Friday 21 February 2003
A Visit with Osvaldo
By J. Duke
Mosley
On Sundays
the lines span as far as the eye can see. After a full body
search and (3) different arm stamps and even reciting the
numbers on your ID, you are allowed into hell on earth.
The number of persons on the only visiting day of the week is a full crowd. It’s elbow to elbow. This past Sunday I was
treated to a fist fight between inmates and you always
wonder who is going to get stabbed.
The
first time I met Osvaldo I saw that he looked a lot like Enrique,
only much taller. His personality is totally different than
Enrique. Enrique is military while Osvaldo is a lot more
soft spoken and smiles a lot.
I
figured he may have lost some weight since jail has that
tendency.
Osvaldo looks so out of place inside the prison.
He dresses well and is clean cut far from the image of ultra
thin and tattooed inmates. Osvaldo is not a run of the mill
inmate. His name has been plastered on every newspaper and
TV in Costa Rica. And the amounts of money
that is allegedly under management by the Villalobos
brothers makes Osvaldo a target inside the prison where the
rule of the “meanest”
do what they want is alive and well.
His
first day in jail was met by being attacked from behind and
his watch stolen, lucky it was only his watch and money they
were after.
Osvaldo
had no reservations about speaking to me the first time I
went to visit with him in jail. Time is very limited and he
always has his family there beside him, so I make sure to
have an agenda worked out in my mind and take too much of his “family
time".
I don’t
pressure him for information.
He
is not really sure of what is going on outside of the prison
walls. He relies on the information that his lawyers give him and at times it seems that we know more about the
case than his lawyers do.
This
is what Osvaldo had relayed to me:
- He
can’t understand how all of this happened.
- He
knew the government was investigating their operation
since 1999 and even facilitated some paperwork (he sent
a friend with some paperwork) to the O.I.J. The Brothers
never felt any fear for they felt they were doing
nothing wrong at all. So when they knew that the Police
were looking into their dealings back in 1999, the
“Brothers” thought well let them go ahead and
investigate.
- Even
after July the 4th, 2002 they really felt no
fear for they figured it would all be cleared up in 15
days max. And all would be back to normal.
- The
decision to shut down came overnight.
- Osvaldo
has made it clear to me that Enrique is the BOSS.
- Osvaldo
follows orders from his brother.
- Everyone’s
money is safe. Reason being it was never in the country
to begin with. What was taken was Enrique's personal bank
accounts.
- That
if the Government drops the investigation into money
laundering then Enrique would come back to face justice.
- He
has never mentioned where Enrique is nor have I asked.
- He
has said he has no idea where Enrique is.
- He
has never said how the money was made nor have I asked.
- That
they are innocent of all alleged crimes.
- That
in the worse case, if some illegal monies happened to
filter in which as far as they know is not the case,
that they did everything by the book.
- That
1 billion dollars under management is an outrageous amount of money, I took that to mean they do not have
anything near that.
- He
is ready for the long haul in jail if the need arises.
- He
has faith in GOD.
- He
takes notes and writes down all of what it said.
Osvaldo
has felt frustrated at the actions of the Courts so far. He
does not want to upset the judges or the prosecutor and
always tells me to please keep the peace and to please tell
all of the investors the same. This is understandable he is
inside surrounded by mean individuals.
These
are the words he told me before I left: "Do
everything that will HELP more than it will hurt".
J.
Duke Moseley
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