Hitting the Pavement: In honor of World Environment Day yesterday, the campus of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) in the eastern suburb of San Pedro was closed to vehicles from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., leaving students and employees to find alternative forms of transportation.

The Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) is asking citizens to let officials know about broken or improperly functioning traffic lights.

Literature Appreciation Seminar
With works by Carlos Salazar Herrera and Jorge Debravo, led by Oscar Montanaro, Wednesdays, today through June 27, 5 p.m., José Figueres Ferrer Cultural Center, San Ramón, Alajuela. Info: 447-2178.

Free Film Screening “La Película del Rey”
Directed by Argentinean Carlos Sorín, Goya Award-winning movie about a film maker, 7 p.m., Café Sala Calle 15, San José, Ave. 2, Calle 13/15.

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

The Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) announced yesterday that it is postponing a nationwide referendum on the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) from Sept. 23 to Oct. 7 as a high court examines whether the assembly violated its procedures in its handling of legislation related to the pact.

Should the justices of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) find errors in the procedure, the Tribunal would have to call off the referendum, according to TSE interim president Luis Antonio Sobrado.

“It's an unexpected circumstance… one that couldn't have been evaluated in advance,” he told reporters yesterday afternoon.

The cause of that circumstance: a request for a constitutional consulta filed by a group of legislators from the Citizen Action Party (PAC), which leads the fight against the trade pact, and other factions. The Sala IV announced June 1 that it would accept the legislators' request, combining it with a previous request for constitutional review of CAFTA from Ombudswoman Lisbeth Quesada; the court is expected to respond to both consultations by July 5.

The seven justices' opinion on whether CAFTA itself violates the Constitution will not be binding, and a referendum could continue even if they find against the pact, Sobrado explained. However, the legislators' case against the pact, unlike Quesada's earlier consultation, alleges procedural errors by the Legislative Assembly in handling referendum-related legislation – and Sala IV pronouncements on procedure are binding. Should the justices uphold those allegations, all bets are off.

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

The loud and strong words of Broad Front legislator José Merino rang out yesterday in San José's Parque Central, shortly after bongo drums and juggling drew attention to this central square. Bloque Verde, an environmental group that opposes the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), provided this entertainment to accompany Merino's message.

“There's no environment for CAFTA, and there's no environment for pirates and thieves who want to steal our resources,” said Merino, one of the featured speakers at a rally organized by the Citizen Action Party (PAC), Merino and the Costa Rican Federation for Environmental Conservation (FECON), an umbrella group for more than 30 environmental groups around the country.

PAC legislator Grettel Ortiz echoed Merino, expressing concern over how President Oscar Arias' government has handled environmental matters since he took office in May 2006. PAC yesterday submitted a letter to Arias and Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles urging them to declare a “National Environmental Emergency,” Ortiz explained.

The letter spells out several actions PAC is asking the government to take, including creating a national board to coordinate environmental matters, prioritizing bills including the Forestry Law and the Water Law and placing a moratorium on concessions for development mega-projects in the northwestern Guanacaste province.

“Construction is being started on many of these projects without the proper environmental permits,” Ortiz told The Tico Times.

A group of residents from the Caribbean-slope town of Guácimo also joined the rally, calling for no further expansion of pineapple farming, which they say hurts smaller scale crops such as plantains and casava as pineapple farms strain water supplies, she said.

Across the Central Valley in Heredia, Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias and Dobles held a ceremony during which Dobles announced a national tree-planting campaign.

The focus of this event sparked criticism from Merino, who said “planting trees is not enough.”

The Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) is asking citizens to let officials know about broken or improperly functioning traffic lights.

Those who see problems with traffic lights anywhere in the country can call 523-2753 to report them, and intersections that appear to be missing traffic lights can be reported by calling 523-2023, according to a statement from the ministry. Both of these numbers are available from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Additionally, those who witness acts of vandalism or theft of traffic lights and signs can report them to the police at 911.