Costa Rica's commission to investigate the nation's involvement with leftwing Colombian guerrilla fighters has approved a motion to also probe homeland links with the other side of Colombia's struggle, its rightwing paramilitaries.
The Legislative Assembly formed the commission in April after a controversy erupted over comments by then-Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal in March when he said certain “political sectors” in the country are linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Within three days, President Oscar Arias fired Berrocal – a mere 24 hours before he was scheduled to report to the assembly about these political sectors.
Within a week, some legislators, many of whom were angry with Arias for sacking Berrocal before his testimony, created the commission.
Lawmaker José Merino, the last Socialist standing in the assembly and the only member of the leftist Broad Front Party with a seat, filed the motion to expand the commission's scope.
Merino's name is mentioned in the 387-page stack of documents collected by Berrocal and submitted to the assembly, allegedly detailing the FARC links. But the legislator has played a prominent role on the commission, often picked to raise the first question and famously rounding off long monologues that sometimes lead to a question.
Merino alleged Berrocal's documents could be a smokescreen to hide politicians' ties to the paramilitaries, not just FARC.
Berrocal has since disavowed the fact Merino's name appears in the document and said the lawmaker's involvement with FARC in the late 1990s was legitimate because it was authorized by then-President José Figueres as part of a legitimate peace initiative. This, he said, was before FARC metamorphosed into a drug-running cartel and abandoned its revolutionary identity.
The commission has until July to complete its investigation and report to the entire Assembly. But they could easily expand their mandate by a majority vote. |
| 
| 
| Exchange Rates
