A lawyer and a retired educator are facing investigation on charges of making child ponography and of having sexual relations with a minor. The charges followed a police raid Tuesday.

Arrested in the southern city of San Isidro de Pérez Zeledón were the lawyer and the educator, both with the last name of Barrantes. Investigators said that the educator Barrantes had faced allegations three previous times for sexual abuse of minors.

The coordinated raid involved members of the Centro de Información of the Fuerza Pública, the Judicial Investigating Organization, the Ministerio Público and the Juzgado Penal de Pérez Zeledón.

The principal evidence in the case is a roll of film with 36 exposures. Information provided by the photo studio enabled investigators to meet the legal requirements for a search. On the film, among other images, is that of a woman in erotic poses in front of a vehicle that is the property of the lawyer Barrantes, said agents.

Other photos showed a male minor dressed in women’s clothes and also an adult engaged in what appears to be sexual relations with a minor, said a release from the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública.

The Association of Residents of Costa Rica will combine business with pleasure during an outing Saturday. The event will be at Montelandia, a park-like center in the Heredia hills above San Rafael.

The day-long event, described as both an annual picnic and "a day out just because," follows a business meeting of the association at which nominations will be entertained for a vice president. A nominating committee also will be picked to select officers for the fall elections.

The first call for the meeting will be at 9:30 a.m., although most of the members will not be there by

The real agenda for the day is an outing with the family. The association is predominately English-speakers although that is not mandatory. 
It is a major organization of foreigners who live in Costa Rica and provides a host of services for foreigners including a monthly seminar.

Organizers promise a day of hot dogs, hamburgers, fun and games and outdoor activities. Reservations are being accepted through today at the association offices, 233-8068 and 221-2053. An e-mail address is arcr@casacanada.net. Tickets are 3,500 colons for adults and 1,500 colons for children ($9 and $3.85).

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States is condemning in unusually strong terms the Cuban government's move to put on trial at least 78 political dissidents. The State Department says the dissidents face what it termed "summary justice" in "kangaroo courts." 

The State Department is describing the Fidel Castro government's crackdown on dissent as the "most despicable act of political repression in the Americas in a decade."

It is calling on the international community to join the United States in condemning the action and in demanding the release of the defendants, whom it described as "prisoners of conscience." 

The comments follow the announcement by Cuban authorities Wednesday that 78 opposition activists rounded up in recent weeks will be tried for treason and subversion. 

Prosecutors are seeking prison terms ranging from 10 years on up, with 11 of the accused facing life imprisonment. 

In a written statement condemning the trials, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said dozens of Cubans, whose only "crimes" were to demand fundamental rights, now face "summary justice in regime kangaroo courts." 

He said the Cuban government has denied the international media and members of the diplomatic corps permission even to observe what he termed "these sham proceedings." 

Reeker said well-known activists, including democracy advocate Marta Beatriz Roque, poet and journalist Raul Rivero and labor activist Pedro Pablo Alvarez are among those facing life prison terms. 

He said a number of the organizers of the internationally-acclaimed "Varela Project" democracy petition movement face 15-to-30 years imprisonment. 

The crackdown began in mid-March, with authorities in Havana accusing dissidents of being part of an alleged anti-government conspiracy, led by the chief of the U.S. diplomatic interests section in Cuba, James Cason. 

Judge OKs civil trial
for Colombian bottler

MIAMI, Fla. — A U.S. federal judge has agreed to allow the trial of the main South American Coca-Cola bottler for murder and intimidation of union leaders in Colombia. 

Judge José Martínez ruled Monday that the suit may proceed to trial against Colombian bottler Panamco and its subsidiary company Bebidas. 

The suit alleges that in the 1990s Panamco hired right-wing paramilitary members to kill a union leader and intimidate other labor organizers. 

The United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund filed the suit on behalf of Colombia's food industry union (Sinaltrainal). 

The judge dismissed similar charges against the Coca-Cola parent company based in Atlanta, Ga., and its Colombian subsidiary.  Coca-Cola and the bottlers have denied any involvement in the violence. 

Police find cache
of rebel explosives

BOGOTA, Colombia — Police say they have seized two tons of explosives and arrested at least six suspected rebels during a raid here.

Authorities said the suspects were arrested Wednesday after police stormed a warehouse in a middle-class neighborhood. Investigators believe the suspects are members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the nation's largest guerrilla group. 

The FARC has been blamed for a series of car bombings in Colombia, including an attack Feb. 7 that killed 36 people and injured more than 100 at an exclusive Bogota nightclub.  The FARC has denied involvement in the attack.

Mexican police find
nine dead individuals

Mexican police say they have found the bodies of nine people who were tortured and shot to death near the U.S.-Mexican border. 

Authorities say the bodies were found Wednesday in two parked cars on a road outside the northern town of Nuevo Laredo, close to the border with Texas. Police say they believe the victims had been kidnapped in the town as part of a narcotics-related wave of violence in the area. 

Authorities say drug smugglers are battling for control of the region following the arrest last month of suspected drug lord Osiel Cardenas. Mr. Cardenas is believed to have controlled a drug cartel that each year shipped millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs into the United States. 
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The assassination of journalists continues to represent a serious problem for freedom of expression and information in the Americas, says a human rights officer for the Organization of American States.

Eduardo Bertoni, whose title is special rapporteur for freedom of expression, said in a report released Wednesday that assassinating journalists violates the right to life and "leaves all other social communicators in a state of extreme risk and vulnerability."

Bertoni said that "sadly," many of the crimes against journalists go unpunished. Freedom of expression, he continued, "is one of democracy's most cherished rights. Yet practices unfortunately exist in the hemisphere that seek to restrict it."

During 2002, Bertoni said 10 media workers were assassinated in organization member states while they were exercising their professional duties. In addition, Bertoni said the "arbitrary use of criminal slander and libel charges to stifle criticism of civil servants continued and scant progress was noted regarding the promulgation of laws to protect the right of access to information, a matter vital to transparency in public affairs."

Bertoni's findings follow the release Monday of the U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2002, which documented that freedom of expression and freedom of the press are being restricted in such countries as Cuba, Venezuela, and Haiti.

In Cuba, for example, the State Department said the regime of Fidel Castro continued to harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison, and defame journalists and other members of independent professional associations. It also said Cuba limited the distribution of foreign publications and news, and maintained strict censorship of news and information to the public.

In Venezuela, the department said press freedom "deteriorated significantly" during 2002 and that 
violence and threats of violence against the media 

Intimidation of journalists also continued to be a problem in Haiti. The Department reported attacks on journalists by supporters of the Haitian government, and that the country's legal system provided limited protection or redress. Journalists were accused of destabilizing the government and often subjected to anonymous threats of kidnapping and murder, while police and government officials often failed to protect journalists during civil unrest. 

Bertoni, the OAS special rapporteur, praised those countries which have provided financial backing and other support to strengthen his office's activities — a list which includes the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Sweden. Such backing, he said, is "indispensable" to the office's "proper functioning and execution of mandated activities."

The official concluded in his report that freedom of expression remains restricted in many countries of the region. Democracy, he said, "demands a sweeping freedom of expression, which cannot take root under the shadow of state mechanisms still in place to curb its unfettered exercise."

To improve the situation, Bertoni recommended that assassinations, kidnappings, threats, and intimidation against social communicators be investigated. He also called for revoking laws concerning criminal contempt, defamation, libel, and slander, and the passing of legislation to allow for access to information.

(Costa Rica has such a law that provides for criminal penalties for those who "insult" high officials. An effort to eliminate this crime seems to be stalled in the Asamblea Nacional.)

Bertoni congratulated journalists, social spokesmen, and defenders of human rights, among others, who have "demonstrated courage and determination in their struggle not to be muzzled in the exercise of this most fundamental right" to freedom of expression.

This newspaper seeks the prompt return of two men who ran high-interest investment operations that have gone out of business.

Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho, 62, was associated with Ofinter S.A., a money exchange house, and with his own private investment business that had about $1 billion in other people’s money on the books.

Villalobos closed his business Oct. 14 and vanished.

Louis Milanes operated Savings Unlimited and several casinos in San José. He left the country with other members of his firm the weekend of Nov. 23. He may have as much as $260 million in his possession. Both operations catered to North Americans.

Villalobos and Milanes are the subjects of international arrest warrants.  Associates of both men have been jailed.

A.M. Costa Rica has posted a $500 reward for information leading to the detention of either man with the hopes that others will make similar pledges. The newspaper believes that investors only will see some of their money when the two men are in custody.

Milanes has few supporters in San José. On the other hand, as the letters frequently on this page show, Villalobos still has supporters who believe that he will reappear and settle his debts. They believe he is in hiding because of a predatory Costa Rican government.

After standing on the sidelines for the past few months reading A.M. Costa Rica on the net and reading all of the ranting and raving from both sides of the "Brothers" issue, I have decided to put in my two cents worth.

Myself nor NO ONE ELSE knows how all of this is going to play out. I do know that throwing money at lawyers will help no one but the lawyers. You have one that said that for a small nominal fee of only $300,000 he will file a lawsuit against some politicians (as far as I know he has not said which ones) and by his own admission will never go to court. What a deal!! How could anyone pass that up? Then there is another group of lawyers that dropped their price. Was this because they were not getting enough suckers?

There are some things that I do know. If the checks that bounced were written on AmTrade
 

I also know that when I made my loan to Enrique Villalobos I was told how the money would be invested. I went in with my eyes wide open. I checked Enrique out very carefully and found no one that had anything bad to say about him. 

If he turns out to be a crook, then he fooled a lot of people for many years. We can blame anyone that we want to, but the bottom line is that we have no control over how all of this turns out. 

In the meantime all of you people that are calling each other idiots please keep it up. It is not going to solve anything, but it is entertaining as hell.