latin creation to oversee the legality of decisions. The last two were dismissed not for what they did but for the way they were appointed, by Carvajal and Pearson without confirmation by any other officials.

In fact, the newspaper La Nacion reported that their appointments were kept hidden from the federations, the press and public for four months. To replace them, three Executive Committee members were transfered to fill the vacancies. In a miracle of efficiency in talkative Costa Rican administration, voting took exactly six minutes, reported the paper. The Carvajal faction of the NOC tried to stiffle the special session by appealing to the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV) but that body rejected the appeal.

by Rod Hughes

Costa Rica’s territorial waters, only a drop in the planet’s oceans, contain 6,778 species of marine life, or 3.5% of the species on the planet. This is pretty good, since the tiny area comprises only .16% of the all oceans’ surface area. This information is revealed in the new book by Ingo Wehrtmann and Jorge Cortes of the University of Costa Rica.

The new 550-page publication, besides providing wonderful statistics to casually drop at a cocktail party, is the first real inventory of Costa Rican waters and was compiled from information provided by 54 scientic writers, 24 of them Costa Ricans. All of the book’s contents is new, 21st century data.

But lest you think that the country’s waters provide an endless cornucopia of seafood, remember that 1,300 of those species are gastropods like sea snails. The fish comprise only 17% of the species while largely inedible species, like sea slugs, make up 22%. Even sea mammals like dolphins, orcas and whales, are in the minority, only 24 species, while ocean worms number 400.

Still, the combined studies show that, like the tiny Costa Rican land mass, the country’s surrounding ocean is a treasure trove worth guarding with fierce dedication. This is especially true on a planet turning increasingly hostile to that which creeps, swims, walks, hops and flies.

by Rod Hughes

Why women’s beach volleyball is not a major sport like soccer, basketball, American football and baseball, is a mystery to us. You have four toasted, athletic young women bouncing on the sand dressed in the legal minimum. Yet, few fans sit in the stands, mostly young men with tongues sunburned from hanging out of their mouths lustfully.

But even the excellent sports section of the daily Al Dia relegated the fine performance of Costa Rica’s women’s volleyball team to the back pages, buried in a nest of small ads. But only the Cubans were able to best Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro in the first phase of the NORCECA regional tour held in the Dominican Republic last weekend.

Perhaps a bit of machismo was at work here, since Al Dia’s report of the miserable performance of the two male teams, fifth and eleventh, was confined to a small box headlined: “They Lack a Little Something.”

Flushed by a second place in international tournament, plus exertion under the hot sun, Ingrid and Natalia go on to the second phase of the NORCECA tour in Guatemala April 16-21, on to El Salvador April 25-27 and on through Mexico, Aruba, Puerto Rico until the final tourney in Trinidad Tobago May 30-June 1. A grueling schedule indeed. Good luck to them and watch out for the boys in the stands.

by Rod Hughes

Puntarenas fans yesterday must have thought the soccer match with San Carlos lasted about an hour too long. It took half an hour for the “Bulls of the North.” as the San Carlos club is called, to realize it was up against an opponent without spirit or a clear game plan. After that, the Bulls literally had a field day.

Of course, Leonardo Adams drew first blood after only four minutes of play, but for the next 30 minutes, San Carlos treated their adversaries with kid gloves. Then, Carlos Clark hit at minute 48. Feeling positively bullish (as they say on Wall Street) in the second half, San Carlos really began attacking. striker Luis Arroyo made it 3-0 and then Adams, having a sterling day, capped it off with his second goal.

Brujas 3, Santos 1

Brujas made the most of a strong midfield effort and won its first away match this year against a clearly outclassed Santos at their home pitch in Guapiles. The latter did not come within smelling distance of the goal during the first half.

After 18 minutes of play, Rodolfo Rodruguez’s header opened the festivities for Brujas of Escazu. Paolo Jimenez closed the first half on a pass from Josimar Arias. Opening the second half, Ricardo Steer made a penalty kick into the netting. That was all until Santos’s Marion Arias directed a pass from Marvin Chinchilla into the goal mouth at minute 80.

Goal Summary So Far

It is easy to see why Saprissa is flying so high this year. The two top goal scorers are Alejandro Alpizar with 9 and Armando Alonso with 6. One should not forget Jonathan McDonald of Heredia who is tied with Alonso. Three are tied with 5: Mario Arias of Santos, Minor diaz of Cartago and William Sunsing of Liberia. The come the rest of the pack including eight with 4 goals.

Standings for “Torneo de Verano”em>

1. Alajuela 18
2. Perez Seledon 16
3. Brujas 16
4. Liberia 15
5. Santos 9
6. Cartago 9

by Rod Hughes

Could it be that Costa Rica’s lawmakers and government departments are learning to live within their means? Such an unlooked-for miracle may account for the unmistakeable figures showing the national debt has been reduced in the past five years, to quote the daily La Nacion’s word, in a “spectacular” manner.

The period reported includes the term of former President Abel Pacheco and the first year of the administration of President Oscar Arias. Ironically. the Pacheco Administration spent four years trying to push through the Legislative Assembly a tax reform package aimed at just such a result only, to have it overturned by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court before it went into effect.

According to national authorities, the debt passed from 60% of the gross national product in 2003 to 45% last year. The International Monetary Fund put last year;s figure at 43%. Whoever is right about the latter figure, it is the greatest debt reduction since the debt renegotiation at the beginning of the 1990s. Those re-negotiations were brought on by the economic crisis during the Carazo Administration of the early 1980s when attending to the debt ate up nearly all the gross GNP. In 1992, that figure dropped to 60%, then stagnated for a decade.

It might be well to note that the crisis had been brought on by the worldwide fall of coffee prices after the Figueres and Oduber administrations had borrowed heavily. They had been counting on the high prices of coffee to pay the debt and President Rodrigo Carazo came into office just in time to be handed the bill. He then refused to listen to financial advisors and made a series of blunders such as trying to buoy up the national currency by using the country’s gold reserves. It should be noted that, since then, Costa Rica has diversified its exports to a point that only a world economic crisis could put the nation on the edge of bankruptcy again.

The IMF estimates that this year, the figure could fall to 40% of the GNP. What accounts for these happy figures? La Nacion economics writer Patricia Leiton suggest three important factors: 1. Increased national production, including exports. 2. Lower interest rates. 3. Governmental savings. Gross internal product, (the monetary value of goods and services produced by the country in a year) is up “significantly,” to used the reporter’s word. In the past three years it rose to 6.3% in 2005, to 8.8% in 2006 and to 6.9% last year.

So the government had larger income from taxes and less need to borrow. Couple this with a lowering of interest rates from 15% in 2005 to the current 5% and you have a drop in the cost of the debt. The capping achievement was a surprising curb in government spending, especially under President Pacheco’s austerity plan. Far from having to borrow to pay interest on the national debt as had been done in years past, the government actually created as surplus, something the World Bank had advocated Costa Rica accomplish.

Actually, the nation finds itself with a slight embarrassment of riches. Foreign investment has been so great that the Central Bank has trouble controlling the number of dollar floating around. The danger is overheating of the economy, resulting in runaway inflation. It is a dilemma economic officials would rather confront than that which faced the Carazo Administration.

by Rod Hughes

Costa Rica’s reigning soccer champion, Saprissa, rudely hosted a decidedly outclassed Atlante club last night in the CONCACAF regional tournament for clubs. Saprissa had expected the visiting Mexican club to be highly motivated after tying tough a Toluca side last Sunday.

Instead, Saprissa walked all over Atlante, forcing a self-inflicted goal by Mexican defender Javier Munoz after only 18 minutes of play, followed by the goals of Armando Alonso shortly before the first half ended and capping it at minute 65 with Andres Nunez’s blast.

Saprissa might have been forgiven for resting on their oars but they continued to play with a definite offensive spirit and Alpizar nearly made it 4-0, being in the clear in perfect position after a masterful series of his teammates’ offensive maneuvers. But he lofted the sphere over the horizontal bar.

He has seldom done that sort of thing this season and his frustration with himself was as clear as if he had missed the winning goal instead of one of unnecessary insurance. He all but bashed his head against the ground.

Don’t worry, my boy, we all mess up at times.