The formal taxi drivers - the red cars with the yellow triangle with a taxi license plate - are bitterly upset with the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) for not controlling the informal taxi or "piratas" problem.

The written statement included some 800 signatures of formal taxi drivers who are threatening to take to the streets within the next 8 days if the MOPT doesn't complete it's promises made over the last several months.

The MOPT promised to fine piratas ¢100.000 colones for providing the services of illegal transport, however, only one case has resulted from the action.

The MOPT has about 150 cars on hold, confiscated from those who were assumed to be working as piratas. But that is not enough for the formal taxis.

In some areas, especially outside of San José, informal taxis provide service with impunity, picking up customers on the streets like formal taxis and clearly marking their cars of their services.

Informal taxis have argued that they provide a private service to customers, picking them up at appointed time and places and do not pick up customers on the fly and cruising the streets for business.

They say that this private service is permitted under the current Transport laws.

Formal taxi drivers argue differently, saying that piratas commonly pick up customers on the streets and that they are taking away business from them. The argue the cost of the taxi license plates, insurance and other costs to comply with regulations, while piratas don't have to adhere to any such regulations and costs>

Also, they argue that the safety and security of the passengers is compromised with piratas, since they don't comply with licensing regulations, customers who are overcharged or experience a problem with the service, don't have any recourses.

Drug Gang Busted
The "anti-drug" police (Policía de Control de Drogas) arrested seven persons in Limon yesterday in their fight against drug trafficking.

Police had suspicion that the men were involved in the illegal transport of Heroin from Costa Rica to the United States, in an investigation that had been underway for more than a year and a half.

Yesterday's raid and arrests were part of a plan that police had put into place for the last few months. In total, 30 people have been arrested or detained for illicit international traffic of heroin.

Local and international police forces were involved in the investigation that led to the arrests.

Rogelio Ramos, Minister of Public Security, which heads the police force, said that "this is one of the most important operations we've had in our battle against drugs and in particular involving heroin."

The group's organization used merchant ships and in some cases tour boats to get the drugs from the Puerto Limón to the U.S.

Police say there able to confiscate about 25 kilos of Heroin in yesterday's bust. The group had been under police surveillance and it is estimated that they shipped from Costa Rica an average of 5 kilos of Heroin per month.

The group had also been responsible for the local distribution of the drug and police are content that they've made a dent in the local market with yesterday's operative.
 

Confusion About Airport Tax
There has been some confusion following our story the other day about the airport exit tax. As of April 25 everyone pays the $26. airport tax to leave the Juan Santamaria airport in San José. Prior to that, Costa Rican nationals and residents were paying the higher tax of $43, while visitors paid the lower tax.

However, residents - those foreigners holding a temporary residency cedula - must also continue to pay the $20 special tax.

So, to clear the confusion, this is how the tax is applies: all Costa Rican nationals and visitors must pay $26 the airport tax, while foreigners with a temporary residency cedula must pay $46. ($26 plus the $20 tax).

The tax authority say the additional $20 is for a consular stamp.
 

Olympics Soccer:
Ten Men’s Teams already Qualified for Athens
Ten teams have already qualified for the Men’s Olympic Soccer Tournament in Athens. The teams that have qualified so far are: Greece, Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Paraguay and Tunisia.
 

Mexico defends double-murder conviction in Inter-American Court
For the first time, Mexico appeared before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica on Tuesday to defend the conviction of a Chicago-born U.S. citizen who allegedly was tortured into confessing to a double-murder 12 years ago.

Alphonso Martin del Campo Dodd, 38, is serving a 50-year sentence in Pachuca state prison for the killing of his sister and her husband. But his case has been championed by human rights organizations convinced he is an innocent victim of Mexico's history of relying on forced confessions to solve crimes.

"This is the last opportunity for Alphonso to find some justice on this Earth," said Arturo Requesens, a human rights attorney who presented Martin's case Tuesday. "We have exhausted all other remedies."

Last year, Mexico rejected a recommendation by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to release Martin. Now the court, a tribunal tied to the commission, could order Mexico to release Martin. Government attorneys argued Tuesday that the court has no right to hear a case that occurred before it was created in 1998.

The court was established to oversee compliance with the American Convention on Human Rights, which Mexico signed in 1981. Tuesday's hearing was for the tribunal to decide whether to accept Martin's appeal, which was rejected by four Mexican courts.

The case has been touchy for the government of President Vicente Fox, who has boasted of raising human rights as a priority. Under him, Mexico has signed several human rights treaties and promoted international tribunals as an additional recourse for victims.

On Monday, Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, the Foreign Ministry's chief of human rights affairs, declined to discuss the merits of the conviction, but said Mexico would argue that the case is too old to be considered by the court.

"We don't come here with the attitude that we are in the dock of the accused. We come here to argue a legal controversy, a difference of opinion we have with the (commission)," Gomez said in a conference call with reporters.

The family says the last two weeks have been hard because Martin's mother, Bessie, 67, has been hospitalized after her fourth heart attack. Martin hasn't seen her since Christmas, when she was last strong enough to go to the prison.

At Martin's trial, police said a drunken Martin repeatedly stabbed his sister and her husband because of a dispute over a $70 car repair bill.

The conviction rested almost exclusively on Martin's confession, which he said he gave only after police repeatedly held a bag over his head. Later, one of Martin's police interrogators was suspended after admitting he tortured him.

Martin's attorneys argue that the court in Costa Rica should have jurisdiction because Martin's imprisonment is a continuing violation of his human rights. They say his rights also were violated because Mexico did not allow him to consult with the U.S. consulate after his arrest.

Earlier this month, Mexico won a victory on a similar point in the international court at The Hague, which ordered the United States to review more than 50 death sentences against Mexican nationals because the convicts were not allowed access to consular advice.

Menem says he will return to Argentina if judges are changed
 Former Argentine President Carlos Menem, who currently is in exile here in this Chilean capital city, said Tuesday that he will only return to his country if the judges who issued international warrants for his arrest are replaced by more impartial officials.

Menem accused Judges Norberto Oyarbide and Jorge Urso of being part of the "political persecution" planned against him by incumbent Argentine President Nestor Kirchner's government.

"Of course, when those two judges are changed, I will be there. (But) if they come to Chile to question me, there is no inconvenience, because here there are guarantees that I do not have in Argentina," the former Argentine leader said.

He said he has enough confidence that the arrest warrants would be disregarded by Chilean justice because "they were wrongly stated and there are no crimes" (on his part).

Both Urso and Oyarbide issued international warrants for Menem's arrest after he had repeatedly failed to appear in court to give testimony on charges that he embezzled up to 60 million US dollars of public funds during his 1989-1999 rule.

He is also accused of accepting commission from a Swiss account reportedly containing 600,000 dollars and announcing the assets when he was sworn in.

Menem said both judges "received directives from the justice minister" and Kirchner's government "has a lot of authoritarianism and nothing democratic."

"There is no democracy because it has exerted a lot of authoritarian pressure on the press and that gives no guarantee to those who have worked 10 years with all their strength," Menem said.

The 73-year-old Menem, who served as Argentine president from 1989 to 1999, is now living in neighboring Chile with his Chilean wife and a newly born son.

He refused to return to Argentina, saying he would get an unfair trial.
 

Guatemala before International Court for "Disappearance" of Child
It has been 22 years since the whereabouts of Marco Antonio Molina Theissen has been known. He was 14 years old when, on October 6th, 1981, members of the Guatemalan state security forces kidnapped him from his home.

Because of this “disappearance”, the Inter American Court of Human Rights in San José, Costa Rica, convened this week to hear yet another case against the State of Guatemala for grave violations against children’s human rights.

One of the expert witnesses is Axel Mejía, Coordinator of Casa Alianza’s Program “Search and Reunite” (Busqueda y Re-encuentro), which is trying to reunite supposedly orphan children from the country’s civil war with their lost parents or family. Casa Alianza Guatemala is the coordinator of the National Commission on the Search for Disappeared Children in Guatemala, which was formed as part of the Guatemalan Peace Accords in 1998.

During the last three years, the efforts of Casa Alianza and the Commission have enabled over 100 family reunions. In some cases, the boys and girls had been adopted or were raised by other families in Guatemala or another country.

Casa Alianza’s “Search and Reunite” program, in conjunction with eight other member organizations, works to locate the children who “disappeared” during the civil war in Guatemala and today, having become adults, are searching for knowledge about their families.

“We have the role of expert witness in the Marco Antonio Molina case. We are hoping to prove that the State of Guatemala practiced the forced disappearance of children in military operatives against the civil population as part of its counterinsurgent policy”, indicated Mejía upon his arrival in Costa Rica.

The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), which represents the family of the disappeared child, is hoping that the State of Guatemala will assume responsibility for what occurred and offer reparation to the victims. CEJIL and Casa Alianza have coordinated actions in countless cases before the Inter-American Commission and Court on Human Rights. Both organizations have taken the States of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

The disappearance of Marco Antonio occurred when three of Guatemala’s State security apparatus entered his family’s home. They beat the boy’s mother and subsequently kidnapped the boy. Days beforehand, Marco Antonio’s sister had been arbitrarily detained and tortured by members of the Guatemalan army, but she managed to escape after nine long days of detention. The illegal entry of the three police agents into the house and the disappearance of the child were seemingly reprisals for the girl’s escape from the military torture.

According to statistics from the Human Rights Commission of Guatemala, the main human rights abuses against children during the 36 years of civil war were arbitrary executions (43%) followed by torture (14%).

“Children paid a high price during the armed conflict, often with their lives. Guatemala should face the charges and own up to State sponsored terror that persisted during the armed conflict”, stated Bruce Harris, Casa Alianza’s Regional Director for Latin American Programs.

In 1999, the State of Guatemala was convicted for the detention, torture and assassination of street children Henry Giovanni Contreras, Federico Clemente Figueroa Túnchez, Julio Roberto Caal Sandoval and Jovito Josué Juárez Cifuentes and the murder of Anstraum Villagrán Morales. Four police offiers executed the street children.

This case, brought by Casa Alianza and CEJIL, was the first time in the twenty year history of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, where the victims of violations of the American Convention on Human Rights were children.