British American Tobacco Caribbean and Central America (BATCCA) yesterday inaugurated a new $7.5 million office complex in Heredia, north of San José.

Carl Aldana Presentation on Creating Storyboards
5 p.m., Roberto Sasso Sasso Auditorium, Veritas University, Zapote, San José. Info: 234-9774.

Traditional Christmas Food Workshops
Making tamales, 6 p.m., Estudio Mucho Gusto, Barrio Dent, San José. Info: 234-0840, 234-0154.

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

President Oscar Arias announced yesterday he will host Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in San José Thursday in an effort to warm a frosty relationship. The Presidents will eat lunch together after a private meeting at the Foreign Ministry.

The meeting is part of an effort to restart the Bilateral Commission, a project started in the 1990s to create a permanent dialogue between the two nations to address issues of common interest. The commission was suspended in 1997 during an escalation of tensions over Costa Rica's right to navigate along the San Juan River, which creates a border between the two countries. The issue is now before the International Court of Justice in The Hague (TT, Aug. 24).

Other points of friction between the two leaders include Costa Rica's poor treatment of Nicaraguan immigrants and unwillingness to join institutions of regional integration such as the Central American Parliament.

This is the leaders' second meeting since they returned to their respective presidencies after their first terms in the late 1980s. Arias invited Ortega to Costa Rica during their first meeting in late August in Nicaragua. Ortega confirmed just yesterday that he would come, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Miguel Diaz

By Dave Sherwood
Tico Times Staff | dsherwood@ticotimes.net

Officials this week stripped Tamarindo, a northern Pacific coast community once revered by surfers and ocean lovers, of its Blue Flag ecological designation.

In August, water-quality tests conducted by the National Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) determined that some areas of the beach were more than 7,000 times over limits of fecal matter considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Darner Mora, director of AyA's water-testing lab, told the daily La Nación the community has done too little to correct the situation since the test results were first reported.

“If we don't tell the truth, they won't make the corrective measures,” he said.

According to the Blue Flag Web site, beaches must meet 29 criteria to be considered for this honor, including water quality, environmental management, education and services.

During the past month, officials from both the Public Health Ministry and AyA have made small steps toward correcting the situation, but a commitment to install a necessary sewage treatment plant, officials say, is still lacking.

To date, neither the Health Ministry nor the Municipality of Santa Cruz have placed signs on the beach warning swimmers and surfers of the contaminated water (TT, Nov. 16)

British American Tobacco Caribbean and Central America (BATCCA) yesterday inaugurated a new $7.5 million office complex in Heredia, north of San José.

The new headquarters, to be called BATCCA Park, will offer services to 31 countries in human resources, financial planning, accounting, distribution and corporate services. The company plans to employ about 200 people there.

“As of now, the country will be the heart of our operations; from here services will be exported that will generate more than 400 different processes for the Caribbean and Central American countries,” said Regional Director for Central America and the Caribbean Federico Jenkins.