by Rod Hughes

Although fraud laws makes it a misdemeanor to profess to deal in witchcraft, in the far corners of the country a few believers still fear sorcery. This is the motive given for the murder of a 24-year-old man in the Guaymi area of southern Costa Rica

The murder of Joaquin Bejarano took place Sunday in an area so remote that it is accessible only by foot. Police say that two indigenous brothers named Garcia, 24 and 32, confessed that they had killed the victim for placing a spell on relatives, according to La Nacion.

Apparently they were quite open in their belief that their act was justified to “free the people” from the supposed shaman’s sorcery, according to police.

by Rod Hughes

Saprissa, the club that is currently defending champion of Costa Rica’s First Division soccer league, has been invited to play against several international powerhouses in Montevideo, Uruguay. Two games will be played per day in the Copa Ricard soccer extravaganza, that begins today.

Saprissa will go head-to-head with two Uruguayan clubs, Olimpa and Defensor, in Group B. Group A will pit Vaduz, a Lichtenstein club playing in the Swiss major league, against Uruguay’s Penerol and Defensor clubs. Matches will be in Montevideo’s huge Centenario Stadium.

This tourney will give Saprissa’s players on the National All Star team a chance to study South American-style soccer. And speaking of the All Stars (La Sele) Brujas midfielder Daniel Jiminez has been tapped to replace injured Roy Myrie in the Jan. 30 exhibition match against Iran.

by Rod Hughes

Although no Costa Rican government official will confirm it, the newspaper Al Dia today reported that this country had rejected credentials of the ambassador Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez named nearly a year ago.

Jose Huerta, 66, was tapped in February, 2007, by Chavez as his government’s representative in Costa Rica. “Well, there’s no legal limit attached,” mused international analyst Nuria Marin, “but a year is more than enough time and the lack of a response is a message he wasn’t acceptable.”

It is no secret that no love is lost between Chavez and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who have sniped at each other for years in public forums. Chavez urged the local voters to reject the Central American trade treaty with the United States (CAFTA) before last October’s referendum on the subject, which did not endear him to Arias who had bet a big stack of political chips on the outcome.

Whether this is the reason, or the accusation by his ex-secretary for sexual harrassment when Huerta was envoy to Paraguay is unknown. The diplomat was also accused of meddling in Paraguay’s internal affairs, reported Al Dia.

Marin suggests that not proposing another name to substitute for Huerta’s indicates that Chavez has “no interest in maintaining cordial and friendly relations with this coiuntry.”

by Rod Hughes

ICE, the government communications monopoly, feels the obligation to reimburse cell phone users for the 12-day interruption of service on its Alcatel net, according to ICE spokesman Elberth Duran.

The public telecommunications company is awaiting a technical study of what went wrong with the net. The Alcatel system, installed under dubious circumstances that resulted in the indictment of numerous public officials, including ex-president Miguel Angel Rodriguez, has worked poorly in the past. Finally, ICE was forced to take over the net to try curing its technological deficiencies.

The failure in the system may have affected 20,000 ICE customers who pay 3,500 colones per month for the service.

by Rod Hughes

Private universities here graduated almost twice as many students as public higher education institutions last year, reports La Nacion, the country’s largest newspaper. In 2007, public universities graduated only 11,370 students contrasted against 19,876 in private colleges.

The central government’s budgetary bind has meant that financial backing for public higher education had to be curtailed to only an adjustment for inflation, amid bitter complaints by university rectors. But the number of private university graduates is a tribute to the high value Costa Rican parents place on education, certainly a sacrifice for them since enrollment and numerous extra fees make private education expensive in colon terms.

Certainly, compared with soaring education costs in the United States, Costa Rican private universities are bargains. But local private students get a savings in time, if not in tuition. They can get a BA in three years, since many private institutions waive requisites that do not pertain directly to the the subject being studied. Public officials feel their graduates are more well-rounded and benefit from the broader view of the world.

As we reported in an earlier article, the four public universities this year had to turn away 48,000 students clammering for entrance. University of Costa Rica, National University, Costa Rican Technological Institute and University at a Distance can hold only 60,000 students while the National Council of Private Higher Education estimates that private institutions can accommodate twice that number.

One aspect the report does not treat is that the number of graduates creates a glut in the job market in certain fields, including, surprisingly, medicine. Studies have noted that the country turns out a superabundance of young lawyers while certain technical fields beg for bilingual graduates. And some doctors unlucky in the lottery that allows them to work for the Social Security Administration (Caja) find themselves working in the private sector for slave wages or at jobs unrelated to medicine.

by Rod Hughes

Costa Rica’s firemen may pass from working as a dependency of the National Insurance Institute (INS) to a private bearer share corporation, if a bill to be passed out of committee for a Legislative Assembly floor vote prospers. The firemen may have been orphans of privatization when the bill opening up the insurance industry here passes into law.

INS became a government monopoly during the wave of nationalizations of the late 1940s. Now that opening up of the insurance market for competition is nearing reality as a part of a series of laws to bring the Costa Rican structure into accord with the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States, something had to be done about its firemen.

Although the department will not be totally independent of INS (it will receive 4% of the premiums fof fire insurance policies) it will give it more autonomy financially and administratively. It will, for example, make and manage its own budget instead of having to have it approved by the INS board.

The restructuring amendment is the brainchild of Libertairian Movement lawmaker Carlos Gutierrez. But even Fire Chief Hector Chaves was taken by surprise and said he must study the amendment before understanding all its ramifications.

Yesterday, the last of the amendments to the bill were to be voted on, preparatory for floor debate but the chairperson, National Liberation Party deputy Maureen Ballestero, cut the session short.