Vacation time draws near

Vacation time draws near
as do two tax deadlines


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


Expats have only a few days to get official business done until the bulk of the government goes on Christmas break.

Tuesday is the deadline for filing the annual taxes for the 2008-2009 fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

Many expats are worried about the Dec. 31 deadline on filing the valuation of a home for the luxury home tax. That also is the date that the taxes have to be paid, but the situation is complicated becausee the Dirección General de Tributación appears to have made no effort to advertise the deadlines to the Costa Rican public. There still is no word of a legal challenge to the complex law.

Friday is the last working day until Jan. 4 for much of the central government, judiciary and legislature.

Many municipalities are working through Dec. 21, although they may be short staffed.

Tourism operators on the other hand are hoping to be very busy this high season. They will be working with less staff than last year because government sources say that some 3,000 employees have been laid off in the tourism and hotel industries.

The season appears to be receiving about 80 percent of the business of prior years. Some upscale hotels are at 50 percent reservations for Christmas and New Year's. In previous years they would have been filled, but price appears to be a major factor this year for foreign and national tourists..


Police prevent mishaps
in Festival de la Luz patrols


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


There were some strange happenings at the Festival de la Luz Saturday. The Fuerza Pública said officers found several bags full of rocks that it appeared spectators were going to throw at the participants in the Christmas parade.

There also were rocks of another kind, crack rocks. Police said they detained 19 persons, and among them were individuals who were carrying crack cocaine and also baggies of marijuana.

Another individual was detained for trying to sell beer illegally. The man had 12 cans in a bag. Officials prohibited alcohol at the parade to cut down on the rowdy behavior. Still waves of youngsters were seen causing problems.

Police also stopped young men who were trying to remove the bolts from a grandstand. The Fuerza Pública said that had they done so they would have put the persons watching the parade from that vantage point at great risk.

Most of those detained were held for minor crimes like being drunk in a public place, disturbing the peace or not having identity documents. But one man was found who had an outstanding arrest warrant, police said.

About a million persons filled up the streets in San José to see the parade, and police were out in force. There were no reports of crimes with injuries, and police confiscated only one knife.


U.S. finances new clinic
in community of Bambu


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


The United States has financed a new medical clinic in the community of Bambu, Talamanca. The $62,000 clinic was constructed as part of a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored humanitarian assistance project. The work was done by local contractors. The 984-square-foot clinic includes a waiting room, emergency room, records room, consultations room, immunizations area, lavatories, kitchen and storage area, the Southern Command said.

According to Bambu inhabitants, the previous clinic was about to wash away with the heavy rains that fall during the rainy season. The clinic will offer general medical care, dental care as well as pediatric and gynecological services. The majority of the residents are BriBri.

The clinic will serve more than 2,000 inhabitants in the community of Bambu, as well as people of neighboring communities including Panamanians who live along the Costa Rica-Panamanian border, U.S., officials said.