Sonambulo in concert
“Psycho-tropical,” 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Camilo Poltronieri in concert
Costa Rican guitar, electronica, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to sign 11 accords with President Oscar Arias today in the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Central America.

Hu arrived at Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela, northwest of San José, yesterday afternoon, with his wife, Liu Yongqing, and a sizable delegation. His agenda today includes a private meeting with Arias, followed by a press conference where he will sign accords and make a statement to the press but take no questions. He will then meet with lawmakers, visit the National Museum and eat lunch with Arias at the National Theater in downtown San José.

"Costa Rica is a country with weight in Central America and a notable partner for China in the region," Hu said in a written statement. "I'm confident that... this visit will strengthen the friendship, mutual trust and colaboration" between the two nations.

Hu is expected to announce the opening of a Confucius Institute at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) to spread Chinese language and culture. Other accords will address negotiations for a free-trade agreement; China's $83 million investment in a new national stadium here; and efforts by the China National Petroleum Corp. to help Costa Rica modernize its national oil refinery.

"This is a historic visit," said Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno, who greeted Hu at the airport. "Everyone has their eyes on China now because... the country will probably lead the world out of this recession, or depression, and (China) can certainly be a great help to developing countries."

Violent ricochet: Liberal party supporters fire shots from a pickup during clashes yesterday between Liberals and Sandinistas in Mateares, 40 kilometers south of Managua, as violence continues to spread in Nicaragua to other locales including the city of León after disputed municipal elections.

Mario López EFE

GRANADA, Nicaragua – Post-electoral street violence spread to the northern city of León yesterday following an attempt by the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) to march on the colonial city to “defend democracy” and the mayoral election it claims to have won Nov. 9.

Sandinista sympathizers, who also claim victory in León, blocked the highway from Managua to León to prevent entry of the Liberal caravan headed by PLC Managua mayoral candidate Eduardo Montealegre, who has claimed victory in the capital and refused to recognize the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) recount that gave victory to Sandinista candidate Alexis Argüello.

The PLC issued an official party statement Saturday saying it would fight for the “continuance of democracy in Nicaragua in the face of the blatant and massive fraud conducted by the FSLN in the municipal elections,” in which the FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) is claiming to have won 101 of 146 municipalities.

The PLC is refuting the election results published by the CSE on Friday and is calling on its supporters to defend their vote while the party's leadership attempts to challenge the results through legal channels. That call to action has led to a week of violence as Sandinistas take to the streets to clash with the Liberals, whom they accuse of resorting to “terrorism” out of desperation with the election results.

There were more than a half dozen injuries reported during yesterday's fighting in and around León, including a reporter for the daily El Nuevo Diario, who reported being attacked by Montealegre's supporters. Later in the afternoon, shots were reportedly fired on Montealegre's caravan as it retreated toward Managua, according to coverage from Channel 8 TV.

In a separate event, the popular expat blog on Nicaragua, www.therealnicaragua.com, which often features U.S. expatriates sounding off against the Sandinista government, was mysteriously blocked yesterday afternoon by a group called “Council of Sandinista Leadership.” The page, whose membership includes many U.S. expats living here, was blocked with a message reading: “We are sorry, the page is blocked,” followed by the Sandinista logo for the “Government of Reconciliation and National Unity.”

As of yesterday afternoon, it was still not clear whether the Web page had been shut down as part of the Sandinista government's efforts to stifle its critics.

President Daniel Ortega, meanwhile, has remained in hiding for more than a week of street violence, making no public appearances or appeals for calm.

Sandinista TV Multinoticias yesterday “congratulated the people of León” for “defending the city” and “invited” Sandinistas to take to the streets to prevent the Liberals from “robbing the elections.”

The opposition has called for another march on Managua tomorrow.

Plácido Domingo said Wednesday "the voice is like the most jealous woman in the world – treat her badly and you'll end it." On Friday night, the tenor gave his first ever concert in Costa Rica, at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in Tibás, and not for one moment did he betray the lady.

Nor did Domingo, and co-stars of the night, soprano Iride Martínez and mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera, lead astray the Tico audience, who sat in the stands and on chairs in the soccer field just north of San José under an almost full moon.

Though the open-air stadium lost a bit of the acoustics to the Tibás night sky, the sporting arena lent an unusual flavor to the event. Women sat in the stands, donning dresses and heels and picking at fried chicken in boxes sold like Cracker Jacks, to the great tunes of classical composers Bizet, Wagner and Rossini.

Costa Rica's National Symphony Orchestra tuned up at 8:20 p.m. and, at the baton of conductor Eugene Kohn, launched into the "Hongrois Mars" march from the work "Damnation de Faust" by French composer Hector Berlioz, setting off a first-half colored largely by operas of France. Each singer's opening solo was in French.

These included Venezuelan-Spanish singer Herrera's rendering of the aria “Habanera” from Bizet's "Carmen," one of the most popular songs of the first half. She mastered the aria's trademark chromatically descending notes, and reached into rich depths of her register with true style.

Set in Spain, Carmen foreshadowed a strongly Spanish second half of the program – not surprising considering Spanish singer Domingo's latest recording "Pasión Española," which last week won him his third Latin Grammy.

The crowd gave some of its most generous applause to Martínez, Costa Rica's star soprano. Her nationality, though it helped, was not the only reason. Martínez gave each performance – solos such as Charles Gounod's "Je veux vivre" and a duet, Pietro Mascagni's "Suzel, buon dí," in which she and Domingo seemed to utterly fall in love – with real expression and pouring with affection for the libretto and music.

With Domingo in the wings, a Martínez and Herrera duet produced the tenderest moment of the night. Their unwavering harmony on Léo Delibes's "Flower Duet" was nothing short of heavenly.

That duet was off the playbill, just one in a drawn-out encore full of surprises. A huge climax came when a complete mariachis troupe stormed the stage to play a list of Latin American numbers with and without Domingo.

And Domingo gave a gift: a list of Costa Rican songs, including Jesús Bonilla's Luna Liberiana (complete with real footage of the moon over Tibás displayed on screens on either side of the stage for added effect), that became sing-alongs for the audience and led to rapturous applause.

By the end of the show, after 11 p.m., many in the crowd undoubtedly wished that every day could be Domingo.

Holly Sonneland contributed to this review.