<strong>by Rod Hughes</strong>

Motorists! Have a mechanic check out your engines often. Last year, 362 light vehicles, 84 trucks, 94 pickups, 32 heavy buses and 38 minibuses plus 25 pieces of equipment burned at roadside. And the average this year is 57 per month, according to studies by the National Insurance Institute.

Engine fires on buses are the most spectacular. The afternoon of March 1, 60 passengers of a Quepos-San Jose bus would up unhurt but stranded as they watched their transport burn at the edge of the highway. Four months earlier, reported the daily <em>La Nacion,</em> another 60 passengers had to scramble to safety as their bus headed north on the InterAmerican Highway was reduced to a burned out shell.

Hector Chaves of the National Fire Dept. (Bomberos in Spanish) cautioned, "People should understand that cars burn because of maintenance problems. They don’t explode like they do in movies." The two main causes, he told <em>La Nacion,</em> are electric shorts and fuel leaks but expressed his frustration at seeing increasing incidents of this type. "In 25 years of service," said the fireman, "I’ve never witnessed anything like this."

Usually the loss is confined to the material–but not always. Chaves remembers when Cecilia Khistina Rosenkvist, a Swedish lady, was trapped in her Isuzu Rodeo on the Prospero Fernandez Highway when the vehicle flipped and burned in March, 2006. Or the case of Jim Medrano who burned to death in his Jaguar after crashing into the divider and a post on the same highway in March of 2007.

<em><strong>What should you do in case of fire?</strong></em>

In case of electrical fires, disconnect the offending wiring. First and foremost is of course to turn off the ignition. If the insulation is burning your most effective weapon is an extinguisher that smothers the flames, most with CO2 vapor. If you want to consult experts about the best and most effective, drop by your nearest fire station. But check it for pressure every six months. In countless cases, motorists have stopped to aid the victim of a car fire only to find that their extinguishers were useless.

In case of a small fuel leak, an extinguisher can be effective. Do not use water; flaming gasoline can float on water, extending the fire. Of all things, pouring dust on a fuel fire can be effective. If you are in motion, choose a space away from parked cars, stop and get out immediately. But do not linger to save the car–remember that a gasoline fire advances five meters per second. (That’s one thing movies do not exaggerate.)

by Rod Hughes

BOGATA, Colombia– The high command of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC confirmed the death of its maximum leader, Manuela Marulanda, yesterday, raising hopes for a peace negotiation somewhere down the blood-soaked road. Marulanda, 78, founded FARC 44 years ago but it has evolved from being a guerrilla group into an organization identified by both the United States and the European Union as a dangerous narco-terrorist group.

Wire services reported today that the emotional confirmation statement was read over Venezuelan TV station Telesur by a member of FARC’s secretariat, Timoleon Jimenez, revealing that the leader had died of a cardiac infarct. This is the second such blow for FARC in two months. On April 1, a Colombian air attack on a FARC camp just over the border in Ecuador killed second in command Raul Reyes. (Names are in italics since they may be nom de guerre for one or both ommanders.)

Even before Marulanda died, reports had circulated that a split might have developed in FARC. This could be wishful thinking by war-weary Colombians but hopes were raised that FARC could follow the fate of the once numerious M-19 guerrillas that disbanded its military forces to follow a totally political agenda.

This possibility interests Costa Ricans for two reasons: Recently allegations that FARC had infiltrated this country’s political scene raised a firestorm of controversy and cost the job of then-Minister of Public Security Fernando Berrocal. A judicial police raid on the home of a Heredia couple revealed the moldering remains of nearly half a million dollars in a neglected safe, FARC funds from an era when the guerrillas hoped to establish an office in this country.

The controversy was fueled by an inflamatory report to an investigating committee in the Legislative Assembly delivered by DIS, the police intelligence agency. But Central America’s leading English-language newspaper, The Tico Times, editorially expressed skepticism of the DIS report and President Oscar Arias previously had gone on television to call Berrocal’s statements “demagoguery.”

The second reason for local interest: Part of the recent political confusion is generated by an attempt by Costa Rica’s Figueres Administration in the 1990s to broker a peace deal between FARC and the Colombian government. This involved meetings between FARC officials (including Reyes) and members of the government but nothing developed from the feelers since Costa Rica turned thumbs down on FARC placing an office here.

If peace is possible between FARC and the Colombian authorities, it is unlikely that the Costa Ricans will try to broker it, despite President Oscar Aria’s fame as a Nobel Peace Prize winner. The whole FARC episode has left a bad taste in officials’ mouths.

by Rod Hughes

Saprissa’s Armando Alonso kicked a winning goal past Alajuela’s goal keeper in the waning minutes of the second half to allow the big purple “S” to squeak by to a 1-0 goal advantage in the next stanza of the national championship finals. But no one on Jeaustin Campos’s club is crowing yet.

“La Liga,” as Alajuela is called by the conoscenti, is prone to react vigorously with its back to the wall. Historically, in 18 championship classics between the two clubs, Alajuela leads in wins. So Saprissa reacted to the win with cautious satisfaction.

Perhaps it was Alonso himself, asked about his 13th goal of the season, who summed up Saprissa’s realistic wariness. “We’re 11 on the pitch, but really we’re 30 players who fervently desire to go out there and give our all,” he told the daily La Nacion sportswriters, “Here (in Tibas, seat of the club) we all want to be champions.”

But he’s not promising the championship cup to the Tibas fans yet. Teammate Andres Nunez agreed, observing that “there is still 90 minutes to play” and that they were facing an opponent that had earned it’s way into the finals.