The Honduran government has decided to reopen its borders to chicken imports from Costa Rica after a two-month ban, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya announced at a press conference Friday.

President Oscar Arias received the news in a letter Friday, the same day the ban was lifted, Zelaya said.

Honduras decided to ban Costa Rican chicken imports June 23 after hundreds of animals in the Caribbean province of Limón were found to be infected with laryngotracheitis, a respiratory disease that affects birds but cannot be transmitted to humans (TT, July 14).

Honduras last week sent a group of experts to Costa Rica to inspect chicken and disease control in poultry farms and found the results satisfactory, according to Honduran Minister of Agriculture Héctor Hernández.

Upon hearing the news, Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz said he was “satisfied” and that Costa Rica will continue to be “vigilant of complying with regional commercial norms,” to avoid other “obstacles to exports that could negatively affect the poultry sector.”

The Foreign Trade Ministry indicated in a statement Friday that it had signed an agreement with the Honduran Agriculture Ministry to lift the ban.

-ACAN-EFE and Tico Times

The electric company will be turning off the power Tuesday in Dulce Nombre de Coronado and nearby areas. Wednesday the outage will be in El Rodeo and San Pedro de Coronado.

Both cuts in power will be from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for preventative maintenance, said the Compañía  Nacional de Fuerza y Luz S.A.

The power company said that the outage Tuesday would be from the Servicentro El Trapiche in Coronado to Dulce Nombre.

In addition, electric users in adjacent areas might experience power drops and surges as a result of the work nearby, the company said.

In order to apply lines to the highway, transportation officials are closing parts of the key Braulio Carrillo route from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, Wednesday and Friday and all of it from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, the highway will be closed for part of the route Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The stretch involved is the 18 kms. (11 miles) from the intersection of Santa Elena to the Río Sucio intersection, according to the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes.

The Consorcio de Demarcación Vial is the private firm doing the work. The highway is the main route north to Guápiles and points east, including the Caribbean.The ministry said that the total closing of the road is necessary because of the climate that prevails this time of year. The paint being used will not stick to the road correctly unless it has a length of time to dry. Passing cars can damage the work, the ministry said.

Road marking is more labor intensive here than in other countries where automatic spray devices are used.

The ministry advised motorists to take alternative routes. One route exists via Heredia but it is much longer than the Braulio Carrillo highway, which is known as Route 32.

In addition road marking crews have been active over the weekend in Paso Ancho and soon will be at work in Tibás, Sabanilla, Alajuelita and other main roads in the Central Valley. Highway lines have nearly vanished due to continual official neglect.

President Óscar Arias Sánchez told church activists that globalization was decreasing the number of poor in the world.

He spoke Friday to the closing ceremony of the second Semana Social organized by the Archdiocesis of San José. Church members with social concerns have been among those opposed to the proposed free trade treaty with the United States.

Arias reminded his audience that Vietnam, which was engaged in a prolonged war with the United States, has signed a trade agreement and that Chile approved such an agreement without a negative vote in its congress.

“Today our country has an extraordinary opportunity to deepen its integration with the world,” Arias told the audience, which included ranking churchmen.

Some social activists believe that a free trade treaty will endanger the social welfare state. But Arias said that without job creating, there cannot be a reduction in poverty.

Arias made many references to Jesus Christ in his talk. He also stressed ethics. Arias pointed out that his administration has created temporary jobs, doubled pensions and is seeking a new tax to eliminate slums.