Panama Times & Costa Rica Times

Bolivia: House arrest for general who caught 'Che'

2010-05-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Bolivia: House arrest for general who caught 'Che'
By CARLOS VALDEZ, Associated Press Writer Carlos Valdez, Associated Press Writer – Fri
LA PAZ, Bolivia – A retired Bolivian general famous for capturing Ernesto "Che" Guevara was ordered held under house arrest Friday in connection with an alleged plot against President Evo Morales.

Prosecutors allege that Gen. Gary Prado exchanged "ultrasecret" encrypted e-mail with Eduardo Rozsa, a Bolivian-born Hungarian who was slain in an April 2009 raid by an elite police unit.

Authorities say Rozsa and two other men killed — an Irishman and an ethnic Hungarian from Romania — were involved in a conspiracy to create a separatist right-wing militia in the eastern, opposition-dominated state of Santa Cruz. Morales said at the time that a plot to assassinate him had been foiled.

During a court appearance Thursday, Prado denied prosecutors' allegations that he was complicit with the group.

"It seems laughable to me that a general with my past would put himself under the command of a mercenary," Prado said. He also said documents written by him that were found on Rosza's computer came from a class he teaches at a private university in Santa Cruz.

Judge Betty Yaniquez's house arrest order also targets two other suspects.

In all some 20 people — including Prado's son, who has the same name — are under investigation in the case, all linked to conservative groups in Santa Cruz. Seven have been detained, and four are fugitives.

Prosecutor Marcelo Soza is still investigating and has not filed formal charges.

The case has major political overtones, with the Morales government saying that prominent opposition leaders in Santa Cruz were involved. Those leaders deny involvement and accuse Morales of persecuting his opponents.

Prado does not deny knowing Rozsa, who he says approached him to ask about the story of Guevara's capture, but he said Friday that was the extent of their contact.

"I never saw him again," Prado said.

The Argentine-born Guevara, a hero of the Cuban revolution, was captured in 1967 while trying to foment an uprising in Bolivia and later executed.

Prado was an army captain at the time and commanded the patrol that nabbed the iconic revolutionary, hungry and weak, in Bolivia's southeastern jungle.

Prado said in his memoir "Como Capture al Che," or "How I Caught Che," that he was not involved in Guevara's subsequent killing on orders of the military command.

"The warrior I knew is not the Che of myth and legend," Prado wrote. "He was a defeated man at the end of his strength."

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – A 6.2-magnitude earthquake

2010-05-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – A 6.2-magnitude earthquake has rattled Costa Rica. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Red Cross spokesman Freddy Roman says the quake "was felt very strongly" at several of the agencies' offices.

The U.S. Geological Survey says it was centered about 42 miles (67 kilometers) south of San Jose, the capital.

Local television stations interrupted their programming Thursday and received calls from viewers frightened by the quake.

The Hugo Chavez Dollar is not worth beans

2010-05-16T05:58:00.001-07:00

Lawmakers voted Thursday to tighten currency dealing rules and give the Central Bank control over trading in government bonds — a market where Venezuela's currency has been sliding against the U.S. dollar.

Dominated by legislators loyal to President Hugo Chavez, the National Assembly gave near unanimous approval to a bill that bars private brokerages from operating in the "parallel" dollar market through bond trading.

The legislation is aimed at slowing the rapidly falling value of Venezuela's currency — the bolivar — against the U.S. dollar in that "parallel" market in hopes of curbing worsening inflation and reducing capital flight.

"We cannot allow businessmen and brokerages to take money out of the country and exchange it abroad for their own benefit," said congressman Ricardo Sanguino, president of the National Assembly's Finance Committee.

The bill must be signed by the president before it becomes law.

Chavez's socialist government has implemented currency controls that set fixed, official rates for the trading of bolivars and U.S. dollars.

The state-run currency agency provides some dollars for approved imports such as food at the official rate, but a black-market trade is also flourishing, and many businesses have turned to legal bond transactions to trade currency.

The value of the dollar on the black market and in the bond market has increased in recent weeks to about 8.20 bolivars to the dollar — almost twice the official rate of 4.30 bolivars to the dollar for nonessential goods.

The price of dollars on the black market heavily influences inflation. Last week, the Central Bank and National Statistics Institute said consumer prices jumped 5.2 percent in April alone, driving the annual inflation rate to 30.4 percent.

In a televised speech, Chavez accused wealthy businessmen allied with Venezuela's opposition of using currency speculation to cause economic woes as part of a broader plan for hurting the government's popularity ahead of congressional elections in September.

"There's an economic conspiracy against the revolution to boost inflation, increase shortages and malaise among the people," he said.

Chavez said he has information some businessmen are illegally bringing U.S. dollars into Venezuela. Police and prosecutors are investigating reports one local company imported mattresses that were filled with greenbacks, he said.

Victor Olivo, an economic professor and former Central Bank manager, said the law approved Thursday won't put an end to black market trading and he warned that it could push inflation higher.

"More and more control is going to increasingly aggravate the situation," Olivo said.

Opposition politician Henrique Salas condemned the new legislation while criticizing the government's socialist-orientated economic policies, saying oil-rich Venezuela should be in better shape.

"The country's economy is in bad shape," Salas told the local Venevision television channel, noting that some analysts estimate inflation could reach 35 percent by the end of the year.

Venezuela's economy shrank 3.3 percent last year.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/05/11/international/i162444D40.DTL&feed=rss.business#ixzz0o6ICHiGu

Pope draws 150 the church and needs to be purified

2010-05-16T05:47:00.001-07:00

VATICAN CITY – A crowd estimated by the Vatican at 150,000 filled St. Peter's Square on Sunday in a major show of support for Pope Benedict XVI over the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Benedict said he was comforted by such a "beautiful and spontaneous show of faith and solidarity" and again denounced what he called the "sin" that has infected the church and needs to be purified.

Citing estimates from Vatican police, the Vatican press office said 150,000 people had turned out for the demonstration organized by an association of 68 Italian lay groups.

Despite a drizzling rain, the balloon- and banner-toting faithful from around Italy overflowed from the piazza; banners hung up on Bernini's colonnade encircling the piazza read "Together with the pope," and "Don't be afraid, Jesus won out over evil."

Such large crowds are usually reserved for major holiday Masses and canonizations, not for Benedict's brief Sunday blessings from his studio window. The crowd interrupted Benedict frequently with applause and shouts of "Benedetto!" and the pontiff himself strayed from his prepared remarks to thank them again and again.

"Thank you for your presence and trust," he said. "All of Italy is here."

Benedict didn't refer explicitly to the scandal, but repeated his recently stated position that the scandal was born of sins within the church, which must be purified.

"The true enemy to fear and to fight against is sin, the spiritual evil that unfortunately sometimes infects even members of the church," he said.

The Vatican has been mired in scandal amid hundreds of reports in Europe, the United States and elsewhere of priests who raped and molested children while bishops and Vatican officials turned a blind eye. Benedict's own handling of cases has also come under fire.

Rome's center-right Mayor Gianni Alemanno was in the crowd, along with other pro-Vatican Italian officials.

"We want to show our solidarity to the pope and transmit the message that single individuals make mistakes but institutions, faith and religion cannot be questioned," Alemanno told Associated Press Television News. "We will not allow this."

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli is a good president

2010-05-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

story by Don Winner
A wave of rumors generated by the publication of two separate reports supposedly containing information from security and intelligence organizations but without official or named sources that appeared in the Costa Rican online newspaper El Pais that attribute criminal acts to Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, which also allege a supposed diplomatic distancing or pullback by the United States from Panama as a result of those criminal acts, as well as pressures supposedly being applied against journalists Jean Marcel Chéry and Fernando Correa, were dismissed on Monday by various official sources. El País, a publication relatively unknown in Panama, said in two different publications that were widely distributed in Panama via the Internet that Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli and his company were tied to dirty business. None of the allegations were substantiated with any official investigation, US Agency, or serious publication.
Another rumor that was being passed around on Monday morning was that the Secretary of Communications of the Presidency, Alfredo Prieto, had been fired. HORA CERO was able to determine that in fact Prieto remains in his position.

Panama's Vice President and Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela called for an investigation of the stories based on anonymous sources published in El Pais in Costa Rica, which he attributed to unidentified Panamanians. Varela who traveled on Monday to the United States denied the existence of any kind of a rife with Washington. Varela recalled that he, President Martinelli, and other members of the government were businessmen before entering politics.

Sources within the government who requested not to be identified were surprised by the articles published in the El Pais online newspaper in Costa Rica, the contents of which they rejected when speaking to HORA CERO. But the reports that were published in El Pais in Costa Rica on Firday circulated like hot cakes among thousands of email users in Panama.

HORA CERO asked if there was any truth to the emails that have been circulating during the last three days regarding pressure supposedly being applied by the government asking that the El Siglo newspaper fire its director Jean Marcel Chéry and the director of the Open Debate program of the MEDCOM corporation, and both versions were rejected by members of the government consulted by HORA CERO. "There are a number of rumors and misinformation being spread through chats, e-mail and the SMS system trying to discredit the government and cast doubt on the relationship with local and international press, which are tendentious, false and removed from reality," said a high ranking government official. According to the sources those who are spreading the rumors are trying to create a climate of "hostility" between the media and government "and to cast doubt on the honesty of government officials." (Hora Cero)

Editor's Comment: First of all, extra credit to the source for having used the word "tendentious" which means "marked by a tendency in favor of a particular point of view, biased." Excellent word which perfectly describes a couple of the other sources of English language news in Panama - tendentious. I'm going to stick that one in my back pocket for later use, so thanks.

About The Article: Now, in regards to the content of this article I think it's right on. The El Pais articles have been blasting around Panama for a few days now. There are no official investigations or complaints that have been raised by anyone with regards to the primary allegations and speculations in the articles. It is a fact that Ricardo Martinelli's cousin has been arrested in Mexico and charged with money laundering. It is a fact that the US Ambassador to Panama, Barbara Stephenson, has been promoted and will assume the position in the United Kingdom. However the allegations that drug money was supposedly funneled into the campaign of Ricardo Martinelli by his cousin are unfounded and unsubstantiated with any official source or solid information.

Recurring Theme: Just last week Balbina Herrera made the illogical and wacky allegation that Martin Torrijos and the PRD had supposedly given $4.5 million dollars to Ricardo Martinelli's campaign. And remember back in November 2009 when Mitchell Doens, the Secretary General of Panama's Partido Revolucionario Democratico (PRD) was trying to do as much damage as possible with his allegations regarding Panama's Minister of Economy and Finance, Alberto Vallarino, and supposed allegations that Vallarino appeared in a DEA document with connections to money laundering through the Banistmo bank. In Panama the cocaine goes North and the money comes South. The PRD is absolutely convinced that businessmen like Juan Carlos Varela and Ricardo Martinelli simply have to be tainted in one way or the other with money laundering, however they don't have any real solid evidence that they can latch onto.

New US - Panama Spin: I see these articles that appeared in El Pais in Costa Rica as nothing more than the most recent efforts to gain traction with these themes, and they added in the extra "spin" this time that supposedly there is a breach in the relationship between the United States and Panama. Ironically, the first article was published on exactly the same day that Arturo Valenzuela, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the US State Department was visiting Panama. Valenzuela is the highest ranking State Department official for Latin America, and his boss is Hillary Clinton. His presence in Panama signals exactly the opposite of what the article alleges - for example Valenzuela didn't go down to Caracas to have his picture taken with Hugo Chavez, right? Of course conspiracy theorists point to Valenzuela's visit and proclaim "See? I told you there's a serious problem between Panama and the US. If not, then why would they send down such a high ranking official?" Because he was visiting several Central American countries to help determine the best way to send more aid to help fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, that's why.

Why Costa Rica? First of all, the "El Pais" online publication is both new and relatively unknown. Working from the premise that the basic allegations appearing in the articles are, in fact, both untrue and unfounded, then there are only a couple of possibilities of what might be motivating the people at El Pais in Costa Rica;

•They Like The Traffic: In this business, money from advertisers can be directly related to the volume of traffic to the website. There are unscrupulous websites that portray themselves as "news" outlets, but in reality they are nothing more than machines used to manipulate information space. Think information warfare. The explosion of the Internet now means that anyone with a website who is willing to publish the most outlandish crap will have their headlines picked up and spread quickly. In this case, the articles about Ricardo Martinelli went ricocheting around Panama at light speed. Why? Because the stories were well crafted enough to be intriguing. The allegations they contained started from a known point (like - Martinelli's cousin was in fact arrested in Mexico) and then spin off into speculation and conjecture. These are the things that make for good soap operas, and therefore they generate interest and traffic to the website. More traffic means bigger numbers, bigger numbers means more advertising, and more advertising means more money. Ask yourself - before this weekend had you ever visited the El Pais website? I had not, and now I've been there about four or five times. So if that was their objective, it's working. I imagine their editors are giddy over the traffic and attention they have received.

•Ideological Bent: That goes back to the use of the word "tendentious." If the editor's of the El Pais website are politically biased, and if they want to find ways to help the PRD in Panama and to cause damage to Ricardo Martinelli and his government, then this is the way to do it. The editors simply pointed to unnamed DEA sources that supposedly connect Martinelli to money laundering. Sound familiar? Personally I think the El Pais publication went down this road for both reasons. They apparently have a political bent (tendentious) towards anything anti-Martinelli, and they also wanted the traffic and notoriety the publication of such allegations would create.

•Pay to Play? These kinds of gutter level, biased fake "news" outlets generally have no journalistic ethics or morals. Some of these take payments from people who want to cause damage to their political or business opponents in order to publish damaging information about them. The fact that El Pais is based out of Costa Rica is convenient for whoever wanted to do the damage, because no Panamanian publication in their right mind would have touched this stuff. Giuseppe Bonissi would send over the National Police to beat the hell out of the journalist, before launching an official investigation that would end in a conviction, confirmed by the Supreme Court. In Panama, Ricardo Martinelli is now firmly in control of every rein of power that matters - in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government, as well as the supposedly independent centers of power such as the Office of the Comptroller, the Public Ministry, and even the Electoral Tribunal. He's taken over, and in short there's nothing left (except the media.) This weekend a photographer from the Panama America was beaten by a police officer because he took pictures of the Attorney General who was at a party with some women. One of Bonissi's body guards even told the photographer "today is the day you go to prison" for taking the photos. While the photographer was wrestling with the police, they were trying to erase the pictures he took. So, now that Martinelli has taken over everything else, is the news media next? Anyway, it makes perfect sense for the people who want to do harm to Martinelli through the publication of slanderous news articles to do so from Costa Rica and not Panama City. If those allegations had come out here, people would already be in cuffs.
What If It's True? There is always some small degree of possibility that the allegations published in the El Pais online newspaper in Costa Rica might be true, however remote those possibilities might be. Political leaders in Latin America are frequently corrupted by the lure of drug money. Just yesterday I ran a story about a Mexican politician who got paid $500,000 for every shipment of cocaine that he let go through Cancun. Manuel Antonio Noriega would traffic cocaine through Cuba, and now Hugo Chavez is doing the same thing. Panama is a well known banking and financial center, and I have published countless stories about how people who have gotten caught in one scheme or another always seem to have money and accounts in Panama. And, there is an undeniable culture of corruption in Panama which dates back to the Conquistadors. People here want to be politicians because they can make money by selling their position and influence. So, while I think at this point the majority of the allegations in the El Pais article are baseless, politically motivated, and stemming from the Panamanian PRD and their efforts to drag down Martinelli, in this country one must always keep an open mind and remember that anything is possible. Maybe Pedro Miguel Gonzalez is actually innocent. Did I really just say that? Wow. Anyway, in 1995 nobody would have through that the all powerful Ernesto "El Toro" Perez Balladares would be on house arrest for corruption. Lets see where Ricardo Martinelli is in 2025 - that's the only valid position to take from a strategically logical point of view.

About Freedom Of The Press: Another element were the allegations about supposed efforts to shut down dissenting journalists in Panama. When I was serving in the military we had a tongue-in-cheek expression that "the beatings will continue until moral improves." Who knows where it came from, but the same sentiments seem to be appropriate for the current situation on the ground for journalists in Panama. "Excuse me, Mister Attorney General, will you have me beaten if I take your picture or ask the wrong question?" For many years it was my standard practice to take my SLR camera with me everywhere I went. Due to the growing crime wave I stopped doing that to a certain extent, not wanting to either draw attention to myself or make myself a target for crime. Thanks to the events of this weekend I will be taking my camera with me everywhere I go, and I'll be searching out opportunities to take photos of police officers in public spaces. The simple idea that this kind of thing can first happen at all, and then secondly be brushed aside by the government like nothing happened, is simply appalling, and an indication of what this government is capable of. Bonissi was embarrassed by the photos of him with the women. Does he have another girlfriend? Why was it "uncomfortable" for him? I don't believe his denials for a second - he's full of shit. I really don't need to know anything else about the man at this point. He's the wrong man for the job, but Martinelli wants him there, so this whole thing will be glossed over. Those are the facts of the matter. Everyone knows it, and there is nothing anyone can do. Welcome to the police state. The government's denials and statements to the contrary are just so much more spin and bullshit. This was a photographer from the Panama America, for crying out loud...

Panama Noriega wants to know how come Chavez is still in power and he cant even get a good cup of coffee

2010-05-12T04:56:00.000-07:00

Noriega wants to know how come Chavez is still in power and he cant even get a good cup of coffee

Venezuela Slams Arizona Chaves says when I smoke enough Cocaine I become a GOD

2010-05-12T04:52:00.000-07:00

Venezuela Slams Arizona’s Illegal Immigration Law, Says America Must Overcome ‘Old Habits of Racism’
By Edwin Mora

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (AP Photo)(CNSNews.com) – Venezuela's minister of foreign affairs said the country’s socialist president, Hugo Chavez, is demanding that Arizona’s law against illegal immigration be “repealed” and that America turn away from its “old habits of racism.”

Not only does Chavez oppose the Arizona law, but Venezuela as a nation wants the United States to “begin to respect and overcome its old habits of racism and contempt" for people from Latin America, Venezuela's information ministry quoted Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro as saying.

Immigrants in the United States, according to Maduro, are treated in a way that is “inconsistent with human rights … a perennial violation against our fellow Latin Americans.”

He said the Arizona law against illegal immigration must be repealed because the measure is disrespectful to human beings "who have only gone to the nation to work to generate wealth."

Maduro made the remarks on May 3 from Buenos Aires, Argentina, before attending a meeting of the 12-member Union of South American Nations. The union as a whole also denounced the Arizona law, calling it racist.

Arizona’s Republican governor, Jan Brewer, signed the legislation (the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, Arizona SB 1070) into law on Apr. 23.

The new state law mirrors existing federal law against illegal immigration. It gives Arizona police officers the authority during a lawful stop to check an individual’s immigration status. Federal law already requires that immigrants carry documentation of their status.

If a person were pulled over for speeding, for example, a police officer could demand that the driver show his driver’s license and, if the officer suspects the driver is an illegal immigrant, he could order that person to show proof of his immigration status.

According to one of the drafters of the law, Kris Kobach, a constitutional law professor at the University of Missouri who served as chief adviser to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on immigration law and border security, the Arizona law prohibits racial profiling.

Attorney General Eric Holder. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Section II of the new law states that a law enforcement officer “may not consider race, color or national origin” in making any stops or determining any alien’s immigration status,” said Kobach at a May 5 press conference.

Nevertheless, the Obama administration reportedly plans to challenge the Arizona law.

On ABC’s “This Week” on May 9, Attorney General Eric Holder said that because of the Arizona law, "we could potentially get on a slippery slope where people will be picked on because of how they look as opposed to what they have done."

The Justice Department is "considering all of our options," said Holder, including a lawsuit either on the grounds that the Arizona law pre-empts federal powers or is a “violation of federal civil rights statutes.”

On Apr. 23, President Obama said the law was “misguided,” adding that it could potentially violate a person’s civil rights.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano agreed with President Obama that the law is “misguided.” She also said its enforcement would stretch federal resources.

On the Apr. 26 edition of ABC "World News," Napolitano said, “That one is a misguided law. It's not a good law enforcement law. It's not a good law in any number of reasons."

On Apr. 25, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who represents a district that includes 300 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border, said, "We're going to overturn this unjust and racist law, and then we're going to overturn the power structure that created this unjust, racist law.”

Brazil council of bishops to prepare guidelines on how to combat child abuse by priests

2010-05-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

Brazil council of bishops to prepare guidelines on how to combat child abuse by priests

Topics
Justice System
Roman Catholicism
Brazil
Child Abuse

Associated Press Writer

SAO PAULO (AP) — The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops said Tuesday it will prepare a manual with guidelines to help bishops combat cases of child abuse committed by clergymen in the world's largest Roman Catholic country.

The manual will be prepared by a special commission comprising bishops, priests and psychologists, and church officials will begin distributing it within a few months, a conference spokesman, the Rev. Geraldo Martins, told The Associated Press.

Martins would not comment on the likely contents of the manual, one of several ideas to emerge at the bishops' annual meeting in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia.

Bishop Sinesio Bohn of the southern city of Santa Cruz do Sul was quoted by the newspaper Estado de S. Paulo on Tuesday as saying the church must study ways to avoid ordaining pedophiles.

"We must adopt scientific methods, with the help of psychologists," Bohn said.

Bishop Pedro Luiz Stringhini, from the city of Franca in Sao Paulo state, told the newspaper that child abuse committed by clergymen must receive a three-pronged treatment: "forgiveness for the sin, punishment for the crime and treatment for the pathology."

Several cases of priests allegedly abusing children have surfaced in Brazil in recent months.

Late last month, prosecutors charged a Roman Catholic priest, Father Jose Afonso, with abusing altar boys ranging from ages 12 to 16. Prosecutors said the alleged abuses occurred this year, in 2009 and in 2001 in Franca.

Also last month, 83-year-old Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa was detained in northeastern Brazil for allegedly abusing at least three boys after being caught on videotape having sex with a young man, a former altar boy. Barbosa is under house arrest while authorities investigate. Two other priests in the same archdiocese are also accused of abuses.

Last week, a Brazilian archbishop said adolescents are "spontaneously homosexual" and in need of guidance.

The newspaper O Globo quoted Archbishop Dadeus Grings of Porto Alegre as saying: "Society today is pedophile. That is the problem. So, people easily fall into it. And the fact it is denounced is a good sign."

Venezuela inflation rate hits 30%; highest in Latin America

2010-05-12T04:10:00.000-07:00

Venezuela inflation rate hits 30%; highest in Latin America

By Manuel Diaz, AP

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks to diplomats Wednesday in the Dominican Republic.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's annual inflation rate has surpassed 30% after consumer prices surged in April.
The Central Bank and National Statistics Institute on Friday reported a 5.2% increase in consumer prices during April, driving up the annual rate to 30.4%.

President Hugo Chavez's government has been struggling against the highest inflation rate in Latin America and a weakening economy in general.

Prices increased 11.3% from January to April, up from 6.7% inflation in the same 2009 period.

Venezuela's economy shrank by 3.3% last year amid a downturn in its all-important oil industry. It's the nation's first recession since 2003.

The country imports most of its food, and Chavez on Friday announced the government will create an import-export corporation aiming to break with the private sector's "hegemony." It wasn't immediately clear how the new state entity would operate.

Chavez said wealthy Venezuelans involved in the import business "buy abroad, come here and ask for more than it really costs."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Panama, Costa Rica Jenny Porters mother Patrica Porter makes the best Yuca Pie in the World

2010-05-12T04:06:00.000-07:00

Cassava roots are the main source of calories for millions of people living in the tropics, but they are poor in protein, vitamins and other nutrients.
Scientist have created cassava varieties with improved nutritional value, higher yields, and resistance to pests and disease.
A combination of traditional breeding, genomics and molecular biology techniques could lead to further breakthroughs.
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The diet of more than 800 million people revolves around neither wheat, nor corn, nor rice. Instead in many countries the main staple consists of the starchy roots of a plant variously called cassava, tapioca, manioc or yuca (not to be confused with the succulent plant yucca). Indeed, cassava contributes more to the world’s calorie budget than any other food except rice and wheat, which makes it a virtually irreplaceable resource against hunger. Throughout the tropics, families typically cultivate it for their own consumption on small parcels of land, although in Asia and in parts of Latin America the plant is also grown commercially for use in animal feed and starch-based products. The root’s nutritional value, however, is poor: it contains little protein, vitamins or other nutrients such as iron. Better varieties of cassava could thus effectively alleviate malnutrition in much of the developing world.

Because of that promise, the two of us and our colleagues at the University of Brasilia and others are devoted to creating hardier, more productive and more nutritious varieties and making them widely available to farmers in developing countries. Our team focuses largely on applying traditional breeding techniques to form hybrids between cassava and its wild relatives, taking advantage of traits that have evolved in the wild plants over millions of years. This approach is less costly than genetic engineering and does not raise the safety concerns that make some people wary of genetically modified crops. Meanwhile researchers and nonprofit organizations in the developed world have begun to take an interest and have produced genetically modified cassava varieties for the same purposes. The recent completion of a draft genome sequencing of cassava may open the way to further improvements.

Yerba mate goes commercial as a U.S. coffee sustitute

2010-05-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

Yerba mate goes commercial as a U.S. coffee sustitute

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

It's not quite tea. And it's definitely not coffee.

The traditional South American beverage called yerba mate is still relatively unknown in the U.S. But it's becoming more and more prevalent in natural food stores and cafes.

The Top Leaf Mate Bar in downtown Bend, Oregon, looks a lot like your average coffee shop. But there's no coffee on the menu here.

The baristas are exclusively serving products made with yerba mate. That's a large shrub grown in countries like Argentina and Paraguay. The leaves are dried and steeped in either hot or cold water to make a beverage that's kind of like tea.

But Top Leaf customer Len Meserve is nursing a mug holding something that looks more like a fancy frothy coffee. It's called a mocha mate.

"It's mate and chocolate and it's very good," said Meserve.

Another popular drink is the mate latte. Customer Alex Monshaw made the switch from coffee to mate several months ago. He used to drink up to four cups of coffee a day. Not anymore.

Said Monshaw: "When you miss your coffee, it's really unpleasant, but mate isn't something I need to wake up. It's just something that makes me feel really good."

Top Leaf owner Santiago Casanueva is practically evangelistic in his support of mate. He wants to turn the mate bar concept into a franchised chain. But he doesn't expect to displace Americans' coffee anytime soon:

"Coffee's had a strong run for 20 years. It's going to keep being here," says Casanueva. "I educate my customers in a way that allows them to realize they're making, not only a choice that's giving them the same buzz if not better, but they're getting all these nutritional benefits."

Those nutritional benefits vary, depending on who you ask. Jennifer Nelson is director of clinical nutrition at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She says mate does have disease-fighting antioxidants along with nutrients like calcium, iron and vitamin C.

"However, the total amount of those nutrients and the total amount of these antioxidants are relatively small in comparison to other foods," she says. "And so you need to kind of put it in perspective."

According to Nelson, mate does contain a small amount of caffeine, but much of its boost comes from other natural stimulants. She says mate, like other caffeinated beverages, is best consumed in moderation.

Moderation is the furthest thing from Oregon entrepreneur Nate Winkler's mind.

Winkler runs Oregon Yerba Mate. He does sell mate by the cup in a small café, but it's around back in his warehouse where the real action is. Winkler imports mate from Argentina and adds herbs and spices in a

A.M. Costa Rica wire service photo

Not a lot of U.S. customers want to share a straw

customized blending machine that looks kind of like a cement mixer. Winkler says even his most creative concoctions are still about 95 percent mate.

But he says the flavored blends are a way to make it appeal to a wider audience. "Mate has a pretty bitter taste, especially drinking it traditional style. So for the American palate, it's really hard to handle that way."

Mixing in other flavors isn't the only concession to North American preferences that Winkler and other mate purveyors have made.

In South America, mate is a shared experience, almost a ritual. You drink it out of a gourd through a metal straw called a bombilla. A server pours water over the mate leaves, enough for a single serving. You drink it, and pass it back to the server, who does the same thing for the person next to you.

The gourd goes around the circle, everyone drinking out of the same straw.

Winkler says he drank mate that way when he was in South America with the Peace Corps. But he's not sure most of his customers are ready for that.

"If people were more receptive to that kind of thing, I would obviously be way bigger on it," says Winkler. "But we're in America and it's fast-paced, you know, get your drink and go. It's going to be hard to get a bunch of people to come into my café and sit around and share a gourd."

Back at the Top Leaf Mate Bar in Bend, Santiago Casanueva says about 10 percent of his customers choose to share a gourd. Len Meserve is not one of them. He knows about the traditional way of drinking mate, but says while the shared experience has its attraction, he'd rather just go it alone:

"It's just more convenient to have your own," says Meserve. "You get to control it. We seem to like that aspect."

In addition to the convenience of drinking mate out of a cup, there's also the "yuck" factor. In a germ-phobic society, sharing a straw doesn't have much appeal.

Costa Rican firms seeking new business in Panamá

2010-05-12T03:51:00.000-07:00

Costa Rican firms seeking
new business in Panamá

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Representatives of Costa Rica firms are in Panamá through Thursday seeking business. Among them are Costa Rican architectural and engineering firms that want to explore the possibility of providing their services to the country in the south, said Promotora del Comercio Exterior, which organized the trade mission.

Organizers said that there were 50 individual meetings set for Costa Rican producers to present their sales pitches.

The services offered include construction, development, tourism, designers, interior decorators, producers of plants and floral products, financial entities, lawyers and information service providers.

The architectural firms will be meeting with the Cámera Panameña de la Construcción and the Sociedad Panameña de Ingerieros y Arquetectos.

Costa Rica and Panamá have a free trade treaty that covers some but not all of the services offered.

Pope calls for profound purification and penance within the church as well as pardon and justice.

2010-05-11T05:27:00.000-07:00

LISBON, Portugal – The clerical abuse scandal represents the greatest threat to the Roman Catholic Church and the crisis was "born from sins within the church" not outside, Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday on a trip to Portugal.

He called for profound purification and penance within the church as well as pardon and justice.

In some of his strongest comments to date, Benedict said the Catholic church had always suffered from internal problems but that "today we see it in a truly terrifying way."

"The greatest persecution of the church doesn't come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sin within the church," the pontiff said. "The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice."

Benedict was responding to journalists' questions, submitted in advance, aboard the papal plane while en route to Portugal, where he began a four-day visit Tuesday.

His comments appeared to repudiate the Vatican's initial response to the scandal, in which it blamed the media as well as pro-choice and pro-gay marriage advocates for mounting a campaign against the church and the pope in particular.

Since then, however, Benedict has called for penance and promised the church would take action to protect children and make abusive priests face justice.

As far as the church's purification is concerned, Benedict has already been cleaning house, accepting the resignations of a few bishops in recent weeks who either admitted they sexually abused youngsters or covered up for priests who did.

Just last week, the pope took control of the conservative Legionaries of Christ order after it was discredited by revelations that its founder fathered at least one child and sexually abused young seminarians.

More bishop resignations have been tendered and the Vatican official in charge of handling sex abuse cases has said he would not be surprised if the pope asks for more.

While the abuse scandal greatly overshadowed the pope's press conference, Portugal has not experienced the wave of priest abuse claims that have emerged in other European countries, including the pontiff's native Germany, as well as Austria, Belgium and Ireland among others.

Portugal, however, is undergoing the same problems that other European nations are experiencing in terms of a financial crisis.

Portugal's economic growth has been pedestrian for years, averaging less than 1 percent between 2001-2008, and the global downturn brought a steep contraction of 2.7 percent last year. A three-year austerity plan to ease the country's crippling debt load is expected to bring greater hardship to a people already feeling the pinch.

The pope said the fiscal crisis demonstrated the need for "moral responsibility" in the economics sphere and noted that he outlined his vision for a more ethical financial system in his 2009 encyclical "Charity in Truth."

___

Associated Press Writer Barry Hatton in Lisbon contributed to this report.

Costa Rica why dengue gets worse

2010-05-11T01:47:00.000-07:00

New research suggests
why dengue gets worse

By the Imperial College London News service

Some of the human immune system's defenses against the virus that causes dengue fever actually help the virus to infect more cells, according to new research published in the journal Science.

The researchers behind the work from Imperial College London hope their new findings could help with the design of a vaccine against the dengue virus. The study also brings scientists closer to understanding why people who contract dengue fever more than once usually experience more severe and dangerous symptoms the second time around.

Dengue fever is transmitted by a mosquito bite and is prevalent in sub-tropical and tropical regions including Costa Rica, Southeast Asia and South America. Symptoms include high fever, severe aching in the joints and vomiting. The dengue virus can also cause hemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal.

Incidence of dengue fever has increased dramatically in the last century and two fifths of the world's population are now at risk from it, according to the World Health Organization. There are four distinct strains of the virus, and no licensed vaccines or drugs have yet been developed to combat any of them.

The researchers behind the most recent study have identified a set of antibodies, produced by the human immune system to fight off the dengue virus, that they believe scientists should avoid including in any new vaccine to prevent dengue fever.

The new research shows that these precursor membrane protein antibodies do not do a very effective job of neutralizing the virus. Moreover, these antibodies actually help the virus to infect more cells.

The study suggests that when a person who has already been infected with one strain of dengue virus encounters a different strain of dengue virus, the antibodies awakened during the first infection spring into action again. However, rather than protecting the body from the second infection, these antibodies help the virus to establish itself.

This activity of the antibodies could explain why a second infection with a different strain of the virus can cause more harm than the first infection. The researchers believe that if a dengue virus vaccine contained these antibodies, this could cause similar problems.

Professor Gavin Screaton, the lead author of the study, is the head of the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London. "A huge proportion of the world's population is at risk from dengue fever and although treatments have improved, it can be a very unpleasant, painful disease and people are still dying from it," he said. "When there is an epidemic of dengue fever, it can put a huge strain on health systems and local economies as well as on individuals and their families.

"Our new research gives us some key information about what is and what is not likely to work when trying to combat the dengue virus. We hope that our findings will bring scientists one step closer to creating an effective vaccine," he added.

This study was a collaboration between researchers at Imperial College London and Mahidol University, Khon Kaen Hospital and Songkhla Hospital in Thailand.

Actions against dengue now include cleaning up places where mosquitoes may breed and spraying for the adult insects. Individuals also are encouraged to use repellant in areas where the dengue mosquito, a day biter, lives. In Costa Rica this includes both coasts with outbreaks in the Central Valley caused by travelers.

libel award in Panamá

2010-05-11T01:42:00.001-07:00

Press group criticizes
libel award in Panamá

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

A hemispheric press group Monday criticized a highly surprising court decision against Panamanian newspaper La Prensa that ordered payment of $300,000 in damages to a former public prosecutor for libel after it published official reports on her wrongdoing while in office.

The second civil circuit court Judge Miriam Cheng de Aguilar ordered La Prensa’s publishing company to pay the damages to public prosecutor Argentina Barrera for moral damages, arising from the publication Aug. 30, 2005, of two articles titled “Attorney General’s Office Continues on the Trail of Corruption” and “For Lack of Ethics Another Prosecutor is Fired.” The reports referred to the content of official press releases issued by the attorney general’s office.

Alejandro Aguirre, editor of the Miami, Florida, Spanish-language newspaper Diario Las Américas, called the court ruling highly surprising because, he said, “the risk here is that a dangerous legal precedent is being set which makes the news media and journalists responsible for official information that originates from government sources.” Aguirre added, “This is a restriction and a message of censorship not only to the press and official sources but to the right that every citizen has to access official information.” He is president of the press organization, the Inter American Press Association.

The attorney general’s press release explained that Barrera was dismissed by the federal agency for “lack of ethics,” together with other legal officers whose names were also mentioned in the report published by the newspaper. In addition to quoting the press release, La Prensa’s articles included statements made by Barrera who was reinstated in 2008 on a ruling by the Supreme Court that also ordered she be paid her suspended salary.

La Prensa’s editor, Fernando Berguido, said he would appeal the court order which also includes payment of costs amounting to $50,000.

Panama, Guns, Guns, Guns

2010-05-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

Story by Don Winner
More actions are coming. The Government Commission of the Legislative Assembly will address the issue of additional controls on firearms and ammunition in Panama, after DIAaDIA published a report on the lack of control that exists for the purchase and sale of these devices. This legislative initiative will seek to establish effective controls of firearms, ammunition and explosives in order to avoid the presence of these materials in inappropriate and volumes. The bill also proposes the creation of a legal regime that would contain clear and timely measures for the effective control of the sale and purchase of firearms and ammunition in Panama. At the same time, the proposal aims to curb the existence of armed people without qualifications, competence and integrity. This includes special limitations for the use of weapons on both natural and legal persons. Individuals would be limited to owning a maximum of three firearms per person. Legal entities (companies) could be authorized more depending on the types of services they provide. So far this year, there have been 288 murders in Panama by firearms. (Dia a Dia)
Editor's Comment: This is exactly the wrong thing to do. A person who commits a murder with a firearm is not going to be very concerned over the prospects of picking up an additional charge for being in possession of an illegal gun. Any time there is a rise in crime many citizens illogically blame the weapons, which is kind of like blaming the car for the accident. When criminals are getting more violent, I would argue that is exactly when it makes the most sense to loosen controls on firearms, to allow law abiding citizens greater and freer access to the ability to defend themselves. Obviously the police are not able to do it, so why not "enlist" law abiding citizens. Panama already has a structure requiring background checks and a psychological examination before a concealed carry permit is issued. I depart from the standard NRA attitude in that I also support a requirement for mandatory training and classes, as well as registration of all weapons and insurance. I would like the opportunity to prove to the Government of Panama that they could safely license me to carry a fully automatic assault rifle such as an AK-47, a sub machine gun such as an UZI, or some other such weaponry. The bad guys obtain these very same weapons on the black market and use them in the drug trafficking business, the killers and robbers get them as well, so why not give the law abiding citizens a fighting chance. I also support changes to sentencing laws for crimes committed using firearms, such as the "10-20-life" laws in Florida;

•10-20-LIFE

•10-20-LIFE has helped to drive down Florida's violent-gun crime rates by 30%. The state's 2004, "Index Crime" rate is now the lowest in 34 years, and the violent crime rate is the lowest in a quarter century.

•The 10-20-LIFE public information program continues. The Florida Department of Corrections, in conjunction with the Executive Office of the Governor, and the Florida Legislature continue to inform the public that Florida's tolerance for crime is over. Staff from the Department of Corrections has provided several community presentations on gun violence, and distributed materials about 10-20-LIFE.

•In 1998, criminals in Florida used guns to commit 31,643 violent felonies, including 13,937 armed robberies. That year, the mandatory punishment for using a gun to commit a violent felony was only three years in prison. During his campaign for Governor in 1998, Jeb Bush proposed the toughest gun-crime law in the nation: 10-20-LIFE. Under 10-20-LIFE, a felon who used a gun to commit a crime like armed robbery would face at least 10 years in state prison.

•The 1999 Florida Legislature passed sweeping legislation that provides for enhanced minimum mandatory prison terms for offenders who commit crimes with guns.

•Mandates a minimum 10 year prison term for certain felonies, or attempted felonies in which the offender possesses a firearm or destructive device

•Mandates a minimum 20 year prison term when the firearm is discharged

•Mandates a minimum 25 years to LIFE if someone is injured or killed

•Mandates a minimum 3 year prison term for possession of a firearm by a felon

•Mandates that the minimum prison term is to be served consecutively to any other term of imprisonment imposed.
That's the idea. If you use a gun to commit any kind of crime you are guaranteed ten years in prison, at least. If the firearm is discharged, make that 20 years. If someone is injured or killed, then it's 25 to life. I'm a huge fan of this kind of legislation. In addition, in response to a crime wave Florida greatly liberalized their gun laws, making it easy for law abiding citizens to obtain concealed carry permits. Violent crime dropped dramatically, almost overnight. And the fears of some that more guns would mean more crime turned out to be exactly the opposite of what actually happened - "What we can say with some confidence is that allowing more people to carry guns does not cause an increase in crime. In Florida, where 315,000 permits have been issued, there are only five known instances of violent gun crime by a person with a permit. This makes a permit-holding Floridian the cream of the crop of law-abiding citizens, 840 times less likely to commit a violent firearm crime than a randomly selected Floridian without a permit."

Is your priest having sex with your child, why ask them and then all police

2010-05-10T05:37:00.000-07:00

Catholics sent predator priest to remote village
By MICHELLE FAUL and CARLEY PETESCH, Associated Press Writers Michelle Faul And Carley Petesch, Associated Press Writers –
MAKANKA, Sierra Leone – A rutted red dirt track leads to the "bar," a couple of homemade wood benches in the shade of an old tree dripping with wild mangoes. Within easy reach, there's a yellow plastic jerry can of the fiery palm wine the American priest loved.

A 40-year-old schoolteacher now charges that the Rev. James Tully gave the palm wine to teenage boys to make them more susceptible to his advances.

This faraway corner of West Africa — with no electricity or piped water — is where the Roman Catholic Church sent Tully, twice. The teacher told The Associated Press that Tully abused him and other boys repeatedly during his first stint in Sierra Leone, from 1979 to 1985. After a conviction in the U.S. for giving minors alcohol and groping them, the church sent Tully back to Sierra Leone for a second stint from 1994 to 1998.

Tully's story is an example of how the church transferred abusive priests from country to country, in a scandal now emerging worldwide. But it also shows the deep reluctance to come out against a Catholic priest in many parts of Africa.

Catholic Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg cautioned this month that the scandals in the church were not particular to the United States and Europe.

"It simply means that the misbehavior of priests in Africa has not been exposed to the same glare of the media as in other parts of the world," Tlhagale said.

____

The shade and occasional breeze are the only relief from the unrelenting 100-degree (38-degree Celsius) heat matched by 100 percent humidity that has men lifting their shirts to fan bellies and black skin glistening with sweat. The only sound is the chirping of long-billed birds attracted to a nearby rice paddy.

It was in these villages that Tully demanded oral sex, called "lollipopping" in the Krio dialect, the teacher said.

"He would want us to play with his penis, to arouse him; not even to just play with it but to put it in your mouth," said the teacher, who asked to remain anonymous because he works at a Catholic school and fears he could be fired.

Asked if the sex had gone any further, tears welled in the teacher's eyes and he turned away: "I don't want to remember that. After all these years, I still can't talk about it. It makes me hot all over."

Tully would not comment about these accusations when approached by The Associated Press in New Jersey, where he now lives. The Catholic Church says it never received any complaints about Tully's behavior in Sierra Leone.

"No family member or friends or associates of any victim that was sexually abused has come forward to inform or report to me that he has been sexually abused by Father Tully," said Bishop Giorgio Biguzzi of Makeni, who was bishop through all the years Tully was based in his northern diocese.

Such responses do not surprise the Sierra Leonean schoolteacher.

"Who would believe a young village boy over a white priest?" he asked.

He complained about the abuse to his uncle, who had helped bring him up after his father died. "My uncle pleaded with me, asking me if I couldn't 'cope' with this thing since it was the only way for me to get an education."

At least one boy refused to put up with it, according to a police officer from Kamakwei, a northern town near the border with Guinea.

The officer, who asked not to be identified because he is Catholic and fears being shunned by the church, said his cousin and several other youngsters lived in the parish priest's house in Kamalo, where Tully was based in the 1980s.

His cousin lived there for two years with other boys who were receiving scholarships from Tully. The compound was always filled with boys, sometimes playing soccer, and Tully rode around with them on the back of his pickup truck.

That was a familiar sight in many villages, according to more than two dozen people interviewed by the AP. Tully took boys with him on weekend trips to villages where he built up schools and churches, and stayed overnight so he could say Mass on Sundays.

Tully had picked the cousin out as the brightest student in Kamakwie when he was about 14, and told the family he would take care of his education if they let him come to Kamalo. But after two years "(my cousin) ran away and came home. He told us that the priest was always calling him to lie in his bed and urging him to caress him."

The family did nothing, the policeman said, "because we were not sure whether we should believe the boy, and also the status of the man was high." He said Tully was the top-ranking Catholic in the area, and headmasters at Catholic schools there reported to him.

He said his cousin completed his education at the Catholic school in Kamakwie but was killed by rebels during the war.

Tully left Sierra Leone for the United States in 1985. There, a seminarian in Milwaukee, William Nash, accused Tully of abusing him between 1986 and 1988. In 2005, Nash received a $75,000 out-of-court settlement from the Xaverians, though Tully did not admit to any wrongdoing.

"I had my own experience and I was horrified about it. I'm angry that the church has allowed a man to function in the church in this religious order for 30 years. And that's criminal," Nash told the AP in a telephone interview from his home in western Massachusetts.

In the early 1990s, Tully also was accused of escorting three teenage boys to a baseball game in Franklin, Wisconsin, giving them alcohol and groping one of the youths. Tully signed an affidavit that said, ""I am pleading no contest because I understand what I am charged with and believe I would be found guilty."

He was convicted of disorderly conduct in 1992. He was sentenced to two years' probation and barred from unsupervised contact with juveniles.

Tully was transferred to the Institute of the Living in Hartford, Connecticut, which specializes in sexual disorders and has treated hundreds of priests. There he received psychotherapy and made "very good progress," according to a letter from the institute to the Wisconsin court.

"He has never denied responsibility for his sexual behavior and has come to realize the damage that this has inflicted on the others," says the May 1992 letter.

The Rev. Carl Chudy, current U.S. superior of the Xaverian Missionaries order based in Wayne, New Jersey, said Tully's therapist said he could return to Africa so long as he had supervised encounters with youth, therapy and ongoing support.

"I assume Sierra Leone agreed to this because when his probation was over, he left," Chudy said.

Yet the church sent him back to Sierra Leone apparently without ever investigating his activities there. And most of his work was with teenagers — organizing soccer teams, drama clubs and choirs in scrabble-poor villages.

He left in 1998, when he was evacuated during the nation's brutal 10-year civil war.

The Xaverians finally laicized Tully in February 2009, after Nash, the Wisconsin seminarian, went on a mission to have him defrocked. Chudy said the decision was Tully's and was approved by the pope last year.

Chudy said there is a very strict policy in place today: "In the past obvious missteps were made due to what was known at the time. We are quite committed to protecting young people from the few who have caused such great damage," he said.

Rev. Carlo Girola, an official of the Xaverians' general administration in Rome, said there were no accusations or suspicions regarding Tully's first stay in Sierra Leone to make the Xaverians feel they had to investigate.

Girola said the regional supervisor in Sierra Leone, Father Piero Lazzarini, was informed about the "situation and conditions" imposed for Tully's return to the country. Lazzarini spoke of this to Father Luigi Brioni, the pastor in Magburaka where Tully was then sent. According to Girola, Brioni "never informed Lazzarini of any incidents related to this problem."

Some who worked with Tully for years in Sierra Leone praised his good works.

"I know him as someone who was always assisting children, paying their school fees, helping them get into college," said Ahmed Polo Samura, a human rights activist and child protection officer in Kamakwie who knew Tully from the time he was an altar boy in church.

Mark Saidu, a farmer in Makali, said Tully converted him from Islam when he was 14 years old in 1984 and helped pay for his education at Catholic schools.

"Father Jim had lots and lots of friends. He was a man who loved to socialize," Saidu said. "And he was popular around here because he would travel around with a generator and show films in the villages. And with the soccer competitions, that could be the only entertainment people would have for months."

Augustine Sorie Bangura is described by many as Tully's greatest friend in Sierra Leone. Bangura, 48, said Tully encouraged him to write letters to the priest's friends in the United States to garner donations that built the first health clinic to the village. Before that, people had to walk 16 miles (26 kilometers) to the hospital in Kamalo.

Bangura and many others spoke of Tully's love of strong liquor, some said to the point of incoherent drunkenness.

"He would use palm wine to get people together to evangelize them, and he would also use palm wine to encourage the youths to join us in singing. That man loved palm wine," said choir master John Abdulai Kamara.

Some, though, say Tully's use of palm wine was more sinister: "He would take us boys to go palm wine drinking and would always encourage us to drink, saying, 'It's nice. Have some more.' You could say he lured us into drinking, and that stuff is so strong that just one sip can make your head spin," said the teacher who told the AP Tully molested him.

The teacher said he has long been disillusioned with the Catholic Church. "They shattered my dreams," he said.

The man studied to become a monk and teacher with the Irish-based Christian Brothers order, but said he left when the head of the seminary tried to abuse him.

The teacher said that if victims of sexual abuse by priests were assured they would not be punished for telling the truth, "you would see many, many, many people coming forward."

___

Carley Petesch reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writer Frances D'Emilio in Rome and David Porter in Wayne, New Jersey contributed to this report.

___

Hugo Chavez takes farm in bid to stay in power forever like Castro

2010-05-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

CARACAS, Venezuela – As Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations, Diego Arria dealt with major conflicts on the Security Council, participating in efforts to bring peace to places like Bosnia and Somalia.

Now he is consumed in a personal conflict: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government has seized Arria's 914-acre (370-hectare) farm after accusing him of not holding proper legal title.

Arria plans to challenge the takeover of his farm, which has about 250 milk-producing cows, orange and lime orchards and an organic coffee plantation.

"This is not an agricultural issue. This is a political vendetta," he said in a telephone interview Saturday from his home in New York.

The 70-year-old Arria was a diplomat for Venezuela before Chavez was elected president in 1998 campaigning against the country's political establishment. Arria has been a vocal critic of Chavez internationally and is now forming a group to advocate for the rights of people whose lands have been seized by the government.

"I'm creating an association of people like me who have been abused so that we can defend ourselves nationally and internationally," Arria said. "I already have 350 people who have joined the organization, and I'm going to make a national case of this."

Chavez, a close ally of Cuba and other leftist-led nations in the region, says he is leading Venezuela toward socialism and has taken over private farms in spots throughout the country while also nationalizing companies in businesses from electricity to cement.

Over the past eight years, his government says, it has seized more than 5 million acres (2 million hectares) of farmland, targeting property that officials contend was either fallow, underused or whose ownership could not be proven through documents.

Chavez called Arria corrupt during a televised speech Friday night. Holding up a photo of Arria's colonial ranch house, the president said, "This is now in the hands of the people, of the revolution!"

"It looked like 'Falcon Crest,' do you remember that?" Chavez added, alluding to the former U.S. television soap opera.

He held up a photo with an aerial view of the farm in a river valley, then another of a swimming pool under palm trees.

"Tremendous pool. That's the bourgeoisie," Chavez said. "Now he's going around squealing that he's going to get it back. Well, he'll have to topple Chavez to get this back, because it belongs to the revolution now."

Arria vowed to present documents to prove he rightfully owns the land in northwestern Yaracuy state. He said he bought La Carolina farm, which is flanked by a mountain, in 1988 for the equivalent of about $300,000.

Its colonial house, originally built in 1852, was remodeled by Arria's family and was featured in Architectural Digest in 1993.

The farm has about three dozen employees, and two of them met the group of armed government officials who took over the property May 1, Arria said.

Vice President Elias Jaua, who is also Chavez's agriculture minister, inspected the farm Thursday and said that Arria has 23 days to show his documents and that officials are looking into the sources of money used to buy the property. The government plans to turn it into a state farm, Jaua said.

Arria, a former governor of Caracas in the 1970s, was ambassador to the United Nations from 1991 to 1993 and represented Venezuela on the Security Council, including a monthlong stint in its rotating presidency in 1992. He was later an assistant U.N. secretary general under then Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Arria said his three daughters, who frequented the farm while growing up, have been upset about losing a place where they frolicked among horses, rabbits and chickens. The farm also produces vegetables and has a restaurant and a country store, which sells marmalade made from its fruit and cheese made from its milk.

Outspoken in criticizing a government he calls corrupt and authoritarian, Arria said he thinks some of his recent barbs must have irked Chavez. He noted that the government seized his farm just a few days after he spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum and suggested that Chavez could eventually face justice for crimes in Venezuela.

Arria said he plans to return to Venezuela this week to make his case before the National Lands Institute and to protest what he calls "a complete mockery of the judicial system."

Chavezs and Iran's Ahlicktosuchalotofcockabod president think they can stay in power forever, I think they should just go and suck each others dicks. Panama Jack

Chavez says he will through anyone who runs against him in Prison

2010-05-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

More than 7 years in prison for Chavez critic
Associated Press Writer Jorge Rueda, Associated Press Writer
CARACAS, Venezuela – A former Venezuelan defense minister and critic of President Hugo Chavez was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Friday after being convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power.

Retired Gen. Raul Baduel was sentenced to seven years, 11 months in prison by a military court and is barred from running for public office, state television reported.

Baduel was tried on charges that 40 million bolivars — then worth $18.6 million at the official exchange rate — went missing in 2006 and 2007 while he was defense minister. Baduel has insisted he is innocent and dismissed the accusation as a politically motivated reprisal for his opposition to Chavez.

Baduel retired in July 2007 after Chavez removed him from the defense minister post, and he quickly emerged as a prominent critic of the president. He publicly opposed a package of constitutional revisions proposed by Chavez that would have enshrined socialist ideals in the constitution but were rejected by voters in 2007.

"He was tried without any evidence," his daughter Andreina Baduel said after the sentencing. "My father has been an honest man and he always will be."

In the same case, Col. Hernan Medina Marval was sentenced to 8 years, 11 months in prison.

Another of Baduel's daughters, Rayrin Baduel, told reporters that the main evidence had been the testimony of soldiers who saw Medina carrying some black backs allegedly filled with cash.

"Why didn't they arrest him at that very moment?" she said.

Chavez has denied going after opponents through the legal system, saying Baduel and other government critics are criminals who must face justice.

Baduel had maintained a friendship with Chavez since the presidents' army days and clandestinely aided a failed 1992 coup attempt led by the then-lieutenant colonel.

The general also came to Chavez's aid in 2002, when the president was briefly ousted in a coup. Baduel was a key player in securing Chavez's return to power by sending a team of paratroopers to rescue him from officers who had detained him.

Costa Rica inaugurates new President Chinchilla

2010-05-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

Costa Rica inaugurates new President Chinchilla
By MARIANELA JIMENEZ, Associated Press Writer Marianela Jimenez, Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Adios, peace prize winner. Hola, first female president.

Costa Rica inaugurated Laura Chinchilla as its first woman leader on Saturday, replacing Nobel laureate Oscar Arias with his former vice president and protege.

Chinchilla promised to rule with "humility, honesty and firmness" and said she'll pursue the same economic policies that recently brought the country into a trade pact with the U.S. and opened commerce with China.

Elected in a landslide, Chinchilla has also pledged new protections for the pristine parks and reserves that make this Central American nation first in the world for land preservation.

"We're teaming up for a safer Costa Rica," she said, explaining that a safe country offers a good education, health care, decent housing, care for children and seniors, a prosperous and competitive economy and green, clean industry.

The fifth Latin American woman to be elected president, Chinchilla takes office in a decent economic climate despite the world economic crisis, thanks to policies enacted by Arias that helped insulate Costa Rica.

Chinchilla, a 51-year-old Georgetown University graduate, is a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage. She appealed both to Costa Ricans seeking a fresh face and those reluctant to risk the unknown.

Her inauguration was attended by dignitaries including the presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Georgia. She hugged and kissed her husband, parents and 14-year-old son during the ceremony. Then she hugged Arias, a popular leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his work to end civil wars in several Central American countries.

Arias served as president from 1986 to 1990, and again from 2006 to 2010, boosting tourism and eco-development. During his tenure, Costa Rica became the most visited country in Central America, with a $2.2 billion tourism industry, and Arias has pushed eco-tourism, environmentally friendly development and improved trade relations.

In 2007, he set a goal for his country to be the first carbon-neutral country in the world by 2021, a goal Chinchilla supports. And in recent months, he attempted to mediate between Honduran leaders during a coup. Chinchilla says she wants to help Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, elected in the fall, to repair international relations damaged during the coup.

JERUSALEM

2010-05-08T05:21:00.000-07:00

JERUSALEM – Israel is ready to negotiate the terms of Palestinian statehood, although it wants its security concerns addressed in the initial stages of indirect talks, the Israeli president said Friday after meeting with the U.S. Mideast envoy.

George Mitchell, who is President Barack Obama's special representative for Mideast peace, is in the region for the start of four months of indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians that aim to bridge vast differences between the sides on the contours of a future Palestinian state.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War — for their state, but have said they are willing to make some minor land exchanges.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a reluctant latecomer to the idea of Palestinian statehood, has said he won't give up east Jerusalem and has posed strict security conditions, including a continued Israeli presence in some areas of the West Bank.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, who fills a largely ceremonial role, said the Jewish state is ready to negotiate.

"Israel seeks a historic peace agreement with the Palestinians that will result in the founding of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel," Peres said after meeting with Mitchell.

Peres said resolving security concerns, such as rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, are of the utmost importance to Israel. Rocket attacks from Gaza have almost ceased since Israel's military offensive in the territory more than a year ago. A small number of rockets have been fired, although splinter groups and not Hamas itself are believed to be behind the attacks.

Mitchell also held talks Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. The Palestinian leader has agreed to participate in indirect peace talks with Israel, but has said he still requires the formal backing of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's executive committee, which is expected to sign off on the negotiations when it meets Saturday.

Mitchell arrived earlier this week, and has already held two days of talks with Netanyahu. He was to meet again with Abbas on Saturday and Sunday, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

He said the Palestinians want to give the negotiations a chance, but that success is mainly up to Israel. "Now the Israeli government has a choice, either peace or settlements, and it can't have both," Erekat said.

The Palestinians refuse to enter into direct negotiations unless Israel halts all settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state

Netanyahu has agreed to a temporary slowdown in the West Bank, but refuses to announce a construction freeze in east Jerusalem.

Pope Benedict XVI

2010-05-08T05:15:00.001-07:00

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday accepted the resignation of a leading bishop from his German homeland who is accused of abusing children and possible financial misconduct at a children's home.

Augsburg Bishop Walter Mixa, an outspoken conservative voice in the German church and a military chaplain for Germany, has admitted slapping children decades ago when he was a priest.

But the pressure on him to step down increased on Friday, when German officials said prosecutors were investigating him over what a Augsburg area paper said was an alleged case of sexual abuse.

The terse Vatican announcement on Saturday cited no resignation for accepting the resignation of Mixa, who offered to step down two weeks ago amid persistent allegations that he hit children while a priest decades ago and of financial irregularities at a children's home. The statement simply said that Mixa's resignation was accepted under a canon law regulation that allows a bishop to go if he has become "unfit" for service.

Mixa is the latest in a line of churchman to be toppled as the Vatican reels from allegations that bishops and other church hierarchy systematically covered up physical or sexual abuse of minors in several European countries. In some cases, like that of Mixa, bishops have themselves been accused of committing the abuse.

Mixa's attorney was quoted by the Augsburger Allgemeine on Friday as saying the bishop "resolutely denied" the allegations of alleged sexual abuse.

German prosecutors have declined to give details.

In the earlier allegations, which prompted Mixa to offer to step down and ask forgiveness of "those whom I may have caused heartache," the bishop was accused of hitting children.

He initially denied ever using violence against youngsters but later, after intense pressure, said he may have slapped children.

The case, coming in the country of Benedict's birth and involving a prelate who was a key member of Germany's bishops conference for more than a decade, was particularly embarrassing for the German church and German faithful, who, church authorities say, have been leaving in droves since abuse allegations started surfacing in recent months.

Benedict on Saturday met at the Vatican with bishops from Belgium, where the church has also been rocked by recent allegations of abuse by priests and clumsy, slow handling of the cases by the bishops.

Churches in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and even in Nordic countries, where Catholics are a small minority, have been grappling with a steady stream of abuse allegations.

The latest scandals followed Benedict's scathing blame earlier this year of Irish bishops, after a government-led probe of church abuse in heavily Catholic Ireland turned up decades of systematic sexual and physical abuse of children in parishes, orphanages, schools and workhouses by priests, brothers and nuns, and cover-ups by church hierarchy.

Chavez distroys the rights of Venezuela

2010-05-08T05:11:00.000-07:00

By JORGE RUEDA, Associated Press Writer
CARACAS, Venezuela – A former Venezuelan defense minister and critic of President Hugo Chavez was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Friday after being convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power.

Retired Gen. Raul Baduel was sentenced to seven years, 11 months in prison by a military court and is barred from running for public office, state television reported.

Baduel was tried on charges that 40 million bolivars — then worth $18.6 million at the official exchange rate — went missing in 2006 and 2007 while he was defense minister. Baduel has insisted he is innocent and dismissed the accusation as a politically motivated reprisal for his opposition to Chavez.

Baduel retired in July 2007 after Chavez removed him from the defense minister post, and he quickly emerged as a prominent critic of the president. He publicly opposed a package of constitutional revisions proposed by Chavez that would have enshrined socialist ideals in the constitution but were rejected by voters in 2007.

"He was tried without any evidence," his daughter Andreina Baduel said after the sentencing. "My father has been an honest man and he always will be."

In the same case, Col. Hernan Medina Marval was sentenced to 8 years, 11 months in prison.

Another of Baduel's daughters, Rayrin Baduel, told reporters that the main evidence had been the testimony of soldiers who saw Medina carrying some black backs allegedly filled with cash.

"Why didn't they arrest him at that very moment?" she said.

Chavez has denied going after opponents through the legal system, saying Baduel and other government critics are criminals who must face justice.

Baduel had maintained a friendship with Chavez since the presidents' army days and clandestinely aided a failed 1992 coup attempt led by the then-lieutenant colonel.

The general also came to Chavez's aid in 2002, when the president was briefly ousted in a coup. Baduel was a key player in securing Chavez's return to power by sending a team of paratroopers to rescue him from officers who had detained him.

Panama Donald Trump has never been accused of subtlety

2010-05-08T05:07:00.001-07:00

Donald Trump has never been accused of subtlety. So there is nothing retiring about the celebrity real-estate magnate's venture into Panama. His 70-floor sail-shaped Trump Ocean Club, under construction in Panama City's exclusive Punta Pacifica district, will be the largest and most expensive building ever built south of the Rio Grande. "Nothing like this has ever been attempted in Latin America," says head developer Roger Khafif, whose K Group construction firm is handling the $400 million project. "When you think of Sydney you think of the Opera House, when think of Paris you think of the Eiffel Tower, and when you think of Panama, you are going to think of this building."

The 1,080-unit building's construction has now reached the 62nd floor and is scheduled to be inaugurated by the end of the year, complete with luxury condos, a five-star hotel, six restaurants, a Las Vegas-style casino and a private yacht club on the nearby Isla Saboga. The project is 10-to-20 times more expensive than that of any other skyscraper in Panama City. It will be 20% bigger than the AOL-Time Warner building in New York City, Khafif says.

Khafif says Trump's name will help the country's image makeover. "Before it was Panama and Noriega," he explains, referring to Manuel Noriega, the notorious general who ruled the country from 1983 to 1989. "But now it will be Panama and Trump." Or at least he hopes so. "We bet $400 million on it," Khafif says.
(From TIME's Archives: The Fall of Manuel Noriega.)

If Khafif sounds proprietary about something with Trump's name on it, it's because the project was his idea in the first place. When the Colombian-born developer came up with the plans for the building in 2005, amid Panama City's real-estate explosion, he realized it was too big to be financed without a major-league brand name. Khafif knew that Trump had been in Panama in 2003 for the Miss Universe Pageant, so he asked a mutual friend to set up a meeting in New York. "I know the guy has an ego and likes pretty things and, boom, Panama is exploding. So baby, if there's any right time, this is the right time," Khafif recalls, explaining the spirit in which he approached Trump.
(See pictures of Trump and others most likely to succeed.)

The meeting happened in 2005 and Khafif said he was surprised to learn how much homework Trump had done beforehand. "He had done a lot of due diligence. That's what let me walk through that door; it's not easy to walk through that door," Khafif says. Trump "already knew that the country was booming," but "hates to fly or leave the country." The day after the meeting, Khafif said he received an early morning phone call. "I hear a voice that sounded like Trump, but I thought it was friend who can imitate voices. Two minutes later I realized I was talking to the real thing and I had to apologize," admitted Khafif, who speaks in a quick and seamless flow between Spanish and English, oftentimes switching languages several times in the same sentence. Trump, perhaps accustomed to telling people it's him and not an impersonator on the phone, told Roger, "I love it and I am going to send Ivanka down."

Ivanka is Trump's daughter by his ex-wife Ivana. The young woman is now the company's executive vice president of development & acquisitions, and keen on bringing a more global vision to the family business. The next week, Ivanka visited Panama City and liked what she saw. "Panama is a spectacular, thriving country, changing by the day," Ivanka told TIME in an email. "It's been amazing for me to see the growth of Panama City first hand." "She's a very intelligent young woman," Khafif says. "Sometimes I think she's even smarter than her dad about certain things." The contract was signed and the project was launched in New York City in 2006 — the same day authorities back in the Latin American nation announced a dramatic $5.2 billion expansion of the Panama Canal.
(See a multi-media presentation of Panama's vote on expanding its historic canal.)

More expensive than Miami real estate and priced three-to-eight times higher than property in the rest of the Panamanian market, the Trump Ocean Club is partially financed by a $230 million bond offering from Bear Sterns. That bond is now being handled by JP Morgan following the collapse of Bear Sterns in the 2008 global financial crisis. "Without Trump, we would have lost our shirt," Khafif admits. Since then, more than 2,000 construction workers add a new floor each week, silencing many of the earlier skeptics who claimed the project would never get off the ground.

But some doubts remain. Eric Jackson, owner of the English-language Panama News thinks that many of buyers in the Trump Ocean Club, which claims it is 90% sold, could be speculators rather than future tenants. "You go around Panama City and look at these new 'sold out' luxury towers at about 8 p.m. and there are hardly any lights on in them," Jackson says. Samuel Taliaferro of the PrimaPanama investment blog agrees. "I have received emails from a number of speculators who never intended on taking possession."

Others worry the Trump Ocean Club will only contribute to what they see as the city's coming urban-planning disaster. Marco Gandasegui Jr., a University of Panama professor with the Center for Latin American Studies, says many Panamanians are "convinced Panama City's skyline gives us a better image," but warns the building spree is putting an enormous strain on the city's infrastructure. "The Trump Ocean Club is just another example of the chaotic situation Panama City finds itself today," Gandasegui said. "It is squeezed into a tiny dead-end street where it will share space with another dozen similar buildings. It will be part of a permanent traffic jam created by its designers." (Indeed, in a bid that may trump Trump, a project may soon be underway to build Los Faros, an 85-floor gargantua flanked by two 75-story towers.)

But realtors say Panama is just the type of image-crazed country where people will put up with traffic problems in order to boast "Trump" as their address. Kent Davis, owner of real estate agency Panama Equity, says that even the neighbors are excited about Trump. "It's not like having Wal-Mart move in and force out the competition. People are psyched to have Trump in the neighborhood. I even sold a property in a nearby building because the buyer was excited about using the Trump facilities."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1973869,00.html#ixzz0nLJDbQkz

STORY By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com

2010-05-08T04:23:00.000-07:00

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - The following question was submitted for consideration: "What rights have the pensionado kids when they turn 18 and have become adults? My wife daughter and I have lived in Panama for over 3 years, our daughter has attended school in Panama and is now enrolled in a culinary school on her way to becoming a "chef". In a few days she will turn 18 and an adult in Panama. When we first moved here we were wrongly informed about her rights, now having contacted 2 different lawyers it seems she basically has no rights. She cannot work in Panama, well let me re-phrase this she can if some large company is willing to sign a contract to hire her for at least 1 year under what is called the 10% law, she would then lose her pensionado status and would have to apply for a work permit every year. Very few companies if any are willing to sign such a contract. The other option is for her to marry a Panamanian, that could happen one day because she loves Panama, but certainly not now. Has Panama missed something in the new immigration law? What about the hundreds of kids under a pensionado visa when they become adults and cannot apply for work anywhere and are not ready to get married. If these kids that were brought here by their parents without having a choice to say "no" then started a new life in Panama, attended school here and are now reaching adulthood and want to pursue their life here, what are they supposed to do? Should there not have been a provision in the law for them? I'm a bit surprised no one has brought this up yet. Hey Don... any ideas? R.P. " Does anyone have any information that might help this guy? It sounds to me like the lawyers he's talking to are answering this questions, but he just doesn't like the answers he's getting. If you have any ideas, please submit them in comments. Thanks.
Copyright 2009 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.

Panama Coiba Island a Paradice in Panama

2010-05-07T05:05:00.000-07:00

story by Panama Post

Coiba Island is located in the districts of Montijo and Soná, in the Veraguas province . The Coiba National Park was created in 1991 and has a surface of 270.125 hectares, of which 216.543 are marine. Due to its extension and the richness of its islands and of the sea waters that surround them, it is considered as a jewel in Panama and in the whole world.
The island, of volcanic origin, has 50.314 hectares and it´s the biggest in the Central American Pacific. Along with it are the other islands: Jicarón, Jicarita, Canal de Afuera, Afuerita, Pájaros, Uva, Brincanco, and Coibita, among others.
In total, the islands of this park have more than 240 kilometers of coast, most of which remains in natural state.
The conservation of this archipelago is due to the fact that from 1919 to 2004 it was used as a penitentiary colony by the Panamanian government.
Coiba Island has several endemic species. More than 80% of the island is covered by its original vegetation, the mangroves are of significant size.
At least three species of sea turtles arrive to its coats to lay eggs and it has one of the best coral reefs in the Panamanian Pacific, offering a unique view to tourists.

Fauna variety
Since 1993 and with the Collaboration of the Spanish Cooperation Agency (AECI), a biological station was established in the park. So far 36 species of mammals have been registered, and 36 of amphibians and reptiles, with a high level of endemic qualities, such as the “ñeque” (Dasyprocta coibae), and the Howler monkey (Alouatta palliata coibensis) among the mammals, and the Coiba Colaespina (Cranioleuca dissita) , among the birds.
Coiba is the only place in Panama where it is still possible to see herds of Red Macaws (Ara Macao), almost extinct.
However, the natural richness of the park is in the sea. So far 60 species of fish have been identified, 12 of echinoderms, 45 of mollusks and 13 of crustaceans.
The Coiba seas are also the hábitat of four types of cetaceans
The huge Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), the orca (Orcinuous orca), the tropical dolphin (Stenella attenuata), and the Common Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

Saturday is Laura Chinchilla's day. Inauguration day

2010-05-07T04:52:00.001-07:00

Saturday is an historic day for Costa Rica

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Saturday is Laura Chinchilla's day. Inauguration day is always one of hope and expectation.

Ms. Chinchilla has four years after 10 a.m.

Comisión Traspaso de Poderes photo

President-elect Laura Chinchilla Miranda
Saturday to show that she is not a puppet of hidden political forces, as opponents alleged in the campaign.

For Óscar Arias Sánchez, the day will be bittersweet. He has said he hoped that a woman would be elected president. Deep down he has to be sad that Costa Rican presidents cannot run for a second consecutive term. The step from a man of power to a private citizen is a steep one.

To some extent, Ms. Chinchilla is not the kind of woman president some Feminists wanted. She opposes abortion and is a devoted Catholic. She will not be on the vanguard of progressive measure for females. But she has promised to crack down on casinos.

The weather should be partly cloudy for the inauguration in Parque la Sabana. Most of the 20,000 spectators will have seats outdoors. Winds from the Caribbean are expected to keep rains at bay until at least mid-afternoon.

Costa Ricans will get a first taste of the Chinchilla presidency in the early afternoon when the new chief executive meets with her cabinet. She is expected to issue some unspecified decrees.

Still up in the air is who will represent the United States at the inauguration. Such events usually require an individual at a higher level than the country's ambassador. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, have been here before, but there has not been a word from the security conscious White House.

Security officials might be nervous at threats by leftists to demonstrate Saturday by marching from downtown San José to la Sabana.

Most other interest groups, environmentalists, contract transportation drivers and others, have said they will not demonstrate out of respect for the civic democracy.

President Ricardo Martinelli

2010-05-06T06:36:00.001-07:00

President Ricardo Martinelli announced today he would be launching a counteroffensive to combat crime, while recognizing that it has been very difficult for his government to combat this problem. He said insecurity "is an old problem, which is not resolved by building a new school, making a crossing or a road, but rather with a counter-offensive against crime," Martinelli told reporters after attending the inauguration of the new National Council of Journalists. The president said the issue of security will be one of the primary themes on the agenda that will be addressed by the National Assembly in upcoming special sessions, for which no dates have yet been established. He acknowledged that is has been very difficult to face the challenge of increasing security in the country, and noted that one of the causes is the fact that "the laws do not help the public officials and the police." Martinelli, who this week marks the one year anniversary of his election, has toughened the laws that penalize violence, installed new air and naval bases, and created a new Ministry of Security, in order to fight crime and organized crime. (La Prensa)

Brazilian archbishop says police should let the church handle the problem.

2010-05-06T04:57:00.000-07:00

RIO DE JANEIRO – A Brazilian archbishop said adolescents are "spontaneously homosexual" and in need of guidance, while society at large is pedophile, according to a Wednesday report.

Archbishop Dadeus Grings — a conservative priest who has made controversial statements in the past — told the O Globo newspaper at a Brazilian bishops conference that society's woes are being reflected in the sex abuse scandal enveloping the Roman Catholic Church.

"Society today is pedophile, that is the problem. So, people easily fall into it. And the fact it is denounced is a good sign," Grings told O Globo.

The comments come as the church is under fire for a sex abuse scandal touching all corners of the globe — and three weeks after Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the No. 2 official at the Vatican, said at a news conference in Chile that the sex scandals were linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests.

There have been several cases of priests allegedly abusing children that have surfaced in Brazil in recent months.

Father Geraldo Martins, a spokesman for the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops, said Grings would not be made available to elaborate on his comments made Tuesday to O Globo.

Martins said he could not confirm the accuracy of the newspaper report, because he said Grings did not make the comments during a press conference, but on the sidelines of the gathering.

Grings is the archbishop of the Porto Alegre diocese, one of the largest in Brazil, which has more Catholics than any other nation. He also serves as the chancellor of the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul.

Grings denounced the abuse within the church, but he said internal punishment of priests guilty of abuse was sufficient and that police should not be involved.

"For the church to go and accuse its own sons would be a little strange," he said.

The archbishop also said it was important to help children avoid homosexuality.

"We know that the adolescent is spontaneously homosexual. Boys play with boys, girls play with girls," he said. "If there is no proper guidance, this sticks. The question is — how are we going to educate our children to use a sexuality that is human and suitable?"

Grings also said the acceptance of homosexuality in society could pave the way for the acceptance of pedophilia.

"When sexuality is trivialized, it's clear that this is going to affect all cases. Homosexuality is such a case. Before, the homosexual wasn't spoken of. He was discriminated against.

"When we begin to say they have rights, rights to demonstrate publicly, pretty soon, we'll find the rights of pedophiles," he said.

The archbishop has made controversial comments in the past.

In 2003, he argued that only 1 million Jews died in the Holocaust, though a few years later he recanted. Experts say 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust.

Last year, he outraged Jewish groups in Brazil by telling a magazine that "more Catholics than Jews died in the Holocaust, but this isn't known because the Jews control the world's media."

Grings told The Associated Press at that time he was trying to advocate for the millions of non-Jewish victims of the Nazis.

What I want to know is why is this preist wearing a crown, is he someone speacial?? or a Roman King????

Crackhead Hugo Chavez the President with a big mouth and small Penis

2010-05-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

A day after saying he hopes to eventually cool tensions with Colombia, President Hugo Chavez charged that his neighbor recently allowed a U.S. military plane to carry out "electronic warfare" operations against Venezuela.

Chavez told a crowd of soldiers Monday that his intelligence services detected the American aircraft that he said took off from a Colombian base and flew along the border between the two South American nations, which have seen long tense relations worsen in recent months.

Without giving details, he said Venezuela's military intelligence intercepted a conversation between the pilot and air traffic controllers in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla. The aircraft conducted espionage operations, he said.

"Through our strategic intelligence, we detected an RC-12 airplane belonging to the U.S. Air Force," Chavez said during a talk to an auditorium packed with military officers, rank-and-file soldiers and cadets.

"It was a plane specialized for electronic war, and it was carrying out electronic war operations," he added.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Robin Holzhauer would not directly respond to Chavez's accusation during a telephone interview on Monday, saying only that "the United States and Colombia engage in a number of bilateral activities," all of which "respect the sovereignty of other nations."

No one was immediately available at U.S. Southern Command in Miami to comment.

Chavez has made similar accusations in the past, saying in December that a U.S. military plane had entered Venezuelan airspace and was met by his military's F-16s and escorted out. The P-3 plane took off from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, he said.

The U.S. Southern Command denied it.

Chavez didn't elaborate on the alleged spying incident, but the former paratrooper accused Colombia's government of allowing the U.S. military to use its territory to mount what he called "an aggression" against Venezuela.

Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have been rocky for years, but frictions have intensified recently over Colombia's agreement to give the U.S. increased access to its military bases — a deal that Chavez calls a threat to his country.

Colombia, meanwhile, accuses Chavez's government of supporting Colombia's Marxist rebels. Chavez rejects the allegation.

Chavez's comments came a few hours after Colombia's conservative president, Alvaro Uribe, accused the Venezuelan leader of meddling in Colombia's presidential election campaign by trying to influence the outcome of the vote.

On Sunday, the socialist Chavez said he hoped for improved relations with Colombia's next president, but warned that efforts to reduce tensions would face serious obstacles if Uribe's ally — former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos — wins the May 30 election.

Chavez, who has repeatedly clashed with Uribe and Santos, also said Colombia's government could become a threat to its neighbors if Santos was elected.

"It's an insult to the Colombian people that a foreign government attempts to coerce their free political will to pick the next president," Uribe said.

He accused Chavez of trying to "intimidate" Colombians by warning that a Santos victory could lead to armed conflict.

"The Colombian people are not going to accept this blackmail," said Uribe, whose term ends Aug. 7.

Santos is among the favorites to win Colombia's presidential election.

After lambasting Santos on Sunday, Chavez denied he is trying to influence the outcome of the vote.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/04/26/international/i205729D78.DTL&feed=rss.business#ixzz0n4HMb4GR

Hugo Chavez Government Anti-Semitic towards Jews

2010-05-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

Hugo Chavez with his new friends a bunch of skumbags

story Huffington Post
Imagine you're a Jew living in a country where you don't feel safe practicing your religion.

Imagine your place of business being smeared with anti-Semitic messages, your synagogue attacked and desecrated, and the school your children attend raided on trumped up suspicions of conspiracy.

Imagine the media calling for your people's expulsion, articles suggesting your religion is the root of the world's ills.

Imagine -- perhaps worst of all -- that these actions and messages are being sponsored by your own government.

Now imagine you speak Spanish.

Because what I'm describing isn't pre-war Germany, but present-day Venezuela.

I recently traveled on assignment for HDNet's World Report to Caracas, Venezuela with correspondent Jennifer London to investigate claims by the Jewish community that anti-Semitism has taken hold of the country. We spent a week traveling around the capitol city, talking to leaders of the community, and we witnessed first hand the threats against the Venezuelan Jews.

"In my case, I feel a duty to say it like it is," Sammy Eppel, a Jewish activist in Venezuela, tells us. "Being afraid -- of course I'm afraid. I mean, I have a family, I have children -- I've been threatened. But I hope that those things would never actually happen -- those things that they promise me over the phone that they're going to do to me or to my family."
But while anti-Semitism exists all over the world, Jewish Venezuelans say their case is different -- because in Venezuela, they tell us, the anti-Semitism stems directly from the government.

"At least in my case, for the first time in recent history, I mean, we see what I would call government sponsored anti-Semitism in a Western country," says Eppel.

When we first heard this from Eppel, and many others in the community, we were shocked - and even a little dubious. State-sponsored anti-Semitism... in 2010? ... in Venezuela? On the surface, it didn't make sense.

But as we continued our investigation, the evidence continued to build. There was the anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed on the synagogues and businesses owned by Jews; there was the police raid on the Jewish school Hebraica that was based on a "tip" that the school was involved in an assassination plot [no evidence was ever found]; there were the frequent publications in the state-run media calling for the expulsion of the Jews; and there was even the anti-Semitic rhetoric of President Hugo Chavez himself.

Perhaps it is this last example that Jewish Venezuelans fear the most. When your own president is comparing Zionists to Nazis on national television, and insinuating that it is people of your religion that have all the wealth in the world ("the descendants of those who crucified Christ"), and then publicly expels the ambassador of Israel during a war that your country has nothing to do with, I can understand why you might start to feel nervous.

But why? What could possibly be the motivation?

Maybe that is most shocking of all....

Find out Tuesday night by watching World Report on HDNet at 9pm ET (6pm Pacific) in the world premier "Chavez's War Against the Jews."

Finally, one community's danger brought to light.

Watch "Chavez's War Against the Jews" on HDNet's World Report Tuesday, May 4th at 9pm ET, 6pm PT. The show will re-air Wednesday night. Check your local listings for details.

Panama Tax Payments Due

2010-05-03T02:35:00.000-07:00

story by Tom Rowley and Don WInner
This is a reminder to any exPats who have Panamanian entities which may owe either estimated income tax payments for 2010 or Real Estate Property taxes.

The first of the three estimated tax payments are due by 30 April and taxes are paid in cash or a certified check payable to Tesoro Nacional at any branch of Banco Nacional de Panamá using a special deposit form from DGi. Keep in mind that 30 April is also a pay day, so go to the BN branch of your choice early or expect to stand in line for a while.

For those who filed a Declaración de Renta for 2009, any estimated tax liability is shown on the second page of that return in the lower right hand corner. Look for the box titled “Liquidación Final del Impuesto Estimado a Pagar”. The “1ra Partida” may have up to three required payments shown representing the liability based on the net income of the prior year which are credited separately, so be careful when filling out the tax deposit form. Those are the amounts you should pay by 30 April. Similar payments are due by 31 August and 31 December.

For those of you whose income fluctuates, we recommend that you estimate the year-to-date income and pay one third of the projected income tax for 2010. And keep in mind that the government in its efforts to equalize the tax scheme has adjusted downward the Corporation (SA) tax rate to 25%.

---
Tom Rowley is a semi-retired US CPA who helps exPats with their US and Panamá tax compliance requirements. He can be contacted at tom@panusatsvc.com

COSTA RICA, THIS STORY IS TRUE

2010-05-03T02:22:00.000-07:00

Anti-Gringo discrimination
is rampant in Costa Rica

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I am really fed up with the discrimination here against Gringos in Costa Rica. Most Ticos really hate us here. Discrimination is as rampant in Costa Rica as it is anywhere in the world. The Gringos are at the bottom of the list. Below the Nicas and even below the Caribis.

Yes now I hear the gasping of the readers. Such a tabu subject to be spoken in public. It is as a secret as the everyday talk in the living rooms of most households in Costa Rica. Just as it is very true in most houses in the U.S.A. Now that my Spanish is getting better I hear the comments from the Ticos.

There is a real RACIAL PROFILING going on here on a daily basis. From the police, restaurants, pulperias, and the attitudes of MOST Ticos. YES, MOST TICOS!!! THIS IS A SOCIAL FACT. My friends actually admit this fact. One aspect of the racial profiling is the idea that all Gringos are filthy rich and don't need their money. This is a form of FISCAL PROFILING. It is OK to steal from them. I worked very hard for 35 years in the USA for 10 to 12 hours a day to get what I manage to keep, after taxes and other scam artist in the U.S.A.

And my experiences in their court systems. There is no justice for a Gringo in the court system here. I have been a domestic violence victim in family court. Fiscales, and penal courts hear from false denuncias. In most cases, you have no chance of winning. It is very hard to find a Tico to be your witness. And they do not like to talk bad against other Ticos. And there is a stigma if a Tico helps a Gringo. I won't even go into on how the lawyers take your money without any intention to carry out their services. My Tico friends actually confirm that the condition really exists.

I hear and see it at the colegio with my own kids. There, too, are the talk, harassment, and even fights stemming from the bias and discrimination. It has been tough for my kids being the only white Gringos in the whole colegio. AND I wanted to build my kids some character? I tell them now, "You know how Chris felt in 'Everybody Hates Chris'?". I saw it, too, as a young boy in a predominately black and hispanic middle school.

I also understand that discrimination is a natural human behavioral phenomenon. It has been evident throughout human history. It is more prevalent with the ignorant

Steve Meno
Coronado, Osa.

Honduras, The truth comes out about the ousted dictator Zelaya and his ties to Hugo Chavez

2010-05-01T11:05:00.001-07:00

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – U.S. officials who voiced strong opposition to Honduras' coup last June now say the ousted president took an "erratic and imprudent course of action" in the months leading up to his overthrow.

The comments from U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens mark the first time U.S. officials have so directly criticized former President Manuel Zelaya for his pre-coup actions.

Llorens told about 300 community leaders at a Thursday meeting of the Honduran Cities Association that the November election of President Porfirio Lobo was a crucial step toward putting this poor Central American country back on track.

"We understood very well that former President Zelaya pursued an erratic and imprudent course of action in the management of the country, and the growing opposition to his polarizing style," Llorens said.

"At the same time, my government was firm in our belief that the constitutional rupture was a setback for democracy in Honduras, and in no way justifiable," Llorens added.

That was why Washington refused to recognize the interim government, he said. "For us, it was not about defending a person — a person with whom we even had differences — but rather about defending a principle."

Zelaya was flown out of Honduras at gunpoint June 28 in a coup that was sparked by his effort to hold a referendum on changing the constitution. Critics said he sought changes that would allow him run for a second term, a charge Zelaya denies. The Supreme Court ruled the referendum was illegal.

Zelaya sneaked back into Honduras after his expulsion, holing up in the Brazilian Embassy while negotiators tried without success to resolve his position before Lobo's victory in a presidential election that had been scheduled before the coup.

"Zelaya's actions after the coup in attempting to return to the country have been described privately by many U.S. and foreign officials as erratic and unpredictable, but this is the first time I had heard openly a description by a U.S. official of his pre-coup behavior as erratic," said Jennifer McCoy, who directs the Carter Center Americas Program in Atlanta, Georgia.

"There is a fine line between describing the roles of the individuals involved in contributing to the development of a crisis, and blaming the victim of an illegal act for provoking that act. The latter is dangerous and should be avoided, no matter how much one dislikes the victim or his behavior," McCoy said.

Llorens reiterated the U.S. government's view that the coup was illegal and that it set back democracy in Honduras, but he stressed that Zelaya exacerbated the situation.

Honduran law professor and writer Juan Ramon Martinez said Llorens' statements were "reckless because he is a career diplomat." But Martinez said the positions expressed by the ambassador are common in Honduras.

"The democratic system of Honduras, instead of being weakened by the overthrow of Zelaya, were indeed consolidated," he said.

Gustavo Flores-Macias at Cornell University's Polson Institute for Global Development said, "Ambassador Lloren's comments, although perhaps not very diplomatic, do not represent a departure from positions the United States adopted throughout the crisis."

During his speech, Llorens said the U.S. took a principled position in opposition to the coup, halting financial aid to Honduras, avoiding official recognition of de facto president Roberto Micheletti, and suspending U.S. visas for some of Micheletti's staffers and allies.

American University professor Adrienne Pine, an expert on Honduras-U.S. relations, took issue with Llorens' assessment. She said both opposing Zelaya's overthrow and criticizing his actions is anything but principled.

"Their gall is really quite astounding," she said. "If Llorens is chastising Zelaya for trying to return to the post that he was violently and illegally ousted from, then Llorens is basically saying to the entire Honduran nation that it does not deserve democracy."

About 65 countries cut off diplomatic ties with Honduras after the coup, but 55 of those countries — including the U.S. — have resumed relations with Lobo's administration.

___

Associated Press writer Freddy Cuevas reported this story in Tegucigalpa and Martha Mendoza from Mexico City.

Nicaragua ask world for help against dictator Daniel Ortega

2010-05-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua's four opposition parties are asking the Organization of American States to intervene in their power struggle with leftist President Daniel Ortega.

The petition Friday asks for unspecified OAS actions "to save representative democracy."

Nicaragua has seen increasing political turmoil since Ortega extended the terms of two friendly Supreme Court justices and about 20 other judges whose time in office was up.

Congress has the power to name judges but has been unable to because no party has a majority.

Ortega says the extensions have avoided judicial paralysis, while opponents accuse him of a power grab. He has depended on sympathetic judges for rulings such as one last year that may let him seek re-election.

Police in Panama say they have found an arsenal of assault rifles

2010-05-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

PANAMA CITY – Police in Panama say they have found an arsenal of assault rifles, grenades and almost a half million rounds of ammunition at the home of a Guatemalan-born sociology professor.

Professor Vinicio Jimenez of the Chiriqui regional university is under arrest following the raid on his home.

There is no information on why he had the weapons, but the Friday raid was carried out by police anti-drug units.

Police say the raid netted 47 assault rifles, 24 machine pistols, 487,900 rounds of ammunition and almost 4,000 grenades and grenade-style munitions.

The cache was found in Chiriqui, a province on the border with Costa Rica.

Such caches are rare in Panama. Guatemala is home to violent drug cartels and street gangs.

Better Luck with Chavez Later, there are men in Venezuela

2010-04-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan police have arrested a man on suspicion of trying to incite the assassination of President Hugo Chavez.

Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami says the 28-year-old was detained Thursday in the southwestern city of El Vigia after a weeklong investigation. The man's identity has not been released.

El Aissami says the man has traveled frequently to Colombia and police found messages on his computers alluding to a plot to kill Chavez involving Colombia's outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups.

Tensions are strained between Colombia's conservative government and Chavez's socialist administration.

Venezuelan authorities have claimed numerous purported plots against Chavez in recent years, but none have led to arrests.

Panama's Manuel Noriega extradited from US to France

2010-04-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Panama's Manuel Noriega extradited from US to France
Written by news.bbc.co.uk
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
(news.bbc.co.uk) Noriega's lawyer, Frank Rubino, said he was shocked the US government had not told him of the extradition

The former Panamanian leader, Manuel Noriega, has arrived in France after being extradited from the US, where he has served more than 20 years in jail.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier signed a "surrender warrant" after all judicial challenges ended.

Noriega was convicted in France in his absence in 1999 for laundering money but is likely to face a new trial.

Noriega is now expected to go before prosecutors in Paris to be notified of the arrest warrant against him.

His French lawyer said he would argue that French courts did not have the jurisdiction to try his client.

Detention ruling

Noriega had wanted to be sent back to Panama after finishing his 17-year jail sentence in 2007.

But in February the US Supreme Court rejected his final appeal against extradition to France.

Panama's government said it respected the "sovereign decision" the state department took to extradite Noriega, who is in his mid-70s.

But it insisted it would seek his return to serve outstanding prison sentences there.

Noriega was escorted on to an Air France passenger jet at Miami International Airport on Monday afternoon, shortly after Mrs Clinton signed the extradition order, US officials said.

French prison officials took custody of him once he was on board.

Noriega's plane arrived in the French capital shortly before 0800 local time (0600 GMT) on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the French justice ministry, Guillaume Didier, said that Noriega would appear before prosecutors to be notified of the arrest warrant against him and a judge would decide whether to place him under temporary detention until his case was referred to a criminal court.

Agence France-Presse news agency quoted Mr Didier as saying that Noriega could go on trial within two months.

Noriega's lawyer in France, Yves Leberquier, said he would challenge French jurisdiction on the grounds of his client's immunity from prosecution as a former head of state and because the statute of limitations had expired.

"We're not here to eventually make a moral judgment, we've got legal rules that have to be applied and respected," Associated Press quoted him as saying.

'Prisoner of war'

Mr Didier said France had been notified of the extradition two weeks ago.

But Noriega's lawyer in Miami, Frank Rubino, told the BBC he had not been notified and had only learned of his client's transfer from the media.

"Usually the government has - does things in a more professional manner and respects common courtesy and we're shocked that they didn't," he said.

"I'm surprised that they didn't put a black hood over his head and drag him out in the middle of the night," he added.

Noriega was Panama's military intelligence chief for several years before becoming commander of the powerful National Guard in 1982 and then de facto ruler of the country.

He had been recruited by the CIA in the late 1960s and was supported by the US until 1987.

But in 1988 he was indicted in the US on charges of drug trafficking.

After a disputed parliamentary election the following year, Noriega declared a "state of war".

A tense stand-off followed between US forces stationed in the Panama Canal zone and Panamanian troops.

By mid-December, the situation had worsened so much that President George H W Bush launched an invasion - ostensibly because a US marine had been killed in Panama City, although the operation had long been planned.

Noriega initially took refuge in the Vatican embassy, where US troops bombarded him for days with deafening pop and heavy metal music.

He eventually surrendered on 3 January 1990 and was taken to Miami for trial.

In 1992, he was convicted of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering.

He was handed a 40-year prison sentence, later reduced to 30 years, and then 17 years for good behaviour.

Noriega was convicted in absentia in France in 1999 for allegedly using $3m (£1.9m) in proceeds from the drug trade to buy luxury apartments in Paris, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Shortly before the completion of his US jail sentence, the French government sought Noriega's extradition

Panama Sore Loser Balbina Herrera attacks Martinelli

2010-04-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

Panama Sore Loser Balbina Herrera attacks Martinelli
She still can not figure it out, by the people do not like her. ( she is a cunt )
and that is why she is not president of Panama, the Republic of Panama
The National Executive Committee of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) will begin investigating a complaint made Monday by former presidential candidate Balbina Herrera that former President Martín Torrijos donated millions of dollars to her opponent, President Ricardo Martinelli.

PRD Senior Vice President Benicio Robinson qualified the allegations made by Herrera as "serious."

Herrera Tuesday reiterated her allegations.

"We must ask former President Martín Torrijos why he gave $4.5 million to the Martinelli campaign," she said. "I will not remain silent on this issue."

So far, Torrijos has not responded to the allegations.

Herrera makes claim that Torrijos donated money to Martinelli
The National Executive Committee of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) will begin investigating a complaint made Monday by former presidential candidate Balbina Herrera that former President Martín Torrijos donated millions of dollars to her opponent, President Ricardo Martinelli.

PRD Senior Vice President Benicio Robinson qualified the allegations made by Herrera as "serious."

Herrera Tuesday reiterated her allegations.

"We must ask former President Martín Torrijos why he gave $4.5 million to the Martinelli campaign," she said. "I will not remain silent on this issue."

So far, Torrijos has not responded to the allegations.

Hugo Castro Chavez or Cha for short

2010-04-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

Hugo Chavez sold off 20 billion US Dollars of oil to China because he needs the money to stay in power. He plans to buy arms to protect himself after he claims the throne of Dictator or just plane King. Following in Fidel Castro's footsteps.
Hugo Chavez plans to buy the election with the 20 billion dollars. With China now backing Chavez may have plans to be the King of all of Central and South America and even North America and Mexico.
Is it possible that someone so ugly could rule the America's, I think not. Sorry Hugo Chasvez you will soon be out of power and hidding in Iran with other cunt dictator.
story by Panama Jack

Panama Costa Rica Bloggers on front line of world freedom fight

2010-04-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

Bloggers on front line
of world freedom fight

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Media advocacy groups say the Internet is becoming the new battleground for press freedom as authoritarian governments around the world crack down on growing expressions of dissent on the Web.

From China to Iran, bloggers have provided voices of dissent in places where few, if any, were heard before.

But a group of U.S. congressmen and press freedom activists are drawing attention to the growing censorship of online journalism around the world.

One, Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said bloggers are often more vulnerable than traditional journalists.

"Whereas in the past journalists worked usually for a newspaper or a broadcasting company and had some kind of institutional-corporate protection. They had colleagues and on staff. They had lawyers who could help them when they got into trouble. Now more and more of these bloggers are independent, freelancers even, they have no backing, they are on their own when they're up against these huge oppressive government bureaucracies," Mahoney said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says last year it found at least 68 bloggers, Web-based reporters and online editors under arrest worldwide. That was half the total number of journalists in jail.

Journalism groups worry that even those who are not jailed may be censoring themselves as a consequence of the crackdowns.

Iranian blogger Omid Memarian was imprisoned in 2004 for his work as a journalist. He later left Iran and monitored the bloody repression of street protests that followed the elections in June 2009.

"If it was not for the Internet, God knows how many more people would have been killed on the streets of Tehran and other cities," Memarian said.

The Internet is being used to expose torture, organize public protests, and push the limits of acceptable speech in repressive societies.

Blogging has taken off in China in recent years. Tienchi Martin-Liao of the Independent Chinese PEN center estimates there are now tens of millions of bloggers. But the government is using technology developed in the West to monitor everything from e-mail to voice-over-the-internet.

She said Western companies should follow Google's lead and stop cooperating with the Chinese government.

Freedom of speech activists say there is an increasing arsenal of software that helps online journalists circumvent attempts at censorship. But countries like Iran and China have become increasingly sophisticated at using technology and blogging propaganda.

Mexico issues travel alert

2010-04-28T05:03:00.000-07:00

Mexico issues travel alert
for citizens visiting Arizona

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

The Mexican government continues to react to the U.S. state of Arizona's new immigration law, issuing a travel alert and canceling an annual meeting with the state's government.

Mexico's ministry of foreign affairs issued a travel warning Tuesday for Mexicans going to or residing in Arizona. In a statement, the ministry urges Mexicans to "act with prudence and with respect to the local legal framework."

The statement says that once the law takes effect, every Mexican citizen may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any time. The new law requires immigrants in Arizona to carry registration documents with them at all times and requires police to question people if there is reason to believe they are illegal immigrants.

Monday, the government of the Mexican state of Sonora announced it has canceled the annual Sonora-Arizona Commission meeting scheduled for June to protest the new law.

Monday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned the new immigration law, saying it opens the door to intolerance, hate and discrimination.

Opponents say the law will result in racial profiling in which police target people because of their race or ethnic background. Supporters say the measure will help combat a wave of crime blamed on illegal immigrants.

Our reader's opinion

Arizona immigration law
may be a wakeup call

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I took pleasure in seeing a rational response to the situation in Arizona.

Unfortunately it had to come from a Costa Rican newspaper. Political correctness has taken over in a big way here in the U.S. The Arizona law may not be perfect, but it is a start. The people of Arizona have been characterized as xenophobes, racists and worse. Not fair for a people who want to keep their streets safe and life secure.

My son's friend lived there for a while, and most people have to keep their cars behind gates in their driveways lest they get stolen only to be driven over the border into Mexico.

One of the things about Costa Rica which I find admirable: At the airport you are better screened when taking a flight to the U.S. than when you leave it. I've seen people pulled off the line as you are about ready to enter the gangway to board the plane. They were pulled off because they looked shady, were unkempt or were traveling alone. They were profiled. It was done in a country that has little resources to spare, but one that knows tourism is important and takes the extra step to insure safety.

We were screened no less than three times ourselves before boarding, and we are a family of four.

The U.S. has a lot to learn about protecting our borders. Maybe this move by Arizona will wake those in Washington up.

Al Loria
New York

Panamá to open a base in Bocas del Toro

2010-04-28T04:53:00.000-07:00

Panamá to open a base
in Bocas del Toro

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Panamá is opening a military base at Bocas del Toro to try to stop drug trafficking in the Caribbean.

In addition the country is setting up a base in the Darian province on the Pacific. Bocas del Toro is just south of Costa Rica's Limón province.

The country has set up a handful of such bases in the last few months with the goal of stemming the drug trade.

Some leftist leaders to the south suggest that the bases will be used by U.S. forces to reverse popular revolutions, but Panama denies this.

The action is another sign that the Caribbean is handling more of the drug traffic because the Pacific is so well watched. Anti-drug agents have expressed concern about the possible presence of drug bases in the lightly guarded eastern Nicaragua. Honduras to the north also is known as a stopover point for traffickers who use the Caribbean routes.

Costa Rica free trade a done deal

2010-04-28T04:51:00.000-07:00

Vote this week can make
free trade a done deal

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

President Óscar Arias Sánchez will leave office with the free trade treaty with the United States completed.

The Sala IV constitutional court has given the green light to the 14th and final measure in the free trade package. That opened the door for lawmakers to consider the matter sometime this week. The Asamblea Legislativa already passed the measure on the first reading, but action was frozen when opponents asked for a high court review.

The measure covers intellectual property rights, including songs and other types of creative works. Part of the law establishes criminal penalties for infringement. There also are stiff fines for violation.

Arias spent nearly all his four-year term engineering passage of the free trade treaty. The pact got the nation's approval in an October 2007 referendum after a bitter campaign.

The United States pushed for an intellectual property section in the treaty because of the wholesale counterfeiting of music and movie CDs. The law that got the approval Tuesday implemented the concepts outlined in the free trade treaty and brought national law into conformity.

The United States has frozen some sugar import quotas until the final law gets approval.

Panama Ministry of Health Sex Workers

2010-04-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Panama Ministry of Health Sex Workers
Ministry of Health inspects nightlife establishments
la prensa

Officials from Minsa conducted site visits to inspect local bars.

A total of 27 establishments of health interest were visited recently by the (Minsa).

Officials from Minsa conducted nighttime inspections of these highly-frequently night spots to verify the validity of the respective health certificates of food handlers and sex workers.

Aleida Tejeira, Regional Director of Health, explained that authorities from the entity have been visiting pubs, bars, hotels, and restaurants in the district of Penonomé, to provide recommendations and ensure that these establishments comply with Act 13, which prohibits smoking in public places.

Businesses that do not meet the recommendations will be sanctioned.

Chavez plans to steal 20 Billion from Venezuela say he is now the big monkey on the block

2010-04-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Oil-rich Venezuela will send resource-hungry China 100,000 barrels a day of crude oil for the next 10 years to pay for a $20 billion loan agreed to over the weekend, Venezuela Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Thursday.

Ramirez, who is also the president of state-run Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, didn't indicate any specific price for the oil that may have been agreed to by the two nations. The average price for Venezuela's basket of crude oil and refined products began this week at about $75 a barrel.

The oil minister's comments to reporters come after President Hugo Chavez on Saturday night announced the $20 billion oil-for-credit arrangement with China, a country with which Venezuela has been fostering strong relations.

The loan is being provided by state-owned China Development Bank, and reports Wednesday out of Venezuela indicated it would be paid out this year. Half will be paid in dollars and half in Chinese yuan.

Venezuela says it will use the loan for highways and other infrastructure projects as well as investments in the energy sector.

This isn't the first oil-for-credit deal between Venezuela and China. In recent years, the two set up a $12 billion development fund for Venezuela, of which $8 billion came from China and $4 billion from Venezuela. Most of that has already been spent, mostly on infrastructure that includes a railroad project.

Venezuela says it ships about 460,000 barrels of oil a day to China and hopes in the coming years to push that up toward one million barrels a day. That would be slightly more than what Venezuela ships to each day to the U.S., its current top customer for crude.

Imports figures from the Chinese government vary from those of the Venezuelan government. The Chinese say oil shipments from Venezuela are currently around 210,000 barrels a day, a figure that includes crude oil, fuel oil and other petroleum-derivative products.

Ramirez also said Thursday that state-owned PDVSA was working out a $1.5 billion line of credit with the China Development Bank and Portugal's Banco Espirito Santo. He said another line of credit was also being worked on, but he declined to provide further details.

Ramirez reiterated that PDVSA has no plans to issue bonds this year.

The oil minister also commented on February's Carabobo oil auction for three promising blocks in the eastern Orinoco region. It was Venezuela's biggest bidding round for drilling rights since Chavez took office 11 years ago.

In the auction, a consortium of companies led by U.S.-based Chevron Corp., and including Mitsubishi Corp. and Inpex Corp. of Japan, was awarded the "Carabobo 3" block. A consortium that includes Spain's Repsol YPF SA, India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and two other Indian firms was awarded the "Carabobo 1" block.

The final block, known as "Carabobo 2," went unassigned, which most took to mean that no companies made an offer for it.

But Ramirez said Thursday that Venezuela did receive some bids on it, and he said PDVSA is evaluating them.

Ramirez wouldn't say where the bids came from, but one of them might have come from Royal Dutch Shell PLC, as Shell officials were in attendance at the February auction but were never named as having placed a bid.

Shell officials have been asked about their possible involvement in the Carabobo bidding, but didn't comment.

Copyright (c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc

Panama Hyatt to invest $50 million in two hotels

2010-04-24T12:55:00.001-07:00

Hyatt to invest $50 million in two hotels for Panama
la prensa

The U.S. chain Hyatt has been contemplating operations in Panama for the past 10 years.

Fifty million dollars will be invested in the construction of two hotels, one in the banking area and one in Costa del Este.

Both hotels will be managed by the U.S. chain Hyatt, which has spent the last 10 years exploring the possibility of operating in Panama.

Josep Malca, President of Immobiliare Real Estate Development Group, which owns the project, said that in May of this year construction work will commence in the banking district and is slated for completion in 2012.

In this hotel, which will offer 167 rooms, the company will invest an estimated $22 million, while the 179-room project for Costa del Este is expected to run a tab of approximately $28 million, with construction scheduled to begin in 2011.

In terms of funding, 50 percent of the costs will be financed by three international banks currently operating in Panama and the remaining 50 percent will be paid by Immobiliare Real Estate Development Group and Hyatt Hotel.

Aside from these two hotels, the company is already contemplating the construction of a third hotel in the Canal area, and has not ruled out investing in the countryside.

Panama has new new counter drug base

2010-04-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

Story don Winner La Prensa
Panama's National Naval Air Service inaugurated the new counter drug base in Bahía Piña today, located in the Darien province near the border with Colombia. The base will be used to combat drug trafficking activities in the area. The commander of this security force, Luis Eduardo Ruiz, told reporters today the strengthening of the border region along Panama's Pacific coast will help address security problems that arise in the area. "We have drug trafficking and illegal migration, the two greatest threats in this sector, and the new Darien base will help to alleviate that activity," said Ruiz. With the inauguration of the new Naval Air Station in Bahia Piña brings the total to three such bases that have been activated by the Panamanian government, out of a total of eleven that eventually will be opened along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. (La Prensa)
Editor's Comment: Law enforcement authorities operating out of the two bases that were opened before this one have already seized more than four tons of cocaine. This strategy will have a significant impact on drug traffickers in the region.

Panama to build new international airport in Cocle Panama

2010-04-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Panama's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) submitted a draft of a plan to build a new airport in the central provinces yesterday, outlining the anticipated costs for the project. Yesterday the National Assembly reported the presentation by the CAA that totals about $100 million dollars. Although the National Assembly did not specify the location of the new airport, on Thursday president Ricardo Martinelli said it would be located in the town of Aguadulce in the Coclé province. Rafael Barcenas, the director of the CAA, said that so far this year they have invested approximately $40 million dollars in infrastructure. Barcenas spoke before the Communications and Transportation Commission of the National Assembly and presented a report on his management of the CAA. He said his primary objective is to budget and complete projects that were started (under the previous administration) but never finished. (La Estrella)

Ex-Miss Universe denies link to alleged drug capo

2010-04-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Ex-Miss Universe denies link to alleged drug capo

Facebook Twitter Delicious Digg Fark Newsvine Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks .Print ..Fri Apr 23, 3:41 pm ET
MEXICO CITY – Former Miss Universe Alicia Machado is denying reports that a suspected major drug trafficker fathered her daughter.

The Venezuelan beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe in 1996 says in a statement issued Friday that the father of her child is a "respected businessman" — and not alleged capo Jose Gerardo Alvarez Vazquez.

Machado was responding to local media reports saying she was had a relationship with Alvarez Vazquez, who was arrested this week in a shootout Wednesday in the outskirts of Mexico City. She denies any link with him.

Authorities say he is responsible for increasing violence in a cartel turf battle in states near the capital. U.S. authorities hope to put him on trial there.

Costa Rica Two prostitution raids target downtown 16-year-old working as a prostitute

2010-04-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Two prostitution raids
target downtown owner

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Judicial police raided what they called two hidden prostitution locations in the downtown and on Avenida 10. Both operations were run by the same owner, said unofficial reports. One operation was hidden behind a massage parlor front, a report said.

Usually prostitution raids result in the closing of a business for a day or two, but this owner may have plenty to worry about. Agents reported that they found a 16-year-old working as a prostitute in one of the locations. If true, that would be a major crime.

Panamá plans to insure tourists who come by air

2010-04-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Panamá plans to insure
tourists who come by air

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Tourism competitor Panamá plans to offer free insurance to visitors, according to the La Prensa newspaper.

The project has been advanced by the Consejo Nacional de Turismo, which authorized the Autoridad Nacional de Turismo to contract for such services, said the newspaper. A bidding process is planned to selected the insurance provider.

The idea is to cover visiting tourists for 30 days for crime, accidents and medical needs. The policy will be up to $1,000 a day, said the newspaper.

The initial phase of the plan will cover only those who enter the country through Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen.

México had a similar plan for tourists after the swine flu outbreak there.

60 Hookers Busted in Panama Immigration Sweep

2010-04-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

60 Hookers Busted in Panama Immigration Sweep
Written by Panama Guide/TVN Noticias

Some of the relatives of the women who were arrested during a raid conducted by immigration authorities at various brothels in Panama City are desperate and very annoyed. The women say their papers are in order but they are being deported to their home countries anyway. By way of protest, one of the women undressed inside of the Transitional Prison of the Immigration System. For her part the Director of Immigration, Maria Cristina Gonzalez, denied such accusations. She said the women are being deported because they do not, in fact, have their papers in order. They lack the card for "performing artists" issued to allow them to work in prostitution legally for nine months in Panama. Relatives of the detained women say they are sleeping on the floor due to overcrowding in the immigration jail. During the raid more than 60 people from different nations were arrested for not having their papers in order. (Source: TVN Noticias)

The Pope Must Come Forward

2010-04-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

RIO DE JANEIRO – There he was, five decades later, the priest who had raped Joe Callander in Massachusetts. The photo in the Roman Catholic newsletter showed him with a smile across his wrinkled face, near-naked Amazon Indian children in his arms and at his feet.

The Rev. Mario Pezzotti was working with children and supervising other priests in Brazil.

It's not an isolated example.

In an investigation spanning 21 countries across six continents, The Associated Press found 30 cases of priests accused of abuse who were transferred or moved abroad. Some escaped police investigations. Many had access to children in another country, and some abused again.

A priest who admitted to abuse in Los Angeles went to the Philippines, where U.S. church officials mailed him checks and advised him not to reveal their source. A priest in Canada was convicted of sexual abuse and then moved to France, where he was convicted of abuse again in 2005. Another priest was moved back and forth between Ireland and England, despite being diagnosed as a pederast, a man who commits sodomy with boys.

"The pattern is if a priest gets into trouble and it's close to becoming a scandal or if the law might get involved, they send them to the missions abroad," said Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and critic of what he says is a practice of international transfers of accused and admitted priest child abusers. "Anything to avoid a scandal."

Church officials say that in some cases, the priests themselves moved to another country and the new parish might not have been aware of past allegations. In other cases, church officials said they did not believe the allegations, or that the priest had served his time and reformed.

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Callander says he was 14 when he was raped three times and abused on other occasions in 1959 at the now-closed Xaverian Missionary Faith High School in Holliston, Mass. The Xaverians settled the case for $175,000 in 1993. At least two other accusations of sexual abuse were leveled against Pezzotti in the Boston area.

In the meantime, from 1970 to 2003, Pezzotti was in Brazil, where he worked with the Kayapo Indians.

In a handwritten note of apology to Callander in January 1993, Pezzotti said he had cured himself in the jungle.

"I asked to leave Holliston and go to Brazil to change my life and begin a new life. Upon arrival in Brazil, confiding in God's mercy, I owned up to the problem," Pezzotti wrote. "With divine help, I overcame it."

There is no evidence that Pezzotti, now 75, abused children in Brazil, which has more Catholics than any other nation. Brazilian law enforcement officials said they were unaware of any complaints about him.

The Rev. Robert Maloney, a former provincial of the Xaverians who worked closely on Callander's settlement, said Pezzotti was allowed to stay in Brazil for another decade and work with children after a psychological evaluation. He added that a Xaverian investigation into Pezzotti and his work in Brazil turned up nothing.

After Pezzotti returned to Italy in 2003, "he was constantly being asked for by Brazil and by the people he worked with," Maloney added.

In 2008, Pezzotti returned to Brazil. A few months later, Callander saw the photos of him on the Internet and complained to the church. The priest was quickly sent back to Italy.

The Xaverian vicar general, Rev. Luigi Menegazzo, said Pezzotti works at Xaverian headquarters in Parma tending to sick and elderly priests. Asked if Pezzotti had any contact with children or public parish work, he said, "Absolutely in no way."

Reached by telephone, Pezzotti said only: "I don't see why I have to talk about it. Everything was resolved and I don't feel like talking."

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Father Vijay Vhaskr Godugunuru was forced to return to India and then was transferred to Italy after pleading no contest to assaulting a 15-year-old girl while visiting friends in Bonifay, Fla. He now ministers to a parish in a medieval town of about 4,000 in Tuscany, where he hears confessions, celebrates Mass and works with children.

The bishops supervising him said they were aware of the case but believed he was innocent.

"The evidence that has been given does not support the accusation," Monsignor Rodolfo Cetoloni, the bishop of the Montepulciano diocese, told the AP last week.

Cetoloni said he saw no reason for any restrictions. Godugunuru, now 40, "enjoys the esteem of everybody," he said.

Godugunuru had been charged with fondling a parishioner in her family's van on June 23, 2006. The priest, visiting from India's diocese of Cuddapah, had been allowed to assist at the Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in Bonifay.

The girl, now 19, told police in a sworn statement that Godugunuru "fondled her breasts and penetrated her vagina with his fingers." In his own interview with police, Godugunuru said the girl "had taken his hand and placed it between her legs." He denied intentionally touching her.

The priest was arrested the next month for lewd or lascivious battery on a minor. He faced up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine but in exchange for his no contest plea was required to return to India, undergo counseling, not supervise minors for a year and not return to the United States.

The girl's mother brought the case to the attention of Pope Benedict XVI.

"My family and others have been forced out of our church," she wrote in an Aug. 23, 2006, e-mail obtained by the AP. "Just when our faith and our faith in our church were tested most, our Priest chose the side of silence. ... To make matters worse, it was my daughter who was the one being attacked and he just sat back and watched. ...

"This is the biggest problem my family has ever dealt with," she continued. "Please Father, help us. Remember us in your prayers, especially for the speedy healing of my daughter."

The e-mail also said she had contacted the bishop of Cuddapah, the Most Rev. Doraboina Moses Prakasam, and asked if there had been any past accusations of sexual improprieties against Godugunuru. "I have not heard back from him and I don't expect to," she said.

The pope never answered.

Prakasam told the AP he was under the impression that Godugunuru had been absolved of the charges.

"What I was told by the people looking after that case was that he was cleared and ... he was allowed to come back to India," he said.

He said he told the Italian bishop of the case when Godugunuru moved to Tuscany.

The priest of San Lorenzo parish told the AP by phone last week that Godugunuru works as his deputy. He refused further comment, except to say that Godugunuru "does what all deputy parish priests do" and "helps the parish priest."

Godugunuru declined to be interviewed by the AP.

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Clodoveo Piazza is an Italian Jesuit who ran a homeless shelter for street children and worked in Brazil for 30 years. In 2005, he was awarded $600,000 from Brazil's national development bank to set up four facilities in the northeastern city of Salvador.

Last August, prosecutors said at least eight boys and young men had come forward to say either that they were abused by Piazza or that he allowed visiting foreigners to sexually abuse boys. Brazilian police are seeking his arrest.

Piazza now works in Mozambique, according to the Catholic nonprofit Organizzazione di Aiuto Fraterno, and the church has come to his defense.

"The Italian Jesuits express their solidarity with the brother and father Piazza," reads one note on the nonprofit's Web site. The group adds that "the slander against missionaries is becoming an increasingly popular game."

Brazilian prosecutors say Piazza, a naturalized Brazilian, has refused to respond to the charges of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.

Interviewed in Maputo, Mozambique, this week, Piazza said the charges were false and part of a campaign to blackmail him by "political circles" in Brazil that he did not identify. He said he had been acquitted of the charges twice in Brazil, and that there is no evidence against him.

A spokeswoman with Bahia state's Public Ministry said there were no records of Piazza ever being tried or acquitted and that the case against him is still open. She spoke on condition of anonymity, in keeping with department policy.

"This is propaganda in order to earn money," Piazza told the AP, saying people in Brazil had asked him for money, which he could not pay.

He said he has been living in a Jesuit residence in Maputo for about seven months. He said he was working with Italy's Turino University on "economic projects" and was not working with children.

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Joseph Skelton was a 26-year-old student at St. John Provincial Seminary in Detroit, Mich., in 1988 when he was convicted of sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old boy. He was given three years' probation and dismissed from his seminary.

Two decades later, he lives in the Philippines, where he was ordained a priest and now serves as parochial vicar of the St. Vincent Ferrer parish in the remote town of Calape, according to the diocese directory. He is also a popular gospel singer in the heavily Catholic country.

Reached on his cell phone, Skelton declined comment.

He finished his seminary studies in Manila, the capital, and was ordained in 2001 in the diocese of Tagbilaran in Bohol province.

The bishop who ordained Skelton said he wouldn't have made him a priest if he had known about the criminal conviction.

"I ordained him because, while there was some talk about his effeminate ways, there was no case against him," Bishop Leopoldo S. Tumulak said.

Tumulak, who has since stepped down, said it would be up to his successor to reopen the case.

"The priest is trying to live well," Tumulak said. "If he has really changed, the heart of the church is compassionate — although in America, Europe, they have different ways of looking at it. Not the church, but the government, the people. In the Philippines, it's a little bit different."

The archdiocese of Detroit, after learning Skelton had been ordained, sent a letter about his conviction to the Tagbilaran diocese in early 2003. Tumulak, the former bishop, said he doesn't remember if he received the letter, and in any case it would have been too late.

Informed of the case, current Bishop Leonardo Medroso said he would investigate. But he added:

"The case has been judged already. He was convicted and that means to say he has served already the conviction. So what obstacle can there be if he has already served his punishment or penalty?"

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The Rev. Enrique Diaz Jimenez of Colombia was punished three times in three different countries.

He pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three boys while a priest at St. Leo's Church and Our Lady of Sorrows Church in New York in the mid-1980s, and was sentenced in April 1991 to five years' probation and four months of an "intermittent sentence."

He was deported and resumed work as a priest in Venezuela, where he was suspended from the priesthood in 1996 for 20 years after 18 boys accused him of molesting them.

Monsignor Francisco de Guruceaga, the bishop who hired Diaz in Venezuela, said it was not clear to him when the priest arrived that he had been charged with abusing children. De Guruceaga said Diaz told him he had problems with relationships with women, not molesting children.

Diaz returned to Colombia in 1996 and again found work as a priest. Colombian prosecutors say Diaz was charged in 2001 with molesting one more boy and pleaded guilty later that year.

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Transferring abusive priests was called "the geographical cure," according to Terry Carter, a New Zealand victim. Carter won $32,000 in compensation from the Society of Mary, which oversees the Catholic boarding school outside Wellington where he was abused by the Rev. Allan Woodcock.

Woodcock molested at least 11 boys at four church facilities in New Zealand before being sent by the church to Ireland. He was extradited to New Zealand in 2004, pleaded guilty to 21 sexual abuse charges involving 11 victims and was sentenced to seven years in jail. He was paroled in September 2009.

"They whipped him out of the country to Ireland," Carter said. "They took him out of New Zealand after years of offending in different locations."

Society of Mary spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer told the AP that some families of Woodcock's victims asked that he be sent offshore.

"He was sent to Ireland for intensive psychotherapy. He had no permission to exercise his ministry or to be involved with youth," she said.

Woodcock was suspended from his ministry in the New Zealand branch of the Society of Mary in 1987, according to Freer. He was removed from the priesthood in 2001, she said.

Freer noted that even 20 years ago, it was accepted belief that "pedophilia could be cured," often with intensive psychotherapy. "Pedophilia is now seen as recidivist," she said.

Woodcock is believed to be living in New Zealand's North Island coastal city of Wanganui. A woman who gave her name as Catherine Woodcock and described herself as "a relative" said she didn't think he would want to make any comment to the media. Asked why, she replied: "It is not appropriate at this stage."

___

Back in Windsor, Vermont, Callander lives a quiet life with Sandi, his wife of 35 years. It was only last week that he told his siblings about the abuse.

Callander says he is coming forward now because the Xaverians failed to keep their promise that Pezzotti would not be around children. He wants the church to change by defrocking or isolating priests who admit abuse so they cannot work in the same positions again — anywhere in the world.

"All I want is for the church to do what is right for once," Callander said. "To end the facade that a man like that should have the right to call himself a Catholic priest."

___

Associated Press writer Bradley Brooks reported this story from Rio de Janeiro and Alessandra Rizzo from Rome. Contributing to this story were AP writers Daniel Woolls in Spain, Fran d'Emilio and Nicole Winfield in Italy, Angela Charlton in France, Robert Barr in London, Eliane Engeler in Switzerland, Veronika Oleksyn in Austria, Matt Sedensky in Miami, Gillian Flaccus and Raquel Dillon in Los Angeles, David Runk in Detroit, Sean Farrell in Montreal, Rob Gillies in Toronto, Bill Kaczor in Tallahassee, Fla., Pat Condon in Minneapolis, Emanuel Camillo in Mozambique, Alan Clendenning in Brazil, Ian James in Venezuela, Olga Rodriguez in Mexico, Vivian Sequera, Libardo Cardona in Colombia, Michael Warren in Argentina, Eva Vergara, Federico Quilodran and Brad Haynes in Chile, Ravi Nessman in India, Hrvoje Hranjski, Teresa Cerojano and Oliver Teves in the Phillippines, and Ray Lilley in New Zealand.

Panama Fish Market

2010-04-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Posted by editor Boquete

It was about noon when I arrived the the Seafood Market. The plaque on the wall said it was built with money from Japan in 2005. It looks and feels more than three years old. I am not sure why there never seems to be a budget to maintain capital projects. Large investments fall into disrepair all too quickly.

The lower floor of this market is laden with fish and other seafood.

The upper floor is a restaurant that provides the opportunity to carry some fresh seafood home, internally.

I arrived at 12:30 and seating was filled. After I looked at a menu I understood why.

Click on this for a menu big enough to read.

Fresh seafood, prepared fast and for very low prices.

My lunch was one of my favorites

Pescado Frito, a whole fried fish for $3.75. It was light, flaky and although I have no idea what type of fish it was I enjoyed it completely.

Filed Under: Contrasts, Natural Foods, Restaurants - Panama City
Tags: Lodging - Panama City, mercado de marisco, seafood panama city

Few sources link rage with use of marijuana

2010-04-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

Few sources link rage
with use of marijuana

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Tuesday's front page story on the student run-in at Universidad de Costa Rica made the claim that ". . . Some students were fueling their rage with marijuana."

As a health professional with 35 years experience in substance use treatment and research, I am surprised by this claim. I checked the Library of Medicine's archives just to refresh my memory on this subject, and confirmed that there is at best a tenuous link between aggression and marijuana in the scientific literature, and that the few articles to discuss such a link were written, for the most part, decades ago, when little was known about the effects of marijuana.

Now, as to the incident itself, rage is far from the only feeling expressed at large gatherings, even when the original situation might result from anger. I suggest that many participants were there to "have a party." The fact that so few participants were arrested or injured enough to require medical treatment supports this.

I believe that your reporters were editorializing, and allowed a bias against marijuana to distort their view of the facts.

John French

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged thousands of gun-toting militia troops

2010-04-14T06:00:00.001-07:00

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged thousands of gun-toting militia troops Tuesday to be ready to fight for his socialist government, telling them that opponents may be plotting to oust or kill him.

Chavez rallied the civilian militia at an outdoor speech while marking the anniversary of a failed 2002 coup against him. Organizers estimated about 35,000 militia members in the crowd, which filled a downtown avenue in Caracas.

The president said his opponents would be defeated if they tried another coup, and he vowed to emerge again with a dominant majority in the National Assembly after September elections.

Without giving details, Chavez told the crowd that he believes some people in Venezuela are conspiring to assassinate him.

"If they were to do it ... you know what you would have to do. Simply take all power in Venezuela, absolutely all, sweep away the bourgeoisie from all political and economic spaces, deepen the revolution," he said.

He held aloft a sword that once belonged to the 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar — the inspiration of Chavez's socialist Bolivarian Revolution movement — as he administered an oath to members of the Bolivarian Militia.

Chavez declared April 13 to be the "Day of the Bolivarian Militia," a national day of celebration.

He called the militia, which he created, a key force to help defend the country against any threat, whether foreign or domestic.

"You should be ready to take up the arms you have there at any time and go out to give your lives, if you have to, for the Bolivarian Revolution!" he thundered.

Confetti floated through the air after Chavez arrived in a jeep waving to the crowd.

The former paratrooper officer, who is up for re-election in 2012, has recently seen his popularity slip as his government copes with a shrinking economy, racing inflation and electricity shortages.

Chavez thrives on confrontation and has repeatedly accused his opponents of trying to overthrow or kill him.

President Ricardo Martinelli

2010-04-09T05:31:00.001-07:00

President Ricardo Martinelli has announced the introduction of a program to normalize the immigration status of some 100,000 Colombians who live in Panama illegally. Martinelli stated in the Colombian city of Medellin that his government will soon launch "a rehabilitation and legalization program for all undocumented Colombians that there are in Panama." "There are many, and most of them are not part of the formal formal economy can not do the basic necessities because they are living undercover, living hidden," he said after meeting with the Mayor of Medellín, Alonso Salazar, and receiving the keys to the city. Martinelli launched his three day official visit to Colombian in Medellín yesterday. He will continue to Bogota today and then go to Cartagena, a city that will host the Latin American version of World Economic Forum (WEF) tomorrow. Illegal Colombians in Panama "have to be normalized, because that is something human and we have to remember that at one time Panama was part of Gran Colombia, this is something we have to solve in a fast and effective manner," Martinelli said. He said there could be "hundreds of thousands" of Illegal immigrants from Colombia in Panama. He remembered that in the past there was a smaller effort based on a "small census" that allowed for 25,000 Colombians to legalize their status in Panama.
The President, who took advantage of the trip to see the subway system in Medellin, said that Panama will soon open a public bidding process to build a subway system. "We have to learn from the management of this system as a model for the Metro of Panama, so that it becomes and entity that does not have a deficit, and one which produces not only a good service, but one that does not become a burden to the state," said Martinelli.

On the issue of the legalization of more than 100 thousand Colombians, Francisco Sanchez Cardenas, the President of the CEN of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), said that from the human point of view he agrees with the president's initiative, but in regard to the country's security, we must analyze who will be legalized "because even though we are very close to our Colombian brothers we have to look towards the security of the country." The other problem is that now the Colombians will compete for jobs with Panamanians, and this would mean more unemployment, said Sánchez. (El Siglo)

Panama Increased hiring in the capital

2010-04-02T06:18:00.001-07:00

Increased hiring in the capital
la prensa

The majority of contracts have been issued in the fields of construction, commerce, and call centers.

The sustained growth of Panama's economy is a key attraction for the installation of new businesses, and thus the generation of employment.

The Contract Analysis Department of the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development (MITRADEL), up until the third week of March 2010, recorded a total of 35,369 labor contracts.

Of this total, an estimated 11,068 were fixed-term contracts, some 8,839 were for an indefinite period, and another 15,462 were classified in the category of specific projects.

The head of Contract Analysis at MITRADEL, Gabriel Quintero, said the total number of new contracts registered as of March of this year will surpass the figures reported in March 2009, when there were approximately 53,417 labor contracts on record.

These figures only cover the metropolitan area and exclude jobs that are being generated by the expansion of the Panama Canal.

The majority of contracts have been issued in the fields of construction, commerce, and call centers.

Drugs found at airport Panama

2010-04-01T02:32:00.001-07:00

Drugs found at airport
Two plastic bags of cocaine were found inside a refrigerator that was seized Wednesday by Customs officers at Tocumen International Airport.

The merchandise was to be sent to New Jersey in the United States.

Two people, a Panamanian and a Jamaican, were taken into custody. The two men allegedly transported the refrigerator to the airport in a taxi.

Murder in Panama of a US Citizen

2010-04-01T02:23:00.000-07:00

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide dot com – Paul Roger Nunes, a US citizen who recently moved to Panama, was killed this morning in the house he was renting in the Alta Mar #2 development of the Los Algarrobos neighborhood in the town of Dolega of the Chiriquí province, Republic of Panama. Paul Nunes was approximately 65 years old, according to neighbors, and he had been living in the area for only two months. There was a young Panamanian couple living in the same house with Paul Nunes. According to reports, the robbers forced the young Panamanian woman into a back room and locked her in with her baby. The woman’s husband was not home at the time of the incident. The attack apparently occurred in the early morning hours, today. Area residents suspect the robbers might have had keys or some other way to gain access to the house, because apparently there were no signs of forced entry.

Americans in Panama Participant: Paul Roger Nunes, the CEO of Stonecastle Homes Inc, was a frequent participant on the Americans in Panama Yahoo Email Group. Ironically, in a recent discussion about crime and violence in Panama, Paul wrote:

•“thats all fine and dandy, but some people prefer to live free, not locked behind bars in a private prison (for protection?)…if thats what was required to feels safe, I would definately move to a different location, even a different country. Some people here have compared the crime threat to being less than the average american city. Possibly true. I will not live in any city for many reasons, crime being one of them. Life is much different in rural farm country or mountains. here i do not expect thieves and muggers. Neighbors help each other and doors are unlocked. Obviously, latin countries seem to have a problem that is much reduced in other cultures. This is a morale issue of society that does not respect or value other people. It is the sad dark side of a culture that is otherwise very warm giving to others, even if a gringo is viewed as a private atm machine by many locals. This problem will not go away quickly and will hinder future growth. Panama has much to offer to outsiders, but this ugly problem needs to be addressed by both the government and society as a whole. Armed police is not the answer. Educating people and instilling basic values of honesty in the schools and at home will be a start. Paul Nunes [pstonecastle@sbcglobal.net]“
Police Are Investigating: Police are apparently anxious to talk to the husband of the woman who lived with Paul, and according to neighbors they have not yet been able to locate or talk to him. More details as they become available.

Copyright 2009 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.

MOSCOW – Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up Monday

2010-03-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

MOSCOW – Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up Monday in twin attacks on Moscow subway stations jam-packed with rush-hour passengers, killing at least 37 people and wounding 65, officials said. They blamed the carnage on rebels from the Caucasus region.

The blasts come six years after Caucasus Islamic separatists carried out a pair of deadly Moscow subway strikes and raise concerns that the war has once again come to Russia's capital, amid militants' warnings of a renewed determination to push their fight.

Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing late last year on a passenger train en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Last month, Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov warned in an interview on a rebel-affiliated Web site that "the zone of military operations will be extended to the territory of Russia ... the war is coming to their cities."

The first explosion took place just before 8 a.m. at the Lubyanka station in central Moscow. The station is underneath the building that houses the main offices of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor agency.

About 45 minutes later, a second explosion hit the Park Kultury station, which is near the renowned Gorky Park.

"I heard a bang, turned my head and smoke was everywhere. People ran for the exits screaming," said 24-year-old Alexander Vakulov, who said he was on a train on the platform opposite the targeted train at Park Kultury.

"I saw a dead person for the first time in my life," said 19-year-old Valentin Popov, who had just arrived at the station from the opposite direction.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who built much of his political capital by directing a fierce war with Chechen separatists a decade ago, vowed Monday that "terrorists will be destroyed."

The iconic Moscow subway system is one of the world's busiest, carrying around 7 million passengers on an average workday, and is a key element in running the sprawling and traffic-choked city.

Russian TV showed amateur video from inside the Lubyanka station of wounded and possibly dead victims sitting and lying on the floor. The train platform was filled with smoke.

Outside both stations, passengers flooded out, many of them crying and making frantic calls on their cell phones. The wounded were loaded into ambulances and helicopters, some with their heads wrapped in bloody bandages, as sirens wailed.

The last confirmed terrorist attack in Moscow was in August 2004, when a suicide bomber blew herself up outside a city subway station, killing 10 people. Responsibility for that blast was claimed by Chechen rebels.

Russian police have killed several Islamic militant leaders in the North Caucasus recently, including one last week in the Kabardino-Balkariya region. The killing of Anzor Astemirov was mourned by contributors to two al-Qaida-affiliated Web sites.

The killings have raised fears of retaliatory strikes by the militants.

Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu said the toll was 37 killed and 102 injured, but he did not give a breakdown of casualties at each station.

In a televised meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev, Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov said body fragments of the two bombers pointed to a Caucasus connection. He did not elaborate.

"We will continue the fight against terrorism unswervingly and to the end," Medvedev said.

Neither he nor Putin, who was on an official trip in Siberia, announced specific measures and it was not clear if Russia has new strategies to unleash in the Caucasus, where violent separatism has spread from Chechnya into neighboring republics.

Although the Russian army battered Chechen rebels in massive assaults a decade ago, the separatists continue to move through the region's mountains and forests with comparative ease and launch frequent small attacks.

New York's transit system beefed up security as a precaution following the Moscow bombings. A spokesman for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Kevin Ortiz, said the agency has a "heightened security presence," but declined further comment.

The agency is in charge of New York City buses and subways, as well as suburban trains, and bridges and tunnels.

The Moscow blasts practically paralyzed movement in the city center as emergency vehicles sped to the stations.

In the Park Kultury blast, the bomber was wearing a belt packed with plastic explosive and set it off as the train's doors opened, said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's top investigative body. The woman has not been identified, he told reporters.

A woman who sells newspapers outside the Lubyanka station, Ludmila Famokatova, said there appeared to be no panic, but that many of the people who streamed out were distraught.

"One man was weeping, crossing himself, saying 'thank God I survived'," she said.

___

Associated Press Writers Jim Heintz, Lynn Berry and Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS casualty total.)

Tea Party you mean, Trailer Trash Party

2010-03-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Tea Party, you mean Trailer Trash Party.
story by Panama Jack
Sara Palin leeds her trailer trash party traveling under the name Tea Party to Nevada, the new name for her followers is now trailer trash, these are people who allready have free medical insurance and are just trying to stop any other American from having the same equil rights.
What is really going to happen in the November Elections is the American People are going to open their eyes and ears to the fact who these people really are and vote anyone out of office who supports them.
Sara Palin the so called American Mom is a fake see is just trying make more money off the back of Americans. Here in America we need an American party, one who is not owned by big money. It must be nice Sara you have found out how to get a free ticket from the people of this country. Sara Palin enjoys free everything. Hotels, Cars, Airline tickets and food.
Please vote anyone who supports Sara Palin out of office.
story by Panama Jack born in the United States of America

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez No More Freedom of the Press

2010-03-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

By GONZALO SOLANO, Associated Press
QUITO, Ecuador – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday defended the arrest of a major TV channel owner, calling him a criminal and denying the government is carrying out an assault on press freedom.

The back-to-back arrests this week of two government opponents — including the owner of Venezuela's only remaining anti-Chavez TV channel — have drawn accusations that Chavez is growing increasingly intolerant and authoritarian as his popular support has slipped.

Opposition leaders and human rights groups condemned Thursday's arrest of Globovision's owner Guillermo Zuloaga, who was detained at an airport and released hours later after a judge issued an order barring him from leaving the country.

Zuloaga is accused of spreading false information and insulting the president at an Inter American Press Association meeting in Aruba last weekend, Attorney General Luisa Ortega said.

"A Venezuelan judge comes along and orders the detention of a criminal in Venezuela who owns a media outlet," Chavez said during a visit to Ecuador. "And then they attack the government of Venezuela ... for attacking press freedom, for attacking journalists and the news media — what cynicism. It's the cynicism of the (U.S.) empire."

Chavez also took a verbal jab at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, accusing her of being out of touch and saying she seems more and more like her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.

"She still considers herself the imperial lady. She is behind the times," Chavez said. "She still thinks the United States is the owner of this continent."

His complaints were echoed by Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who said his government would prepare its own report on human rights in the United States.

The State Department has said harassment and intimidation of the opposition and the media are on the rise in Venezuela.

Clinton said earlier this month during a Latin American tour that Chavez's government is limiting freedom and should restore "full democracy," and State Department spokesman Mark Toner has expressed concern about Monday's arrest of opposition politician Oswaldo Alvarez Paz.

Alvarez Paz was charged with conspiracy, spreading false information and publicly inciting crime after remarking that Venezuela has turned into a haven for drug traffickers, among other accusations.

U.S. criticism of Alvarez Paz's arrest prompted a diplomatic protest by Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, who met with U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy, the state-run Bolivarian News Agency said Thursday.

The two arrests were similar in that both men made remarks that authorities deemed false and offensive.

The Inter American Press Association said Zuloaga spoke in response to a group of pro-Chavez journalists who accused him of backing a failed coup against Chavez in 2002. He denied the charge and recounted his version of events, according to a transcript of the appearance.

"We are also against what happened back then because if it had been done right perhaps we would have a different Venezuela today," Zuloaga said.

He accused Chavez of ordering security forces to open fire on a protest march that was headed toward the presidential palace. Chavez maintains opponents were behind the bloodshed that preceded the short-lived coup.

Zuloaga also accused the government of limiting free speech, saying: "You cannot talk about true freedom of expression when a government uses its power to repress media, to shut down media."

Globovision has been the only stridently anti-Chavez channel on the air since another opposition channel, RCTV, was forced off cable and satellite TV in January.

___

Associated Press Writer Ian James in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

The Peice of Muslim Pig Shit Osama Bin Laden

2010-03-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

CAIRO – Osama bin Laden threatened in a new message released Thursday to kill any Americans al-Qaida captures if the U.S. executes the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks or other al-Qaida suspects.

In the 74-second audiotape aired on Al-Jazeera television, the al-Qaida leader explicitly mentions Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who was captured in Pakistan in 2003. He is the most senior al-Qaida operative in U.S. custody and is currently detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2008, the U.S. charged Mohammed with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. Pentagon officials have said they will seek the death penalty for him. Four of his fellow plotters are also in custody.

"The White House has expressed its desire to execute them. The day America makes that decision will be the day it has issued a death sentence for any one of you that is taken captive," Bin Laden said, addressing Americans.

After his March 2003 capture in Pakistan, Mohammed described himself as the architect of numerous terrorism plots and even claimed that "with my blessed right hand," he had decapitated Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Pearl was found beheaded in Pakistan in 2002.

Mohammed, appearing in June 2008 for the first time since his capture five years earlier, said he would welcome becoming a "martyr" after a judge warned him that he faces the death penalty for his confessed role as mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time," he declared.

The U.S. is still considering whether to put Mohammed and the four fellow plotters on military tribunal. The Obama administration is also looking into recommendations for civilian trials, and is expected to announce a decision soon.

Al-Qaida is not known to be holding any Americans captive now. But the Haqqani group — the Pakistan-based Taliban faction closest to al-Qaida — is holding American soldier Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl who was captured in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009. It released a video of him in December.

Bin Laden also said President Barack Obama is following in the footsteps of his predecessor George W. Bush by escalating the war in Afghanistan, being "unjust" to al-Qaida prisoners and supporting Israel in its occupation of Palestinian land.

"The politicians of the White House were and still are wronging us, especially by supporting Israel and occupying our land in Palestine. They think that America, behind oceans, is safe from the wrath of the oppressed, until the reaction was loud and strong in your homeland," he said of the Sept. 11 attacks. "Equal treatment is only fair. War is a back-and-forth."

Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the rugged, lawless border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The prospect of giving Mohammed and the four fellow plotters a civilian trial in New York City has led to protests by residents and relatives of Sept. 11 victims who fear that such a move could again make the city a terrorism target and that they should instead face a military trial.

Earlier this month, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said that if Obama agrees to try the five in military tribunals, he will press fellow Republicans to vote to close the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Graham told CBS television's "Face the Nation" March 7 that reversing Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to try the suspected terrorists in a civilian court in New York City would be seen as an act of leadership by the public. The White House is reviewing Holder's plan and no new recommendation has been presented to the president. A decision is not expected for several weeks.

Chavez has TV Station Owner Arrested

2010-03-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

CARACAS, Venezuela – The owner of Venezuela's only remaining TV channel that takes a critical line against President Hugo Chavez was arrested Thursday, raising concerns the government is pursuing a widening crackdown to silence opponents.

Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of Globovision, was detained on a warrant charging him with making remarks "offensive" to the president, Attorney General Luisa Ortega said. Zuloaga was later released, but the judge issued an order preventing from leaving the country while prosecutors proceed with their investigation.

Zuloaga said military intelligence agents detained him at an airport in the northwestern state of Falcon as he was preparing to fly on his private plane with his wife to the Caribbean island of Bonaire, where they planned to vacation.

The arrest could be a decisive development in Chavez's drive to rein in a channel that he has accused of trying to undermine his government. Globovision has been the only stridently anti-Chavez channel on the air since another opposition-aligned channel, RCTV, was forced off cable and satellite TV in January. RCTV was booted off the open airwaves in 2007.

Ortega said prosecutors are investigating Zuloaga for remarks he made during a recent Inter American Press Association meeting on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, where he joined other media executives in criticizing Chavez's government for limiting free speech and cracking down on critics.

Pro-Chavez lawmaker Manuel Villalba urged prosecutors on Wednesday to investigate Zuloaga for allegedly saying that Venezuela's government is cracking down on its critics and purportedly commenting that it was a shame a short-lived 2002 coup against Chavez failed.

"He must assume his responsibility," Villalba told state-run Radio Nacional.

Following his release, Zuloaga appeared at Globovision's studios, where employees cheered and applauded. He called the accusations against him "ridiculous," saying all citizens have the constitutional right to express their opinions regarding public figures such as presidents.

Zuloaga denied he was planning to flee the country, saying: "I'm staying here."

Earlier, TV footage showed him being led through the airport while some people chanted "Freedom!" He later was escorted into a Caracas courthouse.

Arresting Zuloaga shows Chavez's government is "acting like a totalitarian government, like Cuba," said Alejandro Aguirre, president of the Inter American Press Association, which is based in Miami and has clashed with Chavez for years on free-speech issues.

The Attorney General's Office said in a statement that prosecutors are investigating Zuloaga for allegedly violating a law prohibiting Venezuelans from spreading "false information through any medium," including newspapers, radio, television, e-mails or leaflets, "that cause public panic."

Zuloaga, Globovision's majority shareholder, could face a five-year prison sentence if convicted, the statement said.

He has previously been singled out by authorities. Last May, prosecutors began investigating him for a suspected "environmental crime" related to wild animals he had hunted and mounted in his Caracas home. The following month, prosecutors charged Zuloaga with usury, alleging unlawful markups at two Toyota dealerships that he jointly owns after authorities seized 24 vehicles being stored at a home he owns.

Zuloaga's arrest also came three days after opposition politician Oswaldo Alvarez Paz was detained for remarks made on a Globovision talk show March 8.

Alvarez Paz has been charged with conspiracy, spreading false information and publicly inciting crime after remarking that Venezuela has turned into a haven for drug traffickers. He also said he backed allegations by a Spanish judge that Venezuela's government has cooperated with the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombian rebels.

Chavez has dismissed those accusations as lies. Alvarez Paz stands by his words and denies breaking the law.

Miguel Henrique Otero, editor of the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, said Zuloaga's arrest shows Chavez's government is growing more authoritarian and starting to "look more like a traditional dictatorship."

"That's what dictatorships do: arrest and take people away, jail them and convict them for crimes of opinion," Otero said. He said he thinks the government is acting now because Chavez has been losing popularity and "they're nervous."

"They want to create so much fear hanging over people that it silences opponents," he said.

Chavez remains the country's most popular politician, but his support has dipped as the economy contracts and as Venezuelans cope with inflation, rampant crime and rolling blackouts in parts of the country.

Chavez's popularity slipped below 50 percent in polls late last year, and has hovered between 40 percent and 50 percent in recent months, said pollster Luis Vicente Leon of the Caracas-based firm Datanalisis.

Carlos Correa, director of the rights group Espacio Publico, condemned Zuloaga's arrest. "These types of actions against freedom of expression, and against the right that all Venezuelans have to listen to plurality, distinct visions, must be rejected," he said.

Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza urged Venezuelan authorities to release Zuloaga. He added that if Zuloaga is tried, "it be done with respect for the presumption of innocence and with all the guarantees offered to him by the law."

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an arm of the OAS, said Zuloaga's detention shows "the lack of independence of the judicial branch and the use of the criminal justice system to punish critical statements."

The U.S. government has raised similar concerns in the past, saying in a State Department human rights assessment this month that "harassment and intimidation of the political opposition and the media" have intensified in Venezuela in the past year.

Panama Crocodile Attacks Swimmer in Herrera

2010-03-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

Crocodile captured in Herrera
An enormous crocodile was captured this afternoon in the waters of the Parita River in Herrera after it attacked a swimmer there.

César Nieto, who was attacked by the crocodile, said he suffered wounds in his head which caused him to lose almost a pint of blood.

After the attack, he sought medical care in Chitré, and then returned to the river with several friends to catch the crocodile.

The group was able to capture the animal, which was transported to the Zoológico Eco Aventuras Los Ríos. If the animal can't be kept at that facility, it will be turned over to officials from the national environmental authority ANAM.

Panama Ricardo Martinelli President receives new ambassadors

2010-03-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

President receives new ambassadors
President Ricardo Martinelli Wednesday received the new ambassadors to the country from France and South Korea.

Doo Jung-soo, the ambassador from Korea, and Hugues Goisbault, from France, both met with the president to present their credentials.

Both diplomats expressed their interest in strengthening bilateral relations between their respective countries and Panama.

Martinelli received the credentials along with Vice President Juan Carlos Varela.

U.S. expresses its concern over arrest in Venezuela

2010-03-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

U.S. expresses its concern
over arrest in Venezuela

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

The United States Wednesday expressed serious concern over the arrest of an opposition political figure in Venezuela who had accused President Hugo Chávez's government of ties to regional subversive groups. The man, former Venezuelan state governor Oswaldo Alvarez Paz, could face as long as 16 years in prison on conspiracy and other charges.

The State Department has joined human rights groups in criticizing the arrest of Alvarez, a former presidential candidate. He was arrested Monday after a television interview earlier this month in which he accused the Chávez government of, among other things, helping drug cartels.

A long-time member of the opposition COPEI party who sought the presidency in 1993, Alvarez joins a growing list of prominent Chávez critics who are now in jail, exile, or facing prosecution.

Authorities opened an inquiry into Alvarez after he gave an interview to the pro-opposition TV network Globovision March 8 in which he said the Caracas government has cooperating with the leftwing Colombian rebel group, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, and facilitated the work of drug traffickers.

President Chávez dismissed the allegation as lies, and a court ordered Alvarez arrested for conspiracy, spreading false information and inciting hate.

A coalition of Venezuelan opposition groups said Alvarez had been arrested for a crime of opinion.

At a news briefing, State Department acting spokesman Mark Toner also said he was being prosecuted for expressing political views.

"We are seriously concerned about the arrest of former governor Oswaldo Alvarez Paz for simply expressing his views on a TV talk show," said Toner. "It is unfortunately the latest example of the government's continuing assault on freedom of expression. We urge the Venezuelan government to honor its commitment under the Inter-American Democratic Charter to uphold the principle that respect for human rights, including freedom of expression, is essential for representative democracies," he added.

Spokesman Toner noted that Human Rights Watch has also called the arrest a major setback for freedom of expression in Venezuela.

The Latin American Affairs Director for Human Rights Watch, Jose Miguel Vivanco, accused Chávez of trying to intimidate critics with allegations of conspiracies and coup-mongering, and said jailing someone for criticizing the government is a clear abuse of power.

Alvarez faces between two and 16 years in prison if convicted on one or more of the charges.

Vivanco said Alvarez' plight is all the more difficult given what he said was the Chávez government's takeover of the country's supreme court.

Venezuelan judicial officials deny Alvarez is being prosecuted for political reasons, saying he has committed real crimes for which he should answer in court.

Lawyers for the former governor of oil-rich Zulia state say they are trying the secure his release pending a trial.

Comment by Panama Jack
Chavez and his other oil dictators think that they can rule the world.
I think the U.S. should just shoot them out of the air and keep their mouths shut about it.

Laura Kay I was born in the former Panamá Canal Zone in 1968

2010-03-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Laura Kay
I was born in the former Panamá Canal Zone in 1968. Since being born in Panamá, I've been on a great journey, which eventually led me back to Panamá, a beautiful country in which I feel most at home. After Panamá, I was raised for the most part in the Washington, D.C. area, and received my Bachelor of Science degree from Radford University, Radford, Virginia.

I decided to leave the East Coast for the warmer and more laid-back environs of Tucson, Arizona, where I lived for eight years before moving permanently to Bocas del Toro in 2007. It was in Tucson that I became a professional photographer. Surrounded by beautiful women and a beautiful environment, it only seemed natural to combine the two and capture that in photos, feeding my creativity and giving the women something to feel good about themselves at the same time.

Now that I'm living in Bocas del Toro, I have the pleasure to pursue my two passions in life - photography and yoga. As a certified yoga instructor I am having a yoga studio custom-built on 4th Street, Bocas Town, Isla Colón, opening in May, 2008. The yoga studio will also serve as a photography studio, when we're having rainy days in Bocas.

I love to travel and experience different cultures. To view my travel photography please click here. No matter how much I travel, it's always good to get home to Bocas del Toro and the people here! I'm proud to say this is my home. Won't you join me?

http://www.bocasyoga.com/Photography/PhotograhyByLauraKay.html

Panama Authorities seize cocaine

2010-03-24T08:11:00.001-07:00

Authorities seize cocaine
Panamanian authorities seized 60 kilograms of cocaine during an anti-narcotics operation in Pacora Tuesday.

Police captured four suspects, including two Colombian citizens and two Panamanians.

The drugs were found in apartments rented by the people who were arrested. Police think the drugs were smuggled into the country through the Darién by Colombian drug cartels, and were being stored in Pacora until they could be shipped abroad.

Arrest in Venezuela raises free speech concerns

2010-03-24T05:39:00.000-07:00

Arrest in Venezuela raises free speech concerns
Associated Press Writer Fabiola Sanchez, Associated Press Writer – Tue
CARACAS, Venezuela – The arrest of an outspoken government opponent for his critical remarks on a TV talk show drew condemnation on Tuesday from opposition parties and human rights activists who said the case shows freedoms are being eroded in Venezuela.

Opposition politician Oswaldo Alvarez Paz was detained by police on Monday and has been charged with conspiracy, spreading false information and publicly inciting violation.

A coalition of more than a dozen parties opposed to President Hugo Chavez said in a statement that Alvarez Paz was arrested for a "crime of opinion" in an attempt to silence criticism and encourage a climate of self-censorship. Opposition leaders called the 67-year-old former Zulia state governor a political prisoner.

Human Rights Watch also condemned the arrest.

"This is a major setback for freedom of expression in Venezuela," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, the group's executive director for the Americas.

"For years Chavez has sought to intimidate his critics with unfounded allegations of conspiracies and coup-mongering. Throwing someone in prison for criticizing the government is a clear abuse of power, and all the more so in a country where it is very difficult to expect a fair trial given the government's political takeover of the supreme court," Vivanco said.

The government denied that Alvarez Paz is being prosecuted for political reasons, saying he has committed legitimate crimes and should answer in court.

"Someone cannot stand up to defame, to lie, to manipulate in the media here and not have anything happen," Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami told reporters.

Alejandro Castillo of the Attorney General's Office told state television that Alvarez Paz has been summoned to appear before a judge on Wednesday.

He denied that prosecutors targeted Alvarez Paz for political reasons, saying, "We are not talking about political persecution. We are talking about a citizen who broke the law."

The politician's lawyer, Omar Estacio, said he would ask the judge to allow Alvarez Paz to be released while he awaits trial. Estacio called the charges baseless.

Alvarez Paz has said he did nothing wrong and stands by his remarks from the March 8 broadcast of "Hello Citizen."

Among several strong criticisms, Alvarez Paz said on the show that Venezuela has turned into "a center of operations that facilitates the business of drug trafficking." He also said Chavez's government is facing serious evidence presented by a Spanish judge that it has cooperated with the Basque separatist group ETA and the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Chavez has dismissed those accusations as lies. He insists his government is not turning a blind eye to drug traffickers and says opponents and the U.S. government criticize Venezuela's counter-drug efforts for political reasons.

The program was broadcast on Globovision, the last remaining TV channel on Venezuela's airwaves that takes a hard anti-Chavez line. Globovision already faces multiple investigations by regulators for alleged violations of broadcast rules, and Chavez regularly accuses the channel of trying to foment instability.

Prosecutors began an investigation into Alvarez's remarks at the request of two pro-Chavez lawmakers who accused him of inciting "hatred against the institutions" of the country.

Days later, Chavez also called for action, saying without naming Alvarez Paz that one panelist "has the nerve to say that Chavez, the president of this country, supports drug trafficking, and also has the nerve to say there is evidence that here in Venezuela ... a bunch of courses have been given to terrorists from ETA and the FARC."

"That's very serious. That can't be permitted," Chavez said.

Prosecutors say Alvarez Paz — who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1993 — could face two to 16 years in prison if convicted of any of the three charges.

___

Drug trafficking in Panama has increased "alarmingly"

2010-03-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Story by don Winner
Drug trafficking in Panama has increased "alarmingly" - as have the number of murders, said US Ambassador to Panama Barbara Stephenson. "We have seen an alarming increase in the amount of cocaine and other drugs transiting the seas and Panamanian soil, leaving a trail of death and corruption," said the diplomat at a forum on organized crime. In Panama the number of homicides has increased from 363 in 2006, to 808 in 2009, which "we think is directly linked to an equally dramatic increase in drug trafficking through Panama," she added. Stephenson made a call to the US and Panamanian law enforcement offices to join efforts in the areas of logistics and information sharing. The diplomat also invited Panamanians to replicate US programs to reduce crime rates. "With a good plan, Panama still has a chance to proactively change the dynamics of security by keeping drug traffickers away from the coasts and outside of the sovereign territory, while seeking improvements in police and judicial institutions, and by embarking on effective prevention programs," she said. In 2009, Panamanian authorities seized 56 tons of drugs, of which 50 tons were cocaine. (Source - Telemetro)
Editor's Comment: If you would like to fully understand what has been happening to Panama in the past three to four years, please read this outstanding report. Here's an excerpt: "...there is no guarantee that Central America will continue to escape the wrath of Mexican drug traffickers. On the contrary, there is reason for concern that the region will increasingly become a battleground in the Mexican cartel war. For one thing, the Merida Initiative, a U.S. anti-drug aid program that will put some $300 million into Mexico and about $100 million into Central America over the next year, could be perceived as a meaningful threat to drug-trafficking operations. If Central American governments choose to step up counternarcotics operations, either at the request of the United States or in order to qualify for more Merida money, they risk disrupting existing smuggling operations to the extent that cartels begin to retaliate. Deaths related to drug trafficking in Panama jumped from 363 in 2006 to 808 last year because the Mexican drug cartels have taken over responsibility for moving the product North, once it leaves Colombia. Thus far these organized crime elements have remained focused only on their own people and problems. If they ever turn their wrath against the government of Panama, and start to do things like attack and kill government officials, then it will be a whole new ballgame. And, the amount of drugs transiting Panama has increased because traffickers have switched to a slower but safer land route strategy in recent years, mostly because sea and air routes have been effectively shut down or mitigated. They changed their strategy, and we are seeing the results on the ground.

Chavez wants to block internet in Venezuela like Iran and China

2010-03-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

(Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who is criticized by media freedom groups, called on Saturday for regulation of the Internet and singled out a website that he said falsely reported the murder of one of his ministers.

Media

"The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms," Chavez said. He cited German Chancellor Angel Merkel as having expressed a similar sentiment recently.

Chavez is angry with Venezuelan political opinion and gossip website Noticierodigital, which he said had falsely written that Diosdado Cabello, a senior minister and close aide, had been assassinated. The president said the story remained on the site for two days.

"We have to act. We are going to ask the attorney general for help, because this is a crime. I have information that this page periodically publishes stories calling for a coup d'etat. That cannot be permitted."

Social networking web sites like Twitter and Facebook are very popular among Venezuela's opposition movements to organize protests against the government. Chavez has complained that people use such sites to spread unfounded rumors.

Many opponents fear Chavez plans to emulate the government oversight of the Web used by allies Cuba, China and Iran, but the socialist leader has not given any sign that he is planning such a move.

In 2007 Chavez refused to renew the license for television station RCTV, which is now battling to survive as a cable-only operator.

The government has also put pressure on opposition TV network Globovision to soften its editorial line and last year closed dozens of radio stations for administrative breaches.

PANAMA Noriega Loses Appeal

2010-03-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away the imprisoned former leader of Panama in his effort to fight pending extradition to France to face money-laundering charges.

The justices were Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega's last legal hope, and their refusal to intervene likely clears the way for his overseas transfer.

The onetime dictator of the Central American nation remains behind bars in a federal prison in Miami, Florida. He had been scheduled for release two years ago after his 1992 conviction on cocaine trafficking, racketeering and money-laundering charges, but France also has sought to try him on similar charges in that country.

Noriega's attorneys argued that under international law, his status as a prisoner of war should mean he can immediately return home to Panama or another country.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented from the court's decision to stay out of the Noriega case.

A federal appeals court in Atlanta, Georgia, six months ago refused his petition for habeas corpus, noting a 2006 federal law does not allow Noriega to invoke the Geneva Conventions "as a source of rights" to demand his release from custody. Those treaties deal in part with repatriation of POWs after hostilities end.

Representing the 73-year-old Noriega, attorneys Frank Rubino and Jonathan May said that lower court ruling "undermines protections that apply not only to prisoners of war in the United States but to our own men and women who find themselves prisoners of war of other nations."

U.S. forces removed the ex-dictator from office during Operation Nifty Package, the 1989 invasion of Panama. Noriega had fled his offices and tried to seek sanctuary in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City. U.S. troops set up large speakers around the compound, blaring music at all hours, a psychological ploy to rattle the general. He eventually surrendered on January 3, 1990, and was quickly escorted to the United States for civilian trial.

After his drug conviction, Noriega was given POW status. His federal sentence, originally for 30 years, ended in September 2007 after time off for good behavior. But months earlier, the United States agreed to send Noriega to France. The Justice Department had ordered him held pending the resolution of his appeals.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 prohibits anyone -- including U.S. citizens -- from going to federal courts and using treaties to secure their release or to block an extradition.

The final decision on when Noriega leaves the United States will rest with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Panama also has sought their former leader's extradition, but the United States has not honored that request.

Panama Martinelli approval rating remains high

2010-03-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

Martinelli approval rating remains high
President Ricardo Martinelli has maintained a strong approval rating according to the results of a poll commissioned by La Prensa.

The poll found that 66.8 percent of Panamanians found that Martinelli's management is "good," and another 9.1 percent described it as "excellent." The poll found that 20.2 percent of those asked considered his management to be "bad" or "very poor."

The survey, which took place between March 12 and 14, also asked whether or not they agreed with the president's management style. The poll found that 61.6 percent of those asked agreed with his style, while 33 percent said they disagreed.

The poll found that 69.5 percent of those asked would vote for Martinelli if the election were held today, and 10 percent regretted voting for him. About 20 percent of those asked decline to answer.

When asked if they considered the government to have a clear agenda, 50.2 percent agreed, while 37.4 percent said that the government "was not ready and is improvising."

The survey polled 1,219 people throughout the country in face-to-face interviews that lasted an average of 25 minutes.

Panama Boarder with Costa Rica Two policemen face allegations of enaging in human trafficking at border

2010-03-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Two Fuerza Pública officers are facing allegations that they helped smuggle Colombian women into the country.

The arrest of one policeman identified as Montoya Gómez was made by fellow officers at a control station in la Unión de Sabalito, said the Poder Judicial. Montoya was off duty but usually works at the control station himself, said the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública.

The ministry said Montoya was in a vehicle heading north from the border with Panamá when he was pulled over. He and the two women passengers fled into the brush but were captured, officers said.
Later, the Poder Judicial said that a second officer, identified by the last names of Mora Otoya was detained with the allegation that he was the one who actually helped the two women cross the border. The woman carried passports that did not have the appropriate entry stamps, said the Poder Judicial.

Two women also were detained. They were identified by the last names of Muñoz González and Fonseca Moya. They are facing allegations of assisting in the trafficking of persons.

The two Colombian women were identified by the last names of Vargas Olarte and Vásquez Zapata, said the ministry.

Costa Rica Postal officials honoring those who died in Holocaust

2010-03-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

Postal officials honoring
those who died in Holocaust

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Holocaust is not a myth in Costa Rica. The postal service has come out with a commemorative stamp honoring the millions who died under the Nazi yoke.

The stamp was issued on the International Day of the Victims of the Holocaust. The emission was done in conjunction with the Costa Rican Jewish community and the Yad VaShem Hebrew Holocaust martyrs organization.

The stamp is a simple Star of David outlined in barbed wire, evoking memories of the concentration camps where Jews and others were herded. The design is by Cristian Ramírez Vargas. The duotone background of the stamp contains stripes of the same colors of the uniforms worn by the concentration camp inmates.

Face value is 500 colons, about 92 cents.

The emission is a bold move by the Correos de Costa Rica because the executive branch is trying to repair relations with Muslim states, and some of the Muslim leaders deny that the Holocaust took place.

Hookers being recruited as intelligence operatives

2010-03-05T18:58:00.001-08:00

Hookers being recruited as intelligence operatives
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The statement may seem very obvious, but customers of prostitutes should not provide a lot of personal information.

Some of San José's more expensive call girls report that they have been approached by individuals they think are Mexican with offers to purchase information regarding their customers.

In México, officials have discovered that the Zeta narco military force has made offers of from $400 to $800 to working women and men for information that may be useful in a crime. The narcos are interested in infiltrating public institutions, finding out which potential kidnap victim has ready money and a whole list of personal information on large groups of persons.

Costa Rican prostitutes say that similar efforts to obtain personal information have been made here.

Mostly unknown to the sex tourists who visit some of the local hotels is another tier of prostitutes who are involved with the movers and shakers of Costa Rican society. It is at this level that attempts have been made to obtain information
No one has admitted accepting the offers, and one individual said that $400 to $800 is not enough to destroy her business. She is one of those women who works from noon until 8 p.m. in places where the average expat cannot go. Patrons are mostly top businessmen, diplomats, judges and politicians. Discretion is the rule.

Sought are a whole list of information ranging from locations of bank accounts to the names of minor children. The questioners also are interested in the names of corporations in which the individual may have an interest. In addition to pillow talk, the questioners most certainly have taken advantage of the country's public record system that lists corporate ownership, vehicle titles, deeds and family relationships.

Some of the women who have been approached said that the volume of information that they receive is incredible because frequently their customers either simply want to talk or seek to feed their ego.

One woman said that she believed similar offers are being made to domestic employees who are situated much better to provide floor plans of homes and hourly schedules.

Bruce Jones Educational Center Helping Poor Street Children In Panama

2010-02-27T09:17:00.000-08:00

Bruce Jones Educational Center

Director: Maria Teresa Donato

Objective:
Bruce Jones Educational Center is a not for profit school that takes teaching to where the impoverished kids of Panama are, the streets. The priority of the initial phase of Bruce Jones Educational Center recourses is to introduce these hard to reach kids to English as a second language, helping them improve their skill set in order to achieve a higher level of earning potential. In time Bruce Jones Educational Center will set up a computer lab to teach these same kids computer skills that combined with the English skills will help them leave the streets of Panama, and end the cycle of poverty they have been born into. Bruce Jones Educational Center is also involved with getting basic school supplies to kids that are already in school, and have homes, and loving families that are just unable to afford these basic school supplies. Bruce Jones Educational Center is also dedicated to getting orphans not just educated, but supplying them with those things that make being a kid fun, by purchasing Christmas toys for over one thousand boy's, and girls. With next year's goal doubling, and with some luck, and other kind hearted souls Bruce Jones Educational Center hopes to be able to give every child in Panama that needs a toy to play with, a toy to play with. Why Panama? Panama is an emerging Latin country with a fairly small population, but a high rate of poverty. Bruce Jones Educational Center picked Panama because of the size, which it believes enables it to reach its goal, and affect the most amount of Children in a positive way. Bruce Jones Educational Center has no illusions of eradicating the poverty that so many children are being exposed to, but has a firm commitment to do all that it can to give as many children as possible the opportunity to better their lives, and the lives of their inevitable children if they want it with no other motives then to help. Bruce Jones Educational Center has no ties to any Religious organizations, although it does help where it can with full autonomy, and with the soul beneficiaries being the impoverished children of Panama. Bruce Jones Educational Center has no interest in indoctrinating any children into any belief other than with hard work, and a helping hand they can find all that they seek.

Students: 15 total between the ages of 9 - 15 from Calidonia, Panama

Panama Jack to Visit Hotel Del Rey

2010-02-26T02:52:00.000-08:00

China Wants Costa Rica Oil

2010-02-26T02:40:00.000-08:00

Chinese represent danger
to Tico culture, environment

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

The ever sneaky and inscrutable Communist Chinese have one goal in mind here, and it's not promoting "culture." It's to persuade the Costa Rican government to allow the Chinese to develop our offshore oil deposits in order to feed the insatiable Chinese industrial juggernaut. Oscar Arias is playing a dangerous game by opening the country to Chinese influence. He is putting the sociocultural well-being of present and future Costa Ricans at great risk.

For decades, every major human rights organization and Western country has put China at or near the top of worst violators of basic human rights. Let's consider the cultural incompatibilities between Costa Rica and China.

(1) Costa Rica disbanded its military more than 50 years ago. China's nuclear-equipped military is the largest in the world and maintains an open ended threat of an attack on Taiwan, (Costa Rica's ex buddy who got thrown under the bus for a soccer stadium), should that country declare its official independence from the Communists.

(2) China continues its brutal occupation of Tibet in the face of a half century of international condemnation. Look what the Chinese have done to Tibetan culture! The message is clear: China considers its culture to be superior to all others. What kind of political repercussions could Costa Rica expect from its new best friend were she to criticize China's policy towards Tibet? What sort of respect can Costa Rica expect for its OWN culture from a country like that? This should be reason enough for Costa Rica to close its doors to China.

(3) Costa Rica has freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. FREEDOM!!! China's obsession with curtailing/eliminating these rights and crushing those who support them are all too well known and lately exemplified by the cyber attacks on Google.

(4) China has the death penalty. Costa Rica does not. China uses convict labor to produce consumer goods for export. Costa Rica wouldn't even think of it.

(5) China's record on the environment is nothing short of abysmal. While Costa Rica's environmental regulations/regulatory enforcement leave much to be desired, this country's eco values are far superior to those of the Chinese, who view industrial expansion at any cost as being in the best interests of its people. (Even when they're being poisoned.)

China knows that all over the developing world, poverty and cash strapped, overwhelmed politicians mean political malleability and opportunities to buy and manipulate governments and the natural resources they possess.

The fact that the Chinese are building a soccer stadium here instead of a hospital is very telling. They are wooing the Costa Rican people by feeding their addiction to football. I think this is deplorable. Once China gets its foot in the door with grants, loans and other "carrots," how does Costa Rica then say "no" to the Communists? On ANYTHING!

I would take five minutes sitting in the presence of H. H. the Dalai Lama over a hundred years of exposure to Chinese "culture." Ticos had better wake up to the threat of the dragon at the gate before its too late.

Dean Barbour
Manuel Antonio

Latin America and Caribbean leaders

2010-02-23T16:04:00.001-08:00

PLAYA DE CARMEN, Mexico – Latin America and Caribbean leaders united Tuesday to create a regional bloc excluding Canada and the United States, but its birth was undermined by a spat in which the Colombian president told Venezuela's Hugo Chavez "to be a man."

Many of the 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries participating in the summit have long called for a new organization that will not be dominated by the interests of their two wealthy northern neighbors. The Washington-based Organization of American States, the largest diplomatic bloc in the Western Hemisphere, has been heavily influenced by the United States.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who hosted the summit in a Caribbean resort, said the bloc "will consolidate and globally project a Latin American and Caribbean identity."

Latin American countries, however, have competing interests of their own — a point driven home by bickering at the summit.

At a dinner Monday night, conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe started complaining about Venezuela's trade sanctions against Colombia, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because delegations at the meeting had agreed not to discuss the spat publicly.

He described the following incident to reporters: Chavez shot back that Venezuela was constantly threatened by paramilitaries in the neighboring country and suggested the Colombian government was involved.

Chavez then stood up from the table, ready to storm off, when Uribe told him to stay and "be a man."

Chavez told Uribe to "go to hell," according to Venezuelan state television.

After they calmed down, the leaders agreed to create a "group of friends" to mediate between the feuding presidents. Chavez and Uribe played down the incident Tuesday, promising to work out their differences.

Then, Bolivian President Evo Morales, one of Chavez's strongest allies, reignited tensions by suggesting Uribe was a U.S. "agent" sent to sabotage the bloc.

"What's my conclusion?" Morales said. "Since we are debating a new organization without the United States, the agents of the United States have come to bog this down to make this event fail."

Meanwhile, Washington welcomed the new group.

"Virtually all of the countries attending the unity summit are strong partners of the United States and we are working together with them on a broad range of initiatives," said U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "So we consider the meeting in Mexico as consistent with our goals for the hemisphere."

The leaders agreed to meet again in Venezuela in 2011.

The bloc's formation is expected to take years and faces many challenges.

Latin America remains divided on whether to recognize the government of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, who won November elections organized under interim leaders who took power after the June 28 ouster of then-President Manuel Zelaya.

Lobo was not invited to the summit and had not spoken to any of its participants, although the presidents who did attend spoke of including all 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations — including Honduras — in the new bloc. Lobo's spokesman said Honduras wants to join.

The leaders did not discuss Honduras to avoid polarizing the group, Calderon said.

Participants also disagreed on whether the bloc should replace the OAS, but they did find common ground on some issues, rallying around Argentina in its condemnation of Britain's oil exploration in waters surrounding the Falkland Islands, which Argentina claims.

Peter Hakim, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, questioned whether Latin American countries sensitive to outside meddling in their affairs will be able to confront touchy issues within their own region.

"It requires making some sacrifices of sovereignty and this is an issue that Latin America seems unyielding on," Hakim said.

President Martinelli meets with presidents of Costa Rica and Mexico

2010-02-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

Martinelli meets with presidents of Costa Rica and Mexico
la prensa

President Martinelli, along with 29 other heads of State, are gathered in Cancun for a regional summit.

President of the Republic, Ricardo Martinelli, is scheduled to meet with President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, and President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón during his current mission to Cancun to attend the “Latin America and Caribbean Summit of Unity."

One of the objectives of this mission is the signing of an agreement with Mexico to avoid double taxation; an action that forms part of the strategies being developed by the Panamanian government to extricate the country from "the list of uncooperative countries with regards to tax matters.”

During the Summit, which approximately 30 Heads of State are attending, Martinelli, accompanied by Vice-President and Foreign Minister, Juan Carlos Varela, is expected to hold bilateral meetings with his Central American counterparts.

The purpose of these meetings is to join forces to promote the incorporation of Panama into the process of negotiating an Association Agreement between Central American countries and the European Union.

Martinelli is also expected to support efforts being made to rebuild Haiti, as well as to discuss infrastructure investment and regional trade promotion with his counterparts.

Chavez Trying To Start War WIth Columbia

2010-02-23T06:45:00.000-08:00

Chavez of Venezuela, Uribe of Colombia in shouting matchBy Rafael Romo, CNN Senior Latin American Affairs EditorFebruary 23, 2010 -- Updated 0347 GMT (1147 HKT)
Hugo Chavez, left, and Alvaro Uribe have had differences in the past and those boiled into harsh words on Monday.STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Two yelled obscenities, called each other names, source says
Cuban President Raul Castro intervenes to stop the verbal fight
Tension between two started last year over Chavez criticism of Uribe deal with U.S.
RELATED TOPICS
Hugo Chavez
Alvaro Uribe
Mexico
Cancun, Mexico (CNN) -- A shouting match involving the presidents of Venezuela and Colombia is the latest rumble in months of tension between the two South American nations.

The presidential outbursts between Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Alvaro Uribe of Colombia happened Monday afternoon at a closed-door luncheon for heads of state attending the so-called "Unity Summit" being held near the Mexican beach resort of Cancun.

According to a source who attended the luncheon and asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation, Chavez and Uribe started yelling and called each other names, using obscene language.

The source also said that Cuban President Raul Castro had to intervene to stop the verbal fight, asking, "How is it possible that we're fighting at a summit intended to unite Latin American and Caribbean countries?"

When asked about the incident, Mexican President Felipe Calderon declined to address the incident, but a spokesman for him confirmed that it happened.

The tension between Chavez and Uribe started last year after the Venezuelan president strongly criticized Uribe for allowing United States forces to be stationed at Colombian military bases.

Tensions have escalated as the countries accused each other of attempts to destabilize each other.

Colombia has accused Chavez's government of aiding leftist guerrilla groups that fight in Colombia. Meanwhile, Chavez accused Colombia of sending unmanned planes to spy on Venezuela.

The shouting match between Chavez and Uribe raises questions about the possibility of creating a regional organization that would speak with a unified voice for Latin American and Caribbean nations, one of the stated goals of the summit.

Fears expressed that Colombian war is spilling into Panamá

2010-02-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

Fears expressed that Colombian war is spilling into Panamá

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The policies of the conservative Martinelli administration are raising fears that Panamá may become more deeply involved in the Colombian war against the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia.

A shootout took place Jan. 27 between Panamanian forces and a small group of the Marxist guerrillas, according to The Panamá News. Three members of the Fuerzas Armadas died, and two were captured, the newspaper said.

The location was said to be on the banks of the Tuira River not far from Boca de Cupe in the Darién Province of eastern Panamá.

The newspaper said that this was at least the third shootout with the Colombian rebel group in the last year. Panamanian sources have been selective in giving information on the run-in, but President Álvaro Uribe in Colombia said that Panamanian forces bombarded a rebel camp in Panamá, said the newspaper, citing reports from El Espectador in Colombia.

Concerns about Panama's involvement in Colombia's civil conflict are being expressed in some of the daily newspapers, said The Panama News. A more recent run-in off the Darien coast may have been with rebels or ordinary criminals.

The area along the Colombian border with Panamá is a lawless one, but the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias
have used the area to purchase supplies and to hide from Colombian government forces.

"Other signs of the Martinelli administration's position in the Colombian internal conflict are less ambiguous: the Panamanian police wanted posters for FARC leaders posted around Darien communities near the border," wrote Eric Jackson, editor of The Panamá News. "Although Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries have attacked Panama and burned villages, assassinated public officials and kidnapped and murdered fleeing Colombians in the course of these attacks, there are no similar posters for the perpetrators of these acts."

Jackson also said in his newspaper that U.S. mercenaries are active in the region.

"If Panama is going to go to war with FARC to the extent that FARC responds in kind, even if they are depleted by defeats in their war with government forces in Colombia, the guerrillas probably outmatch any fighting force of Panama's," said Jackson. "They probably also have the funds to bribe key Panamanian security forces."

Ricardo Martinelli took office July 1 after a campaign that promised a crackdown on crime and corruption. He has a U.S. military school education as well as a conservative political orientation, so support for Uribe's war would not be a surprise. However, in Costa Rica, politicians and others are sure to be troubled by an expansion of the four-decade-old Colombian insurgency into Panamá.

Panamá trade treaty stalled

2010-02-22T05:09:00.001-08:00

Panamá trade treaty stalled
Dodd tells officials there

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

There is little chance that the U.S. Congress will pass the Panamá free trade treaty, according to U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, who is touring Central American countries with Sen. Bob Corker, according to The Panamá News. Dodd, who will not be seeking re-electionn November after three decades in the Senate, met with Juan Carlos Varela, Panama's foreign minister.

Dodd told Varela that the weak rule of law in Panama as one of the reasons the agreement will not be confirmed, said the newspaper. The treaty was signed in 2006 and has the support of President Barack Obama and the Ricardo Martinelli administration in Panamá.

Dodd and Corker also met Friday with President Óscar Arias Sánchez and president-elect Laura Chinchilla at the Arias home in Rohrmoser. There was no significant announcement after that meeting. The two senators also are visiting Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua on their trip.

Panama vows to defend border area following clash with armed gunmen

2010-02-22T04:37:00.000-08:00

Panama vows to defend border area following clash
PANAMA CITY – The government of Panama says it will defend its territory following the wounding of a police officer during a clash between Panamanian police and armed men along the border with Colombia.

The Foreign Ministry says the government will not allow any part of Panama to be used by groups for drug trafficking or other illicit activities.

Sunday's statement does not identify the group that attacked a government patrol boat Saturday. But the wording suggests they may have been related to Colombian cocaine traffickers or rebels who participate in the trade.

A similar border clash in January resulted in the deaths of three Colombian rebels.

Chavez: Saboteurs targeting Venezuela's power grid

2010-02-22T04:32:00.000-08:00

Chavez: Saboteurs targeting Venezuela's power grid
CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez accused his adversaries on Sunday of sabotaging Venezuela's electricity grid as part of a broader plan aimed at bringing about the system's collapse — and his downfall.

Chavez said authorities must be "on the alert" and apprehend anyone who cuts electricity cables connected to the grid. Such sabotage has caused power failures in some regions and exacerbated the effects of severe energy shortages, he said.

"Be on the lookout! Patrols must be carried out to capture the saboteurs because those responsible must be caught and put in prison," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio program, "Hello President."

Referring to his government's adversaries, he said: "They think that's how they're going to topple Chavez, and that's what they're seeking, but if there's an electricity collapse, it won't be Chavez who is going to fall. Prepare yourselves, bourgeois folks, because it will be you who will fall."

The accusations were vague and Chavez provided no evidence supporting them.

Energy Minister Ali Rodriguez echoed the allegations.

"I have no doubt that many of the failures that are occurring are the product of sabotage. We are investigating," Rodriguez said.

Opposition leaders scoffed at the president's claim, saying Chavez is trying to shed the blame for power shortages that critics say his government caused by failing to invest enough in electricity production over the last decade.

"The president is a great manipulator and he uses lies to fool the people," Juan Jose Molina, an opposition politician, said in a telephone interview.

He noted more than a dozen projects to build thermoelectric plants have been delayed.

"It's Chavez's own incompetence that's going to bring him down," Molina said. "We want to get him out (of office) with votes."

Chavez declared an energy emergency earlier this month, announcing that his socialist government will punish businesses and industries that use what the government considers excessive amounts of electricity. He promised discounts to those that cut consumption.

Under the plan, large businesses and factories must cut electricity consumption 20 percent or face sanctions, including hefty surcharges on electricity bills. The energy-saving initiative also targets ordinary Venezuelans who use more than 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month — an estimated 24 percent of all residential consumers, according to Chavez.

The plan is aimed at easing energy shortages that Chavez blames on a months-long drought. The lack of rain has caused water levels to drop to critical lows behind the Guri Dam, which supplies roughly 70 percent of Venezuela's electricity.

President Ricardo Martinelli graduated from the University of Arkansas

2010-02-21T08:12:00.001-08:00

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --
An international figure paid a visit to Fayetteville Saturday. Panamanian President Riccardo Martinelli studied at the University of Arkansas before embarking on his political journey.

A small crowd watched as Martinelli talked about his love for his alma mater.

"I am very happy to be here and very proud to be an alumnus of the University of Arkansas," Martinelli said.

The university honored Martinelli by establishing a scholarship in his name.

The scholarship will provide financial assistance for students, and preference will be given to students from the Republic of Panama.

"The opportunity during the four and a half years that i spent in Fayetteville has done so much in my life," Martinelli said.

Martinelli hopes the scholarship will provide opportunities for students from Panama to follow in his footsteps, and learn valuable lessons that could help strengthen his home country.

He also says he plans to encourage more communication between Panama and the United States in the future.

"I will do everything in my power to continue strengthening our relationship not only with the university and the state of Arkansas, but with the U.S.," Martinelli said.
The pressure was on for the Razorback baseball team since the opening pitch of the game was thrown by the president of a country.

President Ricardo Martinelli graduated from the University of Arkansas and was elected president of Panama last summer. Panama is a small country in between Central and South America.

This was President Martinelli's first trip to the U of A since he became the president of Panama.

Je says its time here that helped him get where he is today.

"It feels like a dream. I never thought it would come true. I am so proud and happy and so excited. A part of me remains in Arkansas. I love Arkansas and its people. In my life, everything I have become, Arkansas had a lot to do with," said President Martinelli.

Congressman John Boozman agrees.

He graduated from the University of Arkansas at the same time as President Martinelli. "He's somebody that the state of Arkansas can be so proud of. The values, and he's very open and honest about this, that he learned here being in real America has taken and really thrived," said Congressman Boozman.

"The President spent the morning tackling tough issues like free trade and crime in his country of Panama. But things lightened up in the afternoon when he threw out the first pitch at the Razorback baseball game.

The president got a little practice pitching when he recently threw the first pitch at a Yankee's baseball game.

It only took him a couple tries to get the ball across the plate. President Martinelli was given an Arkansas Traveler certificate from Governor Beebe, making him an official ambassador of goodwill from Arkansas.

Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan presented the president with keys to the city.

Panama President Ricardo Martinelli Visits Alma Mater

2010-02-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

Panama President Ricardo Martinelli Visits Alma Mater
Comments FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- An international figure paid a visit to Fayetteville Saturday. Panamanian President Riccardo Martinelli studied at the University of Arkansas before embarking on his political journey.

A small crowd watched as Martinelli talked about his love for his alma mater.

"I am very happy to be here and very proud to be an alumnus of the University of Arkansas," Martinelli said.

The university honored Martinelli by establishing a scholarship in his name.

The scholarship will provide financial assistance for students, and preference will be given to students from the Republic of Panama.

"The opportunity during the four and a half years that i spent in Fayetteville has done so much in my life," Martinelli said.

Martinelli hopes the scholarship will provide opportunities for students from Panama to follow in his footsteps, and learn valuable lessons that could help strengthen his home country.

He also says he plans to encourage more communication between Panama and the United States in the future.

"I will do everything in my power to continue strengthening our relationship not only with the university and the state of Arkansas, but with the U.S.," Martinelli said.

Panama New sewage system in Colón already broken

2010-02-19T05:11:00.000-08:00

New sewage system in Colón already broken
la prensa

A new sewage system in Colón does not have the capacity to handle waste flowing into it.

Despite numerous warnings from engineers, the government of Martín Torrijos authorized the payment of $12.8 million from the Fund for Social Investment to the firm of Transcaribe Trading for the construction of a new sewage system in Colón in August 2008.

Now, less than two years later, the system has numerous problems.

The work was deemed to be satisfactory by the Torrijos administration when it signed off on the project. But this approval was given despite a number of studies by engineers from water and sewer agency IDANN warning that the work had serious problems.

Francisco Israel Rodriguez, director of the Social Investment Fund at the time the work was presented, said he remembered nothing about the project, then refused to answer any further questions. New IDAAN Director for Colón Mariel Lima Young confirmed that the project lacks the proper capacity and that the pumps are constantly breaking down.

Transcaribe Trading owner David Ochy said that the project was built according to government specifications and that the firm will not replace the pumps because the contract has already been completed.

Panama Arias arrested on alcohol charges

2010-02-15T07:39:00.000-08:00

Arias arrested on alcohol charges
The leader of the Panama City Carnival Board, Carlos Arias, was arrested Sunday after police noticed minors being sold alcohol in an area of Vía España.

This comes a day after Arias and the Panama Tourism Authority had a public falling out over a $1 entrance fee to the opening of Carnival festivities in Panama City.

Police came to remove the minors from the area where alcohol was being sold, which caused a disturbance. Arias arrived on the scene and also protested the actions of the officers, which led to his arrest.

Earlier Sunday, Arias had called the dispute over the entrance fee a "misunderstanding."

Arias had hired people to collect a $1 entrance fee, but the Panama Tourism Authority, which oversees Carnival, ordered that practice stopped because all events are supposed to be free.

Arias said that the $1 entrance fee should have been collected only for people heading into a special dance area, and not for general admission. He added that the situation was quickly rectified and that the rest of the activities will be free of charge.

Panama, Carnival deals with problems

2010-02-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

Carnival deals with problems
la prensa

Panama City's Carnival has been suspended due to a number of problems.

Panama City's Carnival continues to be plagued by problems.
These problems include the arrest of the Carnival Board president and ongoing disputes between the board and the Panama Tourism Authority, which is in charge of the event. On Sunday, the Carnival Board announced it would suspend all activities, a decision that was reversed about an hour later.

The day started with Carlos Arias, Carnival board president, being arrested following a confrontation with police. Arias was trying to prevent police from cracking down on alcohol sales to minors. This prompted the board to announce Carnival had been suspended, even though it was unclear if they had the authority to do so.

Arias also clashed with the Tourism Authority over a fee he tried to charge to enter the opening day of Carnival on Saturday.

Also Sunday, food and beverage vendors complained about losing money Saturday night when police forced them to close at midnight.

"We feel cheated," said Zuleika Pérez, one of 175 vendors. "The Carnival Board authorized us to sell after midnight, but the police forced is to close."

Pérez said she lost five bags chorizo and other goods that she had planned to sell.

Despite all the problems, entertainment is expected to continue as scheduled, and vendors have been told they can stay open until 3 a.m.

2010-02-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

Republic of Panama Welcomes G.S.L Real Estate Panama

2010-02-13T06:31:00.000-08:00

Republic of Panama
Welcome to GSL Worldwide, the Real Estate site for properties throughout the whole of Panama. GSL provides a first class service which is based entirely on customer satisfaction for those wishing to rent or purchase Real Estate within Panama. We have connections with all major construction companies and developers in Panama to enable us to locate the property that suits both your budget, and your preference. There is so much to choose from in the cosmopolitan city of Panama, including first class restaurants and bars for those of you who prefer the hustle and bustle of city life. For those who prefer the quieter lifestyle of secluded beaches and mountain locations and prefer to be outside the city, there is also a great deal to choose from. Please select from the menu on the left hand side in order to view the properties on offer and feel free to contact us any time for further advice or just a chat. We have both English and Spanish speaking professionals who are able to assist you in every aspect of moving or retiring to Panama.
•
Our offices are situated at Local #3, Via Espana, close to many of the hotels. Please call in Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 6.00pm or Saturday between 9.00am and 2.00pm, or telephone and arrange for us to meet you at your hotel. We are fully licensed Realtors and will take you through the process of completing all the paperwork for renting a property, or guide you through the laws and regulations of purchasing property. When dealing with GSL you will have peace of mind, knowing that you can relax and enjoy the vibrant atmosphere that Panama has to offer, with the certainty that all legal aspects of your property deal have been completed in an exacting manner.
• Anyone moving to a new country is aware that the assistance of local professionals can be invaluable. It is in our interest to make sure that every aspect of your property purchase or rental is carried out with the utmost professionalism and friendly service that we are renowned for.
• All legal aspects of renting Real Estate in Panama are covered by a lease agreement between yourself and the vendor. All of this paperwork is completed by our own in-house lawyer and registered with the local governing authorities.
• When purchasing Real Estate in Panama it is always advisable to use the services of a fully qualified lawyer, who has the relevant experience. Here at GSL we are able to process all Real Estate transactions, setting up of Corporations and Foundations, and also handle all types of Immigration Visa's.
• Welcome to GSL Worldwide, the Real Estate site for properties throughout the whole of Panama. GSL provides a first class service which is based entirely on customer satisfaction for those wishing to rent or purchase Real Estate within Panama. We have connections with all major construction companies and developers in Panama to enable us to locate the property that suits both your budget, and your preference. There is so much to choose from in the cosmopolitan city of Panama, including first class restaurants and bars for those of you who prefer the hustle and bustle of city life. For those who prefer the quieter lifestyle of secluded beaches and mountain locations and prefer to be outside the city, there is also a great deal to choose from. Please select from the menu on the left hand side in order to view the properties on offer and feel free to contact us any time for further advice or just a chat. We have both English and Spanish speaking professionals who are able to assist you in every aspect of moving or retiring to Panama.
•
Our offices are situated at Local #3, Via Espana, close to many of the hotels. Please call in Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 6.00pm or Saturday between 9.00am and 2.00pm, or telephone and arrange for us to meet you at your hotel. We are fully licensed Realtors and will take you through the process of completing all the paperwork for renting a property, or guide you through the laws and regulations of purchasing property. When dealing with GSL you will have peace of mind, knowing that you can relax and enjoy the vibrant atmosphere that Panama has to offer, with the certainty that all legal aspects of your property deal have been completed in an exacting manner.
• Anyone moving to a new country is aware that the assistance of local professionals can be invaluable. It is in our interest to make sure that every aspect of your property purchase or rental is carried out with the utmost professionalism and friendly service that we are renowned for.
• All legal aspects of renting Real Estate in Panama are covered by a lease agreement between yourself and the vendor. All of this paperwork is completed by our own in-house lawyer and registered with the local governing authorities.
• When purchasing Real Estate in Panama it is always advisable to use the services of a fully qualified lawyer, who has the relevant experience. Here at GSL we are able to process all Real Estate transactions, setting up of Corporations and Foundations, and also handle all types of Immigration Visa's.
• Welcome to GSL Worldwide, the Real Estate site for properties throughout the whole of Panama. GSL provides a first class service which is based entirely on customer satisfaction for those wishing to rent or purchase Real Estate within Panama. We have connections with all major construction companies and developers in Panama to enable us to locate the property that suits both your budget, and your preference. There is so much to choose from in the cosmopolitan city of Panama, including first class restaurants and bars for those of you who prefer the hustle and bustle of city life. For those who prefer the quieter lifestyle of secluded beaches and mountain locations and prefer to be outside the city, there is also a great deal to choose from. Please select from the menu on the left hand side in order to view the properties on offer and feel free to contact us any time for further advice or just a chat. We have both English and Spanish speaking professionals who are able to assist you in every aspect of moving or retiring to Panama.

Panama City Panama Seafood Market without sanitation control

2010-02-12T07:37:00.000-08:00

Seafood Market without sanitation control
Ice and water shortages, flies, and odors were some of the irregularities encountered by officials of the metropolitan area health department upon performing a health and sanitation inspection of the municipal seafood market.

Jorge Hassán, Director of Health for the metro area, said "the deplorable condition of the facilities evidences poor management”; a situation that is even more worrisome as the period of Lent begins.

The findings of the Ministry of Health could result in a $500 to $5,000 fine for the administration of the popular market, under the direction of the Mayor's Office of Panama.

According to the market's manager, Víctor Castro, the administrative problems observed by the health officials are strictly a budgetary matter. Without disclosing specific figures or further explanation, Castro assured that the resources necessary to resolved these issues, would be received by the Mayor's Office by March.

I bought some Ceveche at this fish and I never have been so sick life, I through-up and had the shits for 3 days. Panama has to hav ethe worst ceveche I have ever tasted, unlike Costa Rica where I had the best in the world and they are only hour apart by air. Comment by Panama Jack

Panama City Panama Authorities continue to crack down on drug crimes

2010-02-12T07:33:00.001-08:00

Authorities continue to crack down on drug crimes
At noon on Thursday, Feb. 11, officers from the Judicial Investigation Department (DIJ) of the National Police, seized 819 kilos of cocaine.

According to police reports, the stash of drugs was uncovered in the false wall of a house located in a residential area of the capital city.

This drug bust is linked to the dismantling of a drug gang this past January that was discovered to be transporting drugs from Tocumen International Airport. Seven people were detained in that incident, including five Panamanians and two Guatemalans.

Yesterday's operation was conducted in coordination with the Drug Prosecution Office, and the confiscated drugs are now in the hands of the corresponding competent authorities.

Costa Rica Jose Joaquin Trejos Dies at 93

2010-02-12T05:13:00.000-08:00

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Jose Joaquin Trejos, who as Costa Rica's president pushed through reforms that prohibited presidential re-election, has died. He was 93.

Trejos, who governed from 1966 to 1970, had no political experience before coming to power, but voters responded to his "clean hands" campaign promising to end corruption.

One of his biggest legacies was the ban on re-electing a president, a step many Latin American countries have taken to prevent strongman rule.

Costa Rica still bans a president from seeking immediate re-election. But a court ruling in 2003 allowed former presidents to run again after sitting out at least one 4-year term.

Family members said Thursday that Trejos died of natural causes Wednesday night.

Chavez Unvails New Curency

2010-02-11T03:33:00.000-08:00

Chavez say that this new curency will be able to buy goods from countrys that think like he does. People who have a common goal in life. People who like to have sex with little boys. He is calling the new curency the ( Chavez Dollar )
In todays world the value of the Chavez Dollar is $1,000,000.00 = I banana