Play: ‘Chingos o Nada'
Comedy, tonight and tomorrow, 8 p.m., Molière Theater, Avenida 2, Calle 13, 2221-3461.

Nagual Trio in concert
Camilo Poltronieri (Guitar), Walter Briceño (bass) and Ale Fernández (drums), jazz fusion, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, 2253-8933, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Luis Nubiola in concert
Latin jazz saxophonist, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú, 2288-4740, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Costa Rica's Central Valley experienced a jolt yesterday morning from a quake that registered a magnitude of 4.0, the first noticeable one of 2009.

Seismologist Víctor González said the tremor started at 10 a.m. and lasted about 3 minutes, but many residents may have only felt it for a few seconds, depending on how close they were to its epicenter.

The quake began 5 kilometers east of the Poás Volcano, 6 km underground, said González, of the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica. He said there were 55 aftershocks.

No injuries or damage were reported.

Yesterday's quake may have been the first to noticeably shake us this year, but seismic activity has already been stirring quietly, with as many as 10 mini-earthquakes a day, González said.

Last year ended with at least 4,746 quakes, but only about 60 of them were felt, the strongest hitting 6.2 on Nov. 19, the observatory reported.

Nicaraguan opposition leaders clashed with supporters of President Daniel Ortega's ruling Sandinistas yesterday morning in the town of La Concepción, south of Managua, with opposition groups reporting three injured.

Opposition leaders and supporters were protesting to demand an investigation into the detention of La Concepción's former Liberal mayoral candidate, Mildred López, when the clashes occurred.

Police detained López on Monday, a day after she led a prior opposition march to protest alleged electoral fraud in the Nov. 9 elections.

Police also briefly held the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC) leader in Concepción, Alberto Espinoza, as well as López's husband, Javier Estaquit, according to PLC spokesman Elliot Sevilla.

The three PLC members allege they were mistreated during questioning.

“We held a demonstration, and municipal workers came out to assault people who were protesting peacefully. The product is three more people injured. They were attacked with mortars and rocks,” said Sevilla.

Police spokeswoman Vilma Reyes said the three opposition members were called in by police briefly on Monday for questioning in an investigation of five cases of damaged property that took place during the Sunday protests led by opposition.

Nicaraguan health authorities warned yesterday of a likely outbreak of dengue fever serotype 3, citing the spread of the mosquito-borne virus in Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador.

The Health Ministry's chief of epidemiology, Juan José Amador, said this type of dengue will attack Nicaragua with “greater force” this year, harming in particular infants and people who have previously suffered from dengue.

“What's happening in Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador is going to affect us tremendously,” Amador said in a statement.

He explained that dengue tends to cross borders, as eggs are carried in by wind. When other countries in the region get hit, Nicaragua won't be an exception.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever, a more serious form of the disease, can be fatal.

Health authorities last year registered 2,295 suspected cases of dengue fever and another 205 of dengue hemorrhagic fever, a more serious form of the disease that can be fatal. Seventeen cases were confirmed; no deaths from dengue were recorded.

That was a big improvement from 2007, when 147 cases were confirmed and nine people died.