The U.S. Embassy in San José is closed today in tribute to former U.S. President Gerald Ford, who died Dec. 26. However, the Consular Section will be open from 8 a.m.-11:30 a.m. to attend to U.S. citizens with emergencies or non-citizens who have appointments to interview for a non-immigrant U.S. visa, according to a statement from the embassy.

On Wednesday, the embassy will reopen with its regular hours of 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

‘Tis the season for holiday cheer, family togetherness, and, in Costa Rica, lots and lots of illegal fireworks – a popular tradition the National Police worked hard to combat this week. Police seized more than 25,000 explosive devices, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry, although a glance around San José on New Year’s Eve showed there were still plenty of explosions to go around.

Throughout December, peaking during Christmas and New Year’s, an array of glittery explosions fill the streets of, and skies above, Costa Rican neighborhoods, increasing the danger posed by vendors of illegal explosives.

According to the Public Security Ministry statement, police raided a shop in Desamparados, in southern San José, which had been closed by the local municipality but continued to sell explosives. Authorities seized 108 sticks of dynamite and 12,020 firecrackers that, if accidentally ignited, could have destroyed a nearby home and restaurant.

Police also seized more than 8,000 firecrackers near the border with Nicaragua, the statement said – most allegedly being smuggled into the country by a Costa Rican by the last name of Jarquín.

The only pyrotechnic devices permitted under Costa Rica’s Arms Law are non-explosive items such as Roman candles. Firecrackers of any size are not allowed, the statement said. The Arms Law establishes sentences of as many as 7 years in jail for those convicted of selling explosives to minors or people with disabilities, or those who buy, sell, transport or store explosives without a permit.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – the Hollywood actors so ubiquitous they’ve been granted the ultimate sign of superstar coupledom, a combined moniker (“Brangelina”) – visited San José on Christmas Day to hand out gifts and meet with Colombian refugees.

Jolie, a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said she came to Costa Rica with a message “for Colombian refugees and the millions of people displaced in Colombia, that the world hasn’t completely forgotten them.

“We had a marvelous Christmas with the Costa Rican people and with the Colombian refugee families with whom we met,” she added.

Jolie and Pitt, who have three children, visited small businesses such as shops and bakeries created by some of the estimated 10,500 Colombian refugees living here. They also handed out gifts to refugee youth in San José, spoke with families, and met with Costa Rican officials including Labor Minister Francisco Morales, Foreign Relations Vice-Minister Edgar Ugalde, and Governance Vice-Minister Ana Durán.

Jolie indicated the UNHCR’s gratitude to the Costa Rican government and people for their support to the victims of civil conflict.

Jolie’s visit was her second to Latin America in her capacity as Goodwill Ambassador. She visited Ecuador in 2002 and met with Colombian refugees in that country.

-ACAN - EFE