San José, Costa Rica -    Thursday 28 October 2004

1.396 Daily Average Visits in September!

Figueres Can't be Extradited! The cover of today's Spanish language newspaper, Diario Extra, tell how Figueres cannot be extradited for lack of agreements between Costa Rican and Switzerland. Figueres admits to receiving Alcatel money, but denies any wrongdoing. Both supporters and critics alike are demanding that the former president "show his face" in Costa Rica. Click for larger image!

insidenicaragua A new weekly feature published on Sundays, featuring a summary  of current news and events in Nicaragua.

Rodríguez Heads to Court Today
Today may be a good day for former president Miguel Angel Rodríguez. Or, it may be the worst of days, as the former president leaves his apartment in Montes de Oca for a hearing before the Juzgado Penal, who will hear both the appeals by Rodríguez and the Fiscalía.

Figueres Olsen Asked to Return to Costa Rica
Former president José María Figueres Olsen admits that he received us$906.355 dollars between 2000 and 2003, payment for consulting services, contracted by his former government advisor Roberto Hidalgo.

Alcatel Fires 2nd Executive in Costa Rica
PARIS (AFX) - Alcatel SA said it has fired another senior employee as part of its investigation into alleged bribery of politicians at its operations in Costa Rica.

Greatest and the Worst Press Freedom
North Korea, Cuba, Burma and China are ranked among the countries with the worst press-freedom records in an index released by a media watchdog group this week.

Supporters of CAFTA Brace for a Tough Fight in US Congress
Last May the United States and the five countries of Central America – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica – signed the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement known as CAFTA. Several months later, the Dominican Republic joined the agreement, which would eliminate almost all trade barriers among the participating countries.

"El Gordo" is getting fatter this year.
The annual Christmas lottery known as El Gordo will offer ¢1.750.000.000 colones as the grand prize to be divided among 5 winners.

Majority of Cubans against US embargo
An overwhelming majority of Cubans opposed the 43-year-old trade embargo imposed by the United States on the Caribbean island, an opinion poll released Wednesday showed.

Colombia authorizes extradition of four nationals to US
Colombia on Wednesday authorized the extradition of four nationals to the United States for drug-related crimes, said officials.
 

Bush campaign cuts website off from foreign access: report
US President George W. Bush's re-election campaign says it is denying certain foreign countries access to its website "for security reasons," according to CRIENGLISH.com.

International News from the New York Times
 

The average Tico makes far less than $700 per month.  Do you really think that Ticos pay the same amount for property here as gringos do? Think about it.  Maybe you don't have to overpay. Find out... Click here!

MEXICO: Freedom of the Press Is Only Relative in Some States While the Mexican government boasts that the country enjoys full freedom of the press, journalists in some states have to risk their lives to exercise this right. So far this year alone, four Mexican journalists have been murdered -- either stabbed, shot or tortured to death -- while a great many more have been threatened and intimidated. The situation has become so critical that hundreds of Mexican journalists took to the streets in protest earlier this month. These threats to freedom of expression have created a state of alarm among those who work in the media, according to journalists' associations and others involved in the sector. There are even some who say that freedom of the press is actually more limited today, under President Vicente Fox of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), than it was during successive administrations of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico uninterruptedly from 1929 to 2000.

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