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International Fishing Tournament
Tarpon, snook, guapote, machaca, Sept. 13-14, San Carlos, Río San Juan, Nicaragua. Info: (505) 8849-0600, riosanjuan@racsa.co.cr .

Mundoloco Concerts
Feature Lennon and McCartneyFestival, Sept. 13, 9:30 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro. Info: 2253-8933.

Free Film Show in Spanish
“La España franquista vista por Azcona,” Sept. 13, 7 p.m., Spanish Cultural Center , Av.13, Ca. 31. Info: 2257-2919, ext. 118, mediateca@ccecr.org .

Salsa Concert
Madera Nueva (Salsa), Sept. 13, 9:30 p.m., El Observatorio, Barrio La California , across from Cine Magaly. Info: 2223-0725.

The Minnesota-based medical supply company St. Jude Medical inaugurated a new plant in the El Coyol Free Zone in Alajuela, northwest of San José. The company plans to invest an estimated $670 million in the country and employ 2,000 Costa Ricans over the next five years.  

In a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla commented on the significance of St. Jude's investment and the continued development of Costa Rica as a location for medical-supply foreign direct investment.

“The arrival of St. Jude is not only a great opportunity for Costa Rica, but also represents an enormous challenge that will test our institutional muscle,” Chinchilla said. “It obliges us to strengthen our innovation technology, commit greater effort to developing our young professionals, and keep fighting to improve the competitiveness of our economy.”

The St. Jude plant will specialize in producing valves for damaged or weakened aortas. The aortic valve is essential in controlling blood flow from the heart through the body.

St. Jude currently employs 250 people in Costa Rica and plans to fill an additional 50 positions before the end of the year.

In 2009, export of medical products generated more than $1.34 billion for the Costa Rican economy and accounted for 15.5 percent the of nation's total exports. Medical products make up the second largest of the country's exports, following only microprocessors and electronic components, which account for more than 20 percent of exports.

A decision by the management at a Costa Rican restaurant to confront two gay men about “inappropriate behavior” has erupted onto social media networks across the country as gay-rights activists come to the defense of the two men involved.

The men allegedly greeted each other with a kiss on the cheek, prompting the management of La Buca restaurant, in the eastern San José suburb of San Pedro, to send over a waiter to ask them to leave. In Costa Rica, a kiss on the cheek is the standard greeting between women, and between men and women.

“To these people, a hug and a kiss on the cheek was the last assault on morality and decency,” said William Alvarez, one of the men, writing about the incident.

The restaurant later responded that it does not allow public displays of affection between either heterosexuals or homosexuals.

But an Internet-inspired boycott had already been launched, and news of the alleged discrimination reached international media venues such as Yahoo! and MSN.

“If this situation is true, I will definitely stop going to this place and tell my friends not to go,” wrote one commenter, Francisco Madrigal, on the website of popular Costa Rican radio host Amelia Rueda. He called it “an issue of rights that transcends sexual orientation.”

Another, commenting on the Yahoo! Travel website, said, “It's outrageous that in a country that prides itself on being tolerant and peaceful, these hateful things happen. I'm never going back to the place, my money, apparently, is not welcome.”

The Japanese government donated $94,995 to Costa Rica last week to help combat illegal fishing in the waters of Isla del Coco National Park, the country's protected marine gem 365 miles west of the Pacific port town of Puntarenas.

The money, directed to a project to better equip authorities to protect the park's waters, will be used to build a 48-square-meter cabin and install a small hydroelectric turbine near the mouth of the Río Oliver at Chatham Bay.

The new installation will allow the government to increase the number of park guards and allow the crews to spend more time on patrol.

Funds from the donation will also help purchase life rafts for the island's two patrol boats and buy equipment to remove fishing hooks and lines from the water.

Park officials and the Japanese Embassy hope the new donation will help cut down on illegal fishing near the island.

“Our embassy considers that the (Isla del Coco) National Park is very important for the conservation of natural resources,” said Hidekazu Yamaguchi, Japan's ambassador to Costa Rica. “Nevertheless, the park is vulnerable to illegal fishing and other threats and must be very well guarded.”