By Amanda Roberson , Tico Times Staff

Visitors to 50 spots around Costa Rica, including the Costa Rican Art Museum and National Library in San José, will be able to instantly connect their laptop computers to the Internet, thanks to a project called CR inalámbrica ( Costa Rica wireless) launched yesterday.

A collaborative effort between the nonprofit Costa Rican Foundation for Sustainable Development and the computer company Cisco Systems Costa Rica, the project seeks to “democratize” the Internet by making it accessible to more people, explained the foundation’s Director Juan Barrios during an inauguration ceremony yesterday at San José’s National Culture Center (CENAC), one of the spots chosen for the project.

Other sites selected include academic institutions such as Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Heredia, north of San José ; commercial centers such as Paseo de las Flores Mall in Heredia and Multiplaza Escazú in Escazú, west of San José ; public buildings such as the San José Municipality and health centers such as San José’s San Juan de Dios Hospital.

“We want the public to have free access to the Internet,” Barrios said. “This is the only way we can stay on top of issues facing us in today’s growing world, like globalization.”

Cisco Systems Costa Rica donated the equipment to provide wireless Internet connectivity in these 50 sites, each of which will be responsible for paying its own Internet bill.

Additionally, each site will be responsible for providing security to computer users. All 50 sites chosen are enclosed spaces with their own security guards with the exception of the open-air Plaza de la Cultura, Barrios said. There, security guards from the nearby Central Bank Museums and additional private security guards will be stationed to prevent theft.

Wireless Internet services have already been installed in five of the sites selected and will be installed in the remaining 45 sites within the next two months, Barrios said.

The seventh JW Marriott Hotel in Latin America will  open in 2008 in Guanacaste under a franchise agreement reached between Marriott International, Inc. and Hotel Real de Pinilla, S.A., a subsidiary of  Grupo Poma of El Salvador, the firms said Tuesday.

Grupo Poma’s hotel division, known as Real Hotels & Resorts, has 23 properties including the Puebla Marriott Hotel in Mexico and the Courtyard by Marriott Panama City, Panama, and will manage the  resort.

When opened, the 310-room JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa will be the fourth Marriott  International-branded property in Costa Rica.
It will be located on a Pacific beachfront site in the 4,000-acre Hacienda Pinilla Beach Resort and residential community development that also contains an existing 18-hole golf course, an equestrian center, tennis courts, villas and beach houses. The project team includes the Zurcher Architects as the project architect and Paul Duesing Partners as the interior designer.

The project is on the Pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula just south of Playa Tamarindo. Daniel  Oduber Liberia International Airport is located approximately 50 miles away to the north and east.

“We are delighted to be working with Real Hotels & Resorts on this exciting and beautiful resort hotel and to see our award-winning JW Marriott brand grow in  Latin America,” said Ed Fuller, president and managing director of international lodging for Marriott International.  “Costa Rica is a world-class leisure destination, especially for ecotourism, and attracts a diverse group of visitors. Coupled with our JW Marriott’s global reputation for unsurpassed, relaxed luxury and ambience, we are confident this resort will be an instant success.”

The resort’s 310 rooms will include up to 30 executive level guest rooms and up to 10 stand alone casita  units.

For dining and entertainment, the resort will have an all-day restaurant featuring terrace seating; two specialty restaurants serving lunch and dinner, a pool bar and grill, a café kiosk and a lobby lounge and bar. Recreational amenities will include a 13,500  square-foot health club and spa featuring 18 treatment rooms, saunas, steam rooms, a beauty salon, a spa shop and a fitness center.

Water sports activities will include a swimming pool, jet-skiing, diving, snorkeling and fishing.  A kids club will be located near the spa.  Golf will be available at an 18-hole golf course and clubhouse included in the  overall complex. Additionally, the resort will have a business center.

For conferences and social events, the JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa will boast more than 5,500 square feet of flexible meeting space.  Included will be a ballroom offering  more than 3,000 square feet and three meeting rooms in varying configurations.

Intel Corp., the computer chip maker that has facilities in Costa Rica, said Tuesday that it would cut about 7 percent of its work force by the end of the year.

The company said that some 3,000 more would be let go by the middle of next year.

There were no specifics on how this cutback would affect Costa Rica, and inquires to the corporate headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., went unanswered.

The company announced plans for restructuring following an analysis of the company’s structure and efficiency, it said. As a result of the restructuring, the company expects to generate savings in costs and operating expenses of approximately $2 billion in 2007. In 2008 the company expects savings from this restructuring to grow to approximately $3 billion annually, according to the announcement.

The savings are a combination of non-workforce related steps and a significant reduction in Intel’s workforce, it said. The company’s employee population will decline to approximately 95,000 by the end of this year, resulting from workforce reductions, attrition and previously announced actions. The workforce will decline to approximately 92,000 by the middle of 2007 — 10,500 fewer than the company’s employee population at the end of the second quarter of 2006. In addition to the savings from the workforce reduction, the company expects savings in merchandising expenses, capital and materials, it said.

“These actions, while difficult, are essential to Intel becoming a more agile and efficient company, not just for this year or the next, but for years to come,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and chief executive officer.

Most job reductions this year will occur in management, marketing and information technology functions, reductions related to the previously announced sale of businesses, and attrition, said the announcement. In 2007, the reductions will be more
broadly based as Intel improves labor efficiency in manufacturing, improves equipment utilization, eliminates organizational redundancies, and improves product design methods and processes, it said.

In 2008, the company expects the cost and operating expense savings from this restructuring to grow to approximately $3 billion as it achieves the full-year run rate on the projects implemented in 2007. In addition, Intel expects to save $1 billion by better utilizing manufacturing equipment and space. The company expects that approximately 25 percent of the project’s savings in 2007 will reduce cost of sales, and the rest will reduce operating expenses.

The company said it expects severance costs to total approximately $200 million, offsetting some of the expected savings from the project’s implementation.

President Óscar Arias Sánchez will make two trips to the United States starting next week in order to address the United Nations and to join with other Nobel Peace Prize laureates at a meeting in Denver, Colorado, of some 3,000 high school youngsters.

The first trip will be Sept. 13 when Arias will go to Miami, Florida, at the Conference of the Americas. This is an international forum, put on in part by the Miami Herald, to discuss the challenges of the hemisphere. This is the 10th annual edition. Arias is being asked to attend the inauguration ceremony.

After the ceremonies Arias will return to the country to participate in the 185th anniversary of Costa Rican independence Sept. 14, and Sept. 15, the Día de la Independencia.

Saturday, Sept. 16, Arias is back in the United States in Denver for the 10th anniversary of Peace Jam, billed as the largest gathering of Nobel Prize laureates outside of Oslo, Norway.

Peace Jam, according to organizers,  “is an international education program built around leading Nobel Peace laureates who work personally with youth to pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom they embody. The goal of Peace Jam is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform their local communities, themselves and the world.”

Arias received the Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to negotiate a resolution to wars in Central America.
Also attending the event will be the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rigoberta Menchu Tum and six other laureates. The event is held at the University of Denver.

From Sept. 18 to 21 Arias will be in New York at the United Nations. His address to the General Assembly is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 19. Casa Presidencial said that he would talk about the challenges of globalization and the need for countries to disarm. In addition, he will discuss the increasing gap between the industrialized countries and developing nations as well as the rising tide of protectionism that jeopardizes free trade.

During his visits, Arias will be meeting with executives in the United States seeking investments and commercial development, said Casa Presidencial. He will be accompanied by Marco Vinicio Ruiz, minister of Comercio Exterior and representatives of firms that already have facilities here.

The Arias administration invited foreign ambassadors to breakfast Tuesday to promote the government’s plan for an international arms treaty.

Support for the measure came from Tom Kennedy, the ambassador from the United Kingdom, who was quoted by administration aides as saying the treaty is an urgent necessity and the irresponsible commerce of arms prolongs conflicts that have a devastating impact.

Bruno Stagno, the foreign minister who convened the breakfast, said that the arms treaty is a priority for the administration. The proposed treaty probably will be discussed next month at the United Nations.

The treaty would require a registration process for arms exported by countries and an annual summary to be made public.

The treaty has been developed by the Fundación Arias, which was represented Tuesday at the Casa Amarilla breakfast by Luis Alberto Cordero, director.

Lawmakers voted Tuesday to establish a museum in Guanacaste. The vote was the second of two, so now the proposal goes to Casa Presidencial for approval or veto.

Much of the museum will contain the collection of former president Daniel Oduber. The museum will highlight the achievements of those who lived in Guanacaste, a region of ranchers and horse lovers that is considered the Wild West of Costa Rica.

The area has a unique culture in speech, cooking, dance and music.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday are for the kids. Saturday is el Día del Niño in Costa Rica. The day is not exactly a legal holiday but festivities honoring the nation’s children will be part of school activities Friday.

Casa Presidencial is marking the day Thursday.

The Museo Nacional will have a special program Sunday.

And parents and close family members will be preparing small presents to be distributed Saturday.

The Despacho de Apoyo Social of Casa Presidencial said that some 200 youngsters would be bused from Escuela Ninfa Corrales en Quitirrisí de Mora, an Indian community west of Ciudad Colón.

They will be joined at the Museo de los Niños by 50 children from the Oratorio Don Bosco.

For many Quitirrisí children this will be their first visit to the museum, said Casa Presidencial staffers. A lunch is planned for 1 p.m. The event is being sponsored by the Asociación de Damas Taiwanesas de Costa Rica, the Fundación Programa Nacional de Cultura “Leer es vivir,” the Club de Leones of La Sabana and McDonald’s de Costa Rica.

Friday public schools and some private ones will have fiestas for the students in anticipation of the next day. The day always is Sept. 9, but this year the date fell on a Saturday.

The Museo Nacional event Sunday begins at 9 a.m. and is described as a day to celebrate the art, cultural diversity and happiness of youngsters. Of course there will be clowns and several theatrical and puppet presentations. The event will end with the sounds of the group Calipso AfroCaribe.

The most universal celebration will be in individual homes. This is not Christmas, so presents will be modest. But there will be lots of candy and other treats and perhaps a fiesta with cake and ice cream and maybe even a piñata.

For expats, a small gift,creative but not expensive, is traditional for young family members, children of employees and perhaps children of neighbors, depending on the relationship.