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>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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*News Digest

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LUXURY OFFICES FOR RENT IN SAN PEDRO!
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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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DISCUSSION
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costarica@destiny-worldwide.net

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NEWS DIGEST
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*Former President Figueres WILL NOT Return to Costa Rica

Former president, José María Figueres Olsen, sent a 15 page letter saying he will not come to Costa Rica and appear before the Comisión de Control de Ingreso y Gasto Público to answer questions related to his receiving us$906.000 for consulting fees from the French telecommunications firm Alcatel.

Figueres' appearance before the Comisión had been expected today at 6pm, however, he sent the letter to legislators telling that he will instead send a sworn statement detailing his actions, regarding his consulting fee.

In the letter, Figueres insisted that the payment he received was for a contract he had with the firm HF Consultoría Interdisciplinaria which is owned by Roberto Hidalgo, a former Figueres presidential aide win his administration between 1994 and 1998.

The former president said in the letter that Hidalgo contracted him for his experience in the field of telecommunications technology and is firm that he had no direct relations with Alcatel and his contract was not related to any one specific company or brand name, rather to consult on advanced technology in Costa Rica.

Figueres insists that none of his work was related to the sale and promotion of Alcatel products or services, rather, his role was to give interviews and promote technology in general.

He questioned the insistence on forcing him back to Costa Rica. He questioned the motives of the legislators, saying that "they want a public show surrounding my appearance."

Luis Gerardo Villanueva, the Liberation party member, who is heading the Comisión de Gasto Público said yesterday following the revelation of the contents of the letter, that he will insist that Figueres be brought back to Costa Rica.

"He has to show his face", Villanueva said, and that he will meet with Ministro de Seguridad Publica, Rogelio Ramos, if it is possible to locate and notify Figueres, who resides in Switzerland.

Former Minister for the Presidency in the current administration and legislative deputy, Ricardo Toledo, expressed that he will press the Ministerio Público to investigate the possibility on pressuring Figueres in returning.

COMMENT: It appears that Figueres has a little more brain power than the other two presidents sitting in jail, and has decided not to toss his hat into the 3 ring circus/witch hunt happening here. I am sure that his faith in the fairness of the Costa Rican "justice" system has also not been bolstered by the media circus orchestrated by the chief prosecutor, or should we say "persecutor." The reason we say this is not that we think the two jailbird ex presidents are not guilty, it is because of the failure of the Persecutor to investigate thoroughly the identical misdeeds that may have been perpetrated by the current Administration. It is REALLY FUNNY that HIS scandals haven't already brought him down. It smells really rotten here. SELECTIVE prosecution is often used to promote some hidden agenda.

IN fact, just yesterday, there was a story in AMCOSTARICA about just such a plot. This story is fantastic and hard to believe, but then the truth often is. They appear to be wild accusations at first blush, but, upon thinking about the situation, maybe they are not as wild as they at first seemed.

Here is a summary of this wild story:

A quirky online publication claims the nation’s chief prosecutor is bugging 2,900 telephones and conspiring with a television anchorwoman to assume the presidency as a strongman and shut down the legislature.

The allegations were presented as a Sala IV constitutional court appeal and a transcript of a
purported telephone conversation between the chief prosecutor and the television newswoman. The claims prompted top officials to hold an emergency meeting Monday.

The television station involved, Channel 7 Teletica, issued a strongly worded denial during both the 7 p.m. and the 10 p.m. news broadcasts.
The allegations were contained in Campanada, an online publication by Carlos Roberto Loría Quirós.

Monday Loría published what appears to be a recurso de amparo or appeal for aid, drawn up by him seeking intervention by the Sala IV. Loría claims the chief prosecutor, Fiscal General Francisco Dall’Anese Ruiz, has overstepped his authority by bugging 2,900 telephones, including some used by government ministers.

Loría also claims that an alliance exists between Dall’Anese and the television newswoman, Pilar Cisneros Gallo, and other newspeople to supply them with information about corruption. He further claims that Mrs. Cisneros accepted payoff money from the French telecommunications firm Alcatel but that Dall’Anese has agreed to overlook that fact.

Loría in his posted appeal also says that newspeople are trying to make Dall’Anese a presidential candidate who would acts as a dictator and close the Asamblea Legislativa.

At first reading, this appears to be pure rubbish. But, when you add in selective prosecution, media grandstanding amounting to nothing less than a 3 ring circus, casting the Persecutor as the hero, then one wonders if he will not announce his candidacy for president shortly, hoping to ride the wave of his popularity to become president himself. History is filled with this type of thing, so it is possible.

And when one also realizes that he appears to not be investigating the alleged egregious wrongdoings of some of his own junior persecutors, one is led to wonder again.

At this point we cannot say, but in a few months if the Persecutor announces his candidacy, we will begin to understand the reasons for this "greatest show on earth."


*"Aguinaldo" On the Streets Beginning Today

Today is the beginning of the Christmas Bonus known as the "Aguinaldo". Now throug the 15th of December, employers - both public and private - are required to pay their salaried employees their aguinaldo wich represents one month salary.


More than 1.500.000 workers are eligible for the bonus. To ensure that everyone will get the bonus, the Banco Central de Costa Rica, made an issue of an additional ¢131 million colones (us$287.000 dollars) to the economy, meaning there will be double the money on the streets in the first two weeks in December.

Some 100.000 government workers will receive their aguinaldo on December 6.

To calculate the amount of aguinaldo to be paid, the Government takes the gross monthly income paid to it's employees between November 1, 2003 and October 31, 2004 and divides it by twelve. The calculation is part of a law established in 1954.

However, private sector and autonomous institution employees get their aguinaldo calculated a little different. Their aguinaldo is based on the gross income between December 1, 2003 and November 30, 2004 and divided by 12.

Financial experts give their advice at this time of year, which include saving the 13th paycheck. Traditionally and retailers look forward to it, the aguinaldo is spent on Christmas gifts and unnecessary items.


*GSM Lines Sold Out In Record Time

Thousands stood in lines for up to 10 hours on Monday to get one of the 17.000 GSM lines that the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) put on sale. More than half of the lines were sold on Monday and by 10am Tuesday, there were none left.

All that is left now are 39.000 of the "old" technology - TDMA - lines that ICE expects to have sold out by no later than the end of January.

And then it will be at least 18 months before ICE can offer to the market any new cellular lines as it takes that long to prepare a bid, award a contract, get the approvals and install the system.

ICE is caught in the bind after the Contraloria General de la Republica (Comptroller's office) failed to approve a contract ICE awarded the Ericsson company for 600.000 new GSM lines that would have been installed this month and marketed not later than March of 2005.

The 600.000 lines would have filled the demand for cellular service in Costa Rica, as many make the choice of mobile service while or rather than wait for the long time it sometimes takes ICE to install a fixed line service in some areas.

Customers who lines up on Monday an Tuesday morning paid the ¢12.500 colones (us$27.50) deposit and walked out happy with being connected to the wireless system. The basic monthly cost is ¢2.900 colones (us$6.37) that includes 60 minutes of call time. ICE only bills for calls placed and not received. The cost of each minute of call between 7am and 6pm is ¢30 colones (us 6¢) and ¢23 colones (us 5¢) at other times. All rates have 13% sales tax added and the basic rate doe not include additional services like caller ID, private number blocking and other ICE services.

Others, who weren't so lucky will have now to wait as customers with service fail to pay their bills or give up their line for whatever reason.

ICE will now insist that customers who don't make regular payments will see their service cut and will loose their lines if payment is in default for two months, rather than three months that is current policy.

While ICE moves ahead with the bid, and once the TDMA lines are also gone, new customers wanting cellular service will have to wait, like in the past, months for new service. In the past, a wait of up to a full year was not unusual.



*Poker Tournament Begins Tomorrow

Costa Rican and international poker champion Humberto Brenes and the Poker Tour International (PTI) Dream Team have lined up a bimonthly, televised series of tournaments in Latin America and the Caribbean that will land in Costa Rica tomorrow and run through Dec. 5.

The Costa Rica Classic, which will be held at the Holiday Inn Aurola Casino in San José , was preceded by a month of satellite tournaments at the same hotel.

“We had so much response for the tournament and demand for satellites we decided to move forward with daily tournaments,” Dream Team member Steve Kates of Driftwood Ventures said. “This won't be an average tournament; it will be an adventure.”

Prices for the Costa Rica Classic start at $1,999 for Texas Hold 'em buy-in, or for visiting players, $2,599 for buy-in, airfare from Fort Lauderdale, accommodations at Holiday Inn Aurola in San José, opening/closing receptions and refreshments. One re-buy will be available for $400.

Winnings include seats in upcoming tournaments and $500,000 (based on entries). Events will include professional players and will be televised.

Upcoming tournaments in the Poker Tour International are scheduled for Puerto Rico and St. Kitts.

For more information, players can contact the Aurola Holiday Inn in Costa Rica at 222-2424 or the main tournament headquarters in Fort Lauderdale at (954) 359-9898.


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