PHOENIX, Ariz. — Relatives of 14 illegal Mexican immigrants who died in the Arizona desert after crossing the border into the United States have sued the U.S. government, accusing it of harsh immigration policies. 

The families filed the lawsuit in a court here last month, asking for $42 million in damages. 

The suit blames U.S. officials for cracking down on illegal immigration in urban areas along the border with Mexico, forcing illegal immigrants into parched desert areas. The suit says officials barred a U.S. group from placing drinking water stations in Cabeza Prieta National Park where the 14 men died. Twelve other immigrants survived the illegal crossing in 2001. 

The lawsuit comes as Mexican lawmakers press President Vicente Fox to reach a long-awaited agreement with the United States on immigration. A Congressional group on Wednesday urged Fox to work for greater protection for undocumented Mexican workers. 

Belgium’s consul
killed by gunmen

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — Two gunmen have killed Belgium's honorary consul in Honduras here.

Police said Thursday that businessman Arnulfo Gutierrez was shot as he was getting out of his car late Wednesday. Police have reported no arrests in the case. 

It is unclear if the killing was related to the kidnapping of Gutierrez's wife, who has been missing since March. The family has made three ransom payments, but she has not been released.

Anti-Aristide coup
nipped by arrests

DAJABON, Dominican Republic — Police in the Dominican Republic say they have arrested five men suspected of planning a coup against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. 

Officials said Wednesday the men were captured in this northern border town.

One of the men arrested is a former Haitian police chief, Guy Philippe, who has been accused of leading an attack on the presidential palace in late 2001. At least seven people were killed in the failed attempt to overthrow Aristide. 

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen attacked a Haitian power station Wednesday, leaving two security guards dead and two policemen injured.  The attack occurred at the Lake Peligre hydroelectric plant in central Haiti. 

Mediation attempts
continue in Caracas

CARACAS, Venezuela — Envoys from six nations have held separate talks with Venezuelan government and opposition figures here in another bid to end the political crisis in the oil-rich South American country. 

Diplomats for the so-called Group of Friends of Venezuela, comprising Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States, met behind closed doors Thursday with the rival parties. 

Sources close to the talks say the discussions include the issue of holding a referendum, demanded by the opposition, for President Hugo Chavez's recall. 

Since January, the six-member diplomatic group has supported efforts to negotiate a peaceful solution to the long-running turmoil that triggered a brief military coup against President Chavez last year. The latest negotiations come three months after Venezuela's opposition ended a two-month general strike that failed to force Chavez to resign and call early elections. 

The opposition accuses the Venezuelan leader of ruining the economy and trying to model the country after communist-run Cuba. President Chavez says his adversaries are responsible for the economic downturn.

Judge finds Iraq
linked to Sept. 11

NEW YORK, N.Y. — In a decision finding a thin link between Saddam Hussein's government and al-Qaida, a federal court judge in New York has awarded more than $100 million to the families of two World Trade Center victims. 

U.S. District Court Judge Harold Baer said the opinions of expert witnesses showed a tenuous link between Iraq and al-Qaida terror group in committing the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 

In his written decision, Judge Baer noted that the experts' testimony was largely hearsay, and presented few actual facts connecting al-Qaida and Iraq. But he said the experts "provide a sufficient basis for a reasonable jury to draw inferences which could lead to the conclusion that Iraq provided material support to al-Qaida and that it did so with knowledge and intent to further al-Qaida's criminal acts." 

One of the experts, former CIA Director James Woolsey, testified that non-Iraqi fundamentalists trained in airplane hijacking and other forms of terrorism in Iraq prior to the attacks. 

The lawsuits were brought by the families of George Eric Smith and Timothy Soulas. Soulas was married with five children and his wife was three-months pregnant when he was killed. Judge Baer awarded the families $104 million, and assigned damages to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida, the Taleban, Saddam Hussein, Iraq and Afghanistan. The case is the first lawsuit stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to reach the damages phase. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. State Department has criticized the decision of a Guatemalan appeals court to overturn the conviction of Army Col. Juan Valencia, who was imprisoned for his involvement in the 1990 murder of anthropologist Myrna Mack. 

Urging Guatemalan authorities to pursue justice in the case, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher deplored the apparent inability of Guatemala's justice system "to punish those responsible for Dr. Mack's murder" and warned that the court decision "undermines the rule of law" in Guatemala. 

The Mack case was heard in the Court of Human rights here in San José in February. She was 40 when she died of stab wounds.

The state of Guatemala submitted to the court a document that outlines the country’s partial acceptance of responsibility in the politically motivated murder. Her supporters contend she died at the hands of intelligence officers because she was writing a book on Guatemala’s bloody civil war. 
 

Professional Directory A.M. Costa Rica's professional directory is where business people who wish to reach the English-speaking community may invite responses. If you are interested in being represented here, please contact the editor. Lawyers Adolfo Rojas Breedy Breedy Abogados S.A. —Attorneys-at-Law— Since 1957. Best experience in: • Real Estate Transfer of Title and Title Search • Business • Investments • Commercial & Civil Litigation • Corporate Law & finance • Capital markets Law • International Taxation (506) 233-7203/221-0230              breedy@racsa.co.cr Web page:  www.breedy.com INVESTMENT RECOVERY CENTER Learn how to best protect your interests in the Villalobos case. Explore your options at http://www.irccr.net Also, we invite you to join one of the most active discussion groups on the case.  Find out what people who care are saying. Join at irccr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 232-8/16/03 Lic. Arcelio Alberto Hernández Mussio Attorney at Law, Notary Public Official Translator Corporate, Criminal, Constitutional, Family Practice. Property title searches and transfers. Official English/Spanish translation & interpretation We also offer the following services in association with Morning Star Investments CRI, S.A.: *Real Estate Investment opportunities *Money Management *Accounting Services e-mail: legalxpt@racsa.co.cr           Web: www.forovial.com Cell: 365-3088  132-5/29/ KEARNEY-LAWSON & Asoc.       Lic. Gregory Kearney Lawson,  attorney at law Villalobos and Savings Unlimited Collections *Investments  *Corporations  *Real Estate Sales in Costa Rica *Tax Shelters  *Immigration *Intellectual Property     *Business procedures *Family and Labor Law     *Locate People *Private Investigations        Ph/Fax: 221-9462, 841-0007 gkearney_lawson@hotmail.com attorneykearney@yahoo.com Real estate agents MARGARET SOHN  of Carico 15 years Costa Rican real estate experience Member of the Costa Rican Real Estate Association, Lic. #1000  Member, Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce margaret@caricohenderson.com www.realtorcostarica.com (506) 232-5016 home   (506) 233-8057 office  (506) 382-7399 cell  229-8/9/03 Investments Investigators Empresa de Investigadores Internacionales S.A. Telephone (506) 280-5217  FAX (506) 280-5120 P.O. Box 297-2100 Costa Rica Cédula Juridica #3-101-097681-32 investigators@prodigy.net johnniechaverri@policeone.com 112-5/18/03 Web Design Personalized Web Design •Hosting •Promotion •Logo Design Prices so reasonable they will astound you Call for a quote:  220-4602 www.alegria-webdesign.com We have over 12 years international experience 214-7/14/03

Villalobos investors are being asked to give the fugitive financier and his detained brother clean bills of health.

The United & Concerned Citizens and Residents of Costa Rica, an ad hoc group of investors, is asking the investors to sign  formal declarations withdrawing any complaint or denucia they may have filed against the pair.

The investors are being asked to say that they withdraw any claim for the crime of fraud, misappropriation or theft by deception and to say that the intent in filing the charge was simply to recover the money that they had loaned Villalobos before he fled.

The campaign is being orchestrated by John Manners, the president of the group, and José Miguel Villalobos Umaña, the former minister of Justicia who has been hired by the group of investors.

José Villalobos said on the group’s Web site that withdrawing the allegations would be a positive step because if investors withdraw from the legal case, their number would be reduced.

The case has been declared a complex one by a local criminal judge. That means prosecutors have more time to investigate. José Villalobos said in a message Wednesday that this decision means that the investigation can continue until next April.

Some 600 of the estimated 6,500 investors have filed formal charges against the Villalobos high interest lending operation that closed down Oct. 14 and left investors wondering where their principal and interest were.

Since then the theory has been floated that Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho and his brother Oswaldo are victims of a government conspiracy aimed at shutting them down and confiscating investor money, which may be on the books for up to $1 billion

No one has ever given specifics of this conspiracy, but José Villalobos has said he believes this, too, which is one reason the investors wanted to hire him. Part of his strategy is to file legal actions against the prosecutors, judges and relevant public

This week the United & Concerned Citizens said that it will join with the defense lawyers for the Villalobos in trying to appeal the criminal court judge’s ruling to a higher court. The strategy is to reduce the number of investor complainants to show the appeals judges that the case is not really a complex one.

If that were done, Oswaldo Villalobos might get out of jail quicker.

The general belief among the United & Concerned Citizens is that if the government’s case fails, Enrique Villalobos will return and begin distributing money to his creditors. He hasn’t been heard from publicly since January when he e-mailed A.M. Costa Rica and said that if he were jailed or died, no one would get any money back.

Some members of the United & Concerned Citizens interpret the prosecutor’s request for more time as an indication that no evidence of wrongdoing has been found yet. However, prosecutors are seeking Villalobos to answer allegations of fraud and money laundering. He is an international fugitive.

José Villalobos confirmed in his message of Wednesday that Villalobos is out of the country. He did not say how he knew.

Despite the lawyer’s goal of eliminating individual complaints, some investors are adamant that they will continue to press their claim. These investors believe that Villalobos simply took the money and left and that the legal posturing is either misguided or orchestrated to the benefit of the Villalobos Brothers.

In addition, charges could be filed in the United States because Villalobos accepted money from U.S. investors at U.S. banks. Some investors there said they already have filed complaints with their local law enforcement agencies or with U.S. federal agencies.

Hardly any of the prosecution case here has been made public because the investigation is continuing. Meanwhile, many investors continue to suffer the loss of their money. Some who lived here have returned to the United States or Canada.

"Only criminal trials which take place at the end of the process are open, and by that time guilt probably already has been established in the minds of the judges. [...]."

In fact, the judge panel that hears a case at trial, has not previously participated in the criminal process and hears all evidence at trial. Just to give an example, I defended a client in trial last week, and the judges had never even looked at the file.  This helps to keep the objectivity of the judges. 

They were informed of everything the day of trial, and heard all evidence and arguments that day, and made a decision that day, based on the evidence presented and incorporated at the trial.  The investigation stage lasted about two years, and everything was heard and decided in one day.  My client was found not guilty. 

I grant that the investigation process is too lengthy at times, but not so is the trial, which is generally swift, and, by law, has to be continuous and heard by the same judges throughout.

In our criminal system, we have a criminal investigation in which there is a judge of guarantees, who can be appealed to and who decides on questions brought to him.  Then at the end of the investigation, the fiscal sends a request to the judge to dismiss the case or to send it to 

Alternative ways of ending the process may be discussed at the preliminary hearing, and it is not for sure that the case will go to trial, which justifies the private nature of this preliminary hearing.  At the preliminary hearing there is a judgment of probability only, not of guilt.
Some petitions made by the Ministerio Público (like the petition to make a case complex) are communicated only to the defense, and not necessarily to third parties, even if they are considered victims of the process, because such a decision is not supposed to harm victims, but rather grant them a better chance of preparing a case adequately, given the volume of documents and the number of people involved. 

An oral hearing is not always granted when a petition is made by one of the parties, but in most cases a hearing is available to the defense, if not for oral arguments, certainly for written ones. 

Also, the petition of the Ministerio Público to make the case of Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho complex was known by most people for weeks, including most investors who keep some kind of communication with forums and the like.  This topic was discussed, and it was foreseeable that it would be granted by the judge, given the size of the case.

Hernández may be reached via his Web page: www.forovial.com