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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, September 29, 2004

AMBASSADOR: Former Presidency Minister Rina Contreras yesterday was named Costa Rica's ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).
Tico Times/Julio Laínez

Government Plans to Increase
Budget to Combat Corruption
President Abel Pacheco announced yesterday the government plans to pull together a special budget for the Judicial Branch and Prosecutor's Office to investigate and prosecute those responsible for alleged rampant government corruption that has come to light in recent weeks.
(Click for more)

Government to Kick-off
Campaign to Save Fuel
As international oil prices climbed to more than $50 a barrel yesterday, the government announced it would kick off a public-awareness campaign next week encouraging Costa Ricans to save gas.
(Click for more)

President Appoints New
Ambassador to OAS
President Abel Pacheco yesterday named Rina Contreras, his former Presidency Minister, as Costa Rica's new ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).
(Click for more)

September 29

Opening of Wood Sculpture Exhibit
Tomorrow is the opening night of the exhibit “Aribri” by Dr. Carlos Ponchner, surgeon and pediatrician with the American Academy of Pediatrics for the last 32 years. Everyone is invited to watch, enjoy and buy the sculptures that he had been modeling for years. Sculptures will have a 10% discount tomorrow in its opening night at 7 p.m. at Arte Blanco Gallery, 300 m. north of Banco Nacional, Escazú. Exhibit open until Oct. 16. Info: 837-5831 or 289-5487.

Cycling Day
The City Cycling Club is planning a Cycling Day on Oct. 3, beginning at 9 a.m. in front of the Carlos Monge Library at the University of Costa Rica campus in San Pedro.

Little Theatre Group Open House and Meeting
Mark your calendar for the Oct. 4 auditions for the Little Theater Group's holiday show An O.Henry Christmas , directed by Lisa DeFuso. Auditions will be held 7-9 p.m. for 5 men and 3 women of various ages, plus backstage crew. Also mark your calendar for the LTG Open House featuring a preview of The Cemetery Club, soon to be presented at the Blanche Brown Theatre in Escazú Oct. 8-24. Info: 289-6196.

Edited By Fabián Borges
Tico Times Staff
fborges@ticotimes.net

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Government Plans to Increase
Budget to Combat Corruption
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net

President Abel Pacheco announced yesterday the government plans to pull together a special budget for the Judicial Branch and Prosecutor's Office to investigate and prosecute those responsible for alleged rampant government corruption that has come to light in recent weeks.

A report by the daily newspaper La Nación placed a number of officials from the Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Institute (ICE) in the hot seat, where high-ranking officials connected to the country's Social Security System (Caja) have been for weeks.

“At this moment two fundamental institutions of the country are being hit,” said Vice-President Lineth Saborío, who is coordinating the search for funds to fight corruption.

Yesterday, representatives from the Supreme Court, the Legislative Assembly, the Justice Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Prosecutor's Office, the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) and the Government Attorney's Office met to discuss the quantity of money needed and where it will come from.

The agencies will evaluate where they can make sacrifices, Finance Minister Federico Carrillo said yesterday during Pacheco's weekly Cabinet meeting. Officials said they hope by today they would have a special budget to assist the Prosecutor's Office, OIJ and Government Attorney's Office.

Carrillo added that for 2005, the government hopes to raise the budget for the Ministry of Justice by $58.3 million – 16.5% more than this year's budget. He said the country's budget as a whole remains extremely tight. He and the President both stressed the need to pass the Permanent Fiscal Reform Package to increase government resources.

“We will impoverish more Costa Ricans if we spend more money than we have,” Carrillo said.

In both recent scandals, politicians and public figures may have received funds from firms that conduct business with public institutions.

In the Caja scandal, $9.2 million that may have come from a $32 million loan from the Finnish government to purchase medical equipment was allegedly used as a “commission” to pay high-ranking Caja officials and others outside the institution, including possibly former Costa Rican President Rafael Angel Calderón (1990-1994).

In the ICE scandal, La Nación reported yesterday that various ICE officials and their relatives allegedly received several million dollars from the French telecom firm Alcatel, one of ICE's biggest providers.

Alcatel also donated $100,000 to the election campaign of Pacheco through an account of Second Vice-President Luis Fishman, which the President said was normal and “how things work,” and did not result in special treatment of the business.

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Government to Kick-off
Campaign to Save Fuel
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net

As international oil prices climbed to more than $50 a barrel yesterday, the government announced it would kick off a public-awareness campaign next week encouraging Costa Ricans to save gas.

Television and radio ads will encourage the public to carpool and drive newer, more fuel-efficient cars, Environment and Energy Minister Carlos Manuel Rodríguez said yesterday.

“Costa Rica has developed a certain standard of living, a quality of life… We are talking about a change in culture,” Rodriguez said during President Abel Pacheco's weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.

The public-awareness campaign is the only definite result of a special commission created by Pacheco Aug. 17 to define an energy-rationing policy for the country. Other suggestions made by the commission – made up of several ministries, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) and the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE) – must still be evaluated.

Proposals to allow public employees the option of voluntarily dividing their workweek over the course of four days, taking either Monday or Friday off, were criticized by unions earlier this month (TT, Sept. 17). Rodríguez said the proposals would be analyzed by appropriate institutions.

Reducing traffic in central San José during peak morning and afternoon hours would reduce oil consumption, he said. The transportation sector consumes 72% of fuel in Costa Rica. Unlike other Central American countries, which use fuel for 40% of their electricity, Costa Rica produces 98% of its energy using hydroelectric power and renewable resources, Rodríguez said.

The amount of petroleum consumed by Costa Rica grew 45.5% from 1993 to 2003, according to RECOPE, primarily because the number of vehicles in circulation doubled in the same period, from 439,235 in 1993 to 949,049 last year, according to the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT).

Costa Rica's oil tab also doubled in the past decade, from $215.40 million to $525.94 million.

In the mid- and long-term, the government is considering steps to increase the use of alternative fuels and decrease the number of older cars on the road, Rodríguez said.

The average Costa Rican vehicle is 12-15 years old, and the government could consider restrictions on the importation of used cars. It could also consider lowering import taxes on cars that use alternative fuels, the minister said.

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President Appoints New
Ambassador to OAS
By Fabián Borges
Tico Times Staff
fborges@ticotimes.net

President Abel Pacheco yesterday named Rina Contreras, his former Presidency Minister, as Costa Rica's new ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS).

Contreras will begin work at the OAS on Nov. 1. She replaces Walter Neihaus, who will assist former Costa Rican President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002) in his new job as secretary general of the OAS.

Rodríguez was unanimously elected to the post on June 7 (TT, June 11) and took office Sept. 15, promising to restructure the organization (TT, Sept. 17).

Rodríguez's staff includes former Costa Rican ambassador to the United States in Washington D.C., Jaime Daremblum, who stepped down on Sept. 15. Tomás Dueñas, who served as former Foreign Trade Minister during the Rodríguez administration and is now president of the Costa Rican Investment Board (CINDE), will replace Daremblum as ambassador to the United States on Nov. 1 (TT, Sept. 17).

Contreras was appointed Presidency Minister when Pacheco took office in May 2002. She resigned in May 2003 under pressure from opposition legislators, who no longer recognized her as the Executive Branch's liaison to the Legislative Assembly, citing her alleged involvement in a welfare housing scandal in Santa Ana, west of San José (TT, May 30, 2003).

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