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Autor: Writer
~ 31/08/06
By Amanda Roberson, Tico Times Staff
The five Central American countries that make up the Central American Integration System (SICA) didn’t involve Costa Rica when naming Nicaraguan Foreign Minister as its coordinator to negotiate an association agreement with the European Union, Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said yesterday during a press conference following President Oscar Arias’ weekly Consejo meeting.
“At no time was Costa Rica consulted,” Stagno said, explaining that the presidents of Guatemala, Oscar Berger; El Salvador, Elías Antonio Saca; Honduras, Manuel Zelaya; and Nicaragua, Enrique Bolaños, signed an agreement placing Caldera at the helm of negotiations during the swearing-in ceremony of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe July 11.
Stagno offered no explanation as to why the four other countries would make a decision about the association agreement without consulting Costa Rica, which accounts for 60% of the region’s trade with the European Union.
Nicaragua, however, tells a different version of these events.
Caldera, an economist with a master’s in foreign trade and experience working with the World Trade Organization (WTO), was named coordinator because of his experience and not to represent Nicaragua, said Oscar García, spokesman for the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry. Each country will be represented during the negotiations by its own negotiating team, he added.
Caldera’s naming should have come as no surprise to Costa Rica, since Stagno and Caldera discussed the possibility during a recent meeting, García said.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica “laments that there was a meeting without Costa Rica’s knowledge,” Stagno said, adding that it has always been clear that an association agreement between Central America and the European Union would not be possible without the signature of the presidents of all five SICA member countries.
By the same token, Stagno said he does not see the naming of Caldera as coordinator “binding” since it has not been signed by President Oscar Arias.
Autor: Writer
~ 29/08/06
The United States will allow importation from Costa Rica of pink and red tomatoes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has ruled.
The ruling also covers El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
The department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Monday that it is amending its regulations to allow, under certain conditions, the importations.
Tomatoes were not allowed in the past due to concerns about insects and diseases.
To be eligible for importation, the tomatoes must be grown and packed in areas free of the Mediterranean fruit fly. A preharvest inspection of the production site must be conducted by the national plant protection organization of the exporting country and the site must be found free of pea leafminer, a destructive pest of vegetables and flowers; tomato fruit borer, a serious tomato plant pest; and potato spindle tuber viroid, a disease that affects tomato and potato crops, the department said.
The tomatoes must also be packed in insect-proof containers or covered with insect-proof mesh or plastic tarpaulin during transit to the United States, it added.
In addition, each shipment of tomatoes must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the exporting country with an additional declaration stating that the tomatoes were grown in a Medfly-free area and the shipment was inspected and found free of all pests listed in the requirements.
In Costa Rica, the Ministerio de la Producción will do the inspection and certification.
This final rule was scheduled to be published Monday in Federal Register and was to become effective upon publication.
Autor: Writer
~ 25/08/06
By Blake Schmidt Tico Times Staff
Río Lagarto, Guanacaste – Disillusioned with life as a beer vendor in the stuffy, smoke-choked suburban Central Valley, Carlos Bolaños packed his bags and headed for the hills of this northwestern province.
He wanted to be a farmer.
He found himself working this yellow patch of a small valley between rolling hills, harvesting Costa Rica’s most basic crop: rice.
“This is my dream. I’m living my dream. I just hope it doesn’t become a nightmare,” he said.
Here, in the well-irrigated plains north of Río Lagarto, about 15 kilometers north of the agricultural town of Cañas, anxiety is brooding in the heart of Costa Rica’s rice industry. Bolaños is one of hundreds of small rice producers here, many of them subsistence farmers, wondering whether upcoming harvests might be their last.
Costa Rica, a country seemingly addicted to rice and beans, is demanding more and more rice. At the same time, small and medium producers here are struggling against ravenous plagues, mounting debts, and competition from importers of U.S. government-subsidized rice.
Another storm cloud is brewing on the horizon for this troubled industry, prompting producers to plead with legislators not to strip them of their protections.
If the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) is ratified by Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly, the national rice production industry says it will be left naked before foreign rice growers – largely U.S. farmers benefiting from billions of dollars of government subsidies.
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“I’ll be left to cover myself with one hand in front and one hand behind,” said Bolaños, who has taken on “snowballing” debt to cultivate his 6.5 hectares. Producers warn that the national rice industry – particularly small and medium growers – could become extinct within a year if the controversial trade pact goes into effect.
Under CAFTA, the 35% tariffs on rice imports would be eliminated during the next 20 years. Perhaps more significant, rice wholesalers in Costa Rica would no longer be required to buy up all higher-cost, lower-quality domestic rice before turning to importers to buy the grain.
Opponents say CAFTA would mean massive poverty among already struggling farmers as industries like rice production slowly fade. And Costa Rica, where the average person consumes more than a kilogram of rice each week, would have to depend on imports for its dietary staple – the only food product subjected to government price controls.
Not only would that present an anomaly for a rice-rich culture – reliance on imports for a food found in practically every comida típica, from gallo pinto for breakfast, to arroz con pollo for lunch or casado for dinner – it could present a security issue, producers warn.
Costa Rica is the only of seven countries that has not ratified the trade pact. Polls showing declining support for CAFTA (TT, Aug. 18) and a proposal-congested Congress that has fallen behind schedule have complicated the pact’s fate.
President Oscar Arias, a staunch CAFTA supporter, told the daily La Nación this week the pact should be ratified by December. Some legislators aren’t so sure, but in any case, the agreement must be ratified by March 2008 for Costa Rica to take part.
In the Guanacaste rice industry, where the bulk of national rice production takes place, the controversial trade pact is sowing uncertainty and fear.
Tariffs, safeguards and a domestic buying policy protect Costa Rica’s rice production industry, which according to the National Rice Corporation (CONARROZ) employs approximately 60,000 workers in production, logistics, fumigation, retail and more.
CONARROZ says 60% of rice consumed in Costa Rica is produced here. The rest is imported, mostly from the world’s third-largest rice exporter, the United States.
For years, the United States has put billions of dollars into the pockets of its rice producers to keep the industry competitive, drawing fire from the leading trade nation’s trade partners. International activist group Oxfam reported that the United States spends $1.2 billion a year to support its rice industry.
Agricultural subsidies in developed countries was a topic of heated debate during the Doha Round talks, and was ultimately the reason the talks failed last month (TT, Aug. 4).
In addition to being subsidized, the U.S. rice industry works with better technology, seeds and infrastructure.
“I’m not afraid of any U.S. farmers. But look at the advantages they have,” Bolaños told The Tico Times. “If they come here and work my land with my prehistoric seeds and old equipment, then we’ll talk about competition.”
CONARROZ, a leading CAFTA opponent, represents Costa Rica’s 1,100 rice growers and processors.
Critics and CAFTA supporters, including the Association of Free Consumers, say the organization has failed to help develop national rice production in any meaningful way, and call the association a “subsidized rice monopoly” benefiting a few wealthy rice growers and hurting rice consumers, many who live in poverty.
“It’s not important that we produce rice, but that all people can afford rice,” said association president Juan Ricardo Fernández.
However, rice growers claim it’s a security issue.
CONARROZ president Oscar Campos said recent terrorist attacks and natural disasters in the United States have demonstrated how, if the United States becomes the hand that feeds Costa Rica, the country’s basic necessities will depend on the whims of U.S. politics. He said Costa Rica experienced a temporary “crisis” after Hurricane Katrina because the U.S. wouldn’t export any rice.
Fernández said having access to rice is not a problem because “rice is everywhere,” and Costa Rica produces other food items such as fruits on which it could depend during crises.
Pat O’Brien, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Association, a powerful U.S. lobby, said that if CAFTA were ratified, the Costa Rican economy would go through a transition. During this transition, subsistence farmers and small commercial farmers would feel the pinch and some industries like rice production would die off.
In the long run, though, producers will be better off, he said.
“It’s a painful transition … especially for Costa Rican producers who depend on rice as income and a food staple,” O’Brien said, adding that in five or 10 years, producers will have learned to apply their skills to viable industries such as sugarcane or melon production.
This week, Production Minister Alfredo Volio urged restructuring of the agricultural industry to prepare such “sensitive” agricultural sectors as rice for CAFTA implementation.
On a recent hot afternoon, the sweaty, dirt-caked Bolaños drove his dilapidated pink jeep down farm roads showing off Guanacaste’s rice fields. He is slated to become a CONARROZ board member representing the Chorotega region of Guanacaste, a dry, sunny grid of hills and valleys quenched by irrigation canals fed by the massive Lake Arenal reservoir to the northeast.
In this region, where about 60% of domestically produced rice is grown, the increasingly polemic CAFTA debate is tangible.
“The feeling against the United States is going to grow … I’ve talked to a lot of people who are harboring malevolence,” Bolaños said.
Autor: Writer
~ 24/08/06
The price of one liter of super gas will drop from ¢597 ($1.15) to ¢580 ($1.12), and the price of one liter of regular gas will be reduced from ¢573 ($1.10) to ¢553 ($1.06), according to a statement from ARESEP. This reduction means a 2.9% decrease in the price of super gas and a 3.5% decrease in the price of regular gas.
These price adjustments reflect changes in gas prices on the international market and the fluctuation of the colón’s exchange rate.
These prices will go into effect as soon as they are published in the official government daily La Gaceta. ARESEP sent the resolution to the Government Printer Wednesday, the statement said.
-Tico Times
Autor: Writer
If you thought Escazú has an overabundance of condos, guess again. Executives of the Spanish firm Grupo Inmobiliario Diursa will be in town next week to kick off promotion of their $30 million project in Guachipelín and announce an opening date.
The company is building some 136 luxury condos. The project, called El Cortijo Los Laureles, is contained in four towers of eight floors each.
Ulpiano González, the firm’s president, will be among those who visit. The company is well known for developing residential and commercial projects in Spain.
The project will include swimming pools, commercial space, a gymnasium and similar. It is expected to be finished next year. Guachipelín is a good location for those who love the beach but still want to be in the Central Valley. Eventually the highway to Caldera will be completed from Ciudad Colón to the Pacific greatly decreasing travel time.
Autor: Writer
Five hotels on the central Pacific coast say they have reduced electrical consumption some 24 percent in a pilot project to save power.
The project began in 2005 and involved Sí Como No, Parador, Club de Mar, Best Western Jacó and Marriott Los Sueños, said a news release.
The strategy to save power came from the Fundación Red de Energía and two Dutch firms. The savings came from training and also analysis of power use. More than 50 percent of a hotel’s power needs is electricity, the release said.
A 24 percent savings in energy translates to a 1.5 percent increase in net income for the hotels involved, the release said.
Savings like this can be used to help hotels earn their sustainable tourism certification from the Instituto Costarricenese de Turismo, said the release.
Another project is being planned for hotels in the mountains.
Autor: Writer
~ 22/08/06
The goal of the encounter is to improve research into organic agriculture, exchange knowledge and discuss ways to overcome challenges organic products face in the market, the statement said.
Organic agriculture is grown using only natural fertilizers, without pollutants such as insecticides and chemical fertilizers, making it more nutritious, more flavorful and safer for consumers and farmers, the statement said. Additionally, growing organically helps the environment by protecting soil, water sources and the atmosphere.
Participants in the conference, which runs through Wednesday, will attend hands-on lectures on organic farming techniques and participate in roundtable discussions on topics such as entering local markets and obtaining credit.
“There is a large need to train and prepare farmers of organics so they have successful experiences that allow them to be more competitive,” said Heiner Castillo, director of EARTH University ’s Integral Organic Program. “We need to demonstrate that social and environmental factors should not be sacrificed in favor of commercial objectives.”
Costa Rica does not take full advantage of the high demand for organic produce from U.S., Japanese and other international markets, said Miguel Castro, manager of the Production Ministry’s National Program for Organic Agriculture, according to the statement. One of the goals of the three-day conference is to boost the quantity of Costa Rican organic agriculture grown by training small farmers.
The event was organized by the Program for Organic Production Research and Technology Transfer, EARTH University, the Costa Rican Organic Agriculture Movement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
-Tico Times
Autor: Writer
Merchants were counting their winnings Monday night after have benefited from two Mother’s Days in the same week.
Stores were doing a brisk business Monday with those who had put off until the last minute a gift for Mom.
Traditional Mother’s Day is Aug. 15. But a law passed last year moves the official recognition of the day and the legal holiday to the next Monday to provide Costa Ricans with a three day weekend.
There is strong sentiment to move the day back to where it was, and a proposed law may be introduced to that effect.
This year, the wise offspring brought gifts to Mom last Tuesday and again Monday. Mother occupies a nearly divine position in the Costa Rican family, so observance of Mother’s Day is just a step down from Christmas.
The weather cooperated, too. The skies, although cloudy, did not dump a lot of rain.
The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional says that the Central Valley and the north Pacific will experience less rain, thanks to a change in weather patterns. Rain will be isolated in the Central Pacific but more general in the south Pacific, the institute said.
Autor: Writer
~ 18/08/06
By Blake Schmidt, Tico Times Staff
The number of Costa Ricans who support the controversial Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) dropped from 61% in October 2005 to 41% this month, according to a new CID-Gallop poll for the daily La República.
Declining support for the agreement was the backdrop for Ombudswoman Lisbeth Quesada’s warning this week to members of the Legislative Assembly that CAFTA will exacerbate poverty and inequality. Her words prompted a quick response from the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX) defending the pact.
Quesada, a government-sponsored ombudswoman who has become a leading voice in the nation’s CAFTA opposition, on Wednesday morning presented her 500-page critique of the trade pact to the members of the Foreign Affairs Commission.
Following her appearance, COMEX officials fired back at Quesada in defense of the trade pact. During a press conference later the same day, they presented their own document in support of the controversial agreement, and said Quesada’s argument “simplifies very complex issues to an extreme.”
Talking to reporters before her appearance in the commission, Quesada said the assembly isn’t taking enough time to deal with the complex issues in what should be a “titanic exposition” before CAFTA legislation comes to a vote.
She said the assembly has yet to take an in-depth look into what effects the trade pact would have on the agricultural and livestock sectors, food security, consumers, rights of the country’s indigenous population, the pharmaceutical industry, the environment, the labor market, telecommunications and insurance, among other issues.
Vice-Minister of Trade Amparo Pacheco said the deliberation process could be “infinite” if a decision on CAFTA is not made soon.
“We’re a little bit tired of the issue. We need to make a decision,” she told reporters at the COMEX offices in San José. Costa Rica is the only signatory country that has not ratified the agreement.
Quesada’s appearance and COMEX’s response came the day after the CID-Gallop poll was released.
Though the poll revealed declining support for the trade pact with the United States, 80% of those polled said they do not support protests against CAFTA.
Leaders of the National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP) recently announced plans to organize more street protests against legislation in the CAFTA agenda that has arrived in the assembly and would break up the state-run insurance monopoly.
Responding to union-led calls for protests, Costa Rican bishops called a press conference last week to discourage violence and “confrontation.”
In the conference, bishops Ángel Sancasimiro, Hugo Barrantes and Francisco Ulloa maintained their neutral position on CAFTA and lamented a growing “social polarization” over the controversial trade pact.
Though the three bishops publicly refused to pick sides in the CAFTA debate, San Carlos bishop Ángel Sancasimiro told The Tico Times he is concerned that the CAFTA agenda may consider only growth, not human development.
“The problem is that economic growth hasn’t reached the people,” he said.
The Catholic Church in Costa Rica has maintained a solid position of neutrality on CAFTA ever since President Oscar Arias sparked controversy by mentioning the Vatican had expressed support of free trade during his visit to Rome in June.
The Vatican later sent Costa Rican church leaders a vague letter neither embracing nor condemning the free-trade agreement with the United States, saying it is a political issue up to the country’s legislators to decide (TT, June 23).
Autor: Writer
~ 16/08/06
A new income tax law will not be fast tracked through the legislature. Instead, the law will face the traditional committee hearings and discussion in the full assembly.
That was confirmed Tuesday by Evita Arguedas Maklouf, leader of the Movimiento Libertario, which wanted a full hearing.
She said that she and her fellow party members met with central government officials along with others in the legislature that do not support the new law. The fact track method, which was created especially for the massive fiscal package in the last legislature, would limit discussion by lawmakers.
Libertarios oppose the measure because they have said the financial problems of the country could be solved by better collection and action against corruption. Libertarios in the last legislature fought long and hard to keep the fiscal package from becoming law. They were helped by a Sala IV constitutional court decision that derailed the proposal.
The tax law that has been delivered to the lawmakers by the Arias government is identical to the proposal for income tax that was part of the fiscal package. It was Chapter V.
An introduction says that in the last 16 years the income of the lower 20 percent of the population increased only 6.8 percent while the income of the richest 20 percent increased 96 percent. That means the richest fifth earns 20 times the average of the poorest fifth, it said.
The new proposal retains the concept of global taxation in that citizens and residents will have to pay income tax on money generated anywhere. The proposal also retains the concept of capital gains tax on the sale of real estate or intangibles, like stocks and bonds.
The current law has different percentages of tax depending on the origin of the income. Salaries are taxed at 10 and 15 percent. Income from rentals pays a 15 percent tax. Income for professionals is taxed from 10 to 25 percent. Some other types of income are taxed at rates from 0 to 15 percent.
Under the proposed law all these incomes would be lumped together to be taxed at an established, progressive rate
The proposed rates for individuals are 5 percent of the first 2 million colons, some $3,880 at the current exchange rate, 12 percent from 2 million to 4 million, 18 percent from 4 million to 8 million, 22 percent from 8 million to 15 million, 26 percent from 15 million to 30 million and 30 percent for amounts over 30 million.
Today 30 million is about $58,250. The amount taxed is the net income after various deductions. Those who earn salaries less than 450,000 colons ($875) a month probably will pay little or no taxes under the new plan, lawmakers have said.
Corporations would continue to pay at the 30 percent rate, but there would be a rate break for small business.
The income tax proposal is 151 pages, and changes are likely in the legislature.