Sunday 16 February 2003
An Update
At the current time, there are two MAJOR strategies that are actively being pursued:
1. The UCCR
The UCCR´s´s hiring of Attorney José Miguel Villalobos to turn
the Costa Rican public opinion around and to file suit against the Costa Rican government.
Ultimately, the UCCR with José Miguel Villalobos as their
'big dog' want to bring a negotiated settlement. This effort is for
good for the investors, so that at the very least they can
recover part, if not all, of their investments. And maybe get
some interest payments for some bonus.
To this action. there are two clear concerns: the cost and
where is Enrique and his efforts?
The action by the UCCR is to recover the investor money. Based
on their analysis, they can only do that if Enrique is cleared
of all charges and the way is paved for him to return to Costa
Rica, with the money of course.
Some believe, and if you read the material from the UCCR, at
one point, they - the UCCR - were so confident that a
written statement on the pledge was to guarantee Enrique's
payment to his investors.
We quote directly from the UCCR pledge form "...
but we guarantee that when LEV returns he will find a way to
adjust his payments to cover the costs incurred by each one of
us in helping his return."
The UCCR is actively and aggressively trying to raise the
money. There is, and according to a UCCR statement, an offer
from one of the more fortunate investors who is willing to pay
the first $100.000 to get the whole thing started, with the
condition that Enrique endorse the whole process.
He, wants Enrique to communicate his acceptance of the action
being pursued by the UCCR and let everyone know his
intentions. After all what is accomplished if the government
backs down, drops the charges, clears Enrique's name and
Enrique chooses not to return, or worse to pay his investors?
2. Class Action Center
The Class Action Center has engage a Canadian law firm to
enter into the international treaty/law area known as the ICSID
(International Arbitration) associated with the World Bank. This
action is also against the Costa Rican government, and we assume that
this is also a strategy to bring a negotiated settlement.
Costa
Rica became a member of ICSID in 1993 and has additional
bilateral investment protection agreements with Canada,
Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium-Luxembourg,
Holland, and Spain.
As
an ICSID member and under bilateral investment protection
agreements, the Republic of Costa Rica has the legal and
international obligation to protect foreign investment in
Costa Rica. This
has not been accomplished.
The one concern with this action is the cost formula to each
investor. Obviously, if it is going to be a negotiated settlement, then there
is the same concern of whether Enrique has ¨the¨ investors money.
The Class Action Center has filed under the Canadian Freedom of Information Act to get
the original RCMP request to the Costa Rican Government which set in
motion the warrant that ultimately caused the attack on Enrique
office.
We expect either the CAC lawyers or José Miguel Villalobos will get the
Costa Rican warrant.
This strategy could be successful if there is arbitration
imposed on the Costa Rica government. The
government of Costa Rica cannot refuse ICSID arbitration and
must respect the decisions and orders of ICSID arbitration.
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