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Rodriguez Elected as OAS Secretary
General
The Organization of American States elected former
Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez as the
group's next secretary general, replacing Colombian
Cesar Gaviria, whose second five-year term expires
in September.
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Guido Alvarado, director general
de la Interpol, Costa Rica.
Intepol celebrated it's 50th
year in Costa Rica on June 4. |
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U.S. Foundation Supports Costa
Rican Eco-Agri-Business School
With funding from The Lemelson Foundation, EARTH
University in Costa Rica is beginning to explore
ways to implement Lemelson's Invention for
Sustainable Development Program in Central America.
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U.S. Is Now Pursuing Americans
Who Commit Sex Crimes Overseas
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
and JAMES DAO
One suspect was a convicted pedophile
from Baltimore accused of molesting boys in two
Asian countries. Another was a doctor from Georgia
who the Russian police said drugged his young
victims in a St. Petersburg hotel. A third was a
retired Army sergeant from Seattle who may have
molested up to 50 children.
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story
Interpol Celebrates 50 Years in Costa Rica
The international agency
Interpol celebrates 50 years in Costa Rica.
Since it's beginning here, ten Costa Ricans, experts
in international capture, are hard at work on the
heels of criminals who take refuge in Costa Rica.
Located in the La Sabana, west of San José, the
organization, created on June 4, 1954, celebrated
it's 50th year,. The organization works under the
umbrella of the Dirección de Inteligencia y
Seguridad (DIS) and Ministerio de la Presidencia.
The DIS is a secret police organization that gathers
intelligence for the different police organisms in
the country.
According to Guido Alvarado, director of the
Interpol Costa Rica, 'international crimes' has been
on the increase due to easier movements of criminals
from one jurisdiction to another. The major crimes
Interpol follows up on are terrorist acts, drug
trafficking, trafficking of persons and the sexual
exploitation of minors, that are all covered under
international conventions between nations. However,
their activity is not restricted solely to the
foregoing crimes, their range is broad.
A major problem for police authorities worldwide is
the exchange of information, identification of
criminals as they move from one place to another and
the process of extradition, that can get
complicated. A new computer system called the I-24-7
has helped the organization to increase their
capture success rate.
In the last 50 years, Interpol in Costa Rica has
been successful in capturing some 2.500 criminals
hiding out in Costa Rica. In the years 2002 and
2003, 65 criminals were captured.
This year to date there have been 15 arrests:
- Januray 27: Madeleine Sauer and Charles J.
Mullender, wanted in Spain for tax evasion
- February 4: Costa Rican Eduardo Soto, wanted in
the U.S. for aggravated assault his daughter four
year old daughter when she was six months old
- Februart 6: Larry Stockett Allan, an American
wanted in the U.S. for fraud
- March 11: Julia Yvonne Elliot, holding dual
citizenship in Granadina and Barbados, wanted in
Canada for murder
- March 17: Costa Rican, Ricardo Alvarado Cordero,
wanted in Costa Rica for fraud
- March 23: Italian, Danielle Zanella, for
international drug trafficking
- March 29: Nicaraguan, Kadir Colindre Martínez, for
murder in Nicaragua
- April 19: Frederic Fleurbaey wanted in Belgium for
tax evasion and stock fraud
- May 5: Costa Rican, Jorge Santana Espinoza Lépiz,
for rape
- May 8: Antonio Enrique Shakespeare Mejía, who is a
naturalized Panamanian of Salvadoran origin linked
to an organized gang and having committed murder
- May 11: Italian, Ilvo Usai, wanted in his country
for fraudulent bankruptcy
- May 13: Costa Rican, Guillermo Enrique Herrera
Araya, arrested at the Panamanian border for evading
justice after being sentenced to 12 years in prison
for trafficking cocaine back in 1989
- May 20: American, Arthur Carl Kanev, who was met
by Interpol agents following his arrival from the
U.S. after being extradited to Costa Rica
- May 21: American, Mark Patrick Ariail, wanted in
the U.S. on six counts of cruelty to minors and one
count of physical violence against a minor.
News
Summary
- More than 6.000 traffic fines have been issued to
drivers and passengers during the last tow weeks for
failing to use their deal belts. The fine is for
¢10.000. Transit officials also remind of their
effort to reduce drinking and driving and said that
during the same two week period, 200 licenses were
suspended of drivers driving under the influence.
- A new board of directors to the CCSS - Caja
Costarricense de Seguro Social - could be names
within a week.
- President Abel Pacheco said he was please that
former Costa Rican President, Miguel Angel
Rodriguez, was elected Secretary General of the OAS
- Private sector workers are asking for a 9.4%
increase in their salaries for the second half of
this year. The increase is based on an increase in
consumer prices and a continued devaluation of the
Colon against the Dollar.
- Riteve SyC, who has the contract for all vehicular
revision in the country is considering suing the
Costa Rican government for $3.4 million. Riteve says
the governments refusal to increase the rates that
can be charged by Riteve is a total violation of
their agreement. Riteve says their rates are
currently 38% lower than what was proposed in their
agreement. The increase would see a jump from the
current ¢8.544 to ¢13.844 for the technical revision
of a passenger vehicle.
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Top
drug suspects caught in Mexico
Mexican authorities announced Monday the
capture of two key members of a Mexican drug cartel
who had been on the most wanted list of the US
Department of Justice.
The capture of Jorge Aureliano Felix and Efrain
Perez was announced at a press conference co-hosted
by Mexico's Attorney-General Rafael Macedo de la
Concha and Defense Minister Gerardo Clemente Vega
Garcia.
The capture was made Thursday along the Mexican-US
border. Yet Francisco Javier Arellano Felix, chief
operative of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix
cartel, is still at large, according to the
officials.
The Arellano Felix cartel dominates drug trafficking
in Mexico and traffics an average of 450 tons of
cocaine to the United States each year.
Mexico's attorney-general said Aureliano Felix and
Perez will be tried first in Mexico before facing
extradition to the United States.
He added that the capture of Aureliano Felix and
Perez is expected to isolate Arellano Felix and the
Mexican police will strengthen its man-hunt in the
border area to capture the wanted as quickly as
possible.
Arellano Felix took charge of the Arellano Felix
cartel in March 2002 after its former chief Benjamin
Arellano Felix was caught by police, according to
the attorney-general.
The Arellano Felix cartel controls drug trafficking
in the Mexican states of Baja California, Sinaloa
and Jalisco while three other major groups also
remain active in the country.
Powell, OAS chief hail Venezuelan recall referendum
US Secretary of State Colin Powell and
the new secretary-general of the Organization of
American States (OAS), Miguel Angel Rodriguez,
hailed Monday the upcoming recall referendum in
Venezuela.
"We share the happiness we both had, that the
Venezuelan process would embark on the road of
constitutionality, democracy and an electoral and
peaceful solution," Rodriguez said after meeting
with Powell.
The former Costa Rican president was elected Monday
to replace Colombian Cesar Gaviria as the OAS chief
at the 34th OAS assembly which began on Sunday and
will end on Tuesday.
Powell reiterated US support to the Venezuelan
people in their search for a constitutional way out
of the political crisis in their country.
Last week, Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE)
announced that the opposition had gathered the
required votes to trigger a recall referendum
against President Hugo Chavez.
Rodriguez said Powell had also expressed his
country's interestin a solution to the political and
economic crisis in Haiti.
The new OAS chief said he and Powell shared concern
for the need not just to consolidate the
institutions in Haiti but also tofight the chronic
poverty in the country.
Rodriguez said his most important aim is to prove
through Haitithat the Americas could take on a very
difficult problem and solveit.
He quoted Powell as saying the United States has
increased its aid for Haiti from 55 million US
dollars to 160 million dollars out of the US budget
for the fiscal year beginning October.
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