San José, Costa Rica -   Saturday 18 September 2004

1.234 Daily Average. Visits in August! Up 10%

Updated every day by 8:00AM Central Standard Time

Bruce Harris, the "champion" of street children and victims of sex abuse in Latin America, is "fired" by Covenant House over a relationship he had with a boy the organization, Casa Alianza, once helped. Harris  has admitted that he acted incorrectly. Full story Click for larger image!

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

Casa Alianza Director Bruce Harris "Fired" Over Sex Scandal!
Bruce Harris, the regional director of Casa Alianza, a Covenant House program that is Central America's most important children's rights organization, has been fired because of a relationship with a boy the organization had once helped.

Fischel Board President Knew of the Payments
Emilio Bruce, president of the board of directors of the Corporación Fischel, together with the president of the corporation, Walter Reiche Fischel, paid out the 20% in commissions with respect to the Finnish loan for the purchase of medical equipment at the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS).

Osvaldo Villalobos Charged
Almost two years following the start of the investigation, the Ministerio Público, yesterday presented formal charges against Osvaldo Villalobos Camacho, for suspected fraud against dozens of investors who made deposits with the company Ofinter.

White House Drops Costa Rica from Coalition List
The White House removed Costa Rica from its Internet list of Iraq coalition members on Friday after the Central American nation asked to be excluded from the roster of countries that support U.S. policy in Iraq.

Rodríguez to Restructure the OAS
The new secretary-general of the Organization of American States, former Costa Rican president, Miguel Angel Rodríguez,  intends to streamline the bureaucracy in a major restructuring that he hopes will reverse a budget deficit estimated at $5 million next year.

Did you Know?
That on this day, September 18, 1502, Christopher Columbus lands in what is now Costa Rica on his fourth and last voyage to the New World.

Pinochet discharged from Santiago hospital
The former military ruler of Chile Augusto Pinochet was discharged on Friday from the Military Hospital of Santiago, where he was hospitalized two days ago for are spiratory problem.

Cuban, Ukrainian ministers to meet on economic, technical cooperation
The health ministers of Cuba and Ukraine will meet here next week to discuss bilateral cooperation in public health, tourism and trade, local press said Friday.

7 dead in Venezuela border attack
Six Venezuelan soldiers and an oil engineer have been killed when an armed group attacked a military patrol and state oil company employees near the border with Colombia, Venezuela's defense minister has said.

International News from the New York Times
 

TRADE-LATAM: Technology Provides a Boost for Small Businesses The Costa Rican web portal Lacarretica.com was recently presented to Venezuelan exporters as an example of the way that new information and communications technology (ICT) can help to expand the range of goods offered for export by the countries of the region. The presentation took place during a seminar held at the Caracas headquarters of the Latin American Economic System (SELA). Leopoldo Rojas, from the Costa Rican IT firm Galileo, told IPS that the portal was ”an initiative of a group of young entrepreneurs in Costa Rica, who use the Internet to sell typically Costa Rican products to the 100,000 Costa Ricans living in the United States.” The products sold by Lacarretica.com range from food and drinks -- like ”lizana” sauce, used in a wide variety of Costa Rican dishes -- to national soccer team jerseys, traditional Costa Rican music CDs, toys, books, newspapers, posters and even religious paraphernalia.

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