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Costa Rican Classic: Dancing for World Peace
Featuring ballroom dancers from around the world, gala dance, April 19, Hotel Barceló San José Palacio, La Uruca. Info: 8839-4972.

International Flute Festival
April 19, 20, 22 and 23, 5 p.m.; April 24, 8 p.m., National Theater. Tuesday Night Concerts: Piano recital by Chilean Elisa Alsina, April 20; bassoonist Saxton Rose of the University of North Carolina and Costa Rican pianist Laura Castro, April 27, both at 7 p.m., Room 107, School of Music, UCR, San Pedro.

Haiti Photos
Through April 30, Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante.

Just when it seemed lawmakers were about to come to an agreement to reduce high fines contained in Costa Rica's controversial new traffic law, the left-leaning Citizen Action Party (PAC) blocked forward progress by requesting a judicial review of proposed reforms.

The move effectively ends debate in the short term over the traffic law – which has been criticized for penalizing traffic violators with fines as high as $500 – because it delays a vote until after a one-month review process by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV). The current Legislative Assembly is scheduled to leave office in two weeks.

The PAC made a similar motion three weeks ago with the final piece of legislation required to implement the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States. That law is currently under review by judges, but probably also will not make it to the floor for debate before the assembly turns over.

“It's a regrettable decision,” said Jorge Méndez, legislator with the National Liberation Party, who was the leading proponent of the traffic law reform, according to the daily Diario Extra. “Thanks to this, drivers will continue to receive high fines.”

He added, “Our intention was to resolve this issue before we left.”

But Alberto Salom, leader of the PAC delegation in the current legislature, justified his motion by saying that the PAC was not the only political group in favor of putting the bill before judges.

“It's a right of a legislator. This was the time in the process (to send it to Sala IV). There wasn't another. …” he said. “I oppose the bill in the terms in which it is laid out.”

Judges will be reviewing the law for alleged violations of the rights of the disabled.

Reforms to the traffic law have been on and off the floor of the assembly since the law was originally approved in November, 2008. Following its approval, it became clear that a majority of legislators disagreed with the high fines as well as other elements of the bill. Legislators gave themselves an additional six months to discuss reforms, but weren't able to agree on changes before the law went into effect earlier this year.

As many as 21,000 tickets have been issued under the new law, which penalizes people who attempt to bribe an officer with a $415 fine, those who talk on a cell phone while driving with a $300 fine and those who fail to obey a stop sign with a fee of $300.

The Construction and Housing Expo, or Expo Construcción, brought together sellers and would-be buyers of home appliances, construction materials and building related services Wednesday through Sunday in San Antonio de Belen in Heredia. Under the same roof, visitors to the fair could find doorknobs, showerheads, solar water heaters, refrigerators, floor tiles, plumbing materials and even luxury items such as hot tubs.

But in the center of the sprawl of displays sat the most essential stands for realizing home ownership and remodeling dreams: those of the banks. Just off the main entrance to the Expo, several public and private banks, including Banco Nacional, Banco de Costa Rica (BCR), HSBC, Banco Popular and BAC, were promoting their limited-time-only housing and construction financing deals. Of the five banks interviewed by the Tico Times, each claimed to offer home construction financing for at least 80 percent of the cost of the project for terms of up to 30 years, with BCR and Banco Nacional offering 100 percent financing.

“We want to offer premiums to people who are looking to buy or build a home,” said Olman Fallas, the sales and customer service manager at BCR. “We are coming out of a recession year and a lot of people are just starting to regain their footing financially. What we aim to do is offer a plan that will help them reestablish stability over the long term.”

The financing offers are accompanied by discounted interest rates in both dollars and colones. The offerings vary among the banks, but in general include very low interest rates over the first one to three years of a mortgage, with incremental growth beginning in year four or five. The initial interest rates on financing on offer range between 2 and 7 percent in colones and 3.5 to 8 percent in dollars.

For more on this story, see the April 23 print or digital edition of the Tico Times.

Veritas University will host the Third San José Guitar Festival this week, showcasing the talents of 30 young Costa Rican guitarists.

The musicians, most between the ages of 18 and 23, will perform five concerts from Thursday, April 22 through Sunday, April 25. The performances will feature classical, flamenco, jazz and orchestral styles, and will be held at the the University's Roberto Sasso auditorium in the southeastern San José district of Zapote.

Shows will begin at 7 p.m. on each day of the festival, while an additional performance will be held at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The finale on Sunday evening will feature an ensemble concert where all 30 guitarists participating in the festival will play together.

Award-winning classical guitarist David Coto, who also will play on Saturday evening, promises a festival of “variety and quality” and a Sunday performance that will shine with “a lot of color.”

“This festival will blur the lines between rock, classical, flamenco and jazz,” Coto said. “It will be a mix of genres and will demonstrate that every type of music shares one common purpose: That it's for everyone to enjoy.”

Tickets for the festival cost ₡ 3,000 ($5.90) for students and ₡ 4,000 ($7.90) for the general public. For Sunday's closing performance, tickets cost ₡ 5,000 ($9.80).

To purchase or reserve tickets, call the Editus Academia de las Artes at 2253-7472, or the Veritas University box office at 2253-4747.

Visit the Veritas University Web site or www.redcultura.com for a complete listing of performances.