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Cine en las Gradas
Festival of Costa Rican shorts, April 27, 6:30 p.m., Central Bank Museums.

Piano Concerts
By Cynthia Coto, April 27, noon, National Theater.

Tuesday Night Concerts
Bassoonist Saxton Rose of the University of North Carolina and Costa Rican pianist Laura Castro, April 27, 7 p.m., Room 107, School of Music, UCR, San Pedro.

Costa Rica's Administrative Contention Tribunal has approved precautionary measures that prolong the suspension of work at the Crucitas open-pit gold mine in northern Costa Rica.

The tribunal's decision to freeze the project last Friday came one week after a petition by environmental groups. The groups claim that the decree signed by the Costa Rican President Oscar Arias that allows a Canadian mining company to extract gold from Crucitas is unsupported by the facts and presents an imminent threat to the environment.

In its ruling, the tribunal said, “We could be facing serious damage that is difficult or impossible to repair and that in this case the public interest must prevail. Therefore, the court rules to uphold the precautionary measures.”

The Costa Rican Wild Flora and Fauna Preservation Association, which presented the claims, also charges that the National Secretariat of the Environment Ministry (SETENA) approved faulty environmental viability studies for the mine.

The suspension came despite a high court ruling that the project poses no environmental threat.

The motion states that if the mine project goes forward, mining chemicals and deforestation could cause irreparable damage to the area's environment, endangering the health of nearby communities and wildlife habitats.

The mining company Industrias Infinito S.A. – owned by Canadian miners Infinito Gold Ltd. – has not commented directly on the new claims but previously has refuted accusations that its project will cause environmental harm.

“We wish to tell the Costa Rican people and especially our neighboring communities that Crucitas will be a mine that is economically profitable, socially responsible and environmentally safe,” the company said in a statement last week.

But Flora and Fauna said the project's economic benefits would not justify the “socio-environmental costs” that it would provoke, rendering the project illegal under the country's Forestry Law.

The group is urging the court to nullify the executive decree and the environmental impact studies, ending any short-term possibility that mining could take place in Crucitas.

The gold mine project will be suspended indefinitely while judges analyze the legality of the decree and the environmental impact studies for the mine.

In the meantime, several environmental experts and lawyers who are opposed to the mine are drafting their own motions to present to the tribunal.

Other groups are also preparing criminal cases against officials of SETENA for prevarication.

The United States is releasing an additional $2.64 million in aid under the Merida Initiative to improve citizen safety in Costa Rica.

In an announcement made at the Foreign Ministry on Friday, U.S. Ambassador Anne Andrew said the additional money will be used to strengthen border controls, improve the justice system and fight criminal organizations.

“Today, with our signatures, we continue with our shared commitment to improve the security of our citizens in Costa Rica and in the United States,” Andrew said of the program that has thus far pumped $175 million into Central America – $9 million in Costa Rica this year alone.

The additional aid was accompanied by an announcement that the United States will change the initiative's name to the Central American Regional Security Initiative, or CARSI.

“The name change reflects the fact that the State Department has noted that the needs of law enforcement may differ between Central American countries,” read a statement from the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry. “But they also share many of the same challenges, such as the use of their territory to transport drugs, money laundering and other illegal activities related to drugs.”

Meanwhile, President-elect Laura Chinchilla has been traveling through Central America, mustering support for a shared security initiative.

“We are at the point of initiating a series of security operations to put the brakes on drug trafficking and money laundering,” she said after a visit with Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli. “This is the opportune moment to coordinate with our Panamanian counterparts because this fight can only be one if we do it together.”

Nonprofits and grassroots environmental, forestry, conservation and indigenous groups have until May 5 to apply for funding through the U.S. funded Debt-for-Nature Program for Costa Rica, established in 2007.

According to Alvaro Herrera of the National Biodiversity Institute (INBio), the six Costa Rican areas eligible for funding are Osa, in the southwestern part of the country; La Amistad, near the southern Caribbean border with Panama; the northeastern region of Tortuguero; Maquenque, on the northern border with Nicaragua; the area north of northwestern Rincón de la Vieja Volcano ; and the Nicoya Peninsula, also in the country's northwest Pacific region. Each of these areas is a conservation priority identified in the Zoning Plan for Biodiversity Conservation, or GRUAS II (www.gruas.go.cr).

A seven-person committee, including representatives from Conservation International, Costa Rica's National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), EARTH University, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Embassy, is overseeing the initiative. INBio is responsible for the administration of the project, which is expected to provide more than $26 million for conservation efforts over the next 16 years.

According to Herrera, proposals will be judged on their viability and strength, as well as on the organization's experience. They can focus on a range of activities, including environmental education, development and management of private and community reserves, deterrence of poaching, forest restoration, organizational growth and applied research, among others. Guidelines can be found at the program's website: www.canjeusacr.org.