Former President Figueres WILL
NOT Return to Costa Rica
Former president, José María
Figueres Olsen, sent a 15 page
letter saying he will not come
to Costa Rica and appear before
the Comisión de Control de
Ingreso y Gasto Público to
answer questions related to his
receiving us$906.000 for
consulting fees from the French
telecommunications firm Alcatel.
Figueres' appearance before the
Comisión had been expected today
at 6pm, however, he sent the
letter to legislators telling
that he will instead send a
sworn statement detailing his
actions, regarding his
consulting fee.
In the letter, Figueres insisted
that the payment he received was
for a contract he had with the
firm HF Consultoría
Interdisciplinaria which is
owned by Roberto Hidalgo, a
former Figueres presidential
aide win his administration
between 1994 and 1998.
The former president said in the
letter that Hidalgo contracted
him for his experience in the
field of telecommunications
technology and is firm that he
had no direct relations with
Alcatel and his contract was not
related to any one specific
company or brand name, rather to
consult on advanced technology
in Costa Rica.
Figueres insists that none of
his work was related to the sale
and promotion of Alcatel
products or services, rather,
his role was to give interviews
and promote technology in
general.
He questioned the insistence on
forcing him back to Costa Rica.
He questioned the motives of the
legislators, saying that "they
want a public show surrounding
my appearance."
Luis Gerardo Villanueva, the
Liberation party member, who is
heading the Comisión de Gasto
Público said yesterday following
the revelation of the contents
of the letter, that he will
insist that Figueres be brought
back to Costa Rica.
"He has to show his face",
Villanueva said, and that he
will meet with Ministro de
Seguridad Publica, Rogelio
Ramos, if it is possible to
locate and notify Figueres, who
resides in Switzerland.
Former Minister for the
Presidency in the current
administration and legislative
deputy, Ricardo Toledo,
expressed that he will press the
Ministerio Público to
investigate the possibility on
pressuring Figueres in
returning.
"Aguinaldo" On the Streets
Beginning Today
Today is the beginning of the
Christmas Bonus known as the "Aguinaldo".
Now throug the 15th of December,
employers - both public and
private - are required to pay
their salaried employees their
aguinaldo wich represents one
month salary.
More than 1.500.000 workers are
eligible for the bonus. To
ensure that everyone will get
the bonus, the Banco Central de
Costa Rica, made an issue of an
additional ¢131 million colones
(us$287.000 dollars) to the
economy, meaning there will be
double the money on the streets
in the first two weeks in
December.
Some 100.000 government workers
will receive their aguinaldo on
December 6.
To calculate the amount of
aguinaldo to be paid, the
Government takes the gross
monthly income paid to it's
employees between November 1,
2003 and October 31, 2004 and
divides it by twelve. The
calculation is part of a law
established in 1954.
However, private sector and
autonomous institution employees
get their aguinaldo calculated a
little different. Their
aguinaldo is based on the gross
income between December 1, 2003
and November 30, 2004 and
divided by 12.
Financial experts give their
advice at this time of year,
which include saving the 13th
paycheck. Traditionally and
retailers look forward to it,
the aguinaldo is spent on
Christmas gifts and unnecessary
items.
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GSM Lines Sold Out In Record
Time
Thousands stood in lines for up
to 10 hours on Monday to get one
of the 17.000 GSM lines that the
Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) put on sale.
More than half of the lines were
sold on Monday and by 10am
Tuesday, there were none left.
All that is left now are 39.000
of the "old" technology - TDMA -
lines that ICE expects to have
sold out by no later than the
end of January.
And then it will be at least 18
months before ICE can offer to
the market any new cellular
lines as it takes that long to
prepare a bid, award a contract,
get the approvals and install
the system.
ICE is caught in the bind after
the Contraloria General de la
Republica (Comptroller's office)
failed to approve a contract ICE
awarded the Ericsson company for
600.000 new GSM lines that would
have been installed this month
and marketed not later than
March of 2005.
The 600.000 lines would have
filled the demand for cellular
service in Costa Rica, as many
make the choice of mobile
service while or rather than
wait for the long time it
sometimes takes ICE to install a
fixed line service in some
areas.
Customers who lines up on Monday
an Tuesday morning paid the
¢12.500 colones (us$27.50)
deposit and walked out happy
with being connected to the
wireless system. The basic
monthly cost is ¢2.900 colones
(us$6.37) that includes 60
minutes of call time. ICE only
bills for calls placed and not
received. The cost of each
minute of call between 7am and
6pm is ¢30 colones (us 6¢) and
¢23 colones (us 5¢) at other
times. All rates have 13% sales
tax added and the basic rate doe
not include additional services
like caller ID, private number
blocking and other ICE services.
Others, who weren't so lucky
will have now to wait as
customers with service fail to
pay their bills or give up their
line for whatever reason.
ICE will now insist that
customers who don't make regular
payments will see their service
cut and will loose their lines
if payment is in default for two
months, rather than three months
that is current policy.
While ICE moves ahead with the
bid, and once the TDMA lines are
also gone, new customers wanting
cellular service will have to
wait, like in the past, months
for new service. In the past, a
wait of up to a full year was
not unusual.
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