Harris May be Extradited, Honduran Prosecutor Says
Ovidio Navarro, Honduras' prosecutor, informs that Honduras will ask for Bruce Harris' extradition if there is evidence that he committed a crime in that country.

Today's Stories: Harris May be Extradited, Honduran Prosecutor Says Two Arabs Arrested with False Passports Heading for Canada No Al Aleteo Families Ask for Government Help Their Loved One in the Caymans Did You Know?

If your last name begins with C through F, this is your week to make a claim for your deposit at Banco ELCA. The Asociación Bancaria Costarricense (ABC), is fulfilling it's promise to make good on small deposits up to ¢500.000 colones. The payment is only available to individuals and not corporate entities. The Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras (SUGEF) is expected to make an announcement by the end of this month on the future of the bank.

Did you Know? Despite being one of the world’s most renowned and important coffee producers, most Costa Ricans haven’t tasted an espresso, mocha coffee or Iced Coffee!

Harris was fired from Casa Alianza, a non governmental agency that has been fighting sexual exploitation in Central America, is being investigated by Honduran authorities for have paid for sexual favours of a young Honduran boy.

Harris has admitted to his "15 minute mistake", however, claims that the boy was not a minor and no crime was committed.

Honduran officials, however, are looking into the conduct of Harris and any illegal actions that may have come from the incident. The boy had been a resident at Casa Alianza in Honduras during 2003.

Covenant House, headquartered in New York, is the parent of Casa Alianza and in press release of Friday made it known that Harris had been fired and not that Harris had retired, as it had been first reported.

The firing of Harris has had a large impart in Central America, especially in Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica, where Harris has been defending children from sexual predators for the last 15 years.

Nora Urbina, a child welfare prosecutor in Houndars, said that her office needs to establish is the sex was consentual as Harris claims or otherwise. The young boy made the complaint to authorities on Thursday.

Óscar Álvarez, Minister of Security in Honduras, says that they have had more than 60 accusations from Harris in the past and this situation nows leaves them with a bad taste.

Irma Benavides, a spokesperson for Caza Alianza in Honduras, told the press that "Casa Alianza in Houndars will do what has to be done."

In the year 2000, Harris was the motivating force behind an ABC news team that first openly reported "sex tourism" in Costa Rica, embarrasing then president Miguel Angel Rodriguez, who on U.S. national television was quoted as saying that there only 20-30 child prostitues in Costa Rica, while Harris claimed there to be thousands.

The situation got worse as more international news teams descended on Costa Rica with all types of reports of child sex prostitution, abuse of minors by tourists, mainly Americans, and Costa Rican being promoted as a "sex haven".

Bruce Harris, has been a constant critic of the Costa Rican government efforts to stop all so-called "sex tours" to Costa Rica.

This April, the "Michigan Boys" scandal - a group of Michigan residents that visited Flamingo Beach and reportedly used the services of prostitutes while pretending to be on a fishing trip - again made the headlines for Harris.

"The situation of the sex tourism trip by the Michigan Boys has caused a tremendous reaction here in Costa Rica," said Harris to the international press.

Harris talk about the Michigan Boys as "it’s sort of like a myth here. They’re known. We know what’s going on. They’ve been here year after year and it’s one of the sad situations for Costa Rica".

Harris continued to say, "Supposedly they come on fishing trips, but when you start to hear some of the stories, it’s a lot more than fishing that they’re hooking into...  It wasn’t just the Michigan Boys who were caught with their pants down. The minister of public security is being asked why they did not have the information about this trip and now we are certainly looking into a whole series of other trips that are planned and being promoted on the internet who are using Costa Rica as a destination for sex tourism.... Costa Rica is being prostituted as a country and the public here is outraged."

Authorities in Costa Rica has assured their counterparts in Honduras to offer their full assistance in the investigation against Harris.

Rosalía Gil, Costa Rica's Ministra de la Niñez and president of PANI, the child welfare agency, confirmed yesterday that she will receive any complaints against Harris. Gil, says that any person with a complaint against the man will be received by her agency, but not by institutions who may have been a target of Harris in the past.

Two Arabs Arrested with False Passports Heading for Canada
Costa Rican immigration officials yesterday alerted the FBI in the U.S. and Interpol of the arrival in Costa Rica of two Jordanian nationals, who were heading for Toronto, Canada, carrying false passports.

Marco Badilla, head of the Extranjería y Migración (Costa Rican immigration service) told at a press conference that the call to international security services is part of regular business, when they receive Arab nationals and especially when carrying falsified documentation.

The detection was made at the Juan Santamaria airport yesterday morning when the two men arrived on a TACA flight from Honduras. The two men, according to police information, left Jordan on September 5, headed for Spain, then Cuba and Guatemala, where they were able to purchase a Belgian and a French passport for US$1.000, that took them to Honduras and then Costa Rica.

According to Badilla, their luck ran out in Costa Rica, due to the abilities and to the astuteness of his officials at the airport.

Costa Rican immigration officials saw it strange that the pair would travel South through Central America to go North to Canada, especially when they tried to bribe security officials at the airport to get them through the lines faster.

The two men whose real names were Fawaz Ne’ Meh Mousa Alabawi and Mohammada Nassar were travelling under the names of Sylvain Marcel Hurel Yannic and Maximilien O. Regout.

Immigration officials speculate that the men came to Costa Rica since it is the only country with a direct flight to Canada (San José - Toronto on Air Canada).

No Al Aleteo
Costa Ricans on Friday marched through the streets of Puntarenas, Costa Rica’s largest Pacific port, against shark finning and calling on Customs to enforce the national Customs law which says foreign vessels may not land at private docks.

PRETOMA. a Costa Rican non-profit, non-governmental, marine conservation organization that works to promote responsible fisheries and protect sea turtles, sharks and marine biodiversity, says that foreign vessel landings at private docks are a major concern due to the hundreds of tons of shark fins that these vessels land, and the fact that not even government inspectors have free access to the private docks to supervise the landings and protect the public interest.

The march was attended by students from schools in Puntarenas, national fishermen, members of the Puntarenas community, 15 NGO's ((Non-governmental organizations associated with the United Nations) as well as students and faculty from Costa Rica’s two largest universities.

The event began at the city’s Marine Park with presentations from grade school students such as dances and songs related to protecting the ocean, as well as short speeches from NGO leaders.

From Marine Park, all participants marched through the streets cheering and chanting slogans.

The march and message were directed at Customs which invites foreign shark finning vessels to land at private docks in violation of the very Costa Rican Customs Law.

The marchers gathered round the Customs office waving banners and group chanting, “No to Shark Finning. Enforce the law in the Private Docks.”

“By allowing foreign shark finning vessels to illegally land at private docks the Costa Rican government is promoting shark finning,” said Randall Arauz, President of PRETOMA.

“And by promoting shark finning the Costa Rican government is doing two things: promoting the unsustainable depletion of ocean resources that our national fishermen need to make a living, and failing to protect the oceans for future generations of Costa Ricans.”

Families Ask for Government Help Their Loved One in the Caymans
Hurricane Ivan has been the strongest of this hurricane season, whose path left destruction in at least 12 countries, including the Cayman Islands.

Though Costa Rica is not in the path of any hurricane, Costa Ricans living in the Caymans are. And the families of those affected are asking the Costa Rican government to come to their aid to bring their loved ones home.

Ivan caused sufferable material damage to homes and many residents of the small island are still without water, electrical power and without communications.

Estimates are that there are about 300 Ticos affected by the hurricane.

A mission from the Costa Rican Red Cross is expected to leave today for the island to evaluate and assess the damage caused by Ivan, with the possibility of bringing back those Ticos most affected.

This year there have been more Hurricanes and Tropical Storms than in past years.
The Hurricane season officially begins in the first week in June and ends in the last days of November.