President Pacheco to be Censured
The Legislative Commission that
has been investigating donations
to the political parties will be
asking Congress to censure
president Abel Pacheco.
The Spanish daily newspaper
La Nación reports that five
of the seven legislators who
make up the commission have
confirmed their decision over
the irregularities that were
found in Pacheco's presidential
campaign donations.
Those who support the sanction
say that, even if Pacheco did
not handle the actual money, his
attitude has lacked interest and
he did not try clear up what
really went on.
The newspaper published the
names of those in favour of the
censure: Ronaldo Alfaro (libertario),
Luis Gerardo Villanueva (PLN),
Gloria Valerín (PUSC), Humberto
Arce (Bloque Patriótico) and
Marta Zamora (Acción Ciudadana).
The only one against the censure
is Rodolfo Delgado of the PUSC
party, the same party that
Pacheco belongs to, saying that
he participated in the Pacheco
campaign and saw no anomalies.
The commission has been working
for months, investigating
various political figures and
their campaign funding, and has
come up with really nothing,
though it is clear to many that
the PUSC political campaign
played dirty.
Censure is a process of a
Legislative reprimand - the
political equivalent of a
strongly-worded letter.
Presumably, censure of the
President would take the form of
a resolution adopted Legislature
and then publicly announced.
Legally, the resolution would
have no effect.
In an interview with the Spanish
daily newspaper Al Día,
President Pacheco said that if
Fiscal General - Chief
Prosecutor - Francisco
Dall'Anese calls on him on May
9, 2006, the after he steps down
from the presidency, he will
appear without any fear.
He told the Al Día reporters
that he has "no one pulling his
tail" and has no fear of
answering the prosecutor's
questions over the us$500.000
dollars from Taiwan and
us$100.000 from Alcatel, all
contributions to his political
campaign.
Pacheco says he will continue to
defend his position that nothing
irregular went on during the
election campaign and continues
to be a humble servant of the
people and respect for the law
as he has done all his life.
Pacheco is a president who
doesn't have or use a computer
in his duties, continues to have
lunch at the same place he has
for most of his life, will be in
Spain for Christmas, as he
always done and says he has
offers to return to television
after his done with his
presidential mandate.
The 67 year old man is a
psychiatrist, TV commentator,
businessman, politician and song
writer. Born in 1933, he is
twice married and has six
children.
Government Begins Negotiations
With Alterra
The Juan
Santamaría (San José) airport
manager Alterra Partners has
started negotiations with the
government regarding an us$18.7
million dollars claim for lost
revenue, according Alterra
executive director in Costa
Rica, Mónica Nágel.
"Negotiations - that should have
started a year ago - are to
analyze alternative solutions to
respect contracts with
international banks,"
Nágel said.
La Contraloria General de La
Republica - Costa Rica's
comptroller general -
"interpreted differently" a
contract governing the Alterra's
tariff model, causing Alterra to
suffer a shortfall in projected
income.
Specifically, the comptroller
"questioned certain development
costs and operational expenses
that were to be recovered in
tariffs - and those costs had
been approved previously by the
Costa Rican government," she
said.
The comptroller must approve any
agreement reached between the
government and Alterra. The
government will recess for the
year on December 20, meaning
negotiators aim to submit by
then "a scratch copy" of the
proposal, which is under
development.
Alterra, controlled by US
construction giant Bechtel,
signed a 20-year contract in
2002 to run operations at
Santamaría airport.
The contract called for us$120
million investments to modernize
the airport, for which Alterra
turned to ten international
banks for financing. Since March
2003, us$30 million of that
total has been held up by the
banks until arbitration is
finalized.
The Price Gasoline To Drop
Yes, you read it right.
Yesterday, the Refinadora
Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope
S.A.) has finally, for the first
time in a long time, asked for a
reduction in the price of
gasoline. It claims the drop in
the world price for crude
warrants a reduction of prices
at Costa Rican gasoline pumps.
The Autoridad Reguladora de los
Servicios Públicos (Aresep) -
the government body that
regulates public prices and
services, received the reduction
request following 11 straight
increases in the price of a
litre of gasoline.
When approved, the price att he
pumps will drop an average of
¢11.73 colones, which is
expected to take effect early
January.
The current price for a litre of
super gasoline is ¢364.90
(us$0.80), while a litre of
regular costs ¢348.9 (us$0.765)
and deisel ¢260.9 9 (us$0.572).
The price reduction will see
super drop to ¢352.858
(-¢12.042), regular to ¢337.380
(-¢11.420) and deisel ¢251.683
(-¢9.217) per litre.
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Political Parties in Latin
America, India Most Corrupt:
Report
Political parties in Latin
America, India, Indonesia, and
certain eastern European states
are judged the most corrupt,
according to a new survey
released by the group
Transparency International.
In half the 64 countries
surveyed, "political parties
were rated by the general public
as the institution most affected
by corruption," the report's
authors said on Thursday.
According to the survey carried
out by the polling company
Gallup International, Ecuador
rates worst in its population's
eyes for political corruption,
followed closely by Argentina,
Brazil, Peru and India.
Others with low grades included
Bolivia, Costa Rica,
Mexico, Indonesia, Ukraine and
Uruguay.
The countries considered to have
the most honest parties in terms
of corruption were Singapore,
the Netherlands and Albania.
Transparency International, a
Berlin-based non-governmental
organisation which evaluates and
ranks corruption around the
world, released its 2004 Global
Corruption Barometer in Paris on
Thursday to coincide with the UN
International Anti-Corruption
Day.
"As TI's world Barometer shows,
corruption remains a scourge in
many places, and many countries
and sectors of economic and
social life suffer its negative
consequences," the head of
Transparency International
France, Daniel Lebegue, told a
media conference.
He called on governments to
ratify a UN Convention Against
Corruption that would make it
easier to return assets stolen
by politicians and speed the
extradition of corrupt leaders
who have fled abroad.
The survey asked more than
50,000 respondants how they
rated their various public
institutions for corruption.
Political parties came out worst
in most of the countries,
followed by the police, customs
officers and national
parliaments.
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