Poetry reading and Concert
By Italian poet Zingonia Zingone and Costa Rican singer Dionisio Cabal, 7 p.m., Mexico Institute.

Concert by the National Symphony Orchestra
Today, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10:30 a.m., National Theater.

French Animated Film Festival
Le Chien, Le Général et Les Oiseaux; Les triplettes de Belleville, Saturday; L'île de Black Mor, Sunday, 4 p.m., Arte Cine Lindora, Santa Ana, 2205-4130.

French Film Festival
“Tasuma,” 6 p.m., Alliance Française, San José.

Mass Art Festival
Exhibits, concerts, food, proceeds to Fundación Acción Joven, noon-8 p.m., CENAC.

Cardamomo in Concert
Ethnic music and belly dance, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

Festival Ilumin-arte
Concerts, dance, and theater, 5 p.m., Ojo de Agua Swimming Pool, San Antonio de Belén, Heredia, 2-442-8718. 

Blues Devils in Concert
Blues, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú.

Octavia in Concert
Trova, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

Dog Show
Organizad by the Asociación Calófila, 9 a.m., Anglo-American School, Concepción de Tres Ríos. Info : 2280-8711.

Children's Museum 14th Anniversary
With special decorations, play, presentation by museum mascots, huge birthday cake, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Children's Museum.

Central American countries will put more than $500 million toward an emergency plan to stave off an impending food crisis the United Nations is calling a “silent tsunami,” a regional agricultural body announced yesterday.

The funds will help farmers grow more of the region's staple crops such as rice, corn and beans, said Mario Salaverría, the Salvadoran agriculture minister who is serving as president of the Council on Agriculture and Livestock of Central America (CAC), according to Agence France-Presse.

The announcement came as poor nations brace themselves for ever rising prices of basic foodstuffs, which analysts pin on a variety of factors, including weather-damaged harvests, soaring fuel costs and. The World Food Program, a U.N. agency, says the crisis could leave one hundred million people hungry worldwide.

Costa Rica's National Rice Commission (Conarroz) yesterday urged the government to declare an “emergency,” reported German newswire DPA.

Several agriculture programs and aid plans were launched this week amid calls for action, including the U.S. government's release of $200 million for emergency food aid worldwide.

The presidents of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and Cuba's vice president also created a $100 million fund for basic foods to mitigate the sharp rises in world food prices, Reuters reported.

The accord came Wednesday during a meeting between the leaders, whose countries together form the Latin American leftist trading bloc ALBA, as their answer to the crisis that recently sparked riots in Egypt and Haiti.

Yesterday leaders of eight West African nations followed suit, announcing a $500 million food program, according to Spanish language news Web site BBCMundo.com.

Read next week's Tico Times and Nica Times for more on this story.

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

Thousands of Costa Rican high school students will return to school today after the Education Ministry and union leaders negotiated an end to a 25-day strike that has closed classrooms across the nation.

The ministry and the High School Teachers' Association (APSE) agreed on measures to raise teacher salaries, fix payment problems and reduce class size during a 10-hour meeting that lasted until 2 a.m. yesterday. APSE called off the strike later that day after 23 of the union's 28 regional groups accepted the accord.

The strike, which began March 31, has affected most rural schools, bringing some to a standstill. Ministry spokesman Jesús Mora said it has caused more harm than any teachers' strike since 1995, when the education sector was paralyzed for a month. APSE president Beatriz Ferreto said 19,000 high school teachers struck, while Mora puts the number at 6,000. 

The main sticking point was salary. Teachers were excluded from a January salary hike of 6% to 18% for about 7,000 government professionals. The ministry agreed to give teachers a similar pay raise in an April 8 meeting with other unions, including the 45,000-member National Association of Educators (ANDE).

But the ministry did not set a date for the raise, which would depend on “budgetary availability.” ANDE, which did not join the strike, accepted these conditions, but APSE vied for more.

Under yesterday's agreement, teachers will receive a salary increase beginning in July. A committee with representatives from the Finance Ministry, the Civil Service, the Education Ministry, and the teachers' unions will define amounts based on pay raises granted to other civil servants. The ministry also promised not to dock strikers' pay, as it had threatened, if teachers make up for missed work.

Walter Quesada, director of Unesco High School in the southern zone canton of Pérez Zeledón, has been rooting for an end to the strike. About 60 of the school's 75 teachers struck and most of the 1,670 students stayed home for three weeks.

“I respect the movement,” Quesada said. “(But) like any director, I was waiting for the strike to end on good terms…so that this uncertainty would end and things could return to normal.”

Some 22,500 fans packed into the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium on Wednesday for a night of high drama as Deportivo Saprissa drew 1-1 with Pachuca of Mexico in an enthralling first leg of the final of the 2008 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

The result means that the second leg, which will be held April 30 at the Hidalgo Stadium in Pachuca, Mexico, will be a winner-takes-all encounter, with a spot at the FIFA Club World Cup later this year at stake.

Despite the intimidating noise generated by the home fans, Pachuca quickly settled into the game. However, although the Mexicans looked composed on the ball, they failed to create many clear-cut chances and rarely tested Keilor Navas in the Saprissa goal.

“El Monstruo,” by contrast, looked more committed but less controlled than their opponents. However, they were creating opportunities and were unlucky not to take the lead just before half-time when Armando Alonso's header hit the woodwork.

With the tie at 0-0 at half time, Saprissa needed to maintain their focus in the second period. The home fans were stunned, therefore, when, less than two minutes after the restart, a Pachuca counter-attack split the defense on the edge of the area, allowing Luis Gabriel Rey to fire home from 15 yards.

Stung by the goal, “Los Morados” redoubled their efforts and continued to pile forward. Their desperate determination eventually paid off, however, as the appropriately scrappy equalizer finally came with a minute left of normal time, captain Victor Cordero toe-poking home in a goalmouth scramble.

Saprissa coach Jeaustin Campos was philosophical after the game. “I think we needed to be more confident on the ball… We lacked composure in the final third. It is not quite the result we wanted, but everything is still to play for.”