No List Of Costa
Ricans Involved With FARC
Fernando Berrocal, the
ministro de Seguridad
Pública, at the urging
of Costa Rica president,
Oscar Arais, said
yesterday that there is
no list of Costa Ricans
politicians alleged to
be tied to the Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias
de Colombia (FARC) - the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia.
The statement came after
mounting pressure by
legislators wanting
Berrocal to make any
such list public.
The possibility of such
a list existing came
following remarks by
Berrocal after the March
14 raid on a house in
Barda de Heredia where
us$480.000 cash was
found in a safe and
belonging to the
Colombian rebel group.
The find was made after
Colombian authorities
alerted their Costa
Rican counterparts of
the location of the
money in an email by
number 2 FARC commander,
Raúl Reyes, killed by
Colombian military in
Ecuador on March 1.
Berrocal suggested in
his remarks that many
things were going to
come out of those
laptops and that the
organized crime was not
only distribute drugs
but to also include
politicians who has lost
their sense of reality.
"He had better give an
explanation", Arias told
the Spanish language
daily, La Nación, adding
that if his security
minister has names, he
should come forward with
them. Arias, while
giving a speech in the
Pacific port town of
Puntarenas, urged his
minister to explain
fully his comments.
The push for the names
also came from the
Fiscal General (chief
prosecutor), Francisco
Dall'Anese.
Yesterday afternoon,
Berrocal sent a letter
to the ministro de la
Presidencia, Rodrigo
Arias, in which Berrocal
retracted his statement.
In his letter, Berrocal
denied having said that
there is an "official
list" of Costa Rican
politicians linked to
the FARC and the drug
trafficking trade.
Berrocal clarified his
statements by saying,
"what I said is that the
FARC and drug
trafficking are one and
the same. I also said
that whoever does not
understand this truth
understands nothing
about the danger and
ramifications of drug
trafficking in Costa
Rica."
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