The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, April 12, 2004

VATICAN guest: President Abel Pacheco, who returns to Costa Rica this evening, met with Pope John Paul II April 5 at the Vatican during the President’s two-week trip to Italy and Spain.
AFP/Maurizio Brambatti

April 12

Little Theater Group Open House
The Little Theater Group’s Open House features The Country Day School, Gold Medal-winning Central American AASCA Champion Improvisation Team performing monologues. The talented bunch of young thespians will perform an excerpt from the Broadway hit musical 'Rent' and an emotional piece from the powerful drama “Equus,” 7-9 p.m. at the Blanche Brown Theatre in Escazú. Info: 355-1623.

Chilean Cooking Classes
Register today to participate in the Cooking Workshop April 13-17 with Chilean chef Juan Alonso Barraza, head of the School of International and Traditional Cooking of the Santo Tomás University of Chile. This international expert will teach you how to prepare sea food, and share some special techniques and a few Japanese secrets, at Tips Sabana west of San José. Info: 290-2449.

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President Abel Pacheco
Returns to Costa Rica

After spending more than two weeks in Europe, Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco and First Lady Leila Rodríguez are expected to return home this evening.

The trip included sightseeing tours and meetings with government officials and business leaders. The journey began March 27 in Italy, where Pacheco and his wife spent 10 days before moving on to Spain last Tuesday.

In Italy, Pacheco met with President Carlo Ciampi and Gianfranco Fini, Vice-President of the Council of Ministers, and tried to restore cooperation between Italy and Costa Rica, La Nación reported yesterday. Pacheco also had a personal meeting with Pope John Paul II on April 5.

Pacheco also took advantage of his trip to Italy to promote tourism in Costa Rica. He talked with Italian airlines about a permanent direct flight between the countries (TT Daily Page, April 1) and visited a pioneering cooperative that promotes agrotourism, a program he said could be brought to Costa Rica’s northwestern province Guanacaste. He also heard a proposal featuring the use of trash to generate electricity.

Upon arriving in Madrid, Pacheco took a flower offering to the Atocha train station where a March 11 terrorist attack killed 191 people and injured more than 1,900, according to the AFP wire service. Also in Madrid, Spain’s National Park Service presented Pacheco with a fire truck to help fight fires inside Costa Rica’s national parks, La Nación reported.

Although unable to meet with Spain’s Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodríguez, Pacheco did speak with various business leaders in Madrid and Sevilla, according to La Nación. These included representatives of Aena, a construction firm and airport operator that plans to invest in Costa Rica, and Grupo Lezama, which owns the School of Hotel Management of Sevilla and could assist in the opening of a similar institution in Guanacaste.

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23 People Killed in Costa Rica
During This Year’s Easter Week

Twenty three violent deaths were reported in Costa Rica during Semana Santa (Easter Week) April 4-11, the Red Cross said yesterday. The number of deaths related to Semana Santa holiday celebrations and travels is 14 less than last year, according to Red Cross statistics.

Nine of the deaths occurred in traffic accidents, seven people drowned and four people reportedly committed suicide. One young woman also apparently died from some sort of intoxication, according to the Red Cross.

The Red Cross reported that its efforts helped save 75 people in dangerous situations on highways and in tourist areas around the country.

Last year, a total of 37 deaths were reported during Semana Santa, including seven in traffic accidents.

Like in Costa Rica, fewer deaths were reported in Guatemala and El Salvador during Semana Santa this year compared to last year.

Throughout Latin America, hundreds of deaths have been attributed to Semana Santa celebrations and travels, including 104 traffic-accident related deaths in Venezuela.
-- AFP

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Students Celebrate Battle of Rivas,
Hero Juan Santamaría Today

Although the official anniversary of the Battle of Rivas was yesterday, students across Costa Rica today will celebrate the country’s defeat of North American filibuster William Walker 148 years ago.

Every year, students are taught that April 11, 1856, a young Alajuela boy named Juan Santamaría helped keep the country out of foreign hands by torching a building filled with men who, under Walker, had their sight set on conquering Costa Rica.

Walker had arrived in Nicaragua in 1855 with the hope of enslaving the citizens of Central America and becoming rich, according to historians. Then-Costa Rican President Juan Rafael Mora, aware of Walker’s plans, organized 9,000 volunteers to fight the U.S. invader, who had declared himself President of Nicaragua.

After the Battle of Santa Rosa on March 20, 1856, in Guanacaste – during which Walker’s men were defeated – Costa Rica’s army advanced on to Nicaragua. They arrived in Rivas on April 8, according to the Juan Santamaría Cultural History Museum. And although Walker had retreated from the town days earlier, he returned on April 11 in an attempt to recapture it.

It was during that day’s fighting, as the story is told, that national hero Juan Santamaría emerged. According to the museum, Santamaría set fire to the building known as the “Mesón de Guerra,” where Walker’s men were located.

Because the act required Santamaría to run out in the open, he was ultimately gunned down, according to many historians. But his action helped lead to the retreat of Walker’s army.

Questions remain as to whether this is truly how events transpired. Some legends of the Battle of Rivas say a young Nicaraguan boy helped Juan Santamaría torch the building. Others question whether Santamaría existed at all, and still others claim he did not volunteer for the act, but was pushed.

Regardless, Santamaría is the only Costa Rican hero to have a national holiday declared in his honor, and he is the namesake of the country’s main international airport near San José.

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Wednesday October 26, 2005