SCANDALOUS Endeavors: Cate Blanchett plays a pottery teacher who gets herself into a sticky situation by sleeping with one of her students, played by Andrew Simpson in “Notes on a Scandal.” The film, also starring Judi Dench, debuts today at theaters around Costa Rica. See the Weekend section of today's Tico Times for more information.

The recent detention of a small Costa Rican fishing boat by Nicaraguan authorities Tuesday has fed the fires of ill will between these neighboring nations.

Expoempleo Job Fair
Today through Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., San José Palacio Hotel, La Uruca, San José. Info: 520-0070, www.expoempleo.net

“Dames and Dudes”
“A musical revue on the Barú,” in English, today through Sunday and April 19-21, 7 p.m., Villas Río Mar conference Center, Playa Dominical, Southern Zone. Info: 787-8250, 398-0915.

“Romeo and Juliet” Dance Show
Contemporary, hip-hop and popular dance, 7 p.m., Liceo de Atenas gymnasium, northwest of San José. Info: 440-5012. Also April 17, 18 and 20, 6:30 p.m.., Universidad Católica gymnasium, 240-7277, ext. 152, 153.

Roberto Aguilar and the Neotics in Concert
Neo-soul, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, east of San José.

Italian Cultural Night
Pasta-making demonstration and six-course Italian meal, 1 p.m., Big Mike's, Escazú, west of San José. Reservations required, 289-6087.

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

Costa Rica now has a specialized Border Police force trained to combat drug trafficking, human trafficking and the entrance of illegal immigrants along the country's northern and southern borders, according to Public Security Ministry spokesman Jesús Ureña.

During a ceremony yesterday at Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela, northwest of San José, Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal announced this new effort and received vehicles donated by the the Spanish Civil Guard Foundation including 18 Land Rovers, two pickup trucks and three vans.

The 1,589 officers who will make up the Border Police force had already been working with the National Police, and they now have specialized training to help them in their work in areas including along the San Juan River in the north, and the southern areas of Corredores, Coto Brus and Sixaola.

“They'll continue to work on all areas of public security, but they have a new boss and new resources,” Ureña explained. Berrocal named experienced officials José Fabio Pizarro and Gary Eubanks as Border Police director and assistant-director, respectively.

“It is an inalienable right and a constitutional obligation to preserve our national sovereignty,” he said.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) is striving for all power lines and telephone cables in San José to be moved underground by next year,

according to a statement from this state-run electricity and telecommunications monopoly.

Workers began this $8 million project in 2002 with the goal of creating a 3.2 kilometer network of copper and fiber-optic cables to “eliminate visual contamination that the current aerial stringing of cables creates and pave the way for a more beautiful city,” the statement said.

The National Power and Light Company (CNFL) invested $52.5 million in the first part of this project, which involved preparations for installing the underground cables.

The area at hand spans from Ave. 20, on the south side of downtown, to Río Torres on the north side, and from the area near Cine Magaly, on the east side, west to the National Children's Hospital.

Workers are visiting each home and business in this area to remove existing cables and posts and connect to the subterranean network, the statement said.

Much of the work in the center of the city has been completed, and workers are moving on to the southern San José neighborhoods of Barrio Mexico, Barrio Aranjuez, Barrio Luján and Barrio Los Angeles.

In addition to reducing wire clutter, this system offers more security, better continuity in service and lower maintenance costs, the statement said.

Copper and fiber-optic cables can transmit multiple types of voice and data messages and are ideal for meeting the diverse needs of the area, which has banks, residences, offices and large and small businesses.

If all goes well, ICE hopes to implement the project in other provinces such as Alajuela, to the northwest, the statement said.

-Tico Times

The recent detention of a small Costa Rican fishing boat by Nicaraguan authorities Tuesday has fed the fires of ill will between these neighboring nations.

Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno yesterday expressed his “energetic protest” against Nicaragua's detention of a boat named “El Privilegio” Tuesday in what he said are Costa Rican waters.

Nicaraguan authorities claimed this small fishing boat with six people aboard, among them two children and two U.S. citizens, entered Nicaraguan waters illegally, the statement said.

The passengers were freed at the border town of Peñas Blancas, but the ship remains in the hands of the Nicaraguan military, the daily La Nación reported.

Stagno called Nicaragua seizing the boat a “serious violation” of Costa Rica's sovereignty in a letter he sent Wednesday to Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos. Information indicates the boat was clearly in Costa Rican waters, he said.

Stagno said this “illegitimate act by Nicaraguan military authorities” as well as recent comments made by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accusing Costa Rica of seizing Nicaragua's Caribbean waters “are attitudes that go up against the historic ties of friendship and brotherhood between both countries,” Stagno said, calling for the immediate return of the detained boat and a guarantee that such an act is not repeated.