Venezuela: anti Dicktator Chavez Roits

CARACAS, Venezuela – Police used tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons to scatter hundreds of students protesting against the government Thursday, while President Hugo Chavez's supporters celebrated the 18th anniversary of his failed coup as an army officer.

Caracas Police Chief Carlos Meza said authorities broke up the protest because university students had not been granted permission to march. He said the denial was aimed at preventing clashes with thousands of "Chavistas" marching across the capital to mark the botched 1992 military rebellion that Chavez led as a lieutenant colonel.

"They don't have permission to march," Meza said.

Student leaders countered that they have the right to stage peaceful protests, and they said authorities loyal to Chavez frequently deny them permission to demonstrate. Before the protest was dispersed, students chanted: "We're students, not coup plotters!"

"This is one more demonstration of the government's abuse of power," student leader Roderick Navarro said.

Students started leading protests last week after the government pressured cable and satellite TV providers to drop an opposition channel. Students have organized demonstrations in cities across the country, accusing Chavez of forcing Radio Caracas Television International off the airwaves as a means of silencing his critics.

Chavez challenged the students to continue staging demonstrations, saying they won't weaken his socialist government. But he warned them against stirring up violence, suggesting authorities would break up protests that get out of control.

"Don't make a mistake with us. You'll get a firm response," Chavez said during a speech to his supporters at Venezuela's largest military fort.

Thousands of Chavez's backers gathered to listen to Chavez, who hailed the Feb. 4, 1992, military uprising against then-President Carlos Andres Perez as a justified rebellion seeking to topple a corrupt government that ignored the plight of Venezuela's poor.

More than 80 civilians and 17 soldiers were killed before troops loyal to the government quelled the coup attempt, which Chavez commemorates annually.

Costa Rica may have a women president

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Costa Rican voters appear likely to elect the country's first female president, a protege of Nobel laureate Oscar Arias who holds a nearly 20-point lead over two male rivals ahead of Sunday's balloting.

Laura Chinchilla's election would mark another political triumph in the storied career of outgoing President Arias, who has been regularly called on to put out Central America's political fires.

Chinchilla was Arias' vice president before launching her campaign. If victorious, she has pledged to continue Aria's moderate free-market policies in what is considered the most politically stable country in the region.

Costa Rica "got on the right path four years ago and now is the moment to stay the course," Chinchilla said during a recent debate. "It's not the moment for some change that will take us down a road we don't know."

Arias, 69, has suffered health problems and has said little about his plans after the presidency. Critics worry he will try to govern behind the scenes. One of her rivals' campaign ads depicts Chinchilla as a marionette, spouting answers to tough questions while a puppeteer resembling Arias pulls her strings.

Chinchilla, the 50-year-old mother of a teenage boy, is a social conservative who opposes abortion and gay marriage. She says she will leave her own, unique mark on history if elected.

"For me, as a woman, it is a point of pride and satisfaction that Costa Rica is recognizing my leadership abilities," she said. "That speaks well of Costa Rica as far as overcoming gender distinctions and instead putting stock in one's abilities for the overall good of our country."

Her gender and political ties to Arias mean she appeals both to Costa Ricans seeking a fresh face in politics and to those reluctant to risk shaking up the status quo: relatively high salaries, the longest life expectancy in Latin America, a thriving ecotourism industry and a population that is almost completely literate.

Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize during his first presidential term in 1987 for working to end civil wars in several Central American countries.

After returning to the presidency 20 years later, he was called in to mediate another regional crisis in 2009: a coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

Arias tried to negotiate Zelaya's return to office. While the coup-installed government refused, his mediation helped calm the turmoil as the country elected a new president.

At home, Arias coaxed Costa Ricans into joining the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States — overcoming strong resistance from many who did not want the state-run telecommunications company opened to competition. He also pursued trade pacts with the European Union and China.

At the same time, he launched an initiative to convert Costa Rica into a carbon-neutral nation by 2021, though activists complain that Arias has catered to big developers to boost the economy at the cost of the environment. They point to his proposal to shrink Las Baulas Marine Park and his decision to lift a moratorium on mining.

Many conservationists back Otton Solis of the left-leaning Citizens' Action Party, who they believe will reverse some of Arias' policies. Solis narrowly lost the 2006 presidential election to Arias.

Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement Party has emerged as Chinchilla's most serious challenger. He wants to deepen free-market policies by lowering taxes, dismantling remaining monopolies and adopting the U.S. dollar as the country's currency.

Both men portray Arias' centrist National Liberation Party as stagnant and ridden with old-school Latin American cronyism.

Costa Rica Tamara Maria Rosa Dondi Calvo

Tamara Maria Rosa Dondi Calvo is 21 years old.
She is a very sweet girl, she lives in San Jose Costa Rica.
Panama Jack
editor of Panama Visitors Guide

jack@republicofpanama.net

Panama Large cocaine shipment seized

Large cocaine shipment seized in Panama
Police confiscated 177 kilograms of cocaine Tuesday as it was about to be loaded into a container at the Port of Cristóbal in Colón.

Authorities arrested two employees of Panama Ports Company who were allegedly traing to load the cocaine. Preliminary reports indicate that the two employees brought the drugs with them into the shipping area.

They were taken into custody while the investigation continues.

Visit by Pope Benedict Panama

Visit by Pope Benedict confirmed for 2013
Pope Benedict XVI will make an official visit to Panama to coincide with the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Europeans in September 2013.

Confirmation was made on Wednesday by the Minister of the Presidency, Demetrius Papadimitriu, in a meeting with representatives of foreign and local press.

The pope received President Ricardo Martinelli at the papal summer residence of Castelgandolfo in September 2009. On that occasion, the Holy Father was invited by Martinelli to Panama for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the sighting of the Pacific by Balboa.

The visit will coincide with Panama's planned hosting of the Central American Games.