Costa Rica Holiday villas and Apartments, Costa Rica , Playas del Coco, Guanacaste

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German politicians linked to tourism visiting here as guests of government

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Seven members of the German federal parliament's tourism committee have been traveling through Costa Rica to visit the popular tourist sites and meet with government representatives.

The whirlwind tour of the country is taking them to places in San José like the Museo de Oro and then out to the Pacific coast to visit Jacó, Manuel Antonio and Quepos. The visitors also will meet with hotel managers, business owners and municipality workers along the way.

The idea of the voyage is to strengthen political relations between the two countries as well as to boast tourist ties, said the German Embassy. The German Embassy has been
involved in a number of recent development projects in Costa Rica.

The German representatives arrived here Sunday and are leaving Thursday. The Germans were invited by Francisco Antonio Pacheco, president of the Asamblea Legislativa, and Carlos Ricardo Benavides, the tourism minister.

Throughout their visit they are also scheduled to meet other government officials such as President Óscar Arias Sánchez, officials in the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, representatives of Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, and William Rodríguez, president of Camara Nacional de Turismo. The delegation will be travelling to Mexico after their Costa Rican tour is complete.

Costa Rica and Canada win praises for press freedoms

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

Costa Rica and Canada are the only countries in all of the Americas to receive a “good situation” rating concerning their freedom of the press. The document voices concerns about the situation in many of the other Latin American countries.

Reporters Without Borders released their 2007 annual press freedom report Thursday. The report draws conclusions for the situation this year based on 2006 reports and analysis. The documents said that a record number of journalists and media workers were killed or thrown in prison in 2006. It also said that even more deplorable was the lack of interest, and sometimes even the failure, by democratic countries in defending the values they are supposed to incarnate.

Both the European Union and United States were bashed in the introduction for failing to stand up for the rights and safety of journalists around the world, as well as failing to investigate situations of abuse. The document took a strong stance on the United States saying “The U.S. cannot be trusted when it talks of press freedom.”

The document has a rating system that from best to worst includes five categories: Good situation, satisfactory situation, noticeable problems, difficult situation, very serious situation.

At least 110 newspeople were killed in 2006, but governments frequently gave up, displayed cowardice or made compromises instead of firmly defending freedom of expression and freedom of the press, said the document.
In Latin America the situation also worsened. From five media personnel killed in 2002, the figure rose 12 in 2004 and 16 in 2006, plus four others who disappeared, the document said.

According to the document, Cuba has the worst situation in all of the Americas and received a very serious situation rating. The country hosts the world’s second biggest prison for journalists with 24 currently detained. President Fidel Castro’s handover of power to his brother Raúl on July 31 did not soften the regime’s attitude toward the media, said the report. Police hounding and summoning of journalists also increased in the second half of the year.
Mexico had the second worst record with nine dead and three missing. The situation was blamed on the spread of drug-trafficking, political instability, unrest in the Oaxaca state, and the disputed election of Felipe Calderón in July.

Three journalists were killed in Colombia and a dozen others were forced to flee their region or the country after being threatened. The break-off in negotiations between the government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia guerrillas once more prevented the media from traveling to some parts of the country.

Concerning Venezuela, the document said that the media paid the price of persistent lawlessness. Jorge Aguirre, a photographer of the daily El Mundo, was shot dead by a bogus policeman during a demonstration, and a score of journalists were physically attacked, especially during the presidential election campaign, said the release.

Missing from the document was President Hugo Chávez's threat not to renew RCTV's license when it expires in March. He accused the station of supporting a failed military coup against him in 2002.

Bolivia once more plunged into crisis in the last quarter of the year, the release said. The media was the first target of the struggle between government and opposition. As happened in Venezuela, the gap between state and privately-owned media has widened and a “media war” may erupt, said the document.

The United States was criticized for the detention of Sami Al-Haj, a Sudanese cameraman for the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera, who is being held at Guantanamo.

The organization was not in favor of laws in Canada that can force reporters to present confidential information that is relative to courts cases.

The document did not say much concerning the privileged position of Costa Rica's journalism freedom, only that the media is fairly free here and in Panamá.

A full version of the Reporters Without Borders 2007 annual press freedom report is available on a Web site at www.rsf.org

This article appeared in the December 1, 2006 Beach Times! Exciting for the Coco area and all investors!

Friday, December 01, 2006

Carrillo Announces $2m dock for Coco

By Zoraida Diaz

Mayor Says Public Works Tender Released by January

The Municipality of Carrillo last week released plans for a $2 million multi-purpose dock to service cruise ships, pleasure craft and commercial fishermen.

About 50 municipal staff, tourist leaders and developers heard Friday the 45-meter (150 feet) dock will be awarded in concession, with a developer winning the right to build and operate the facility.
The structure, designed and presented by the architectural firm of Costa Rica Marina Consultants (CMC), will be concrete-covered and sit on steel pylons along the rocky beach terrain between Playita Blanca and Playas del Coco. The dock will be supported by a small sea wall.

“We have the approvals,” said the Mayor of Carrillo, José Maria Guevara Navarrete.

“This project has been approved by the ICT (Institute of Tourism), the port division of the Ministry of Transport, INVU (the National Institute of Housing and Urban Development) and the municipality.”

The tender process could begin as early as January, with work beginning in July.
Architect Oscar Villavicencio Blanco described the facility as a small port which would include facilities for loading and unloading passengers and cargo, refueling, maintenance and minor marine repairs.

There will be a concrete ramp for launching trailer-mounted boats.

“There will also be a black water treatment plant for the boats with a service of garbage collection, which will help improve the environmental conditions of Playas del Coco,” Mr Villavicencio said.

The facility will also allow for a water taxi service between key tourist towns like Coco, Tamarindo, Flamingo, Hermosa and Papagayo.

Critically, the new facility will allow cruise ships to dock, unload passengers and refuel.
“This will give the canton a third entry option, over and above air and land,” said Mayor Guevara.

Two years ago, and following the closure of Flamingo Marina, the Windstar luxury cruise line began docking in Playas del Coco. Last season they ran 22 voyages to Costa Rica, but all of them beach-landed their passengers.

A modern dock, where the cruise line’s mainly elderly clientele can disembark, will further cement the destination. Windstar expects to increase its number of cruises by as much as 35 per cent this season.

The municipality’s decision to build a multi-purpose dock was first mooted late 2004 when they put aside $135,000 for the project. However, in something of a coup it has managed to turn that into a $2 million facility, which will be largely financed by private enterprise, with Carrillo earning valuable revenue from leasing the land in concession.

Further, in another plus, the municipality will side-step a lengthy permitting process by using documents which already exist. It sought proposals on how to build the dock from the two groups --- Administradora Bello Horizonte S.A., and the Asociacion de Marinas de Playas del Coco, or ASODEMAC --- vying to build a $30 million, 400-slip marina in much the same area.

The two development groups, who have since amalgamated their bid and are looking for a fast-track through the municipality, were only too happy to comply. Carrillo now has information like the strength of currents, wave action and tide behaviour plus topographic drawings of the sea floor.

“It was a very well thought out idea because it meant that the dock would not interfere with the projected marina development,” said Mr Villavicencio.

“The municipality also saved a lot of money because they took advantage of the studies previously done by those groups.”

In fact the same access road gazetted for the proposed marina, will now be used for the municipal dock. And, whereas the marina falls under laws of the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo and thus can only be used for tourist activity, the municipal dock will service the town’s fishing industry.

“There is definitely a need for this kind of facility in Playas del Coco,” said Oscar Villalobos, the technical director of Comisión Interinstitutional de Marinas y Atracaderos Turísticos, (or CIMAT), the government department charged with overseeing all technical aspects of tourist marinas.

CIMAT has had little involvement with the public dock --- it is outside its jurisdiction --- but wants to make sure this and the proposed marina do not interfere with one another.

“This dock is a way to put in order the disorder that exists with commercial fishing and pleasure craft in the area.”