Jazzy Jams: Musicians from the Julliard School of Music in New York are among those slated to perform at the Costa Rican International Jazz Festival, which runs through Sunday. They perform tonight at 8 p.m. at Dionisio Theater in San José; see the Calendar section of this Friday's print or electronic edition of The Tico Times for additional performance times and locations.

American Airlines plans to add a daily round-trip flight from the U.S. city of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Juan Santamaría International Airport, just outside San José, starting Dec. 13, according to a statement posted on the airline's Web site.

Celebration of the 183rd Anniversary of the Annexation of Guanacaste
Including a horse parade, theater, dance shows, 7:30 a.m., main park of Liberia, Guanacaste. Info: 665-2996.

Facundo Cabral in Concert
Trova, today and tomorrow, 8 p.m., Melico Salazar Theater, San José, Ave. 2, Calle Ctrl. Info: 223-1086, 223-1960.

Screening/Forum on the movie “Pink Floyd The Wall”
With anthropologist Juan Antonio Revilla, 6:30 p.m., free, CEDAL, San José. Info: 253-9062.

By Gillian Gillers
Tico Times Staff | ggillers@ticotimes.net

Leaders of the movement against the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) spoke to about 200 people yesterday outside the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) in San José.

“They will never silence... the state universities nor the rectors opposed to the ratification of this free-trade treaty,” said Eugenio Trejos, a leader of the anti-CAFTA movement and rector of the Technology Institute of Costa Rica (TEC).

He was referring to a recent resolution by the Supreme Elections Tribunal that limits the ability of public officials – including university officials – to use public resources in CAFTA campaigns as the country prepares for a referendum on the agreement Oct. 7.

Rolando Araya, a former presidential candidate from the National Liberation Party (PLN), also criticized the resolution. “In Latin America, the university is the symbol of the front against dictatorship and oppression,” he said. “It seems a lie, and it is ironic, that the Supreme Elections Tribunal…is violating university autonomy.”

Responding to a request for clarification from the Association of Law Students at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), elections officials ruled July 12 that university officials cannot campaign for or against CAFTA during work hours unless they seek their bosses' permission.

The Tribunal further said that UCR, as a state organization, can hold only informational – not propagandistic – conferences on CAFTA in its auditoriums.

Dozens of students and staff from the National University in Heredia, north of San José, as well as area high schools, protested the Tribunal's resolution today in that city, blocking a street outside the campus for about two hours.

Back at the Tribunal, the crowd clapped, cheered, chanted and sang as they held up protest signs and umbrellas for protection from the sun.

Trejos challenged President Oscar Arias to a one-on-one debate. He claimed a powerful ally. “God is with us because God is on the side of the people,” he said.

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

More work is needed to make sure the Immigration Law being studied by the Legislative Assembly's Governance Commission protects human rights, argued Interim Ombudsman Daniel Soley yesterday before the commission.

Soley listed several points his office finds problematic about the law and suggested actions to correct them, including giving government offices more power to detect and prevent “marriages of convenience,” or those orchestrated solely for one partner to gain residency here, according to a statement from the Ombudsman's Office.

He also mentioned the law's failure to take into account Costa Ricans who migrate abroad. The government is responsible for “generating conditions and options necessary so that the national population is not obligated to migrate in search of better living conditions to satisfy their needs,” the statement said.

Additionally, better norms should be established to ensure alleged illegal immigrants being detained here are guaranteed their basic human rights including access to food, safety and health services, Soley argued.

He also touched on the need to improve the process through which refugee status is granted and better protect migrants who have been the victims of human trafficking.

The Governance Commission is studying the Immigration Law, which was approved in 2005 during the administration of President Abel Pacheco, with a clause stating the government had eight months to prepare before it took effect (TT, Sept, 8, 2006).

Upon taking office in May of last year, President Oscar Arias and his officials attempted to postpone the law, but the Legislative Assembly did not approve the delay bill in time.

Instead, Arias created a technical team to study and propose reforms, a process which culminated last month when Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal and Immigration Director Mario Zamora presented the commission with 60 reforms to the Immigration Law that aim to guarantee the respect of human rights and allow immigrants greater participation in Costa Rican society.

The suggestions made yesterday by Soley are supplemental to the suggested reforms drafted by this technical team, of which his colleague Ombudswoman Lisbeth Quesada was part, explained Ombudsman's Office spokesman Ahmed Tabash.

“We hope the commission takes these recommendations into consideration when they propose reforms to the law,” he said.

American Airlines plans to add a daily round-trip flight from the U.S. city of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Juan Santamaría International Airport, just outside San José, starting Dec. 13, according to a statement posted on the airline's Web site.

“We continue to see increased demand for service from Fort Lauderdale to Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Henry Joyner, American's senior vice-president. “These new flights... will help us provide the service our customers are asking for.”

The flight is tentatively scheduled to leave Ft. Lauderdale every day at 2:30 p.m. and arrive to Juan Santamaría at 4:20 p.m. and return to Ft. Lauderdale from Costa Rica leaving at 5:25 p.m. and arriving at 9:15 p.m., the statement said.

The flights will be serviced by a 148-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft.