FISHING hasbeen nothing less thansensational along thePacific coast. Acrossthe country, at Barradel Colorado, therains that plagued thenorthern Caribbeanregion were gone lastweekend, replacedwith sunny skies andtarpon rolling at theriver mouth, but very few anglers.A report from Early W. Warren, atLos Sueños Marina, fishing on the Mimi,said it was typical of what we are hearingfrom the central Pacific coastal area.“I was out Sunday and saw the mostsails I have ever seen in one day anywhere,”the transplanted Californian said.“We saw more than 500 fish, mostly inschools of 30-75 fish, feeding on small sardines.There were large yellowfin mixed inwith the sails and the Mimi hooked twolarge tuna and landed one more than 150pounds. There were several fish in the 75-pound class caught and several more largefish lost on light tackle.“The good fishing continues with lotsof fish seen, raised and released,” Warrenadded. “The water conditions are excellentwith calm blue water starting at about 18miles with lots of bait. The boats are fishingfrom the corner, south-southwest andthere are also some blue marlin and largetuna being taken on boats fishing belowand just outside Cabo Blanco.”Also out of Los Sueños, RichardKrug, a longtime San José resident, didequally well with a partyvisiting from SouthernCalifornia, the marinareported.FURTHER north inGuanacaste, Rob Gordonat Playa Carrillo fished theJohnson family on Friday.They nailed six tuna andreleased a 375-pound marlin,on his boat the KittyKat, working 14 milesstraight out, having to runonly eight miles to find theblue water. They had another marlin upand it was headed for the lure, but a hungrydorado got there first and you can’t beat adorado at the dinner table.Randy Wilson and Brock Menking,fishing legends in the Tamarindo-Flamingoarea farther north on the Pacific coast,reported an awesome marlin bite on theirboats the Talking Fish and Osprey and nolet-up in sight.“We are not seeing as many sails asnormal, but have been raising from 2-10marlin a day, on our best day hooked eightof the 10 we had up,” Wilson said.Menking had two blue marlin releaseson the Osprey last Friday, along with a lottuna to 50 pounds andsome dorado, but theyagreed the sailfish bite inthe area is slower than normalfor this time of year,and said there is very littleof the red tide still in theregion, making for a shorterrunning time.NOBODY knows whythe sailfish haven’t movedinto that region in largernumbers as they normallydo this time of year, butwith the immense population still solid furthersouth, I’m predicting they will getthere and we will see a lot of sails by theend of this month, and in July and August.We have been getting a lot of calls frompeople that have booked trips out ofFlamingo in coming months, distraught atthe news as reported in The Tico Timesthat the marina is likely to be close down(TT, June 11). Not to worry. While themarina is “officially” closed, it will notaffect the anglers or operation of the boatsbased there. There is a big, calm baywhere the boats can anchor. The worsecase scenario is you’ll have to take a fewminutes in a panga ride to put you aboard.On the Caribbean, the Río ColoradoLodge had only one fisherman on the waterover the weekend, and even though it washis first shot at tarpon he got 150 pounderto the boat for release and saw them jumpingand rolling at the river mouth all day.Lodge owner Dan Wise went outSunday morning to fish for the table inback lagoon with a flyrod and light spinningoutfit and loaded up on those greateating mojarra and four nice rainbow bass,he said.For more info on fishing or assistance inplanning a trip to Costa Rica, contact Jerryat jruhlow@costaricaoutdoors.com orvisit www.costaricaoutdoors.comSkippers, operators and anglers areinvited to e-mail or call Jerry with fishingreports by Wednesday of each week. Call orfax: 282-6743 if calling from Costa Rica, orthrough the e-mail address above.

FLAMINGO, Guanacaste – Yellow signs havebeen posted stamping the marina “closed.” Coast Guardofficials stand watch to make sure no one uses thewaters against court order. Boat owners and captains inthe area lament the closure of the Flamingo Marina aftermore than 15 years of operation.But the news has not brought total despair to thecommunity, on the northwest coast of Guanacaste,whose economy is based on tourism, including sportfishingand sunset cruises.While some say life in Flamingo has been changedforever and others insist they already feel the effects ofthe June 11 closure, an “understanding” between the boaters, the Coast Guard and the EnvironmentalTribunal that first ordered the marinaclosed, is expected to avert a crisis situation.SPORTFISHING, scuba diving andfishing activities will continue to providesome economic sustenance to the surroundingpopulation, at least for now. Withthe temporary crisis lessened, marina usersare now turning their attention to their permanentfate.“This is not just about the rich peoplewho own the boats, they can solve theirown problems. This is about the peoplewho travel from Santa Cruz and Cartagena,who fill the bus every morning, to workhere,” said Simión Tenorio, who owns asmall restaurante típico in the area.“It is already producing an impact.Tourists don’t like to see police. OnlyTicos have been in my restaurant allweek,” he said.BEGINNING today, all boats mustleave the marina, according to JuniorBustos, president of the Tourism Mariners’Association. Marina users were given anextra week of limited access to the marinato accommodate pre-arranged, revenue producingtrips. Many boats have alreadymoored outside the marina in the bay.In the meantime, the TourismMariners’Association has been negotiatingwith the administrative EnvironmentalTribunal for a temporary arrangement thatwould permit boats to pick up and drop offpassengers from the marina’s dock, Bustossaid.However, mooring in the insecure baywaters is less than ideal, he added.The arrangement would remain ineffect until the marina’s full operation isturned over to a private concessionaireselected by the Municipality of Santa Cruz,which is currently in charge of the marina.This concession process, which began lastyear, will take at least three more months,according to municipal officials.THE marina was originally orderedclosed by the Environmental Tribunal –part of the Environment and EnergyMinistry (MINAE) – in October 2003.At that time, the tribunal said the orderwas made in response to complaints themarina could be harming the environment(TT, Dec. 12, 2003). However last week,tribunal president Gerardo Vargas told peopleat the marina that the closure wasordered because nobody ever obtainedproper permission to operate the marina –required by a 1998 marine law.The tribunal issued another order inMarch for “the definite closure and stoppingof activities at the Flamingo Marina.”However, the marina’s operation againcontinued, until last week.MORE than 40 uniformed CoastGuard and police officers converged on thesite in the early dawn hours June 11. Thatwas the deadline given to boat owners fourdays earlier – on bulletins posted aroundthe shore – to leave the marina (TT, June11).Hundreds of boat captains and owners,dockworkers, tour operators and hotelowners joined the officers that morning, allanxiously awaiting the order to seal off themarina.Community members heckled the officersfor attempting to block access to apublic road. Early shouting matchesbetween tense marina users and CoastGuard general director Claudio Pachecoproved fruitless, and everyone agreed towait for the arrival of representatives of theEnvironmental Tribunal.NOTICEABLY absent from the morning’schaos were any representatives fromthe Municipality of Santa Cruz. Themunicipality began operating the marina inAugust 2003, when its private operator was evicted after a year and a half of lawsuitsand contamination allegations (TT,Aug. 22, 2003).The arguments continued onceEnvironmental Tribunal president Vargasand judge Carlos Briceño arrived on thescene. Although discussion grew more heatedwith the rising sun, and culminated whenVargas asked officers to remove a lawyerrepresenting some of the marina users,everything settled down right before lunch.Vargas and Brisceño said they understoodthe public’s concerns about the economiceffects of the marina’s closure on thesurrounding communities. But they addedthat if they did not close the marina, theywould be violating the law. For this reason,they agreed to negotiate the possibility oflimited access to the area in order to allowindustry-related activity to continue.“WHAT people need to understand isthe marina is closed for now, but when itreopens after all this, it will be an improvementfor the entire community,” Pachecosaid. “Everyone will be better off.”The marina docks 50-70 boats. Thefuel pumps were shut off last year, inresponse to the contamination allegations.The Municipality of Santa Cruz willselect a new business for the concession inthree months, said Mayor Pastor Gómezafter he arrived at the marina that afternoon.Before the new 10-hectare (25-acre)marina concession can be granted, a masterplan for the land surrounding the watermust be completed. In addition, the Inter-Institutional Commission for Marinas andTourism Docks (CIMAT) requires eachparty interested in the marina concessionto do a range of studies, including environmentalimpact reports, based on theirproposed projects.Seven groups have shown interest inthe concession. However, because theapplication process is expensive andlengthy, CIMAT technical secretary OscarVillalobos said he is skeptical all will ultimatelybe candidates for the concession.NEARLY all the marina users are preparedto work with a new operator, andwill comply with the concessionaire’sneeds during renovation of the marina,according to marina user BruceMcKillican, owner of Catamaran SailingAdventures.McKillican – like many people inFlamingo – still question why, if the marinahas been operating outside the law forsix years, it is being shut down a fewmonths before a new concession is awardedand it is put in full accordance with themarina law.Vargas and Briceño said last week it isa simple matter of compliance. What thegovernment is asking, is why the marinawas allowed to operate for so long, particularlyafter the October closure order.An investigation was started earlier thismonth to determine if the Municipality ofSanta Cruz illegally gave permission tosomeone to allow the marina’s continuedadministration and operation, according toSergio Valdelomar, environmental prosecutorfor the Security Ministry.(Next week: New Marina Planned forGolfito in the Southern Zone.)

THE Constitutional Chamber of the SupremeCourt (Sala IV) has ruled that the Costa RicanCustoms Office violated the Constitution by allowingtons of shark fins to be unloaded at private dockswithout inspectors present.The court concluded that in allowing the landings,the Customs Office violated Article 50 of theConstitution, which guarantees all Costa Rican citizensthe right to a healthy and balanced environment.The court also ruled customs officials havetaken an undue amount of time to handle a complaintfiled by the Sea Turtle Restoration Program(PRETOMA), in which the non-governmental organizationrequested that customs officials applyadditional precautionary measures to prevent furtherfin landings, and gave the organization untilJune 4 to do so. The ruling does not specify whatthe precautionary measures should be.MEMBERS of PRETOMA, who announced theMay 26 ruling late last week, said the Customs Officehas yet to notify the environmental organization of asolution, “clearly violating the court ruling.”The resolution of the court also calls for an end tothe practice of shark finning, stating that customs that customs officials “should take all necessarymeasures to prevent shark finningand sanction opportunely and effectivelyall those persons who commit this act.”Finning, the act of slicing the covetedfins off a shark and discarding its lower-valuedbody in the ocean, is a lucrative practice.The fins fetch up to $200 a kilo in someAsian markets, where the fins are valued asan aphrodisiac and for medicinal purposes.The fins are normally ground into a powderand used to make soup, for which customerswill pay up to $60 per bowl.According to statistics from the PacificPort Authority (INCOP) provided by PRETOMA,27 of the 32 foreign long-line vesselsthat landed in Puntarenas in March ofthis year had Taiwanese captains.Costa Rica exported 818,000 kilogramsof fins in 2002, according toINCOPESCA statistics (TT, July 11,2003).PRETOMAsays the recent Sala IV rulingis not enough to stop the finning, whichis endangering shark populations off thecoast of Costa Rica.“THE only effective precautionarymeasure is to halt the landings of foreignvessels at private docks until they apply forpermits and are deemed in the public interestlike the law demands,” said PRETOMApresident Randall Arauz in a statement.“The only people who would be affectedby this action are those who are takingadvantage of lack of controls in order toland shark fins, evade taxes and subsequentlyharm the public interest. Closingthe private docks until they are authorizedis simply the only logical and effectivemeasure that exists,” he said.José Arce, chief legal advisor for theCustoms Office, told The Tico Times in astatement in March that the CustomsOffice is only responsible for regulatinginternational commerce, and that privatedocks are the responsibility of the Ministryof Public Works and Transport (MOPT)(TT, March 12).The Supreme Court agreed to reviewinjunctions PRETOMA filed against theCosta Rican Fishing and AquacultureInstitute (INCOPESCA), the CustomsOffice and the Division of Navigation andPort Security of MOPT, all pertaining towhat the environmental group claims iscomplacency on the part of these agenciesin response to the shark finning in CostaRican waters.THIS most recent ruling is the court’sfirst decision on any of the injunctions.A Tico Times investigation last yearrevealed that several Taiwanese fishingvessels were able to unload dozens of metrictons of sharks fins at private dockswithout their bodies attached, as requiredby Costa Rican fishing regulations (TT,July 11, 2003).However, regulations established inOctober of last year apparently allow thelanding of unattached fins by limiting thepercentage of shark product unloaded atCosta Rican docks to 7-16% fins. TheUnited States and European Union, in comparison,enforce a 5% fin-to-body ratio limit.PRETOMA claims this measureencourages fishermen to simply discardthe carcasses of larger sharks they catch(TT, Oct. 10, 2003).Experts consulted by The Tico Timessaid the hammerhead shark, which cangrow to lengths of up to 6 meters andweigh up to 1,000 pounds, is one of thespecies hardest hit by shark finning.The practice of shark finning, PRETOMAalleges, has resulted in a 60%decrease in the populations of sharks inCosta Rican waters during the past 10 years.A Costa Rican youth group has joinedPRETOMA in contesting the Costa Ricangovernment’s management of the problem.The Ombudsman’s Office announcedTuesday that the Cantonal Committee ofYoung Persons of Santo Domingo deHeredia, headed by 24-year-old activistAlberto Cabezas, filed a complaint againstINCOPESCA’s executive president, LigiaCastro.THE recent capture in the protectedwaters of Ecuador’s Galapagos Island Parkof an industrial ship flying a Costa Ricanflag indicates that the country is not onlyinvolved in fin processing and exports, butalso in catching sharks.A statement from the park said the shipwas caught using a long-line, a net severalnautical miles long.“Industrial fishing boats enter within40 miles (of the marine reserve) with themotive of catching sharks to cut their fins,which have a large commercial value inAsian markets,” the statement said.Since 2001, five Costa Rican shipshave been detained inside the GalapagosMarine Reserve.Long-line fishing nets often inadvertentlydrown various species of sea turtles,experts say. For example, scientists say thatthe use of the nets in Costa Rican waters hasdrastically reduced the regional populationof the American Pacific leatherback turtle,the world’s largest reptile.

The administration of President Abel Pachecothis week attempted to discredit a highlycritical report from the Ombudsman’s Officethat calls for greater transparency and accountabilityin government.Pacheco and his political advisors blastedOmbudsman José Manuel Echandi’s scathingreport and accused the ombudsman of using hisposition as a launching pad for his own politicalambitions.In his report last Friday, Echandi stressed that theCosta Rican government has violated the public’s rightto gain access to information, consequently weakeningcitizen participation in the democratic process.Without enough clear information, the people cannotfully participate in the governmental process, Echandiexplained in a press conference reviewing his annual“State of the People.”“SILENCE and indifference seem to have becomethe governmental norm,” says the yearly report.Claiming citizen rights “is impossible if the peopleare not sufficiently aware of those rights,” Echandi said.The Ombudsman mentioned the fee to obtain LaGaceta, the government’s official daily newspaper (inprint and online), in which all government business, public notices and new laws and regulationsare published, as “a clear limitation”and an “obstacle” to citizen participation.The Ombudsman’s Office also citedthe government’s call to participate in apublic meeting of the NationalCommission on Indigenous Affairs, heldfor the first time in four years, in a smalladvertisement in a not-too-widely circulatednewspaper as another example of thegovernment’s reluctance to share informationand ensure citizen participation.“But citizens can be certain that theOmbudsman’s Office will take necessaryactions to respect transparency, accountabilityand the established constitutionalright to access to information,” the reportstates.PACHECO, whose campaign platformincluded promises of greater transparencyand citizen participation in government,blasted the Ombudsman’s reportduring his Tuesday Cabinet meeting.“This person is running an open politicalcampaign,” Pacheco said. “TheOmbudsman admits he went to don RafaelÁngel Calderón (founder of the rulingSocial Christian Unity Party) to see if hewould put him on the list for deputies [duringthe next election]. He also went to[Citizen Action Party president] don Ottón[Solís] to see if he would make him adeputy for his party. How can this gentlemanexpect to be taken seriously? If he’srunning a campaign, I don’t have to takeinto account anything he has said.”Echandi, whose job is to act as adefender of the people against governmentabuses, denied his report has anything todo with a political campaign.PRESIDENCY Minister RicardoToledo denied the government had failedto provide the public access to information.Toledo noted that both previousOmbudsmen have sought public office followingtheir tenure. Echandi is the thirdperson to serve as the country’s ombudsmansince the institution opened in 1993.The country’s first Ombudswoman,Sandra Piszk, ran for vice-president as partof National Liberation Party candidateRolando Araya’s unsuccessful presidentialcampaign in 2002. The second Ombudsman,Rodrigo Alberto Carazo, is a CitizenAction Party legislative deputy for SanJosé.“We do feel the report had a very politicaltone,” Toledo said. “On some things, hemay be right. If you analyze the report, a lotof the information is not very accurate.”He provided only one example, however,saying that the Finance Ministrycould not provide information about PlanB budget cuts because the cuts have not yetbeen made. The cuts were first proposedearlier this year (TT, Feb. 20).The Ombudsman’s criticism, however,was in reference to the government’srefusal to provide information about budgetcuts made in July of last year (TT, July11, 2003).THE Ombudsman is not alone in voicingcomplaints about access to publicinformation – a right that is guaranteed bythe Constitution.Raul Silesky, president of Costa RicanJournalists’ Association, told The TicoTimes this week he agrees with Echandithat the government must do more to facilitateaccess to public information.The Libertarian Movement Party alsohas accused public employees of abuse andinefficiency in providing information tothe public, and recently proposed a law toaddress this (TT, June 4).The bill proposes that entities of thestate be given no more than 10 days torespond to public requests for information.If they take longer, the party making therequest can file an injunction with theConstitutional Chamber of the SupremeCourt (Sala IV).Under the proposed law, publicemployees who do not provide the information,or who alter or destroy publicinformation, would be subject to sixmonths to one year in jail.LAST March, the Inter-AmericanPress Association (IAPA) also requestedCosta Rica update its press and libel lawsto facilitate the free flow of information inthe country.The IAPA stated that punishing thedefamation of a person’s character with aprison sentence is incompatible withdemocracy (TT April 2).“They used this law to sentenceMauricio (Herrera) from (the daily) LaNación, three journalists from (the dailynewspaper) Diario Extra and others forinforming the public of things they shouldknow,” Silesky said.The current, 102-year-old press lawstates that if public officials feel the presshas damaged their honor, they can sue. Inthe United States, for example, the law isthe opposite: Public figures are more opento press scrutiny.IN Costa Rica, damaging someone’shonor in the media can be considered acriminal offense that carries a sentencefrom one month to two years in prison – orup to three years if the offended party is ahigh-ranking official.Court cases like the December 2001libel and defamation case against LaNación and Herrera based on the claim ofa former Costa Rican diplomat, currentlybeing reviewed by the Inter-America Courtof Human Rights (TT, April 2) may scaremany journalists into self-censoring.“This law is used as a governmentinstrument to scare journalists. This effectsall citizens, because they don’t get all theinformation they should have,” Silesky said.Silesky and national media directorsare calling on the Legislative Assembly toapprove the proposed press law on theassembly floor, which they say would easerestrictions on journalists so they couldbetter inform the public.

AMID congratulations and praise for his recent electionas secretary general of the Organization of AmericanStates (OAS), former Costa Rican President Miguel AngelRodríguez (1998-2002) yesterday testified before aLegislative Assembly commission investigating campaign financeirregularities.Rodríguez’s previously scheduled testimony was postponedin January by the commission until after his campaignfor OAS secretary general, a post for which he waselected June 7 and will begin serving Sept. 15.Neither he nor his family accepted public campaignfunds, Rodríguez told the special commission – formed inOctober 2002 to investigate anomalies in campaign financingand propose reforms to campaign-finance laws.Instead, he told congressional deputies, the funds camefrom parallel-financing structures. The controversial structures,created outside the political party to accept donations,have come under fire recently by those demandingcampaign-financing reforms.Rodríguez said the story of the funds is simple.IN 1995, a business owned by Rodriguez’s wife,Lorena Clare, lent the Social Christian Unity Party(PUSC) $595,000 (¢166 million at the time) to pay seriousdebts it had incurred in the 1994 campaign, which hehad lost.In December 2001, then-President Rodríguez receivednotice the remaining balance of this debt would be paidback through ¢100 million ($293,000 at the time) in bondsfrom the party. (In Costa Rica, political parties receive anallowance of public funds after the election based on thenumber of votes they received. These funds are to be used to pay expenses from that year’s election.)Shortly thereafter, he said, he determined“it was not worth it” to accept thebonds and returned them when he returnedfrom vacation in January 2002.RODRÍGUEZ testified that inOctober 2002, $232,000 toward the debtwas deposited in an account he had in theUnited States. These funds came from privatedonations, said Rodríguez, but addedhe did not know their source.The goal of the special legislative commissionis to understand the origin and destinationof all campaign financing, accordingto National Liberation deputy Luis GerardoVillanueva, president of the commission.One of the commission’s concerns centersaround donations from foreign individualsand companies, which is illegal forpolitical parties under Costa Rican law.Villanueva and Patriotic Bloc deputyHumberto Arce both said yesterday theystill have doubts about the origin of theseand other funds used to pay back the debts.THE commission has investigatedparallel structures that accepted donationsnot reported to the SupremeElection Tribunal used in the successful2002 PUSC campaign of President AbelPacheco and Liberation Party’s unsuccessfulbid for presidency that year (TT,Sept. 5, 2003).Rodríguez used the opportunity beforethe commission to offer his advice on campaign-finance reforms. He encouraged regulationsto require political parties to reporttheir finances to authorities on a monthlybasis.Legislative deputies said earlier thismonth it would be very difficult to have anew electoral finance plan ready before the2006 campaigns begin.Meanwhile, the Supreme ElectionsTribunal has warned that if better judicialtools are not created to control politicaldonations, the same problems will surfacein the 2006 campaigns as were present in2002.

MANAGUA – After months of anticipationand hype, a new canopy ziplinetour traversing the Tiscapa volcaniclagoon in the capital is off to an inauspiciousbeginning.The Tiscapa canopy tour, Nicaragua’sthird zipline tour, is the first to be built inManagua, and is part of a larger plan toclean up the Tiscapa lagoon and turn thearea into a downtown tourist attraction.So far, so bad.During the tour’s grand opening June4, attended by the national media andhundreds of curious onlookers, 40-yearoldSilvia Lanuza, subcommander ofManagua’s firefighters, lost control of herspeed and crashed into the far platform,fracturing both legs and injuring her back.The tour was then closed until lastSunday, when former revolutionary heroand Sandinista congressman TomásBorge, 74, attempted to show the countrythat the tour was safe by strapping into aharness and traversing the ziplines.Borge, president of the NationalAssembly’s Tourism Commission, bravely– albeit visibly nervously – told the pressand onlookers that he was not afraid ofthe canopy tour; that it was nothing afterhaving been imprisoned and tortured foreight months by then-President AnastasioSomoza in 1978.But when Borge mounted the zipline,he apparently rode the brake so hard thathe lost all momentum and got stuck in themiddle of the zipline, dangling suspendedover the middle of the lagoon. Tour operatorsrepelled out and rescued the startledformer comandante, who was not injured.

MASAYA, Nicaragua – Former internationalboxing champion Ricardo “ElMatador” Mayorga was unable to attendhis scheduled title-bout promotional pressconference in New York City on Mondaybecause of legal problems in hisNicaraguan hometown of Masaya.Mayorga, 29, was accused last weekof assaulting and threatening the life ofanother man under conditions that werenot made clear. A judge in Masayaordered an arrest warrant for Mayorga lastThursday, but the former boxing champturned himself in to the judge 24 hourslater to formally receive the accusation.Mayorga insisted he is innocent, andtold the judge that the person whoattacked the plaintiff must have beensomeone else who was driving the formerchamp’s car that day.“If it had been me that beat that guyup, you guys know what I am capable ofas a fighter; I think he would be in thehospital or broken in half,” said Mayorga,who lost his championship belts lastDecember in a loss to Cory Spinks.Mayorga posted a $316 bond andwalked out of court.The Nicaraguan boxer, who has a lifetimerecord of 27 wins (23 by KO) and 4loses, is scheduled to fight Puerto RicanFélix “Tito” Trinidad in New York’sMadison Square Garden Oct. 2 for thewelterweight titles. Don King is promotingthe fight.

MADRID (AFP) – The Spanish CivilGuard announced Tuesday that a policeoperation in Madrid and Valencia hasrecovered 228 pieces of pre-Columbianarcheological artifacts that were smuggledout of Nicaragua last year.The Mayan and Aztec artifacts – ceremonialcups, bowls, ritualistic artifacts,eating utensils and figurines – are from the13th and 14th centuries, with an estimatedblack-market value of $1.7 million,according to Nicaraguan authorities.The Nicaraguan man police say isresponsible for sending the artifacts out ofthe country was arrested in Nicaragua andcharged with illegally exploiting archeologicalsites in Masaya, Zapatera Islandand Ometepe Island.The confiscated artifacts have beenplaced in the care of the AmericanMuseum of Madrid, where they will be cataloguedand appraised before being sentback to Nicaragua in the near future.

GUATEMALA CITY (AFP) – TheGuatemalan government this weekannounced it will attempt to repatriate 40Guatemalan families that have been livingin Bolivia as war refugees since the 1980s.The families fled Guatemala in 1983and sought refugee status in Bolivia,where the United Nations High RefugeeCommission granted them 30 hectares ofland for cultivation north of the economiccapital of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.The plight of the forgotten refugeeswas recounted in the Bolivian daily newspaperEl Deber, prompting theGuatemalan government to announce itwould try to repatriate the families.The 36-year civil war in Guatemalacaused an estimated 200,000 deaths anddisplaced some 50,000 refugees, most ofwhom now live in Mexico.