Free Colombian film screening
“La Desazon Suprema: Retrato Incesante de Fernando Vallejo,” Colombian film in Spanish, 7 p.m., Sala Calle 15, Avenida 2, opposite Plaza de la Democracia.

‘Geographies of the Image'
Exhibit of vidoclips by French artist Armel Hostiu, opening Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., TEOR/éTica, Barrio Amón.

Dick de Graaf in concert
Dutch jazz quartet, Wednesday and Thursday, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú. Info: 2288-4740, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

Starting next week, it will be easier for women who have had abortions to seek forgiveness from the Catholic Church.

From Feb. 25 to April 19, one week after Easter, the 300 priests in the archdiocese of San José will have the power to forgive women who confess to having had abortions, as well as doctors and family members who assisted them. Normally, only the country's eight bishops have that authority.

The policy aims to accommodate an annual spike in the number of people who confess during these months, as they prepare to celebrate the death and the resurrection of Christ.

“We invite all believers to reestablish their relationship with the Lord, who wants all of us to achieve salvation,” said Mario Segura Bonilla, spokesman for the San José archdiocese.

The other eight dioceses throughout the country will likely implement a similar policy, as they have in previous years, said archdiocese press officer Germán Salas.

Abortion is illegal in Costa Rica except when the mother's life is seriously at risk. About 27,000 illegal abortions are performed here every year, according to the Costa Rican Demographic Association.

U.S.-based nonprofit group Amigos of Costa Rica and its counterpart here, the Costa Rica-U.S.A. Foundation for Cooperation (CRUSA), have set up a relief fund to help this country's recovery efforts after the Jan. 8 earthquake, which killed as many as 30 people, left hundreds more homeless and caused an estimated $100 million in damage.

Amigos set up a Web site, www.amigosofcostarica.org/earthquake, for its Costa Rica Earthquake Relief Fund as a way to raise awareness and money after the 6.2 magnitude quake's impact. The site provides an online space in which to make tax-deductable donations from the United States to help Costa Rica's recovery.

“While we understand that short-term needs such as rescue, food and shelter are being met through local organizations and targeted international assistance, it is anticipated that much more will be needed to ensure adequate follow-up care, environmental remediation, infrastructure repairs, and local economic adjustment and development,” Amigos of Costa Rica Executive Director David Schacht said in a statement earlier this month.

The charitable group CRUSA set up Amigos of Costa Rica in 2000 to function as its Washington, D.C. representative and fundraising arm.

Mexico deported 37.3 percent fewer Central Americans last month than in January 2008, according to Guatemalan immigration authorities. The Central Americans were presumably passing through Mexico seeking new opportunities in the United States.

In January 2009, Mexico sent back 4,916 such emigrants, compared to 6,750 during the same month last year.

Of last month's deportees, almost half were Guatemalan nationals, followed by Hondurans (1,744), Salvadorans (759) and Nicaraguans (97).

In January 2007, however, no Nicaraguan was turned away.

Guatemala's list consists only of those deportees sent back by land across the Mexican-Guatemalan border.

The immigration authorities said in a statement that the decrease is likely a result of the sharp economic downturn and escalating unemployment in the United States, as the final hoped-for destination for migrants is rendered less attractive.

The International Labor Organization reported that migrants' remittances from the U.S. make up about 5 percent of Central America's economy.