Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September 23,  2003

Massive Moth Migration in Motion
To see one of the world's most amazing insect migrations, you don't have to hike miles into a national park or scramble atop a canopy skywalk. Simply stand outside anywhere in the Central Valley for 10 minutes, and you are likely to see hundreds of ducktail moths flying overhead.
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September 23

Conference
"La Biosfera como Agente Moderador del Equilibrio Climático del Planeta Tierra" by Josefina Castellvi, at 7 p.m., at the Spanish Cultural Center, 200 north, 200 east of Santa Teresita Church. Info: 257-2919.

National Arts Festival Continues
On Stage, Dance by Danza Universitaria UCR Aspirantes "Texturas Urbanas, 6 p.m.; Music by Calipso Raíces, 6:30 p.m.; Music by Jazz Quartet, Sasha Campbell and Robert Aguilar, 9:30 p.m. At the Gymnasium, play Quetzal Productions "Criatura," 8 p.m. And at the High School, Ticotiteres "Puppets Cuentos de Tuttifruti," 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.; Dance UCR Limón Show, 9 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Cartoon Exhibit
Don't miss the opening of the exhibit by the Zarigüeya group, in the celebration of its XV Anniversary, tonight at 7 p.m., at the School of Fine Arts, of the University of Costa Rica. Info: 207-4271.

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Authorities Probe Possible
Child-Trafficking Network
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net

Child Welfare Agency (PANI) and judicial authorities yesterday continued to investigate a possible international child-trafficking network operating out of Costa Rica, following a Sunday night police raid of an unlicensed adoption agency in La Uruca, San José, where nine Guatemalan babies were found.

The babies -- five girls and four boys between the ages of three weeks and 20 months -- were taken to the Children's Hospital for observation, and reportedly are in good health, according to PANI Minister Rosalia Gil. The children will remain in state custody while the case is investigated.

One Honduran and five Guatemalans -- including the mother of one of the children -- were arrested Sunday, along with Costa Rican banker Carlos Hernán Robles, who was found guilty in June, 2001, on 17 counts of embezzlement in connection with the collapse of the Banco Anglo Costarricense, the country's oldest state bank (TT, June 22, 2001). Robles, who appealed the ruling and was never jailed, later worked as an economic advisor for the now-defunct Vault Holding Firm, which was closed by authorities last June after company owner Roy Taylor committed suicide during a police raid (TT, June 27).

Robles' connection to the illegal adoption agency is still being investigated, according to authorities. What is known at this point is that Robles last June asked the National Council of Adoptions for a Costa Rican operating license for the Florida-based International Adoption Resource, Inc., according to PANI Minister Rosalia Gil.

The International Adoption Resource on its website boasts eight international offices, including Costa Rica and Guatemala. However, according to Gil, the office was never granted permission to operate here due to "suspicion of irregularities."

The Tico Times was unable to contact the International Adoption Resource yesterday at press time.

Gil said the discovery of the agency fuels "strong suspicions" held by the PANI that international child-trafficking networks are operating in Costa Rica. However, she shied from calling the agency a trafficking network until more details of the investigation come to light.

The Minister said the PANI became aware of the situation Sept. 12, when neighbors filed a complaint with the Child Welfare Agency alleging strange comings and goings and noises of crying babies coming from the rented apartment used by the alleged adoption agency. The PANI notified the Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ), which already had a parallel investigation of the agency, and the raid occurred almost immediately afterwards, Gil said.

The Minister said she has been in contact with Guatemalan authorities, and is asking Immigration to determine how the children entered the country.

Gil told The Tico Times yesterday that PANI authorities have the names of the children -- one of whom was born in Costa Rica to a Guatemalan mother -- but is not sure if the names provided on the documents are real or invented.

The babies will remain in the Children's Hospital under observation for several more days, she said.

Read Friday's TT print edition for full coverage of adoption investigation.

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Poll Allowed to Compete in 2004 Olympics
By Tim Rogers and wire reports

POLL shows off bronze medals from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. AFP/TT

Costa Rican Gold Medalist Claudia Poll will be allowed to compete in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, following a decision yesterday by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) to reduce her suspension on international competition from four to two years, announced trainer Francisco Rivas.

Poll, who won Costa Rica's first-ever Gold Medal in the 200-meter freestyle in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, was suspended from international competition in March, 2002, after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug called norandrosterone, an endogenous steroid present in small amounts of human urine, especially in female athletes.

The level of norandrosterone discovered in Poll's test results was just a fraction over the normal level found in women, athletes. Poll has repeatedly denied steroid use (TT, June 7, 2002).

The original four-year ban handed down to the 30-year-old swimmer appeared to effectively end her career because she would be too old to compete in the 2008 Olympics.

However, according to trainer Rivas, Poll "has never stopped training and will be ready for the qualifying times to participate in Athens."

FINA decided to lower Poll's sentence after adopting a new anti-doping policy last July. The new policy, that of the World Anti-Doping Agency, calls for first-time offenders to be sanctioned with a two-year penalty.

After FINA adopted the new policy, Poll reportedly was the first on the list to appeal her previous sentence. More than 20 other Latin American swimmers are appealing similar penalties with FINA.

Rivas said yesterday that he and Poll still are not "satisfied," and will not be until the swimmer is completely absolved of allegations of wrongdoing and her name is cleared.

"The reduction of the sanction means I will be able to compete internationally after March, 2004," Poll told AFP. "It means nothing more and nothing less. Since this chapter in my life began, it has become my daily work to fight for my innocence.

"I have never stopped training, never stopped complying with my objectives, never stopped getting up in the morning to fight against the stopwatch in an unheated pool and never stopped fighting to be better," she added.