A WIN for the Porteños: The soccer team of the Pacific port city of Puntarenas yesterday came away with a close win (1-0) over the Dynamo team from the U.S. city of Houston during a finals game for the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Soccer (CONCACAF) Cup in Puntarenas. Here, Puntarenas forward Roberto Wong goes up against Dynamo rivals Craig Waibel and Pat Onstand in a goal attempt.

The Central American airline TACA announced yesterday that as of April 15, it will offer direct flights from San José to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, according to TACA reservations agent Carlos Vargas.

Piano Concert
With French pianist Natalia Romanenko, 8 p.m., National Theater, San José. Info: 221-9417.

Tamara Avalos
Ceramics, through Friday, Sophia Wanamaker Gallery, Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center, Barrio Dent, San José. Info: 207-7554.

By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff | lbaxter@ticotimes.net

Narvin Lichfield, owner of the former Dundee Ranch Academy for troubled youth, was found innocent yesterday of all charges of abuse brought against him.

The Costa Rican Prosecutor's Office had accused the U.S. citizen of coercion, holding minors against their will and “crimes of an international character” ( violating a law based on international treaties, in this case, torture) -- a buses allegedly inflicted on the teenage students at Dundee Ranch.

The academy, located outside the Pacific-slope town of Orotina, served as a tough-love behavior modification program for mostly U.S. teens with alleged behavior and legal problems.

In an unexpected turn during prosecutor Edgar Oviedo's closing arguments, he told the court the evidence and testimony presented during the two-day trial were not enough to link Lichfield to the crimes of which he was accused.

After less than an hour of recess, the three judges in the case declared Litchfield innocent of all charges. However, they said they believe the students at Dundee were abused, but the evidence and testimony presented did not prove that Lichfield ordered the abuses.

“We're happy that the law and the system actually worked,” Lichfield told The Tico Times after the trial, adding that he is still “very unhappy that things that have never been proven” were used to determine that abuse occurred at the camp, which he flatly denied.

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

As opponents of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) take to the streets in protest Feb. 26, observers from the Ombudsman's Office will pound the pavement alongside them to watch out human rights violations, announced Ombudswoman Lisbeth Quesada yesterday.

From their posts around the San José area, about 35 of these badge-wearing observers will be ready to accept formal complaints from citizens who feel they haven't been guaranteed their rights.

The Ombudsman's Office is concerned for both protestors and people going about their daily routines, Quesada explained. The observers will be checking to see that protestors have the rights of freedom expression, physical integrity and personal liberty, and they'll be making sure those who aren't protesting have the right to move about the city and use public services.

“One person's right to manifest without censure ends where it obstructs another's right to get to work,” Quesada said.

At the end of the day, her office will present a report as to how the protests fared human-rights wise. Regional Ombudsman's Office branches in the north-central town of San Carlos, the northwestern Guanacaste capital of Liberia, the Caribbean city of Limón and the Southern Zone city of Pérez Zeledón have also been instructed to receive complaints from citizens.

“We have legal instruments to denounce any violations of human rights with authorities,” Quesada said, explaining that while her office will not directly intervene in problems, it will hold the appropriate individuals or public institutions accountable.

Additionally, Quesada has met with Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal as well as prominent anti-CAFTA groups including the National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP) and the National Coordinator of the Fight Against CAFTA to explain the role her office will play.

Those gearing up to protest have assured that they'll do so peacefully, and Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias has said he has “no interest in aggression,” but that National Police will have to take action if protestors get violent (TT, Feb. 16).

The most recent anti-CAFTA march in October of last year was relatively calm despite students forming a blockade and smashing objects in the street near the University of Costa Rica (UCR) in San Pedro, east of San José (TT, Oct. 27, 2006).

The Central American airline TACA announced yesterday that as of April 15, it will offer direct flights from San José to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, according to TACA reservations agent Carlos Vargas.

The flights will leave San José Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and return from Santo Domingo Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, costing about $350 round trip, according to Vargas. They will be serviced by an Airbus 319 plane with capacity for 125 passengers.

This new flight is part of TACA's efforts to facilitate travel between Central America, South America and the Caribbean, according to TACA communications director Claudia Arenas.

The airline also plans to increase its flights between Costa Rica and Peru from seven to 10 flights weekly and add more flights to Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, she said.

TACA's Costa Rican president Fernando Naranjo said that with the San José-Santo Domingo route, the airline is targeting businessmen and women traveling between Central America and the Dominican Republic as well as tourists.

Dominican Ambassador to Costa Rica Adonaida Medina said the route will also open up the possibility for tourism packages that offer both “the sun and beaches of the Dominican Republic and the ecotourism of Costa Rica.”