International Poetry Festival
Tonight at 6 p.m., Bob Holan and Papa Susso, at Casa de la Cultura in Limón; tomorrow at 7 p.m., Ahmad Al Shahawy at Casa del Adulto Mayor in Belén. 

Videoteca del Sur Film Festival
Features “Los Niños Invisibles” tonight; “Salvador Allende” tomorrow, both at 7 p.m., Sala Calle 15, Av. 2, south side of Plaza de la Democracia.

Talk on prostate cancer
7 p.m., Alliance Française, Barrio Amón, Av. 7, Ca. 5, 2257- 1944, www.afsj.net.

Ricardo Padilla in concert
Ballads, today and tomorrow, 8 p.m., National Theater.

Ska concert
Tico group Mentados play at Jazz Café, San Pedro, 10 p.m., http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Malpaís live
Costa Rican band play at Jazz Café, Escazú, 10 p.m., http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

If the stench of San Jose's air during rush hour and the burning-eye sensation wasn't confirmation enough, authorities now acknowledge the city's air is unsafe to breathe.

In its fourth annual report on air quality, a coalition of government and university researchers published a scathing report on the state of the capital's air.

“This study succeeded in demonstrating that the high level of pollution is not just a threat to the environment but also to human health,” said José Luis Vargas, the Health Ministry's human environment protection director, during a presentation of the report yesterday.

The results showed nitrogen dioxide, the heavy metal manganese and particulate matter at levels above those recommended as relatively safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Particulate matter can be solid or liquid and includes dust, soot, ash, cement and pollen. The smaller the matter is, the more dangerous it is because it can more easily penetrate a person's lungs and cause respiratory problems, aggravate asthma and cause infections, researcher José Rojas said.

Rojas and others from the National University (UNA) used 14 monitoring stations set up in the San José metropolitan area to collect data during 2007.

The heavy metal manganese, a neurotoxin, was reported at unsafe levels but the UNA report gave it short shrift and included no explanation of its potential health impacts.

“By inhalation, manganese has been known since the early 19th century to be toxic,” states a report on the WHO Web site. “Manganism (a result of exposure) is characterized by various psychiatric and movement disorders, with some general resemblance to Parkinson's disease. Respiratory effects such as pneumonitis and pneumonia and reproductive dysfunction such as reduced libido are also frequently reported features of manganese intoxication.”

Rojas' report blamed metal industries for this pollutant's presence.

Nitrogen dioxide levels were found to be consistently unsafe all year round in the downtown area as well as the Sabana Sur neighborhood. This chemical compound which can combine with sunlight to create ozone, causes skin irritation, damage to capillaries in the lungs, bronchitis and emphysema.

Particulate pollution was above safe levels during March, April, July, September and November.

UNA rector Olman Segura said the results show a failure of the nation's to deal with the problem.

“It's a danger for us to be above the (WHO) statistics,” he said. “It's a serious call to attention to review the country's policies and make the changes necessary. We have to create new policies, and it's only going to get worse if we don't act now.”

Energy and Environment Vice Minister Jorge Rodríguez said the Oscar Arias administration had “declared war” on pollution, but he offered no specifics on the policies of that war.

San José Mayor Johnny Araya said he was attacking the problem with proposals to plant more trees, coordinate San José bypass routes for commuters, increase train routes and create more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly areas.

Authorities said the pollution levels are not helped by the fact that the number of cars in the country is increasing by 8.45 percent each year.

“In 16 years, we already have 1.6 million vehicles in the country,” Araya said as he made a dig at Ticos who he said are copying the U.S. model of traffic and consumption.

“We don't need that North American model of organizing cities that serve the roads and shopping malls and not its citizens,” he said.

One of the recommendations in the report's conclusion was for the government's transportation, environment and health ministries to work together to come up with polices to diminish the pollution crisis.

No representative of the Transportation Ministry was in attendance.

At least 257 cows have been confirmed dead as a months-old drought tightens its grip on Costa Rica's barren Northern Zone.

The deaths have spread across 54 ranches in the canton of Los Chiles, which borders Nicaragua in north-central Costa Rica.

The nation's ombudswoman, whose title in Spanish translates literally as the “defender of the inhabitants,” yesterday called for the government to declare an “agricultural and public health emergency,” the wire service ACAN-EFE reported.

“We are talking about a lot of people who live off agriculture and also need water to satisfy their basic food and cleaning necessities,” said Ombudswoman Lisbeth Quesada.

Though a slight rain was reported yesterday evening, officials in the region were looking at contingencies in case the trickle does not pan out into the life-giving showers that are desperately needed.

“It is very difficult to predict what will happen in the coming weeks if the rains don't begin,” said Eliud Herrera, regional director of the Production Ministry's National Animal Health Department (SENASA).

An emergency task force with representatives from the Production Ministry, the National Emergency Commission, the Cattle Farmers' Chamber and the local government met yesterday afternoon to explore options.

Following the meeting, Herrera said those options include supplying local farmers with alternate feed for their cattle to make up for the decimated pastures, and digging new wells to find water.

“We need resources to deal with this situation,” he told The Tico Times. “We are looking for the central government's help to get resources to the farmers to buy their feed.”

The drought has also dried up drinking water, and 10 1,500-liter tanks of potable water have been sent to the region, while water tankers are visiting the areas hardest hit by the drought, Herrera said.

Meanwhile, concerns for the area's agricultural crops will grow as long as the rain holds off. EFE reported that 74 percent of Los Chiles' bean fields have been affected by the drought, and losses have soared to more than $2 million.

According to Javier Avila, the Production Ministry's Northern Zone regional director, there are 8,000 hectares of citrus crops and 2,000 hectares of sugarcane planted in the region as well that are already feeling the drought.

But while the effects are already visible in the yellow and withered fields, Avila said it is still too soon to say how hard the producers will be hit. Neither crop will be harvested until late this year or early next year.

“With rain, they could begin to recover,” he said.

In a region that depends almost entirely on cattle and agriculture, all eyes are turned to the heavens.

Costa Rican students in three years will have another college to choose from the state's offering of higher-learning institutions following last week's green light from the government to open a technical university in Alajuela, northwest of San José.

The Universidad Técnica Nacional (UTN), or National Technical University, will be Costa Rica's fifth public college, merging half a dozen existing schools to hold about 8,000 students.

In addition to Alajuela, UTN will have campuses in Puntarenas, on the Central Pacific coast, and in the northwest Guanacaste province, Roberto Thompson, the vice minister of presidency, told The Tico Times.

“The (university) bill won the consensus of all (political) factions,” he said.

“The executive branch and legislator Janina del Vecchio, who was the principal force (behind the bill) in the Legislative Assembly, have been working on this for two years, practically since the current administration took office,” Thompson said.

Following the May 14 vote, the government will create a three-member task force that has three years to oversee the merger of the separate colleges, define which subjects will be taught and set a date for commencement, Thompson added.

“The focus is to create a technical university, concentrating on technical degrees, which are what much of the future's labor force requires,” he said. “The companies that are setting up here and others already here and want to grow demand a high level of training in this area.”

Thompson's chief, Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, hailed the bill as a vote for Costa Rican “prosperity.”

“(The creation of UTN) allows more Costa Ricans to bridge the gulf between secondary and higher education,” said Arias, President Oscar Arias' brother, according to a government communiqué.

“It means … the difference between underdevelopment and greater prosperity,” he said.

The four existing state-run schools are the University of Costa Rica (UCR) in San Pedro, east of San José; the National University (UNA) in Heredia, north of the capital; the State University at a Distance (UNED) in Sabanilla, an eastern San José suburb; and the Technology Institute of Costa Rica (TEC) in Cartago, the former colonial capital east of San José.