An indigenous 14-year-old girl who suffered a gunshot wound Sunday was evacuated by plane from her isolated community in the southern Caribbean and remains in stable condition at a clinic in nearby Limón, according to a statement released by the Public Security Ministry.

French Cooking Seminar
Led by Chef Christoph Angermeier, Le Cordon Blue, today through Thursday, 7 p.m.; gala dinner, Friday, 7 p.m., Inter-American University, Heredia. Info: 211-1564.

“Ni Ni”
Dance performance by Taller Nacional de Danza, 7 p.m., Conservatorio El Barco, Barrio Escalante, San José. Info: 257-4867, 257-3017.

Several communities in the northwestern Guanacaste province were rocked by an earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale Saturday, according to the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) based at National University in Heredia, north of San José.

The earthquake occurred at 5:22 p.m. and originated nine kilometers northwest of Playa Sámara.

At 1:06 a.m. Friday, a magnitude 4.0 earthquake rattled the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica about 15 kilometers northwest of Puerto Armuelles, Panama.

The quake originated 40 kilometers below the surface of the Pacific Ocean and was reported felt in the coastal city of Golfito.

-Tico Times

Costa Rica Friday stepped up to the international plate in the battle against drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism by assuming a one-year stint heading the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).

This organization is made up of 30 states of the Caribbean Basin that have agreed to implement common measures to address these problems, according to the group's Web site. Its member countries include Aruba, Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

José Torres, Vice-Minister of the Presidency and Director of the Costa Rican Institute Against Drugs (ICD), will act as president of the organization, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

“Today we have the opportunity to continue … strengthening the organization, the fight against money laundering, drug trafficking and the financing of terrorism,” Torres said to a group of more than 150 representatives from countries around the region during the conclusion of a weeklong meeting of the group held outside San José. “More than an opportunity, it's a demand and denouncement that has its origin in the multiple threats to security and the destabilization of the democratic states in our region.”

He remarked on the need for better coordination among countries to understand and stop organized crime.

Among tasks ahead for the group this year are improving the region's response to criminal activity and achieving better cooperation among international organizations, the statement said.

-Tico Times

An indigenous 14-year-old girl who suffered a gunshot wound Sunday was evacuated by plane from her isolated community in the southern Caribbean and remains in stable condition at a clinic in nearby Limón, according to a statement released by the Public Security Ministry.

The girl's father was apparently handling a rifle when he accidentally shot her in the groin. Because of the complexity of the wound and the isolation of her community in Talamanca, police had to fly her to the closest medical center.

Her family members walked for four hours to a post where the Social Security System (Caja) solicited help by radio. She was treated at the Valle La Estrella Clinic in Limón.