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Calderón With Properties and
Stock in the U.S.
Former Costa Rican president
Rafael Ángel Calderón, once a
respected and liked leader, is
now sitting in a prison cell in
La Reforma penetentiary as he
waits out the results of the
investigation for corruption for
which he is being accused.
Investigators have begun digging
into his past, not only to
actions related to his receiving
commissions from the Finnish
loan, but into his other
personal dealings.
The Spanish language daily,
La Nación, reports that the
former president has substantial
holdings in Florida and
Massachusetts in addition to his
holdings in Costa Rica.
Calderón, it has been
discovered, owns a luxurious
condominium apartment in Boston,
Massachusetts and another
apartment in an exclusive
development in Aventura,
Florida, in addition to an
investment in a hotel chain in
Miami, Florida and a car
dealership in Costa Rica.
The newspaper reports that most
of these assets were purchased
within the last decade. The
Boston and Aventura properties
are valued at us$600.000
dollars.
In Costa Rica, by way of one of
his children, owns an interest
in a car dealership that imports
Volkswagen cars.
The newspaper also reports that
Calderón may have additional
interests in a Mall and a horse
farm in Florida, as many other
assets, which are in the name of
his wife and/or children.
In the meantime, while he sits
in the La Reforma prison cell,
authorities say he will not get
special treatment or
concessions. He will be treated
as any other inmate at the
institution, following the rules
and conditions of the penal
centre.
Rodríguez On 24 Hour Watch
As of last Friday,
the Fuerza Pública has begun a
24 hour watch on the apartment
of former president Miguel Angel
Rodríguez, who is under house
arrest for his accepting monies
from Alcatel and the government
of Taiwan.
Rodríguez who was ordered by a
judge to live out the next six
months in an apartment in Vargas
Araya, Montes de Oca, east of
San José, following his
detention on his return from
Washington DC., where he held
the post of Secretary General of
the Organization of American
States (OAS) for less than a
month.
Authorities say the 24 hours
watch is for the segurity of
Rodríguez, and will continue for
an undetermined time.
Érick Lacayo, chief of 'Planes y
Operaciones de Seguridad Pública'
said that a senior officer will
still continue to check in on
Rodríguez on a regular basis, to
collect his signature in the
book, which is part of the
conditions of his "house
arrest".
The additional measure follows
the detention and jailing of
former president Rafael Angel
Calderón on Friday, when a judge
denied house arrest and dictated
six months of preventive
detention against Calderón, who
is currently in the La Reforma
prison complex.
Immigration Detains Eight
Ilegals
Seven women and a man, carrying
altered Taiwanese passports,
were detained by the Policía de
Migración (immigration police)
in a downtown San José hotel,
where they were waiting to
complete their plans for their
final destination, the United
States.
The group was being helped by
"coyotes" to finalize their
travel arrangements when police
intervened.
The eight Orientals were
detained in a "slum" hotel in
the red zone of San José and
were immediately transferred to
the immigration cells at the
Quinta Comisaría, where
immigration operates a temporary
holding centre for illegals.
Marco Badilla, Director de
Migración, said that the group
would be immediately be deported
to China, where their trip
originated.
One group used the popular
France, Malasya, Venezuela to
get to Costa Rica and then make
their final stop in the U.S.,
while another group took the
Malasya, South Africa, Perú,
Costa Rica rotue.
According to immigration records
the some members of the group
entered Costa Rica as early as
October 7, the last entering on
October 19.
Immigration officials say that
the cost to make the trip from
China into the U.S. can cost up
to us$50.000 per person, whih
about 25% paid up front and the
balance paid once they reach
their destination.
Last April, immigration
officials discovered four
Chinese nationals entering Costa
Rica, with the help of coyotes,
who were bound for Cuba and
whose final intention was to
reach the United States.
Badilla indicated that the
arrest of the the eight confirms
immigration's belief that Costa
Rica is part of the transit
route used for the trafficking
of persons.
Driven by
Hunger
Costa Rican authorities are
going an extra mile to stem the
arrival of illegal immigrants
from Nicaragua, which has grown
recently.
The daily La Nación
interviewed many of those who
were returned to their country
and found that the general
reason to seek new opportunities
in Costa Rica is hunger.
Those
interviewed assert that most of
their crops were lost to pests,
so they have to take their
chances in Costa Rica just to
survive, something that is
increasingly unlikely to them in
their homeland.
U.S. & Costa
Rica Pushing a U.N. Ban on All
Human Cloning
The
Bush administration is
spearheading a campaign at the
United Nations for a global
treaty banning embryonic stem
cell research and all forms of
human cloning.
Critics fear the U.S. move might
undermine efforts to find cures
for such afflictions as cancer,
diabetes and spinal cord damage.
While all countries at the
United Nations say they oppose
cloning to create a human being,
the international body is
starkly divided on whether to
ban cloning of human embryos for
stem cell studies or other
medical research, known as
"therapeutic cloning."
The United States, Costa Rica
and 59 other mostly small
nations with strong Catholic or
Muslim majorities contend that
medical research involving
cloning results in the taking of
human life. Their draft to ban
all human cloning, which was the
subject of debate before a
General Assembly committee last
week, terms it "unethical and
morally reproachable."
Nearly 130 nations - including
such close U.S. allies as
Britain, Japan and India - say
that each nation should be
allowed to decide for itself
whether to regulate therapeutic
cloning.
"No country has the right to
seek to impose on the rest of
the world a ban on therapeutic
cloning, when its own
legislature won't impose the ban
nationally," said British
ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.
Roberto Tovar, Costa Rica's
minister of foreign affairs,
countered Thursday that "cloning
reduces the human being to a
mere object of industrial
production and manipulation." He
warned that women could be
exploited as egg-making
"factories" and that the
international community must not
allow human embryos to be
destroyed for scientific
experiments.
The United Nations began
considering a global treaty
banning human cloning in 2001,
but has twice delayed a vote
because the issue of stem cell
research has been so emotional
and divisive.
The controversy touches on
philosophical and religious
issues, involving arguments that
can be highly technical as well
as passionate and personal.
Discussions center on when human
life actually begins, and
whether it is ethical to
sacrifice the life embodied in a
bundle of undifferentiated cells
less than 15 days old to pursue
a cure for a living person.
A U.N. treaty against human
cloning, if eventually adopted
by the General Assembly, would
not be legally binding and would
be considered only as the world
consensus on cloning practices.
Canadian Woman
Heads to Costa Rica to Serve as
Missionary
Lu Ellyn Dallas said she's
looking forward to the challenge
of traveling to Costa Rica in
January as part of a Methodist
missionary trip to help
construct a church in a tropical
rain forest.
Dallas, a member of the Toronto
Riverview United Methodist
Church, will be leaving the Ohio
Valley Jan. 4 for a 10-day trip
to Alajuela, west of San
José.
Although she admits to being
nervous, Dallas said the trip
will be the culmination of a
life-long dream.
"A mission trip has been in the
back of my mind since high
school," said Dallas, adding she
also will be ministering to
children and the local
congregation while there. "The
trip appealed to me. I applied
in August and put (the decision)
into God's hands."
Dallas will be leaving with 18
other missionaries as part of
the East Ohio United Methodist
Volunteers in Mission, an
organization that has sponsored
several missionary trips to the
African nation of Senegal and
elsewhere, said Dallas.
"The leader is Rev. Matt
McClung," she said. "He's the
associate pastor of the Medina
United Methodist Church."
Dallas said the trip will
involve renovation of a church
that is "little more than a
pavilion.
"The church is open on the
sides," said Dallas, adding
missionaries already have
shipped tools and supplies for
the renovation to Costa Rica.
"(The church) is in a rain
forest, and there's no roof
where the children worship. We
hope to construct sides and a
roof while there. We'll also be
interacting with the children.
The church is located at the
center of the town."
Dallas said the group will be
staying at the church during
renovation, giving her ample
opportunity to interact with the
locals.
"The town is three miles from a
volcano," Dallas said, adding
the region is mountainous. "The
climate depends more on the
altitude rather than where you
are."
Riverview United is supporting
the trip and helping with
fund-raising efforts by
sponsoring a soup, sandwich and
dessert meal noon to 2 p.m. Oct.
31 at the church.
Dallas said she's anxious to
continue Riverview's tradition
of missionary trips to help
those in need.
"Our church has now supported
six missionary trips," Dallas
said. "I think that's
remarkable. I'm just so excited
about it. It's an opportunity I
never thought I'd have. It was
in God's plans for me to do
this. Everything in his time
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