Republicans Abroad luncheon
Noon, the King's Garden Restaurant. Info: 2232-5016.

Chilean film series
“Radio corazón,” directed by Roberto Artiagoitía (Chile, 2007), 7 p.m., Chilean Embassy, from Automercado in Los Yoses, 250 m south. Info: 2224-4243.

Speakers forum
Talk by Carl Johnson, followed by Q&A, 7 p.m., Big Mike's Place, Escazú. Info: 2289-6333, 8821-4708.

Jazz jam session
10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Digital 80 in concert
Electronic, midnight, Jazz Café, Escazú, http://jazzcafecostarica.com.

Upcoming shows
Willie Colón, Friday, Torre Geko in Real Cariari shopping center, info: 2542-1414.

Boy George, Sept. 20, The City Club, San José, www.mundoticket.com.

Juanes, Oct. 2, Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium, Alajuela, tickets at Servimas, Quick Photo and Bansbach.

Costa Rican school children marched to their own drumbeat throughout Costa Rica yesterday as the country joined other Central American countries in marking 187 years since the colonists broke away from Spain.

But the nation's president, Oscar Arias, brought much less enthusiasm.

“Tired” was the word that lingered after President Arias' annual Independence Day address in San José's National Park. Television Channel 7 put the Spanish word cansado as the headline yesterday while it replayed images of the president's speech.

“I'm tired of trying to get important things done and hitting obstacles opposing measures simply for coming from the government … of trying to govern a country that believes criticism at any cost is the best way to carry out opposition,” he said, according to newswire EFE.

The remarks came after a period in which Arias' voice has been in and out of hoarseness, his nation's chances of meeting the deadline to enter a free-trade agreement with the United States (see separate story) were slipping away, and his administration became further embroiled in a scandal involving secret Chinese bonds.

The president, nevertheless, made a call to keep alive the dream of independence and freedom that is “forged in the hearts of all people.”

“Being free is being able to make proper decisions and execute them … freedom is not a derailed train running aimlessly through history,” Arias said.

The nation's official celebration began Sunday night when the independence torch arrived in Cartago, the old capital east of San José, from Guatemala.

Many waved national flags and marched in festive parades, but some took the opportunity to protest.

Residents in Cartago, Costa Rica's old capital east of San José where this time last year and the year before students demonstrated against free trade with the United States, on Sunday urged the government to hurry and build them a new hospital.

For the second time, Costa Rica is seeking to extend its deadline for entering the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

Vice President Laura Chinchilla met with Peter Brennan, the chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy, on Friday to request more time to enter the pact, according to the daily La Nación.

Chinchilla said the country would miss its Oct. 1 deadline after the Supreme Court on Thursday struck down an intellectual property law designed to put Costa Rica in compliance with CAFTA.

“We are convinced – and this is the message that we want to give Costa Ricans – that we will still be able to enter CAFTA,” Chinchilla said at an Thursday night. She then turned to a soccer metaphor: “In the last few minutes of the game, we have been dealt a yellow card. We don't think it's a red card.”

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) found that lawmakers had failed to consult indigenous groups when debating the bill, as required under a 1989 United Nations convention. Lawmakers must now fix their error and pass the bill again.

The proposal was the last of 13 bills required for Costa Rica to enter CAFTA, which was ratified in a national referendum last October. After lawmakers missed a Feb. 29 deadline for passing the bills, Costa Rica's trading partners granted the country a seven-month extension.

Chinchilla said the administration will decide how much more time to request once the Sala IV releases its full ruling. The other CAFTA signers – the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic – have all entered the treaty.

Nicaraguan year-on-year inflation in August was 23.92 percent, owing to rising fuel and basic grain prices, according to the Central Bank (BCN).

Prices rose last month 0.51 percent, while inflation in the first eight months of the year reached 13.73 percent, the BCN said in its monthly report released yesterday.

The Central Bank, however, noted that the rising consumer price index has slowed since July with dipping cost of petroleum, which it said has eased down price increases of such commodities as beverages and housing.