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Costa Rica Visitor's Guide
News and Storys by Panama Jack and A.M. Costa Rica
1 San Jose Costa Rica Guide Click Here
2. Nightlife and Entertainment in San Jose Click Here
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An A.M. Costa Rica guest editorial
Wrong-headed approach to sex trade obscures the real problems
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By Ken Morris*
Special to A.M. Costa Rica
The collaboration between Costa Rica’s immigration police and the non-profit organization Fundación Rehab in recent raids of San Jose nightclubs with reputations for prostitution, chiefly Hotel Del Rey and Key Largo, was a misguided response to a serious problem.
No, the problem isn’t sex trafficking — the combating of which was the pretext for the raids — at least in the nightclubs targeted. Genuine victims of sex trafficking (as opposed to voluntary immigrants) are more apt to be found in the downscale brothels, which despite being illegal according to the spirit of both Costa Rican and international law, operate with impunity under the auspices of pensión licenses issued with winks and giggles by the authorities.
The problem is sex tourism. At any one time, upwards of 5,000 women and girls in Costa Rica work as prostitutes, often with foreign clients, and over time tens of thousands of Ticas are involved in the industry. Indeed, the combined demand by locals and tourists for commercial sex forces Costa Rica to import about half of its prostitutes (a pattern of women’s voluntary labor migration that Fundación Rehab calls “sex trafficking”). The roughly 200,000 North American sex tourists that visit the country annually, coupled with perhaps a tenth as many sexpats who live here permanently, are a large portion of that demand.
But Fundación Rehab is not the group to combat sex tourism — much less one that deserves a police escort to raid private businesses and detain customers without a warrant. The non-profit simply doesn’t understand the sex industry, sex trafficking, or even prostitution.
According to Fundación Rehab’s Web site, prostitution is an extension of male domination to the point where men use women’s bodies for their prurient pleasure. This, however, is stale ideology that doesn’t fit the facts and isn’t even accepted by most feminist sex researchers.
While male dominance is often a component of female prostitution, the relevant domination usually occurs long before a woman turns her first trick. By the time she does, she frequently views prostitution as empowering retaliation for earlier exploitation. Her thinking is: If men will do this to me anyway, I might as well take charge and get paid for it!
To assume therefore that women in a nightclub looking for men who will pay them for sex are being exploited by those men is simply mistaken. On the contrary, by then the women often feel that they are the exploiters, while the men are frequently remarkably kind and generous.
Fundación Rehab’s ideology of male domination also conveniently ignores that mothers in Costa Rica often initiate their daughters’ into prostitution — and then live off the proceeds. Likewise, their ideology ignores male prostitution. Not only is there a thriving gay sex trade throughout the country, but there is also a documented female sex tourist industry centered in Limón.
Fundación Rehab’s emphasis on the exploitation of women’s “bodies” further betrays their sophomoric ideology. In reality, prostitution mainly involves “emotional labor” — smiling, listening, feigning affection, etc. — while the sex acts take only a few minutes. In fact, the prostitutes’ main physical complaint is that their feet hurt from hours of trolling in high heels.
Most disturbingly, Fundación Rehab makes essentialist assumptions about who is and who isn’t a prostitute. Research on sex tourism by the feminist scholar Amalia Cabezas shows that women’s identities are typically more fluid than labeling them “prostitutes” captures. A few are looking for love, more for a stable mistress-like arrangement,
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and most at least for friends. At both Hotel Del Rey and the Key Largo, the women don’t necessarily accept all offers — they exercise choice — and it is not uncommon for them to construe money they receive as “help” rather than a “fee.”
With what moralistic audacity does Fundación Rehab assume that the mere presence of a woman in one of these nightclubs brands her a prostitute? Isn’t the non-profit — backed by police power — the one foisting the demeaning puta identity onto them?
The real problem is that Costa Rica’s bloated tourism industry entices women who would otherwise finish school, get a job, and get married into the more lucrative sex trade. Again, these enticements are so powerful that thousands of foreign women are attracted to the country by them.
Beneath this problem though lurks a deeper one: The entrenched economic interests of the tourism industry — interest that include an entire government ministry and government tax collectors along with thousands of private business — most of whom profit more from sex tourism than the prostitutes.
Unfortunately, these recent raids show that neither Costa Rica nor the international community (Fundación Rehab receives grants from the U.S. Embassy) is prepared to confront the country’s festering sex tourism industry at its root — or even wants to.
Indeed, raids of safely middle-class nightclubs, where all of the women enter voluntarily, smack of a showy spectacle designed to appease the grant-giving international community rather than a sensible engagement with a serious problem.
Meanwhile, the only ones victimized by this showy spectacle were the women, who were illegally detained and stigmatized. But no one in Costa Rica has ever really cared about putas. They have after all been offered up as enticements to tourists for decades.
*Ken Morris is an expat living in San Pedro. He taught in the women’s studies program at the University of Georgia and published what Tammy Wynette’s biographer considers the definitive interpretation ofStand By Your Man.
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MissCostaRica.Com photo used with permission
The Miss Costa Rica finalists are shown in the order described in the news story.
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10 beauties to compete tonight to be Miss Costa Rica
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By Shahrazad Encinias Vela
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff
There are 10 finalists ready to compete for the title of Miss Costa Rica, tonight at 8 o'clock inside the Canal 7 Marco Picado studio in La Sabana.
The live television show on Channel 7 will pick the winner who will continue on to represent the country in the Miss Universe pageant.
Last year's winner, Johanna Solano, will be there to present her successor with the crown.
The women come from all over the country and range in ages from 19 to 25. What started as a nationwide search has come to an end with the top 10 finalists. Only one will be chosen as Miss Costa Rica.
The finalists and personal information provided by the pageant are:
Adriana Herrera Jiménez, 21. She is from San Carlos and is an architecture major. Her objective in life is to improve herself everyday.
Clara Leonor Bravo Angulo, 23. The Alajuela resident has a degree in architecture. She wants to help marginalized communities and conserve natural resources.
Estefanía Salazar Picado, 19. This blue-eyed participant is from Cartago. She studies business administration with an emphasis in marketing. She is interested in participating in campaigns against child abuse.
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Ivonne Cerdas Cascante, 19. She is a software engineer, and she would like to work to help people with cancer and terminal diseases.
Katherine Rojas Ravine, 23. She was born in one of the poorest areas of the country, La Uruca, in the Central Valley. She would like to combine her studies of international relations to help humanitarian causes that deal with children. She has worked with Asociación Obras del Espiritu Santo.
María Cristina Lizano Rodríguez, 24. Born in Liberia, the pageant participant hopes to combine her studies in law and administration to support animal protection laws and to help the elderly.
María Guadalupe Arias Madrigal, 23. The redhead was born in San José, and she is part of the Cruz Roja in Alajuela. She hopes to continue her work with the organization and to also do social work with kids.
María Nazareth Cascante Madrigal, 21. The native of Alajuela has a degree in pharmaceutics, and she's interested in working with children who have genetic diseases. She also wants to help provide them with moral support to deal with their disease.
Maricarmen Zúñiga Brenes, 21. She is from Calle Blancos and considers herself a Saprisista. She's interested in studying design for advertisement. And she would like to work with children with terminal disease.
Rebeca Vargas Barrantes, 24. She is from Alajuela and has a degree in pharmacy. She has a love for animals that began as a child. |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A legislative committee has approved unanimously and sent to the full Asamblea a wide-ranging measure to penalize trafficking in persons.
Although the measure does not define the term, a strict interpretation would seem to assess criminal penalties against airline pilots who fly planes carrying prostitutes into Costa Rica and even taxi drivers who may drop off a prostitute for a working visit.
The measure also creates several levels of extensive bureaucracies, including an institute against trafficking in persons within the security ministry, and then would assess an additional $1 on those leaving the country by air to pay for this.
The measure also cloaks in secrecy all judicial and administrative activities connected with trafficking in persons cases and even prohibits the news media and social networks from writing about the presumed victims, their families and other identifying details. Despite what appears to be secret trials, those convicted of trafficking crimes face stiff prison terms. A change within the bill of the existing penal code, would seem to make those who violate this censorship open to four to eight years in prison.
The measure also requires the news media, both print and electronic, to provide free space or air time to what is called the Coalición Nacional Contra el Tráfico Ilícito de Migrantes y Trata de Personas.
In addition, anyone who produces programs, campaigns or advertising in any type of media to label the country as a sex tourism destination would face a four- to eight-year prison term. Also penalized is renting facilities where prostitution would be practiced.
Nowhere in the measure is a distinction drawn between forced prostitution and voluntary prostitution, which is not illegal in Costa Rica. Consequently, the measure would penalize persons who provide transport for someone involved in an activity that is not illegal.
Lawmakers have had plenty of time to consider the measure, No. 17.594. The bill was presented originally in November 2009. A new draft was presented March 1 and a final vote came Thursday. The committee was Comisión Permanente Especial de Seguridad y Narcotráfico. The bill is in the legislature now with support from the executive branch because the president controls the legislative agenda until May 1, according to the Costa Rican Constitution.
The broad measure also increases the penalties for
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A.M. Costa Rica file photo
Whoever brought her here is liable for prison.
coyotes who move illegal immigrants across the border and penalized those who would become involved in the illegal extraction of human organs.
The measure clearly is an effort to appease the United States, whose State Department usually lists Costa Rica as below par in fighting human trafficking. The last State Department report last June cited lack of convictions in trafficking cases, but the embassy staff who put the detailed document together never mentioned that prostitution was not illegal here.
A victim of human trafficking is defined broadly as anyone, male or female, who is a person who has suffered damage, including physical or mental harm, emotional suffering, financial loss or substantial undermining of their fundamental rights as a consequence of the crime of trafficking in persons and related activities be they Costa Ricans or foreigners.
The proposed law provides many benefits for trafficking victims, including living quarters, temporary residency, immunity from prosecution for any crimes they may have committed and even travel home for foreigners who wish it.
The proposed law also would allow such victims to send a representative instead of appearing at judicial or administrative hearings.
The anti-trafficking commission would be within the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública and be in charge of drawing up and monitoring what is called a national plan against trafficking.
The commission would contain representatives from 22 government agencies from the executive, judicial and legislative branches.
The measure also has stiffer penalties for crimes involving minors and the disabled. The measure also treats forced pregnancies, abductions and crimes by professionals.
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This is the tax that President Laura Chinchilla and her administration is trying desperately to have passed. The measure would generate about a $700 million windfall in the first week of the new year.
About half of the money would go toward supporting a new police school, she has said.
Some lawmakers objected to the time lapse when owners of corporations can dissolve them to avoid paying the tax. Others thought that there should be a heavier tax on corporations that are making money.
The measure, No. 16306, is relevant for expats because many have homes and vehicles in corporations at the advice of their lawyers
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Yes the American workers wants to leave the United States of America searching for work in foreign countries and are willing make less money taking these low paying jobs, The problem is like in Costa Rica, American Corporations employ 10,s of thousands of workers but it is illegal for a American to work at an American corporation in Costa Rica, if caught working in Costa Rica at a American Corporation that American is deported on the spot he can not go back to his apartment of house to retrieve any of his belongings, computers, money or even make arrangements for his dog or car.
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Evasion disclosures jeopardize tax package approval
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
If public opinion matters, the president's plan to impose a package of taxes is in deep trouble.
Revelations that large companies and also government officials have been dodging taxes have brought sharp rebukes from both La Nación and el Diario Extra, the two most influential daily newspapers.
The editorial positions followed revelations mostly in La Nación that government ministers had not filed declarations of value on real estate and then paid the resulting tax. Even worse, the finance minister, Fernando Herrero, resigned just as La Nación was reporting Tuesday morning that he and his wife failed to pay income tax on earnings of a private corporation. Then later Tuesday the same newspaper revealed that the chief tax collector, Franciso Villalobos Brenes also had a tax debt stemming from 2008.
The revelations gave support to the continued insistence by the nation's public employees union that the solution to the country's financial crisis was not more taxes. The union, the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados, has been promoting for months better tax collection. Now the organization is saying “We told you so!”
“Reading the editorial opinions this date, Monday April 2, 2012, published by the newspapers Diario Extra and La Nación generated extreme satisfaction,” said the union on its Web site.
The actions of government officials undermined the moral authority to continue the fight for a reform, said La Nación, noting that it had supported the tax proposal by President Laura Chinchilla Miranda. As well as reforms to the tax code to better control evasion, the newspaper said it urged a modification of the tax culture in all levels of Costa Rican society.
That was an obvious jab at Herrero and the ministers as well as Ms. Chinchilla who initially dismissed the finance minister's property tax undervaluations as a regrettable carelessness. That was before it became clear that Herrero was careless on more than one tax issue.
The finance minister, of course, was the man managing the administration's effort to get new
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A.M. Costa Rica graphic
The nation's opinion leaders
taxes passed in the legislature. Lawmakers already have approved the 14 percent value-added tax on first reading awaiting approval of the text by the Sala IV constitutional court.
El Diario Extra, in its editorial, said it was easier to slap more taxes that in the end are paid by the poor and the workers. It also cited revelations that 450 of the largest companies paid small amounts of taxes.
They are robbing progress, the future and development of a country,” the newspaper said.
El Diario Extra said that the director of Tributación Directa, Villalobos, had put on a bulletproof vest in the hunt for tax evaders and gave him encouragement.
That was a day before the tax problem of Villlaobos became public in La Nación Tuesday afternoon.
Channel 7 Teletica also has been critical of the tax evasion, and even the Roman Catholic Church checked in with a criticism of the tax reform plan in the 2012 pastoral letter emitted by the country's bishops.
Ms.Chinchilla hopes to raise $500 million a year with the new taxes to reduce the country's crushing international debt.
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56 former police officers in prison for violating laws that they swore to defend
Published in La Nacion
According to the Ministry of Justice, a total of 56 former police officers in Costa Rica are currently in prison, either as a result of a criminal conviction or while pending trial. Included in the bunch are 13 prison guards who are accused of smuggling drugs to inmates. A detailed break down of the crimes and accusations are presented in the full article in La Nacion.
Under reported property tax values in Papagayo resort
Published in El Pais.cr
An environmental group in Guanacaste has denounced the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism (ICT) of seriously under reporting for tax purposes the value of 70 luxury properties in the Papagayo resort area. Although the institute is owned by the government the properties are joint ventures with private entities. A spokesperson for the group went so far to call the businesses “major tax evaders”, and provided details of the valuations.
Children’s Hospital facing a ¢4 billion deficit
Published in crhoy.com
The national Children’s Hospital is having difficulty cutting ¢4 billion ($8.1 million) from annual budget. The money is expected to come out of hospital infrastructure maintenance, purchase of medical equipment and overtime pay for employees.
Trains to be equipped with wireless Internet
Published in Diario Extra
The Costa Rican Institute of Railways (Incofer) is negotiating with several companies to provide WiFi Internet access to the 5,500 daily commuters who use the San José and Heredia train line. If the project is successful, Incofer hopes to provide the same for the Belen and Pavas lines.
Fire station opens in Los Chiles
Published in La Nacion
A fire station, staffed with four permanent firefighters opened this weekend in the community of Los Chiles, Alajuela, located on the border with Nicaragua. The government hopes to increase the staff to ten before the end of the year.
Gorditas ticas show off their curves in Spain
Published in La Nacion
The Spanish Centre of Graphic Art in Madrid has put on display 18 works of Costa Rican artist Marcia Chambers. The prints feature illustrations of larger women that “celebrate the beauty beyond the forms and measures set by society”.
Police raid offices of politically connected consulting company
Published in crhoy.com
Judicial police spent an hour searching the offices of a company that was controlled by the wife of former minister of finance, Fernando Herrero. The company is under criminal investigation for influence peddling.
Costa Rica failing in juvenile detention
Published in crhoy.com
According to an expert from a rights organization, the system of juvenile justice in Costa Rica is reaching a state of collapse. Part of the problem is that overcrowding in the adult prison system has forced officials to incarcerate adult convicts at juvenile facilities with minors.
Group stole ¢ 2 billion in ICE phone cable
Published in La Nacion
Judicial officials claim that arrests of 17 suspects in 13 raids around the country put an end to a group of organized criminals that stole a total of ¢ 2 billion ($4.04 million) in phone cable from the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). Prosecutors said the material was exported into the international market, and resulted in the loss of 200 miles of cable in 2011.
Auditor places responsibility for theft of arms
Published in crhoy.com
An internal auditor for the Ministry of Public Security has named the director of the transit police as the responsible party in the loss of 215 Glock pistols stolen from an armory in San Jose. The statement came before a legislative commission that has opened an inquiry into the incident.
The bird man of Plaza de la Cultura
The Plaza de la Cultura is one of San José's most visited points. It is in downtown and ideally located next to tourist hot-spots. But what isn't mentioned in the guidebooks is that there is a man who does not fear the mass of pigeons that hover over the plaza. He said he rather enjoys there company every day.
2012-04-23, 04:27:40
Home of former finance minister searched
Judicial agents late Thursday afternoon searched the San Rafael de Escazú home of former finance minister Fernando Herrero. They confiscated a portable computer as evidence, said the Poder Judicial.
2012-04-23, 04:27:21
President finally comes through with a Plan B
President Laura Chinchilla went on television Wednesday night to announce new measures by the central government to reduce expenses and increase income.
2012-04-20, 03:26:05
Wrong-headed approach to sex trade overlooks major problems
A GUEST EDITORIAL: The collaboration between Costa Rica’s immigration police and the non-profit organization Fundación Rehab in recent raids of San Jose nightclubs with reputations for prostitution, chiefly Hotel Del Rey and Key Largo, was a misguided response to a serious problem.
2012-04-20, 03:25:42
U.S. drug strategy says users have disease of brain
The Obama administration now considers drug use is a disease of the brain that can be prevented and treated. That is the basis of a new strategy released Tuesday. The announcement comes at a time when many Latin leaders are considering the same approach.
2012-04-19, 04:07:36
Offshore study says practice does not hurt U.S. jobs much
Sending jobs overseas may not be as damaging to the U.S. economy as commonly believed, according to a study by a University at Buffalo economist.
2012-04-19, 04:07:17
Financing arranged for motorists' wish list
The government signed a deal Monday to borrow $340 million from a development bank to make major improvements in roadways, including the construction of 3.8 kilometers as the first phase of the much-awaited Circunvalación Norte and overpasses at the congested traffic circles in the Circunvalación Sur.
2012-04-18, 04:08:07
Strip club mainstay is new exercise fad
The skill of pole dancing has come out of strip clubs and gained elegance as a new exercise fad. What used to be considered seedy has found a place in certain dance studios and have taken over as the new, sexy workout trend.
2012-04-18, 04:07:47
Point of police raid was to distribute questionnaires
Combined police units swept the downtown sections of San José Saturday night and entered a number of nightspots, said the security ministry. Among the places taken over by law officers were the Hotel Del Rey and its associated bar and dance club, the Key Largo. An unusual aspect of the three-hour operation there was that law officers were accompanied by volunteers from the Fundación Rahab, who were distinctive in their pink blouses covered by what appears to be body armor.
2012-04-17, 04:43:58
Ms. Chinchilla weights her options on taxes
President Laura Chinchilla met privately with financial experts Thursday night in an effort to map out a strategy because as proposed tax plan has been derailed.
2012-04-16, 03:37:51
Paying for trees to be promoted at Rio conference
Costa Rica has seen successful in curbing rain forest destruction with its pago de servicios ambientales program, and it wants to urge other countries to do the same.
2012-04-16, 03:37:33
Citizens mobilize over tax plan
The effort by the Laura Chinchilla administration to put through a 14 percent value-added levy and other taxes has had significant impacts. Many more Costa Ricans are taking an interest in politics. But expats are concerned that they will be the sacrificial lambs as the government rushed to raise more money.
2012-04-13, 03:50:06
Commentary backs government in Puerto Viejo
That is why I am thrilled to see the Costa Rica government take serious enforcement to protect the unique habitats. This is not a popular view here in Puerto Viejo where demolition orders have been issued for structures build in the maritime exclusion zone in violation of law. The law was made thirty five years ago and it has real teeth... no after the fact permits, no mitigation, just bulldoze it and give the clean-up bill to the owner.
2012-04-13, 03:49:45
A scorecard to the scandals and the tax plan switcheroos
To figure out what is happening with President Laura Chinchilla's proposal for $500 million in new taxes, expats need a scorecard. Here is is.
2012-04-12, 04:09:31
Caribbean residents fight for their homes and businesses
Nine buildings in the Talamanca canton are to be demolished by the end of November. The targeted constructions are homes and hotels that have been in the area for years.
2012-04-12, 04:08:57
Big setback for president's tax plan
Without making a decision on the contents of President Laura Chinchilla's tax plan, the Sala IV constitutional court has ruled that the process by which the measure passed through committee and ended up being approved in an initial vote was unconstitutional.
2012-04-11, 04:12:59
Costa Rican diplomat freed by kidnappers
Costa Rica's foreign ministry confirmed Tuesday morning that Guillermo Cholele, a diplomat at the nation's embassy in Caracas, had been liberated.
2012-04-11, 04:12:38
Donation of vegetables a new tradition
There is a new Semana Santa tradition in Costa Rica in which vendors of food products donate a symbolic amount to the Roman Catholic Church. Then the produce is distributed to homes for children.
2012-04-09, 04:08:46
Happiness report seeks to replace economic growth
The World Happiness Report is an ambitious effort by academics to, as they say, recast the environmental debate by changing fundamental objectives from economic growth to building and sustaining the quality of lives
2012-04-09, 04:08:22
Tax evasions by officials jeopardize tax plan
If public opinion matters, the president's plan to impose a package of taxes is in deep trouble. Revelations that large companies and also government officials have been dodging taxes have brought sharp rebukes from both La Nación and el Diario Extra, the two most influential daily newspapers.
2012-04-05, 03:26:54
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