FACING Justice: The trial of Juan Carlos Ledezma, accused of first-degree murder and arson in connection with the fire at Calderón Guardia Hospital in San José that killed 19 people on July 12, 2005, began this week. Yesterday, a Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) investigator testified against Ledezma, and on Monday, the father of one of the victims took the stand. See this Friday's print or electronic edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.

Musician Ulpiano Duarte was honored last night for his famous marimba sounds during a ceremony at the National Auditorium in San José, where he received this year's award from the Association to Composers and Musical Authors (ACAM).

Free Presentation of the Film ¡Bailar para Vivir!
Documentary about Mexican music, directed by Cordelia Dvorák, 7 p.m., Café Sala Calle 15, San José, Ave. 2, Calle 13/15.

Hermanos Roca Circus
Mechanical King Kong, dog show, clowns, magic, today and tomorrow, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m., 4 and 7 p.m., Zapote fairground. Info: 892-9097, 377-9097.

By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff | kstanley@ticotimes.net

Representatives from Costa Rican business chambers said yesterday that they're happy to publish information on campaign donations for the upcoming free-trade referendum – but only if the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) asks them to do so.

At a press conference held at the headquarters of the Union of Private-Sector Chambers and Associations (UCCAEP), which represents 42 private business chambers, representatives said the organization does not plan to open its books unless it receives an official request from the TSE.

“We're going to submit ourselves 100% to the rules the Tribunal establishes,” Union board member Franco Arturo Pacheco told reporters. Pacheco and others at the press conference called for the TSE to clarify whether organizations campaigning in preparation for September's planned referendum on the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) should publish the sources of their campaign donations.

This statement came on the heels of a letter to UCCAEP from union leaders last week, proposing an agreement between pro- and anti-CAFTA activists to make public their donation records. In the letter, addressed to UCCAEP as well as the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce, the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), and the pro-CAFTA lobbying group “Por Costa Rica,” union activists Albino Vargas and Fabio Chávez suggested a joint publication of records overseen by a group such as Transparency International.

That letter, in turn, was prompted by ongoing rumors that unions will accept donations from CAFTA opponents in Cuba and Venezuela to help persuade Costa Ricans to vote “no” on Sept. 23.

By Peter Krupa
Tico Times Staff | pkrupa@ticotimes.net

Zeta Group yesterday inaugurated construction of a free-zone in Cartago, east of San José, that it expects to attract close to $60 million in investment and create thousands of jobs.

This new free-zone, called Techno Park, is an expansion of the Cartago Industrial Park, and sits alongside garment manufacturers such as Hanes and Levi Straus. Techno Park seeks to attract call centers, technical support centers and other computer and communications businesses that focus on service, reflecting the economy's continuing move away from manufacturing investment in favor of service, vending, and assembly businesses, according to Zeta Group vice-president Cesar Zingone.

“The tendency of the country is toward more specialized labor,” Zingone said. “We're responding to that.”

Techno Park has already attracted $4 million in investment. Zeta Group expects the 15-hectare plot to host 25 companies, with a total of 100,000 square meters of building space, and eventually attract $60 million in investment.

The project will generate 5,000 jobs in the short term, Zingone said, and could employ 8,000 to 9,000 workers within five years, depending on the performance of the economy. Zeta Group's free-zones in Cartago, Alajuela, northwest of San José, and Heredia, north of San José, employ a combined 14,000 people.

President Oscar Arias was the keynote speaker at the Techno Park inauguration, and Cabinet members, lawmakers, and business chamber representatives also attended. Workers from the surrounding businesses crowded around the outskirts waving “ Sí TLC ” signs, turning the event into something of a rally for the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

“You all have jobs,” Arias, who later cut the ribbon for the new park, told the crowd as he made his pitch for the free-trade agreement. “The question is, where are your children going to find jobs?”

Musician Ulpiano Duarte was honored last night for his famous marimba sounds during a ceremony at the National Auditorium in San José, where he received this year's award from the Association to Composers and Musical Authors (ACAM).

President Oscar Arias bestowed Duarte with the Ricardo “RECA” Mora award in recognition of his lifelong dedication to music and for works composed from November 2005 to October 2006, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Duarte, from the northwestern province of Guanacaste, founded Marimba Diriá in 1969 and was declared National Marimba by an executive decree in 1974.

In 1975, he founded the country's first marimba school in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, and he later worked as a professor of music at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), the statement said.

Among his most popular works are “Nostalgia en la Pampa,” “Contra el Bramadero,” “Gotas de Lluvia,” “Santa Cruz de Fiesta” and “Canto a Mi Tierra.”

During his address, Arias remarked that Duarte and other well-known national musicians often become political figures.

“Like it or not,” musicians are becoming “more public figures, more influential, more capable of modifying reality by their words,” the President said.

“That's why tonight and every night I celebrate the fact that national composers make Costa Rican not only a country full of music, but also a country full of life, peace, tolerance and freedom,” he said.