Judges sentenced former President Rafael Angel Calderón to five years in prison and issued a fine of $380,000 for his involvement in an illicit transaction with a Finnish medical supply company.

The panel of three judges found him guilty of accepting $520,000 of $8 million dollars in kickbacks from a $39.5 million loan to the Costa Rican government.

Though Calderón said he will appeal the decision, he has withdrawn his name as presidential candidate for the February 2010 elections.

“We lost a battle, but he will continue fighting,” he told reporters after the sentence. “There's much time before this is over.”

Calderón, age 60, who served as president between 1990 and 1994, is charged with taking money from the very institution his father founded, the Costa Rican Social Security System. Calderón, a lawyer, never denied the payment, but said the $520,000 was for consulting services, including help drafting legislation.

He was arrested in 2004 and spent five months inside one of Costa Rica's toughest prisons. Two other former presidents – Miguel Angel Rodríguez ( 1998-2002) and José María Figueres (1994-1998) – were also accused of corruption at the time. Rodríguez continues to await trial, while Figueres has been living in Geneva, Switzerland, and has so far avoided facing charges.

Following Calderón's arrest, his party – the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC) – lost 14 seats and ceased to be a major player on the political stage.

For Mariela Castro, a social science professor at the University of Costa Rica, Calderón's decision spells trouble for PUSC.

“(A conviction) will be deadly, or almost deadly, for his party, La Unidad,” she explained. “Calderón is the point-person within La Unidad. He is the founder.”

Luis Fishman, president of Calderón's party, faces the difficult challenge of piecing his party back together and naming a new presidential candidate.

As Fishman walked out of the courtroom on Monday, he looked daunted by the decision of the judges.

Holding up his hands to the reporters that surrounded him, he said, “Give me some consideration … I am not in the best position to respond to you right now.”

Looking to explain himself further, he added, “We are very surprised. That was a big hit.”

Fishman has until Oct. 23 to replace Calderón on the ballot. He declined to give names of possible candidates.

Following Monday's initial sentence, the court is slated to read its final verdict on Nov. 3, after which time the parties involved in the case can begin their appeals.

Costa Rica may be climbing on the human development index, but it's slowly being outpaced by other Latin American countries.

This year, Costa Rica watched Bahamas, Cuba and Mexico slip past it, contributing to nudging the country down from 48th to 54th place in rankings conducted each year by the United Nations Development Program.

The problem wasn't in the country's life expectancy (Costa Rica's remains one of the highest in Latin America), nor in its adult literacy rate. However, Costa Rica stumbled when it came to school enrollment.

“Without a doubt, the main challenge is improving enrollment, which is one of the lowest among the more developed countries,” said Lara Blanco, coordinator of human development at the United Nations.

According to the report, which was released Monday, Costa Rica has a 73 percent matriculation rate, lower than Venezuela's 85.9 percent, Panama's 79.7 percent and El Salvador's 74 percent.

Yet, the data sidesteps new social programs aimed at preventing drop-outs. Because the United Nations used numbers from 2007, improvements under the Avancemos initiative are not reflected in the calculations. Avancemos, which was unrolled in Costa Rica in 2006, offers students scholarships to remain in school, and is believed to have decreased the number of dropouts.

Costa Rica also suffered in comparisons of per-capita gross domestic product (GDP). Costa Rica's $10,842 lags behind countries like Bahamas ($20,253 per capita), Venezuela ($12,156) and Panama ($11,391).

Even while some countries snuck past them in the ratings, Costa Rica still saw an improvement on the scale from .846 in last year's numbers to .854 this year.

The index judges countries in four areas, including adult literacy, school enrollment, life expectancy and GDP per capita. Doing away with old terms, such as third-world or developing, the United Nations places countries into four groups: Very high human development, high human development, medium human development and low human development. Costa Rica was one of 44 countries ranking in high human development.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Oscar Flores needed no reminder that Monday marked 100 days since former President Manuel Zelaya was forced into exile at gunpoint. He's kept a tally and hoisted it over his head at every protest every day since then.

“We're tired of waiting,” said Flores, 52, during Monday's protest in front of the U.S. Embassy here. “It's time to restore democracy.”

Monday also signified the 100th day in office for de facto President Roberto Micheletti, who lifted his executive order that for one week gave broad powers to the national military and police in limiting freedom of speech, assembly and the press.

Zelaya's supporters said they were protesting in front of the U.S. Embassy to encourage the government there to take stronger steps toward ensuring Zelaya's return to the presidency.

“We're asking our North American brothers to support us in the face of this dictatorship,” said university student William Bardales.

The Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General José Miguel Insulza announced over the weekend that he had spoken with Micheletti in recent days to promote dialogue between both sides in the conflict and help return constitutional order to Honduras.

Insulza and other OAS representatives will come to Honduras Wednesday to hold meetings with Zelaya and de facto government officials, though at this point it's unlikely the two sides in the conflict will hold official meetings between each other.

Costa Rica's inflation rate continued its trend of miniscule movement, growing only 0.11 percent during September.

In the first nine months of 2009, prices rose by 2.92 percent, the lowest recorded percentage increase during that span in more than 10 years. During the first nine months of 2008, the inflation rate hit 11.83 percent.

According to the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), which measures the Consumer Price Indices within 12 primary sectors, last month's biggest price increase was seen in transportation costs, which went up an average of 0.97 percent from the previous month.

Transportation costs rose in September due to the increased price of gasoline, which rose 2.44 percent, and the higher cost of a cab ride, which increased 3.09 percent during the month. The second largest increase in price was in the health sector, which experienced an average price hike of 0.55 percent.

Rent and housing services experienced the largest drop, with costs decreasing an average of 1.51 percent. The dip was attributed to the decline in the cost of electricity, which was trimmed an average of 7.3 percent by the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) in early September (TT, Sept. 11).

Of the 292 products that INEC monitors to determine inflation, 53 percent rose in price during September, 36 percent decreased and 11 percent experienced no change in cost.

The products with the largest price increases in September were gasoline, casados (lunchtime dish), papayas, rice and taxi fares.

Electricity services, onions, tomatoes, potatoes and computer courses saw the largest decreases.