Energetic and Healing Gymnastics Workshop
Through Nov. 9, Grupo Conservacionista Los Congos, Cartago, www.vyayam.org.

Theater festival
Features “El Viento Entre Alamos,” 8 p.m., Teatro 1887, CENAC, Avenidas 3/5, Calles 11/15. Info: 2221-2154.

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

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

Costa Rica road authorities yesterday closed off several major roads, including the Inter-American Highway at two points by the southern area of Pérez Zeledón, to clean up landslides that occurred over the rainy weekend, the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) said.

Landslides made passage impossible at Kilometer 111, by El Jardín, and Kilometer 106, near División, according to a MOPT press release.

The authorities also cut off Route 219 to Irazú Volcano, east of San José, and National Route 301 between Acosta and Parrita, on the central Pacific.

Traffic has been slowed for cleanups on the Costanera Sur coastal road at Kilometer 11, between Parrita and Quepos, and the road from Orotina to Jacó.

More than 350 people fled their homes and were taking refuge in nine shelters around Costa Rica yesterday after heavy rains on Sunday spilled rivers over and split roads open, the National Emergency Commission (CNE) said yesterday.

With nearly 200 houses and businesses flooded, residents kept dry in churches and centers in Parrita and Garabito, along the central Pacific; Siquirres, on the Caribbean slope; Desamparados, in southern San José; and Oreamuno, in Cartago, east of the capital.

“Our priority is the people in shelters,” said Douglas Salgado, of CNE's Department of Prevention.

Another urgent situation has developed in Tulin, a Pacific slope region en route from Puriscal to Parrita, where as many as 1,200 people are almost entirely isolated because of flooding and landslides that obstructed their travel, “mainly because of poorly designed roads,” Salgado said.

The CNE issued a red alert for six cantons – Aguirre and Parrita in the Central Pacific, and Paraíso, El Guarco, Oreamuno and Cartago, all in the Cartago region.

“Any rain now in those sectors most affected (Sunday) could produce more flooding and landslides. If it rains, we're racing to work again,” said Salgado. “We're getting the population as informed as possible, especially in the areas that repeatedly have problems.”

Along the Caribbean, the Limón province, Guatuso, San Carlos, Los Chiles and Upala are on green alert, the lowest-level preventive emergency warning, while most of the Pacific coast and interior are on yellow alert, the second-level warning to prepare for evacuation.

Rights champ: Laura Thompson, Costa Rica's permanent representative before the United Nations in Geneva, has been elected president of the Executive Committee of the  Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on  Refugees (UNHCR).

Courtesy of Miguel Díaz |Foreign Ministry

A Costa Rican diplomat has been elected president of the Executive Committee of the  Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on  Refugees (UNHCR).

Laura Thompson, Costa Rica's permanent representative before the United Nations in Geneva, will be UNCHR's second-highest official, after High Commissioner Navi Pillay, a South African judge.

Thompson is the first woman in 45 years to be elected to the post and will serve until October 2009, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Thompson said in the statement that she will “try to create the necessary conditions” so that refugees who have suffered from armed conflict and natural disasters “will have a safe and dignified place to live” until they are reunited with their families.

Costa Rica has 13,000 refugees, more than any other Latin American country except Ecuador, and Immigration receives 130 applications for refugee status every month, according to the news wire service EFE.

Established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1950, the UNHCR coordinates international action to protect refugees worldwide. In 2007, Costa Rica joined the Executive Committee, which has 76 member states and meets annually in Geneva to review and approve UNHCR programs and budget.

Costa Rica will also assume the presidency of the U.N. Security Council during the month of November.