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IN THE NEWS
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4Limón Carnival Lives Again
The Limón Carnival – with its color and costumes, typical food and flavor, music, art, horse shows and parades – will attract party revelers and tourists to downtown Limón on the Caribbean coast through Oct. 18. This year’s carnival is the first since 2006, thanks to previous concerns about sanitation problems and dengue fever. The carnival hopes to attract at least 5,000 visitors this year. For more information, call 2758-1208 and visit www.carnavalesdelimon2009.blogspot.com.
4Radar Fights Drug Traffic
A powerful radar used by the United States government in the fight against drug trafficking in Costa Rica will be reactivated this year. The radar, with around-the-clock security provided by the Costa Rican National Police, is in a difficult-to-access area in Cerro Azul de Nandayure, in the northern province of Guanacaste. It had served at the same site for several years until operations ceased in 1995. According to a United States official, $15 million also will be made available for collaborative programs with the Costa Rican police. Some of those funds already are being used to build a base and naval school at Caldera, on the central Pacific coast.
4Region Mourns Legend
Sorrow at the death of Argentine folk singer and activist Mercedes Sosa swept the region last weekend. The 74-year-old singer was revered by many, including some of Central America’s best-known musicians and United States folk icon Joan Baez, for helping form the nueva canción (new song) movement that struck a chord among the youth protesting dictatorships in Latin America.
4Airlines Form Alliance
The largest network of passenger and cargo services in Latin America could be the result of a new “strategic alliance” created by Taca Airlines, with its hub in San Salvador, El Salvador, and Colombia’s Avianca Airlines. The plans were announced Wednesday by officials of both airlines. The two airlines have hubs in San José, Costa Rica; San Salvador, El Salvador; Bogotá, Colombia; and Lima, Peru. Officials said that, for the moment, there will be no changes in operations in San José. The new arrangement should be operational by mid-2010.
4Dengue on Rise in Nicaragua
Just as Costa Rica reports nearly half the number of dengue fever cases this year compared to last year, health officials in neighboring Nicaragua this week said the number of registered cases in 2009 – 1,562 so far – are double the figure from 2008. The mosquito-borne disease already has claimed eight lives in Nicaragua. Most victims were children under the age of 10.
–Tico Times and Other News Sources
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