The Tico Times Online

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 03, 2002

INTERNET BLUES: RACSA problems turned the information superhighway into a dead-end road Wednesday.
TT/Photo Bejamín Witte

Internet Collapses Throughout C.A.
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff
If you tried to get on the Internet yesterday afternoon and couldn't, you weren't alone.
(Click for more)

October 03

Art Show Opening
José Miguel Bolaños opens his exhibit today of engravings and illustrations. People can see his work until Oct. 31 at Banco Popular agency in Barrio Escalante, 300 m. north and 300 east of Santa Teresita Church. Info: 224-0010.

Trova and Costa Rican Folklore Concert
La Puerta de Alcalá invites everyone to enjoy a concert by Cantares Chamber Cuartet. The group is performing original songs from their last CD Pa’Lante. At 8 p.m., San Rafael, Heredia. Info: 267-7277, 267-6695.

Play on Hell Visit
Giratablas Theater tonight opens its new production A Puerta Cerrada, a drama of three people who go to hell. The show is Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m., through the end of the month. The theater is across from KFC, Los Yoses. Info: 224-6384.

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Internet Collapses Throughout C.A.
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff
If you tried to get on the Internet yesterday afternoon and couldn't, you weren't alone.

Tens of millions of websurfers and businesses from Mexico to Costa Rica were reportedly kicked off the information superhighway for more than four hours yesterday afternoon, when the Maya Cable network that connects Central America and Mexico to the United States reportedly failed.

The Maya Cable, an undersea fiber-optic telecommunications cable originating in New York, was reported cut somewhere in New York, and the backup satellite of Costa Rica's monopoly also failed, RACSA's David Ortega told The Tico Times.

Meanwhile, some businesses that also rely on the Maya Cable reported that they never lost their connection, raising questions about where the real problem was originating.

At 5 p.m., some four and a half hours into the Internet blackout, the problem was fixed, but RACSA technicians here still did not know what had caused the crash.

RACSA claims that partial Internet failure was also reported in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Banks and Internet gambling firms, most of which are backed up by a satellite provider, were less affected by the blackout.

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Government Organizes Marches against Dengue
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff
Facing a three-month increase in the number of dengue cases in Costa Rica, the Health Ministry in conjunction with some 10 other public and private organizations is organizing marches in four different parts of the country today to raise public awareness about the mosquito-transmitted disease.

"Dengue is a basic sanitary problem in the environment and in people's homes," said Health Minister Dr. María del Rocío Sáenz. "It is the responsibility of each individual, families and institutions to clean up the still-water breeding grounds of the Aedes aegypi mosquito near homes and places of work."

According to Health Ministry statistics for 2002, there have been 10,205 reported cases of dengue throughout the country this year alone. Most cases were reported in the central Pacific region (3,221 cases), followed by Guanacaste (2,153), the Atlantic region (1,913), and southern central zone (954).

Dengue is a viral illness characterized by fever, body aches and increased pressure behind the eyes.

Despite a brief dengue scare last August, Sáenz said the number of reported cases for 2002 is not up from last year's total at this time. Because of the government's quick response, she added, health officials were able to prevent cases of dengue-related deaths, such as the ones that occurred in Honduras and El Salvador.

"We have had several severe cases here this year, but our hospitals were able to save the patients," the Health Minister noted.

Today's marches, which begin at 9 a.m., will take place in Alajuela, Puntarenas, Nicoya and Guápiles, featuring the distribution of educational material and speeches about dengue.

Although the dengue season is expected to end next month with drier weather, government officials stress the importance of starting a permanent campaign to prevent the disease from reoccurring so severely every year.

"Dengue is here to stay," stressed President Abel Pacheco. "Eradicating it depends on the attitude of everyone."

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Police Bust Gang of Weapons Smugglers
The Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) yesterday captured a gang of seven people -- a Nicaraguan, a Panamanian and five Ticos -- for allegedly belonging to a gang that smuggles weapons to Colombia in exchange for cocaine to be sold in Costa Rica, a police source said.

The investigation reportedly began last March, when Nicaraguan police informed the OIJ they had arrested a Costa Rican man for selling drugs to two men in Nicaragua.

The OIJ investigated the arrested man's connections here, which led them to a May 31 arrest of two more of the alleged gang members who were attempting to cross into Panama with a truck full of guns and $2,000 in colones.

Yesterday's arrest of the seven remaining suspects, who were in possession of seven kilos of cocaine, closes the book on the Heredia-based gang, police said.

Although it has been rumored that the drug and arms trafficking networks were one and the same, this week's bust is the first conclusive proof obtained by Costa Rican authorities.
-AFP

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Nicaraguan Judge Shows Her Gun
MANAGUA (AFP)- Nicaraguan Judge Juan Méndez, who this week received death threats for her role in the corruption investigation of former President Arnoldo Alemán and cronies, announced this week that she is now packin' heat to defend herself.

Appearing on TV and showing off the new .357-caliber Magnum with explosive-tip bullets she carries in her purse, Méndez, 42, said she will not be scared off the case.

The threat reportedly came from an anonymous phone caller, who told Méndez to let ex-Tax Director and Alemán buddy Byron Jerez out of jail, or the caller would kill the judge and her two sons. Jerez was the first to be convicted in the corruption probe in former government of Alemán.

Police are investigating the threats and have beefed up security around Méndez's house.

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