FIRST in Line: Triathlete Leonardo Chacón Friday became the first Costa Rican to request a passport from the Immigration branch in the northwestern Guanacaste city of Liberia. Chacón aspires to train in Spain and go on to compete in the 2008 Olympics in Bejing, China.

Costa Rica's Gilbert Brown caught international attention along with winning waves at the Latin Pro Tour Saturday in Miramar, Argentina, holding strong to finish in second place in the Open division, according to a statement from the Costa Rican Surf Federation.

By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net

Residents of the northwestern Guanacaste province no longer have to make the long trip to San José to request passports – as of Friday, they can do so from the province's capital of Liberia, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

This new service is an effort by the General Immigration Administration to ease congestion at Immigration's central San José office and transmit information electronically, the statement said.

Guanacaste residents can schedule passport appointments at the Liberia Immigration branch Mondays and Tuesdays; 30 appointments are available each day, said Immigration spokeswoman Heidy Bonilla.

Those interested must go to the Liberia office to make their appointment, but Immigration hopes users will be able to do this online next month, Bonilla said.

To get a passport, citizens must pay $56 at Banco de Costa Rica and bring a photocopy of their identification card, or cédula, and a photocopy of their expired passport if they have one.

Passport requests are then sent electronically to Immigration's central office in San José, and the user may either pick up his or her passport personally in the capital or request that it be sent to Guanacaste by mail.

Leonardo Chacón, a 22-year-old athlete seeking a scholarship from the International Triathalon Foundation in Spain to train for the 2008 Olympics in Bejing, China, Friday visited Immigration in Liberia and became the first Guanacaste resident to take advantage of this new service.

Liberia is the second city outside San José where Immigration has begun processing passport requests. In December, the Immigration branch in the Pacific port city of Puntarenas also began offering this service.

Within the next year, residents of San Carlos, in north-central Costa Rica; Limón, on the Caribbean, and Pérez Zeledón, in the Southern Zone, will also be able to process passport requests at their regional Immigration branches, Bonilla said.

Two prominent Citizen Action Party (PAC) politicians, faction head Elizabeth Fonseca and leader Ottón Solís, are scheduled to arrive today to Washington D.C. for a five-day visit aimed at promoting Costa Rica's development model of “solidarity” rather than the controversial Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), according to a statement released yesterday by the party.

The pair plans to meet with U.S. legislators, university professors, think-tank experts and José Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS).

“We want the United States to understand... Costa Rica's successful experience in human development, democracy and respect for human rights and the environment,” Solís said in the statement. Costa Rica and the United States should build “a relationship that can strengthen these national achievements instead of threatening them, like the free-trade agreement being negotiated would,” he said, referring to CAFTA. PAC has long opposed the trade pact, which is being debated in the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly and could soon move to its main floor.

During meetings in Washington D.C., PAC legislators will explain why they advocate trade that is “truly just and fair with respect to the national reality,” the statement said.

Costa Rica's Gilbert Brown caught international attention along with winning waves at the Latin Pro Tour Saturday in Miramar, Argentina, holding strong to finish in second place in the Open division, according to a statement from the Costa Rican Surf Federation.

Brown, from the southern Caribbean beach of Puerto Viejo, came in just behind Chile's Diego Medina. Third place in the Open division went to Costa Rican Luis Vindas, according to results posted on the Latin American Surf Association's Web site.

“I had an excess of confidence and I felt like I could win after surfing one good wave, but it didn't happen,” Brown said. “Diego ( Medina ) had the luck of surfing another good wave to the finish. That was what placed him as champion and I congratulate him,” he said.

Brown said he plans to continue to strive for high rankings during the rest of the Latin Pro Tour, which includes competitions in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Barbados, according to the statement.

-Tico Times