Costa Rica’s schools have chronically suffered from a shortage of desks and chairs for their students, but the expansion of an agreement between the Public Security Ministry and the Public Education Ministry (MEP) through which prisoners build furniture for schools seeks to end this problem by having prisoners build 80,000 desk-and-chair sets by the end of next year, according to a statement from MEP.

Nationwide, there is a shortage of 30,000 sets, especially in San Carlos, in north-central Costa Rica; Talamanca, in the southern Caribbean; and Guápiles and Turrialba, on the Caribbean slope, the statement said.

The expanded agreement also allows the Education Ministry’s regional offices to collect and distribute furniture to nearby schools. In the past, schools far from San José have had to wait to receive furniture from the capital, the statement said.

Each desk-and-chair set costs ¢11,900 ($23), while the sets of one table and four small chairs used in preschools cost ¢25,800 ($50). This school year, MEP’s spending on furniture will reach ¢600 million ($1.16 million), according to the statement.

Education Minister Leonardo Garnier told The Tico Times during a recent interview that the notorious desk shortage is more of a logistical problem than a financial one. When school starts every February, schools across the country complain of kids sitting on the floor because furniture has not arrived on time (TT, July 7).

-Tico Times

The highway from San José to Cartago is about 23 kilometers, and it is but one of three major routes to the town.

Starting this weekend, all those routes will be congested with pilgrims on their way to do homage to the patroness of Costa Rica, the Virgen de los Angeles.

The feast day of the Virgin is Wednesday, and the day is a national holiday. Due to a new law, the weekend is an unusual one. Monday is a holiday, too.

It is the new and controversial date for Costa Ricans to celebrate the Annexation of the Partido de Nicoya. The actual date for that is July 25, but Costa Ricans have a three-day weekend, thanks to the new law.

Tuesday is the only day that stands in the way of a five-day weekend. But this is the day pilgrims will be on the move and will be converted into an unofficial holiday.

Perhaps as many as 2 million persons will make the trip from their homes to the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, the site of the small statue venerated by Costa Ricans.

The weekend is the biggest effort of the year for police and Cruz Roja workers. Some pilgrims certainly will be injured, perhaps by vehicles and perhaps by fellow walkers. Some may die.

Traffic deaths are possible with so many thousands of person on the road and at very early and very late hours.

A Zarcero man died last year after being hit by a car on a service road alongside the Autopista General  Cañas in La Uruca.  The motorist faced a drunk driving charge. The Policía de Tránsito will be out in force, and some traffic in the Cartago area and along the approach routes will be detoured.

Not all who march to Cartago have religion on their mind. Some are crooks or worse, so Fuerza Pública officers will be stationed every few hundred feet. Thefts and other crimes of opportunity are the unpleasant prospect for a small number of pilgrims.

Officials are trying to crack down on the number of vendors who depend on the pilgrims, but walkers frequently depend on roadside stands for water and other drinks and food.

The faithful come on foot from as far as Panamá and Nicaragua.  Some come early and are back home by the time the Tuesday morning religious service takes place. Most officials attend.

Lawmakers just could not get around to accepting a $130 million loan from the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation.

The deadline will be Monday, but there is little chance of passage by then. Ricardo Sancho Chavarría, executive president of the Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, told lawmakers that he had to seek a 30-day extension from the Japanese bank manager, Hajime Takeuchi.

It was Sancho who went before lawmakers July 4 and urged them to hurry up and pass the measure. The money will be used to reconstruct the sewer system in the Central Valley and build a sewage treatment plant. Now Central Valley sewage flows into the Río Tarcoles and then the Gulf of Nicoya.

The loan is a favorable one with a low interest rate. But some lawmakers, remembering the corruption scandals of last year involving foreign loans, want a full study of the contract.

The metropolitan sewer system does not cover the whole area and where it does the pipes are rusted through in some cases. Large quantities of raw sewage flow into streams when rain infiltrates into the sanitary system.

Latin America and the Caribbean will enjoy a fourth consecutive year of economic growth in 2006, reports a U.N. economic commission for the region.

The U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said the region’s gross domestic product will grow by about 5 percent in 2006.  The forecast was made in a new report called “Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2005-2006.”  In 2007, the region’s gross domestic product is predicted to be 4.5 percent, which the commission said will be within the context of a moderate slowdown in the world economy.

The commission said the present economic expansion is spread across Latin America and the Caribbean, ranging between 3.5 percent and 6.5 percent for most countries of the region.  The exceptions are Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, with growth rates of over 7.5 percent, while in Haiti the growth rate will be at about 2.5 percent.

Caribbean nations are expected to grow in 2006 by 6.3 percent, South America by 5.4 percent, and Mexico and Central America by 4.1 percent, the comission said.

In an earlier report released in April, the commision had estimated that growth in the United States in 2006 would be slightly below the 3.5 percent rate achieved in 2005, probably approaching 3 percent.

The commission also has said that the implementation of the U.S. free-trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic will significantly increase the rate of investment in the Latin American region.