Here's what's going on. Agropecuaria Caletas S.A. is a farming company in Costa Rica. It owns land next or close to, Caletas-Arío National Wildlife Refuge. Agropecuaria Caletas S.A is owned by Sylvestre Feichtinger or is it Sylvester Feichtinger, a US-Austrian citizen. He's rich, he owns other things as well, but we'll get to that in a minute.
Last year, Pretoma , an organization that PROTECTS the oceans resources and especially the sharks and sea turtles, took issue with Agropecuaria Caletas S.A. and it's owner Sylvester Feichtinger and this happened:
Last April, responding to a lawsuit filed by Pretoma against Agropecuaria Caletas S.A. for draining the wetlands of the Caletas Ario Wildlife Refuge, the Environmental Tribune ordered the farming company to halt all of its activities in and around this sensitive wetland. Last June, the Environmental Tribune ordered the company to pay $21,200 for damages caused therein (Resolución N° 390-09-TAA). The resolution came after officials observed how the company is, by design, draining, burning and thereby sucking the biological diversity out of a 150 hectare wetland that boarders Playa Caletas on the southern Nicoya Peninsula.
After being ordered to fix the problem and pay the fine, the 'fucks' at Agropecuaria Caletas told the 'powers that be' in Costa Rica basically to F-OFF and IGNORED the penalties and mandates.*If you're interested in the 'nitty-gritty' of this story, I wrote about it a few times about a year ago (read in order):
* Another Company tells Costa Rica to F-OFF
* time to SPEAK-UP and do SOMETHING
* Casa Caletas Hotel- tell me it's NOT true
* Don't STAY at Casa Caletas Hotel, but WHY?
Now, a year later, just a couple weeks ago, Agropecuaria Caletas S.A. is doing THIS and the volunteers at Pretoma caught them:
Yup, spraying chemicals all 'willy-nilly' with devastating consequences to the area. Here's the FULL STORY from Pretoma's website. But you can be SURE, Pretoma will be taking Agropecuaria Caletas S.A. to court, yet AGAIN.
Let's just assume the 'powers that be' in Costa Rica don't give a RIP about this. Doesn't matter, that's not really the point ANYMORE. This is ALL about perception and Costa Rica is looking like a complete BITCH on this one. You can't on one hand market yourself as one of the most eco-friendly places on the planet, packed with spectacular flora and fauna- a TRUE naturalists PARADISE, and on the other hand let these atrocities go unpunished. This story is OUT there, people are WATCHING. Perception is EVERYTHING. Agropecuaria Caletas S.A has IGNORED the 'powers that be' once with little consequence and now THIS. Something needs to be done.
On principle, Costa Rica has to do something OVER-the-TOP to set a precedent and make an example of Agropecuaria Caletas S.A., something that SCREAMS- You BREAK the environmental laws in Costa Rica and you pay the PRICE.
Oh, and btw, in an IRONIC and very hypocritical twist, guess who owns a hotel by the wetlands of the Caletas-Ario Wildlife Refuge and markets it as an eco lodge where the highlight is its natural surroundings... that's right, our friend and owner of Agropecuaria Caletas S.A., Sylvester Feichtinger. It's called Casa Caletas, give'em a ring and tell them why you WON'T stay there. It's the least you could do.To find out how you can HELP and other great INFO:
Pretoma
Tel (506) 2241 5227
Fax (506) 2236 6017
email: andy@pretoma.org
website: www.pretoma.org
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2 comments:
this is freaking B.S. -- looks like there's a trend of big business fucking up our planet and then getting away with a slap on the wrist -- only to be found doing the same thing somewhere else a bit later on.
Actually, that's EXACTLY what it is. Sucks.
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