Of the 720,000 vehicles in the country that should get the RiTeVe technical inspection during the year, 80,000 have not done so.  Those paying the “marchamo” (from now to December) are required to show proof of a current technical inspection, so long lines and crowds are expected at the 16 stations nationwide in the next weeks.

However, this week the stations are functioning normally. So go get that inspection before the rush !

After remaining strong throughout the three days of the grueling Costa Rican mountain bike competition La Ruta de los Conquistadores, Colombia’s Leonardo Páez Sunday won first place in this 300-kilometer race beginning on the Pacific coast and ending in Playa Bonita, in the Caribbean province of Limón, according to a statement on the race’s official Web site.

Although Costa Rican Andrey Amador won the third stage of the race – a 120-kilometer stretch from the Caribbean-slope town of Turrialba to Playa Bonita — Páez captured the first place title.

Asked if the Ruta de los Conquistadores was the toughest race he’s ever competed in, Páez, who just won the Pan-American Mountain Bike title in Brazil, agreed with his opponents, “yes.”

U.S. competitive biker Jeremiah Bishop held a steady second place in the race until a hard fall near Turrialba Saturday left him with a nose and jaw fracture and unable to compete.

With Bishop out of the race, Amador and his Costa Rican teammates Federico “Lico ” Ramírez and Paolo Montoyo tried unsuccessfully to defeat Páez.

Although victory eluded Rodríguez, he told the daily La Nación that “to ride together with him (Páez) was an honor.”

Páez finished the race, known as the toughest in the world, in 14 hours, one minute, 52 seconds. Andrey Armador came in second place 24 minutes 41 seconds later, followed by Ramírez, fellow Costa Rican Déiber Esquivel and Italian Marzio Deho, according to the daily La Nación.

-Tico Times

Like many people in Nicaragua and around the world, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias stayed tuned yesterday as results rolled in from Nicaragua’s presidential election Sunday, showing Sandinista candidate and former President Daniel Ortega with 40% of votes and a likely first-round victory.

Asked his opinions on Ortega’s potential win, Arias, also a former President (1986-1990) and Nobel Peace Prize winner, said the two leaders would “once again work together as we did 20 years ago, this time not for peace in Central America, but to get Central American countries ahead,” Arias told the press in Santiago, Chile, where he is attending a meeting of the Intern ational Socialist council, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

Arias also said he is confident in the stability of Nicaragua’s democracy and that Ortega’s win would not pose any kind of risk to the country.

“I am confident that Nicaraguan citizens will be satisfied with the election results,” Arias said.

Meanwhile, Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica told Channel 7 TV News they were less than satisfied with Ortega’s potential victory.

Several Nicas said they left their country because of leaders like Ortega and expressed concern that he would do nothing as President to develop Nicaragua and overcome poverty.

-Tico Times

By Tim Rogers and Katherine Stanley
Nica Times and Tico Times Staff

MANAGUA – At press time last night, a victory by Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega appeared all but assured, with four rounds of preliminary returns and a watchdog group’s “fast count” showing Ortega with a significant lead over his opponents in Nicaragua’s presidential race.

The Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) announced at approximately 7:15 p.m. that with 61.8% of votes counted, National Liberation Front (FSLN) candidate Ortega had a sturdy lead with 38.59%. This puts him well ahead of Eduardo Montealegre of the National Liberal Alliance (ALN), with 30.94%, and José Rizo of the Liberal Constitutional Party (PLC), with 22.93%.

The CSE is expected to announce the outcome of the remaining votes this afternoon.
According to CSE president Roberto Rivas, data suggest that a second round is virtually impossible. (To win in the first round, a candidate must receive either at least 40% of votes, or 35% or more with at least a 5% margin over his closest opponent.)

The expected win would snap Ortega’s losing streak after three electoral defeats and return his former revolutionary party to power 16 years after being voted out of office.

Last night’s CSE numbers mirrored a “fast count” by the Nicaraguan election observation group Ethics and Transparency, which announced yesterday morning that their tally showed Ortega with 38.49% and Montealegre with 29.52%.

Huge crowds of Sandinistas last night began arriving in Managua for a celebration, although none of Ortega’s opponents had conceded. In separate press conferences throughout the day, Montealegre and Rizo maintained the preliminary results did not reflect reality and that they would wait for a significant proportion of the votes to be counted – for Rizo, at least 60%, and for Montealegre, 100% – before conceding.

Ortega, making his first comments to reporters since the election as he left a meeting with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, said that “until the council makes its pronouncement, we have to maintain calm,” and urged his fellow candidates to resolve to work together to “eradicate poverty…and give security to the private sector, to investors.”

The San José city council delayed a vote last night as to whether or not to hold the traditional end of year festivals in Zapote, just east of downtown.  Last Tuesday, a motion to cancel the Zapote fair was placed before the council, but it only got 7 votes of the 9 needed to pass.

The council members who did not vote for the motion, asked for a committee to investigate whether or not the festival should be held.  Roberto Delgado (Renovación), Lawrence Molina (PLN), Fabiola Murillo (PAC), José Antonio Chavarría (independiente), Jorge Hidalgo (PLN) and Yalile Castaing (PUSC) were on the commission.  The commission was to give its report to the full city council  yesterday, but asked for 24 more hours to complete the investigation.   Once the report is given the council is expected to vote on the motion to cancel the fair.