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These stories were published Thursday, May 23, 2002, in Vol. 2, No. 101
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These little guys, the losers in some long-forgotten battles among Ecuadorian Indians, are back in the limelight with the Museo Nacional’s new exhibit.
 

A.M. Costa Rica photo
New exhibit shows hidden heritage guarded by museum
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Museo Nacional has collected 50 museum posters from 25 countries and has them displayed along the corridors to demonstrate the diverse ways national heritage is preserved all over the world.

And to make the displays a bit more interesting, the museum went into its storerooms and came out with — among other items — a trio of shrunken heads from Ecuador, a moon rock and a crystal shell containing a pearl.

In all, some 36 other museums are represented in the display. The collection was gathered to celebrate the International Day of the Museum. In addition, the museum is celebrating its 115th birthday.

The shrunken heads are relatively recent, said a museum spokesman. But the actual way in which they arrived at the museum from the Jivaro Indians is not clear. The trio share a plastic case on a main corridor with fragments of moon rock.

The rock fragments, also from the museum collection, were gathered by Apollo 11 crew 

members Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. during the first moon landing in 1969. Then-President Richard Nixon gave the tiny rocks to his Costa Rica counterpart, José Figueres Ferrer, the next year.

The shrunken heads themselves are a result of the ceremony of Tsantsa by the Jivaro Indians. The heads are taken in battle, and the ceremony seeks to appropriate the power of the slain individual to the victor.

The museum also has dusted off a cut crystal figure of the Liberty Bell; a figure of a bird created by the Rappa Nui, original inhabitants of Easter Island; a drum and shell of the garifunas of Honduras who descend from shipwrecked slaves, as well as the crystal oyster shell.

That  beautiful work shows the oyster wide open with the real pearl set right in the middle. The museum said that the work was a gift from the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. to former president Miguel Angel Rodríguez.

The museum is just east of the downtown overlooking Plaza de la Democracía between Avenida 2 and Avenida Principal. The Web page is www.museocostarica.com.


 
Heredia property dispute leads to a shootout injuring one
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A dispute over land in Heredia erupted Wednesday afternoon into a shootout in which one man suffered serious wounds.

The dispute centered on a chunk of land 20 meters (65 feet) wide by 600 meters (1,950 feet) deep. The property is about three miles from Monte de la Cruz.

The man who claims ownership of the lot, identified by Fuerza Publica officers as Ronald Lutz Salazar, sent men to cut a fence along a border he claims is misplaced. Soon the neighboring landowner, identified as Mario Ramírez Corrales, arrived at the Lutz home packing a .38-caliber gun, said associates of Lutz.

Neighbors told police that the two men had 

been fighting over the land boundary for at least two years.

Lutz had three men with him, identified as bodyguard Luis Cortés Castro, Manuel Chavarría Villalobos and Gilberto González Chávez.

Shooting broke out, and Ramírez, 50, fell wounded. A worker took him by car to the nearby Hotel La Condesa from where he was taken to the Heredia Hospital.  A police spokesman said in the late afternoon that the man was in very grave condition. He was wounded in the chest and a lung.

Ramírez is believed to be from Alajuelita.

Police placed Lutz and his three associates under arrest and said they confiscated two .38-caliber weapons and a .357 pistol.

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A little respect brings the angel to the surface
By Gail Dianne Nystrom
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

Ever since I started working with the street kids, some people have been referring to me as an "angel." This is a little embarrassing, and I mostly just smile and shrug. The kids also have told people how important I am for them and how I have been like an angel to them. 

Well, what is an angel anyhow? Maybe it is someone who puts the wellbeing of someone else first or who fights to make things right or someone who gives out a hand of light and does it without strings attached to the other end. Maybe it is a being of light and a being that surrounds others with hope and confidence and joy for the future. Maybe an angel is an emissary of God and, without really trying or knowing, is God in action on earth.

I've wondered about all these things for a long time.

Now, I have a better idea. I was driving home from the theater with the kids the other night. Nela, Jason, Daniel and Jorge were with me. We rounded the corner on the way to the house and there, in the middle of the street, was a car stopped, motor running, lights on. How odd, I thought. 

We pulled beside the car, and there we saw, in the driver's seat, a man slumped over. Without thinking a moment, the kids jumped out of the car. The man was unconscious, maybe dead, we thought. We turned off the motor, and rolled the car to the side of the road. 

The kids went into action, trying to rouse the man, looking for identification information to see who he was. We could not get him to respond. We called 
911. We checked for the smell of alcohol and there was none. We continued to try to rouse him. There was no response. 

Perspective

We were working together as a team. One was looking for someone who knew him. One was on the phone with emergency service. One was directing traffic around us. One was sitting beside the man. 

A deaf mute came and signaled us to go with him, and Jorge went across the street and came back with the brother, mother and sister of the man. The mother was distraught and we comforted her. We knew the man wasn't dead, but we didn't know what was wrong. 

The ambulance came, and we cleared away, talking quietly to the man's family. It turned out that he was, indeed, an alcoholic had a history of alcoholic coma and blackouts. The miracle was that we had found him before another car had rounded the corner faster than us and caused more damage. 

The miracle was that these street kids, who, months previously would have been the first to shake him down and steal everything they could get their hands on were now sincerely concerned for his wellbeing and trying to rescue him and act appropriately. The miracle was the compassion they showed for him and his family.

And I said to them, "You are now giving back what you have been given. You were given caring and concern. You were given understanding and support. You were given light. This is what you have done for this man and his family. Welcome to the family of angels."

Mrs. Nystrom administers a home and foundation that helps youngsters on the streets.


 
Canada will help OAS push for 'gender equity'
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

The Organization of American States and the Canadian government have launched a project to incorporate "gender perspective" into all OAS programs and policies, seeking to achieve gender equity and equality throughout the hemisphere, according to a news release. 

The OAS and Cartini International signed a contract for Cartini, a Canadian consulting firm, to provide the relevant training for this gender mainstreaming initiative over the next few years. 

The two-year program will cost $327,328, according to a Web page note.

Addressing the inaugural conference on the Project on Gender Mainstreaming in the OAS, Secretary General César Gaviria declared the project to be "imperative for building stronger, more prosperous democracies in the Americas." 

"If the women of the Americas don't have the same access to opportunities as men, then we are failing in the responsibilities of democracy,"  Gaviria said. He cited research linking inequity and persistent poverty, and spoke about the progress by his hemispheric organization to redress the situation. 

The project will help train the organization's personnel in practices to incorporate "gender perspective,"  according to the announcement. 

Canada's ambassador, Paul Durand, noted how far the Hemisphere's women have come in the last decade and restated his government's strong commitment to advancing gender equality and women's human rights in the hemisphere as it supports and applauds the work of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), the specialized OAS agency. 

"We are committed to the implementation of the Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women's Human Rights and Gender Equity and Equality," said Durand. "We are happy to support the OAS in its commitment to gender equality through this project." 

According to Carmen Lomellin, the woman’s commission executive secretary who chaired the proceedings, the Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women's Human Rights could not be implemented without proper training. 

Gender equity stems in part from the third summit of the Americas held in San José in June 2002. One resolution urged the secretary general of the OAS to achieve before the end of 2005 a 50-50 mix of men and women in all areas of OAS employment and to extablish a new management culture in the international organization.

The Inter-American Commission on Women also is urging equal pay for equal work through out the Americas.

Independent probe of anti-terror effort urged
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate majority leader, Democrat Tom Daschle, says the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the apparent intelligence failures before Sept. 11 is inevitable. 

In a speech Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington, Daschle again called for an independent commission to look into what the FBI knew in the months before terrorists struck New York and Washington. 

"Whether it is this year or next year, at some point, there will be a review of what it is that happened," he said. "I just think that the sooner it is done, the more likely it is we will get the best information." 

The South Dakota Democrat said there is growing support for such an investigation from both conservatives and liberals. He said the independent panel's aim would be to find out what communication breakdowns apparently occurred between the FBI, CIA and White House and make sure they never happen again. 

"No one has said that the president could have prevented the tragedy of September 11. But, by the same token, no one can take much comfort from the picture that has emerged of government agencies that seem totally out of synch with each other," he said. 

Some leading Republicans along with White House officials oppose an independent investigation, believing it to be politically motivated. They also fear it could expose the country's weaknesses to terrorists. Senator Daschle disagrees. 

"We will speak out because our first responsibility is the security of this country," he said. 

"Despite what some in the administration have suggested, silence in the face of security lapses is not patriotism. If anything, it is the opposite. And the consequences of such silence can be devastating." 

The senator says independent panels investigated the bombing of Pearl Harbor and President Kennedy's assassination and that Sept. 11 is another crisis needing careful scrutiny. 

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