March 28, 2008

Lost cause: Costa Rica's Ricardo Harris, left, battled Peru's Juan Cominges in a friendly match late Wednesday in the Peruvian city of Iquitos. The match ended in a 3-1 loss for “La Sele” – Costa Rica's 11th no-win in a row. Soccer commentators and fans alike are increasingly dumping the national team, for whom the outlook is bleak in the run-up to this summer's qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup.

EFE

Crime traveler: José Alvaro Castilblanco, middle, being deported last year for the third time. Police say he could be at large again in Costa Rica, where he is known to rob tourists by first spiking a whole in their car tires. The Colombian, who might now have blond hair, according to police informants, famously mocked Costa Rican law enforcement, calling it “a joke” for anyone looking to commit crimes and promised to return.

Photo by Guillermo Solano of the Public Security Ministry

Tire-spike tourist thief could be back

A known assailant of tourists has been spotted here again after repeated deportations to his home country of Colombia, police said.

José Alvaro Castilblanco, who police say specializes in assaulting tourists by puncturing their car's tires and robbing them around such visitor hotspots as Irazú Volcano or Playa Jacó, was seen last week in San José, Immigration Police Chief Francisco Castaing said.

Police informants say Castilblanco has changed his appearance and might now have blond hair, said Castaing, who added that police are investigating the bandit's whereabouts.

Costa Rica has deported the Colombian three times, Castaing said.

Police deported Castilblanco in February 2007, but on his way out the tourist attacker mocked this country's justice system, calling Costa Rica is a criminal's paradise and promising to return.

“He said this country is a joke” in terms of outsmarting the law, according to the police chief.

Castaing added that this country's laws need to be tightened to keep Castilblanco, who has also committed burglaries as far afield as Spain and Indonesia, in jail.

“He's a crime traveler,” Castaing said.

Therefore, he explained, Colombia won't steak him out, “because he doesn't commit crimes at home.”

A power struggle in Costa Rica's National Olympics Committee culminated this week with the ouster of committee president Jorge Nery Carvajal.

A majority of the committee's 47 assembly members voted on Tuesday night to replace Nery with Henry Nuñez, head of the country's judo association.

Nery has, however, refused to leave the post, arguing that the assembly was illegal. He and his allies still occupy the committee offices in Coronado and control the committee's bank accounts, according to daily La Nación.

Late last year, Nery became more embattled when the judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) opened an investigation into allegations that he had foraged documents and mismanaged the committee.

Nery has sat as president of the committee for 22 years.

The Costa Rican national soccer team lost 3-1 in a friendly match against Perú at the Esadio Max Augustín in the Amazon jungle town of Iquitos Wednesday night. The result means that “La Sele” has now gone 11 games without a victory.

The loss further increases the pressure on coach Hernán Medford as the country's media slammed the team's performance.

Respected daily La Nación cried “Hasta Perú se rió de la ‘Sele' ” (“Even Perú laughed at the ‘Sele'”), while the tabloid Diario Extra, the most popular paper in the country, mocked the team: “Para variar la “Sele” cayó 3-1 ” (Just for a change, the “Sele” lost 3-1”).

The game was the team's last match before they begin their qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa against Granada on June 14.

The result is even worse than it first appears as Peruvian coach José del Solar sent out what was effectively a second-string side, with stars such as Claudio Pizarro, Nolberto Solano and Jefferson Farfan all missing from the line-up.

Although Costa Rica started with promise, they fell behind in the 32nd minute to a Hernán Rengifo goal. Costa Rica pulled one back almost immediately when, five minutes later, Alejandro Alpízar scored from the penalty spot following a foul on Ricardo Harris.

However, two further goals in quick succession from Carlos Zambrano and Martín Hidalgo put the tie beyond the reach of Medford's men, who posed no threat in attack.

In other soccer news, Deportivo Saprissa has been fined $15,000 by soccer federation CONCACAF after some fans threw objects, one of which struck a player from Mexico's Atlante, onto the pitch during their second-leg victory in the CONCACAF semifinals on March 20.

The club was ordered to “implement a new stadium security plan prior to its semifinal encounter against the USA's Houston Dynamo,” according to a statement on the federation's Web site. In response, Saprissa yesterday announced a range of new security measures, including increasing the number of security agents from 165 to over 225, according to La Nación.

The association also fined Atlante $2,500 for the “unsportsmanlike behavior” of some players and staff in antagonizing home fans.

The Allegro Papagayo Hotel has re-opened almost two months after it was closed by the Ministry of Health for dumping wastewater into a nearby estuary.

Health Minister María Luisa Avila said the hotel received permission on March 19 to allow up to 300 people on the property, a number that includes both guests and employees.

The hotel has 300 rooms.

Avila said the hotel's water treatment plant – which has an approved capacity for 300 – has been repaired and that the Ministry of Health will be sending inspectors during the week to make sure it is in working order.

Full occupancy of the hotel would require a second water treatment plant, Avila said. While the hotel has submitted preliminary plans for a second plant, construction on it has yet to begin.

Allegro Papagayo, part of the Spanish-owned Occidental Hotels & Resorts, was closed by the Health Ministry on Jan. 31 after inspectors found hidden pipes that were dumping wastewater into an estuary that is attached to Culebra Bay.

The hotel had also been shipping raw sewage from its overloaded wastewater plants and dumping it in septic fields outside of the small town of El Gallo de Liberia.

Complaints against the hotel had languished before the Environmental Tribunal for a year before the Health Ministry moved to shut it down.

On the Chicken Bus in Guatemala