After almost 50 years of severed ties, Costa Rica will reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, President Oscar Arias announced Wednesday afternoon.

Free film showing
“Su Nombre es Chabela,” Mexican documentary about singer Chavela Vargas and “Vida Travesti,” Bolivian documentary about the life of a transvestite prostitute, 7 p.m., Sala Calle 15, Avenida 2, Calle 13/15.

Open-air cinema
Free open air film show “L'Esquive” in French (Spanish subtitles), 6:30 p.m., Plaza de la Cultura.

San José Fiestas in Guanacaste
Concerts, food, sports, March 18-20, Hojancha, Guanacaste.

Yuri Honing Quartet in concert
Jazz, 7 p.m., Bougainvillea Hotel, Santo Domingo, Heredia.

WASHINGTON – The amount of money being sent from Latinos back to families in their homeland – an important buoy for the region's economy – will likely fall this year, representing the first decline since the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) began measuring remittances in 2000, the IDB said this week.

The IDB reported Monday that remittances to the region reached $69.2 billion in 2008, an increase of less than 1 percent from 2007.

In the fourth quarter of last year, remittances fell 2 percent compared with the same period in 2007 and the bank says that the trend accelerated in January 2009, adding that a reduction in remittances of between 11 and 13 percent is expected for the full year.

“While it is too early to project by how much remittances may decline in 2009, this is bad news for millions of people in our region who depend on these flows to make ends meet,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno.

The expected decline in 2009 comes after years of double-digit increases in remittances, the IDB said, emphasizing that for some countries in the region, money sent home from abroad amounts to as much as 12 percent of gross domestic product.

The IDB said in its last report on remittance flows that it is probable that foreign direct investment and income from exports and tourism will continue to come under pressure during 2009, thereby increasing the importance of remittances.

The study put special emphasis on the fact that remittances are an important tool for reducing poverty, since more than 60 percent of these payments are used to cover daily necessities such as food, clothing and housing.

It also mentioned that exchange rates are playing a much more significant role in the determination of the effect of remittances on the receiving nations, as the falling value of many Latin American currencies versus the dollar helps cushion the impact of the decline in remittance payments.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced this week the company will move all of its Central American and the Caribbean operations to its offices in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Alejandra Castro, corporate affairs director for Pfizer Central America and the Caribbean, cited the Costa Rican government's decision to deal with the current financial crisis as one of the main reasons for making the move here.

“The management made the decision based on the fact that Costa Rica is a country which is politically and economically stable,” Castro told The Tico Times. “The basis of our decision was to concentrate the markets in one region that has demonstrated a high performance with a group of professionals… with a high academic background.”

Castro denies the company is making the move to cut operating costs, but does confirm the company has been affected by the current financial downturn.

Since last January, Pfizer has hired additional local employees to support the incoming international staff. As of Tuesday afternoon, the company had not confirmed the exact number or type of positions filled.

“There are no new positions regarding this change, since they have already been filled,” Castro said.

The move will begin in January 2010.

The company, which has been operating in Costa Rica for 50 years, will welcome about 63 employees from the Caribbean and other Latin American countries.

Those employees will work in the finance, business and administrative departments at the company's logistics center, located in Heredia's zona franca, or free zone area.

Pfizer made the decision to concentrate all of its operations in January, but decided to officially announce it Monday to coincide with the visit to Costa Rica this week of Jean-Michel Halfon, Pfizer president for emerging markets.

The foreign ministers of Costa Rica and Colombia met Tuesday in San José to coordinate strategies to fight drug trafficking and call for an update to the 1928 Extradition Treaty between the two countries.

In a noontime press conference, Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez announced that the two countries would hold high-level talks later this year to share information on security issues. Updating the Extradition Treaty, he said, would be critical to “rely on more expedient tools to fight drug trafficking and terrorism.”

“Drug trafficking does not stop at borders,” Bermúdez said. “Terrorism does not stop at borders.”

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said updating the law is necessary “to adapt to current reality.”

“Colombia has already made us a proposal that is under consideration,” Stagno said, “and later we will have to present a counterproposal on our part.”

Stagno said that, as part of the update, Costa Rica would look into the possibility that Colombian prisoners in Costa Rican jails serve out part of their sentence in Colombia.

The high-level talks will take part in the second half of 2009, and will focus on sharing information on security coordination, Stagno said. Public Security Minister Janina del Vecchio will also visit Colombia in the coming weeks to talk about drug trafficking and organized crime.

The ministers also agreed to create a technical commission on immigration matters, which will meet for the first time in May.

After almost 50 years of severed ties, Costa Rica will reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, President Oscar Arias announced Wednesday afternoon.

The move, announced via a press release, comes after Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno hinted earlier this week that a rapprochement was possible.

In the announcement, Arias said he had arrived at the decision “carefully” and “responsibly.” Times change, he said, and “Costa Rica needs to change with them.”

“The hour of direct and open dialogue, official and normal relations, has arrived,” Arias said. Formal ties, he added, “permit us to address our agreements and disagreements speaking head on and with sincerity.”

Costa Rica has not had formal ties with Cuba since then-President Mario Echandi cut off diplomatic relations with an executive decree in September 1961. On Wednesday, Arias signed a new executive decree to reestablish relations.

Prior to Arias' announcement, Costa Rica was one of only three countries in the Americas without diplomatic ties to Cuba, along with the United States and El Salvador. According to news reports, it is expected that Sunday's election of left-leaning presidential candidate Mauricio Funes in El Salvador will lead to restored relations with Cuba .

Arias said the two countries will announce ambassadors in the coming weeks.

“For now,” he said, “as the oldest democracy in Latin America , as the little country of peace, we are extending our hand to the Cuban people, and are sending by sea and air an olive branch to begin again the good work of building friendship.”