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People With Disabilities Fair
Crafts, jewelry, June 28-30, Plaza de la Justicia, across from OIJ, San José.

Free Film Festival
“El baño del Papa,” comedy/ drama, directed by César Charlone, Enrique Fernández, June 28, 7 p.m. at Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante.

“Oliver” Auditions
Musical with new Spanish translation, by Far Corners Community Musical Theatre, open auditions for ages 10-18, June 28-July 2 (show set for first week of August), Monteverde, 2645-6114, www.farcornersmusicals.org.

Vacation Workshops
For ages 3-12, Zoo Adventure, Impressionism, Fairy Tales, Play Materials, Yoga, Chocolate World, June 28-July 22, Desarrollando Mentes, Escazú, 2289-4586, www.desarrollandomentes.com.

Adventure Kids Day Camp
Ages 5-12, nature activities, sports, crafts, swimming, field trip, bilingual, July 5-9, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Escazú and Ciudad Colón. Info: 2289-0404, advkids@gmail.com.

The San José Municipality is closing a section of Avenida 8 to continue road reconstruction. The road, which is an important throughway for cross-town traffic, runs from east to west just south of the city's center. It will be closed from Calle 13 to Calle 0 beginning Monday, June 28.

This is the second part of a three-phase project, which began in January. The rebuilt road, on which an asphalt surface is replaced with concrete, is expected to last 40 years.

Traffic will be rerouted two blocks south onto Avenida 12.

–Tico Times

Red and white was omnipresent at the annual celebration of Canada Day, held this year at the Zamora Estate in the western suburb of Santa Ana.

Whether through wearing face paint, color-coordinated outfits or fun hats, Canadian transplants in Costa Rica played homage to their nationality in style.

An estimated 220 people filled the grounds, enjoying dips in the pool, live music, fishing, a silent auction and a large quantity of food and drinks.

Once a tropical flower farm, the Zamora Estate is an oasis of open space just over the hill from San José. The estate, which features several luxuriously-outfitted cabins, a wildlife sanctuary and a young vineyard, has become popular in recent years as a memorable setting for special events and weddings.

“People were saying it's one of the better settings for Canada Day,” said event coordinator Fred Boden. The celebration that has been held in a variety of locations over the years. “It's a beautiful space.”

According to Boden, the highlight of the celebration is having the opportunity make connections with other Canadians in Costa Rica, as people come from all over the country to celebrate their heritage.

A standoff between a small-town mayor and the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) has sparked a growing grassroots resistance movement to the ruling party's power grab in municipal governments across Nicaragua.

Boaco Mayor Hugo Barquero said he refuses to cede power to the FSLN, following a questionable resolution passed last week by the city council to remove the elected mayor from office and replace him with a Sandinista official loyal to President Daniel Ortega.

In the past few months, the Sandinistas have used their considerable resources to buy the loyalty of 56 opposition city council officials and six mayors throughout the country, all of whom now pledge allegiance to the FSLN. The ruling party has also forcibly removed four additional mayors through legally questionable resolutions passed by Sandinista-controlled city councils (NT, June 18).

Barquero, a Liberal Party dissident allied with opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre, insists he won't be the next to fall. Instead, the little-known doctor-turned-politician has drawn a line in the sand in Boaco. And Nicaragua's diverse and divided opposition has been quick to back him.

“I will not surrender,” a determined Barquero told The Nica Times Sunday afternoon in a phone conversation from inside the mayor's office, where he is holed up. “We hope to stop the Sandinistas' attempted takeover of (opposition) municipalities, or be the spark for the rest of Nicaragua to rise up. We are calling on people to go out into the streets to protest for change in their own communities. I can't do this alone.”

Outside the mayor's office, dozens of riot police have had the building surrounded for the past week. Barquero fears the police could storm the building at any moment and drag him out, which is the only way he'll leave, he insists.

“The police are t otally politicized; they are working directly for the Sandinistas,” Barquero said. “The political secretary for the FSLN is practically giving orders to the police here.”

Barquero has called for a massive march on Boaco Monday afternoon. A previous march on Friday in support of Barquero ended with violent clashes between riot police and anti-Sandinista protesters.

Read next Friday's print or digital edition of The Nica Times for more on this story.

Security experts from Costa Rica and abroad will teach workshops and give lectures on maintaining personal, corporate and national security at the convention center of the Hotel Ramada Plaza Herradura today through Wednesday.

The International Congress on Safety will focus on techniques for dealing with crisis situations and crime prevention. The congress intends to inform businesses and individuals regarding various ways of ensuring personal security. Speakers from the United States, Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, Bulgaria and Mexico will be featured. Kidnapping, gangs, VIP protection and tourist security all will be part of the conference.

U.S. speaker Miguel Montero, who has worked with various security agencies over the years, will give a talk entitled “The Grand Security Strategy,” a comprehensive presentation on developing and applying national methods of security including the military, diplomacy and economics for the promotion of security.

For more information call 2224-0028 / 2253-7631 or e-mail info@conseguridad.com. Or, visit the conference's website, www.conseguridadcr.com.

Activities like Friday's dance show involving a dozen prisoners from Buen Pastor women's prison in San José might be one way to reduce overcrowding in Costa Rica's prison system.

When prisoners begin to see themselves as other than addicts, thieves or drug dealers, they will be better equipped to leave these practices behind when they re-enter society, said María Laura Mora, who has been studying rehabilitation processes in the country's prisons for a little more than a year.

The sold-out performance of “Un Día Menos,” which was performed last Friday at the National Culture Center, offers prisoners a creative outlet along with added confidence to help them pursue job opportunities and hobbies when they get out of prison.

“I think art works,” said Mora. “When they have access to art, to dance, to theater or literature, it allows them to talk about everything. It allows them to escape stigmas and become something other than an addict or a criminal.”

As prisons in the country begin to surpass their capacity, exploring new rehabilitation techniques is one way to keep the prison population down. A factor that often strangles forward progress and hinders the rehabilitation of prisoners is drug use, Mora said.

According to statistics from the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Institute (IAFA), roughly 80 percent of drug addicts who are sent to prison return to using drugs after they are released. The main reason for this, Mora said, is the lack of support programs as well as the fact that drugs are accessible even behind the closed doors of the prison system.

“Rehabilitation programs in the country's prisons are mostly self-help,” said Mora, who visits a study group of recovering addicts in prison at least twice a month. “There are social workers, but they are unreliable and often don't express interest in helping.”

Mora said a common perception among Ticos is that most drug addicts will remain addicts forever. This can be debilitating to the recovery process because addicts adopt this perception as part of their self-identity. Another challenge that prisoners face is the lack of support networks to combat their drug addictions.

“They feel very alone,” said Mora. “When they leave prison, their families don't want to see them or help them find a job. It's a difficult process and for that reason, many people fall back into drug use.”

The smiles of pride worn by the dozen women who skipped across the stage on Friday touched the hearts of audience members. Only months ago, these women were dismissed as criminals. Now, they held the spotlight and received applause for doing something right. Mora hopes that the success these women experienced on the stage will translate into life after prison.

Click below to see a video about the performance.