Post 11207, Veterans of Foreign Wars, will hold its regular monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of the month, Jan. 7, at 2 p.m. in the Bufo Dorado Room on the ground floor of the Gran Hotel Costa Rica next to the National Theatre. 

New business will be discussed and voted on, providing a quorum is present.  Reports of committees concerning pending activities will also be given.  All veterans are invited to attend,
but only current members of Post 11207 are eligible to vote.

The wait staff of the hotel will provide snacks or luncheon and/or beverages at standard cost to individuals.  Parking in the Gran Hotel Costa Rica parking lot is free for attendees of this event, but drivers must get a parking slip authenticated at the main desk after the meeting.

For additional information those interested may contact Ken Johnson, commander, 552-3464; Rick Garcia, adjutant/judge advocate, 282-5944; or
Bob Foster, charter member, 231-7872.

Off-duty cop killed
in Alajuelita incident

A 24-year-old off-duty police officer died early Friday while he was working a second job as a pirate taxi driver.

Ministerio de Seguridad Pública officials identified the man as Carlos Ledezma Valverde, who worked out of the Alajuelita headquarters.

The man was driving in Concepción Arriba de Alajuelita in the company of a man identified as Manuel Arias Chávez when three men intercepted the vehicle and shot the policeman.

A quick search of the area netted investigators three suspects, according to the ministry.

Police are working
hard for holidays

Police reported a number of arrests over the weekend at the Zapote festival and in a series of operations in Limón.

About 950 members of the Fuerza Publica are at work at the Festejos de Fin y Principio de Año in Zapote, which is just east of San José. Some 73 persons have been arrested there on charges ranging from drug posession to possession of a partial stick of dynamite.

Police also have broken up fights and encountered phony money.

Texas judge rejects
train-robbery counts

EL PASO, Texas — A U.S. judge has dismissed charges against 13 Mexican nationals accused of robbing a Union Pacific train and severely beating two FBI agents in September. 

The judge ordered the release of the 13 Mexicans this week, citing a lack of evidence against them, and they were returned to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. 

The Mexican consulate in El Paso, Texas, says two other Mexican citizens still face charges in the incident and will remain in custody. 

The charges stem from a September 12 incident, in which two FBI agents were attacked when they tried to prevent a border railroad theft.

The upside is
no need for lights

Police in the Ukrainian city of Rovno have seized a batch of radiation-contaminated Christmas trees, which were brought illegally to the city by a group of businessmen. 

Itar-Tass news agency quotes local police as saying the fir trees were cut in the forest in the neighboring Zhitomir region, which was contaminated by radioactive fallout following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Tree-cutting in the contaminated forest has been banned for the past 15 years. 

The businessmen used forged documents to sell the trees at local markets for the upcoming Orthodox festivities. 

Banks are closed today

Holiday closings continue today and tomorrow and many Central Valley residents head for the beaches to celebrate the new year.

Banks will be closed today and Tuesday. Some stores that had remained open for Christmas shopping will be closed for the first three days of this week. Some will remain closed until Jan. 6.

In Limón, police said they have confiscated four firearms and large quantities of fireworks. They also made a drug arrest.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The incoming defense minister, Jose Viegas, said president-elect Luiz Anacio Lula da Silva plans to use the military to assist in various social development projects.

In an interview published Sunday in the O Globo newspaper, Viegas said da Silva wants the armed forces to be a vehicle of social development in Brazil. Viegas said the army, navy and air force can contribute in carrying out social projects, such as combating hunger, at a lower cost.

However, he said the use of the military for social programs would not detract from its main mission to defend the country, even though the defense budget is shrinking.

Argentine Senate
approves new budget

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The Senate has passed President Eduardo Duhalde's budget for 2003 and approved his choice to head the Central Bank after years of economic turmoil and depression. 

The Senate gave final congressional approval Friday to a budget that foresees Argentina's economy growing by 3 percent in the next fiscal year after a severe contraction. 

Analysts said the budget is effectively a transitional set of economic targets as the country readies for April presidential elections, but is also a condition for much-needed aid from the International Monetary Fund. 

The Senate Friday also approved former JP Morgan economist Alfonso Prat Gay as Central Bank chief in an attempt to stabilize monetary policy and boost investor confidence.
 
 

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. Psychiatrists Dr. Luis Carlos Sancho Torres   bilingual psychiatrist (UCR) • consulting • depression  • schizophrenia  • psychiatric disability VA Affairs • evaluations for gun permits   • bipolar disorders • addictions  • methadone Available 24-hour a day children and adults office: 233-7782 beeper: 233-3333 lucasancho@yahoo.com Lawyers 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 2/16/02 tem Law Offices of Lic. A.A. Hernandez Mussio Attorney, Notary Public, Official Translator English and Spanish Specializing in Criminal  and Corporate Law Practice e-mail: legalxpt@racsa.co.cr www.forovial.com                            Ave. 10, Calle 19, No. 1906 Cell: 365-3088                                            San Jose, Costa Rica 132-5/29/03 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, 394-7007 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.caricohenderson.com (506) 232-5016 home   (506) 233-8057 office  (506) 382-7399 cell  2/9/03 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

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez reiterated Sunday he would not resign, despite a four-week-old general strike aimed at unseating him. Hundreds of thousands of opposition demonstrators marched through the streets of Caracas demanding immediate elections. Chavez's opponents are planning to march on his presidential palace.

President Chavez hosted his weekly radio and TV show from a gasoline distribution center in an effort to prove that gas supplies would soon be back to normal. Even by the government's own figures, the country's vital oil industry is three-quarters paralyzed.

As each tanker truck departed, the president led a round of applause for what he calls the heroes of the "great oil battle." According to the government, the strike, which is centered on the oil industry, is the work of those who would like to see the state-owned oil company privatized. He has even suggested that foreign interests may be behind it.

Across the country, motorists have to wait in line for hours, even days, to fill their tanks - a paradox in a country ranking among the world's top five oil exporters. As a result of gas shortages and strikes in other sectors of the economy, supplies of goods, including some food items, are starting to become scarce. 

Chavez, however, says gasoline is on its way from 

A Brazilian tanker docked Saturday with enough gasoline for a few days. But oil production is less than a quarter of the normal level of about 3 million barrels a day. Refineries are mostly shut down, and exports are running at under 10 percent. Venezuela depends on exports of crude oil and refined products for over three quarters of its dollar earnings. 

The president said striking oil company employees were guilty of treason and faced possible jail terms. But the strikers themselves remain defiant, and in a speech to an opposition rally, labor leader Carlos Ortega said the president would have to kill them if he wanted the strike lifted. 

At Sunday's huge rally, copies of a civil disobedience handbook were distributed as part of the opposition's new strategy to cut short the president's term, which ends in 2007. The disobedience plan includes withholding taxes from the government.

While Chavez insists he will not step down, saying, "I think I'll never leave," the opposition says it is planning a march on the presidential palace on an as-yet unannounced date, to force him out. 

The last time that happened, back in April, 19 demonstrators were shot dead and the president was restored to power after a brief, two-day absence. 

Dear A.M. Costa Rica: 

I assure R.E. Masek of Sacramento, Calif., that I am neither happy nor elated about anybody losing their money with Villalobos. 

Pompous, I don't think so. Maybe just tired of reading all this crap from people like him who keep looking for somebody to blame other than themselves. Nobody twisted your arm to invest with Villalobos. 

Barely scraping by? I guess your definiton of scraping by and mine must be quite different. The people I know who are scraping by definitely can't come up with 10K to invest with anybody. . . much less in Costa Rica. 

As far as IQ goes, I'm not sure what it is, but I've always thought of myself as just a normal person. You on the other hand, who, according to your letter, are a retiree who is probably twice my age, resort to "I hope your balls fall off!" They're still here. So I'll say it once again, if you didn't know what you were investing in and did it anyway then you don't have anybody to blame but yourself. 

If you were lied to about where your money was placed then I can understand your anger. 

Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho

Our reward offer is $500

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

This newspaper seeks the prompt return of two men who ran high-interest investment operations that have gone out of business.

Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho, 62, was associated with Ofinter S.A., a money exchange house, and with his own private investment business that had about $1 billion in other people’s money on the books. 

Villalobos closed his business Oct. 14 and vanished.

Louis Milanes operated Savings Unlimited and several casinos in San José. He left the country with other members of his firm the weekend of Nov. 23. He may have as much as $260 million in his possession.

Both operations catered to North Americans. Villalobos had about 6,300 customers. Milanes had about 2,400.

Villalobos is the subject of an international arrest warrant. Milanes is not yet named in such a document, although a case has been opened against him in Costa Rica. Associates of both men have been jailed.

A.M. Costa Rica has posted a $500 reward for information leading to the detention of either man with the hopes that others will make similar pledges. The newspaper believes that investors only will see some of their money when the two men are in custody.

Milanes has few supporters in San José. On the other hand, as the letters frequently on this page show, Villalobos still has supporters who believe that he will reappear and settle his debts. They believe he is in hiding because of a predatory Costa Rican government.