Workshop on medicinal plants
Through Nov. 25, 4-6 p.m., UCR School of Medicine, room 115-F, 2207-4486.

UNA film festival
Featuring “Eterno resplandor de la mente sin recuerdos,” 7 p.m., Centro para las Artes, National University, Heredia.

Sege in concert
Senegalese music, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú, http://jazzcafecostarica.com/agenda.

Costa Rica's central Pacific town of Parrita and its environs are suffering a dengue fever epidemic that so far has reached 223 cases this year –more than five times more than all of last year.

The outbreak is blamed largely on Tropical Storm Alma, which inundated the region in May, creating standing water that served as rich breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that spread the virus.

Last year, health officials reported just 40 cases.

“It's an extremely high increase,” said Dr. Edgar Carrillo of the Max Teran Vals Hospital in Quepos. “We're seeing an average of at least one patient per day. We're exhausted.”

Carrillo said the anti-dengue mobilization includes the work of the Social Security System, Health Ministry, and the Wal-Mart and HOLCIM companies.

“We're going door to door, educating people and giving them mosquito repellant,” he said. “And we're going out and trying to drain any areas with standing water, often times garbage containers.”

While dengue has become serious in Parrita, the doctor said he has only seen one possible case of hemorrhagic dengue thus far this year.

Dengue has no cure aside from bed rest. It normally takes a week to recover from, Carrillo said. Hemorrhagic dengue, sometimes fatal, is a strain of the virus that causes bruising and bleeding of the nose, gums and other orifices.

The Parrita area has also seen a resurgence of whooping cough, Carrillo said, an illness authorities thought they had previously eradicated.

For many cell-phone users in Costa Rica, there's good news: your phone just got a passport.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) has announced that international roaming is now available for all of its 900,000 Ericsson cell phone lines.

This adds to 400,000 users who have cell lines provided to ICE by Alcatel, which already had international roaming.

To activate the service, users must be current on their bills and show up at any ICE telecommunications office. Along with standard documentation, subscribers must also pony up a minimum $150 deposit.

According to ICE, the deposit is a guarantee that users won't run up a large tab while abroad and then not pay itp. If a user's bill reaches $150, the service will be suspended, ICE added. That limit can be raised by leaving a larger deposit, however.

Charges per minute and per text message will depend on the local network. Roaming will be available only in countries where ICE has a contract with local networks.

With this service upgrade, international roaming is now available to all subscribers with GSM lines, one of Costa Rica's two cellular systems.

TDMA, the other system, uses an older technology, has 850 MHz frequencies and is in the hands of about 425,000 users. GSM phones, a newer, yet less reliable system, have 1,800 MHz frequencies and are used by 1.26 million users nationwide, according to ICE.

Popular morning talk show host and leading government critic Jaime Arellano confirmed yesterday that Channel 2 TV has canceled his contract to broadcast his daily show, “2 en la Nación.”

Arellano, a former businessman and Conservative Party politician, said that the decision was made by the owners of Channel 2 out of “fear” of reprisal from the government of Daniel Ortega. For the past week, a group of Sandinista protesters has been demonstrating outside Channel 2 offices – a move critics call another pressure tactic by President Ortega, who refers to Arellano as “the fat devil.”

The government-affiliated demonstrators have also taken up protests outside of the offices of the opposition daily newspapers La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario.

Arellano, who was booted from the Sandinista-affiliated Channel 10 earlier this year for criticizing the government, intensified the tone of his show after switching to Channel 2, where he regularly called the Ortega government a “dictatorship” and called on viewers to fight for the country's institutional democracy. The Sandinistas blamed Arellano for inciting violent protest, though the TV host said his call to action was civic.

Arellano, who earlier this year denounced an alleged plot against his life, says he holds no grudge against the owners of Channel 2, because “each one of us is the owner of his or her own fear.” He also said that Channel 2 is in the process of renewing its broadcasting license from TELCOR, the Sandinista-controlled telecom regulatory agency, and so far hasn't been able to get a new one, perhaps contributing to the channel's decision to fire him and make nice with Ortega.

The owners of Channel 2 have not commented on their decision.

Sandinista TV outlet Multinoticias, which has recently denounced Arellano for alleged corruption under the previous government of Enrique Bolaños, is gloating now that Arellano is off the air, calling him a “fat devil thief.”

Foreign diplomatic sources consulted yesterday by The Nica Tim es yesterday expressed concern over the direction of press freedom in Nicaragua.

See this Friday's Nica Times for an exclusive interview with Nicaragua's former Attorney General Alberto Novoa, who helped launch the country's war on corruption.