Interpol begins sweep
of Western Hemisphere


The International Police Agency is embarking on a multi-international effort to locate and arrest criminal suspects believed to be in hiding in the United States and throughout Western Hemisphere countries.

Timothy A. Williams, the agency's Washington, D.C., director, announced the campaign Thursday. The agency is generally known by the acronym Interpol.

The initiative is called Operation Far Away. It is described as an intelligence-driven operation designed to target, locate and arrest criminal aliens believed to be in hiding in the United States and in other Western Hemisphere countries. The agency said it is partnering with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations for this initiative.

The operation is scheduled throughout September and includes more than a dozen participating Interpol member countries including: Canada, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Netherland, Antilles, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, and the United States.

The Alien and Fugitive Division, Interpol Washington, is the hub for the operation. One of the Division’s primary roles is to analyze and disseminate information related to the coordination of locating, arresting and removing fugitives, as well as providing immigration liaison services to the other 187 member countries, the agency said.

“No nation should be a safe haven for criminals who are wanted abroad,” said Jim Chaparro, executive associate director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations. “Operation Far Away enhances public safety in the U.S. and all of our partner nations . . . "

Tide will be highest
for the year Saturday


The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said that the sea would be at its highest of the year Saturday on the Pacific coast. The seas will be even higher than the levels of Aug.14 that led to local flooding along the coast, the forecast said.

The institute warned of local flooding and erosion with seas above 3.29 meters or about 10 feet. It said that the highest tide would be at 4:24 a.m. Saturday.

Costa Rican sportsbook
cited as Arizona wire room


Costa Rica has figured again as a wire room for an Internet gambling ring based in Phoenix, Arizona.

A federal grand jury there indicted nine Arizona men on a number of gambling charges.

The defendants used Internet-based offshore sports books located in Costa Rica for making and tracking bets on sporting events, said the U.S. Attorney's office, adding:

The defendants provided their bettors with a toll-free telephone number and a Web site. In order to place a wager on a sporting event, the bettor would call the number or access the Web site, then provide their account number and password. The defendants used a separate toll-free telephone number, or the Web site, to track their bettors’ activities and account balances. The Costa Rican sports books did not have an interest in the outcome of the wagers, but charged the illegal sports gambling operation a fee for managing each bettor’s account. The defendants paid out or collected cash in person from each bettor whenever that bettor’s threshold amount was reached. Sometimes instead of cash the defendants would accept checks or valuables. At other times the defendants would direct bettors to deposit money into specified bank accounts to pay gambling debts.

The indictment charges Daniel Meisel, 64, formerly of Paradise Valley; Christopher R. Finn, 37, of Scottsdale; Diane Beck, 52, of Scottsdale; Fred Guaragna, 58, of Scottsdale; Brad Smothermon, 49, of Cave Creek; Richard DiCapua, 68, of Scottsdale; Oscar Barden, aka Paul Barden, 36, of Scottsdale; James Baker, 41, of Peoria; and Blaine Moore, 38, of Phoenix, with conspiracy to engage in an illegal gambling business and the transmission of wagering information, engaging in an illegal gambling business, and transmission of wagering information. Meisel was also charged with transactional money laundering.

The U.S. Attorney's Office did not identify the sportsbook.

Immigration view hypocritical

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Unbelievable!  To all right-minded, sensible folk this Chinchilla-sponsored friend-of-the-court brief (which failed in the U.S. courts recently) is the height of hypocrisy. Both Mexico and Chile have draconian laws for illegal immigrants when compared to the US, and, of course, Costa Rica itself also does not exactly have an open-arms approach to anyone living in this country illegally! 

Obama announced plans
to rebuild transport links


President Barack Obama has unveiled a plan to boost a lackluster U.S. economy by improving and expanding America's aging transportation infrastructure.  An energetic and combative-sounding Obama spoke Monday at Labor Day holiday observances in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Like many Midwestern states that once formed the heart of America's manufacturing region, Wisconsin was hit hard by the economic recession and continues to suffer double-digit unemployment.

At an event that had the feel of a campaign rally, Obama told U.S. labor leaders and union members that tough economic times continue despite his administration's efforts at job creation.

"Eight million Americans lost their jobs in this recession," said Obama. "And while we've had eight straight months of private sector job growth, the new jobs haven't been coming fast enough.  Now, the plain truth is, there's no silver bullet or quick fix to the problem."

But Obama said there are ways to help.  The president noted that his administration already has championed financial and health care reform, and that it has worked to make higher education more affordable and to lower taxes for all but the wealthiest Americans.  The goal, he said, is to bolster an embattled and overburdened U.S. middle class.

Obama noted that the massive economic stimulus program enacted at the start of his administration has funded thousands of public works projects around the country.  Now, he said, is the time to launch an even more ambitious plan.

"Over the next six years, we are going to rebuild 150,000 miles [240,000 kilometers] of our roads — enough to circle the world six times," said Obama. "We're going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles [6,400 kilometers] of our railways — enough to stretch coast-to-coast.  We're going to restore 150 miles [240 kilometers] of runways and advance a next generation air traffic control system to reduce travel time and delays for American travelers."

Administration officials say the plan will require an initial outlay of $50 billion.  The president pledged that the cost will not add to the nation's already-staggering federal budget deficit, but he did not specify program cuts or tax increases to pay for it.

Even if Congress moved quickly to pass the plan, administration officials concede that new jobs would not be created until next year — well after this year's congressional elections.  Analysts say that weak economic growth and stubbornly-high unemployment rates are fueling growing expectations that the president's Democratic Party could suffer massive losses in November's midterm vote.

Republicans have branded Obama's economic stewardship a fiasco. They criticized the president's infrastructure initiative hours before he formally announced it. House Republican leader John Boehner said the plan provides more government stimulus spending that has already proven to be a failure, and that less government intrusion in the economy is needed, not more.

But a smiling and self-confident-sounding Obama said it is Republicans who want to resurrect policies that led to the financial crisis and the deepest recession of the post-World War II era.