Word: costas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Independence Day, which falls on Sept. 15, the President of Costa Rica traditionally lights a "Liberty Torch" in the old capital city of Cartago and the next day addresses school children in the present capital of San José. This year things did not work out too well. At Cartago, President Rodrigo Carazo Odio, 54, was shouted down when he tried to speak, and later discovered that the air had been let out of the tires of his car. At San José he did not even bother with the customary oration. He quickly paraphrased the first verse...
...July, the government was unable to make payments on the $2.6 billion it owes to more than 130 international banks-a hefty $1,180 per capita debt in a land of 2.2 million. A month later the nation stopped paying even the $30 million monthly interest on those loans. Costa Rica is flat broke...
...current crisis began when the International Monetary Fund suspended payments in August on a three-year $330 million loan. It was the third agreement broken in 17 months. According to the IMF, Costa Rica had once again failed to keep its promise to curtail excessive spending. Laments Economist Edward Lizano: "I think we have the world championship in broken IMF agreements." The situation is now so bad that nobody will lend Costa Rica even the short-term money it needs for the rest of the year. In July and August, the government sent representatives to the U.S., Canada, West Germany...
...Costa Rica's current troubles stem from its greatest as sets: its history as a free society, the development of a strong middle class and the creation of a governmental system that was deliberately decentralized to minimize the danger from coups and tyrannical regimes so prevalent in The region. The unfortunate consequence is that much of the public sector is outside the budgetary control of the executive branch, and both the legislative assembly and the supreme court can make important economic decisions without the approval of the President...
...drink and staffed by a cocktail waitress brought them to the Nevada casino, where they were handed a few bucks each to play their game-without interruption. The biggest winner came away with a pot of $5, but Lady Luck smiled on all seven that day: back in Contra Costa, the district attorney folded and dropped the charges against the cardsharps...