Sale of Banco Elca
Stalled
A report in the El
Financiero tells the tale of how
Banco Promérica and Banco Lafise,
two local banks and an American
group, Waterford Management
Inc., failed to complete a
purchase of Banco Elca.
Banco Elca was intervened by the
Superintendencia General de
Entidades Financieras (Sugef) on
June 29 due to irregularities in
the administration and credit
portfolio of the bank.
Currently, Carlos Alvardo,
president of the bank and two
other bank executives are
sitting out 90 days of
preventive detention since 23
July, while an investigation of
fraud and falsifying information
is bueing built against them.
Édgar Delgado Montoya, a writer
for
El Financiero,
reports that, unofficially, there were several
groups looking at buying Elca -
two foreign and two locals.
Notwithstanding, the president
of Promérica, Edgar Zürcher,
confirmed that the offer made by
SUGEF to Promérica was not very
appealing.
Gilberto Serrano, general
manager of Lafise, confirmed
that his bank was considering
the possibility, but backed down
when a detailed analysis was
made. Serrano said that the
Elca's client profile was
different that of Lafise.
El Financiero, in it's report,
claims to have obtained a copy
of the preliminary agreement
between Waterdord and Alvarado,
last June 30, one way following
the intervention by Sugef. The
offer by Waterford was to
purchase all the stock of the
financial group, including the
stocks and bonds operation,
Financorp.
A letter by Don Lester,
president of Waterford to the
Sugef, on August 4, confirmed
the group's interest to continue
negotiations. Lester, by way of
email, told El Financiero, that
due to a confidentiality clause
in the agreement he could not
comment, only to say that "he
wishes Banco Elca and it's
customers the best."
Sugef confirmed that the
negotiations with Waterford are
stalled.
No Smoking Here,
Please!
A report in Sunday's
edition of the Spanish newspaper
La Nación says that legislators
are violating anti smoking laws
in the Legislative Assembly.
The vice-president of the
legislature, Juan José Vargas,
told La Nación reporters that he
leaves the cafeteria smelling of
smoke.
Another member, Sigifredo Aiza,
a Liberation party member,
compares the "enclosure" to a
discoteque due to the all the
smoke.
Kyra De la Rosa, a member of the
PLN party, told La Nación that
eight legislators are a real
chimney.
The three legislators warn that
deputies are violating a law
that prohibits smoking in the
building has been in existence
since 1995.
De La Rosa, who is also a
doctor, warns of the effects of
second hand smoke. Gerardo
González, president of the
Legislative Assembly told the
newspaper that he "personally"
removed all the ashtrays last
Thursday from the cafeteria.
González also said that he sent
a memo to all legislators, as
well as posting signs that
prohibit smoking. González said
that is they want to smoke, they
can go outside the building.
Santa Cruz
Ordered To Clear Public Areas
The Municipality of
Santa Cruz (Guanacaste) approved
this week an order to start
demolishing houses and other
buildings in public space in the
maritime zones of
Brasilito, Tamarindo and Potrero.
A secret list is being drawn up
by the municipality, and is
believed to identify more than
50 buildings to be investigated.
A Special Commission within the
Municipal Council has given the
Mayor of Santa Cruz, Pastor
Gómez Ruiz, 30 days to adopt
what it calls “corrective
measures” to improve the archive
and database which holds
information regarding
concessions that have been
awarded.
The commission was set up after
the Comptroller’s Office issued
a scathing attack on the
Municipality over its handling
of concession land under the
Coastal Laws of the area.
In a 30-page document sent to
the Municipality, the
Comptroller’s Office ordered the
mayor to implement
“administrative actions, strict
and effective,” to put right
illegal occupation of public
zones within the maritime zone
of Santa Cruz.
The report called for the area
to be returned “in its entirety,
and without restrictions, to the
public use, that its natural
resources be protected and
conserved in an adequate manner
and that its scenic beauty be
preserved.”
Specifically, the Comptroller’s
Office report instructs the
mayor to take immediate action
over what it terms “the illegal
occupation of the restricted
zone of Brasilito Beach” in the
area known as El Precario, a
shantytown along the beach,
north of Brasilito’s main
square.
Under Costa Rica’s Maritime Zone
Law 6043 of 1977, the first 50
meters of coastline above the
high tide is considered public
zone and no construction is
allowed. In most cases, the next
150 meters is a restricted zone
which can be given in concession
by local Municipalities.
“The commission came up with
recommendations, and as part of
those we are calling for the
demolition of buildings in the
public zone,” said Councilor
Carlos Zapata Ruiz, secretary of
the internal commission.
The Most Refugees
Officials from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, representatives of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and of the International
Organization for Migrations shared information and discussed the situation
of refugees in Costa Rica.
During the last four years, Costa Rica has been the Latin American country
to receive the largest number of refugees.
According to official records, some 14,000 refugees from several countries
live here now.
Ruses of
Illegal Immigrants
Only the well-trained eyes of civil
guardsmen at a control post not far from the Panamanian border on the
Inter-American Highway prevent an Ecuadorian from fooling authorities and
continue on their way north, in pursue of the American Dream, as they
confessed after their true nationality was discovered and they were
detained.
Segundo Guaillasca and Guillermina Chica wore rubber boots and torn clothes
that made them no different from any Costa Rican farmers returning back from
work or going to the hospital because of a stomachache, as they claimed they
were suffering.
According to the police, the smugglers of illegal immigrants resort to all
sorts of tricks in order to fool the authorities of the different countries
as they forge their way up north, to the United States.
Shuttles Back to Space in 2005
NASA shuttles will go back to space
next March or April, according to Costa Rican-born astronaut Franklin Chang.
According to Chang, the leading project right now is to recover the ability
to fly in space on the shuttle.
Astronaut Chang commented on this on a visit here last July 30th, when he
attended the sinking of the patrol boat that was named after him and that
now will be an artificial reef in the Gulf of Nicoya.
Even though Chang continues working on a plasma engine that would take man
to Mars, he admitted that NASA has other immediate priorities.
Fundamentally, he pointed out, NASA strives to guarantee the security and
success of coming shuttle missions. Chang, 54, with seven shuttle missions
and 1,500 hours in space, is one of NASA's most experienced astronauts.
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