Costa Rica Digest, Oct. 18

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*'Casa por Carcél' for Rodríguez

The La Nacion Photo Gallery of Rodriguez' arrival:
http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2004/octubre/15/galeria.html

A criminal court judge rejected yesterday the
prosecutor's request to
for a nine month preventive detention for former
president Miguel Angel

Rodríguez and ordered house arrest or 'casa por
carcél' against the man
who is accused of corruption while in office.

The new home of former president Rodríguez for the
next six months,
unless the Fiscalía wins their appeal.

Rodríguez being taken to the Clínica Católica after
suffering from

hypertension and stress.

What Does House Arrest Mean for Miguel Angel?

The detention of Miguel Angel Rodríguez in the
comfort of his home, an

apartment in San Pedro in this case, since the former
president has not

resided in Costa Rica for some time, means he will be
under guard 24 hours

and cannot leave the premises without a judicial order.

Rodríguez can only receive visitors that are his
family members and his

defence lawyer(s). He cannot receive any other visitors.

Rodríguez is also prohibited from making any
financial transactions
during the six months of detention and was ordered to
pay into court

¢250.000.000 colones (us$555.000 dollars at the
current exchange rate)
within the next 10 days as a precaution.

Judge, Carlos Jovel Sánchez, ordered six months of
house arrest for

Rodríguez, while the Fiscalía (prosecutor's office)
continues it's

investigations.

Judge Jovel also ordered that Rodríguez pay into
court the sum of

¢250.000.000 colones (us$555.000 dollars at the
current exchange rate)
and not make any financial transaction of any type
while in detention.

Francisco Dall'Anese the Fiscal General said that
the Fiscalía would
appeal the judge's decision and had begun to prepare
the case to be
heard by the judge.

Dall'Anese says there is enough evidence -
documentation and testimony -

against the former president that preventive
detention - jail - is the
where he should be.

The Fiscalía de Delitos Económicos y Anticorrupción
argued that Rodríguez
has tried to impede the investigation, in their
arguments for jail time.

The Fiscalía has three days to present their appeal.

Rodríguez was arrested last Friday as he arrived in
Costa Rica from his

office as Secretary General of the Organization of
American States (OAS)

following his resignation Friday 8 October, only a
after a few weeks of

taking office.

Rodríguez in handcuffs was rushed to the San José
courthouse in a police

wagon known as "la perrera" or kennel, denied his
diplomatic status and

immunity as still chief of the OAS.

Once at the courthouse he went before prosecutors
declaring that he is
not guilty and later in the night transferred to the
Goicochea court
house jail cells to spend the night, while waiting to
appear before a
judge.

Saturday afternoon, Rodríguez was taken to the
Clínica Católica, a
private hospital, after suffering hypertension while
he was being
interviewed by prosecutors. At the hospital a
complete medical exam was

performed. Doctors found the 64 year old former
president suffering from
high blood pressure and stress.

A judge signed the order for house arrest instead of
jail while Rodríguez
was being examined by doctors and then transferred to
an apartment in
Montes de Oca, San Pedro, his temporary home.

The judge also ordered that Rodríguez be under police
watch for his own

safety, fearing reprisals from angry Costa Ricans who
have been calling
for the man's head.

Rodríguez is being accused of "cohecho impropio y
enriquecimiento
ilícito".

Rodríguez was immediately arrested following the
landing of the Grupo
TACA aircraft that carried the ex-president and was
transferred to San
José were he made his declarations before four
prosecutors.

Rodríguez declared himself innocent after listening
to the charges
against him.

According to José Antonio Lobo, a former Minister in
the Rodríguez

administration 1998-2002) and former director the
Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (ICE), Rodríguez asked for a 60% take
of the us$2.400.000

dollars the French telecommunications firm Alcatel
paid to Lobo's wife.

Alcatel had won "the prize" in being awarded the
us$149.000.000 dollar

contract to install 400.000 GSM cellular lines in
Costa Rica.

Alcatel also paid other large sums of money to other
ICE directors and

employees. A total of us$9.900.000 dollars in payouts
or "commissions"
were paid out in deal. Alcatel president, Egar
Valverde, was arrested
last week following his firing by Alcatel and told
prosecutors that the
total cost of the contract would have been lower if
they hadn't had to
pay out so much in commissions.

Rodríguez is also being accused of received money
from the government of

Taiwan.

Former president Miguel Angel Rodríguez, allegedly
received us$200,000
in 2001 from the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry and
another us$200,000 in
2002 from the Taiwanese Embassy in San Jose.

The Taiwanese foreign ministry is denying any payoffs
to Rodríguez and
has agreed to cooperate fully with Costa Rican
authorities in providing

details of donations to projects and funds by Taiwan
to Costa Rica.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Mark Chen Chen said "Taiwan's
aid to the

international community is neither sympathy
diplomacy, money diplomacy,
nor political donations to any individual."

The Fiscalía is continuing it's investigation of
Rodríguez, following up

leads that the former president may have received
more that what has
been discovered to date. Their investigation is
complicated as it
involves bank accounts and corporations registered in
Panama, where most
of the money was deposited, and foreign governments,
like Taiwan.

The investigation gets further complicated as Lobo is
adding to his
original accusations of Rodríguez now to other public
functionaries and

employees of ICE. Lobo is being completely
cooperative with the Fiscalía,

providing them details of events that would have been
difficult to
uncover otherwise. Lobo is currently under house arrest.


*Taiwan To Explain Aid To Costa Rica

Taiwan's Foreign Minister, Tan San Chen, yesterday
noted that his
ministry will formally give an explanation to the
Costa Rican government
on Taiwan's aid to the Central American nation,
including the time of
former President Miguel Angel Rodríguez.

Foreign affairs officials yesterday also confirmed
that the government
has offered economic aid to Costa Rica but there has
never been any aid
given as political contributions. They declined to
disclose the amount
of the economic aid.

Chen reiterated that all foreign aid that Taiwan
offers is implemented
in accordance with plans and is under the supervision
of the
Legislative Yuan.

Chen was referring to allegations that Taiwan had
conducted dollar
diplomacy under the guise of foreign aid to Costa Rica.

"There were absolutely no political contributions to
Costa Rica,"
Chen stressed.

Chen made the remarks when he was campaigning for
Democratic
Progressive Party legislative candidate Lin Chung-mo.

Rodríguez has been detained for allegedly taking huge
kickbacks
from the French telecommunications company Alcatel,
and being
investigated over allegations that he received
political donations
from Taiwan.


*Prisoners Escape During Visits

Taking advantage of the Sunday visiting day, three
inmates at the La
Reforma prison, made away with the prison's pick up
truck, to escape
their incarcilation.

The three men were identified as Ramírez, who is
serving a 20 year
sentence for armed robbery, Ordóñez who is serving 18
years, also for
armed robbery and Alpizar who is doing 15 years for
murder, concurrent
with 10 years for armed robbery.

Sunday morning is visiting at most prisons in Costa
Rica, and there
generally is a lot of confusion as family member and
friends come to
make their weekly visit, to alos bring food and other
necessities, which
go to making prison life more bearable.

Authorities have begun a manhunt for three men, who
are considered
dangerous.


*Holiday Day Today

Costa Rica celebrates today the October 12 holiday,
which is now being
called "Dia de las Culturas" (Cultural Day) instead
of "Dia de la Razas"

(Race Day).

All banks and government offices are closed today.
Most offices are
closed as well, though retail stores will remain
open, especially in
the malls around the Central Valley.

The government made the announcement last week that
the day off would
be official on Monday rather than last Tuesday, to
give Ticos the long

weekend.

Labour laws stipulate a paid day off for all public
employees and
private sector employees that are are on a monthly or
bi-monthly salary.

Employees who are asked to work the holiday Monday
will be paid extra,
unless they are on a weekly salary or under a term
contract.

In the past, Costa Rica, like most of the Americas,
observed October
12 as Christopher Columbus's discovery of America.

As sentiment throughout the Americas has changed
focus in recent years,
so has Costa Rica's vision of this important date. It
now embodies a

celebration of all the peoples who constitute the
base of this country's

culture.

Recognizing the strong influence on present-day Costa
Rican culture by
the Indians, Europeans, Africans and Asians who have
settled and lived
here throughout history, Costa Rica utilizes the Día
de las Culturas to

commemorate the invaluable contributions to this
culture that is uniquely

Costarricense.




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