THE National Police launched a massive manhunt Tuesday morning in the Atlantic-coast town of Bluefields, following the discovery of four police officers – three men and one women – who were bound with their hands behind their backs, stripped and stabbed to death inside the regional police office of Bluefields.One female officer managed to escape the midnight attack on the police barracks by jumping out of the second story window. She had received two stab wounds to her chest and back and was flown to Managua for medical treatment on the first flight out of Bluefields in the morning.Police suspect as many as 10 individuals were involved in the attack.After killing the officers, the criminals stole 31 AK-47 assault rifles and eight pistols from the police lockers, before fleeing the scene in different directions, according to the police’s preliminary report.Police conducted a massive search along the north and south Atlantic coast, using special K-9 units and two helicopters. Police have been unable to identify the assailants.In Costa Rica, Security Minister Rogelio Ramos put border police along the San Juan River on a special alert to prevent the armed band from attempting to escape south across the border.

NICARAGUAN Foreign Minister Norman Caldera this week prepared a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell asking that the United States apply “drastic sanctions” to the U.S. soldiers found responsible for mistreating Iraqi prisoners, said Oscar García, communications director for the Foreign Ministry.As a member of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, Nicaragua felt obliged to convey its disgust at the recent revelation of photos that show U.S. soldiers allegedly torturing and humiliating Iraqi soldiers, according to the Foreign Ministry.

PANAMA CITY (AFP) – A perceived friend of the business sector and son of former Panamanian dictator Omar Torrijos (1968-1981), Martín Torrijos, won Panama’s presidential elections with a healthy 47.3% of the vote Sunday afternoon. Early vote totals, however, showed his Alliance for a New Country might not have won a majority in the 78-seat legislature.Many of the votes from the rural jungle areas were still being tallied this week and final electoral results for the single-chamber legislature were not expected until early next week.Strong support in congress is considered crucial for Torrijos to make needed reforms to the country’s collapsing Social Security System, as well as comply with campaign promises to reduce poverty, increase employment and fight corruption.Still, the 40-year-old President-elect expressed optimism about his ability to unite the country and push for a change to the policies of President Mireya Moscoso, whom he will replace in September.“I invite everyone to join in a new social pact against poverty, corruption and despair,’” Torrijos said in his victory speech. “At the end of my term I want to be remembered as the President who was able to transform a country headed for disaster.” Torrijos has already proved to be a dynamic leader who is able to unite members of different political persuasions.After a failed bid for President in 1999 on the ticket of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, in a campaign that analysts claimed Torrijos built on his father’s legacy, Torrijos worked to form a new, broader based political movement that appealed to old enemies and young voters.Extending a hand to his father’s old political nemesis, the Populist Party, Torrijos was able to form the Alliance for a New Country and muster the votes to win his second attempt at the presidency.FINISHING in second place in Sunday’s election was Guillermo Endara, former President (1989-1994) and founder of the opposition Arnulfista Party, who finished with 31% of the vote.Ruling party candidate José Miguel Alemán, who served as President Moscoso’s Foreign Minister before announcing his candidacy last year, received 16.3% of the vote.Torrijos claimed victory at midnight Sunday, promising to continue building a new social pact to combat the 40% poverty level and 12% unemployment rate in this country of 3.1 million inhabitants.“We are forming a serious new social pact that will be participatory and non-exclusionary; a social pact that will make the transformations the Panamanian society has been asking for for a long time,” Torrijos said. “This country is everyone’s. In our proposal there is no room for revenge, but instead an opportunity to join wills and construct a country where all are able to participate.”TORRIJOS, who was educated at a U.S. military prep school before obtaining degrees in political science and economics from Texas A&M University, recently criticized President Moscoso’s fiscal policies and called for reforms to the pension system.The outgoing President took a conciliatory approach to her party’s sound defeat at the voting polls last weekend. She raised the possibility of working with Torrijos during the lame-duck period by calling on the country to “put our differences aside and unite in the sole objective of constructing a country of progress and well-being.”Torrijos might also get some help from Grammy award-winning Panamanian salsa singer Rubén Blades, who often performs as the front man for Grammy-winning Costa Rican group Editus.Blades, a Harvard-educated lawyer, announced Monday he would like to join the government.Among his campaign promises, the President-elect has made known his intention to expand the Panama Canal to allow larger commercial ships through. The proposed expansion could cost an estimated $5 billion and create needed jobs.

FROM Guatemala City to Panama City, tens of thousands of workers, students and social organizations celebrated May 1, International Workers’ Day, by marching on Central America’s capitals to protest neo-liberalism and the recently negotiated Central American Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States.“For the rights of unions, No to CAFTA! For the right to a minimum salary, No to CAFTA! For the right to a dignified salary, No to CAFTA!” chanted thousands of Guatemalan campesinos, union workers, students, indigenous and women’s groups, who marched through Guatemala City last Saturday.“The first effect CAFTA will have will be to liquidate small businesses that can’t compete with the multinationals,” charged José Pinzón, secretary general of Guatemala’s Workers’ Union.IN San Salvador, some 8,000 workers, teachers, campesinos and ecologists marched in favor of labor rights and against CAFTA.“We have the right to be respected as Salvadoran workers. We are not slaves and not stupid and we demand that our voices be heard,” said Margarita Posada, of El Salvador’s Civil Society Forum.In Tegucigalpa, close to 30,000 Hondurans marched on the capital, and an estimated 70,000 others protested in other parts of the country.“We demand that CAFTA not be ratified because it will hurt our territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence,” bellowed Carlos Reyes, leader of the National Popular Resistance Coordination, into a megaphone in front of the Casa Presidencial in the Honduran capital.NICARAGUA saw two separate worker protests, one by union members supportive of the government of President Enrique Bolanos and those against the administration.The two demonstrations, totaling some 6,000 workers, took place about 100 meters from one another in downtown Managua, but no violence was reported. In Costa Rica, as many as 5,000 workers, students and teachers took to the streets of San José and protested in front of the Legislative Assembly with an enthusiasm unequaled during May 1 celebrations of recent years.“[CAFTA] is the most important fight this country has had to face in the last 70 years,” said Albino Vargas, secretary general of Costa Rica’s National Association of Public and Private Employees (ANEP).VARGAS stressed that CAFTA would be the death of Costa Rica’s social welfare state and a surrendering of the country’s most valuable resources (see separate story).Three thousand Panamanian workers and students also took to the streets last Saturday, one day before the country’s presidential elections were held, to protest globalization and alleged efforts to privatize the Social Security System.Although Panama has only just begun to negotiate a free-trade agreement with the United States, several sectors protested Panama’s possible participation in the regional trade agreement.

SUSPECTED pedophile ArthurKanev is expected to become the firstU.S. citizen extradited to Costa Rica toface a criminal trial, after a U.S. federaljudge in Florida cleared the way earlierthis month.He could arrive in Costa Rica as soonas next week, according to officials. Thejudge concluded Kanev’s extradition hearingon April 13.The suspect will be escorted to CostaRica to be judged on charges of providingdrugs to minors, corruption of minors, andhaving sexual relations with willing childrenages 12 to 15, according to ProsecutorMiguel Abarca, of the Prosecutor’s Officein Quepos.Clarencio Bolaños, head of the legaldepartment of the Ministry of ForeignAffairs, confirmed those are the chargesfor which the extradition was requested.KANEV, 57, signed a waiver of extradition,accepting that he will be extradited,according to Alejandro Cedeño, ConsulGeneral of the Costa Rican Embassy inWashington D.C., which is processing theextradition.Bruce Harris, director of the San Josébasedchildren’s rights advocacy organizationCasa Alianza, credited Costa Ricanauthorities for taking the initiative to extraditeKanev.“One more time we’re sending a signalto those who think they can come toCosta Rica and commit sex crimesagainst children and get away with it,”Harris said.KANEV is wanted in Costa Rica forthese alleged crimes against minors datingback to 1999, the year he was first arrestedin the Pacific port town of Quepos.Police discovered 280 homemade photographsof nude, provocatively posed girlswhose estimated ages ranged from 11 to 16(TT, Jan. 8, 1999). He was released on bail,then fled the country, Cedeño said.He was arrested in Florida in July 2003after more than two years of eluding CostaRican and international authorities after analert viewer of the U.S. television show“America’s Most Wanted” recognized hisimage.Casa Alianza played a role in Kanev’scapture when Harris coordinated the visitof America’s Most Wanted with a friend ofhis who works at the show, Harris said.“In Casa Alianza, we feel pleased withthe work we did to find him,” he added.AFTER the viewer’s tip-off, a sting totrap the ex-dentist was coordinatedbetween the Costa Rican Special Prosecutorfor Sex Crimes, Liliam Gómez, andthe Miami branch of the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation (TT, Aug. 1, 2003).Abby Tiger, one of the arresting officerswho attended the extradition hearing,told The Tico Times the case is now beforethe U.S. Department of Justice inWashington, D.C.“To me it’s personally satisfyingbecause we worked hard on the case. It’sup to Costa Rica now to convict him,”she said.The case is now waiting an officialorder from the U.S. Department of Justice,which will trigger the release of Kanev toCosta Rican custody. The suspect will thenbe brought to Costa Rica to face trial,Cedeño said.Although the extradition process is acomplicated one, Kanev could be turnedover to Costa Rican authorities in “a matterof days,” he added.Neither the U.S. Department of Justicenor the Costa Rica judicial system madeany official comment on the decision.COSTA Rican authorities suspectKanev lured poor young Costa Rican girlsinto his beach home with promises of ameal and a swimming pool before allegedlyproviding them with drugs, then photographingand sexually abusing them (TT,Aug. 1, 2003).He became internationally infamous inDecember 2000 when he was featured on atelevised “20/20” exposé about sexualexploitation of minors in Costa Rica, andtold the ABC reporter that he “had noqualms” about what he had done (TT, Dec.15, 2000).Tiger said they did surveillance on hisFlorida condominium for three weeks lastyear, from the time they received the tipuntil the arrest warrant came through fromCosta Rica.When the case was originally openedagainst Kanev, judicial proceedings werealso opened against his companion JoeCurtis Baker, who was arrested at the sametime.In April 2002, a Costa Rican courtfound Baker guilty of three counts of providingmarijuana to minors and sentencedhim to 24 years in prison.

FRIENDS throughout the world aremourning the death of Patricia Riley, whoalong with her husband Tommy Thomasowned the Ark Herb Farm in the hillsabove Heredia. She died in Bangalore,India, April 22 from complications causedby a damaged aorta.Riley, who was in her 50s, was on ayearlong sabbatical revisiting India withher husband, who she met in India in 1968,while they were in the Peace Corps.They had lived in the small mountaintown of Madikeri, Karnataka, in southernIndia, an area similar to the coffee-coveredhills of Santa Bárbara, Heredia, where theyplanted their renowned botanical garden.The Ark Herb Farm contains hundreds ofmedicinal plants from all over the world(TT, March 12).While in India, Riley and Thomaswere working on projects such as micro-hydroelectrical generation for two smallvillages without power, and helping plant amedicinal herb garden for a Tibetan healthcenter. They also opened their home tofamily and friends, who used the opportunityto explore India.“PAT was beloved and admired bymany,” said friend Francis Chavarria. “Herwork as an herbalist was important onmany levels; ecological, medicinal, and ina culinary context with the growing of ahuge assortment of wonderfully flavoredherbs. We belonged to the same book club,and her comments on many subjects werealways insightful, demonstrating not onlyknowledge in many areas but her generousspirit as well.”Reflecting Riley’s nomadic and multifacetedlifestyle, various memorial serviceswere held by friends and familyaround the world. Because she died inIndia, a cremation service in Bangaloreseemed appropriate and practical, accordingto her husband. Thomas said her asheswould be scattered on the holy riverCauvery.“IT is hoped that in the days andyears to come, all of you who knew herwill think of her and honor her by doingsomething, no matter how small, to keepmoving toward her Quaker dream thatwe, as citizens of Planet Earth, can alllearn to live together in peace and love,”her husband wrote in an e-mail fromIndia.

APPROXIMATELY 100 NorthernZone campesinos have been camping outat the Metropolitan Cathedral in downtownSan José since Sunday with the hopeof gaining permanent rights to a farm theyhave occupied on and off since 2001.Squatters from El Bambuzal Farm nearRío Frío de Sarapiquí say they were kickedoff land that is rightfully theirs by multinationalbanana exporter Standard FruitCompany, which owns the land.The campesinos are seeking an agrariantrial to determine if they have rights tothe land, according to their legal advisor,Hector Monestel.Because this trial has been delayedrepeatedly, the group came to the capital torequest help from the Catholic Church toarrange a meeting with the president of theSupreme Court of Justice, Luis PaulinoMora, and Attorney General FranciscoDall’Anese, Monestel said.ALTHOUGH that meeting took placeMonday, as of press time the judge in theGuápiles court where the land-rights trialmust take place had not made any indicationas to whether the case will be movedforward, according to Judicial Branchspokeswoman Sandra Castro.“In Costa Rica, there is somethingcalled judge’s independence, so LuisPaulino cannot just call up the judge andtell him to make a decision immediately,”Castro said.The Judicial Branch has no officialcomment regarding the situation, sheadded.A Standard Fruit Company officialsaid they are not aware of any demands foranother trial.The company’s manager of externalrelations and legal matters, Juan Rojas,told The Tico Times the issue was alreadydecided last July by a judge who determinedthe campesinos have no rights to theland.THE only trials pending are those ofsquatters who Standard Fruit Companyhas accused of usurpation, according toRojas.The campesinos attempted to return tothe land on April 22 for the first time sincethe judge’s decision last July.“They have absolutely no authority tobe there,” Rojas said. They were immediatelyremoved, and 75 squatters were takento jail.When they were released on Saturday,a judge placed an injunction order prohibitingthem from getting near the land,Monestel said. On Tuesday, the groupappealed this injunction, and a response isdue today.MORE than 250 farming familiesbegan living and working the land in 2001.The entire property is 10,000 hectares(38.5 square miles), but the part the squattershave occupied is about 800 hectares(about 3 square miles).The campesinos claim the land hasbeen abandoned by Standard FruitCompany for more than 10 years.Rojas, however, says it has been, andstill is, used to grow bamboo that the companyuses to keep its banana trees fromfalling in the wind, hence the property’sname, Bambuzal.In late 2001, police attempted to expelthe squatters but were unsuccessful.Several court battles followed. Authoritiesfirst ruled the squatters could stay, becausethey had resided on the land unchallengedfor more than a year.Later, the verdict was overturned whena judge determined they had not actuallylived there for a full consecutive year.LAST July, the Sarapiquí DistrictCourt ruled again in favor of StandardFruit Company and ordered police toexpel the squatters. A violent confrontationbroke out and one squatter waskilled by officers, who said they wereacting in self-defense after beingattacked with sticks with nails and farmtools, according to the Security Ministry(TT, July 18, 2003).After the violence, police were successfulin expelling the squatters.“They burned their houses and crops,destroyed their things,” Monestel said.“We live off the land, from it, we maintainour families and they have destroyed itall,” Iliana Sánchez, president of theAssociation of Bambuzal Farmers, added.“The transnacionals are going to kill us,they are going to kill this country,” shesaid.ALTHOUGH Standard FruitCompany has had the support of the CostaRican government, the business has alsohired a private security company to policethe area, Rojas said.“This land employs a lot of peoplefrom the area of Río Frío, and the employmentof these people is regularly beinginterrupted by these invasions,” Rojassaid.A compost factory is on the propertyand part of the land is being reforested.The company is also preparing the land togrow experimental plants like guayaba, theincreasingly-popular noni fruit and ornamentalplants that could be profitable withthe approval of the Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with theUnited States, Rojas said.SINCE being removed from the farmin July, the farmers have spent the last ninemonths working odd jobs and living onsurrounding land, several of them told TheTico Times.The Catholic Church in CiudadQuesada has offered them a shelter,Sánchez said. However, they do not planon accepting.“That is too far from our home; wecan’t just leave our home to live in a shelter,”she said. “We are Costa Ricans.”

COSTA Rican Drug Control Police(PCD) agents on Tuesday morning arrestedseven suspects they believe are part of aninternational network of drug traffickersmoving heroin to the United States, officialsfrom the Public Security Ministryannounced.The arrests were made in the Caribbeanport town of Limón. PCD agents had beeninvestigating the suspects for more than 18months in coordination with agents fromthe U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) in the United States, Panama andCanada, police said.PCD agents said members of the ringhad made shipments to U.S. locations suchas New York, Miami, Ohio, Texas andDelaware, as well as to Canada.The suspects could face up to 20 yearsin prison if convicted of international drugtrafficking. On Wednesday, all seven weregiven a six-month preventive prison order.Security Minister Rogelio Ramoscalled the bust “one of the most importantanti-drug actions in recent years.”

THEY’LL start by putting parkingmeters along the city’s streets. Then a newstorm water drainage system will be builtthroughout the capital.In the end, if everything goes accordingto the Municipality of San José’s plan,a widespread repopulation of the downtownarea will occur in the comingdecades.With help from the Canadian governmentand private sector, these are some ofthe steps the city of San José is taking tobecome a model for the world as a “sustainablecity.”Although most projects are only partiallyfunded, the municipal government isdreaming big. For more than three years, ithas been a part of Canada’s SustainableCities Initiative (SCI), which includesapproximately 17 cities worldwide.The International Centre for SustainableCities also recently invited San José tobecome part of a network of 30 “sustainablecities.”WHAT is a sustainable city?Generally, it means a municipalityapproaches city planning comprehensively,with the goal of improving the qualityof life for many future generations, accordingto Steve Guertin, SCI City TeamManager for San José.The idea is that improvements are notjust “Band-Aid solutions,” but insteadintegrate social, economic and environmentalconsiderations for the long term, heexplained in a phone interview fromOttawa, Canada.For example, it means that when a governmentconsiders investing in health care,officials also think about investing in parksto create a healthier population. It meanswhen investing in these parks, the governmentwill also take into consideration publictransportation to arrive at them.It also means that when San José cityofficials plan to put parking meters on thestreet, it is not just to generate revenue, butalso to create a new government presencedowntown, according to VladimirKlotchkov, Director of Urbanism for theMunicipality of San José.“THE same officers who are there tomonitor the meters are also there for publicsecurity,” he said.The parking meter plan was one of thecity’s first projects with SCI, which partnersCanadian firms with the municipalityand provides seed money for feasibilitystudies.Other early initiatives include a studyof the city’s storm drain system that willresult in a proposal for specific improvements,and a survey of land use and ownershipin San José.Understanding the city’s land ownershipwill help the municipality achieve itsmore ambitious goals as a sustainable city:bringing more residents to downtown SanJosé, creating improved cooperationamong the 12 municipalities that make upthe Greater Metropolitan Area, and developingan environmental approach to allfuture city planning.“WE are working with a more humanisticvision about the quality of livinghere,” said San José Deputy MayorMaureen Clarke.A lack of government interest andinvestment in the downtown area causedexoduses of residents in the 1970s andbusinesses in the 1980s, according toKlotchkov.In a survey of downtown businesses ayear and a half ago, 300 businesses saidthey wanted to move out of the downtownarea. Many cited security and pollution asthe reasons.“There is too much pollution; there istoo much delinquency; there is too muchinsecurity; and there are not enough recreationareas,” agreed 25-year-old JimmyVindas, when asked about the prospect ofliving in the downtown San José area.Vindas, who works at his mother’s fruitstand in downtown San José, lives in theeastern suburb of Curridabat.KLOTCHKOV’S department, withthe help of a study by a Canadian firm, hasspent the past year evaluating how tochange policies to reverse this reality.City officials have encouraged constructionof new condominiums and housingdowntown by suggesting land opportunitiesand helping firms through the permittingprocess.“Downtown has the best infrastructure,the best health in terms of hospitals andclinics, the best schools, but there are not(enough) people living there,” Klotchkovsaid.Some area residents see the benefits aswell.“There could be more families livingtogether, sharing space, and everythingwould be nice and close – you could walkto the Mercado Central,” said 44-year-oldAlbin León, a taxi driver from the San Joséneighborhood of Cristo Rey.GERARDO Hernández, 52, who livesin Tres Ríos, east of San José, agrees thatliving downtown is attractive – for thosewho have money.“But there is no way I could afford it,”he said.The Municipality of San José wouldlike to offer economic incentives to businessesand new residential projects in thedowntown area to avoid total gentrification,but such incentives must come fromthe state government, Klotchkov said.That is where the real challenge of asustainable city comes in, Klotchkov andClarke agreed. Any real changes require anew level of coordination among numerousmunicipal and national governmentagencies in Costa Rica.In addition to the 12 municipalities,much of the planning and regulation of theGreater Metropolitan Area comes fromnational bodies such as the Ministries ofHealth, Public Transportation, security andEnvironment, Klotchkov said.ATTAINING a well-defined system ofcoordination among these institutions maybe the most ambitious of the city’s sustainablegoals.“We have to figure out how to sharethis vision with the other authorities, theother policymakers in the area,” Clarkesaid. “We all have to sit down at the sametable.”City officials would like to create a setpath for city planning between these agenciesin which environmental protection is apriority.For example, if a developer wants toconstruct an apartment building, theywould need to get the same approval andmeet the same environmental criteria,regardless of whether the project is indowntown San José or in Desamparados, asuburb south of the city.“WHAT they have here is somethingvery ambitious, and something that quitefrankly will take a couple of decades toachieve,” Guertin said, in reference to thiscomprehensive, environmental approachto urbanization.Unfortunately, the city may be runningout of time.The Canadian government has guaranteedfunding to SCI, which operates underthe Economy, Industry and CommerceMinistry, only through 2006, although itcould be extended.While SCI provides seed money for theprojects, once the initial studies have beencompleted by Canadian firms, these companiesmust request funds from theCanadian International Development Association(CIDA) to either do more studiesor go ahead with the projects.CIDA will finance what it considersfeasible projects for between $200,000 and$300,000. If funding beyond this is necessary,it must be obtained from the WorldBank or some other international financingorganization, Guertin explained.SAN José also is competing for CIDAfunds with the other cities in SCI, includingSalvador, Brazil; Qingdao, China;Córdoba, Argentina; Durban, South Africa;Valparaíso, Chile; and Dakar, Senegal.“More important than money though,we have to change the way people think,”Clarke said.Klotchkov agreed.“If we a build a bridge today, it will behere 50 years from now, or 100 years,” hesaid. “It is very important for people tounderstand that the decisions we make forSan José today, we are proposing for thenext 100 years.”

YAMILETH González was namedthe first woman rector of the Universityof Costa Rica in its 64-year history lastFriday, after a decisive victory over theother three candidates.González, 57, currently the vice rectorof the university, earned 50.8 % ofthe vote in the April 23 election, LaNación reported.González, who holds a doctorate inhistorical sciences, plans to focus herleadership on administrative modernization,student life and how to prevent theretirement of professors from dramaticallyaffecting the university.She will assume her post May 19,replacing Gabriel Macaya, who is leavingthe position after eight years.The position also includes a seat onthe National Rectors Council(CONARE),which is formed by the four state universities.Less than 50% of the 2,019 peopleallowed to vote in the UCR electionexercised that right.