by Rod Hughes
(News Freshly Brewed from Local Media)

Juan Valdez must feel like a U.S. soldier transferred to a Middle Eastern country.

The advertising symbol for the Colombian Coffee Growers’ Federation is the subject of a copyright law suit filed last year against the Costa Rican firm Cafe Britt over Britt’s alleged use of the Valdez image with the slogan, “Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican coffee.” Now Valdez has gone on the offensive with the entry of Colombian coffee into the Costa Rican market, the daily Al Día reported today.

Of course the head of the Colombian Procafecol, Ricardo Obregon, insists that this is simply a marketing move that has nothing to do with the Federation’s suit against Britt. Costa Rica is a heavy coffee consumer and Obregon says he is targeting other countries in the region as well.

“We don’t intend to say we’re better or worse than Costa Rican coffee but we want to enter into a refined culture accustomed to drinking the fine coffee they have there and offer ourselves as an additional option,” Obregon told the Associated Press diplomatically.

Cafe Britt is a luxury coffee with overseas sales as well as a strong following inside Costa Rica. And it is not the only gourmet coffee brand in the country with sales abroad; Sun Burst Coffee also offers direct sales to the U.S. with a variety of roasts and flavored coffees.

“Costa Rica now makes 5% of its coffee production gourmet types.” says Obregon, “while we have only 2% in that category. Selling there seems a logical move.”

It is not known what brand of coffee Valdez’s burro, also a part of the ubiquitous advertising image, drinks.

By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff

With the goal of facilitating safer travel for Costa Ricans and tourists during Easter Holy Week, or Semana Santa, next week, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT) yesterday announced plans to beef up the Traffic Police force during this time and outlined roadway and airport repairs under way.

An estimated 1.8 million to 2.1 million people are expected to travel around the country next week, according to a statement from the ministry. Beginning Saturday, 819 traffic police will be stationed along primary roads leading to prime vacation spots, explained Traffic Police Director Gérman Marín.

Additionally, at 11 strategically placed checkpoints, officials will be looking for drunk drivers, stolen vehicles, alleged criminals wanted by police and illegal immigrants. These checkpoints will be placed at spots including the vicinity of the Juan Santamaría International Airport, just northwest of San José; La Lima de Cartago, east of San José; the road from Palmar Norte to Dominical, in the Southern Zone; and at the entrance to beaches in the northwestern Guanacaste province including Playas del Coco, according to the ministry.

The ministry has also sped up repairs to some heavily trafficked roads in preparation for this busy vacation week, explained Public Works and Transport Minister Karla González.

These include the road from Santa Elena to Guacimal near the popular north-central cloud forest preserve of Monteverde, the northern Inter-American Highway from Limonal to Cañas and the road between the Guanacaste beaches of Nosara and Sámara, which residents have recently decried for accident-causing clouds of dust (TT, March 23). Workers are trying to get this road in “acceptable” conditions, the minister said.

Eight of the country’s 24 airstrips for national flights are also being worked on. The ministry invested more than ¢1.1 billion ($2.1 million) in improvements to airstrips and terminals at airports in the Southern Zone towns of Golfito, Drake and Palmar Sur, and others around the country, the statement said.

by Rod Hughes

TALCA, Chile–Costa Rica’s All Star soccer team tied their Chilean counterparts last night 1-1 after the Ticos had trailed through most of the game 1-0. And the tying goal was made by veteran Rolando Fonseca, the 1,000th goal since the formation of the All-Stars in 1921. That’s 1,000 in 524 games.

That tying goal was a thing of art. Fonseca whirling to sink a perfect feed from Harold Wallace. And it appeared during the first half as if it might not happen against a surprisingly strong Chilean 11 that was recently reported split and demoralized.

But it was not the strength of Chile that was so surprising during the first period as were the defects in Costa Rica’s game–a weakness in midfield and an isolation of the attack zone so that it might as well have been on a different planet. When Chile’s Reinaldo Navia took Humberto Suazo’s pass and blasted it past Tico goalie Jose Francisco Porras after only three minutes of play, fans might have been excused for turning off the TV for an early bedtime.

But, at halftime, Costa Rica’s coach Hernan Medford straightened things out and when the Ticos took to the field again they were a different team entirely. In fact, they got better as the game wore on, turning Chile’s domination around completely.

Medford may turn out to be the master of tactics that his mentor, Alexander Guimareas, was when he guided the team.

And what about embattled Chilean coach Nelson Acosta? Will the tie, after Brazil’s trashing of his team (4-0), mean the beginning of the end for him? Southern Cone fans no doubt were hoping that Chile would perform the same vivisection on Costa Rica.
It just didn’t happen that way.