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20th Credomatic Music Festival
Las Mercedes Church (Grecia, Alajuela): Kirill Gliadkovsky (Russia), organ, Aug. 13, 8 p.m. (free). National Theater: Kirill Gliadkovsky (Russia), piano, Aug. 14; Albéniz Quartet (Spain), Aug. 15, both at 8 p.m. Cristal Ballena Hotel (Bahía Ballena, southern Pacific coast): Jeong Ga Ak Hoe (Korea), traditional Korean music, Aug. 14, 5:30 p.m. La Posada Hotel, Hacienda Pinilla (Guanacaste): TENET (U.S.), a capella, Aug. 14, 5:30 p.m. Punta Islita Hotel (Guanacaste): Música Ficta (Colombia), baroque music, Aug. 14, 5:30 p.m. Villa Caletas (road to Jacó, Central Pacific): Katharina Hanstedt, harp, and Klaus Schoepp, flute (Germany), with Irene Monterroso (C.R.), viola, Aug. 14, 5:30 p.m. Borinquen Hotel (Rincón de la Vieja, Guanacaste): Teresa de la Torre, soprano, and Montserrat Ardévol, guitar (Spain), Aug. 14, 7 p.m. Punta Leona (road to Jacó, Central Pacific): Albéniz Quartet (Spain), Aug. 14, 7:30 p.m. Hotel Tirol (San Rafael, Heredia): Kirill Gliadkovsky (Russia), piano, Aug. 15, noon. Casa del Cuño (Former Aduana, Ca. 23, San José ): Albéniz Quartet ( Spain ), Aug. 15, 5 p.m. (free). INBioparque (Santo Domingo, Heredia): Jeong Ga Ak Hoe (Korea), traditional Korean music, Aug. 15, 5 p.m.

Central American Theater Festival: “Latinas,” Raíz theater group, Aug. 13, 7 p.m.; “Teleinvisión,” Andrea Catania, Aug. 14, 7 p.m.; “Cucaramácara,” Aug. 14, 10 p.m., all at Spanish Cultural Center.

*Evolución in Concert: Rock, Aug. 13, 9:30 p.m., El Observatorio, Barrio La California, across from Cine Magaly, 2223-0725.

Alex Marzo in Concert: Samba, Aug. 14, 8 p.m., Bromelias Music Garden, Monteverde, 2645-6272. 

Philharmonic Orchestra in Concert: With Sonora Santanera, Aug. 14-15, 8 p.m., Melico Salazar Theater. 

Cardamomo in Concert: Flamenco, belly dancing, tango, Aug. 14, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú.

*Mother's Day Hike: To Tapezco Hill, Santa Ana, 12 km, with guide Luis Fernando Boza, Aug. 15, leaving at 7 a.m. from Santa Ana bus station, 200 m north of San Juan de Dios Hospital emergency entrance, 8306-6354, 2223-3186.

Baden-Wuërttemberg Youth Band in Concert: From Germany, Aug. 15, 10 a.m., church, La Fortuna, San Carlos, 2283-5027.

Mother's Day Concert by Soprano María Marta López in Concert: Aug. 15, 12:30 p.m., Chateau 1525 restaurant, Cuesta de Moras, San José, 2248-9337, 2255-4242.

Costa Rica's public universities have declared an “active strike” in protest of what they say is inadequate government funding. While the country's higher education institutions will continue with classes this week and next, they have programmed a series of activities to bring awareness to their financial situation.

The strike comes after intense negotiations between university rectors and the central government that ended in stalemate when the government refused to offer the 11 percent budget increase that universities were requesting. President Laura Chinchilla's administration called the university rectors' requests unreasonable and offered a 4 percent budget increase instead.

“The accusation that our proposal is unsustainable is surprising because there has been an enormous sacrifice in other priorities such as citizen safety, the day care network and infrastructure and, on the other hand, a large issue of tax evasion,” the National Council of University Rectors declared in a press release. “It's precisely these institutions of higher education that support the state in these areas.”

Chinchilla denied the claim that her administration closed negotiations, saying, “The government maintains its willingness to continue in dialogue.” She said the strikes and protests “were premature” and that the two parties need to work harder at an agreement.

University leaders have asked that professors suspend all exams, presentations and evaluations for Tuesday, Aug. 17, so that students can take part in a scheduled march on Casa Presidencial.

GUATEMALA CITY – A Guatemalan court issued international arrest warrants for three former senior officials in connection with at least 10 extrajudicial executions, the judiciary said Wednesday.

Erstwhile Interior Minister Carlos Vielman, National Police Chief Erwin Sperisen and Deputy Director of Investigations Javier Figueroa all served in the 2004-2008 administration of conservative President Oscar Berger.

All three are believed to be living outside the country.

The U.N.-sponsored International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, known as CICIG, says the three were part of a conspiracy to summarily kill prison inmates.

The case involves the killings of at least 10 inmates in 2005 to 2006.

Figueroa, who left Guatemala in March 2007, is reported by the Guatemalan press to be living in Austria, while Sperisen departed in April 2008 to settle in Sweden.

Vielman resides in Spain.

CICIG said Tuesday that Figueroa, Sperisen, Vielman and former Prison Services Director Alejandro Giammattei were part of a criminal structure created within the Interior Ministry and National Police during the first year of the Berger administration.

“This structure,” according to CICIG, engaged in “offenses of murder, drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, extortion and drug theft, among others.”

Six alleged members of the conspiracy were arrested Monday for the deaths of seven inmates in 2006 at the Pavón prison farm.

The men were executed during a joint military-police operation to wrest control of Pavón from inmate gangs, an operation CICIG said the conspirators used to eliminate criminal rivals being held at the prison farm.

One of the accused in that case, Giammattei, remains holed up at the Honduran Embassy in Guatemala City, where he went Thursday, Aug. 5, to seek asylum in the neighboring Central American country.

The 2007 presidential candidate of the conservative Gran Alianza Nacional sought refuge at the Honduran mission because he feared an attempt on his life, according to Giammattei spokesman Herbert Chávez.

Giammattei can be arrested only if the Honduran government rejects his asylum bid and expels him from the embassy.

–EFE

Nobody works harder at the San Bernardo Greenhouse in Zarcero than the bumblebees. The rotund insects flit from one tomato plant to the next. Pollen sticks to their legs as they invade yellow flowers in search of nectar.

Milena Chinchilla plucks one of the tiny grape tomato flowers and inspects it for bites. These are her bumblebees, and she wants to make sure the buzzing bugs are getting the job done. She looks for tiny bite marks on the flower, a sign that the busy bees have been nibbling and, therefore, pollinating the plant. While searching for nectar, the pollen sticks to the legs of the bee and is carried to the next tomato flower, fertilizing the plant.

Chinchilla works for a company known as Reflex, a distributor for Koppert, a Dutch company that breeds biological controls. These controls – bees or predatory insects – help fertilize plants or control outbreaks of pests in a manner that is more in tune with nature.

This type of natural fertilization performed by the bumblebees can have major benefits for the tomato farm.

"The pollination of the fruit causes the fruit to have a better taste. Better weight and more seeds," said Paulo Blanco, president of the Producers Association in Zarcero's Protected Environment (Apromeco), which has 16 enormous greenhouses in Zarcero.

A higher number of seeds means larger, rounder tomatoes, Blanco explained. The heavier the tomato the more they can be sold for in the United States, where all of Apromeco's tomatoes are sent.

Although not organic (pesticides that don't harm the desired insects are sometimes used), Reflex and other biological control companies intend to limit pests by letting Mother Nature do most of the work. Pesticides can lead to bugs building up a resistance to chemicals throughout multiple life cycles. Biological controls eliminate that possibility.

For more on this story, see the August 13 print or digital edition of The Tico Times. 

For more on biological controls and natural pollination, Koppert is hosting an event in Sabanilla, east of San José, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 29. The interactive event will include a presentation on the bumblebees, a how-to demonstration on spotting pests like spider mites and mealy bugs in a local garden, movies, and games for kids. To register for the event, contact Maite Salinas: 22730981 or maite@reflexca.com.