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Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Excuse me for arriving late to the comment session on bad roads in Costa Rica, but I just have to add my two cents.

Roger Herrera of Nuevo Arenal in his letter  explaining why Costa Rican roads are bad gives the impression of being a nice person, proud of his country, some what embarrassed by the omnipresent corruption, takes the psychologically easy way out by becoming resigned, and advises visitors to accept the system, drive carefully, and enjoy the hospitality of the "Ticos" and nice weather, of which there is plenty of both. 

Bad roads are always a symbol of one thing: corruption. "That is not so," you reply. "The roads in Costa Rica are bad because the country is small and poor and can’t afford good ones," you add.  I respond, "You’ve just made my point. The level of corruption is so high that the country is poor. What is the condition of the roads in Denmark, Switzerland and Luxembourg?  Pretty darn good . . . and they are small and not poor countries. The difference with Costa Rica? And the roads in Haiti and Nicaragua?"

Let’s look at a moment as to just what is corruption. The short version is that when public officials detrimentally place their own interests above those of the society. That can be from receiving money or other favors or simply keeping their mouths shut to the corruption they see of others. 

When was the last time a whistleblower came out on top in a corrupt system? The country’s ombudsman is questioning right now the extra pay to Presidential House officials receive to maintain confidentiality. Before anyone jumps up and tries to point out corrupt private individuals contribute to the country’s corruption, I will only remind them that corrupt individuals cannot prosper in a non-corrupt system, public or private. 

The public system entails all the facets of governmental function, beginning with how private individuals get into elected or appointed to public office. It is rarely focused on, but that the only publicly elected official in Costa Rica, until the recently created office of city mayor, was the president of the country. Not one single diputado or congressman or woman or single city councilman or regidor is elected by the people. They are chosen by their respective political parties, who put their names on a slate at election time for the voters to choose from. 

Now just where do you think the loyalty of the diputados and regidores lies? With the people of the country or with the political parties who put them there? In the U.S. and other countries with a truly representative form of government, if you don’t like how your congressperson or senator is looking out after your interests, you won’t vote for him or her in the next election. 

If you don’t like what the diputado is doing for your community, and he or she might not even be from your district because the party had commitments to meet other than choosing someone from your district, there is nothing you can do about. He or she won’t even read your angry letters, but he or she will read and act on memos from the higherups in the party.  Now if that doesn’t set itself up for a corrupt system, then what does? 

Mr. Herrera’s  advice to foreigners on driving in the country is sound; go slowly, watch for potholes, bridges with protective rails missing, pedestrians, horses, cows, cyclists, both motor and bi, big trucks parked IN the road, and above all, be resigned to the bad road . . . and the corruption, for neither is going to get much better, if the last 500 years are any indication. 

The body of a man presumed to be Palmer L. Reed was found in Lake Arenal Wednesday afternoon. Reed, a U.S. citizen and a long-time resident there, vanished June 18 while on the lake in a boat at La Laguna del Arenal.

A medical examiner will try to identify the body. If it is Reed, the next step is to determine how Reed died and attempt to determine if the death was suicide, an accident or foul play.

A.M. Costa Rica
Consultantes Río Colorado S.A.

James J. Brodell.........................editor
Saray Ramírez Vindas.... associate editor

Avenida 11 bis, Barrio Otoya, San José

 In Costa Rica:                    From elsewhere:

  A.M. Costa Rica                    Consultantes Río Colo.
  Apartado 12909-1000           SB 11 
  San José, Costa Rica              P.O. Box 025292
  (506) 223-1327                    Miami, FL 33102-5292
 

The Caribbean Community is sending a fact-finding delegation to Haiti to discuss conditions for its return to the group.

The announcement came during CARICOM's four-day annual summit this week, where leaders decided they needed more information about the interim government and election plans before reinstating Haiti. Foreign ministers from five CARICOM countries Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago will begin the mission next week. 

In March, the group refused to recognize the government of interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, set up after former President Jean Bertrand Aristide resigned during a rebel uprising. 
Aristide said the United States forced him from 

According to the Jamaican Observer newspaper, the leaders at CARICOM's annual summit also made progress toward new crime and security initiatives. 

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has warned Americans to defer non-emergency travel to Haiti. 
The State Department said Thursday that the situation in the impoverished Caribbean nation remains unpredictable and potentially dangerous. 

Officials say the situation has calmed down considerably since earlier this year. But they warn of the continuing potential for looting, the presence of intermittent roadblocks set up by armed gangs or police and possible random violence and kidnappings.  A U.N. stabilization force has replaced a U.S.-led multinational mission in Haiti.

PUERTO IGUAZU, Argentina — Latin American presidents are meeting here to discuss plans for strengthening the Mercosur trade bloc.

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner says the group can help spark a "formidable process" to integrate the region.

The meeting includes Mexican President Vicente 

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are full members of the group. Associate members include Bolivia, Chile and Peru. The summit is also expected to include talks on a trade dispute over Brazilian exports to Argentina.

Argentina is to hand over the six-month rotating presidency of the Mercosur group to Brazil.

They brought 50 computers and will set them up in needy schools in the Central Valley, Jacó and Quepos. The group will be here until July 19.

SANTIAGO, Chile — A Chilean court says former dictator Augusto Pinochet was fully aware of human rights abuses under his rule and did nothing to stop them. 

The appeals court issued the statement Wednesday, more than a month after stripping legal immunity from the former president. 

The ruling says Gen. Pinochet was in control of the nation's security agency which is blamed for 

Lawyers for the 88-year-old former dictator have said he is unfit to stand trial for alleged abuses because of poor health. They also say they plan to appeal the decision withdrawing his immunity as Chile's former president. 

An estimated 3,000 people died or disappeared after Pinochet seized power in a 1973 coup that was backed by the United States. Deposed and killed was leftist President Salvador Allede.

A U.S humanitarian group has taken a caravan of vehicles loaded with medical supplies and other equipment into Mexico in an effort to circumvent the U.S. trade and travel embargo against Cuba.

Pastors for Peace says it took the supplies that are bound for Cuba into Mexico Wednesday. 

Executive Director Lucius Walker says the group 

Walker opposes the U.S. embargo and calls the shipments acts of civil disobedience.

The Bush administration last week tightened restrictions on travel to Cuba. But Walker says his vehicles were assisted across the border by U.S. customs officials and local police from Hidalgo, Texas. 

MEXICO CITY, México — The government has apologized to the United States after Mexican soldiers interrupted the funeral of a U.S. Marine in central Mexico. 

Mexico's Foreign Relations Secretary says Mexican troops delayed Sunday's ceremony to ensure that a ban on foreign troops carrying firearms was not being violated. 

Tuesday U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, filed a protest with the Mexican government.

Ambassador Garza said the United States had fully complied with Mexican authorities in planning the funeral and asked for an apology.