More than 120 countries all over the world are celebrating the International Music Festival today, and Costa Rica will not be left out of the festivities. Several events are planned throughout the day as musicians in town from around the world are scheduled to give performances, according to a statement from the festival’s organizers.

The festival is celebrated every June 21 with the goal of promoting different genres of music, and it serves as a “call for spontaneous and free participation directed at musicians and fans,” the statement said.

Schools, cultural centers and professional musicians will take part in the festivities, all of which are free and open to the public, and many of which will take place in public areas.

See What’s Doing below for more information on International Music Festival events planned today.

-Tico Times

Downtown San José, in front of the Post Office
Natalia Esquivel, trova, 10 a.m.; French Quartet, electronic jazz, 10:30 a.m.; folklore group Tiquicia, 11 a.m.; Antimateria, rock, 1:30 p.m.; E-simple, rock and punk, 2 p.m.; Bamaselo, roots, 4:30 p.m.; La Malacrianza, 5:30 p.m.; closing show, 7:30 p.m.

Morazán Park, San José
Etnus, 9 a.m.; Rubén Sancho, 9:45 a.m.; Luis Angel Castro, trova, 10:30 a.m.; Eterna Melodía, 11:10 a.m.; Hip-Hop show, 11:50 a.m.; Proyección Andina, 12:30 p.m.; Costa Rica Pura Vida Group, 1:10 p.m.; Química Perfecta, 2:30 p.m.; Vanesa Quirós, 5 p.m.; Emanuel Arroyo, 5:30 p.m.; closing show, 8 p.m.

Central Park, San José
Aurora Group, 10 a.m.; Jippo, 10:40 a.m.; Son Sax, 11:20; Mar Adentro, 12:10 p.m.; Versión Veta, 12:50 p.m.; Seven Shots for the Soul Group, 1:30 p.m.; Marzú, 6:30 p.m.; Cantares, 6:40 p.m.; Jazz Workshop by Adrián Goizueta, 7:20 p.m.; Master Key, 8 p.m.; Malpaís, 8:40 p.m.

Bansbach Music Store, San José
Polaroyd, 9 a.m.; Shelter, 10 a.m.; Baula Project, 11 a.m.; Introvisión, noon; Pneuma, 1 p.m.; Karbuncos, 2 p.m.; Diego Jiménez, 3 p.m.; Cimarrona la Zapoteña, 4 p.m.; Manuel Monestel, 5 p.m.

Multiplaza Escazú, west of San José
Piano concert by the students of professor Andrés Piedra, 10 a.m.; kids concert, 11 a.m.; Drums Ensamble, 1 p.m.; electric guitar presentation by Alvaro Matus, 3 p.m.; Grip, 5 p.m.; Edgar Brenes, 6 p.m.; Aedos, 6:30 p.m.

Former Aduana (Ca. 23, 100 m. north of Cine Magali), San José Electronic Night by DJ Cael ( France ) and DJ Friction ( Germany ), 7 p.m. 

University of Costa Rica (UCR), San Pedro, east of San José
Trombone Choir and Experimental Group, 11 a.m.; Santos y Zurdo, Ensamble étnico, Native Culture, Sensor Trifulcador, 1 p.m.

Eugene O’Neill Theater, Costa Rican-North
American Cultural Center, Barrio Dent, San José
Fabio Alevino, from Brazil, 3 p.m.

Can things get any worse at immigration? The short answer is yes.

The department is afflicted by long lines, slow computers and systems that don’t work, not to mention missing files.

But now the air conditioning in the section that houses the computer servers has broken.

The department, formally the Dirección General de Migración y Extranerjía says it will have to suspend appointments for foreigners today and Thursday.
Only foreigners who need services in the Área de Extranjería are involved, a release said. The passport section for Costa Ricans will continue to operate normally.

“We regret this very much,” said Mario Zamora, immigration director. “This is something out of our hands and for which we already have taken appropriate steps so that it does not occur again, and it will be solved as soon as possible.”

Technicians report that the air conditioning will be fixed by Friday, officials said. Those who had appointments for today or Thursday will be able to visit immigration June 29 and 30, the release said. Only those who have appointments will be able to conduct business those days, even though Thursday and Friday are days when persons normally can visit without an appointment, according to the release.

Zamora has just taken over the director’s job, and he is faced with a department that does not function well. Lines are long. Expats complain of long waits in order to renew cédulas de residencia or to apply for residency.

Ticos face long lines to obtain or renew passports. That line begins to form shortly after midnight. Police raided the waiting area in the agency’s parking lot last month to remove persons who sold spaces in lines.

A previous director combined the departments that service rentistas and pensionados with that serving other forms of residency, eliminating the quick service North American expats enjoyed.

In early March shelving collapsed in the archive area of the agency and thousands of files were dumped in disarray. It took workers a month to straighten out the mess.

Shades of Christmas. The agency that runs the national lotteries said Tuesday that it will order up another fat one for July 2.

The Christmas “gordito” or fat one is a tradition, but the Junta de Protección Social de San José says it will give everyone a chance to win 125 million colons, the top prize. That’s about $244,000. There will be two top winners and a series of lesser prizes.Each full lottery ticket of 10 pieces will cost 6,000 colons or $11.72. Favorite numbers can be purchased by the piece, too. Each ticket carries a two-digit number and a three digit series number. The numbers are drawn from a roulette-type basket in public.

The junta provides funding for a number of social agencies, and the legal lottery faces strong competition from neighborhood numbers runners.

The surprise fat lottery is seen as a way for the junta to increase its bottom line.

Fuerza Pública officers and the Unidad de Intervención Policial made a dozen arrests Tuesday when they showed up again at a settlement of squatters in Herradura.

The local prosecutor’s office ordered the eviction of families in some 30 structures and the destruction of the buildings. The settlement is on private land.

Police said they also wanted to make arrests of  residents there who fought with police during a similar incursion June 1. Some 21 officers were hurt then when residents attacked with stones and bottles.

Local Mayor Raul Rivera was in charge of the evictions, and an additional 50 police officers showed up. Residents confronted the officers in the morning, but calmed down when some neighbors were arrested and taken away. The property is in the Cantón de Garabito.

A backhoe began the task of destroying dwelllings.