Topic: Costa Rica | VivirLatino http://vivirlatino.com/ US Latino life in blog form. en Copyright 2008 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:30:16 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Costa Rica steamed over South Park episode cartman_ass.jpgCosta Rican government officials don't think South Park is one bit funny. Why? Because a recent episode places the characters in the Carribean country declaring, among other things, that it smells..."like ass":
The main characters, a group of children, are on a trip to San San José, capital of the Central American country, aboard a bus from which a teacher shows them the city.

The woman explains that Costa Rica is a third world country, as the children observe through the windows prostitutes, shantytowns and trash, and they complain of the smell "of ass" that they detect in an unidentified government building.

Government officials are not amused. According to Spain's 20 Minutos, Costa Rica's Tourism Minister, Carlos Benavides, put it like this:
"We should look at it as the trash that it is. It's a program of that nature on a network designed for people with a lowly upbringing and bad customs.

Via / 20 Minutos

]]> http://vivirlatino.com/2007/02/21/costa-rica-steamed-over-south-park-episode.php http://vivirlatino.com/2007/02/21/costa-rica-steamed-over-south-park-episode.php Costa Rica Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:30:16 -0500 Jolie to Colombian refugees: "The world hasn't forgotten you" capt.sjo10212260559.costa_rica__angelina_jolie__sjo102.jpgAngelina Jolie and her bf Brad Pitt spent the holidays in Costa Rica, visiting some displaced Colombian refugees and handing out gifts in the name of the U.N.:
Dressed in white and sporting a bright blue UNHCR baseball cap, Jolie called for more awareness of the plight of refugees around the world.

"It is especially shocking that such a tragedy can go on, year after year, with the rest of the world paying so little attention to it," she said in the Costa Rican capital San Jose, according to the U.N. agency.

The Central American country is home to an estimated 10,000 Colombian refugees.

"My Christmas message to Colombian refugees and to the millions of displaced people in Colombia is that the world has not totally forgotten them," Jolie said.

Whether these celeb visits are just good PR for the stars or actual humanitarian work is up for debate, but if anything it's good that the media eyes that are constantly following Angie and Brad are also -- at least momentarily -- focused on the plight of these refugees.

Via / Yahoo! News

Image Boris Heger/UNHCR/Handout/Reuters

]]> http://vivirlatino.com/2006/12/27/jolie-to-colombian-refugees-the-world-hasnt-forgotten-you.php http://vivirlatino.com/2006/12/27/jolie-to-colombian-refugees-the-world-hasnt-forgotten-you.php Celebrities Wed, 27 Dec 2006 13:06:37 -0500 U.S. To Costa Rica : No Take Backs! costaricaflag.jpgCosta Rica wants to change its mind about supporting the war in Iraq but the United States isn't having it. The government originally was one of the "Coalition of Willing", but as popular sentiment towards the war has soured in the Central American nation, the government officially changed its position. Costa Rica took it all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled in favor of taking the nation's name off the war supporters roster. According to Yahoo! News:
While the U.S. government removed the Central American nation from the list of the so-called "coalition of the willing" in 2004, it still appears in archive documents and on related Internet Web sites that haven't been updated.
The reason the U.S. hasn't taken Costa Rica's name off in those areas? Those documents are part of the historical record. Maybe next time Costa Rica and hopefully other nations will think before throwing their weight behind U.S. military moves.

Via / Yahoo! News

]]> http://vivirlatino.com/2006/06/28/us-to-costa-rica-no-take-backs.php http://vivirlatino.com/2006/06/28/us-to-costa-rica-no-take-backs.php Costa Rica Wed, 28 Jun 2006 09:19:06 -0500