Bringing Home the Eggs: Community members in the northwestern beach town of Ostional yesterday collected olive ridley sea turtle eggs, as they do every year during the arribada , or arrival, of these female turtles. Through a unique program, members of the community take a portion of eggs each arribada and commercialize them. In turn, they care for the beaches and the turtles.

Costa Rican prosecutor Guiselle Rivera yesterday asked requested a 5 1 2 -year prison sentence for a priest and a businessman accused of being involved in orchestrating the murder of Colombian-born journalist Parmenio Medina in Costa Rica in 2001.

14 th International Guitar Festival
Featuring David Russell, from Scotland, 8 p.m., National Theater, San José. Info: www.guitarracostarica.com.

Film Festival: Click/Play Audiovisual and Photography Aesthetics
Screening of “El Hombre de la Cámara ” (former Soviet Union, 1929, 80 min.), 6 p.m., Contemporary Art and Design Museum.

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

National Liberation Party (PLN) legislator Fernando Sánchez resigned yesterday from two legislative commissions over a controversial memo he wrote to President Oscar Arias. Sánchez was president of the two commissions – the Electoral Reform Commission and the Commission on the Development Bank Law.

The memo, co-written by Second Vice-President Kevin Casas, suggested questionable and potentially illegal tactics in the government's campaign for the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA). On Saturday, Casas announced his resignation from his posts as Vice-President and Planning Minister.

Liberation faction head Mayí Antillón said the party was “satisfied” that Sánchez was taking this “important” step. The fraction must now choose a new legislator to serve on the commissions, which must elect new presidents.

“Let's now turn the page and leave this memorandum behind,” she said. “We must close this chapter and focus on what is really important – the 15 days we have to put CAFTA in its proper light.”

The country is nearly evenly divided between pro- and anti-CAFTA voters, according to a poll conducted by Unimer and published yesterday by the daily La Nación. Conducted the week of Sept. 12, the poll found that 49.1% of respondents said they would vote for CAFTA and 46.3% would vote against the treaty.

“We have seen the results of the poll,” said Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, who is the President's brother. “I think in politics you have to be realistic, and the memorandum has had a negative impact on pro-CAFTA sentiment.”

Heavy rains Saturday caused a landslide in the Southern Zone community of Las Vegas de Laurel de Corredores, according to a statement from the National Emergency Commission (CNE), which Sunday flew over this area to assess damages.

The loose Loose ground dirt thr e eatened to crush the homes of seven indigenous families in the communities of Las Vegas and Santa Rosa and blocked Río Vaca, causing water to accumulate, according to a statement from the commission.

The CNE has asked t T he Mixed Institute for Social Aid (IMAS) has been asked for help relocating th ese families em to higher ground away from the riverbed.

The commission yesterday lifted alerts around the country in light of after the storm that passed over hit Costa Rica during the weekend moving on blew over. Its heavy rains left structural damage in the northwestern Guanacaste province and left 623 people evacuated to shelters there.

The Central Valley areas cantons of Desamparados, Aserrí and Alajuelita were also hit hard by floods, which forced several families to seek shelter. in these areas.

The commission estimates a total 556 houses were affected damaged by bad weather over the weekend in the se three cantons cantons of Aserrí, Alajuelita and Desamparados alone, 66 of which were destroyed completely, the statement said.

-Tico Times

Costa Rican prosecutor Guiselle Rivera yesterday asked requested a 5 1 2 -year prison sentence for a priest and a businessman accused of being involved in orchestrating the murder of Colombian-born journalist Parmenio Medina in Costa Rica in 2001.

During her final arguments, Rivera said priest Minor Calvo and businessman Omar Chávez committed conspiracy, fraud and first-degree murder, and that these crimes should earn him them each 51 years in prison prison.

Medina, a Colombian-born Costa Rican journalist, produced a series of investigative reports on the now-defunct, but then-widely popular, Catholic radio station Radio Maria exposing a series of financial irregularities (TT, Jan. 9, 2004). Medina received repeated death threats as a result of his

reports, and was shot three times in the head and torso at point blank as he arrived home July 7, 2001 ( TT, July 13, 2001).

The trial in this case began at the end of 2005 and is expected to enter the concluding stages this week.

Seve r n other men are accused in the case, and the prosecutor requested prison sentences for all of them. The defense must now give its closing arguments in this trial, which began at the end of 2005 and is expected to wrap up in the next few weeks.

In Medina 's last radio show, he discussed “La Patada” show was about suspicious movement of funds from the financial activity at the Catholic radio station Radio María, which was run by Calvo and bought with the help of Chávez.