Homosexual Claims Pension
of Deceased Partner

For the first time in Costa Rica, a homosexual man filed an injunction at the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) to claim the pension of the deceased companion he lived with for more than six years.

The homosexual man, identified as B. López, declared that after his partner's death due to illness in 2003, he requested to receive his pension, according to the daily Al Día.

“My request was rejected, because gay marriage is not accepted in this country,” López said.

López took his case to the Sala IV February 3, where it is currently being studied.

“My client's case touches on aspects of not recognizing same-sex unions and not being able to take inheritance from those unions,” said Marco Castillo, López's lawyer.

In September 2003, Yashin Castillo filed a case at the Sala IV questioning the impossibility of celebrating same-sex marriages.

To this day, Sala IV has not pronounced its response on this matter.

--EFE

Internet Child Pornography
Network Under Investigation

Tegucigalpa (AFP) - Authorities throughout Central America investigate an Internet child pornography network, according to child welfare official Marisol Rodríguez.

Various cases of Internet pornography have been investigated, but the use of Honduran minors in the crime is not yet confirmed, she said.

“What we know right now is that children's photographs have appeared, and several characteristics tell us they may belong to Central American countries,” she commented.

Rodríguez said she communicates especially with Costa Rican authorities because “they have carried out advanced studies in this type of crime, which makes use of children and older women, and effectively, they are educating us about child sexual exploitation.”

Director of the non-governmental, humanitarian organization Casa Alianza in Honduras, Manuel Capellín, lamented that poverty pushes minors in the region to prostitution.

“Our youth no longer dream of playing ball or having fun, they wonder what they can do for food, to study, to assist their families, that is why they migrate and expose themselves to international sexual exploitation networks,” the activist said.