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Costa Rica Denies
Receiving Political Donations from Taiwam
Costa
Rican Vice Foreign Minister Marco Vinicio Vargas
denied yesterday that Costa Rican President Abel
Pacheco received personal political donations
from Taiwan.
Vargas, who accompanied Pacheco on a visit to
Taiwan, told a hastily called news conference at
the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport that
Taiwanese aid to Costa Rica was used for
construction and that none of it had ever been
funnelled to any individuals.
He said he regretted that Costa Rican
newspapers published misleading reports saying
that Pacheco received US$500,000 from Taiwan
during his 2002 presidential campaign.
Vargas held the conference before Pacheco and
his entourage boarded a plane and left Taiwan
after a one-day summit in Taipei with leaders of
Taiwan and seven other Central America states.
The La Nacíon daily in San José, broke the
news about alleged mysterious donations to
Pacheco from Taiwan Wednesday when Pacheco was
in Taiwan for this summit, to the embarrassment
of his host.
Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene
Chien categorically denied that the country's
foreign aid could ever land in the pockets of
any individual or political party.
In a related story yesterday, Chien confirmed
that Taiwanese Ambassador to San José, Wang Fei,
has resigned and will be replaced by former Vice
Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Tzu-dan , who
serves as chairman in Taipei of the Coordination
Council for North American Affairs, a
organization set up to deal with the United
States after the later switched its diplomatic
recognition to Beijing in 1979.
Chien said Wang offered to quit for personal
reasons and the personnel change was set in
early August.
INCAE
Of Costa Rica Is The Best Business School In
Latin America
America Economia, Latin America's most influential regional business publication, published biweekly in Spanish and Portuguese, presents its annual ranking of the "Best Business Schools in Latin America" and "The Global MBA Ranking for Latin Americans" in its latest issue.
Leading the "Best Business Schools in Latin America" ranking for the first time is INCAE of Costa Rica, which has been in second place for the past two years.
INCAE unseats Tec de Monterrey, which topped the ranking for the past five years. Pontificia Universidad Catolica of Chile moved into third place, tied with Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, also from Chile. The Fundacao Getulio Vargas of Sao Paulo and Mexico's ITAM are in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
This year, a key variable was introduced in the ranking's methodology: the research capacity of the schools' faculty and their ability to create knowledge. According to the magazine's editors, Costa Rica's INCAE has demonstrated the greatest consistency in this area, but still has a way to go in order to compete on the same level as the top global business schools in the U.S. and Europe.
Children's Home
President Says Charges Are Baseless
The president of a children's home in Abbeville County,
South Carolina, says charges leveled against him in Costa Rica are baseless and he thinks state officials also have unfairly targeted him.
Narvin Lichfield has been told by the Department of Social Services to stay away from the Carolina Springs Academy while authorities in Costa Rica look into allegations children were held against their will and physically abused at a youth behavioral management center he owns.
Lichfield said the investigation remains open, but he thinks it will be closed by the end of the month with no charges filed.
"I've had my name destroyed. I've reviewed every document. There is no evidence," Lichfield told The Greenville News
in South Carolina, in a telephone interview from Europe.
Lichfield said the Costa Rica allegations started with a disgruntled noncustodial parent who wanted to remove her child from Lichfield's Academy at Dundee Ranch.
The angry woman went to several authorities before persuading a local prosecutor to interview the woman's daughter, Lichfield said.
While Costa Rican authorities review that case, DSS has asked Lichfield to stay away from the Carolina Springs home in Donalds.
Lichfield has agreed to stay away, but plans to return to the Carolina Springs campus at the end of the month, when he said he thinks the Costa Rica matter will be closed.
"I'd love for them to stop me on my own property. They're making an allegation that isn't true and they're putting punitive damages on me just like Costa Rica did," he said.
The home describes itself as a "specialty boarding school," providing education and behavior-modification programs. Positive behavior is rewarded with more privileges, according to a copy of the facility's policies and manual on file at DSS. Negative behavior is handled through time-out, room restriction and fines up to $5 per incident.
Carolina Springs is a different type of facility than South Carolina officials had seen before and that caused fears in the community which led to unfounded allegations, Lichfield said.
In one six-month span, officials investigated 21 allegations without finding the home at fault, he said.
DSS said it has not targeted Carolina Springs.
"All of our actions have been to do our job in making sure a facility is operating in compliance with what state laws and regulations say they need to do," said Virginia Williamson, general counsel for the agency.
Information from: The Greenville News
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Kidnapped Venezuelan opposition leader rescued
A leader of the opposition Social Christian Copei party and ex-governor of Venezuela's Tachira state, Sergio Calderon, was rescued by police after a 28-day kidnapping, official sources said Friday.
Interior Minister Lucas Rincon told local television that the rescue operation was carried out early Friday in the rural area of Tachira state. Five kidnappers were killed and two other injured on the spot.
Marcos Chavez, the director of the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigation Group, said the kidnapping was committed by a criminal ring and Colombian secret police agents helped with the search for the captured politician.
In an interview with the local television, Calderon said the kidnappers asked for a ransom. But he denied it was a political kidnapping.
He said one of the abductors wore a patch with the initials of EPL, which might signify the Colombian guerrilla People's Liberation Army.
Calderon was kidnapped by five armed men on July 26, when he was at his rural estate near the border with Colombia. Some reports said the first motivation of the kidnappers was to take Calderon's six-year-old son.
Ecuador allows ex-president to take asylum abroad
The Ecuadorian government Friday decided to conditionally allow former president Gustavo Noboa (2000-2003) to take political asylum in the Dominican Republic.
Acting Foreign Minister Patricio Zuquilanda made the announcement at a press conference, saying Ecuador had made the decision in accordance with the international agreements, but the country reserved the right to order Noboa's return if needed by justice officials.
"Ecuador clearly states that it will request the extradition of ex-president Gustavo Noboa, if the legal proceedings that have already been opened against him require it," Zuquilanda said.
Noboa, 66, sought political and diplomatic asylum in the Dominican Republic on July 28, claiming that he was suffering political persecution in Ecuador.
In May, former president Leon Febres, now a legislator, charged Noboa with the embezzlement of a large sum of money during negotiations on the country's foreign debt.
Zuquilanda, in charge of giving the document to the Dominican Ambassador to Quito, Norman Ferrera, defended that the decision does not imply political persecution against Noboa by the government.
Noboa a businessman and politically independent, came into power after an indigenous-led coup against Christian Democrat Jamil Mahuad on Jan. 21, 2000.
21 confirmed dead in Brazilian space rocket explosion
At least 21 people were killed and about 20 others injured in the Brazilian rocket explosion, the Brazilian military said on Saturday.
Initial information showed that at least 16 people were killed in the rocket explosion.
Air Force spokesman Lt. Ricardo Olanda said "We have recovered more bodies and now know of 21 dead. We don't expect number of dead will increase further."
The 2.2-million-US-dollar VLS-3 rocket, which exploded Friday when it was undergoing pre-launch tests in the Brazilian state of Maranhao, was due to take two satellites into space next Monday from the Alcantara Space Center in the northeastern state.
The rocket exploded probably due to "a failure in the ignition process" at around 1:30 p.m. local time (1630 GMT), Defense Minister Jose Viegas told reporters on Friday.
The blast at the remote base in northeastern Brazil killed mostly civilian technicians and destroyed two research satellites, Viegas said. Some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition, he added.
"The launch pad collapsed and the technicians were working there, so everything indicates they died," Viegas said. "There is no hope that there are survivors."
The VLS rocket was the third prototype in a series. The 50-ton,19-meter vehicle was one of the most simple of its type, with an orbital range of 1,000 km and could carry up to 40 tons of fuel.
This was Brazil's third attempt to send a satellite into space using its own rocket.
A rocket launched in November 1997 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean after experiencing engine problems soon after the lift-off.
In December 1999, another Brazilian rocket developed problems and failed three minutes after the lift-off. Officials destroyed the rocket by remote control.
Brazil, expecting to become the ninth country in the world to send a satellite into orbit with its own rocket, has operated a scientific space program since the early 1970s and sent its first satellite into space in 1993 on board a US Pegasus rocket. The country's space program centers on gravity research, meteorology, telecommunications and environmental research.
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