11th Latin American-Iberian Go Tournament
Open to Go players and spectators, Oct. 8-12, Doubletree Resort, Puntarenas. Info: www.ibero2009.go-tico.org.

UCR School of Music concerts
Tenor Ernesto Rodríguez and pianists Sara Feterman and Manuel Matarrita, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m., room 107, School of Music, UCR, San Pedro.

Depeche Mode in concert
8 p.m., Autódromo La Guácima, Alajuela, tickets at Servimás outlets, Bansbach stores, Gollo stores. Info: 2206-7770, www.specialticket.net.

“Pánico”
Drama about Honduran coup, Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 5 p.m., Teatro de Bellas Artes, UCR, San Pedro. Info: 2211-6722.

By Adam Williams
Tico Times Staff | awilliams@ticotimes.net

U.S. computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) opened a research and development center Tuesday in Heredia, north of San José, a development that is expected to create about 150 jobs.

HP's new Development and Pro Curve Investigation center houses a laboratory that will be used to create products, technology strategies, integrated circuits for high-speed Internet, software for wireless Internet and software for security management and Web solutions. All products created within the center will be given a seal that reads “Made in Costa Rica.”

“I am thankful that Hewlett-Packard has chosen Costa Rica to continue its Curve model,” President Oscar Arias said at the inauguration ceremony. “I am also happy that all of the people of Costa Rica's public and private sectors have made it possible that businesses like HP could come to Costa Rica and grow here.”

Most of the software created in the lab will focus on enhancing wireless software and capabilities. The Pro Curve line, which is the world's second largest LAN (Local Area Network) vendor for businesses, provides wired and wireless enterprise networking products, services and solutions. Pro Curve aims to adapt software to cater to users, applications and the needs of organizations.

The center will be the first of its kind in Latin America and only the sixth HP wireless research and development center in the world. The lab is located in the Ultrapark Free Trade Zone in Heredia, north of San José.

Marching closer to the February 2010 vote, the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) sounded an official kick-off to the campaign season on Wednesday.

To an audience full of dignitaries, presidential aspirants and their staff, as well as the media, TSE President Luis Antonio Sobrado said, “Each Costa Rican is the (craftsman) of a common destiny, marked by the results of the next election. To one degree or another, we will all be responsible for the quality of this electoral process – and whether we know it or not – the opportunities that lay before us.”

Sobrado took the opportunity to remind political parties of the fines against illegal advertising and to inform media outlets or their responsibility of providing 30 minutes of free air time to the elections tribunal each week.

Wednesday marked exactly four months to the elections of Feb. 7, which – so far – has eight candidates campaigning. Absent from the political scene at the moment is a candidate representing the long-dominant Social Christian Unity Party (La Unidad).

After former presidential candidate Rafael Angel Calderón was sentenced to five years in prison Monday, he renounced his candidacy and asked his party to appoint someone new.

According to a press release from La Unidad, party president Luis Fishman expects to appoint a candidate following a convention of the party's national assembly this weekend. Local media sources have identified Jorge Eduardo Sánchez, a 47-year-old legislator and lawyer, as a possible candidate.

“This unjust conviction (of Calderón) motivates us to continue fighting for the party, which has accomplished great things for Costa Rica,” Fishman said in a statement. “The Social Christians will not break apart or give our vote to any other party or candidate.”

Costa Rica's Caribbean coast carnival – with its color and costumes, traditional food and flavor, music, art, horse shows and parades – is back after a two-year, forced hiatus.

The Limón Carnival will attract party revelers to the port city on the Caribbean starting with its kick-off Thursday and through Oct. 18.

This year's carnival is the first since 2006, following cancelations by Costa Rica's health authorities for fears about sanitation problems and dengue fever.

The event's organizers expect to attract at least 5,000 visitors this year.

For more information, call 2758-1208 and visit the Web site: carnavalesdelimon2009.blogspot.com.