Wednesday 10 September
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
No More Secrets With The
Press, Acting President
Promises
Legislators Resume
Work On Organized Crime Bill
Próspero Fernández
With Partial Closing Starting Tonight
No Mercy For Haiti In
World Cup Soccer Play
Snow In Costa Rica?
It Sure Looked Like It!
Canadian Police Donates
Body Armour
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No More Secrets With The
Press, Acting President
Promises
Acting president, Laura
Chinchilla, said that
"from now on there will
be nothing left out of
the press", referring to
the controversy over the
sale of Costa Rican
bonds to China.
Chinchilla made the
declaration following
the report by Costa
Rican ambassador to
China, Antonio Burgués,
of his knowledge of the
us$150 million dollar
transaction that
occurred last January
23.
Following denial of any
knowledge of the deal
and that the bonds were
being safe kept in the
vaults of the BCR bank,
of which the ambassador
is a founder and
shareholder, Burgués
sent a letter to the
Ministerio de Relaciones
Exteriores (Foreign
Ministry), at the behest
of the government, of
his detailed knowledge
of the transaction.
Acting president
Chinchilla said she is
satisfied by the report,
a report she considers
detailed and establishes
that the diplomat did
not influence that the
bonds be kept with the
BCT, a private bank and
not a state bank as
would have been more in
tradition with such
transactions.
"We have take a very
close look at the
response by don Antonio.
All the information and
documents surrounding th
subject have been placed
on the websites of the
Cancillería (Foreign
ministry) and that of
the Ministerio de la
Presidencia
(presidential ministry.
We are giving asbolute
guarantee that all the
information known on the
subject has become
known, not only to the
national press, but to
any citizen who has an
interest in the matter",
said Chinchilla.
The acting president
added that "I can
guarantee that from now
on nothing will be left
out of the press".
Chinchilla, who is Costa
Rica's vice-president
and ministra de Justicia
and is acting president
while Oscar Arias is on
a tour of Euorpe,
assured that she has met
with the ministro de
Hacienda, Guillermo
Zúñiga and the acting
Foreign minister, Edgar
Ugalde, on Monday to
co-ordinate that all the
information provided by
Burgués was made public.
"The most important
thing here is that all
the information reported
is guaranteed", said
Chinchilla.
The information only
came to light after the
government was pressured
into revealing details
of the transaction that
took place more than
eight months ago and
only under pressure from
the media did president
Arias explain some of
the details of the
transaction,
particularly the low
interest rate paid on
the bonds. And it wasn't
until pressure from the
press did the connection
between the ambassador,
the bonds and his ties
to the BCT, was
revealed. |
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Laura Chinchilla, acting president and potential
candidate for the 2010 presidential elections, vowed to
keep nothing from the press following the controversy of
the Costa Rican ambassador to China and the bond
purchase by the Asian nation.
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