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Corruption
Trial May Derails Calderón's Presidential
Aspirations
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Corruption
Trial May Derails Calderón's Presidential
Aspirations
Former president Rafael Angel Calderón is
not hiding the fact that he aspires to
become elected once again president and has
been making visits throughout the country
looking for votes. There is one little
problem, however, his corruption trial is
moving at a slow pace.
His father was Rafael Ángel Calderón
Guardia, who was president from 1940 to
1944.
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (born in
Diriamba, Nicaragua, on 14 March 1949)
served as President of Costa Rica from 1990
to 1994.
After an alleged corruption scandal he was
incarcerated in October 2004. He later
released under house arrest and finally
allowed free on bail waiting his trial that
started in November 2008.
In spite of the charges and the ongoing
trial, Calderón has been campaigning for his
party, the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC)
and a possible re-election for president.
The party, it appears, is waiting for him as
well. The two other major Partido Liberacion
Nacional (PLN) and the Partido Accion
Ciudadana (PAC) are in the midst of choosing
their leader for the 2010 elections.
However, all is quiet at the PUSC front. To
date no one has come forward with any party
leadership aspirations.
Calderón is alleged to have received
some us$440.000 from the Fischel Corporation
from an us$8 million dollar commission
on the purchase of medical equipment
for the Caja Costarricense de Seguridad
Social (CCSS) - Costa Rican social security
- from monies from a loan for us$39.5
million dollars from the government of
Finland.
The loan was to modernize the country's
public medical system.
Investigation into the loan revealed found
the former president involved and along with
president of the Fischel Corporation, the
country's largest chain of pharmacies,
Walter Reiche Fischel and the former
executive president of the CCSS, Eliseo
Vargas.
In total eight people are defending the
charges in a trial that some speculate is
moving at a slow pace because of political
pressure.
Although the trial may not be completed
until the end of this year, there is still
the outside chance that Calderón will run
for president in any case.
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