Happy Mother's Day!

Today

Credomatic Music Festival

Aspro Dolce (U.S. vocal quartet), 5:30 p.m., Reserva Conchal, Playa Conchal, Guanacaste.

Berlin Brass (Germany), 8 p.m., National Theater, San José.

Doelen Quartet (Holland, strings), 7 p.m., INBioparque Amphitheater, Santo Domingo, Heredia.

Francisco Libetta (Italy, piano), 5:30 p.m., Villa Caletas Hotel, Central Pacific.

Vocal Sin Tiempo (Colombia, a capella), 7 p.m., Cathedral, Puntarenas. Free concert.

Gilberto Santa Rosa in Concert
Salsa, Aug. 15, 8 p.m., Palacio de los Deportes, Heredia, 2207-2025, www.mundoticket.com.

French Film Festival
“Cyrano de Bergerac,” Aug. 15; “Le Mépris,” Aug. 22; “Les Enfants du Paradis,” Aug. 29, all at 6 p.m., Alliance Française, Barrio Amón, Av. 7, Ca. 5. Info: 2222-2283.

Iride Martínez (Costa Rica, soprano) and Siegmund Weinmeister ( Austria, piano), 8 p.m., National Theater, San José.

Sonorous Ensemble (U.S., trumpet) with Gary Quamme (U.S., organ), 8 p.m., Las Mercedes Church, Grecia. Free concert.

Vocal Sin Tiempo (Colombia, a capella), 7 p.m., Carabelas Restaurant, Punta Leona, Puntarenas.

Drama “El León en Invierno”
By James Goldman, directed by Jaime Hernández, Aug. 16, 8 p.m. and Aug. 17, 5 p.m., Casa Cultural Amón of the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, west side of INVU building, Barrio Amón, 2257-0470 x128.

International Youth Day rock concert
Featuring Exódo, Exnovia, Galería Acústica, Pato Barraza, El Parque, Ghandi, Aug. 16, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Polideportivo Monserrat, Alajuela.

BBQ Festival
Aug. 16, Tres Hermanas Restaurant, Abangares, Guanacaste, 2662-8585, 8384-7885, info@treshermanas.co.cr.

Credomatic Music Festival

Aspro Dolce (U.S., vocal quartet), noon, Tirol Hotel, San Rafael, Heredia.

Iride Martínez (Costa Rica, soprano) and Siegmund Weinmeister (Austria, piano), 11:00 a.m., Cathedral, San José. Free concert.

Berlin Brass (Germany), 5 p.m., INBioparque Amphitheater, Santo Domingo, Heredia.

Sonorous Ensemble (U.S., trumpet) with Gary Quamme (U.S., organ), 8 p.m., Don Bosco Church, San José. Free concert.

Art Evening
Aug. 17, 5 p.m., Los Almendros Restaurant, Esterillos west.

“The Last Full Moon” dance show
“La Ultima Luna Llena,” UNA Dance Company, Aug. 17, 8 p.m., Teatro de la Danza, CENAC, 2277-3394, 2221-2154.

“Aventuras y Desventuras de Perico de los Palotes”
Children's play, Aug. 17, at 2 p.m., Teatro Variedades, Ca. 5, Av. Ctrl./1.

In honor of soccer moms, business moms and last-minute Mother's Day shoppers, the government has decided to suspend the usual vehicle restrictions today on this national holiday.

Vehicles with a license plate ending in 9 or 0 are normally prohibited from traveling Fridays from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. within the Circunvalación – the route that runs the perimeter of San José –since government traffic restrictions took effect in late June.

The traffic restrictions are also lifted on heavy cargo vehicles today, which would normally face the same license plate and additional daily peak-hour morning and afternoon restrictions as the above vehicles.

Officials believe that because today is a holiday and much of the Central Valley's population will have the day off, traffic will be light in downtown San José, a press release from the Public Works and Transport Ministry said.

President Oscar Arias announced the pardon of mother Miriam Umaña in honor of the Mother's Day holiday. Umaña had been serving an eight-year sentence since March 2007 for funneling drugs into prison, which she claimed she did to feed her children.

“We did an analysis of her life circumstances,” said Justice Ministry press officer Emilia Segura. “Considering her situation, it made sense for us to free her.” Segura declined to give the gender or ages of Umaña's children.

The pardon is the fifth of Arias' term. Last year, the president pardoned two women in a similar gesture on the holiday.

A man and a woman serving sentences for drug dealing and robbery, respectively, were also released this June. A lawyer with the National Criminology Institute, the body that normally reviews and advises the president and his Cabinet on pardons, said the institute did not recommend any clemency applications be approved. However, the Justice Ministry cited the fact that the woman had a 10-month old baby in need of care in a statement regarding the pardons.

“It is a great desire of mine that the mothers here can hopefully spend Mother's Day with their most beloved,” Arias said in a statement to the press.

Four-year fugitive Thomas Jafeck, wanted for financial fraud in Costa Rica, was arrested in Miami on July 28.

Jafeck, 70, shut down his Costa Rica Green company, an unregulated investment outfit in the Mercedes Tower on Paseo Colón, in 2002. Judicial authorities here issued arrest warrants for him, his son, Thomas, 47, and wife, Billie Joe, 70, in 2004.

According to an Interpol press release, the company attracted national and foreign investors in 2001, promising returns of three percent or more.

“What is certain is that this company had no specific activity that would generate this return,” the press release states. “In its advertising information, they hid the truth and presented false information in order to defraud its investors. Taking advantage of the fact its investors didn't understand the country's laws, they transferred the money to different banks and, in December 2002, they closed their offices and refused to pay their clients.”

Costa Rican authorities will request Jafeck's extradition. If extradited and convicted here, Jafeck could face up to 10 years in prison.

Interpol Costa Rica spokesman Emilio León said he hopes U.S. authorities will extradite Jafeck. He said the fact that Interpol Washington forwarded the arrest information is a hopeful sign.

The United States rarely extradites its nationals to face trials here, León said, and Costa Rica never extradites its citizens. The two countries have an extradition treaty, but it doesn't require either to extradite its citizens. Costa Rica has 60 days from the date of the arrest to file for Jafeck's extradition.