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>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
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A publication of Destiny Worldwide Net
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Also Visit the Costa Rica Page:
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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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*Calendar/Exchange Rate

*News Digest


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LUXURY OFFICES FOR RENT IN SAN PEDRO!
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TWo small luxury offices are available for immediate occupancy in
the finest office building in San Pedro Montes de Oca. High speed
internet available. Building has power generator so when power
outages occur, YOUR business is not interrupted. Can be used as
professional offices or turn key call center. Email us at
porongo@safe-mail.net for full details and to make arrangements to
talk to the listing agent.

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FEATURE ARTICLE
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WHAT'S NEW AT THE COSTA RICA PAGE!
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Our real estate section has just been totally updated with lots of
new listings, mostly in the residential real estate section, but also
we have a new rental on the rental page and some new additions to the
land for sale section.

http://www.destiny-worldwide.net/costa-rica/real.htm

We are adding new things every day, and when our merger comes with
COSTARICACENTER.COM, we will have a fully operational Mercado Central
for you to buy Costa Rican products over the internet from local merchants
[if you have a reputable business here, and want to sell through the
Mercado, just let us know. We can help you to accept credit cards and
all the major e-currencies on the net! We break through the Great Barrier
that many Costa Rican merchants face getting their products on the net!].

Hotels and tourist businesses will be able to add their own links, and you
will be able to place your own online classifieds and MUCH MUCH MORE!

Watch this newsletter for our official launch, coming soon!

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CALENDAR, EXCHANGE RATES
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Sinatra Forever
Rick Michel will perform songs by Frank Sinatra, such as “ New York , New

York ,” “Come Fly with Me,” 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow at the National

Theater in downtown San José . Info: 221-5341.

Healthy Cooking
Organic food, solar stoves, marimba concert, poetry, and more, 7 a.m.-1 p.m.

Saturday at the Casa del Sol, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Guanacaste. Info:

681-1015, 371-7677.

Japanese Animation Festival
Festival offers fun for all ages, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday at CENAC, Av. 3,

Ca. 15 in San José . Info: 221-2154.


Dollar Exchange:

Central Bank
Reference Rate


Buy
¢451.03

Sell
¢452.47
CR Colon:


CAD
366.137

GBP
815.321


EURO
569.137

JPY
4.170


NIO
27.348

RUB
15.370

US Dollar:


BZD
0.5063

GTQ
0.1255


HNL
0.0527

SVC
0.1142


NIO
0.0618

PAB
0.9950

05 Nov 2004


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NEWS DIGEST
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*Do You Have an Unpaid Traffic Ticket?

Hello, this is COSEVI calling. Your traffic fine is overdue for payment!
That is one option the Consejo de Seguridad Vial (Cosevi) is considering

calling drivers to remind them of their outstanding traffic tickets and
to pay up and the easiest way to do so.

Collecting unpaid traffic tickets is a headache for the Cosevi as it
has to, in most cases, wait until license renewal to get paid, which
can be from 2 - 5 years. An estimated ¢30 million colones is due on
traffic fines each year or 45% of all outstanding traffic tickets.


*Jailed Ex-Presidents Unhappy With Their Current Living Arrangements

Former president, Rafael Angel Calderón, did not like his current
living arrangements. He made his appeal to the courts for a change,
asking to be placed under house arrest, in exchange for a jail cell
in La Reforma prison, for the next 8 1/2 months.

The La Reforma prison is getting overcrowded with former politicians.

Yesterday, former Labour Minister, Farid Ayales, joined former
presidents Calderón and Rodríguez in the largest prison in Costa Rica.

Ayales, a minister in the Figueres Olsen administration, was convicted
in 2000 for fraud and given 8 years in prison. In 2003 an appeals court

lowered the sentence to 4 years and given house arrest following three
years in prison. However, he broke that condition and yesterday judicial

officials waited for him when he returned home to take him back to prison.

Calderón made his appeal before a judge and then was taken to the
Clínica Católica, in Goicoechea, suffering from high blood pressure
and an increase in his heart rate, according to the doctors.

Doctors at the hospital say the former president is stable, arriving
at the hospital a little after 5pm yesterday.

Calderón has now completed 13 days of his nine months of preventive
detention and is appealing the decision by judge Carmen María Peraza,
set on October 22.

Across the hallway in the La Reforma cell block is former president
Miguel Angel Rodríguez, who is also unhappy with is living arrangements.

Rodríguez was ordered under house arrest following his return to Costa
Rica last October 15. The Fiscalía appealed the judge's ordered and a

Superior Court overturned the decision and ordered Rodríguez to
preventive detention in La Reforma for six months.

Rodríguez cannot appeal the latest decision, and must wait for the
mandatory three months before a review, so he has taken to the media
to express his feelings.

By way of his lawyer, Rafael Gairaud, Rodríguez issued a statement that
.said he has been victim of a lynching since his return to Costa Rica.

In the statement he criticized the media for having access to restricted

areas of the airport and filming his arrest, being led off the arriving

airplane in handcuffs by judicial agents.

He questioned the "right to be heard". He said "he has been condemned
and sent to prison".

Rodríguez also criticized the Fiscalía for leaking reports and
information to the press. He said that there exists in Costa Rica
regulations that prohibit the publication of information in files,
however, in his case, moments after any decision, the information was
in the news.

Rodríguez also questioned the flip-flop of last Friday afternoon. What

happened between 2pm and 4pm? when the media was telling that the house

arrest would certainly be continued, then by the end of the day, the
judge made the ruling for preventive detention.

Rodríguez, in the statement written in his own hand writing, asked
several questions: "Is it the Fiscalía and the press that now convict
in Costa Rica? Are we going to put aside the courts and replace them
with lynching? Where are we going?"

Rodríguez concluded his statement with "the answer is with each of us,
just remember what history has taught us, today me, tomorrow you."


*Unions To Show Their Discontent With Corruption

Members of the Movimiento Cívico Nacional and the ANEP will travel today
in a caravan that will include automobiles, buses and trucks, from
San Ramón through downtown San José to presidential house in Zapote to

present Minister for the Presidency, Lineth Saborio, a letter stating
their unhappiness with corruption in Costa Rica, the Riteve and the TLC
(Free Trade Agreement) situation that everyone seems to have forgotten
over the scandals of late.


*Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico to Serve on U.N. Economic Council

Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico are three of 18 countries recently elected
as new members of the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a panel
that coordinates development work for the world body.

In an October 29 statement, the U.N. said the Latin American nations
will begin three-year terms on the council on January 1, 2005.

The United Nations said that every year its General Assembly elects a
third of ECOSOC's 54-nation roster of members, choosing candidates
according to a pre-arranged formula of geographic distribution. At any
one time, 14 members must be from Africa, 11 from Asia, six from
Eastern Europe, 10 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 13 from
the category called "Western Europe and other States."

The United States, Belize, Canada, Colombia and Panama are some of the

nations that will complete their three-year terms on the council at the
end of 2006, the United Nations said.

ECOSOC is responsible for promoting higher standards of living, full

employment and economic and social progress; identifying solutions to

international economic, social and health problems; helping in
international cultural and educational cooperation; and encouraging
universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. ECOSOC's
purview extends to over 70 percent of the human and financial resources
of the entire U.N. system.

The United Nations said ECOSOC also is regularly given additional tasks,

including supervising and promoting the U.N. Millennium Development Goals,

which are a set of eight time-bound targets that include the halving of

extreme poverty in the world by 2015.


*Alcatel Faces Informal SEC Inquiry

Alcatel's troubles in Costa Rica could lead to a United States
Security Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation, according to
documents filed with the Commission.

For now, the SEC is only launching an "informal inquiry," according to
a form F-3 filed by Alcatel on Wednesday. The form also says Alcatel
has told the SEC and the U.S. Department of Justice that it would
cooperate with any investigation, although it's unclear whether either

organization will formally look into the matter.

The troubles stem from a bribery scandal where payments were allegedly
made to "various state and local officials in Costa Rica," two political

parties in Costa Rica, and representatives of Grupo ICE, the state-owned

telephone company, on behalf of Alcatel, according to the SEC filing.

The accusations led Alcatel to launch an internal investigation.

An Oct. 27 press release from Alcatel noted the termination of "two
senior employees" and an intent to pursue criminal charges. One of the

officials apparently was Edgar Valverde, president of Alcatel's Costa
Rican operations, who was detained by officials last month. The other

employee is described by the filing as "a vice president-Latin America
of a French subsidiary."

Alcatel is terminating its contracts with the local consultants involved
in the scandal and is "in the process of pursuing criminal actions"
against them as well.

Costa Rican officials have investigations of their own going on, and
the F-3 form notes that if they find Alcatel violated the law, it's
possible the company could be barred from bidding for contracts for a
time.

This would be a public relations blow to the company but would have

relatively little financial impact. Alcatel was expecting $26 million
from Costa Rican contracts in 2004, according to the filing.


*Daniel Oduber Airport Getting Relief

The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) has announced a plan, that
will include more personnel and added security and efficiency at the
Daniel Oduber airport in Liberia, where more than 180.000 visitors are

expected to arrive for the season starting next month.

The Cámara Nacional de Turismo (Canatur) and the Cámara de Turismo de

Guanacaste, had asked the ICT for help following a report last September
that the airport would not be able to handle the increased traffic this

summer season.

The Daniel Oduber airport has grown exponentially over the last nine
years. From a small airport that handled only regional flights, now will
be handling 14 flights a week, with addition of the newest flights by
TACA from San José, Air Canada that will be flying directly from Toronto
and US Airways who will add a third flight a week in February.

A commission that was set up to study and make recommendations to deal
with the increased traffic at the airport recommended that the airport

increase it's hours of operation, that will now be from 6am to 8pm, add
more immigration and security personnel.

The announcement also said that "Eco Desarrollo Papagayo" is donating
two quadracycles and an automobile to add security to the airport

surroundings.

The airport, unlike the Juan Santamaria airport in San José, lays
dormant between flights. It springs to life as a flight is about to
arrive and goes back to sleep after it leaves. The airport is minutes
from the town of Liberia, but more important, within less than one hour
of most of the Guancaste beaches, including Papagayo, Tamarindo and
Flamingo.

In the past, visitors had to land in San José and then either make a

connecting flight on a regional airline or make the 4-5 hour bus or car
ride and the additional cost.

With flights now coming directly into the Daniel Oduber airport, visitors
can now be on the beach in less than an hour from the airplane touching
down.


*Legislators Reject Videoconference Meeting Proposed by Figueres

A Costa Rican legislative commission yesterday rejected the possibility
that former President José María Figueres be allowed to explain via

video-conference, from Switzerland, the circumstances under which he
received more than $900,000 in payments from the French
telecommunications giant Alcatel.

The legislators demanded that Figueres, who served as President from

1994-1998, present himself before the Legislative Assembly's Commission
on Public Expenditures Dec. 9, as they requested last week.

Figueres responded with a letter saying that a videoconference would be
the best option to “be able to make the appointment rapidly,” because,
he said, until the end of November he has various appointments to
attend in Geneva , Bangkok , Berlin and Brussels . He did not specify
what the appointments would be.

Legislators told the press that if Figueres does not present himself
before authorities here, they might ask the Prosecutor's Office to
request an international capture order for him.

The Prosecutor's Office announced Tuesday that it would investigate the

payments made to Figueres, but that the former head of state is not a
suspect of any crime.

Allegations of the payments prompted Figueres to resign as the head of
the private, Swiss-based World Economic Forum because his work for
Alcatel constituted a conflict of interest, though he maintains he is
not guilty of any wrongdoing.

Figueres is one of three former leaders of Costa Rica to be implicated
in alleged corruption scandals.

Former Presidents Rafael Ángel Calderón (1990-1994), and Miguel Ángel

Rodríguez (1998-2002) are currently in custody while the Prosecutor's
Office investigates the allegations.



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