Ancestral Cultures and an Education for Peace and World Unity
Conference in English with Chief Avrol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations, Feb. 23, 9 a.m., Clodomiro Picado Auditorium, UNA, Heredia, of the Universidad Nacional, in Heredia, gpino@una.ac.cr.

“Migraciones: Mirando al Sur” Film Festival
Features “Bleeding Borders” (U.S., 2008, 20 min.) and “Querido Camilo” (C.R., 2007, 52 min.), Feb. 23, at 6 p.m., Contemporary Art and Design Museum, CENAC.

Piano recital by Jonathan Duarte
Performing works by Chopin, in honor of the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, Feb. 23, 8 p.m., National Theater.

Signs of an economic recovery in 2010 are beginning to appear in different sectors of the Costa Rican economy.

One of the first indications of a sunnier new year was seen in the export market, as the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER) announced that national exports in January totaled $727.9 million, an improvement of $133.5 million, or 22 percent, from the same month in 2009.

The news comes after overall exports fell 9 percent in 2009 from record highs in 2008.

Several export sectors experienced considerable growth in the first month of the year, including the industrial sector, which exported more than $535 million worth of goods, a 27 percent increase over January 2009. The industrial sector was boosted by a 57 percent increase in exports of food products, which brought in more than $99 million. The consistently valuable export of electronic components and microchips also opened the year with promising results, raking in $183 million, a 40 percent increase.

Of all the sectors, the increase in agricultural exports was possibly the most encouraging. In January, exports of pineapple and melon continued to shine, improving by more than 28 percent and 69 percent, respectively, in comparison to January 2009. Coffee and bananas, Costa Rica's traditional export staples, also showed signs of rebounding from a difficult 2009, when banana exports fell 15 percent and coffee over 31 percent. Exports of both products increased in January.

“The numbers indicate the possibilities for growth for the banana industry in new markets,” said Marco Vinicio Ruiz, the foreign trade minister. “These results allow us to continue with the established projections of the commercial agenda, which we expect to be favorable in the export market as we enter new markets.”

Of total exports from Costa Rica in January, 40 percent were sent to North America, 19 percent to Asia and 17 percent to the European Union. During the first two months of 2010, Costa Rica finalized free-trade agreement negotiations with Singapore and China, and this week will see the beginning of the seventh round of negotiations for a free-trade agreement with the European Union.

In comparison to last January, exports to North America grew 181 percent, rose 57 percent within Central America, increased 126 percent to the Caribbean region and jumped 76 percent to Asia.

The Costa Rican Judicial Investigation police (OIJ) arrested four men and three women last week for the suspected murder of James Norris, a U.S. business owner who was killed on Feb. 17, 2009.

Norris was shot seven times in his night club, Bouganvillea, in Barrio Los Angeles de Parrita, south of Jacó on the central Pacific coast.

A team of OIJ agents and members of the Prosecutor's Office of Aguirre raided eight houses and one business in Parrita and Hatillo to make the arrests.

Authorities suspect that two of the women planned the homicide, two men and one female served as intermediaries in the operation, and the remaining two males provided the materials for the murder.

Officials believe that two other men, who are already in prison for other crimes, aided the homicide from their jail cells.

According to an OIJ news release, Norris was shot by one person inside his nightclub at 11:15 p.m. The shooter, who was wearing a ski mask, approached Norris inside the disco and fired at point blank range. The suspect then escaped in a car with one other person.

The shooting was the second murder attempt against Norris. In January 2009, four men entered Norris' house and shot him four times before robbing his home (TT Daily News, Feb. 19, 2009). Officials said the two events could be connected, but said they will have to investigate further to confirm those details.

Officials believe that the murder was ordered by someone who was very close to Norris and who would assume control of some of his property and belongings if Norris died. So far, investigators have not identified this person.

Norris, originally from the U.S. state of New Hampshire, was 47 years old at the time of his death. He had lived in Costa Rica for several years and opened up the nightclub in 2008. He had no family in Costa Rica when he was killed.

Legislators are racing against a March 1 deadline to pass a series of modifications to the transit law due to take effect that day.

Motivated by criticism that fines for traffic violations in the original law were too high, legislators are debating the introduction of more reasonable tickets.

The original traffic law was passed in November 2008 and threatened to raise the maximum ticket from $36 to $410. For those ignoring traffic lights or signs, it would be a $310 fine. Not wearing a seatbelt or holding a cell phone? Also $310.

Just weeks before the fines were scheduled to take effect on Sept. 23, legislators put its implementation on hold (estimated to cost $35 million), delaying it until March 1 of this year (TT, Dec. 12, 2008).

Speaking on the floor of the assembly on Feb. 18, legislator Andrea Marcela Morales said, “This is the hour to vindicate these mistakes, to give the Costa Rican people a better quality law, traffic legislation that is not lenient, but also doesn't smother people.”

The Arias administration presented the law early in its four-year term, and his cabinet is pushing to pass it before the administration leaves office on May 8.

“I t has been and will continue to be a priority for the government,” Rodrigo Arias, minister to the president, said in a statement last week. “We hope that … legislators will be ready to arrive at the necessary consensus, and once and for all, pass a transit law that is rational, that punishes those who insist on driving after drinking excessively, and who recklessly inflict death and pain on many families.”