[dailyarchive/2004_09/Week2/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September, 07 2004
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WALK against cancer: Participants of this year's Terry Fox Run and Walk begin their trek Sunday in La Sabana Park, on the western edge of San José, to help raise funds to battle child cancer in Costa Rican hospitals. |
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Judge Prohibits Ex-President
From Leaving Country
Former Costa Rican President Rafael Angel Calderón (1990-1994) has been ordered by a San José judge to not leave the country while prosecutors investigate an alleged payment of $440,500 made to a Panamanian-based corporation owned by Calderón's family, which the former head of state operated. The deposit was made by a private company that has been linked to the questionable use of a $39.5 million loan to Costa Rica from the government of Finland.
(Click for more)
Quake Strikes
Nicoya Peninsula
An earthquake yesterday morning shook up Cóbano, the landlocked hub of the beach towns on the southwestern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, on the Pacific coast.
(Click for more)
Flights To, From
Miami Resume
Most flights to and from Miami International Airport, in Florida, resumed yesterday following the airport's closure over the weekend because of bad weather conditions caused by Hurricane Frances.
(Click for more)
CORRECTION!
Yesterday's Tico Times Daily Page reported that former Social Security System (Caja) president Eliseo Vargas was jailed in relation to the Caja scandal. He has not been jailed. The people jailed are Walter Reiche, executive president of Corporación Fischel, and Rándall Vargas, a lawyer for the company. The Tico Times apologizes for the mistake.
September 07
Art Opening
Juan Manuel Sánchez and Music is the name of the new exhibit being displayed at the Costa Rican Art Museum, opening tonight at 6 p.m. Through his drawings, Sánchez attempts to express his admiration of music.
Forum on Culture and Poverty
More than 100 people who work in culture-related institutions, including libraries, museums etc., will discuss issues of poverty and culture today and tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. at the Calderón Guardia Museum's auditorium. Info: 221-2154.
Commemorative 9/11 Event
Everyone is invited to participate in a circle of candlelight this Saturday from 7-9 p.m. in commemoration of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. Participants are invited to share their art, writings, memories, music, sorrow, anger, joy and hope. The circle will come together at 7 p.m. at Big Mike's Dining Club, in Los Anonos, Escazú. Info: Lynne Aune 282-3759, lynnevent@yahoo.com
Edited by Fabián Borges
fborges@ticotimes.net
Judge Prohibits Ex-President From Leaving Country
By Steven J. Barry
and AFP reports
sbarry@ticotimes.net
Former Costa Rican President Rafael Angel Calderón (1990-1994) has been ordered by a San José judge to not leave the country while prosecutors investigate an alleged payment of $440,500 made to a Panamanian-based corporation owned by Calderón's family, which the former head of state operated. The deposit was made by a private company that has been linked to the questionable use of a $39.5 million loan to Costa Rica from the government of Finland.
The order was issued Sunday after economic crime prosecutors raided offices of the private bank BAC San José in the early hours of Sunday morning and seized documents related to the case.
Channel 7 news revealed the payments on Saturday, reporting that they were part of an $8 million commission paid to government functionaries for the approval in 2001 of a $39.5 million loan to purchase Finnish hospital equipment for the Social Security System (Caja). The report did not detail where the rest of the money went.
Calderón, in a statement he issued Sunday in response to the allegations, said the transactions “have nothing to do with the public offices I held.” Calderón, one of the founders of the ruling Social Christian Unity Party, also announced Sunday he would temporarily separate himself from the party during the investigation.
“I am a professional and a businessmen who works, invests and undertakes, just like thousands of Costa Ricans, with the goal of receiving an income,” the former President said.
The loan and the Caja purchases, called “The Finland Project,” are the center of a scandal that has led to the resignation of former Caja president Eliseo Vargas and the suspension of and criminal accusations against its board of directors (TT, May 14).
Vargas first proposed the project when he a congressional deputy. The loan project was approved in just three days. The government went through a public bidding process to determine which medical company would receive the contract, but the standards set excluded all companies but Instrumentarium Medko Medical Corporation, represented in Costa Rica by Corporación Fischel.
The $39.5 million was used to purchase 3,037 pieces of medical equipment, including X-ray machines, equipment for administering anesthesia and beds for intensive-care patients. The Caja's board of directors later said the items purchased “were not those outlined as priority needs by the directors of clinics and hospitals in the country.”
The judge last weekend also prohibited the Caja's former modernization chief, Juan Carlos Sánchez, from leaving the country while prosecutors investigate circumstances surrounding the purchases.
Quake Strikes
Nicoya Peninsula
By Robert Goodier
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
An earthquake yesterday morning shook up Cóbano, the landlocked hub of the beach towns on the southwestern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, on the Pacific coast.
It struck at 5:03 a.m. somewhere 5-16 kilometers south and southwest of the town, according to separate reports from the country's two earthquake-monitoring systems, the National Seismological Network (RSN) of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) of the Universidad Nacional (UNA).
The quake, with a magnitude reported between 4-4.3 on the Richter scale, had an epicenter 21 kilometers underground and was felt strongly in Cóbano and surrounding areas.
The RSN said in a statement that many people there were awakened, but nobody reported any damages.
Most flights to and from Miami International Airport, in Florida, resumed yesterday following the airport's closure over the weekend because of bad weather conditions caused by Hurricane Frances.
Since the end of last week, several carriers, including American Airlines and Central American airline Grupo TACA, cancelled many of their flights to and from Miami as a result of worsening weather conditions.
The airport was shut down completely from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning as a result of the bad weather.
Although flights have resumed, airport officials say delays can be expected and it's best to check with the airline before going to the airport.
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