LIGHTING in Memory: Joel Zango, 8, watched as six candles were lit at a ceremony in San José Friday to remember those who died in the Holocaust. The Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean organized the memorial in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day Saturday.

Leaders from Spain, South America and Costa Rica concluded a meeting of the Montevideo Circle Saturday in San José by recapping the topics of education, development and free-trade discussed during their two-day encounter.

By Tyler Pearce
Tico Times Staff | editorial@ticotimes.net

One by one, six large white candles were lit. Each flame that flickered brightly Friday during a ceremony to commemorate victims of the Holocaust represented one million Jewish men, women and children killed.

The event, held at Hotel Barceló San José Palacio, was organized to honor the six million people who lost their lives throughout Europe from 1933-1945, according to Jack Davidson, president of the Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean (UJCL).

UJCL, which has members from 13 nations, organized the memorial in conjunction with its annual meeting, which began Friday and concludes today, according to the online Jewish international news service JTA.

A few minutes of silence followed the lighting of candles and singing of the Israeli and Costa Rican national anthems, giving the nearly 100 attendees a chance to reflect.

A group of dignitaries including Israeli Ambassador Ehud Eitam, Costa Rican Second Vice-President Kevin Casas, U.N. representative Josef Merkx and Holocaust survivor Sara Rovinski were present to share their words of commemoration as well as give hope to the Costa Rican Jewish community.

“Problems persist all over the world; we must listen to the voices of our friends suffering,” Merkx said.

Jan. 27 was declared Holocaust Memorial Day by the U.N. General Assembly in November 2005 “to instill the memory of the tragedy in future generations and to prevent genocide from occurring again,” according to the U.N. Web site. This day marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, where an estimated one million Jews were slain, according to JTA.

Rovinski gracefully closed the event with a few words of hope.

“We have to live with our eyes open and our minds free so we don't repeat this in the future,” Rovinski said. “This is the work for all to do.”

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

Police at a checkpoint in the Caribbean town of Matina de Limón Thursday discovered 10,500 bullets for an AK-47 automatic rifle inside a truck and arrested its driver, identified by the name Javier Marín, Nicaraguan, who is believed to be an ex-guerilla, said Public Security Ministry spokesman Humberto Ballestero.

The truck, which left from Nicaragua and bore a license plate from that country, was carrying three boxes of ammunition contained in five sacks, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

Marín told police he was taking this cargo to Limón to sell, according to the daily La Nación.

He faces charges before the Limón Prosecutor's Office, where the truck and its contents were taken. The case is being investigated by the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), Ballestero said.

Police told La Nación they believe Marín, who made frequent trips between Nicaragua and Costa Rica transporting bananas, was very active in the Nicaraguan counterrevolution during the 1980s.

Leaders from Spain, South America and Costa Rica concluded a meeting of the Montevideo Circle Saturday in San José by recapping the topics of education, development and free-trade discussed during their two-day encounter.

“Promoting education to improve access to knowledge and build Latin America as more competitive in the global market” was the theme of the meeting, attended by prominent democratic leaders including Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and the ex-Presidents of Spain, Felipe González; Uruguay, Julio María Sanguinetti; Colombia, Belisario Betancourt; Brazil, Enrique Cardoso; and Chile, Ricardo Lagos; among other Latin American political figures, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Latin America has a great challenge of both taking advantage of the global “revolution” and providing its citizens better education, González said.

Arias agreed countries must not neglect social areas when working toward economic development, which he called “the most effective of any other method of eradicating poverty,” the statement said.

“Only if we open ourselves up can we achieve the fundamental challenge of Latin American democracies: bearing fruit for our citizens, improving the quality of life for individuals and producing results in the daily lives of our populations,” Arias said during the meeting's opening Friday.

Improving the distribution of wealth to help disenfranchised sectors was another challenge the leaders discussed, mentioning job creation, infrastructure improvements and investment in technology as ways to achieve this goal.

The Montevideo Circle was created by Sanguinetti in 1996 to unite politicians, intellectuals and international leaders from Latin America to talk about the challenges facing the region, according to the wire service ACAN-EFE.

-Tico Times