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Costa Rica/Latin American Digest, Oct. 15
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Costa Rica/ Latin American News Digest ========================================= A publication of Destiny Worldwide Net http://www.destiny-worldwide.net Also Visit the Costa Rica Page: http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/costa-rica/ Subscribe: Unsubscribe: ========================================= TODAY'S CONTENTS ========================================= *Feature Article: *Anti-Corruption Crusade Targets Nicragua's President *Calendar, exchange rates, weather forecast, movie link *News Digest *Latin American News ========================================= SPONSOR'S MESSAGE ========================================= If you want to be successful in the years to come, with the new technology of the internet, you need to break free of the limitations that bind the majority of people. ONe of the worst problems individuals and businesses face today are high taxes, unfair litigation, lack of privacy in financial matters, etc. You cannot be truly successful and free unless you use all the tools at your disposal, which includes being financially free, and learning the ingredients to true success. These secrets used to not be available to the ordinary person. They were the guarded secrets of the elite. Destiny Worldwide is unique in that we not only give you the education you need to succeed, but we also give you access to cutting edge tools in many different aspects. From e-commerce to success in your career, regular business, and handling your finances secure from the many risks out there today, our constellation of services gives you the advantages you need to succeed. Go to these websites to begin running down the road to your successful future today! http://www.destiny-worldwide.net http://www.offshorearnings.com You'll be glad you did! ========================================= FEATURE ARTICLE ========================================= *Anti-Corruption Crusade Targets Nicragua's President GRANADA Nicaragua - After three years of basing his administration on an aggressive anti-corruption campaign, President Enrique Bolaños could become the next political casualty to get caught in his own dragnet. The Nicaraguan Comptroller Gene-ral's Office this week presented the National Assembly with a report on campaign-finance irregularities committed by the Bolaños team in 2000, and called for the President's removal from office. Bolaños The report says tens of millions of dollars of unreported campaign funds from unknown sources were allegedly used to finance Bolaños' presidential bid. At least five checks totaling $326,000 were moved through an offshore bank in St. George, according to the report, of which The Tico Times has obtained a copy. UNDER Nicaragua's Electoral Code, foreign campaign donations are not illegal, but unreported funds from unknown sources are. The Comptroller General's Office claims it requested information from private banks and President Bolaños to explain the mystery donations, but was unable to shed any light on the suspicious funds. Bolaños, reportedly on advice from his lawyers, never answered the Comptroller General's request for donor information, and the private banks - protected by banking secrecy legislation - provided few additional clues. The Comptroller General's Office concluded Bolaños violated electoral law and should be docked two months' wages and stripped of the presidency by Congress. Nicaraguan lawyers consulted this week explained that the Comptroller's report is not legally binding, but can be administratively binding. In other words, the Comptroller General could exercise the authority to withhold Bolaños' salary, but does not have the competency to remove him from office. Bolaños, who was in Libya this week on a diplomatic visit, did not respond directly to the Comptroller's report by press time. His lawyers, however, insisted the President will not resign. They said Bolaños would use all legal recourses at his disposal to remain in office, including the Supreme Court and the Democratic Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS). IN Nicaragua, leaders of the Liberal Constitutional Party and the Sandinista National Liberation Front are calling for Bolaños' head. Daniel Ortega, former revolutionary president and secretary general of the Sandinista Front, blasted Bo-laños as a "liar" and a "ridiculous clown" who had tricked the "innocent people of Nicaragua" who elected him "in good faith." Ortega accused Bolaños of trying to subjugate Nicaragua to the yanki government, and insisted that Nicaragua, not the United States, would have the final word about whether Bolaños remains in office. Congressional vice-president Wilfredo Navarro, vice-president of the Liberal Constitutional Party, also called for Bolaños' resignation. "He should follow the example of the Secretary General of the OAS (former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodríguez) and resign to spare us further embarrassment," Navarro said. ========================================= CALENDAR ========================================= October 15 *Theater for Kids A play about a black boy's adventures, presented at the National Auditorium in the Children's Museum, San José, Friday at 9 and 11 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Info: 222-7647. *The Cemetery Club A comedy by Ivan Menchell, performed in English by the Little Theatre Group at the Blanche Brown Theatre in Escazú, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. through Oct. 24. Info: 355-1623. *Groups to Protest Shark Finning The Sea Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA) invited everyone to march in protest against shark finning, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday. More than a dozen non-governmental organizations have said they will participate in the march, which starts at the Plaza de la Cultura in downtown San José. PRETOMA will also circulate a petition - which already has 50,000 signatures - asking government officials to put an end to shark finning, the brutal practice of slicing the fins off a shark and discarding the carcasses in the ocean. *Thank-You Concert by the Youth Symphony: Playing selections from the concert it performed in the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, Italy, the Youth Symphony will play the Festive Overture, by D. Shostakovich; Huapango, by Pablo Moncayo; Costa Rican Inspirations, by Carlos Guzman; and pieces by Tchaikovsky and Ginastera, 8 p.m. Saturday in the National Theater, 221-5341. *Team Aventura Mudman 2004 Sports and lots of fun, starting at 8 a.m. Sunday in Fossil Land, Patarrá, Desamparados, 276-6060, 276-8103. Central Bank Exchange Rates Reference Rate Buy ¢448.54 Sell ¢450.14 CR Colon: CAD 349.471 GBP 788.259 EURO 542.469 JPY 4.001 NIO 27.261 RUB 15.039 US Dollar: BZD 0.5063 GTQ 0.1234 HNL 0.0527 SVC 0.1142 NIO 0.0621 PAB 0.9950 15 Oct 2004 5-Day Forecast for San Jose Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue 78° | 75° 78° | 75° 78° | 73° 78° | 73° 75° | 71° T-storms T-storms T-storms Chance of T-storms Rain Movie Guide: http://entretenimiento.co.cr/entrete.../cine/cine.asp ========================================= NEWS DIGEST ========================================= *Ex-President Declined to Answer Legislative Commission's Questions Former President Rafael Ángel Calderón (1990-94) appeared yesterday before the Legislative Assembly's Commission on Public Expenditures, but declined to answer the legislators' questions. Members of the commission, headed by Luis Gerardo Villanueva of the National Liberation Party (PLN), asked Calderón numerous questions about payments of more than $500,000 he allegedly received from a $9.2 million "commission" that was paid to government officials in connection with a $39.5 government contract with a Finnish medical supply company, whose products are distributed in Costa Rica by Corporación Fischel. The plan, called the Finland Project, aimed to modernize the hospitals of the country's Social Security System (Caja), which provides cradle-to-grave health care to most Costa Ricans. Calderón, who has been prohibited from leaving the country during the Caja investigation, was also asked whether he had any involvement in the alleged payment of a "prize" to former President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002) and members of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) in connection with a government contract for 400,000 cellular phone lines awarded to the French telecommunications firm Alcatel. Legislators asked several questions implying a direct link between Calderón and Rodríguez, who today will step down from his post as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) amid allegations of accepting the payments. Several lawmakers made reference to a "ring of corruption" allegedly involving Calderón, Rodríguez and other members of the ruling Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC). Calderón's lawyer, Gonzalo Castellón, called the inquiry the beginning of a "long, arduous" process that could take two to three years to complete, and after each legislator's questions said that Calderón, in keeping with his professional advice, would abstain from answering. The legislators vocally expressed their disappointment with Calderón's decision not to testify, using remarks that at some points became almost scolding. Heredia legislator José Francisco Salas asked Calderón, who played a leading role in founding PUSC, whether he also founded the "ring." Humberto Arce, of the Patriotic Bloc, said that if Calderón were to end up in jail because of the alleged payments, he would have "time to reflect." Other deputies urged Calderón to testify because he owed it to the citizens of Costa Rica. Mario Redondo of the PUSC party, said Calderón owed an explanation to the women "who stay up late at night making sandwiches" for family members, while Peter Guevara, a Libertarian Movement Party legislator, said the ex-President owed an explanation to the children of the country. *Political Party Founder Takes His Own Life Mario Quintana, one of the founding members of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), which is now in the spotlight for corruption investigations into some of its most prominent members, took his own life Wednesday around 5 p.m. with a .357 Magnum, according to the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ). OIJ spokeswoman Margarita Morales said Quintana, 58, wrote a note before firing a round into his right temple, but the note was "ambiguous" and did not outline the exact reasons for his suicide. She said Quintana's family members described him as "sad" and "depressed" in recent days, but never thought him to be suicidal. Morales said Quintana was not being investigated in connection with the corruption scandals linked to former Presidents Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002) and Rafael Ángel Calderón (1990-94), both members of the ruling PUSC party. Quintana, though he never served in public office, was the political party's president from 1990-92. Neither PUSC president Lorena Vásquez nor party secretary Jorge Eduardo Sánchez could be reached for comment by press time. *Fallen Angel Costa Rican authorities say that they will arrest and transport former Costa Rican president and former Secretary General of the OAS in handcuffs when he arrives today in Costa Rica. Rodríguez will be immediately arrested as he sets foot on Costa Rican soil when he arrives at the Juan Santamaria airport, leaving his post at the Organization of American States. Marco Badilla, director of immigration, told a Repretel news channel last night that he has received the "order of capture" for Rodríguez and that his agents have been instructed to detain the man as soon as he is spotted at any of the entry points to Costa Rica. The question that has been asked the last day, was would be Rodríguez be handcuffed as a common criminal? The answer would be left up to the agent or agents who first come into contact with the former president. The origins of the current damage to the prestige of Costa Rica at the international level, because of the corruption charges against former President date back 10 years, that is the time that this country invested to get one of its citizens elected as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS). Rodríguez was president of Costa Rica for the period 1998-2002, leaving the seat to the current president Abel Pacheco, who belong to the same political party, the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC). Rodríguez took office at the OAS last September 15, but lasted less than one month at the post, since he was forced to resign after his alleged involvement in accepting bribes from the French telecommunications firm Alcatel and the government of Taiwan. "From pride to shame" is the description local analysts have for the situation, which has marred the image of Costa Rica at the international level. Rodríguez is expected to return to Costa Rica, where he will face prosecutors who have many unanswered questions about the former president's involvement as related to them by former ICE directors and employees. Rodríguez's arrival in Costa Rica as early as this morning or as late as this evening, with the last commercial flight arriving from the U.S. Speculation is that he could arrive in a private plane and could land at the Liberia airport, to avoid the crowds and press. No matter, Costa Rican authorities are demanding his immediate detention and that be brought before the tribunals as soon as possible following his arrival in Costa Rica. There still exists the possibility that Rodríguez will not return to Costa Rica, be arrested in Washington as his immunity expires with his final act as Secretary General of the OAS and be brought back by force. Rumours still circulate of possibly Venezuela or the Dominican Republic as possible safe havens, where he would be granted diplomatic asylum. However, the man has stated repeatedly that he has done nothing wrong and will return to Costa Rica to defend himself. *Alcatel and Taiwan Investigate Corruption in Costa Rica In an statement published on the Alcatel worldwide website, Alcatel tells the world the situation in Costa Rica. On their website, Alcatel reiterates that its policy is to conduct its business with transparency, following laws and regulations, both locally and internationally. Alcatel tells that it established on October 4, 2004, an internal team to conduct an inquiry regarding its operations in Costa Rica. "The first conclusions of this inquiry have confirmed that local consultants may have acted in violation of their contractual obligations with Alcatel. These clearly forbid the consultants from offering promises or give any undue pecuniary or other advantage to any public official for any purpose, which may contravene any applicable laws. " The French telecommunications firm says, it has been recently revealed that the president of Alcatel Costa Rica violated the Alcatel Group's Code of Ethics, which is enforced across the entire company. This employee, who had been immediately suspended, is now being terminated. The company, who reserves the right to take further legal action to seek appropriate remedies, pursues its internal inquiry, and will fully cooperate with local authorities. Despite these difficult circumstances, Alcatel has asked its employees to continue to perform their duties to support our customers in maintaining quality of service to the Costa Rican telecom network. In a separate action, the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is studying Costa Rica scandal about reports that MOFA had given Miguel Angel Rodriguez us$200,000 in 2001 and that the embassy gave him the same amount in 2002 MOFA spokesman Michael Lu said that Taiwan would not get involved in Costa Rica's judicial procedures. He said the government offers aid to allies through mutual negotiations and that the foreign ministry would try to understand the allegations A spokeswoman for the embassy in Costa Rica told the Taiwan Central News Agency that the embassy "had no information" about the alleged donations. "The ministry is trying to understand the reports. Our country offers aid to our allies through mutual negotiations. These aid projects primarily aim to help our allies' national development," Lu said. Opposition officials in Costa Rica have called for the country to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan after news about Rodriguez's alleged acceptance of the donations broke. Answering questions about the demand, Lu said, "We would not interfere into another country's domestic politics." *Former Alcatel Manager and Servicios Notariales Lawyer Arrested Edgar Valverde, who was fired last week as manager of the French telecom Alcatel in Costa Rica was detained yesterday in connection with the ICE-Alcatel scandal. Valverde was on his way to testify before a Legislative Assembly committee investigating the payment of millions of dollars in kickbacks, allegedly to allow Alcatel rights to 400,000 cellular telephone lines in a contract worth us$149.000.000 dollars with the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) Valverde is accused of having paid out kickbacks. His accuser, Guido Silbaja, said he had received us$196,000 dollars in hush money from Alcatel. The French firm iss suspected of having made millions of dollars in payments to intermediaries to gain access to the market for some us$230 million dollars in sales of mobile telephones and equipment. Also, yesterday, in a separate action, police arrested Luis Adrián Quirós Carmona, lawyer at Servicios Notariales Q.C. located in San Ramón de Alajuela, the law firm that received us$14.000.000 from Alcatel for distribution to former ICE directors and employees. Servicios Notariales also donated money to the presidential campaigns of president Abel Pacheco and Rolanda Araya. Last night Quirós was in the custody Fiscalía de Delitos Económicos in San José, awaiting a judge's decision on his fate. *Agriculture and Industry Slow Down The amount of agricultural and industrial goods -not including the high-technology sector- is growing this year, but at a slower rhythm than in 2003, according to the Monthly Economic Activity Indicator, which shows the variations in the amounts of goods and services produced in Costa Rica. The agricultural sector grew 2.7 percent last August, as compared to the same month in 2003, confirming a de-acceleration that started last year and that also involves the industrial sector, which grew 2 percent. *Citrus Sector Likely to Benefit As a result of the hurricanes that devastated the crops in Florida, the Costa Rican citrus sector expects increased exports and higher prices for its production. Carlos Odio, of the local Ticofrut -the largest Costa Rican exporter of orange juice concentrate- forecast a rise from $0.56 to $0.95 per pound by the end of this year. ========================================= OTHER LATIN AMERICAN NEWS ========================================= *Bolivia Calls for Extradition of Ex President A year ago, on October 17, the then-president of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (a.k.a. "Goni") resigned and fled his country for Miami, after a storm of public protests against his deals to sell Bolivian gas to foreign companies and an even greater torment after Goni's troops massacred Bolivian civilians who had protested against the gas deals. Last night, at 12:30 a.m., 126 members of the Bolivian Congress (out of 140, making the vote against Goni a crushing 90 percent on the second roll call) voted that Goni and members of his cabinet can now be subjected to trial as civilians for their alleged roles in the deaths of more than 80 civilian protestors during what is known throughout Bolivia as the "Black October" of 2003. The gauntlet was thus thrown down to the Bush administration in Washington, which, according to U.S. Ambassador David Greenlee responding to Bolivian journalists last night, has allowed the former president, Goni, to remain legally in the United States for the past year... Read more, with instant translations from the Bolivian press, on The Narcosphere... http://narcosphere.narconews.com/sto...0/14/93626/924 So far the only news agencies in English to report the news are the BBC, reporting, "The Bolivian Congress has voted to put former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada on trial over the deaths of up to 80 people in October last year," and the faded UPI. As of 9:20 a.m. on Thursday morning, the major North American news organizations - AP, CNN, the New York Times, and Goni's new hometown newspaper, the Miami Herald (a.k.a. Oligarch's Daily), etcetera - despite their large budgets and well-paid correspondents in South America and in the Andes, have so far remained silent. a silence that may have the intended result of allowing Goni just enough lead time to slip through the fingers of justice... *Central American leaders seek new OAS candidate The Central American foreign ministers met Thursday in El Salvador to try to agree on presenting a single Central American candidate for the secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS). The Central American ministers met at 9:30 am local time (1530 GMT) at El Salvador's International Airport in Comalapa, according to reports from San Salvador, capital of El Salvador. The meeting was attended by foreign ministers of Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama and El Salvador. The ministers tried to agree on a single candidate for the vacancy left by former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez who resigned as secretary general of the OAS on Oct. 8 due to a corruption scandal in his country. El Salvadorean foreign minister said his country was committed to seek a single candidate for the post of OAS secretary general *Venezuela sentences 7 coup participants A Venezuelan judge on Thursday sentenced seven people for their involvement in a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez. Three were sentenced to six years in prison and four others to three years. An eighth person was acquitted. The lawyer of these people appealed against the sentences. The coup on April 12, 2002 ousted President Chavez for 48 hours. ========================================= COSTA RICA DIGEST DISPLAY AD RATES ========================================= This publication is designed to have one display add between each article or section. Thus, the more articles or sections we have per day, the more room we have for advertisements. Advertisements are filled on a first come first served basis, and prices vary depending on placement and frequency. You must order a minimum of 5 insertions with your order. If there are no advertising positions available right away, you will be placed on a waiting list and notified when a spot becomes available. Please email us at for more details. One final note, if you want to do a solo mailing to the list, that is available on a limited basis if we decide that your product or service has merit. Email us at the above address for more details. ========================================= COSTA RICA CLASSIFIEDS ========================================= If you have a worthwhile, honest offering, please email us. New subscribers get a free five line ad for a month. 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