Alejandro Sanz in Concert
Latin pop, Feb. 12, 8 p.m., Ricardo Saprissa Stadium, Tibás, 206-7770, www.specialticket.net.

National Integral Environment Congress
Feb. 12-15, University of Costa Rica (UCR), San Pedro, 207-4361.

Summer Festival
Weekends with concerts, activities, Feb. 12-March 2, CENAC, 221-2022.

Mairen Alvarez, who made history last month as the first adult to undergo a heart-and-lung transplant in Costa Rica, has died from infection, doctors said. She was 21.

She died Sunday at 8:14 a.m. after suffering from septic shock from a severe bacterial infection, Luis Paulino Hernández, director of San José's Calderón Guardia Hospital, told The Tico Times yesterday.

Her passing occurred despite successful multiple operations, Hernández said. “The surgery was a success. Mairen was with us one month and during that time she regained consciousness, began eating and breathing by herself. Her heart was working well,” he said.

Alvarez sought the multiple transplants after she was diagnosed with lung distress that affected the right side of her heart.

A 23-year-old road accident victim in early January became her organ donor.

It was the second heart transplant -- and the first heart-lungs transplant -- in the country, Hernández said. And it seemed to be a great success, until late last week.

“The patient's clinical condition began to worsen last Friday, which forced us to use antibiotic medicine to fight the infection,” the hospital director said. “Regrettably, because of her suppressed immune system, a common condition in (transplant) patients, it was difficult to save her.”

Despite the loss, Hernández made a call for people to consider becoming organ donors. “The problem of transplants will continue and we hope that Costa Ricans donate their organs because there are patients suffering from illnesses that can only be cured by an organ transplant,” he said.

He added that three patients await heart transplants, and two are on the list for heart and lungs transplants.

A drop in international fuel prices has prompted the National Oil Refinery (RECOPE) to request a cut in the price of gas and diesel in Costa Rica. The request came only days before a price increase – itself requested on Jan. 11 – went into effect.

According to a release from RECOPE, new prices for super, regular and diesel would be set at ¢559.988 ($1.13), ¢548.241 ($1.11) and ¢508.756 ($1.03) per liter, respectively, after price cuts of ¢13.012 ($0.03), ¢11.759 ($0.02), and ¢15.756 ($0.03).

The price cuts would go into effect once they are approved by the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP), which usually takes 30 days.

The price cut marks a slight relief from skyrocketing fuel prices, which in the last 12 months have gone up between 20% and 50%.

Police seized 15 firearms and more than 600 grams of marijuana during sweeps in Costa Rica's Caribbean Limón province last weekend.

The sweeps have become a trend in recent weeks – Guanacaste province was targeted last week – as authorities fight back against increasing crime rates and the public perception of insecurity.

According to a press release, police also arrested 16 people in the country illegally. They said 11 were Nicaraguan and the remaining five were from India, Poland and Venezuela. All will be deported.

Most of the confiscated drugs consisted of one 500-gram brick of compressed marijuana.

Seized firearms included a homemade shotgun and a.22-caliber pistol.

As a result of the operation, one casino bar in Cieneguita was shut down because management allowed a minor to drink and was running slot machines without permits.

The sweep focused on Limón, Cieneguita, Moín, Santa Rosa, Bananito, Cahuita, Siquirres and Puerto Viejo.

The Costa Rican film “El Camino” (“The Way”) premièred yesterday at the Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin.

Made by Tico-Chilean director Ishtar Yasir, the film tells the story of Saslaya, a Nicaraguan child, who, along with her brother, runs away from her grandfather, who has been sexually abusing her. The two children set off across the steppe, jungle and city in search of their mother, who had left them in the care of their grandfather years before.

The film strongly condemns the abuse suffered by thousands of Nicaraguan children, says Yasir, highlighting the “psychological trauma” suffered by victims, leading them “to fall continuously into the same vicious cycle.” Yasir also criticizes Costa Rica for being one of the countries of the world where sexual exploitation of children is most prevalent.

As the child of an Iraqi refugee and a Chilean exile, Yasir says she has always identified with “those who are obliged to abandon their homes for reasons beyond their control.” This raised her interest in the immigration of Nicaraguans to Costa Rica.

The film is dedicated to Nicaragua, as the majority of the filming took place there and nearly all the actors are Nicaraguans.

“El Camino” was shown in the “ International Forum of New Cinema ” section of the festival, which is considered to be the Berlinale's most experimental section. According to the festival Web site, “The Forum is a chance to discover highly original, often provocative and disturbing cinema.”