But you knew that already, right?

The former archbishop of San José, Román Arrieta Villalobos, died Tuesday afternoon. The 80-year-old churchman served as bishop in San José for 23 years before leaving in 2002 shortly after reaching the Catholic Church’s mandatory retirement age.

Arrieta was 80. He lived in La Ribera de Belén.  He suffered a fall at Christmastime and underwent surgery to repair an injury to his head.

Arrieta was at the center of the storm generated by Radio María, the radio station run by the Rev. Minor Calvo and businessman Omar Chávez. Both are considered suspects in the murder of Parmenio Medina Pérez, who was killed by hired gunmen in 2001 near his Heredia home.

May 30, 2001, the conference of bishops ordered Radio María closed. Parmenio Medina died a short time later He had exposed irregularities in the operation of the station and had meetings on the topic with Arrieta.

Both Calvo and Chavez are awaiting trial.
 

Another surf event
scheduled for weekend

The fifth leg of the 2004-2005 Circuito Nacional de Surf will take place Saturday and Sunday at Jacó.  The contest, named "Grand Prix Mangoa," begins at 7 a.m. in front of the Mango Surf Shop. 

The contest is expected to draw more than 100 surfers. As an official event of the national circuit, the competition allows surfers to earn points towards the national rankings.

These rankings will be used to determine who represents Costa Rica at the World Junior Surfing Championships scheduled for October 2005 in Huntington Beach. 

 The first four events of the circuit were held in Esterillos, Negra, Tamarindo and Dominical. 
 

Craft fair planned
for Desamparados

Municipalidad de Desamparados will celebrate the National Day of Craftsmen with a fair beginning March 18 in Parque Centenario. 

The three-day festival celebrates the importance of handmade crafts in Costa Rica. The fair will feature traditional dancing, foods and beverages, as well as traditional hand crafted goods. 

The National Day of Craftsmen is March 19. 
 

TACA standardizes
passenger luggage rules

Flying with TACA airlines just got easier, according to a company statement released Tuesday.

Airline officials announced that TACA has implemented a new policy that standardizes the size and weight of luggage that passengers may use. The airline’s new policy insures that all passengers can carry two full bags of luggage that have a combined weight of less then 100 pounds and are less then 85 inches long.

Prior to the standardization, passengers had to double check the luggage policies at their specific destination point.

TACA serves 10 major cities in the United States, Toronto in Canada, Mexico City, all of the countries of Central America, and several important business and tourist destinations in South America and the Caribbean. 
 
 

He gets cable television
even if he doesn’t want it

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I just returned from the office of Amnet in Moravia. I wanted them to explain a bill I received. I rent two apartments for a owner out of the country.  Nearly everyone that answered an "for rent" ad  wanted to know if there were Internet connections. Two gentlemen agreed to rent the units but want me to get the Amnet residencial 256/128 Kbps connection for two computers for $50 a month. 

I called Amnet, they sent out a representative. I told him the existing TV cable was in the name of the owner, so the  Internet cable would have to be in my name since the owner was not available. However I only wanted  Internet cable since the TV cable was already present. No problema. 

So, I told the renters it was to cost them $50 a month for 2 computers.  They agreed to the charge. I paid a installation fee of about $72, which included a modem,  but this would only serve one computer. If I wanted to connect another, I would have to buy a router and cable, which cost me another $90. Then cable has to be run from the router to the other computer. 

Okay, I did all this and got everything connected. Then yesterday I got a bill, which was complicated to read so, I went to the Amnet Moravia office to get a explanation. Now it seems whether you want TV or not you are going to pay for it, which is another $24 a month. Therefore instead of paying the $50 I told the renters I have to pay $74 a month. Other words you can get cable TV without Internet, but you can not get Internet without TV. 

I have re-read the pamphlet again to see if I missed some small print. I didn't. I would not be perturbed if the pamphlet said the price was $50 a month if you had cable TV or if the representative had told me you are going to pay for TV whether you want it or not. 

North Americans have no idea how convoluted simple transaction can be here in Costa Rica. Everyone is used to expecting this from the government monopolies, but this is private company. Anyway, you should know this if you are anticipating getting Internet cable.

Costa Rica might be better served not following in its neighbor’s footsteps, on the Central American free trade agreement, according to Ottón Solís leader of the Partido Acción Ciudadana.

Solís said in an interview at his home Tuesday 

afternoon that the agreement was "asymmetrical towards the United States," and that it should be redrafted before being presented to the Costa Rican legislature. Solís, who speaks fluent English, said that he has always favored opening trade with the United States, but he says the current agreement is not beneficial for Costa Rica. "Trade relations are good, but this agreement will hurt the economy and the environment in Costa Rica."

A.M. Costa Rica file photo Ottón Solís

The political party of Solís, the Partido de Acción Ciudadana, was formed by disgruntled members of the Partido Liberación Nacional in 2000. The group has gained popularity in the country since the split and Solís is considered to be a strong candidate for the presidential election in 2006. 

The party has continually fought against the international trade agreement, stating that it will cause poverty and environmental destruction throughout Central America. 

El Salvador and Honduras ratified the agreement, 

Solís, however, argues that Costa Rica should not feel pressured to follow in its neighbor’s footsteps. "Blessed be the day that we do not copy Central America," he said. 

Solís argued that Costa Rica has been well served by its deviations from the Central American norm in the past. He said that other countries involvement presents a good argument not to support the agreement.

Solís says that there are several specific problems for Latin America in the treaty that need to be addressed. Solís said of Costa Rica that "the agreement opens agricultural markets, while the United States keeps its own agriculture protected from the rigors of the market." 

Solís also said that Costa Rica needs to be mindful of the lack of a employment rights section in the agreement. "The agreement would open Costa Rica to foreign investment, while maintaining a closed labor market for foreign workers in the United States."

Solis warned that the agreement would also allow officials from transnational corporations to bypass Costa Rican courts and to sue the government when they believe their profits are being harmed by regulations.

Solis said that his party, which is a minority in the Asamblea Legislativa, will continue to fight against the agreement and that he hopes to prevent it from appearing in front of the legislature. "Who knows what might happen if it hits the legislature," he said. "A vote would probably be very close."

The Costa Rican legislature approved a change in its rules Tuesday that will allow rapid passage of certain designated measures by cutting off lengthy debate and discussion.

The measure was aimed at the Movimiento Libertario that has tied up legislation it did not like by proposing hundreds of amendments.

The Asamblea Legislative approved the measure by 39 votes, one more than the required two-thirds majority of the 57 deputies. Only 52 deputies were present Tuesday.

The Libertarians said they would appeal the measure to the Sala IV constitutional court, but their success there 

The fast-track proposal means that certain legislative proposals, by a similar two-thirds vote, can be expedited to a final vote.

However, certain forms of legislation are excluded. Among these are international treaties and conventions that cannot be fast tracked. Also exempt are administrative contracts, sale of state holdings or creation of monopolies.

President Abel Pacheco has blamed the Libertarians for the legislature’s inability to pass his proposed new tax bill that would generate $500 million in new taxes annually. The measure passed Tuesday will expedite the tax plan.

A 24-year-old Australian has been reported missing in Tamarindo, according to the Judicial Investigating Organization.

The student, Brendan Dobbins was reported missing by several friends that were supposed to meet up with him over the weekend in San José, according to investigators

Officials say that the Cruz Roja has searched the beaches near Tamarindo and that they are still seeking an explanation for his disappearance. 

Costa Rica will soon have its first wide screen IMAX theatre, according to a release made by the company.

The company announced Tuesday that an agreement had been reached with Repretel, the local government television station. Repretel will operate the theater, which will open in San José in 2006. 

The theatres will be featured as part of pre-existing multiplexes. Similar projects have already been completed in Mexico, Ecuador, and in theaters across Asia and the Middle East.

Indians from the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua are going to the Interamerican Court of Human Rights this week to seek help in fighting what they consider discrimination in local elections.

The procurador para la defensa de los derechos humanos of Nicaragua is being joined in the case by José Manuel Echandi Meza, the defensor de los habitantes of Costa Rica.

Echandi’s office said that a favorable ruling for the Nicaraguan Indians would be a favorable event for Costa Rican Indians.

The Nicaragua case is being brought by YATAMA, a local political party in the autonomous region of the North and South Atlantic of Nicaragua. The Indian group claims it was excluded from participating in municipal elections and has lost its case with the Nicaraguan 

Oman Cabazas Lacayo, procurador of rights in Nicaragua is seeking an interamerican court ruling that the electoral council and the high court violated the civil and political rights of the Indian group.

The Indian candidates were thrown out in a dispute over filing deadlines. Yoeda Castellón of the YATAMA organization said that two persons were killed during pre-election violence in the area which contains about 100,000 persons.

The center of the violence was the community of Puerto Cabazas on the northern Atlantic coast and smaller towns nearby.

Both Echandi and Cabazas said that a favorable ruling by the San Pedro-based court would strengthen the rights of Indians all over the hemisphere.

A high profile trial opened Tuesday in Guatemala City where five individuals are accused of discrimination against Rigoberta Menchu,  Guatemala's Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Mayan Indian activist. This is the first trial for discrimination to be heard in Guatemala. 

Supporters of Ms. Menchu applauded when the president of the three-judge panel declared the start of the trial, in a large, theater-like courtroom. Rights activists here are hailing this as a historic case for Guatemalan justice. 

 Ms. Menchu is foremost among them. 

This is the first trial about racism and discrimination to be heard in Guatemala, she said, adding that the accusation is based not just on a physical act, but words and gestures, the kinds of racist acts that occur every day in Guatemala but have never been considered crimes.

The accusation stems from an incident two years ago, when a rowdy crowd of supporters of former military dictator Efrain Rios Montt allegedly shoved and shouted racial epithets at Ms. Menchu inside Guatemala's constitutional court. That day the court ruled that a constitutional ban on former dictators running for

Ms. Menchu, who has accused Efrain Rios Montt of genocide against the Maya in Spanish courts, was staunchly opposed to his candidacy. 

After the incident she filed a criminal complaint for aggression and discrimination, among other charges. Rios Montt's grandson is among the five defendants.

Francisco Garcia is the defense lawyer. He says that what happened that day does not constitute discrimination. 

The crime of discrimination occurs when someone's rights are restricted because of their race, religion or ethnicity, he says, but if someone calls you Indian or something else it is an insult, not a crime, its not discrimination, he said.

Ms. Menchu's lawyer and the state attorneys co-prosecuting the case, acknowledge the complexity of their case and their argument. Nonetheless, they believe they can convince the judges that the racial aggression Ms. Menchu suffered constitutes discrimination. 

Meanwhile, activists hope this case will open the path for many more Maya Indians to seek justice for discrimination. The trial is expected to last a week.