Tope (Horse Parade)
12 noon, Palmares streets, Palmares, Alajuela.

Concert by Kinky and Dj Roger Sánchez
Jan. 22, 9 p.m., Marlboro Site, Palmares Fairgrounds, Alajuela. 

VARA BLANCA, HEREDIA – The magnitude 6.2 earthquake that hit Costa Rica Jan. 8 caused losses of about ¢2 billion ($3.6 million), according to Costa Rica's Agriculture and Livestock Ministry (MAG).

The worst case was a dairy farm in Vara Blanca, a town located a few kilometers from the epicenter, where the quake opened a crater 300 meters long, 100 meters wide and 80 meters deep, consuming the farmer's two sons, 51 head of livestock and a house.

Dairy and strawberry farms suffered the most, according to MAG officials who have paid a number of visits to the affected areas.

A loss of power during the days following the earthquake slowed dairy production, as workers at some farms were unable to milk the cows with milking machines. At Finca Arco Iris, a farm in the town of Fraijanes, the slowdown in production ultimately caused 15 cows to become sick and three to die from mastisis, a disease caused by bacteria in the cow's udder that accumulates when milk is not removed. Furthermore, when cows are treated for mastisis, the antibiotics taint their milk, rendering it unusable.

Dos Pinos, the leading Costa Rican dairy cooperative, estimated its losses at roughly ¢1 billion ($1.8 million). Although production is almost back to normal, six of 12 Dos Pinos farms still have no running water, electricity or road access.

The nine teams of four agricultural technicians each that visited the affected region have found three main problems: disrupted access to the farms, no electric power and broken irrigation pipes.

So far, 65 strawberry farms in the Fraijanes, Vara Blanca and Poasito communities have been inspected for damage, and MAG said it hopes to visit 20 more later this week.

Misael Espinoza, who has worked the farm for the last 22 years, says the lack of production is affecting many workers around Fraijanes.

Espinoza said he was paid about ¢27,000 (about $50) in wages last week, compared to his usual weekly salary of ¢70,000 to ¢80,000 (about $130 to $145).

“I depend on this farm to feed my family and pay for my children's school,” he said. “It is going to be very difficult for me to survive during these next few months.”

Poás Volcano National Park, Costa Rica's most-visited national park, reopened to the public Tuesday for the first time since the devastating Jan. 8 earthquake struck just 10 kilometers east of the volcano.

Poás Volcano gave two small phreatic eruptions, which happens when magma meets ground surface water, on Jan. 12 and 13. However, seismologists have said those eruptions were not directly related to the quake, which was the result of plate movement along a local fault line, and not volcanic activity.

A team from the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET) conducted an inspection of the park the day after the quake and determined the park facilities did not sustain any permanent damage.

Rafael Gutiérrez, director of the Cordillera Volcánica Central Conservation Area, the MINAET office that oversees state lands in the region, said the park was kept closed in part because the earthquake had knocked out power and ruptured the water lines into the park. Those were however repaired over the weekend, he said at a press conference Tuesday.

The park was also kept close because the National Emergency Commission (CNE) needed the roads clear for rescue work, Gutiérrez said.

The park is back to normal operations except the Botos Lagoon, a popular but remote attraction, which will remain off limits just in case the park needs to be evacuated quickly, Gutiérrez said.

The area has continued to receive aftershocks, some reaching a magnitude greater than 4, but scientists say those routine aftershocks should quickly decrease in magnitude.

“The situation is normal,” Gutiérrez said. “We are monitoring it daily to avoid any emergencies or take action at the necessary moment.”

Costa Rica is supporting Ecuador's latest move in the World Trade Organization to challenge the European Union's refusal to lower tariffs on banana imports from this region, trade officials said Wednesday.

“All the producing countries feel tricked,” Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz said of Latin America's dismay at the EU's failure to meet an agreement signed during the July 2008 Doha round. “(European nations) have left Latin American exporters totally defenseless.”

Ecuador and Costa Rica, the world's second- and third-largest banana exporters respectively, after Philippines, have condemned the EU's preferential treatment toward former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific in allowing duty-free, quota-free access into the European market, while maintaining tariffs for Latin American countries.

Last year, countries in this region signed an agreement with the EU that says Europe would reduce its tax on bananas imported from Latin America from €176 ($229) to €114 ($148) a ton from 2009 to 2014.

The tariff was supposed to drop to €148 ($193) on Jan. 1, but the EU argued that the agreement was no longer binding as it was reached during a Doha round that broke down. Ruiz said the issue will be key during a meeting between Central American trade officials and the European Commission representative Catherine Ashton set for Monday in Brussels, Belgium.

“Central American countries must be united around this issue,” Ruiz told reporters Wednesday.