Aug 26, 2008

Off the air: Former talk show host and vocal Daniel Ortega critic, Jaime Arellano, at a protest in Managua earlier this year. Nicaragua's Channel 2 has cancelled Arellano's “2 en la Nación” show, a move he says came out of “fear” of reprisal from the Ortega government.

Tim Rogers ¦ Nica Times

Costa Rica's central Pacific town of Parrita and its environs are suffering a dengue fever epidemic that so far has reached 223 cases this year –more than five times more than all of last year.

The outbreak is blamed largely on Tropical Storm Alma, which inundated the region in May, creating standing water that served as rich breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that spread the virus.

Last year, health officials reported just 40 cases.

“It's an extremely high increase,” said Dr. Edgar Carrillo of the Max Teran Vals Hospital in Quepos. “We're seeing an average of at least one patient per day. We're exhausted.”

Carrillo said the anti-dengue mobilization includes the work of the Social Security System, Health Ministry, and the Wal-Mart and HOLCIM companies.

“We're going door to door, educating people and giving them mosquito repellant,” he said. “And we're going out and trying to drain any areas with standing water, often times garbage containers.”

While dengue has become serious in Parrita, the doctor said he has only seen one possible case of hemorrhagic dengue thus far this year.

Dengue has no cure aside from bed rest. It normally takes a week to recover from, Carrillo said. Hemorrhagic dengue, sometimes fatal, is a strain of the virus that causes bruising and bleeding of the nose, gums and other orifices.

The Parrita area has also seen a resurgence of whooping cough, Carrillo said, an illness authorities thought they had previously eradicated.

For many cell-phone users in Costa Rica, there's good news: your phone just got a passport.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) has announced that international roaming is now available for all of its 900,000 Ericsson cell phone lines.

This adds to 400,000 users who have cell lines provided to ICE by Alcatel, which already had international roaming.

To activate the service, users must be current on their bills and show up at any ICE telecommunications office. Along with standard documentation, subscribers must also pony up a minimum $150 deposit.

According to ICE, the deposit is a guarantee that users won't run up a large tab while abroad and then not pay itp. If a user's bill reaches $150, the service will be suspended, ICE added. That limit can be raised by leaving a larger deposit, however.

Charges per minute and per text message will depend on the local network. Roaming will be available only in countries where ICE has a contract with local networks.

With this service upgrade, international roaming is now available to all subscribers with GSM lines, one of Costa Rica's two cellular systems.

TDMA, the other system, uses an older technology, has 850 MHz frequencies and is in the hands of about 425,000 users. GSM phones, a newer, yet less reliable system, have 1,800 MHz frequencies and are used by 1.26 million users nationwide, according to ICE.

Popular morning talk show host and leading government critic Jaime Arellano confirmed yesterday that Channel 2 TV has canceled his contract to broadcast his daily show, “2 en la Nación.”

Arellano, a former businessman and Conservative Party politician, said that the decision was made by the owners of Channel 2 out of “fear” of reprisal from the government of Daniel Ortega. For the past week, a group of Sandinista protesters has been demonstrating outside Channel 2 offices – a move critics call another pressure tactic by President Ortega, who refers to Arellano as “the fat devil.”

The government-affiliated demonstrators have also taken up protests outside of the offices of the opposition daily newspapers La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario.

Arellano, who was booted from the Sandinista-affiliated Channel 10 earlier this year for criticizing the government, intensified the tone of his show after switching to Channel 2, where he regularly called the Ortega government a “dictatorship” and called on viewers to fight for the country's institutional democracy. The Sandinistas blamed Arellano for inciting violent protest, though the TV host said his call to action was civic.

Arellano, who earlier this year denounced an alleged plot against his life, says he holds no grudge against the owners of Channel 2, because “each one of us is the owner of his or her own fear.” He also said that Channel 2 is in the process of renewing its broadcasting license from TELCOR, the Sandinista-controlled telecom regulatory agency, and so far hasn't been able to get a new one, perhaps contributing to the channel's decision to fire him and make nice with Ortega.

The owners of Channel 2 have not commented on their decision.

Sandinista TV outlet Multinoticias, which has recently denounced Arellano for alleged corruption under the previous government of Enrique Bolaños, is gloating now that Arellano is off the air, calling him a “fat devil thief.”

Foreign diplomatic sources consulted yesterday by The Nica Tim es yesterday expressed concern over the direction of press freedom in Nicaragua.

See this Friday's Nica Times for an exclusive interview with Nicaragua's former Attorney General Alberto Novoa, who helped launch the country's war on corruption.

Costa Rican authorities over the weekend seized 46.5 kilograms of turtle meat and 7.5 kg of turtle eggs, and arrested five people who allegedly organized green turtle killings on the Caribbean coast, the Public Security Ministry said yesterday.

The operation was carried out by agents from the ministry's Moín-based Coast Guard and the Limón Prosecutor's Office at a beach in the La Trocha area, one kilometer from the Matina River.

The authorities zeroed in on the suspects under a palm hut, right near sacks of turtle meat and eggs and an empty shell belonging to a “recently slaughtered” green turtle, according to a ministry press release.

The release identifies the suspects – by last name and age only – as Acosta Díaz, 17, Valencia Hernández, 36, and 18-year-olds Sánchez Alvarado, Vindas Góngora and Paniagua Castillo, detained for allegedly breaking Costa Rica's Protection, Conservation and Recuperation of Sea Turtle Populations Law.

The suspects could face up to three years in prison and fines for environmental damage, the release said.

President Daniel Ortega threatened to pull out of the Organization of American States (OAS) as the regional group begins to look at the exclusion of political parties in Nicaragua's electoral process.

Calling the Washington, D.C.-based organization an “instrument of the empire and oligarchy,” Ortega said Nicaragua would revoke its own membership from the organization before ceding to any OAS “impositions.”

“Nicaragua will keep marching forward with or without the OAS,” Ortega said in an event Saturday commemorating the Sandinista literacy campaign.

Ortega's comments came after OAS Secretary General José Insulza announced plans to discuss with the organization's Permanent Council the Ortega government's exclusion of minority opposition political parties.

Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council decided in June to ban the Sandinista Renovation Movement, the Conservative Party and other small parties from the November municipal elections because the parties allegedly misfiled some paperwork.

Nicaragua's electoral exclusion is a “serious problem,” Insulza said. The president of the OAS-affiliated Latin American Union of Political Parties Jovino Novoa recently brought the issue to Insulza's attention, according to an OAS statement.

“We have made no gains in holding clean elections in the region if a significant number of candidates in a country can't participate,” Insulza said.

Ortega responded: “With all due respect … I want to tell our friend Insulza that Nicaraguans decide the electoral process in Nicaragua.”

The Liberal Constitutional Party, Nicaragua's other main party which appears to be consolidating with the Sandinistas a shared duopoly of the country's democratic institutions, released a statement condemning Ortega's threat to pull out of the OAS. The liberal party called for Ortega to allow the OAS and other international and national observers to participate in upcoming elections.

The Ortega government, however, has yet to invite international observers for the November vote and, with only three months before elections, has refused to accredit Nicaraguan electoral observers.

Where in San José's restaurant scene can you find a “Don't Mess with Texas ” bumper sticker in the window and country music wafting from the speakers? A little restaurant with big flavor, Texas BBQ Company in Sabana Sur offers authentic dishes and ingredients straight from the Lone Star State. This unassuming locale is one of the few places in Costa Rica where you can find genuine Texas-style barbecue ribs, tender brisket, chicken, sausage, traditional sides such as coleslaw and potato salad, and peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Big on Barbecue: Juan Carlos Ortiz, co-owner of Texas BBQ in Sabana Sur, learned the tricks of the barbecue trade in the Lone Star State and brought his expertise back to his native Costa Rica.

Janiva Cifuentes-Hiss | Tico Times

The small, charming restaurant is done up with wooden tables, red-and-white decor and a black-and-white poster of John Wayne. It started as the dream of a U.S. citizen and a Costa Rican who were unsatisfied with the variety of food in the capital. Business partners Cody Christensen and Juan Carlos Ortiz opened Texas BBQ Co. in December, bringing true barbecue technique and a few secret recipes to their western San José location.

San José-born Ortiz lived for two years in Austin, Texas, where he worked at Branch BBQ restaurant and learned the tricks of the trade.

“I fell in love with the sausage and the brisket because it's something we don't have here,” Ortiz said. “I learned to do barbecue, salads and sauces, and how to truly smoke meat.”

Ortiz personally slow-cooks all of the meat using a pit and electric smoker. The brisket and ribs, for example, take eight hours to cook. Burning coffee wood in addition to the traditional oak gives the smoked meats a Tico twist, he says. Texas BBQ's special sauces are made with original U.S.-imported ingredients, including chili powder and celery seeds that are hard to come by in Costa Rica.

Ribs are slow-cooked for eight hours.

Janiva Cifuentes-Hiss | Tico Times

I tried a sampler plate with barbecue chicken, brisket, two kinds of ribs, sausage and sides. Though the mashed potatoes and sausage could have been better, I was beyond satisfied with the chicken, brisket and ribs. More than any other dish, I recommend the chopped brisket sandwich with pickles and a side of potato salad for ¢1,500 ($2.70), including lemonade or iced tea and one side.

Serving a diverse clientele, the restaurant draws about 70 percent foreigners, mostly from the United States, and 30 percent Ticos, according to Ortiz.

To really judge the caliber of the restaurant, I brought along some Texan students studying abroad in Costa Rica for a taste test. Whitney Workman of El Campo, Texas, said, “My town is known for its barbecue, and (Texas BBQ) is one of the best I've ever had.”

Comparing it to barbecue back home, on a scale of one to 10, Billy Brubaker of Tyler, Texas, gave Texas BBQ a nine. “I didn't think it would be near as good as it was. They did a very good job making it taste just like it does in Texas,” he said.

Ortiz, who manages the restaurant almost every day of the week, is fluent in English and Spanish. His bona fide barbecue mastery and friendly nature make patrons feel at home in his little patch of Texas, where “sauce is boss,” he says.

In addition to lunch and early dinners, Texas BBQ provides catering for special events, business meetings, parties and a surprising number of baby showers. The reasonably priced family packs and combos are perfect for takeout and picnics in nearby La Sabana Park.