In a special session on Sunday, the Assembly reached a whole new level of inaction by approving the 2006 budget without voting! They may have been trying to prove Heidegger’s famous statement “The Nothing itself nothings”. However, some observers agreed with Nietzsche: “They muddy the water that it may appear deep”.

In any case after only one hour of debate in the special Sunday session, the PUSC legislators asked for a 10 minute recess. After the recess, Representatives Ricardo Toledo and Rodolfo Delgado did not return in time, either because they were talking on the phone or “looking for documents”. The quorum was broken, so by default the budget was approved. The Assembly bylaws state that the budget must be approved in first debate on November 27^th and in the second debate on November 29^th.

Several reps expressed opinions on the automagic approval process. “The PUSC was betting on the lack of a quorum from the beginning”, according to Libertarian Federico Malavassi, “They didn’t want to discuss it, the session was getting complicated for them.” PUSC legislator Ricardo Toledo said, “Nobody from PLN came to the session. Someone must have called them and given them instructions not to come.”

So what was approved? The 2006 budget is 2,800,000,000,000 (2.8 trillion Colones), which would be 5,645,161,290 dollars (5.6 billion) at the current exchange rate of nearly 496 Colones for the dollar. The Assembly cut 37 billion Colones of repayment on the national debt from the proposed budget, and redirected it to fund road repairs.

The new budget then will have 1.5 trillion colones that will come from taxes. The other 1.3 trillion will be financed. Nearly 1 trillion of this amount is to pay off old debt.

Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Brazil have finally gotten most of what they were after in the banana dispute with the European Union, ongoing since 1999. Even though former European colonies will pay no duty on imports, which the Latin American countries still consider unfair, the “banana” republics will not be restricted to quotas or require licenses in order to export to the EU. As of January 1^st, the European Union has agreed to charge a flat tariff of 176 Euros per ton of banana from Latin America. Currently fruit that enters under the quota system pays 75 Euros and additional tons pay 680 Euros each.

Even though the Assembly is taking extra time to vote on pending motions, the tax plan appears comatose according to representatives. Apparently parties are hesitant to vote in favor of increasing taxes ahead of the February elections. Although PLUSC started out supporting the plan 3 years ago, apparently many of the PUSC representatives are no longer willing to vote in favor.

375 motions are pending discussion, and even though the Assembly will dedicate all of the December sessions to the project, opponents doubt that the motions will be dealt with before the break. The most recent surveys count 23 supporters of the plan, 3 for the plan with conditions, 20 against, 6 undecided, and 3 not answering. So at least 3 votes are lacking, depending on what may happen with the motions under discussion.

The humble oxcart driver of Costa Rica was declared on Friday an Oral and Intangible World Heritage tradition by UNESCO (United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization), one of 43 traditions appearing in the proclamation. The oxcart drivers join in the patrimony of humanity Costa Rica’s World Heritage Sites: Cocos Island, La Amistad International Park and the Guanacaste Conservation Area.

The tradition was proposed by the office of Culture Vice Minister Amalia Chaverri via the Costa Rican UN delegate. The proposal was made after an extensive study of the tradition by anthropologists Cecilia Dobles, Giselle Chang and Carmen Murillo. The study showed that the tradition at one time was used throughout the country, through several centuries and is still alive and evolving.

According to the jury, the oxcart is the most famous crafted article from Costa Rica and it was a vital component in commerce historically. The proclamation points out that there is still a small group of artisans dedicated to manufacturing and painting the carts even today, and points out that only a small number of young artisans are interested in learning the tradition. This makes it important to promote and honor this tradition that is unique in the world.

According to the anthropologists, the profession contains a great quantity of knowledge and practices that unify and strengthen the tradition. It originated in colonial times, when Spaniards introduced a simple cart that through the years was transformed according to the necessities in the environment and culture. “The structure was transformed, and the colorful designs came about as a representation of the pride the drivers took in their work and a form of self expression”, explained Carmen Murillo. The golden age of the oxcart was in the 19^th Century, when oxcart caravans traveled to Puntarenas to leave coffee for export.

On Sunday, oxcart drivers paraded through San José as a demonstration of pride in the award and their tradition.

According to a note in La Nación, its “The New York Times” weekly supplement, last Saturday was the last edition for Costa Rica. The supplement was a selection of articles taken from The New York Times and published every Saturday in La Nacion. The note cited a lack of commercialization, as the reason behind the move.

RESULTS SUNDAY

Santos 2 - Carmelita 0
Brujas 1 -Cartago 2
Puntarenas 1 -Alajuelense 0
Santa Cruz 1 - Heredia 0
Pérez Zeledón 1 - Saprissa 1
Liberia 0 - Ramonense 0

Next Round Sunday 4 December

Alajuela vs. Santacruceña, in Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium, Alajuela

Liberia vs. Puntarenas in Edgardo Baltodano Briceño Stadium, Liberia

Heredia vs. San Ramon, Eladio Rosabal Cordero Stadium, Heredia

The 310,000 bags of saline solution quarantined by the Caja were found to be contaminated.  The Comptrollor authorized the emergency purchase of 116, 456 units from Baxter Export Costa Rica S.R.L., which will enter Costa Rica from Mexico over the weekend and hopefully scheduled surgeries can proceed on Monday or Tuesday.   The cost was nearly $1 per bag, at $108,958.

The possible contamination of 310,000 bags of saline solution caused 270 surgeries to be postponed at Hospitals Mexico, Calderon Guaria and San Juan de Dios.  The quarantined bags were being analyzed at ITEC and UCR.

The suspected contamination occured at the CCSS plant in Heredia, where the solutions are made using an underground source.  Parts of this source have been contaminated by an underground spill from a gas station in the area.

ICE is promising that the new batch of cellular telephone lines will go on sale as promised on December 5th, even though the installation of the network is not 100% complete. Orlando Cascante, Director of Mobil Services for ICE said that 9 base stations are not installed.  Of the 600,000 line capacity, 250,000 will be installed initially since only that many SIM chips are available.

The functionary clarified that ICE will activate any telephone no matter where it was purchased, but that consumers should insist on getting an official receipt and written guarantee.  Some outlets are advertising so-called "certified" phones, which isn’t a technical necessity.  However, ICE provides a list of phone models on the website that are compatible with their networks.   ICE Authorized Vendors
ICE Compatible GSM Phones
The sale of lines is still pending approval of the Comptroller, which must sign off on ICE receiving the network even though it is incomplete.

Thousands of entrepeneurs, students, workers and families marched yesterday along 2nd Avenue to the Legislative Assembly.  Unlike the anti-CAFTA demonstrators, they left lanes open to traffic so there were no abnormal delays in the downtown area.

Employees of Café Britt, Tico Fruit, Demasa, Intel and Conair, had the day free so they could show their support for the agreement.  Many companies provided buses to transport their workers and organizers estimated between 15 and 17 thousand participants. 

The march concluded at 11:45 a.m. with no arrests or disturbances reported. Attending were the candidate Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement, the Vicepresidential candidate Laura Chinchilla (PLN), Legistlators from the PLN and Libertarians, and the ex-Ministers Alberto Dent and Rogelio Pardo.