Costa Rica, a country without an army, received a firsthand view of how a modern military functions this week during the Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarias 2009 (FAHUM 2009), a joint exercise testing natural disaster response efforts in Central America and the Caribbean.

On Tuesday, two C-17 Globemaster airplanes touched down in Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela, northwest of San José, delivering medical supplies and three Blackhawk helicopters for use during the exercises. On Wednesday, the National Guard from the U.S. state of New Mexico flew the helicopters to the remote southern region of San Isidro de Dota to deliver medical supplies and treat villagers without regular access to health care.

Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica Peter Cianchette and senior members of the Costa Rican Cabinet flew to Quepos, on the central Pacific coast, to observe a simulated flood and mudslide exercise, said Col. Tim Paul, director of army aviation for the New Mexico National Guard. Along with a simulated influenza outbreak earlier this week, the trainings tested the preparedness and coordination of the National Emergency Commission (CNE).

The exercises began April 16, Paul said, and will last until early next week, “depending on weather and how many patients still need treatment.” U.S. forces will leave Costa Rica April 30 or May 1, Paul said, after conducting a final exercise course for a “catastrophic weather” event.

The two sides have also discussed earthquake response tactics, which have been a source of controversy for CNE since the Jan. 8 earthquake that killed 30 people in the Poás region, northwest of the capital.

According to Paul, FAHUM “is an exercise that (U.S.) Southern Command does every year, but not in every country every year.” New Mexico is a partner state of Costa Rica, he said, making the exercises “part of that bigger picture.”

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – The recently declared Nation of Moskitia (see previous story) took its first steps toward asserting its independence from Nicaragua Thursday morning by taking over the headquarters of YATAMA, the indigenous political party the separatists claim has sold out to political interests in Managua.

The party headquarters was reportedly taken over peacefully by the newly formed Indigenous Army of the Moskitia, made up of ex-YATAMA combatants led by former Miskito rebel leader Norman Molina, known as Comandante Yul Wild (Wild Dog).

“The takeover was peaceful and massive,” separatist leader Oscar Hodgson told The Nica Times in a phone interview from Bilwi.

Hodgson said YATAMA members at party offices opted to join the separatist movement instead of resist. Hodgson, who holds the title of top adviser to the self-proclaimed indigenous government of the Moskitia, said other groups of ex-combatants, such as YATAMA NO SANDINISTA, are also joining the independence movement.

“The YATAMA ex-combatants are becoming the Indigenous Army of the Moskitia,” he said.

Other Miskito leaders are downplaying the movement.

YATAMA lawmaker Brooklyn Rivera told The Nica Times yesterday it “wasn't necessarily true” that separatists had taken over his party's headquarters. He said the ex-combatants and separatists are “discussing” their demands with YATAMA, and that his party supports them in their demands.

“Their demands are the same as ours: to cancel the upcoming elections on the coast, to comply with the (disarmament) accords and to remove the colonizers (west coast Nicaraguans) from our lands,” Rivera said.

Rivera said the separatist movement has created “confusion” on the Atlantic Coast, and warned of growing tensions.

Meanwhile, historic Miskito combatant Osorno “Comandante” Blas denied rumors that his group, YATAMA NO SANDINISTA, is joining forces with the separatists.

“We don't think now is the appropriate moment for independence,” Coleman said yesterday from Bilwi.

The central government has still not responded to the separatists' claims of independence. President Daniel Ortega has been in Cuba for the past few days, denouncing an alleged U.S. conspiracy against his government.

Read the May 1 edition of The Nica Times for more on the Moskitia.

Cecil Murray died doing what he loved.

Skimming over the patchwork of farms and tangled jungles of Costa Rica had been a lifetime obsession. So much so that he converted flying from a hobby to a career, founding an agricultural aviation company in 1956.

But on a recent trip to the United States to sell one of his planes, his engine malfunctioned and his little Cessna slammed into a home in Oakland Park, Florida.

On Saturday, friends and family will gather in his hanger at the Tobías Bolaños International Airport in the western San José district of Pavas to pay tribute to a man known for his athleticism, his candid personality and the way he appreciated every drop of life.

“It's very tragic and hard to accept,” said his younger sister, Zyra Apsinall. “He's been in the background for our family for years. No one ever suspects something like this to happen. He was such a competent pilot.”

His flight left a Fort Lauderdale airport at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 17, destined for Fernandina Beach near Jacksonville. A few minutes into the flight he radioed the control tower and said he was experiencing engine trouble.

He wasn't able to make it back to the airport, and his plane descended into a residential area where it crashed into an unoccupied home. Murray was the only person killed in the accident.

The local sheriff told Murray's family it was a miracle no one else was hurt.

“He was in command right until the end,” his sister said.

Murray, 80, had been flying planes since he was 17. He logged so many flights in his 63 years that he stopped keeping track.

The longtime resident of the northwestern Guanacaste province, who most recently lived in San José, attended high school and college in Canada, where he learned to fly.

He is the grandson of a Scottish immigrant and the son of an engineer, Alex Murray, who was one of the founders of power and telecommunications giant the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).

When he returned to Costa Rica from school, he became one of the first pilots for LACSA, the national airline of Costa Rica.

Then, in 1956, he opened a crop-dusting company, Aviación Agrícola, which grew to 30 employees.

According to the daily La Nación, Murray recently held the title of the oldest active pilot in Costa Rica.

Though he was an outdoorsman, athlete and family man, his true passion was in the air.

“He was in his element. He was so at peace when he was flying,” said his daughter, Nango Murray, 53. “He was in harmony with the plane.”

She remembers how her father was always up early so as not to allow one minute of daylight to escape from his life.

“He'd have breakfast, read the newspaper and load the plane before any of us were out of bed,” his daughter said.

“He was never on time,” she remembered. “He was always early … always ready to go … always ready to enjoy life.”

He is survived by his wife, Janice MacKenzie, three daughters, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 25.

The case against former President Rafael Angel Calderón has reached some pivotal days in the now six-month trial, with reports of masked men threatening a witness with a revolver and accusations of lies.

Calderón, who is being tried on charges of aggravated corruption, is at the center of the 300-witness trial, accused of bribing public officials to secure a deal with a Finnish medical supply company.

The charges were leveled in 2004, nine years after Calderón left office. The former president has since completed a series of preventive detention terms, both at his home and in a state penitentiary.

Yet, even with the surprise testimony of Walter Reiche, a Costa Rican representative of the Finnish firm Medko Medical Instrumentarium, evidence has yet to come forward to prove Calderón unquestionably guilty.

Reiche testified that he paid Calderón money not for “policy advice,” but to ensure and expedite two contracts for $39.5 million to Medko Medical Instrumentarium.

This week, Calderón responded to reporters: “Seven times throughout the years he said one thing. Today, he says another. Why? That is what the country should be asking.”

According to Calderón, Reiche had always said the money was for consulting advice, but in his testimony, which has lasted more than a week, Reiche said he referred to the money as payment for a consultation because he was hiding a crime, the daily La Nación reported.

“The truth is there was no consultation, no work documents, no bill or receipt for the payments or a formal contract,” he said.