Legislator Proposes Law
To End "Gavilaneo"
Anyone visiting the
immigration offices,
licensing offices, the
border control points or
many of the other public
institutions has been
approached by or has
seen gavilanes at work,
offering a better
position in a long line,
or promising to get your
case before a public
official in no time, all
for a fee.
However, if legislator
Fernando Sánchez has his
way, they will be behind
bars as the Partido
Liberación Nacional (PLN)
party legislator
submitted a bill to make
the "gavinaleo" illegal,
punishable by a jail
term.
The proposed legislation
make the resale of
public services illegal,
with a punishment of 2
to 4 years in jail for
anyone found offering
the services of public
institutions without
being a public official.
"Gavilanes" are
described as those
individuals, who for a
fee, offers another to
process rapidly a
government service or
good. The legislators
says that in many cases
the documentation
presented by gavilanes
is false, representing
themselves in an
official role when such
is not the case, and in
some cases have
defrauded their victims
by promising services,
taking the money and
then not delivering on
the promise.
The Sánchez proposal
goes further to also
allow for punishment of
government officials who
cover up the gavilanes
or who ask for a payment
of free government
services. The punishment
for public officials is
3 to 6 years jail and if
found to be covering a
network operated by
gavilanes, the jail term
could be extended to 8
years.
The proposed bill also
pretends to remove the
"good behaviour"
provisions of the
penitentiary system,
meaning the convicted
would have to serve out
the full term.
However, the bill
doesn't stop only to
punish the gavilanes and
government officials but
also those who hire the
services of a gavilan by
losing the benefit their
obtained by way of an
intermediary.
"If someone obtains a
drivers license, or a
municipal permit, the
idea is that the permit
or license would be
suspended immediately,
if it can be proven that
it was obtained by way
of a gavilan, bypassing
the process of law",
said Sánchez in
explaining his proposal.
The legislator went as
far as a person losing a
housing grant if it can
be proven that it was
obtained by
circumventing the normal
process.
Sánchez is adamant that
the gavilaneo, that is
to the detriment of all
those who users of
public services that
follow the established
procedures, must come to
an end.
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