Heredia Municipal Symphony Orchestra
March 9, 8 p.m., National Theater, Avenida 2, Calle 3/5. Info: 2221-9417

Mundoloco Concerts
Features Sege and Koron, African chants, dances, percussion, March 9, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro. Info: 2253-8933.

Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET) Minister Roberto Dobles has resigned from his post, according to a statement issued Friday by President Oscar Arias' office.

The president accepted the resignation, the statement said.

Dobles has been accused by the media, environmental groups and the political opposition of granting a concession in late 2006 to extract materials such as gravel and sand from the Aranjuez River to a company whose board of directors included his uncle.

The minister, whose resignation will be effective on Tuesday, after he appears Monday before the Legislative Assembly to testify about the matter, said he acted in accordance with the law in signing the concession and that it had already been approved by the ministry's technical committees.

In his statement on Friday, Arias said that he was satisfied with the explanations provided by Dobles and that his actions “were in total compliance with the law and existing procedures.”

But he added that Dobles “is aware that his continued presence in the government could hinder the progress of important environmental, energy and telecommunications initiatives, (ones) that he himself has led and could be affected by the politicization of a process against him.”

“Rather than harming his ministry, he preferred to submit his resignation and I think that shows the type of person he is and his commitment to our country's most important causes,” Arias said.

Arias said he was proud of the work carried out by Dobles, crediting him with strengthening the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), reducing and offsetting carbon emissions and planting millions of trees.

For opposition congressmen, however, the minister's actions struck them as nepotistic.

“(What Dobles did) is against the law,” said Citizen Action Party (PAC) lawmaker Francisco Molina by cell phone shortly after hearing the news Friday afternoon. “What he did was not right.”

According to Molina, the story does not stop there – the uncle is also a relative of President Oscar Arias, who is Dobles' cousin.

“The president signed that concession,” Molina said. “And the president had issued a decree saying that it is prohibited to give concessions to family members of ministers or the president.”

The Tico Times attempted to contact Dobles on his cell phone, but a message left was not immediately returned.

Dobles, who had been in Arias' Cabinet since he was inaugurated in May 2006, led the controversial process to end the country's telecommunications monopoly and has pushed for Costa Rica's possible inclusion in PetroCaribe, an initiative of Venezuela's leftist government to provide subsidized oil to Central American and Caribbean countries.

He has also come under fire for defending the private, open-pit gold mine by the town of Las Crucitas in northern Costa Rica that has not yet begun operating due to a legal challenge by environmental groups.

Dobles is one of several other Cabinet members who have resigned during Arias' second presidency, including the ministers of public security, housing, justice, planning and agriculture.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega recently affirmed his support of the idea to end a ban on consecutive presidential terms and said he supports the idea of a parliamentary system.

In an interview with British journalist David Frost of the Al-Jazeera network, the Sandinista president explained that the ban on consecutive term limits was introduced to the Nicaraguan Constitution in 1995 by a right-wing government, a move that was “partially to prevent the people from being able to exercise their right to elect authorities as they felt was fit.”

“Since 1996 … we (the Sandinista National Liberation Front party) have felt strongly that we need (to) change our presidential system to a parliamentary system that would then not have these constraints for successive terms,” the former rebel said.

“I support the idea that the people have the right to elect the candidate, or not,” he said, calling it “direct democracy,” before going on. “Now that (our party is) back in government, if those conditions permit, yes, I would run again for president. And if those conditions were not present, then yes, I would be fine serving as prime minister, and then running against for president (in another five years).”

Reforms to the Nicaraguan Constitution must be approved by two different National Assemblies and by at least two-thirds of the 92 deputies in the Assembly, a supermajority liberal lawmakers currently hold. Liberal lawmakers opened negotiations to reform the Constitution, including presidential reelection, in October 2007, but those were stalled after the municipal elections in November 2008.

When asked about reports that he was suffering from leukemia, Ortega, who, as his interviewer noted, looked quite well, said, “My mother lived to be 97 years old. And I just hope that I will be able to live long enough to contribute to this new stage of development of the revolution. … These are very exciting times.

See the full interview, in English, here.

Fires have burned some 8,000 hectares (19,753 acres) of forest and pastures in Costa Rica this year, while a total of 3,246 hectares (8,015 acres), including 2,571 hectares (6,348 acres) of a nature reserve, were destroyed last week by wildfires in Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan emergency services officials said on Saturday 1,559 hectares (3,849 acres) of forest land consumed by fire were in the Las Pilas-El Hoyo nature reserve northwest of Managua, but that those fires have now been brought under control. No injuries in the blazes have been reported, said authorities.

Another 1,012 hectares (2,499 acres) laid waste by the flames belonged to the Cosiguina reserve, located on the volcano of the same name, in the western province of Chinandega.

The blaze in the protected areas that normally shelter a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna began four days ago as a result the carelessness of local residents and were spread by strong winds, the authorities said.

The National Forestry Institute (INAFOR) announced that it will open investigations to find those responsible for the fires.

These are the biggest forest fires in Nicaragua so far in this year's dry season.

In Costa Rica, the biggest of the blazes is still burning in the southern part of the country near its border with Panama, according to the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry. The fire has consumed 1,000 hectares (2,469 acres) of forest and pastures, and is threatening La Amistad International Park, which is shared by the two countries.

The fire near the park is no longer as intense as it was, but the 55 firefighters assigned to the area have not been able to bring the blaze under control, National Fire Management Program chief Luis Diego Roman told the press.

The fire is moving close to two rivers that provide drinking water for about 20,000 people, Roman said.

The National Emergency Commission emergency management office declared an alert for southern Costa Rica due to the large number of fires that have broken out in the region.

A total of 26 forest fires were reported across Costa Rica in January and February.