Migracíon "Mark of the Devil, According to New Security Minister
The new Ministro de Gobernación y Seguridad, Fernando Berrocal, declared yesterday that the corruption at Migración (immigration) is "marca diablo" - mark of the devil!

According Berrocal, the network of employees, lawyers and foreigners dedicated to illegal trafficking of visa is a time-bomb. The minister said that the illegal activity generated us$46 million dollars last year alone and that was only marketing to Orientals.

Berrocal confirmed that each year some 3.000 visas are issued to restricted countries and 1.500 of those are to the Chinese.

"According to the OIJ investigation, those visas go out for between us$25.000 and us$30.000", Minister Berrocal told the Spanish language newspaper Al Día in an interview.

Berrocal added that the Fiscal General, Francisco Dall'Anese, and OIJ director, Jorge Rojas, have investigations in the "advanced" stage of what is happening at immigration.

"The business is big and complicated. It is an investigation that sooner or later will be made public as the cases are brought before the Ministerio Público", said the minister.

Minister Berrocal explained that the chain of events begins the moment that a Chinese national is located in some part of the world. From there begins the journey to South and Central America.

The minister could not say who is responsible or behind this network, just that the Ministerio Público can only determine that once the investigations are complete.

Cubans are also on the high list of buyers of visas.

Currenlty, there are 133 countries on the "restricted" list, countries that require a visa before entering Costa Rica. Minister Berrocal said that his people are looking at the list and will be making changes, since the inclusion of some countries has now become "absurd", since, without naming specific countries, where communist countries but are no longer and have become part of the European Union.

One of the priorities high on the Minister's list is controlling the border at Sixaola, a border with Panama that has been a favourite for smuggling into Costa Rica since there are little to no controls there.

In controlling its borders, Berrocal added that he will be seeking help from the international community, especially the Nicaraguans.