Videoteca del Sur
“La Esquina ” (Guatemala) and “Maquilapolis” (Mexico/U.S.), 7 p.m., Sala Calle 15, Av. 2, opposite Plaza de la Democracia.

African diaspora festival
10 a.m., storytelling workshop, Spanish Cultural Center; 7 p.m., Reflexions in Concert (Gospel), Eugene O'Neill Theater, CCCN.

Peregrino Gris in concert
Celtic, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú, http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Costa Rican exports slowed through July, lifting the trade deficit to $3.3 billion – nearly twice the trade deficit during the same period last year.

The Central Bank reported Tuesday on its Web site www.bccr.fi.cr, that while exports in the first seven months of 2008 surpassed $5.7 billion, imports grossed just over $9 billion.

By July 2007, Costa Rica ran close to a $1.7 billion deficit, 96.5 percent below this year's seven-month figure.

“(Higher trade deficit) was expected but not in the magnitude we're seeing,” said Betty Sánchez, of the bank's economic analysis and consultancy department.

“What we've been seeing is a lower rise in exports largely due to lower foreign demand, and particularly the slowed growth in the United States, and, on other the hand, a higher value on imports,” Sánchez said.

During this year's first seven months, exports rose only 6.3 percent above 2007's total of just under $5.4 billion. Imports through July, meanwhile, were up 27.7 percent over the $7 billion in goods brought into the country during the same period last year.

Costa Rica's biggest sellers are computer chips, bananas, pineapples, medicine and medical equipment, textiles and coffee.

Sánchez explained import value is being driven by the dramatic increases in fuel and basic grain in the past year.

The Supreme Elections Tribunal demanded yesterday that President Oscar Arias remain neutral as the 2010 presidential election approaches.

Arias appears to be backing Vice President and Justice Minister Laura Chinchilla. He told the weekly newspaper El Financiero that a woman should succeed him, and he told the daily La Nación that Chinchilla “is a woman whose calling is public service.”

The Electoral Code prohibits high-level public officials from using their influence to benefit a political party or candidate.

“They must show absolute impartiality,” the three tribunal magistrates said in a resolution. “They are allowed only to vote on election day.”

The magistrates said Arias had not violated the Electoral Code, rejecting a complaint by lawmakers Rafael Madrigal and Elizabeth Fonseca from the opposition Citizen Action Party (PAC).

But the magistrates did ask Arias to be careful.

“This Tribunal …(makes a) respectful but vehement call to attention to the president of the republic,” they wrote. “(We) demand that President Oscar Arias…promote, from the executive branch …neutrality and impartiality.”

A specialized unit of the National Police in Costa Rica arrested a Russian fugitive wanted since 1997.

Nikolai Korobkov, 54, a former treasurer of the Russian Communist Party, was apprehended Tuesday in Barrio La Granja of San Pedro with the help of Interpol and the Intelligence and Security Department (DIS).

He is wanted in Russia on multiple charges of fraud, theft and abuse of client confidentiality.

According to an Interpol press release, Korobkov founded the Investment Industrial and Commercial Co. during the 1990s in Russia and used it as a pretext to lure roughly 7,000 investors into funding various housing projects. He allegedly didn't report the numbers on his books and investors lost roughly $2 million.

With the stolen money, Korobkov then acquired properties in several European countries before disappearing in 1997, the press release states.

Authorities said the fugitive first escaped to Denmark then Brazil, where he acquired a fake passport with the name Matías Knobel. They said he has lived under that name in Curridabat and Barrio La Granja, both east of San José, where he has run a home decorating business with his wife and daughter since 1998.

Korobkov is being held on an international arrest warrant while an extradition proceeding goes forward.