U.S. citizen main suspect
in Tuis hammer murder


A 65-year-old man identified as a Cuban-American is the principal suspect in the murder of a woman in La Selva de La  Suiza, Tuis de Turrialba, said the Judicial Investigating Organization.

The woman was found face down in her bed in her home with the back of her skull fractured by what appeared to be a hammer, said investigators. The woman was identified by the last name of Pérez. The Judicial Investigating Organization said she was 45.

Shortly after the body was discovered, police arrested her live-in companion, the Cuban-American as he waited for the bus to Turrialba Centro, they said. He was identified by the last name of Lamas. The Judicial Investigating Organization said he was a Cuban who had been naturalized as a U.S. citizen.

Police said the man and woman had been a couple for about six months.

Twin festivals to enliven
Southern zone communities


Visitors will find a double-barreled festival in the southern zone from March 27 to April 4.  Organizers of the Festival Nacional de las Artes 2009 promise 2,000 artists and 149 different events.

At the same time the Museo Nacional will be presenting the IV Festival de las Esferas in Palmar Sur.

The center of the arts festival will be in the Parque Central of San Isidro de El General where a series of theatrical performances and dance productions will take place.

There also is a traveling show that will move from town to town in the southern zone putting on productions. This is being called the Caravana de las Artes.

Also participating will be representatives from the various native Costa Rican groups in the vicinity: the Chorotegas, Bruncas, Ngöbes, Térrabas, Borucas, Cabécares, Bríbris, Huetares and Malekus, said the Ministerio de Cultura, Juventud y Deportes.

The area at Palmar Sur is where the museum is developing its display of the many spheres that were found in the area. So there is an archaeological component to the festival, too.

Anti-drug police officers
continue airport arrests


A Dutch traveler is the latest to fall into the hands of the anti-drug police at Juan Santamaría Airport.

The man, identified as Cornelis Ludovicus, 31, was carrying 12 kilos of cocaine in his luggage, said the Policía de Control de Drogas. The man was headed to Atlanta, Georgia, and then Belgium, they said.

He was detained a short time after police stopped a Costa Rican with the last names of Brizuela Soto at the same airport. The 19-year-old man was in possession of 737 grams of cocaine, said police. He was ticketed for Madrid and the Canary Islands, police said.

Police also disclosed that Thursday two U.S. citizens were detained at the airport, each in possession of more than a kilo of suspected cocaine on their persons.

They were identified by the last names of Butler and Dockson. They had been en route to Florida, police said.

Funes promises to unit
crime-plagued El Salvador


Former television journalist Mauricio Funes promised to unite El Salvador following his victory in the country's presidential election that ended two decades of conservative rule in the crime-plagued Central American country. Funes ran as a member of the former rebel group Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional.

With the Frente Farabundo Martí  victory, El Salvador joined a growing number of Latin American countries that have turned left in recent years. Some, such as Venezuela, have tense relations with the United States, but president-elect Funes has been quoted as saying he wants strong relations with the U.S.

State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood Monday said the U.S. congratulates El Salvador's people for a "very free, fair and democratic election." Wood also said the U.S. looks forward to working with the new Salvadoran government on their mutual bilateral agenda and that the U.S. wants to "specifically congratulate" Funes and his opponent for participating in the election and respecting the results.

Four million Salvadorans were eligible to vote. The country is wracked by poverty, and many people depend heavily on remittances from family members working in the United States. El Salvador has been under conservative rule since the end of the 12-year civil war in 1992. Some 75,000 people died in the conflict between leftist guerrillas and the government, before it ended with the signing of peace accords.

Immigration rules meant
for more than Gringos

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Why is it that we continually forget, in all our ethnocentric and/or egocentric (“Me first. Me, Me, Me!”) attitudes that perhaps the government of Costa Rica is trying to address ALL of the potential immigrants to their country?

Just because the current proposed changes will have an effect on those of us who speak English, does not mean that those changes are intended specifically for "Gringos!"

Maybe Costa Rican legislators feel that by raising their standards for immigration, that might enable them to better get a grip on immigration in general.  Maybe some of the howling expats might study up on the requirements for immigrants to our countries (U. S. and Canada), and think about whether we would want to have to meet those requirements.

Let’s all back off, chill a bit, and see what happens before we go off screaming about the "sky is falling," What do you say?