Record lows and high winds
continue to plague nation

The poor Caribbean coast residents. First there was flooding. Now they are facing the coldest temperatures on record. The mercury bottomed out there Wednesday morning below 17 degrees Celsius (62.6 F.)

Temperatures in the Central Valley were between 13 (55.4 F.) and 14 (57 F.) degrees early Wednesday morning.

But the temperature was not the only problem. High winds, some up to 80 kms (50 mph), continued to sweep the whole country, including dry Guanacaste.

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad issued a warning about downed power lines. Falling trees and utility poles have caused outages all over the country.

The institute issued a special warning for Alajuela, Naranjo, Grecia, San Ramón and Poás where electric service has been affected by the collision of wires.

A 26-year-old man with the last name of Matarrita died Tuesday afternoon in Tilarán near Lake Arenal when he was trying to repair telephone lines. He touched a powerline instead and was thrown some five meters (16 feet) into a ditch.

The winds and cold weather are supposed to diminish by Friday.

Theater group planning
open house and preview

February is shaping up to be a busy month for the Little Theatre Group. The group is based at the Blanche Brown Theatre in Bello Horizonte, Escazú.

The group will host an open house Feb. 7 from 7 to 9 p.m. at its theater. The open house will feature a preview of the newest production "Trees Die Standing Still." The play will then make its opening towards the end of the month.

The group will also be lending out the theater to another group during the month of February. A Canadian group that has toured throughout Canada, raising money for local causes, will put on "New Wrinkles," a midlife comedy. 

The Canadian group will perform their show for one day, at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13. All of the proceeds from the show will be donated to Hogar Siembra, a refuge for sexually abused girls. Tickets for the show are $30. For information call: 228-7449 or 451-4359.

Gambling firm here
gets license from UK

Bodog.com, an online gambling and sports book organization based in San José, has received a bookmaker’s license for the United Kingdom, the company said Wednesday. The license allows the company to provide gambling services to clients in the United Kingdom and to offer betting services from there.

Bodog.com has been in operation for 10 years in Costa Rica and has mainly focused on North America. Founder and CEO, Calvin Ayre, said he hopes that the addition of the European market will bolster the company’s growth. 

Three held in Liberia
as suspects in robberies

Investigators in Liberia said they have detained three suspects in a case involving seven armed robberies on the Interamerican highway. Officials identified the three men as two brothers named Cordero from Costa Rica, and a man named Fletes from Nicaragua. 

The Judicial Investigating Organization has been looking into robberies of cyclists on the Interamerican highway since December. Cyclists frequent the highway but near the end of last year, several robberies caught the attention of local officers.

Thefts from tourists
result in two arrests

Two suspects have been arrested in connection with three thefts from tourists in Liberia. They were arrested in Avenida 25 in the Center of Liberia Sunday.  The thefts were carried out in Liberia by breaking into parked cars and stealing belongings. 

A 36-year-old woman with the surname Recio, and a 48-year-old man named Suarez have been given three months preventative detention while the case is investigated.  Officials from the Judicial Investigating  Organization said that they believe that there may be other cases which have not been reported.  Officials said that this was because jewelry, wallets and other articles were recovered that had not been reported stolen. 

Did the German leave his leg in Costa Rica?

The whole world thinks he did, but the truth may be less sensational.

Last week, Ananova, an online paper in Leeds, reported that a German professor had his leg amputated against his will at a hospital in San José. The report was filed by a freelance news agency, which had also sold the story to other British papers.

According to the article, Professor Ronald (or Roland) Jurisch from Dessau, Germany, took a vacation in Costa Rica. During his vacation, Jurisch went to an Alajuela hospital because his left foot was swollen, the article said. The article claims that despite Jurisch’s protests at the hospital, he was given drugs, which knocked him out. When he awoke, he was in the airport departure lounge, his leg had been amputated, and he had no idea what had happened, the article said.

That’s news to officials at Juan Santamaría Airport, who 

The reporter who wrote the story said he never spoke to the professor. He is Michael Leidig, who works in Vienna, Austria, for the Central European News freelance agency. In an e-mail Leidig said he simply copied the information from a German newspaper, Bild. He has not answered subsequent e-mails.

The article by Leidig is weak on details. He fails to name the hospital or the airport, although Juan Santamaría is the obvious location. Nevertheless, the article is spreading all over the Internet in both English and German at a time when Costa Rica is trying to improve its tourism among Europeans.

The story claims Jurisch suffered from blood poisoning due to the incident and that he is now suing the hospital in San José. 

The article does not specify any time frame as to when the incident occurred or exactly at what hospital the incident occurred. 

A photography exhibition titled "Danza-Imagen" will open to the public  Friday. The exhibition is being held at the gallery of the Centro Cultural Costarricense-Norteamericano, La Sabana.

Julio Sequiera's photographs are observations of dance and movement. He has been a photographer for more than 14 years and graduated from the Colegio Universitaro de Alajuela with honours. Sequiera originally specialized in nature photography. He then began working as a freelancer and was asked to photograph a ballet class. 

It was then that he became inspired and began attending jazz, ballet and modern dance competitions taking photos and observing the dancers movements.  "It takes a lot of practice to know when to take the photo. The photos were not staged. The exhibition features montage as well as untouched photos," said Sequiera. 

The exhibition also will be open from Saturday until Feb. 23 at the Galeria La Sabana. It is located north and east of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Western Hemisphere is important to the United States, and the Bush administration will work to promote democracy and economic development in the region, according to Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice.

During her confirmation hearing this week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ms. Rice said the Western Hemisphere is "extremely critical" to the United States and pledged the Bush administration will work on relationships in the region "in a very aggressive way."

Later the committee approved her nomination for discussions on the floor of the Senate.

Among the issues Ms. Rice addressed were the challenges confronting the region and the Bush administration's hemispheric agenda.  She also shared insights on U.S. views, relationships and initiatives with Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, Central America and the Andean region.

"Democracy has a lot of challenges in Latin America," she told legislators.  "It has the challenges of new, fragile institutions that have come into being over the last two decades.  It has the challenges of trying to bring economic prosperity to very poor populations."

Ms. Rice said the Bush administration will confront these challenges by working to "promote democratic development and democratic institutions, and to begin to marry those democratic institutions with economic progress for the peoples of the region."

The secretary-designate said trade is an important component of the efforts to advance the region's democratic and economic development.  She pointed to the success of the U.S. trade agreement with Chile, which entered into force in 2004, and the recently concluded trade agreement between the United States, the Dominican Republic and the Central American nations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua soon to be presented to the Senate for approval.

Ms. Rice said that the Bush administration would prefer the Central American agreement’s approval "sooner rather than later," and added the United States also continues to work with Brazil, as a co-chair, to move forward on forging a Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Apart from collaborating as free trade area co-chairs, the U.S. relationship with Brazil is "extremely critical to the region," Ms. Rice said.  She indicated that the United States would partner with Brazil and other hemispheric nations to confront regional challenges.

Ms. Rice also said the United States has made progress with Mexico and Canada on a number of issues, including the Smart Border Initiative, which employs 

"I would look forward to having extensive discussions about how we improve the competitiveness of North America as we face competition from the rest of the world," Ms. Rice said.

Within this context, Ms. Rice said she also hopes to work with the Organization of American States to ensure the enforcement of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

In defense of democracy, Ms. Rice noted that the United States has already been very active in Central America, since there are "very grave" challenges to some Central American governments.

The secretary-designate said the United States wants to avoid repeating the Latin American cycle of democratic developments followed by authoritarian ones.  She said that even though certain Central American and Latin American nations have very high growth rates, more must be done to improve the ability of these countries to deal with their problems.

Ms. Rice said that enhancing the region's ability to meet the demands of its people is the "next step," and suggested that progress has already been made.

Ms. Rice stressed that the United States supports Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's successful efforts to combat the challenges of terrorism and narcotics trafficking.  She also explained that the United States is supporting the Andean region more broadly, through trade preferences and a counterdrug initiative.  Despite these efforts, Ms. Rice said, more U.S. attention to the region is needed.

"We are engaging, and need to engage more; this is a very vital region, " she said.  "It has a lot of challenges.  It has a lot of potential."

As for Cuba, Ms. Rice said very close attention would be paid to implementing the recommendations of the Commission to Assist a Free Cuba.  She said the regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro needs to be isolated, and added progress is being made in limiting the Cuban government's ability to siphon off monies intended for humanitarian purposes, funds spent on travel to Cuba and remittances sent by U.S. residents to family members on the island.

"The day that the people of Cuba are finally free is going to be a great one for the Western Hemisphere," she said.  "The Commission recommendations were intended to try and hasten that day and also to try to prepare the ground for a peaceful transition ... it's a very important goal, and you can be certain that we'll pay extremely close attention to it."