The government announced Thursday that it would construct a new international airport in the southern zone and that the planning for the new airport will begin next week.

The announcement came after a meeting of President Able Pacheco and members of the Junta de Desarrollo Regional de la Zona Sur.

The announcement about the airport was made by Karla González, vice minister of Transportes. She also outlined the work that would be done on the existing airports in the area. These include airports in the communities of Golfito, Palmar Sur, Drake, Laurel, Carate and Puerto Jiménez.

Also at the meeting was Rodrigo Castro, minister of Turismo, and Ricardo Toledo, minister of the Presidencia.

The schedule would call for bids on the new airport sometime in 2005.

"We would hope that at the end of this government we are in an advanced process of construction of this airport, said Minister González. She did not make clear exactly where the new airport would be located.

Land would have to be purchased, and the vice minister said that a group of technicians would travel to the Southern Zone to figure out the location that is best for such a project.

The government plans to spend millions of colons this year to upgrade terminals in the zone and to recover some runways.

The new airport would generate a flow of more tourists to the area, which is considered to be economically depressed. Right now Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela is the principal arrival point for persons going to the south. From there they can travel by smaller planes or by highway.

The Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia services mainly the tourist trade for the benefit of the Pacific beach communities in Guanacaste.

Science, technology
prizes are announced

Two microbiologists and a physicist from the Universidad de Costa Rica were honored Thursday with national awards for their work.

Lizabeth Salazar Sánchez and Marieta Flora Diaz took the national science prize with their work on the molecular factors involved in heart attacks and clogged veins. They also did work that was honored on the causal agent of gangrene.

José Alberto Araya Pochet, director of the Centro de Investigación en Ciencia e Ingeriería de Materials, was the technology prize winner. His work was within the area of nanotechnology.

The awards were announced Thursday by the Ministerio de Cultura, Juventud y Deportes. They were among more than a dozen other awards handed out in literature, history and music.

Many communities win
prized ecology award

Some 56 beaches and nine inland communities received their Bandera Azul Ecológica 2003 Thursday at a ceremony at Casa Presidencial.

President Abel Pacheco also took the opportunity to sign an executive decree that guarantees that the ecology program will continue. He also said he wanted the communities to consider access for the handicapped and encouraged them to set up local regulations and committees to manage the program.

The president also urged them to set up a system for recycling solid wastes and to incorporate in the communities a certification of pure water that is given by the Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, the water company.

This was the eighth year for the blue flag program which shows that the communities have complied with stringent ecological requirements.

Attachment hoax
may be new virus

Oh, NO! Not another virus.

A reader reports that she received an e-mail titled ""Billing Notice From racsa.co.cr's Accounting company." The e-mail contained an attachment. The e-mail warns that if the attachment is not opened in 24 hours RACSA, Radiogáfica Costarricense S.A., will discontinue service.

The message obviously contains a computer virus, the reader concluded. She contacted RACSA, the Internet monopoly, but suggested that readers be warned that the promoters of the virus have a list of RACSA subscribers or some other way of getting the e-mail addresses. Similar virus messages may be making the rounds.

Crowd protests change
in president’s policies

Ecuadorian police say thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets in two cities Wednesday to show their opposition to President Lucio Gutiérrez. Police say at least five people were arrested after authorities used tear gas to disperse the crowds in Quito and the port city of Guayaquil. At least nine people were said to be injured.

 The demonstrators were protesting the social and economic policies of President Gutiérrez. He was elected in 2002 after helping to lead a coup two years earlier against previous president Jamil Mahuad. 

Opposition leaders say Gutiérrez has turned away from the populist policies for which he was elected.

Web page was on vacation

The U.S. Embassy reports that its Web page has been out of service for a few days. However, it was back in service by Thursday evening. 

A spokesperson said that the problem was with the computer server that distributes the Web page. The page contains useful information about Costa Rica and policies of the embassy and of the United States.

They’re back in business

New Fantasy, a supposed sauna and massage parlor, is open again at its Barrio Amon location. The upscale sex tourism destination was closed up by the Municipalidad de San José Friday because officials said there was more going on than just massages. 

Quepos, she says, is really a farming community with lots of tourism. (It originally was built by United Fruit in the 1930s.) Tourists are attracted to the Manuel Antonio National Park and Beach, which this year was named one of the top 100 beaches in the world. 

Says Marlene, "We have little squirrel monkeys, howlers and white faced monkeys who come to drink in our outdoor shower. We have rivers with whitewater rafting, the jungle is all around us, not to mention the national park and the ocean with all it offers — kayaking, dolphin watching and world class fishing. We have more animals that cross our property than we can even name."

The beach, she says, is uncrowded, even at Christmas (the heavy tourist season for all beaches). "Imagine, instead of going for a nice walk down another city block, you could take a stroll on the beach every evening and watch the sun set over the ocean, unless you felt like taking an evening dip in the 84 degree ocean water or the pool. It’s a bit warm here, but who wants it to be cool at the beach!" 

Thanks to tourism and the large foreign population, "we have a good selection of most things in our beautiful town." (Since I think San Jose is beautiful, I will grant Marlene the same poetic license in describing Quepos.) She goes on, "There are several very big grocery stores with a good selection of American items for those of us who don’t cook arroz con pollo on a regular basis." And if you wish to dine out, there are some wonderful locally owned restaurants, and locals can eat French, 

Living in Costa Rica . . .Where the living is good By Jo Stuart jostuart@racsa.co.cr

Italian even American any time they have the urgeand, "our restaurant prices beat most other areas of Costa Rica." 

Quepos even has an Italian ice cream store and an Italian bakery that "has better sandwiches than they do anywhere in Italy." (I am beginning to think that I can quell my desire to spend part of my time in Italy just by visiting Quepos.)

Health care is good there with a new hospital that is reasonably up to date. And as for schools, there is a good selection, including an excellent private school which costs about $1,000 a year. Some dedicated local business people who still oversee it established this private school.

"We don’t always have the luxuries we are used to — but they are coming. We are glad you folks are there in the city so we have access to a bit more, but it sure feels good to get back to our town."

Quepos is located on the southern Pacific coast 145 kms. (about 90 miles) from San José, a four-and-a-half to five-hour bus ride over the mountains. 

It must be said that Marlene’s description of the area, especially the prices, differs from what some guide books say. They seem to find it quite expensive for both lodging and food. But my most recent guide book is several years old and living in a community and visiting it can bring different impressions.

Leaders of the 15-nation Caribbean Community have unveiled a series of proposals they say could end Haiti's political crisis. The leaders say there is a real danger of violence escalating in Haiti. 

Caribbean Community leaders meeting in the Bahamas said Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide should dismantle armed gangs of his supporters, allow protesters to gather peacefully and work with the opposition to appoint a new prime minister who would organize new elections. At the two-day closed door meeting in the Bahamas the leaders also called on Aristide to release people arrested in anti-government protests and to respect freedom of the press.

No Haitian government representative attended the meeting. Opposition leaders who did said they will not accept any proposals that allow Aristide to stay in power until his term expires in two years.

Jamaica's Prime Minister P.J. Patterson who led the Bahamas talks says he is concerned that opposing positions in Haiti have hardened to the point where the potential for violence and instability is elevated.

Earlier this month U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was very disturbed by the situation in Haiti and said he urged both Aristide and the opposition to seriously examine a proposal by Haiti's Catholic bishops to mediate the crisis.

Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie is expected to travel to Port-au-Prince soon.

BOGOTA, Colombia —  Health authorities say the death toll from an epidemic of yellow fever along the country's Caribbean coastline has risen to eight.

Officials have ordered the temporary closure of five national parks in the region in an effort to 

Last September, leftist rebels from Colombia's National Liberation Army, the ELN, kidnapped eight foreign tourists in the region. One tourist managed to escape shortly after he was captured. The others were eventually freed.

Robbers have been pulling citizens off the streets, holding them and forcing them to divulge their automatic teller codes and other personal financial information.

But investigators usually have found out about the crimes second-hand because few persons file formal criminal complaints.

Early Thursday they had enough to go on because an Escazú woman, who has the last name of Quiros and was snatched Nov.3, had filed a complaint.

Investigators raided three homes in Cuidadela 15 de Setiembre and arrested a man and a woman, the presumed authors of the crime.

Agents said one of the houses that was raided was the one to which robbers took the woman hostage last November. She was kidnapped in broad daylight about 2 p.m. and spent about seven hours as a hostage while criminals made purchases with her credit cards and cleaned out her bank accounts via automatic teller machines. Eventually the robbers took her to a mountaneous part of Alajuelita where they dumped her and ignited a fire to destroy her vehicle nearby.

A spokesman for the Judicial Investigating Organization said the fire was to destroy clues.

Investigators estimate that at least 14 such 

Investigators also are seeking information on the murder of a man who was gunned down in a Guadalupe bar in December. A spokesman said that the shooting may have been connected to the string of crimes.

In all, agents and Fuerza Pública officers raided three homes. One was where the arrested man, identified by the last name of Campos, lived. The home of the woman, identified by the last name of Rodríguez, also was raided, as was a third home.

The crime is considered a case of deprivation of liberty instead of a kidnapping. No ransom was sought. This type of crime is a variation of the so-called "express kidnapping" where an individual is grabbed and the criminals settle for whatever amount of money that the person’s family can raise on short notice.

Some cases of deprivation of liberty have been described as heavy handed collection methods, as in the case of U.S. citizen Richard Hinkle, the owner of Brand Fashions at the Real Cariari Mall. 

He was grabbed by masked individuals outside his home at Ribiera de Belén west of town on an October evening. That crime for which arrests were made has been attributed to a financial dispute.

HAVANA, Cuba — The Patriarch of Constantinople is in Cuba, the first Orthodox Christian leader to visit Latin America. 

On Sunday, Patriarch Bartholomew will consecrate a church, said to be the first church of any faith built in Cuba since Fidel Castro's Communist government came to power 45 years ago. 

President Castro, dressed in his familiar olive-green uniform, greeted the black-robed patriarch upon his arrival from Turkey Wednesday. A group of children sang Greek hymns. 

Organizers of the visit say Patriarch Bartholomew 

The patriarch is regarded as the highest dignitary of the Greek Orthodox Church and is considered to be the successor to Bartholomew the Apostle. Fourteen patriarchs represent some 250 million Orthodox Christians around the world. An estimated 2,000 practicing Orthodox Christians live in Cuba. Many of them are immigrants from countries of the former Soviet Union. 

Cuba's government began to tolerate some religious expression in the early 1990s and allowed a visit by Pope John Paul in 1998. Most of Cuba's Christians follow the teachings of the Catholic church.