Ex-President Rodríguez
Released from Prison, Goes Home
By Katherine Stanley With ACAN-EFE Reports
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net

What a difference a day makes.

On Monday night, former Costa Rican President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez ate his evening meal at the penitentiary La Reforma, outside of San José , where he was serving a preventive-detention order while the Prosecutor's Office investigated corruption charges against him.

Last night, following a successful appeal to have his prison order changed to house arrest, his family welcomed him back to the family home in the western San José suburb of Escazú with a steak dinner, according to his wife, Lorena Clare.

“We're going to give him red meat, which he loves,” Clare told The Tico Times yesterday afternoon while awaiting her husband's return.

“As you can imagine, I am so happy to have him at home once again,” she said. “I have missed him so much. It has been five very difficult months – which is not to say that we do not have a difficult time in front of us. We will keep fighting,” she added, describing the support of family, friends and lawyers as invaluable.

In a statement, Rodríguez thanked his supporters for “helping me to overcome... the violations some have committed against my human rights.” 

On Monday, Second Circuit Court judge Gabriela Jara, the same judge who ordered Rodríguez be moved from house arrest to La Reforma in November, ordered that Rodríguez leave La Reforma and serve his preventive detention under house arrest because of health-related reasons. She required that he pay ¢250 million ($537,000) in bail, which his lawyer did on his behalf yesterday morning.

According to an e-mail from Judicial Branch spokeswoman Sandra Castro, Lara also ordered that visits to the Rodríguez home be restricted to a list of people registered with the court; that visitors not on the list could enter the home only with judicial authorization; that Rodríguez not communicate with any others involved in the corruption investigation; that defense lawyer Eduardo Araya personally guarantee that Rodríguez would not evade any aspects of the process; and that officers from the Public Security Ministry guard the home at all times.

Jara received testimony from two private doctors and analyzed a medical report during the two-part appeal, which began March 9 and continued Monday.

Defense lawyer Araya told the judge his client has an abnormal widening of a stomach artery, which makes imprisonment dangerous for the former head of state because it could worsen his health and prevent him from receiving specialized medical care.

“He has had a circulatory condition for some time,” Clare said. “It is dangerous when people are under stress. With treatment and care, it is less dangerous. Now he has to recuperate, lower his stress level, and take great care.”

President Abel Pacheco, a psychiatrist who often refers to his medical background, agreed the condition could be serious when questioned about Rodríguez after his weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.

“He has hypertension and has a widening in his abdominal aorta… which could burst” if his blood pressure rose. “That could put his life at risk,” said Pacheco, who himself was recently hospitalized for hypertension and heart problems (TT, Feb. 25).

Betsy Rojas, a spokeswoman for the Rodríguez family, told The Tico Times doctors had ordered Rodríguez to rest after returning home and refrain from giving interviews. After leaving La Reforma at 12:50 p.m., Rodríguez visited the Second Circuit Court in Goicochea once again to sign the mortgage documents his lawyer had presented that morning to fulfill the bail requirement.

Despite the hoopla over his health, Rodríguez's lawyers emphasized the progress of prosecutors' investigations were also responsible for Lara's decision. The fact that prosecutors have already examined most of the necessary proofs reduces the fear that Rodríguez might interfere with the investigation from his home, lawyers said.

Rodríguez has been in preventive detention since October, when he returned to Costa Rica from Washington , D.C. to face the allegations against him (TT, Oct. 22, 2004). He was in Washington serving as the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), a position from which he resigned when he was accused of accepting illegal payments from global telecommunications firm Alcatel (TT, Oct. 15, 2004). Alcatel obtained a multimillion-dollar contract in Costa Rica during Rodríguez' term as President.

Rodríguez is also accused of receiving $400,000 from the government of Taiwan and $1 million from a Taiwanese business.

This is the second time Rodríguez has appealed his preventive detention order. On Feb. 21, a penal court in San José rejected his defense team's request that the former President be moved from La Reforma to house arrest. The reasons for the judge's February decision were confidential.

Former President Rafael Ángel Calderón (1990-1994) remains in La Reforma, where he occupies an individual cell identical to the one given to Rodríguez. Calderón is accused of masterminding the distribution of a $9.2 million “commission” on a $39 million medical equipment purchase by the Social Security System (Caja) in 2001.

Calderón, like Rodríguez, has cited poor health in appeals of his prison order, but his appeals have been unsuccessful.