20 Years Later... Central American Presidents (left to right) Elías Antonio Saca, of El Salvador; Oscar Arias, of Costa Rica; Oscar Berger, of Guatemala; and Martín Torrijos, of Panama, yesterday met in San José to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Esquipulas Peace Agreement that ended years of military conflict in the region.

The toy company Mattel has announced it is recalling certain toys made in China from Costa Rican stores because paint used in making them contains potentially dangerous levels of lead.

Two Community Meetings in Limón
Meeting of the Puerto Viejo Tourism Board, community members and the municipality to discuss fixing the road from Hone Creek to Puerto Viejo, 10 a.m., Bribrí Municipality. Also, Grupo ADELA will talk about concerns over petroleum drilling in the area, 1:30 p.m., ANAI, Home Creek. Info: 759-0191.

Pop and Jazz Concert
With the group Escats 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro. Info: 253-8933.

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

Five Central American Presidents met today at the National Auditorium inside the National Children's Museum in San José to commemorate the 20 th anniversary of a regional peace accord orchestrated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to end years of military conflict in Central America. All the original signers still alive except Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega attended the event, organized by the Costa Rican government and the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress.

The 1987 peace plan, signed in Guatemala City Aug. 7 by all Central American countries except Panama and Belize, called for national reconciliation, cessation of hostilities, amnesty decrees, free elections, democratization and assistance for refugees, among other things (TT, Aug. 14, 1987). Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in drafting the plan.  

“What could we do, in the end, five little nations in the 80s? We were only ants in a land of elephants, just pawns in the great chess game of the Earth,” Arias said at the summit. “The response, which for so many years seemed impossible, today is unquestionable: We could sit down at a table, look one another in the eyes, and talk among ourselves.”

The summit's other speakers included Presidents Manuel Zelaya, of Honduras; Óscar Berger, of Guatemala; Elías Antonio Saca, of El Salvador; and Martín Torrijos, of Panama. They celebrated past successes and identified present and future challenges for the region, such as drug trafficking, poverty and organized crime.

The Arias Foundation distributed a bulletin at the summit with recommendations to strengthen security, democracy and social and economic development in the region. The bulletin was a product of meetings organized by the foundation with government officials and leaders from Spain, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala from April to July this year.

Arias Foundation director Luis Alberto Cordero suggested the Central American Presidents meet again within four months to discuss the bulletin's recommendations.

“We wouldn't want our children and nephews to meet here in 20 or 40 years to commemorate what we did then (in 1987) and lament what we weren't able to do since,” Cordero said at the summit

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

More than 60 indigenous people came to the San José canton of Goicoechea this week, some making a long trek from their distant territories, to attend the first National Encounter of Indigenous Development Associations, sponsored by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the National Community Development Office (DINADECO).

During the two-day encounter, which ended yesterday, these representatives had a chance to discuss challenges facing Costa Rica's indigenous communities.

“It's important that the 24 indigenous territories unify,” to fight for more government resources, better education, land ownership and a voice in the country's environmental policies, said Jefrey Lacayo, 23, coordinator of the National Network of Indigenous Youth. He came from the north-central Maleku community of Guatuso.

Lacayo's group is trying to encourage the Costa Rican government to consult the indigenous more, particularly in matters concerning the environment.

The “Peace with Nature” initiative announced last month by President Oscar Arias unfortunately excluded the indigenous, he said.

“We know about the environment; we come from nature,” Lacayo said, adding that his group met yesterday with Environment Minister Roberto Dobles, who told him he would consider the young people's position and meet with them again in two weeks.

Another objective of this week's encounter was to encourage indigenous communities to form “guardianship committees” with three to five members who work to identify specific needs of their communities that could be aided through UNICEF and DINADECO programs, said UNICEF communications assistant Michael Martin.

Given the turnout at the event (representatives from 20 of the 24 communities attended), there seems to be a lot of interest in this initiative, he said.

According to the State of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Costa Rica, nine of 10 inhabitants of the country's indigenous territories live in poverty, and illiteracy in these regions is as high as 26.6%, significantly more than the national average of 4.8%, said a statement from UNICEF.

The toy company Mattel has announced it is recalling certain toys made in China from Costa Rican stores because paint used in making them contains potentially dangerous levels of lead.

This paint was used in popular plastic dolls of Dora the Explorer and Elmo and other Sesame Street characters.

Marcial Vargas, Mattel's Costa Rica representative, explained in a press conference yesterday that of the 4,900 toys that entered the country, 1,200 were distributed to stores; the rest are being stored in the company's warehouses.

The Economy Ministry has ordered the 38 official distributors of these toys, which were fabricated from April 19 to July 6, to recall them from the market and give clients refunds. The company is unsure how many of them were sold during the several months they were on sale.

Vice-Minister Jorge Woodbridge said “we are trying to recall these products from the market quickly to avoid damage to children's health,” since lead can be toxic in large quantities.

Mattel's Fisher Price division announced a recall of almost one million of these toys from U.S. markets July 31 upon finding that the paint used contained high levels of lead.