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Milanés
Manager Jailed
The
manager of Savings Unlimited, Michael
González Villalobos, is being held in
preventive detention in the San Sebastian
prison, on the south side of San José. ·
Man Brought to U.S. in Tax Evasion Case
The
founder of a multinational organization that
allegedly helped hundreds of people evade U.S.
taxes through an offshore trust operation was
extradited from Costa Rica to face federal
charges, Justice Department officials said
Thursday. ·
Client
of Villalobos captured
Canadian Alvin Erwin Moss, an
investor with Enrique Villalobos, known as the
Brothers, was arrested in Santa Ana, San Jose,
on a request by U.S. Authorities.
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Record
abstention
On
Sunday, December 1, Costa Ricans for the first
time cast their ballot for the direct election
of mayors and the members of district
councils, but the event became the one that
registered the largest abstention in the
history of the country, close to 80 percent.
The record abstention so far had been
registered last April 7, in the second round
of the presidential election, when it was
39.78 percent. Analysts blame the fact that
most Costa Ricans were not aware of the
meaning of electing their community
representatives, because so far they had been
used to their being imposed by the national
party that had the most councilmen. Of the 81
cantons into which Costa Rica is divided, 10
were not able to hold their elections because
of floods and heavy rains. The Supreme
Election Tribunal has not announced yet when
the election in those communities is to be
held.
Drop
in wealth ranking
Costa
Rica dropped five places in the Wealth Index
of the Nations, a survey by the Money Matters
Institute and World Paper, both from
the US. The study evaluates the ability for
sustainable economic growth in 70 developing
countries, and Costa Rica dropped from the
12th position last March to the 17th
now. In Latin America, the best position
belongs to Chile -which is 9th in
the overall ranking-, while Uruguay (13th)
took the second place from Costa Rica.
Promising
outlook in tourism
The
coming high tourist season is most likely to
be good news for Costa Rica, according to
sector sources. Hotels with high occupancy
rates, car rentals facing high demand,
international flights almost full, and other
signs seem to confirm the expectations. Last
year, 1,002,356 visitors arrived by plane, and
the estimates for this year set the figure at
1.1 million, according to the Costa Rican
Board of Tourism (ICT in Spanish). An official
source at Juan Santamaria International
Airport reported the expected arrival of
200,000 tourists from December 15 through
January 15, a marked increase as compared to
the 165,000 regular monthly average.
Delta
flies to Liberia
Foreign
visitors to the beach and mountain resorts in
the northwestern province of Guanacaste no
longer need to travel to the central part of
Costa Rica before they reach their final
destination. This is so thanks to the non-stop
flights from Atlanta to Liberia that Delta
Airlines is now operating. The presidents of
Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Abel Pacheco and
Enrique Bolaños, respectively, were aboard
the Delta jet that made the inaugural flight.
They agreed that the flights will benefit not
only Costa Rica but also Nicaragua, because
visitors will have the chance to visit the
neighboring country, whose border is a short
distance from the international airport in
Liberia.
8.86
inflation
According
to the National Statistics and Census
Institute, the cumulate inflation for the
first 11 months this year reached 8.86
percent. The figure was reached after prices
to consumers increased 1.03 percent from
October to November. According to analysts,
the overall inflation for the year will be
close to the 10 percent which authorities had
forecast.
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