Mónica Nágel Berger, executive director of Alterra Partners, manager of the airport the International Juan Santamaría, denied that its parent company has disappeared, and assured that Alterra has not thought about leaving its operations in Costa Rica. This after Rodolfo Silva, ex-Minister of Transports (1996-1998), affirmed during an interview with Al Día, that Alterra Partners is a “shell”, after the closing of its headquarters in London, England.

“Alterra works in Costa Rica, we continue working in a legally constituted company, that has businesses in Peru and in others places.  Some businesses were sold them, that is part of the culture of transnational companies. I do not see possibilities that corporation disappears, or leaves. There are 140 people working in Alterra and we are thinking about how to solve the problems at the airport”, stated Nágel.

Last Friday, the civil servant announced that Alterra is rushing to comply with the government order to open two new boarding lounges, that will take care of passengers during the high season 2006-2007. Nágel said that the delay in works, is due to the fact that the contract signed by Gobierno and Alterra “was not simplest”. The airport was supposed to be finished by August of the 2004, but a year before the International Financial Corporation (IFC) suspended the payment of $120 million, charging that the project’s revenue did not guarantee the recovery of the money. Alterra decided to suspend works until the Contraloría demanded resumption, in December of the 2005. The government, Alterra and the IFC are still trying to resolve on the financial imbalance.

Another of the eight convicts who escaped Oct. 9 from Costa Rica’s largest prison La Reforma — in Alajuela, northwest of San José — was captured by police Saturday in Cartago, east of San José, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

The fugitive, identified by the name Douglas Quirós, 48, was hiding in a covered rancho area near a hardware store, the statement said. Residents informed police they had seen him, and Cartago police officers found him early Saturday morning sleeping in the covered area surrounded by newspaper clippings with reports of his and the seven other fugitives’ escape.

Police took Quirós, who faces 44 years in prison and has been convicted of crimes including aggravated robbery and rape, to a prison in Cartago.

His arrest leaves Rafael Herrera as the only one of the eight convicts who escaped from La Reforma who is still at large.

The fugitives broke out of the prison by sawing through their window bars, taking multiple guards hostage and killing another (TT, Oct. 13).

Four of the eight fugitives – Johel Guillermo Araya, Alberto Martínez, Johnny Rodríguez and Freddy García — were found in a house in Guácimo, on the Caribbean slope, Oct. 24. García was killed during a shootout with police.

Another of the fugitives, Roberto Clark, was arrested two days earlier at the annual Carnival festivities in the Caribbean port town of Limón (TT, Oct. 27), and a sixth inmate, Victor Urbina, surrendered himself to police Oct. 26 in Tres Rios, east of San José (TT, Nov. 3).

-Tico Times

The Esquivel Volio family was the largest supporter in the last campaign, giving ¢90,030,500 to the PLN, according to a study of the TSE done by Al Día.

Costa Rican Campaign Financing
The law does not allow donations of over ¢19,485,000 (less than $40,000) and foreigners may not contribute to campaigns.  But Costa Rican companies with foreign shareholders or directors may contribute.  “We don’t know the interests behind this fiction we call a corporation.  The public should vote knowing what economic interests are behind each party. It isn’t important who donates, as long as they are not masked.  ” Luis Antonio Sobrado, TSE Magistrate

The TSE donation list is updated and shown on their website: http://www.tse.go.cr/indice_donaciones.html

Al Día published the following list:

Liberación Nacional