Live jazz
Jazz Café Trio, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Marley tribute
By Kingo Lovers at Jazz Café, Escazú, 10 p.m., http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Talk on public space and accessibility
By engineer Germán Madrid, 6 p.m., Architecture Auditorium, University of Costa Rica (UCR), San Pedro.

Central Pacific Chamber of Commerce public meeting
7 p.m., municipality building, 3rd floor, Jacó, Puntarenas, 2643-2853.

The government declared a state of emergency yesterday in almost two dozen of Costa Rica's 81 cantons in the wake of last week's Tropical Storm Alma. The list includes Pérez Zeledón, in the southern reaches of the San José province; Nicoya in the northwest Guanacaste province; Parrita and Puntarenas, in the central Pacific province, Puntarenas.

Yesterday, wreckage continued. River Bebedero overflowed endangering some 40 families in the village of Bagaces, Guanacaste, according to a report by the Red Cross, which said more than 100 of its relief personnel are working to help victims of the storm.

The humanitarian group's latest communiqué said that flooding has caused at least two people to go missing – one somewhere in the Southern Zone area of Buenos Aires, another at the central Pacific village of Miramar.

Inter-American Highway South, an important route connecting San José to the southern part of the country, remains closed. Yesterday the ministry hadn't slated a finishing date for clearing up the subsidence on the highway, also known as Ruta 2.

“It seems we fell short in our earlier estimates of the damage” caused by Alma, said Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias, sitting next to his brother, President Oscar Arias, minutes before the president signed an executive decree of emergency.

“The damage is immense,” the presidency minister said, pointing in particular to areas such as Peréz Zeledón, whose population has been cut off by road blockages on one side and collapsed bridges on the other.

“That's why we're prepared today to make this declaration of emergency, which will allow the (National Emergency) Commission much more flexibility with the funds needed to repair bridges and roads and everything that has been destroyed by the water.”

Overall, an updated tally of Alma's wreckage, according to the National Emergency Commission's count yesterday, includes 1,152 homes, 114 bridges, 117 stretches of road and 22 rural aqueducts. Some 21,000 people have been forced from flooded homes to live in 45 shelters.

Another 55,000 people are being “indirectly affected,” meaning that obstacles like caved-in roads and bridges are stopping them from making their regular commute.

Costa Rica's agency in charge of the nation's underground water resources has strengthened the argument against a pipeline that would draw water from a small inland village to feed booming coastal development in Playas del Coco and Ocotal.

According to the National Subterranean Water and Irrigation Service (SENARA), the government and developers have failed to prove the project won't suck the community's aquifer dry.

The aqueduct would pipe water more than nine kilometers from the aqueduct feeding the town of Sardinal to provide more water connections for hotels, condominiums and housing developments on the northwestern Pacific coast, in the province of Guanacaste.

Sardinal residents took to the streets to block the project, nearly three-quarters finished, damaging equipment, clashing violently with police and claiming their water was being stolen for private interests.

The project is being funded and carried out by developers from the area after the construction boom sapped all available water in Coco and Ocotal. Once completed, the aqueduct would be handed over to the National Institute of Water and Sewers (AyA) and become part of the public infrastructure.

AyA has insisted the aqueduct is sustainable, and AyA director Ricardo Sancho said studies by his agency show the pipeline would use just 10 percent of the Sardinal aquifer.

SENARA, however, examined those studies and in a report to the nation's ombudswoman declared them “insufficient.”

The ombudswoman has called for the construction to be suspended, and denounced what she calls “irregularities” in the project, including a lack of permits and environmental studies.

Last week, the local municipal government ordered the project suspended until the government proves the aqueduct is sustainable, however local activist Gadi Amit, who has filed suit to stop the aqueduct, said construction continues.

“Today I went to see, and they are still working on the water tanks,” he said yesterday. “It is a slap in the face to the legal orders and the people and to Costa Rica. Investors are not above the law.”

Ottón Solís, a likely presidential candidate, celebrated his return to Costa Rica and to politics yesterday after teaching in Florida for five months.

In a spirited gathering at the Citizen Action Party's headquarters in San José, Solís railed against the government for failing to address crime, environmental degradation, public health and education.

He also criticized the government for rolling out a “red carpet” for foreign investors, while neglecting Tico farmers.

“They only believe in people with the last name Smith or Johnson – people with a passport that isn't Costa Rican,” he said.

At the same time, he rejected populism and said leftist leaders like Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez are “not on the right track.”

Solís left the country in January to teach a master's course on international trade at the University of Florida. He and his party are best known for their vehement opposition to the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

PAC lawmakers have drawn sharp criticism for filibustering bills required to implement CAFTA, even after voters approved the pact in a national referendum in October.

A recent CID-Gallup poll found just 7 percent of Costa Ricans support the party, down from 16 percent two years ago.

Solís, who ran for president in 2006, has not fared much better. Some 43 percent of Costa Ricans have an “unfavorable” opinion of him, while 37 percent see him favorably.

Solís appears almost certain to run for president.

To sustained applause from onlookers yesterday, PAC adviser Katia Martín introduced Solís, saying, “Our leader and the future president of Costa Rica is back.”