Antonio Lehmann, the owner of book retailer Librería Lehmann S.A., was murdered in Verbana Café and Restaurant in Tres Ríos, just east of San José, on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m.

According to eyewitness accounts, three men stormed into the restaurant wearing handkerchiefs over their mouths, dark sunglasses and hats. One was armed with a gun and another with a knife.

The suspects entered to rob the business, according to National Police reports. Lehmann, who was eating dinner with a friend, confronted one of the men and was shot once in the chest. He was 75 years old.

A total of three tables were occupied in the restaurant on Sunday night. One of the suspects robbed a wallet containing ₡ 20,000 (about $35) and a cellular phone from another customer.

The three men escaped in a white car with black stripes. As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, the National Police and the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) had no clues to the suspects' identities or whereabouts.

Librería Lehmann is one of Costa Rica's largest book retailers with stores in downtown San José, San Pedro, east of San José, Rhormoser, west of San José, and Tibás, north of the capital city. The chain was founded in 1896.

No more than three weeks after the Central American Court of Justice ruled against Costa Rica in a case involving tariffs, Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno issued a scathing response in the editorial pages of the daily La Nación.

Calling the Managua, Nicaragua-headquartered tribunal “pathetic” and a “disgrace,” Stagno said Costa Rica has never and will never recognize the court.

“With its irresponsible behavior, the Central American Court of Justice deserves nothing more than the pity of Costa Rica,” he wrote.

The Central American Court of Justice was created in 1994 as the judicial arm of the Central American Integration System (SICA), which Costa Rican President Oscar Arias now heads.

But Costa Rica never ratified the statute of the court and, therefore, has refused to recognize the judicial body or its recent ruling. The ruling says that higher tariffs on imports, which Costa Rica introduced in 2007, are in violation of the law.

Stagno said the Rules and Orders of Procedures of the court have clear deficiencies, interfere with constitutional powers and grant “despicable” privileges to the judges who serve in the court. While the court highlighted a small case in Costa Rica involving tariffs, it chooses to ignore larger issues in the four countries that recognize it such as electoral fraud and coups, Stagno said, with the “sole purpose of trying to impose its competence and jurisdiction on the oldest democracy in Latin America: Costa Rica.”

Listing a handful of cases he said were “pathetic anecdotes from a court that nobody respects,” Stagno wrote that the countries that subscribe to the court do not abide by its decisions.

“This is the real CCJ: a court that does nothing and represents nothing more than the interests of judges and their messengers,” Stagno wrote. “It's a court that Costa Rica should continue to keep a safe distance from for our own good.”

Jason Torres likes to make history. Four years ago, when he went to the Pan-American Surfing Games in Lima, Peru, the surfer from Costa Rica's central Pacific Jacó beach earned the country's one and only gold medal as a Junior. Last week, in Playa Olivenca de Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil, Torres surfed his way to second place in the Open division at the 9th Pan-American Surfing Games – a competition that gathered all the nations of North, Central and South America. In doing so, he wrote another chapter in the Costa Rican history books, earning a silver medal for himself and boosting the Costa Rica National Surf Team to take home their own silver medal.

With the team's medal, they made their fourth consecutive visit to the podium since 2003, when they took the bronze in Ecuador.

Costa Rica's silver was all the more significant since they were unable to bring a full contingent of competitors to Brazil due to financial constraints. Several athletes pulled double duty in various divisions, such as Carlos Muñoz in Open and Junior, Nataly Bernold in Women's and Junior, Isaac Vega in Open and Bodyboard Male, Anthony Fillingim in Junior and Bodyboard Male, and Lisbeth Vindas in Women's and Bodyboard Female.

“Hopefully, this win will enable all to see that the institution of surfing is doing well in Costa Rica, so that people can support it and see that it gives a lot of merit to the country,” said José Ureña, president of the Costa Rica Surf Federation.

“We arrived incomplete because the price of the airline tickets was so expensive, so I want to thank the surfers we had and (I'm) pleased that they made Costa Rica the second-best surfing nation on the American continent.”

Five presidential candidates sat in on a panel discussion on Monday to present their views on the agriculture and farming industry, and to explain how they would create national agricultural policy if elected president.

The forum, which was hosted by the National Agroindustry Chamber (CNAA) at the Supreme Elections Tribunal Auditorium, granted each candidate 15 minutes to explain their position and plans for the industries.

Prior to the forum, each candidate was given a 26-page presentation created by the CNAA that outlined the “hopes and frustrations” of the thousands of members of the agriculture community, and the issues they would like the presidential candidates to consider when creating national policy.

“There are thousands of small and medium sized farms throughout rural zones in this country,” said Alvaro Sáenz, president of the CNAA. “They represent thousands of jobs and, in some rural areas, are the most significant industries…. We know that a president is a temporary position, but as farmers, we develop, work and dedicate ourselves to making quality products as our careers. Our positions are permanent and we hope you will consider that when constructing agricultural policy.”

Of the five candidates, three referenced the impacts of free trade and how it has affected the economy. Rolando Araya, the Patriotic Alliance Party candidate, scolded current policymakers for failing to develop proper safeguards within the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the U.S. (CAFTA), while Ottón Solís, candidate for the Citizen Action Party (PAC) cautioned that the government was proceeding too quickly into a free-trade accord with China, which potentially could be detrimental to local producers and farmers. Walter Muñoz, candidate for the National Integration Party, took a different stance, commenting on the benefits of the free-trade agreement with Canada and saying that further such alliances could bolster agricultural sales and international distribution of homegrown products.

Another central theme of the forum was the continued development of sustainable farming practices, which was a central platform of frontrunner Laura Chinchilla's presentation.

“Sustainable growth is precisely the method that will improve national farming practices,” said Chinchilla, the candidate of the National Liberation Party. “It will improve the development of products and limit the environmental impact of the farms.”

According to Sáenz, the agriculture and farming industry generates almost 15 percent of the gross domestic product and accounts for 35 percent of the country's exports. The State of the Nation, an independent report that was released Nov. 3, reported that there were 245,876 workers in the agriculture sector in 2008.