TALKING with a Technology Giant: Microsoft president Bill Gates is in Colombia this week hosting a forum for leaders of Latin American governments, and he was scheduled to meet with President Oscar Arias at 5 p.m. Arias previously told the press he planned to ask Gates for “technical support” for Costa Rica; stay tuned to today's Tico Times Daily News page for updates on their encounter.

Eight college students have left behind chilly winter weather to fly to San José for a different kind of Spring Break experience. Sure they'll enjoy the beach and some Imperial beers, but they'll also be debuting their new eclectic beats at a few of Costa Rica's top musical venues this week.

151 st Anniversary of the Battle of Santa Rosa
Concert at 3 p.m. with Marité Valenzuela, Rubén Pagura, Esteban Monge, Iván Pitti, Amigos Íntimos, Nito Man and Walter Quesada, followed by a parade downtown to the Legislative Assembly, Plaza 24, University of Costa Rica (UCR), San Pedro, east of San José.

Ensamble Bambú
Featuring Pilar Redondo (oboe); Yamileth Pérez (clarinet); Isabel Jeremías (basoon), free, 7 p.m., room 107, School of Music, University of Costa Rica (UCR), San Pedro.

By Blake Schmidt
Tico Times Staff | bschmidt@ticotimes.net

Two convicts who yesterday used a shank to take a state attorney hostage inside the prison in San Sebastián, a southwestern district of San José, got what they wished for.

As 30 anti-riot police secured the prison, negotiators spent the afternoon striking a deal with the two convicts, one of whom who is in prison serving a 42-year murder sentence.

Negotiators finally decided to give in to their demands: to be sent to prisons closer to their families in the Caribbean province of Limón and the Southern Zone area of Pérez Zeledón, according to Raul Rivera, director of the Police's Intervention Unit. The hostage, public attorney Mariela Romero, 36, wasn't injured in the incident.

Rivera said the two convicts, Nelson Ruiz and Martín Picado, would be sent to the prisons in those cities today.

“Mariela is free,” Vice-Minister of Justice Fernando Ferraro told a mob of reporters who gathered at 5:15 p.m. outside the prison, which is located next door to homes in this low-income part of San José.

Thirty armed police donning full riot gear and shields cordoned off the prison's entrance, and reporters watched as negotiators and Romero's husband arrived on scene. Ambulances waited outside as well, though they never had to be used.

Rivera said Romero was in a meeting with at least one of the convicts to discuss his case when she was taken hostage.

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

Immigration authorities yesterday lamented an overheated computer server that caused hours-long waits for tourists Saturday at Daniel Oduber International Airport in the northwestern Guanacaste capital of Liberia, while across the country at Juan Santamaría International Airport, outside San José, passengers stood in lines heading out the door.

Immigration's computer system went down at about noon Saturday, forcing passengers to wait up to an hour and a half under the hot summer sun, according to the daily La Nación. The computer crash also caused a chaotic traffic jam of planes waiting to land and take off as well as vehicles waiting to transport passengers from to and from the airport.

Immigration spokeswoman Heidy Bonilla said Immigration officials are working with the airport's administrators to move the server to an indoor space with air conditioning.

During the past 15 days, the server has been going down periodically, said the terminal's director Rosales Analive, explaining that neither Civil Aviation nor the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) have taken responsibility for badly needed improvements to the airport, such as additional space indoors for passengers to wait.

These “efforts should be taken up by all the agencies involved,” Analive told La Nación.

Meanwhile, The Tico Times yesterday morning received reports of lines leading up to the security check at Juan Santamaría snaking out the door and down the street while officials frantically offered passengers $400-$600 vouchers to take a later flight. Alterra Partners, the airport's administrator, had not returned phone calls about this situation by press time.

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