DECEMBER 20, 2006

ONE Man's Trash, Another Man's Snow: Today is the last day of Avenidazo, the Christmastime tradition of throwing paper confetti up and down San José's Avenida Central. Here, painter José Hernández goes about his work with remnants of last night's “snow” at his feet.

A SPECIAL Christmas Gift: Young María Navarrete was one of 55 Costa Ricans to receive a wheelchair yesterday from Casa Presidencial's Office of Social Aid. The nonprofits Well Chair Foundation and Fundación Moviendo Esperanzas also helped make the donation possible.

The government declared a national state of emergency yesterday, almost one week after fire consumed a chemical storage facility in the Caribbean port of Moín, leaving two dead and 20,000 residents without water.

Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno yesterday held a press conference to recap the work Costa Rica has done this year in the realm of international relations and spell out some of the country's goals for next year.

Intern ational Police (INTERPOL) yesterday arrested a French doctor, identified as Daniel Andre Lagalie, convicted of sexually abusing a mentally retarded young man in Paris, according to a statement from INTERPOL.

Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin plans to grace the stage at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in the northern suburb of Tibás Feb. 19, according to the Web site of the concert organizer Evenpro.

Government Declares State of Emergency
As it Asseses Damage from Moín Fire

By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff | lbaxter@ticotimes.net

The government declared a national state of emergency yesterday, almost one week after fire consumed a chemical storage facility in the Caribbean port of Moín, leaving two dead and 20,000 residents without water.

On Dec. 13, a fire erupted at a storage facility run by Químicos Holanda that housed chemical solvents and caustic soda. As many watched on live TV, tanks of highly flammable chemicals exploded into an inferno that reached several stories high and sent a toxic plume wafting over the province (TT, Dec. 15).

Three people with serious burns were flown to San Juan de Dios Hospital in San José. Two of the victims --  identified by Channel 7 TV News as Geovanny Hernández, 32, and Greivin Cortés, 24, -- died from their injuries.

The emergency decree frees up government funds and allows the National Emergency Commission (CNE) to coordinate various government ministries' actions as they try to stem environmental contamination and monitor the health of area residents and emergency workers who fought the blaze.

Teams including technicians from the National Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) and Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) and specialists from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and Universidad Nacional (UNA) are testing for soil, water and air pollution in the region as they try to determine just how badly the disaster has harmed the environment.

Meanwhile, a team of 12 officials from the Public Health Ministry was set to travel to the region today to check the health of 8,000 residents. Health Minister María Luisa Avila explained at the press conference that possible short-term health effects caused by exposure to the chemicals or their fumes include respiratory and skin problems, which occur within the first 72 hours after exposure.

However, she said, the Costa Rican Social Security System (Caja) has not reported an increase in reports of such problems, or cases that could be attributed to the accident. The minister said long-term effects depend on the intensity and length of time of exposure, and could include miscarriages and cancer.

See this Friday's print or electronic edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.

Foreign Ministry Outlines
This Year's Accomplishments

By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net

Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno yesterday held a press conference to recap the work Costa Rica has done this year in the realm of international relations and spell out some of the country's goals for next year.

During 2006, Costa Rica initiated diplomatic relations with several countries in the Arab world including Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan and Syria. Next year, Stagno said he hopes to open new embassies in India, Egypt and Singapore.

Additionally, the Foreign Ministry remodeled or relocated several Costa Rican consulates abroad including those in New York, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Argentina, Austria and Israel.

Stagno also touted a couple of the projects President Oscar Arias' has promoted in discussions with world leaders at several events throughout the year including the Costa Rica Consensus, a proposal to take developing countries' military spending into account when considering aid, and Peace with Nature, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions and protect forests. Arias' administration will continue to seek support for these programs next year, Stagno said.

Costa Rica will continue to vie for a spot on the United Nations Security Council, he said, adding that the country has support from countries around the world, though he declined to name them.

“We have concrete proposals we want to bring to the Security Council,” such as reforms to the council's methodology, the creation of a high commission against terrorism and plans to focus more on the environment, Stagno said.

On national soil, the ministry did some house cleaning this year, eliminating unnecessary phone lines, reviewing its budget and adjusting the living allowances of its employees abroad to be in line with cost-of-living reports published by the United Nations.

The Foreign Ministry remains the only one still behind with its payments to the Social Security System (Caja) and has plans to cancel these debts shortly, Stagno said.

French Doctor Convicted of
Sexual Abuse Arrested in Escazú

Intern ational Police (INTERPOL) yesterday arrested a French doctor, identified as Daniel Andre Lagalie, convicted of sexually abusing a mentally retarded young man in Paris, according to a statement from INTERPOL.

Lagalie was sentenced by a French judge to 20 years in prison for molesting the young man in February 2003, but he fled the country before serving time, the statement.

Lagalie abused the young man on several occasions beginning in 1994 at his office in Paris. In 1995, he filmed one of the illicit acts. He came to Costa Rica in 2000 from the United States and had since entered and left the country several times to Panama, Guatemala and the United States, the statement said.

Police had been observing Lagalie at his home in Ciudad Colón, southwest of San José, where he lived with another man. He was arrested yesterday at a supermarket in Escazú and faces deportation to France.

-Tico Times

Ricky Martin Coming To Costa Rica

Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin plans to grace the stage at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in the northern suburb of Tibás Feb. 19, according to the Web site of the concert organizer Evenpro.

Martin will stop here on his “Blanco y Negro” (“White and Black”) tour through Latin America, which begins in February.

Singers the likes of Luis Miguel, Carlos Santana, Alejandro Sanz and, most recently, the Black Eyed Peas, have also performed at the Saprissa Stadium, home to the soccer team by the same name.

During the show, heartthrob Martin will deliver Tico fans a slew of his hits including several from his most recent MTV Unplugged album such as “ Te extraño, te olvido, te amo ” (“I miss you, I forget you, I love you”), “ Fuego contra fuego ” (“Fire against fire”) and “ Vuelve ” (“Come back.”)

-ACAN-EFE

Sometimes the news on TV or radio is so perplexing it leaves us wondering if we heard it right. Even more surprising is that the reporters deliver such news with straight faces. Here are some examples:

A man from Alajuela, northwest of San José, had an enormous marijuana plant growing in his yard. He explained to the police that he didn't know it was marijuana and he was saving it for a Christmas tree. (Just wait till they burn the Yule log – holy smoke!)

A woman was electrocuted when she plugged in the washer and they took the husband to the hospital in shock. (Is that right?)

A man went to a phone booth to make a call at two in the morning wearing only his underpants, and he was held up. (What on earth did he have to steal?)

Because here they use decimal points instead of commas to denote thousands, this item has a potentially huge margin of error. An economic report stated that the annual per-capita income in Estonia is $14 million. (Adios, Costa Rica. Hello, Estonia !)

The skeleton of a mermaid turned out to be a hoax. (No fooling.)

An Alajuela man accused his wife of spousal abuse for farting at him. The judge threw out the case, saying that it is not a crime to fart. (Prison conditions are bad enough without adding farters.)

The nude body of a man in an advanced state of putrefaction was discovered in a dam in Santa Ana, southwest of the capital, but remained unidentified because there were no reports of missing persons matching the description. (If you knew anyone like that, would you claim him?)

A headline in the sensational daily Diario Extra read “Woman Strangled by Brassiere.” (Why didn't she get a larger size?)

“Informe Once” news program reported that someone in the northwestern province of Guanacaste found a mushroom in the shape of the Virgin. (No comment.)

In the daily La Nación's Sunday magazine Proa, an article on the Minute Men, U.S. vigilantes who dress in military fatigues, carry rifles and station themselves along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigrants from crossing over, quoted one of the men as saying, “What did Mexico ever give us?” (Tacos, burritos, tortillas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California …)

A commercial for a casa de empeño (pawn shop) claimed it had parking for 40 cars. (What does that say for the state of the economy?)

Thieves stole 1,000 full sheets of El Gordo, the Christmas lottery, but the door opened on the getaway truck and they all fell out. (Next time, take a minute to buckle your seat belt.) Eight hundred sheets were recovered, but 200 were still missing. It seems a taxi driver found them but didn't know what they were. He never buys lottery tickets because gambling is a vice. (You bet.)

In Spanish, a jack is called a gata, the same word as a female feline. A want ad for a hydraulic jack came out in the pets column. (The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin, once ran an ad in the boating section for a wench with good teeth.)

Channel 42 is Diario Extra's TV station, and the evening news always starts out with sucesos: crime, shootings, traffic accidents and drownings. One night, the big news was that nothing bad had happened that day and there were no sucesos.

Bewildering news happens. This strange statement was in a U.S. magazine: “The black rhinoceros is distinguished from the white rhinoceros by the size of its snout.” (In case you're color blind.)

And, alas, even The Nica Times can confound. In the Oct. 20 issue, just before Halloween, there was a report of a new “boo store” in Managua. (Boo who?)