Total recall: Dissidents protest outside a National Police station in Managua on Monday, one year to the day after Nicaragua's allegedly fraudulent Nov. 9, 2008 municipal elections.

Mario López | EFE

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – As bouts of political violence erupted again yesterday during protests to mark the first anniversary of the allegedly fraudulent Nov. 9, 2008 municipal elections, former Contra commander Germán Zeledón is warning that a rebirth of the armed resistance movement to the increasingly repressive government of President Daniel Ortega might not be too far off.

Zeledón, who claims he was robbed of victory in last year's mayoral contest in the northern department of Jinotega, said former Contra soldiers from the 1980s and a new generation of anti-Sandinistas are already organizing behind closed doors.

“Jinotega was a theater of war, so Jinotega is a little bit more violent than other parts of the country,” Zeledón told The Nica Times yesterday in an exclusive interview in Managua. “There are lots of people who won't stand for one more rock thrown at them.”

He added, “There is a group that is organizing in Jinotega called the FDN (Nicaraguan Democratic Force), which was the original part of the Contra. The FDN are the true Contras…. This is evolving as the government puts more pressure on the people. The first goal is to protect ourselves physically, because they are attacking us and there is no longer any rule of law here.”

In Managua, Sandinista mobs again attacked civil protests by youths demonstrating against last year's elections and last month's contentious move by Sandinista magistrates to lift a ban on consecutive presidential re-election, clearing the way for Ortega to run again in 2011 (NT link).

Monday morning, a mob of masked Sandinista Youth attacked a civil society group waving Nicaraguan flags outside the Plaza del Sol police station in downtown Managua.

After the Sandinistas pelted the group with rocks and eggs and chased them off with homemade mortars, the mob turned its fury on the police station itself, breaking windows and firing mortars at the police headquarters.

On Sunday, five police officers were injured in Nagorte, León, when a similarly unruly Sandinista mob attacked a police line that was protecting a separate civil society protest against last year's alleged electoral fraud.

To date, the National Police have yet to make any arrests during more than a year of partisan street violence, not even when their own agents or headquarters have been attacked.

“Politics has failed,” said former Contra leader Zeledón. “If there is no rule of law, there comes a time where the only way to express yourself is through other forms.”

Zeledón insists he's not personally involved in the Contra regrouping, but says he has firsthand knowledge that it's happening.

“They came looking for me but I told them to calm down,” he said. “But there will come a moment when they won't remain calm any longer.”

Read this Friday's print edition of The Nica Times for more on this story.

On the heels of a high level court case that saw a former president sentenced to five years in prison, a second case involving an ex-president is expected to begin Feb. 15.

Miguel Angel Rodríguez, who served in the country's top job from 1998 to 2002, is accused of receiving between $600,000 and $800,000 in kickbacks from the French telecommunications firm Alcatel.

Rodríguez was serving as secretary general of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. when he was accused. He voluntary resigned his post and returned to Costa Rica, where he was greeted at Juan Santamaría International Airport by police, who put him in handcuffs and drove him through San José in a box truck, witnesses said.

His case, which involves a handful of other public officials, will be heard in the Goicoechea tribunals, northwest of San José.

It follows a similar trial involving former President Rafael Angel Calderón, who was arrested in 2004 on charges that he bribed public officials to secure a deal between the Costa Rica Social Security System and a Finnish medical supply company.

Judges of the Goicoechea tribunals sentenced Calderón (1990-1994) on Oct. 5 to five years in prison and ordered him to pay $500,000. Judges convicted him on charges of using his political influence for personal benefit (embezzlement). He plans on appealing the sentence in a higher court and, if unsuccessful, before the Inter-American Human Rights Court in San José.

Former President José María Figueres (1994-1998) was also implicated in the Alcatel scandal, but he has refused to return to Costa Rica from Switzerland, where he has lived since the scandal became public.

Missing: British journalist Michael Dixon, 33, checked into the Villas Macondo in Tamarindo on Oct. 18. Hotel personnel reported last seeing him leave with a towel the following day.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Brando

The search continued Monday for a missing British journalist at Playa Tamarindo, in Costa Rica's northwestern province of Guanacaste.

Michael Dixon, 33, checked into the Villas Macondo on Oct. 18. Hotel officials reported him missing on Oct. 21. Employees said they saw Dixon leaving the hotel on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 19, with a towel.

That sighting has been questioned, however, and family members are investigating Dixon's whereabouts on the preceding Sunday.

Police reports confirmed that Dixon's room at the hotel appeared undisturbed. Authorities found his credit cards, identification and money inside the room.

The missing journalist's brother, David Dixon, flew to Costa Rica Oct. 30 to aid search efforts. He is looking for information about Michael's disappearance.

“I am staying as long as it takes to find out Michael's whereabouts – I can't go home without information,” Dixon told the AFP, a French news agency.

The missing 33-year-old was born in Salford, England and grew up in France. He was based in Brussels, Belgium. Dixon is 1.7 meters (5 feet 8 inches) tall and weighs about 65 kilograms (145 pounds). He has short black hair and a slender build.

Those who might have information about the missing Briton's location are urged to contact the Judicial Investigation Police at (+506) 8865-7629 or Scott Simpson at (+506) 8896-4129. Friends have also set up a group on the social network Web site Facebook to share thoughts and information.

In many major shopping areas, libraries and universities in Costa Rica, Internet is available, and free, thanks to Radiográfica Costarricense S.A. (RACSA), the state-owned Internet provider.

RACSA, which began a Free Internet Access program in 2007, has managed to extend the service to more than 50 locations throughout the country, the company announced last week.

“One of our priorities was to decrease the digital gap,” said Alberto Bermúdez, the general manager of RACSA. “We implemented the Program for Free Internet Access in 2007, and we will keep developing it in the future to facilitate Internet access to as much of the population as possible.”

The news came as RACSA prepares for competition from national and foreign telecom companies after legislators voted to end the state monopoly last year – one of the liberalizing reforms required for Costa Rica to enter the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

Currently, RACSA supplies free Internet access at Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela, northwest of San José, at the Multiplaza Escazú, west of the capital, and at other most of the other large shopping malls that dot the Central Valley. The state provider also offers Web service at public libraries and several universities, such as Fidélitas, the Universidad Católica and UNED ( State University at a Distance).

Last month, RACSA announced it will provide Internet access on Costa Rica's remote Isla de Coco National Park. With exploration and research consistently being undertaken on the island, Internet will be available to facilitate the efforts of university researchers as well as the policing work of the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry.

According to RACSA, 45 percent of the Costa Rican population uses the Internet, which is more than double the worldwide average per country, which stands at 21 percent.