By a unanimous vote, the Asamblea Legislativa Tuesday asked Bruno Stagno, minister of Relaciones Exteriores y Culto, to have the name of Costa Rica removed from the list of countries that support the U.S. war with Iraq.

The list on the White House Web site was done in March 27,  2003, and was accurate at that time, but there does not seem to be an active list of  countries that continue to support the war.

José Manuel Echandi, the only legislator from the National Union Party (PUN), proposed an electoral reform that would allow the approximately 150,000 Costa Ricans living abroad to vote absentee in presidential elections.

According to a statement from the Legislative Assembly, Echandi brought up the idea during a meeting with Rodrigo Arias, Minister of the Presidency and brother of President Oscar Arias yesterday. The legislator said the change could be included in other electoral reforms expected to be proposed soon, including a reduction in government funding for political parties’ campaigns.

“This is a bill we’ll be presenting in the next few days,” Echandi said in the statement. “To exercise this right, Costa Ricans who live abroad will have to register eight months in advance of Election Day.”

Under the existing regulations, Costa Rican citizens can vote only in the country, at the polling station closest to their registered place of residence.

-Tico Times

By Amanda Roberson, Tico Times Staff

In a joint operation between U.S. and Costa Rican police, $20 million was seized and 10 people were arrested yesterday during simultaneous raids on homes in both countries where a fraudulent ring was allegedly scamming gullible, mostly elderly, people in the United States into sending money to Costa Rica by telling them they’d won a prize, Prosecutor General Francisco Dall’Anese told the press yesterday.

Police suspect the operation, which has been under investigation by U.S. authorities since 2003, worked by stopping people outside of shopping malls and supermarkets in the United States and asking them to fill out a form with their phone number and name to enter a drawing, explained Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) Jorge Rojas. Their names and phone numbers were then sent to Costa Rica, where people working in “call centers” operating clandestinely in houses, called them and told them they had won anywhere from $450,000 to $4 million and explained that in order to collect their money, they must first send an advance of 1% of what they won to a bank in Costa Rica. At least 200 Costa Ricans are suspected to have been receiving this money sent from the United States, filtering it through their private bank accounts and earning a cut from each payment.

Five “call centers” were raided yesterday in the San José area – two in Escazú, two in Sabanilla and one in Rohrmoser – and three U.S. citizens and two Canadians were arrested and are facing deportation. Five other North Americans were arrested in the United States.

Additionally, $20 million, computers, bank statements and other information was seized and handed over to U.S. authorities who are investigating the case, Rojas said, while Costa Rican police are investigating Ticos potentially involved.

U.S. police first received reports of the alleged scam in 2003, Dall’Anese said, and began collaborating with Costa Rican police in 2005.

Dall’Anese called the operation “successful” and said he hopes to carry out more joint investigations between Costa Rican and foreign police to “send a message to international criminals who come to Costa Rica that we will find them.”