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Could Figueres Be Next?
The
Spanish language daily La Nación
reports today that former
president José María Figueres
Olsen received us$900.000
dollars from the French
telecommunications firm Alcatel
during the period of 2000-2003
to provide assistance in
promoting their
telecommunications technology.
Fuigeres was
contracted by H. F. Desarrollos
Interdisciplinarios S. A. (H.F.
DISA), that is controlled by the
Roberto Hidalgo Araya, who was
adviser to the Figuered
administration of 1994-1998.
The La Nación says that Hidalgo
turned to Figueres for help for
his knowledge in the promoting
the telecom technology and his
experience in business.
Figueres is a member of the
Board of Digital Nations
Consortium (since 2000), a new
program launched by MIT's Lab in
the USA and since late 2000
became Managing Director of the
World Economic Forum (WEF),
overseeing the Centre for the
Global Agenda, based in Geneva,
Switzerland.
The WEF is one of the most
influential private
organizations in the world. The
World Economic Forum is an
independent international
organization committed to
improving the state of the
world.
La Nación says it tried to reach
Figueres by telephoe, however
they were unable to in time for
today's edition, due to the time
difference between Costa Rica
and Switzerland.
Figueres' legal representative
in Costa Rica did however tell
La Nación that the contract with
H. F. DISA is legal and based on
the knowledge don José María has
in the field on an international
level. Mario Soto Baltodano said
that there is no conflict of
interest, the ex-president is
free to provide services to
companies that are providers to
the state.
Nobel Prize winner, Óscar Arias
Sánchez, who belongs to the same
party as Figueres, the Partido
Liberacion Nacional (PLN),
considers the actions by
Figueres "a betrayal to the
ideals and inheritance of Don
Pepe (José María Figueres
Ferrer)".
Don Pepe, father of
Figueres Olsen, defeated
Rafael Angel Calderón's father
(also named Rafael Angel
Calderón) following the civil
war in 1948 and later proved to
be one of Costa Rica's most
influential leaders, as head of
the Founding Junta of the Second
Republic of Costa Rica.
Under Ferrer's leadership, the
Junta made vast reforms in
policy and civil rights. Women
and blacks gained the vote, the
communist party was banned,
banks were nationalized, and
presidential term limits
established. Ferrer was
immensely popular, creating a
political legacy.
Figueres Olsen is the third
former president in the last few
months to be linked to having
received large sums of money
from companies dealing with the
government. Former president
Rafael Angel Calderón
(1990-1994) is sitting in jail,
while Miguel Angel Rodríguez
(1998-2002) is under house
arrest, both being accused of
corruption and illegal
enrichment.
Pacheco To Apologize For
Rodríguez Corruption
President Abel Pacheco announced
Tuesday that he will apologize
for having promoted ex-president
Miguel Angel Rodríguez
Echeverria to become Secretary
General of the Organization of
American States (OAS).
According to Pacheco, he will
apologize during the upcoming
summit of the Group of Rio,
scheduled in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, for November before each
of the heads of state of Latin
America for "promoting a certain
person," referring to Rodríguez.
Rodríguez resigned as OAS
Secretary General after being at
the post for less than a month,
under tremendous pressures from
within the OAS and Costa Rica
and the issuance of an
International Warrant, that
placed him on an INTERPOL list
of being one of 18 Costa Ricans
wanted worldwide, because of his
involvement in a corruption
scandal in Costa Rica.
Rodríguez is accused of
receiving payment from the
French telecommunications firm,
Alcatel, with respect to a
us$149 million dollar contract
to provide the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) with 400.000 GSM cellular
telephone lines.
Rodríguez is also being
investigated for having received
money from the government of
Taiwan while in the presidential
office.
Rodríguez is currently under
house arrest for six months,
while an appeal by the Fiscalía
(prosecutor's office) is
scheduled to be heard tomorrow
(Thursday).
The Fiscalía requested nine
months of preventive detention
(jail) for the former president,
as they did with Rafael Angel
Calderón, who will spend the
next six months in the La
Reforma prison.
Calderón is being held in
preventive detention while the
Fiscalía continues to
investigate allegations of his
involvement in the Fischel-Caja
scandal, where a part of us$39
million dollars loan from the
government of Finland, for the
purchase of equipment, ended up
in accounts held by Calderón and
other public functionaries.
The Group of Rio is made up of
19 countries: Argentina, Panama,
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay,
Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The meeting will also be
participated by representative
of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Study Reveals Costa Rica in Need
of Change
The latest report "Informe
del Estado de la Nación" - state
of the nation - reveals many
truths about Costa Ricans.
The study includes more than 200
persons interviewed about their
"Switzerland of Central America"
and where the nation in headed.
The latest report tells of the
changes Costa Rica has seen:
- In one year the country went
from 3.050.556 to 4.169.730
inhabitants
- There are more people living
in urban areas than the year
before
- Costa Rican has more
foreigners now than ever before
- The longevity rate went from
76.8 to 78.4 years
The report also shows that in
the next thirty years for every
person celebrating their 15th
birthday, another is celebrating
their 65th. The study reveals
that there will be more older
and less births.
Costa Rica has more rich and
more poor. Murder, violent
deaths and deaths from traffic
accidents continue to increase,
at a time when people are no
longer believing in their
politicians.
Those interviewed were asked if
they would support a coup d'etat.
Surprisingly, most said yes.
Experts believe that that means
the country is needing of
change.
Slippery Scammer An Elusive
Daddy, Too
By
Douglas Montero, New York Post,
Online Edition
Convicted New York con
man Brett Lurie shamelessly used
his young sons in his plot to
flee the United States - and
then virtually abandoned the
boys in Costa Rica with only an
ex-hooker and a nanny to care
for them, The Post has learned.
While their dad travels and
dodges the law, the boys,
Edward, now 14, and Jesse, 13,
live a "sad," "unstable" life
alone at Lurie's secluded,
50-acre beachfront spread near
Jaco, worried friends, neighbors
and teachers told The Post.
Lurie's Colombian wife, Natalia
Perez Tabares, 23 - a former San
José prostitute he married last
year - sends cash and stops by
"once a month" to check the boys
and property, Lurie employees
and business associates say.
A Colombian nanny, Doña Marina,
64, cleans the house and keeps
an eye on the boys. The brothers
regularly eat their meals alone
at local restaurants. A taxi
driver takes them to school.
"They love their dad - he takes
care of them as well as he could
under these circumstances," said
a real-estate agent who sold
Lurie his property. "But they're
kids, and they are suffering."
They're "unstable, rebellious,
uncommunicative and angry," said
Olga Roncancio, the boys'
principal at the Centro
Educative Immaculada Bilingue
School.
"There's nobody to give them
discipline and love."
Marina denied being paid to care
for the boys and claims she
hasn't spoken to their dad.
While concerned about the boys,
she insisted, "They live better
than most children."
Lurie had raised his sons by
himself in the United States
after splitting with their mom
years ago.
He was convicted of scamming two
Queens, New York, co-ops
in 1994. After convincing a
sentencing judge in 2001 that he
needed more time to sort out
matters with his sons, he bolted
the country with the boys.
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