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Two held on drug charges
have 131 prior arrests


Investigators detained a man and a woman Thursday and said they were principal distributors of illegal drugs in the downtown market area.

The two have a combined total of 131 arrests. The woman,  Lilliana Vargas Chaves, 50, has been a suspect 69 times for crimes such as theft, robbery, assault, attempted murder and murder. She has spent 21 years in prison, according to police sources.

The man, Arnulfo Zapata Sandino, 57, has faced 62 allegations, including theft, robbery, drugs, aggravated rape and assault, the sources said. In addition a woman, María Isabel Ramos Aguilar, 39, also was detained.

The Unidad Trafico Nacional de Drogas of the Judicial Investigating Organization made the arrests after extensive investigation.

The suspects are accused of trying to avoid arrest by carrying only a small amount of crack cocaine at any one time.  Agents said their work area was at the Mercado Central and the Mercado Borbón. They were detained on Avenida 8 between calles 3 and 5. The 39-year-old woman was accused of being the storekeeper for the illegal substances while the other two individuals distributed.

The Mercado Central is a prime tourist attraction, and the Mercado Borbón is a major vegetable and fruit market.

More cooling breezes
predicted for valley


Central Valley residents are welcoming breezes and a low temperature as they recover from some of the hottest weather of the year. On the coast, however, the predicted temperatures for today still are in the 90s, between 32 and 36 C, with the latter being in Liberia. That is 97 F.

The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said that a cold front was bringing windy conditions to the bulk of the country today in addition to some rain on the Caribbean coast and in the northern zone. The central and south Pacific may have it a little cooler because partly cloudy skies are predicted for the afternoon, the weather institute said

Wood stove gets blame
in death of elderly man


An 85-year-old man, presumably making breakfast in his home, appears to have fainted Thursday and died in a fire that firemen traced to his wood stove.

The man was identified as Miguel Ángel Acosta Jiménez. He lived in Barrio Encinales in San Miguel de Desamparados.

The blaze was reported at 5:51 a.m., said the Cuerpo de Bomberos. Firemen said they found the body not far from the stove. Firemen said the man had a practice of starting the fire with a flammable substance with a petroleum base. They said that neighbors reported the man had sudden fainting spells.

Firemen had trouble reaching the blaze and ended up stringing together 11 hoses to bring water to the scene. Ironically, the man lived adjacent to a large water tank, but firemen would not draw from it.

New bill backs photocopying
of texts for education


José Merino del Río of Frente Amplio has introduced a bill that would let students freely photocopy text books. The measure also would free operators of photocopy centers from the possible penalty of prison for illegal photocopying.

Merino said in a summary of the bill that current legislation irrationally overprotects intellectual property rights. And he said, most of those holding the rights are big, transnational  corporations.

Current law provides for up to five years in prison for those who photocopy a book. He noted that another section of the law provides prison and fines for those who communicate to the public literary works or other types of intellectual properties and place it at the disposition of the public, including Internet distribution. He said access to education was a human right that outweighs the intellectual property rights of book publishers.