The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, December 11, 2003

BUSH AND PACHECO TALK SHOP: Pacheco is insistent that he will only consider an opening that favors state services.
Casa Presidencial

Avenidazo Nearly Lost
After Just Beginning
Security Minister Rogelio Ramos met with San José Mayor Johnny Araya yesterday to discuss the future of the recently reinstated Avenidazo, a celebration in which Ticos fill downtown Avenida Central to launch confetti at each other every night throughout the Christmas season.
(Click for more)

Authorities Look into
U.S. Citizen's Death
Nosara Police Chief Umberto Moraga yesterday refused to comment on local news reports that a U.S. citizen found dead in a Nosara beach hotel had died of a cocaine overdose.
(Click for more)

Pacheco Discusses
Free Trade with Jeb Bush
In a meeting yesterday with Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco expressed his hope that the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) will be an opportunity for economic, social, and humanist development, according to the office of the Presidency.
(Click for more)

December 11

Three Symphony Groups Celebrate Christmas
The National Symphony Orchestra, Youth Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Choir are performing the a Christmas Carol recital, including the Nutcracker by Chaikovsky and Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson, tonight and tomorrow at 7 p.m., at the Melico Salazar Theater in San José. Info: 236-5395.

Special Christmas Pub Night
Christmas Pub Night, 5-9 p.m. at the Canadian Embassy in Oficentro La Sabana, behind La Contraloría Building, Building 5, 3rd floor. Info: 296-4149.

Film "Offret"
Italian film by Andrei Tarkovski, with subtitles in Spanish, free entrance, begins at 6 p.m. at the Calderón Guardia Museum, Barrio Escalante, 100 m. east, 125 m. north of the Santa Teresita Church. Info: 255-1218, 222-6392.

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Avenidazo Nearly Lost After Just Beginning
By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff

Security Minister Rogelio Ramos met with San José Mayor Johnny Araya yesterday to discuss the future of the recently reinstated Avenidazo, a celebration in which Ticos fill downtown Avenida Central to launch confetti at each other every night throughout the Christmas season.

The Avenidazo tradition came close to being called off yesterday because of unauthorized activity and a scuffle Tuesday night, resulting in four arrests.

Municipality of San José advisor Rafael Arias said police arrested "illegal confetti venders" and a private security guard who sprayed the crowd with tear gas. Police released three of the four shortly after the arrests, Arias said.

In yesterday's meeting, Araya and Ramos decided on a two-prong solution to allow the tradition to continue with minor changes: more cultural events and increased security.

To spread out the crowds, Arias said, the city will cooperate with stores along Avenida Central to attract more artists, musicians and actors. Also, more police officers, some in plain clothes, will be sent to patrol the crowds.

Tuesday night's events raised the specter of the violence that lead to the abandonment of the tradition in 1989. Arias said some people threw nails and other objects with their confetti and that one person lost an eye. Also, he said, some people scooped confetti off the ground and threw it at each other, raising health concerns.

Manuel Arias, a press officer for the Municipality of San Jose, said the official order to end the celebration in 1989 came from the Ministry of Health, which condemned the tradition as a health problem because of the dirty confetti.

San José Mayor Johnny Araya reinstated the tradition of the Avenidazo on Monday, and the celebration is expected to continue through Dec. 24, barring any crime or accidents.

The Ministry of Health has not sanctioned Araya's reinstatement of the celebration, but is analyzing the situation. Manuel Arias said that Araya is optimistic the confetti and accompanying musicians and artists will rejuvenate the downtown area, improve the quality of life of those who live there and lead to urban renewal.

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Authorities Look into U.S. Citizen's Death
By Tim Sparkman
tsparkman@ticotimes.net

Nosara Police Chief Umberto Moraga yesterday refused to comment on local news reports that a U.S. citizen found dead in a Nosara beach hotel had died of a cocaine overdose.

The body of the woman, identified as 41-year-old Elaine Fielding, was discovered Monday morning in a cabin at the Casa Tucán hotel in Nosara, on the pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula.

The daily Al Día reported yesterday that a Nosara police officer, who requested anonymity, said the cause of death was a cocaine overdose.

Moraga told The Tico Times that Fielding had been staying at Casa Tucán with a friend, Deborah Turner, for three days before her death. He said a hotel employee found the body and called the police at about 11:15 a.m. on Monday.

The police chief added that a local doctor who examined the body determined that Fielding had died just before the police got the call from the hotel.

He said Nosara is a popular tourist town that relies on the tourist industry for 80-90% of its business, and said it has an enormous drug problem.

"Heroine, crack, cocaine," Moraga said. "[Which one] really depends on your economic situation."

Fielding's body was retrieved by the Nicoya Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ), who will notify the victim's family and perform an autopsy.

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Pacheco Discusses Free Trade with Jeb Bush

In a meeting yesterday with Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco expressed his hope that the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) will be an opportunity for economic, social, and humanist development, according to the office of the Presidency.

"We talked about a development understood not only as economic progress but also as a development that allows us to bring our people better education [and] more investment in health and culture," said Pacheco said in a statement.

Pacheco met with Bush for about half an hour in the Lowes Hotel in Miami, site of this week's XXVII Annual Conference of the Caribbean Basin Initiative.

In the meeting, Pacheco also expressed his position against the privatization of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).

"I told Mr. Bush that, in Costa Rica, the people have manners of thought that I respect and [say that] ICE should not be privatized. If we find a way of opening [the industry] that is beneficial to ICE, to strengthen it, to make it more competitive, then it will have to be analyzed," the President said.

The Governor, brother of U.S. President George W. Bush, confirmed he is planning an official visit to Costa Rica in February 2004.

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