Public employees at least will have a half-day holiday June 9 when the Costa Rican national soccer team meets Germany in the inaugural game of the World Cup tournament.

Game time is 10 on a Friday morning here, and the contest will span roughly two hours. Since public employees generally leave work at 3 p.m., their maximum work time that day will be just three hours.

Private companies will be under intense pressure from their employees to follow the policy of the Arias administration.

The Arias administration will set up an ethics commission to handle complains of wrongdoing by public officials.

The objective is that public officials observe the highest ethical values in their political actions and in the exercise of their public position, said Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, minister of the Presidencia and the brother of the president.

Óscar Arias Sánchez, the president, signed a decree that brings into force the ethical standards.  The ethics commission will be made up of three highly placed officials, a statement from Casa Presidencial said.

Arias said he was going to do this.

By Saray Ramírez Vindas of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Immigration officials will give a second look to expats here who already have residency. They will be looking for persons who are sought for crimes elsewhere but still managed to slip into Costa Rica and acquire residency.

This was the word Tuesday from Mario Zamora Cordero, the new director of the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería.  He said that immigration officials will crosscheck current residents against international wanted  lists. If it appears that someone obtained residency here even though they had a criminal past elsewhere, Zamora  said that his department would re-examine the residency process to see who approved the documents and what documents were approved.

Applicants for residency here have to provide fingerprints as well as a statement from their hometown police that they have not been involved in criminal activity. However, some applicants have been able to duck these requirements, immigration officials fear.

Zamora’s comments came at a press conference where immigration officials said a housecleaning already was underway.

The most visible of the actions to crack down on immigration problems came Tuesday night when police from several agencies showed up at the La Uruca immigration facility. They were there to put an end to the practice of selling places on line to passport applicants.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday immigration officials accept passport applications from Costa Ricans, but only 500 persons are handled each day. The line begins forming late the previous evening.

An industry had developed of people blocking out a number of spaces and then selling these to latecomers. Zamora said the going price was about 25,000 colons a place, or about $50.

These were not a handful of entrepreneurs. Immigration officials said that more than 350 persons were involved in extorting money from passport applicants and threatening them with physical violence if they did not pay.

The Fuerza Pública, the Policia Municipal, the Policía de Migración and Tránsito officers from the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes were involved in the nighttime cleanup.

Officials said that when police arrived, the waiting line for passports already was 100 meters long, nearly 1,000 feet.  After police checked the credentials of each person, the length shrunk to 25 meters, they said. The line forms in the immigration complex parking lot.

The people who hold places are called gavilanes or hawks. Zamora said this activity will not be permitted in the future although what these people do is not listed as a crime.
One gavilán Tuesday night had 25 meters of the waiting line staked out. Others were holding similar spaces to sell to individuals who arrive for a passport transaction Wednesday morning.

The police action Tuesday followed actions against individual immigration workers who may be involved in internal corruption. Zamora said he was certain that foreigners are using doctored Costa Rican identity documents around the world.

Zamora said that immigration also is considering doing more work with the Imprinta Nacional once contract obligations with other firms expire. This would include producing blank passports. Plus there are plans to use more technology, he said.

Costa Rican commercial authorities yesterday inaugurated “Costa Rica Arena,” an exposition in Munich, Germany of 70 Costa Rican businesses taking advantage of the World Cup to promote their products, according to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).

The inauguration was attended by Munich mayor Christian Ude, Costa Rican Ambassador to Germany Bernd Niehaus and PROCOMER commercial director to the European Union Zacarías Ayub.

In addition to displaying exports, Costa Rica Arena will show off the country’s culture, biodiversity, human development, people and sporting achievements.

The exhibit is one of numerous initiatives the Costa Rican government has planned for the World Cup to attract foreign investment, tourism and promote exports.

A video on Costa Rica ’s attractions will also be shown in various German cities as part of a $6.7 million campaign launched by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT).

The Tico national team, La Selección, is scheduled to play in the opening game of the World Cup against Germany June 9.

-ACAN-EFE

By Katherine Stanley - Tico Times Staff

Leaders of President Oscar Arias’ administration yesterday announced one element of their plan of attack on the country’s dismal high-school dropout rates: a scholarship program for low-income students that offers financial rewards to those who graduate.

The newly formed Ministry of Housing and the Fight against Poverty, headed by Fernando Zumbado, will work with the Public Education Ministry to implement a pilot program and gradually expand the scholarships until all eligible students are served, at an estimated cost of ¢27 billion (approximately $53.5 million) per year. The details of the program will be finalized within the next two weeks, and the pilot program could begin as soon as July, Zumbado explained after presenting the plans during Arias’ weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.

Public Education Minister Leonardo Garnier said it’s essential that Costa Rica keep students in school to improve their chances of getting a good job. Approximately two-thirds of the country’s young people don’t finish high school, he added.

One part of the plan will be a savings account opened for participating students during their ninth year with money they would be able to withdraw after graduating from high school. Regulations of how the students would be able to spend the money are still being developed, Zumbado said.

To be eligible for the scholarships, students must be between the ages of 13 and 17, live in poverty, have completed at least three years in Costa Rica’s education system and, once selected, fail no more than one year of school, Zumbado said.