Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, July 29, 2005
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Pilgrims Converge
On Cartago Basilica
As many as 1.5 million Costa Rican residents, slightly less than a third of the country's population, are expected to gather at the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles in Cartago, east of San José, throughout this weekend and into Monday night. They will walk along the sides of roads and in lanes blocked off for their pilgrimage. Some will leave from San José Sunday and Monday evening, while others have already begun a much longer trek from cities and towns throughout Costa Rica and Central America. Authorities base the estimate of the turnout on years past and have begun preparations for the exodus from the capital and the surrounding towns in the Central Valley.
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Central American Officials
Agree To Fight Pollution
Representatives of Central American environmental ministries, including Costa Rica's Vice-Minister of the Environment, Allan Flores, passed a series of resolutions yesterday that would prevent and reduce pollution and fight forest fires in their countries.
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President Pacheco Participates
In Caribbean Summit
President Abel Pacheco traveled to Panama City today to attend the IV Summit of Heads of State of the Association of Caribbean States, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.
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July 29
6th Cicomex Golf Tournament
July 29-31, Hacienda Pinilla and Hotel Paradisus Playa Conchal. Info: 232-8122, ext. 273.
Japanese Children's Festival.
“Historia del Niño Yamashita” director Shue Matsubayashi presents the story of the Judo Champion, July 29, 9:30 a.m. and “The Little Elephant,” the story of a boy who takes care of a baby elephant during a Japanese war, July 30, 3 p.m., Centro de Cine, behind the INS building. Info: 223-2127.
Free Tibet Conference
Tibetan monk Thubten Wangchen talks about Buddhist science and its legacy of peace at 9:30 a.m., Clodomiro Picado Auditorium, Universidad Nacional, Heredia. Info: 834-7924, 381-0601.
First National Jocote Fair
Includes sales of the fruit, a contest for the biggest jocote, games for children, tours, food, and more, July 30-31, at La Uruca, Aserrí, east of San José. Info: 230-6211.
By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
Pilgrims Converge
On Cartago Basilica
As many as 1.5 million Costa Rican residents, slightly less than a third of the country's population, are expected to gather at the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles in Cartago, east of San José, throughout this weekend and into Monday night. They will walk along the sides of roads and in lanes blocked off for their pilgrimage. Some will leave from San José Sunday and Monday evening, while others have already begun a much longer trek from cities and towns throughout Costa Rica and Central America. Authorities base the estimate of the turnout on years past and have begun preparations for the exodus from the capital and the surrounding towns in the Central Valley.
The legend goes that on Aug. 2, 1635, an indigenous girl named Juana Pereira found a dark-skinned statue of the Virgin Mary on a rock. She hid it in her house, but it disappeared, reappearing in the same spot in which she had found it. She took it twice to a local priest, and both times it reappeared in its original site. Taking it as a sign to unify a racially segregated flock, the priest called for the construction of the basilica on the site where the statue was found, and now La Negrita, as the statue is called, sits on an altar in the massive, 1926 Byzantine-style basilica near downtown Cartago.
Each August at this time, hundreds of thousands of faithful Catholics make the pilgrimage in honor of Costa Rica 's patron saint, Our Lady of the Angels.
Central American Officials
Agree To Fight Pollution
Managua, ACAN-EFE – Representatives of Central American environmental ministries, including Costa Rica's Vice-Minister of the Environment, Allan Flores, passed a series of resolutions yesterday that would prevent and reduce pollution and fight forest fires in their countries.
Meeting in the historic city of Granada, southeast of Managua, the ministers, who are members of the Central American Environment and Development Commission (CCAD), decided environmental goals can be reached only through integration with other ministries.
They formed an Environmental Plan for the Central American region, giving themselves five years to carry it out. It involves action strategies for fighting pollution and promoting conservation and sustainable development. They also approved regional programs for protected areas and for connecting the Mesoamerican biological corridor, a swath of protected forest that could run the length of the isthmus if established.
President Pacheco Participates
In Caribbean Summit
President Abel Pacheco traveled to Panama City today to attend the IV Summit of Heads of State of the Association of Caribbean States, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.
The Presidents at the summit will analyze topics in politics, cooperation, economics and commerce, as well as mitigation of natural disasters, combating poverty and promoting tourism and investment.
“I believe our duty as a nation is to strengthen our ties, not just commercial ties, but cultural and social (ties)… with other countries in the area,” Pacheco said in the statement.
“The Caribbean really is a beautiful region of many languages, races and ways of thinking, linked to us through the beautiful Caribbean Sea that has been compared to a modern Mediterranean, and I believe working together will give us incredible power,” he added.
As an example of the excellent results of other Caribbean summits, the President highlighted the signing of the Free-Trade Agreement with the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), which has already been approved in first debate by the Legislative Assembly, the statement said.
Summits of Heads of State of the Association of Caribbean States have taken place since 1999, the first of them hosted by Trinidad and Tobago, followed by the Dominican Republic and Isla Margarita.
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