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Concert
Sonambulo, June 30, 8:00 p.m. at El Observatorio, San José .

Free Films and Concert
Seven short Films and concert with Rey Tapir iO Huba&Silica, June 30, 7:00 p.m. at CENAC, San José , Avenida 3, Calle 11 y 15. 

Guitar Concert
Entre Guitarras, Escuela Superior de Guitarras, June 30, 7:00 p.m. at Jazz Café, Escazú, ₡ 3,000

The Chinchilla administration on Monday announced financial goals for the next four years, saying it aims to achieve $9 billion in foreign investment and $17 billion in exports.

“Costa Rica has been one of the most successful countries in Latin America in terms of foreign investment,” said President Laura Chinchilla, calling her country an “economic miracle.”

Chinchilla said that for each million dollars of foreign investment, at least 17 direct jobs are created.

“We have to understand that a united platform in favor of foreign investment and production of exports gives us not only access to markets, but also better levels of competition and higher economic welfare,” she said.

Foreign investment has increased an average of 12 percent each year since 1990, but fell by 34 percent during the crisis year of 2009. Former President Oscar Arias is credited with a 132 percent overall increase in foreign investment during his second four-year term, which ended this year.

Foreign Trade Minister Anabel Gonzaléz pointed to the telecommunications, tourism and energy sectors as some of the most promising target areas for investment.

Not only is Chinchilla looking to attract more money into Costa Rica, but she is also working to increase the country's exports by 22 percent during her term. For each percentage-point increase in exports, she said, 7,500 jobs are created.

Chinchilla said her administration will focus on improving infrastructure, streamlining regulations and continuing to educate the labor force to meet the target goal, which she stressed has been brought closer into reach by the recently signed trade agreements with Europe, China and the United States.

Direct foreign investment has increased an average of 12 percent each year since 1990, but fell 34 percent in 2009.

The latest effort to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds, and thus prevent the spread of dengue, has been under way since June 25, according to the Health Ministry, the Health Ministry, the Education Ministry and the Social Security System (Caja) are taking actions to make educational and health centers throughout Costa Rica safe from the risk of dengue.

With support from the Pan American Health Organization, a monthlong social mobilization called “Dengue-Free Costa Rica” will encourage public and private efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.

Health Minister María Luisa Avila said in a ministry statement that the effort aims to identify and eliminate areas where the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the virus, can reproduce, such as standing water and receptacles where water can collect.

Education Minister Leonardo Garnier added that this week's homework assignment for public school children is to carry out similar cleanup activities within their homes in order to disrupt the mosquito's reproductive cycle.

Costa Rican authorities have recently reported a significant increase in dengue cases. From Jan. 1 to June 22, 8,307 cases were reported, a 452 percent increase over the same period last year. There has been one death due to dengue this year, according to the Health Ministry statement.

Avila warned that the chances of outbreaks of hemorrhagic dengue – a more serious and sometimes lethal manifestation of the disease – are higher now that three of the four types of dengue are present in the country, raising the risk of death from the disease.

Areas in Costa Rica with the highest dengue rates are Corredores and Buenos Aires in the Southern Zone; Carrillo, Abangares, Nandayure, Santa Cruz and Cañas in the northwestern province of Guanacaste; Aguirre in the Central Pacific region; Atenas, Alajuela Central and San Sebastián in the Central Valley; and Pococí in the Caribbean lowlands.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported yesterday on a late-May advisory issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that declared, “ For the first time in more than 65 years, dengue has returned to the continental United States.” The article went on to say, “Since August 2009, U.S. doctors have diagnosed 28 people with dengue, according to CDC. They had all caught it in Florida.”

President Laura Chinchilla made a day trip to Panama City Tuesday for a meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA), where she met with regional presidents to discuss foreign investment opportunities and restoring Honduras to the regional organization. Honduras was suspended from SICA after a military coup removed its elected president on June 28, 2009.

According to a statement on the Casa Presidencial website, while in Panama, Chinchilla spoke with the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak about boosting security measures. Lee pledged to support Central America in the training of its security forces, a step that will be included in a memorandum of understanding that is being negotiated between South Korea and the region's governments.

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli said the relationship between Central America and South Korea could draw investment from powerful Korean corporations such as Samsung, LG, Kia and Hyundai.

The meeting was Chinchilla's first appearance before SICA as president of Costa Rica. During her trip, she also met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who attended the SICA meeting as an observer. Berlusconi was in Panama promoting greater economic ties between Italy and the region.

The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) on Tuesday rejected a claim filed by the Ombudswoman's Office relating to a referendum on same-sex civil unions. The court did not specify the grounds for its decision.

The Ombudswoman's Office hoped to nullify a proposed nationwide referendum on gay marriages on the grounds that the right of homosexual couples to form civil unions is “fundamental,” and that such rights are not an appropriate subject for a popular vote (TT, June 25).  

Gay-rights advocates fear that if a referendum takes place it will serve to deny homosexuals rights already guaranteed by the nation's Constitution. Because Costa Rica is a strongly Catholic country, they are not optimistic that a vote on gay marriage will be in their favor.

The Supreme Elections Tribunal is currently reviewing the signatures submitted by Observatorio Ciudadano, an organization promoting the referendum. If the organization's petition contains the valid signatures of 5 percent of the electorate, a countrywide vote could take place Dec. 5.