THE Costa Rican Federation forConservation of the Environment(FECON) sharply criticized the CostaRican government this week for allowinga presidential decree that regulates thefelling of trees in coastal areas.“Less than one month from the nextInternational Day of the Environment, theMinisters of Tourism, of the Environmentand Energy and the President legalize thefelling of trees in the maritime zone, inthe name of poorly titled eco-tourism,”FECON representative Juan Figueroa saidin a statement.President Abel Pacheco and TourismMinister Rodrigo Castro defended theirdecision, claiming the government is notagainst the natural resources of the country,and is only attempting to regulatetheir use, the daily La Nación reported.In the statement, FECON claims anyactivity involving tourists and dollars endsup being called eco-tourism, including“raising buildings 14 meters high anddevastating the only and most spectaculartrees that remain on the coasts.”The decree was published in the officialgovernment newspaper La Gaceta onMay 14.

A Panamanian company presided overby Corporación Fischel’s president, WalterReiche, paid for a house being rented athalf price by the former executive directorof Costa Rica’s Social Security System(Caja), the daily La Nación reported.The house has become key in a scandalthat has enveloped the Caja in recent weeks,involving the purchase of nearly $40 millionworth of Finnish hospital equipment.The Caja in 2001 started work onProject Finland – a plan to update thenation’s public hospital equipment thatentailed obtaining a $32 million loan fromthe Finnish government and spending anadditional $7.5 million from the Caja’sannual budget. In the process of determiningwhich company the government would purchasethe equipment from, the LegislativeAssembly adopted standards that excludedall but one company: InstrumentariumMedko Medical Corporation, represented inCosta Rica by Fischel (TT, May 14).LA Nación reported last month thatFischel executive Olman Valverde hadpurchased a $735,000 home in an upscaleSan José neighborhood and then beganrenting it to Caja president Eliseo Vargasfor $2,500 a month – about half of whathomes around it rent for.Vargas resigned from his post at the Cajajust hours after publication of the report.Valverde later resigned from Fischel.Valverde and other Fischel executiveshad insisted that the home was purchasedusing Valverde’s personal savings and that itwas a completely private, legitimate transaction.BUT La Nación reported Wednesdaythat the Panamanian company, MarchwoodHoldings Inc., got involved in the transactionin mid-October of last year. On thesame day Valverde signed a contract to purchasethe home, the paper reported, thecompany wrote a check for $50,000 toIndecom, a construction company.Valverde used that check to obtain acashier’s check for the same amount, thepaper learned. Then he paid an $86,000mortgage the house had with BancoNacional. How Valverde paid that amountremains unknown, according to the paper.Marchwood Holdings wrote a final checkto the Bank of San José for $598,000. Thesame day it was written, Valverde used it to purchasea cashier’s check for the same amount,made out to Indecom, La Nación reported.AFTER a surprise raid of offices in theCaja’s central offices on Monday, prosecutorssaid they suspect a “conspiracy”among Caja employees to conceal documentsrelated to Project Finland. The chiefof the Economic Crime Department of theProsecutor’s Office, Wárner Molina, saidthe raids were the product of an anonymoustip they had received about the concealmentof documents.Prosecutors had conducted surpriseraids on the offices of the Caja and Fischel,as well as the homes of Vargas, Valverde,and a Fischel executive named RandallVargas two weeks ago.

HEFTING an array of legal successesand spurred social movements under hisbelt, former U.S. Attorney GeneralRamsey Clark commands attention whenhe disparages U.S. foreign policy.He granted The Tico Times an interviewearlier this month at the ApartotelLos Yoses in San José, where he stayedbetween hearings on the Lori Berensonvs. Perú case before the Inter-AmericanCourt of Human Rights (see separatestory).Clark, who served under U.S. PresidentLyndon B. Johnson, quickly linked thepreservation of former President of PerúAlberto Fujimori’s anti-terrorism lawswith a policy of U.S. President George W.Bush that encourages other countries toadopt certain anti-terrorism legislation.“The law that Lori was convictedunder – if you want to call it a law, to me,it’s not a law – is totalitarian… It would(be upheld) only in a climate of fear of terrorism,”he said.Perú should not uphold decisions madeunder those laws, he added.AS a country, “you try to modify soyou don’t lose friends. That’s the problemof the United States,” he said, criticizingthe country’s failure to modify its foreignpolicy.“The United States does not subscribe tothe Inter-American Convention of HumanRights. It wants to be above the law.“The U.S. invasion of Iraq was a clearcriminal violation of international law. Itwas a supreme violation as defined by theNuremburg Tribunal, a war of aggressionin which two countries are at peace, neitheris under the threat of attack, and oneinvades the other.”He is confident, however, that the UnitedStates will someday ratify the InternationalCriminal Court, which it has thus far avoided– even sabotaged, according to Clark.HE said the United States has committeda wide range of internationalcrimes. U.S. missile strikes on vehiclesor places that are suspected to containalleged criminals have not only murderedpeople who were not given proper trials,he said, but have murdered those whoaccompanied them.“Then other countries copy those policies,Israel does it against Hamas and itproliferates…“There have been tens of thousands ofIraqi deaths in this war, there is violenceevery day.“THEN you find that we’re imprisoninglots of people and holding them withoutcharges. (The U.S. Naval Base in) Guantanamo(TT, May 7) has to be an extremeviolation of human rights. Now we grabpeople wherever we grab them, and theirfamilies don’t know where they are.“You finally find something that’salmost a form of sickness – prisonersabused almost for the gratification of theprison guards. They’re saying (to the prisoners)‘I think you’re disgusting so I’llmake you disgusting.’ You don’t take picturesfor an interrogation.“It’s for the guards’ gratification, likechild molesters who take pictures of theircrimes. You have that psychology set in, socan you conceive that it is limited to thehandful of soldiers in prisons?FOR news, opinions and calls foraction regarding human-rights issues, seethe Web site for the International ActionCenter, founded by Clark, atwww.iacenter.org

FOR the first time in the 25-year historyof the San José-based Inter-AmericanCourt of Human Rights, it will judge thegovernment of Costa Rica.Earlier this month, the state took thedefendant’s seat and began to fend offaccusations of the repression of one journalist’sfreedom of expression.Mauricio Herrera, journalist for thedaily La Nación, was sentenced by aCosta Rican court to pay fines for thedefamation of former Costa Rican diplomatFélix Przedborski through a series ofarticles he published in that paper (TT,Feb. 2, March 2, 2001).Herrera has asked the Human RightsCourt to annul the verdict of the criminalsuit against him and the paper. He regardsthe sentence as pernicious, stigmatizing,and a generator of self-censorship amongjournalists, La Nación reported.“(The sentence) seems to me an indignationand a humiliation for a country thatcalls itself a defender of human rights,”Herrera told La Nación.The Costa Rican court had finedHerrera the equivalent of three monthswages and the newspaper ¢60 million(about $200,000 at the time) (TT, April 2,2004).The trial date fell just before WorldPress Freedom Day, May 3, in which journalistsaround the world expressed solidaritywith their imprisoned colleagues,mourned those killed and celebrated thefreedom of the press wherever it is inforce.

THE exiled spiritual leader of Tibet,the Dalai Lama, is slated to visit CentralAmerica and Mexico later this year.Sharing a message of peace and unity,the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate willtour the region in October, although theexact dates have not yet been determined,his Latin American representativeannounced Sunday in Guatemala.Tsewang Phunyso told theGuatemalan press the Dalai Lama “wantsto share a message of unity and hope witheveryone… and he will meet with religiousleaders.”Phunyso arrived in Guatemala onSaturday to coordinate the visit withauthorities, followers and fans of theDalai Lama.

THE campesinos of Bambuzal areused to a tough fight. When they first startedsquatting on the northern zone farmthey contend is now theirs, they spent theinitial year fighting the land, working hardto prepare it for cultivation, sometimesuntil midnight.But this fight is different.There are no plantains to harvest orcorn to plant. Instead, there is mostlywaiting.For nearly a month the campesinoshave been sleeping in the MetropolitanCathedral in downtown San José. They arewaiting for a court order to be lifted theysay prevents them from returning to theirhomes in Río Frío de Sarapiquí, near ElBambuzal Farm.A hearing scheduled for Monday hasgiven the more than 100 men, women andchildren some hope. However, this will notaddress the court order directly, but ratherthe issue in general that has brought themto San José.The campesinos arrived in the capitalApril 25 seeking help from the church inresolving their land dispute over ElBambuzal Farm (TT, April 30). Theyhave occupied the farm on and off since2001 and say they have permanent rightsto the land, which is owned by bananaexporter Standard Fruit Company, a subsidiaryof Dole.Monday’s hearing is the beginning ofan agrarian trial to settle the issue in aGuápiles court. The hearing will likelyinvolve alternative conflict resolution,according to the campesinos’ legal advisor,Héctor Monestel. He is skeptical mediationwill be successful.MONESTEL’S immediate goal is toget the court order lifted so the campesinoscan leave the church. The order was issuedafter 75 squatters were arrested April 22for attempting to return to the land for thefirst time in nearly a year.The order states the campesinos cannotgo near the Bambuzal farm, but does notspecify a distance, according to JudicialBranch representative Sandra Castro.However, the campesinos maintainthey are prohibited from entering not onlythe farm to which they have a right, butalso their homes in Río Frío, which is some10 kilometers from the Bambuzal Farm.“They could be arrested just for goinghome,” Monestel said. “We will stay in thecathedral until there is absolutely no danger,no risk for them when they are in RíoFrío.”Monestel’s appeal to the court order iscurrently before a tribunal in Heredia, theprovince that pertains to Sarapiquí. It willnot be heard for at least a week, accordingto Castro.ALTHOUGH the campesinos sleepcomfortably every night on donated padsand rise every morning for mass, their economicsituation is becoming increasinglydifficult, according to Iliana Sánchez, presidentof the campesinos’ association.Rice, beans and other food have beendonated by local unions. But time hasreduced the quantities, and they are lucky toget one or two meals a day, Sánchez said.Far from complaining, Sánchez said thegroup has fared well with the help of others.Students from the University of Costa Ricacome to entertain the many children stuck atthe church all day. And while they must pay¢150 (US$0.35) to use showers in thechurch building, some have improvised,using hand mirrors to shave in the corner.“But it’s a tough fight, and we have hadso few responses to our questions anddemands,” Sánchez said.ACCORDING to Standard Fruit, theland dispute was settled last July, when theSarapiquí District Court ruled the squattersdid not have legal rights to the land.A violent outbreak followed this decision,when police attempted to remove thesquatters from the land (TT, July 18,2003). One campesino was killed and severalofficers injured.The court’s July decision came afterseveral previous court battles. Authoritiesfirst ruled the squatters could stay, becausethey had occupied the land for more than ayear. Later a judge changed the decisionafter determining the squatters had notlived at Bambuzal unchallenged for a consecutiveyear.UNDER Costa Rican law, if a group oflandless campesinos is making its livelihoodoff a piece of property for one year,the government is supposed to intervene tocreate an arrangement between the squattersand the landowners. The squatters areallowed to remain on the land, purchase itat a reasonable price or be appropriatelycompensated, according to real estatelawyer Thomas Burke, who was independentlycontacted by The Tico Times.However, such land disputes are usuallyvery complicated and certainly do notmean landowners must give up the property,said Burke, who is a member of theCosta Rican bar.The campesinos moved onto the propertyafter it had been abandoned byStandard for more than 10 years, accordingto Monestel.“That first year we worked hard. Weplanted yuca, we planted corn, we plantedeverything we needed. We worked by themoonlight to get ahead,” said 66-year-oldManuel Acuña. “Nobody bothered us. Wewere very content that first year, we neverhad to leave. That same parcel of land gaveus what we needed to eat, and a little moreto sell and buy clothes.”HOWEVER, the company’s managerof external affairs and legal relations, JuanRojas, maintains Standard has had operationson the land since it was acquired in1968 until the present.In addition to growing bamboo on theland – hence the name bambuzal – theproperty also houses a compost factory,Rojas said.However, Monestel allegedWednesday that Standard sold the land lastyear to two international banks, furthercomplicating the land dispute.Standard representatives were notavailable for comment after Monestelmade this complaint public.

NINE years in Peruvian prisons haveyielded U.S. citizen Lori Berenson theopportunity for representation in a casebefore the Inter-American Court of HumanRights in San José.Decrying an anti-terrorism law hecalled “totalitarian,” former U.S. AttorneyGeneral Ramsey Clark, together with attorneyThomas Nooter, argued for Berenson’sfreedom and amends for damages lastweek before the court.Berenson, a 34-year-old New Yorknative, was arrested in 1995 on a publicbus in Lima, Peru, and charged with leadingthe militant rebel group the TupacAmaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).She was accused of posing as a journalistto plan an attack on the Congress, towhich she responded that she was a freelancejournalist for two New York publicationsand was not a member of MRTA.A military tribunal convicted Berensonunder anti-terrorist legislation passed threeyears prior by then-President AlbertoFujimori to control government opposition.She was convicted of treason and sentencedto life in prison.Pressured by human-rights organizationssuch as Amnesty International andmovements built around her case in theUnited States and elsewhere, Berensonwas given another trial in a civilian court.She was found guilty again and sentencedto 20 years in prison. She has beenshuffled through four prisons to date, landingfinally in the Huacariz Prison in Cajamarcaat an altitude of 9,000 feet. She spentmonths in isolation and on one occasion,according to the Free Lori Web site, wasbeaten, tear-gassed and sexually molested.High altitudes and extreme cold havetaken a toll on her health, and her supporterssay she has suffered chronic strepthroat, gastrointestinal problems andarthritis, among other sicknesses.IN 2002, the Inter-American Commissionon Human Rights in Washington,D.C., denounced both the military and thecivilian trials, declaring them illegal byinternational standards, and called theprison conditions inhumane.The commission said Peru did notgrant Berenson her right to due process andfailed to demonstrate evidence against her.The commission requested that her rightsbe restored and that the government amendits anti-terrorism laws.When the country disputed the request,the commission referred the case to theInter-American Court.Mark and Rhoda Berenson, Lori’s parents,traveled to Costa Rica to attend thehearing last week and told The Tico Timesthat both the arrest and the second trial werepolitically motivated, used to bolster thepublic opinion of ex-President Fujimori.Touting it as a feather in his cap,Fujimori waved Berenson’s passport in frontof television cameras after her arrest anddeclared that a U.S. citizen would receivePeruvian justice, Berenson’s father said.LATER, Peruvian newspaper headlinesquoted Alejandro Toledo, who wenton to become President of Peru, as sayingthat Berenson’s re-trial, which took effectafter Fujimori was reelected, was a“smokescreen” to deflect attention from anarms scandal in which Fujimori and hisadministration were immersed at the time.Toledo, however, now defends the trial,saying that Berenson was given her right todue process, according to the New YorkbasedVillage Voice newspaper.“How could Lori’s trial have had dueprocess when these laws were begun byFujimori for the evil purpose of putting allopposition in jail?” Mr. Berenson asked lastweek. “Democracy requires justice and justlaws and requires Peru to change these laws.”CLARK told The Tico Times duringhis stay in Costa Rica last week that thecrux of the commission’s argument is thelegality of the Fujimori laws.“(Fujimori) suspended the Constitutionand wrote a law to fight government opposition…It’s totalitarian. Ademocratic societyshould never tolerate such a law toarrest anybody and not say why,” he said.The law’s definition of terrorism is somurky, he added, that it is impossible toknow what is legal and what is not.He said it “would be tragic if a court createdto protect human rights in the hemispherewould validate this law. It would happenonly in a climate of fear of terrorism.”Clark linked the Peruvian government’sreluctance to modify the law to theU.S. war on terrorism and U.S. PresidentGeorge Bush’s anti-terrorism policies.Anti-terrorism laws such as Peru’s arebeing considered throughout LatinAmerica as a means of controlling oppositionto government, he said.JUAN Pablo Barragán, an Ecuadorancitizen and coordinator of a signature campaignfor Berenson, has rounded up thesupport of several human-rights organizationsand two Nobel Peace Prize winnersfor ridding the Americas of such policies.The signatures are attached to an amicuscuriae (friend of the court) brief presented tothe San José-based court, and include thenames of representatives of lawyers’ unions,human rights and support groups.“Terrorism has been a great excuse torepress, shut down and control people,”Barragán said.AN excerpt of the brief states, “Sincethe terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, …inNew York… the so-called ‘war on terrorism’of the United States has not only created…radical laws and procedures, buthas… pressured members of the OAS(Organization of American States), especiallyColombia, to create similar legislation.These facts and reactions represent aserious threat to human rights.”Clark said he expects Peru will abideby the Inter-American Court’s ruling,expected in the coming months.Although Peru rejected a ruling fromthe Inter-American Court of Human Rightson a different case in 1999, currentPresident Toledo has agreed to abide by theupcoming decision on the Berenson case,according to Clark.

SUSPECTED pedophile ArthurKanev arrived at Juan SantamaríaInternational Airport yesterday andbecame the first U.S. citizen to be extraditedto Costa Rica to face trial here.Kanev will face charges of providingdrugs to minors, corruption of minors andhaving sexual relations with willing childrenages 12 to 15, according toProsecutor Miguel Abarca, of the QueposProsecutor’s Office (TT, April 30).Kanev was met at Juan Santamaríaby Child Welfare Minister Rosalía Gil,Vice-Minister of Public Security AnaHelena Chacón and agents of theJudicial Investigative Police (OIJ).Sandra Castro, a spokeswoman forthe Judicial Branch, said the prison systemwill determine where Kanev will bedetained until his trial begins the lastweek of August.The trial will be held at the QueposCourt, she added.

IMPROSA Financial Group’s GibraltarReal Estate Investment Trust bought apiece of downtown San José historyrecently when it acquired Edificio Knöhr eHijos – a 90-year-old building that hastwice been declared a national landmark.The building is the eighth tobe acquired by the GibraltarFund since it was created December2002, and is its firstproperty in downtown San José.A real estate investmenttrust (REIT) is a publicly heldfund that buys and holds variouskinds of housing, retail orcommercial projects andobtains its income mainly fromrenting its properties.REITs work like publiccompanies – investors buyshares that entitle them to partof the fund’s assets, as well asdividends from profits generated(TT, Oct. 3, 2003).THE Knöhr building islocated on Ave. Central, Calle 1,in downtown San José. Twice ithas been named a historic landmark– first in 1988 by then-President Oscar Arias (1986-1990) and again in 2000 by then-PresidentMiguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998-2002).The building occupies 1,267 squaremeters of land and has 2,461 square metersof constructed area. It has six commercialtenants, including Tico fast-food restaurantRústico, discount retailer ImportadoraElizabeth, a Colombian bakery and amusic shop, among others.The acquisition, announced last week,is important for three main reasons,according to Jaime Ubilla, general managerof Improsa’s Investment Funds.FIRST, the Gibraltar Fund continuesits expansion by acquiring a new propertyvalued at approximately $4.08 million.This raises value of the fund’s propertiesto $21.26 million.Second, it marks an important step inthe fund’s diversification. It is Gibraltar’sfirst venture into commercial real estate forretail clients. Greaterdiversification makes thefund a more solid investment,he said.Third, it contributes toongoing efforts by the SanJosé Municipality to changethe city’s image andmake it an attractive placefor people to live and dobusiness, Ubilla said.He called the acquisitionof the Knöhr building“unique.”“REAL estate fundsusually buy new buildingsin trendy places,” heexplained. “There’s significantvalue in othersegments of the market,as this building shows.”“The Municipalitywould like to thank (thefund) for believing in anew wind, a new breath for San José,” hesaid.The Gibraltar fund has a total value of$20 million, divided into 4,000 shares of$5,000 each. The fund currently has 181investors who own 3,170 shares.Historically, the fund has generated12% a year in revenues. Last year, the fundpaid investors $650 in dividends per share– the highest dividends of any Costa RicanREIT, according to Ubilla.

DIFFICULTIES conducting landexpropriations are delaying constructionof the long-awaited highway connectingthe western San José suburb of CiudadColón to the Pacific shipping port ofCaldera.Work on the project was expected tobegin in July, but officials now say theyexpect construction to begin during thefirst quarter of next year, the daily LaRepública reported.First proposed in the early 1970s, theCaldera project has suffered multipledelays and has been cancelled twice.Last year, the government awardedCanadian firm SNC-Lavalin andArgentine firm Cartelone a concession tobuild and operate the 76-kilometer highwayfor 25 years. To cover its investmentand profit from the venture, the consortiumwill charge a toll to all vehicles travelingon the highway (TT, Jan. 23).For construction to begin, the governmentmust first buy the land on which thehighway will be located. This involvesconducting a study to define the value ofeach land parcel, locating the owner andthen paying him or her.The process is slow and complicated,according to the report. The Departmentof Property Acquisition of the PublicWorks and Transport Ministry (MOPT) –the government institution in charge ofthe expropriations – has only threeemployees and no computers.Court proceedings can take up to 10years, particularly in cases where theowner of the land cannot be found. Morethan 25 cases still must be resolved beforework on the Caldera highway can begin.To prevent this from happening in thefuture, the National Concessions Council(CNC) is considering including the costof expropriations as part of concessioncontracts. The National Roadway Council(CONAVI) has proposed creating a specialfund for expropriations.