A Costa Rican woman has won a major battle in her effort to retain custody of her U.S.-born son.

She is Flora María Gaitán Tejada, and the boy is Marco, now 4. Both live in Heredia where the child goes to kindergarten.

The case entered the newspages in January 2002 here and in the father’s hometown of Naples, Fla. The case has had high visibility, in part because the father, Ralph Stumbo, set up a corporation to help men with custody problems. He also is associated with the local chapter of the Foundation for Fathers of Separated Families.

Ms. Gaitán contacted a reporter this week because "all I want to have is my name cleared," she said. Stumbo claimed that she committed a felony when she took the child from Naples Aug. 1, 2001, and brought him to Costa Rica.

The Sala Primera of the Corte Supreme de Justicia in San José took a different approach, according to a written decision provided by Ms. Gaitán. The court accepted as binding a January 2001 separation agreement that awarded custody to Ms. Gaitán.

Stumbo was counting on a January 2002 judicial order from a Collier County, Fla., court awarding 
him a divorce and custody of the child. However, 

The court also said that it was not clear that Ms. Gaitán ever was notified of the legal action against her in Florida. She took the boy and came to Costa Rica before the court case began there. 

The Sala Primera case was appealed from the Heredia court system where Stumbo initially filed his demand and U.S. legal papers. Stumbo could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He may appeal the case further.

Ms. Gaitán said that since the story made the newspaper here she has been approached by what she considered extortionists who claimed that they would inform on her to her husband unless she paid them. She did not, she said. 

She has tried to keep her location a secret, although she had met several times with her husband at public places to provide him visiting time with his son. Since being in Costa Rica the bilingual Ms. Gaitán has worked as a tour guide, according to the court decision.

Stumbo has been in Costa Rica off and on for many years and once operated a pizza outlet in San Sebastian.

Taxi drivers got into a shouting match that escalated about 11:30 Monday night on Avenida 2 near Parque Central.  Police dispersed the taxi drivers after more than 80 vehicles showed up and blocked the street. Meanwhile, someone torched the taxi that was the target of the protest.

The Fuerza Pública said that members of the Irazú, Alfaro, Guaria and CoopeTaxi cooperatives were in dispute with a driver from the Coope San Jorge. The exact reason for the dispute is unclear.

Within 25 minutes more than 80 taxis had arrived, blocked the streets and began making threats. That’s when the San Jorge taxi burst into flames.

Later a caravan of taxis passed by the office of the San Jorge cooperative, and drivers shouted threats, police said.

Visitors to museum
will make Indian masks

The Museos Banco Central are having a festival in the Plaza de las Cultura downtown Saturday beginning at 10 a.m., and the museums below the plaza will be open to the public for free, said an announcment.

The event is being named the I Festival Cultural en la Plaza 2003.

From 10 to noon there will be various acts in the plaza, including a swing group and a puppet show with Arnulfo y sus Criaturas Maravillosas

At noon visitors will be invited to see the preColombian gold museum and the exhibit on the Boruca Indian cultura that is running at the temporary exhibit area.

From 1 to 2 p.m. visitors will be invited to participate in creating a Boruca mask with materials provided by the museums.

Brazilian Carnival 
parties to a close

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The famed Carnival parade here has drawn to a close with thousands of sequined and feathered revelers partying into early Tuesday.

Despite rainy weather, the second and final night of parading opened Monday as a samba school saluted the country's national football team. The team set a record last year by winning its fifth World Cup championship.

As the pre-Lenten bash progressed at the city's "Sambadrome" stadium, other samba schools also treated spectators to a nine-hour show of music, dancing, singing and floats. 

Each samba group comprises about 4,000 people, many of whom spend months rehearsing for the annual Carnival parade. 

The groups are judged on several criteria, including music, costumes, originality, floats, and even enthusiasm. The winning group will be announced on Ash Wednesday, when the festivities here and across the country officially end. 

The two-day parade is the centerpiece of Carnival celebrations and is broadcast across the nation of 170 million people. 

This year, the celebrations took place amid a strong security presence. Gang violence last week prompted officials to deploy some 30,000 police backed by 3,000 soldiers to the streets.

Even with the heightened security, at least one person was killed and six others injured in violence around the carnival stadium.

Soccer returns to Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Ghazi Stadium is once again hosting football (soccer) matches. This seemingly unremarkable news signals a welcome return to normal life here. The stadium, one of the few public buildings that remained relatively unscathed from the disastrous Afghan civil war of the early 1990's, became notorious during the Taliban era as the scene of public executions, beatings and floggings.

Habib Ullahniazi, a professional football coach at the stadium for the past 18 years, remembers those days very well, and said that as many as 30 people were shot during the intermissions of football games.

"They would announce [the executions] the night before on Kabul Radio, and those who were interested would come," he said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The prospect of hydrogen fuel-cell powered cars promises the benefits of major reductions in air pollution and U.S. dependence on foreign oil suppliers.

In his State of the Union speech Jan. 28 President George Bush announced a $1.2 billion initiative to develop technology to produce commercially viable, hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power non-polluting cars, trucks, homes and businesses. The Department of Energy says Bush's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative will make it practical and cost effective for large numbers of Americans to use fuel cell vehicles by 2020.

Hydrogen fuel is about two times more efficient than fossil fuels, which is why many automakers are working on the technology, says T. Nejat Veziroglu, president of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Another benefit would be a reduction in noise pollution since fuel cells don't function through combustion or moving parts, he noted.

"Fuel cells and batteries are electrochemical devices, and by their very nature have a more efficient conversion process," points out a report entitled "Fuel Cells, Green Power" by researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Scientists have known about fuel cells since William Grove discovered the principle in 1839. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration  has used the technology during space flights. The U.S. Department of Energy has been supporting research and development of fuel cell technology since 1984. But current hydrogen fuel cells use expensive materials such as platinum and rhodium as catalysts. Technological advancement is necessary to make the cells less costly before companies can realistically 

Hydrogen is usually stored on board vehicles as compressed gas, similar to compressed natural gas. The hydrogen flows into the fuel cell, where it undergoes a cool, electrochemical reaction with oxygen from the air to produce electricity. An electrical motor connected to the axles turns the vehicle's wheels. The only exhaust is water.

Hydrogen fuel cells are not dangerous, Veziroglu said. But hydrogen, just as any other fuel, can be dangerous and must be handled with care. Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen fuel is not poisonous, he said.

Another challenge to creating a world of fuel cell-powered automobiles is building the infrastructure to service the cars. Instead of pulling up to gasoline pumps, drivers would have to take their fuel cell-powered mobiles to hydrogen fuel stations.

Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, partnering with Iwatani International Corp. and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, is building Tokyo's first hydrogen refueling station, slated for completion in 2003. Technical expertise is coming from Amsterdam-based Shell Hydrogen, which boasts projects in the United States and Europe as well as Japan.

In Iceland, Shell is working with DaimlerChrysler and Norsk Hydro on ways geothermal energy and hydropower can contribute to eventually eliminating fossil fuel use and creating hydrogen exports.

Meanwhile, the race is on for auto companies to produce hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles. Ford, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, Honda and Toyota are just a few looking to move beyond experimental cars.

This newspaper seeks the prompt return of two men who ran high-interest investment operations that have gone out of business.

Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho, 62, was associated with Ofinter S.A., a money exchange house, and with his own private investment business that had about $1 billion in other people’s money on the books.

Villalobos closed his business Oct. 14 and vanished.

Louis Milanes operated Savings Unlimited and several casinos in San José. He left the country with other members of his firm the weekend of Nov. 23. He may have as much as $260 million in his possession. Both operations catered to North Americans.

Villalobos and Milanes are the subjects of international arrest warrants.  Associates of both men have been jailed.

A.M. Costa Rica has posted a $500 reward for information leading to the detention of either man with the hopes that others will make similar pledges. The newspaper believes that investors only will see some of their money when the two men are in custody.

Milanes has few supporters in San José. On the other hand, as the letters frequently on this page show, Villalobos still has supporters who believe that he will reappear and settle his debts. They believe he is in hiding because of a predatory Costa Rican government.