[dailyarchive/2004_11/exchange_rates.htm]
Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, November 03, 2004
 |
| FLOWERS for the dead: Katherine Vanessa and Estrella Caldera sold fresh flowers in front of the Cementerio Obrero for family members who visited the graves of loved ones yesterday, Día de Los Muertos . |
|
|
|
|
|
Government Attorney's Office
Named Corruption Authority
Minister of Justice Patricia Vega announced today that she and President Abel Pacheco signed an agreement naming the Ethics Branch of the Government Attorney's Office as the central authority for the administration of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption.
(Click for more)
Costa Rica to Apologize
To Leaders of Rio Group
Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco traveled to Brazil yesterday to attend the Rio Group's eighth summit, during which he plans to apologize to the continent's leaders for asking them to support Miguel Ángel Rodríguez's candidacy for Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS).
(Click for more)
Career Diplomat is Country's
New Ambassador to OAS
Javier Sancho, a career diplomat for more than 30 years, will be Costa Rica 's new ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), the Foreign Ministry announced Monday.
(Click for more)
November 03
New Art Gallery Opens
Art Gallery “Cafetto” opens tonight with an exhibit of oils and acrylics. It's open Wednesdays through Sundays in Santo Domingo de Heredia, 400 m. north of INBioParque. Info: 244-2055.
Discussion of Book Censorship
As part of the celebration of “ Leer es una Fiesta ” (Reading is a Party) Alexander Jiménez, Ana Cristina Rossi and Juan Rafael Quesada will talk about the books burned through history as part of a censorship, 5 p.m. at the auditorium of the Modern Languages Building of the University of Costa Rica.
Edited By Steven J. Barry
Tico Times Staff
sbarry@ticotimes.net
Government Attorney's Office
Named Corruption Authority
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net
Minister of Justice Patricia Vega announced today that she and President Abel Pacheco signed an agreement naming the Ethics Branch of the Government Attorney's Office as the central authority for the administration of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption.
The convention, ratified by Costa Rica in 1996, requires each of the participating countries, which include the United States , Canada , Mexico , Venezuela and Guatemala , among others, to enact certain measures to combat corruption.
One such measure is the designation of a central authority within each country to serve as an international contact point for corruption-related matters so that participating nations can coordinate anti-corruption methods.
The stated goals of the convention are to promote the prevention, detection and punishment of corruption, and to establish networks of international cooperation to facilitate such efforts, according to a statement released yesterday by the Ministry of Justice.
Vega said the designation of a central authority will help “coordinate and strengthen the mechanisms against corruption.”
Asked why so much time has elapsed between the anti-corruption convention's ratification and the official designation of an authority, Vega denied there was any unnecessary delay. She added that a multi-step process was necessary for a central authority to be named.
“The Ministry of Justice has taken all necessary measures to fulfill its function,” Vega said.
The Ethics Branch this week announced a massive campaign it has launched to collect funds connected to the corruption scandals here, based largely on civil lawsuits filed against those suspected of involvement.
Gilberth Calderón, head of the Ethics Branch, said his office has also requested the freezing of the assets of those suspected of corruption, and is examining the possibility of filing lawsuits requesting amounts greater than the payments allegedly received in compensation for damages to Costa Rican society.
( Tico Times reporter Steven J. Barry contributed to this report. )
Costa Rica to Apologize
To Leaders of Rio Group
Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco traveled to Brazil yesterday to attend the Rio Group's eighth summit, during which he plans to apologize to the continent's leaders for asking them to support Miguel Ángel Rodríguez's candidacy for Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Before the trip, Pacheco said he would “face up to” his predecessor's involvement in the aftermath of the corruption scandals that sent Rodríguez to jail following his one-month term as the OAS chief.
Rodríguez was unanimously elected by representatives of the OAS' 34 member nations on June 7 and took office Sept. 15 (TT, Sept. 17). A month later, he resigned after being accused of receiving commissions from French telephone company Alcatel.
The Rio Group summit is scheduled tomorrow through Friday in Rio de Janeiro .
Pacheco also plans to urge the forum to increase anti-poverty efforts and aid to Haiti , and to underscore his concern about high oil prices.
The President is scheduled to return to Costa Rica on Nov. 7.
--EFE
Career Diplomat is Country's
New Ambassador to OAS
Javier Sancho, a career diplomat for more than 30 years, will be Costa Rica 's new ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), the Foreign Ministry announced Monday.
Costa Rica 's OAS ambassador was to be Rina Contreras, but she informed President Abel Pacheco in a letter last week that she could not assume the post for personal reasons, including her father's recent death.
Sancho will replace Walter Niehaus, who resigned Sept. 1 to work in the OAS with former Costa Rican President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, who was elected to the top post within the international body.
Rodríguez resigned from the office Oct. 15 – after occupying it for just one month – after he was linked to a corruption scandal stemming from his term as Costa Rica 's President. Last Friday, he was moved from house arrest to jail while the case is investigated.
Rodríguez, who was President from 1998-2002, is accused of accepting payments from the French telecommunications giant Alcatel in connection with a lucrative contract the government awarded the firm to supply the state telephone monopoly, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), with cellular phone lines.
Sancho, the foreign policy director general at the Foreign Ministry and national coordinator of the American-Iberian Summit and the Rio Group, has also served as Costa Rican ambassador to Brazil (1994-2001), as well as to South Korea and Thailand (1987-1990).
“Sancho's experience and recognized career allow us to predict that our country will be well represented” before the OAS, Foreign Relations Minister Roberto Tovar said in a statement.
--EFE
Daily News | Home | Top Story | Business News | Central American News
Editorial Cartoon | Weekend | Exchange Rates | Fishing | Culture | Classified Ads
Display Ads | Subscribe! | Travel Guide | Archives | Links | About Us | Newsstand Locations
Contact Us