Honduras' Supreme Court has rejected key points of a proposal drafted in Costa Rica that would return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power.

The court said Sunday that Zelaya cannot be president nor can he avoid “having to submit to established procedures of the penal process” should he return. Zelaya faces accusations of crimes against the government, treason against the nation and abuse of power, the court said.

The court also affirmed the legitimacy of Roberto Micheletti – who was named president following Zelaya's ouster – as part of a lawful “constitutional succession.” Detractors call Micheletti a coup leader.

The ruling was a blow to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias' 11-point plan, drafted after intense talks between representatives from the rival Honduran groups in Arias' San José residence. Known as the San José Agreement, the draft included the return of Zelaya to power and an amnesty for political crimes among its proposed steps toward reconciliation.

The decision came the day before a planned visit by a delegation from the Organization of American States (OAS), which backs Arias' plan and has repeatedly called for Zelaya to be reinstated as president.

Costa Rican transport authorities have opened a new road that directly connects the western San José district of La Sabana to Escazú, southwest of the capital.

Inaugurated Friday, the road enables commuters to drive between La Sabana and Escazú without having to access the Próspero Fernández highway. Road officials said the project is intended to reduce congestion on the highway.

The new two-lane road, which is 1.7 kilometers long, required an investment of $10 million in financing from the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) and other roadway institutions.

The Highway Beautification and Security Association contributed funds to provide 54 lights to illuminate the road. The National Roadway Council also contributed to fund the road's pedestrian walkway, which is still in construction.

According to MOPT, the road provides a better alternative for San José-Escazú commuters and will also expedite the commute from La Sabana to Hatillos and Alajuela. The new road begins at La Sabana's Calle Morenos and travels south. The road runs from the bridge above the María Aguilar river in La Sabana and ends in San Felipe, Alajuelita.

A Colombian national living in Costa Rica has been labeled a drug trafficker and an “important” financier of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) by the United States Department of the Treasury.

The designation, announced Thursday, froze all assets of José Melo that have operations that fall under U.S. jurisdiction, including those of four companies which he owns – one of which is Costa Rica-based, a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department said.

The statement described Melo – who has legal residency in Costa Rica – as a “narcotics trafficker and important financial contact for the FARC.”

Melo owns four companies, according to the statement; two are Colombian, one is Costa Rican and the fourth is Venezuelan.

Costa Rica-based Carillanca S.A. is a company involved in tomato cultivation, the statement said, although it did not elaborate. One other business was involved in agriculture, specifically in the study of hydroponic agriculture, which consists of growing plants without soil in a nutrient-based solution.

Another company deals in real estate while the final is a commercial parking lot in Bogotá, Colombia.

Founded in 1964, FARC is the longest-running insurgency in Latin America. It is a Marxist revolutionary group that has, in its most recent history, involved itself in the drug trade as finances waned.

The U.S. State Department labeled FARC a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, and former President George W. Bush listed it as a major narcotics trafficker in 2003.

There have been multiple incidents of both U.S. and Colombian agencies involving themselves internationally in a crackdown of the financial support system FARC has developed in the region.

In March 2008, e-mails retrieved from a computer that belonged to the organization's then-No. 2 leader, Raúl Reyes – who was killed during a raid by the Colombian military – led authorities to a house in Santa Bárbara de Heredia, north of San José. In the house, which belonged to academics Cruz Prado and Francisco Gutiérrez, police found $480,000 in cash in a safe. The couple admitted that the safe was given to them by FARC, but denied knowing it contained money (TT, June 11, 2008).

If harboring the United Nation's University for Peace and a Nobel Peace Prize-winning president weren't enough, Costa Rica is establishing a Peace Ministry to further brand itself as the nonviolent capital of the Americas.

Legislators approved a bill last week that would set the foundation for the new Peace Ministry, an arm of the Justice Ministry, which will be charged with promoting peace programs with youth and various institutions.

“We think it's very important that Costa Rica has an identity of peace; a reputation for looking for alternative answers to conflicts and a reputation for not accepting crime within our country,” said lawmaker Ana Helena Chacón, a sponsor of the bill.

Already known as the “Switzerland of the Americas,” Costa Rica's peace-loving reputation dates back at least to the 1940s, when it became the first country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish its army. Forty years later, President Oscar Arias played a key role in bringing together a feuding Central America in the 1980s. And, most recently, he's been at the center of the mediation process for the Honduran crisis.

Costa Ricans have long divulged a tendency to go to lengths to quedar bien (get along well), which often results in a non-confrontational approach to life.

According to Chacón, the creation of a Peace Ministry fits well with a longtime value of the country.

“We wanted to be the first country with a Peace Ministry, in a world that is becoming more violent by the day,” she said.