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Piano Concert Series
Celebrating Chopin's Bicentennial, performed by Juan Pablo Andrade, Manuel Matarrita, and Walter Morales, May 28, 7 p.m., roon 107, School of Music, UCR.

Juglares
Music, theater, dance, poetry, storytelling, May 30, 4 p.m., Culture House, Heredia. II Culture Festival: Including concerts, photo exhibits, souvenirs, dance, theater, May 28-30, 7-10 p.m., Salón Ateneo, San Rafael de Heredia.

Play “Demons and Other Expectations”
May 28-29, 8 p.m., May 30, 6 p.m., Teatro Universitario, UCR. Info: 2511-6722.

Dance Show
By Danza UNA, May 28-29, 7 p.m.; May 30, 5 p.m., Centro para las Artes, UNA, Heredia. Info: 2277-3394.

“Anhelo del corazón”
Dance show by Magnificat Ballet Academy, May 28-29, 7:30 p.m.; May 30, 5 p.m., Melico Salazar Theater.

“La ruta de las hijas del sol”
Belly dancing show, May 28, 8 p.m., Giratablas Theater, Los Yoses, across from KFC. Info: 2253-6001.

The American Legion Post 10 of Escazu Memorial Day Ceremony
Honoring United States military veterans who have passed away, in Costa Rica, since last Memorial Day. There will also be a Post Everlasting ceremony transferring members of The American Legion posts in Costa Rica who have passed away this past year to the American Legion Post Everlasting, May 30, 11 a.m., San Antonio de Escazú cemetery where the post has three mausoleums. The ceremonies are open to the public and we encourage everyone to participate in this final tribute to our departed military veterans.

“Glengarry Glen Ross”
David Mamet's dark comedy, presented in English by the Little Theatre Group, directed by Tom Humes, May 28-June 13, Fri.- Sat., 7:30 p.m.; Sun. 2:30 p.m., Laurence Olivier Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 28, 8858-1446, www.littletheatregroup.org, dinner-theater options with online reservations. Note: adult language.

Theater Festival
May 29, “Rocola,” musical by Grupo Quimera, 2 p.m.; “Mi marido tiene otro,” by Grupo Dionisios, 5 p.m., José Figueres Ferrer Cultural Center.

BioCourse Trips
With Organization for Tropical Studies, Caño Negro, May 29-30; Carara National Park, May 29; Barva Volcano, May 30. Info: 2524-0607, biocursos@ots.ac.cr.

Dora the Explorer Show
Organized by Club Activo 20-30, May 29-30, 11 a.m., 3 and 6 p.m., Palacio de los Deportes, Heredia, tickets at www.todoticket.com, Play Stores at Paseo de las Flores Mall, Escazú, Zapote. 

Ecological Hike to “El Rodeo” Reserve
With guide Luis Fernando Boza, 10 km., May 30, leaving at 6:30 a.m., from the Ciudad Colón bus stop, west side of Coca Cola bus station. Info: 8306-6354, 2223-3186.

Big Band in Concert
May 30, 7:30 p.m., Cathedral, Limón.

“Bufo periglenes”
Dance, music and black theater show, presented by EX-áNIMA, through May 30, Sun., 4 p.m., Gráfica Génesis, 250 m. north of Plaza Víquez pools, Ca. 13. Info: 8815-0140, ex.anima@gmail.com.

More than 20 years after the Central American wars ended and the international community turned its attention to other corners of the world, this umbilical stretch of tropical isthmus connecting the new world's North and South continues to be a hot zone for many journalists.

For much of Central America, the absence of war has not meant peace. The same is true for journalists covering the region.

Since most of Central America started its laborious and jerky transition towards democracy in the 1990s, 34 journalists have been killed in “times of peace,” according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which has tracked worldwide journalist killings since 1992.

Though the more recent journalist killings in Central America have not had the same international shock value as the execution of U.S. newsman Bill Stewart by Nicaragua's National Guard in 1979, or the 1984 La Penca bombing on the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border, which killed three journalists including Tico Times reporter Linda Frazier, the murdering of journalists has continued unabated.

Only now, the threats facing reporters are much more convoluted.

For example, in Honduras – a country with drug trafficking, youth gangs, deep-rooted corruption, political extremists and common street crime – seven reporters have been killed during the first five months of the year. Although the motives are still being investigated, that's nearly four times more journalists killed in Honduras this year than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined (see separate story on Honduras).

From the threat of drug cartels in Guatemala and youth gangs in Honduras and El Salvador, to political repression in Nicaragua and government intolerance in Panama, threats to the free press in Central America today are more varied and complicated than they were during the height of the armed conflicts of the 1970s and ‘80s.

And that should be a serious concern to all of Central American society, not just journalists. Unlike the work hazards of other professions, threats facing journalists quickly become generalized across the rest of society.

For more on this story, see the Press Freedom in Central America Special Edition in the May 28 print or digital editions of the Nica and Tico Times.

While weather conditions in the Nicoya Peninsula have improved since intense rainfall hammered the northwestern region of Costa Rica early this week, the National Emergency Commission (CNE) maintained a yellow alert for the North and Central Pacific on Thursday.

The yellow alert is the second of the country's three alert levels.

The low pressure system that drenched the Pacific coast throughout the week has passed, but the National Meteorological Institute (IMN) is forecasting rains of “varying intensities” through Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Due to these conditions, the CNE said the yellow alert level is still necessary.

Early estimates from the IMN calculate that more rain fell in the Nicoya peninsula this week than normally falls during the entire month of May.

According to the IMN, the city of Santa Cruz, in the middle of the Nicoya Peninsula, receives an average of 235 millimeters of rain each year during May. Some areas of the Nicoya received nearly 290 millimeters of rain through Wednesday, the IMN reported.

As of Thursday morning, almost 200 homes in 88 different communities had reported flooding, and 260 people remained in temporary evacuation shelters in the Nicoya Peninsula. More than 100 additional persons had been moved to homes of family members who were not as affected by the rains, according to the CNE.

The rains washed out 17 bridges and flooded 30 roadways – 26 municipal roads and four national routes. In addition, sewer systems in seven communities have been clogged, the CNE reports.

The southern Pacific region remains under green alert, the lowest of the country's three alert levels.

Stop smoking.

That's the signal Costa Rica has been sending over the past several months. The government will ramp up that message this weekend in honor of International Say “No” To Smoking Day on Monday, May 31.

The Costa Rican Social Security System (Caja) released a study Tuesday highlighting the effects of tobacco on Costa Ricans, which showed that the tobacco habit hurt Costa Rica both health-wise and financially. As a result, more public places are being encouraged to provide smoke-free environments.

In addition, thousands of school children in Cartago gathered Wednesday at “Fello” Meza Stadium – one of the stadiums to ban smoking recently – to unite against smoking.

The Institute of Alcohol and Drug Addiction also hosted a “Quit and Win 2010” contest on Thursday. Four lucky winners will win cash prizes and possibly a trip to Guatemala. The awards will be given on No Smoking Day.

Restaurants in the capital also are banning smoking. In late January, the popular chain Spoon banned smoking at seven locations. Peruvian chain Chancay and Italian restaurants Il Panino, Il Ritorno and Tre Scalini also banned the practice, along with the enormous Multiplaza in Escazú.

Other efforts to lessen the impact of smoking in Costa Rican include clinics in hospitals designed to aid persons in quitting smoking. The clinics are expanding, the most recent opened in April at Hospital Guardia Calderón in San José.

Adolfo Ortiz Barboza, medical advisor for the CCSS, said that at least 50 percent of deaths in Costa Rica are related to sicknesses attributed to tobacco, such as malignant tumors or cardiovascular disease.

From 2005-2009, 37 percent of malignant tumors (13,544 cases) are directly related to tobacco. In 2009, the CCSS invested $109 million dollars for treating patients with diseases related to tobacco – an increase of $17 million from the previous year.