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International Folk Dance Show
Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Canada and Costa Rica, June 16-17, 7 p.m., Melico Salazar Theater, 2259-5839.

Latino Rock Café Concerts
Feature La Pulpería Band, rock, June 16, 9:30 p.m., Latino Rock Café, Barrio La California, across from La Primavera gas station. Info: 2222-4719.

The Health Ministry is evicting the Legislative Assembly after the government failed to make structural improvements to Assembly buildings.

Under an order delivered to legislators at noontime on Tuesday, nearly 400 people must leave 40 offices within the facility within 24 hours.

“At this moment, they aren't operating in safe or healthy buildings,” said Health Vice Minister Ana Morice, citing problems with the facility's electrical system and physical infrastructure. “The legislative assembly has been informed of the areas they must leave in order to renovate the buildings and make the necessary changes.”

In 2005, the Health Ministry issued a warning to the Legislative Assembly, giving it five years to improve the safety of the facility and undertake other renovations such as making the building accessible to the disabled. But former legislative assemblies failed to take remedial steps.

Jason Fernández, spokesperson for the assembly president, Luis Gerardo Villanueva, said congressional leaders are meeting with Health Minister María Luisa Avila to discuss alternatives.

“If these buildings are declared inhabitable, the assembly can't function,” Fernández said. “Where will legislators go? Where will the president of the assembly have his offices? At this moment, it's impossible to evacuate the building in 24 hours.”

The American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) gathered some of Costa Rica's best-known business minds to discuss the nation's most pressing economic issues. The day-long series of presentations and discussions, billed as the Competitiveness Summit, centered on the issues of telecommunications, free-trade agreements, infrastructure and methods to improve Costa Rica's economic “competitiveness”.

The day opened with an extensive discussion of the long-delayed opening of the cellular telephone market. The cellular market, which was legally cleared for competition when the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the U.S. (CAFTA) was activated on Jan. 1, 2009, has yet to welcome new competitors. On several occasions the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SUTEL), the regulator of the cellular market, has outlined a timeline for the opening of the market, only to rescind it weeks later.

At the summit on Tuesday, held at the Hotel Real Intercontinental in Escazú, Carlos Gallegos, telecommunications director of the international consulting firm Deloitte, gave a presentation explaining the financial benefits for the country that will accompany the opening of the market, as well as the money that is being lost as the market remains closed. Currently, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) is the only provider of cellular service in the country.

According to Gallegos, with the opening of the cellular market to competitors, Costa Rica would gain an estimated $3 billion in the first five years and an estimated 2,500 to 3,500 people would be employed by the new providers.

To provide perspective on the benefits seen by a country that successfully ushered in the telecommunications market, Jorge Nicolau, the president of Cable & Wireless in Panama, spoke about the economic impact of the telecommunications market in Costa Rica's southern neighbor.

“In the last year, the revenue earned by the telecommunications market was greater than the earnings of the transportation and construction sectors,” Nicolau said. “Considering the revenue earned by our transportation sector, which includes the Panama Canal, the importance of telecommunications in our country is astounding. There isn't a more progressive industry than telecommunications.”

The second panel discussion focused on free-trade agreements and economic obstacles that to their implementation that exist in Costa Rica. The panel, which included Tomás Dueñas, a former foreign trade minister and former Costa Rica ambassador to the United States, Alberto Trejos, an economist and former Tico foreign trade minister, and José Rossi, the current President of the Costa Rica Investment Board (CINDE), discussed inefficiencies in some of the free-trade agreements, the unstable economic image created by the varying exchange rate and the sluggish processes for getting things accomplished in Costa Rica.

“Costa Rica has made great economic advances in the last 10 years with foreign direct investment, trade agreements and creating an open market with access to the biggest markets in the world,” Dueñas said. “But we could be flying. We've created a system that thrives on delays and resistance and that takes a very long time to make decisions.”

In 2009, the World Economic Forum ranked Costa Rica as the 55 th most competitive country in the world.

Students, professors and administrators from Costa Rica's four public universities crowded the road in front of Casa Presidencial Tuesday in a shared call for a greater piece of the national budget.

They argued that if legislators could find money for a pay raise and if the new administration was undertaking a tax reform, there should be more money to fund the country's institutions of higher learning.

“The government is living a contradiction,” said Diego Zuñiga, vice president of the Student Federation of the Costa Rican Institute of Technology (FEITEC), from outside Casa Presidencial. “We are telling them, ‘No. You have to provide more resources because giving the universities resources is developing the country.'”

The government has proposed a payment of 1.3 percent of the gross domestic product to the universities, or ¢400 billion ($755 million), but universities are asking for 2.34 percent.

“With the amount they are proposing, we can maintain the current programs, but we can't grow in course offerings or staff the schools with more professors or offer more scholarships,” said Andrea Navas, president-elect of FEITEC. “What we want is an amount that is fair in order to grow.”

Education Minister Leonardo Garnier called the request by university rectors “out of proportion” and asked school leaders to look internally for ways to reduce an estimated annual increase of 8 percent.

Negotiations over the budget for higher education have been proceeding for nearly a year and are in their final stages.

“The country has many other priorities, not just the universities,” said Marco Vargas, presidency minister, at a press conference at Casa Presidencial. “We hope the dialogue continues to center on strengthening higher education, but doesn't ignore other government priorities.”

While he spoke, chants from the outside protest seeped through the doorway. The students came in costume and boomed music in a peaceful demonstration.

“The general idea of the protest is an artistic festival. We didn't come to throw stones or do damage or (partake in) violence,” said Navas. “We want to make it clear that we are committed and conscious university students that are here today for a just cause.”