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11th Hernán Hidalgo Art Festival
Poetry readings, circus shows, art exhibits, theater, dance, concerts, June 7-21, Colegio Universitario de Cartago, Cartago. Info: 2591-3363.

2010 ComuniArte Festival in Belén
Features piano recital, June 7, 7 p.m., Casa de la Cultura, San Antonio de Belén, Heredia.

National Bands in Concert
San José, June 7, 10 a.m., Central Park.

Antique Music Festival
Flute and cymbal concert, June 7, 6 p.m., National Theater.

Little Theatre Group Annual General Meeting and Potluck
Elections for 2010-11 board, entertainment, auditions, all welcome, June 7, 7 p.m., Laurence Olivier Theater, Av. 2, Ca. 28. Info: 8858-1446, www.littletheatregroup.org.

Juegos de rol
Drama, June 7, 8 p.m., Teatro 1887, CENAC.

Ticos living abroad may be able to cast their votes in Costa Rican elections without returning home, the foreign minister and the president of the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) announced Friday. Currently, the estimated 20,000 Costa Ricans that live abroad must return to Costa Rica in order to cast a valid vote in elections and referendums.

“This is the first time in the history of the country that Costa Ricans around the world will have the opportunity to go to their consulates to vote,” said Foreign Minister Rene Castro. “We have met with experts in foreign policy and the voting process and we are making sure we are taking the right steps to assure that this first experience is entirely successful and that foreign residents will be able to vote in upcoming elections and referendums, including the presidential elections of 2014.”

Castro said that the first step in the process will require that Ticos living abroad file a change of residency form. Castro said identifying Costa Ricans living abroad will allow the TSE to coordinate with the nation's consulates in order to facilitate voting. Currently, Costa Rica has consulates in 45 countries, with the majority of Tico expatriates living in the U.S., particularly in New York, New Jersey and Florida. Castro also said there are sizeable communities of Costa Ricans living in Spain, Japan and Brazil.

The push to assure foreign voting stems from the new electoral code passed in early September. The code states that “the foreign relations minister, in coordination with the TSE, should use all means necessary to allow the receiving of foreign votes.”

The inability of Costa Ricans living abroad to vote has long been considered a serious flaw in the nation's electoral process because it disenfranchises those who are unable to return home to vote. This defect has been a point of contention during and after close elections, such as the referendum on the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the U.S. in 2007, which was decided by 50,000 votes, and the presidential election of 2006, which was won by former President Oscar Arias by a margin of only 18,000 votes over Citizen Action Party candidate Ottón Solís.

The TSE is hopeful that the reform can be implemented by November, in time for the nationwide Dec. 5 mayoral elections. However, it's also possible that Ticos living abroad may be able vote this year on a referendum on whether or not to legalize homosexual unions. Groups both for and against such unions are seeking signatures to put the issue to a popular vote.

Residents of Lepanto, Cóbano and Paquera, three communities along the inner coast of the Nicoya Peninsula, in the northwestern part of the country, have proposed including their towns in a new municipality to be called La Península.

The move would create a new local government for the area, granting the three communities administrative independence from the municipality of Puntarenas. The proposal would also allow them to decide whether they want to be part of the province of Puntarenas or of Guanacaste.

“This issue is very important for the residents of the peninsula, who have been waiting for a response from the legislative assembly for years, and today we are giving them a response,” said Rodolfo Sotomayor, who represents the province of Puntarenas. Legislator Adonay Enríquez added that the legislative assembly was paying a debt to the people of the area by taking up their proposal after a long wait.

The proposal to establish La Península is under consideration by special commission within the Legislative Assembly, and must be ruled on within 120 days. The only controversy is whether to allow the residents to vote on the province to which they wish to belong.

La Península would be Costa Rica's 82nd municipality.

Plant. Recycle. Reduce. Plant. Protect. Then do it all again.

This was the statement Costa Rica made during World Environment Day, June 5.

Across the country, volunteers, companies and government officials slid on their working gloves and flexed their green muscles as they dug tiny holes to plant new trees, adopted existing ones, promoted ecologically safe habits and sounded their environmentally charged political messages.

At Earth University, near the Caribbean slope town of Guácimo, Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla planted one of the million trees that the institute plans to plant across the globe as part of their “sow the future” campaign.

On Saturday, the campaign's collaborators planted more than 200,000 trees in 26 countries.

Chinchilla sounded her support.

“Costa Rica reiterates it's commitment to distinguish itself within the international community as a nation that supports development that walks hand in hand with environmental conservation,” she said in a release.

In Papagayo, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, 110 volunteers planted 1,573 native Guanacaste trees near the peninsula's Nacasolo mangrove swamp.

“We our proud to be able to protect a wooded zone next to an important protected area such as the Nacascolo mangroves,” said Marielos Saravia, environmental comptroller for the Papagayo Peninsula.

At Las Baulas National Marine Park in Guanacaste, locals lined up at the office of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications to adopt trees as part of the area's first campaign for forest protection and reforestation.

For the Costa Rican-based cleaning supply company, Florex, the day marked the opportunity to push its ecologically sound products.

During 2009, the company reduced its consumption of water, paper and electricity by up to 17 percent, earning it the coveted blue flag award from the Costa Rican Water and Sewer Institute.

The company's message: “Reducing and compensating (for environmental impacts) equals the difference between being environmentally friendly and appearing environmentally friendly.”