FEBRUARY 22, 2007

BLOWN Away: Lottery vendor German “Cumbia” Violes struggled to keep his tickets in place as strong winds whipped through San José yesterday.

A WIN for the Porteños: The soccer team of the Pacific port city of Puntarenas yesterday came away with a close win (1-0) over the Dynamo team from the U.S. city of Houston during a finals game for the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Soccer (CONCACAF) Cup in Puntarenas. Here, Puntarenas forward Roberto Wong goes up against Dynamo rivals Craig Waibel and Pat Onstand in a goal attempt.

Lichfield Declared Innocent

Narvin Lichfield, owner of the former Dundee Ranch Academy for troubled youth, was found innocent yesterday of all charges of abuse brought against him.

Ombudsman's Office to Watch Over Human Rights at CAFTA Protest

As opponents of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) take to the streets in protest Feb. 26, observers from the Ombudsman's Office will pound the pavement alongside them to watch out human rights violations, announced Ombudswoman Lisbeth Quesada yesterday.

Wal-Mart to Invest $50 Million in Costa Rica This Year

The U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart has announced it will invest $50 million in Costa Rica this year to build 14 new supermarkets around the country, according to the daily La Nación.

TACA Announces Direct Flight from San José to Santo Domingo

Lichfield Declared Innocent

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

Narvin Lichfield, owner of the former Dundee Ranch Academy for troubled youth, was found innocent yesterday of all charges of abuse brought against him.

The Costa Rican Prosecutor's Office had accused the U.S. citizen of coercion, holding minors against their will and “crimes of an international character” ( violating a law based on international treaties, in this case, torture) -- a buses allegedly inflicted on the teenage students at Dundee Ranch.

The academy, located outside the Pacific-slope town of Orotina, served as a tough-love behavior modification program for mostly U.S. teens with alleged behavior and legal problems.

In an unexpected turn during prosecutor Edgar Oviedo's closing arguments, he told the court the evidence and testimony presented during the two-day trial were not enough to link Lichfield to the crimes of which he was accused.

After less than an hour of recess, the three judges in the case declared Litchfield innocent of all charges. However, they said they believe the students at Dundee were abused, but the evidence and testimony presented did not prove that Lichfield ordered the abuses.

“We're happy that the law and the system actually worked,” Lichfield told The Tico Times after the trial, adding that he is still “very unhappy that things that have never been proven” were used to determine that abuse occurred at the camp, which he flatly denied.

Ombudsman's Office to Watch
Over Human Rights at CAFTA Protest

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

As opponents of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) take to the streets in protest Feb. 26, observers from the Ombudsman's Office will pound the pavement alongside them to watch out human rights violations, announced Ombudswoman Lisbeth Quesada yesterday.

From their posts around the San José area, about 35 of these badge-wearing observers will be ready to accept formal complaints from citizens who feel they haven't been guaranteed their rights.

The Ombudsman's Office is concerned for both protestors and people going about their daily routines, Quesada explained. The observers will be checking to see that protestors have the rights of freedom expression, physical integrity and personal liberty, and they'll be making sure those who aren't protesting have the right to move about the city and use public services.

“One person's right to manifest without censure ends where it obstructs another's right to get to work,” Quesada said.

At the end of the day, her office will present a report as to how the protests fared human-rights wise. Regional Ombudsman's Office branches in the north-central town of San Carlos, the northwestern Guanacaste capital of Liberia, the Caribbean city of Limón and the Southern Zone city of Pérez Zeledón have also been instructed to receive complaints from citizens.

“We have legal instruments to denounce any violations of human rights with authorities,” Quesada said, explaining that while her office will not directly intervene in problems, it will hold the appropriate individuals or public institutions accountable.

Additionally, Quesada has met with Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal as well as prominent anti-CAFTA groups including the National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP) and the National Coordinator of the Fight Against CAFTA to explain the role her office will play.

Those gearing up to protest have assured that they'll do so peacefully, and Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias has said he has “no interest in aggression,” but that National Police will have to take action if protestors get violent (TT, Feb. 16).

The most recent anti-CAFTA march in October of last year was relatively calm despite students forming a blockade and smashing objects in the street near the University of Costa Rica (UCR) in San Pedro, east of San José (TT, Oct. 27, 2006).

Wal-Mart to Invest $50 Million in Costa Rica This Year

The U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart has announced it will invest $50 million in Costa Rica this year to build 14 new supermarkets around the country, according to the daily La Nación.

The announcement came Tuesday after Craig Herkert, Wal-Mart president for Latin America, met with President Oscar Arias and Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz.

In March of last year, Wal-Mart purchased controlling shares in the Central American Holding Company (CARHCO), which comprises more than 375 supermarkets and other stores throughout Central America, including Más x Menos, Palí and Hipermás stores in Costa Rica (TT, March 17, 2006) after buying an initial 33.3% stake in September 2005 (TT, Sept. 25, 2005).

The company now plans to build 14 more of these stores, including Hipermás stores in Escazú, west of San José, and Paraíso de Cartago, east of San José, and well as several Palí stores, La Nación reported.

The company will provide these stores with modern computers and hire 1,500 people to staff them, according to Aquileo Sánchez, corporate affairs director of Wal-Mart Costa Rica.

Additionally, Wal-Mart will support programs to help Costa Rican suppliers improve their standards so they can ship their goods to supermarkets around Central America and the rest of the world, according to Ruiz.

TACA Announces Direct Flight
from San José to Santo Domingo

The Central American airline TACA announced yesterday that as of April 15, it will offer direct flights from San José to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, according to TACA reservations agent Carlos Vargas.

The flights will leave San José Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and return from Santo Domingo Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, costing about $350 round trip, according to Vargas. They will be serviced by an Airbus 319 plane with capacity for 125 passengers.

This new flight is part of TACA's efforts to facilitate travel between Central America, South America and the Caribbean, according to TACA communications director Claudia Arenas.

The airline also plans to increase its flights between Costa Rica and Peru from seven to 10 flights weekly and add more flights to Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, she said.

TACA's Costa Rican president Fernando Naranjo said that with the San José-Santo Domingo route, the airline is targeting businessmen and women traveling between Central America and the Dominican Republic as well as tourists.

Dominican Ambassador to Costa Rica Adonaida Medina said the route will also open up the possibility for tourism packages that offer both “the sun and beaches of the Dominican Republic and the ecotourism of Costa Rica.”

Just talking about lemons makes many a mouth pucker, and given a choice between an orange and a lemon, most would surely pick the orange. But even so, lemons do serve their purpose in our diets, and may benefit us more than we realize.

Lemons ( Citrus limonia ) and relatives, such as the sour mandarin ( C. trifoliata ), are well liked by Costa Ricans, and can be found in many backyards across the country, particularly in the coastal and midrange elevations of the country. In fact, lemon trees produce very well in the coastal regions, where orange trees often do poorly.

It is believed that the first lemons were originally cultivated in the hot, semi-arid Deccan Plateau in Central India about 2,500 years ago. Most of us were taught that Marco Polo was responsible for bringing citrus trees from the Orient to Europe, though lemons arrived in Spain during the Islamic conquest.

Lemons, along with other citrus trees, reached the New World with the Spanish. Christopher Columbus in his second voyage to the New World in 1493 brought lemon seeds to the Americas. Lisbon and Genoa lemons are two good examples of European stock.

Today, nurseries around the country offer several types of lemons. The Meyers lemon, named for Frank N. Meyer, who first bred it in 1908, is perhaps the most popular, and is a hardy cross between a lemon and an orange. This yellow, juicy, mildly sour lemon can't be beat for making lemonade, salad dressings and ceviche.

Pucker Up: Lemons are an excellent source of vitamin C for preventive health care.

Ed Bernhardt | Tico Times

Though you can usually grow lemon trees from seeds, it may take many years before these trees produce their first harvest of fruit. For this reason, it is a good idea to pick up a grafted lemon tree at your local nursery. Grafted trees often produce in the third year after planting.

To make your trees grow vigorously and bear early fruit, be sure to add plenty of organic compost in the planting hole. Then you can add small amounts of limestone, ashes and rock phosphate around the tree several times a year to ensure your tree has maximum fertility, health and vitality.

Like most citruses, lemon trees do best in well-drained, fertile soil and full sunlight. Though lemons are generally compact trees, you can prune the tips of each leading stem to create a low-growing, bush-like tree, which makes harvesting easy, even for kids.

Keep an eye peeled for aphids, which sometimes attack the new growth of citrus trees and may cause stunted growth. These insects can be controlled naturally with a solution of several tablespoons of mineral oil to one liter of water; shake well and spray the leaves with a hand sprayer. Repeat once a week until results are obtained.

Keep the area beneath the tree weed free and be careful not to accidentally cut the trunk of the tree with a machete. Citrus trees are very susceptible to soil pathogens, which infect the injured bark and can cause serious damage to the trees. Many Tico gardeners like to paint the trunks of their fruit trees with white cement or whitewash, which helps reduce the chance of infection.

We all know the story of how British sailors were named “limeys” when doctors onboard ships discovered that limes, which are high in vitamin C, prevented scurvy. They made the crews drink limewater every day to prevent this condition while sailing.

Lemons and limes are an excellent source of vitamin C, and one of the most important antioxidants in nature. One hundred milliliters of lemon juice contains approximately 50 milligrams of vitamin C and five grams of citric acid.

Lemons and limes also contain unique flavonoids called flavonol glycosides, including many kaempferol-related compounds that have antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. Researchers have discovered that lemon and lime juice has a strong protective effect against many pathogenic bacteria, particularly Vibrio cholera, which causes cholera. In Ayurvedic medicine, a cup of hot water with lemon juice is prescribed first thing in the morning to tonify and purify the liver.

One of the most valuable discoveries we have come across for the use of lemon rinds came from our Tico neighbors. They taught us you can cook the rinds (three or more lemon rinds per liter of water) for several minutes, strain, and use the solution as a cleaning agent. The disinfectant works wonderfully for household cleaning, and eliminates that black mold so common in the tropics. It also leaves a fresh, lemon scent, and we no longer need to use those toxic chemical cleaners.

Lemon tree, oh so pretty, and the flowers, oh so sweet, and the fruit of the lemon, you just can't beat.

For more information on tropical home gardening, visit www.thenewdawncenter.info or e-mail Ed Bernhardt at thenewdawncenter@yahoo.com.