Stamping Out Carbon Emissions: A new program of the Tropical Science Center offers businesses and individuals the chance to buy stamps to fund the planting of trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and mitigate global warming.

The Tropical Science Center and the private organization Control Union Certifications (CUC) yesterday launched a stamp that will promote reforestation efforts to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming.

Free Concert
By the University of Costa Rica (UCR) Band, directed by Dr. Robert M. Gifford, from the U.S. state of Missouri, 7 p.m., National Auditorium, inside National Children's Museum, San José.

Bingo
Organized by the Diplomatic Ladies' Association, benefits go to Padre Caudelli shelter in Cristo Rey and cancer patients at the National Children's Hospital, 6:30 p.m., San José Palacio Hotel, La Uruca. Info: 296-7231, amelsa@amnet.co.cr.

By Tim Rogers
Nica Times Staff | trogers@ticotimes.net

GRANADA, Nicaragua – The Nicaraguan state prosecutor's office yesterday formally charged Granada resident Carlos Alberto Aguilar, 21, with the murder of U.S. citizen Lemon Grove, who was brutally attacked in her sleep around 2:30 a.m. May 25.

Grove, 49, died Sunday morning in Managua's Lenín Fonseca Hospital from serious head wounds suffered during the attack. She had been in a coma since police found her on the floor next to her bed.

Aguilar, a known drug user with a previous criminal record for violent assault, turned himself in to police May 26, at the behest of his mother. He said he had acted alone and that the motive of the late night break-in was to steal money to buy drugs.

Aguilar, who is believed to have snuck into Grove's home over the back wall to the patio, said he attacked her after she woke up to her dog barking at the intruder. He reportedly pushed her off the bed and dropped a heavy flowerpot on her head.

Grove, who lived alone, suffered a fractured skull and multiple other broken bones and contusions.

A dozen suspects were arrested by police in the hours following the crime during a massive police dragnet that included investigators from Managua. Following yesterday's charges filed against Aguilar, the other suspects were all released, according to police spokeswoman Marta Alemán.

The horrific nature of the crime has startled and angered the community of Granada, which held a vigil for Grove Sunday evening in front of her home.

Many in the foreign community complain that Granada is in the midst of a growing crime wave that appears to be targeting foreigners more than in the past.

A Nica Times investigation of police statistics reveals that there is truth to that perception.

See this Friday's print or electronic edition of The Nica Times for more on this story.

About 130 radio stations in Costa Rica observed one minute of silence at 7:03 a.m. yesterday to protest the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's decision not to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV).

The station has long been an outlet for opposition parties, according to CNN's Web site. Chávez has accused RCTV of supporting the failed 2002 coup against him and violating broadcast laws. The 53-year-old station was scheduled to go off the air at midnight last night and be replaced a state-run station.

Costa Rica's National Radio Chamber (CANARA) organized the moment of silence, and all its member stations participated, as well as a few others, according to director Juan Sepúlveda.

The chamber considers Chávez's action “a threat against freedom of expression,” he said. Latin American governments should regulate broadcasts, but should do it “with tolerance in the political realm.”

The Costa Rican Institute for Press and Freedom of Expression (IPLEX) also expressed its “complete rejection” of the decision to close RCTV.

-ACAN-EFE

The Tropical Science Center and the private organization Control Union Certifications (CUC) yesterday launched a stamp that will promote reforestation efforts to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming.

The stamp, worth $60, will be offered to businesses and individuals who want to help make up for the damage to the atmosphere caused by vehicles and manufacturing, explained CUC representative Laura Lang during a press conference.

For each stamp sold, 11 native trees will be planted in areas around the country. They have the capacity to mitigate 5.5 tons of carbon dioxide, the average amount of this gas produced by a car in one year.

The program, which has been in the works for two years, seeks to allow business to be an example for citizens to follow in reducing carbon dioxide, Lang said.

Tropical Science Center director Enrique Ramírez said he hopes this initiative will contribute to the Environment and Energy Ministry's (MINAE) plans to make Costa Rica the first country in the world to achieve a “neutral” balance of carbon emissions in 2030.