Free films at Videoteca del Sur
Free film screenings, “Yo Hablo a Caracas,” “Guatemala: Tierra Arrasada,” starting at 7 p.m., Sala de la Calle 15, Av. 2, Ca. 13/15, San José. Info: 234-1092.

Video shorts festival
La240, through Saturday at CENAC, Cultural Center of Spain, and El Observatorio. Info: http://la240.com.

Guitar concert series
“Entre Guitarras” (“Among Guitars”) is the Jazz Café's ode to the six-string instrument, tonight at 10 p.m., San Pedro. Info: www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Strings Concert
By students of Florida State University, 7:30 p.m., Eugene O'Neill Theater, CCCN.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering up to a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of an animal rights activist wanted for the 2003 bombings of two biotechnology companies in California.

Daniel Andreas San Diego, the man in question, allegedly targeted the Chiron company in Emeryville on Aug. 28, 2003, with two pipe bombs. Then, on Sept. 26, he targeted the Shaklee Corporation in Pleasanton with two bombs, one filled with nails. None of the bombs caused any fatalities.

According to “ America's Most Wanted,” a TV program in the U.S. that focuses on helping police catch wanted criminals, the FBI says the alleged terrorist planted the bombs because he believed the companies had ties with labs that use animals for testing medications and other products.

In a press release, authorities say they believe San Diego is in Costa Rica but they don't say why.

“It is probable that San Diego lives and works in Costa Rica, with U.S. citizens or people who speak English,” the release states. “He's known as an animal rights extremist, is linked to animal rights groups in the U.S. and he could be connected to groups of a similar nature in Costa Rica.”

The information numbers listed to call with information is the FBI in Panama, 507-207-7000, and the U.S. Embassy in San José, 519-2000.

By Tim Rogers
Nica Times Staff | trogers@ticotimes.net

Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos traveled to New York City yesterday to present U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with a letter of protest over Colombia's alleged expansionism into waters disputed with Nicaragua. In the letter, the Nicaraguan government also reasserted its right to defend its sovereignty.

The move continues a long-running maritime dispute in which both countries are making claim to an area at the 82nd Meridian, including several keys in Caribbean waters.

Nicaragua elevated the rhetorical war with Colombia this week by accusing the South American country of violating International Law, attempting to expand its maritime borders into Nicaraguan waters, and for being a militarily occupied colony of the United States.

President Daniel Ortega reiterated that Nicaragua will defend its sovereignty and protect its fishermen on the high seas. He called on the Central American nations to unite with Nicaragua against what he called expansionist ambitions.

“In this battle we Central Americans need to unite against the expansionist attitude not of the Colombian people, but of the Colombian oligarchy, which is subject to the interests of the big transnationals and the interests of the empire,” Ortega said during a speech last Friday. “ Colombia is a country that is occupied militarily by the United States.”

Colombia has responded to Ortega's criticisms by denying it is an aggressor nation and expressed concerns over the Nicaraguan president's comments.

Read Friday's print or digital edition of The Nica Times, an eight-page publication of The Tico Times, for more on this story.

Small-budget filmmakers are putting their big ideas on the screen in Costa Rica this week in San José, as part of the Central American Youth Video Festival “La240” – referring to the number given to the video format on which the participants' short-films are made.

Video fans already viewed 25 works, as of yesterday, Day 2 of the event, according to the festival's Web site http://la240.com.

An international cast of under-35-year-old directors from Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama will show a total of 68 shorts, as the festival's spot suggests, “ sin plata, con ideas ” (without cash, with ideas).

Nationally made shorts include “Suicide Revelations,” an under 7 minute video-clip by José Pablo Porras, and Gustavo Abarca's 9:11-minute work “ La Desnudez de los Santos ” (The Nudity of Saints). Shorter works include Tico video-artist Albán Camacho's “ El Cadenazo ” (“Big Chain”), running only a minute and a half.

In additional to open-air screenings at its headquarters, the National Culture Center (CENAC), La240 is celebrating its fourth edition at San José's Cultural Center of Spain, which is hosting the “Parallel Film Screenings” series and a screenwriters' workshop, as well as at Bar El Observatorio.

The festival runs through Saturday.