Arias to meet with Lobo,
Honduran president-elect


President Óscar Arias Sánchez is scheduled to meet today with the president-elect of Honduras in a session that may contribute to ending the Honduran political crisis.

Arias has said that his government will recognize the election of Porfirio Lobo in part to spare the people of Honduras more political woes. Many governments have blacklisted the country because the elected leader, José Manuel Zelaya, was ousted last June 28.

Arias served a major role in trying to negotiate a settlement to the crisis, but the negotiations were overtaken by the presidential elections, which had been planned for a long time.

Some countries like Brazil and Venezuela say they will not recognize the Lobo regime. The meeting will be at 3 p.m. at the Rohrmoser home of Arias, the same place he held discussions with Zelaya.

Bum check was fraud key
for building materials gang


The trick was pretty simple. The crooks would order construction material and promise to pay for the order at a bank. They used a bum check at the bank but then changed the deposit slip to look like they paid in cash.

When the crooks faxed the doctored deposit slip to the supplier, the delivery was scheduled or they were allowed to pick up the goods.

The Judicial Investigating Organization said that a gang of fraudsters stole about 500 million colons in material using this technique. That's about $880,000.

The Judicial Investigating Organization made 12 raids Monday and detained eight men they said were linked to the ring. The agency also said that the gang had been operating in the country for a long time and that some of the members of the band were arrested previously but set free. One man has been referred to prosecutors 58 times and another 78 times, the agency said.

The raids Monday were in San José, Tibás, Heredia, Los Guidos, Los Cuadros and other points in the valley. Agents also located two warehouses, one in Hatillo and the other in Barrio Cuba. They said they found material that may have been the result of recent frauds.

Two die in separate mishaps


Two men died in separate accidents Monday. A man identified by the last name of Arias tried to pass a truck at the Villa Bonita de Alajuela bridge, but his passenger car was struck in the front by an oncoming semi and crushed in the rear by the cab of the truck he had just passed. His vehicle was mangled beyond recognition.

In Tejar de Guarco in Cartago a motorcyclist collided with a utility pole about 3:45 a.m. and died a short time later at Hospitalal Max Peralta in Cartago. He was identified by the last name of Granados by the Judicial Investigating Organization.

Boy, 15, detained in murder


A case of mistaken identity led to the shooting death of a man Saturday, and a 15 year old is being held as the gunman.

Dead is Roy Quirós Piñar, a 36-year-old agricultural worker. The death happened in El Precario de La Unión. Quirós appears to have lost a bicycle to a thief and incorrectly accused the boy and hit him in the back with a machete.  The youth responded by shooting the man twice in the chest. The Poder Judicial said that the action was self defense, but said that a judge placed the boy in provisional detention for two months.

Koreans lose three weeks work


A group of Korean photographers spent three weeks in Costa Rica filming the wonders of the country. The work was for a television show.

But thieves got there first. The Instituto Costarricense de Turismo reported that someone took 37 rolls of the photographic work while the Koreans' car was parked Saturday in a Rohrmoser restaurant.