by Rod Hughes

Costa Rica’s leading English-language newspaper, The Tico Times, today profiles boyish-looking and unassuming chief of Immigration Mario Zamora and in an exclusive front page story reveals why many are betting that he can overhaul the obsolete and corrupt department he inherited.

Zamora recently drew attention of the paper’s reporters when a Chinese ring of human traffickers attempted to bribe him with an under-the-table payment schedule of bribes that could have netted him up to a juicy $2.5 million—had he not blown the whistle on the gang. With Zamora’s help, judicial police nabbed the criminals within the country.

Immigration has long been an open sore in the govermnment but many feel what one local newspaper columnist calls the “Zamora effect” may not only get the creaky Immigration department working properly for the first time in many years but restore honor to government that has been besmirched by a number of high-profile scandals in recent years.

Immigration reform is not only a subject dear to foreign residents. The issuing of passports to nationals is also a department function and is plagued by long bureaucratic delays and long lines—a fact that also offers a golden opportunity for unscrupulous Immigration employees to accept clandestine “tips” for “special” treatment.

But many feel that may well become a thing of the past with Zamora at the helm.