Central American Dance Conference
July 28-31, UCR, San Pedro.

“Puntarenas Tierra y Mar”
History-drama, July 28, 5 p.m., CIDEA, National University, Heredia.

To the dismay of the U.S. State Department, Chere Lyn Tomayko was released from prison Friday after the Supreme Court said she could not be extradited to the United States on kidnapping charges because she had been granted refugee status.

Tomayko, a U.S. citizen, fled the United States in 1997 with her daughter, Alexandria, then 8, after a Texas court ruled Tomayko and Alexandria's father, Roger Cyprian, had joint custody over the child. Tomayko claimed Cyprian abused her and Alexandria.

Tomayko was arrested last September and spent 10 months in El Buen Pastor prison in San José before Public Security Minister Janina del Vecchio granted her refuge status last week.

Alexandria, now 19, Tomayko's Tico husband Javier Montero, and their two blond daughters, Ana Sofía, 8, and Ariana Nicole, 5, greeted her at the door of the prison with hugs, kisses and shouts of "Mommy!"

"My heart can only think about going home and sleeping with my children and my husband... Thanks so much to this republic for the support," said Tomayko, who wore a red shirt with the words, "Tica at heart."

Tomayko's story, which has mesmerized the press and the public here, has ruffled relations between Costa Rica and the United States. The U.S. Embassy sharply criticized the decision to grant Tomayko refugee status. 

"We are very worried about the implications of this decision for Costa Rica's commitment to international treaties," the embassy said in a statement. "This could set a very harmful precedent."

President Oscar Arias celebrated Tomayko's release and dismissed  U.S. authorities' ire. 

"This is such a little thing that it's not going to distance" the two countries, Arias said in a statement. "This is a sovereign country, and we have the right and obligation to make decisions we think are fitting. In this case, we tried to protect human rights."

Guanacastecos celebrated the 184th anniversary of the annexation of their province to Costa Rica. From La Cruz to Jicaral in Guanacaste, which borders Nicaragua in northwestern corner of the country, they celebrated the region's decision to be part of Costa Rica.

On July 25, 1824, in the town of Nicoya, residents voted to make the Partido de Nicoya, today known as Guanacaste, part of Costa Rica. This year, Nicoyanos celebrated with 10 days of partying, July 18-27.

Friday was the culmination of the celebrations. “It's a very memorable day for the people of Guanacaste,” said Miguel Guevaro, a Nicoya resident. “(This is) something very important.”

“Today, Nicoya is the capital of Costa Rica,” added Fabricio Sánchez, a local doctor.

President Oscar Arias presided over a special cabinet meeting in the city's central park, where Nicoya Mayor Eduardo Gutiérrez, presented him with the key to the city as a packed crowd looked on. Vice President Laura Chinchilla and Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias also were in attendance.

Later, traditionally dressed youth performed folk dances during the “ Pasacalle de Guanacastequidad,” a colorful street parade. The dancers flapped their sashes and skirts and filled the otherwise overcast afternoon with resplendent purples, yellows, reds, greens and blues; then they interrupted each other brusquely to recite “bombas,” the staccato verses of traditional poems.

The festivities' attendees dressed in white and red and munched on atoles, chorreadas, and elotes, all traditional corn-based Guanacaste food.

“Everyday of the fiestas has been beautiful,” Naty Toruño, who works at the Nicoya municipality. “So beautiful!”

As night fell, “trovadores,” performed trova, a Cuban guitar-based lyrical folk music that is symbolic of Costa Rica's most western province, where cattle-herding cowboys on horseback routinely hold up traffic on highways. Musicians included Olman Briceño, Max Goldenberg and Luis Gabriel Loría, three iconic Costa Rican trova performers. They were accompanied by international trova stars Luis Enrique Mejía Gody, Alejandro Valdés, and Vicente Feliú.

Costa Ricans across the country will enjoy a three-day weekend. They officially celebrate the national holiday on Monday, July 28th.

The Central Bank announced Wednesday it would increase its base savings rate, this time hiking the measure by 50 points, from 6.5 to 7 percent, the third rate increase this month.

The base savings rate reached a low in mid-April at 4.25 percent. Since then, the Central Bank has increased the mark several times to its current position.

Low interest rates generally encourage consumers to spend or take out loans. Higher rates have the opposite effect, persuading consumers to save and rethink incurring more debt.

Analysts from the Costa Rican finance company Aldesa welcomed the increase.

“We hope the interest rates arrive more or less at (the same level) as expected inflation,” said economic analyst Ana Toyama.

Analysts surveyed by the Central Bank estimated that inflation could reach 12.6 percent for the next 12-month period, according to an Aldesa report. The base savings rate would have to increase by at least 5 percent to meet the cost-of-living.

According to Toyama, the base savings rate is an average of all savings rates in the market for accounts with a maturation of six to seven months.

Public and private banks use the Central Bank's base savings rate as a reference in choosing their own savings interest rates offered to customers. Toyama said the average market rate was hanging around 6 percent.