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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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*Feature Article:
*Nicaraguans Seize Missile During Sting


*News Digest

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FEATURE ARTICLE
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*Nicaraguans Seize Missile During Sting

By Rowan Scarborough in the Washington Times

Nicaraguan police, with U.S. assistance in a sting
operation, thwarted black marketeers trying to sell SA-7
shoulder-fired missiles capable of downing commercial
aircraft earlier this month, raising fears that some
missiles already have been sold to terrorists, The
Washington Times has learned.

U.S. officials think the missiles are being provided
by elements of the Nicaraguan military. One official
said intelligence reports suggest Nicaraguan army
elements are keeping a secret stash of SA-7s not
inventoried by international inspectors.

The sellers in the sting demanded several hundred
thousand dollars for each missile, said an
administration official who discussed the operation on
the condition of anonymity. It is not known if the black
marketeers had been successful in selling other SA-7s
before they were arrested.

"This is a very, very serious threat," said the
U.S. official. "This is what makes me stay up at night.
Civilian aviation is at stake."

The official said one Soviet-made SA-7 was
confiscated at an air conditioning repair shop, the site
of the sting in Managua, Nicaragua, where three
Nicaraguans tried to sell the missile and offered more
to undercover Nicaraguan police.

"This shows that such missiles can be bought on the
open market, and it highlights the need for strong
international cooperation to get rid of them," a second
official said in a government statement issued to The
Times.

The sting has sounded alarm bells through the Bush
administration for a number of reasons. The arrested men
thought they were selling missiles to terrorists in
Colombia and were willing to sell to Islamic terrorists,
the official said. Also, Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld in November had won what he believed was a firm
agreement from Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos to
destroy about 1,000 remaining SA-7s. Some in the Bush
administration now suspect the military is
double-crossing Mr. Bolanos.

Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and other terrorist
groups are known to be seeking portable missiles capable
of bringing down a commercial airliner. The 20-pound
SA-7 has a range up to 15,000 feet. In the wrong hands,
a missile could down an airliner on its airport takeoff
or approach.

In November 2002, terrorists fired two SA-7 missiles
at an Israeli commercial airliner in Kenya, but missed.
Israel equips some of its jetliners with missile warning
receivers. Pilots can dispense flares to try to draw the
heat-seeking missile off target.

But the RAND Corp., in a study released this week,
said the cost of protecting the country's 6,800
airliners is prohibitive. It would cost $11 billion to
buy and install the equipment and over $2 billion a year
to maintain what is still an unproven technology.
The Department of Homeland Security has warned
law-enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for
smuggled SA-7s, the world's most prevalent
shoulder-fired missile.

When contacted yesterday, the Pentagon's top Latin
American expert declined to discuss details of the
sting. Roger Pardo-Maurer, deputy assistant defense
secretary for the Western Hemisphere, did say, "If this
is what it appears to be, it calls into question not
only the professionalism and integrity of the Nicaraguan
armed forces, but it really calls into question their
sanity.

"Playing with shoulder-fired missiles is one of the
most dangerous things out there and is at the top of
concerns by the Department of Defense. We're taking a
very hard eye to look into this situation," he said.

Washington has pressed Managua for some time to get
rid of all its SA-7s. The Soviet Union supplied
thousands of the missiles to the left-wing Sandinistas
in the 1980s as they battled the U.S.-backed contras.

The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front
(FSLN) eventually agreed to elections in 1990. It lost
the presidency to the Liberal Constitutional Party
(PLC), now represented by Mr. Bolanos.

The government has demolished all but 1,000 SA-7s.
The Organization of American States (OAS) has taken an
inventory and recorded serial numbers on the remainder.

But in recent months, the Sandinista party has
gained more power within government, despite the PLC
having a majority of seats in the legislature. Managua
was supposed to resume destroying SA-7s in batches of
300.

Asked about SA-7 destruction at a joint Nov. 12
press conference in Managua, Mr. Rumsfeld said, "As the
president will respond I'm sure, the president and the
country of Nicaragua have a plan. It's been well known
and well understood and as I understand it, it is on
plan."

Said Mr. Bolanos, "The destruction of the Sam 7s is
the will of Nicaragua. It is the total sovereign will of
Nicaragua and the president who is the supreme chief of
the armed forces. It is in Nicaragua's best interest to
do so that is why we have done so."

But days later, the legislature immediately ruled
that only it could authorize the army to destroy
weapons.

In the Jan. 11 sting, Nicaraguan police recovered
one SA-7 whose serial number did not match any of those
inventoried by the OAS, said the Bush administration
official.

This official said there are intelligence reports
that one or more senior Nicaraguan army officers may be
maintaining a secret cache of 80 or more SA-7s for black
market sale.

On the day of the sting, the army dispatched a
senior officer to the scene who tried to take possession
of the seized SA-7, said the U.S. official. But the
police refused. The source said the U.S. helped in the
sting.

The people selling the missile promised as many as a
dozen. The U.S. believes they are middlemen representing
elements within the military.

"We had always suspected they had a secret stash not
in inventory," the official said. "They assured us 'No.'
... We had worked very hard to develop a relationship
with the Nicaraguan army. That trust is very much in
jeopardy right now. The Sandinista party doesn't want
these missiles destroyed."

The official said Sandinista elements with the
military "are corrupt and are selling weapons in the
region."


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NEWS DIGEST
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*Another Defection At the PLN Party: Former President Monge

Following the election of Oscar Arias as presidential candidate for the

Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) - or 'green' party - several key figures

have left the party, all claiming that Arias' election was not just and fair

and he should not represent the party.

The last to leave the PLN is former president Luis Alberto Monge, who was

president of Costa Rica form 1982 to 1986, following the departure of

presidential candidate in the last election, José Miguel Corrales last week

and Mariano Figueres, brother of former president José Maria Figueres Olsen

and son of PLN founder, José Figueres Ferrer (Don Pepe).

Monge, in a press statement, said that Arias' friends and his supporters are

an affront to the country's political constitution. Monge added that he is

"out of that hybrid" that only represents a Liberaton betrayed.

The departure of Monge is perhaps the crest in the big political wave that

has overtaken the PLN party. Monge did not provide details of his political

future, if he will join another party or intends of running for re-election.


*Cellular Lines Almost Out Of Stock

The Instituto Costarricende de Electricidad (ICE), the sole provider of

telecommunications in the country, including cellular service, announced that

it is almost out of cellular lines it can assign to new subscribers.

Of the more than 900.000 cellular lines - both TDMA and GSM - ICE makes

available, only 4.000 of the TDMA lines are available and could be gone by

the end of the month, in the next few days.

ICE is being placed in a corner by several key decisions made by the

Contraloría General de la Republica (the Comptroller General) that refused to

approve a contract with the Ericcson corporation for 600.000 GSM lines.

Ericsson appealed the Contarloria decision to the Constitutional Court (Sala

IV) which ruled that the Contraloría should review the contract. The

Contraloría is stalling, saying it needs to fully study the court decision

before it can obey the order.

In the meantime, the 400.000 GSM lines that were installed a couple of years

ago by the French telecommunications firm, Alcatel, which has been the centre

of a corruption scandal that has seen a former president and several ICE

board members in jail or under house arrest ,are gone.

The 500.000 or so TDMA lines, which had been exausted for a long time before

the Alcatel contract, had thousands of lines avialable as customers switched

to the newer service.

ICE says that if the approvals don't come anytime soon, Costa Rica will go

back to the days when it took months, up to a year of waiting, for new

customers to get connected to the cellular network.

In the "old" days, a new customer would be given a number with the order and

then anxiously waited the publication in the local newspapers for their

number to come up. And if they missed their turn, only to get at the back the

line.

The introduction of the Alcatel contract made it possible to go to an ICE

office or ICE authorized dealer, make the request, pay the deposit and walk

out with a connection. That is the way it's done in most places around the

world.

Now, well, it remains to be seen if the future of cellular service takes a

step back in time.


*First Gasoline Hike of the Year Coming

Following a break, the Refinadora Costariccense de Petroleo (RECOPE) has

asked for an increae in the price of gasoline, the first for the year and a

lot higher than had been expected.

Once the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Publicos (ARESEP) finishes it's

study on the price hike request, the price of a litre of gasoline will jump

from the current ¢355 colones (us$0.77) to ¢369.65 (us$0.80) super; from ¢340

to ¢353.65 for regular and to ¢264.30 from ¢254 for diesel.

RECOPE made the request last week, citing increased price of crude oil on the

world market, notwithstanding that yesterday the cost of a barrel of crude

actually dropped to below us$49 per barrel.

The price, if approved, though there is no doubt that it won't be, is 40%

higher than the cost of a litre of gasoline a year ago. More than ¢120

colones of each litre goes to taxes.

Costa Rica has the highest gasoline prices in the region.


*"Madam" Trial Next Month

Sinaí Monge Muñoz, the woman suspected of operating a prostitution network

that explioted minors is going to trial on February 8, the Fiscalía de

Delitos Sexuales (Prosecutor's office for sex crimes) announced.

Sinaí, as she was known to her customers and underage sex workers, was

arrested in October of 2003 following an difficult investigation into her

activities, that included minors who offered sexual services to customers

contacting the woman.

Sinaí operated out of her home in Hatillo 6, a suburb on the south side of

San José and had been under investigation for some time. She first came to

the attention of the authorities in 1990. Her brush with the law in 1994

absolved her on any criminal activity.

Since then, the laws that govern underage prostitution and protecting minors

have been changed and the office of the Fiscalía de Delitos Sexuales was

created. Undercover agents tried to infiltrate her operation but were

unsuccessful.

Sinaí's real problems began in March of 2001, when a the television station

Antena 3 from Spain took undercover footage of one of her assistants, a woman

identified as Yolanda, who is still at large from the authorities, offering

the undercover news crew underage girls dressed in school uniforms.

The news spread fast and Costa Rica was invaded by many different news teams

looking for a story.

The first time that the underage sex theme was made global was in December of

2000 when a ABC 20/20 news report first aired the story in the United States.

In that report, them president Miguel Angel Rodríguez, was ridiculed by the

news team when he stated in full camera that there were only 20-30 underage

prostitutes in the country, contradicted a few seconds later by a street

policemen saying that the number was really in the thousands.

Sinaí, if convicted could face between four and 10 years in prison for

"proxenitismo" or promoting sexual favours that included minors.

Sinaí's partner, a man identified as Poltronieri, who was arrested at the

same time as Sinaí, accepted the charges and was sentenced to fours in prison

last October in a closed hearing.

The Sinaí trial is expected to last four weeks and more than 20 witnesses are

expected to testify against her.

At first, it was believed that the woman was in a possession of a "black

book" - a book that was supposed to have contained the names of her clients,

important Costa Ricans who prevailed of her services. The book was never

again mentioned and no "big" names have come out since the arrest.


*Banana Producing Countries Oppose New EU Tariff

Costa Rican President, Abel Pacheco, along with the pesidents and foreign

ministers from five othe banana-producing countries Wednesday issued a

statement opposing a European Union (EU) plan to raise per ton tariff from 75

euro (us$97.5 dollars) to 230 euro (us$299 dollars) on their banana export

starting in 2006.

The new 230-euro per ton tariff, proposed by the EU in October 2004, is

"unacceptable", said a statement signed by presidents of Ecuador, Colombia,

Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama and foreign minister of Honduras, at the end

of their one-day meeting here to set a strategy on the EU tariff issue.

The banana producing countries maintained the new EU duty would run contrary

to World Trade Organization (WTO) rulings against preferential banana import

rules. "The effects could be devastating to development in our countries,"

the statement said.

The banana producers promised to negotiate a solution to the issue and said

they will assess the development of related negotiations and make appropriate

decisions at the end of the first quarter of the year.

They also said they will send their joint statement immediately to the EU in

Brussels, where their ambassadors will present a complaint together and work

to achieve a satisfactory solution with the EU.

Latin America is the most important banana producer and exporter in the

world. Costa Rica produces 16% of the world total banana export, followed

Colombia at 13%. Ecuador the host of the Latin America presidents produces

33% of the total banana production in the world, placing it as the fourth

largest producer.



*Smaller quakes remind media of Nicoya prediction

Every time the ground shakes, journalists rush to the Observatorio

Vulcanológico y Sismológico to see if the Nicoya Peninsula is still there,

according to the director of the observatory, Marino Protti Quesada.

After the two quakes on Monday, the local media sensationalized reports about

a potential quake in the Nicoya Penninsula. According to Protti Quesada, the

reports are taken out of context.

"Every time there is an earthquake, people come rushing to the observatory to

find out about Nicoya," Protti Quesada said during a telephone interview

Wednesday afternoon. "The area has the potential for a large quake, but no

one could really predict when it might happen."

According to Protti Quesada, a large seismic gap exists underneath the Nicoya

Peninsula. The gap is where the Cocos plate to the west and the Caribe plate

to the east meet. The juncture of these two plates creates the potential for

a large earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 or higher.

After the two quakes on Monday, and the larger one in November, reporters

gathered around the observatory to find out about how they might have

affected Nicoya, Protti Quesada said. "Those quakes were not even associated

with the Nicoya gap," he explained.

"We originally published information about the probability of a quake in

Nicoya in the mid 90s, but the media rushes here every time the ground

shakes," Protti Quesada said. "Each segment in the world has

U.S. Geological Survey
Fault lines in Guanacaste are pictured in black or blue. The purple line is

the offshore Pacific trench marking the top of the juncture of the Caribe and

Cocos plates.

patterns. The Nicoya pattern lasts for about 40 years before things have to

reset with a quake," he said. According to the observatory’s data, the last

major quake in the area was in 1950.

Big quakes have hit the peninsula in 1853, 1900 and 1950. Protti Quesada and

his colleagues have estimated a period of recurrence of from 48 to 50.7 years

with standard deviations of from 2 to 4 years.


*State bank ATMs are gobbling up credit cards, cash

ATM machines from Banco Nacional and Banco de Costa Rica are swallowing cash

cards in San José, debiting customers accounts and not dispensing the money.

Jose Francisco Araya Murillo, head of public relations at Banco Nacional,

said that ATM machines are swallowing cards because of a fault in telephone

communication lines.

At the ATM of Banco Nacional at Paseo Colon Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. three

persons attempted to withdraw money from their accounts. All three customers

lost their card to the machines and did not receive the cash they requested.

Juan Gómez Murillo a person who was waiting to withdraw money said, "I tried

to take out some money but the machine swallowed my card, and my balance is

lower, but I never got any money."

An employee from Customer Services at Banco Nacional said that they were not

aware that there was a problem with that machine although other ATMs have

been reported to have the same technical difficulties.

Affected ATM machines included Banco Nacional opposite Hospital San Juan de

Dios, in Paseo Colon, and at Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Nacional next to

the Asamblea Legislativa.


Defensoria wants study of fees charged by banks


The nation’s ombudsman wants a study done of the fees the public banks of

Costa Rica charge their customers. The Defensoria de los Habitantes asked the

Ministerio de Economia, Industria and Commercio to develop a comparative

study of charges relating to ATM withdrawals, balance checks and insufficient

fund fines.

The Defensoria has also asked the ministry to find out if the private banks

in Costa Rica are informing their customers about charges according to Law

7473. This law requires that all private banks make public all

commission-based charges.

The Defensoria said that this request has been made because of the amount of

complaints the agency has received regarding the lack of information provided

for such charges. A press release from the Defensoria also said that the fees

charged were too high.

The Defensoria said that its staff is concerned that this sort of study does

not exist. A study should be put together as soon as possible so that

customers are able to choose the best banking option, the release said.



*Free expression seminars to visit two more countries

Journalists, editors and trainers in Guatemala and Costa Rica can apply for scholarships to attend seminars on covering press freedom, scheduled for March in both countries.

“Covering Freedom of Expression: Resources for Journalists,” organized by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), seeks to foster greater public discussion on press freedom. The goal is to give journalists the tools they need to cover the topic using investigative techniques.

The first seminar is scheduled for March 9 to 11 in Guatemala City, to be conducted in cooperation with the local Asociación para el Desarrollo, la Organización, Servicios y Estudios Socioculturales. The second is scheduled for March 13 to 15 in San Jose, in cooperation with the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.

ICFJ is offering eight scholarships for journalists from outside the capital of each country. The fund covers transportation and lodging costs. February 23 is the last day to apply.

The sessions will be interactive and will feature discussions with Latin American and U.S. experts, debates with mediators, and analysis of case studies. The invited lecturers include Pedro Enrique Armendares, executive director of the Mexico-based Periodistas de Investigación, and journalists and ICFJ trainer Bob Ortega.

The Chicago-based Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation is sponsoring both seminars.

For applications and more information, contact Lucía Migliónico, ICFJ program officer, at lucia@icfj.org, or visit http://www.icfj.org/foeguatemala.html for information on Guatemala or http://www.icfj.org/foecostarico.html for Costa Rica.


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