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23 Nov 2005 |
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Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, November 23, 2005
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Justice Minister Vows Minimal
Changes to Stop Property Fraud
While the Justice Ministry's hands are tied in fully stopping the property fraud that has plagued the National Registry recently, it is taking steps to reduce its frequency, Justice Minister Patricia Vega announced yesterday during the press conference following President Abel Pacheco's weekly Cabinet meeting.
(Click for more)
Police Arrest One of
FBI's Most Wanted
After a tip from U.S. authorities, International Police (INTERPOL) in Costa Rica nabbed a U.S. fugitive Monday who is on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most wanted list, INTERPOL reported yesterday.
(Click for more)
Pacheco Says No One
Would Have Faced Rottweilers
In response to growing questions regarding the Costa Rican police response to a fatal dog attack on an intruder earlier this month, President Abel Pacheco said yesterday that he doubts anyone “in Costa Rica, in Nicaragua or on planet Earth would throw themselves to fight those wild animals.”
(Click for more)
500 Kilos of Cocaine
Confiscated in Drug Bust
A total of 500 kilograms of cocaine, apparently coming from Colombia, were confiscated in the Caribbean yesterday by the narcotics division of the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ).
(Click for more)
November 23
“Arlequín Servidor de Dos Amos”
A starving servant works for two bosses at the same time to satisfy his stomach, Sun., 5 p.m.; Mon.-Wed., 7 p.m., through Nov. 23, Teatro Atahualpa del Cioppo, Universidad Nacional, 1 km west of Burger King, Heredia. Info: 277-3385.
Film Festival
Features, today at 4 p.m., the Brazilian film with subtitles in Spanish “ La Malvada Carne ”; and at 7 p.m., documentaries “Son de Tierra Caliente” and “Sin Fórmulas,” short “Odio a Frank Zappa,” video productions “Llamada Perdida,” “ 01001” and “El Dr. Frankenstein,” narrations “Gótico Centroamericano” and “¿Si Puedes Hacerlo Ahora?” at Variedades Cinema, Ca. 5, Av. Ctrl./1.
Edited By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
Justice Minister Vows Minimal
Changes to Stop Property Fraud
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
While the Justice Ministry's hands are tied in fully stopping the property fraud that has plagued the National Registry recently, it is taking steps to reduce its frequency, Justice Minister Patricia Vega announced yesterday during the press conference following President Abel Pacheco's weekly Cabinet meeting.
The announcement comes in the wake of the revelation of a national real estate fraud network in which more than $5 million was taken from would-be investors (TT, Nov. 11). The incident has left some government officials calling for massive legal reforms.
“I want to make it clear that property fraud is not a product of a failure of the registry's computer system,” Vega said.
Instead, she said fraud happens at the level of the country's notaries, although she was careful to say that most notaries are honest people.
The problem lies in the fact that notaries have what Vega called “public faith,” which means the National Registry has no legal jurisdiction to question notaries' statements.
Employees of the National Registry can only verify if a notary is officially licensed through the National Notary Administration (DNN); they cannot hold any transfers filed by one who acts irregularly. Furthermore, notaries operate under weak control, because of a lack of resources and the abundance of notaries – 12,000 – who operate in the country, Vega said.
For their part, employees of the National Registry can verify if certain aspects are true – such as whether the seller named is in fact a real, living person. Fraud is also prevented by restricting access to the National Registry's computer system, Vega said. Unlike irregularities among notaries, when corruption happens within the National Registry, the Justice Ministry is able to respond.
Officials are creating a digital fingerprint database that will help prevent the registry of false data, and taking steps to facilitate the filing of complaints, Vega said. They also hope to set up a system though which property owners can sign up to be notified by e-mail if there is activity at the National Registry regarding their property, so they can verify whether the activity is legal.
Vega admits that these changes will not completely solve the fraud problem, but will help prevent it from happening while a long-term solution is sought. This long-term solution will likely involve the digital signature approved by legislators in August, Vega said.
Police Arrest One of
FBI's Most Wanted
By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
After a tip from U.S. authorities, International Police (INTERPOL) in Costa Rica nabbed a U.S. fugitive Monday who is on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most wanted list, INTERPOL reported yesterday.
INTERPOL director Pablo Monge called the capture a “lightning operation” in which the fugitive, Walter Edward Myer, was taken into custody by immigration police because he was in Costa Rica illegally.
Myer, 67, is wanted for the alleged sexual abuse and sodomy of six boys while acting as recreation director at a school in Camp Hill, Alabama.
According to the FBI's Web page, www.fbi.gov, between 1994 and 1995, Myer reportedly became friendly with six students and took them to his home over weekends and holidays, where he allegedly committed the sex crimes.
In February of 1996, a Grand Jury in the U.S. city of Tallapoosa, Alabama indicted Myer for sexual abuse and sodomy. The indictments include the charge that he produced “obscene matter” depicting children under the age of 17 performing “obscene acts.” The Tallapoosa County Circuit Court then issued state warrants for Myer's arrest. He also faces civil charges related to the indictments.
On Jan. 14, 1997, Myer was a no-show at a civil court hearing, after which authorities issued a federal arrest warrant charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
His immigration record in Costa Rica reveals border crossings between 1995 and 1998. According to INTERPOL, he used a false residency document and lived in Heredia, a northwestern suburb of San José, where he worked as an English professor at a private university.
Pacheco Says No One
Would Have Faced Rottweilers
By Rebecca Kimitch
Tico Times Staff
rkimitch@ticotimes.net
In response to growing questions regarding the Costa Rican police response to a fatal dog attack on an intruder earlier this month, President Abel Pacheco said yesterday that he doubts anyone “in Costa Rica, in Nicaragua or on planet Earth would throw themselves to fight those wild animals.”
The comments came when Pacheco was questioned during a press conference on his opinion regarding the tension the attack has created between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Natividad Canda, a homeless Nicaraguan immigrant, was attacked and killed Nov. 10 by two Rottweiler guard dogs while he was on the property of an auto mechanic shop in the community of La Lima in Cartago, east of San José (TT, Nov. 18). The attack has caused further tension between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, already at odds over an ongoing dispute over the San Juan River that lies between the countries.
The incident is particularly controversial because of police response to the attack, which lasted nearly two hours and was partially caught on tape. Police were unable to separate the victim from the attacking animals, and said they could not fire upon the animals because they feared hitting the victim.
Regarding questions as to whether the police acted with negligence, Pacheco said, “the humane is to act with prudence,” adding that someone might have intervened in the attack for a child, but not for a stranger.
The President, who said he was very sorry about the attack, added that the fact that the man was Nicaraguan was circumstantial, and that anyone who entered the property without permission would have been attacked.
Pacheco continued that while the press has reported that Canda has a history of delinquency, he was “a human being, and all human beings are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and, as such, their lives should be respected to the end.”
He reiterated, as have other Costa Rican officials, that the incident will be fully investigated.
Canda had lived undocumented in Costa Rica for nine years and had been charged with theft and assault in the past.
500 Kilos of Cocaine
Confiscated in Drug Bust
A total of 500 kilograms of cocaine, apparently coming from Colombia, were confiscated in the Caribbean yesterday by the narcotics division of the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ).
OIJ director Jorge Rojas said at a press conference yesterday that the drug bust took place early Monday morning during an operation near the Caribbean slope town of Guápiles. Four Costa Ricans were detained.
The drugs were transported in a vehicle used to sell shellfish; it appears it was coming from Colombia with the United States as its final destination, Rojas said.
An international group that operates in Colombia, Panama and the rest of Central America could be responsible for transporting the drugs, valued at $2.3 million, he continued. The drugs were being transported by land and sea.
– ACAN-EFE
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