Traffic fatalities were the main cause of deaths with a total of 15. Despite their best intentions, Transit Police were unable to keep traffic deaths to last year's six.

Eight persons died due to drowning, five suicides, one murder, one accidental poising, one burn victim and one death is still under investigation as to the cause.

The last holiday death occurred yesterday morning when a 20 year old man lost control of his car and died on the scene near the Forum business park on the Próspero Fernández highway, the main Santa Ana - San José
route.
 

Earthquakes Normal, Experts Say
Been feeling a little shaky lately? Well, experts at the Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori) and the Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) say that all the sismic activity experienced during the Semana Santa is normal and there is no need to panic.

This according to the experts. Between Sunday April 4 and Saturday last, there were 17 earthquakes registered between 2.5 and 5.1 on the richter scale. In addition, another 100 "microsismos" were felt around the country.

According to Wálter Jiménez at Ovsicori, people think that intense heat causes earthquakes, however, that is not the case. He did add that sismic activity was unusually high during the past week, where earthquakes are common all year round, however there is no cause for alarm or concern.

The greatest sismic activity was in the southern and Central Pacific regions, where on Wednesday a 5.1 quake rocked the area of Quepos. More than 100 aftershocks were reported.
 

Donation for Agriculture
During President Pacheco's visit to Italy, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) confirmed donations for $614,000 aimed at improving the ability of the agriculture sector to deal with aperture negotiations.

The leading part of the program is defined as "Development of technical ability to evaluate the competitiveness of agricultural goods and the effects of trade aperture."

 According to the Tico ambassador to Italy, Victoria Guardia, this program will mean the presence in Costa Rica of experts in the evaluation of trade policies and technical obstacles to commerce, who will advise the negotiators of the agricultural sector regarding the processes of the opening of markets.
 

Lower Infant Mortality Rate
In 2003, for every 1,000 babies born alive, 10 under 1 year died. This figure is the lowest ever in the histor of Costa Rica. Just one year before, the figure was 11, 15 in 1990, and the number rose to 90 in 1950.

This places Costa Rica among the five countries in the Americas with the lower rates of infant mortality, since Cuba records 6, Guadalupe 7.6, Martinique 8, and Chile 10.1. According to health authorities, the lower death rate results from improved care during pregnancy and for the newborn.
 

1,350 Illegal Returned in 3 days
In the first three days of Semana Santa some 1,350 illegal immigrants from Nicaragua were caught and returned to their country by Immigration and Police agents.

Most of the detentions took place at the border crossing of Peñas Blancas.

This takes places just as thousands of Nicaraguans, legal residents and illegals, take advantage of the Easter Week holidays to go and visit with their families in their homeland, and there is a crowding of the border crossings that illegals try to take advantage of to enter Costa Rica.

Even the general director of the Immigration Service, Marco Badilla, witnessed when several Nicaraguans were illegally in Costa Rican territory. One of them told Badilla that he had been entering and leaving Costa Rica at will for many years