Note: We are sending the Digest out to more groups than usual today to let you know we're BACK! If you want to receive the digest without missing an issue, please subscribe to the Costa Rica newsgroup, where it will be forwarded each and every time!

Enjoy!

John

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>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
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*News Digest

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WE'RE BACK!
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After a short absense, with today's digest, we are
starting regular publication of the News Digest again.

Shortly, we may luanch a web based edition as well.

Lots of things have changed at the Costa Rica Page,
including our new online guidebook. You also need
to check out Costa Rica Real Estate, the most innovative
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WE AIM TO CHANGE THIS!

You can access our online submissiton form for BOTH
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Together, WE CAN MAKE COSTA RICA A HOME FOR ALL OF US
TO ENJOY!

John

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NEWS DIGEST
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* Pacheco In More Trouble Over Gifts

President Abel Pacheco continues to draw fire over accepting gifts and

bonuses for personal use.

Earlier this week, the Internal Auditor at Casa Presidencial, Herberth

Villavicencio, reprimanded the President in a letter, for accepting a

lifetime membership for he and his wife by the government of the Dominican

Republic, contrary to the new law "Ley contra la Corrupción y Enriquecimiento

Ilícito" - the new anti-corruption law.

Yesterday, Telenoticias, the local television channel 7 news, reports another

Presidential indiscretion; this one dating back to December of 2004, when the

President and his wife travelled to Spain for a vacation and his book

opening.

According to the Telenoticias investigation, the president paid from his

personal pocketbook the flight from Miami to Madrid and Seville and back to

Miami at a cost of ¢1.061.855 colones (us$2.300).

The question, however, is how did the president get to and from Miami from

Costa Rica?

An investigation to answer that question reveals that TACA airlines did not

charge the President the San José - Miami - San José portion of the trip.

Telenoticias was able to corroborate the fact the the President used tickets

given to the government by the airline, valued at ¢270.000 colones (us$565),

for he and his wife for the vacation trip.

Mario Zamora, manager of TACA airline in Costa Rica, confirmed that the two

tickers were issued to the President and his wife, following news reports

that the President was travelling to Miami.

The airline customarily provides the government of Costa Rica, primarily the

Ministerio de la Presidencia and Aviacion Civil, free passage on it's

airline. Zamora was emphatic that the free tickets are issued to the

government and no particular person or for personal use, and based on a

regulation by Aviación Civil.

The value of the tickets exceeded the "salario base" rule of the new

anti-corruption law.

The "salario base" in December of 2004 was ¢167.800 colones (us$355) while

the value of the tickets exceed that, which meant the President was obligated

to have reported it.

President Pacheco explained that the December trip was a "completely personal

trip" and nothing to do with his official capacity.

The anti-corruption law, signed by President Pacheco himself, came into

effect on October 29, 2004, less than two months before the president

accepted the free flight.

Article 20 of the anti-corruption law is clear that any donations and gifts

received by a public official as a courtesy or diplomatic protocol are

considered property of the state if the value is over the "salario base".

This is the second time in a week that President Pacheco is in hot water over

his trips abroad.


*Proposed immigration bill ups rentista amount

An amendment to the proposed immigration reform law says that a husband and

wife seeking rentista status here must show a monthly income of $2,000. And

they must show an additional $500 a month for each dependent they bring with

them.

The immigration law is approaching a vote in the Asamblea Legislativa, and

the draft of the bill was made available by the legislative services

department of the assembly.



*Immigration Will Issue Passports,
Residency Cards with New Technology

The Costa Rican government will begin issuing new types of passports and

residency cards for foreigners next year in efforts to reduce forgery.

Immigration Director Marco Badilla says the current equipment for issuing

these documents – which was purchased five years ago – is “obsolete” and

“produces unsafe passports that are easily altered.”

Badilla said that in numerous cases, legal Costa Rican passports have been

stolen, their photos ripped off and the information changed.

With the new system, passports will have 42 laser-security strips, imprinted

with technology similar to that used in Belgium , which will make forgery

very difficult.

The official explained that during the past three years, Immigration

authorities have been notified of 300 altered passports and so far this year,

“we already know of 65 legitimate Costa Rican passports that have been

altered.”

Badilla said the new equipment to manufacture passports is in “acquisition

process” and will cost ¢1 billion (approximately $2 million).

The money will be provided to Immigration through an extraordinary budget

that must first be approved by legislators.

The new equipment will also be used in a pilot program for the manufacture of

visas by the Costa Rican consulate in Nicaragua , Colombia and Dominican

Republic , countries where fake visas have been issued to enter Costa Rica .

Costa Rican authorities will also modify residency cards for foreigners that

will also be issued using the new laser technology, Badilla said.

According to Immigration, one million Costa Ricans have passports – of which

750,000 are valid and the rest have expired.



*Earthquake in south

An earthquake with a magnitude of about 3.5 took place about 10 kms. (about 6

miles) south of Quepos about 2:20 p.m. Thursday. There were no reports of

injuries or damage.


* Prosecution Asks 2.080 Years Sentence For Sexual Abuse

Prosecutor Héctor Sáenz is asking a Siquirres criminal court for a sentence

of 2.080 years for a 68 year old farmer who is accused of sexually abusing

his step-daughter.

The man, only identified by his last name, Artavia, is charged with 208

counts of rape and sexual abuse, that began when the girl was six years old

and continued until she reached the age of 18, when she finally could leave

home.

The abused woman, identified by her last name Esquivel, is now 27 years old,

cannot erase the memories of her childhood and as a result of her ordeal now

suffers traumas in her marriage and daily life, telling the court in the

abuse trial that she "feels nothing" when she is with her husband.

The court also heard testimony how the man would threaten her with a machete

to re-enforce his words. "He would tell me that if I left the house, I would

be reading the news of how my mother and brother were killed", the woman told

the court.

The woman had complained of the abuses to her mother, who in turn would ask

her husband, who would deny any such actions. The mother said that she asked

her husband one time swear on the Virgen de los Ángeles. And as such they

visited the Basílica de los Ángeles in Cartago, where on his knees he swore

never to have abused his step-daughter.

At the trial, abused woman's sister also came forward and declared before the

court that she too had been abused by Artavia.

A court decision is expected this morning (Friday).


*Lack of Telephone Has Residents and Tourist Upset
When does it cost ¢4.000 colones (us$8.50) to make a local phone call?

Residents and tourists of Nueva Virginia, Los Ángeles y Caño Blanco, near

Siquirres, are upset because that is what it costs for them to make a local

phone call.

Not that the call is costly, it is the cost to travel to and from the only

public telephones in the area.

The shortage of telephone lines in the area means a trip by fishing boat to

barra de Paismina where the only the public telephones that serve the

community of 700, are located. A round trip to use the public phones cost

¢4.000 colones

The other option is to travel 6km to barrio Meryland, in El Carmen de

Siquirres, where the owners of the local grocery store have a telephone.

Mariana Campos, an employee at the Caño Blanco tourist office, says that

tourists to the area are very upset at the lack of a telephone, which means

they cannot call home to check in with family and friends.

ICE doesn't have an answer for the neighbours. The manager of the local ICE

office in Siquirres was too busy to answer calls.


*Insulza of Chile sworn in to head OAS
Jose Miguel Insulza of Chile was sworn in as secretary general of the

Organization of American States, at its headquarters.

The former Chilean vice president and interior minister was elected to the

OAS post on May 2, to succeed Miguel Angel Rodríguez,, who resigned to face

corruption charges in his native Costa Rica. Rodríguez served as president

of Costa Rica from 1998-2002.and is currently under house arrest.

Insulza assumed his post 10 days before the OAS annual assembly, to be held

June 5-7 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

US representative to the OAS Luigi Einaudi had held the position of acting

secretary general.

Insulza spoke in favor of a US-backed initiative to monitor Latin America's

democracies as he met for the first time with the press as secretary general.

"It is not about giving the governments a grade, but to be able to say with

deliberation that there are problems here, difficulties here, needs here,"

Insulza said, after an earlier speech in which he asked for the tools for

what he called the effective application of the OAS Democratic Charter, which

can impose sanctions on countries that stray from constitutional democracy.

"I do not like the word 'monitor' very much," he said, alluding to the US

plan, which envisions a democracy monitoring commission, which Venezuela

rejected immediately.

Insulza said his alternative, an "evaluation mechanism," should exist with

the understanding of member states that it would not intervene in their

domestic affairs.

Insulza, 61, has served as Chile's foreign minister and interior minister, as

well as being named vice president when President Ricardo Lagos was traveling

outside Chile.

He has held cabinet posts for a total of 10 years, longer than anyone in

Chile's history, despite a 14-year exile during Chile's military dictatorship

under
Augusto Pinochet 1973-1990.

It was while exiled in Mexico that he met his Mexican wife, Georgina Nunez.




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