<strong>by Rod Hughes</strong>

Want to call ahead for reservations in Panama as you drive south on the InterAmerican Highway from San Jose to Paso Canoas on the Costa Rica-Panama border? Better make your call before you leave San Jose, even if you have your cell phone with you.

At least that is what a report by public services watchdog ARESEP indicates. The agency studied cell service in March and found that service, especially the GSM system, has deteriorated since October of 2006. Customer have serious problems getting a signal along the 350 kilometer stretch of highway, according to the daily <em>La Nacion.</em>

Only near major population centers such as Buenos Aires can one count on making a call. The worst appears to be the system installed by a subsidiary of the French firm Alcatel, the report indicates. But even the Ericcson system has suffered a slight deterioration, the report adds. Coverage of Alcatel dropped from 48% to 20% since 2006 while Ericcson declined from 45% to 39% during the same period.

Elberth Duran, spokeman for the telephone company ICE, blamed several factors, including vandalism by thieves who cut cables to steal the copper. usually to sell illicitly in order to buy drugs. In the case of Alcatel’s system, ICE had to assume the maintence role when it severed relations with the firm. ICE immediately began work to improve the Ericcson net, continued Duran, the moment the ARESEP report was passed to the phone company.

by Rod Hughes

The testimony of former Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal before a special Legislative Assembly committee probing FARC penetration into the political culture has hardly produced the dramatic revellations lawmakers sought. But Berrocal apparently wanted to extend his 15 minutes of fame yesterday.

The former minister, a member of President Oscar Arias’s National Liberation Party, strongly criticized what he called “Arismo,” a manufactured word meaning undue influence of the president and his brother, Rodrigo, Minister of the Presidency, on the party’s functioning. Indirectly but clearly, he accused the president of dictating to the party the next election’s presidential nominee, current Vice President Laura Chinchilla.

Arias has indicated that he would not be displeased at having a woman president in 2010. This irked several party stalwarts including San Jose mayor Johnny Araya, who may have his sights set on the same goal although as yet unannounced. Chinchilla has tried to stay aloof from this bickering. But Berrocal, whose own political career has been sadly bent, predicts an “insurrection” within National Liberation “in the next few weeks” in response to Arias’s allegedly dictatorial influence.

Berrocal was Security Minister for nearly two years, compiling an admireable record of confiscated narcotics. Then, he announced that he expected Colombian authorities to find links between the Colombian guerrilla/narctoics traffickers/terrorists FARC and local politicians. This did not happen and his boss, the President, was highly peeved and indirectly accused his top cop of demoguery, firing him in a most abrupt way.

The Legislative Assembly named a committee to investigate Berrocal’s startling assertion, expecting him to name names, but have been disappointed. Without this concrete date, the committee appears at a dead end, although it may continue to meet for the remainder of its 30-day term, just for appearances’ sake.

by Rod Hughes

The value of the dollar against the colon continued its rise yesterday but the trading frenzy of Friday has calmed. Yesterday´s hike of 3.87 colones per dollar was only slightly higher than the Monday rise of 3.44 and much less than the sharp jump of 9.50 registered on Friday, according to the daily La Nacion..

Conxulted by the newspaper, economist and former Central Bank president Rodrigo Bolanos considers that speculators are expecting a devaluation of the colon and not a hike in its value as it experienced late last year. “People prefer to have more of their assets in dollars,” he said. This change in attitude effects the market.

Previously, La Nacion quoted a prominant economist as saying that the Central Bank had $5.9 billion in dollar reserves. (This was quoted again yesterday in this newsblog.) But it appears that the figure is inflated. In early May reserves were $4.945 billion but this dropped to $4.926 billion on May 9. However, the difference in figures would not alter the opinion expressed by the economist—the Central Bank has a comfortable reserve in dollars due to continuing foreign investment, exports and tourism. The reserves are important so the bank can confront such problems as petroleum prices and exchange speculation.