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Belly to Belly: Academia Danza “O” Fusión Cultural perform “Danza al son de Rumi,” fusing moves from the Middle East, southern Spain as well as elements of ballet and even break-dance, set to dazzle the audience Dec. 16 at the Children's Museum National Auditorium, San José.
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| Courtesy of Odiney Campos. |
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| Second CAFTA Bill Passed |
Legislators passed the second of 11 bills required to implement the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) this week. |
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| Spain's Alejandro Sanz Back in Costa Rica |
Slightly scratchy, but mostly sensual, the voice of Spanish pop singer-guitarist-songwriter Alejandro Sanz has been known to woo crowds on this side of the Atlantic, too. Sanz plans to do it again in Costa Rica on Feb. 12, likely at the Ricardo Saprissa stadium in Tibás, a suburb north of San José, local media reported. |
| See More... |
| World's Cyclists Flex Pedal Power in Multi-Day Tour |
A total of 83 cyclists hailing from Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and Switzerland are poised to compete today through Dec. 28 in the XLII Vuelta a Costa Rica, or Tour of Costa Rica. The first stage takes place in San José's Parque La Paz, and future stages will zoom through Puntarenas, on the central Pacific coast and Playas de Coco, further up the Pacific in the province of Guanacaste. |
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| Arias Backs France's Bid to Free FARC Hostages |
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has sent a letter showing full support to the French government in its attempt to negotiate the release of the 16 hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, since February 2002, said a statement from Costa Rica's Casa Presidencial. |
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2007-08 National Surf
Circuit Kicks Off in Jacó |
More than 180 surfers signed up to compete in last weekend's Copa Man-go, the first date of the eighth annual National Surf Circuit, held in the central Pacific beach community of Jacó. And according to José Ureña, president of the Costa Rican Surf Federation, it's because they all want to be like powerhouse Tico surfer Diego Naranjo. Or Gilbert Brown. Or Federico Pilurzu. Or Jairo Pérez.
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| Second CAFTA Bill Passed |
By Gillian Gillers
Tico Times Staff | ggillers@ticotimes.net
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Legislators passed the second of 11 bills required to implement the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) this week.
Under the bill, companies that engage in corruption will be shut down for up to five years with their operating licenses suspended. People convicted of bribing public officials, as well as officials who accept bribes, will go to jail for two to eight years. The bill also protects the privacy of people who expose corruption.
The bill was approved unanimously Wednesday in one of the assembly's three 19-member committees that have the power to pass laws. Legislators from the anti-CAFTA Citizen Action Party (PAC), voted for the bill, which will become law once President Oscar Arias signs it.
Last month, legislators passed the first CAFTA bill, which will regulate the relationship between foreign firms and their representatives in the United States. The remaining nine CAFTA bills, now under discussion by the assembly, are more controversial. They would open state monopolies on telecommunications and insurance and strengthen intellectual property rights.
If legislators do not pass all the CAFTA bills before Feb. 29, 2008, Costa Rica must ask for an extension from the treaty's other signers. |
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| Spain’s Alejandro Sanz Back in Costa Rica |
By Alex Leff
Tico Times Staff | aleff@ticotimes.net
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Slightly scratchy, but mostly sensual, the voice of Spanish pop singer-guitarist-songwriter Alejandro Sanz has been known to woo crowds on this side of the Atlantic, too. Sanz plans to do it again in Costa Rica on Feb. 12, likely at the Ricardo Saprissa stadium in Tibás, a suburb north of San José, local media reported.
It's the same venue Madrid's heartthrob greeted screaming Ticas last time in the stop-off on his 2004 “No es lo mismo” (It's Not the Same) Tour.
This time Sanz rides in on “El tren de los momentos” (roughly “Train of Time”), the widely acclaimed album released November 2006 featuring stars Juanes, Shakira and Calle 13.
Sanz' Costa Rica visit could come fresh after winning the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album, to be announced Feb. 10.
His “Tren” is also scheduled to make a stop Feb. 14 in Caracas, Venezuela, though it remains to be seen if President Hugo Chávez will allow that. In October, Sanz inadvertently became a voice for the opposition when Chávez banned the Spanish pop singer from performing in a state-owned arena in Caracas for having criticizing the government.
Sanz' opinion of the Venezuelan president since seems to have worsened. During a recent concert in Miami, Fla., he reportedly brandished a t-shirt with the words “Chávez sucks” printed on it. |
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| World’s Cyclists Flex Pedal Power in Multi-Day Tour |
A total of 83 cyclists hailing from Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and Switzerland are poised to compete today through Dec. 28 in the XLII Vuelta a Costa Rica, or Tour of Costa Rica. The first stage takes place in San José's Parque La Paz, and future stages will zoom through Puntarenas, on the central Pacific coast and Playas de Coco, further up the Pacific in the province of Guanacaste.
Foreign teams in the 14-stage, 1,537-kilometer race include Colombia's Great Wall, Cuba's Mapache, Mexico's Empacadora San Marcos, Ecuador's Sony Wackenhut and Swiss club Jajo Sport.
Many Tico fans are counting on homegrown team BCR-Pizza Hut-Powerade, with defending champ Henry Raabe, as well as José Adrián Bonilla, who won the race in 2003, and 2000 winner Federico Ramírez, to win the Vuelta once more.
Former champ Bonilla surprised fans when he decided to return to his home tour after having taken three years away to compete professionally in Europe, the daily La Nación reported.
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-ACAN-EFE
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| Arias Backs France’s Bid to Free FARC Hostages |
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has sent a letter showing full support to the French government in its attempt to negotiate the release of the 16 hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, since February 2002, said a statement from Costa Rica's Casa Presidencial.
French Prime Minister Fraçois Fillon this week met with Latin American leaders, and topping his agenda were negotiations to see hostages including French national Ingrid Betancourt, also a former Colombian Senator, freed.
Arias' letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy encouraged France's efforts, stressing the need for peace in Colombia.
“War is the worst form of oppression. (…) The Colombian people, brothers and nearly neighbors of Costa Rica, have for years demanded to be free from violent killing, kidnapping, attacks and threats,” said the letter addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
“I am president of a country without a military, where all conflict is resolved through dialogue and democratic institutions, not weapons. I will never admonish dialogue with FARC, for dialogue with an adversary – or an enemy even — is the only way to achieve progress toward peace,” it said.
“It is always time for peace; I hope the time has come for Colombia.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had played an active role in mediating a swap of captives between FARC and the Colombian government for three months until diplomatic relations between Venezuela and Colombia collapsed.
Alvaro Uribe, president of Colombia, turned down FARC's demand to demilitarize two towns in southwest Colombia, and has insisted that the insurgents release all hostages “unconditionally and unilaterally,” newswire EFE reported yesterday.
French daily Le Figaro quoted Uribe saying, “If the FARC wants to deliver the hostages to French President Sarkozy or the Venezuelan authorities, our government would welcome those unilateral and unconditional releases.”
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-Tico Times
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2007-08 National Surf Circuit Kicks Off in Jacó |
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More than 180 surfers signed up to compete in last weekend's Copa Man-go, the first date of the eighth annual National Surf Circuit, held in the central Pacific beach community of Jacó. And according to José Ureña, president of the Costa Rican Surf Federation, it's because they all want to be like powerhouse Tico surfer Diego Naranjo. Or Gilbert Brown. Or Federico Pilurzu. Or Jairo Pérez.
Or Nino Myrie, who from his first heat Saturday morning in front of Hotel Copacabana was hungry to win the trophy. The 23-year-old surfer from the southern Caribbean coast's Puerto Viejo did indeed take the top spot after all was said and done on Sunday afternoon.
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| Winners' Podium: Nino Myrie (second from left) shares his winner's trophy with son Ziggy, flanked by second-place Jason Torres (second from left), third-place Gilbert Brown (far right) and fourth-place Diego Naranjo (far left). |
Photo by Shifi Surf Shots |
“It's been quite a year for the circuit veterans,” Ureña said, referring to some recent big wins among circuit old-timers.
Jacó's Naranjo, 26, after winning the 2007 National Surf Circuit championship, placed third in the Mexpipe Vans Pro in Mexico. Also from Jacó, Luis Vindas, 21, winner of the country's first Triple Crown competition, had some top Latin American Surf Association (ALAS) wins this year. Federico Pilurzu, 24, of Tamarindo, on the northern Pacific coast, was in the top 100 on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Qualifying Series and made it to the Hawaiian North Shore's Triple Crown. Puerto Viejo's Gilbert Brown, 25, scored a bronze medal at the Pan American Surfing Games in Chile to become the third best surfer in all of Latin America. And 17-year-old Jairo Pérez of Jacó won the ALAS Reef Classic Latin Pro earlier this month, beating both Mexican National Champion Diego Cadena and three-time ALAS Pro Junior Champion Manuel Selman of Chile.
“Costa Rica is maintaining a very high international reputation in surfing right now, and that's because of the circuit system,” Ureña added. “With the start of the 2007-08 season, the young kids starting out are looking at the contest and thinking that they can one day become like these veterans and do what they are doing. They can also compete now against these champions. And that's exciting to them.”
And that's exactly what happened last weekend in Jacó, with competitors coming from all over the country to compete in the circuit's 13 categories, from “open” to “novice.” Interestingly, the categories that grew the most in numbers were “boys” and “mini-grommet girls.”
Naranjo said he was very impressed with the amount of young surfers he saw out paddling in waves of four to six feet – sometimes barrels – particularly those kids between the ages of 8 and 10, who “charged the field, even though the waves this weekend were big,” he said. “They pushed their level.”
Myrie, looking to take advantage of the circuit for himself, was on fire from start to finish during the Copa Mango. His focus was noticed by circuit announcer Carlos Brenes in the tower, who shouted, “Myrie is hungry!” during his semifinal heat, while the surfer smacked the lip backside once, twice, then three times.
But it was during the open finals, which also featured Naranjo, Brown and Jason Torres of Jacó, that Myrie pushed himself the hardest. Not satisfied with his 360 front-side spin, which wowed the crowd, he came back shortly after with a back-side 360 air and landed perfectly. The result: Myrie – the 2002-03 national surf champion – won first place, followed by Torres in second, Brown in third and Naranjo in fourth.
“I did all my heats whole and full force,” Myrie said after the final, sharing the winner's podium with his young son Ziggy. “I feel really good about that final heat. I'm really content.”
In the women's category, returning to the spotlight was five-time National Surf Circuit Women's Champion Lisbeth Vindas of Jacó. The 26-year-old veteran scored the women's trophy from reigning champion Nataly Bernold, 14, who placed second this year. Vindas, who on Sunday rushed from university exams to the water, making her heats with about three minutes to spare, thanked Bernold for challenging her, and keeping her own level of competition high. Look for these two to battle it out back and forth this year in the water.
One happy surprise last weekend was when shortboard aerialist Luis Vindas won first place in the longboard category. Vindas said he had been watching his brother-in-law Naranjo's efforts on the big stick and got curious about it, but “never practiced,” though he knew the national team needed some help in that department. Earlier last week, Vindas shaped his own longboard and started riding, performing airs and receiving loud applause from those on the shore.
“I'm surprised I won,” Vindas said, looking at his trophy. “I didn't expect this, but I got good waves.”
“Luis is super-talented,” Naranjo acknowledged. “Everything he does, he does perfectly.”
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