The Tico Times Online

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, October 11, 2002

NOT KIDDING AROUND: Brown, Gómez and Danilovich join forces to protect children from crimes.
TT/Photo Shoshana Ora Cohen

Immigration Deports 15 Foreigners
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff
Immigration's crackdown on foreigners staying here illegally continued this week, with the deportation of 15 people from four countries.
(Click for more)

C.R. to Host L.A. Prison Reform Conference
Costa Rica next month will host the first-ever Latin American Prison Reform Conference.
(Click for more)

October 11

Canadian Thanksgiving
The club will be collecting non-perishable food for the food bank; please bring a donation if you "can". On October 13, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., at Gran Hotel Costa Rica, children under 5 free, 5-14 ¢2,500, adults ¢4,500 (members), ¢5,000 (guests). Info and reservations at 228-5393, sumaro2@racsa.co.cr

Traditional Limón Carnival
Limón’s biggest party of the year continues today with Beach Volleyball, Children’s Carnival, Gastronomical Fair Inauguration, Book Fair, Art Exhibit. Tomorrow the fiesta starts at 4 p.m. with the Traditional Carnival Parade, at 7 p.m. fireworks and concert. On Sunday at 9 a.m. is the First "Caribbean Leg-breaker Run," at noon, youth concert, at 2 p.m. outdoor closing concert. Info: 758-2781.

Fischel Drugstore Celebrates the Heart
The drugstore invites all to its World Celebration of the Heart, with a program to detection of vascular problems, nutritional advice, discounts and blood tests, Oct. 12, Mall Internacional Alajuela, ask for appointment 800-347-2435.

The U.S. Embassy will be closed Monday, Oct. 14, in celebration of Columbus Day

Return To Top Of Page

FBI Trains C.R. Police to Combat Crimes against Minors
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff
With the intention of better preparing Costa Rican law enforcement officials to combat the ever-changing nature of crimes committed against minors, six experts from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were invited here this week to lead a training course on child-victim interview techniques, legal aspects and investigating Internet sites dedicated to exploiting children.

The training course was the third one given by the FBI in as many years.

"The Internet has made the world a small place, and it has also made easier for people to commit crimes against minors," said U.S. Ambassador John Danilovich. "As a result, we need to develop new strategies to confront these crimes, which is what we are doing here today."

Liliam Gómez, director of Costa Rica's Special Sex Crime Unit, notes that perpetrators of crimes against minors are "very well-armed" with the Internet, and are usually a step ahead of the law when it comes to using the latest technology.

However, she added, thanks to training Internet training courses, such as the one provided this week by the FBI "Now we can investigate these crimes."

According to Jerald Brown, Special Agent of the FBI's Crimes against Children Unit, the FBI has its eye on perpetrators of crimes against children in Costa Rica and throughout the world.

"We are devoted to protecting children regardless of their nationality and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator," Brown told The Tico Times yesterday. "We can't make other countries enforce their laws, but we can provide training and expertise so they can have the capacity to protect their children."

Return To Top Of Page

Immigration Deports 15 Foreigners
By Tim Rogers
Tico Times Staff
Immigration's crackdown on foreigners staying here illegally continued this week, with the deportation of 15 people from four countries.

The Dutch banana boat "Klipper Stream" was forced to ship out of the Caribbean port of Moín with a skeleton crew Tuesday morning, following the arrest of five of his crewmembers who were picked up by Immigration police in Limón without proper "shore passes" (Daily Page Tuesday).

According to Immigration spokeswoman Karol Messing, Customs and Immigration agents routinely boarded the ship when it arrived at Moín Sunday morning. Immigration officers were reportedly told than none of the ship's crew wanted to disembark for the day, and therefore did not issue any shore passes.

However, five Filipino crewmembers later decided to hit the town for the night, and got off the ship without the proper paperwork. Police performing an Immigration operation detained them several hours later in a bar.

After spending the night in jail in Limón, Messing explained, the five men were transported to San José, where they were deported to Panama -- the ship's next port of call.

The Dutch company that owns the Klipper Stream will have to pay the crewmembers' deportation costs, according to Immigration

The incident delayed the Klipper Stream's departure for Panama by 24 hours.

In a separate Immigration raid of a San José nightclub Wednesday night, 10 "working women" were arrested and also face deportation back to Romania, Colombia and Nicaragua.

The nightclub raid was the first one reported since an Immigration operation last May, which resulted in many working women from Colombia sent packing.

Return To Top Of Page

C.R. to Host L.A. Prison Reform Conference

Costa Rica next month will host the first-ever Latin American Prison Reform Conference.

Bringing together wardens, lawmakers and Ministers of Justice from 19 Central and South American countries, the conference will look at new prison models, human-rights issues in prisons, rehabilitation, privatization of prisons, economic viability and developing more alternatives to prison sentences.

"Penitentiary systems throughout the whole world are in a state of crisis," according to a press release from ULACIT, the private university hosting the conference. "Prisons do little to benefit society, they do damage to the families of inmates and they offer little satisfaction to [crime] victims."

In Latin America alone, some 700,000 men, women and children are incarcerated, 70% of whom have not been judged for a crime, according to the organization International Penal Reform.

Return To Top Of Page