Former President Rodriguez Pays Back Loans
Over the past month or so we all forgot about the two former presidents - Miguel Ángel Rodríguez and Rafael Ángel Calderón - sitting in La Reforma prison Alajuela as the Fiscalía (Prosecutor's office) continues the investigation into the corruption scandals of the two "Ángels".

Last Friday, defense lawyers for Rodríguez made a deposit at the Fiscalía the sum of us$139.000 dollars in two deposits. The reason for the payment given was that the former president was returning a loan to his former minister, José Antonio Lobo, money he lent to finance the campaign for the Secretary post at the Organization of American States (OAS), a post Rodríguez was forced to abandon only after a month in office.

The detainment of Rodríguez came after Lobo had tolf the Fiscalía that he had received us$2.4 million dollars from the French telecommunications firm Alcatel, as the "premio" or prize for being awarded the contract to install 400.000 GSM cellular lines

Lobo was a board director at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) and former member of the Rodríguez administration between 1998 and 2002 and told prosecutors that Miguel Ángel had demanded a 60% cut of the prize.

Lobo also told prosecutors that the former president had accepted two payments; one made out to Rodríguez's wife, Lorena Clare, in the amount of us$58.000 and another for us$82.000 to a firm names AyZ, and assured prosecutors that it was not a loan.

Rodriguez in a statement said that the repayment was part of the us$140.000 dollars Lobo had lent him. With that frame of mind, Rodriguez stays firm that the deposit made at the Fiscalía, a cheque for us$58.000 and another for us$81.000 is repayment to Lobo.

Rafael Gairaud, lawyer for Rodríguez, said "Lobo's version is frankly opposite to that of Miguel Ángel and evidently is part of Mr. Lobo's strategy. Eventually a court will determine which of the two is right...".

No mention was made by either Rodríguez or his lawyer on the payments for hundreds of thousands of dollars received by the former president's wife made by Lobo's wife.

Lobo maintains firm that any and all payments made to the former president and his wife were part of the Alcatel prize money and not a loan.

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The Zurqui Gives Up Two Bodies The "Zurqui", the mountainous area that separates the Central Valley from the Atlantic region is well known to Costa Ricans for holding "skeletons". And yesterday, it gave it up two of them. A group of tourists on the Braulio Carrillo road that leads to Limón made the gruesome discovery as they made a "pit" stop by the roadside. The location was kilometre 23. At kilometre 18, authorities made the discovery of another body. The identity of the two bodies - skeletal remains - is unknown at this time. Authorities say that the bodies are of two males and appear to have been executed and thrown over the side of the road. The first partial skeletal remain found mid morning at kilometer 23 had a fracture to the skull and had his feet tied. Authorities say that the body had been set on fire but it did not reach the lower extremities. Near the body, two plastic bottles which are believed to have contained a flammable liquid and a lighter to set the fire. The second body found at kilometre 18 of the highway had been wrapped in a blanket and thrown over the side of the road and left to decompose. Police believe that the body had been carried in the trunk of car and then dumped where it was found. The body was found in a n advanced state of decomposition. Authorities made the observation that both bodies had the same type and colour of rope tying the feet. Jorge Rovira, director of the rescue operation for the Red Cross, told news reporters, "where there are two bodies, there could be three.." and would lead his team to search the surrounding area.   Villalobos Preliminary Hearing Underway Tuesday February 1 was the first day of preliminary hearings in the Ofinter case, the Villalobos or "the Brothers" operation suspected of financial irregularities. Osvaldo Villalobos, one half of the Brothers, will be facing the tribunal alone as his brother, Enrique is still whereabouts unknown and has an international warrant for his capture against him. The preliminary session is to last during the whole month of February, allowing those who made complaints against the Villalobos to be heard by the judges.

Want to be president of Costa Rica in 2006?
Better hurry, you have until Monday to give your public service post.

Article 6 of the Código Electoral - Elections Code - vice presidents, ministers, court justices, officials of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones, the director of the Registro Civil, directors and managers of public institutions, as well as the Comptroller and sub-Comptroller, have until Monday February 7 to resign their posts if they want to run in the 2006 presidential elections.