Costa Rica Digest, Dec. 15

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Costa Rica News Digest
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NEWS DIGEST
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*Taxi Driver Shoots Man in Bin Laden Mask

Osama bin Laden take note: You wouldn't be safe in Costa Rica!

A 50 year old man who had a little too much to drink decided to play with

drivers along the road in the Carrillos Bajos de Poás, Alajuela that runs

near his house and wound up been shot in the stomach by a passing driver who

didn't get the joke.

Leonel Arias Agüero, in his drunken state put on a mask of terrorist Osam
bin

Laden and with a shotgun in arms began to pretend to attack drivers as they

sped by.

Agüero was well known in the area and well known for his practical jokes, so

most of the drivers ignored him, however, a resident who had little time

living in the area, took out his gun and fired at the jokester, hitting him

twice.

Juan Pablo Arce Sandoval, 24 years of age, shot Agüero around 9pm as he was

coming home from work. Scared and fearing an assault he used the .25 calibre

gun he habitually carried in his car, he used to "taxiar" - working as an

taxi driver in San José.

Sandoval told police he never would have imagined that the man was pulling a

prank. "I saw the man in the mask, pointing a weapon and I defended myself.
I

feel bad for shooting the man, but I really thought he was going to attack

me", he told police on the scene.

Agüero was taken to nearby Hospital San Rafael de Alajuela where he is
stable

condition and is expected to survive his injury.

Police declined to detain Sandoval, saying he had believed he was acting in

self-defense.


Horde of Angry Students Storms Education Ministry

Angry high-school students, along with their parents and teachers, marched

through San José yesterday afternoon in a protest that culminated in a

meeting between Public Education Minister Manuel Antonio Bolaños and protest

leaders to discuss the fate of thousands of students who failed their state

exams this month and who are therefore unable to graduate from high school

next week unless the Ministry of Public Education re-grades the test or

changes its policy.

When the leaders involved in the negotiations returned to the crowd that had

been waiting outside the ministry offices for nearly three hours, they drew

cheers with reports that the minister had conceded the possibility of

re-grading the exams on a curve. Inside the building, however, Bolaños

painted a different picture, maintaining that final decisions would not be

released until Monday, when the results of the ongoing student appeal
process

are known.

The exams in question are those administered to all students in ninth and

11th grades (the first and third years of high school in Costa Rica ).

Students must pass the 11th-year exams, or exámenes de bachillerato , to

receive a high-school diploma.

This year, of an estimated 22,000 students who took the bachillerato exams,

only 11,000 passed with a grade of 68.5% or above, according to ministry

estimates.

The standardized exams test student knowledge of math, science, Spanish,

social studies, civic education and a foreign language (French or English).

The math exam showed the highest failure rate, with only 58.9% of students

obtaining a passing grade.

At a press conference held yesterday after the negotiations, which were

conducted behind closed doors, Bolaños emphasized that the figures the

ministry has released are strictly preliminary, since the ministry has yet
to

evaluate appeals it has received.

The results have caused uproar among students, parents, teachers, and
members

of teachers' unions such as the Association of Secondary Teachers (APSE),

which organized yesterday's march from the APSE headquarters to the
Education

Ministry building.

"Every year the exams are more difficult," Julio Madriz, 17, said in between

shouts of "Pruebas nacionales, ¡abajo!" (Down with national exams!) and

"Bolaños, ¡escucha! ¡Estudiantes en la lucha!" (Bolaños, listen, the
students

are here to fight!).

"If they're going to do that (make it more difficult each year), they need
to

explain it more, give teachers more time to teach," he said.

For APSE president Danilo Rojas, the problem is the amount of time the

students are given to complete the exams.

"We don't deny that a small group was able to finish the exams and do well,"

he said, but added the exams were far too long for most students.

While the building's main entrance was closed and locked when the crowd

arrived at approximately 1:50 p.m., officials lifted the metal gate at 2:15

p.m. and allowed a small group of representatives from the crowd, including

Madriz and other students, Rojas, current and former teachers, parents and

members of the press, into the building.

The protestors inside then met behind closed doors for approximately two

hours with Bolaños, Academic Vice-Minister Wilfrido Blanco and
Administrative

Vice-Minister Marlen Gómez.

The roughly 11,000 students currently unable to graduate next week will have

to wait until at least Dec. 20 to learn their fate. The last day to submit
an

appeal was Monday, Bolaños said, and the ministry is in the process of

evaluating the appeals they have received.

According to Felix Barrantes, head of the ministry's quality control

division, which develops and oversees the administration of the exams,

successful appeals demonstrate a conceptual error in the question or more

than one possible answer.

Both Barrantes and Bolaños emphasized that if even one question is deemed

invalid due to the argument in an appeal that can result in a significant

change in the number of students passing or failing the test, since all
exams

would be re-graded.

"Even one appeal can result in a few percentage points' change," Bolaños

said.



*No Children in the Bull Rings, PANI asks

If PANI - the child welfare agency - has it's way, in less than 10 days, the

favourite sport of "Toros a la Tica" at the annual Zapote fair will see no

children running onto the bullring in front of the bulls.

PANI has made the request at the Ministerio de Salud to prohibit minors from

participating in the running of the bulls at all fairs around the country,

the most popular being the one in Zapote (east of San José) that kicks off
on

Christmas day.

Each year the 'bulls' are a tradition at most of the fairs and festivals in

small town across Costa Rica. And each year a number of children are takin
to

the Hospital Nacional de Niños - Children's Hospital - in San José with head

injuries and other body parts.

PANI Minister, Rosalaía Gil and the director of trauma unit at Children's

Hospital, Marco Vargas, hope to be able to avoid these kinds of injuries
this

year and are confident that their request will get the approval by the
Health

Minister.

La Defensoría de la Niñez is worried about the growing number of marriages
of

girls who are minors and are asking Legislative Deputies to reform the

current laws, says a report in the daily Spanish language newspaper Al Día.

Changes in the Law With Respect to Minors
According to the report, Mario Víquez, Defensor de la Niñez, tells the story

of a 13 year old girl who entered a common law relationship with her sixth

grade school teacher and later married with the consent of the parents of
the

minor.

Víquez said the case is in the hands of the Patronato Nacional de la
Infancia

(PANI) - the child welfare agency and Ministerio de Educación Pública - MEP

(Ministry of Education) who are investigating.

The Defensor added that "the couple thought that it would be a crime to

register the marriage, however, did so when they learned that it wasn't,

leaving a door wide open for men to freely marry with minors."

According to Víquez, they are investigating this case since the year 2000
and

have discovered 47 more such marriages since.

According to figures released by the Registro Civil (registry office), there

are currently 165 marriages registered where the girl is only 15 years of
age

and 234 with 16 year olds and 417 with 17 year old girls, for a total of
816.

The proposal by PANI is to make 15 years the minimum age for marriage.

The Comisión de Asuntos Sociales de la Asamblea Legislativa has been
studying

a proposal since July of 2003 that would reform articles 14 and 15 of the

Family Code.

The reformed law would punish from six months to three years in prison any

person marrying a minor. At present, the Código Penal (Penal Code), punishes

a person who has sexual relations with a person under the age of 15 and
deems

it to be rape if the minor is 12 or under.

The age of majority in Costa Rica is 18, however, under the current laws, a

person between the age of 15 and 17 can enter into marriage with the consent

of their parents or legal guardians.
COMMENT: Here we go again, with the government interfering in areas that are

none of its business. If all parties are willing, including the parents,

then they have no business saying otherwise. While we may not approve of

this, "things happen," including pregnancies at these young ages, and if the

man is willing to take his responsibility and the parents agree, what

business is it of the government to interfere?


*British Businessman Murdered

A British businessman, Thomas Purvis, 45, from Durham, was discovered
stabbed

to death at his home in Sabana Sur, west of San José Monday.

He had been stabbed 11 times, according to the police report.

"It's possible that the cause of death was revenge because there are no

indications of robbery," said police spokesman Francisco Ruiz.

Purvis, a 45-year-old British national, was thought to have been in Costa

Rica selling security equipment.

According to local media, he had been selling microchips which can be

implanted in the skin as a security measure.


*Calls Through to Nicaragua Blocked

Calls to cellular phones in neighbouring Nicaragua have been blocked since

last Friday. Each month more than 1.2 million calls to cellular phones in

Nicaragua for a total billing of us$462.000 dollars.

However, a dispute between the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE)

and Enitel, it's Nicaraguan counterpart, where Enitel is asking for an

additional us$0.12 per minute on all calls to mobile phones, has cut service

entirely between the two telephone companies.

Enitel is the state owned Nicaraguan phone company that operates 200.000 GSM

cellular lines. The other three cellular service carriers in Nicaragua are

not affected by the dispute and continue to provide service between the two

countries.

Presently a call to Nicaragua from Costa Rica costs us$0.40 cents per minute

during 7am and 7ma and us$0.28 cents per minute at all other times, plus

taxes.

Officials at both telephone companies say they are negotiating the cellular

phone rates but refused to give any details.

Officials at ICE also say that they hope to have it all resovled by the end

of this week, allowing people to call home to family and friends.

Nicaragua is the number two in destination for calls from Costa Rica.

To resolve the problem, the Regulating Authorities of both countries (ARESEP

in Costa Rica and TELCOR in Nicaragua) and the Comisión de
Telecomunicaciones

de Centroamérica (COMTELCA) have been brought in to mediate.


*Who will be the new Controller?

Matha Acosta, the Sub-Contalor, says she is ready to take the post vacated
by

Alex Solís Fallas, if called upon. Acosta replaced Solís temporarily until a

permanent replacement is announced. Former presidential candidate, José

Miguel Corrales, of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) is being sought
for

the post, however, he is saying he does not want the job.

Solís was forcibly removed as Contralor General de la Republica after a vote

of the Legislators over accusations of falsifying the signature of his

brother - presidential candidate, Otton Solís - on legal documents and being

involved in high yield loans to Ticos wanting to enter the U.S. illegally.


*Central America Looking to Open Borders
By TRACI CARL
Associated Press Writer

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- Central American nations are putting aside

border bickering to allow the relatively free movement of people and goods

between nations -- a goal that has U.S. officials worried about a jump in

smuggling of drugs and people in a region already plagued by crime and on
the

lookout for terrorists.

Wary of concerns but determined to operate as a regional bloc, leaders from

Mexico to Panama will work out the plan Wednesday when they meet in this

Salvadoran capital. Border controls have already been simplified between

Guatemala and El Salvador and officials will be discussing how to add

Honduras and Nicaragua.

Regional integration has been Central America's goal since 1950, when the

region's leaders signed an agreement to create a common market -- a

mini-European Union that could better negotiate in an increasingly

competitive world. But that goal has been held up by regional disputes and

civil wars.

Countries participating in this week's talks are Mexico, Belize, Guatemala,

El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and even the Dominican

Republic, which also joined regional free-trade talks with the United
States.

Ministers began discussions Tuesday and presidents will join them Wednesday

to wrap up the summit.

Six of the countries are represented in the Central American Parliament,

which creates nonbinding recommendations for member countries. And, shortly

after taking office in 2000, Mexican President Vicente Fox proposed a plan

for increased trade and improved infrastructure from southern Mexico to

Panama.

Central America and the Dominican Republic have reached a free trade

agreement with the United States that still must be approved by the

countries' legislatures. Panama -- which doesn't traditionally think of

itself as part of Central America -- is following suit on its own.

But the newest step toward becoming a regional bloc is perhaps the most

challenging: Removing customs and other border restrictions, allowing people

and goods to move quickly and easily between nations.

Guatemala and El Salvador were the first to try it, pulling out customs and

border control buildings on both sides of the border and leaving one common

checkpoint that reviews the passports of those crossing. Most taxes and
other

fees are to be paid electronically.

Honduras is expected to follow, then Nicaragua, creating a region with
nearly

identical visa and customs controls.

Costa Rica, Belize and Mexico have declined to participate, in part because

all three countries are already struggling with an influx of illegal Central

American migrants who come to either look for work or, in the case of
Mexico,

pass through to the United States.

Citing the illegal migration, drug trafficking, corruption and gang activity

that thrives in Central America, U.S. officials have expressed concern about

removing the border checks. Michael O'Brien, the head of the U.S. federal

Drug Enforcement Administration in Guatemala, said the old border controls,

complete with drug-sniffing dogs and car searches, often were the strongest

safeguard against criminal activity.

The United States is also keeping a close eye on the region after several

recent terrorism scares. U.S. officials have said that an alleged top

al-Qaida operative, Adnan El Shukrijumah of Saudi Arabia, spent 10 days in

Panama in April 2001. Honduran officials said he was spotted more recently
at

an Internet cafe there.

But Central American leaders say the new border plan won't hamper their
fight

against drugs and other crime. So far, El Salvador and Guatemala have put up

more highway checkpoints to keep a closer eye on traffic through the two

countries.

Wilfredo Rosales, El Salvador's immigration director, said a new common

database tracks the movements of people across the streamlined border posts.

Random police checkpoints also help.

For criminals, "It was easy to cross before, but now it's not," he said. "So

I see it as much better."

Erick Frot, a 38-year-old architect visiting the Immigration office to get

papers for his Brazilian wife, said freer movement would bring more

development.

"Countries like ours need to open, not close," he said.



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