Wheel Chair Donations: Casa Presidencial's Social Aid Office, the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the Rotary Club of the eastern suburb of San Pedro and the Foundation for Development of the National Children's Hospital yesterday signed a convention called “Forging Hope” aimed at better distributing wheelchairs to those who need them in Costa Rica. Here, President Oscar Arias gives a wheelchair to Hilary Delgado, 4.

The Spanish company Liberty Seguros has designated 48,430 euros ($65,000) to plant 240,000 trees in Costa Rica, the company's president Luis Bonell announced yesterday.

6th International Poetry Festival Costa Rica
7 p.m., presentation by Argentine poet Juan Gelman; May 24, 6 p.m., poetry reading by Gelman and national poets; May 25, 7 p.m., closing ceremony, Mexico Institute, San José, Calle 41, Ave. 10. Info: 845-1753.

“Birth without Borders” Midwifery Conference
Organized by Midwifery Today, with international experts, workshops, classes. Topics include holistic birth, postpartum care, massage, water birth, natural remedies, today through Sunday, State University at a Distance (UNED), Sabanilla, east of San José. Info: 359-1881, www.midwiferytoday.com.

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

About 115% more cases of dengue have sprung up so far this year compared to the same period last year, leaving one Costa Rican family to mourn the loss of a baby who died from the hemorrhagic form of this mosquito-transmitted disease.

Isaac Alonso Montenegro, one year and six months old, died April 19 at the National Children's Hospital in San José after being transferred there from his Southern Zone home of Paso Canoas, according to the daily La Nación.

Public Health Minister María Luisa Avila reported Friday that a lab test of his tissue sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S. city of Atlanta confirmed dengue as his cause of death.

According to statistics the ministry provided The Tico Times yesterday, 4,808 cases of dengue have been registered from the beginning of this year to May 19, 115% more than the 2,239 cases recorded during the same period last year. About 40 cases of potentially deadly hemorrhagic dengue have been recorded, La Nación reported.

Coastal regions are the areas hardest hit by dengue, according to Teresita Solano, the ministry's director of epidemic vigilance.

There are “many factors” that have contributed to this increase in cases over last year, including heavier than usual rains at the beginning of this rainy season and residents failing to clean up mosquito-breeding containers with standing water, she said.

“We have to work hard to avoid there being a greater increase in cases,” Solano said, explaining that the ministry is focusing its anti-dengue efforts on educating the public about how to prevent this disease from spreading. It is also fumigating a few high-risk areas, although it sees large-scale fumigation as the “last alternative,” to combating the disease.

“The most important thing is that people clean up the areas around their homes and their communities,” she said. Preventing dengue is “as much citizens' job as it is the ministry's.”

A fishing boat carrying one metric ton of cocaine was seized by police and four fishermen were arrested Monday off the southern Pacific coast, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

The four arrested were identified by the last names Medina, Guzmán, Matarrita and Mora.

The boat, named the “Argery,” was carrying 50 20-kilo packets of cocaine. It was intercepted 10 nautical miles from Punta Llorona near Corcovado National Park.

Officials aboard a U.S. Coast Guard boat, together with Costa Rican Coast Guard and Drug-Control Police officials, stopped it during a joint patrol.

The boat was expected to be brought to the Pacific port of Golfito by yesterday afternoon, the statement said.

-ACAN-EFE

The Spanish company Liberty Seguros has designated 48,430 euros ($65,000) to plant 240,000 trees in Costa Rica, the company's president Luis Bonell announced yesterday.

These trees, to cover 1,800 hectares of forestlands, are expected to absorb 37,600 tons of carbon dioxide per year in Costa Rica.

Liberty Seguros, an insurance company, emitted an estimated 4,843 tons of carbon dioxide in Spain in 2005 through energy consumption at its offices.

The company hopes to be able to make up damage caused by carbon dioxide emissions through planting trees in Costa Rica and also reduce its energy consumption by 6% during 2007.

Ecology and Development Foundation director Víctor Viñuales, who is working on this project together with the Nature Foundation, said this initiative is “an example to imitate” in the fight against global warming.

Viñuales said citizens, businesses and countries should make “the economic effort” to combat global warming while it's still possible.