The Director of the OIJ, Jorge Rojas, and the Minister of Security, Rogelio Ramos confirmed that they are investigating death threats that President Pacheco has recieved since before sending the CAFTA to congress. Both stated that the threats "cannot be taken as a joke" and that security will be reinforced and that the author will be brought to justice, or at least investigated.

The threats were deplored by candidates Óscar Arias (PLN), Ricardo Toledo (PUSC), Ottón Solís (PAC) y Otto Guevara (Libertarian).

Fill up your tank today, gasoline is rising again:

Super 504 colones per liter (+25)
Regular 463 colones per liter (+17)
Diesel 337 colones per liter (+19)
LPG gas cylinder -21.5 liters 7612 (+825 colones)

Regular gas $ per gallon:
463 divided by 489 colones to the dollar = $.946 per liter
$.946 per liter X 3.785 liters per gallon = $3.58 per gallon

Ouch!

The Juan Santamaría Airport was closed yesterday from 9:30 am to almost 6 pm due to an accident on take off suffered by a private plane.  A tire on the Fokker plane’s landing gear went flat as the plane was taking off, which caused the landing gear to break and a spill of hydraulic fluid. The plane had to be drained of fuel before it could be moved. Since the plane was so old, no couplings were available to pump out the fuel, which extended the delay considerably. 

14 flights were cancelled and 10 were rerouted.

Believe it or not, the president of the Legislative Assembly, Gerardo González of PUSC, has proposed that the year end break be shortened. Under normal conditions, the assembly recesses before Christmas and returns on February 6th. Gonzalez would have the representatives return the first week of January, so that they can discuss the CAFTA.

In general the idea was received positively, but conditionally:

Federico Malavassi of the Libertarian party, said they would support the measure if the TLC was discussed, but not if the tax reform bill was to be discussed.

Laura Chinchilla of PLN, said that the proposal would be feasible if there was a consensus among the parties to advance the pact in the time allotted.

Marta Zamora, of PAC, said that their group supported more work days for the assembly in any case, whether or not CAFTA was to be discussed wouldn’t matter.

At 10 am today President Pacheco announced that he is sending the Free Trade Agreement to the Assembly for discussion. The President thanked the Council of Notables for their input and assured the country that CAFTA will fortify every sector of the economy. He pointed out that the congress is already studying bills to assist any sector that will be affected adversely.  " I trust that the Costa Rican people … will maintain a climate of calm, so that the best decisions for the future can be made." said Pacheco.

Certain sectors have threatened the environment of calm that the president pleaded for, and they reiterated that the minute the pact is  in congress the protests will be felt in the streets. " The Red Alert has been activated" said a press release by ANEP (Association of Private and Public Employees).  "In this way a painful and prolonged scene of open social confrontation of high intensity will be seen at the appropriate moments"

"Do you think Costa Rica is in a position to be left out?" asked the President during the press conference, he affirmed that only a few sectors were looking to take the fight to the streets.  Business leaders expressed optimism over the outcome of the legislative debate.

While in August Costa Rica consumed 965,860 barrels of oil, in September only 954,081 were imported according to figures released by RECOPE. In addition, in the morning traffic reports this week callers noted that traffic seems to be moving much more smoothly that previously. They attributed it to less cars on the road as a result of people not being able to afford to drive every day.

Since October 3rd, Nicaragua has reinstated a 20% tax on merchandise that enters the country in trucks via Peñas Blancas. The tax was lifted in April after pressure by truck drivers, but was reinstated in a note dated September 28th, the same day that Costa Rica decided to take Nicaragua to court over the issue of navigation rights on the San Juan River.

In the no surprises here category, bureaucracy has been blamed for the delay in necessary work on the Liberia International Airport. Civil Aviation authorities delayed the submission of an environmental impact permit, so the time period alloted expired and they had to begin the process anew.

The work was to begin in mid September and the contract was won by Pedregal, but a crucial document was not signed by the Minister of Public Works, Randall Quiros due to the fact that he was travelling in Spain. The actual permit and bidding process was begun in December of last year by authorities at the airport.

The work consists of adding an additional jetway near the terminal in order to increase the airport’s capacity from 7 jets and 12 smaller planes to 10 large planes and 17 small planes.

Businesses in Guanacaste are also asking for more personnel at the airport in order to reduce waits during high season. Currently there are 70 security officers, 16 immigration officers, and 9 customs agents. The private sector has asked Rogelio Ramos, the Minister of Public Security for 15 more security officers, 15 more immigration officers and 4 more customs officers. Ramos stated that “since last month we are preparing a report about the personnel needs in the airport in order to avoid a high season collapse.”

The Coral Princess Halmilton was the first of 147 ships that will arrive in Limon this season. Each ship normally has between 1500 and 2000 passengers.

The government and the water workers had a 2 hour meeting yesterday, but according to the union leader Walter Navarro the strike is still on. Users yesterday were able to pay their bills, even though water offices were empty of workers.

The Minister of Labor, Fernando Trejos, stated that the government had offered a 7.2 % increase for the water workers in the lower pay scales, approximately 60% of the 2900 water workers. This measure would also benefit 15,000 other government workers, many of whom are in labor unions.

Workers had asked for an 18% hike and the water worker’s reaction to the government offer was unknown late yesterday. Officials have stated that striking workers will be docked pay for every day they strike.