Following a recent vote to re-admit the leftist island nation, Cuba's government officially rejected on Monday the offer to rejoin the Organization of American States (OAS), criticizing what it considers an organization with a history of “servility” to U.S. interests.

“Cuba welcomes with satisfaction this expression of sovereignty and civic-mindedness…” displayed by the OAS consensus to strike down Cuba's 47-year suspension, the government said in a statement posted in English Monday on the state newspaper Granma's Web site.

“However, Cuba once again confirms that it will not return to the OAS,” the statement said.

In a decisive Cold War moment, the OAS barred Cuba in 1962 because of its alliance with the Soviet Union and China.

Since then, Cuba claims, the organization “has played an active role in Washington's policy of hostility against Cuba,” the government stated, stressing the OAS' role in enforcing the U.S. trade embargo and in persuading member states to break off diplomatic relations with Havana.

Recently, member states, including El Salvador and Costa Rica, have shown an about-face on the question of engaging Cuba in diplomacy. Even the U.S. has taken strides, pledging to improve communications and travel between the two countries. But criticism of Washington's embargo against Cuba has only intensified.

Cuba seized the opportunity of last week's vote to drive a wedge into what it perceives as a division between most OAS members and the United States. “…The last-minute consensus … dealt (Washington-driven) imperialism a defeat using its very own instrument,” the government stated.

Click here for more on the OAS' decision to re-engage with Cuba. Or to see the full government statement, click here.

As soon as polls closed on Sunday, campaign workers from across Costa Rica's Central Valley region began converging on the National Liberation Party's San José headquarters with plastic bags full of ballots.

Party leaders were expecting 400,000 in total, but as of Monday afternoon they had 593,000 green-bordered slips.

“We are very happy with the turnout,” said Francisco Pacheco, president of the National Liberation Party (PLN), late on Sunday night, when only 18 percent of the results had been reported. “The participation of the voters was massive.”

Just the week before, the opposing Citizen Action Party (PAC) hosted its first primary and had 3.8 percent of PLN's turnout, at 22,950 votes.

“I would have liked to have seen more people vote,” Ottón Solís, primary victor, told The Tico Times the day following the elections. “But the people who did vote are mainly local leaders, which means that they are behind this campaign.”

But unlike PAC's internal vote, PLN's election was open to non-party members as well as party stalwarts.

The 300 tables reporting at 9 p.m. in the PLN election (18 percent of the total) were enough to convince former San José mayor and presidential contender Johnny Araya to give his concession speech. To an audience of solemn-faced supporters, he said, “I accept the results and I ask Costa Rica to accept the results...Now is a time to unite (the party). …This is not the end of anything, this is the beginning.”

His words were swallowed by the chants of “Laura, Laura” at his rival's headquarters in Sabana Norte, in western San José. Displayed on a wide screen in the outdoor patio, Araya's concession speech only served to stimulate for Laura Chinchilla's fans.

“We are all the same party,” said Chinchilla's announcer, trying to quiet the enthusiastic crowd, whose heads were speckled with confetti.

As of 4 p.m. the next day, Chinchilla had 55 percent of the votes (89.051), Araya had 42 percent (68,421) and Fernando Berrocal, former public security minister, was numbering 3 percent (4,555). Seventy percent of the votes received had yet to be counted.

The fact that a woman will be on the ballot in February 2010 for the dominant political party in Costa Rica didn't escape supporters or the candidate herself.

“For the first time in history, a woman has a real chance of bring elected president of Costa Rica,” said the 50-year-old mother and former vice president. “We have many achievements to defend. We have many new dreams (to pursue). The future remains to be written by all of us.”

Although the prices of most other consumer goods are dropping, the price of gasoline will continue to rise, with the regulatory authority approving an 8 percent hike.

While gas prices fell by a little more than 2 percent in May, they were up over 6 percent in April, leaving the overall price up four percent over a two month period, according to the National Statistics and Census Institute's monthly Consumer Price Index.

The recent activity, combined with the 8 percent price hike that was approved last week by the Public Services Regulatory Authority, will leave drivers waiting at the pump with a price that is close to 12 percent higher than it was in March.

A rising international price was blamed in the announcement by the services regulator for the heavy increase.

Throughout the global recession, consumers have been consciously cutting back on their use of gas. However, prices continue to rise – with oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange having risen about 36 percent since March, according to Time Magazine.

But the elevated price of gas has not yet caused all transport prices to jump with it. Transportation by taxi was down over 3 percent in April, while the price of overall transportation has dropped more than 6 percent since the beginning of the year.

Just as Tico consumers can find themselves purchasing fish from China at their local supermarket, Manhattanites can enjoy Costa Rican tilapia over French glasses of wine in a trendy New York bistro. And so goes the globalization story.

But as consumers grow increasingly aware of the size of their carbon footprints, eating locally grown produce has gained ground.

“There's a lot of interest in local products and organic products,” says Eva Carazo, executive secretary of the Costa Rican Organic Agriculture Movement. “But we are trying to generate more (interest) among the producers and vendors, so they can grow more and make good money on (the products).”

To buy locally grown food, the best option is probably one of the many farmers' markets – ferias del agricultor – that operate throughout the country, usually on weekends.

“They're commercial spaces where the farmers can offer their products directly to the people,” says Shirley Calvo, assistant manager of agricultural development with the National Production Council.

See the June 12 print or PDF edition of The Tico Times for a run-down on farmers' markets and why, despite globalized temptation, some Ticos are buying locally.