Credomatic Music Festival

August 7-22, 2010. The Credomatic Music festival is considered as one of the most important of music festivals in Costa Rica- a country renowned for its support of many types of music making.

The Credomatic Music Festival started in 1991 during the commemoration worldwide of the year of Mozart. In that year, a few Costa Rican musicians returning from study in Europe put a simple but novel proposal to the Costa Rican Minister of Tourism: organize an international music festival, inspired by the Europeans. However, instead of medieval castles or Roman ruins as backdrop, the activity would take place in Costa Rica’s natural environment. The result has been that over the years, the Festival has brought internationally-recognized artistes from Asia, Europe, South America and North America to perform both in the capital San José as well as in towns in the interior of the country. The Festival normally takes place at a number of venues, including hotels, churches and theatres. In the twenty years of its existence, its purpose has been to offer Costa Ricans a wide variety of music, especially various styles of chamber music, from the traditional to classical and even contemporary music, always maintaining high standards of quality.

Participants this year include the world famous Vienna Boys’ Choir (Austria); Musica Ficta (Colombia); the Albéniz Quartet (Spain); Teresa de La Torre, soprano and Montserrat Ardévol, guitar (Spain); Kirill Gliadkovsky, piano (Russia); and the NSSO (National Symphony Steel Orchestra) from Trinidad & Tobago. In a release to the Costa Rican press, Mr. Jordi Antich, the coordinator of the Festival, has stated that “the NSSO will provide the surprise [of the Festival] with the inclusion of the steel pan, a traditional instrument made from oil drums, playing Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Mozart [and] Rossini”. Antich also said that “the steel orchestra is interesting because it challenges the concept of classical music. It dares to go beyond”.

Wonders of Costa Rica

Then there are the Seven Wonders of Costa Rica, selected by Costa Ricans themselves: mighty Arenal Volcano, close to the town La Fortuna, with plenty of activities, hot springs, zip lines, fishing at the lake, red lava views, horse-riding, hiking, you will find breathtaking views, amazing places,excellent restaurants, and great bars, also the Catarata La Fortuna a must place to visit, an amazing waterfall, and spectacular Poas Volcano. Little visited Monteverde Cloudforest Reserve with its great plant and animal diversity—including the only butterfly in the world that makes a noise! Halfway to the Galapagos is magnificent Cocos Island, called the “most beautiful island in the world” by Jacques Cousteau, a famous pirate hiding place with huge fortunes buried but never found, and the best large animal diving on the planet. Cerro Chirripo is the tallest mountain in Central America and as you climb from its tropical base to its summit, you may think you are in the Andes with its cold glacial lakes. Or, take a pleasant hike to Rio Celeste (Celestial River) where the river magically changes from crystal clear to sky-blue in front of your eyes. Finally, there is remote Tortuguero National Park, with mile after mile of seemingly deserted beaches—until the wondrous sea turtle invade by the tens of thousands to nest.

No visit to the country by a Costa Rica car rental company would be complete without spending some time at the stunning beaches. Indeed, many tourists spend most of their vacation along the beaches. Among the most beautiful in the world, you will find many different types of beaches in Costa Rica: black sand beaches, white sand beaches, coral sand beaches, even boulder strewn rugged beaches. Most of the most popular resorts and fancy hotels are located on the Pacific coast but you will find that the Caribbean coast also has no shortage of beautiful places to go too. The Pacific coast is more-and-more Americanized while the Caribbean has a unique, distinctive, Caribbean aura.

No vacation is complete without visiting several of its simply amazing beaches. You are going to find nearly 800 miles of beaches: white sand beaches, brown sand beaches, black sand beaches, even coral beaches. Dozens have famed ‘Blue Flag’ certificates meaning they are the best of the best. The north Pacific coast is increasingly developed with great resorts, hotels, golf courses. Meanwhile, the Caribbean coast remains far more undeveloped while maintaining its particular Caribbean flavor. There are very popular beaches (particularly over Easter and Christmas) and virtually deserted beaches. To go from one to another is often just a few minutes’ drive by Adobe Rent a Car

The capital is definitely worth a visit too. At night, San Jose and most of the beach communities provide lots of adult entertainment. Restaurants, theaters, cinemas, bars, nightclubs (many, very adult in tone and tenor), gambling, and beautiful women—what happens here, stays here.

China is Not Taking Over the World… The China Dream

SOURCE HERE

The rise of China is, as we all know by now, the definitive economic and political story of our time. Every week a new book title announces an “irresistible” tilt east, the emergence of “Chimerica” and a not-too-distant future when China “rules” the planet. The mainstream media, and especially the business press, are gripped by the narrative of China taking over the world—every other headline in the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal has a China focus.
But the coverage of China’s global inroads has been profoundly short on context, particularly when it comes to how China is—and is not—surpassing the U.S. as a global power. There are plenty of stories of a Chinese-sponsored infrastructure project or a Chinese company cutting a deal to feed its “insatiable thirst” for raw materials, while Western involvement of similar or greater magnitude is lucky to make a headline at all. Meanwhile, a close look at the key economic metrics and the subtler shades of power, such as cultural influence and humanitarian aid, reveals that while China is indeed one of the great powers in the world now (late last month it officially overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest economy), its influence is mixed, and often undercut by America’s.
While China’s trade with regions like Africa and Latin America is growing exponentially, it is still outpaced by America’s, which tends to be more diverse. In Asia, China is now the dominant trading partner, yet the flows are mainly in low-end goods, while America dominates higher up the food chain. U.S. aid and foreign direct investment in these regions still eclipses that of the Chinese, and its soft power still reigns, as does its military might, despite recent Chinese buildups in this area. “Economic heft alone has never been enough for a country to be dominant outside its borders,” says Charles Onyango-Obbo, a journalist who writes for the weekly newspaper The East African. He recently penned a column titled “Chinese Takeover? I’m Not Losing Any Sleep.” “It’s really been American education, technology, culture [Hollywood and music], business, and sport that has enabled it to be so overarching,” says Onyango-Obbo. “China is going to be a very important power in the world, but it will not be dominant.”
Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in Africa, where China has been depicted as the shrewd winner of a neocolonial scramble for resources, offering developmental assistance—mainly in the form of low-priced manufactured goods, infrastructure investment, and soft loans—all proffered with no pesky Western-style demands to respect human rights. In exchange, China gets access to raw materials to fuel its economic boom. No doubt China’s presence on the continent has expanded considerably in recent years. But the U.S. remains sub-Saharan Africa’s largest trading partner, accounting for 15 percent of Africa’s total trade versus 10 percent for the Chinese (it’s also worth noting that Africa has been a low trading priority for the U.S., accounting for a mere 2 percent of its global trade).
Indeed, the bulk of China-Africa trade is made up of Chinese oil imports from five countries, and even with respect to oil—said to be at the heart of China’s drive on the continent—America holds a sizable lead. China imports 17 percent of all African oil compared with 29 percent for the U.S. (and 35 percent for Europe). Western companies are the leading foreign partners in oil projects in Nigeria, which is sub-Saharan Africa’s largest oil producer, and in the continent’s largest emerging oil producers such as Ghana and Uganda.

This trend may well continue, in part because of allegations of corruption and shoddy execution in a number of Chinese energy and infrastructure projects throughout Africa. An $8 billion Chinese-sponsored road and mine project in Congo, deemed the “Marshall Plan of Africa” when it was unveiled a couple of years ago, has been tainted by allegations of corruption and poor implementation, as has a massive Chinese-funded fiber-optic project in Uganda. A recent study from the African Labor Research Network, called “Chinese Investments in Africa: A Labour Perspective,” looked at labor conditions at Chinese companies in 10 African countries and found them “among the worst employers everywhere,” according to the report’s author, Herbert Jauch.

Disenchantment with the Middle Kingdom is particularly strong in Angola and Nigeria, which a few years ago were both tilting China’s way, lured by the promise of soft, unconditional development loans and noninterference in domestic politics. Two-way trade between China and Nigeria doubled to $7 billion between 2006 and 2008 (though still dwarfed by $42 billion with the U.S. in 2008). Yet Nigeria’s late president Umaru Yar’Adua ended up canceling a number of the projects due to scandals and delays. Washington has been quietly capitalizing; according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, exports to Nigeria have risen 48 percent and imports (consisting predominantly of oil) by 16 percent this year alone.

The situation is the same in Angola, where Angolan Rafael Marques de Morais, founder of Maka, which monitors corruption in the country, says, “Corruption and a lack of accountability on China-Angola deals have undermined a more sustainable and long-term relationship between the two countries.” He points to the General Hospital built by Chinese contractors in Luanda, the capital’s first new hospital since independence, which “four years after its inauguration is basically collapsing.” In July patients and staff were evacuated due to safety concerns. Once again, Washington moved to exploit disenchantment with Beijing, meeting with Angolan officials in June to discuss ways to deepen and diversify trade, and pushing a newly signed IMF agreement of understanding that may lead to fresh loans from Western banks.

This underscores America’s deeper and more diversified engagement not only with Africa, but many other parts of the world, via international institutions as well as humanitarian aid and military assistance. Despite high-profile ties with Zimbabwe and Sudan, China has little military presence in Africa and almost none in Latin America, and is still overshadowed by the U.S. even within its own backyard. Last month in Hanoi, for instance, the U.S. was a welcome presence at the ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia’s largest security meeting, amid growing concerns about China’s military buildup and its claims to the disputed Paracel and Spratly islands, which are also claimed in part by Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Obama plans to invite ASEAN leaders to a second U.S. ASEAN meeting in the fall, and ASEAN foreign ministers have invited the U.S. to a regional dialogue, known as the East Asia Summit, which diplomats reportedly said would help counter Chinese influence in the region. Washington recently boosted humanitarian and military aid to Laos and Cambodia and removed them from a trade blacklist, which should attract more U.S. investment. And in July Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem said America and Vietnam are “leaving the past behind” as they strengthen commercial and military ties. Their two-way trade leapt from $2.91 billion in 2002 to $15.4 billion last year. The U.S. has made similar progress with Indonesia, signing an agreement in April that will allow greater American capital flows into Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Of course, Asia is still the one region in the world where China now dominates regional trade—overall trade between China and the rest of the continent hit $231 billion versus the U.S.’s $178 billion in 2008. But most of the flows are in intermediary goods of low value (China buys cheap components and raw materials from poorer nations and uses them to make products for export, just as it supplies the same to richer nations like South Korea). This trade does not foster the skills transfer that Southeast Asian countries so desperately need in their bid to move up the technology ladder. Countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia still rely on entrepreneurial, technological, and educational engagement with the U.S. for that. And America still accounts for a far greater chunk of regional foreign direct investment—8.5 percent versus China’s 3.8 percent, or $3.4 billion to $1.5 billion, in 2009. Experts such as Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia studies for the Council on Foreign Relations, believe that the moves toward closer U.S. political, economic, and security cooperation in Southeast Asia will continue. “There’s no intention of wasting the opportunity,” she says.

In other places where China is increasingly prominent economically, such as Latin America, the U.S. still has important cards to play as well. Last year China replaced the U.S. as Brazil’s leading trading partner, and it’s now the second-largest trading partner in Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, and Argentina. But while Asia’s overall trade with the region (driven largely by China) rose 96 percent over the past decade, the U.S. saw an even greater rise—118 percent—in total trade. And according to Shanghai’s SinoLatin Capital, China’s accumulated investment in Latin America by the close of 2008 was a mere $12 billion—or less than the state of Michigan invests in the region, according to China Economic Review.

As in many regions, there are cultural and geographical barriers to closer China–Latin America relations. “The U.S. and Latin America are doomed to live closely together, and China can never compete with that,” says Kevin Casas-Zamora, a Latin America expert with the Brookings Institution. America’s soft-power appeal in the region dwarfs China’s, resonating through popular culture, language, and ideals. Most Latin American countries are functioning or aspiring democracies, and despite China’s attempts to attract interest in Chinese language and culture via Confucius Institutes (300 are being rolled out around the world, including 21 in Latin America), there remain few Chinese speakers in Latin America and Spanish speakers in China. Soft power is also very much at play in Africa, particularly given President Obama’s connection to the region (everything from restaurants to car washes are named after him). Signs of American culture, from film to music to fashion, permeate the region. African students still dream of going to the U.S. to study, and English is very much the language to learn.

A Brief History of Costa Rica

Human habitation can be traced back more than 10,000 years but it appears Costa Rica was sparsely populated and a relative backwater in the pre-Columbian era. There is little sign of major communities and none of the impressive stone architecture that characterized the more advanced civilizations of Mesoamerica to the north and the Andes to the south. When Columbus arrived near Lim¢n on September 18, 1502 on his third and last voyage to the Americas, there were probably no more than 20,000 indigenous inhabitants They lived in several autonomous tribes, all with distinct cultures and customs. Costa Rica’s only major archaeological site is at Guayabo, 30 miles east of San Jos‚, where an ancient city, dating back to 1000 B.C. and though to have contained 10,000 people at its peak, is currently being excavated. Many interesting gold, jade and pottery artefacts have been found throughout the region and are on display in several museums in San Jose.

The Indians gave Columbus gold and he returned to Europe with reports of a plentiful supply of the yellow metal. But the adventurers who arrived to cash in found only hostile Indians, swamps and disease for their trouble. Several early attempts to colonize the Atlantic coast failed for the same reasons and for almost half a century Costa Rica was passed over while colonization gathered pace in countries to the north and south. In 1562, the Spanish main’s administrative center in Guatemala sent Juan Vasquez de Coronado to Costa Rica as governor and Cartago was established as the capital the following year. With no Indian slaves to work the land, the colonists were forced to work the land themselves, scratching out a meagre subsistence by tilling small plots. The impoverished colony grew slowly and was virtually ignored by the Spanish rulers in Guatemala. By the late 18th century, the settlements that would buela had been founded and exports of wheat and tobacco were making economic conditions somewhat better.

Central America gained independence from Spain on September 15, 1821. The news reached Costa Rica a month after the event. The question of whether Costa Rica should join newly independent Mexico or join a new confederation of Central American states resulted in a bitter quarrel between the leaders of San Jose and their counterparts in Cartago and Heredia. A brief civil war in 1823 was won by San Jose and Costa Rica joined the confederation.

Juan Mora Fernandez

Juan Mora Fernandez was elected the country’s first head of state in 1824. His progressive administration expanded public education and encouraged the cultivation of coffee with land grants for growers. This quickly led to the establishment of a new Costa Rican elite, the coffee barons, who quickly put their power to use by overthrowing the first Costa Rican president, Jose‚ Maria Castro. His successor, Juan Rafael Mora

Juan Rafael Mora

, is remembered as the man who mobilized a force of Costa Rican volunteers and defeated William Walker, ending the persistent North American adventurer’s ambitions to turn Central America into a slave state and annex it to the United States.

After more than a decade of political turmoil,

General Tomas Guardia

General Tomas Guardia seized power in 1870. Though he ruled as a military dictator, his 12 years in power were marked by progressive policies like free and compulsory primary education, restraining the excesses of the military and taxing coffee earnings to finance public works. It was Guardia who contracted Minor Keith to build the Atlantic railroad from San Jose to the Caribbean. The post-Guardia years witnessed the fitful transition to full democracy.

The next important era began with the election of Dr. Rafael Angel Calder¢n Guardia in 1940. His enlightened policies included land reform, a guaranteed minimum wage and progressive taxation. But when Calder¢n’s United Social Christian Party refused to step down after losing the 1948 election, civil war erupted. The anti-Calder¢n forces were led by Jose Mar¡a (Don Pepe) Figueres Ferrer

Jose Figueres Ferrer

who had been exiled to Mexico in 1942. Supported by the governments of Guatemala and Cuba, he won the war which lasted 40 days and cost 2,000 lives.

Figueres became head of the Founding Junta of the Second Republic of Costa Rica. He consolidated the reforms introduced by Calder¢n and introduced many of his own: He banned the Communist Party, gave women the vote and granted full citizenship to blacks, abolished the armed forces, established a term limit for presidents and nationalized the banks and insurance companies. He also founded the Partido de Liberacion Nacional. (The PLN won last year’s presidential election behind Don Pepe’s son, now President Jose Mar¡a Figueres Olsen.

Don Pepe died in 1990 a national hero, his deeds having set the scene for the social and economic progress that would earn Costa Rica the reputation as a peaceful and stable island of democracy in one of the world’s most politically unstable, and often war-torn regions. When civil war broke out in neighboring Nicaragua, Costa Rica was drawn reluctantly into the conflict, its northern zone being used as a base first for Sandinista and later for “contra” forces. In 1986, a young lawyer called Oscar Arias Sanchez was elected president on the platform of peace. Arias’ tireless efforts to promote peace in the region were rewarded when the five Central American presidents signed his peace plan in Guatamala City in 1987, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ten rarest amphibians

A toad with golden skin and a frog that gives birth through its mouth are among ten amphibians believed to be among the rarest animals in the world.

endangered species of the rainforests like the golden toad have not been spotted by humans for more than a decade Photo: PA

Dr Robin Moore of Conservation International drew up a list of the 10 species he and his team believe would be most exciting to find.

”While it’s very challenging to rate the importance of one species against another we have created this top-10 list because we feel that these particular animals have a particular scientific or aesthetic value,” he said.
The top 10 are:

1. Golden toad, Incilius periglenes, Costa Rica. Last seen in 1989, it is perhaps the most famous of the lost amphibians. It went from abundant to extinct in a little over a year in the late 1980s.

2. Gastric brooding frog, Rheobatrachus vitellinus and R. silus, Australia. Last seen in 1985, the gastric brooding frog has a unique mode of reproduction – females swallow eggs and raise tadpoles in the stomach, before giving birth to froglets through the mouth.

3. Mesopotamia Beaked Toad, Rhinella rostrata, Colombia. Last seen in 1914, the toad has a distinctive pyramid-shaped head.

4. Jackson’s climbing salamander, Bolitoglossa jacksoni, Guatemala. Last seen in 1975. One of only two of the stunning black and yellow salamanders is believed to have been stolen from a Californian laboratory in the mid 1970s.

5. African Painted Frog, Callixalus pictus, Democratic Republic of Congo/Rwanda. Last seen in 1950, very little is known about this animal, which is thought never to have been photographed.

6. Rio Pescado Stubfoot Toad, Atelopus balios, Ecuador. Last seen in April 1995. May well have been wiped out by chytridiomycosis, a pathogenic fungus.

7. Turkestanian salamander, Hynobius turkestanicus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan or Uzbekistan. Last seen 1909. Two specimens were collected in 1909 somewhere ”between Pamir and Samarkand”.

8. Scarlet frog, Atelopus sorianoi, Venezuela. Last seen in 1990. It was only known from a single stream in an isolated cloud forest.

9. Hula painted frog, Discoglossus nigriventer, Israel. The last confirmed record of the species was a single adult collected in 1955. Efforts to drain marshlands in Syria to eradicate malaria may have been responsible for the disappearance of this species.

10. Sambas Stream Toad, Ansonia latidisca, Borneo (Indonesia and Malaysia). Last seen in the 1950s. Increased sedimentation in streams after logging may have contributed to the decline.

Costa Rica to allow U.S. navy ship to dock

Costa Rican legislators have decided not to let a disagreement over the Joint Patrol agreement with the United States stand in the way of humanitarian aid.

In a 45-3 vote this week, the Legislative Assembly granted docking permission to the 800-meter navy ship USS Iwo Jima, scheduled to arrive in the Caribbean port of Limón in late August.

The ship will carry doctors, medical supplies, education material and teddy bears to impoverished families on the Caribbean coast.

“The support in services and supplies for our country is around $500,000; this is what we will receive with a ship of this type. The cost of the entire mission is greater than $3 million,” said Viviana Martín, legislator with the National Liberation Party, which holds a plurality of seats in the assembly. “This is a mission known as ‘continuing the promise of 2010.’ … (It is helping) in many countries, not just in Costa Rica, but in Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua and Panama.”

The legality of the Joint Patrol Agreement between Costa Rica and the United States, which allows U.S. naval vessels to enter Costa Rican waters to counter drug trafficking, is under review by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV). The agreement was signed in 1999 as a way to stem the flow of drugs northward.

Many also are questioning the efficacy of the agreement. The flow of drugs and related criminal activity only seem to have worsened in recent years, argue those who want to send U.S. troops home. Many of these critics argue that the U.S. should fight the battle to curb demand for drugs at home, rather than bring the war to Central America. Others in Costa Rica, however, point to this country’s small and poorly equipped security forces and see no alternative to accepting U.S. assistance in combating drug traffickers.

A final ruling by the constitutional court regarding the Joint Patrol agreement is expected in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, the U.S. Embassy to Costa Rica has invited Costa Ricans to see the USS Iwo Jima during its stay in Costa Rica. Details of the visit will be forthcoming.

Proposed Manuel Antonio hotel will have a park for a roof

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A new luxury beachfront hotel proposed for Manuel Antonio will have a 40,000 square foot roof covered with grass and other native vegetation to serve as a habitat for wildlife, said developers.

The green roof above the multi-story hotel appears to be like a park with an ocean view.Arqueco Ltda. rendering

The project is the Palazzo Park Hotel & Residences, which is being designed by Arqueco Ltda., architects, developers said a release:

“A key component of Palazzo Park is Costa Rica’s first large-scale green roof proposed by project developer KC
Development Group. Eco or green roofs use vegetation to absorb rainwater, treat grey water, provide insulation to cool the structure, reduce energy consumption, and create habitat for wildlife. An open-air common area with vistas of the rainforest and the sea, Palazzo Park’s green roof will provide over 40,000 square feet of native vegetation designed as habitat for indigenous species.”

The developers also said they were restoring some 500 acres at Playa El Rey adjacent to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. The goal is to provide more habitat for the endangered mono titi in the park. These are the white faced squirrel monkeys that are landlocked in the park.

Ms. Chinchilla asked to investigate fishing incident

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The high seas encounter between a U.S. registered sportsfishing boat and a Venezuelan commercial purse seiner is the third major incident in two years, according to The Billfish Foundation. The foundation said that in a letter to President Laura Chinchilla and others regarding what it called an attack on the Silver-Rod-O Aug. 1 off Playa Garza in the Pacific.

Gary Cater photo La Rosa Mistica

The Florida-based foundation urged Ms. Chinchilla to initiate an investigation into the incident and take appropriate action against the captain and owners of La Rosa Mistica, the Venezuelan boat involved.

The foundation letter, over the signature of its president, Ellen Peel, said the sportfishing organization was aware of 10 vessels that have been attacked by foreign flagged purse seiners licensed by Costa Rica. It said that in June 2008 nine vessels were similarly attacked.

The organization said it had complained to the Instituto Costarricense de Pesca y Acuacultura without success. Among those getting a copy of the letter is Luis Dobles, executive president of the government fishing agency. “In the past our requests to INCOPESCA to take action against the vessel initiating such dangerous and illegal attacks met with no positive action,” the letter said.

“We fear that unless these purse seine vessels are made to understand that such behavior will not be tolerated by the Costa Rican government. Continued, such actions will ultimately lead to injury or death at sea,” the letter added.

The owner of the Silver-Rod-O, Gary Carter, said that he and some friends were fishing amid a group of spinner dolphin. Such groups tell fishermen that there are schools of tuna beneath the water.

“We were celebrating one of our guest’s first-ever sailfish release, when the seiner veered from it’s course and headed directly toward our boat,” Carter said in an e-mail that was the basis of an article Friday. “The helicopter then began making passes over us, as it circled the dolphin school. As the seiner came closer and began setting its net, the helicopter started dropping incendiary devises around us and the school of spinners. Several landed within 50 meters of our boat, and in all directions, there was smoke billowing from the water.” Carter took photographs.

The goal of the commercial fishing boat captain, of course, was to drive the sportsfishing boat away so it would not interfere with the Venezuelan net.

The letter identified Carter as a foundation member and a part-time Costa Rican resident. Carter told a reporter he had been fishing in Costa Rican waters since the 1980s. The foundation also cited its survey that showed that sport fishing tourism contributes over $599 million annually to the Costa Rican economy. That is a sum more than commercial fishing, it said.

The foundation identified the owner of La Rosa Mistica as Ingopesca, S.A. The firm is located in Punto Fijo, Venezuela.

The Venezuelan boat is recognized as a commercial tuna operation by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. It is believed to have its home port either in Panamá or Perú.

The foundation said to the president: “We urge you to take swift and convincing action to end this dangerous sort of action at sea immediately. We believe that such irresponsible behavior does not warrant the trust placed in a purse seine vessel by authorizing and licensing them to fish in your national waters.”

Among others, a copy of the letter was sent to Anne Slaughter Andrew, the U.S. ambassador here.

Giants Ready To Compete In Costa Rica's Cellular Market

The day when in Costa Rica consumers can choose their cellular telephone carrier is coming closer and the big players are getting ready to compete against the state owned telecom that has been a monopoly in Costa Rica for six decades and currently the sole operator, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE).

According to the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sutel) the choice of three new operators will be made within the coming six months and the winners have to be ready to start their operations.

Although a decision last week by Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court (Sala Constitucional) orders the Sutel to make the decision final within three months.

If the Sutel keeps to its schedule and there are no more delays, by the first quarter or half of 2011, consumers will be able to choose their operator and the plan that suits best their telecommunications needs.

In the play for one of three licenses are Millicom that operates under the brand name, Tigo; America Movil with its Claro brand; Telefonica operating under Movistar; Panama’s Cable & Wirelss; and the Caribbean company, Digicel.

All the companies have extensive operations in Latin America and have been eyeing Costa Rica’s market for the last two to three years.

Each operator brings a wealth of experience and services to the Costa Rica’s market not offered by ICE.

The Sutel is expected to publish the bidding cartel within the coming weeks.

New Risk Points Discovered On The San José – Caldera

Just when you thought it was almost safe to drive the San José – Caldera, especially the section between Orotina and Atenas, new risk points have been identified by the road concessionaire, Autopistas del Sol, with the heavy rains of the past two weeks.

The new risk points have been points were potential landslides have forced the concessionaire to partially or totally close the road for hours at a time during the past week, as a preventive measure.

The ministro de Obras Públicas y Transportes, Francisco Jimenez, stresses that the concessionare needs to make additional corrections to the autopista due to the new risk points and is waiting on a full report by Autopistas.

Jiménez explained that the falling of rocks and debris occurred on only one of the lanes on the Orotina – Atenas section of the autopista, but for safety sake and to avoid tragedy, the entire road was closed off to vehicular traffic to allow the free movement of machinery to clear the road.

The minister also explained that Autopistas is under obligation to control traffic movement through the affected areas and closely monitor the situation at all times.