Little Drummer Boy: Jeilot Fallas yesterday practiced with the Calle Mesén School band to prepare for the annual band contest in Tres Ríos, east of San José, in honor of Costa Rican Independence Day Saturday. See the Weekend section of today's print or electronic edition of The Tico Times for more information on Independence Day events.

A U.S. citizen living and working as a real estate agent in the central Pacific was arrested Wednesday and faces deportation to the United States, where he is accused of drug trafficking, according to a statement released yesterday by the international police agency Interpol.

Macbeth
Shakespeare's classic presented by England's TNT theater group, tonight and tomorrow, 8 p.m., National Theater, San José, Ave. 2/Ctrl., Calle 3/5. Info: 277-1600, info@cafebritt.com, www.brittespressivo.com

Singing of the National Anthem and Lantern Parades
6 p.m., all schools and major parks around the country.

Independence Day Parades
With high school bands, cheerleaders and flags, starting at about 9:30 a.m. on the main streets of major towns and cities.

Tamarindo Independence Day Celebration
Second Annual Potluck Picnic to celebrate Costa Rica's Independence Day, bring something to eat and share, 10 a.m., Plaza de la Independencia, Tamarindo. 

Ñato Fund Dog Adoption
10 a.m.-1 p.m., Parque la Paz, east of San José. Also Sunday at Sabana Park, west of San José, 9:30 a.m.-noon. Info: 267-6011 or 382-5163.

“How To Stop Domestic Violence” Workshop
With attorney Lucett Walter-Thomas, 2-5 p.m., Hotel Balmoral, San José, Calle 7/9. Info: 371-8472.

“Aquá: Colores y Fantasía”
Circus show by Cirko Vivo, with music, theater and dance, also Sept. 23 and 30, 11 a.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center, Barrio Dent, San José.

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

Citizen Action Party (PAC) legislator Sadie Bravo announced yesterday that she will resign from the Legislative Assembly to help her daughter, who lives in the United States and will give birth late next month.

She will step down Oct. 7, the day Costa Ricans will vote on the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA) in a national referendum.

“Doña Sadie has impeccable ethics,” said PAC faction head Elizabeth Fonseca, who thanked her on the assembly floor today for her 16-month service. “All of us who are mothers can understand this situation that she is living.”

Bravo said she was resigning – instead of requesting a leave of absence – because she did not want to leave her post vacant, even for a few weeks.

Her replacement is Patricia Romero, a 45-year-old lawyer from San Carlos, in north-central Costa Rica.

“I knew I was on the list (of potential legislators), but I never imagined it would be something so fast,” Romero said. “I think that economically, I am going to lose. But as a Costa Rican citizen, I'll win.”

Bravo, who is president of the Special Commission on Science and Technology, rejected suggestions that she was leaving because of differences with other party members. She said she wanted to help take care of her 1-year-old grandchild while her daughter gives birth to a second child. Bravo has offered to be an honorary advisor to PAC after she returns from the United States.

Legislative president Francisco Pacheco, of the National Liberation Party (PLN), thanked Bravo for her service. “I admire you,” he said. “At times, for obvious reasons, we have had differences, but I think they have been minimal.”

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

“We have rights! We have rights!” These shouts merged with the honking of bustling traffic along San José's Paseo Colón yesterday morning as children with disabilities and their parents protested outside the Ministry of Education to demand improvements to their school in the western suburb of Santa Ana.

The Santa Ana Special Learning Center, a public school, has about 120 students with various special needs, explained Kattia Mesén, the mother of an 11-year-old girl who suffers from an illness that has left her wheelchair-bound. The school is not fully equipped to meet these children's needs, and a group of parents are lobbying for improvements such as a roof over the walkway between buildings, a playground and additional classrooms.

The parents have raised money to do some of these projects themselves, but the Public Health Ministry, which owns the school property, has denied them permission to go ahead, Mesén said.

“We have a right to be heard, and our children have the right to a fair education,” she said, explaining that the parents' group is asking the Public Education Ministry to coordinate with the Health Ministry to reach some kind of agreement that would allow improvements to be made.

“We're not asking that everything be given to us to create adequate conditions. We've even done everything we can to come up with our own resources, but we can't use them because we aren't authorized,” she said.

Frustrated at the lack of response to letters they sent to the Education Ministry, the parents decided to go straight to the source yesterday. Pushing their children in wheelchairs, they held signs stating their cause and chanted up to the ministry's offices.

Two representatives from the group went up the stairs to meet with Education Ministry representatives who said they would look into the case but did not promise any immediate actions, Mesén said.

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