Pedro Capmany in concert
Rock, 9 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro. Info: 2253-8933.

Gypsy Soul in concert
Flamenco concert, music and dances, 9 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú. Info: 2288-4740.

Workshop “How to Take Successful Photographs”
Basic level, Nov. 18, 25, Dec. 2, 9, 7-9:45 p.m.; Dec. 6, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., at Mundo Expeditions, Los Yoses, 50 m. south of Automercado.

Rage against congress: Nicaraguan university students shoot homemade mortar explosives Tuesday at Managua's National Assembly, shattering several windows and skylights.

Mario López | EFE

Nicaragua's increasingly explosive civil unrest was unleashed on the government Tuesday, as a group of public university students attacked the National Assembly – the only branch of government not controlled by President Daniel Ortega – shattering several windows with homemade mortar explosives fired from the street.

Lawmakers from the various political parties appeared visibly rattled as a mortar explosion shattered several skylights overhead in the main chamber of parliament, showering shards of glass upon their heads.

“Luckily the big pieces of glass fell where there weren't any people, because it could have killed someone,” opposition lawmaker and National Assembly Secretary Wilfredo Navarro told The Nica Times. “Each day these mortars are getting stronger and stronger with a longer range – and we all know it's the Sandinistas who are sponsoring this.”

Despite being classified as a weapon in Nicaragua's Law of Arms, the Sandinistas have repeatedly defended the use of mortars as a “popular form of expression.” The National Police, whose questionable role appears increasingly ornamental, have yet to confiscate any weapons or arrest anyone for firing the mortars in more than a year of nearly continuous Sandinista protests.

The student protest was against a recently passed law creating a new National Council of Evaluation and Accreditation (CNEA), which students fear will divert part of their constitutionally mandated 6 percent of budget spending for 10 public universities.

Lawmakers have admitted that the law was “a mistake” and have committed to support a presidential veto of the law expected this week.

Meanwhile, other masked “students” blocked streets in downtown Managua Tuesday, firing mortars and stopping cars to demand drivers show them identification, according to reports on Chanel 10 TV. Police were nowhere to be seen.

The Sandinistas are calling on their supporters from across the country to march on Managua on Saturday to celebrate their contentious “victory” in the 2008 municipal elections. In clear defiance of a police permit that allows the opposition to march on the same day, the Sandinistas have called for 100,000 Ortega supporters to march along the opposition's previously established protest route, setting the stage for violent clashes between the two groups.

Human rights activists are calling the Sandinistas counter-march an “irresponsible” provocation that some fear could lead to a major bout of political violence on par or worse than the riots following last year's allegedly fraudulent municipal elections.

Government critics say Tuesday's student attack against the National Assembly and another Sandinista Youth demonstration planned for Friday are part of a greater  Orteguista terror campaign to deter any form of protest by the opposition majority.

“The Sandinistas are trying to create chaos and crisis,” said lawmaker Navarro. “This is all part of their strategy to scare people so they won't take to the streets during the protest march on Nov. 21.”

See the Nov. 20 print or digital edition of The Nica Times for more on this story.

Amway Global, a multilevel marketing and direct sales company, announced plans to transfer 93 positions from its corporate office in Ada, Michigan to Costa Rica within the next 12 to 15 months. The majority of the positions will be in the finance division of the company, which is undergoing a restructuring process that aims to increase its presence in Latin America.

“Costa Rica is a primary hub for servicing the Latin American region,” said Stephen Duthie, a spokesman at Amway Corporations. “We are looking at growing in the Latin America market and Costa Rica is a good location with proximity to our manufacturing facilities in the U.S.”

Amway sells a multitude of products, including vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements, skin care and cosmetics, XS brand energy drinks and L.O.C. cleansing products. Customers buy Amway products from such sites as Shop.com and Barnes & Noble.com, as well as in stores such as Office Depot, Bass Pro Shops and Dick's Sporting Goods. According to Duthie, Amway had over $8.2 billion in sales last year, which was a 15 percent leap from the previous year.

“The move to Costa Rica is a long-term decision,” Duthie said. “It is not a decision made in duress.”

The company has not yet chosen a specific location for its Costa Rica branch.

He's back: Craig Kelly, left, a senior U.S. State Department official, speaks with Honduras' interim President Roberto Micheletti during Tuesday, during Kelly's third visit in recent weeks to the country in crisis.

Photo courtesy of Honduran Casa Presidencial

Honduras' Congress announced Tuesday it will wait to vote on whether ousted President Manuel Zelaya can return to power until Dec. 2 – three days after Hondurans are set to elect their new president.

The decision on Zelaya's reinstatement was expected this month – ahead of the Nov. 29 elections – as one of the primary points toward forming a unity government under the Tegucigalpa-San José Accord. Many governments had pinned their support and recognition of the upcoming elections on whether that accord goes through.

But the agreement is only alive depending on whom you ask. Zelaya has said the pact is off and he will not recognize the winner of the elections.

Following the congressional announcement, de facto President Roberto Micheletti issued a statement in which he “reiterates his commitment to complying with the Tegucigalpa-San José Accord letter by letter, point by point.”

Zelaya was less conciliatory. “This is an outrage,” he told the newswire EFE upon learning of the post-electoral scheduling.

He added, “It's a shame that the de facto regime is being supported by the United States.”

The remark came just before Craig Kelly, a senior official in Washington's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, made another “surprise” arrival, in the Micheletti administration's words. This was Kelly's third visit in three weeks.

Critics say the U.S. made a marked shift in its stance on the issue of the Honduran elections after the top diplomat's last visit.

“We recognize that the only path out of this is through an electoral process where the people of Honduras get to speak,” State Department Spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in a daily press briefing last week.

Neither Zelaya or Micheletti is running in the election.