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Lawyer Held Hostage By Two
Prisoners
Two prisoners at the Unidad de
Admisión de San Sebastián, in
San José, held a lawyer hostage
for more than two hours, with
the only demand that they be
transferred to other jails.
The situation occurred at
2:05pm, when one of the
prisoners took 36 year old
Mariela Romero Villalobos, a
lawyer on business in the jail.
Nelson Enrique Ruiz Rosales, 29,
and Martín Alexánder McLean
Picado, 18, threatened the
woman's life as members of the
Fuerza Pública, the Organismo de
Investigación Judicial (OIJ) and
Municipal police, attempted to
calm down the two men.
Shortly before 5:00pm, the twon
men gave up their hostage and
surrended to authorities without
incident. The hostage drama
ended peacefully and with no
injuries to the hostage or the
prisoners.
At the beginning of the incident
there was confusion in the
prison. However, authorities
brought situation under control
quickly and the problem was
isolated in the offices used by
lawyers to meet with their
clients.
One of the prisoners in the "área
jurídica" of the prison was
Minor Calvo, the Catholic priest
who is in the middle of a trial
accused of murder journalist
Parmenio Medina, told news
reporters by phone that the
older prisoner seems to have
planned the hostage taking,
while the younger man was near
the situation and decided to
join in the action.
The hostage takes at first
wanted to see their mothers and
then their children. Their final
demand was to be transferred to
another jail.
Fernando Ferraro, vice-minister
de Justicia, and who was
involved in all phases of the
negotiations with the prisoners,
told the press that Mariela
Romero was in good health, was
not hurt and was at home at her
parents home resting. The
vice-minister added that the two
prisoners will spend the night
at the San Sebastián and will
probably be relocated today.
Justice Minister and fist
Vice-President, Laura
Chinchilla, would not comment on
the situation, only saying that
she expects a full report on
what happened and if there was a
failure in the prison security.
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