A Week in Review - 20 - 29
December 2004
Ex-President Calderón
Continues Jailed
Former President of Costa Rica
Rafael Angel Calderon
(1990-1994), who is involved in
a corruption scandal, expected
to leave prison on December 22,
just in time to spend the
holiday season with his family,
remained behind bars in La
Reforma prison after a judge
ruled that his imprisonment
continue for another six months.
According to Judge Carmen Peraza,
Calderón has contacts, assets,
and companies abroad that point
to the fact that, if released,
he could flee Costa Rica.
One fact that was basic in the
judge's decision was efforts by
Calderón to "erase" evidence
against him or to "create"
evidence on his favour. In the
latter, there is information
that Calderon's daughters Gloria
and Gabriela partook in the
efforts.
The Fiscalía (prosecutor's
office) made an application
before the court on Friday -
three days before Calderón's
release date - but was not made
public until the judge ruled
late on Monday.
On December 22, the former
president completed two months
of preventive detention. A judge
had ruled that the former
president spend nine months
behind bars but was later
overturned on appeal.
Prison and Justice officials
said that neither Calderón nor
the other ex-President jailed,
Miguel Angel Rodríguez
(1998-2002), received any
special treatment for the
holidays, both remaining in
their cells - secluded from the
other inmates - for their own
security.
Some inmates have been
complaining to the press, in
letters to the daily newspapers,
that they are not happy with the
special treatment the former
presidents are getting at their
expense. Some claim that
Calderón and Rodríguez have been
receiving long, personal visits,
access to computers and
telephones, while they live in
overcrowded conditions.
Figueres in Default
Former president of Costa
Rica Jose Maria Figueres
(1994-1998) was declared in
default as a result of his
refusal to appear before the
special Legislative Commission.
The decision was made in order
to fulfill a requirement of the
International Police (INTERPOL),
which otherwise would not act to
bring Figueres back from Europe.
The law-enforcement agency had
also requested that a date be
set for Figueres to appear
before the Commission, and it
was established for 1 p.m. on
February 3, 2005.
Figueres is linked with payments
to politicians and, admitted
receiving us $900,000 from the
French telecommunications firm
Alcatel through a former
government aide, Roberto
Hidalgo. Figueres says the
payment was for a consulting fee
base on a contract between a
Hidalgo company and Alcatel.
He has been summoned by the
Commission several times, but
has excused himself every time.
Now, he has the choice of
voluntarily returning or of
waiting for his arrest by
international authorities.
EU Seeks Agreement with Central
America
Signing a trade agreement with
Central America stands out in
the European Union's agenda for
2005.
This was acknowledged by the
Tomas Abadia, permanent delegate
of the European Commission to
Costa Rica, in an interview for
the daily Spanish language
newspaper La Nación.
According to the delegate, there
are excellent conditions for the
trade agreement with the region,
for which the EU is the second
major trade partner, after the
United States. He pointed out
that a joint commission will
start the discussion leading to
the agreement in Brussels next
month.
Abadia also explained the extent
of the General Preference System
(GPS-Plus), from which Costa
Rica is to benefit as of next
year, since it exceeds the
criteria -mainly environmental
and related to sustainable
development- established. This
means that Costa Rica will be
allowed to continue duty-free
exports to the EU for the years
2005 through 2009.
$11 per Passport?
Immigration officials in Costa
Rica have launched an
investigation on the organized
illegal trade of passports.
The authorities have found that
poor Costa Ricans are paid the
expenses to obtain a passport
and are then rewarded with an
average $11 for each document
that they surrender to criminals
who specialize on forging them.
Some of those who have partaken
in the deal state that they have
been moved by the chance to make
some money in order to meet
basic needs, like feeding their
families.
Criminals have a high preference
for Tico passports, particularly
because many countries do not
require a visa from Costa
Ricans.
Reports from Europe and other
parts of the world establish the
detection and arrest of people
who are not Costa Ricans bearing
forged Tico passports.
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43 Political Parties Registered
Resulting from a loss of faith
in the two traditional major
parties and the scandals
involving their leaders, Costa
Rican is witnessing a
proliferation of parties, so
much so that - according to the
Supreme Election Tribunal - 43
groups have registered for the
February 2006 national election.
The sources add that there are
scant chances the figure will
remain close to its actual size,
since several organizations are
planning to register new parties
before the deadline for 2006,
which is June 6, 2005.
Trade Deficit, $1.8 billion
The cumulate trade deficit - the
negative difference between
exports and imports - from
January through November, 2004,
reached us$1.8 billion.
This figure surpasses the one
for the same period in 2003 by
us$430 million, when it reached
us$1.37 billion, according to
the Central Bank of Costa Rica.
The increases in the price of
oil, rice, beans, wheat, and raw
materials resulted in the larger
deficit.
The first 11 months this year,
imports surpassed us$7.59
billion, 8 percent more than in
2003. According to the Bank,
purchases of oil will amount to
us$723 million by the end of the
year, 37 percent above the
figure for 2003. On the other
hand, overall exports increased
by 2.3 percent to over us$5.76
billion, in the 11 months
analyzed. According to Central
Bank chairman Francisco
Gutierrez, if the exports of
high-technology -mainly Intel's-
are not included, the sales
abroad increased by 10.7
percent.
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