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Chinese Film Festival
Gimme Kudos (2005), Friday; Hero, Saturday; Warriors of Heaven and Earth, Sunday, all films are in Chinese with subtitles in Spanish, at 4, 7, 9:30 p.m., Cinépolis, Terramall, Tres Ríos. 

Expo-Pérez Zeledón
Including cattle exhibit, orchids, horse parade, concerts, food, rides, Feb. 8-11, Pérez Zeledón.

Expo-Zarcero 2008
Including exhibits, concerts, food, sports, milking competitions, Feb. 8-18, Zarcero, Alajuela.

Chinese Activities Celebrating the Year of the Rat
Including Chinese Dances, Fashion Parade with Chinese typical Dresses, marcial arts and live music, Feb. 9-10, 3-5 p.m., foot court, Terramall, Tres Ríos.

Year of Rat Party
Special Menu, Feb. 9, 20, Tin Jo Restaurant, Ca. 11, Av. 6/8, 221-7605.

Annual Costa Rica Blues Fest
Feb. 9, at Motorpsychos Bar, Grill & Shop, Santa Ana, 383-8385, 255-4136, mobluesdevils@yahoo.com

Volleyball tournament
The Beach Volleyball Association's tournament begins Saturday and continues Sunday at San José 's La Sabana Park. On Feb. 23 and 24, the games move to Playa Bonita, Limón.

Alex Piedra
Trova, Feb. 10, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café.

Concert Manitas Musicales
Piano concert by children 4-12, Feb. 10, 10 a.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, CCCN.

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

A police officer hit locksmith Evans Marín three times in the face during a protest Tuesday outside Congress, according to footage from a security camera.    

Marín was part of a demonstration against the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), but he separated from the other protestors to film activity on the boulevard outside Congress. Camera footage shows Marín speaking to two police officers, then following them with his video camera.

One officer then turned toward Marín and hit him with his stick, according to footage. As Marín walked away, the officer hit him twice more in the face. Marín, who apparently made no violent move, clutched his face and sunk to the ground. The other protesters and more police officers then entered the scene and fistfights ensued.

Marín told The Tico Times that the fight started with a verbal spat, when the police officer accused him of “clowning around.” He blacked out after being hit, he said, and the Red Cross took him to Calderón Guardia Hospital.

Libertarian Movement Party (ML) legislator Carlos Gutiérrez wrote to President Oscar Arias yesterday, citing the footage and requesting an investigation of the officer. The Libertarian Movement is a rightwing party that supports CAFTA.

Costa Rican press would not let the country's national soccer team manager Hernán Medford off easy for leading the club Wednesday to a 10th non-win in Kingston, Jamaica, in what the media is calling the Ticos' “worst run in history.”

Damning headlines such as “Triumph a Strange Thing for La Sele” (short for La Selección, the national team), “Oy, How Badly We Play!” and “Fatal Oversight Worsens Bad Streak” hit the newsstands yesterday as payback.

Not that the team – also known as the “Tricolor” – is in a losing streak. Wednesday's match ended in a 1-1 draw, a step up perhaps from Costa Rica's prior friendly that resulted in a 0-0 tie last week in Tehran, Iran.

To be fair, Costa Rica nearly reversed its no-win situation against the team affectionately called the “Reggae Boyz.” Substitute William Sunsing put the Ticos ahead in the 78th minute, kicking a loose ball past goalkeeper Donavan Ricketts, Reuters newswire reported. Their luck dried up when Tyrone Marshall scored past Costa Rica's Ricardo González in 88th minute.

“It was a good start to our campaign for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa,” Jamaica's Brazilian coach Rene Simones was quoted by Reuters saying.

Medford could not say the same.

“I'm not happy because we played badly and have to accept that, but you take the good with the bad, and defense is our strength,” said Medford in an interview with Costa Rica's Radio Columbia.

“You (journalists) are going to keep dwelling on the bad,” the Tico coach said.

It's tradition for sports journalists here to lay into the team or teammates themselves, but now some are dwelling on Medford. As head of the national team, said TV channel 7's Everardo Herrera, one of the country's best-known sports commentators, “( Medford's) vision and actions are very limited.”

“He's bowed to the veterans, renounced renovation and showed poor methodology,” Herrera said. “He hasn't been able to tell the difference between a team (playing) in Costa Rica and one competing internationally. … Costa Rica proves to be a very poorly structured, fractured, slow team.”

The team “is heading toward the abyss,” he said. “It's time to make decisions.”

In print, Al Día newspaper said Costa Rica didn't “deserve” to win after “playing so badly.”

The daily La República said Jamaica's goal “put things in their place,” and that “ Costa Rica wasn't ableto beat the Jamaicans and didn't deserve to, either, for being so useless.”

-Tico Times / ACAN-EFE

By Nick Wilkinson
Tico Times Staff | nwilkinson@ticotimes.net

Drug Control Police broke up a criminal ring controlling the crack market in barrio Primero de Mayo de Aserrí and part of San Juan de Dios de Desamparados, both west of San José, for the second time in four years.

This time, they are hoping the courts keep the arrestees in prison.

During the operation on Feb. 1, police arrested Corrales, alias “Pilo,” the alleged leader of the ring, and three others: Saborío, alias “Cejas,” a woman named Chamorro, alias “Cosita,” Rodríguez, alias “Tyson,” and Parra, who is Corrales' wife.

Corrales had already been arrested in September 2003, convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison. But he appealed his conviction, authorities said, and judges granted him his liberty while the appeal was working its way through the system.

Police say Corrales used his freedom to return to the streets and continue controlling his crack empire, this time through the use of surrogates like those arrested during the recent operation.

In a press release, law enforcement authorities made their displeasure with the criminal courts clear.

“Authorities from the Public Security Ministry hope the actions of the antinarcotics agents contribute to returning the neighbors of Primero de Mayo to a peaceful situation and that the detainees won't be freed so quickly as they have on other occasions,” the release states.

Law enforcement officers alleged Corrales controlled the neighborhood with a gang of thugs that terrorized neighborhood opponents.

Police seized 343,000 colones (almost $700), a nine-millimeter pistol, a portable radio, two computers and 60 grams of crack during the raids.