With the help of a police escort, about 100 protesters closed down two lanes of traffic on San José's Avenida Segunda on Monday afternoon to denounce a bill that would downgrade Las Baulas National Park in the north-western province of Guanacaste to the less restrictive status of a wildlife refuge.

The new status would permit development inside the limits of the park, which is dedicated to the preservation of the critically endangered baulas, or leatherback turtles.

Locals from Guanacaste, many clad in brightly colored traditional Costa Rican dress, joined members of environmental groups – some donning full turtle suits – in a march toward the Legislative Assembly, where the group demonstrated their concerns over the bill.

Raquel Villafuerte, a Guanacaste native who participated in Monday's march, said she is afraid that the change would deliver a serious blow to one of the area's main sources of income – tourism.

“It's absolutely necessary to protect the leatherbacks because a lot of our local economy depends on them,” said the 17-year-old, who wore a bright blue, green and pink dress. “Construction will destroy the park. No parks, no tourism. No tourism no money. The Legislative Assembly shouldn't approve this bill.”

The bill is in discussion in the various committees of the Legislative Assembly. In addition to allowing building within the area's limits, the bill also aims to remap the boundaries of the park.

Politicians have said the change is necessary to avoid having to hand over millions of dollars to landowners to expropriate the private property that already exists inside the park.

Some environmentalists fear that redrawing the park's limits and allowing construction would harm the habitat of the leatherbacks.

Maureen Ballestero, the president of the Environment Commission and a National Liberation Party legislator, has said she is not in favor of expropriating private lands in the park, but concedes that changing the status may not be the best option.

David García, 38, a passerby, said Monday's rally was the first he'd heard of the bill.

“It doesn't seem right, really,” said the San José resident, as he read a purple protest flyer. “It seems to me that we should support our national parks and I don't think this project is justified.”

The slumping economy will not impact the amount of government money streaming into the country's public universities.

In fact, the Education Ministry is prepared to offer a 10 percent increase over the 2009 budget, on top of a 6 percent adjustment for inflation.

“I think this is a good offer,” said Education Minister Leonardo Garnier, who is reaching the end of the negotiation process with four of the country's universities. “We recognize that it is important to protect our social programs, especially higher education, but we also need to balance that with the (government's) fiscal reality.”

Typically, government funding of higher education is linked to the gross domestic product (GDP), with roughly 1 percent of GDP going toward the four public universities, which educate about half of the country's university students.

But the recession, which swept through Costa Rica beginning in 2009, led university officials to ask for more. This year the Education Ministry increased higher education allotment by 15 percent, or $30 million.

As the crisis continued to eat away at the economy, university leaders expressed concern about possible reductions; a worry that was confirmed by the threat that President Oscar Arias would slice $13 million (or 3.6 percent) of the budget (TT, Feb. 27).

The universities turned around with a demand for a 24 percent increase in the spring – an amount Garnier said was impossible.

“What we are offering is a two-year, 13 percent increase,” Garnier said. “I don't know why (university rectors) wouldn't accept that, but the government can't offer any more.”

If university leaders accept the offer, $388 million will be added (up from $53 million last year) to the 2010 budget. The money will be divided between the University of Costa Rica, the National University, The Technological Institute of Costa Rica (ITCR) and State University at a Distance (UNED) for scholarships, equipment and research projects. Government funding accounts for 60 to 90 percent of their respective budgets.

The Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) has ordered the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) to lower the cost of electricity, a move slated to enter into force Sept. 1 and continue throughout the remainder of the year.

The new rates will translate into a savings of a little more than 7 percent for consumers and will benefit consumers of all electricity providers, including ICE, the National Power and Light Company (CNFL), the cooperativas, the Administrative Electricity Service of Cartago (JASEC) and the Public Services Company of Heredia (ESPH), according to an ARESEP statement issued last week.

Regulator General Fernando Herrero stressed that the price adjustment is necessary to ensure that nationwide electrical service is properly regulated.

“Our responsibility as regulators is to assure all Costa Ricans that the prices will be adjusted up or down, depending on the movement of the costs,” Herrero said in a statement Thursday. “We are not here only to raise (rates).”

Herrero also explained that the implementation of the discount was in response to “considerably” lower demand in 2009 for diesel fuel needed to generate electricity. As the cost to generate electricity fell, Herrero said, offering a discounted rate is “fair to consumers.”

Amounts paid in colones, in a residential sector that consumes 250 kWh per month.

(Information provided by ARESEP)

The auditorium inside the Escuela Juan Santamaría in the eastern San José suburb of Curridabat resonated with the cheers and chants of spectators over the weekend, as break-dance “crews” battled each other to a mix of hip-hop music for the opportunity to represent Costa Rica at a competition in Brazil.

Filled to a little more than half its capacity, the auditorium served as the home of the second annual Urban Dance and Art Festival. This year, the focus was on the break-dancers, as they pitted their talents against one another in the “Batalla Final: Costa Rica.” The winners, who call themselves “Fusion Crew,” won passage to represent Costa Rica at “la batalha final” (in Portuguese) in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on Sept. 26.

This is the first year Costa Rica has held a championship to determine who will represent them at the Brazilian break-dancing competition – the biggest in Latin America. Teams from the United States, France and Germany will also be attending, according to Miguel Bolaños, the organizer of the Urban Dance and Art Festival.

In addition to Fusion Crew's five dancers, two other break-dancers won a passage to Sao Paolo in the individual competition, which took place Friday night. Andrés Herrera – a member of Fusion Crew – won the B-boy competition, and Einat Castro – a member of a rival crew – was given the title of B-girl, as there were no other female competitors.

On Saturday night, three crews threw down on stage for the favor of both the crowd's cheers and the three judges' sympathies. Each crew battled the others in the preliminary round, with 10 minutes on the clock for each battle.

They vied for the floor and time to show their stuff, grudgingly giving up room as their competitors danced, then taking it back when the opportunity presented itself. Choreographed moves mixed with pure innovation and some very impressive feats of strength and balance.

The final battle pitted Fusion Crew against Most Wanted for 15 minutes. Fusion Crew, dressed in red shirts, was the clear winner and drew the approval of the judges, despite resounding support for the runners-up.