San José Puro Cuento 2009
Storytelling festival, with storytellers from Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Sept. 18-19 at CENAC, Spanish Cultural Center, UCR, and Veritas University, 8855-9180, 8868-3686.

Beauty fair
Including demonstrations, make up, fashion shows, talks, Sept. 18-20, Plaza Grecia El Ingenio, Grecia.

García Lorca's ‘Thamar y Amnón'
Written by Federico García Lorca, Flamenco and theatrical version, Sept. 18, 8 p.m., Teatro 1887, CENAC.

Yoga festival
Sept.19-20, CENAC, www.asoyogacr.org.

Anniversary Dance of Proyecto Caribe Association
Including craft exhibits, African art display, raffels, Sept. 19, 7:30 p.m., Kontiki Discoteque, Zapote, in front of the bull right, 2250-0512.

Bonsai and suiseki exhibit
Sept. 19-20, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Japanese Area of Lankaster Botanical Garden, road to Paraíso, Cartago.

Music, games and creation
Music initiation program, including piano, singing, guitar and violin, kids 5-7, Saturdays, 9-11 a.m.; kids 8-10, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., registration Sept. 19, 1-4 p.m., School of Music, UCR, cursosespeciales.eam@ucr.ac.cr.

Krav Maga Class
Including self-defense, safe lifestyle awareness, strategy for crime avoidence, conducted by Argentinean instructor Neal Rideout, Sept. 19, 10 a.m., at the employees' gym at Hospital Mexico. Info: www.costaricak9.com.

Free style
Motocross, skateboard, BMX, in line skating, graffiti, break dance, Sept. 20, 10 a.m., Plaza Ferias, Alajuela.

‘Imagine That' premiere
Starring Eddie Murphy, benefit for the Attention Center for Children with Cerebral Palsy, Sept. 20, 10 a.m., Cine Magaly, Barrio La California.

“Tesoro contra tesoro”
Children's play about conservation, Sept. 20 and 27, 11 a.m., 2 p.m., Teatro Atahualpa del Cioppo, UNA, Heredia, 1 km east of Burger King, 8359-0940.

See the print or digital edition of The Tico Times for a complete calendar of events.

Roberto Micheletti, Honduras' de facto president, went on air with a Honduran radio station Wednesday with strong words for the Costa Rican mediator of the Honduran conflict.

Calling Costa Rican President Oscar Arias “a puppet” manipulated by different international interests, he told Radio HRN that Arias “has ceased to be a proper mediator.”

“Not only is it his position, but the way he has expressed his position. One day he says we should proceed to elections and the next he says we should not,” said Micheletti, who assumed the presidency in the ousted president's absence.

Micheletti continued, “Nobody, absolutely nobody, has the ability to stop the elections.”

The talk show came on the same day Arias played host to the five frontrunners in the November presidential election in Honduras. The Costa Rican leader told the candidates that the elections will not be recognized by the international community if ousted president Manuel Zelaya is not returned to power immediately.

Arias' warning was not absent of international support. The United States sent a high-level diplomat to Costa Rica on Monday to back him in his warning to the candidates.

“We support Arias' effort to reunite them,” said Craig Kelly, the principal deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department. He added that the U.S., which recently slashed aid to Honduras, backs any diplomatic effort to “realize the points of the San José Agreement.”

Arias' press team told The Tico Times it is unlikely that Arias will respond to Micheletti publicly.

Most recently, Micheletti has been told he is not welcome in Spain or the United States by leaders in those countries.

The Costa Rican Soccer Association (FEDEFUTBOL) named René Simões the new coach of the country's national soccer team on Wednesday, two days after firing Rodrigo Kenton.

Kenton was removed on Monday after 14 months as coach of La Sele, as the team is known.

Simões, who is Brazilian, coached Jamaica to its first-ever World Cup appearance in France in 1998. He also coached the women's Brazilian team to a Silver medal in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. He has since continued to coach in both Brazil and Jamaica.

“With much courage, we will do all that is possible to give Costa Rica a strong enough group to be able to qualify for the World Cup,” Simões said Wednesday evening.

Murmurs of Kenton's impending dismissal began last week, after Costa Rica dropped its third consecutive World Cup qualifying match, 1-0, to El Salvador. The Ticos, who won four of their first five games in World Cup qualifying, have lost their last three matches by a combined score of 8-0, including a 4-0 dismantling by Honduras in August and a 3-0 home loss to Mexico on Sept. 5.     

At a press conference Monday in Santa Ana, west of San José, Kenton sat with the federation's president, Eduardo Li, who explained the reasoning for the coach's release.  

"I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr. Kenton for all of the work he has done," Li said. "But results are important, and we have not got the right ones over the course of our last three matches."  

Prior to the match with Honduras on Aug. 12, Costa Rica was in first place in the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) region. But, with losses in their last three games, the Ticos have fallen to fourth place.

The top three teams from CONCACAF will advance to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Currently, the U.S., Mexico and Honduras hold the top three spots in the region. The fourth-place team in the region will participate in a two-game playoff series against the fifth-place team from the South American qualifying group, CONMEBOL. Perennial world soccer power Argentina is in fifth place in that group.  

Simões will coach La Sele in the two games remaining in World Cup qualification. The Ticos will play Trinidad and Tobago, occupying last place in the group, on Oct. 10. They will play the group leader, the U.S., on Oct. 14. If they are to earn a top-three position, Costa Rica most likely will need to win both games and some of the teams ahead of them must lose their games.  

Kenton won his first nine games as manager of La Sele and led the Ticos to a 15-2-3 record in his first 20 games. He finished with an overall record of 15-5-4.  

Costa Rica's Labor Ministry will launch an investigation into COESA, a San José bus company known to work its drivers up to 18 hours daily, following a report on the issue by The Tico Times (TT, Sept. 11).

Labor authorities this week said they are prioritizing the investigation as urgent, acknowledging that the bus company's actions have been dangerous and illegal.

Evidence was presented to Carlos Sánchez, a Labor Ministry adviser, in the form of a report and a pay slip belonging to one of COESA's drivers. The pay slip revealed a starting time of 5:30 a.m. and an ending time of 10:43 p.m.

The country's labor law states that a bus driver's working day must not exceed 12 hours, including overtime.

“In the last three years there have been great efforts made to investigate companies suspected of breaching the labor laws, and the truth is that there have been many cases of transport companies under investigation,” Sánchez said.

“I have notified the coordinator responsible for organizing inspections in the central region of San José and explained that this is an urgent matter. Exactly how long this will take, I am unable to say because there are many facets of the process, but it is now a priority,” he said.

Sánchez added that he expects inspectors will visit the company to interview its staff and inspect its salary books, saying, “Should any evidence of wrongdoing be found, (the inspectors will) issue a notice period of up to one month to fix the problems. An inspector will then revisit the company to make sure it has complied. If not, the company will be taken to court where it can face heavy fines and, in very serious cases, closure.”

Approximately 30 inspections have been made at transport companies within San José and Heredia during the past two years, according to Sánchez. Of the 30 companies suspected of flouting the labor laws, he said, 50 percent were taken to court after failing to make the required changes.

“It is often the case that companies ignore the guidelines we issue to them, preferring to pay the fine and continue on as before,” Sánchez added.

COESA, a three-company consortium operating a fleet of 133 buses along 17 routes in the San José area, refused to comment on the latest development.

According to bus drivers from other city bus companies, all of whom earn approximately ¢ 8,766 per regular eight-hour shift, the 18-hour shift with just one-hour daily breaks is nothing unusual. In fact, they agreed, it is commonplace.

A bus driver from the Transplusa bus company said, “I work 18 hours a day, six days a week. I know that the law says you shouldn't. But, if I don't, I won't earn enough.”