The first American school in Atenas will open in February 2007. This is good news for the area and is expected to allow even more expats to consider the Atenas area for their home in Costa Rica.

The school will offer:

-Grades 7 AND 8, most classes in English, North American staff and curriculum. The tuition is reasonable at $250 (US) per month. The school will operate on the Costa Rican academic calendar year and is in the process of obtaining accreditation from the Association of American Schools.

For students just arriving to Costa Rica, Spanish as a second language classes will be offered. The school plans to add and additional grade each year and students will have a US high school diploma upon graduation, they will also be prepared to enter US universities.

Contact the AE real estate Atenas specialist Isa Jones for details: Atenas Costa Rica Real Estate

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

The United States will commit $39.6 million to enhance the labor and environmental protection practices of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade countries to ensure that a broad spectrum within these societies benefits from the trade agreement, according to the State Department.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday that the United States will pay for both local and regional projects that have been identified in consultation with governments involved in the treaty to ensure support for priorities. of labor will be earmarked for eliminating gender and other types of workplace discrimination, supporting the development of a culture of compliance with labor laws, and reducing chemical-exposure risks for workers.

Of the 2006 funding, $21 million will be devoted to labor issues, including support for programs to strengthen labor ministries by professionalizing labor inspectorates and to increase the efficiency of complaint handling within labor ministries. Funds also will be allocated to enhance the effective enforcement of existing labor laws by judicial systems in treaty nations. Other funds devoted to the area

Of the remaining 2006 funds, $18.5 million will go to projects that seek to improve the implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, enhance biodiversity and conservation and promote market-based conservation such as sustainable tourism. These funds also will support programs to increase private-sector environmental performance and address specific treaty environmental obligations.

The overall 2005-2006 U.S. commitment of nearly $60 million “will promote economic growth in the region and help ensure that a broad spectrum of the societies of member countries realize the benefits of free trade,” the State Department said.

Costa Rica’s Asamblea Legislative has not yet voted on the treaty.

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Costa Rica got a new park Friday. It is Parque Volcán Barva, which is north of San José and adjacent to Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo.

A host of officials attended the inauguration ceremony. The area is being called a model park because many ministries have participated in its development, including the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transporte that put in a 300 million-colon ($576.000) stretch of road of four kilometers.

The Fuerza Pública will have a headquarters there, as will the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje, which will train students in aspects of tourism.

By Amanda Roberson, Tico Times Staff

Thanks to donations from the Taiwanese Embassy and the Costa Rican Anti-Drug Institute (ICD), the country’s Coast Guard Saturday acquired six new motors for high-speed boats, doubling its capacity to patrol the Pacific coast, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry. During a ceremony in the Pacific port town of Puntarenas attended by Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal, Taiwanese Ambassador Teu-Dan Wu and Coast Guard Director Carlos Alvarado, the Taiwanese embassy donated the six motors, which will replace broken motors in six previously unusable Coast Guard patrol boats. Additionally, ICD donated a boat and motor seized from drug traffickers that the Coast Guard will use to fight drug trafficking. Combating illegal fishing and rescuing swimmers in danger of drowning are other tasks the boats will be used for, said Public Security Ministry spokesman Guillermo Solano. At the Central Pacific beach of Manuel Antonio alone, 20 swimmers, all of whom were foreign tourists, have been rescued by the Coast Guard so far this year, Solano said. “From Golfito (southern Pacific port city) up to Guanacaste (northwestern Pacific province), these boats will help the Coast Guard tremendously,” Solano said. During the ceremony, Berrocal also announced a $ 2 million donation from Taiwan to the Public Security Ministry in the works, the statement said. The Taiwanese government is likely to approve the donation this week, and it would be used to buy patrol cars and motorcycles, among other “urgently needed” equipment, he said.

President Oscar Arias met with the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) John Maisto Friday, and the two leaders discussed a common desire to see democracy prevail throughout Latin America, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

In particular, they discussed the future of Cuba in light of President Fidel Castro’s recent health problems and the possibility of his brother Raul taking over governing the country when he dies.

Maisto said that what Cuba needs is “a change over toward a true democracy, not a change of hands from one dictator to another, or from one dictator to a group of dictators,” the statement said.

Arias and Maisto also conversed about Nicaragua’s upcoming elections in November, which Maisto said will be observed by “a very good OAS team,” along with observers from Europe and other organizations, according to the wire service ACAN-EFE.

“Observation is absolutely key because these elections present an opportunity for Nicaraguans to freely choose their next government in … a democratic environment” and “leave the past and advance toward the modernity of Central America today,” Maisto said.

Maisto also remarked on Costa Rica’s ability to be a “leader in the fight for freedom and democracy in the region,” and Arias seconded this comment, saying that “as a Costa Rican, I am not going to give up the dream of seeing all the other countries in the region have democracy.”

Arias said he plans to continue striving toward democracy during the upcoming Forum of Latin American Governments to be held Nov. 4 and 5 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

During his first presidency 20 years ago, Arias said he achieved peace in the region, but “what we have not achieved is living in freedom and democracy.”

Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno, U.S. Ambassador Mark Langdale and U.S. Embassy political affairs advisor David Henifin also attended the meeting.

-Tico Times