Figueres Says 'He Will Come Back'
In a radio interview from Madrid, Spain, former president José María Figueres Olsen told the audience of Nuesta Voz on Radio Monumental, that he supports the presidential candidature of Oscar Arias and yes, he will be back in Costa Rica to face the legislative commission and answer their questions, but won't be part of the "political game" that is being mounted against him.

Figueres told the audience that he firmly supports Oscar Arias in the 2006 presidential race if and when he is declared leader of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN), though he is inactive in current Costa Rican politics.

"I have great respect for Arias and have spoken to him in the past and is a man with great experience and will serve Costa Rica well", Figueres said.

Figueres would not comment on the recent resignation of José Miguel Corrales, Antonio Álvarez Desanti and of his own brother, Mariano Figueres, to the PLN party.

Asked of his refusal to return to Costa Rica and the possibility that today (Tuesday) there may be charges filed against him to force him to return, the former president, said he "will" return to Costa Rica but "will" not be part of the game that is being played against him.

He said he will not return to be placed in the spotlight as many would like to do. He said that he sent legislatures a complete file of his involvement in the Alcatel contract to provide consulting fees and of his compensation of us$906.000 dollars.

Figueres denied having been notified by the International Police organization - INTERPOL - of the latest request by the legislative commission of his presence to give testimony and to refute any evidence against him.

"Of course I will be back and have great interest in clearing things up, but, I have no interest of doing so as part of a political game...", Figueres told the radio audience.

He made it clear that his situation is completely different than that of former president Miguel Angel Rodríguez, who was handcuffed and scurried to prison when he set foot on Costa Rican soil several months ago, though that is not the reason why is taking his time to get back to Costa Rica.

Figueres closed the raid program telling the audience that he continues to work in the international arena related to high technology and environmental issues and expects to be in Costa Rica some time soon.

Woman Survives Eight Bullets By Her Boyfriend
Lady luck was on the side of a 21 year old woman in Desamparados (south of San José) yesterday when her boyfriend fired eight bullets into her when she decided to break up with him. Miraculously, the woman arrived at the Hospital San Juan de Díos conscious.

Stephanie Miranda Herrera, a mother of two little girls - four and seven - was attended to by Red Cross workers when they were called to the scene. She suffered from three bullet wounds to her right leg, four to the leg leg and one to her pelvis.

The attack came early yesterday morning when a man identified only by his last name, Aguilar, visited the woman and tried to convince her to take him back. When she refused, the man became enraged and shot the woman, witnesses told police investigating the scene.

Police searched the area and did not come up with their suspect. No one could give police precise details of the events. Most neighbours who heard the commotion took cover when they heard gun shots and did not see the man flee. Police went to the man's home, but did not find him there either. Meanwhile, the woman is recovering from her wounds.

Cellular Lines All Used Up
Looking to get a cell phone? Forget it. There are no more lines and ICE has it's hands tied to get more any time soon.

We confirmed yesterday with workers at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) Pavas office that the remaining TDMA lines had all been taken and that at this time there was no way to obtain new cellular service in Costa Rica.

The wait time at the Pavas office was under 1/2 hour, where in recent months was two hours or more, as customer service representatives kept themselves busy attending to current cellular customers, but could not offer a new connection.

In Costa Rica there are currently 944.000 cellular service subscribers - 400.000 GSM and 544.000 TDMA. Last month ICE announced that the remaining 18.000 TDMA available lines that were used by in less than 6 weeks.

And there is no clear date in sight when new lines might be available.

The Ericsson contract to provide 600.000 new GSM lines is still up in the air, being batted back and forth - the Contraloría is not giving it's required approval, though the Constitutional Court (Sala IV) voted in favour of the Ericsson appeal - Costa Ricans will have to wait. And that could be anywhere from 12-18 months if a new contract is to be tendered.

Those with faith are holding firm that the Ericsson contract will be approved and that the new lines could be available as early as this December.

In December of 2002, ICE awarded the us$130 million dollar contract to the Ericsson company for the installation of 600.000 GSM lines that would have been available last December. However, impropriaties with the way the contract was awarded and the discovery that several key ICE employees met with Ericsson Costa Rica officials in Europe last spring, led to problems with the required approvals by the Contraloría (Comptroller's office).

The current situation is reminiscent of years past in Costa Rica when Costa Ricans had to wait for up to a year to get connected to cellular service. Before the introduction of the GSM network, Costa Ricans anxiously waited for "their number" to be published in the daily newspaper La Nación to make the visit to the ICE offices to get their cellular telephone connected.

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Costa Rica's Railway Being Stolen and Shipped to the Orient A world steel shortage is hitting close to home. The high price of steel has seen criminal groups dedicate themselves to the stealing of the country's railway system. Rails, nails and including entire rail overpasses are being dismantled and sold to a Oriental organization that the criminals bring them. Police officials say that the Southern zone of Costa Rica is the area most affected by this new type of crime. Police say that local groups steal the metal and then melt it down and shipped to destinations in the Orient. Several criminals are already facing trial in Limón, Cartago and recently in Orotina, where police caught the criminals red handed. The criminal activity is a real probelm for the Instituto Nacional Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (INCOFER) - the national railway company - that is planning on re-introducing train service to Costa Rica and will need to invest in replacing missing parts of the rail system. Currently, train service is provided between San José and Puntarenas - mostly as a tourist operation than actual commuter service - and in the Matina/Limón area, used to transport banana crops to packing plants. The steel in Costa Rica's rail system is fetches a high price on world markets, being an older product which is of better quality than that used in the construction of today's railways. Police say that these criminal groups are getting rich at the cost of the Costa Ricans and are adamant to put a stop to it.