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Inmates Intent To Make "Life
Impossible" for former president Rodríguez
Sunday morning, more
than 1.500 persons visited
friends and loved ones at the La
Reforma prison located in San
Rafael de Alajuela. Sunday
mornings between 9am and 1pm is
the only visiting day available
to inmates of Costa Rican
prisons and detention centres,
though the hours may vary
slightly at some institutions.
However, no one was there to visit former president Rafael Angel
Calderón or Miguel Angel Rodríguez. They got their visits on
Saturday as prison officials cope to deal with this historic
situation.
Calderón has been in the institution since October 22, while
Rodríguez spent his first night in "puesto 7" Friday night, when a
Superior Court judge overturned a lower court decision for house
arrest.
This is the first time in Costa Rica's history that two former
presidents are behind bars, at the same time and in the same
institution, both on charges of corruption.
Prison officials say the two former presidents, though not more than
20 metres apart, are not permitted contact with each other, and
their yard times have been staggered to prevent any contact, as well
as their visiting hours to avoid any confrontations between family
members during visiting hours.
Rodríguez, according to officials, is depressed and frightened as
other inmates have been shouting "Shoot to Kill", in reference to a
law that he signed when he was president, that allowed prison
officials to 'shoot to kil'l any prisoner in the process of an
escape.
The law, jointly signed by then Justice Minister, Mónica Nágel, is
known as "Reforma articulo # 8 de la Reglamento de la Policía
Penitenciaria", where it gives prison officials the use of all
necessary force to stop a prison break, including the use of a
sub-machine gun and tear gas during an escape attempt.
Prisoners are intent on make "life impossible" for the former
president. There have been no immediate and direct threats on the
life of Rodríguez, though he maintains to be held, like Calderón, in
a secluded area of the prison and with no contact whatsoever with
other inmates.
Prison officials have confirmed that Rodríguez is under a 24 hour
watch, not only for his own safety, but to prevent any suicide
attempts given his severe state of depression.
Minister of Justice, Patricia Vega, confirmed over the weekend that
Rodríguez was moved sometime Friday night from his original cell to
another cell due to disturbances caused by other inmates who were
close to the former president.
Rodríguez is being investigated for corruption in accepting
payments, by way of his former minister, José Antonio Lobo, from
Alcatel as compensation for receiving the "prize" from ICE to
install GSM cellular service. Rodríguez is also being investigated
for accepting payments from the government of Taiwan while in
office. The charges include conspiracy and illegal enrichment.
Rodríguez, like Calderón will spend the next six months in
preventive detention, with a review in three months. The former
presidents can be held for up to 18 months in preventive detention
while the Fiscalía investigates.
The preventive detention can also be extended beyond the 18 months
if the Fiscalía deemed the investigation complicated and is approved
by a court, like in the case of Osvaldo Villalobos, who was held for
almost two years before formal charges being filed against him.
Both, Calderón and Rodríguez are denying any wrongdoing and vowing
their innocence.
Fake Tico Passport for Only ¢5.000
Costa Rican immigration officials are investigating the
possibility that a group or groups of organized crime are taking
advantage of the poor economic situations of some Costa Ricans by
offering them colones for their passport.
Marco Badilla, director of Migración, says that they suspect the
sale of passports is a daily business.
This year alone some 100 passports have been discovered to have been
sold.
Typically, members of organized groups infiltrate an economically
challenged community and with the aid of a trusted resident make
offers to buy a passport, one that is relatively new and without use
or will help the person obtain a new one.
The price received by several who made their declaration before
immigration officials when they were discovered to have sold their
passport, has been as low as ¢5.000 colones, while most got between
¢10.000 and ¢20.000, plus the cost charged by immigration for a new
passport.
The list of those selling their passport varies from alcoholics, to
psychiatric patients, but mainly to those so poor that the selling
of their passport and that of their children will mean food on the
dinner table.
Once the passport is handed over to the buyer, the passport is
reported stolen or lost. This means that the person can now, with a
police report in hand, solicit another passport. The sold passport
is then altered and re-sold to an end user. "I lost my passport" is
the most common reason, according to immigration officials.
Fake Costa Rican passports have shown up in places like Mexico,
Germany and several other countries where Ticos don't need an entry
visa. In Germany, two phoney passports where discovered when two
Orientals landed at the Frankfurt airport. In Belize, two Cubans
were detained last June, again with fake Tico passports. Their final
destination was assumed to be the United States.
Many countries, like Mexico, Germany, France, Italy and Spain for
example, do not require Costa Ricans to have a visa as a condition
of entry, wich makes a fake Tico passport useful for those trying to
enter those countries, escaping a life from elsewhere.
Badilla admitted that the current passport is very vulnerable to
organized criminals to falsify. Immigration authorities are making a
¢500 million colones fund to combat the situation, with the hope to
put a stop to this activity.
Evangelicals Oppose Free Trade Agreement with
United States
In a joint declaration, Evangelical churches from Costa Rica
expressed their opposition to Free Trade Agreements between the
Central American region and the United States arguing that they
exclude the most vulnerable sectors of the population.
The ecumenical declaration also expressed the rejection of the
"corruption that is embargoing and shadowing the national reality,"
as well as all the power abuses.
It repudiated the "new forms of extortion and manipulation of
people's faith under the flag of the theology of prosperity." We are
opposed to the new
markets of faith negotiating and perverting the name of Jesus
Christ, they
affirmed.
This declaration is the result of a series of meetings throughout
September
and October on the part of leaders, bishops and presidents of Costa
Rican
Churches that are members of the Latin American Council of Churches
(CLAI).
The First Central American Evangelical Church, the Costa Rican
Lutheran
Church (ILCO), the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Costa Rica, the
Lutheran
Central American Church and the Episcopal Church signed the
declaration.
At the same time, the Presbyterian Church, the Moravian Church, the
Baptist
Federation, the Baptist Seminary, the Mennonite Church, the Wesleyan
Methodist Church, the Community of Love Federation (FEDEICA), the
Latin
American Biblical University (UBL) and the Central American
Secretariat of
the Latin American Council of Churches.
The joint declaration also expresses the commitment of Evangelicals
to
support all the efforts that are being carried out in the Public
Ministry
aimed at putting an end to the state of corruption "that an
irresponsible
leadership class has maintained us in for decades."
It called on the responsible Costa Rican
institutions to
continue their strict monitoring and review of all individuals and
institutions that show signs of corruption or distorting public
goods, said
the Rev. Eduardo Chinchilla Guevara, CLAI regional secretary for
Mesoamerica.
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