The Tico Times Online

COLUMBUS Re-DISCOVERS C.R.: 500 years after the original Columbus arrived in Puerto Limón, direct descendent Christopher Columbus of Carvajal, Duke of Veragua, (left) was in Costa Rica this week to mark the half-century anniversary of the "discovery." Columbus visited San José’s Parque de España with wife Isabel de Mandulúniz (center) and President Abel Pacheco to dedicate monument.
Unlike his ancestor, this Columbus behaved himself, and did not take home any of the native "noble savages" as gifts for the royal family.
TT Photo/ Julio Laínez

C.A. Rocked by Beauty Pageant Scandal
TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Miss Honduras may look stunning, but what's even more stunning, she's not Honduran.
(Click for more)

Kandahar: Opens tonight. A film on a poetic revelation of human suffering in Afganistan, a country destroyed by war, in English and Farsi with subtitles in Spanish, 3, 5, 7, 9 p.m., Sala Garbo, Ave. 2, Calle 28, 222-1034, 223-1960.
Canadian Gathering: Canuck happy hour, come and meet other ex-pats, 5-9 p.m., Canadian Embassy, Oficentro La Sabana, behind La Contraloría Building, Building 5, 3rd floor, 296-4149.
Volver: Opens tonight. A play on a dictatorship, repression and a reuniting of a family, by the Mexican playwright, Tomás Urtusástegui, directed by Mariano González, Sept. 26-Dec. 15, Thurs.-Sat., Vargas Calvo Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 5, 233-6354, 221-1329.

Man Rescued in C.R. Waters After Four Months at Sea
By Fabián Borges
Tico Times Staff
A 62-year-old California native was found 275 nautical miles off the southwest coast of Costa Rica last Friday by a U.S. Navy frigate on drug patrol duty.

Richard Van Pham told rescuers he had spent four months drifting on the Pacific Ocean after losing control of his 24-foot sailboat. The story was picked up this week by CNN.

U.S. Cmdr. Gary Pariott and his crew encountered the drifting vessel and were shocked to see Van Pham come out of the cabin to wave at them. He told his rescuers he had set out for a short trip between Long Beach and Catalina Island - 23 miles off the coast of southern California - before losing control of his ship. Van Pham claims his radio broke and he was unable to call for help.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman told The Tico Times this week Van Pham has no family and no one noticed when he went missing. No rescue mission was ever sent to look for him.

The Navy was going to bring Van Pham to Costa Rica for questioning and medical treatment, according to the Embassy. However, the ship had to respond to another call off the coast of Guatemala, and Van Pham was taken there instead.

An experienced sailor who moved to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1976, Van Pham told the Navy crew that he survived by eating fish and seagulls and drinking rainwater he stored in a bucket.

After being questioned by U.S. State Department officials in Guatemala, Van Pham flew back to California with a plane ticket bought for him by the Navy crew. He is currently under the care of a Los Angeles charity organization.

C.R., Nicaragua to Discuss Río San Juan Today

President Abel Pacheco said he plans to take advantage of today's meeting of Central American presidents in San José to discuss with his Nicaraguan counterpart the polemic issue of the Río San Juan - the natural border that divides the two countries.

Pacheco's announcement came Tuesday morning, while he was in Guatemala City to address the Central American Parliament (Daily Page Tuesday).

"We hope to continue erasing our differences with Nicaragua and work out treaties that will be of benefit to the people of both countries," Pacheco said. "We could arrive at such an agreement during Thursday's talks."

Although Pacheco declined to comment on what type of treaty he has in mind, he stressed: "I believe [Nicaraguan President] Enrique Bolaños and I would love to kill the differences between our two countries."

Problems over the Río San Juan began in 1998, when former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Alemán prohibited Costa Rican police from patrolling the river with guns.

According to the 1858 Cañas-Jerez Treaty, which spells out the border between the two countries, the Río San Juan belongs to Nicaragua, but Costa Rica is allowed free navigation rights for commercial reasons.

The debate with Alemán has to do with different interpretations of the treaty's wording. Although Costa Rica is not allowed to navigate the river with gunboats, it claims that armed policemen on a boat do not qualify as a gunboat. Alemán, however, said otherwise.
-AFP

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C.A. Rocked by Beauty Pageant Scandal
TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Miss Honduras may look stunning, but what's even more stunning, she's not Honduran.

According to outraged pageant organizer Eduardo Zablah, statuesque 19-year-old Erika Ramírez, who is supposed to represent Honduras in the next Miss Universe event, is really a Nicaraguan.

Prosecutors are looking in allegations that she forged her documents to pose as a Honduran.

Zablah, who showed local media supposed proof Ramírez was born in Nicaragua, alleged she had committed "falsification of public documents, fraud, and usurping Honduran nationality."

"All of Honduran womanhood has been cheated and offended by a Nicaraguan woman," he lamented.

Zablah's charge followed on the heels a separate one filed by Ramírez, claiming that because of his negligence as a pageant organizer, she was the victim of harassment and an attempted rape during a recent preparatory trip to Miami.

Ramírez has not replied to allegations that she is a Nica.