The Tico Times Online Daily Page

Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, April 19, 2004

READY to go! Costa Rican Olympic champion Claudia Poll competes today for the first time since she was banned from competition following a drug test that detected an anabolic steroid in her blood. She claims innocence (see related story).
AFP/Mayela López

Olympian Competes Today
After Two-Year Suspension
The first and only Costa Rican Olympic gold medallist, swimmer Claudia Poll, will get her feet wet in competition today for the first time after a two-year ban during the French Open Championship in Dunkerque, France.
(Click for more)

April 19

Peregrino Gris Performance
Group performs Celtic music at 10 a.m. at Jazz Café, San Pedro. Info: 253-8933.

Secretary’s Day Coming
Make your reservations today for the Costa Rican – American Chamber of Commerce’s celebration to honor secretaries on Fri., April 23, noon-7 p.m. Companies must make reservations by Wed., April 17. Info: Patty Rodríguez, 220-2200.

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Nicaragua Places Conditions on
Support for Tico OAS Candidate

One of the two countries that has not yet officially pledged support for Costa Rican ex-President Miguel Angel Rodríguez (1998-2002) in his bid to become Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) has stepped up to the plate to clarify its position.

Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños said Nicaragua’s support for Rodríguez depends on solutions to immigration issues with Costa Rica and navigation problems on the San Juan River, which runs along part of the border with Costa Rica. His statement came after comments from Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco that condemned El Salvador and Nicaragua for not committing to vote for the Costa Rican candidate, who has the pledged support of 32 of the 34 OAS member countries.

“Remember,” Bolaños said in a televised interview in Managua on Saturday, “we have some problems with the San Juan River and we don’t want them to resurface. And we have problems with immigration.”

The Nicaraguan vote depends on “certain things that Nicaragua needs,” Bolaños said. “We had reached an agreement and found a solution that maybe Pacheco forgot, or his blood sugar rose, or he had a diabetic attack, or who knows what, and was not aware of what he said. It has already been arranged with Costa Rica that they will have (the Nicaraguan) vote.”

He alluded to blood sugar problems that were given as the reason Pacheco was unable to attend the summit of Central American presidents in Managua last month.

Pacheco told the press on Friday that his country is very resentful of Nicaragua and El Salvador, the only countries in the OAS who have not promised to support Rodríguez.

“I am very hurt and resentful of the treatment by Nicaragua,” Pacheco said. “We have received with open arms thousands of immigrants who live and work here.”

Bolaños’ reaction to Pacheco’s comments was that they were “strange” because both governments had reached an agreement to negotiate the OAS vote through solutions to immigration and border problems of interest to Nicaragua.

“I was reading President Pacheco’s comments and they seem strange to me, because two weeks ago I sent a high-level delegation to Costa Rica to speak with the Minister of Foreign Relations and others to offer (Nicaragua’s) vote,” Bolaños said.

Last February, during an impromptu visit to Costa Rica, Bolaños asked Pacheco to help legalize the land of Nicaraguan immigrants who live in the San José suburb La Carpio – a proposition that has been rejected by the Tico government.

The Nicaraguan government spoke up on behalf of its immigrants in Costa Rica last February after more than 600 Nicaraguans, allegedly undocumented, were detained in San José.

Nicaragua also seeks to solve navigation problems on the San Juan River, which belongs to Nicaragua. In 1998, Nicaragua passed a law that prohibits Costa Rican police from using the river while armed, unless they have prior authorization.
–AFP

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Olympian Competes Today
After Two-Year Suspension

The first and only Costa Rican Olympic gold medalist, swimmer Claudia Poll, will get her feet wet in competition today for the first time after a two-year ban during the French Open Championship in Dunkerque, France.

The 31-year-old winner of the 200-meter freestyle 1996 Olympic race in Atlanta, Georgia, was banned from competition in 2002 after testing positive for an anabolic steroid. She maintains her innocence and has filed a case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and brought a case against the laboratory in Montreal that conducted the steroid test (TT, April 16).

In a Sunday interview in France with AFP correspondent Pablo San Román, Poll reaffirmed her position, saying “I can fight ten years to demonstrate my innocence.”

Following are excerpts from the interview:

What are your feelings after two years without competing – are you anxious or nervous?

“I feel very good. In France we have always had good performances and the competition seems extraordinary. There are some very good swimmers. I’m not nervous at all. I feel that in the training I’ve gone through with my coach Francisco Rivas, we’ve used our resources to be able to be well prepared. I don’t have to have any anxiety now.

Why did you choose the French Open Championships for your comeback?

“We had other choices. There was a competition in the United States, but the level was not as elevated as this is. Also, there was a tournament in Athens as a precursor to the Olympic Games, but with their setbacks the pool isn’t ready. So they pushed the competition back to June. In Dunkerque there is an appropriate level of competition and we decided to come.”

Have you made any goals for this first competition after two years of absence?

“I want to enjoy the competition like I enjoyed it in the past and I want to be able to show that I keep swimming and will keep on swimming because I like it, because I like what I do. I could not have kept swimming if not for that.”

How is your case going against the accusation of drug use?

At this time we have submitted a complaint about the laboratory that conducted the test. Everything is very slow because we are still working in an administrative phase and have not arrived at the judicial phase yet. Any legal process is slow, and having the truth and innocence on my side I can fight ten years to demonstrate that I’m innocent. In my body, in my heart and in my mind I know I’m innocent and from here on, with health, I can fight ten years.”

What was the worst moment during those two years of punishment?

“There was no worst moment. There are things in life that happen and you have to know how to confront them. God gives you problems so you can confront them and if I could confront and overcome those two years and come back to compete, the only thing I can do is be thankful.”

At any time did you contemplate throwing in the towel and leaving swimming when you were punished?

“It is impossible to throw in the towel. I know I’m innocent and the fact that what I have been accused of is not true has given me strength. My mind was set to put up with those years. I didn’t stop training even one day.”
–AFP

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Costa Rica Has More Women in Congress
Than Most Latin American Countries

In a world governed overwhelmingly by men, Costa Rica is one of the Latin American leaders of female representation in Congress.

According to statistics from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, whose 110th Assembly was inaugurated yesterday in Mexico City, in all of Latin America Costa Rica trails only Cuba in the number of women congressional representatives.

According to the study, called Progress and Set-Backs in the Representation of Women in National Parliaments, 35.1% of Costa Rican congressional representatives are women. Cuba claims the seventh-highest world ranking and the highest Latin American ranking with 36% female representation. (Costa Rica’s world ranking was unavailable at press time.)

Other Latin American countries with the highest numbers of women in Congress are Argentina (30.7%), Mexico (22.6%) and Nicaragua (20.7%). Lagging in the Latin American pack are Honduras (5.5%) with the 101st place worldwide, Guatemala (8.2%) with the 82nd world ranking, Brazil (8.6%) at 86, Venezuela (9.7%) at 79 and Panama (9.9%) at 77.

For comparison, the United States ranks 57th worldwide with 14.3% female representation and Canada claims 20.6% female representation (no world ranking was available).

The Assembly of the Union, which brings together congressional senators and deputies from 125 countries, will conclude April 23.
–AFP

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Wednesday October 26, 2005