Free Cuban film screening
“Amor Vertical,” 6 p.m., Contemporary Art and Design Museum.

Piano concert
By Sofía Chaves, 8 p.m., National Theater.

Jazz jam
Jazz Café, San Pedro, 10 p.m., http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Costa Rica in recent months has had a shortage of small money. The ¢100 and ¢500 pieces have been particularly scarce, along with the ¢1,000 bill.

The Central Bank announced a plan last week to introduce 217.5 million coins – 50 percent of them ¢100; 25 percent ¢25; with the remaining 25 percent made up of ¢50 and ¢500.

The Tico Times hit the streets to hear from employees and owners of small San José businesses to get their viewpoints on the shortage.

Question A: How has the change shortage affected your business?

Question B: Do you think the extra coins being added by the bank will help?

Lasther Hidalgo, sales clerk at the corner market A: “The shortage has affected us because we don't have small change.… You have to go to the bank and pay ¢520 (fee) for every ¢10,000 you get. There's also problems with the ¢1,000 bills.” B: “Yes. I think it will help, because that is the problem. If the bank puts them out, it will all be OK.”

Jorge Oller, owner of a hole-in-the-wall Argentine empanada restaurant A: “¢100 and ¢500 coin pieces are short, but they have been for a year. There's no small money here.” B: “Clearly. It's simply a problem of circulation. If there's no money, it falls to the streets.”

Marbeli Martínez, clerk at a gift shop A: “People pay with credit cards. It's bad for us because we pay a fee.” B: “I think so. Because in the country's commerce and industry, money is very important.”

María Solís, bartender at a karaoke bar A: “We have to go to the bank once a week. Before, that didn't happen because customers brought small change.” B: “It will help. Because we won't have to buy it anymore (from the bank).”

Photos by Hannah Rexroth | Tico Times
editorial@ticotimes.net

Banco Nacional and Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) signed an agreement yesterday allowing customers to cash checks and make deposits – in dollars and colones – at any of their 400 branches nationwide.

The policy change will take effect immediately, according to bank officials.

William Hayden, Banco Nacional general manager, said the move would reduce operation costs, improve client service and allow state banks to go toe-to-toe with multinational, private competitors.

“It's a way of competing with them and trying to at least keep us in the market or … keep winning ground in the market,” Hayden said at a press conference at Hotel Corobicí near San José's La Sabana Park. “We see ourselves as brothers and not as competitors.”

BCR's general manager, Mario Rivera, said the two banks are satisfied with a pilot program testing the combined savings and checking services. All told, 3,000 checks and ¢2 billion ($4 million) of transactions were processed.

Under the new system, all deposits will hit clients' accounts in real time. Before, customers had to wait until 2 p.m. the following business day to access their funds, Rivera said.

Internet transactions are not included in the merger.

This is the second step in a three-year-old process to meld Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago (Bancrédito) with the other two state banks. The trio has already placed automatic teller machines on the same network.

Two more steps remain before the consolidation is complete, Rivera said. He would not give specifics, but said the banks hope to join credit card and loan payment services in the future.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega this weekend eulogized the deceased leader of Colombia's largest rebel group, reiterating the phrase “our brother” that has fueled suspicions about Ortega's allegiances.

The news that Manuel Marulanda, founder and top commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), died emerged Saturday with an announcement by the Colombian government. On Sunday, the leftist guerrilla army itself confirmed its chief had died after a heart attack on March 26, but the group pledged to fight on against President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed government.

Nicaragua's leader, speaking Sunday in Uruguay, praised the rebel commander, calling him an “extraordinary fighter” who struggled for decades to reverse “profound inequalities,” the Associated Press reported.

Ortega has previously referred to both Raúl Reyes, FARC's fallen No. 2 commander, and Marulanda as his “dear brothers.”

A U.S. State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Nica Times the United States is keeping close tabs on Ortega's relationship with FARC.

Read the latest issue and this coming Friday's Tico Times for more on Nicaragua's and Costa Rica's alleged FARC ties.