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Central American Theater Festival
“Cuentos de amor, picardías y otros secretos,” by Archipiélago Group, Aug. 18, 7 p.m., at Spanish Cultural Center.

20th Credomatic Music Festival
Música Ficta (Colombia), baroque music, Aug. 18, 8 p.m., National Theater.

“Acuarela Extrema 2010”
Exhibit by the Costa Rican Watercolor Association, through Aug. 31, National Gallery, Children's Museum.

William Cuadra wants a scholarship.

The 19-year-old computer engineering major at the Costa Rican Institute of Technology (TEC) said that the extra aid would help him pay the ₡ 10,000 ($20) per credit hour for the degree that he hopes will guide him toward opening his own software company.

Yerlin Araya thinks her marine biology group from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) should be afforded more trips to conduct field studies and collect samples.

“We need research opportunities and we need scholarships,” the 26-year-old UCR student said.

Just behind Araya, Cuadra and four of his classmates carried a large white sign with a message written in English.

“Power comes from Knowledge; Knowledge comes from Education,” it read.

The banners and students and professors kept coming.

In lines and rows stretching for more than a kilometer, the mass of students wrapped around corners and shut down highways.

They marched, roughly 10,000 strong, each from their university to Casa Presidencial.  Most had different needs, but they all shared the same demand: more money.

“Costs keep growing and it is very hard for us to keep up with the small amount that we are given,” said Carlos Morera, vice rector of research at the National University (UNA). “The UNA is doing important research in all areas of Costa Rican society and we need to keep doing this research.”

President Laura Chinchilla's administration has offered a 4.5 percent increase for the Special Fund for Higher Education (FEES) for the next five years.

But the public universities want more – almost 120 percent more.

“Eleven percent is very feasible,” said Isabel Arroyo, coordinator of the UCR's school of business administration. “It's just a matter of sitting down with the government and going over the numbers.”

At Casa Presidencial on Tuesday, no one sat down with the Chinchilla administration.

But from a six-foot-high stage and through the loud speakers pointed directly at Chinchilla's office, Yamileth González, director of the National Council of University Rectors, had a clear message for the president.

“To defend public education is to defend the basis for the right to solidarity, to democracy and to liberty,” she said. “To invest in education is to invest responsibly in democracy and development for the good of all the inhabitants of our generation.”

Click here for a photo report of the event.

A 25-year-old mother and her 1-and-a-half-year-old son are dead after a bus traveling from San José to Alajuela veered off the General Cañas highway just past the Crowne Plaza Corobicí Hotel near La Sabana and descended into a ravine.

The bus was carrying 55 passengers, who all survived, but at least seven were taken to area hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to serious. 

Before crashing through vegetation and dropping nearly 150 feet, the bus struck 25-year-old Jenny Venegas and her child, who were walking home from the nearby Mas x Menos supermarket, along with a 5-year-old nephew and 7-year-old brother. Her nephew and brother were unharmed.

Family members, who stood at the scene of the accident for hours, described Venegas as a “caring” person, who had many friends in the neighborhood.

According to witnesses, the bus was forced off the road when the truck it was tailing allegedly hit the brakes without warning. Preliminary reports alleged that the bus was traveling at an excessive speed.

But Traffic Police Assistant Director Marcelo Morera said it was difficult to know the speed of the bus at the time of the accident.

“The signs say the limit is 90 kilometers per hour,” he said. “Normally, traffic travels at a faster rate, but we can't say the velocity for sure.”

The road, which is part of the Inter-American Highway, remained closed from the noontime accident to 6 p.m. as emergency crews continued rescue operations and conducted investigations.

Muni Figueres, daughter of former Costa Rican President José “don Pepe” Figueres, will serve as Costa Rica's ambassador to the United States, after being nominated by her government on Tuesday morning.

Figueres, who served as foreign trade minister in 1986 under then-President Oscar Arias, has also held high-level positions with the World Trade Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank. She is the daughter of Figueres' first wife Henrietta Boggs and half-sister to recently appointed U.N. Climate Chief Cristiana Figueres and former President José María Figueres.

Muni Figueres was born in Costa Rica but was also a U.S. citizen because of her mother's nationality. In order to accept the post in Washington, D.C., she was forced to renounce her U.S. citizenship.

President Laura Chinchilla said she saw Figueres' former U.S. citizenship as an advantage to Costa Rica because, through her, Costa Rica “will have fluid access to all the doors we need to knock on in Washington.”

During a press conference Tuesday, Figueres said she was proud to be part of Chinchilla's team and pledged to work on the implementation of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States and security measures.

She said, “I don't have a doubt that Costa Rica is one of the most popular and most loved countries in Washington. I have lived through times where (foreigners) confused Costa Rica with Puerto Rico. But now, there are few people who haven't been to Costa Rica or don't want to go to Costa Rica.  … It's a country that, despite its size, has won many sympathizers.”

Asked about losing her U.S. citizenship, Figueres said that it “bothered her,” but after speaking with her mother, she was convinced that “to be Costa Rican is a privilege.”

“It's an honor that I am going to carry with me the rest of my life,” she said.

Figueres will replace Luis Diego Escalante as Costa Rica's ambassador in Washington D.C. Escalante was appointed by former President Arias.