Costa Rica tops the list of countries where the most U.S. passports are stolen — from January to June this year, 783 U.S. tourists had their passports stolen here, according to a U.S. Embassy spokesman.

Authorities indicated that San José and the country’s beaches are areas where the most passports are stolen. In 2005, 1,558 passports were stolen in Costa Rica, more than were stolen in Rome and Mexico City. Many victims of passport theft also have money and other personal belongings stolen, according to the embassy.

The U.S. Embassy has posted theft-prevention tips for its citizens traveling to Costa Rica on its Web site.

Immigration director Mario Zamora told the daily La Nación that groups of organized international criminals are partly responsible for passport theft. Many stolen passports are transported to Belize, where they are sold for as much as $20,000, mostly to Cubans and Colombians, he said.

-ACAN-EFE

The march to Cartago entered its final phase Tuesday, and the flood of the faithful increased dramatically.

The principal ceremony is a Mass today at 9:30 a.m. which President Óscar Arias Sánchez, his ministers and other politicians, all the bishops in the country and an estimated million persons will attend.

Today is the feast day of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, the patroness of Costa Rica and this nation’s manifestation of Mexico’s Virgin of Guadalupe.

By noon, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims will be attempting to return to their homes. Not many will be walking, and bus companies mount a major effort each year to carry the crowd. Many stayed up one or two nights so they could be in the plaza of the Basilica de los Ángeles for today’s ceremonies.

Not all was peaceful. The press office of the Poder Judicial said that a judge in Goicoechea jailed a man with the last name of  Montenegro for two months for investigation. He was the suspected driver of a hit-and-run car that killed a 27-year-old pilgrim, Cristian Rodríguez Alvarez, in Curridabat Sunday morning. The man is facing a charge of causing death and injuries while driving drunk.

Earlier Tuesday four men mugged a pilgrim,  Salomón  Paniagua  Elizondo, also in Curridabat, which is east of San José. The man lost a cell telephone, and the four men fled in a taxi. Fuerza Pública officers caught up with four suspects in Tirrases, detained them, confiscated a .38-caliber pistol and recovered a cell phone.

Today is a public holiday, and there will be extensive television coverage of the activities at the Cartago church.

The U.S. Embassy will be closed.