THE scandal whipped up by an undercover journalisminvestigation into the off-the-boat, in-the-hotelactivities of a group of sports fishermen from theUnited States has prompted the Costa Rican TourismInstitute (ICT) to launch a probe of its own.Tourism Minister Rodrigo Castro said the country’sofficial position on sex tourism is “zero tolerance,”and late last week ordered the ICT legaldepartment to conduct its own administrative investigationof the incident.“It is not fitting for Costa Rica, from any point ofview, that we become a sex tourism destination… Wehave too many attractions and beautiful things in thiscountry to resort to that kind of market,” he said.HIS remarks came two weeks after reporters OttoVargas, of Costa Rica’s daily La Nación, and SteveWilson, of ABC’s WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan,documented the parties of a group of visiting fishermen,called the Michigan Boys, late last month andearly this month at Flamingo Beach in the northernprovince of Guanacaste.Their reports exposed the illicit organization ofprostitutes who plied the crowd of sports fishermen,and documented the traffic of women in and out of some of the tourists’ rooms (TT, May 14).Wilson’s TV news program was a two-partseries that aired the evenings of May16 and 17, available online at www.wxyz.com. Vargas’ articles ran the week before,available online at www.nacion.com.“WE had a report that this annual tripwas really sort of a bachelor party,” Wilsontold The Tico Times. “We thought wemight want to take a look at what wasgoing on.”The group of nearly 170 men arrived atFlamingo for a yearly fishing tournamentand was greeted not only by the residentsand workers of the beach town, but byapproximately 100 prostitutes, many ofwhom had traveled there from San José.Prostitution is not illegal in Costa Rica,but there are laws against the organizationof women for prostitution (pimping) inorder to protect them from exploitation.Wilson said his “story raised questionsabout the propriety of public officials takingpart in activities where hookers by thedozen were bussed in for the entertainmentof the group.”THE men represented a spectrum ofcitizens and public officials from Michigan,including, according to Wilson, ajudge, a police chief, a school board president,a sergeant of detectives, and a DetroitTigers baseball player.“The point is that public officials, allof whom denied having paid for sex, areheld to higher standards…” Wilson said.“They shouldn’t associate with organizationsthat do those things; it gives theappearance that they are in a place wherethey should not be.”Vargas’ reports looked more closely atthe law enforcement efforts of CostaRican authorities.“We agree that maybe on the part of theprostitutes there is no crime involved, butthere was organization and people making alot of money,” Vargas told The Tico Times.WOMEN were charged $200-300 forentry into the Flamingo Marina Resort,one of the hosting hotels, according toVargas and Wilson.They were given coloredwristbands thatopened the doors to themen who were theirpotential clients.Vargas said he andWilson have an idea whowas behind some of thatillegal exploitation ofwomen, but he does notknow how to prove it.Official investigations are alreadyunder way. Ana Helena Chacón, Vice-Minister of Public Security, said herdepartment is working with the prosecutor’soffice in Santa Cruz, which holdsjurisdiction over Flamingo.“This is the first time we have seensuch massive and organized activities,”Chacón said.THE Special Prosecutor for SexCrimes in San José, Liliam Gómez, saidthat since 1999, when her office wasformed, 61 people have been processed forsex crimes. Of those, 37 have been sentencedand the rest await trials.More of them were accused of pimpingthan any other type of crime, she said.Bruce Harris, director of the childadvocacygroup Casa Alianza, is gatheringevidence against the alleged pimpsinvolved in the fishing trip.He said he plans to use the tape of theABC segments, together with recordingsof three other recently filmed TV programsfrom news outlets in Spain, Great Britainand Canada, in cases his organization ishelping build against those who exploitprostitutes (TT, May 14).“THE girls paid money to certain people,and Casa Alianza has taped sometransactions. We will aid the prosecutorsand also police authorities in other countriesto bring justiceto the peoplec h a r g i n gmoney,” Harrissaid.His organizationhad beeninvestigating theMichigan Boysfor the past twoyears, but hadalways arrived on the scene after the fact.This time, there was a tip beforehand,he said.“We let La Nación know about it. It wasgood politically for this country that LaNación (one of the nation’s leading dailies)be the paper to cover the event,” he said.WILSON’S and Vargas’ reporting tacticshave come under fire from organizersof the event and one hotel owner in thearea. Niels Oldenburg, owner of theFlamingo Marina Resort hotel, said, “Weare totally outraged at the reports of LaNación… Certainly no act of prostitutionwas indeed visible or permissible.”He added that most of the fishermendid not go there for sex, and that the tournamentitself is credible and officially recognizedby the International Big FishNetwork.“It would seem that La Nación and Mr.Wilson have unjustifiably singled us outfor the purpose of creating scandalousnews stories,” he said, adding that he plansto take legal action against them.Wilson told The Tico Times that theFlamingo Marina Resort was “filled withMichigan Boys” and was the site of a partyon their final night, which he and Vargasdescribed in their reports as a “foam party”during which some participants took offtheir clothes.“I call it an orgy,” Wilson said,“…Naked men and women doing all sortsof lewd things while everybody cheered.”THE Macomb Daily News in Michiganquoted one of the event’s organizers,Angelo Nucci, as saying “(Wilson) alreadyhas his mind made up of what angle he wastaking on the story. It’s the angle that thisfishing group is down there for theseyoung prostitutes. That’s the furthest fromthe truth… This group has nothing to hide.This should be a story about camaraderieand fishing for marlin.”To which Wilson replied, “We tried notto be moralistic or judgmental. We ran thedenials of those (public officials)involved… I laid out the facts and let theviewers decide.”Sonny Kocsis, who coordinated theboat, crew, hotel and bus rentals for thetournament, said this bad publicity for agroup that spends so much money in thecountry does not make sense.“IT’S a shame for them to get slanderedlike that by somebody who lookslike he’s just trying to make a name forhimself,” Kocsis said.The tournament coordinator said hewas not aware of any pimping at theevent.“Every year when we have the tournament,girls come out of the woodwork –they smell money. Prostitutes are prostitutes,”he said.

A decade of cleavage and sultry glances may havecome to a close this week after Judge Christiana Vargas,accompanied by police officers, on Wednesday closed theoffices of Chavespectáculos, a risqué entertainment magazinein San José.Publisher Jorge Chaves, in his office decorated withpictures of busty women and a line drawing of himself inhis youth, greeted police officers and press photographerswith polite smiles as Vargas officially sealed doorsthroughout the building with rubber-stamped tape.With this latest move by the court, Chaves has becomethe fulcrum of a censorship debate, the loss of which, ifyou ask him, could shackle the nation’s free press.His monthly publication, Chavespectáculos, marcheswomen as provocative as those on his walls onto the newsstands.It also features gossip about famous personalitiesand interviews with musicians, actors and models.A court order last week called for the closure of hisoffice, citing an outstanding fine of more than ¢1 million($2,315), imposed by a judge in 2003 after Chaves refusedto submit the magazine to the Justice Ministry’s Office ofControl and Rating of Public Spectacles for a screeningbefore it went to press each month.The publication contains no full nudity or any sexualcontact. It could be compared to photos of a sunny day at the beach – a beach where attractivewomen pucker their lips at onlookers.Chavespectáculos is not sold in plasticwith opaque inserts like nudie magazines,but nevertheless the Ministry’s ratingoffice ordered that it be reviewedeach month before publication aftersomeone filed a complaint against himand the magazine in 1998, saying theimages were erotic and pornographic.When Chaves refused to submit to priorreview, the issue went to court.ALTHOUGH he filed an appealedbefore the Constitutional Chamber of theSupreme Court (Sala IV) on March 5 ofthis year, it was rejected two months laterwhen the court decided it was not constitutionalmaterial.The Penal Court of the First JudicialCircuit of San José proceeded to order theclosure of his offices, which are also thehome of Sexxxo Caliente, an indisputableporn magazine.In the wake of the court order he hadvowed to not lay off any of his eight fulltimestaff members, nor shut down hisoperation. When he found out about theclosure order on May 19, three of hisemployees milled about on the sidewalkbeside a Teletica television van swappingsomber looks and voicing doubt about thefuture of their enterprise.Chaves was still working in his officeon Tuesday, the day before the closure,when The Tico Times interviewed him.He had just pulled his latest edition offthe press. The cover features the backsideof a woman in a black thong and thigh highboots – a photo that did not pass underthe critical eye of the censorship office.“IT’S a question of principles,” hesaid. “It doesn’t matter if the censorshipoffice says it will be flexible – prior censorshipdoes not exist in this country.”Chaves’ opinion is propped up bynewspaper owners, journalists and mediabig-wigs, so much so that without theirsupport, he said, he would have long sinceconsidered himself wrong.Weighty names from media such as thetelevision news program Telenoticias, thedaily La Nación and the nation’s most populardaily Diario Extra are printed besidetheir votes of confidence for the Chavesfight.Raúl Silesky, president of the CostaRican Journalists’ Association, has beenoutspoken in Chaves’ defense.“CENSORSHIP should have no placein a democracy,” Silesky said. “A censor isa danger – who grants him the power to saywhat to publish and what not to publish,what you or I can know about and whatnot, whether the criteria is moral, religious,political or something else?”Silesky and Chaves have turned to theInter-American Commission of HumanRights to take up the case against thestate. Both presented their writtenrequests to the Commission, based inWashington D.C., in hopes it will representthem against the state of Costa Ricain the San José-based Inter-AmericanCourt of Human Rights.Chaves thinks the problem lies in thespectacle-rating office’s definition ofpornography. He claims the law that thecourt regards as justification for theoffice’s request for prior review, the Lawof Public Spectacles, governs public spectaclesand printed materials and is restrictedto pornography.NEITHER Chaves nor Silesky considerChavespectáculos pornography.“Call it vulgar, say that it stirs upinstincts, call it what you will, but whenthey call it pornography I pull out a copy ofthis,” he said, holding up the latest editionof porn magazine Sexxxo Caliente. “ThenI send it to their offices.”“I prefer death, I prefer going to jailrather than send even one photo to them(the ratings office). I’m not afraid. I respectthe state, but prior censorship is illegal.”Questioned about the case as shestuck official tape to Chaves’ closedoffice doors on Wednesday, Judge Vargassaid she was just doing her job, andoffered no further comment.

GRANADA, Nicaragua – TheNicaraguan Energy Institute this weekgave transnational oil company TexacoCaribbean Inc. a Thursday-afternoon deadlineto pay a 100,000-córdoba fine($6,330) for environmental damagescaused by a gas spill last month at itsMasaya gas station, 29 kilometers east ofManagua.If Texaco does not pay the fine by theend of this week, the transnational couldhave its operating license suspended inNicaragua, the government agency warned.Already in the middle of an environmentaland legal firestorm, Texaco wasforced to close the Masaya station lastweek – its second station to close in oneyear – following an accidental spill of3,000 gallons of Super gasoline. The spilloccurred when a driver backed into one ofthe pumps.THE closure of the Masaya stationcame one week after Oilwatch Mesoaméricaand the Humboldt Center, aNicaraguan environmental watchdoggroup, announced they are preparing alawsuit against the same oil company fordamages caused by a separate accidentalspill of 5,253 gallons last May at theTexaco Industrial Park gas station, east ofManagua.The first spill seeped into the soil andwater supply of the nearby population ofUnidad de Propósitos, a neighborhood ofsome 100 residents. Aquifer tests conductedas recently as last month by theNicaraguan Energy Institute revealed thepresence of petroleum in the drinkingwater, although the extent of the contaminationis still unknown.The Ministry of the Environment andNatural Resources, working in coordinationwith a seven-member commission,ordered the Industrial Park station closedand submitted a resolution last Novemberaccusing Texaco of negligence and violatingenvironmental laws. The resolutioncalled for Texaco to conduct a study of theenvironmental damages and pay an undeterminedindemnification.TEXACO appealed elements of theresolution, taking its case as high as theSupreme Court last January. Although thetransnational oil company has not yet compliedwith the resolution, Texaco’s legalrepresentative in Nicaragua, Juan CarlosHabed, was quoted last month in the dailyEl Nuevo Diaro saying the oil companyhas always recognized the error and iswilling to fix the problem.Still, Texaco’s incompliance with theresolution thus far, and the EnvironmentalProsecutor’s failure to enforce theEnvironment Ministry’s order, has raisedconcerns among non-governmentalgroups.Henry Lopéz, coordinator of theHumboldt Center’s Oil and Mega-ProjectCampaign, told The Tico Times his organization’sfuture lawsuit will aim torequire Texaco to take responsibility forthe spill, as well as pay indemnificationfor damages to the environment and surroundingpopulation. The HumboldtCenter is working out the technicalaspects of the lawsuit and awaiting theresults of an environmental-damageassessment before assigning an amountto damages sought, Lopéz said.The suit will be presented in aNicaraguan court, and perhaps also in theUnited States, he added.MEANWHILE, the non-governmentalorganization Young Environmentalists’Club announced last month itwould investigate alleged gas spills atfive other Texaco stations around thecountry.Texaco’s Habed has not returned multipleTico Times requests for comment inthe past two weeks.

LAS TUNAS, MATAGALPA, Nicaragua– The embankment along the highwaythat runs through this northern agriculturaldepartment resembles a wartimerefugee camp. Entire families of starvingcampesinos swelter beneath makeshiftblack-plastic tents in a desperate plea forland ownership.The landless campesinos come fromdifferent regions of Matagalpa, one ofNicaragua’s most economically desperatecoffee-producing regions.For more than two weeks, thousands offarmers have blocked the main highwaythrough Matagalpa to protest the government’stwo-year-old unfulfilled promise togrant them government-held land.AFTER several rounds of pressurenegotiations last week, the Ministry of theInterior last Friday announced it wouldtitle 6,000 hectares of government land tothe campesinos.The individual plots, which come outto about three hectares per family, will bepaid off to the government over a period of20 years, according to Alfonso Sandino,Vice-Minister of the Interior.But even with the renewed promise ofland titles, the campesinos this weekdeclined the government’s offer to be bussedback to their respective areas of origin.Instead, protest leaders said, the disenfranchisedfarmers will remain along thehighway until the government agrees alsoto provide financing for crop production,agricultural tools and plastic sheeting, aswell as help create new jobs in the north.MOST farmers in this once-rich coffee-producing region of Matagalpa are victimsof the world crash in coffee prices,which has seen the value of beans dropalmost 50% since 1997. The result hasbeen dramatic wage cuts, bank foreclosuresand widespread unemployment in thecoffee-producing sector.The World Food Programme, which runsfood assistance programs in the worst hitareas, estimates that some 300,000Nicaraguans have been affected by the crisis.Many of the landless campesinosdepended on coffee plantations for jobs,lodging and food. But the crisis during thepast five years has forced many to leavebeleaguered fincas where they had livedand worked their entire lives.“THE majority of these people havenowhere to go,” explained protest leaderSergio Matamorro. “We’re honest people.We want to work but we have no land, nooptions.“We’re not askingfor free handouts,”he added. “Wewant a deal to pay offthe land. Some workershave possessedland illegally. Wedon’t want to do that.We made a writtenagreement with thegovernment andpromised we wouldn’toccupy the land.”With scarce food and no sanitation,health conditions in the camps set up byimpoverished protesters are harrowing, especiallyfor the elderly and the very young.ACCORDING to the United NationsChildren’s Fund (UNICEF), 38% of childrenunder 5 living in the camps sufferfrom chronic malnutrition.“It’s awful for the children – the terriblehunger, the thirst,” said campesina JuanaGonzález, as she clutched her crying toddler.“We can’t returnto the haciendabecause there’s nowork and we’ll die ofhunger there too. Wehave to do this for ourchildren.”At least one newbornbaby re-portedlydied of malnutritionduring lastweek’s protest at LasTunas.Julio Vega, Minister of the Interior,blasted the campesinos for bringing elderlyand infants to the protest, claiming itwas a cruel form of human rights violation.BUT the situation back on the farms isjust as dire.“Each day these people struggle tofind work so they can buy food,” said theWorld Food Programme’s SantiagoTablada. “They have to ration the foodthey have. One day they eat, one day thedon’t, so they make it last.”At Matagalpa’s hospital, where thepediatric unit is receiving an average of 15patients a day, doctors say they are alarmedby the increasing admission of malnourishedchildren.Cases such as that of DamarisGonzález’s one-year-old, who is recoveringfrom a blood transfusion for anemia causedby malnutrition, demonstrate the hardshipfaced even by those who still have jobs.“My husband earns 20 cordobas ($1.27)a day,” she says. “With that we have to feedour whole family. It’s just not enough.”AS the crisis continues, Dr. Samuel Ruizand his hospital staff said they are frustratedthey can only treat the symptoms of malnutrition,but cannot address the root cause.“We’d like to give our patients bettertreatment, better medicine, but there’s a lackof resources,” he says, shaking his head.“The real issue is how we address this poverty.I wish we had a treatment for that.”

A FEW daysago I received amessage from aclient who has ahome, fire and naturaldisaster policyto cover his house.He was concernedbecause he hadreceived a visitfrom two men, purportingto beinspectors from theNational InsuranceInstitute (INS),who had looked over the house and said thatit was over insured and that INS wouldnever pay him if it were to burn down.The so-called inspectors did not leave areport or document of any kind to substantiatewho they were or what they had saidand done.There are so many things wrong here,it is frightening!INS inspectors are not appraisers (infact, some people think insurance agentsare qualified to appraise, we are not).SOME INS claims adjusters aretrained appraisers, but in this case myclient had no claim in progress so it wasunlikely for an adjuster to visit him.INS does not send inspectors to revisehomes that are already insured. Theysometimes send an inspector to revise aproperty which is in the process of beinginsured, in order to check on the insuranceagent, who is supposed to visit all the houseshe insures to make certain they haven’talready burned down!If there is a claim because of an eventaffecting an insured house, INS will sendan adjuster to make an inspection. But tomy knowledge, INS never, jamás, jamais,nunca, sends inspectors in other circumstances.Following the call from the client, weconsulted with several departments of INS,and they confirmed that no inspector hadbeen sent.SO who were these guys? My clientsays they flashed a card of sorts, but hedidn’t get a good look at it. I believe theywere hoods of the underworld, robbers,“casing the joint” (as I believe the technicalexpression is) prior to breaking in andcommitting burglary.So, kind readers, be warned! Unlessyou have a claim, do not let into your homeanyone purporting to be an INS inspector!Personally, I do not let into my housepersons of any sort who say they are inspectors,unless I have requested some service.Yes, we have let in personnel from theCosta Rican Electricity and TelecomInstitute (ICE) to revise the phones, peoplefrom the National Water and Sewer Service(AyA) to find water leaks or technicians tosee why the alarm is cheeping, but in thesecases we have always asked for an inspectionto be made.OVER the years there have been peopleringing the bell and wanting to come into make an (unsolicited) inspection, sayingthey are inspectors from the Municipality,the National Power and Light Company,and other service organizations, but wehave never let any of them beyond the gate.And we have a nice big sign warning ofa “Perro Bravo” (dangerous dog) whichwill probably bite any unauthorized visitor,hopefully to the bone.Garrett’s purpose is to give the readera better understanding of insurance inCosta Rica. The opinions and viewpointsexpressed are those of the writer, and donot necessarily represent the official positionof the National Insurance Institute(INS).

GRANADA, Nicaragua – Empoweredby the example of peace set by U.S.Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejía, family and friendsof the recently convicted Nicaraguan-bornsoldier this week pledged to continue fightingfor an end to the conflict in Iraq.“I will fight for Camilo until my lastday, and I will continue to denounce thisimmoral war in Iraq until all the U.S. soldiersreturn home,” said Maritza Castillo,Mejía’s Costa Rican mother.“What happened pains me, but it doesnot surprise me,” she told The Tico Timesthis week during a phone interview fromoutside Fort Stewart, Georgia.“My son did what he had to do; he isfollowing the voice of his conscience,”she added.A U.S. military court-martial at FortStewart last Friday found Mejía guilty ofdesertion and sentenced the 28-year-oldNicaraguan-Costa Rican citizen to one yearin a military prison. Mejía also was dischargedfor bad conduct from the FloridaNational Guard, where he had served formore than eight years.The court-martial came two monthsafter Mejía turned himself over to U.S. militaryauthorities for failing to report backfor active duty in Iraq after a two-week furloughlast October. Mejía decried the waras “illegal,” “immoral” and oil-driven.He applied for conscientious objectorstatus after hiding out for several months atthe Massachusetts Peace Abbey and learningabout the pacifist tradition (TT, March 19.)ACCORDING to family memberspresent at the trial, Mejía accepted his sentencecalmly and used his closing statementsto tell the judge and jury that his consciencewill set him free.“He told the judge: ‘You have the powerto put me behind bars, but I am a free manbecause I followed my conscience’,”remembered Mejía’s aunt, Norma Castillo.“He told the court that the entire UnitedStates is on trial for this war, and that thewhole world is watching.”Mejía, the son of famed Nicaraguanrevolutionary singer and songwriter CarlosGodoy Mejía, decided he could not returnto fight after his experiences during his firsttour of duty in Iraq in 2003.IN Mejía’s statement of conscientiousobjector, he detailed the abuse he witnessedof Iraqi prisoners at an Air Force base outsideBaghdad (different from the graphicpictures recently published in theWashington Post), and made specific mentionof an ambush on his unit that resultedin an Iraqi civilian decapitated by U.S.machine-gun fire.Mejía reportedly got himself in troublefor questioning military command inIraq after his unit was ordered to patrolthe same area several nights in a row atthe same time and in the same formation.According to his aunt, Mejía complainedto the higher-ups that his unit was beingset up for an ambush, which eventuallyoccurred.The staff sergeant’s questioning of militarycommand did not endear him to hissuperiors, but reportedly earned Mejía therespect of many in his unit, three of whomtestified in his defense during the court martial.Former U.S. Attorney General RamseyClark, a leading critic of the war in Iraq (TT,May 21), also testified on Mejía’s behalf.MEJIA’S civilian lawyer, Louis Font,told The Tico Times this week via cellphone that the defense team will appeal thecourt-martial once it is officially documented,a process that could take weeks or evenmonths. Amnesty International is alsoexpected to appeal on Mejia’s behalf ongrounds that he is a “prisoner of conscience,”Font said.Maritza Castillo said Monday that shehas appealed to the Costa Rican governmentto intervene on her son’s behalf. Shecited a bilateral treaty between the UnitedStates and Costa Rica that prevents CostaRican citizens from being ordered to fight,even if they have U.S. residency, as inMejía’s case.Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry thisweek acknowledged the existence of thetreaty, and promised that a consular representativewould visit Mejía at Fort Stewartin the coming days.Under U.S. law, only the Costa Ricanconsulate and defense lawyers have accessto Mejía until he is transferred to a jail cell.No friends or family have been allowed tocommunicate with the soldier since his sentencinglast Friday.PEACE activists – some 50 of whomstood outside the gates of Fort Stewart toshout words of encouragement to the soldier– are celebrating Mejía as the nextgreat voice for peace and truth.“We just witnessed the birth of anotherprince of peace in the world community –an ordinary person who stands up andspeaks truth to power. The military doesn’trealize this yet,” said friend and PeaceAbbey founder Lewis Randa.

THREE of six Israeli men detained inPanama last week for carrying toy gunson a Copa Airlines flight were deportedon Saturday to Colombia – the flight’scountry of origin – according to thePanamanian daily La Prensa.The three pranksters were deportedafter being cleared of charges of threateningthe country’s collective security,according to Israeli consul to Panama,Ronen Nevo. The other three detaineesare still under investigation.The six men were arrested last Sundayafter the flight crew saw that the men – allin their 20s – had placed on their mealtrays what appeared to be 9-millimeterpistols. The guns, although later discoveredto be fake, caused panic among theflight crew and other passengers who mistookthe men for hijackers.

PRESIDENT Enrique Bolaños joinedmore than 5,000 police officers fromaround the country Monday in a marchthat occurred simultaneously in severalcities as a call for calm and non-violence.The march came one week aftermajor clashes between police and publicuniversity students left some 30 peopleinjured – severally critically – and oneofficer dead (TT, May 21).In the last month, seven Nicaraguanpolice officers have been killed in theline of duty, including four officers murderedearlier this month in the policestation in the Atlantic town of Bluefields(TT, May 7).Police Commissioner Edwin Corderocalled on Nicaraguans to work together tocreate a new culture of peace. He stressedthat police officers are not the enemies ofthe protesting students and do not want tocontinue the fighting in the streets.Telémaco Talavera, president of theNational University Council, lamented thedeath of the officer last week, and saidthat both the students and the police arethe “victims” of a government that doesn’twant to comply with the law.The students are protesting to get thegovernment to comply with aConstitutional requirement to fund publiceducation with at least 6% of the annualbudget.At press time, the demonstrations –somewhat more peaceful than last week’s– continued in Managua as the government,student leaders and university representativesappeared no closer to resolvingthe problem.

MISS Honduras 2002, ErickaRamírez, last week was found guilty ofslandering Honduran pageant directorEduardo Zablah and sentenced to housearrest in the north-coast town of LaCeiba, 350 kilometers north ofTegucigalpa, according to the Hondurandaily La Prensa.The 19-year-old former beauty queenwill have to appear before judges for theformal sentencing June 11. She faces upto four years in prison, and a $250,000fine.Ramírez claimed that Zablah and hisfriends sexually harassed her and withheldpresents from the pageant organizers.Her accusations came shortly afterZablah alleged that Ramírez was born inthe Nicaraguan Atlantic coast town ofBluefields and was not really Honduran.

COSTA Rican educator LizbethAlfaro won a new car and the chance tohelp immigrant children go to collegewhen she was named Teacher of theYear in North Carolina earlier thismonth.Alfaro, who teaches English as a secondlanguage, told the daily newspaper AlDía she will use her new distinction topromote a law that would permit undocumentedimmigrant students to study in thestate’s public universities.Similar laws have already been passedin Texas and California, giving studentsthe right to study at the university afterpassing four years and graduating highschool.“The idea is to view these children asa resource, not as a problem,” she told AlDía.Alfaro will spend the next year outsideof her classroom, giving workshopsand attending conferences, particularlyfocusing on her experience teaching nonnativeEnglish speakers.She was awarded a 2004 Mazda car,laptop computer, technological equipmentfor the classroom and $7,500.