About 500 prisoners yesterday went on a hunger strike at one of Costa Rica's largest prisons, La Reforma Penitentiary.

Unpublished Writers' Festival
Talks, conferences, poetry readings, concerts, today through Friday, José Figueres Ferrer Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante, San José, and Chilean Cultural Center, Los Yoses, San José. Info: 360-0342, 235-1045.

December Workshops for Kids Ages 3-11
Featuring Safari; Uncle Luis' Farm, tomorrow; Nature Detectives, Friday; Learning How to Plant, Dec. 12; Bugs, Dec. 13; Learning about Plants and Animals of the Forest, Dec. 14; all at 9 a.m.-noon, INBioparque, Santo Domingo, Heredia. Info: 507-8107, 507-8116.

Christmas Book Fair
With a variety of Costa Rican and foreign books, today through Sunday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Ave. 4, Calle 5/7.

Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal met yesterday morning with a top U.S. narcotics official on Tico turf this time, picking up where Berrocal left off after his recent visit to the United States early last month.

Yesterday in San José, the mission was the same: work toward stronger joint Coast Guard operations, particularly to curb drug trafficking and organized crime.

Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, commander of the Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West, Florida, thanked the Costa Rican public security chief for the Central American nation's help in cracking down on the narcotics trade, said a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

The pat on the back could not come at a more opportune time, in light of Sunday's at-sea cocaine bust, the biggest this year.

In the past 16 months, the government has nabbed 60 metric tons of cocaine, an unprecedented figure by Latin American standards.

Berrocal urged Nimmich for greater U.S. cooperation in clamping down on narcotics, not just at sea, but also domestically, in school yards and on street corners, the statement said.

The meeting also touched on a three-year plan U.S. President George W. Bush sent to Congress that would invest millions of dollars to fight drug cartels in Mexico and Central America.

-Tico Times

Heredia, north of San José, will soon have its much-awaited cultural center, thanks to President Oscar Arias' signing a law to create the Omar Dengo Cultural Center of Heredia.

Joining local authorities and artists from throughout the Heredia province, the president said, “Today we celebrate art and culture, peace and harmony, the aesthetics and education of beauty.”

“But first and foremost,” he said, “we celebrate our pride in being Heredianos.”

A nostalgic Arias waxed poetic about the town in which he grew up.

“This is my land. Here is where my dreams, and many of yours, were born,” he said. “These are the very streets that bore witness to our childhoods; the very homes that watched our youth go by. They all welcome us today in our maturity, to receive our testimonies.”

The cultural center will be located in a building that once housed the Republic of Argentina School. It will act as an incubator for creativity, to encourage and promote native artists, as well as foment research and education in the arts for Heredia's population, explained a statement from Casa Presidencial. And of course, in Arias tradition, the center will promote a culture of peace.

The president cited such local figures in the arts as sculpture Jorge Jiménez Deredia, writer Alí Víquez and the painter Hugo Sánchez.

Arias paid special tribute to Sánchez, and disciples of the artist, such as national prize winner María de los Ángeles Mirando, each of whom “make art and culture in Heredia possible.”

-Tico Times

About 500 prisoners yesterday went on a hunger strike at one of Costa Rica's largest prisons, La Reforma Penitentiary.

One of their demands is for better food.

Those leading the protest told the press they're also asking for better treatment of visiting family members and better medical care.

In addition to refusing to eat, they've also stopped attending classes and workshops offered at the prison.

They complain that their family members must undergo a scrupulous inspection before entering the prison, which houses about 3,000 inmates in Alajuela, northwest of San José.

Prison System Director Reinaldo Villalobos said prison officials are in conversation with the protesting prisoners to hear their demands and try to resolve the situation.