The Tico Times Online Daily Page

TOTAL CONCENTRATION: Local craftsman Willie Villafuerte paints Chorotega pottery. Artisans say their livelihood is in jeopardy due to lack of clay. Story below.
TT/ Photo Shoshana Ora Cohn

Ballet Season
Classic Ballet School Rux invite all to presentation
of the famous "pas de deux" (The Blue Bird, Diana and Acteon and other), featuring
the participation of Russian dancers Aidar Akhmetov, Andrei Buldakov,
and Victor Danilytchev.
Shows are at 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow, and at 5
p.m. on Sunday at the Melico Salazar Theater, Av. 2, Ca. Ctrl. Tickets on
sale at Banco Banex. Info: 287-1350, 381-3413.

Newcomers' Activity:
Time to dress up and have some fun!
Friday, Nov. 1 from 7-10 p.m. at Villa Belen, 239-4678, 600 meters
East of El Rodeo, for music, dancing, bocas, drinks, and an evening of fun for c3000 colones per person.
The last day for picking up your
tickets at Sabor Tica, Escazu is Friday, October 25. The next Newcomer' s
Club meeting is a SHOW N' SELL, open to the public. It's a Bazaar, It's a
Craft Fair, it's a Service Fair--- the three-in-one event will be held Tuesday, Nov.
5th from 9-noon at Club Cubano, Guachilpelin, Escazu (800 meters from the
Guachipelin (310) Exit.
If you wish a table, space is limited contact Pat Bless at
crnow@amnet.co.cr <mailto:crnow@amnet.co.cr>
or 228-8726. Tables will run
c6000 colones, and can be purchased at Cafe Artistas or Sabor Tico.

Orchid Show
22nd annual display; orchids and books for sale, held by Alajuela's
Orchidology Association, Fri.-Sun., Oct. 25-27, at the Instituto de
Alajuela's gym. For info, 440-8055.

Pejibaye Festival
Taste food made of pejibaye, craft shows, etc., Sat., Oct. 26, 9 a.m.;
Horse riding to honor Canadian Community of C.R., 10 a.m., Tucurrique,
Cartago, 293-2739.

Beach Sunset Piano Concert
Pianist Manuel Obregon is performing tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., at
five-star Villa Caletas Hotel. To get to the hotel follow the sign on the
Pan-American road through Atenas, and head toward Jaco. It's 3 km. after Punta
Leona. Info: 637 0505

Police Indentify Corpse of Missing German Woman
A "Jane Doe" corpse entered into San José's judicial morgue two weeks ago was identified yesterday as missing German biologist Sonja Kauke, according to a Judicial Investigative Police press release.

Kauke, 29, was reported missing Oct. 18 in the southern Caribbean beach town Punta Uva, south of Puerto Viejo. However, her body had been in the morgue since Oct. 12, according to police officials.

Because the corpse was already in an advanced state of decomposition, moroticians had to check dental records with the German Embassy to identify the body.

No official cause of death has been determined, but the investigation remains open until an autopsy can rule out the death was not a result of foul play.

Kauke, who was apparently traveling in Costa Rica alone, was staying at a hotel in the nearby beach town of Cahuita. She disappeared Oct. 12, after going to Limón to celebrate Carnaval.

Kauke never returned to the hotel, and no one in town reportedly has any information about her dissapperance, according to police.

Artisans Protest Loss of Primary Materials
By Amanda Schoenberg
The Tico Times staff

Pottery in hand, artisans from the Guanacaste communities of San Vicente de Nicoya and Guaitil de Santa Cruz took to the streets yesterday to demand attention to the dire lack of primary materials needed to create their colorful Chorotega earthenware.

The march through San José culminated with a press conference in front of the National Cultural Center (CENAC), featuring Culture Minister Guido Sáenz, government representatives and local craftspeople.

Bernardo Vega, president of the Association for the Recovery and Conservation of Chorotega Pottery, said the artisan communities have been fighting for land for more than 20 years, and now they are in a state of emergency due to the lack of available clay.

He stressed that the communities have been using the same half hectar of state-owned land since 1951, and it is now almost completely exhausted.

"Our identity is in danger," Vega stressed. "The arts cannot be left out of Costa Rica's development."

More than 1,000 families from the two Guanacaste towns that produce 90% of Costa Rica's Chorotega pottery are at risk of losing their livelihood.

These families are asking the government to help provide the funding necessary to buy the private-owned Solórzano land in San Vicente -- the only other area in the country that contains the high-quality clay the artisans need to produce their pottery.

"I believe in this community, and I will arrange this no matter what," promised Saénz, adding he would lobby on behalf of the artisans at next Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.

Anderson Case Stalled
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff

The wheels of justice slowed to a vertual halt in the extradition case of U.S. tax rebel Keith Anderson this week, as defense lawyer Moisés Vincenzi was granted a second audience with the three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Appeals Court.

The second audience for the prosection and defense will meet with the judges Oct. 30. After hearing both sides, the panel will be given another 10 days to deliberate before making a decision on Anderson's controversial Costa Rican citizenship, and whether to uphold his already-approved extradition to the U.S., where he is wanted to face charges of money laundering and tax fraud.

Anderson -- founder of Anderson's Ark & Associates -- was arrested here Feb. 9 at the resquest of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The 62-year-old Iowa native inists he has not broken any laws that that he is being targeted for a "political hit" for his work to expose the criminal element of the U.S. government.

U.S. Ambassador John J. Danilovich, meanwhile, wrote a letter to Supreme Court President Luis Paulino Mora, reminding him how important Anderson's extradition is to his government (TT Daily Page, Friday, Oct. 18).