Costa Rica Digest, Oct. 25

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>>Costa Rica News Digest<<
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A publication of Destiny Worldwide Net
http://www.destiny-worldwide.net

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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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*Feature Article: First Hand Account of Costa Rican
Medical Care
Part 2


*News Digest


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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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FEATURE ARTICLE
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*First Hand Account of Costa Rican Medical Care

PART 2 [Part 1 Was released on Friday. Review list
archives if you missed
it.]

As soon as we landed, another ambulance was waiting to
transport me to Hospital San Juan De Dios in San Jose.
When I arrived there another team of doctors swarmed
me.
I was again poked and prodded in every possible place.
One doctor came in and prepared to do an endoscopy via
my esophagus so she could see what was going on in my
abdominal cavity. She sprayed a local anesthetic in
my
throat and asked me to swallow. She did this 3 or 4
times and then put the endoscope device in my mouth.
She told me to breathe as she inserted the tube down
my
throat. My gag reflexes kicked in and the pain was
excruciating because every muscle in my chest and
abdominal cavity reacted. But she kept saying,
"swallow"
and I did my best. There were several other nurses
and
doctors around and I could see their faces as they
watched the camera view as the device was inserted and
finally reached my abdominal cavity.
By my count there were a minimum of 4 doctors at
Hospital San Juan De Dios who examined me before and
just after the endoscope exam that night. After these
exams had been completed, another doctor came in to
talk
to me. This doctor is a surgeon and she told me they
were going to try to stabilize me without surgery. I
told her to do what she thought best. She seemed
extremely competent and luckily she speaks English
fluently as well.
Just after I spoke to the surgeon, another of the
doctors came by to talk to me. He said my lungs were
filling with blood and other fluid and that (and I
found
out later that my left lung was collapsed) it would be
necessary to place a tube in the side of my chest to
drain my lungs. The unfortunate thing is that this
would be done without anesthetic, which I didn't find
out about until it was happening.
He inserted some type of device through my left side
that would allow the connection of a large drainage
tube. The device did not go in easy and was probably
one of the most painful things I have experienced.
The
doctor kept pushing it in with all his might and I
could
have sworn that he was inserting it between the two
fractured ribs. After what seemed like an eternity,
the
device was finally in place and it was connected to a
large tube that ran to a box into which the fluids
from
my lungs would drain.
The next morning, Saturday, the 18th of September, the
surgeon came in to talk to me again. She informed me
that the medical crew was unsuccessful in stemming the
flow of blood with just medication and other
non-surgical means so she had made the decision to
operate. I thanked her and told her to go ahead. I
was
prepared for surgery immediately and I didn't even get
to the "count backwards from 100" before I was out
like
a light.
When I woke I thought I was still being prepared for
surgery but actually I was in the recovery room and
the
surgery completed. Yeeehaaaw! The only problem I had
was when I first woke. The staff in the recovery room
was sitting in a corner of the room and I saw them
when
I opened my eyes. I was basically secured to the
table
at all four corners and at my head. My legs and arms
were strapped down, and my head was taped to the
table.
I was having a little trouble breathing, or at least I
thought I was, and I needed to be able to touch my
throat to help clear it and breathe properly. Since I
was fixed to the table this was impossible. At this
time I wasn't aware that the surgery had been
completed
and thought I was still being readied for surgery.
Combine that with the fact that I tend to be quite
claustrophobic and it created a bit of trouble.
I looked over at the staff and kept telling them to
"cut
the line" meaning the line that was holding my left
hand
to the table. They didn't really understand what I
was
saying and kept saying "tranquilo" which loosely
translates to "relax".
Finally one of them understood and came over and freed
my hand and all was fine.
Later that day I was moved to my room and bed where I
would remain until released. It was a large, open bay
type room with 12 beds in it. The beds are extremely
old and the pillows are not anything I would have
recognized as a pillow. I was placed into one of the
beds and the nurse checked my chart and then took my
temperature and blood pressure. The gentleman in the
bed to my left spoke some English and we struck up a
conversation as I got settled. The anesthetic and
other
pain medication I was given was wearing off and the
pain
I was feeling was tremendous.
I had a bruise on my left side that is nearly a foot
wide and runs from just below my hip to about half way
between my hip and armpit. This bruise, combined with
the fractured ribs and the painful drain tube in my
side, made any movement without pain impossible. It
hurt no matter what I did or how I moved. The drain
tube proved to be my biggest nemesis for the remainder
of my hospital stay.
The conditions were stark but the care very good.
Each
morning I was given a cup of chamomile tea (I hate
tea!)
and a hard, tasteless roll with a piece of cheese
placed
between the halves of the roll. All I really wanted
to
drink was water and I rarely ate the roll. Lunch and
dinner were usually very simple fare, without much
taste. The hospital structure is approximately 150
years old and it is just a dark and depressing place.

My most vivid memory is the sounds at night. The
maintenance men who were responsible for moving the
oxygen and other tanks around would usually get 4 or 5
of them and put them on a hand cart and place them at
the end of each wing of the hospital. That way
anytime
a tank was needed, a technician could get it from the
end of the hallway and move it to the bed where it was
needed. When these tanks were moved individually, the
technicians would not use the hand carts but would
tilt
the tanks on their sides at a slight angle and then
roll
them to wherever they were to be installed. Since the
facility is so old and the floors are all tile, it
makes
a very distinctive and rhythmic humming noise when a
tank is being moved. It can be heard and felt
throughout the entire floor. I got used to hearing and
feeling the "haaaauuuuummmm" throughout the night
every
night.
The next morning I woke to find Maureen, a French
Canadian who lives in our village standing next to my
bed along with Leo and another man I did not know. I
had only met Maureen briefly a couple of times and she
happened to be at Leo and Michelle's restaurant when I
drove up on Friday and asked for help. As it turns
out
the man who was with her at the hospital is her
boyfriend, Jose. Jose works in the X-ray department
of
the hospital. They were all a great sight to see.
Leo
still had my passport and wallet as well as my
cellular
telephone (I forgot to mention earlier that some of us
have cell phones but we don't get satellite reception
in
most parts of the village so I could not use this to
call for help either).
He did not want to leave those with me because he knew
it wouldn't be safe in the hospital. Leo was leaving
to
go back to Ojochal that day and he said he would take
my
wallet and passport with him and then we would figure
out later how to get it back to me when it would be
time
to leave the hospital. Maureen and Jose were telling
me
what was going on in the hospital and what to expect.
They had all just jumped in and started taking care of
things for me. That was something I appreciate more
than
they will ever know because it was difficult enough
just
to endure the pain and try to get through each day
without having to worry about other things.
Leo told me that that he went to the rental house on
Friday after he left me with the ambulance crew for
the
ride to Palmar Sur airport. He and Michelle had taken
my valuable things and taken them to their house for
safekeeping. They also did my laundry. I couldn't
believe it. He told me not to worry about anything.
My
rent contract was due to expire on 7 October on the
rental house because I expected to be able to move
into
my new house by then. That was planned knowing that I
would be able to do quite a bit of work to finish the
new house myself. That had all changed, but Leo told
me
not to worry and that they would have something for me
if I needed it beyond 7 October.
Each morning the nursing crew would wake us and then
start the required regimen of medication for the day.
For me that was usually 3 different IV bags. One was
filled with pain and other meds and one was blood and
I
am not sure what the third was. The nurse would also
add some pain medication via a syringe in my IV tap,
wherever it was. That changed daily as they tried to
find new places to insert the IV. My hands began to
look like the Pillsbury Doughboy because IV's had been
inserted, removed, and reinserted so many times.
Normally my veins are easy to find but the loss of
blood
had made my veins nearly impossible to find.
After the medication routine in the morning, which was
approximately 4 a.m., I started to feel better. I
figured out after a couple of days why. I was given a
massive dose of painkillers in the morning so when the
doctors made their rounds at about 7:00 a.m., I was
feeling OK. The problem was that my chart stipulated
that there must be a 5 hour break between my pain
medicine shots at night. So every night the pain
medication would start to wear off at about 9 or 10
p.m.
and I would start to feel extreme pain. I would ask
the
nurse for a shot and she would oblige but the
painkiller
was not nearly as strong as what I was receiving in
the
morning. It would wear off quickly and then I would
not
be allowed anymore for the remainder of the night.
Each
night I wound up laying there without sleep for
several
hours because I could not get situated without extreme
pain. The drain tube in my side still caused a lot of
pain no matter which way I positioned myself. I
decided
it had to go.
On Tuesday, Deb flew in from Florida. I had called
her
after the surgery and asked her to contact my Dad and
my
sister and let them know what had happened and that I
was OK. OK is a broad statement but it meant that I
expected to recover from the accident. After being
there for a couple of days and being subjected to some
of the Costa Rican bureaucracy, Deb prepared to fly
home
to Florida on Friday afternoon. She stopped by to see
me on her way to the airport and then was off to
Tallahassee. On Tuesday when Deb arrived, Maureen was
with her and my neighbor, Marc was there as well.
Marc
was leaving for Colorado the next morning and had come
up early to visit. I apologized to Marc because I was
supposed to stay at his house to take care of things
while he visited the U.S. Obviously I wouldn't be
able
to do that now. A short while later, on Friday
afternoon, Claudio from Coco Lindo Restaurant came by
with his girlfriend Francois. Francois was preparing
to
return to Switzerland the next day so they had come up
to San Jose early and came to see me. As Claudio
asked
me about my injuries and asked to look at the scars, I
lifted my top to reveal my surgery scar which is
approximately 14 inches long and runs vertically from
my
groin up to the middle of my chest. Then I have the
huge bruise on my side and at the time I had the large
drain tube coming out of my side and going into the
box
at the side of the bed. He looked shocked and I could
see him wiping the tears from his eyes. I always
remember that on many nights when I have stopped by
Coco
Lindo that his customers are usually gone by 9:00 p.m.
and Claudio would look at me and say, "eeee- pod?"
"Johneeeee Cash?" We are both music buffs and when I
first started visiting his restaurant we were talking
about music and I showed him my Apple I-Pod and he
wanted to hear some of the music I have recorded on
it.
I connected it to the back of his stereo one night and
played Johnny Cash's last album which was recorded
last
year shortly before his death. It's a terrific album
and Claudio fell in love with it. So, he would
frequently look at me and say, "Eeee-pod? Johneee
Cash?" --- to ask if I had my I-Pod with me so we
could
listen to Johnny Cash.
That night I lay awake again and plotted my escape
from
the hospital. I am extremely grateful to those folks
and the hospital because they saved my life. I had
been
the model patient so far but now it seemed time to be
more assertive. I was watching them do many things
that
just didn't pass the common sense test, i.e., daily
changing my IV tap, continually trying to put it into
the backs of my hands when there were other places
where
the veins were much more accessible for the IV tap.
Meanwhile my hands kept swelling and I had to sit
there
while the nurse stuck a needle in the back of my
hand(s)
3 or 4 times each day as she searched for a vein. I
also knew that the tube in my chest was no longer
necessary. I could see the fluid level on the
drainage
box and could tell that very little fluid had drained
in
the past 24 hours. I also know my body and knew that
if
the tube was removed (and the pain along with it),
that
I would heal much faster. I had told the young
resident
that was assigned to me to please remove the tube that
morning but he was afraid to make the decision and he
said, "Maybe tomorrow."
The next morning, Saturday, I was ready when the
doctors
made the rounds. The resident assigned to me was going
over my chart and asking me questions and another
young
resident who worked with him was there. I said, "I
will
tell you the same thing today that I have for the past
2
days. The major pain I feel is from this chest
drainage
tube and it needs to go." He asked the other resident
and they talked for a moment and then my resident
said,
"We will have to ask the boss." Well, the boss was
another doctor who made rounds after the young
residents
had made the preliminary rounds and treatment. It was
obvious that the two residents were intimidated by
boss.
A couple of hours later, when the boss came by he
asked
me how I felt, I said, "This chest tube is causing
almost all of my pain. I will make you a deal. If
you
take this tube out of my chest I will stop making life
hell for your two residents here." He got a big kick
out of that and the residents did too because it took
the heat off of them. I told him that when the pain
meds wore off at night that the pain from the tube was
unbearable and I had not slept at night since I had
been
at the hospital.
The boss looked at my chart and looked at the drainage
box and said, "OK, we can take it out." He then
proceeded to remove the tube. The problem is that the
device that is inserted into the chest wall to
accommodate the tube has some type of string or
fishing
line material attached to it. I think that is
designed
to make it easy to remove. The boss was pulling the
device out and I think he was trying to impress the
two
residents with his finesse but the device got stuck.
He
tried and tried to pull it out easily but finally he
had
to give it the old college try and jerked the hell out
of it. The device came out for sure, but it hurt like
hell. I imagined it was like having a tire iron
pulled
through my side. I said, "thank you!" He laughed and
said, "thank you for the pain I just caused you?" I
replied, "It really hurts now but I will be able to
sleep tonight and I can go to the bathroom without
lugging that box with me."
After the boss left my resident told me that he would
see if he could get me released that day. This was
totally unexpected because when I was admitted the
doctors told me to expect a minimum 2 to 3 week stay.
Apparently with the chest tube out there was no reason
to keep me since my vital signs were good. He gave me
a
couple of prescriptions, one for pain, and one for
some
type of drug to build up my hemoglobin which is
extremely low now due to the loss of blood. He also
told me he wanted one more x-ray of my chest and if
all
was OK then I could go.
This is when my next dilemma surfaced. Since my
clothes
were removed before I was put on the air ambulance at
Palmar Sur, I had no clothes to put on to leave the
hospital. Second, since my friends had taken my
wallet
and passport, I had no identification. The only thing
I
had with me was an ATM card and about 30,000 colones
($66.00).
I needed to call Geraldo, who is a taxi driver in San
Jose. I had met him on one of my trips to San Jose
several weeks earlier and he turned out to be a great
find. He spent 7 years in the U.S. and speaks English
very well. Plus he knows the city like the back of
his
hand. I needed to call him to see if he could help
but
I didn't have any coins for the pay phone. Also, his
phone numbers were in my wallet so I was really in a
trick. I had paper money but no coins and there was
nowhere to get change so I was stuck. I did have a
map
of Costa Rica that Deb had given me and it had an ad
for
AT&T in it. It listed a toll free number to call in
Costa Rica which would connect one to the AT&T
operator
and then you could use a major credit card to charge
the
call. I dialed that number and when the menu asked
for
my credit card number I input that. Luckily I have
had
to use my AMEX so much over the years that I long ago
memorized the account number. I then input Deb's
number
and called her cell phone in Florida. I explained the
situation and asked if she had Geraldo's numbers
because
I had given them to her and she used him for rides
several times while here. She said she had his
numbers
but that they were at home and she didn't have them
with
her. As it turned out, it didn't matter that day.
It was much later that afternoon that one of the
nurses
came to get me for the x-ray. She took me down for
the
x-ray and when I returned to my room I asked about my
release. The nurses looked at me like I was crazy and
said I would not be released until the next day, at
the
earliest. I found out later that what had happened
was
that the nurses made a mistake and did not take me to
x-ray in the morning as they were supposed to.
Consequently when my x-rays were taken in the
afternoon
my doctor was not on duty to read the x-ray and
approve
my release.
I lay awake that night and thought of nothing but
gaining my release the next morning, which was Sunday,
26 September. When my resident came by he looked at
the
x-ray and said I could leave. He said it would take a
couple of hours to do the processing and then I could
leave. I had called Deb again and got Geraldo's phone
numbers. Luckily the guy in the bed next to mine saw
what was going on and motioned for me to follow him.
We
went to the phone and he gave me a couple of coins to
make the call.
Geraldo had my cell phone because I had given it to
him
a few days earlier for safekeeping. Geraldo answered
the phone and I explained my problem. He told me not
to
worry and that he would be at the hospital in about 90
minutes. He showed up as promised and had clothes for
me. I changed and was ready to go but the paperwork
was
not finished yet. I kept asking the nurse what the
hold
up was and she kept telling me, "tranquilo" and that
it
was something to do with my prescription.
When Geraldo arrived I asked him to talk to the nurse
and he told me that she said they were waiting for my
prescription. I told him that was BS because I had
the
prescriptions from the doctor and he told me that if I
had the prescriptions filled at the hospital that it
would take several more hours for me to be released.
He
told me I could be released much more quickly if he
gave
me the prescriptions and I had them filled on my own
at
an outside pharmacy so I agreed. Geraldo went back to
talk to the nurse and she finally realized her
mistake.
I had visions of sitting there and then late in the
afternoon I would be told I couldn't leave again. Not
this time.
Geraldo and I prepared to leave and he asked where I
wanted to go. I told him that I had planned to spend
the night at an inexpensive hotel and then try to
contact one of my friends from Ojochal in the morning
to
see if I could somehow get my passport, or I could get
the paper copy of the passport that the hospital had
made when I was checked in.
The problem is that no hotel would admit me without a
passport or some other type of identification. It was
almost comical because here I was, in a foreign
country,
with no clothes, no passport, ID, or credit cards.
Geraldo thought he knew of a hotel that would let me
register without a passport but it was not to be.
So, he said, "what do you want to do?" He offered to
take me to his house and let me stay the night. That
was extremely generous, but he's a gregarious guy and
I
knew his kids and wife would be curious and I had zero
energy. I was really feeling low. I just needed to
get
somewhere where I could rest. I asked him to call his
dispatcher and ask what the charge would be if he
drove
me to Ojochal. He came back and told me the charge
would be 48,000 colones or about $110.00. That's not
bad at all for a 4.5 hour drive. I asked him to take
me
to an ATM and then we would go.
Several hours later we pulled into Ojochal. I had
Geraldo drive me to Leo and Michelle's. I was soooo
glad to see them. As usual they were great. Geraldo
only stayed a few minutes and then left to go back to
San Jose. Then Leo and Michelle were asking me about
how I got out of the hospital so early and other
things.
Then Leo asked if I wanted to stay at the rental house
or in one of the cabins next to the restaurant. He
suggested that I stay in one of the cabins so that
they
would be close by if something happened or I needed
something. I really wasn't ready to stay by myself
and
am still extremely weak so I was very happy to take
the
offer of the cabin. As it turns out, Leo had prepared
the cabin next to the one that he and Michelle live
in.
Again, they told me not to worry about anything. Leo
brought all my clothes and things from the rental
house
and put them in the cabin. We talked and they told me
how everyone in the village had been asking about me
and
how I was doing. He also told me that several people
in
the village had told him that I could stay with them
as
long as I want when I was released from the hospital
and
they would take care of me. Everyone was ready to
help.

So now I am on the mend. Pain is my constant
companion
but that will subside over time. This place is
amazing
and so many people have done so many things for me. I
owe so much to Leo and Michelle and Maureen for all
their help. They are feeding me, caring for me, and
making sure I don't have to worry about anything.
They
even took care of buying supplies and supervising some
of the construction on my house while I was gone.
Today (Tuesday), Leo took me to the local clinic to
have
my stitches removed. He is taking me back in the
morning
to have a cut on the back of my head checked.
Michelle
refuses to let me drive yet so they take me anywhere
and
everywhere I need to go. These are wonderful people.
Each day people stop by when they hear that I am back
in
town and say hello and tell me how glad they are to
see
that I am OK. This place and its people are
incredible.
When my friends ask me about this place I tell them it
is entirely unique and there is no way to explain it
to
someone. They just have to see it and experience it
for
themselves.
I can now answer questions about the Costa Rican
medical
system, first hand. Many people had asked me about
that
when I moved here. The system works, is extremely
affordable, and it saved my life. At every location I
was examined by many doctors and other medical
experts.
There was never a question of whether or not I had
insurance or money. The only feeling I got from the
whole ordeal was that "this man needs help and we need
to get it for him." There was a tremendous sense of
urgency to get me stabilized. I am very grateful to
all
of them.
The tally of my injuries was: two fractured ribs, one
collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen and some minor
damage
to the second lung. The doctors told me I had
approximately 2 liters of blood sitting in my
abdominal
cavity when they operated. Plus my lungs were
bleeding
as well. I do have a gash on the back of my head that
was not discovered during my hospital stay and I will
have that examined tomorrow. They did a marvelous job
of patching me up.
In closing I can say it is sure great to be alive.
There was obviously more than luck looking over me
that
night. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. I have always
realized that I have much to be thankful for and I
realize that even more today. It also reinforces my
belief that you can't wait for tomorrow because you
don't know what will happen today. I've been given a
second chance and I intend to enjoy it. Pura vida!
ADDENDUM: Wednesday, 10/20/2004 1:00 PM --- Yesterday
I
was in San Jose and stopped by the hospital to settle
up. This is especially for those that think I am
crazy
for moving to Costa Rica. The hospital folks said if
I
wanted to make monthly payments for a year then the
total bill would be $1124.00. That was so cheap as to
be amazing. However, if I wished to pay cash, I could
get a significant discount. I asked for the discount
and paid on the spot.

I had to pay only $637.00! Incredible! That's for my
surgery, 9 nights in the hospital, all the blood, and
medications, etc., that I was given. The only thing
that
does not include is the ground and air ambulance rides
which I will be billed for separately.

So, if you are still wondering about medical care
here,
it's great and EXTREMELY affordable. I almost fell
off
my chair when I was told I only had to pay $637.00 if
I
paid in cash. Ya gotta love this place!

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DISCUSSION
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NEWS DIGEST
=========================================
*Boats Sink Outside Pacific Coast Marina

Former marina operator Jim McKee says he doesn't want
to say “I told
you so,” but his worst fears about what would result
when government

officials closed the Flamingo Marina, located on the
northern Pacific
coast of Costa Rica in the province of Guanacaste,
approximately six
hours northwest of San José, have become reality.

On Friday morning, a wild storm sent McKee's 52-foot
cutter-rigged
sloop, “The Shannon,” to the bottom of the sea.

The boat, valued at $280,000, is one of three that
sank in the storm
Friday and one of more than 40 that were moored in the
bay outside
Flamingo Marina, forced into the precarious situation
when the Coast
Guard and a tribunal of the Environment Ministry
closed the marina in
June in the midst of legal disputes.

The boats, primarily sailing and fishing vessels, left
the marina and –
until Saturday – were moored in the bay outside, with
their owners using

launches and pangas to bring clients from beaches to
their boats so that
some tourism-related business such as sportfishing and
sunset cruises
could continue.

The tribunal originally ordered the marina closed in
October 2003, in

response to allegations of contamination. However,
activity continued,
as many claim dependence on the marina for their
livelihood through

tourism-related activities.

When tribunal officials closed the marina June 11,
they said it was
because nobody ever obtained proper permission for its
operation –
required by a 1998 marina law.

When boats were evicted, owners and operators argued
closing the marina
would be devastating for the tourism-dependent
community. They vowed
to make do by harboring in the bay while looking for a
solution.
However, they expressed concern that the
less-protected waters of the
bay left the boats susceptible to damage in storms.

The Municipality of Santa Cruz had operated the marina
since August 2003,

when McKee, the private operator for approximately 20
years, was evicted

after years of lawsuits regarding the marina's
legality and contamination

allegations (TT, Aug. 22, 2003). In June, the
municipality assured the
marina would reopen soon, after a new concession is
granted. However,
McKee and many other boat owners say the municipality
has been slow to
act.

For now, the boats have been allowed to reenter the
safe waters of the

marina. McKee said he has worked throughout the
weekend to assess the
damage and attach flotation devices in order to pull
his boat up from
the ocean floor, 25-feet under water, a process he
hopes to complete
today. He said at least $80,000 worth of damage was
likely done to the
boat's electrical equipment and the engine.


*Rodriguez Appeals to be Heard Tomorrow

Tomorrow may be a big day for former president Miguel
Angel Rodríguez,
who is under house arrest for the next six months,
following his
detention as he returned to Costa Rica after stepping
down as Secretart

General of the Organization of American States (OAS).


On Tuesday, the appeals for his house arrest and the
order to pay

¢250.000.000 colones bond, will be heard.

The Ministerio Público is expected to argue that the
former president
should be in a jail cell and not in his apartment. The
Fiscalía
(prosecutor's office) is expected to argue that
Rodríguez could influence

their investigation, taking advantage his position as
a former president
and former Secretary General of the OAS, to influence
those who have
agreed to or may in the future testify against him.

The Fiscalía is well aware that Rodríguez is still a
powerful and
influential figure in Costa Rica and that may
intimidate witnesses or
impede the flow of information to the prosecutors if
the former president

remains "free" - under house arrest.

Jorge Matamoros, defence lawyer for Rodríguez, said he
believes that the

house arrest will continue and that the bond amount
will be reduced.

Rodríguez has appealed the court's order to pay the
bond.

Rodríguez is living in an apartment in Vargas Araya,
Montes de Oca (San

Pedro), when judge Carlos Jovel Sánchez order house
arrest instead of
jail. Rodríguez is under 24 hour watch by police, for
his own safety,
and is visited by high ranking police officials on a
regular basis so
that he can sign the book, indicating his compliance
with the house
arrest order.


*Alajuela Gets New Hospital
Residents of Alajuela have been joyous the last week
with the opening of
the new hospital that has been 22 years in the
waiting.

The new hospital will keep the same name of the old
hospital, San Rafael,
and was officially opened by president Abel Pacheco
yesterday following a

ribbon cutting ceremony.

The hospital took 22 years to become a reality,
following a decision by
the president of board of directors of the Caja
Costarricense del Seguro

Social (CCSS), Guido Miranda, in 1982.

The new hospital is three times the size of the old,
with 34.586 square

meters of construction on four floors. The hospital
will have 310 beds
and 8 operating rooms, that cost us$36 million dollars
and is expected
to serve 700.000 residents.

Medical director, Francisco Pérez Gutiérrez, says the
hospital is
currently at 70% operational capacity, with surgeries
beginning on
Tuesday.

During his inaugural speech, President Pacheco moved
away from the
original text to adlib that the "sinvergüenzas y los
canallas"
(scoundrels and swines) are few within the CCSS and
other public

institutions.

The president's comments were referring to the recent
scandals that have

overtaken the country that has seen many public
functionaries and
businessmen arrested for corruption and graft, that
has included two
former presidents of Costa Rica.

The hospital is located in front of the Mall
Internacional Alajuela and
less than a kilmetre from the Juan Santamaria
International airport.


*PUSC Party Needs to Re-Organize

Legislators and members of the Partido Unidad Social
Cristiana (PUSC)
were surprised at the decision to incarcerate for nine
months former

president Rafael Angel Calderón as the Fiscalía
continues it's
investigation into corruption and payoffs over the
loan from Finland to
the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) that
has seen various
public functionaries, along with the former president
in preventive

detention.

Pain, consternation and above all respect for the
court decision is what

members of the PUSC party feel, the same party that
has former president

Rodríguez and current president, Abel Pacheco, as it's
members.

Lorena Vásquez, president of the PUSC told the media,
"I believe in the

division of powers. I believe we can have a quick,
just and impartial

justice".

Everyone at the PUSC as many Costa Ricans were takin
by surprise and
shock following judge Carmen Peraza who felt that
Calderón would impeded
the prosecutor's investigation and many flee the
country.

In the last few days, it was revealed that the former
president has

substantial holdings in the United States.

Ricardo Toledo, former Minister for the Presidency, a
member of the PUSC
and the legislature, said "we have to beleive in the
courts, justice is

justice. If a judge makes a decision, it must be
respected".

The PUSC party is now in the process of analyzing
changes necessary for
the party to continue as the arrest of two former
leaders, has greatly

affected it. The party will be holding a national
assembly in the coming

weeks, to discuss strategy and course for the future
of the party.


*Pedophile Gets 16 Years

Retired American dentist accused of drugging girls for
sex at a beach
house in Quepos was sentenced last Wednesday to 16
years prison.

Dr. Arthur Carl Kanev, 57, fled Costa Rica while free
on bail.

He was arrested last July in Flordia as he returned to
his mother's

condominium in Pompano Beach after a month long
stakeout by Broward
County sheriff's deputies.

Kanev was the first American to be extradited to Costa
Rica after
formally dropping his challenge to the extradition.

Costa Rican authorities arrested Kanev after hundreds
of pictures of
child pornography were found at his beach house in
1999. Authorities said

Kanev and a cohort drugged and raped local girls, some
as young as 13,
and took pornographic pictures of them.

Kanev, denied any wrongdoing in an interview in 2000
on ABC's 20/20 about
the Costa Rican sex trade, and he was profiled on
America's Most Wanted
in 2001.

In extradition papers, Costa Rica named eight victims
and offered
statements from several teenagers who said five men
were staying at the

house. Authorities said poor girls were offered
marijuana, liquor, food
and the use of a swimming pool and nearby beach.

At the trial thirteen witnesses testified against
Kanev, most of who had

testified against Joe Curtis, who was also found
guilty and is serving
twenty four years in a Costa Rican prison.

Girls said they also were sedated and woke up
realizing someone had
sexually assaulted them. Police found sedatives and
pictures of
sleeping, partially nude girls when they searched the
house.

Some of the girls said they consented to sex. A
16-year-old said she was
paid every time she brought a new friend to the house.
She received money
for visits with no sex but more for sex. A girl said
she had sex with

"Arturo" on her second visit and he used condoms.

Another girl said she visited the house three times a
week and pictures
were taken on some visits. A 19-year-old said she once
woke up topless
and feeling drugged.


*Taiwan To Organize Trade Mission To Visit Latin
America

The government of Taiwan is planning to organize a
large-scale trade
mission to visit Latin America early next year, Vice
President Annette Lu

said Sunday.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Latin
Plaza-Expo 2004, an
exhibition of handicrafts and products from Taiwan's
diplomatic allies
in Latin America, Lu said that the executive branch is
making
preparations for the mission.

During the ceremony, Lu played the marimba together
with Costa Rican

Ambassador in Taipei Oscar Alvarez, symbolizing the
close cooperation
and friendship between Taiwan and Latin American
nations.

Lu is scheduled to visit Central America again next
spring and to attend
the Democratic Pacific Union's East Pacific regional
forum to be held in

Costa Rica.

The exhibition, being held at the Taipei World Trade
Center, will run
through Oct. 27.

During the exhibition, no mention was made of Taiwan's
role in making

payments to former president Miguel Angel Rodríguez,
who is now under
house arrest in on corruption charges, or payments to
Nicaraguan
president Enrique Bolaños, who may face impeachment on
corruption
charges linked to his 2001 campaign finances,
allegedly received
US$4.9 million in illegal campaign funds from Taiwan.


*Guard registration lags

The time period expired Friday for security firms to
register under

provisions of a new law, and officials are surprised
that only about
half the estimated 800 companies and 23,000 employees
have registered.

Officials said that employers have an obligation to
make sure the firms
they hire are fully in compliance with the new law.
The Ministerio de

Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública will respond
to inquiries,
officials said.

Among other things, those guards who carry guns must
submit to a

psychological examination of their fitness for the
job.


*Slide buries three

Three persons died Friday when a landslide fell atop
the dwelling in
which they were sleeping. The disaster happened in
Caletas de Violines
on the Isla Violines.

Dead were Isabel de los Angeles Gutiérrez Alvarez, 42,
Maura Espinoza

Alvarado, 29, and the coupleÂ’s daughter, Dannaly
Gutiérrez Espinosa, 9,
said the Judicial Investigating Organization.


*Florida tourist, 32, dies in surf at Playa Zancudo

A 32-year-old U.S. citizen from Florida drowned
Tuesday morning at Playa

Zancudo, near Golfito.

The victim, Jimmy Kennedy, went in the surf shortly
after eating a big

breakfast. He was a bartender in Fort Myers Beach,
Fla. His girlfriend of
ten months, Ms. Ellie Sullivan, said Kennedy was a
loving and happy
person. Ms. Sullivan, also from Fort Meyers, Fla., was
with Kennedy at
the beach when he drowned. She said, "I remember that
he took a boogie
board and went out to play in the surf."

"The problem was that he had just eaten. This is a
warning to everyone.
The currents are dangerous here. Jimmy was worried
about coming to
Costa Rica. But after he got here, he fell in love
with the place and
was eager to move here," said Ms. Sullivan.

Ryan Korone, Ms. SullivanÂ’s son, attempted
resuscitation on Kennedy, but it was too late. "I am
very proud of my
son. He did everything he could to save him," said Ms.
Sullivan. Kennedy

originally was from the U.S. state of New Jersey.

Ms. Sullivan said that she was concerned that there
was no one on the
beach that knew resuscitation apart from her son. She
said she
remembers calling 911 but she never saw any emergency
services arrive.

"I donÂ’t think that anything could have saved him,"
Ms. Sullivan said.
"The only thing I wish is that Playa Zancudo had a
better emergency
medical system. It is needed. His death will not be in
vain."

Playa Zancudo is one of the more remote locations in
Costa Rica,
and sometimes does not have the facilities available
elsehwere in the
country.

KennedyÂ’s death was one of several last week along the
Pacific coast,
in part due to the strong rip tides. Other victims
were Costa Rican.

The deaths continued over the weekend with heavy seas
provoked by bad

weather. In Tibás a 15-year-old died in a stream
there.



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TODAY'S CONTENTS
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*Feature Article: First Hand Account of Costa Rican
Medical Care

*CALENDAR, WEATHER, EXCHANGE RATES

*News Digest

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FEATURE ARTICLE
=========================================
*A First Hand Account of Costa Rican Medical Care



The following comes to us through George
Lundquist. George believes it is important people
realize
living in Costa Rica is not at all bad --- once you
accept the differences and take appropriate actions.
The story is from one of George's former guests.
Thanks, George

=========================================

It was Thursday, 16 September and I stopped by the Coco
Lindo Restaurant to chat with Claudio, the manager, and
Ricardo, one of the regular diners there. Claudio and
Ricardo are both from Switzerland and Claudio's
girlfriend Francois was visiting from Switzerland so I
wanted to stop by.

It was late and I had already eaten dinner so I had a
couple of beers with the group and then left for home.
At home I had a puppy waiting for me that I had found
one the road a few days earlier. I had not named him
yet as I wanted to be sure to select something
appropriate and unique. After I got home I prepared for
bed and the last step was to take the pup out just
before turning the lights out. By this time it was
about half past midnight.
I took the pup out in the front of my rental house to
let him do his thing. I was trying to train him and
give him freedom at the same time so I didn't have him
on a leash but merely tried to stay close by so he
couldn't run off. He had a few spots he liked to
explore and he had wandered off a couple days before so
I was watching closely. As he got to the hedges in the
front of the house he picked up his pace and I knew he
was on the move so I walked over to pick him up and
point him in the other direction. The hedges line a
very steep embankment that leads to the bottom of the
driveway. When I got to the pup I leaned over and
scooped him up in my right hand. I had to lean forward
quite a bit to get him but the hedges were there and I
thought the hedges were thick and strong and would
provide some resistance against my weight as I leaned
over.
Wrong! As soon as I grabbed the pup I knew I was in
trouble because my shoulder pushed against the hedge and
there was no resistance. The problem is that I had most
of my body weight forward and I was committed. There
was nothing I could do.
It is such a steep embankment and the hedges proved to
be so thin, I was in deep trouble before I knew it. As
I felt myself continue to fall forward, it was like
falling through rice paper. A couple of friends said
later that they could see where I grabbed the bushes on
either side and I just ended up with straw in my hands.
Anyway, as I fell through the hedges I still had the pup
in my right hand. I knew I couldn't stop so I tucked my
right shoulder and as I tumbled the first time I pitched
the pup in any direction I could just to get him out of
the way. I heard him give out a little yelp but knew he
was OK.

For me, with my weight moving forward and my shoulder
tucked, and with such a steep embankment, I took off
like an unguided missile. I think I made 3 or 4
complete revolutions before coming to rest. Much of
this was up in the air because the first time I hit the
ground I bounced into the air and from then on I hit the
ground occasionally but I was usually up in the air. It
was like one of those old cowboy movies when the good
guy and bad guy would be fighting while they were
rolling down a hill. You would see their bodies
bouncing up in the air and then coming back down. This
was very much the same sensation.
I finally came to rest against a tree stump and I
distinctly remember the bone jarring feeling that went
through my entire body and the "hmmph" grunt I gave out.
I had come to rest with my back against the tree stump,
with my head facing north, and the stump had hit the
kidney area just above my hip on my left side. So I was
laying on the ground on my right side.
The brunt of the impact was absorbed by the back and
side area on my left side. I guess I was partially
rotated in the air when I hit the stump because I did
not (thankfully) hit it squarely on my back and spine,
giving my side a chance to absorb more of the impact.
I laid there for a while, probably 20 or 30 seconds and
then started to get up. I knew I was hurt but thought I
just had some bruising and would be OK. It was very
difficult to get up and make my way up the embankment.
As I got to the top the pup was there and was looking
around as if to say, "hey, what's going on?" The little
guy was luckily totally oblivious of what was going on.
I picked him up and put him in the house, took my
clothes off and then went to bed.
At approximately 6:00 a.m. Friday morning I awoke, lying
on the floor, with my face in a large pool of blood. At
first I thought I may have cut myself but then realized
I had no cuts. I had suffered very serious internal
injuries in the fall and had vomited a large quantity of
blood during the night. Now I knew I was in trouble but
I didn't have the strength to do anything about it. I
got up but it was difficult to maintain consciousness. I
got to the bed and sat on the edge. Each time I tried to
stand up I could feel myself losing consciousness. So I
lay down on the bed and each time I moved the pain was
unbearable. There was no way I could move or lay that
didn't produce tremendous pain. But I finally fell back
to sleep (or more accurately I lost consciousness
again).
I woke again at about 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Now
there was blood all over my pillow and I was barely
conscious. This time I didn't try to go back to sleep.
I knew I was in very critical condition and that if I
went back to sleep I would not wake up again. I could
tell that I was in shock and that I had lost a lot of
blood internally. However, phone service is not
available in the village yet, so there was no way to
call anyone. Each time I tried to stand up I began to
lose consciousness again so I had to sit back down. But
this time I knew I had to find a way to get to the car
so I could coast down the road and get help. I stood up
and the room started spinning but I managed to put on my
pants and I grabbed a t-shirt as I walked towards the
front door. The pup seemed to intuitively figure that
something was wrong because he stayed by my bedside the
entire time.
I slipped on the t-shirt as I walked out the front door
and headed for the car. My legs were like jelly and my
head was spinning like crazy but I knew if I lost
consciousness then that would be the end of the story.
I remember how wildly my hands and legs were shaking as
I tried to put the key in the door of the car and get it
open. I finally did and I put it into 4 wheel drive so
that I would just be able to put it into gear and let
the car practically drive itself. I was too weak to do
any more than that.
I started the car and backed down the drive and then
pointed the car down the road toward Michelle and Leo's
place. They live about 1/4 mile from my rental house.
They own a small restaurant and have a few cabins that
they rent as well. They are French Canadians who have
lived here for 14 years and they really "know the
ropes." Both speak fluent Spanish and would know
exactly where to go and what to do so I thought if I
could just get to their p lace I would be OK.
The car was pointed towards Leo and Michelle's and I
still had it in 4 wheel drive so I was going slow but
steady, but it still took less than a minute to get
there. When I arrived I was too weak to do anything but
I needed to get their attention. I had stopped the car
just near the entrance to the restaurant and I just
started honking the horn. It wasn't intermittent
honking but rather continuous as I wanted to be loud and
obnoxious to get their attention. At first Michelle
came to see why I was honking and she just smiled and
waved at me and walked away. I started honking again
and she came back and this time I was able to put my
left arm out of the car and make a slight "come here"
motion. Michelle started walking towards the car and
when she was a few feet away we made eye contact. I
said, "Michelle, I'm hurt and I need help", but it was
obvious from the expression on her face that I didn't
need to say that. I guess I wasn't the prettiest sight
in the world.
At about that time Leo walked out and Michelle ran to
him and told him I needed help. He ran to the car and
said something like "Oh shxt", when he saw me. He
started rubbing my arms and said, "You are really cold."
He knew I was in shock and in trouble as well. He
helped me out of the driver's seat and put me in the
passenger seat and then he jumped into the driver's
seat.
He drove to the local town of Cortes, which has a
hospital. Cortes is about 15 minutes from the village.
He told the staff at the emergency room what he knew and
they started examining me. As they asked more
questions, Leo was translating.
While this was going on I kept asking Leo what the
doctors were saying. I could tell that he was hesitant
to tell me but I wanted to know exactly what was going
on. Then one of the doctors --- there were at least
three that examined me --- came in who spoke some
English. He told me that among my many injuries was a
ruptured spleen and that I had already lost a tremendous
amount of blood and that I needed to be transported to
San Jose for care. Within 15 minutes an ambulance
arrived to take me to the airport at Palmar Sur for the
ride to San Jose. At this point, it was all I could do
to remain conscious.
The ambulance ride from the hospital at Cortes to the
small airport at Palmar Sur took approximately 15
minutes. My clothes had been taken and I was covered in
a small blanket and placed on the ambulance litter. I
could gauge what was going on during the ambulance ride
by listening to the sounds. I noticed the driver was
doing his level best to get me to the airport quickly
but he was very safe as well. As we went down the
highway he went as fast as possible but when we got to
town it was easy to tell when he had slowed at an
intersection because the engine slowed and the siren
came on and when he cleared the intersection, the engine
roared again and the siren was turned off.
At the airport I could not see much because of the way I
was positioned on the litter. I was laying on my right
side and the blanket was covering most of me but I could
see out of my left eye, which was exposed. I was loaded
into the back of a small fixed wing aircraft. I
couldn't see much but when we arrived I could see half
of the right wing. The litter was secured to the floor
of the aircraft and it was a very small space and my
face was pressed against the side of fuselage. I
rotated my left eye to see that there was a very small
window above my head. It did not provide much advantage
because I could only see straight up. I could not see
anything to the left or right of the aircraft. The
carpet that lined the fuselage was in front of me and I
had an area approximately 6 inches square just in front
of my face that I concentrated on. One of the attendants
from the Cortes Hospital climbed in with me for the ride
to San Jose. My hat is off to her because it was a very
small space for the two of us in the back of the tiny
aircraft. It only took a few minutes to get me loaded
and to lock the doors of the aircraft. When the pilot
began the ignition sequence I noticed that he only
started one engine so I assumed it was a single engine
craft. The pilot wasted no time getting the engine
started and we lifted off quickly.
The flight to San Jose lasted just more than an hour, I
think. I was trying to figure what was going on around
me. I felt my best chance for survival was to remain
conscious. I thought that if I allowed myself to slip
into unconsciousness then I might not regain
consciousness again. As I stared at the small area of
carpeted fuselage in front of me, I listened for any
clues as to what was going on. The only time I really
started to think the worst was when listening to my
heart monitor. The attendant had the volume on it
turned up very high so I was able to hear it throughout
the entire flight. It was not good. My heartbeat was
extremely irregular and I knew that basically the pump
was running dry because I had lost so much blood. My
blood pressure was extremely low.

[DUE TO THE LENGTH OF THIS STORY, IT WILL BE
CONTINUED ON MONDAY.
STAY TUNED, YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS IT!]

=========================================
CALENDAR, WEATHER, EXCHANGE RATES
=========================================

Ballet Show
Performances today through Sunday at 8 p.m., Melico
Salazar Theater, Av. 2, Ca. Ctrl. Info: 233-5424.

Beyond the Grave
A spine-chilling play in English, with candlelight
dining and intrigue, Saturday, at Big Mike's Club.
Info: 289-6087.

Book Exchange Fair
Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., CENAC, Calle 15, Av. 17.
Info: 305-6074.


*Classical guitarist Matthew Dunlap will visit San
José from his home
in Florida to perform a concert at the Eugene O'Neill
Theater in the
Costa Rican-North American Cultural Center next
Wednesday.

His performance is the next in the Promising Artists
of the 21st
Century series that has brought performing artists
from U.S. universities
to Costa Rica to entertain the expatriate and Costa
Rican national communities alike, as well as to share
some of their knowledge with
students here.



Saturday, Oct. 23
Auction and Potluck
The Computer Club invites the public to its Auction
and Potluck
Benefit today. Guests are asked to bring an item to
auction
for the benefit of the club, potluck dishes, drinks
and ¢1,000 ($2.20).
The activity begins at 10 a.m. today, at Casa María
in Escazú. Info:
228-0190.


Sunday, Oct. 24

Unwanted adults home anniversary
Today is the fifth anniversary of the Tom and Norman
Home for unwanted
adults in Guápiles. The home is operated by the Angel
of Love
Foundation. This year the event will begin at 9:30
a.m. with a pageant
of golden agers. There will be entertainment. and a
golden age queen
will be selected. The local grandmother who has been
able to sell the
most votes to benefit the home wins. Later lunch will
be served and
bingo games will be played. As in past years,
transportation will be
provided from San José. A donation of 500 colons
($1.10) is requested. Visitors are encouraged to
bring donations of food or cleaning products.
The bus will leave from in front of the Catedral
Metropolitana in front
of Parque Central.
Reservations may be made at 763-2121 or 763-4611.



Monday, Oct. 25

U.S. ELECTION COUNTDOWN!
Discuss the debates, hear about the hot state Senate
and House races,
and make a wager on the Nov. 2 Presidential electoral
vote outcome. Democrats Abroad of Costa Rica meets
today at 9:30 a.m. to noon, Gran
Hotel Costa Rica, fifth floor. Coffee break menu,
3,500 colones, reservations at 494-6260.


Friday, Oct. 29

Halloween party
The Little theatre Group will hold a Halloween party
tonight at Blanche
Brown theatre in Escazú. Everyone is invited.
The party starts at 7:30 p.m. entertainment includes
live movie
scenes, pantomime, music, scary readings. Drinks and
treats will be
be available Admission: 1,000 colones ($2.20) or
bring bocas for 10
people.


*Weather

Friday
Chance of a Thunderstorm. High: 77° F / 25° C Wind
West 8 mph / 14 km/h
Friday Night
Chance of a Thunderstorm. Low: 73° F / 23° C Wind NW
11 mph / 18 km/h
Saturday
Thunderstorm. High: 77° F / 25° C Wind West 4 mph / 7
km/h
Saturday Night
Thunderstorm. Low: 73° F / 23° C Wind West 6 mph / 10
km/h
Sunday
Thunderstorm. High: 77° F / 25° C Wind SSW 2 mph / 3
km/h
Sunday Night
Thunderstorm. Low: 73° F / 23° C Wind WNW 2 mph / 3 km/h
Monday
Chance of Rain. High: 77° F / 25° C Wind SSW 2 mph /
3 km/h
Monday Night
Chance of Rain. Low: 73° F / 23° C Wind NW 0 mph / 0
km/h
Tuesday
Chance of Rain. High: 75° F / 24° C Wind East 4 mph /
7 km/h
Tuesday Night
Thunderstorm. Low: 71° F / 22° C Wind SW 4 mph / 7 km/h
Wednesday
Thunderstorm. High: 75° F / 24° C Wind WNW 2 mph / 3
km/h
Wednesday Night
Chance of a Thunderstorm. Low: 73° F / 23° C Wind WNW
6 mph / 10 km/h
Thursday
Chance of a Thunderstorm. High: 75° F / 24° C Wind NW
2 mph / 3 km/h
Thursday Night
Chance of a Thunderstorm. Low: 73° F / 23° C Wind WSW
4 mph / 7 km/h


*Exchange Rates:

Dollar Exchange:

Central Bank
Reference Rate


Buy
¢449.38

Sell
¢450.86
CR Colon:


CAD
354.815

GBP
806.016


EURO
556.410

JPY
4.103


NIO
27.357

RUB
15.144

US Dollar:


BZD
0.5063

GTQ
0.1244


HNL
0.0526

SVC
0.1142


NIO
0.0620

PAB
0.9950

22 Oct 2004





=========================================
SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
=========================================
If you want to be successful in the years to
come, with the new technology of the internet,
you need to break free of the limitations that
bind the majority of people. ONe of the worst
problems individuals and businesses face today
are high taxes, unfair litigation, lack of
privacy in financial matters, etc.

You cannot be truly successful and free unless
you use all the tools at your disposal, which
includes being financially free, and learning
the ingredients to true success.

These secrets used to not be available to the
ordinary person. They were the guarded secrets
of the elite.

Destiny Worldwide is unique in that we not only give
you the education you need to succeed, but we also
give you access to cutting edge tools in many
different aspects.

From e-commerce to success in your career, regular
business, and handling your finances secure from
the many risks out there today, our constellation
of services gives you the advantages you need to
succeed.


Go to these websites to begin running down the road
to your successful future today!

http://www.destiny-worldwide.net

http://www.offshorearnings.com

You'll be glad you did!

=========================================
NEWS DIGEST
=========================================
*New Non-stop Flights Announced From San José to Los
Angeles

Beginning Nov. 5, American Airlines will offer
weekend non-stop flights
from San José, Costa Rica, to Los Angeles
International Airport (LAX) in California.

The new route is in addition to American's existing
daily non-stops
from San José to Miami and to Dallas/Fort Worth.
Bookings can be made
online at www.aa.com.


*Banco Elca will be dissolved!

That is the news from the Consejo Nacional de
Supervisión del
Sistema Financiero (CONASSIF) who intervened the
bank's operations
on June 29, 2004. The head of the Superintendencia
General de Entidades Financieras (SUGEF), Óscar
Rodríguez, says the bank is not a viable
operation and it is best to liquidate it completely.

The president of Banco ELCA, Carlos Alvarado Moya,
along with former
manaher, Hernán González Peña, and advisor Javier
Filloy Esna, are
still in jail on three month's preventive detention.



*La Nacion Publishes Scandal Chart

One remark is that it is becoming like a "game of
monopoly." To help
all of us keep score, the nation's largest newspaper
published a chart
yesterday so that we can keep things straight. If
you know Spanish,
this will help you keep score:

http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2004/octubre/21/separata.pdf


*Former President Calderón Detained

What may have come as surprise to many, however,
expected, former Costa
Rican president Rafael Angel Calderón Fournier left
his house in the
early hours of yesterday morning to give declarations
before the
Fiscalía, following the declarations made by former
Caja Costarricense
de Seguro Social (CCSS), Eliseo Vargas.

However, a few hours later, the former president
found himself riding
the back ofa "perrera" - a police wagon - headed for
the jail cells
of the Goicochea court house, reportedly the same
jail cells that held
former president Miguel Angel Rodríguez less that a
week ago, and the
same jail cell of his accuser(s).

As of this morning, Calderón is still being held in
the jail cell, as
any other prisoner, waiting the decision of criminal
court judge,
Carmen Peralta.

The decision had been expected last night, as
possibly the night court
judge would render a decision on the Fiscalía's
request for six month's preventive detention against
the former president.

Calderón had been interviewed by prosecutors in the
past for his role
in the Fischel-Caja scandal that involved up to us$9
million dollars of commissions paid on the loan of
us$39 million dollars from the government
of Finland to the CCSS to purchase medical equipment.

Calderón had been impeded from leaving Costa Rica,
while Eliseo Vargas, former president of the CCSS,
Walter Reiche Fischel, president of the Corporación
Fischel and Fischel lawyer, Randall Vargas, were
being held
in preventive detention.

Eliseo Vargas has been in the Cocorí jail in Cartago
since September 7
for his role in accepting a bribe, when it was
discovered that the house
he lived in, that was owned by Fischel, was purchased
with the commission money.

On Monday, Vargas's daughter was added to the
investigation when the
Toyota Rav4 she owned was discovered to have been by
Fischel. It was
then that Eliseo Vargas decided to tell all.

Vargas went before the Fiscalía on Tuesday and in
exchange that the investigation be dropped against
his daughter and for a move to house
arrest from jail, he told prosecutors how Calderón
was the mastermind
behind the payoffs and it was Calderón who decided
who got what and how
much.

Vargas also told prosecutors that he got twice as
much, some us$600.000,
from the others because he had been a legislative
deputy when the loan
was approved and then later president of the CCSS.

I a more surprising move, Walter Reiche Fischel,
decided to also talk
and tell all. Reiche was interviewed by telephone by
channel 7 news Telenoticias from his home at the La
Reforma jail.

Reiche told reporters that it was Calderón who
contacted him regarding
the Finnish loan. "Calderón was contracted as a
political consultant.
Once the laws to make the loan possible was approved,
Eliseo Vargas
contacted me and suggested I have a political advisor
on my team so
that the project won't get buried as it has happened
in the past.
Vargas suggested that I hire former president don
Rafael Angel
Calderón."

Reiche continued with his story, that Calderón's role
was to ensure that
the project moved quickly and there were no
conditions tied to the
contract the Corporación Fischel received to make the
purchase of the equipment.

There never was any written contract and all dealings
were made by
Eliseo Vargas.

Reiche also told Telenoticias that Emilio Bruce,
president of the board
of directors of the Corporación Fischel, knew about
Calderón's
involvement. Bruce has denied all knowledge of what
went on, in the
past saying only, that as head of the board, he will
take responsibility,
but knows nothing of what went on with the CCSS deal.

Calderón is the second former leader of Costa Rica to
be detained in
less than a week.

On Saturday, a judge ordered six months of house
arrest for Miguel Angel Rodriguez, president from
1998 until 2002, while prosecutors prepare a
case against him for illegally sharing commissions on
government
contracts.

Rafael Angel Calderón Fournier was president from
1990-1994 and is the
son of former president Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia
(1940-1944), who
was a practicing physician.

Calderón Guardia entered politics in 1934, serving
successively as
vice president and president of congress (1935-1939).
He was leader
of the Calderista, party. As president, he brought
Costa Rica into
World War II on the Allied side and cooperated
closely with the United States. He later served
(1966-1970) as ambassador to Mexico. Calderón
Guardia died in June of 1970.

Calderón Fournier, like Rodríguez, is holding firm
that he is innocent
of any wrongdoing. He told reporters as he headed for
the courthouse yesterday morning that he is a
"religious" man and that God will be
with him. And in the end, if he is brought to trial
(comment made before entering the court building) he
will be found innocent.

He also said that he is hurt by the lies told by
Eliseo Vargas to prosecutors. Words of "a desperate
man."


Two Former Presidents in Jail At The Same Time

Costa Rica is making history. Never in the history of
Costa Rica, from
the days of the Great Navigator himself, Christopher
Columbus, in 1502, h
ave Costa Ricans had to face such a situation and
international
humiliation.

Calderón is this morning waiting on a judge's
decision. It is expected
the former president will also get "house arrest"
though the Fiscalía is asking for six months in jail.

Calderón's lawyer has been making appeals to the news
media following
reports that Calderón's health was being placed at
risk, since jailers
did not attend to his needs of delivering specially
prepared food at
his jail cell, the same cell reportedly used to hold
Rodríguez and others involved in the various scandals
surrounding the country.

Calderón apparently suffers from "gastritis" and his
lawyer was emphatic
that it could lead to cancer if his clients special
needs were not
attended to.



*Taiwan Admits Donating to Ex-President Rodríguez,
report says

The Taiwan Embassy in Costa Rica has admitted
donating $400,000 to a foundation related to
scandal-hit former Costa Rican President Miguel
Angel Rodríguez.

According to the report, the embassy said it donated
$200,000 in 2001
and the same amount in 2002 to a foundation called
Liberty and Human Development of Costa Rica, to help
it hold some seminars and meetings to promote liberty
and human development, but the money was eventually
transferred to Inversiones Denisse, a private company
believed owned by Rodríguez.

Costa Rican authorities are investigating allegations.

Media reports said Taiwan made the donations against
the backdrop of its
hope to regain a seat in the United Nations. Costa
Rica recognizes the sovereignty of the government of
Taiwan, which China regards as a
breakaway province.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Taiwan
Foreign Minister Mark
Chen denied the allegations, saying, "Taiwan has
never given political donations to any individuals."



*United Nation's Head Opposes Human Cloning Ban, U.S.
and Costa Rica Firm

The head of the United Nations says he opposes a
proposal to draft a
treaty banning all forms of human cloning. Meanwhile,
the United States
and Costa Rica are standing firm in their resolve to
fight for a complete
ban rather than delay a vote for another year or
allow a partial ban to
pass.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday
endorsed embryonic stem
cell research and said he opposes efforts by the 61
nation coalition,
headed by the U.S. and Costa Rica, to draft a treaty
opposing both reproductive and research cloning.

"Obviously it is an issue for the member-states to
decide, but as an individual and in my personal view,
I think I would go for therapeutic cloning," Annan
told reporters Thursday.

Meanwhile, a U.S. diplomatic official told the French
Press Agency that
its position in favor of banning all human cloning
has not changed.

"A partial ban that prohibits cloning for
reproductive purpose but
permits the destruction of cloned human embryos for
experimental
purposes is unacceptable," the State Department
official said.

"Our position on cloning has not changed. We believe
all cloning is wrong
and should be banned," the official said.

A Costa Rican representative said that his country
isn't changing its
mind either. However, Costa Rica's U.N. Ambassador
Bruno Stagno Ugarte
also said he was concerned that pressure is building
to delay a vote
another year.

"We are convinced that we enjoy a clear majority.
However, and I think
we must be realistic here, we still face the specter
of some type of procedural vote as a way of avoiding
our responsibilities to address an urgent and
important matter," Stagno told Associated Press.

The UN's legal committee opened debate on Thursday on
guidelines for
drafting a human cloning ban treaty.

On Monday, Moroccan U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Bennouna,
who chairs the
legal committee, said he would do everything in his
power to delay a vote
for another year, claiming the international
community is not ready to
vote on the controversial issue.

"This has become such an emotional issue that I hope
to avoid a vote
this year," Bennouna told Reuters.

The U.S. and Costa Rica want nations to sign on to a
treaty saying
"human cloning, for any purpose whatsoever, is
unethical, morally reproachable and contrary to due
respect for the human person and that
it cannot be justified or accepted."

Belgium and other European nations are rallying a
smaller group of
countries in opposition.

The Belgian group of nations, with twenty-one
supporters, have drafted a competing proposal that
bans human cloning for reproduction but allows
it for research.

In a September speech, President Bush endorsed the
complete ban on human cloning.

"In this session, the U.N. will consider a resolution
sponsored by
Costa Rica calling for a comprehensive ban on human
cloning. I support
that resolution and urge all governments to affirm a
basic ethical
principle: No human life should ever be produced or
destroyed for the
benefit of another," he said.

The issue has divided the U.S. presidential
candidates with Senator
John Kerry co-sponsoring a Senate bill, SB 303, that
allows scientists
to clone and kill human beings for research.


*Shortage of Hotel Rooms

The joy resulting from an increasing arrival of
tourists in Costa Rica
is marred by the threat of shortage in hotel rooms,
both private and
official sources agreed.

According to the National Chamber of Tourism and the
Association of
Tourism Professionals, the increase in the arrival of
tourists who
travel by air has averaged 8.26 percent in the last
seven years, while
the number of new hotel rooms has averaged only 3.26
percent.

The Minister of Tourism, Rodrigo Castro, explained
that he has had
recent meetings with both local and international
investors to promote
new investments and expand the existing facilities,
in order to properly address the lodging needs of
visitors.


*CNFL To Change More Than 7.000 Street Lamps

In an ambitious project, the Compañía Nacional de
Fuerza y Luz (CNFL), announced that it will replace
some 7.580 light bulbs in street lamps
during the period of 2005-2006, at a cost of
¢320.000.000 colones per
year.

Fourteen districts in the Metropolitan San José area
will be affected
with the better lighting on their streets.

The areas most affected with the improved lighting
are Aserrí,
Desamparados, Montes de Oca, La Unión, Tibás and
Curridabat. The areas
of Alajuelita, Escazú, Santa Ana, Alajuela, Belén,
Flores, Barva and
Santa Bárbara in Heredia will also see lighting
improvements.

Henry Chinchilla Mora, a director at CNFL, says that
the improvements
will hopefully reduce the number of complaints about
street lights and
street lighting in general.



*Hydro plant frozen by water complaints

An environmental tribunal has blocked work on the La
Joya hydroelectric project at Tucurrique because of
fears that a tunnel there would damage
the source of underground water.

The news was spread via e-mail by the environmental
group Federación Costarricense para la Conservación
del Ambiente.

Neighbors of the project have been blocking access to
the $77 million
project for several days. The hydro plant is being
built for the
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad by the
Spanish firm Unión
FENOSA.

The municipal council of Tucurrique acted Oct. 13 to
have the project
shut even though it has received all the required
permits. Residents
fear that the tunnel will damage the domestic water
supply for the
nearby towns. The tunnel is for water that runs the
hydroelectric
turbines.



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

*News Digest


=========================================
WHAT'S NEW AT THE COSTA RICA PAGE!
=========================================
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!

=========================================
FEATURE ARTICLE
=========================================


=========================================
DISCUSSION
=========================================

Please send your discussion topics to

costarica@destiny-worldwide.net

=========================================
SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
=========================================
If you want to be successful in the years to
come, with the new technology of the internet,
you need to break free of the limitations that
bind the majority of people. ONe of the worst
problems individuals and businesses face today
are high taxes, unfair litigation, lack of
privacy in financial matters, etc.

You cannot be truly successful and free unless
you use all the tools at your disposal, which
includes being financially free, and learning
the ingredients to true success.

These secrets used to not be available to the
ordinary person. They were the guarded secrets
of the elite.

Destiny Worldwide is unique in that we not only give
you the education you need to succeed, but we also
give you access to cutting edge tools in many
different aspects.

From e-commerce to success in your career, regular
business, and handling your finances secure from
the many risks out there today, our constellation
of services gives you the advantages you need to
succeed.


Go to these websites to begin running down the road
to your successful future today!

http://www.destiny-worldwide.net

http://www.offshorearnings.com

You'll be glad you did!

=========================================
NEWS DIGEST
=========================================
“Business & Beyond” to feature CINDE, Costa Rican
Investment Board

Platinum Television Group will feature the Costa
Rican Investment
Board, CINDE, for its innovative, educational
television series,
Business & Beyond. It will be featured in a segment
on “Economic

Development--Investment Opportunities Abroad.”

The Costa Rican Investment Board (CINDE) assists
foreign investors in

establishing their operations in Costa Rica. A
private, nonprofit

organization, CINDE has an expert staff that will
provide complete,
updated economic and business information, prepare
customized visits to
the country, assist in making initial contacts with
suppliers and

professionals, and do any follow-up required to
establish the operation.
All of these services are part of their free assistance.

For example, recently CINDE announced that Intel had
invested $110 million
in Costa Rica for the manufacturing of “chipset” in
addition to its already

successful operation in the country, because it has
found good prospects in

Costa RicaÂ’s investment climate conditions.

Costa Rica assigns the utmost importance to the
influx of foreign
investment into the country, not only for balance of
payment reasons, but

most importantly as a significant contributor to the
generation of

employment, technology transfer and diversification
of exports. As a
rule, foreigners have exactly the same rights as
locals for conducting

business in Costa Rica. Therefore, companies and
individuals can
establish operations in several ways and in almost
every industry
without limitations. This also means that the
possibility of creating

strategic alliances between foreign and local
companies is only limited
to identifying the right market opportunity and
finding the right partners
in the country.

Within that context, CINDE works to foster Costa
Rica's development, by

serving as a catalyst and facilitator for the
investment process in the

country. From its non-political, non-sectorial
interest position, CINDE
has excellent relations with both the public and the
private sectors.
CINDE has reorganized itself and now concentrates in
promoting Costa Rica
as a competitive investment site in three sectors
that benefit from

significant strengths and advantages that the country
has to offer:
Medical Devices, Electronics, and Services. A fourth
sector, Special

Projects, includes projects in areas such as
textiles, tourism, and
others.

CINDEÂ’s offices in New York and California
proactively look for
expanding companies and provide tailor-made services
to investors. An

additional team in Costa Rica advises on how to do
business in the
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visit the official website at: http://www.cinde.or.cr./.


*Judicial Investigators Confirm Comptroller General
Forged Signatures

The Comptroller General of Costa Rica, Alex Solís,
forged 27 signatures
of family members in his power as an attorney,
concluded the Judicial

Investigation Police (OIJ) at the request of a group
of legislators

investigating alleged irregularities of the comptroller.

After learning of the OIJ report, Patriotic Bloc
legislator Humberto Arce,

who originally filed the complaint against the
comptroller, said the
evidence is sufficient to nullify the naming of
Solís. The Legislative

Assembly named Solís to his position earlier this year.

Using handwriting analysis, the OIJ determined Solís
forged the
signatures of his mother, his wife and his brother,
while acting as
a lawyer.

The OIJ had determined in September that
approximately 39 signatures
in the protocol of Solís – lawyer and notary – were
false, but at that
time did not determine their author.

A special Legislative Assembly commission is
investigating Solís in
relation to these alleged forgeries, and dozens of
loans made to residents
of Pérez Zeledón, 100 kilometers south of San José,
where he is from.

According to media reports, many of the loans Solís
made were used by

unemployed people to travel illegally to the United
States.

Solís has rejected the accusations, and attributes
them to politicians
who are against him.


*FISCHEL-CAJA SCANDAL:
Eliseo Vargas Fingers Calderón

The Fischel-Caja scandal took on a new twist as
former president of the
Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), Eliso
Vargas, talked to

prosecutors on Tuesday to make a deal for a change in
his housing

arrangements and charges dropped against his
daughter, in exchange for
more incriminating information.

Vargas is preventive detention in the Cocorí jail in
Cartago, but soon
could be home under house arrest and all
investigations will be dropped

against his daughter for receiving a Toyota Rav4,
paid by the Corporación

Fischel from funds received in connection the the
us$39 Million dollar
loan from Finland.

Vargas told prosecutors that former president Rafael
Ángel Calderón tried
to hide the deposit of us$520.000 dollars in Panama
paid form the Finnish

loan.

In an interview that took some 12 hours, Vargas,
detailed to prosecutors
how Calderón attempted to mask the movement of the
funds as part of a
sale of stock in a Miami hotel.

Vargas also told prosecutors that it was Calderón who
showed him how to

funnel funds to U.S. accounts and that an aide to
former Panamanian

president, Mireya Moscoso, helped in opening the
Panamanian accounts.

The statement by Vargas also indicated that Calderón
was very worried
about covering up the payments made through the
Sultana company in Panama
and had dealings with Fischel president, Walter
Reiche Fischel, over the

movement of the funds.

According to Vargas, it was Calderón who decided how
the "commission"
would be split up and who got what. Calderón paid out
us$300.000 to
himself, another us$300.000 to Gerardo Bolaños
(Calderon's law firm
partner) and another us$300.000 to Juan Carlos Sánchez.

Vargas got us$600.000 for his part, being told by the
former president
that he deserved double the amount of the others,
since he had been a
deputy in the Legislature and then president of the
CCSS.

Vargas, who has been in preventive detention since
September 7 and who
may soon see more liberty, also told prosecutors that
he received a
payment from Alcatel. Through his friendship with
Rodrigo Méndez, an
engineer at the Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE), he met
Edgar Valverde, the them president of Alcatel Costa
Rica.

Vargas said that he was promised a "good" commission
if Alcatel was able
to get the ICE contract to install 400.000 GSM
cellular telephones lines
in Costa Rica, a contract that Alcatel did get and
was worth
us$149 million dollars.

Former president Rafael Ángel Calderón is to appear
before the Fiscalía
this morning (Thursday) to answer questions over the
new allegations by

Vargas and could see the investigation place
preventive measures against
the former president, as the case with former
president Miguel Angel

Rodríguez who is under house arrest in the
ICE-Alcatel scandal.

Calderón told the press that his is hurt by the
allegations by Vargas,
a man he had helped with his career and personally.

Gonzalo Castellón, Calderón's lawyer, says that the
possibility exists
that his client (Calderón) may face stiffer measures
against him
following the meeting this morning with prosecutors.
He told the press
that his client will walk in the main doors of the
'Tribunales' in San
José like any other citizen, referring to the way
former president
Rodríguez was escorted in handcuffs, as a common
criminal, following his

arrival to Costa Rica last Friday.

Internal court house security has been intensified
for this mornings

appearance by the former president and additional
security measures
are in place to avoid the disorder around and inside
the court buildings
last week with the arrival of Rodríguez.


*PRESIDENTIAL SCANDAL:

Taiwan's Impact of Costa Rica Scandal Widens

The Taiwan legislative foreign affairs committee
yesterday temporarily
froze an annual secret budget to South and Central
America nations,
demanding that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
provide a clear

explanation of Taiwan's donations to former Costa
Rican president Miguel

Angel Rodríguez.

KMT legislator Bill Sun, who initiated the freeze,
argued that MOFA has

failed to provide an explanation of the situation,
which might lead to
more damage to Taiwan and its ties with Costa Rica.

Costa Rican prosecutors confirmed that they are
investigating alleged

payments by the government of Taiwan into accounts
controlled by former

president Miguel Angel Rodríguez, who allegedly
received US$200,000 in
2001 from the Foreign Ministry and another US$200,000
in 2002 from the

Taiwanese Embassy in San Jose.

Furthermore, there are reports that a Panamanian
company controlled by

Rodriguez allegedly accepted two separate donations
of US$500,000 each
and that Taiwan had provided a total of US$1.4
million in political
donations to Rodríguez over three years.

The MOFA, which submitted an explanation of Taiwan's
contributions to its

Costa Rican counterpart Tuesday, has denied making
any political donations
to former president Rodríguez, but has not made
proper disclosure of such.

The MOFA also said that it had allocated US$200,000
for a personnel-
training project and international conferences in
2001 and 2002, after
the Foundation for Liberty and Human Development in
Costa Rica sent a
letter to Taiwan's embassy seeking a donation of
US$1.2 million, to
defray the cost of seminars and training."

The MOFA, however, claimed that it was unaware of the
source of the
remaining US$1 million that was supposedly donated to
Rodríguez's
Panamanian company.

Rodríguez's lawyers, however, said that the amount of
US$200,000 dollars
sent in 2001 and 2002 to the foundation was a
personal loan to the then

president.

Taiwanese banks arranged to loan Rodríguez the money
through the
government in Taipei, lawyer Rafael Gairod said.

The MOFA yesterday declined to comments on the
statement by Rodríguez's

lawyers.

Sun emphasized that the Legislature is seeking to
exercise damage control
to ensure that Taiwan's image would not be further
tarnished as the case

continues through the legal process.

To protect Taiwan's image, Sun said, a special
committee was needed to

investigate the case.

He said yesterday that he was not satisfied with the
MOFA's explanation,

which left many uncertainties concerning the secret
budget, which would
be again reviewed by the Legislature's foreign
affairs committee today.


*Abengoa Loses Costa Rican Contract

Spain's Abengoa SA 's Inabensa SA unit has lost a
€162.4 Million Euro

contract in Costa Rica due to bribery charges facing
ex-president of
the country Miguel Angel Rodríguez, El Mundo
reported, without citing a

source.

According to El Mundo, Abengoa's alledged involvement
in the bribery

allegations facing the ex-president has led the
Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (ICE) to cancel a contract to build
the Miramar de
Puntarenas power plant.

Inabensa has been accused of making a us$100,000
payment to Rodríguez
for awarding the company a contract to lay
underground power cables in

downtown San José, a project that is coming to the
end of it's two

construction phase.

The contract was awarded to Inabensa when Rodríguez
was president.

Inabensa said it 'has never made payments to public
servants in order to

improve chances of winning a contract,' denying any
involvement in a
bribery scandal surrounding the ex-president of Costa
Rica.

Four e-mails published in the Spanish daily Al Día
newspaper is
incriminating Inabensa in paying Rodriguez for
awarding the company the

contract. Al Día cited unnamed judicial sources on
Sunday, however, as

saying that the judge has refused to accept the
e-mails as evidence,
calling them 'spurious.'

The Abengoa unit said it was awarded the power line
contract because
'the second bidder offered a substantially higher
price than Inabensa.'

Amid the allegations contractor Inabensa, as well as
telecoms firms
Alcatel and Ericsson have been removed from the list
of government
suppliers.

The awarding of telecoms contracts in Costa Rica has
always been
somewhat mysterious, with a number having been won
and then subsequently
lost again. However, the mounting publicity
surrounding this scandal could

have serious consequences for Ericsson and Alcatel
throughout the region.

For example, the president of Honduras, Ricardo
Maduro, has said that
the country will begin an investigation into the
conduct of Alcatel in

relation to contracts awarded to it by state-owned,
fixed-line incumbent

Hondutel. Any more allegations against the company
could see it
blacklisted in one of the fastest-growing telecoms
regions in the world.




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