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Workshop on Losing Weight Healthily
June 21, 6-9 p.m., Instituto de Desarrollo Integral Creciendo en Grande. Info: 2283-3736, info@creciendoengrande.com.

Free Film Festival
“Hiroshima,” drama, directed by Pablo Stoll, June 21, 7 p.m., at Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante, Av. 13, Ca. 31. Info: 2257-2919, www.ccecr.org.

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

National Intentional Communities Conference
June 18-21, Finca Colectivo Tacotal. Info: 8321-2990, comunidadesintencionales@grupoarmonia.org.

National Bands for Fiesta de la Música
Puntarenas, June 21, 10 a.m., Liceo José Martí gymnasium. Limón, June 21, 5 p.m., in front of cathedral.

The first five months of 2010 have been good to Costa Rican exports, which have increased 13 percent overall in comparison with the same period last year. Thus far in 2010, Costa Rican exports have raked in over $4 billion, including revenues of more than $854 million in May, according to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer).

The three major export sectors – industry, agriculture and fishing– all have reported significant gains over last year. Industrial exports, which include value-added food products and manufactured goods, have accounted for over 72 percent of total Costa Rican exports so far in 2010.

In the industrial sector, computer parts and microprocessors continue to be Costa Rica's largest grossing exports, generating more than $627 million in sales through the first five months of the year. Export of computer parts and microprocessors, dominated by multinational technology giant Intel Corporation, accounted for over 15 percent of total national exports.

Agricultural exports also started strong this year, accounting for more than 25 percent of total national exports. The improved overseas sale of agricultural products has been led by pineapple, which is up 62 percent compared to the same period in 2009. The export of bananas has increased 49 percent, while coffee exports are up 17 percent. Costa Rica is the world's leader in pineapple exports and third in banana exports.

The U.S. remains the leading destination for Costa Rican products, accounting for 36 percent of all exports, or $1.45 billion so far this year. The Netherlands, Hong Kong, China and Panama round out the top five destinations for Costa Rica's exports, with the Netherlands being the only other country that receives over 5 percent of Costa Rica's exports (6.8 percent).

Two U.S. citizens were arrested last week on charges of selling investments in fraudulent businesses, and will spend the next two months in Costa Rican prisons pending extradition to their home country.

Patrick Williams and Silvio Carrano were arrested in connection with vending machine and greeting card businesses they are alleged to have started. According to the U.S. Justice Department, they fraudulently induced people in the United States to buy false business opportunities. Most investors paid $10,000 for shares in the companies, but never received the promised returns.

Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in a statement that business opportunity fraud is a serious crime that imposes significant financial hardship on innocent, hardworking victims. He said the Justice Department will continue its push to prosecute those who defraud U.S. citizens “to make a quick buck. ”

Will iams and Carrano face up to 25 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

A third partner in the scam, Donald Williams, was arrested May 7 in Houston, Texas, and a fourth, Gregory Britt Fleming, remains at large. The United States is urging anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Fleming to call the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Miami, Florida, at (954) 436-7200.

According to Costa Rican authorities, Williams was arrested Tuesday in the western San José suburb of Escazú, while Carrano was taken into custody in San Rafael de Heredia, north of the capital.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – The opposition Patriotic Alliance, which was formed to oppose the re-election plans of President Daniel Ortega, was launched Sunday at the local level at a rally attended by some 800 people in Masaya, 30 kilometers southeast of Managua.

Enrique Sáenz, a legislator and president of the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), said Sunday that the alliance is being formed not only to defend the constitution and democracy, but also as an option for exercising political power.

He said the alliance is an organization of political parties, social organizations and trade groups, as well as people representing all sectors of Nicaraguan society.

Sáenz said a governing council for the Patriotic Alliance has been formed, and its members will be announced in the coming days.

The Patriotic Alliance was created March 19 in Managua to prevent, by democratic means, President Ortega “leading the country to disaster,” according to a proclamation issued by the alliance on the day of its creation.

Initially, the alliance was composed of the Citizens' Democratic Union (UDC), which includes 15 civil society organizations, the Independent Liberal Party (PLI), a faction of the Nicaraguan Resistance Party (PRN), the MRS and the November 9 Movement, which was formed to denounce alleged electoral fraud during the nationwide municipal elections held in November 2008.

Sáenz said local representatives of other parties, such as the Alternative for Change, the Vamos con Eduardo Movement led by opposition legislator Eduardo Montealegre, the Conservative Party and the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance, also participated in the alliance's launch in Masaya.

According to a political source, the next local Patriotic Alliance rallies will be held in León, in northwestern Nicaragua, and in Chontales, in the center of the country. The dates for the activities have not been set.