Stand up comedy
7 p.m., Spanish Spanish Cultural Center, Av.13, Ca. 31, 2257-2919, ext. 118. Free entrance.

Play: ‘Crónicas de una muerte anunciada'
Based on the novel by Gabriel García Marquez, 7 p.m., National Auditorium, Children's Museum, end of Calle 4, info: 2258-4929.

Sonsax in concert
Saxophone ensemble, 9 p.m., La Vereda, Terramall, Tres Ríos.

GUANACASTE – A Nicaraguan construction worker who died Nov. 6 at a resort construction site on Matapalo Beach in the northwestern province of Guanacaste succumbed to a tick-borne infection, health officials said this week.

The death of Manuel Pérez Sánchez, who suffered diarrhea and vomiting, coincided with the illnesses of hundreds of other workers, initially fueling a scare of a large-scale outbreak at the site, possibly caused by the drinking water.

Authorities have since determined that Sánchez died of Ehrlichiosis, a bacterial disease spread by ticks.

On Monday, Health Minister María Luisa Avila and other government officials, including Nicaraguan Ambassador Harold Rivas, visited the site and found no signs of potable water contamination.

Avila, however, issued sanitary orders to clean up the distribution of food for the workers and to limit the number of workers per dormitory. Most of the construction project's 1,500 workers were crammed into bunks stacked three high up to the dorm room ceilings.

According to the daily La Nación, more than 300 of Sánchez's fellow workers visited clinics over the weekend, but most suffered from respiratory infections and showed no symptoms of diarrhea or tick-borne illness.

“It was more collective hysteria than anything else,” said Enrique Jiménez, Guanacaste director of the Health Ministry. “There was no outbreak. This was normal pathology for a (dense) group of 1,500 people.”

Avila requested that a clinic be erected on the construction site, and that a doctor and nurse be present eight hours a day.

The workers are building the 701-room, $125 million Hotel RIU Guanacaste, part of the Spanish hotel chain RIU hotels. The hotel is half complete and on target to be finished by November 2009.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua's capital was again terrorized by political violence yesterday afternoon when hundreds of Sandinista loyalists – who were joined by leftist sympathizers from El Salvador – turned Managua into an urban battle zone by taking over the city, blocking traffic, shooting explosives and attacking the opposition – including members of the news media.

Downtown businesses were once again forced to close early, some of them boarding their windows in anticipation of violence, as Sandinista fanatics – many of them masked and armed with bats, rocks, machetes and guns – congregated in various sectors of the city to prepare for battle against opposition members who had announced a march to support Liberal Party candidate Eduardo Montealegre, who claims victory in the Nov. 9 municipal election in Managua.

Young Sandinista men were bused in from various parts of the country and started congregating in the morning, drinking liquor in the street and shooting mortar rounds into the air. Some of the men had baseball bats wrapped in red-and-black Sandinista flags, foreshadowing violence to come.

“If they try to march, the fight will begin!” said Sandinista supporter Henry Torres, who covered his face with a pink Sandinista bandana.

Others in the pro-Sandinistas ranks were government employees who were forced to leave the office and attend the rally, according to various testimonies. A large group of Sandinistas gathered at the MetroCentro turnabout wore shirts that were marked with the initials “DGI,” indicating they were employees of the Tax Office, although many tried to cover the initials with drawn on Sandinista flags.

For the second time in a week, there was apparently also participation from a contingent of revolutionary sympathizers from the Faribundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) from El Salvador. Several of the vehicles parked in the MetroCentro turnabout had license plates from El Salvador, including one that had covered its license plate with paper and tape.

The Nica Times asked a Sandinista youth organizer about the apparent participation of the FMLN. He said the two former revolutionary groups have “always supported each other” and that the Salvadorans were providing “technical support” to the Sandinista protesters.

As the Liberal opposition started to arrive downtown for the march, at the intersection in front of the Hilton Princess, the Sandinistas mobilized to try to surround the Liberals, blocking the streets in all directions from the intersection. Riot police held the Sandinistas at bay from several hundred yards away from the opposition, trying to maintain the peace.

The Sandinistas tried to advance on the Liberals, firing mortars from all four directions – although they didn't have the reach, exploding short of the opposition gathering.

In the middle of the crossfire, Montealegre told The Nica Times that the Sandinista protest is an example of fear by the ruling party.

“They're trying to intimidate the people,” Montealegre said. “They've closed down streets all over the city. They're trying to scare me but it doesn't matter. I'm not scared.”

“People are coming here saying I want my vote to count. That's what this march is about,” Montealegre added.

When the frustrated march eventually broke up, violence ensued as the opposition tried to return home and was attacked by Sandinista thugs, who had taken over all nine of the downtown intersections and paralyzed traffic.

Journalists were also targeted in the violence. Channel 8 reporter Maricela Caldera told The Nica Times a group of Sandinistas threatened her life and threw rocks at her, and reporters for Channel 2 were attacked and their car was beaten with bats by Sandinista supporters. Reporters for the official news media outlets, Radio Ya and Multinoticias, also reported aggression against them.

At press time, it was not clear how many people had been injured in yesterday's violence. With neither side backing down and President Daniel Ortega conspicuously absent from the public eye, it is not apparent how Nicaragua is going to get out of the lawlessness that has enveloped the nation.

A new five-story Hilton Garden Inn will open Dec. 1 near the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.

It will be the first airport hotel to open, though several others remain under construction, said José Cañas, spokesman for the Hilton Garden Inn.

“The strategic location of our Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport is directed to business and pleasure travelers who are looking for quality accommodations,” said Adrian Kurre, senior vice president of the Hilton Corp.

The new Hilton Garden Inn, which cost $19.7 million, will have 169 rooms consisting of standard rooms and eight suites in addition to accessible rooms available for people with disabilities. The hotel will offer an introductory price of $79 a night for rooms of double occupancy.

Although this project would be the fourth Hilton hotel to be built in Costa Rica this year alone, it would be the first Hilton Garden Inn, which offers mid-range prices, in all of Central America.