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Art Prize Jacó 2010
Art contest organized by Central Pacific Chamber of Commerce, July 30-Aug. 8, Jacó, Central Pacific, register before July 28 at the chamber's office in Pacific Center. Info: 2643-2853, cenpac.chamber@gmail.com.

“Acordes de luz”
Collective photography exhibit, through Aug. 21, Calderón Guardia Museum, Barrio Escalante. Info: 2222-6392, musecal@racsa.co.cr. 

National Theater Company Auditions
The company is looping for actors and actresses for the play “ Seis personajes en busca de autor,” July 27, 5-9 p.m., July 28, 8 a.m.-noon, 5-9 p.m., La Aduana Theater. Info: 2221-6325, josecnt@yahoo.com. 

The Costa Rican government announced on Tuesday that it will not repeal the concession granted to Industrias Infinito S.A. for the operation of an open-pit gold mine.

According to a study just completed by a government commission, the state would have to pay $1.7 billion in compensation to Industrias Infinito S.A., the Costa Rican subsidiary of the Canadian-owned Infinito Gold, were the concession to be cancelled. The mine is located near the small town of Crucitas, in northern Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border

Costa Rican Vice President Alfio Piva, who is government's designated point man on environmental issues, said that the country cannot afford to pay such a high figure.

“If it were $15, I would pay it myself and we'd be done with this once and for all,” Piva told the daily La Nación. “But that's not the case.”

In a press statement, the executive branch said that it will leave the future of the mine in the hands of the judicial branch's Administrative Appeals Court, where a ruling is pending on the legality of the executive decree issued by President Oscar Arias that allowed Industrias Infinito S.A. to begin construction of the mine.

Steven Ramirez, a press official at Casa Presidencial, said that the elements considered by the commission to arrive the $1.7 billion sum “were not revealed,” but noted that the estimate most likely included reimbursement for investments that the company has made, such as construction costs, as well as future earnings that would be lost by the company.

Juan Carlos Obando, manager of corporate relations for Industrias Infinito, called the figure “very large” and “attention grabbing.”

Ana Chacón, Obando's wife, who also works at Industrias Infinito S.A., told The Tico Times that the company has never calculated possible compensation because the firm never anticipated that the concession would be annulled.

The Tico Times left a message for Piva on Tuesday in hopes of learning more about how the $1.7 billion figure was calculated, but did not receive a response by deadline.

After eight days of silver and bronze medals, Costa Rica's Nery Brenes blew past the competition in the 400 meter run to claim the nation's first gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games on Monday night in Puerto Rico.

Brenes, who is from the Caribbean port city of Limón, set a Central American and Costa Rican record on Monday with his time of 44.84. He beat Henry Tabarie of the Virgin Islands, who finished with a time of 45.07.

“This win is a product of very intense, very committed training,” said Brenes's coach Walter Salazar after the event. “He's hitting his stride right now in his career, and he's only getting better.”

With his mark of 44.84, Brenes tied the10th fastest 400 meter time in the world this year, which he shares with U.S. runner Tavaris Tate. The fastest clocked 400 meter run this year is held by Jamaican Jermaine Gonzalez, who ran a 44.40 earlier this month.

Brenes, who reached the semifinals of the 400 meter run at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, is the first Costa Rican to win the 400 meter run at the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Through the first nine days of the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, Costa Rica is currently in 13th place. The Ticos have won a combined 17 medals, including 12 bronze medals, four silver medals, and Brenes' lone gold. Mexico, which has won the games eight out of the 20 times that it has been held, leads the way with 283 medals, including 101 gold medals.

Brenes will have a second shot at a medal later this week when he competes in the 4x400 meter relay. The semifinals and finals of the event will be held on Friday.

The head of the Nicaraguan Army is categorically denying the existence of a rearmed contra group in the mountains of Nicaragua, following what was essentially a declaration of guerrilla warfare issued last week by a man known as “Comandante Yahob.”

Yahob, a former contra special forces commander, claims he is rearmed and ready to “fight against the dictatorship and the pacto (the power-sharing pact between President Daniel Ortega and opposition leader Arnoldo Alemán).” Yahob claims to represent the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN).

The military, however, says he is a common criminal and another guerrilla war here is not a possibility.

“The war has ended; there are no conditions for armed groups to operate here,” said Gen. Julio César Avilés in comments to the press.

Avilés said “Yahob” is a common criminal who is wanted for the murder of another ex contra named “Piraña.” Avilés said the military has intelligence information that Yahob has been crossing into Honduras trying to make contacts with other “delinquent groups.”

The army chief said Yahob is simply trying to avoid Nicaraguan justice by claiming that his struggle is political.

But other ex-contra leaders claim Yahob is a real danger and that it would be an error to dismiss him as a harmless common criminal.

For more on this story, see this week's print or digital edition of The Tico Times.