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Conference “El campo minado de la memoria”
By Virginia Pérez-Ratton, April 14, 7 p.m., TEOR/éTica, Barrio Amón, Ca. 7, Av. 9/11. Info: 2233-8775.

UCR Chamber Orchestra in Concert
April 14, 8 p.m., Melico Salazar Theater, Av. 2, Ca. Ctrl./2. Info: 2257-6005,.

AMUBIS Festival
Featuring Audiovisual show “Amubis, del aprendizaje a la acción,” 7 p.m.; storytelling show, 7:15 p.m.; dance show, 8 p.m.; Recital by Danyer Garro, 9 p.m., all on April 14, El Guarco, Cartago, all on April 14.

Dance Show “Memorias de Elefante”
By April 14-15, 8 p.m., National Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 3/5, 2221-5341.

The leading party in the legislative assembly is fast-tracking the transit law, with the hope of revising it before legislators leave office at the end of this month.

Their proposal is to lower the fines that went into effect at the beginning of March by an average of 65 percent, while eliminating the points system which would have assigned drivers points for each violation, leading the eventual suspension of the licenses of repeat offenders. According to National Liberation Party leader Legislator Jorge Mendez, proposed reform would maintain high fines for drunk drivers and for persons who directly threaten human life.

“I think we have arrived at an agreement to approve this bill,” Mendez said before heading into debate on Tuesday afternoon. “We have the votes necessary to pass the reform in first debate tonight.”

The legislators will be meeting in a series of morning sessions over the next couple days, with the hope of completing the process before the end of the week.

The penalties in the traffic law – first approved in Nov. 2008 – automatically went into effect on March 1, after legislators failed to make amendments in the law within a grace period they had established for this purpose. But with fines as high as $415 for attempting to bribe an officer or $300 for talking on a cell phone while driving, legislators began to second-guess themselves.

“We've said from the beginning that the fines and sanctions were disproportionate and (the law) included unnecessary requirements, such as first aid kits,” Luis Antonio Barrantes, a Libertarian Movement Party legislator, told The Tico Times in February. (TT, Feb. 2010)

Since the law went into effect, more than 21,000 tickets have been issued throughout the country. Although opposition to the hefty fines has been strong, intense debate has strangled any reforms to date, preventing an agreement.

“It's been a difficult process,” Mendez observed. “But we can't leave here without completing the process.”

After more than five years since his initial arrest, former Costa Rican president Miguel Angel Rodríguez (1998-2002) goes on trial Wednesday for charges of extortion and corruption related to the granting of a $150 million mobile phone contract in August 2001 to the French firm Alcatel. (TT, Daily News, Sept 19, 2008)

Rodríguez resigned his post as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) when the corruption charges were filed in 2004. According to the public prosecutor's office, Rodríguez received more than $600,000 in payments from Alcatel in exchange for helping the company receive a contract from the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) to provide cellular phone equipment to Costa Rica in 2001.

The trial is expected to last for several months and includes eight other suspects, including Eliseo Vargas, who was implicated in both this and the Caja-Fischel case. The Caja-Fischel case was the only other case in which a Costa Rican President has faced criminal charges. It resulted in Rafael Angel Calderón (1990-1994) being convicted of corruption after having receiving payments in exchange for the purchase of equipment for the Social Security System (Caja).

In the Alcatel case, Christian Sapsizian, a French citizen and former Alcatel executive, has already been sentenced to 30 months in prison after admitting to engaging in a $2.5 million bribery scheme begun in 2000 to win ICE's phone contract. Sapsizian, then an assistant to Alcatel's Latin America vice president, played a behind-the-scenes role in sealing the deal. (TT, Sept 19, 2008)

The Costa Rican Attorney General's office has presented a civil suit to the tune of $52 million against Alcatel, of which $10 million was paid in March of this year as restitution to offset “societal damages” caused by the alleged briery scandal. (TT, March 19, 2010)

Eduardo Araya, one of the former president's lawyers, told the EFE news service that he feels "optimistic and has faith" that at the end of the process Rodríguez will be completely absolved.

"We will finally be in front of the objective authority of the courts, who value evidence and who will see that there is no document nor person that connects don Miguel Angel (Rodríguez) with Alcatel," he stated to EFE.

Two important business expositions – the Construction and Housing Exposition and Costa Rican Investment World – begin Wednesday in the San José area.

The Construction and Housing Exposition, or Expo Construcción, is a five day event that provides interested home owners, remodelers and investors the opportunity to peruse financing, architectural, design and construction options among over 200 different companies and 382 product stands. Expo Construcción is organized by the Chamber of Industries and will run from Wednesday through Sunday at the Pedregal Expo Center in La Asunción de Belen, in Heredia.

Expo Construcción will feature three primary categories, including construction, real estate projects and financing. The aim of the Expo is to provide consumers with every thing from electricity setups, to bathroom accessories to mortgage financing options. Nearly every major national bank will be represented. For more information on the Construction and Housing Expo, visit its Web site at www.construccion.co.cr/expo2010

Costa Rica Investment World, an international investment promotion fair hosted by the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER), also kicks off Wednesday at the Hotel Ramada Plaza Herradura in San José. The fair will host international companies, conferences and displays in hopes of attracting foreign investment to Costa Rica.

“This is the first event of this type to be held in our region,” said Emmanuel Hess, general manager of PROCOMER. “It should boost investment in Costa Rica and, above all, it will assist us to promote the revised free-trade zone laws in the country. The new policies have given us the opportunity to promote the more remote areas of the country.”

In December, the Legislative Assembly approved a reform of the free-trade zone law to begin to provide incentives and lower tax rates to companies that establish operations in areas outside of the Central Valley, such as Puntarenas, Guanacaste, Limón and the country's southern zone. PROCOMER intends to promote the incentives to companies interested in establishing operations in Costa Rica.

In 2009, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) announced that 29 foreign companies established or expanded operations in the country, accounting for more than $304 million in investment and creating more than 5,729 jobs. Over 100 foreign investors, 70 local suppliers and 23 multinational companies will participate in Costa Rican Investment World.