Father's group founder
says evidence is discounted

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

As the founder of the Asociación de padres de familia separados here in Costa Rica, I have seen literally thousands of men thrown out on the street with only the shirts on their backs because of the domestic violence laws, some with good reason, many with none.

The domestic violence laws here in Costa Rica are largely the product of teachings by the United Nations. For more than 15 years they have been here holding workshops instructing lawyers and judges how to evaluate a case according to gender, and largely because of this, the laws exclusively protect the woman. For example, the woman (by virtue of her gender) can say anything she wants to and cannot be held accountable for the facts. The second key clause says that when there is any doubt, the decision goes with the woman. It’s as simple as that.

Thus in the case of Chere Tomayko, they were only following the will of God and the law as they see it. My experiences have been that, despite appearances, the actual facts bear little, if any, weight in these cases of domestic violence.

I only hope that this case may serve to throw some light on this incredible distortion of justice, decency, and common sense. I hope that the United States will pursue this case until it is properly resolved, with guilt and blame placed where they belong, or at least take serious measures that may serve to alert all concerned (including the American Embassy) in Costa Rica that this is not the way in which true justice is done.         

Fleeing women get help
quickly in Costa Rica

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

I am compelled to write about a couple of things recently in the news.

First on the Ms. Tomakyo saga, I want to mention this is not the first mother to take her child or children out of the U.S.A. without the father’s permission and come to Costa Rica. The other case I am familiar with happened few years ago, and the mother was eventually returned and given a slap on the wrist after a lot of wrangling by expensive Costa Rican legal help to prevent her extradition.

Readers may believe these women take a pin and by chance find Costa Rica on a map. In the Tomayko case and the other the women came as tourist were immediately able to find a comfortable place to live, work and send their children to a private school (most private school like the one  these children attended can cost $500 or more a month per student). Can you believe all this help is possible for any other tourist when they come to Costa Rica ?

By coincidence both were able receive these privileges in the Heredia area?

The other thing, an article in the July 29  edition of La Nación, says for lack of funds the Costa Rican refinery Recope cannot pay for crude oil.

The article says 90 percent of Costa Rica’s crude comes from Venezuela. Hugo Chávez, out of the kindness of his heart, has established a program called Petrocribe and any of the 17 countries in the Caribbean and Central American area may participate. The program lets participants finance 60 percent of the crude oil invoiced by Venezuela for up to 25 years with 2 years of grace and a fixed rate of interest of 1 percent when a barrel of oil goes over $100. 

At present Costa Rica is paying every eight days with 5 percent interest borrowed money. Costa Rica wants in the program, but its petition has not yet been accepted.

One cannot blame Costa Rica for wanting to participate in the program. However this looks like a very clever constructed program by Chávez to obligate participating country to be obligated to him and his political policies.
 

Who do you like for president? The U.S. political season is here. And readers can express themselves in letters to A.M. Costa Rica. But please: Keep the letters tight (less than 300 words), avoid personal attacks on other readers and try to support your comments with evidence and facts.