A SPECIAL DRAWING: Deyanira Corrales yesterday sold tickets for a special lottery in honor of International Women's Day today. The San José Social Protection Council features a different cause in its lottery tickets each week; the Women's Day drawing will be held Sunday.

There is no shortage of events planned to honor Ticas in observance of International Women's Day today. Several businesses, government institutions and activists have something in the works.

Cooking with Lamb
An afternoon and evening of cooking with fresh lamb, 1 p.m., Big Mike's, Escazú, west of San José. Info: 289-6087.

V Festival de Arte Plástico Cartaginés
Including art sales, workshop for children, music, theater, dance, films and conferences, today through Sunday, La Casa de la Ciudad, Cartago, east of San José.

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

Contrary to earlier reports from Africa Mía, a wildlife park in the northwestern Guanacaste province, all of the animals that arrived there Tuesday from the United States are not well, tour director Diana Hernández told The Tico Times yesterday.

One of the reserve's six new giraffes died Tuesday afternoon because of stress it endured during the four-day journey from its previous home at a zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Africa Mía in the town of Bagaces, near Liberia.

The animal “was already in very serious condition when it got off the plane,” at Liberia's Daniel Oduber International Airport, Hernández said.

Along with 27 other animals including camels, zebras and several species of antelope, the giraffe left Cincinnati Friday and traveled by land to Miami, Florida, where their crates were loaded onto a 747 jet for Liberia.

“The problem was the transport and all the time they had to be in cages,” she said. “We had been told there could be losses.”

The other animals are all in good health and now roaming free around the 100 hectares of Africa Mía, a private park that opened in March 2006.

Luis Diego Marín, president of the Association for the Preservation of Wild Flora and Fauna (APREFLOFAS), called the giraffe's death “sad” but said he wasn't surprised.

“Zoos are always going to have these kinds of problems. That's why we don't approve of keeping wild animals out of their native habitats,” Marín said, adding that Africa Mía is a “great zoo” compared to Simón Bolívar National Zoo in San José, which APREFLOFAS has repeatedly denounced for what it calls unfit conditions and high rate of animal deaths (TT, Jan. 28, 2005).

“Obviously, transporting an animal like a giraffe is very complicated, and this will happen more if they (Africa Mía) bring more animals here,” he said.

Nevertheless, Marín said his group does not plan to speak out or take legal action against Africa Mía because the reserve obtained all the permits necessary from the Ministry of Energy and Environment (MINAE).

A U.S. citizen accused of child abuse identified as David Johnathan Barrett was arrested yesterday near an Internet café in Alajuela, northwest of San José, according to a statement from International Police (INTERPOL).

Barrett is being investigated for child abuse allegedly committed during 2005-2006 while he served as the leader of a religious group called “The House of Living Waters” in the U.S. state of Georgia. He allegedly used his authority to befriend a 14-year-old girl and have sex with her. Additional charges of child abuse have also been filed against him.

A Georgia judge issued a warrant for Barrett's arrest in December 2006, after he fled the country, the statement said.

During his stay in Costa Rica, Barrett lived in at least four different Alajuela homes, spending three months in each one, according to the statement. A San José judge is processing his extradition.

-Tico Times

There is no shortage of events planned to honor Ticas in observance of International Women's Day today. Several businesses, government institutions and activists have something in the works.

The National Institute for Women (INAMU) will take over the National Culture Center (CENAC) for a day of activities including the announcement of this year's winner of the Angela Acuña Braun National Prize, given to a journalist who explores gender issues in his or her work, as well as the announcement of women nominated for the institute's Women's Gallery.

Additionally, Correos de Costa Rica S.A. will present new stamps to commemorate March 8. A fair with women artisans, publishers and leaders will be held in nearby Parque España in the afternoon, followed by presentation of the National Gender Equality Policy (PNIEG). President Oscar Arias will present the results of this new policy, which aims to combat gender inequality over the next 10 years.

A concert at CENAC's amphitheatre with singer Miriam Jarquín and the group Blues Latino is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Together with the beauty appliances company Remington, the Costa Rican Cancer Institute (ICCC) will hold a press conference at the institute to give the latest statistics about cancer rates in Costa Rica and the early detection of breast cancer.

Plants and natural medicines grown by women, as well as artwork and traditional foods, will be for sale at a fair sponsored by the Agriculture Ministry (MAG) at its grounds in La Sabana, west of San José, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Finally, at least one group has put a political spin on International Women's Day. The conservation group YISKI sent a letter to women legislators asking them to vote against the controversial Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

CAFTA represents “the total ceding of our sovereignty, our natural resources with their medicines, our water, protected forest areas... it would be a declaration of an invasion by the United States,” reads the letter, signed by YISKI member María Elena Fournier.

She asks the legislators to celebrate International Women's Day “as women, as daughters of Mother Earth” by voting against CAFTA.