COSTA RICA -
Tuesday 23 November 2004
30 Years for Murder of Little
Kattia
Thirty years in prison is the
sentence against the man who
killed nine year old Kattia
Vanesa González Juárez last
year.
The penal court announced their
decision yesterday following a
two week trial, where it was
shown that Jorge Edwin Sánchez
Madrigal acted with
premeditation to attempt
sexually violate and then killed
the little girl when he believed
he would be discovered. Sánchez
has a history of murder.
The story unfolded July 4, 2003,
when little Kattia went missing.
A week later the little girl's
body was found by police who did
a complete search of the
surrounding areas where the
little girl lived and was last
seen alive.
Sánchez's house was searched
when little Kattia first
disappeared, as the house was
only meters away from the little
girl's home and was part of the
initial search police made to
find the missing girl. Police at
this time believed that little
Kattia could still be found
alive.
However, a week later, following
an anonymous tip, Sánchez became
a primary suspect and a thorough
search of his home revealed the
body of the little girl under
the floor boards of the house.
Two men were arrested following
the discovery, Sánchez and his
friend, who was later released
as it was proven that the man
was not in the house when the
little girl disappeared and was
killed and had no knowledge of
the occurrence.
Police believe the little girl
was murdered within hours of
being abducted.
The three judge panel were fully
convinced that Sanchéz acted
with malicious intent and
treachery to lure the little
girl. The court learned that his
intention had been to sexually
violate the little girl. The
court was told he did not.
However, he decided to kill the
little girl fearing his
intentions would be discovered,
as he only lived a few houses
from the little girl's home.
The judges pronounced their
sentence against the man, who
may also face civil action for
damages by the family. Sánchez
stood silent before the judges
as he heard the sentence of 30
years in prison.
Little Kattia was not the first
and only victim of Jorge Sánchez
Madrigal. Twenty one years ago,
the man killed another neighbour
while he was a minor and was set
free when he reached the age of
18.
The little girl's family were
relieved of the verdict, though
it does not bring back their
little girl or take away the
pain.
Personal Loans Between Guardia
And Calderón Questioned
The "Presidential" scandals seem
to have faded from the daily
headlines, however, the Fiscalía
has not put it aside, nor has
the local media, as they
continue to dig deeper into the
affairs of former presidents
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
(1998-2002) and Rafal Ángel
Calderón (1990-1994), as the two
men sit in prevention detention
at the La Reforma prison.
Calderón is expected to leave
the prison on December 22 when
an appeal judge overturned a
lower court judge's order for
nine months of preventive
detention.
Meanwhile Rodríguez will go
before a judge in two months for
a mandatory three month review
of his detention after an
appeals court judge overruled a
lower court judge and sent
Rodríguez to jail in stead of
house arrest.
One key player in the Calderón
case, Alfonso Guardia, a cousin
of Calderón, is being linked to
more and more payments made to
the former president and others.
Telenoticias, television
channel 7 news team, has
uncovered a payment made by
Guardia to Calderón for
us$46.000 and another of
us$41.800 to former minister for
the presidency Rina Contreras,
in March of 2003.
Guardia's lawyer send a letter
to Telenoticias
explaining that the payments are
not the only ones made my his
client to his cousin and
Contreras, as they represent
payment for a personal loan.
The letter continued to day that
'I have relied on the support of
friends and family, when they
generously lent me money for my
business ventures".
Former minister Contreras was
quoted as saying to a
Telenoticias reporter, off
camera, that "when he (Guardia)
has been in a bad way, I have
lent him money..." However,
Contreras, refused to answer
questions if the loans were
documented, the amount or
amounts and the dates.
Calderón's lawyer, Gonzalo
Castellón, in a press statement
said "Don Alfonso and don Rafael
Ángel are second cousins and
there exists a financial
relation between the two for
more than 25 years." Asked if
documentation exists of the
financial transactions,
Castellón said he cannot give a
definite answer as his client is
not available at any moment for
consultations while he is in
jail.
Both Castellón and Contreras
were quick to point out that the
payments uncovered by
Telenoticias are not related
in any way to the ICE-Alcatel
scandal, are strictly a personal
loan and based on friendship
between the parties.
Caldera Road Project Set Back,
Again
Another setback for the
Caldera-San José highway. Twenty
six years in the planning, one
bridge here, some paved road
there, the project has failed
again with the announcement
yesterday by the foreign
contractor, Concesiones Viales
S. A. (Covisa), who was awarded
the contract for the work,
telling the government it would
completely stop work on the
project.
The 76.8 kilometre road would go
from the La Sabana to Cuidad
Colon, through Orotina and end
in Caldera. It would reduce the
total trip time to less than one
half hour where it takes now
almost two hours to travel.
Ministro de Obras Publica y
Transporte (MOPT), Randall
Quirós Bustamante, said that the
project is not at a total end,
as his ministry will try to
negotiate with the firm to save
the project.
The Covisa contract was awarded
in August of 2003 and work was
to have started in July of this
year. The signs announcing the
work were erected. The cost of
the work was set at us$144
million dollars.
The reason for the Covisa
resignation from the contract,
according to the MOPT minister,
was a rise in the cost of
combustibles that have seen an
all time record high in Costa
Rica. The firm felt it could not
financially complete the
contract with the high fuel
prices that are now part of
Costa Rican life.
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United Nations Delays Action on
Human Cloning Ban
The United Nations has delayed
action on a human cloning ban.
The U.N.’s legal committee was
unable to break an impasse
between supporters of a
comprehensive ban on cloning and
backers of a proposal that would
permit the cloning of embryos
for research purposes. Research
cloning results in the
destruction of embryos.
Although Costa Rica, the
United States and other
supporters of a comprehensive
ban on cloning said they had a
majority of votes, they said it
would not have been possible to
defeat a Belgium-led strategy to
delay action for a year, the
Chicago Tribune reported.
Costa Rica had lined up
more than 60 co-sponsors for its
comprehensive prohibition, while
Belgium had about 20 co-sponsors
for its measure.
The legal committee agreed to
receive a nonbinding resolution
from Italy as the basis for
negotiations on the issue
beginning in February, according
to the Tribune.
This marked the third year the
U.N. has battled over human
cloning without adopting a ban,
according to LifeNews.com. The
legal committee debated the
issue for two days in October
but had a deadline of Nov. 19
for action.
"It's our longstanding position
that all human cloning is wrong,
and we are proud of our efforts
to prevent human cloning," U.S.
State Department spokesman Adam
Ereli said, according to
Reuters. "So the fact that there
isn't any action by the U.N. to
endorse cloning is a moderate
success."
Countries that oppose a
comprehensive ban do so
primarily in order to permit
research on stem cells extracted
from embryos.
Stem cells are the body’s master
cells that can develop into
other cells and tissues. They
are found not only in human
embryos but in adult sources,
such as bone marrow, umbilical
cord blood and placentas. The
procurement of stem cells from
an adult source does not harm
the donor.
In addition to its destructive
character, embryonic stem cell
research has experienced
multiple failures, including the
worsening of Parkinson's
symptoms in one human test group
and a tendency to produce tumors
in laboratory animals. Adult
stem cell research, meanwhile,
has already produced more than
40 treatments, including the
repair of damaged livers and
remedies for heart disease,
diabetes, multiple sclerosis and
spinal cord injuries.
United States President Bush has
urged the U.N. to pass a total
ban. In a September speech to
the General Assembly, he urged
members to vote for the Costa
Rican proposal and thereby
endorse a “basic ethical
principle: No human life should
ever be produced or destroyed
for the benefit of another.”
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