The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September 30, 2003

NO SHOW: Pavarotti concert cancelled by Tico promoter.
AFP/TT

Country Proposes Anti-Cloning Convention to UN
Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar on Friday expressed his satisfaction with early support for a Costa Rican initiative to draft a United Nations Convention Against All Forms of Human Cloning, according to a Ministry press release.
(Click for more)

Pavarotti Reversal Disappoints Fans
Local papers published the news with fanfare: famed Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti would perform Oct. 25 at the Costa Rica Country Club. But the euphoria of fans who immediately purchased tickets, which ranged from $200-850, was short-lived.
(Click for more)

Anti-Drug Police Bust First Hydroponic Marijuana Ring
The Drug-Control Police (PCD), working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), on Friday busted what is being called the first hydroponic marijuana ring in Central America, according to a Security Ministry press release.
(Click for more)

September 30

Film Projection
Everyone is invited to screening of the movie "Rebel without a Cause," with Nathalie Wood and James Dean in English with subtitles in Spanish, at 7 p.m., at the Fine Arts School, University of Costa Rica. Info: 207-4271.

Concert to Celebrate Theater
Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Melico Salazar Theater with the concert with Malpaís, a group that mixes contemporary Costa Rican music, with folklore and popular music. The fiesta is open to the public through Sun. Oct. 12. The theater is on Av. 2, Ca. Ctrl./0. Info: 257-6005.

Learning about Medicinal Plants
Register today for a class on Medicinal Plants of the Bribris Indians and Afrocaribbean remedies. Participants will visit Bribri, Cachabri, Shiroles, Suretka and Limón. The trip is Fri.-Sun., Oct. 3-5. Sign up at the Organization for Tropical Studies (OET) at 236-17113, 377-6169, fax: 240-6783.

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Country Proposes Anti-Cloning Convention to UN

Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar on Friday expressed his satisfaction with early support for a Costa Rican initiative to draft a United Nations Convention Against All Forms of Human Cloning, according to a Ministry press release.

Tovar, who last week was in New York for the UN General Assembly, met with the 19 Latin American members of the Grupo de Río to seek support for the Tico proposal.

"We respectfully asked [the Grupo de Río countries] to analyze the project and asked for their support because we consider this necessary to protect the dignity of all humans," Tovar said in the written release.

Costa Rica, by proposing a draft text to the UN, is trying to contribute to the world debate on human cloning and its "profound implications on ethics, politics, law and human dignity," Tovar explained.

In addition to the Grupo de Río member states, Tovar also met last week with heads of state and foreign ministers from several European countries.

"We are satisfied with the support we have received from numerous government leaders attending the General Assembly," the Tico Foreign Minister said.

The United Nations is scheduled to begin discussing the Costa Rican proposal at the end of October and the beginning of November, according to the release.

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Pavarotti Reversal Disappoints Fans
By Amanda Schoenberg
aschoenberg@ticotimes.net

Local papers published the news with fanfare: famed Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti would perform Oct. 25 at the Costa Rica Country Club. But the euphoria of fans who immediately purchased tickets, which ranged from $200-850, was short-lived.

One day after ESP Producciones announced the concert, company president Enrique Salgado informed the press it was cancelled due to a lack of preparation time.

In a Friday press release, Salgado said the company was trying to confirm a February performance in Costa Rica, after Pavarotti's visit to Colombia. Pavarotti is scheduled to visit Panama Oct. 22, which producers hoped would allow him to make a stop in Costa Rica in his private jet. He also will visit Mexico on Oct. 18, for a special sunset concert with 80 other musicians, accompanied by the Orchestra of the Palace of Fine Arts.

The world-renowned tenor is promoting his most recent disc, Ti Adoro, a series of more popular, less-opera-like songs, in Latin America and Europe before retiring on his 70th birthday Oct. 12, 2005, completing a forty-year career.

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Anti-Drug Police Bust First
Hydroponic Marijuana Ring

The Drug-Control Police (PCD), working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), on Friday busted what is being called the first hydroponic marijuana ring in Central America, according to a Security Ministry press release.

Police raided a home in the eastern San José suburb of Curridabat and arrested a 40-year-old Canadian man, identified by the last name Webb, and a Costa Rican woman, identified by the last name Salas, who allegedly were growing what police say are genetically modified marijuana plants under energy lamps in a household laboratory.

Authorities confiscated 407 plants of extra-potent marijuana, known by the street names "Crip" and "Sin Semilla," among others. According to the Security Ministry, hydroponic marijuana sells on the street for up to $300 an ounce.

Hydroponic marijuana is grown by nurturing seedlings in water dishes, producing a drug with a much higher level of tetrahydrocanabinol (THC) than ordinary marijuana.

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