IMAGINE a garden where a rainbow of flowers, long tangled vines and hallucinogenic plants from around the world grow side by side, and even have the power to cure.

This is not a fantasy, but an active medicinal garden just a short drive from San José.

This Garden of Eden is on The Ark Herb Farm. The 7.1-hectare farm’s main function is to grow fresh herbs to distribution to local restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and cruise ships. But the real reason to visit the property is the medicinal garden, which boasts more than 400 species from such far-flung places as Europe, Asia and Africa.

The garden was the creation of two U.S. citizens – Tommy Thomas and his wife Patricia Riley. They originally came on vacation to Costa Rica 15 years ago and decided to stay.

THEIR interest in medicinal plants dates back to an earlier time, when they were in India serving as Peace Corp volunteers. This experience sparked their interest in medicinal gardens and, with the help of friends sending seeds from around the world (hence the farm’s name), their dream became a reality.

The farm sits above the traffic and pollution of the cities of the Central Valley and close to the mountain town of Santa Bárbara de Heredia. Almost two hectares of the property are set aside for growing herbs in plastic-covered gardens.

The medicinal garden occupies another two hectares in a more natural setting.

As you saunter by the cabinlike homes of the owners, the broad paths of the herb gardens give way to narrow, shaded trails leading to the medicinal garden.

THE farm’s two main guides are Allison McGarrity Ball and her fiancé Tin Contreras. They are helping the farm’s manager Maria Janssen take care of the farm while Thomas and Riley are on sabbatical in India.

Under the young couple’s tutelage, I learned each plant offered a story and various possible cures.

One of the first plants I was shown is notorious for its hallucinogenic qualities. The Reina De La Noche (Angel’s Trumpet Datura) is a Costa Rican plant, a member of the potato family and possesses some of the strongest hallucinogenic chemicals in the world.

It looks harmless – a collection of flat green leaves reaching no higher than my knee with large, drooping white flowers.

The thorny balls that carry the plant’s potent yellow seeds are hidden under the brush. Put just a couple of these seeds in your tea or cigarette, and it might well be an experience from which you never return.

“Your brain is crazy for three days,” Contreras said. “”It is very, very bad.”

THE Mexican and Indian Datura plants also live in the garden.

Datura plants are so potent that one species in Haiti is used as a crucial component in the creating of zombies in that country, according to Wade Davis, author of “The Serpent and the Rainbow,” an investigation into the secret societies of Haitian voodoo.

After poisoning the victim with other drugs, burying them alive and raising them from the grave, the Datura is administered and “chemically capable of maintaining a person so poisoned in a zombie state,” Davis wrote.

Most of the other residents of the garden are fairly harmless, and many offer a feast for the senses.

One fun plant to touch was the Mullein plant from Europe. It has long green leaves covered with a white cotton-like fur that feels like suede. Its main medicinal purpose is to extract phlegm. Put a little in your tea to loosen congestion.

ANOTHER specimen with an interesting texture is The Dragon’s Blood tree. The name comes from the tree’s blood-red sap, which soaps up when placed on the skin.

The sap is used as an ingredient in toothpaste and is good for keeping a loose tooth temporarily intact. It also is said to help treat polyp ulcers.

I got my first taste of the garden from the nearby Bush Mint.

As I nibbled on the leaves, Contreras explained how the plant relieves stomach aches and flatulence.

Along the tour I continued to sample a number of the plants, with one of the tastier being the Asian Gotu Kola. As well as a welcome addition to any salad, this small green plant is supposedly good for your memory.

UPON passing through a small forest the owners are trying to regenerate, the main section of the garden opened up like Munchkin land in “The Wizard of Oz.” An assortment of flora bursts forth in a garden organized in a more traditional manner, with gravel paths weaving in and out of the flowerbeds.

A couple of the more memorable plants were the Zorillo and Vietnamese Cilantro.

The Zorillo smells like a skunk, and is used to cure sinus infections. Boil some in a pot of water, stick your towel-covered head over the steam and inhale. Contreras also recommended eating a few leaves every day to prevent throat cancer.

The Vietnamese Cilantro has a much more pleasant, almost radish smell. This tasty plant isn’t the cilantro used in Costa Rican cuisine. It has a similar taste and aroma, probably because it developed a chemical defence to fend off herbivores, as the local variety has, Ball said.

“It’s amazing that plants from totally different parts of the world and from totally different plant families may develop similar defences and aromas,” she said.

THE Wandering Jew is one of the garden’s most colorful plants. A common ornamental, this electric purple and pink plant is also used for pain relief and diabetes.

The last plant I took special notice of goes by the seductive name of Kava Kava, or its nickname “The Surfer’s Drug.” This plant is a native to the PacificIslands, and has earned this latter designation because of its use by surfers to feel drunk without losing their motor skills.

They might also take it for the plant’s more stimulating qualities– it is touted as an aphrodisiac.

FOR more info on the farm, e-mail arkherb@racsa.co.cr. It’s open 9 a.m.–4 p.m. daily. To arrange a tour or for directions, call 269-9683 or 239-2111. Tours for residents are $2.50 for adults and $1 for students; for non-residents, $5 for adults and $2.50 for students.

The tour lasts about two hours and can be coordinated to your needs. Free herbal tea and cookies are served at the end of the tour. Spices and medicinal plants can be purchased at the farm.

THAT green water we’ve been talking about has cleaned up, and fishing along the central coast is back to normal, as evidenced by Dr. Terrence Steiner and his fishing buddies from St. Augustin, Florida, fishing on the Mar I out of Los Sueños Marina. On March 3 they scored 10 sailfish and one marlin release, with blue water in close.

Farther south, out of Quepos, Bill Gannon, captain of the Unique, reports the fish are a 15- to 20-mile run from the beach, with boats raising 15 to 25 sails a day.

The Flor de María last Saturday went six releases for 25 up, and Bill’s clients had three sailfish releases on flies, with 11 up the same day.

A few days before that, Bill was fishing Amil Hamdeguan and his twin sons Eric and Jeff, from Michigan. After getting a few sails to the boat, Eric had a big marlin take a ballyhoo on his light sailfish rig. After battling it for an hour, the rod snapped. While Jeff held the broken piece, Bill’s mate, Dempsey, struggled for 30 minutes hand-lining the estimated 300-pound blue marlin to the boat, where it was finally released.

WIND has been blowing hard out of the north, and boats from Tamarindo and Flamingo on the Northern Pacific coast are working more sheltered waters south of Cabo Vela, many basing at Carrillo.

Gamefisher II skipper Richard Chellimi reports they finally had a break last week, fishing Fort Lauderdale anglers Howard Jing and Doug Torn out of Carrillo. In three days they released six blue marlin and six sailfish, with four of the marlin battled to the boat by Doug.

The Second Annual Costa Rica Classic International Billfish Tournament will be held March 19-21 out of Quepos, with teams for 25 boats scheduled, according to Rob Hodel, president of Tico Travel, who is coordinating the tournament for the BEF.

The tournament is sponsored by the Boomer Esiason Foundation (BEF) to heighten awareness, education and funding efforts of cystic fibrosis research.

“Response has been amazing with anglers coming from across the United States and Central America, and we have a number of people already signing on for the 2005 event,” Hodel said.

Back to defend their titles will be Richard Lebo and Denny Derringer, both of Quepos, and most of the teams from the inaugural tournament are back as well, he added.

ALL fish will be released, and the tourney has been named by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) as a qualifying event for the sixth annual Rolex/ IGFA Offshore Championship, an international fishing competition taking place in May 2005 at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

For more info, contact Tico Travel or visit the Costa Rica Classic Web site at www.costaricaclassic.com or the BEF Web site at www.esiason.org

THE Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) has agreed to review an injunction filed by an environmental group alleging that three government agencies violated the Constitution by allowing improperly inspected foreign fishing vessels to unload tons of shark fins at private Costa Rican docks without accounting for the carcasses of those sharks.

The injunction was filed by the Costa Rican Sea Turtle Restoration Project (PRETOMA) against the Costa Rican Fishing and Aquaculture Institute (INCOPESCA), the Customs Office and the Division of Navigation and Port Security of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT).

Costa Rica’s shark-fin industry nets millions of dollars each year. The fins are normally dried and ground into a powder used to make shark-fin soup, a delicacy that in many Asian countries can sell for as much as $60 a bowl, while the powder can fetch as much as $200 per kilogram in some Asian markets (TT, July 25, 2003).

THE loads of fins are massive. Last June, for example, a Panamanian ship unloaded some 30 tons of fins here with no carcasses attached (TT, July 17, 2003).

According to a preliminary study conducted by PRETOMA, Costa Rica’s shark population dropped an estimated 95% from 1993 to 2003 as a result of shark finning, the practice of detaching the fin from the body, which has a low market value, and tossing the carcasses back to sea.

Ligia Castro, Director of INCOPESCA, declined to comment on the statistic, saying she would have to read the study first.

“We answer to the courts,” Castro said.

PRETOMA’s injunction alleges that failing to take steps strong enough to stop this unchecked slaughter puts all three agencies in violation of Article 50 of the Constitution, which guarantees all Costa Ricans the right to a “healthy and ecologically balanced environment.”

The other article the group claims the agencies violated is Article 11, which states authorities must “fulfill the responsibilities imposed by Law and cannot usurp powers which the Law has not vested in them.”

PRETOMA claims the agencies violated this article by allowing foreign vessels to unload in private docks – an act they are not empowered by law to do.

The government agencies claim they have effectively addressed the problem. For example, MOPT adopted a measure last July that requires all foreign fishing vessels to dock at the central Pacific port of Caldera, near Puntarenas, to be subjected to official inspection, after which the measure states they should “coordinate with competent authorities.”

But Randall Arauz, president of PRETOMA, said the dock at Caldera is not big enough to accommodate large ships, so the only method inspectors can employ is traveling out to the ships to inspect the cargo.

This leads to inadequate inspections, he said, because inspectors can only check those portions of a ship’s cargo that are readily accessible.

Castro of INCOPESCA agreed that the infrastructure at Caldera, as well as the Puntarenas dock, is not adequate, and said that as such the Customs Office has allowed the ships to unload at private docks. But, she said, the inspections are sufficient, as inspectors from either INCOPESCA or the Biologists’ Association always are present during unloading.

HOWEVER, the same measure in which MOPT mandates that ships get inspected at Caldera states it is “totally impossible” to bring all necessary public officials to private docks to ensure all regulations are properly enforced, and so the practice of shark finning must be stopped.

Jorge Hernandez, director of the Division of Navigation and Port Security at MOPT, told The Tico Times this week that he had no immediate response to PRETOMA’s allegations in the injunction, as he had only received notification of it on Monday morning and had not had time to conduct a corresponding study.

More recently, INCOPESCA adopted new regulations that came into effect Nov. 2, 2003, establishing limits on the shark fin-tobody ratio ships are allowed to unload in Costa Rican ports.

While the United States, the European Union and Australia have set that limit at 5%, INCOPESCA set it at 7-12.7%, depending on the species (TT, Oct. 10, 2003).

THE fin-to-body ratio limits INCOPESCA set are based on the recommendations of a study conducted by the Biologists’ Association, headed by Moises Mug, also the regional fish official for the World Wildlife Fund.

Arauz called the study “subjective and capricious,” claiming that it was done with too small of a sample to be near accurate – in some cases, he said, they only examined 19 sharks. He also said the increased percentage will encourage shark hunters to discard the carcasses of more sharks in order to comply with the ratio.

Mug said the only purpose of the study was to provide guidelines for INCOPESCA, and was not intended to replace other studies about the same subject.

“In other places in the world, they’ve done studies with 150,000 sharks, and found the fin-to-body ratio to be 5%. Here, it’s not going to be any different,” Mug said.

He also said the percentages in his study are catered to the Asian market, where most Costa Rican shark exports end up. He said in Asia, shark fins are cut with more meat attached to them, which necessitates a larger fin-to-body ratio to obtain the same amount of product.

THE Customs Office, chastised by PRETOMA for failing to properly regulate shark fin unloading by foreign vessels, responded to the injunction by stating it is responsible only for regulating international commerce, not national commerce, and that private docks are the responsibility of MOPT, according to a statement sent to The Tico Times by José Arce, Chief Legal Advisor for the office.

The statement also said the Customs Office has handled the issue of shark finning by circulating a memo stating that the agency should comply with the instructions of the technical-directorate of INCOPESCA.

President Abel Pacheco told The Tico Times in September that Costa Rica is in desperate need of a Fishing and Aquaculture Bill that would criminalize the practice of landing shark fins not attached to the body. The measure has been stalled in Congress for the past seven years (TT, Oct. 10, 2003).

ISLA CABALLO, Gulf of Nicoya – The future has been haunting the fishing families of this small island for decades, as their nets have dragged in increasingly paltry catches from the gulf, on the country’s north central Pacific coast.

And now, with the imminent eviction of the families from their homes to make way for hotels and villas, history may relegate them to the footnotes of Costa Rica’s development success story.

Four families are under court order to demolish their homes and leave the beach on this Puntarenas province island, where they have lived for decades.

A consortium of tourism and real estate developers paid for a zoning plan that the Municipality of Puntarenas submitted to the Legislative Assembly in 2001. It does not include the fishermen’s shanties, located within the public maritime zone.

IN an attempt to save their homes, the fishermen hired a lawyer, Mario Medina, who defended them in a penal court hearing, which they lost. The fishermen signed the court’s decision, which said they had to demolish their own houses and evacuate the beach, but told The Tico Times last week that they did not fully understand the document.

For most of his 46 years, David Jiménez has fished off that island. He is raising his eight children there, and is among those who signed the court order with a thumbprint rather than a signature.

“We don’t know anything about the law. We don’t know how to read well,” he said. “When we got home, our wives read the papers that we had signed and told us that we had to demolish our own houses.”

Pedro Velásquez, 50, is as sun-wizened as the other older islanders and has a quick, gap-toothed smile that he flashes even when he talks about the evictions.

“I thought it (signing the papers) was a solution to the problem, but it turned out that we had to take down our own houses and leave,” he said.

THE islanders, it turned out, had faced criminal charges for the construction of buildings in the public maritime zone.

Medina, their lawyer, said that in the families’ defense during the hearing, he argued that they were entitled to a place to live.

But the court ruled against them and, according to Medina, both he and the judge explained the consequences of such a ruling to the fishermen and told them what they were signing when they put their thumbprints on the court order.

That was Oct. 2, 2003, and the document gave them eight months to comply with the order.

Costa Rica’s Maritime Zone Law, passed in 1977, declares the country’s shoreline a “national heritage” belonging to the public. The law says construction or alterations to an existing building within the first 50 meters of the high tide mark is not permitted, unless a concession is awarded in the public interest.

THE families of Isla Caballo, like many others on the country’s coasts, found themselves living in illegal homes once they rebuilt a dilapidated shack or added a room for a new child.

The law is not always enforced. Ana Catalina Brenes, head of the Concessions Department of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, which overseas the law’s applications, said enforcement is in the hands of the municipalities, which apply varying degrees of vigilance (TT, March 21, 2003).

In this case, the municipality’s attention shifted to Caballo when its beaches were in the sights of five Costa Rican development businesses and one U.S. investor, whose names were not provided by their representative, Alvaro Fernández.

Other houses on that island and others in the gulf are in the same zone on the beaches, but have thus far not been told to leave.

OMBUDSMAN José Echandi has defended the rights of a long list of people in various coastal communities like that of Caballo, including Dominical and Quepos in the Central Pacific coast, and Limón and villages south of there along the Caribbean coast.

When the Isla Caballo fishermen contacted him, he helped publicize their plight. “The Municipality (of Puntarenas) never should have ordered them to leave without guaranteeing them a place to live,” Echandi said.

PUNTARENAS Mayor Omar Obando was not in office when the municipality took action against the fishermen last year. He told The Tico Times he has no knowledge of the Isla Caballo situation, and that neither the fishermen nor the businesses involved have approached him.

The zoning plan, according to the business consortium’s representative Fernández, includes a section of the island for those who live there.

The businesses bought land on the island about ten years ago, Fernández said, adding that they are interested in helping the islanders move.

“We offered to help them apply for concessions but the Costa Rican Tourism Institute said that they need to do it themselves.”

Much of Costa Rica’s coastline is not zoned, according to attorney José Barahona.

Because most local governments lack the funds to pay for land studies, developers who want coastal land concessions often offer to pay for the zoning plan rather than wait for the municipalities to gather the funds, he said. Once the shoreline is zoned, only those who obtain concessions will be able to use the land within the first 200 meters from the high tide mark.

THE fishing families who live on the beach of Isla Caballo moor their boats there, where they can see them from their houses. If they move further inland, they will need to secure their boats somehow so they are not stolen, Jiménez said.

Constructing a dock, for example, would require a concession and funding.

Isla Caballo is home to an estimated 300 people. It has two schools, a medical center, electricity from solar panels, and water from wells. It is the recipient of several of development projects that have flopped.

Though he no longer acts as their legal counsel, Medina said he recommends the families apply for a housing loan or grant and build new houses in another part of the island.

The islanders are already suspicious of such loan applications, according to Felix Campos, a fisherman who lives in the public zone but who has not yet been told to leave.

“MANY people have come promising us things,” he said. “They say they will do projects to settle the situation here, meaning our way of life here, but we’ve been tricked a ton of times.”

In 1997, they applied for grants from Viviendacoop, an organization that makes small loans and grants for housing projects.

After completing all the requirements, they never received the money.

The company went bankrupt and has been liquidating its assets since 1999.

Manuel Estrada, administrator of the liquidation process, explained there were a number of grants they had approved in that period that they could not pay.

A large sign in front of one of the island’s two schools advertises a project of the Holland-Costa Rica Agreement for Sustainable Development. It advertises electricity service from solar panels, a water pump, freezer and icemaker for the fishermen’s catch, all at a cost of $350,000.

Campos said the water pump broke and was removed by people from the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) for repair and never returned and the freezer was  never installed.

A half-finished medical center, paid for in part by the Social Security System (Caja) years ago, is overgrown with vines and weeds.

Carlos Veneg as, regional director of the Caja in the Central Pacific Region, said the investment was part of a government program between 1994 and 1998, called the Triangle of Solidarity.

It attempted to link the Caja’s funds with labor from municipalities and the communities in which the projects were located. The Caja completed its part in Caballo, Venegas said, by delivering the materials.

The unfinished health clinic is the responsibility of the other organizations involved, he claimed.

MANAGUA (AFP) – Ex-president and leader of the Sandinista opposition movement in Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, on Tuesday demanded that President Enrique Bolaños shed light on his alleged participation in electoral crimes during the last electoral campaign.

“If we want stability (in the country), we need to create respect for the law, and most importantly, that you clear up and explain situations like this,” said Ortega, leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), during a meeting of supporters in Managua.

Ortega alluded to a denunciation made Tuesday in the newspaper La Prensa, according to which Bolaños and two members of his campaign team received approximately $350,000 from the Nicaraguan Democratic Front, a party linked to ex- President Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002), found guilty of defrauding the state out of millions of dollars in public funds.

Bolaños and Nicaraguan Vice-President José Rizo were accused by the public prosecutor, at the end of 2002, of financing the electoral campaign of 2001 with illegal money, a denouncement the Supreme Court of Justice would process if Congress lifts the immunity of both.

Bolaños on Tuesday denied the La Prensa accusation.

GRANADA, Nicaragua – After more than a week of tense political brinkmanship between the ruling Liberal Constitutional Party (conservative) and the left-wing Sandinista National Liberation Front, the Liberals last Friday agreed to back off their controversial attempts to pardon incarcerated former President Arnoldo Alemán (1997-2002), currently serving a 20-year sentence for fraud and money laundering.

But the gridlock in the Legislative Assembly appeared far from over this week, as President Enrique Bolaños met with congressional leaders Monday morning to try to mediate a solution to the political crises sparked late last month by the Liberal’s amnesty efforts.

The amnesty decree was introduced Feb. 25 by the congressional directorate, which is controlled by members of Liberal Party who remain loyal to Alemán.

WHEN the motion was introduced, 47 opposition lawmakers from the Sandinista Front, Azul y Blanco (an eight-member minority voting bloc, including six Liberal congressmen loyal to Bolaños) and the three-member Christian Path Party walked out of congress, breaking quorum. The minority lawmakers argued that the decree was presented illegally and in violation of congressional norms.

The eight-day stalemate escalated when the Sandinistas, who represent 38 of 90 congressional seats, called for the removal of the four Liberal lawmakers serving on the congressional directorate – including Legislative Assembly president Carlos Noguera – for abusing their power.

THE Sandinistas warned that if the Liberals did not resign their directorate posts they would be voted out of power by a new alliance formed between the Sandinistas and Azul y Blanco. But at week’s end, the threat had not materialized because the new alliance represents only 46 lawmakers – one vote shy of the 47 majority needed to oust the congressional directorate, which was voted into power just two months ago.

Without a clear majority of votes, the Sandinistas resorted to threatening the Liberals with a judicial motion calling for Alemán to be transferred back to a jail cell from his current house arrest in his private hacienda compound, known as “El Chile,” outside the capital Managua.

THE Liberals, however, ultimately acknowledged that they too did not have the 47 votes necessary to pass the amnesty decree and attempted to withdraw the measure March 4 in hopes of introducing a similar amnesty initiative in the form of a bill, to avoid doubts about the jurisprudence the proposed decree.

The proposed law, the Liberals said, would call for reforms to the current Anti-Drug Law (Law 285) by providing a clarifying clause that states that money laundering is only illegal when it involves drug money.

The Sandinistas, however, refused to allow the Liberals to withdraw the ill-fated decree, arguing that it was not introduced legally to begin with and therefore could not be legally revoked.

“We Sandinistas are against any form of amnesty (for Alemán) and will oppose any such initiative,” Sandinista congressman Nathan Jorge Sevilla told The Tico Times last week.

CONGRESSIONAL president Noguera and other Liberal leaders insist they did not abuse their authority or the law by introducing the decree.

But after a week of a paralyzing political crisis that sparked new concerns about the country’s institutional governability, the Liberals announced March 5 that they would drop the whole issue – at least for now.

Under Nicaraguan law, if a legal measure fails in congress, a similar bill cannot be presented until the following year.

Political observers are blaming the most recent political crisis on the Liberals for introducing such a divisive proposal without the required votes to pass it through Congress.

Analyst Rene Vargas said part of the Liberal’s strategy, in addition to freeing their party boss, appeared to be an attempt to send a message to the United States: If you don’t agree to a pardon for Alemán, don’t count on our votes to ratify the Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States.

THE U.S. government has been an enthusiastic supporter of President Bolaños’ anti-corruption campaign, which resulted in the charges and criminal proceedings against Alemán.

But the President’s perceived courting of U.S. favor has backfired at home by splintering his own Liberal party into two groups: those loyal to Bolaños and larger faction of those loyal to their incarcerated party boss.

Despite the Liberal’s apparent attempt to globalize the Alemán issue with the amnesty proposal, the fatal flaw of their strategy was that it did not work with the Sandinistas, who are opposed both to CAFTA and freedom for the former President. It also backfired in the sense that opposition lawmakers expressed concern about the possible international repercussions of loosening money-laundering laws in Nicaragua to serve Alemán at a time when the U.S. is attempting to tighten money-laundering enforcement around the globe to battle terrorism.

ALEMÁN, along with four of his relatives and six of his former cronies, were served with criminal charges late last year for bilking the government out of $100 million.

The former President still faces additional charges for allegedly embezzling $1.3 million from a state-run TV station.

While the crisis surrounding the amnesty measure paralyzed the already polarized congress from attending to any other work last week, some lawmakers put the situation into a less-alarmist historical perspective.

“The National Assembly has always had problems, and each one is different,” said Sandinista congressman Sevilla. “The Alemán faction lost this round, but in national terms, it is the Nicaraguan people who win when the government stands firm in its fight against corruption.”

ANTONIN Dvorak is considered the greatest of the Czech nationalist composers of the 19th century, and his works continue to enjoy wide international popularity.

Dvorak was successful in bringing together music that derived from folk origens with the classical traditions which were being continued in Central Europe by Johannes Brahms. This year marks the centenary of Dvorak’s death, and Costa Rica’s National Symphony has programmed several of his compositions for this season.

Chosei Komatsu, the musical director, selected the A Minor Violin Concerto for last weekend’s opening concerts at the National Theater. Misha Keylin, a Russian violinist now based in the United States, has previously played here; he was vociferously applauded for his virtuosity in the final allegro movement with its complicated contrasting episodes. He obliged the audience with an encore – a Capriccio by Wieniawsky.

The program opened with Eddie Mora’s Cantata for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra, a short six-part composition written in 1998 to commemmorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Federico García Lorca. Several of the poet’s poems for children provide the texts, which were sung by soprano Marianela Rojas.

MORA, a Costa Rican composer, had one of his works presented last season by the orchestra and Komatsu, and it was a pleasant surprise to hear another of his pieces instead of the Verdi overture, which was initially pencilled in for the season’s opener.

The familiar Brahms First Symphony was the final offering, and the capacity audience gave a standing ovation to the orchestra.

The rapport and affection of the orchestra and its musical director were evident to the enthusiastic listeners throughout the concert.

Komatsu will conduct half of this year’s series of 12 concerts; his next appearances are scheduled for March 19 and 21.

THE current season runs through November, with a break in August when the National Lyric Company takes the stage for eight repetitions of Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Baritone Guido LeBron sings the title role, and tenor Scott Piper returns as the Duke of Mantua. Both were acclaimed in last season’s Carmen, and details of the upcoming opera will be available shortly.

IN a moderate environment, three things only are needed to sustain life: Air, Water and Food. We lost control of the least of these, food, long ago.

The demand for food is constant. Every four hours or so, we are hungry. The supply is easily controlled by Agriculture Giants whose government puppets, congressmen and other high-level officials control prices through subsidies. Family farms in the United States and other countries cannot compete and must sell out in desperation.

Rice and beans, when they can be had, become the daily fare of the average poor, while lobster and exotic ripe fruit are jetted back and fourth to the privileged. “The people complain that they have no bread. Let them eat cake.”

The above quote is mistakenly attributed to Marie Antoinette, but it doesn’t matter who said it, the sentiment prevails in the World Trade Organization, the Green Giants of the world, Monsanto and their ilk.

SITTING at a polished conference table on the hundredth floor, one cannot hear a starving baby whimper, cannot smell the diarrhea that comes from eating things not meant to be eaten, can not taste the muddy gruel that passes for drinking water. One sees only the bottom line, smells only French Cologne, tastes Perrier and hears sweet music.

People are routinely sent to prison for stealing water from a privatized water company. Countries no longer own this most precious resource; it is owned by whatever company can control it, fence off a river, dam a stream, pipe the water and build cement aqueducts.

No matter that your family drank freely from this river for generations beyond recall. It is forbidden now.

Thousands of homes in one Michigan town have been taken because of property liens won by private water companies – the residents could not pay their exorbitant water bills. The town is situated on Lake Erie and just below the greatest freshwater lake system in the world. Here, water flows uphill to money.

FOR every 1,000 people on earth today, there were only 30 two thousand years ago. Because of the insatiable thirst of industry and agriculture and the profligate use of our most precious resource, we have less clean water today than ever before. The demand is increasing exponentially. We are running out, and they know it. The glamour stock on Wall Street today is water.

Desalination by today’s methods? Sure, about a buck a gallon. Towing an iceburg to warmer climes to harvest it? About the same price. Cheaper to capture what’s near at hand.

When is the last time you saw a public drinking fountain, the last time a waiter brought water to your table unbidden? When asked for water, the waiter brings a bottle of commercial water, not a glassful from the tap. We seldom complain. The young take it for granted.

THE last of the essentials, air, without which we would die in about four minutes, cannot be sold in tanks or bottles, but… The government can lie to us about the safety of the air we breathe. A glaring example occurred after the bombing of the TwinTowers. The government declared it was safe to return to work in the area to keep the wheels of commerce turning and the Stock Market open, when in fact the air was saturated with powdered glass, aluminum oxide, burned pvc and aircraft fuel.

Carcinogens and toxins filled the atmosphere and the people were encouraged to return to work.

What can We the People do about all this?

Nothing. The above is but an impotent catharsis, another example of a little man blowing off steam, like a boiler tripping a safety valve.

That’s what the First Amendment in the United States is all about – we can talk about it, but like the weather, there is nothing we can do to change it.

(George H. Prosser is a longtime resident of the Southern Zone, who says his bio and epitaph should read “Dead fish go with the flow.”)

GUATEMALA (AFP) – The Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office announced Wednesday it will appeal the house arrest of ex-dictator, former Presidential candidate and retired general Efraín Ríos Montt.

The house arrest was ordered Monday after a judge opened a case against Ríos Montt for the death of a journalist during violent protests in 2003.

“We are not in agreement with what the judge decided,” said Prosecutor Juan Florido in a press conference. The house arrest is too weak, he explained.

The judge sentenced the former dictator, who is 77, to a house arrest that consists of freedom of movement and requires only that the general show up to sign upon request.

The appeal will be based on the weakness of judge Victor Hugo Herrera’s resolution, Florido explained.

Herrera initiated the process against Ríos Montt on Monday for his “probable participation” of three crimes: preterintencional homicide (a death caused by intent to harm without intent to kill); coercion and threats.

Florido said he planned to meet with the prosecutor of the case, Nancy Paiz, to define the type of preventive measures he will request in the appeal.

When judge Herrera issued the house arrest, he announced the measure took into consideration the “poor investigation and lack of evidence presented by the prosecutor.”

The former dictator is accused of having organized thousands of supporters in a violent protest June 24-25, 2003, in an effort to be allowed to run in last year’s Nov. 9 Presidential election.

During the first day of the protest, 60- year-old journalist Héctor Ramírez died of cardiac arrest while being chased by a hooded mob.

A day after Herrera ordered the arrest of Ríos Montt, he opened a case against former legislator Jorge Arévalo for the same crimes. Arévalo posted $12,500 bail.

Seven other people are being investigated for the same incident, including former Minister of the Interior, Adolfo Reyes, and former chief of the National Civil Police, Raúl Manchamé.

This is the first time Ríos Montt (1982-83) has gone to court after losing his immunity Jan. 14, when his period as legislator and president of Congress ended.

The retired military officer also faces another lawsuit for the crime of genocide, which he allegedly committed when he was dictator.

THE Panama Canal Authority will soon begin using a new system to share crucial data with vessels planning to transit the 51-mile waterway.

The Automated Data Collection System (ADCS) is to be launched April 1, with full implementation scheduled by July 1. The idea is to eliminate the current process of data collection via paper, substituting it with an electronic exchange of information between canal authorities and their customers.

José Carrasco, project manager of the authority’s ADCS division, said the new system will save time, lessen human error and reduce costly delays.

“The objective behind the development of ADCS is to improve the way we collect data from our clients in order to perform risk assessments,” Carrasco said in a phone interview from Panama City. “Before, the information was collected on paper, it took a long time to key it in, and sometimes mistakes were made.”

THE impetus for the new system is the threat of international terrorism, Carrasco said.

“Security regulations are being set up all over the world by the IMO (International Maritime Organization),” he explained. “You need to have a general idea what kind of risk a vessel might pose to your facility. We’ll be requiring the use of harmonized codes so we can have an exact idea what you’re carrying, where in your vessel the cargo is located, where it’s coming from, where it’s going and who your passengers are.”

Vessels transiting the canal will be required to report all necessary data at least 96 hours before arrival. ADCS is designed to comply with the new security requirements included in the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS).

A fact sheet on ADCS says it offers convenient access via the Panama Canal Authority’s Web-based interface.

THE ADCS is divided into two main components. The first is an electronic data collection system, which receives all preliminary information required for security and operational purposes. The second is a mobile data collection system, which allows wireless communication between the Enhanced Vessel Traffic Management System database and handheld computers carried by Panama Canal Authority boarding officers and inspectors.

“Our boarding officers will be able to access this information via a wireless link using a Pilot PC,” Carrasco said. “They’ll be able to look at your information while you’re out there, doing spot checks. In case of errors or discrepancies, they’ll be able to provide an immediate response.”

Carrasco said implementation of ADCS implementation will be done gradually over the next three months.

“WE need to let the users get acquainted with it before it becomes compulsory,” he said.

In the 2003 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2003, the Panama Canal Authority reported 12 maritime accidents from a total of 13,154 transits. It also posted revenues of $921 million, an average transit time of just under 23 hours and volume of 242.5 million tons.

Last year also brought a substantial increase in the number of Panamax ships – vessels that utilize the maximum width of the canal to carry the most possible cargo.

The tonnage increase can be attributed to a growth in transits of ships measuring 900 feet or more in overall length.

According to the Panama Canal Authority, 980 of these vessels transited the canal in fiscal year 2003, compared with 715 vessels in fiscal 2002.

“THIS trend toward Panamax ships as the preferred mode of transport is likely the result of a dramatic rise in the container segment of the shipping industry,” said a Panama Canal Authority press release.

“Other goods that registered an increase in 2003 were grains, automobiles and auto parts, chemicals and petrochemicals, refrigerated products and coke carbon.”

Significant capital improvement efforts last year have also contributed to the Panama Canal’s ability to handle increased traffic.

According to authorities, these include the deepening of the Gatun Lake channel; the acquisition of new locomotives and rehabilitation of the locomotive tracks; the addition of new tugboats; improved aids to navigation; a training and research maritime simulator center; and the implementation of the Automatic Identification System, a sophisticated vessel tracking system.