Costa Rican Politicians
Demand More Info On
Colombian Guerrilla Ties
Costa Rican legislators
on Monday demanded the
government provide more
information on
allegations that
Colombian guerrillas
have ties to local
politicians and have
stashed hundreds of
thousands of dollars in
the country.
A computer confiscated
during a March 1 raid by
Colombia's army on a
jungle camp of the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC),
Raúl Reyes, contained
files that suggested
there were ties between
the leftist guerrilla
group and Costa Rican
contacts, including
politicians, the
ministro de Seguridad
Pública,Fernando
Berrocal said Saturday.
"On this computer
there's more - I'm not
going to tell you now
but the country will
soon find out," Berrocal
said.
The computer also
contained information
that led to the seizure
Friday of us$480.000
that allegedly belonged
to the FARC from a Costa
Rican professor's home
in Heredia.
The raided house belongs
to a retired university
professor, Francisco
Gutierrez, who was out
of the country at the
time of the seizure. He
returned to Costa Rica
on Sunday, but said
through his wife, Cruz
Mary Prado Rojas, that he
would only speak to
reporters after talking
to authorities.
Former presidential
candidate for the
Partido Liberación
Nacional (PLN), Rolando
Araya, is being linked
to a friendship with
Gutierrez, who is
believed to have ties to
the FARC for more than a
decade.
The Fiscal General,
Francisco Dall'Anese, on
Monday said no charges
were pending against
Gutierrez in Costa Rica,
but is still under
investigation.
Local television news
channel 7, Telenoticias,
says it has in its
possession a notarized
document, dated December
16, 1997, Prado power of
attorney. The document,
notarized by Rafael
Salazar Fonseca, in
Barva de Heredia, was
signed by Rodrigo Granda
Escobar, known as the "canciller"
of the FARC.
The document provides
concrete evidence of the
relationship between
Prado and the FARC
rebel, who until a few
months ago was in the
custody in Colombia, who
later died in a
confrontation with the
Colombian military.
As the investigation by
authorities and the
press continues, it has
been found that in 2005,
Granda was in Costa Rica
and purchased a home in
Tuetal Sur de Alajuela,
which was later sold to
another FARC rebel,
Hernando Venegas Tolosa,
a Colombian national who
was in Costa Rica as a
refugee and now living
in Switzerland. |
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