The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, June 23, 2003

SCORE! Environmentalist group Mar Viva reigns in free fishing net left by illegal fishermen at Cocos Island. See Friday's paper for full story.

Honduran Deputy
Captured with Heroin
A Honduran deputy to the Central American Parliament is scheduled to appear before a judge in Nicaragua today, following his arrest Friday night at the Peñas Blancas border crossing for possession of seven kilograms of heroin.
(Click for more)

Ticos Plan to Put 1st C.A.
Satellite in Space
Costa Rica, with the help of NASA and international experts, hopes to be the first Central American country to send a satellite - known as "Final Frontier" - into space in 2006, reported the daily La Nación.
(Click for more)

Sele Could be Heading to Kenya
National Soccer Team coach Steve Sampson may be planning to take the team to Kenya to practice against several African teams in preparation for the 2006 World Cup Tournament, according to news reports in Africa.
(Click for more)

June 23

III Children's Week
Opening today, 8:30 a.m., Children's Museum and Closing on Fri., June 27, Parque Nacional de Diversiones, La Uruca. Info: 296-2034.

Varied Musical Show
Marta y Los del Barrio performing at El Cuartel de la Boca del Monte, Av. 1, Ca. 21/23. Info: 221-0327.

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Honduran Deputy Captured with Heroin

A Honduran deputy to the Central American Parliament is scheduled to appear before a judge in Nicaragua today, following his arrest Friday night at the Peñas Blancas border crossing for possession of seven kilograms of heroin.

César Augusto Díaz, 50, was reportedly stopped by Costa Rican border police who noticed suspicious behavior and asked to search his car. Díaz refused the order, claiming diplomatic immunity.

The police reportedly called Security Minister Rogelio Ramos in San José to ask what to do. After hearing his officers' account, Ramos authorized anti-drug agents to search the congressman's car.

But when Díaz saw the anti-drug officers approaching his vehicle, he drove off toward Nicaragua, shooting his gun into the air to scare off the police. The Honduran congressman also left behind his three travel companions - a Guatemalan and two Asian men - who were detained by Costa Rican authorities.

Díaz did not get far across the border before being detained by Nicaraguan police and put in jail cell in Rivas. It is not clear what Díaz had been doing in Costa Rica prior to his arrest.

The 20-member Honduran delegation to the Central American Parliament is asking that Díaz' immunity be lifted.
-AFP

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Ticos Plan to Put 1st C.A. Satellite in Space

Costa Rica, with the help of NASA and international experts, hopes to be the first Central American country to send a satellite - known as "Final Frontier" - into space in 2006, reported the daily La Nación.

According to Jorge Eduardo Páez, director of the University of Costa Rica's Space Studies Center, the satellite will be in space for two years and used to study x-rays, black holes, pulsars and "other exotic things in our universe."

The project will cost an estimated $120 million, but it is not clear from the report where the funding will come from.

Páez said plans are already in the works to construct a space center in the northern Pacific town of Santa Cruz, Guanacaste. The satellite will be built at the center with the help of international scientists and space experts from Germany and the U.S.' Universities of Stanford, Columbia and Pennsylvania.

Santa Cruz was chosen as the site of the space center due to its low radio contamination, according to Páez. After the satellite is built in Costa Rica, it will be launched from NASA facilities in the United States.

If the "Final Frontier" project is successful, Costa Rica will be the third Latin American country behind Mexico and Brazil to put a satellite in space.

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Sele Could be Heading to Kenya

National Soccer Team coach Steve Sampson may be planning to take the team to Kenya to practice against several African teams in preparation for the 2006 World Cup Tournament, according to news reports in Africa.

Trinidad and Tobago's National Team is currently winding up a three-country tour in Africa that was organized by Jack Warner, the vice-president of FIFA (the international soccer federation) and the president of CONCACAF, the regional federation of teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

The Nation newspaper in Nairobi recently quoted Warner saying that Costa Rica could be the next team to travel to Kenya, depending on the success of the Trinidad and Tobago tour.

"This tour to Africa is of historical and cultural significance," he said.

Sampson, who has won six of eight matches since taking over as the Ticos' head coach, told The Tico Times in an interview earlier this year that he wanted the team to get as much international playing experience as possible before the 2006 World Cup.

At least four African nations - South Africa, Libya, Nigeria and Morocco - are expected to bid on hosting the 2010 World Cup.

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