Light Show at Children's Museum
With Christmas carols, concerts, “Navidad Tica” play, Dec. 1, 6 p.m., Children's Museum. 2258-4929.

Bon ArtPetit
Chef demonstrations, talks, tastings, Dec. 1 and 3, Alliance Française, Barrio Amón and La Sabana branches; edible art exhibit, Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., Alliance Française, Barrio Amón; Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m., “floating buffet,” Gran Hotel Costa Rica, San José, 2222-2283.

Over 4,600 people returned to their homes this week, while another 1,400 remained in shelters as the flooding and torrential rains subsided in Costa Rica's Caribbean areas.

An estimated 46,600 people have been affected as strong rains flooded the Caribbean canton of Limón in Costa Rica since the storms began last week, according to the National Emergency Commission (CNE), and 28 bridges have been wiped out, among other damages.

The rains also have pounded western Panama, and landslides closed parts of the Inter-American Highway, cutting off the capital, Panama City, for 48 hours this weekend. Public Works Minister Benjamín Colamarco said the highway would closed “at least until Monday,” as repairs were made, according to the EFE news agency.

The storms have led to the deaths of 10 people in Panama and displaced over 25,000. One death has been reported in Costa Rica.

The CNE has lowered its alert level from red to yellow for the Limón and Sarapiquí areas, maintaining the warning level in preparation for a cold front expected to hit the area tomorrow. It has issued a low-level green alert for the Northern Zone and Central Valley.

A team of 48 U.S. aviation and medical personnel and seven helicopters from the Joint Task Force-Bravo, based in Honduras, were dispatched to Costa Rica and Panama this week to work with local authorities in rescue operations. Both countries declared states of emergency and requested aid from the respective U.S. embassies in their countries to work alongside local authorities to help the thousands of displaced residents. The helicopters were used to deliver close to 3,500 food rations to the Sixaola and surrounding communities near the eastern edge of the border with Panama.

On the Pacific side, heavy rains have swollen the Paquita River, sending 50 people from the Quepos area into a shelter.

Opposition leader Ariel Terán, who has alleged the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party rigged the Nov. 9 mayoral election he lost for León, suspects the Sandinistas were involved in a break-in of his property in which his pasturelands were set ablaze Friday morning.

“These acts of violence and vandalism will only push me to fight harder for Nicaragua and its democracy,” said Terán, a U.S.-educated entrepreneur who has pledged to put aside his coffee business in a bid to fight election results, in which he lost as the Liberal Constitutional Party's (PLC) candidate to former Sandinista rebel commander Manuel Calderón for León's mayoral seat.

Employees were able to put out the fire at Terán's 40-manzana hacienda before it caused much damage, but the vandals who broke into his property by burning the iron gate with acid were unidentified.

PLC spokesman Leonel Téller called for Nicaraguan authorities to investigate the crime and punish those found guilty.

“Nicaraguans are tired of violence that the FSLN promotes. However, these actions confirm that (the Sandinistas) are defeated, desperate and resort to violence to intimidate those who love democracy, peace and progress.”

Sandinista supporters violently blocked opposition protests in León before and after the elections and the critical radio station Radio Darío, which is managed by Terán's campaign boss, was ransacked by some 40 armed and masked men during an opposition protest after the election.

Read more about Terán's plans to fight the election results and his opponent's plans for León in an upcoming edition of The Nica Times.

Year-end expenses incurred by businesses and the fall in the price of raw materials, including oil caused the U.S. dollar's value against the colón to drop to its lowest value in over four months.

According to analysts, the drop reflects the abundance of dollars in the market, a product of the currencies exchanged by foreign firms this time of year to pay the aguinaldo – a mandatory, untaxed year-end bonus equal to one month's wages – and other taxes in colones.

Friday, the US dollar selling rate closed at 536.75 colones, a significant drop from the 550.75 colones to the dollar registered at the markets' opening that day.

Other elements that explain the dollar's devaluation in Costa Rica, says economist Alberto Franco, are reduced growth in exports, the reduction of taxes from tourism and the contraction of direct foreign investment.

Moreover, the Central Bank has not sold dollars on the wholesale market (Mercado mayorista) during the last two weeks as it did from July through mid November in an effort to defend the upper limit of the bands, or the rates within which the dollar can be traded against the colon.

Last Monday, the U.S. dollar was selling for 560.69 colones, but then continued to drop through the week until it closed at 536.75 by this weekend, a 4.27 percent devaluation and the lowest selling rate since July 15.