Grooving for Guanacaste: Elsa Centeno and Feliz Amado yesterday danced to the music of marimbas during an early celebration of the 183 rd anniversary of Costa Rica's July 25 annexation of the Pacific Nicoya Peninsula. They traveled with their cultural group to San José from Liberia, the capital of the northwestern Guanacaste province, for this celebration at the National Culture Center (CENAC).

The ferry run by the Association of the Integral Development of Paquera (ADIP) is now making the aquatic journey across the Pacific Gulf of Nicoya between Puntarenas and Paquera with a scaled-down schedule for the low season, according to ADIP's Ileana Ugarde.

Free Film Showing
La línea de las estrellas, Chema Rodríguez (2006), 90 min., 6 p.m., Videoteca, Museum of Contemporary Arts and Design, National Culture Center (CENAC), Ave. 3/5, Calle 11/15, San José.

“The Magic Flute”
Opera by Mozart performed by the Butler Opera Center of University of Texas, today Thursday and Saturday, 7 p.m., National Auditorium, inside National Children's Museum, San José . Info: 222-7647.

By Blake Schmidt
Tico Times Staff | bschmidt@ticotimes.net

Authorities Saturday nabbed an Israeli man with a backpack full of Ecstasy pills in what was by far the biggest Ecstasy bust in Costa Rican history.

The 31-year-old Israeli was caught at Juan Santamaría International Airport, just outside San José, with a fake Mexican passport and at least 18,400 pills of the synthetic drug in his backpack -- more than all the Ecstasy seized in Costa Rica in the past seven years combined, Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal explained during a press conference yesterday.

The Isreali, identified by the last name Koren, had flown to Costa Rica from Spain. He was taken to the Alajuela Prosecutor's Office, northwest of San José, where he is being charged with international drug trafficking.

“We're very worried about this,” Berrocal said, adding that it appears the drugs were shipped to Costa Rica to be sold in the local market.

Berrocal said the drug, known as by the scientific name MDMA, was likely manufactured in labs in Europe. It's also known as the “love drug,” because it increases sexual energy, according to a statement from the ministry.

British financial giant HSBC, one of the biggest banks in the world, yesterday officially began operating in Costa Rica with high hopes of growing in the entire Central American region.

The bank purchased Grupo Banistmo, owner of Banco Banex, for $1.7 billion. As of yesterday, the Banex brand disappeared and was replaced by the HSBC logo.

HSBC Costa Rican general manager Sergio Ruiz said during a press conference yesterday that the London-based bank “came to Costa Rica to stay” and has “a long-term strategy to attract clients from all sectors of the market with diverse and new products.”

HSBC hopes to expand to open at least 100 new branches all over the country and add more employees to the 1,200 it inherited from BANEX. These workers will be trained in HSBC's high standards of customer service, said HSBC operations manager David Duncan.

Expanding throughout Central America and the Caribbean is key for the bank's growth since the region's economy offers “many more possibilities to financial service firms,” than mature markets such as Europe, Asia and North America, said HSBC assistant director of Central America and the Caribbean.

HSBC has more than 10,000 branches in 82 countries and almost 125 million clients.

-ACAN-EFE

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