December 20, 2007

Officer Down: A file image of Pedro Alberto Fallas, who Tuesday night became the ninth Costa Rican police officer to be killed in the line of duty in the past two years.

Parmenio Case Closed: Minor Calvo, seen in San José Court, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud, although he was absolved for murder charges. Omar Chaves and Luis Alberto Aguirre were convicted of murder, sentenced to 47 and 30 years in jail, respectively.

By Dave Sherwood
Tico Times Staff | dsherwood@ticotimes.net

Freedom of the press activists were biting fingernails alongside family members of the accused as judges read guilty verdicts yesterday in the murder case of radio journalist Parmenio Medina.

Infamous murder suspect Minor Calvo, a Catholic priest and host of the widely popular but now defunct Catholic radio station Radio María, was absolved of the murder charges, but convicted of fraud and sentenced to 15 years in jail.

Two other suspects in the case – Omar Chaves, a business partner at the radio station, and Nicaraguan-born Luis Alberto Aguirre, known as “El Indio” – were convicted of murder, sentenced to 47 and 30 years in jail, respectively.

The long-awaited verdict comes after almost seven years of investigation and deliberation and an almost soap opera-style Latin American drama that involved nine suspects, 110 witnesses, 800 pieces of evidence and countless threats and televised outbursts.

Journalist Parmenio Medina was shot point blank three times in the head and torso outside his home July 7, 2001, shortly after producing a series of critical investigative reports about the Radio María, which was founded and managed by priest Calvo and bankrolled by partner Chaves (TT, Jan. 9, 2004).

According to the verdict, from 1999 to 2001, the radio station received nearly $3 million in donations, the majority of which Calvo and Chaves used to pay for luxuries that included cruises to the Bahamas and Florida, fine clothes and dining, DirectTV, a jet ski, two housekeepers and favors for family and friends.

Unknowing donors believed the money was destined for the good causes that Calvo stumped in his radio show.

The case attracted the attention of international advocacy groups, including Amnesty International, which worried that poor investigation by authorities could have resulted in a lack of convicting evidence.

“Medina's murder was the first known murder of a journalist in modern Costa Rica, and it shocked that normally peaceful society. The authorities' apparent unwillingness to pursue those who ordered his killing is equally shocking,” said a spokesman for the group in 2003.

Despite public suspicions, judges said they were unable to tie Chaves to the murder, but found 15 years of jail time suitable considering the number of people whose “confidence he had betrayed.”

An assault investigation turned deadly Tuesday night in San José when assailants shot and killed Officer Pedro Alberto Fallas, an eight-year veteran of the National Police.

Fallas, 29, and his partner, Eladio Obando Bermúdez, were in pursuit of two suspects of an assault reported near Hotel Del Rey, the Public Security Ministry reported.

They encountered two men on a white Yamaha motorcycle, matching the assailants' description, the ministry reported.

Also riding motorcycles, the police embarked on a police chase that led them toward Tibás, north of San José.

Despite repeated calls by the police for the suspects to stop, the motorcycle only sped up, the ministry reported.

Public Security Vice Minister Rafael Gutiérrez said he believed the assailants ultimately sought refuge among a gathering of people waiting at the Kamaquiri stop for buses headed to the Caribbean province of Limón.

When the officers arrived, the assailants began to shoot. The police could not fire back due to the crowd of at least 20 people, according to Gutiérrez. Obando was shot once in the stomach and was taken to Guardia Calderón Hospital in stable condition.

Fallas suffered two shots, one in the head and another near his left arm.

He became the ninth Costa Rican police officer to be killed in the line of duty in two years.

General Director of the National Police José Fabio Pizarro said both officers were wearing bulletproof vests. But Fallas was hit in the head and his left armpit, parts of the body unprotected by the vest, and Obando was hit through the vest's zipper.

A funeral was held to mourn Fallas yesterday afternoon at the Public Security Ministry's chapel.

“These are the heroes in blue who give their lives for their country,” said Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal, before the chapel full of police.

-Tico Times

By Peter Krupa
Tico Times Staff | pkrupa@ticotimes.net

After a slow 2006, tourism growth has bumped back up into the double digits. The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) announced this week that 1.9 million people visited Costa Rica in 2007, an increase of 11.5% over last year's 1.75 million-plus visitors.

Tourist spending increased even faster. The industry is expected to gross more than $1.9 billion this year, an 18% jump over 2006.

Tourism Minister Carlos Benavidas attributed the visitation increase largely to the greater number of flights arriving to Costa Rica. Some 675,000 more airline seats held passengers headed for Costa Rica, a 22% jump.

Almost a dozen airlines either started service to Costa Rica this year or added new flights.

The healthy increase in the country's tourism industry presents a rebound from last year's light 2.7% growth and a return to the robust double-digit growth of 2005 (15.6%), 2004 (17.3%) and 2003 (11.3%).

The sharp growth in tourism over the last few years has caused the tourism institute to rethink its projections. Planners had previously figured a modest and steady growth of an average of 6.6%. What they've had instead in the last five years is a red-hot 9.06% percent average growth.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is scheduled to meet this afternoon with Guatemalan President-elect Alvaro Colom in the first official bilateral talks between the two leaders.

Casa Presidencial would not divulge the details of the discussion planned between Arias and his incoming Guatemalan counterpart slated to take office Jan. 14. The meeting will likely focus on relations between Costa Rica and Guatemala as well as review policies and accords, such as free trade with North America and Europe that affect nations throughout the region.

The new center-left Colom takes over next month from conservative President Oscar Berger, pledging to make his country a model of social democracy with a “Mayan face.” While not belonging to any of Guatemala's 23 Mayan ethnic groups — 40% of the population — Colom, 56, says as president he will regularly consult the Mayan Elders National Council and work toward unifying the country's disparate peoples.

BBC commentators said Colom's politics are more likely to resemble those of Argentina's Nestor and Cristina Kirschner or Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva than Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

The new president announced an ambitious plan involving 131 measures in his first 100 days in office, making changes in such areas as security, rural development and housing, reported the Guatemalan daily Prensa Libre.

Arias last met Colom Dec. 12 in Guatemala at a summit of Central American leaders, to which the Guatemalan president-elect was invited as a special guest.

-Tico Times and ACAN-EFE

2007-08 National Surf Circuit Kicks Off in Jacó