AS government representatives from around the world met in New York this week to discuss what they call the international water crisis, Costa Rican organizations  called for increased efforts to ensure every resident here has access to potable water.

It is the first meeting of representatives from the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development since U.N. member nations pledged at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development to reduce by 50% the number of people in the world without access to potable water or basic sanitation, a goal international organizations claim they failed to meet.

Non-government organizations (NGOs), including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), CARE International, Green Cross International, Oxfam, Tearfund and Wateraid, collaborated to compile a “scorecard report” in which they criticized countries that failed to increase the amount of aid they allocate toward the water problem.

THE organizations claim that in most of the 22 countries surveyed, overall aid for water and sanitation has not increased – in fact, aid for water is declining.

According to statistics published by the WWF, more than 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water, while 2.4 billion people have no access to basic sanitation services.

Those statistics are somewhat reflective of the situation faced by Costa Rica –according to a government request made in February for a $260 million loan from World Bank to improve potable water quality, 1.2 million of the nation’s 4 million inhabitants do not receive potable water. The document said 11% of the nation’s inhabitants do not have piped water.

The lack of potable water for indigenous communities is particularly bad, said Carlos Chaverri, president of the Foundation for the Cultural and Social Development of Ethnic Indigenous Costa Ricans (FUNDEICO).

“We have many problems,” Chaverri said. “Much has been done, but we have many problems.”

For example, Chaverri said that on the indigenous reservation of Quitirrisi, 30 miles west of San José, some 600 families are without regular access to running water.

Residents there said they rarely have water, and when they do, service is sporadic.

“A person without water is nothing,” said Isabel Hernández, a resident of the reservation. “There are many, many families here. We need water.”

BEGINNING in June, the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE) will take action to help curtail contamination of Costa Rica’s water sources by imposing a new contamination tax on businesses that release any liquids into rivers or other water supplies, said ministry spokeswoman María Guzmán.

“It’s a new form of environmental control and a new financial tool,” Guzmán told The Tico Times. “Those who contaminate, pay.”

The new fee, created by executive decree last year, will increase substantially for companies who do not treat the water they release into lakes or rivers.

For example, Guzmán said, a beverage manufacturing company would pay $664 a year with a treatment system, and $35,332 without. A farm of 500 pigs with a satisfactory treatment system in place would pay an annual tax of $452, whereas one with no treatment system would pay $10,000, she said.

Guzmán said companies will always have the opportunity to improve their treatment system, so the amount they pay could change during the course of a year.

CONTAMINATION of water sources currently considered potable has previously affected thousands. In April of last year, for example, water apparently contaminated by fuel that had seeped into the water supply serving the metropolitan communities of Tibás, Moravia, and Goicoichea affected more than 50,000 residents.

Experts at that time said Costa Rica’s water supply was in a state of emergency (TT April 25, 2003).

Meanwhile, a project to renew Costa Rica’s archaic water law, which dates back to 1942, remains stalled in a special congressional sub-committee, where a small team of legislators is reviewing the bill of 133 articles, sources from the Legislative Assembly told The Tico Times.

If passed, the new law would provide additional protection to aquifers and river basins – to improve drinking water quality – and would create a new government body called the National Hydrological Authority, which would be responsible for all issues pertaining to water use and quality in the country.

ACCORDING to Costa Rica’s request for a World Bank loan, those issues are numerous. For example, 96% of urban wastewater is discharged into “rivers and receiving bodies without any treatment, generating respective public health risks and water resources contamination problems,” according to the document.

A statement released by Universidad Nacional (UNA) after a summit of water experts at the end of last month was equally critical of the management of hydrological resources in the country.

“In Costa Rica, UNA and other institutions have carried out valuable studies that show the deterioration and contamination of the protected zones of hydrological basins,” the statement said, citing problems such as deforestation and erosion caused by construction as contributing factors to the damage.

WITH a $240 million loan from the World Bank – which has not yet been approved – the government of Costa Rica could “initiate the modernization process of the water and sanitation sector in Costa Rica” and “complete the construction of the sewage collection, conveyance and treatment system of the metropolitan area of San José.”

In its proposal, Costa Rica says the main problems faced by the country’s water and sanitation sector are an “outdated centralized sector model and inadequate sector policy framework, lack of leadership and accountability for development, unsatisfactory service providers and low quality of provided services, a large backlog in sanitation infrastructure, high investment needs, low tariffs and poor cost recovery, and lengthy and inefficient procurement procedures.”

THE new law also would address those issues, according to Claudia Arroyo, an advisor to legislator Quírico Jiménez, who is heading the sub-committee.

The proposed water law was introduced in 2001 and has been in discussion ever since. More than 100 government functionaries, water specialists and NGOs reviewed the original text of the legislative proposal and a revised text was published on Jan. 7 of this year, Guzmán said.

Once the sub-committee approves the bill, she said, it will be sent to the Congressional Environmental Commission, who will decide whether to approve the project.

If it receives approval, it will pass to the floor of the Legislative Assembly for further discussion.

A consortium of Costa Rican environmental groups are demanding a moratorium on the cultivation of genetically modified crops in the country.

The Costa Rica Federation for the Conservation of the Environment (FECON) has asked the government for a 10-year ban to give scientists time to determine the effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on human health and the environment.

Genetically modified cotton and soy crops currently grow on 583.62 hectares (1,442.18 acres) in Costa Rica, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. These crops are grown for their seeds, all of which are exported to the United States, according to the ministry.

ALSO known as transgenics, GMOs are plants and animals that have been genetically altered by scientists to possess certain traits, such as delayed ripening or disease resistance.

Members of FECON insist such crops could cause permanent damage to the Costa Rican environment through contamination of surrounding, non-transgenic crops as well as by causing pesticide-resistant insects to appear.

Although these crops are not grown for local consumption, members of FECON say they also worry about the indirect health effects they could have on people, particularly pregnant women, who handle the crops.

“A lot of potential risks are being studied right now by scientists, particularly in Europe, so we are asking that cultivation be stopped until this discussion has reached its conclusions,” said Fabián Pacheco, an agricultural scientist with the Costa Rican Social Ecology Association (AESO).

James Olson, manager of transgenic-seed grower Semillas Olson, says GMOs have already passed the test of time.

“In all of these years there have been zero fatalities or problems, so I am not sure what all of the controversy about. It has no base in scientific fact,” he said.

Semillas Olson has grown genetically modified crops in Guanacaste for more than 13 years, he said. In 2003, the company grew 177 hectares (437.38 acres) of modified cotton and just over two hectares (about five acres) of genetically modified (GM) soy.

Seeds from these crops are exported to the United States for use and study by public and private universities, seed companies and the U.S. government, Olson said.

The climate in Costa Rica allows seeds to be grown during the U.S. winter, permitting accelerated research, Olson said.

FECON members say they are particularly worried about the contamination of non-GM cotton plants by GM seeds, because cotton used as a base for introducing new genes during genetic modification is of Mesoamerican origin, according to Pacheco.

“They have discovered that you should not grow transgenic crops in their country of origin because of the possibility of contamination,” Pacheco said.

Crop contamination could reach as far as Nicaragua, where no transgenic crops are grown, Pacheco said.

According to Olson, guidelines and inspections by the National Biosafety Technical Committee and the National Seed Office ensure that cross contamination does not occur.

“WE are much more regulated than you can imagine. The standards are so high, they are used as a model for the whole region, Central America and the Caribbean,” Olson said.

He said he respects isolation distances between his crops and those of his neighbors, thus preventing cross contamination.

No other cotton crops are in the area, except his own non-GM crops, which have not been affected by the surrounding GM crops, he added.

Furthermore, the nature of cotton is that it can only breed with itself, preventing any threat to other kinds of crops, he said. Because soybean plants pollinate before the flower opens, there is no threat of bee activity causing cross-pollination in that crop either, Olson said.

“From the moment the seeds arrive, to the moment they leave, it is all highly monitored or destroyed,” he said.

RAYNER Ramírez, President of the National Biosafety Technical Committee, was not available for comment on regulation policies.

“There is no imminent risk to the environment in the case of these crops,” said Alex May, project coordinator for an Agriculture Ministry-led effort to create guidelines on how the country will approach the subject of GMOs (TT, April 2).

It is before this project’s leaders that FECON placed its request for a moratorium earlier this month.

Pacheco claims the ministry has involved the public too late in this project – halfway through the 18-month process – and already has taken a pro-GMO stance.

FECON says it also plans to make a formal request for a moratorium to the Legislative Assembly in the form of a bill.

FECON members also fear increased use of pesticides on transgenic cotton crops could cause birth defects and harm the surrounding environment. Some transgenic crops are altered to withstand certain pesticides that are then used in high doses to kill surrounding weeds, Pacheco claimed.

This, along with other information on GMOs, will be shared with visitors at this weekend’s Solar Festival in Guanacaste (see Weekend Section), Pacheco said.

Through events like this, and forums and radio campaigns, FECON members are hoping to raise awareness about GMOs, which they say is seriously lacking in Costa Rica.

A poll by researchers at the University of Costa Rica in 2002 revealed that approximately half of respondents had some knowledge of GMOs. The poll said 21% of respondents believe GM foods pose a health risk.

Around 30% supported research into GM crops and a similar number trusted the country’s regulatory institutions.

The University of Costa Rica, which did not respond to requests for information from The Tico Times, and the TropicalAgricultureCenter for Research and Learning (CATIE) are both conducting GMO research.

CATIE is in the preliminary stages of a study to use genetic modification to create a banana or plantain resistant to the black sigatoka disease, according to María Elena Aguilar, of the CATIE technology laboratory in Costa Rica.

ALTHOUGH the research has just begun, the ultimate goal is to create a transgenic banana, Aguilar said.

However, before such a crop could be grown for national consumption, any producer would need to solicit the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture, May said.

The Ministry has no such requests before them, although there are currently a number of requests to grow transgenic crops for consumption by animals, he said.

The Ministry has yet to make any decisions on these requests, he added.

Amid controversy and for reasons still not entirely clear, on Monday and Wednesday, the heads of two of the country’s most important public institutions resigned.

President Abel Pacheco, who named successors almost immediately, assured Costa Rica the recent controversies would not affect his ability to steer the country in the right direction.

“There will be no changes in the government’s polices,” Pacheco said on Wednesday night, following an emergency Cabinet meeting. “We are one team; we share one philosophy… If ministers leave, we’ll name other ones. No one is indispensable, not even me.”

The two resignations bring to 26 the number of high-ranking officials – ministers, vice-ministers and executive presidents of autonomous institutions – to resign, be fired or transferred since Pacheco took office in May 2002.

ON Monday, Germán Serrano, executive president of the National Insurance Institute (INS), resigned.

On Tuesday, Pacheco said he requested the resignation because Serrano had disobeyed orders by moving forward with a controversial project to build panoramic elevators at INS’ main headquarters in downtown San José. On Wednesday morning, Serrano went public, firing back against the President, saying he was ordered to resign for his views against the Central America Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

Also on Wednesday, Eliseo Vargas, executive president of the Social Security System (Caja), announced his resignation during a press conference.

The unexpected announcement came hours after the daily La Nación published a front-page article reporting Vargas was renting a luxury home at half its value from Olman Valverde, financial manager of the parent company of Farmacias Fischel, one the Caja’s main suppliers.

ADDING to the commotion, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Judicial Branch began investigating a controversial trip by top officials of the Costa Rican Electricity and Telecom Institute (ICE) last October to the Czech capital of Prague.

The officials – Telecommunications Sub-Manager Alvaro Retana and ICE board members Hernando Pantigoso and José Antonio Lobo – were accompanied by Ricardo Taylor, a representative of telecom firm Ericsson, which at the time was involved in, and later won, a $130 million bid to supply ICE with 600,000 new cell phone lines.

The officials in question maintain there was no relation between the trip and the bid’s results.

ANALYSTS say the week’s events reveal weaknesses in the Pacheco administration.

“The resignations jeopardize the government’s image,” said political analyst Rodolfo Cerdas, a member of the Center for Political and Administrative Research and Training (CIAPA).

“The resignations, in addition to the investigation of the ICE officials, raise suspicions that a large number of murky goingson the President is not aware of are taking place inside his administration,” Cerdas said.

José Miguel Villalobos, a former justice minister and the first minister to be fired by Pacheco, said the latest happenings reveal much about the President’s personality and the way he governs.

“I don’t believe these events signify a resurgence of ethics as the Pacheco administration’s direction,” he said.

ON Tuesday, Pacheco attributed Serrano’s resignation to a dispute between the two regarding the proposed elevators at INS’ main offices, estimated to cost approximately ¢1.2 billion ($2.82 million).

The elevators would have provided visitors to the JadeMuseum on the building’s 11^th floor with a breathtaking view of the Central Valley.

The President has blasted the elevators, calling them an unnecessary expense, particularly when the government is attempting to reduce the budget deficit (TT, April 16).

He said his administration had asked Serrano if it was possible to cancel the construction and Serrano said that it was not.

The government later discovered the project could be cancelled.

That’s why Serrano was asked to resign, Pacheco said, adding that his administration was canceling the elevator project.

SERRANO denied lying to Pacheco about the elevators, claiming they never talked about the possibility of canceling them. He also recalled that Pacheco had originally been in favor of the elevators.

He said the real reason he was fired was for criticizing the way Costa Rica negotiated the proposed opening of INS’ insurance monopoly under CAFTA (TT, Jan. 30).

The INS Workers’ Union (UPINS) this week defended Serrano, concurring that CAFTA was the real reason behind the firing.

CAJA chief Vargas resigned saying he did not want the government to be held accountable for his personal actions. He admitted renting the house was a “mistake,” but said he was innocent of wrongdoing.

“I don’t want to jeopardize my fellow Cabinet members or the President by maintaining my post,” he said in his resignation letter.

Pacheco called the decision “brave” and commended him for having done “an excellent job.”

La Nación reported Vargas was renting a house in the Valle del Sol Condominium in the western San José suburb of Santa Ana from Valverde for $2,500 a month, while similar houses rent for $5,000.

La Nación reported yesterday that Valderde also resigned from his post.

Legislative deputies from various political parties demanded a full probe of the situation.

PACHECO named Luis Javier Guier, head of INS between 1990 and 1994, as Serrano’s replacement.

Dr. Horacio Solano, a surgeon and the Caja’s Medical Manager since 2002, took over Vargas’ job yesterday. Several legislators questioned Solano’s appointment, claiming that, as a Caja insider, he might not be impartial to the Fischel controversy.

MANAGUA – For hundreds of Nicaraguan boys who dream of someday playing Major League Baseball in the United States, the long road to The Show started last Friday with the opening tryout for American College, the country’s first integral baseball academy.

Founded by former Major League pitching great Dennis “El Presidente” Martínez, Nicaragua’s most celebrated baseball talent of all time, American College aims to groom the country’s best young talent into future Big League stars.

THE academy, modeled after similar programs in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, will become the new home of 150 selected players from around the country, teaching baseball fundamentals on the field, and English and high-school courses off the field.

The academy plans to send scouts to different rural regions of the country to search for the best of the best and offer them scholarships to school.

The goal is to get most – if not all – of the first class to enroll at the academy signed with a Major League club in the next five years.

The academy staff will act as agents for the young players, and those not picked up by a professional organization will have received a full highschool education to

fall back on.

“MY hope is to get ahead in my studies and my baseball. I’m sure I will get picked for the academy,” said 14-year-old Yasser Camacho, a left-handed pitcher from Cuidad Sandino.

Other teenagers share Camacho’s enthusiasm, each with hopes of someday getting drafted by their favorite Big League club.

William Castro, a 17-year-old third baseman from Masaya, sat on the edge of the visitor’s dugout and dreamed of someday putting on a Cleveland Indian’s uniform.

Jonathan Cienfuegos, a shy 14-year-old, said he hopes to someday play shortstop for the Florida Marlins.

AMERICAN College is being funded by a $500,000 start-up grant from the Nicaraguan business sector. The money is going toward construction of a new baseball stadium, classrooms and a dormitory on land outside Managua donated by the government.

Efforts are underway to court a Major League Baseball team to foot the future bill for operations by adopting the academy as part of its minor league “Rookie Class” franchise.

Several Major League scouts have already expressed interest in visiting the academy to watch the second national tryout in June, and former baseball greats Andre “The Hawk” Dawson and Ozzie Smith are scheduled to visit with the young players in the coming months, according to program organizers.

“TODAY is a great day for our country,” Martínez told a group of 250 young, baseball players at the Dennis Martínez National Baseball Stadium for the April 16 tryout.

“Through the academy and sports, you can do something in society. You will have the chance to study and learn about other cultures through international play. Most importantly, this academy is about human development,” he said.

Martínez acknowledged that half of the Major League hopefuls would be cut by the end of the day, but urged them not to give up and to come back in the future to try out again.

“Come back and prove us wrong for cutting you the first time,” Martínez encouraged.

THE baseball school has the full blessing of Nicaragua President Enrique Bolaños, who attended the tryout to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and offer words of support.

“We hope soon to have hundreds of Nicaraguans in the Major League system and several dozen playing for Big League clubs,” Bolaños said, adding that the academy is a great opportunity to help young Nicaraguans find high-paying jobs in the United States.

The President noted that similar academies in the Dominican Republic have enjoyed enormous success in past years, having paved the way for hundreds of islanders to break into Major League Baseball. About 600 Dominicans play professional ball in the United States, 79 in the Big League clubs.

IN comparison, about 20 Nicaraguans play minor league baseball in the United States, and only one, pitcher Vicente Padilla of the Philadelphia Phillies, currently plays in the Majors. Nicaraguan utility player Marvin Benard, who enjoyed several decent years with the San Francisco Giants, was dropped by the Chicago White Sox during spring training last month after he tested positive for steroid use.

Nicaragua has long been a breeding ground for natural baseball talent, but a lack of funding for youth development has deterred many players from reaching their potential.

AmericanCollege hopes to change that.

MANY of the staff members are former professional players from the Nicaraguan league who understand how important it is to give kids with talent a chance.

Academy hitting coach Ariel Delgado said he is eager to help kids work on their swings and teach them the values of baseball.

Delgado, who retired last year after a long career with León, Boer and Chinandega, is one of Nicaragua’s best all-time hitters, topping the country’s record books in hits, runs-batted-in and homeruns.

While the road to the Majors is long and hard for even the most talented players, the new Nicaraguan academy is seen as an important step toward leveling the playing field for its youth.

MANAGUA (AFP) – The trial of a man suspected of killing a Nicaraguan journalist in February came to a speedy close this week after a judge condemned him to 21.5 years in prison.

William Hurtado, a former member of the now-defunct General Leadership of State Security of the Sandinista party, was convicted of shooting journalist Carlos Guadamuz five times in front of the Canal 23 television station in Managua on Feb. 10.

Guadamuz, 59, had been recording his daily talk program before he stepped outside and was shot to death.

GUADAMUZ was an associate of former Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and was the director of the radio station The Voice of Nicaragua during the Sandinista Revolution from 1979-1990.

After the revolution, he became the director of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) Radio Ya. In 1999, he had a falling out with the party and since then had been outspokenly critical of the FSLN, especially of party higher-ups (TT, Feb. 13).

After the shooting, Hurtado was detained by Canal 23 employees. His wife, Margarita Membreño, and another man, Luis García, owner of the gun used in the murder, were also arrested. Their status was unavailable at press time.

EIGHTH Penal District Judge Rafaela Urroz sentenced Hurtado to 18 years in prison for the murder of Guadamuz, and another three and a half years for the attempted murder of the journalist’s youngest son, Selim Guadamuz, who held the gunman after witnessing the murder of his father.

“I didn’t expect the judge to make that decision because (Hurtado) didn’t kill me (the day of the crime), because he had run out of bullets and could not shoot me,” Selim Guadamuz said after the hearing.

The sentence came after an eight-hour public trial, attended by the slain man’s widow and children, who had requested the maximum penalty for such a crime – 30 years in prison.

However, the judge said the “only crime that merits the judicial authority to impose the maximum penalty is a cruel murder.”

The term “cruel murder” is a translation of a legal term not used in Costa Rica, asesinato atroz, which has been used in Nicaragua to classify particularly violent murders that involve the beating of victims, binding of limbs, and the murders of groups of people by military and rebel patrols.

THE slain reporter’s oldest son, whose name was not given, said “We feel even more frustrated with the justice in Nicaragua… This judge (Urroz) is the wife of Ramón Rojas, who is Daniel Ortega’s lawyer, so here we see the political web that exists between them.”

He said that in the trial “Daniel (Ortega) did everything but the impossible to reduce the sentence.”

AT the time of his arrest, police reports indicated that Hurtado said there were a million people in Nicaragua who wanted to end Guadamuz’s life.

His death drew speculation and accusations from the left and right of the political spectrum as to who was responsible and if there were direct political ties to the murder.

President Enrique Bolaños called the murder “a cowardly blow” against freedom of expression (TT, Feb. 13).

FOLLOWING a similar decision by Spain, Honduras President Ricardo Maduro announced Monday that the country’s troops will be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible.

Minister of Defense Federico Brevé reported Tuesday that troops could be home in six to eight weeks, although he added, “it is not a rapid execution … and we cannot guarantee a specific time.”

Spain’s decision to pull out of Iraq also inspired the Dominican Republic to announce it will withdraw 302 troops, which along with 369 Hondurans and 374 Salvadorans formed part of the Ultra Plus Brigade dispatched in Najaf, 160 miles south of Baghdad, under the command of Spain and Poland.

NICARAGUA had already decided against sending a second contingent to Iraq to replace the 115 soldiers who returned home in March, saying it had not received external financing for the cost of the mission.

Despite increased pressure to follow its neighbors’ suit, El Salvador remains the only Latin American or Caribbean country that has decided to keep its troops in Iraq.

“There is no change at all to the commitment El Salvador has in maintaining troops and continuing to contribute to the reconstruction and peace process in Iraq,” said

Vice-President Carlos Quintanilla. “Until the President (Francisco Flores) can say something different, the Salvadoran presence will be maintained in these moments.”

THE decision, however, has reinvigorated Salvadoran critics, who say the latest violence in Iraq represents an increased risk to the country’s troops.

“We cannot stop insisting the government of (Francisco Flores) committed an error in sending the soldiers to Iraq.

Therefore, we are also going to continue insisting that we follow the example (of the three countries that are withdrawing) and bring back our soldiers to El Salvador for their safety,” said leftist legislator Blanca Flor Bonilla, of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN.

REGARDING the return of Honduran troops, Brevé said he hopes for the collaboration of “friendly forces” during the transport of the troops to Kuwait to ensure their safety.

“If we use the same road on which we entered Iraq, via Kuwait, the transfer from An Nayaf to Kuwait took approximately 14 hours by land; so, obviously we will need the support of friendly forces to accompany us for our security,” he said, in apparent reference to the United States.

The necessary steps have already been initiated with the U.S. Central Command, which coordinates operations in Iraq, for the return, Brevé said.

“WE see no reason why the (United States) wouldn’t lend its help in the return of these troops,” he said, ruling out the possibility that the withdrawal could produce problems in relations with the United States.

“We have been there for nearly nine months. I believe this has been a period in which the participation of Honduras has been excellent in the process of reconstruction and within the established parameters,” Brevé said. The return is a decision of the President, based partially on Spain’s announcement, he added.

THE White House announced Wednesday it laments the decision of Honduras and the Dominican Republic, particularly in a moment when “the enemies of liberty are trying to derail the transition to sovereignty.”

President George W. Bush’s spokesman Scott McClellan assured that, notwithstanding, the withdrawal of troops from these countries will not affect the coalition.

McClellan said Poland, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Portugal, “and many other” countries have expressed their intention to remain on the battleground.

Violence has not stopped in Iraq, where thousands of people have died during the yearlong armed conflict.

Recent attacks include mortars dropped on the Salvadoran and Honduran base Wednesday morning. The attack produced no victims or material damage, sources said.

AFTER a controversial two-year ban, former Olympic and World champion swimmer Claudia Poll will return to international competition next week participating in an Olympic qualifying event in France.

Poll, one of Costa Rica’s best athletes, made history in 1996, winning the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal with her victory in the women’s 200-meter freestyle in Atlanta.

Four years later in Sydney, she captured two bronze medals. During the course of her career, Poll also has won five World Championship gold medals and set three world records.

However, Poll was banned from competition for four years by the International Swimming Federation in March 2002, after testing positive for an anabolic steroid the month before.

IN September 2003, the ban was reduced to two years, allowing her to return to competition this month and making the 31-year-old swimmer eligible for this summer’s Olympics (TT, Sept. 26, 2003).

Speaking to the press Wednesday, a smiling Poll said she was in shape and ready to get back to competing.

On Monday, she will have that chance when she swims the 400-meter freestyle in the French Open Championships, a qualifying meet for Athens, in Dunkerque, France. On Tuesday, she will compete in the 200-meter freestyle.

“We never stopped training, not even for a day,” said her coach, Francisco Rivas, dispelling any rumors about Poll’s lack of physical condition. “Our workouts were more rigorous and more intense.”

For now, the two say they are not focusing on the Olympics. Although it is a possibility, Rivas said they are simply working toward getting back into the world rankings.

DESPITE her time away, Poll says she feels confident heading back into the water, and pointed out that her times in practice have already met the qualifying standards for several high-level competitions.

“The only thing I want is to compete,” said Poll. “I’m happy when I do that.”

From the beginning, Poll and her coach have maintained her innocence in the steroid controversy (TT, June 7, 2002.)

“I am innocent,” Poll declared several times on Wednesday. “If it’s in five years or ten years or whenever, the truth will come out.

“How the test was carried out and how it was analyzed were incorrect,” she said.

Nandrolone, the steroid for which Poll tested positive, is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, an initiative of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

International sports governing bodies maintain strict rules regarding use of any banned substances and violations are dealt with seriously.

ACCORDING to documentation from Poll’s lawyer, two experts from an accredited IOC anti-doping laboratory testify that the level to which Poll’s specimen should have been measured was 7.8ng/ml, not the 5ng/ml that was used.

If this standard had been used, Poll, who tested at 7.6ng/ml, would have never tested positive. Also, it is possible trace amounts of nandrolone can occur naturally in the body, according to her defense.

Following the positive result, every subsequent test Poll took came back negative, including samples analyzed by Hospital San Juan de Dios and the University of California at Los Angeles, one of three recognized IOC testing laboratories in the Americas.

“If this is a substance that does not leave the body for at least six months, how can they explain how in the course of six months she had four anti-doping tests with one positive result and three negatives?” Rivas asked.

ACCORDING to Rivas, there were nine errors in the handling of the sample that Poll provided. He also maintains that the test given to Poll was only 96% accurate, while a test of 99% accuracy was required.

Although she has served out her suspension and can return to competition, Poll says she is continuing to fight to clear her name.

She has filed a suit with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and has brought a case against the laboratory in Montreal where the test was conducted.

“The case is going very well and moving forward, but slowly,” said Rivas.

“This issue is not over and it could go on for a long time,” he continued. “But we’re going to keep on fighting it because we’re right.”

At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Poll’s older sister Sylvia, who was also coached by Rivas, earned Costa Rica’s first Olympic medal when she finished second in the 200-meter freestyle. Sylvia retired from competition in 1994.

THE proposed law penalizing violence against women made some progress in Congress this week, as it was transferred Monday to the Constitutionality Commission for an analysis of the vote of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV), according to the Legislative Assembly.

The measure is scheduled to return to the floor of the assembly for a second and final vote on April 27.

The Sala IV, upon reviewing the proposed law, said it found two unconstitutional articles – numbers 21 and 31.

Article 21 would establish that the Costa Rican Social Security System and the Ministry of Justice must work together in the creation and operation of a system to carry out alternative sentences being proposed by the law and should dedicate human resources to that end.

Article 31 of the law would mandate prison sentences for those who force women to commit sexual acts causing pain or humiliation, carry out or view acts of exhibition, or watch or listen to pornographic material. The magistrates said sentences for these offenses are already outlined in current Costa Rican law, according to the assembly.

As a consequence, both articles will be reviewed by the Constitutionality Commission to see if they have been modified since the court’s ruling.

The judges did not express doubts about other portions of the proposed law, according to the assembly.

“There is a very important thing in this resolution of the Sala,” said Gloria Valerín, a Social Christian Unity Party legislator who has championed the proposed law.

“(The court) said it is constitutional, that it is not discriminatory to make laws in favor of women and we are not going to discuss that any longer.”

DOZENS of violent deaths were reported during Semana Santa – although none was related to the 17 earthquakes that shook the country during the Easter holiday week.

Both La Nación and Al Día reported 32 violent deaths between April 4 and 11.

Traffic accidents were the primary problem, causing 15 deaths. Eight drownings and one murder also were reported. One person reportedly died from burn injuries and another death is still under investigation.

Suicide was the third-highest cause of death during Semana Santa, claiming five victims. Holidays are a common time for people to commit suicide, often because of feelings of isolation, Julia Woodbridge, founder of the suicide-prevention organization Rescuing Lives Foundation, told The Tico Times.

THE Red Cross reported only 23 deaths related directly to Semana Santa, down from 37 during the same period in 2003.

The Red Cross’ s aid its efforts helped save the lives of 75 people in dangerous situations on highways and in tourist areas around the country during the week. No injuries or deaths were reported as the result of the 17 earthquakes reported between April 4 and 10.

The strongest, registering 5.0 on the Richter scale according to the National Seismological Network (RSN), shook the Southern Zone 60 kilometers south of Quepos on the Pacific coast April 7.

Seven aftershocks followed, ranging from 3.6 to 4.4 in intensity.

IMMIGRATION officials and traffic enforcement officers also stepped up vigilance during the week, when much of the country shuts down and goes on vacation.

Special Semana Santa operations caused an increased number of Nicaraguan immigrants to be denied entry into the country.

Immigration officials turned back at least 2,443 Nicaraguans attempting to take advantage of elevated border traffic during Semana Santa (see separate story).

Increased activity during Semana Santa also resulted in the detainment of 214 cars after their owners were cited for driving without licenses, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, offering unauthorized transportation services to the public, or not carrying appropriate circulation permits.

OFFICERS also cited myriad drivers for driving in a stage of “pre-intoxication” and for driving with passengers under the age of 18 who were not wearing their seatbelts (see separate article).

Representatives of the Ministry of the Environment also remained on the lookout for illegal activity throughout the week, particularly the trafficking of birds and plants.

On Saturday in the Pacific-slope town of Naranjo alone, environment officials rescued nearly two dozen birds and countless orchids and other plant species that were being illegally trafficked, La Nación reported.

A suspect in the botched robbery of a Nestlé plant was captured Wednesday after he hopped into a police vehicle, mistaking it for his getaway car, according to the Public Security Ministry.

The man, identified by police as Manuel Montero, allegedly tried to steal a computer and other objects from the plant in Tilarán, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.

After being notified by neighbors of suspicious behavior in the area at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, police approached the plant in a patrol car with neither its lights nor its sirens activated to avoid alerting the suspects of their presence. Officers passed a storage unit with the door open and stopped. At that point, the suspect, who had apparently been waiting for an accomplice to pick him up, hopped into the patrol car, according to police. He was detained and jailed, police said.